Lt. Cmdr. DeVeau - "Moving On"
Amanda Nordstrom
(( Planet Limbo, Day 5 ))
::Alora blinked at the sky, the few stars desperately clinging,
unwilling to share with the sun that was so determined to rise.
Pink and purple shot out across the expanse, and the brightest
star stubbornly refused to budge until finally, it was overcome by
the power of the dawn. Night never got truly dark, not like it
did in some of the places she had lived on earth. It was no
comparison to the total ebony that engulfed the depths of space.
Yet the inhabitants of the heavens still came out to put on a
display, focused on the highest point in the sky where the dim
remnants of sunlight didn’t linger like they did at the edge of
the horizon.::
::As much as she just wanted to roll over and sleep some more,
Alora pushed herself up and then stood. Her muscles still ached,
even after using the emergency kit to help her body recover.
Although she had managed to respectfully bury the dead, doing so
had taken some ingenuity to create tools to do so, and it had been
a lot of work. Coupled that with still getting over those
injuries, Alora was certainly feeling it. She turned toward the
mound of stones that marked where she had buried her fellow
officers. Bowing her head, she sighed deeply and rubbed her hand
over her eyes. It didn’t make sense. Why had she survived? It
hardly seemed fair. Now she was alive, but had to figure out a
way to remain so. Where were her other companions? Had there
been more losses? Who else had died? Close friends? Alora
didn’t want to entertain the idea.::
::Sachiko trotted over to her, a rodent in her mouth, unconcerned
with her grief and commenced chowing down on the critter. After
burying her companions, Alora had taken time to retrieve what she
could salvage. Her triPADD had been damaged enough to be useless,
but she took it in the hopes that she could send it for repair
once rescued. Other tricorders had also been destroyed, though
one phaser had survived. She’d used it for more functional
purposes, and it was only at half power, so she wanted to make
sure she conserved that energy. A few packages of emergency
rations had been salvaged, but she only had enough for three more
days if she ate three meals a day. She contemplated going down to
two, or even one to help extend that time. Her uniform was torn,
but still serviceable, which was good considering there were no
extras, and she was grateful that it was warm where she landed. ::
::The need to survive helped pushed past the sorrow she felt at
her situation and loosing those who had been with her, and the
knowledge that there were others out there spurred her to get
moving. Gathering what she had managed to retrieve, Alora took a
moment to approach the rough memorial she had set up. Placing a
hand on the top stone, she stood there, staring at the earth that
had settled only a little since she had placed the last on top.::
DeVeau: Rest in peace.
::The words seemed so hollow. They deserved better, to have a
true send off in proper Starfleet smile. Unfortunately,
circumstances didn’t give her much choice. All Alora could hope
for was to find the others and, perhaps, come back to allow for a
better job to be done. With a sigh the young woman turned, facing
the feline who, in the time it had taken the human to get ready,
she’d eaten her rodent though leaving some in case Alora decided
to partake. She didn’t. Instead, Alora crouched down to give a
good scritching on the back of the feline’s neck before rising
again. Shifting the pack that she had patched together with
leaves and vines, Alora inhaled deeply and let it out slowly.::
DeVeau: All right, Sachiko. Which way?
::That was a problem too. Without a working tricorder, Alora
couldn’t really scan the area. The best she could do was pick a
direction and hope she managed to choose the right one. Turning
around, the forest was thick no matter which way she pointed.
Giant trees stretched up to the sky, only allowing a peek thanks
to the hole her shuttle had punched in the canopy.::
DeVeau: So if my shuttle was coming from that direction…
::Alora faced the swath that had been sliced through the branches,
leaving the giants in its wake bloodied and bruised, though
already their wounds had begun to close up. The science officer
turned her back to that path and faced the direction in which the
shuttle would have headed had it not impacted the ground, coming
face to face with her last remaining companion. Sachiko stood,
the tip of her tail swaying slightly from side to side, eyes half
closed as she gazed at her pet.::
DeVeau: Ah, so you agree, that direction?
::The only response was for the cat to fully close her eyes, then
halfway reopen them again.::
DeVeau: Well then, let’s see what we can find.
::And with that, human and feline plunged into the depths of the
forest.::
--
Science Officer
USS Veritas
M239008AD0