((OOC: This is an extended introduction to the Gainsborough survival rp. Those participating; feel free to introduce your characters here. This will largely take place as a forum rp, but will give way to some live rp as it progresses too!))
Mischa huffed and blew a stray strand of usually well kept hair from her face as she watched the hatch seal on the last of the escape pods. Regardless of all the command training she had undergone, the young woman had never aspired to starship command for want of avoiding days such as this.
Whilst she had no intent of seeing out her brief stint in command of the Gainsborough with a Klingon'esque final moment of glory by going down with the ship; she was still a woman of honour in her own English way and so felt duty bound to ensure that she was at least the last person off the Gainsborough, and that duty had now been fulfilled as the last of their guests from the fleet departed.
She shielded her face as yet another power conduit blew overhead - showering her in sparks, "Warning: Ev-evacuation in pro-pro-p..." came the less monotonous sounding voice of the increasingly sentient Gainsborough computer. As basic as it was, Mischa was still struck with an overwhelming sense of admiration for how their computer had evolved. Most notably with it's morality as self sacrifice is a big ask of any sentient mind, let alone one which is still in it's infancy. She smiled thoughtfully - though the underlying sadness could not be obscured - briefly feeling a sense of pride with the thought that perhaps - in some small way - the crews actions during their time on board had helped shape the mind that was now working tirelessly to save it's crew.
"Thank you..." she mused out loud - still uncertain if the computer could truly comprehend the gravitas of her gratitude, not that it stopped her from expressing it as she ran a hand thoughtfully over the arch surrounding the inner bridge consoles as she moved to her escape pod. Mischa worked quickly to secure the pod for launch as another small explosion rocked the ship; bulkheads collapsing from above the bridge as the transparent dome above imploded. The air rushed out of the bridge with a sea of debris which tore the breach further as the hatch of her pod sealed. "S-s-safe journeys." came the computers voice through her combadge, causing an uncontrollable quiver of Mischa's bottom lip as a tear escaped one of her eyes and she hit the eject button.
Mischa was thrust backwards in her seat as the escape launched and rocketed away from the Gainsborough before settling into a standard cruising speed that the small pods inertial dampeners could manage. As the pod slowly drifted away, Mischa could see the sad remains of the Gainsborough sat amidst the debris of their task force and in that moment she knew; she had made the right the decision in evacuating the ship. For as she watched the ship shrink into the distance, she was momentarily blinded by the flash of an explosion as the Gainsborough's core breached.
Shielding her eyes, Mischa fought with the escape pods controls to counter the turbulence as the shockwave struck the pod. She was at a safe enough distance that it had largely dissipated by the time it struck her pod, but it was still a rough ride. The escape pod was suddenly rocked violently once more as it collided with a chunk of debris - Mischa only got a glimpse but saw that it appeared to be a nacelle from the Caelian. She gritted her teeth as the escape pod tumbled through space before being struck by a different turbulence. Mischa looked out of the viewport in awe as the giant enemy dreadnought passed right overhead before a wormhole opened off it's bow, "Bugger..." she cursed out loud as she felt her pod pull unwillingly towards the event horizon, there was no way it's small thrusters could counter the pull so she opted to use them to try and steer the pod in an optimal course to lessen the impact.
As the escape pod got pulled into the wormhole, the turbulence grew in severity. It was all Mischa could do to grip the small console in front of her as the pod tumbled through the anomaly. The dreadnought ploughed ahead at greater speed and soon exited it's artificial wormhole; causing the anomaly to collapse. In doing so, Mischa's escape pod was thrown back into normal space as well - albeit a long way short of the same event horizon. The pod continued to tumble through space as it entered the gravitational pull of a planet. Mischa could just about make out the looming planetary body as it circled past her small viewport over and over. She fought the turbulence with a gritted determination as she attempted to move her hand across the console to trigger the landing thrusters and stabilize the pod's trajectory.
It took longer than desired, and the pod was already burning through the unknown world's upper atmosphere before she was able to trigger the landing sequence. Coupled with the extreme velocity of it's approach, the pod's thrusters were unable to complete the deceleration process - evident as the structure began to fail and the viewport cracked under the pressure. Mischa braced as the atmospheric pressure exerted increasing force on the pod and inhaled deeply with the anticipated decompression.
The pod plummeted through the atmosphere with a sharp whistle to the interior as the seals were failing and air was rushing in. With her breath held and eyes closed, Mischa gripped tightly on the sides of her seat as she awaited the inevitable. The pod levelled out to some degree but bounced as it impacted the ground at high velocity; skidding through a wild landscape and ricocheting off trees left and right before eventually slowing to a halt on the bank of a body of water.
With the pod halted, Mischa immediately grabbed a rebreather which she strapped around her head before opening her eyes, as the wind had been knocked out of her by the rough landing. The pods canopy had indeed been compromised and a thick fog was already filling it's interior - blending it with the view outside. As she took stock of herself to first determine the lack of serious injury, Mischa unstrapped from her seat and hit the control to blow open the hatch. It launched backwards from the crashed pod to land several feet away with a dull thud as Mischa stumbled out.
She looked around to assess her surroundings and found the view to be largely unhelpful due to the thick fog. As she slowly controlled her breathing, Mischa worked her way around the pod to peel open the emergency supplies hatch and retrieve a tricorder. Scanning her surroundings, she confirmed a breathable - albeit thin - atmosphere and peeled the rebreather from her face, drawing a deep breath of natural air as she slumped back against the side of the escape pod - which still steamed from it's overheated hull cooling rapidly in the damp jungle ground, glancing down at the already less than pristine appearance of her uniform. She saw multiple ladders in her stockings and chuckled at how utterly inappropriate this attire was, here of all places, "Well, that could have gone better..."
Some of the local wildlife looked down apprehensively from the canopy high above; sunlight streaking down where it could squeeze through to cast a spotlight on the alien intruder to their habitat. One thing was certain; wherever Mischa was now; she was not alone.
Ghadruiil had been coiled up in a huge mass of scales, with the entrails of some creature laid out in a spiral around him. While the humans and other beings on the Gainsborough found it barbaric, repulsive, or at best morbidly interesting, to Ghadruil this was a matter of faith. This snake-like creature was one of the high priests on his homeworld of Aurking, a tropical world that to the Federation seemed to be uninhabited by anything sentient. In truth, the Korlackress had been living underground for a thousand years, swearing off space travel and technological advancement for fear of causing ecological destruction or another war in space like the on that almost wiped out their species. Even now they were still experiencing the effects of the war that sent them into hiding, a bioweapon that weakened their eggs, severely decreasing the amount of Korlackress that could be born.
