LtCmdr Jovenan – I swear to god, if this is all just a ploy to get me have a medical checkup…
Jovenan
((Escape pod, a windswept plateau, Callis I))
Three plus herself. Everyone who had entered the escape pod hundreds of kilometres up and who knows now many thousands away had also survived the trip down. Jovenan still felt groggy, having just regained her consciousness after the less-than-soft landing, but at least so far, she hadn’t noticed having lost a body part. Granted, it was difficult to see anything in the utter darkness of the escape pod.
Jovenan: Can someone get the door open, please?
Bergmen: Aye, I…
Someone in the cramped and likely crumpled pod snorted loudly, followed by the sound of something soft and wet hitting a harder surface. Her eye twitched as she tried not to analyse too much what she had just heard. The sounds were followed by a person having a deep breath.
Bergmen: I… ::cought:: …I’ll do it.
K’Wara: Sooner rather than later, Olliver. This’ll stop being comfortable real quick. ::to the group:: Roy, see if you can’t find the medkit compartment.
Bancroft: Aye.
While the others were finding the hatch or the medkit or whatever else they might have been doing in the shielding darkness, Jovenan tried opening the harness that had strapped her down to the seat. It had served her well, judging by the fact that she was still sitting on the seat and not a shapeless mass of meat and miscellaneous fluids in some corner of the pod. Guided only by the feeling of her hands, she unclasped the belts and felt a little tug as the gravity took over.
Meanwhile, the little metallic clanks and other sounds indicated that the others had found something of interest. Soon after, the darkness gave in, just a little, as a crack appeared in its surface, allowing light to flood in and engulf them. The brightness of it forced Jovenan to squint at first in pain, but when she got used to it again, she stood up from her seat. Half walking, half crawling, she passed the silhouettes that were slowly regaining the shapes of her colleagues now that the light was pouring in. She poked her head out of the hatch and into the open outdoors.
The world they had the fortune or misfortune – that was to be determined – to crash into was an alien one. The air was breathable, the temperature within the tolerable limits, the gravity not much different from the M class norm, but the purple sky and the metallic tang in the strong, cutting wind reminded her that they were not on Rubicun III any more. The surrounding landscape was not as strange as the other factors, at least to a planetary scientist: they were at the edge of a wide, open and featureless plateau that extended to the horizon in one direction, while in the other, she was faced by a large cliff.
There was much to learn as a planetary scientist, but she had more urgent matters. She pulled her head back in and looked at each of her colleagues. In the poor light, they all looked pale and sickly, but that could have easily been a misdiagnosis by the non-medical blueshirt – she probably didn’t look too good at the moment and in this light either.
Jovenan: Any injuries?
Bergmen: Concussion, probably.
K’Wara: ::rubs their jaw:: I’m gonna bruise, but I’ll live.
Bancroft: Nothing immediately life-threatening, Commander. Mostly bumps and bruises.
Jovenan nodded. Their survival could have almost been characterised as a miracle. The crater she had seen outside around them had been an awful one, and since she and likely the others as well had suffered a gap in their consciousness, the possibility of a serious brain damage was a matter of plentiful seriousness. However, they were all alive, not missing limbs, not having an immediate seizure and not bleeding out on the pod’s tilted floor – or just dead. That could be counted as a victory. A very poor, sucky victory, but victory nonetheless.
Bergmen: I’m okay. All blood is still inside as supposed to be… ::sigh:: We should collect emergency rations and look for cover before night comes. Escape pod systems are dead... ::points around:: ...so we cannot count on heating or any other life support.
Which means that they’d get mighty cold when the night would fall if they stayed. The pod was still in one piece, so it would have been a decent place to camp if needed, but Jovenan couldn’t imagine lighting up a fire in there, especially if they closed the hatch. Dying of asphyxiation was not much more pleasant than freezing to death.
K’Wara: Thankfully the air outside is breathable. I tried activating our scanners when I woke up, but they’re dead. The entire pod’s completely inert.
Bancroft: We all got jostled around pretty good. I need everyone to take it easy for a few minutes while you get your bearings. No sudden movements, no feats of strength, please.
