Into the Unknown, Part 2

Posted on Fri Nov 27, 2015 @ 10:35pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

2,888 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: Abora Colony / USS Victory
Timeline: Current

Continued from Part 1

Reaching the shuttle, the Captain boarded the ship and immediately moved towards the back of the cabin where there was space both for the injured woman who was already being tended to by the Doctor, and the two children. She needed somewhere to lay the infant down, and get the little boy safely settled for the flight into orbit which she suspected, based on how strong the storm was outside, would be rather bumpy.

"Strap the boy in here," Nicole said, pointing to a nearby seat. "I'll check on him shortly."

Alec wasted no time strapping the boy in, "You stay here with your mom and sister. Your in charge of watching over them. I have to go up front and start the shuttle."

The boys eyes were as big as saucers, "Y-yes sir! I'll watch them!"

"Good boy. Any problems, you tell Dr. Anderson." Then Alec was gone, heading to the cockpit to get the shuttle ready for launch.

Nicole glanced at him and finished her examination of the adult, then moved on to the boy. He wasn't crying and he wasn't whining so she took that as a good sign and went over the baby carefully. It was a miracle they had survived with as few injuries as they had. The baby was distressed, dehydrated and hungry, but otherwise unharmed. Nicole gave it a quick hypo then rummaged in her bag. "Alpha-wave inducer," she said quietly. She then pulled out a set of inducers from her bag and placed them on the baby's head, activating them. The baby instantly quieted, yawning gently and blinking up at her. She smiled and tapped it on the nose. While she let the inducer keep the baby calm, she moved to the little boy. "How are you feeling?" she said.

"Okay," he said. "But I have to tell you if there's a problem, right?"

"That's right," she said gently. "Is there?"

"No, I'm okay," he said, his voice carrying the naive bravery that only a child can muster, then looked around quickly and back at her. "I'm scared," he whispered.

"That's good," Nicole said. "Only idiots aren't scared in a scary situation. I don't like idiots. I'm glad you aren't one." She smiled and kissed his forehead. "What's your name?"

"Hector," the boy said.

"Hector the protector," Nicole declared, patting his head. "And your sister's name?"

"Jessica. But we call her 'baby Jess,' 'cause she's just a baby still," Hector said

"So I noticed," Nicole said. "The good news is, she's just fine. And your mother will be fine too. You did a good job, Hector." She smiled and gave him another kiss on the forehead before moving back to Jessica and removing the inducer, letting her eyes close and fall asleep. *Let's hope she stays that way,* she thought, sitting back down for a moment and taking a breath.

Behind the cockpit, the Captain was silent, tense and on edge. Something was just wrong. Every instinct in her body was screaming to be alert, that danger was close...but she couldn't determine where that intense sense of danger was coming from.

Inside the cockpit, without Naroot to help, Alec was going through the procedure to lift off and get back to the Victory. The sooner they got there the better he'd feel. Of course, there was still the matter of Rhea stonewalling him but that could wait until they were back on the ship

Restless and alert, the Captain said, "Get a move on Number One. Get this thing in the air while we can," she said. "Redman: scan the area around the ship again. Look for any signs of life out there."

Redman did as ordered, then shook his head "Nothing on the sensors ma'am."

"What about the other team?" Nicole said, trying to keep the worry out of her voice for the sake of their guests.

As if on cue, the hatch opened and Nina, Yarin and Chris launched themselves inside, Chris slapping the contols to close the hatch as he passed by.

(Tag stragglers! Anyone wanna give a witty comment before takeoff?)

"What're the odds," Nicole said, glancing at Rhea.

She didn't answer, instead sat down in a vacant seat and leaned back waiting for the Valkryie to launch. She flexed her hand once more, knuckles cracking as she clenched and then relaxed her fingers.

Nicole's frown was chiseled into her face, but she kept quiet. Hunter didn't need distractions.

Hearing Rhea's 'order' was all the incentive Alec needed once the hatch had closed. "Hope everyone is strapped in, because we are leaving! Next stop: the Victory." With that, Alec engaged the main engines and the shuttle shot into the air, it's engines screaming as it clawed it's way into the upper atmosphere.

The Captain (and everyone else) soon found themselves having to brace against the turbulence that was rocking the ship violently as the vessel climbed through the growing storm.

Nicole reached over and grabbed Chris' hand, squeezing it tightly. "I may throw up on you," she said, bracing herself against her seat.

"What is our ETA?" the Captain called out, voice raised to be heard over the sound of the ship's engines.

Keeping his eyes on the instrument panel as the shuttle bucked like a raft on a raging sea, Alec yelled back, "......and a half minutes, maybe less once we get clear of this heavy stuff. How's everybody holding up back there?"