When the Federation encountered his species, Ghadruil decided to join the Gainsborough as a guide, offering what limited information he could about the unexplored space they were in, which was once partially ruled by the Korlackress Empire for a brief amount of time. In recent months, however, Ghadruil had become more secluded and had less and less interaction with the Gainsborough crew. He had failed his mission, to find any Korlackress colonies that were still alive or even any evidence of them. He never disclosed to any aliens that this was his mission, and thus he had no reason to return home. So he stayed aboard the Gainsborough, mostly acting as a representative for his species as they prepared to return to the galaxy. And so it was that right before the Gainsborough had been destroyed, this high priest was doing one of his ritual prayers.
"To the god of night and death, whose great body comes for us all and brings terror to remind us we are still alive. To the god of fear, who endows us with respect and-" Ghadruil's prayers were suddenly cut off as the Gainsborough rocked back and forth. It wasn't unusual for there to be a fight, and so he tried to brush it off and continued with his prayers. "To the god of fear, who-" The ship rocked again, more violently than before. He uncoiled from his mass and prepared to make his way to the bridge to see what was going on when a bulkhead fell and blocked the path. Suddenly an announcement for evacuation sounded overhead. The Korlackress were not ones to run away from death or a fight, and so he braced himself against a bulkhead and stayed on for a bit longer. That was the plan, at least, until he saw the enemy ship through the viewport. "To the god of fear, who endows us with respect and reminds us when we are inferior." Knowing that the ship wouldn't last long against whatever this enemy was, Ghadruil raced to an escape pod, easily being able to squirm through the rubble and debris in his way. Once he squeezed all twenty feet of himself in there he ejected the escape pod, but not before a final rocking of the ship caused him to hit his head and lose consciousness.
A few hours later he awoke and found himself on a planet. Upon opening the door he found it to be a tropical rainforest, not unlike his home, though the gravity wasn't as low, nor the oxygen levels as high. This was a new world, and it looked uninhabited. Now seemed like a good time for the priest to finish his prayer, before looking for other survivors. "And to the god of the unknown, who is the enemy of prosperity, but shall not be trifled with lest one wishes to invite deah."
The streaks continued down to the ground, aiming at the jungle. Zooming in with the binoculars, the devices analyzed for ablation patterns. After the two objects had landed she was sure of it. Those were meteorites, they were small craft. What's more her analyzer had confirmed breaking thrusters slowed them down. Escape pods most likely. That would fit the bill.
The young woman folded up the analyzer binoculars and stuffed them into a pouch on her vest. The dark auburn haired girl had a tan complexion and a very human appearance until you got past her hair enough to see the rather faint Trill-like spots on the sides of her head. Her dress could be described best as military field gear, non-Federation for sure.
She leaned back against a nearby rock, she was standing on a high point, a cliff overlooking the jungle. She's only been on this planet a few days and could guess these new arrivals likely came here due to the same reason she did, a scuffle with some overpowered ships a bit too happy to cause damage. Due to the area they'd been in, she could guess the pods were statistically from a Starfleet ship. The only reason she'd been in there was for a job with her people on a Federation world nearby. Wrong place, wrong time it would seem.
She gets up finally, deciding to check out if these people were alive. Worst case scenario.. the pods might have some useful stuff she could try to fix her ship with, otherwise... maybe helping Starfleet people will earn her some points for once. She sets off down a path toward the jungle.
A third escape pod came down just behind the two, its falling form visible even through the thick fog that covered the surface of the entire world. This one did not drop into the jungle however; it was instead hurtling towards a nearby mountain range. Whatever breaking mechanisms it possessed appeared to have failed as it collided with the massive formation that loomed in the distance. For a moment it faded from view, and then it could be seen again, though this time its shape was no longer discernible and it was identifiable only from the thick line of smoke that trailed behind it. The black plume polluted the pale mists, marking the pod's new trajectory which was presumably altered not manually, but by the impact with the mountains.
The trail ended somewhere in the jungle, a loud thud signalling its contact with the underbrush but reverberating all the way to the canopy. There were possibly flames or even an explosion, but whatever light was there had been completely blocked out by the intense fog. Only smoke could still be seen from the crash site, reaching desperately for the sky but growing fainter the higher it rose, like Icarus' ill-fated escape.
The sound of the more violent crash woke the jungle, and the cries of its creatures echoed across the morning mists. Between the scampering of fleeing scavengers and the howls of hungry predators, the entire jungle was now aware of the new arrivals, and some were sure to take this intrusion aggressively...
Mischa looked skyward as a sonic boom signalled another escape pod bursting through the atmosphere. She felt oddly relieved that she was not the only one who had had been pulled through the wormhole, though her elation was short lived as an explosion thundered out from the mountains; it was less than promising, but it was still a glimmer of hope and she she must try to reach the other pod. Mischa could only hope that if any others arrived before she did, that she would find signs of them on the way.
Before setting out she took stock of her surroundings and found that her tricorder bad a frustratingly limited range due to the environmental conditions. The water she splashed down into proved to be highly sulphuric also so that was no help. She was able to fashion a container from supplies in the shuttle and drain some freshly fallen rain water from the large fern leaves surrounding the water bank and fill her container. She also stripped all the emergency food provisions and medkit supplies from the escape pod and fashioned a rough belt from some vines to string them loosely around her waist.
"Figures..." she sighed as she attempted to activate the pods distress pulser; it was completely fried and beyond repair. She could only hope now that something was more salvageable from the other pod. Her preparation was complete by the addition of a tricorder and phaser clipped to the belt of her uniform. The calls of the jungle creatures suggested she would need at least one of these devices at short notice...
She slowly regained consciousness. Pain was the first to greet the young girl which had her groaning. There was a sharp pain in her arm. Something wet was getting in her eyes and blurring her vision and something wet was soaking her legs and moving up her body. When she regained her vision she saw that she was sinking! Then looking to her left there was another unconscious body. No.. No that wasn't quite right otherwise the person pestering her to move herself would also be pestering the other person. She didn't have time to mourn the lost of the person in the other seat. The sinking of the shuttle was fast. She unbuckled her seat which was not possible for the woman trying to stir her from her chair previously and she dropped for a moment but was pulled out from the muck by her rescuer. The two had to climb up to the opening in the shuttle which was painful for Roroa because of her injuries. The two jumped out and made it over to dry land.
