Lt JG Imril - Step One: Don't Die (Repeat As Necessary)
Chris Taylor
((Escape Pod Sabre Class-D12))
With a pair of packs in tow, Imril stepped out of the escape pod. The thin air was, in this case, a benefit. Little to no wind to set them astray from a course along the branch. Dark, gritty bark gave good traction to their feet, where it wasn’t smeared by the oozing sap.
Again the pod shifted, and this time they could hear branches cracking. The broke into a run, replying on a youth full of unwanted balance and poise lessons to see them to steadier ground. Two burdens shifted their weight against them, and they shifted in return. A gesticulating torso above two rapidly moving, but precisely-placed, feet.
Just as their feet hit solid ground, the branch that Munro was standing on snapped. They turned back in terror to find that she’d fallen but managed to grab on to another tree. Her body dangled and she lost one of the packs that she carried.
Imril threw the packs down and looked over the snapping tangle of branches for a safe path to her to help her up. But she pulled herself upwards on her own, thankfully.
((OOC: skipping some dialogue inside the pod due to distance and thin air))
Munro: :: breathless :: Now. Both of you.
The tree upon which held the life or death of the remaining officers in its grasp was held on by nothing more than some thick ancient black roots, a gooey substance seemed to ooze from them. The ground around the tree had become muddied, pulled up and over the lip of the gorge. It was about to spill over the side.
Imril ran the packs further from the edge and tossed them further still. Hopefully saving them from the inevitable collapse of earth. Then returned to the edge, waiting to offer a hand.
Jaran: Response
They couldn't see what was happening inside the pod anymore. The tension was unbearable.
Munro: Let's make it quick, Silveira! You don't have time for fancy moves. Plenty of swinging when you get out of there.
All Imril could do was wait. The ground under them lurched notably towards the gorge. Yellow stones plummeted over the side. Their echoes as they hit the stone walls were muffled, ghost-like.
Jaran: Response
Silveira: Doc you drop first, Commander, Lieutenant stay by the door. Once the Doc unstrap and fall I am swinging down.
Silveira: Let’s swing out of here…
Munro: Once you do that you have to get off the tree… and fast. :: to Imril :: Get ready to grab them if you need too.
Munro moved herself across the tree that she was on herself and dropped down to the valley floor, she got her footing on a bright yellow coloured rock formation.
Jaran: Response
Silveira essentially threw himself out out of the pod and into Munro’s hands. The pod slipped further downwards. With a slight wobble they both regained their footing.
Munro: Easy Tarzan.
The pod began to slip and slide. The doctor had mere seconds before they would be lost as well.
Munro: Doctor! Hurry! Grab them Imril!
Vitor’s clenched hands all but screamed that there was no more time to loose. The ground under their feet took another ominous slip forward.
Silveira: Move it…
Imril stepped forward onto the tree’s base, as far as they dared to. Still above the ground (if temporarily). Reaching out a hand to pull the Doctor to safety.
Jaran: response
The Bajoran was quite a bit taller and heavier than they were. Heavier still for the higher gravity. It took all the strength they had to pull her -- and themself -- clear of the roots.
Imril: :: grunt of effort::
The two of them landed on soppy ground just as the tree gave up the fight and fell away. The sound of its landing carried from one side of the gorge to the next. A lengthwise howl.
Jaran: Response
The commander leapt from the rock and moved towards the doctor. Carefully she looked them over.
Munro: Are you okay? :: to everyone and herself almost :: Are we all okay?
Silveira: I am good.
Imril roasted their arms. They felt alright, but they’d been running on adrenaline since regaining consciousness, and that could mask many a malady. Quite possibly including one taken while saving Jaran.
Imril: I wouldn’t say no to someone checking my shoulders, Doctor.
Jaran: response
While Imril got their exam, Commander Munro and Vitor looked around.
They were indeed on a ridge that consisted of those unusual yellow ‘rock’ formations and the dark rooted trees. Some of the trees had been broken by the pod's descent, and that part of the hill side had been smeared in the ominous looking goo. Some kind of sap from the trees no doubt.
She carefully went to the edge of the gorge and looked downwards. Her posture alone stated that there was no recovering anything else.
