ENS Chevalier - It’s gonna be okay
CPT Arianus
(( Cave, Rakantha Province, Bajor ))
The sound of a mechanical click is unique. It's hard to describe, so common in everyday life, yet so incomprehensible in the 25th century.
Ensign Chevalier felt the pressure of the spikes pressing against his feet. He heard the mechanical click which followed. He listened to his thoughts, and his mind came up with many colorful names for the operation officer wearing yellow, who was so confident and self-centered that he thought he could handle it. None of them were pretty.
A different part of his brain, the one he was so proud of - a cold, performance-oriented, emotionless machine that he had created through endless practice and self-discipline - kicked in quickly, answering the harsh reality of what was happening. Pressed his feet against the ground, ignored the pain when the spikes penetrated the sole of the shoe, and bit into the skin and flesh, making sure his leg didn't slip the trigger and accidentally detonate the mine he was standing on.
Warned Savel and kept him from harm.
Chevalier: Wait! Stay back!
Savel: Response
Adrenaline coursed through Chevalier's veins, keeping him focused on the problem rather than on his pain and fear. However, it also clouded his mind. He tried to remember the emergency procedure, but he couldn't think through the screeching of the tricorder. He looked at his feets, trying to visually focus your attention on the problem. His gaze landed on the tricorder he was still holding onto tightly in his hands. He let out a sigh as another distracting thought came to mind - A name his mind was giving to him to be – a neutered animal. He chuckled to himself and turned off the tricorder's sound alert, so much useless now.
Ensign Chevalier looked up at his colleague. He tried to put on a smile, but it was too much for him. Jaseb let the backpack strap slide down his shoulder and used the energy of the slide to throw the transporter boosters as close to Savel as possible. His journey to save the Gnai and Renirs ended here.
Chevalier: ::breathing raggedly:: Savel, you need to continue. I’m okay. I think as long as I keep my feet on it, it will not explode. Go and save Gnai and Renirs. I will analyze that IED and the lieutenant will call support from Artemis...and they will get me out. Okay, Savel? Go!
Gnai: What's going on? Did Ensign Chevalier step on a mine?
oO I probably called it a little louder than I wanted to... Oo
Jovenan: What happened? Report!
oO Yeah, I did, hmm, didn’t I? Oo
Chevalier: Laid mines two. Starfleet zero. Good news - the ground-penetrating scans worked, and we marked a safe path through the IEDs on our way to my position. Bad news - I tripped and accidentally stepped on one of them. ::looks on Savel:: Savel has boosters and will continue over on Gnai's and Renirs' position.
Savel/Renirs: Response
Gnai: Be careful, Ensign Savel!
Jovenan: Savel, can you complete the transporter booster perimeter alone?
Savel/Renirs: Response
Jaseb nodded to Savel. Savel needed to leave him. The mission comes first.
Ensign Chevalier then found himself alone with only the dim light of his wrist-mounted flashlight and his own thoughts for company. The pain slowly began to spread up his leg. She started shaking.
Jaseb knew that a spasm would soon come.
And he scolded himself for leaving his backpack in the shuttle. He would have a shovel, sticks, anything he could use, anything that could help him now. Instead, he just had himself, a uniform, a communicator, and a flashlight.
And tricorder.
His eyes fixed on the box in his hand, and he pushed away all that anger, trying to find a single thought about how the thing in his hand could help him figure out what it was for and how it could save his life.
Gnai: ::louder, to Lt. Jovenan:: Lieutenant, is there anything anomalous in the vicinity of this tricorder?
Jovenan: Yes! It’s not as close as Savel’s, but if you could keep it pointed just ahead of his route, I can try triangulating the mines with that data. Savel, I’m sending you as much as I can!
Savel/Renirs: Response
oO It's a scientific tricorder, dammit. Surely, it will be able to do more than one we have in OPS; there will be some kind of scan somewhere that will help me… Oo
Chevalier began searching the tricorder database and analyzing the mods and programs that were loaded into it. He found a couple of programs that could help him, but with them came the clairvoyants, taking all that new hope back.
He would have to bend down to scan the mine, which would change his center of gravity. And the center of gravity would relieve the pressure of his foot against the ground, which would trigger the mine, which would explode.
