Lt Alex Storm - Fallen from Grace
Karen Morris
((Turbolift, USS Karnack))
Alex leaned against the wall of the turbolift, one boot flush with the wall, the other keeping her in her desired position. She had just woken up from a solid night’s sleep, and now she braced herself for the boredom of an eight-hour shift on the bridge.
It was only three decks from her makeshift quarters to the main bridge. What, ten seconds at most? The turbolift jostled slightly. One hand steadied herself against the wall.
The lights flickered. She placed both feet on the floor.
A second later, the lift shook again, but this time with the vigor of a dog trying to clear its coat of water after a bath.
Both of her hands reached out for the walls to keep herself from playing the part of a pinball in an arcade game.
The doors started to open - she assumed onto the bridge - when the entire ship was thrust into darkness. With a gasp and wide eyes, Alex put one arm through the opening and used that arm to lever herself through. And as the last of her fingers entered the blackness of the bridge, servos clicked to release their charge. The sound of scraping metal could be heard as lift plummeted through the belly of the monstrosity.
Then, as emergency lights finally illuminated the bridge, klaxons loudly shrieked their warning:
Get out! Get out while you still can.
Hands, feet, and unintentional elbows flew everywhere. Bodies scrambled. Heads swam. Someone in front of her fell - she didn’t know who, but she grabbed them under the armpit and hoisted them back up. One escape pod ejected from the ship. Alex slipped into the next one behind someone whose long hair flew into her mouth. She spat it out and fell hard, hip and hand first onto the seat. She adjusted herself properly into position, strapping herself in with practiced ease, though she could barely breathe. An unseen hand had wrapped itself around her throat and squeezed.
((Escape Pod Sabre Class-D12))
Once she was in and fastened, Alex glanced around. MacKenzie was on one side of her, Cole on the other, and Brexis across from her. Someone hit the button that shot their pod into the nether regions throttling toward the planet at breakneck pace. Alex’s hands clasped her restraints, her head being jostled from side to side during the descent.
As a bear emerged from the darkness of its hibernation into the light of spring, the lone viewport of the shuttle emerged from the blackness to a nebulous whitish-grey. This quickly morphed into a light purple, but instead of it knocking on the window, this color was off in the distance.
A rending sound came from above them, and Nat’s shoulder strap on Alex’s side broke free. Alex reached over to brace Cole’s free shoulder. But in doing so, her elbow took a crack against the hull, and she felt her shoulder pop hard, pain screaming through her joint and down her arm, which now hung limp at her side.
Alex’s good arm crossed both straps and held on to the one farther away, she dipped her head to her chest, rolling herself up into a ball as much as she could, but it was then that a loud creaking sound preceded a great crack, breaking open the pod and tossing its contents across fifty yards of terrain.
((Unknown Ridge - Callis 1))
MacKenzie: Brexis! Cole! Storm!
At the sound of her name being called, Alex’s eyes flew open. Her vision blurred. She closed her eyes and reopened them, squinting first until her sight normalized. She tasted the tang of something metallic and swallowed through it.
She closed her eyes again. oO Okay, Alex. What’s first? Oo
Storm was lying in a meadow - at least that was what she could see while she was still lying down. Pushing herself into an upright position, she winced, looking down at her dangling arm. oO Come on, Alex. Get to your feet. Oo
Cole: ::waving as she came around some debris:: Over here Captain.
Brexis: I’m here. A little banged up. But I’m here.
Storm: Over here!
From her seated position, Alex waved her good arm, then pushing through the pain she got her feet under her and stood up, turning to see where all the others were.
Everyone’s voice felt like it had an edge to it.
MacKenzie: Everyone okay?
Cole: Mostly aches from a hard landing, the ringing in my ears has mostly gone away, and the bleeding seems to have stopped. ::gesturing towards the wound on the side of her head::
Brexis: Yeah. I’m alright.
Storm: I’ve … dislocated my shoulder. I’m going to need someone to help me pop it back in.
Nat walked over to Alex.
Storm: Done this before, huh?
Her friend put one hand on the inside of her shoulder and with the other hand, she pushed the joint back into place. With a loud pop and a sigh of relief, Alex rotated her shoulder slowly.
Storm: Thanks!