At the other side of the gorge was a thick woodland.
Munro: We have two choices :: points :: Over there which would make it easier to shelter in the trees we can hopefully find a section of the gorge that narrows.
Vitor arched an eyebrow, clearly skeptical for the trees. Imril shared his concern; there were an unknown number of unknowns dwelling within the forest.
Munro: :: then points up the hill/valley :: Or we go upwards. We don't know what is up there and I'd like to lower our altitude. I'm not sure about Bactricans or Bajorans but Humans need thicker air. There's no way of knowing how much daylight we have left.
Silveira: Then that narrows it down to the closest distance we can walk.
Imril: Higher elevation would also give us a better chance at spotting whatever comes out of that forest at night. We should keep an eye out for anything we can use to set up a perimeter around our camp.
Jaran: Response
Munro: Before we make a decision let's sort out the supplies we managed to get.
Munro went to the pile of packs that had been rescued, adding to the pile.
From within their jacket, Imril pulled a couple of items that they had stashed on themself when the evacuation alarms started going off on the ship to add to the pile. Their padd, and (defunct) communication booster. A rush of memory hit them from just before the Saber-class vessel broke up; they hadn't lost their engineering kit. They’d left it behind at the foot of a Jeffries tube. Snatching a handful of items from an open and partially emptied case that there was no time to sort.
Silveira: Well, it could have been worse.
Imril: :shaking their head:: Never say that. That’s when it gets worse.
You might as well ask “what could possibly go wrong in a holodeck?”
Munro/Jaran: Response.
Vitor picked up the phaser and tried it. Nothing. He started to break it apart, trying to figure if they could use some of it’s parts. Not being able to find the problem, he put it back together and dropped it by the packs.
Silveira: It is. ::he shrugged:: Looks like this place won’t be easy on us. ::He took a few steps and started sorting out a few of the branches on the ground.:: We will have to improvise.
Munro/Jaran: Response
Picking up a pair of them he took a few steps apart and began to swing them. One felt better balanced, so Vitor tossed the other away. It wasn’t large, just about the length of his arm, and just a couple of inches thick. But it was straight enough to use. He smiled and shrugged, as he waved his stick around.
Imril meanwhile gathered up the phasers and other ‘useless’ tech, ensuring that they wouldn’t be left behind (or worse, chucked down the gorge). Chemistry and physics were universal constants, after all. At least some of the device’s internal components which the inert energy cells powered could still be of use.
Imril: After we find shelter, I can strip some of these down for useful parts. The focusing crystals in the phasers can help us make fire, like a magnifying glass. Depending on how bright the sun or suns get. We can set the casings up around our camp as perimeter alarms. Strip tree bark to make twine for tripwires.
Silveira: It's a start
Munro/Jaran: Response
Imril’s next move was to move to one of the still-standing trees. They used the pointed tip of their combadge to carve a Starfleet arrowhead into the trunk. A first breadcrumb for rescue parties. Proof that someone had walked away from the escape pod.
Munro/Jaran/Silveira: Response
An oily funk moved with them. The tree’s last gasp had thrown a few splashes of the alien sap upon their clothing. They took off their jacket, and went about looking for something to scrape the gunk off of their pant leg.
Imril: Anyway to tell if this goop is hazardous to us? ::pointing to the yellow stones:: Or those rocks?
Munro/Jaran/Silveira: Response
The phrase "It's never just a rock" popped into Imril's head like an old mantra. If the stones were safe to handle, they might just scoop one of the smaller ones up to take home to the Artemis for Scientist Richards to study. A goal to live for beyond mere survival.
That, and the next cup of coffee with Ollie. The promised talk which had been detoured by disaster. Delayed, not denied, Imril determined. Where was he, on this powerless world? With the mad rush of survival over for the time being, Imril needed to put in the effort to keep such questions from slowing them down. There was work to do yet before they could let the true magnitude of this crisis come over them.
They went to gather up their share of the gear in stubborn silence.
Imril: Ready to move out, Commander.
Munro/Jaran/Silveira: Response
TAG/TBD
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Lieutenant JG Imril
Engineering Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240110I12