Jovenan: Agreed. Let’s stay here for a moment and check what we’ve got before we start discussing moving anywhere.
Lt K’Wara tapped their combadge. The small device made no response to the motion, no static, no chirp. The Starfleet personal communicators were normally functional even if slightly damaged, and if it was catastrophic, it would still try to act as an emergency beacon. The combadge being this dead while in one piece was a clear sign that there was more to its state than a mere crash landing. Jovenan frowned.
Bergmen: I will check the emergency beacon. It should have its own backup power source, so maybe we can use that to bring the pod's system back on again. Even if just for scanning our immediate surroundings…
As Lt K’Wara was making a move to step out of the pod, Jovenan gave them way. They spread the contents of the engineering kit on the floor, fidgeting with every piece of it as she followed what they were doing. None of them made even a buzz.
K’Wara: No harm in trying, but I don’t think the backup power source works, Olliver. ::to Bancroft:: Roy, have you checked if any of the electronics in the medikit work?
Bancroft: Already checked, Lieutenant. ::unembellished:: They're all dead.
That was unfortunate, but not exactly unexpected.
Jovenan: I tested my tricorder, too. I don’t think any of our devices are working. At least not any of the ones with a power source.
Bergmen: Response
K’Wara: Without functioning scanners, we can’t be sure, but it seems like something about this planet - or maybe the Charybdis Maelstrom itself - renders electronics completely inert…
Jovenan nodded. That was what she was thinking as well. It explained the troubles they had encountered in space as well as the state of their stuff. It was rather unfortunate that even most of their emergency equipment required power to function… but not all of it.
Bancroft: I can still do field medicine. Just means I’m back to fundamentals. Observation. Hands-on healing. Cloth bandages. Pressure. Improvisation. I can salvage some of the pharmaceuticals from the med kit, but without a hypospray to dose and micronize them, they’ll be of very limited use.
Jovenan: The electronics might be inert, but the physics and chemistry should still be the same. We can burn something for heat and light. Use fabrics and fibres for insulation and isolation from the elements. Rely on our wits and knowledge.
Bergmen: Response
K’Wara: ::tight smile:: Time to rough it then. ::stands up:: Going by the rule of threes, our priorities should be shelter, water and heat source. ::looks to Jovenan:: Where do we start, Commander?
That was… a whole another question. The fact that they had survived had kept Jovenan’s mind occupied so far, but it was soon the time to acknowledge that she was terrified and uncertain about everything. In her career, she had been truly stranded only a handful of times. Her experience in survival in the natural, undeveloped environment was limited to the Ura Neteos jungle, where she had had another, more experienced officer to lead her, and there had also been worms with water bottles in their backs slithering around. She tried to bring back her Academy lessons while also pushing away the thought of what had happened to Vitor, the Captain, Commander Munro and all the others. Luckily, Doctor Bancroft raised his hand.
Bancroft: Before we go anywhere – I need a minute. ::even, steady:: We’ve all just been through a high-impact event. Until I know how injured everyone actually is, movement is a gamble at best.
He had a breath. Jovenan hoped that he wasn’t out of breath already, because if they were exhausted before they even left the pod, they might not be able to find a better shelter or anything to drink, eat or burn before the darkness fell upon them. As for the medical evaluation, she raised her eyebrows and shrugged a little.
Bancroft: Without a tricorder, I’m going to have to do this the old way. Eyes, ears, and hands. I’ll be quick, but I need you to stay still and tell me if something hurts. ::brief pause:: I know it’s awkward. It’s still necessary.
Oh.
Jovenan: Uh… Very well. It’s better to make sure we don’t cause further damage to ourselves.
K’Wara/Bergmen: Response
The Doctor chose Jovenan as the first to go. She hadn’t exactly been too keen to follow schedule for the medical check-ups. The lack of medical equipment – real medical equipment – made it doubly more awkward. She didn’t even know how it would work in practise.
Doctor Bancroft luckily started with something simple and asked her to follow his fingers. No problem there. If there was any ache lingering in her head, it didn’t bother her enough. She stood still as he tested her eyes; no issues there either. He asked about nausea, to which she replied negatively, without a moment to think. Wait… no, no nausea; no issues there.
