Nighthawk's Fall

Posted on Sun Mar 12th, 2017 @ 3:04am by Lieutenant JG Zoe Ellija & Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Lieutenant JG Fe'cia Niatra & Ensign Matt Connor & Lieutenant Élan Val & Lieutenant Isha t'Veralan & Ensign Sarleya D'Nal'khiy

1,235 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Kingdom of Shadows

Isabella yawned as she walked into the Nighthawk’s forward cabin and sat down in her usual seat. She was nearly half an hour early for her assigned shift, but she had been unable to get anything resembling sleep so she had finally decided to check in and see how things were doing. Looking at the screens, she could tell that the Nighthawk was almost to the Beta Circini system. Much to her surprise, Crewman Ellija was already manning the helm, while Lieutenant D’Nal’khiy was still at the science station. The crew rotation she had set up before the Nighthawk had launched had naturally fell into a unique rotation due to the small size of the Nighthawk and the away team, which Isabella had been perfectly happy to allow since it didn’t affect how everyone did their jobs.

Sensing that everyone would need to stir in order to get the survey underway, Isabella leaned forward in her seat and reached out to request a status report of the runabout's systems. She was waiting for the computer to compile the report when the Nighthawk suddenly slammed forward and to the side, throwing Isabella forward into the console as a bank of alarms rang out. “Report!” she called.

Zoe had been content to sit quietly and not draw attention to herself. The original thrill of the mission was gone, mostly due to the everyday boredom of the routine. This was why when the runabout suddenly pitched sideways she yelped and tried to hang on to the armrests of her seat. The commander was calling for a status report, and she didn’t have a clue what was going on either.

Sarleya tumbled out of her seat and landed on the deck of the forward cabin. She rolled sideways and curled up into a ball before she slammed into the bulkhead. The Nighthawk was still rocking, but she managed to stand up and make her way back to the science station.

Élan had been in the middle of eating when the runabout tilted and threw her sideways. She met the bulkhead in a not too friendly way and grunted. "Who the hell is flying this thing?" she muttered.

Isha had been taking a shower when the runabout decided to throw her around the shower stall. She muttered as she tried to brace herself until the runabout stopped rocking, then she stepped out and pulled her uniform over her still wet body. Unfortunately, her wet skin made the uniform cling to her every curve a bit closer than normal. It also made it more difficult to get dressed, but eventually she managed to get dressed before she stepped out of the bathroom and hurried to the forward cabin.

Fe'cia had been curled up in the nest she had made for herself under her bunk. Like all Caitians, she enjoyed a nice warm nest over a bed. It was probably a good thing too, since being wedged under her bunk meant that when the runabout started rocking and banking suddenly she didn't go sliding and tumbling about. She did wake up with her fur spiked out and her claws digging into the deck metal. At the sound of the alarms, she scrambled from under the bed and started getting dressed.

The rocking of the runabout threw Matt out of his bunk. He had been having another dream about the women who were on the runabout, like he had ever since they had launched on the away mission. So far, he had been able to control himself, but that didn't mean it was easy. He was certain that he needed to see what was going on, but he paused long enough to pull his pants and uniform shirt on. Right behind him was Petty Officer Graves, who had been dealing with the same issues Matt had when it came to being cooped up with so many women at one time.

Isabella blinked at the readouts on her console. Nothing made sense, the primary sensors were offline for some unknown reason, most likely they had been damaged, and now there was apparently a hull breach. "Everyone, action stations!" she called.

"Ma'am, we have multiple micro hull breaches throughout the craft. My best guess going by the sensor logs is that we flew through a micro meteor field. The primary shields weren't online to deflect them," Zoe reported as she tried to switch the flight controls to manual.

"That would be my guess as well," Isabella said as she struggled into the crash harness built into her seat. "Do we have enough systems control to safely land on a nearby planet?"

"The warp drive took a hit, but we're close enough to a star system that I can get us there before we lose oxygen," Zoe said as she finally managed to take manual control. Banking the Nighthawk, she aimed the bow of the runabout towards a nearby binary star system and opened the impulse throttle to maximum.

"Commander, the system has four planets, I'd recommend one of the two closest to the primary star," Surely suggested from the science station.

"Agreed," Isabella said.

Élan burst through the door to the cockpit and made a beeline for one of the empty stations. Throwing herself into the seat, she strapped in and prayed that she was safe and sound back on the Endeavour.

Isha managed to make it to the forward cabin and find an empty seat. Struggling into the crash harness, she glanced at the console readouts and hissed. "Commander, most of our primary systems are offline, including long rang sensors and communications."

"Commander, I'm heading towards the first planet in the system. ETA five minutes, and it's going to be rough," Zoe said as she wrestled with the controls.

"Understood," Isabella said as she tapped her commbadge. "All hands, brace for crash landing," she said.

Matt muttered "Oh no" as he hurried to the crash seats mounted in the back cabin of the runabout. From somewhere, he could hear the sound of air escaping from somewhere. He and the petty officer both reached the back crash seats and strapped in.

Fe'cia heard the order to brace for impact, and knowing that she couldn't get to the front cabin she hurried towards the back. Both of the security guys who had tagged along for the ride were already there. She bounced into a crash seat and strapped in before she tucked her tail under her and closed her eyes.

Zoe clenched her teeth as she fought the controls. The Nighthawk had made it to the planet, but the runabout felt as if it would break apart at any moment. As the Nighthawk entered the atmosphere, Zoe could feel the runabout as it struggled through a crosswind. "This is going to suck," she muttered. The Nighthawk shuddered as Zoe fired the atmospheric thrusters, then shuddered again as they gave out. "Flight systems shutting down," she reported. Looking out through the forward viewport, she gulped as the runabout raced to meet the ground. "Brace for impact!" she called.

The Nighthawk quickly fell through the sky of the unnamed planet and crashed hard into the rocky ground. Bouncing once back into the air, the runabout slammed down a second time and rolled several times before sliding to a stop, throwing up a large cloud of thick dust into the air.


To be continued...

 

RSS Feed