Aftermath

Posted on 12 Mar 2017 @ 8:33am by Lieutenant Colonel Cassandra Blackburn

1,033 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: Moon of Hadronus II
Timeline: ED5 1500

ON

Blackburn spent a few minutes sat on the shingle. The body of Lieutenant Roberts was in front of her, lit dimly by the remains of the nearby fires caused by the crash. She had covered his face with his tunic. The air of the moon was very thin and she was struggling to draw enough oxygen from it. Her anger had gone through its usual phases, and now had subsided into simple sadness.

Her training told her that she had to get moving as the enemy was likely to investigate the crash site, but she didn't apply the urgency to her task as she once would have, all those years ago. After a few more minutes, she stood up and examined herself. Nearly all of her equipment was gone - sank to the bottom of the river when she had cut it away to stop herself drowning. She felt the bruises on her legs with her hands, and noticed that the clothing on her upper right arm was damaged. She cut open the flap of material further with her knife and discovered a small laceration wound on her bicep - only a few centimeters in length, the bleeding had already stopped on its own. Now she knew about it she could feel the sting of the pain there - she pushed it away to the back of her mind.

She shuffled down to Roberts and went through his damp clothing. He still had his equipment belt on - it was far to big for her, so she removed the hand phaser and a few power cells and thrust them into the pockets of her fatigues. She took the small elastic strap that held his trouser leg to his boot and used it to tie her short, scraggly hair back out of her face. Towards the end of her search she found an old style physical photograph in his chest pocket.

She examined the picture in the glow of the dying flames. It had a picture of Roberts and an older couple on it. His parents, she presumed. She frowned, putting it back into his pocket where she had found it. "Pointless." She said quietly to herself, shaking her head slightly.

She picked up the remains of the ruined survival backpack, the straps of which had ironically strangled Roberts underwater. Blackburn had cut one of the straps to free it from Robert's neck, so she slung it over her shoulder using the remaining good strap. There was a hole in the bottom of the main pack which had shed most of it's equipment in the water, but she could feel the shape of a tricorder and a basic medical pack in the secondary compartment, where they were supposed to be. She looked up at the clear night sky, dotted with a million stars and the large, round disc of Hadronus II, before bringing her gaze down onto the horizon. She was in the bottom of a valley, with tall, pine like trees pushing up into the night sky from a tundra surface scattered with loose rocks and small bushes.

She still had her commbadge, but she didn't want to use it until she had more of a handle on her situation. She could end up bringing the enemy down on her, whoever they were. Pulling the strap of the pack tight, she took one final look around the shingle before setting off into the darkness, climbing up the valley side. She wanted to gain height before sunrise, but she had no idea when that would come.

The going was very hard. The lack of oxygen and heavy gravity took it's toll on her pace quickly, and she quickly lost all semblance of tactical movement, slogging hard up the hillside instead. The glow of the planet above just about lit the way, now that the light of the fire had gone. She lost track of time as she concentrated her entire effort on moving forwards, her heavy breathing coinciding with every step. She regretted not maintaining her fitness levels back on the ship.

After she felt sure she'd put a few kilometers between her and the crash site, she stopped and found a small outcrop of rocks. Sitting on one, she emptied the survival pack and found the tricorder and med kit. She found a few tertiary supplies and a foil blanket as well, but everything else was gone - including the rations. She stacked what little equipment she did had on another nearby rock. Her clothes were damp from the combination of the river water and her own sweat, and now that she had stopped she was getting cold. Shivering, she pulled the foil blanket around herself. She didn't dare heat a rock with her phaser or start a fire for fear of detection. She looked down the hillside and could see the orange glow in the aftermath of the fire. The river was still visible but she was sure the water was undrinkable - when she had tried it earlier, it had been very acidic, probably as the result of nearby volcanic activity. She set the tricorder on a passive scan mode to alert her if it picked anything up near her position, but again, she did not dare perform an active scan. Poor electronic emissions discipline had got her shot down in the first place. The small wound in her arm felt a little strange, with a slight tingling sensation. She didn't want to waste the resources of the medkit on such a small injury, though, so she ignored it.

She pulled the foil blanket in tighter. "And that's how she died." She whispered to herself. "Died of exposure and thirst marooned on some damn moon light years from home. Thank you for forcing me on the mission, Rhyan." She buried her head into her jacket, trying in vain to keep warm. She felt the presence of the three dog tags in her jacket pocket, but she was too tired to be angry anymore. Eventually, despite the cold, her mind drifted off into a poor sleep - if only for a moment.

OFF

Major Cassandra Blackburn
OC Marine Detachment
USS Redemption

 

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