Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek-Skyfire: Boom Boom Crash
Lael Rosek-Skyfire
They worked frantically to stabilize the shuttle amid increasing turbulence and static-filled communications. Although there had been minor signs of interference from orbit, nothing had prepared them for the storm's severity. As erratic data flooded her console, Lael attempted to contact the Astraeus, for guidance, but received only silence in return. Realizing the danger of a crash was imminent, she searched desperately for a safe place to land, the situation growing more critical by the second.
Rosek-Skyfire: ::sighs:: Well, we might be on our own with this one.
Ral: I’ll take a look when I sort out our engine issues.
Alentonis: We’ve lost our aft thruster!
Rosek-Skyfire: oO Wonderful. Oo
Her fingers scrambled across the console in an attempt to compensate.
Ral: You’ll have to compensate with the RCS thrusters while I attempt to get the thruster back online.
Rosek-Skyfire: ::voice strained and stressed:: I’m working on it, Lieutenant. Now if only the winds from this storm would quit rocking us like a boat in a hurricane, I could–
Shortrith: Despite this not being my field, I'm happy to help out any way I can.
Rosek-Skyfire: Just keep an eye on the distance from the ground. I’m going to try to set her down gently, but no promises. ::growls:: Come on, damn you! Nose up! Nose up!
Despite her best efforts to smooth the landing, it felt like something had gotten slap-happy with the craft, using the palm of a hand to slam them into the ground and hard.
It was a damned miracle that Lael didn’t break her back or another part of her anatomy. As it was, her hand was sore from how hard she’d slammed it against the console to protect her face.
Alentonis: Is everyone okay?
Ral: All intact, as far as I can tell. That was some landing. ::smiling::
Shortrith: Looking medically sound to me.
Lael shook her hand, grimacing. She supposed that depended on the asking party’s definition of all right. While it wasn’t the worst injury she’d ever received, it was certainly annoying and inconvenient. She still wasn’t sure if it was fractured.
Rosek-Skyfire: Other than a sore hand, peachy. ::to Ral:: How’s that comm signal looking?
Ral: Looks like it’s clearing up. Comms should be clear now. The interlink to the Astraeus is active again.
Shortcut:=/\= Shortrith to Astraeus, we have crash-landed safely on the planet, minimal injuries. ::as nonchalantly as possible:: We do, however… no longer have a shuttle. =/\=
They couldn’t be sure if the Astraeus had actually received their message, given that they hadn’t yet received a response. She could only hope so. Being out a functional shuttle was inconvenient, but at least they still had shelter and their provisions. Thankfully, the Operations teams had just fully stocked them up on food, water, medical supplies, and the like. They could wait it out for at least a few days before things started getting tight.
Given that the Astraeus had likely seen them go down, search parties would be sent in no time. Their greatest concern was the local wildlife.
Shortrith: Hmm… ::pauses:: Are any of you guys also nauseous from all the shaking from the shuttle? If so, take a moment to stop and breathe. The fresh air will do you good.
Alentonis: Yeah...Taking a moment.
Rising gingerly, Lael did a quick check to be sure she had no previously hidden injuries. When everything checked out, she followed the others out of the shuttle with Tim behind her.
Alentonis: Maybe the captain's team has landed by now?
Ral: I would imagine so. Hopefully their passage down was less eventful.
Rosek-Skyfire: ::shakes her head:: I think we just hit a particularly bad pocket. There was no navigating through it. I tried to keep us in the air long enough to get an SOS off, but I’m not sure if the other shuttles or the Astraeus saw it in time.
Shortrith : Response
Alentonis: Should we try to contact them?
Lael opened her mouth to speak, but froze when she felt a flicker of something brush against her mind. A presence, brief yet there.
Ral: Commander, are you feeling that? It’s as if someone is watching us.
Rosek-Skyfire : ::nods slowly:: I felt it briefly, yes. Not long enough to get a real read on it. ::grimaces:: Damned neural suppressants.
Ral: The feeling I’m getting most is curiosity.
Shortcut: Response
Ral: It doesn’t feel malevolent, whatever it is Doctor. It’s strange as we didn’t detect any lifeforms. I’ll keep my mind open.
Rosek-Skyfire:::pulls an Engineering kit out of a compartment then steps back out:: I get the feeling that interference prevented us from seeing a lot of things about this planet. ::to Shortrith:: Why don’t you dig out the medical kit? You can do more thorough examinations on everyone to be sure we don’t miss something.
Shortcut: Response
Rosek-Skyfire:::to Tim:: Are you okay, Commander? You looked a bit disoriented when we first landed.
Alentonis : Response
Rosek-Skyfire:::nods:: Once you have a clearer head, why don’t you establish a tight perimeter? Get a feel for our immediate surroundings? It would probably be helpful for whatever rescue crew once we re-establish two-way communications.
Alentonis: Response
As she gave the order, she noted Wyatt already digging into the thruster assembly.
Ral: This will take a good three hours to fix. Not counting any other damage that's been caused by that hard landing.
Rosek-Skyfire: ::grimaces:: Well, that’s not good. ::looks up at the sky:: About how long do we think we have before this place gets dark?
Shortrith / Ral / Alentonis : Responses
Her ADD was making it difficult to focus. All of the noises from the world around them were flooding her brain at full volume and it was difficult to sort them all. This was going to be a long rest of the day.
Rosek-Skyfire: ::to Ral:: What do we think our first priority should be? Communications or the thruster assembly?
Ral: Response
Rosek-Skyfire: ::nods:: We can easily work both simultaneously. I’m happy to work on seeing if there’s a more permanent way to break through the interference.
Shortrith: Response
Rosek-Skyfire: ::nods:: They may well have, Doc. But confirmation would be good.
Shorthrith: Response
Ral / Alentonis: Response
Rosek-Skyfire:Make sure you all are drinking plenty of water. I’ll see how far I can get with Comms. Once everyone starts getting hungry, we’ll break inside the shuttle for ration packs. We need to keep our focus up until a rescue team arrives.
Shorthrith / Ral / Alentonis: Response