Looking back, Roroa watched as the shuttle was being eaten by a swamp. Not literally, of course, but because of the weight of the shuttle it was certainly going down which was a blow to their survival chances since the shuttle provided shelter and they were in an alien terrain. Of course immediately she thought of where her sister was who did not make it to the Gainsborough shuttle that Roroa had been hustled into and launched. Thinking back it was only the three of them that made it to the shuttle before that had to launch. Everything happened rather quickly. From typical Roroa day to fighting time for survival. That person. That dead person. A child like herself, a friend even, no more.
"Here let me look at that for you."
The woman requested and tended to her injuries with tools from a medical kit. The other person who made it to the shuttle and flew them out from the Gainsborough. Her uniform though scuffed was that of a engineer. She was young, Roroa spotted ensign pips on her collar, a Human it looked like. Roroa then recalled her stating her name, Wanda, such an unusual name. She listened to Wanda state that she was probably in shock and that was expected but that she needed to snap out of it and they needed to find shelter. This was true. Although this was a breathable atmosphere and habitable terrain there was no knowing what to expect when the sun(s) set. The climate could shift drastically to a point where they couldn't survive without some sense of controlled temperature.
"I need your help. Take what you can carry from over there."
The shuttle was unable to be access by now through normal means due to its condition in the swamp.
"Okay.."
Finally her voice came back and she broke from her shocked shutdown-like expression and stance. She looked over where Wanda had hastily thrown an assortment of survivable supplies. As Wanda went over to the assortment and begun to prepare herself to carry what she could, Roroa watched things show up. First of all the rations came into view, they were stored into a back carrying device which Roroa could only think of it being a.. Backpack. Along with the rations being stored in there came a spare phaser, survival kit, communicator, tricorder, and two sets of additional clothing that was packaged. She made up another backpack for Roroa to carry with similar items within and handed her a phaser and a tricorder. Roroa was wearing a belt so it was easy to attach both items to herself rather than having nowhere to place them. She strapped the backpack to herself and found that it added quite a bit of weight.
Wanda took out her tricorder that while unable to get a proper scan on lifeforms did pick up the terrain at just a small distance ahead. Using her Ensign abilities she made the decision to go in a direction which Roroa had no idea why it was picked. But first Wanda directed Roroa to a Starfleet container and requested help in carrying it with her. The both of them combined lifted the container and Roroa got her first taste of struggling to survive outside of her Federation comfort zone. The container was painfully heavy, movement was shorten because of it, it wasn't friendly to her recently damaged arm. Wanda however insisted that it was crucial to their survival so Roroa stuck it out. After thirty minutes of going in one direction, the pair stopped to take a break.
"What is in here?"
"A multi purpose solar energy device with emitters capable of creating force fields. Only at low level though but if we find a cave I can use one of the spare emitters to re purpose as a beacon for any other survivors. If the wormhole brought other people to this planet. It could have sent them somewhere else for all we know."
"You think my sister is alright?"
There was a long pause. Wanda didn't have any young siblings or children. This was the longest extended interaction with a child that she had for quite a while.
"I saw a lot of escape pods leaving the Gainsborough. Chances are she was on one of them. Okay! Lets continue!"
Her more or less leisurely trip had turned quickly into a run after the third pod crashed into the mountain side and apparently exploded. Add to that her tactical display pinged a shuttle coming down. How her signal was so good here was a bit of a mystery to her, but her entire equipment load out was built by The Twins back at Halation, and the two Romulan inventors were as far as Antia was concerned, practitioners of dark magic.. The shuttle was far more interesting but it went down in an area Antia had already checked, she knew it was a swamp, the shuttle would have sank deep into the waters by now.
"Hnaev..." she said to herself. She was a pilot and generally well trained to take care of herself. The exploded escape pod? She already knew the chances were high anyone there was dead. There was not much worth heading in that direction.. but it was the easiest to find due to the smoke and the sound. Everyone would see and hear that. Plus some silly thing about Starfleet people never giving up until they see for sure, yadda yadda...
They'd all go for that one.
At this point Antia was closer to the second pod ((read: Osi's)), but she knew it was better now to course correct for the mountain pass. Maybe she'd run into any of these people on the way.
There was another issue, the damn explosion woke everything up. The swarm bats were the worst. Antia had her rapid fire pistol though which was fast enough to peg scores of them. It was her second night here though she realized they didn't much like her music. The day after she had started lining the trees with patches from a disassembled stun grenade and set up a frequency detonator in her display that let her trigger the nano charges within the material. Unlike flash bangs which make a percussive sound with a bright light, this was a high frequency stunner. The material when activated went under rapid vibrations that causes quite a high pitched jab in the surrounding air. The atmospheric composition helped to. She was luck she had a box of them in her ship and one grenade was enough to line a decent patch in the jungle. She'd created several paths she could activate independently in a hurry.
As she bolted through the trees, sure enough, there they were, they had started a chase, following on her auditory wake.
"I guess I play hard to get too much... but I just am not that enticed..." she said out loud as if the creatures could understand. She flipped over a nearby trunk, and let loose a rapid fire volley. Her weapon was essentially a plasma needler. Instead of bolts, it fired quick and fast pricks of plasma and it did so in very fast succession. The problem with the swarmers was they all liked to group so close together to cloud their target... but it made them easy to catch each other on fire too. After slowing them down she sprinted ahead a bit and lit up the path behind her. For a second an ear splitting screech could be heard and after a few more seconds of sprinting she could slow down. Nothing was following her.
Well that wasn't true. Steve was still following her. He'd been following her for over a day now. He was one of the bigger animals, but he seemed to enjoy his hunt. She'd had to watch for a few close calls. The creature had tried to trap her a couple times already. He also had come back even after she'd shooed away other things like the swarmers. She couldn't see him right now, but he was always around on the jungle floor. He knew she'd come back, and the screech bomb she just lit off meant he probably was watching her by now.
