Slow and painful

Posted on 07 Jul 2021 @ 5:04am by Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Lieutenant JG Rosaline Belikov & Ensign Adam Morgan
Edited on on 31 Jul 2021 @ 1:50am

Mission: Picking up the pieces
Location: Traders vessel
1345 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

On:

Waking up from what little sleep she could manage, Kassie swung her legs over the edge of her cot and immediately felt like throwing up. Quickly grabbing a nearby bucket, she hurled into it before sitting up straight to catch her breath, “Urg, if these bloody emergency rations don’t kill me the radiation probably will” she said to herself before forcing herself to stand up and painfully start heading for the flight controls.

It had been about 3 weeks since their last job for the Cartels and although this one sounded like the easiest run they’d had in months, no one expected to run into a situation like this. They’d stopped off in this system to pick up some H2 from a gas giant they could use as cheep fuel to get them to their next port, when suddenly as they were passing one of the inner planets, it exploded, sending out a field of debris leaving them running in backup systems only, and while the shields and hull plating held off the radiation being thrown out by the newly dead planet, eventually it found its way inside.

Finally getting to the cockpit, Kassie checked that the distress signal was still active. Most of the ships power was routed to the communications array in the hope that someone might pick it up and come take a look. She knew it was a long shot but it was better then giving in to dispare and flying what was left of their ship into one of the larger pieces of debris.

The place still smelt bad to him every time he would awaken and he had to admit that he was better off dead or buried somewhere on some planet than going through this. As Durke started to sit up slowly from his long yet restless sleep, he looked around at his surroundings and noted that all was the same before he was in his slumber. The clothes he had were all over the small sleeping area and he noted a couple bottles here and there having him remember that he decided to indulge into a couple bottle of Andorian Ale that he had stashed awhile back. He shook his head off that thought and stood up.

He managed to make two feet before he felt dizzy again. The memories of the past days came back to him as if it were his calling to remember them every time he woke up. He could remember the planet blowing to pieces as he and his cohort were headed back on course after a cheap refuel of the star in the system and they had been knocked off their feet. Durke had tried to get the ship out of the system but the shockwave took the ship upwards and consoles had exploded everywhere knocking the systems offline, including the engines. Durke had hoped that it wasn't bad as they got back to their feet, but it was worse than he feared. Not only were the engines offline, but the planet was big enough to create a massive debris field which they had been trapped in.

And now as he held his head for a moment as the pain returned after the dizziness started to fade, he now knew again the cause. The radiation from the debris field had leaked into the ship and effected not just the crew but most the systems as well. Durke was lucky life support was still functional after all that chaos. He looked at the door and walked towards it. But before he stepped through it, he looked back at his surroundings and smirked. He headed for the cockpit to see if his cohort was alive as well as she had decided to doze off too.

Hearing someone step into the cockpit behind her, Kassie gave a sigh, “figured it was too much to hope you’d died in your sleep”

Durke walked into the cockpit hearing the voice of his cohort and spoke as he heard the words come from her mouth, "And have you have run of the ship by yourself? " Durke sat down in the pilot seat, "I don't think so."

Durke put in a couple commands and noted that the distress signal was still there but not as it was a day or so ago when the trouble happened. He looked over the systems and spoke, "Besides, i would like to see some share of what we have packed in out bays." Durke then looked at the console and noted that the systems had lost more power having the signal start to degrade further. He smirked and looked at Kassie and spoke.

"Besides, if we dont get rescued soon, the cargo wont matter anyway," he stated as he pointed to the systems as they had lost more power.

Kassie smirked before giving a few coughs, “uhr, that’s assuming we survive that long. I think we’re lucky life support is working enough to keep up warm. Besides most of the fee for this run will be used to repair this bucket”

Looking at Kassie then rubbing the ridges on his nose, Durke spoke to that statement, "Speak for yourself. I plan to keep anything i get. Im not going to lose any profits because of this damned situation!" he stated as he placed a hand gesutre out the viewport in front of them.

Giving a huff, Kassie looked over at Durke, “I shouldn’t have expected anything out of you. Well if you’re not gonna help keep the ship running, don’t expect me to pick you up for the next job”

"Oh don't get your hopes up there girl. You need me as much as I need you on these little operations." Durke looked at the controls as he punched in a couple more buttons and spoke, "I do my part as well as you do yours. I keep this ship up as much as i can but in this dire circumstance we can certainly say that we have certainly got our hands full." He turned to her, "The both of us."

“Well you’re not wrong” Kassie said, going back to looking out the front window. After a moment, she stood up and headed out of the cockpit, “I’m going to try and fix the engines again, mind giving me a hand?”

"I an certainly try,?" Durke stated as he started to get up from his console. He was about to follow the woman until they both heard the sound from behind. Durke watched as the red blinking light came upon the console before them along with the sound of an incoming transmission.

Looking back at the light, Kassie practically ran back to her chair and started rerouting what power they had left, “quick, open a channel. This might be it”

Durke looked at her response and spoke as he opened the channel, "Here goes nothing."

Hoping the power was there, both of them heard the channel open and heard the voice come through loud and clear, "...is Ensign Adam Morgan of the Federation starship Andromeda, can anyone here me?".....

Kassie froze as she heard the words. Out of all the people that could’ve answered their call, it had to be Starfleet. “Oh great, the space cops are here” she said, looking to Durke, “so, what do you think? Death or prison?”

Durke looked at her and spoke as he punched in a button to open the channel, "Id rather take prison than a slow death out here anytime," he stated and spoke again as he cleared his throat, "This is the Trader's vessel....452...?" He continued as not to give much of their own identities away, "We have been stranded for a few days and we require medical attention..."

As he closed the comms, Durke smirked again as spoke again as he looked at Kassie, "At least I can find my way out of prison, not unlike death where there is no coming back...."

OFF:

Durke
NPC Morgan

Kassie
NPC Belikov