"At this point.. a better question might be how are we still holding together.." the Captain retorted after a particularly bone-jarring jolt rattled through the Valkryie's structure.

"How? Simple really. It's due to the extraordinary piloting skills I have." Alec said softly. As he battled the forces that threaten to knock the shuttle from the sky.

"Turn the ship and run with the wind.." Kennit called out. "We're getting battered apart...stop fighting the storm and run with it as we head for orbit."

"Now there's a novel idea," Alec muttered as he nonetheless heeded Rhea's suggestion and turned the shuttle and went with the wind. The buffering and being tossed about like rag dolls lessen immediately as he gradually lifted the shuttle's nose and they climbed higher and higher into the atmosphere.

"If you two are done verbally copulating, maybe we could focus on reaching the ship!" Nicole snarled.

"Can we hail the ship yet?" Rhea asked, ignoring the Doctor, that nagging sense of danger once more pushing to the front of her thoughts, wondering if something was wrong.

Alec looked at the instruments, the storm had lost a lot of it's intensity as they had climbed higher and higher into the atmosphere, "Should be, the interference has dropped considerably."

The Captain rose, walking forward to the control cabin and immediate activated the comm system. Standing behind Hunter at the pilot's console, she placed a hand on the back of his seat to steady herself and as she spoke, idly ran the tip of her index finger along the skin at the back of his neck. "Away team to Victory...do you read?"

After a moment, she heard what sounded like Barnes' voice over the comm, "Victory here Captain... it's good to hear your voice." he said. "What's your status?"

"Inbound with three survivors who are in need of medical care." she answered. "What is the ship's status? Have you picked up any indication of who was behind the attack on the colony?"

"The Victory is just like you left her." he reported. "As for whoever did this, we haven't seen hide nor hair of them. But we followed their wake as far as it went... and then it just disappeared." He paused for a moment. "Captain do you need us to beam you and the away team to the ship? Sensors show the Valkyrie a bit the worse for wear."

"Negative," the Captain responded. "We'll be clear of the atmosphere momentarily and from that point we'll be fine.."

Alec felt goosebumps rise along his arms as Rhea's finger idly ran up the base of his neck. It was a nice feeling. As if on cue,the buffering and hammering besetting the Valkyrie suddenly stopped, the ride suddenly smooth, he spoke, "We're clearing the atmosphere now Captain. Should be smooth sailing back to the Victory. "

"Lets hope so.." Kennit replied. Then, speaking via the comm to the crew aboard the Victory she said "Did you hear that? We should be back aboard shortly."

As soon as the shaking stopped, Nicole took a breath to settle her stomach and squeezed Chris' hand before unstrapping herself and jumping back to check on the children.

"All right, Hector?" she said, glancing at the boy as she scanned the baby again. Lucky for Jessica, all the vibrations put her to sleep.

"I think so," he said. The tremble in her voice made her glance, and the boy was looking distinctly green.

Nicole grabbed her bag from by her seat and opened it quickly. "Peppermint sucker," she said, looking into her bag. She reached in and pulled out a small, white lollipop, handing it to him. "Suck on that gently and take a couple deep breaths," she said. As he sucked on his sweet, the color in his face got a bit pinker. Nicole tousled his hair and went back to her seat. "Passengers are doing fine," she said to the Captain.


Alec turned his head to look at Rhea, See? Nothing to it. Next stop the Victory."

She looked down at him, then slowly leaned over with her hand sliding forward over the back of his seat, allowing her fingers to dangle along his collar to brush his skin with a feather-light touch as she leaned close, and then licked her lips slowly before answering, "You really want to impress me.. land this thing without scratching up the paint.."

He looked up at her a slow smile appearing on his face, "Consider it done." As he checked is instruments, "Victory, this Valkyrie shuttle on final approach. Request medical teams to be standing by." He glanced back at her, "Better go and strap in. Make sure the others are as well. We'll be landing shortly."

She smiled again, dropped her head so that her lips were right next to his ear and spoke in a low voice only he could hear to answer, "Still trying to get me tied up are you?"

Then before he could reply she rose and turned, walking back to a seat where she settled down for their arrival and landing back aboard the Victory.

A startled look came to his face. Leaving him momentarily speechless. When he found his voice a smile was on his face. "Wow. Oh wow." he whispered to himself as he gave a quick glance back at her, sitting serenely yet he could swear Rhea had a ghost of a smile on her face before he turned back and made the final course corrections before landing on the Victory.

As soon as it was safe to do so, the Captain opened the external hatch to allow the waiting medical staff to board and assist Dr. Anderson in treating Lt. Naroot and getting her to Sickbay along with the three survivors rescued from the ruins of Abora Colony.