As she spoke, her eyes swept past the Captain and the other two women. Off in the distance lay piles of grey stones in places these were set one upon another. In other places they appeared to have fallen into piles. Broken walls? Other structures stood. She could make out an arch or two, and some buildings.
MacKenzie: We should go take a look. Maybe we’ll be able to find something helpful. Or be able to take shelter.
Cole: If I recall from my days as a scout, Shelter is high on the survival priority list.
Brexis: ::Pointing to the clouds:: Shelter will be imperative if those decide to do something.
Storm: Shelter - including heat, water, food, protection, communication. Those are our current priorities.
Alex pulled out her tricorder, and though it appeared undamaged, it wouldn’t initiate. She held it in one hand and banged it against the heel of her other hand. Still nothing.
Storm: My tricorder isn’t working. Anyone else?
MacKenzie: Response
Cole: ::looking at the remains of the escape pod:: Any chance anything in there is salvageable?
Brexis: Only one way to find out.
Alex tapped her combadge. Nothing.
Storm: Sure! When I actually want someone to interrupt what I’m doing, NOW you go silent. Go figure. ::To Brexis:: I’m guessing if my intact tricorder and my combadge - which don’t look damaged aren’t working, that even if we could find something in there, if it’s electronic it shouldn’t work. Did anyone find the emergency water and rations bag?
No one answered.
Storm: I guess not, but that would be worth looking for.
MacKenzie: Response
Cole: Captain, Do you want me to scout ahead?
Brexis: I don’t think that’s a good idea. Without our equipment, weapons and no comms, sticking together is going to keep us safer. ::Pointing back to the pod:: Everything we had is destroyed. It’s just us out here.
Storm: Who says we don’t have weapons?
Alex bent over and extracted a knife from one boot, and then a knife from her other boot.
Storm: What? They aren’t much, but they are something.
She kept one for herself, and handed the other to Brexis, giving Nat a knowing wink.
MacKenzie: Response
Brexis: First thing, I think we need to do a quick once over of ourselves. Make sure no mystery injuries are going to be made worse on the journey to ::waving her hand towards the ruins:: whatever that is.
Alex patted herself down like she was frisking someone she was taking into custody.
Storm: Other than my shoulder, which is now fixed-ish, I’m fine.
MacKenzie/Cole: Response
Brexis: Let me look.
Cole: Response
While Charlotte checked Nat’s head over, Alex did a quick sweep of the area, looking for the bag with rations and a field medic kit. Walking back over to the main area of the wreckage, Alex, picked up pieces of metal and moved them out of the way one by one, until she found what she was looking for.
Brexis: Hey Doctor. Can you double check this one? You’ll know better than me if we need to find something to wrap it with. ::Turning to Alex:: You alright over there? Need any help?
Storm: It was just my shoulder, but look what I found!
Alex held the bag up, so they could see it. Then opening it up, she took a quick note of the contents.
Storm: It’s just some field rations and water, and a med-kit, which probably won’t work. But hey. It has some bandages. That’s something.
MacKenzie: Response
The clouds above them let out a thunderous cry– like the planet itself was angry. The reverberation of the sound made her shudder.
Brexis: We should probably get a move on…
Storm: Shelter first. ::Tipping her head toward the abandoned city on a small hill opposite the forest.:: I think that’s our best bet.
MacKenzie/Cole: Response
Alex took point, holding one knife - her favorite knife - gently in the palm of one hand. The city looked to be less than a half-mile away. As they got closer, Alex could make out some buildings that, from this side, looked intact.
Storm: We may have shelter up there.
Mackenzie/Cole/Brexis: Response
But as she spoke a crack of lightning hit a tree at the edge of the forest, and a peel of thunder screeched in their ears.
Storm: I’m thinking that we should pick up the pace a little bit.
MacKenzie/Cole/Brexis: Response
Off in the distance Alex could hear the patter of rain starting softly, but quickly growing in volume. She picked up the pace to a gentle jog. They were almost inside the city already, but this brought them to what used to be a gate.
Storm: Over there, Do you see those buildings? ::Pointing toward one side of the city. They look like they might be at least partially intact.
MacKenzie/Cole/Brexis: Response
~*~
Tags / TBC!
~*~
Lt Alex Storm
Tactical Officer
USS Artemis
O240103SK2