Ensign T’Fearne - The Temple Drank Her [Part 1]
Teayl Thorn
((OOC: A bit of a prolog to T’Fearne washing up with the Science team, No Tags, possible trigger warning for near drowning scenario))
((Subterranean Stream, B'Hala Excavation Site, Kendra Provence, Bajor))
Ensign T’Fearne had been part of a four-person team of security personnel searching the ancient Bajoran city of B'hala, long buried beneath the surface of the planet. The excavation site had been bustling with activity as the Ronin’s crew lent their help to the Bajoran government in a bid to locate missing archaeologists, presumed to be lost, while uncovering long-lost relics and forgotten passages of old B’Hala. As a security officer, T'Fearne approached the rescue operation with her usual enthusiasm and put her training as a Starfleet officer to the test. But one wrong step—stone crumbling under her feet at the edge of the walkway—a rush of floodwater, and she had found herself tumbling into a subterranean stream below the path, carried away in the torrent like a leaf in the wind.
The ensign felt the cold shock as the river surged over her head, her breath stolen by the pressure, and then the terrifying feeling of being unsure which way was up, her body helpless against the force of the water. She had fought, kicking her legs, desperate to get her head clear of the water before her survival training kicked in, and she froze, limbs outstretched, drifting in the inky darkness, no sound, no sight, no smell, no air.
T’Fearne: oO No Fea! Don’t think about air! Oo
She brought her hands in front of her face and saw nothing. Her lungs began to itch. Cupping her hands over her mouth and nose, she let out a tiny bubble of air. A small tickle fluttered against her palm, but not enough to tell where up was. She tried again, allowing just a trickle of air the burble past her lips. It trickled past her cheek and into her left ear. Patiently, stuffing her panic deep down, she turned to her left and gave a strong kick, another, and then air hit her face. She gasped in a breath as her head went under again, but the lungful of air pulled her back to the surface, where she swam to stay in place.
She tapped her insignia and the device emitted a sad little chip, declining to connect.
T’Fearne: Hey, help! Can anyone…hear me?
She used her security voice and let her clear tone ring out loudly.
T’Fearne: I’m here, in the water! Hey, someone—anyone.
Her voice carried and bounced and echoed back to her, almost indistinguishable and combining with the rush of the water to drown out all other sounds as a strong subterranean current began to drag her faster into the dark.
B’Hala’s thirsty ruins had consumed her.
((Timeskip, Unknown amount of time))
T’Fearne's heart slammed against her ribs like a bird trying to escape a cage as she struggled to maintain her grip on the slick rock. She could barely see, the only light a faint glow of bioluminescence from a strand of algae. The sub-surface stream under the excavation site at B’Hala that had snatched her from her rescue team was icy cold, and the sound of rushing water filled her ears, drowning out everything else. She tried to clear her mind of pain and panic. Her side throbbed where a jagged stone had scraped her skin, and her lungs burned from the half-drowning experience. If she hadn't spent several youthful summers diving for 1oscoids off the 2Hedeyan Archipelago, she probably would have drowned already if she hadn't learned to work with her strengths in the water. She kicked off her boots to reduce her weight and increase her streamlining against the current.
She had a serious dilemma. On the one hand, she could continue to cling to the slippery stalagmite she had crashed into and hope that someone would find her before she lost strength and was dragged away by the stream, or she could let go now, float with the current and use that reserve energy at a more opportune moment.
If there was a moment and not just an ever-descending flow to the abyss.
She let her sense of logic win and then had to convince her hands to let go of her only sense of security in the utter darkness.
She had chosen fate over her fear before and this situation was not an exception. She stopped fighting and let the water take her onward.
[[No Tags/TBC]]
((OOC: 1Oscoids | 2Hedeyan Archipelago))
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Ensign T'Fearne
Security Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
R240107T14