Evade and Evac

Posted on Sat May 17th, 2025 @ 2:46pm by Commander Jenna Ramthorne & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Commander Jennifer Baldric & Lieutenant Sarah Wilson

1,846 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Masimal
Location: Masimal - City
Timeline: Current

Jenna provided cover as Savar helped Sarah, but in between firing shots she had somehow lost track of Commander Baldric. The horde was growing ever closer. "Bonnie, when I give the word, lift off and hover at 10 feet." A phaser shot struck the bulkhead to her left and she thought twice. "Make it 20." She was waiting for Savar and Sarah to enter.

"Aye Commander." Bonnie replied, the panic evident in her voice as she entered the calculations. "What if we take fire?"

"We'll burn that plasma when we get there." Jenna muttered back as she fired at the infected creature with the phaser in their hand. It was as if the crowd were multiplying exponentially, coming from everywhere and anywhere.

Savar and Sarah reached the shuttle, with Savar practically shoving Sarah in as he climbed in behind her. "Thank you for your assistance, Commander Ramthorne. It is most appreciated."

Sarah gasped as she hit the deck, her suit covered in grimy handprints from where crowd had grabbed at her. She stepped to the rear of the shuttle and put up a quarantine field around herself. Despite the protocols she had to remove her helmet, breathing in the dangerous infected air as the oxygen was expelled from the damaged suit.

"Keep your helmets on and don't you dare drop this quarantine field." She said with authority, protecting the rest of them from possible infection. "Ahhh...where's commander Baldric?"

Savar glanced around the shuttle, "An excellent question Sarah. Bonnie, Jenna do you have any idea where Commander Baldric is?"

Jenna fired one last shot, and stepped back into the shuttle, "Now Bonnie." she commanded before moving past Sarah and sliding down into her seat. "I last saw her before the two of you were dealing with the child. At least I assume it was a child." She said to Savar.

Bonnie hit the thrusters and the the shuttle lifted off the ground along the predetermined set of coordinates up to the 20 feet Commander Ramthorne had requested. She then turned her attention to scanning for Commander Baldric, "Scanning now. The spore cloud is causing a static effect on the sensors. Attempting to compensate. "

A series of random phaser shots hit the shuttle. "Better sit down Commander. It's about to get bumpy." Jenna said to Savar as she turned the shuttle around to face the direction she last saw Baldric. The infected horde below began climbing on top of the fallen, creating a humanoid ladder in an effort to reach the shuttle.

Baldric had become separated from the away team in the chaos of the crowd and had sought refuge in the shell of a destroyed building. She heard the shuttle wind up and lift off but instead of heading for the stars it hovered just out of reach of the outstretched arms. With their attention diverted she bolted for the door and made a beeline away from the throng of surging bodies, out into the open where she hoped to get comms with the shuttle.

"I'm at your 2 o'clock, 400metres" she risked using the comm.

Bonnie swept the sensor grid out to 425 meters, "There she is. She's in the open."

Jenna checked the data, "That means she's exposed. That area is to tight to land, but I can get low." She eyed Savar, "Think you can reach down and grab her if I get us low enough?" She asked, even as she angled the shuttle in Baldric's direction.

Bonnie was running calculations, the shuttle would fit, just barely between the trees and the other obstacles. It would mean a stationary moment of vulnerability on their part.

"Talk to me guys, can you get in here or do I need another option?" Baldric shouted in the com as the shuttle moves closer. The crowd was following the shuttle and thus closing in on her position. She was already looking for a contingency plan if this went pear shaped but was hopefully the initial strategy would work.

"If we get the shuttle lower enough, I will be able to bring Commander Baldric aboard." Savar promised. "I suggest we hurry." Savar replied before he spoke to Jennifer. "Remain where you are Commander, we are about to bring you aboard in an unconventional manner."

"Say again?" Baldric queried as her words were whipped away by the engines of the shuttle. The crowd surged forward in an attempt to climb their way aboard. Jennifer tried to keep in front of them, watching for the rear hatch to lower and a hand reached out towards hers. She leapt up and grabbed with all her strength, holding on for dear life as the shuttle rose again, acutely aware of the throng of hands reaching for her feet from below.

Savar's hand tightened around Baldric's in an iron vise like grip as he began to pull her up toward the shuttle's entrance inch by agonizing inch. All while the mob vainly clutched at her feet.

The shuttle lifted slightly even as Jenna tried to compensate. Sparks flew from under her console. "Auxiliary power is shot. Compensators are offline, switching to manual!" Jenna announced.

Bonnie was on it, trying to reroute and fix what had already been broken. Savar was lying prone at the back hatch when the shuttle suddenly bucked sideways striking the edge of a nearby building. The building cracked and concrete rocks and dust rained down on the crowd.