Then, he took her hand. She frowned but didn’t pull it away. It was not the act in itself, but ever since leaving the homeworld, Jovenan had had to learn the hard way not to touch the offworlders. A skin-to-skin contact and physical closeness carried a different cultural meaning to them than to the Edo back home, one that she wasn’t comfortable with. In a way, she would have wanted to hug most of the people she knew – getting a boyfriend had proven so, so amazing a thing to her need for closeness – but it was the self-issued rule that both restricted her and protected her from discomfort and causing discomfort… Stop thinking such stupid things, this is for a cause, and it’s just a wrist.
Well, it was just a wrist, until the Doctor checked her for cuts and tested her chest and back. She looked away.
Bancroft: You’re good, Commander.
Jovenan: Good.
It came off as much colder and less appreciative than what she had intended. She was truly grateful that they had a medical professional who could verify their physical state and keep them on their two feet without any actual tools. She just… didn’t feel like expressing that. As Lt K’Wara took their place in front of the Doctor, Jovenan stepped out and walked further away into the windy outdoors.
At first, her attention was to the sun. She didn’t have any statistics of the planet at hand, so her guess of their location on it was rather crude, with the even cruder visual evaluation of the angle of the sun in the sky. It informed her of the latitudes, but there wouldn’t be longitudes to speak of. If she knew what the sky looked like at where the other teams were, she’d be able to calculate their relative positions… Which reminded her of the unwelcome fact that she didn’t even know if the other teams had survived, and if they did, they might be thousands of kilometres away, maybe even in another hemisphere. She turned her head back to the surface.
Bancroft: You’re alright, Lieutenant. When we find food, try to take it easy on those teeth.
K’Wara: Response
There wasn’t much to say about the plateau. Constantly swiping errant strands of hair from her face, she shrugged at the windswept terrain. Nothing to eat in there, nothing to drink either, probably. If they were to head there, their only shelter would be whichever tent they might be able to fashion from whatever they had in the pod, which was to say they might not have even a tent. They’d be at the winds’ and rain’s and the sun’s mercies. Not there. She turned around. The cliff showed some promise. It looked porous, soft rock that the wind and water could carve caves into. Jovenan had her reasons to hate caves, but there would be shelter, maybe even water in there.
As Lt Bergmen’s inspection was also closing to the end, Jovenan stepped back near the pod and looked in to hear what was the Doctor’s verdict.
Bancroft: Some soft tissue damage, my friend, and a mild concussion. ::gentle, but serious:: Here’s how we handle that. Sip water – little bits, and often, not big gulps, okay? If you feel nauseous or dizzy, even a little bit, you tell me immediately. ::a beat:: And, at least for the time being, no running or heavy lifting.
Bergmen: Response
The Doctor turned to Jovenan.
Bancroft: Medically, Commander, we can move. But we need to be careful and deliberate. ::a beat, honest:: Nobody here is cleared for a marathon today.
Jovenan: I can survive a few days without my running practise. ::looks at each of them:: Do you think you’d be able to carry our stuff for a few kilometres?
K’Wara/Bergmen/Bancroft: Response
Jovenan: Empty the medkits, engineering kits and such of non-working equipment. We can use them for carrying other things, like the rations. Take as much you think you’re able to carry without exhausting yourselves. We can probably come back here eventually, but let’s assume it won’t happen until the morning.
K’Wara/Bergmen/Bancroft: Response
They got to work. Leaving the tricorder back was difficult for the scientist, but it just added extra weight. Food and water rations were more important. She holstered a moderately sharp piece of metal to where the tricorder had been. Getting the harnesses cut from the vehicle proved difficult, but in the end, they got to use them and some optic cable to fashion the kits into backpacks. Once she was ready, Jovenan stepped outside.
Jovenan: There’s probably a cave in that cliff. ::looks up, then back down, drags foot on the ground:: Help me draw an arrow. Then I think we’re ready to get moving.
K’Wara/Bergmen/Bancroft: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11