She was ok for now though, he liked to wait until nightfall to make his attacks. Reminded Antia of the stories of Kaa'hzz which lived on the Rihannsu jungle planet of Ch'Shrrh. Those things freaked her out... cause they were unbelievably fast and had a creepy grin on their face due to how their jaw was structured. She'd imagined Steve was similar.. but she'd yet to get a good look at him. He was also fast. She had to waste one of her micro-photon shells just to make him give up the first night. The second she nearly got him with a folding bat'leth one of her Klingon friends in LF had gifted to her. She didn't hurt him, he crashed off of it and jumped away. There were times in quiet moments she heard him stalking nearby, but there was no point in trying to chase him down. He was far more in control here.
The worst of it all was that at night, Antia was at her most vulnerable... she hated the dark.
For now she made for a quick pace to the mountain pass. If she could get out of the thicker jungle area, Steve might not be able to as easily mount his next offensive.
The evening was starting to fall on the planet, and while the aliens on the Gainsborough would likely find the night more of a challenge, Ghadruil looked to it with what could be described as glee, if only Korlackresses had such emotion and the situation was less dire. Unlike the warp-capable species that had yet to figure out that interstellar travel was a great folly, the Korlackress had kept their roots of being predators. Jungles like the one he was in now covered the poles of Aurking, and there his species didn't just survive, they thrived. Of course, while survival wouldn't be a challenge for Ghadruil, other things would be. The planet's atmosphere was thin for Federation standards, and even on the Gainsborough Ghadruil had to have his residence supplied with extra oxygen. Concessions had to be made, he wouldn't be able to expend effort climbing or attempting to glide, nor would he be able to expend extra effort lifting his body upright, finally he would have to make sure that his hunting was done through ambushes, and not through chases. It was, for this reason, that night favored him, for his dark body could hide perfectly to camouflage himself from any unsuspecting prey.
The situation still wasn't ideal though, and so before the night came, he sought out other crashed parties. Though his reliance on echolocation made it impossible for him to see any other pods land, he had heard some falling. Finding other people might be a chance to find a respirator and a chance to get home - but his goal lied more with the former. Survival was more important than comfort at the moment, and so with all this in mind he set out through the forest, making sure to slither close to the ground and conserve energy.
((OOC: If people in the jungle want to have Ghadruil happen upon them soon, feel free to. This could happen either the evening/night of the crash or the following days. He won't be staying in one place.))
Mischa had already lost track of the hours for which she had been walking. Every so often she would turn her gaze skyward to try and get a glimpse of whatever sun or suns illuminated this alien world - but to no avail - the thick mist which hung throughout the jungle floor seldom parted enough to even see the high tree canopy above, let alone beyond it. She could only hope that visibility would improve once she reached the mountains.
Pausing to rest her legs, she sat herself down on rock and took a tentative sip of her gathered water. As she sat taking in the sights and sounds of the jungle - her senses becoming increasingly acclimatized with each passing moment spent there - she heard what sounded like panicked shouting and yelling. Quickly stowing her water bottle, she drew her phaser and proceeded cautiously in what she felt was the direction of the sound. Getting closer she could more confidently make out the muffled voices of two people speaking basic and she knew they almost certainly had to be members of her crew.
Picking up her pace, she brushed through the overgrowth until she caught sight of the escape pod. It had landed nose down and was partly buried by the velocity of it's impact. Atop the escape pod was a young officer in a Starfleet uniform - human appearance as best as she could make out - knelt and seemingly attempting to aid someone else out of the pod. Mischa's heart jumped with a pang of relief at seeing she was not alone here, though her elation was short lived.
Before she could approach to a safe enough distance to call out to the officer, he succeeded in pulling a second officer from the pod - clearly a female, and seemingly Rigellian. Wasting no time in escaping the pod; the human helped the Rigellian to her feet before lowering her off the side of the pod and dropping her safely to the floor. He was about to hop down alongside her when he paused, having noticed Mischa's movement. She called out through the mist, "It's alright - I'm from the ship too"
"Oh, thank th-..." The Rigellian woman started to call back, but was quickly cut short as she let out a terrified scream. Mischa ran as fast as her legs could carry to her reach the officers - all to the sounds of more muffled screams from the Rigellian and panicked yelling form the Human. She neared to a visible range just in time to see the woman's torso - wrapped in tentacles - and pulling rapidly into the ground. Mischa's eyes widened at the sight and as quick as she was to draw her phaser, she could not get enough shots off to release all the tentacles from their grasp of the officer - even assuming she could hit them all first time. Bringing the weapon to bare, she hesitated briefly as she tried to find something to aim at - anything - but in that fleeting moment she knew she had only viable course, and it was not one that she liked. Narrowing her eyes, she focused on the Rigellian and called out to her, "I... I'm sorry!" the woman struggled against the tentacles grasp as the human stood powerless atop the escape pod behind her, "D-... do it... p-... please!" she called back; the pained expression in her teary eyes told Mischa she was doing the right thing. With a short blast from the phaser, the Rigellian woman's form turned briefly to a pulse of light before fading to dust and ash; the tentacles flailing frantically at the sudden loss of their prey.
Mischa bowed her head solemnly, though had no time to mourn as the ground began to shake beneath her. She leapt to the side as another large tentacle burst through the soil where she had been standing - firing again as she landed on her side. The first shot missed, but the second struck the base of the tentacle which appeared much shorter at this range - apparently right at the limit of whatever it was reaching for her. Scrambling to her feet, she fired a wide beam towards the area which had been pulling the officer in and a piercing screech sounded out as the tentacles receded - whatever it was, it was more than a carnivorous plant - it was a living creature. Mischa relaxed momentarily as she suspected it had been sufficiently placated, though to her horror; a large tentacle shot up from creatures maw - crashing against the side of the escape pod - as the human officer on top stumbled to hold his footing, the tentacle grasped tightly around his torso and yanked him into the ground.
A stunned Mischa dropped to her knees is despair as she stared at the dreaded maw - gurgling away while it's tentacles twirled back to a resting position on the ground with an almost elegant movement to them. She shook the despair from her mind after a few moments to catch her breath and resolved to press on before the dangers of this jungle caught up to her. Turning her back to return to her predetermined trail however, she was interrupted by a prolonged gurgling noise from the creatures maw. She paused and glanced back over her shoulder to see the human officer slowly emerge from the maw, though not of his own will; it was almost as though the creature had changed it's mind gently returned him to lay on the ground.