Her jaw clenched, Jenna questioned, "Do we have her or not? We've got to go!"

Silence which seemed to last an eternity until Savar's calm and unruffled voice could be heard. "Commander Baldric is safely aboard." If any of the away team happened to look back, they would see Jennifer lying atop Savar who with one desperate pull, yanked her into the shuttle just as it hit a building. The combination of her momentum and the shuttle striking the building causing her to land atop Savar. "Really Commander Ramthorne, calm yourself. We may leave anytime you wish."

Baldric exhaled in relief and rolled onto the floor awkwardly in her envirosuit. She checked it carefully for damage then realized Sarah was watching on from behind a quarantine field.

"What happened?' She asked, climbing to her feet.

"Goop on the suit and a stray shot busted the suits integrity. Safe to assume whatever is out there is now in here" Sarah admitted.

Jenna had the green light, she took it. First she closed the hatch so no one would 'fall out', before lifting the shuttle up and away from the street. The shuttle was heavy, sluggish and Jenna could sense Bonnie was working diligently to repair the attitude compensators to normal. The shuttle took several more phaser blasts.

The shuttle lifted beyond the roof tops, stuttered before continuing to lift. "Come on baby." Jenna said in an effort to coerce the shuttle to carry on.

Without missing a beat, Bonnie plugged away, "Trying Commander, systems are close to a cascading failure. I fix one thing and another fails."

Baldric rolled off the floor and towards the cockpit in one swift maneuver. "Even if we can't escape the atmosphere, let's just get as far away from the population as possible to buy us some time" she commented, rolling out the shoulder that felt ss though it had been pulled from its socket during the lift. She had full faith in Bonnie's abilities but there were some things that were beyond repair and they needed contingency plans.

"If we cannot safely get back to the Sunfire at this time. Then the next step (he resisted saying logical) is to put as much distance as we can between us and the population of this planet. Where we can hopefully make repairs. " Savar spoke from the crew compartment.

Jenna was fiercely determined to return to the ship, but the shuttle was fighting her desire to rise into the sky above. She was determined to try, while at the same time began looking for a landing location away from the populace of the city.

Growing frustrated, Bonnie growled at her console audibly. Her hands danced over the console, though her fingers were hitting harder than usual as she struggled to get it to comply. "Now there's something clogging the intake manifolds. " No sooner had she said it when the shuttle sputtered and dropped a meter. "No, no, no...!"

Defeated, Jenna angled the shuttle downward, selected a site and aimed for it. "It's alright Bonnie, I'll set her down and we'll figure out what's going on." She then glanced at Baldric and then Savar, "Which one of you wants to give the Sunfire the bad news?"

Baldric shrugged. Savar was the ship's XO, since the Captain had returned to her role, Baldric was back to mission advisor. She plonked herself down in the universal console seat and opened a topographical map of the area. There was a series of mountain ranges that seemed to be largely unpopulated. "I recommend we head 130 degrees, 25kms. Do you think she'll make it that far?"

She checked the coordinates against her own map, "No." Jenna said assuredly, "But I'll do my best to try. Better there than back with the crazies."

Bonnie glanced down at Sarah who was looking worse for wear, a thought on her mind other than the repairs. "Was... was there a child down there?" She asked now suddenly worried about the many innocent lives affected by whatever was happening to them.

"I will inform the captain of our situation once we are down and can make a more detailed scan of the shuttle and whether repairs can be made." Savar replied.

"Can we set down somewhere soon, I think I'm gonna puke" Sarah looked green for someone with a cast iron stomach. The shuttle dipped again, losing altitude as they limped their way towards the mountain range.

"Working on it." Jenna said as she struggled to keep the shuttle flying by leveraging the wind currents and terrain to their advantage. It wasn't much but with each dip and rise she was keeping the shuttle in a forward motion.

"3 more clicks, come on Bonnie..." Baldric willed the young officer to work yet another miracle.

Savar glanced at Sarah, "Just a few more moments Sarah and we will be down, hopefully being down and stable will help your complexion if not your stomach as well."

Sarah continued to look green as the shuttle was almost skimming the ground whilst still moving forward for the last km. They had found an uninhabited valley, protected on all sides by mountains capped with snow. It was cold outside with the air tinged with frost. They skidded to a halt, the jolt a little unexpected as they barged unto a large boulder.

"Brace, brace." Jenna stated firmly as the shuttle touched down, bounced and touched down again before coming to a stop. She then turned and provided a half smile, "Not technically a crash, not technically a landing, I'll take the win."

"Ooaf, got it" Baldric joked as the team began to shut down and secure the shuttle.

TBC

 

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