That was not the result he wanted to try. If only... and then it dawned on him. Of course, how could he forget?
His fingers slid off the back of the tricorder and pulled out the analyzer. Jaseb gripped the flickering rod like the body of a lover he never wanted to let go of. But he will have to. He must try.
Ensign sighed, looking down at his leg and bringing the analyzer into his field of vision to calculate the angle at which he would have to drop it. He took a deep breath... and let gravity do its work.
The analyzer dug into the dirt next to his leg. Jaseb looked at the tricorder screen and started a scan. The outline of the cylindrical object was drawn on the screen, but not its interior. So close…
oO Well, time for a plan B. Oo
Chevalier activated the isotope in the analyzer and overrode the hazard warning when he pushed the radiation beam limiter to the maximum, beyond "safety limits". A bit of radiation probably doesn't matter if a mine is going to tear off your irradiated leg anyway.
The tricorder screen flashed as pulses of x-ray beam penetrated the mine, rendering its innards better and better, frame by frame.
oO Ok, so no acid, no liquid nitrogen. Nor option for weight transfer, given that the fuze spikes had bitten into my leg… Oo
Jaseb checked the first scan. The body of his mine was rusted. They've been hanging around for a while now. Maybe the one that Renirs activated was glued together by all that rust... And because it was supposed to explode in the air, which it didn't, most of the fragments and the explosion were absorbed by the surrounding clay. That made sense…
Unfortunately, Jaseb’s wasn’t.
The sound of voices echoing in the cave interrupted his train of thought, bringing him back to reality.
Jovenan: Okay, once the transporter amplifiers are in place, I’ll transport you to the shuttle, where you will tend to Renirs wounds and contact the Artemis and the Bajoran authorities. Chevalier, um, you’re not quite inside the perimeter, so try to stand by. I’ll help you once the others are safely out. Try to come with something we can do to prevent the mine from going off.
Savel/Gnai/Renirs: Response
Chevalier: Understood, Lieutenant. Staying still obediently on mine. No explosion, no spasm. Think about a solution. Got it. Save Gnai and Renirs; I'll wait!
As Jaseb heard his own voice, he began to lose touch with himself. He should have told her. He should have told her that there was no time left, no chance. He felt the spasm, and even if he somehow resisted it, sooner or later, the gas would dissipate - either purposefully or through the body corrosion - and one way or another, the thing would explode.
No, he couldn't threaten the others. He will not endanger more lives than his own…
Ensign Chevalier looked at the tricorder display. He was too far from the booster for the transporter to target and transport him, but not so far away that he could not be connected.
Chevalier removed his communicator and placed it on the tricorder. It only took a few keystrokes to connect to the shuttle and open a private channel to Artemis.
He took a deep breath.
Chevalier: ::silently:: =/\= Chevalier to Black. Pick up. =/\=
Black: ::laughs:: =/\= Ah, ensign. Do you miss me already? =/\=
Chevalier: ::sighs:: =/\= Yeah… You are right. I miss you… =/\=
Black: =/\= Something wrong, Ja-be? =/\=
Chevalier: ::melancholic:: =/\= No, no… everything is good. Just work. We are still in Bajor. Science training. Hills of Rakantha… ::pause:: I was just thinking about you… If you could see how lovely the view is… I wish you were here, with me, so I could tell you how much I love you… =/\=
Jovenan: Everyone ready? Energizing.
Chevalier: ::trying to drown out Jovenan's words:: =/\= Ah, LT is near. I need to go. Talk to you soon… =/\=
Jaseb wiped the tears from his face as he closed the channel, sighing as he looked at his communicator.
oO No… Oo
Chevalier returned his communicator to his chest and took a deep breath when he looked towards the mouth of the cave.
Jovenan: Chevalier? Everything okay? I’m coming to you now.
Chevalier: Lieutenant? ::pauses:: It’s gonna be okay…
Jaseb succumbed to the cramp and allowed his entire body to collapse backward. Click The first blast tore off his leg below the knee, and the ensign watched the spinning cylinder slowly fly upward as he fell to the ground.
Second later, the cave echoed with a second explosion.
Savel/Jovenan/Renirs/Gnai: Response?
TAG/TBC
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