Mischa turned - one hand still hovering over her holstered phaser - and she narrowed her eyes in focus to see him moving, "Come on!" she called out, holding an open hand to him. The mere groan of a response spoke volumes as to his condition, but she persisted, "God dammit man, get your arse up and over here. Right. Now... that's an order!" She demanded - hoping that the classic psychology of enforcing discipline to snap someone out of shock would work. The human lifted his head to focus his eyes on Mischa's form as she strained her arm and edged as close to her previous position as she dare.
It worked, the man was clearly sore but his shaking arms pushed him back up to his feet enough that he could stumble forward into her arms. She caught him clumsily and dragged him further back before laying him against the base of a large tree. She was no medic, but knew enough to ensure he was compos mentis. Following an tricorder scan which yielded no results and an obligatory sip of water, she knelt by his side, "Better?" she asked in a more natural and soft tone, to which he simply nodded. He looked back to her - more in focus now - "Y-you are the XO, right? Reportin-... eugh!... -reporting for d-...duty, ma'am..." he coughed and clutched at his side as he groaned in agony. "Take it easy, that... thing gave you quite the rough ride, but you're out now" she smiled, "What's your name?"
He offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile in return, though it could not mask the pain he was clearly in still, "Lieu... *cough*... lieutenant Garvey, Ma'am". Mischa set a hand on his shoulder, Lieutenant; I am sorry about..." she began an attempt to explain the disintegration of the Rigellian, but he shook his head and grasped tightly at her hand as is sat on his shoulder, "You did what... what was necessary. I... I think I can move now, ma'am"
With a less than assured look on her face, Mischa still knew that they had to keep moving and so reluctantly pulled Garvy to his feet, "Fine, let's get moving. I know there's at least one other pod here - we have to find them." And so they pressed on through the unforgiving jungle, albeit at a reduced pace now.
Both Roroa and Wanda heard nothing of the chaos going on elsewhere on this planet. It would seem the two were on the other side of a mountain compared to the majority of the other survivors. Perhaps that was their fortune for they were avoiding a lot of the dangerous encounters the others came across or perhaps it was misfortune considering that it was better to be in numbers. Although Wanda was a friendly substitute Roroa no doubt wanted to see some familiar faces, to know that some of her friends have survived. Wanda probably wanted another person who was more fit for this type of survival than a child by her side.
Carrying that heavy container made their rest spots frequent. When the second one happened, Roroa went over to a tree and did her best with what she had on her to leave a marking upon it that looked like a commbadge pointing in the direction they were traveling. This surprised Wanda, having not considered doing so, and when they stopped for the third time Wanda asked her where she learned to do that.
"I didn't.. I guess just now on this planet. Seemed like a smart thing to do for-"
She was interrupted by a local creature that was hanging in the tree. It had a child with it and appeared to be in the midst of waking up. Having never seen such creatures before, the local animal wasn't entirely terrified of Roroa and Wanda. But it was alone and carrying a child so it wasn't about to endanger her child for her curiosity. But as Roroa turned around to continue on their trek the creature silently followed them, moving from tree to tree in its pursuit, wanting to see what they were up to.
"Funny looking thing isn't it? Like a frog gerbil."
"I thought it looked more like a miniature naked ostrich and a lizard."
"It didn't have a beak though."
"Oh yeah.."
As it continued to follow at a distance and as it went it seemed to draw the attention of the other creatures similar to it that were resting in the trees or otherwise preoccupied with their routine up until then. They were stealthy and quiet, neither of the two noticed the amass of creatures. They were cautious though and observing the two Humanoids. The terrain was steadily gaining altitude and a mountain came into view quite abruptly because of the quantity of jungle blocking the view. Both Roroa and Wanda felt like this was their good fortune just at the moment when their was a crumbling to the ground below Wanda's feet who was leading the walk. The ground caved in and nearly took Roroa with her due to their duo carrying on the container.
"Wanda!"
There was no reply. Well. There was reply but not from Wanda. The creatures that had been pursuing were now making quite the ruckus. Roroa spun around to see at least three dozen of the creatures mixed between the trees and slowly inching forward towards the young girl. A good number of them watched while the males of the species and the youth trying to prove themselves rushed forward. They made a screeching sound followed by loud clicking noises that echoed through the jungle and sent chills throughout Roroa's body.
"GO AWAY!" Roroa shouted out!
Causing them to pause momentarily. Then they resumed their screeching and loud clicking then rushed forward again after a brief tint of fear ceased their momentum. Roroa didn't know what they wanted with her or if Wanda was alright or if she was going to be alright without the adult guiding her, caring for her, survival she believed was impossible by herself. But right now she had to protect herself and pulled the phaser from her belt. She didn't know what setting it was on and fired it off in the direction of the creatures. They screeched and froze! She missed but the combination of the sound, visual, and burn it left on the ground put much more fear into them than a young girl's shout. They bolted back into the trees and Roroa fired again to encourage they keep their distance from her, missing once more or intentionally not hitting the creatures, they continued to run until she could no longer see any of them, for now..
She placed the phaser back onto her belt and rushed back to where Wanda vanished from. Roroa got down onto her knees and carefully leaned over to peek down into this spontaneous hole. It was deep. So much so that she could not see the bottom. She called out her name and there was no response. Just the response of her voice echoing through the hole's walls and crumbling of the earth still dropping to the bottom. She called out again. A second time. A third time. Nothing.
She couldn't stay here. Those creatures would be back or worse off the sounds they were making would attract something bigger and less scared of a little girl and her poorly aimed phaser shots. Roroa sniffled a little bit and wiped her eyes. She moved over to the container and tried lifting it herself but it was too heavy for her. But she did manage to drag it off to the side. She opened up the container and took what she could attach to her backpack but the solar energy device was what was the main cause of the weight. She sealed the container back up and covered it up with jungle debris and then made a mark into the tree to remind her of the spot.
The sounds of the jungle moving from a distant approaching creature or worse, creatures, told Roroa she had to continue alone. She bound off quickly towards the mountain, moving much faster than she had before because of the lack of the heavy container, still as she begun to go uphill she found it hard to do so at a steady pace. It was exhausting plus the jungle terrain begun to scarce because of the mountain which meant she was lacking cover from and predator creatures out there. She kept glancing back to make sure something wasn't leaping out at her and she couldn't very well wield her phaser and climb a mountain at the same time. Roroa had to pause and take out her tricorder..
