A Place to Rest
Posted on Sun Mar 26th, 2017 @ 4:26pm by Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Lieutenant JG Fe'cia Niatra & Ensign Matt Connor & Lieutenant Élan Val & Lieutenant Isha t'Veralan & Lieutenant JG Zoe Ellija & Ensign Sarleya D'Nal'khiy
1,263 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission: The Kingdom of Shadows
The other surviving members of the away team several meters behind her, Isabella paused for a moment to catch her breath as she reached the base of the rocky cliff that the team had been walking towards for what seemed to be hours. She took a quick drink of water from the canteen that had been a part of the survival gear she had grabbed before she replaced it in its case before she grabbed her tricorder, opened it, and started scanning the base of the cliff face. As she suspected, there were a number of caves dotting the cliff face, but some ran deep underground while others were still too far off for her to get an accurate scan. There were a couple that might do for the team to use as shelter until everyone could get rested, and Isabella knew that they desperately needed to tend to Lieutenant Niatra's wound soon.
Turning to face the others as they arrived where she was standing, Isabella pointed to the closest shallow cave. "We'll head to that cave there and rest for a bit," she said.
"Sounds good to me," Élan said as she shifted the heavy survival pack on her shoulders. To add to the discomfort the pack was causing, her stomach was growling and Val was moving about to 'voice' her discomfort as well. It was making the Trill overall rather unhappy.
Isha scanned the horizon that surrounded the team on three sides before she turned her attention to the cliff face and the ridgeline. "Commander, we should take a careful look at any cave we decide to use for cover. We haven't seen any local life forms yet, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any," the Romulan officer said.
"I agree," Sarleya said, nodding her head in agreement as she tossed the two duffel bags full of supplies that she had been carrying to the ground. "I'm guessing that this planet has a lot of exposure to the sunlight, so any native life forms may be nocturnal and therefore cave dwellers."
"I've thought of that. I really don't want to go any further into a cave than we need to, but we need shelter to rest and recover, if only for a little while," Isabella said with a slight shudder as she suppressed the horrible memories of what had happened the last time she had entered a cave. "Isha, I want you to scout ahead and check out the cave I pointed out. We'll follow and wait for you to check it out at the cave entrance."
Isha nodded and silently started off towards the cave, her phaser rifle held at the ready.
"Can we go ahead and follow her now and wait for her to check the cave?" Zoe asked as she checked the pack she was carrying.
"What's the matter, too much work for you?" Matt growled as he shifted Lieutenant Niatra's weight carefully. Having to carry the wounded Caitian in the desert heat, he wasn't in a very good mood, specially to deal with the crewman who had don't nothing but complain most of the time.
"That's enough, Ensign," Isabella said, cutting any reply from Zoe off before she could form one. The disrespectful attitude that Connor was taking against the sole surviving enlisted member of the team had long since worn her patience down, and she was rapidly getting tired of it. "We'll go ahead and set off after Lieutenant Veralan, since we're slightly slower than her as far as movement is concerned. Let's move."
Zoe silently nodded and followed after the executive officer, sparing a very brief moment to send a hateful glare towards the security officer as she did so.
Fe'cia stirred briefly, long enough to overhear some of the verbal interactions between the others. She couldn't do much, since having a piece of metal lodged in your side naturally limited you to what you could do, but she nuzzled Connor once he had started walking again. "You should be nicer to the young one. She's having a difficult enough time without you having to be so hard on her," Fe'cia said.
"She's the reason we're in this mess," Matt said quietly as he carefully set off after the rest of the team. "We should have brought a helm officer with more training and experience."
"She did the best she could considering the situation," Fe'cia responded.
Matt silently gave the Caitian a wordless glare before he simply shut his mouth and focused on not dropping the wounded science officer.
The group all arrived at the cave entrance roughly at the same time, with Isha arriving first and dropping the majority of the gear she was carrying except the phaser rifle. Flipping the attached flashlight on, she began a slow, methodical scan of the cave. The cave wasn't very deep, going only twelve meters before it ended in a solid stone wall. After her visual inspection was complete, Isha took her tricorder and began a second slow, careful sweep with the device. Finding nothing wrong with the cave, she nodded and replaced her tricorder and turned the light off before she returned to the cave entrance.
"It's a short distance before the cave ends in a wall. Solid stone all around after the first three meters, there's decent light from outside roughly half way into the cave" Isha reported.
"Very well. We'll head inside to the stone area and set up a camp area," Isabella said as she nodded and waved everyone else inside. "We'll also need to set up the signal lights so I can operate on Lieutenant Niatra. Isha, I need you to take first watch. Élan, I may need you to help me."
Isha nodded and found a decent place at the entrance of the cave to set up a watch post before she settled in.
Élan nodded and dragged the supplies she had been carrying to the designated spot. Setting everything down, she started setting up the equipment that the first officer would need to operate.
Zoe didn't know what exactly she should be doing, so while the science officer was setting up a surgical area for the emergency field operation she started setting up a camp area. There wasn't any wood, but they had a few camp fire lights that would do for lighting for now. Setting up the few tents they had recovered, she started searching for sleeping bags and getting everything set up.
Matt waited until Lieutenant Val had set up an area for Lieutenant Niatra before he set the Caitian down and backed away. Seeing Crewman Ellija busy setting up the camp, he backed away and sat down nearby, pulling his hand phaser out and setting up a watch.
Isabella set the gear she had been carrying down before she knelt down beside the wounded Niatra and opened the two medical kits they had recovered from the Nighthawk. Digging through the supplies, she found a single dermal regenerator among the equipment as well painfully few medications. Turning towards Lieutenant Niatra, Isabella offered a small nod as she loaded a hypospray with a mixture of Rexalin and Phetetalin.
"Fe'cia, I'm giving you a shot of painkillers and antibiotics. I don't have anything to use as a local, so I'm afraid you're going to feel everything I'm about to do," she said. Without further warning, mostly due to the fact that she was afraid that the Caitian might tense up and make it more difficult, Isabella grabbed the scalpel from the surgical kit and started operating.
To be continued...
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