Before the lights came on, Nicole was out of her seat again, unbuckling Hector and Jessica as well as their mother. As her team stepped in she pulled Hector to his feet. "All three, shock, dehydration, malnourished, radiation sickness. Broken bones with the adult. Treatment immediately, check the baby every ten minutes."

"Yes, Doctor," Osika said, then looked at Penny. "What about Lieutenant--"

"I have Naroot," Nicole said. "Now get going."

As her team helped the baby and mother out, Nicole knelt down and looked Hector in the eye. "These people work for me and they're going to take care of you until I can get there. You did a great job back there. Keep going."

Hector nodded, but he was getting wobbly. "Yes ma'am," he said as a nurse picked him up and carried him off. Nicole could almost hear the boy's adrenaline dropping as his head rested on the nurse's shoulder and his eyes closed.

Moving out of the way, she stood and watched as the medical staff summoned by Dr. Anderson to meet them hurried aboard the Valkryie. Looking to the engineering crew present to move the ship back to it's storage bay, she said "I want a complete work up on the ship and systems, that was a pretty rough flight going down to the surface and even more turbulent on the return."

"Aye Captain, we'll give it a complete check." the engineer told her.

"I'll want to see your report once you've finished." Kennit told him.

He nodded. "Aye aye Captain."

Nicole waited behind as everyone exited and pulled Penny out of her chair, wrestling her to the floor. She tapped her combadge and kept her voice low. "Anderson to Torres. As soon as you've met with the Captain, I need you in Sickbay, asap. Anderson out."

"Thank you Chief," the Captain said as she turned, her gaze focusing on the XO who had just exited the ship. She leaned against the Valkryie's hull and waited for him to move closer before she stood straight. "You got my ship all dirty Commander. And now," she added as she ran a hand in a caressing motion over the ship's hull she then held her hand towards him, showing dirt from it's time on the surface on her fingers, "I'm all dirty too. Once I've checked in on the Bridge I'm going to have to call it a night and ago get cleaned up.."

He moved to her, so he was standing right in front of her. It seemed they were getting back on track. "I'm so sorry Captain. I'm happy to offer my services to you in helping you get cleaned up." he offered. "In fact, I think it's my duty to help you get cleaned up. Since I caused your ship and you to get dirty." The last said with a grin.

Shaking her head slowly, Kennit replied "Can't do that yet.. We have 3 survivors to settle, wounded to tend.. there's still work to be done."

"Party-pooper. Well that still leaves time after this is all done."

"I'm going to the bridge to check on things here. See if Dr. Anderson requires any additional assistance to help treat our guests as well as whatever is wrong with Lt. Naroot." the Captain told him. "Unless something else appears on our sensors to give us a reason to linger, we will be getting underway and taking the survivors to a nearby starbase as soon as I can get confirmation on where to drop them off."

Alec nodded, "Right,Then I should go to the bridge as well. I hope Dr.Anderson can find out what's wrong with Naroot and treat her. It sounds like she suffered some sort of seizure." Alec paused for a moment, "Naroot is a good officer. I'd hate to see this side track her career."

The Captain nodded, moving a step closer to him she said, "Come to my quarters this evening, I'll want a full report." With that, she headed toward the exit from the landing bay leaving the XO to see to getting the survivors settled and to assist Dr. Anderson if needed.

"Absolutely Captain, you can count on it." Alec replied as he watched Rhea leave and he went to look after the survivors and see if there was anything he could do to help Anderson, knowing her she'd probably run him out of Sickbay.

Nicole listened to Alec's footsteps recede and listened to make sure the bay was clear. She grabbed Penny's wand from her little black bag and ran it over Penny again, checking her tricorder. She couldn't understand why the readings looked so garbled, then realized it wasn't the readings, it was her eyes. She blinked quickly, letting the buildup of tears drip away. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn't have the time.

"Computer," she said, "lock onto the coordinates for my surgical bay and beam myself and Lt. Naroot there immediately, authorization Anderson Epsilon Three Green."

The computer beeped and she and Penny reappeared in her bay. She picked Penny's body up and put it on the surgical table, taking a moment to put some blonde hair back in place, then turned and walked into Sickbay to wait for Hunter and Torres.

A few moments later, Alec entered Sickbay his eyes searching for Anderson. After a few seconds he found her and made his way to her. "Have you been able to determine what's wrong with Lt.Naroot? It sounded like she suffered some sort of seizure."

"I have the situation in hand," Nicole said, not looking up from the woman they'd brought back as she treated her hand. "You can report that to the Captain. I'll have more details shortly, I hope."

"In hand." He repeated. He was about to press for more information but decided not to push the issue. The away mission had been rough on them all. "I will. Once you have more details, please pass them on."

~*~

 

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