"How do I find a cave on this thing.." She didn't know at all how to do that, Wanda would of, any adult would of been able to had they served on the Gainsborough. Or so she thought at first but memory came back to her.
I remember! Arita was telling me about it one morning when we were eating breakfast and she had just come back from an away mission. Who would have thought having a sister who is a geologist nerd would be helpful? I just need to change the screen display overlay by this button here. She held the tricorder out a bit as it ran its scans then brought it back to her. There was a small cave to her left a bit away and a bigger one further up the mountain. She didn't know however if the two cave were connected somehow or what kind of lifeforms she might expect inside the cave since the scans couldn't tell her that until she was within the cave. She sighed softly and begun her trek once again, now towards the smaller of the caves.
Antia was going a faster clip now. She hadn't made it to the jungle edge as fast as she had hoped.. the swarmers slowed her and a few other near misses with some other local pests had causes her to reroute. She'd gone slightly back.
Now the sun was starting to set. It was unavoidable now... She was safe above the canopy last night but she just had to go looking for the people.... Steve was even taunting her about it, making purposefully loud passes through the trees. She still couldn't see him but she could hear him, it's what he wanted. She knew he didn't like bright lights though and lucky for her, Antia's aversion to darkness led her to prepare for it. She unclipped two small orbs from her belt and tossed them up. They began flying around her and illuminated as bright floodlight orbs that circled her in a slow wide arc. It would give the creature pause, but he wasn't going to just give up.
Her faster pace was to try and get to one of her intermediate camp areas. She was too far from her downed ship right now which was the most safe she could get in the jungle itself, but she knew she couldn't stay there forever. She quickly jumped over a large brush and used a low branch to swing further into an area she new was clear on the ground and would make a decent staging area for a defense.
But apparently something else was aware of that too, because as she landed she was not the only thing there... before her was something she hadn't yet seen here, a giant snake-like creature with large spines along the upper body was laying there, but not asleep she could tell, maybe resting however.. it was huge for the area. Antia was slightly concerned now, she heard a faint rustle behind her. Steve was surprised too perhaps?
"Well... this sucks.." she said to herself, trying not to make sudden moves to provoke the new beast but at the same time on edge as she was presenting the perfect opening for Steve to strike.
A strong breeze flowed through the trees, rustling the branches and leaves and making it even more difficult to spot Steve's movement through the fog and darkness. Even in the dead of night, the wind was warm and humid, and its passage caused loose droplets from the canopy to drip down, causing a brief wave of rain to descend on the ground beneath. The breeze also carried with it a harrowing whistle, an elongated shrill noise that made the mystifying jungle even eerier.
It was only when the whistle sounded again without the accompaniment of the wind that the true nature of the noise became apparent. Another followed shortly afterwards, and the next overlapped atop that one, two voices conjoining to form a cry greater in intensity than that of the individual. Soon, Antia and Ghadruil's surroundings were filled with this feral chorus that had suddenly invaded the silence of the night.
A minute or two of careful listening revealed that the howls were concentrated in the rough direction where Antia was heading- the direction of the damaged escape pod. It seemed that this was the centre of the call, and once that was made, whistles from all around them answered, less loud but echoing from all directions.
As she found the cave, night caught up with her. She had barely noticed that the sun was going down or suns, as that was another thing she hadn't had time to study here on this alien planet, settling into the cave was hard. But after fiddling with her tricorder she found a flashlight setting. She went into the cave and kept going in until she felt she reached a point where it was good to scan for lifesigns. Inside the cave her tricorder could pick up some rodent sized things upon the ceiling of the cave where it got a bit higher. This was a small cave that wasn't creature made and no large creature seemed to have wanted to make it its home. This was fortunate for Roroa. She found a suitable spot to set down her backpack and the other things she had been carrying. She left the flashlight setting on the phaser and took the spare phaser from the backpack and also turned on the flashlight setting, walking around the cave and gathering any rocks she could find.
Eventually those rocks formed both the circle of her fireplace and the source of her light she would have for the night. She used the phaser low setting to focus on heating a trio of rocks for enough time to where they turned red. Although there was no flame within the fireplace she was getting heat from the rocks now. Light, for now, was also present so she turned off her flashlights. She didn't exactly have a sleeping bag or tent. The ground below her was a mixture between barren rough rock and a small amount of dirt that the wind had blown in over the years. Roroa took out one of the packaged set of clothes, out of two that she had, and used that to fan away the dirt near the place she intended to rest. She wanted to improve her resting area a bit further but was too exhausted at the moment and too blinded by the cave's darkness despite her makeshift light source. With darkness also came the drastic drop in temperature. She opened the set of clothes and put on the extra layer of top clothing. Fortunately for her it was a set of clothes meant for an adult so it was easy to get her arms into the top as well to keep them warmer. She used the backpack as a pillow and begun the strenuous work of becoming comfortable on such a rough surface.
It was around the fifth time of rolling to the other side that the ceiling a bit away caught her eye. Originally dark, now slowly coming to life were low glowing objects, lights that were dully coming on but would never reach the point where she could see on the ground. It was those creatures that her tricorder informed her about. Bat-like creatures whom begun to come to life as they were nocturnal. They all didn't leave at once though. Appearing to be a type of creature that sent out a certain gender to find food while the other tended to the youth. This left Roroa with a fake sky of blue lights that struck her emotionally as it reminded her of a time she was in ten-forward on the Gainsborough with Arita, looking out across the stars. It seemed like a distant memory to her after everything that she went through today. The thought of losing the memories of her beloved sister and never having new ones again brought those tears to her eyes.
Ghadruil flattened his body to the ground, presenting a smaller target to the predator which he could tell was near him. A hideous thing, and one that would surely try and kill the humanoid standing in front of him. Idiot. Get. Out. Of. The. Way. Hew would've spoken if not for him trying to focus on the creature trying to kill them. As 'Steve' pounced on what appeared to be an easy target, Ghadruil raised his spikes, skewering the would-be attacker while releasing toxins through its system. Pulling the creature off his back before it could do any damage to the spines, Ghadruil coiled his tail around the beast's neck and body in a restrictive grip, while then repeatedly bashing its head in with his three-pronged beak. It was a gruesome and savage sight to the Trill with skull and brain matter now scattered over the forest floor, but to Ghadruil this was something any Korlackress would do - even to another Korlackress. After reaching in and pulling out a piece of meat to eat from the now fallen predator, Ghadruil slithered to Antia, swallowing the piece of meat.
"Apologies," came the roughly translated clicks "That was quite the struggle, and I have not eaten in quite some time. You may have whatever rest of the animal you want." He then dipped his head slightly to Antia, though his spines hadn't lowered in respect. "I am Ghadruil, it is good to see another person stranded on this planet."
While at first mostly frozen in place expecting the spine snake to be another predator, the following scene had her just watching in a mix of shock and awe. After it was all over and the snake creature pulled up to Antia and spoke, it must have had a translator circuit, Antia could tell this was no simple jungle creature.
Slowly as the look of surprise faded she finally said, "Dude... that was frakking awesome! I mean I could have killed it if it just slowed the hell down.. Fvadt though that was like.. cathartic really..." she said almost laughing at the situation. After she was finally collected again she actually responded to him properly.
"Hello Ghad, I'm Antia. You were in one of the pods I guess. Starfleet continues the tradition of unique recruitment I see. I dig it." she looked at Steve's remains a bit, "How's it taste?" then holds up a hand, "Ya know what, nevermind, you probably got the best parts already."
She hops off the log she only just realized she was standing on and moves around a bit. She apparently has lost any form of fear regarding Ghadruil, in fact with Steve taken care of she was quite calm now. The darkness of night was still a bit unnerving but her light orbs were still following her so it wasn't hard to see.
"Did you hear that noise? It came from the direction of that explosion. I think it is one of your compatriot's pods. I've mapped where a few of ya'll landed but I know Starfleet types.. they'll all converge to save the splodey person. Want to head there together? This place is rough, but you are clearly pretty good at rough, me too on a good day. Figure we could watch each other's backs... for lack of a better term in your case. I don't think there are anymore Steve's around that I've noticed but everything else likes to gang bang prey." she says, her use of crude language being a tell that she is not quite your typical Federation citizen (which she isn't at all of course).
Antia unfolds some microbinoculars and switches the night vision mode on to look toward the mountain line, "You sleep? I could rest now but if you want to get moving I can go for a bit... not sure if you are like in.. food coma mode now or whatever..." turns around and looks at the snake, suddenly curious, "Hey... are you fast? Can I ride you? That's not rude right?" she says completely serious apparently.
Spoiler: May contain graphic content not suitable to all readersShow
Mischa and Garvey had made relatively good progress through the jungle given his injuries, but night drew in and the dipping temperature was a warning to them both that shelter would soon be required.
Stumbling across a small clearing, Garvey forced a smile as he admired the beautiful dusk view, "You know Commander, under better circumstances I'd say this would make a lovely spot for a colony..." they paused at the sound of activity ahead; drawing closer the presence of fly-like insects buzzing around quickly gave well to the stench that told them all they needed to know. Sure enough, they had come upon the decaying corpse of a native herbivore - a pack of small lizard-like scavengers scurrying away at their approach, and leaving behind the less than appetizing sight of the creatures remains; with it's belly all but removed save for a few ribs left hanging where it had fallen on it's side.
Mischa moved past quickly, with a hand placed over her mouth and nose to suppress the gag reflex. Though as she continued forwards a few steps, her attention was drawn back by the sound rustling. She turned with wide-eyes to see that Garvey had stopped to feast on the rotting carcass; tearing raw flesh from it's bones and stuffing it into his mouth like it was his first meal in weeks, "Lieutenant!" she exasperated, but to no response. Still shocked by his unbecoming action - not least since they still carried food provisions - she returned to pull him up from his carnivorous feasting, grabbing Garvey by the shoulder and yanking him backwards.
Though Mischa did not pull his shoulder with particular strength, he still tumbled backwards to land laying on the ground, staring up at the sky - the creatures semi-dry blood still stained around his mouth as he winced and cringed - seemingly conscious of his actions and sharing Mischa's disdain for them. As she reached a hand down to help him back to his feet, he groaned painfully and clutched at his abdomen, causing Mischa to recoil and step backwards nervously.
As she watched, Mischa could see greenish-yellow spores leaving his mouth with each cough - spreading through the nearby air before settling to the ground around him - while his back arched with agony and his arms flailed, gripping desperately at the ground wherever they could. Mischa knew the desperation of the situation and reached for her phaser, rueing the decision before she even acted on it. However before she could bring the weapon to bare, Garvey's abdomen burst open as a dozen - maybe more - of the tentacles first seen around his escape pod, folded outwards from his midriff and burrowed into the surrounding ground.
Mischa leaped backwards, though she was already at a sufficiently safe distance, instinct overruled in that moment as she watched in horror; seeing Garvey's body slowly become enveloped by the tentacled creature which now embedded itself into the jungle floor - along with the remains of Garvey. Holstering her weapon once more, she resolved herself to press on and find shelter before she too succumbed to the vicious jungle.
Roroa rolled over a bit in her bed. The pillow felt unusual in her sleep, rough and cold, and there was no blanket to reach for despite her efforts. Still she dreamed of the upcoming Terran holiday, Halloween, a time of the year when she got to go crazy by either a sugar high like no other or some sort of trickery. She was dreaming of not receiving candy from the Vorta lady, Keth, on the station and in turn replacing her door chimmer sound with that of a Bajoran loud nose fin whale mating call, notorious for their intensely irritating sounds and especially so when calling for a mate. As she waited, hidden around the corner and snickering under her breath, the living quarters lighting started to dim. It continued to go darker and darker until she could not see the door she vandalized or anything. It was short lived as the darkness was pierced by illuminating creatures. Creatures that felt familiar but also out of place, especially on the station, yet even if they did feel familiar she had no name to describe them by. Those blue glowing bats at first gave her a somewhat comforting feeling. But the hallway they were lighting up more and more had changed. It was humid, cold, and undesirable. She plead for the world to return to normal, for her bag of candy to return to her side, but what she got was a sudden bizarre noise that snapped her back into reality.
"Damn Loud Nose!"
Her heart raced. Memory corrected her statement as that was not the undesirable sound of a Loud Nose Fin Whale mating call but something outside of the cave. But a lot of the other parts of the dream were true. She was laying down in a uncomfortable spot surrounded by a damp and cold stone ground of a cave. There were the glowing bat-like creatures above though they were beginning to fade out as nocturnal slumber was greeting them once more. She thought it was funny that her dream had begun by viewing herself laying down in her bed in her quarters on the Gainsborough and then dreaming about her dream's dream. As stayed there, half risen from the ground, she chuckled softly to herself. How easy it would have been had all this been the dream. Then in one final reminder that this was reality. She felt around for a bag of candy. There was none.
Roroa stood up after retrieving one of her phasers. The flashlight setting guided her until there was enough light and she could turn it off. Clipping the weapon to her belt as she stepped outside of the cave she was greeted by a fairly decent view of a couple hundred feet before the thick jungle begun to obscure vision. There were a few of the wildlife grazing in the morning after the nocturnal predators called it a day. As Roroa watched them, still dressed in the double layer of the extra large clothing meant for adults for warmth, a thought crept to her mind as to whether or not it would come to the point where she would have to hunt these alien animals for food in order to survive. It made her lean down to pull up a bit of the grass and gave it.. A nibble. A displeased expression came across her face that stated it wasn't meant for Bajoran consumption. She let the remaining few pieces fall back to the ground below. But surely there were some edible plants here. Still.. Roroa knew that eventually her hunger would cause her to look upon the animals in a different light, if it came to that, but for now she still had rations to consume.
She went back inside of hobbit hole to eat a rations breakfast. But what was it that had made the noise that woke her earlier..?
Ghadruil continued to stare down at the small humanoid for a drawn out moment; a series of untranslated clicks barely audible, though the body language left little of their context to the imagination before the translated response presented over more defined clicking, "Korlackress are not your herbivore mounts". His long spiny bound slowly wound around Anita's position as he appeared to gauge their surroundings through his own natural senses before turning back to face her once more from behind, "The nearest pod to come down is up in the mountains there; it is not far from a direct route to the... 'splody' pod you indicated and may contain more appetizing supplies for you to consume" the translated clicking continues while his large form towers over her; spikes remaining cautiously downward, though not completely flattened, "I will move in that direction; follow if it suits you". With that he wound back down to ground level and proceeded to slither through the jungle floor, leaving Anita to tag along or not as she saw fit.
After a significant amount of time strategically slithering through the jungle and up into the more exposed lower mountain region, Ghadruil came into sight of the smoldering wreckage. Slowly lifting his head only as high as needed, he emitted a series of clicks - seemingly sensing something from the surroundings - slowing his pace, he eased up the mountain trail following his trusted senses until he came within sight of a cave entrance. Another - louder - series of clicks rang out and echoed across the rocky surfaces surrounding him, whilst he knew exactly what he was doing in attempting to sense the presence of nearby people or creatures; he perhaps did not consider how the distorted echoes may sound to anyone inside the cave...
Meanwhile, deeper in the jungle...
Mischa had not dared to stop and rest in the dangerously exposed open areas of the jungle and so pressed on with her trek at a cautiously reduced pace. As unsettling as the heavily fog obscured jungle was during the day, it now seemed positively welcoming compared to the eerie nighttime surroundings. The lack of company gave her mind the unwanted freedom to reflect on the events which had led her here, and the horrors she had witnessed set upon colleagues whom she had felt duty bound to protect - and failed. The names and faces of the Gainsborough crew flashed through her mind, a mix of those she recalled with fond memories - her fellow bridge crew and friends - and those she had not known so well at a personal level but encountered since crashing on the jungle world like Garvey. She still fretted over the thought of others stuck in the hellish circumstances she now found herself in and that alone served to drive her forward despite the rapidly dropping temperature.
Stumbling slightly as her unfortunately heeled boots slipped in a patch of soft mud, she cursed //chirp// her train of thought - and cursing - was interrupted by the sound from her tricorder. Looking down and squinting in the dim moonlight, she saw it had fallen as she stumbled and flipped open in the process; and was now seeming to detect something anomalous. Retrieving the tricorder and grimacing slightly as she loosely brushed the mud off it's surface with her other hand, she held the device out in front of herself and studied the scan data it presented, "That's..." her eyes widened with realization, "...that's an artificial alloy, and not Starfleet!" she briefly lowered the device and looked around with a wary expression briefly before returning her gaze to the screen, "I should really be careful; may end up talking to myself!" she mumbled as she reviewed the scan data in more detail and attempted to isolate a bearing and distance. Though she knew it unlikely to house intelligent life anymore - friendly or otherwise - she could not rule out the possibility of artificial construction going hand in hand with advanced technology - or at the very least some shelter.
With her tricorder in one hand and her phaser in the other, Mischa increased her pace through sheer anticipation as she closed in on the reading. She did not notice at first, but as she drew nearer to the source of the reading; the sounds of the surrounding jungle died down to an even more eerie silence. Once this fact did register to her hearing, she paused and felt a distinct shiver down the back of her neck - be it through cold or instinctual fear was anyone's guess though. Slipping the tricorder back onto her belt, she retrieved a torch and continued at a cautious pace with the limited torchlight guiding her the short remaining distance. What greeted her as she entered the clearing left Mischa awestruck, never before had she seen anything quite like it... whatever /it/ was; she was unable to determine from the intact ruins. One thing was certain though; this was no natural formation...
The interior of the rocky cavern was dark, which made it difficult for anyone relying on eyes to see. Ghadruil's keen senses could confirm that there was one living creature not too deep inside the cave. As the clicks ran down the tunnel, another series of tapping noises responded- not a direct reply in the Korlackress language of course, but the echoes of footsteps. This sound grew louder and louder, and soon it was audible to even Anita's less sensitive ears. Whoever was making them was either too inexperienced or too panicked to attempt concealing their approach.
Suddenly, from the darkness a single beam of light emerged. Like the orange tongue of some giant monstrosity it lashed out and with surprising accuracy, striking the location where the sonar was emitted- where Ghadruil had been mere seconds earlier. The shot grazed by so close to the Korlackress that he could feel the heat from the concentrated energy before it dissipated. A second beam followed, then a third which missed by leagues and blasted a smoking crater in the rock wall of the cavern. Whoever was firing must have been losing their focus.
The ensuing yells reflected this attitude, "Come and get me! I won't go down without a fight! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!"
