Rescue or Recovery, Away Team Part 4

Posted on Sun Jul 6th, 2025 @ 3:00am by Lieutenant JG T'lenn & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters & Lieutenant Daynah Ral & Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone & Lieutenant JG Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil

1,266 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Gone, Without Ever Knowing the Way
Location: TE 3X031, Class L Moon in Typhon Expanse
Timeline: MD 06, After Part 3

She was slipping again.

Everything felt disjointed, as if her mind was a column of unaligned data blocks. Fragments would surface--her mother's voice humming a Berber lullaby, a misaligned target readout in tactical simulation, Greer's hand squeezing hers before beaming down--but the present time would not stick. She couldn't remember why they were here, what happened to the ship or even why it seemed so hot. Her brain kept skipping and rewinding. Nothing made sense.

The rasping breath came again, involuntary and sharp. She hated the sound. Hated the weakness of it. Hated that she couldn't lift her head or move her legs. The blood at her temple had gone tacky now. That meant time had passed. Enough time for someone to find her. And enough time for Greer to die.

Suddenly, there was a sound. Like metal shifting. Not the creaks of a hull under stress, but of someone physically forcing metal against metal. There was a presence just beyond the edge of her blurred vision. Her instincts seized the moment before her mind could. She reached back into her training, into language. But all that came was a fluttering numbness behind her sternum and one solitary thought: someone has found us.

Xalanth saw the two bodies. The male was clearly dead, and the female barely looked alive, but the faint wheezing indicated she was still alive. " It's okay, lay still and don't try to move. " He said gently as he knelt down beside her. " Alex, i have live one here she's going to need treatment before i can move her. " He said into his radio as he slipped the stasis generator around the woman's hand gently giving it a squeeze as he did so. " It's okay, everything's going to be alright."

His voice reached her like sound penetrating molasses--low and foreign. She felt the warmth of his hand closing around hers, and it unlocked something inside her chest she hadn't realized was clenched. Not relief, exactly. Not yet. But something approaching it. His words were soft and methodical, like he was trying not to frighten her. Maybe he thought she was already gone.

Aziza tried to answer him, tried to move or blink or even twitch her fingers, but nothing cooperated. The pain in her back had gone from a sharp spearhead to something duller, like a hot void--it was more frightening than pain, in its own way. She could barely feel the hand he held. Couldn't feel her hips. Don't cry, she warned herself. Not yet. Whoever he was, whatever had happened, she couldn't fall apart. Not until she knew in which direction she could gaze at the stars.

“Heard; I am on my way to you Xalanth.” Alex’ heartbeat surged against her chest as adrenaline dumped into her system. “Nash; can you get to my current location? I think there is another survivor behind this door. I can just barely read the marker on the wall but I am pretty sure it is the lower level of the Engineering bay. The door itself is completely sealed, perhaps even fused.”

“I read you, Doc,” Nash answered. “I’m pretty sure Xalanth needs some help. I’ll get down there. Maybe I can download the ship’s logs if that’s the case. See what the hell happened to her. Be careful, Alex. Do me a favor and make sure Xalanth does the same.”

“Absolutely… you do the same, Nash. We are going to be busy in sickbay and I would hate to add you to the roster of patients because of a mishap down here. Ensign Williams; regroup with Commander Nash and see how you can aid him with this door."

"On it," Tyler confirmed, shooting a sidelong glance at Osirin and nodding to him before moving to go find Nash. "Moving in now, Lieutenant." He started to make his way through the wreckage in hopes of finding where the Commander had gone to before anything else happened.

Alex took out her phaser and set it on a medium-high power setting; firing it at the wall in crossing pattern that left a rough X glowing in the bulkhead next to the door. “I’ve marked which door it is, Nash.” She looked back up the sloping hallway she had followed, returning the phaser to its holster as she started her way to the Dragonian.

“Thanks for the heads up, Doc. See you shortly. Nash out.”

Xalanth, with his calmness only possible as a veteran of the dragonian legions, knelt by the woman, doing his best to keep her calm. A soft dragonian song escaped his lips, one of a young hunter lost in the desert, yet through pain and hardship, she found her way home. He always found it comforting and he hoped she would as well.

Several minutes later Alex arrived to Xalanth; uniform drenched in sweat and panting. She took a steadying breath then knelt to verify the males status. The body was warm due to the environment but there was no pulse. She tapped the commbadge affixed to his chest three times; activating its Emergency Beacon. “Dr. Blackstone to Astrea; I have activated an Emergency Beacon on one of the bodies here, can you get a lock?”

"Ral here Doctor. I have the emergency beacon locked on. Transporting directly to Sick Bay. Energizing." There was a pause in the communication as the transporter effect took hold of the survivor and Daynah tracked the transport. "Transport complete Doctor."

"Acknowledged; notify the medical team that there will be survivors incoming shortly." Alex smiled slightly; this is the sort of thing she had joined Starfleet for. Saving lives and making a difference.

"Will do Doctor. I will also keep an active lock on your general area. When needed give the word and we can transport." So, far this mission seemed to be pretty run of the mill. That fact alone made something in the pit of Daynah's stomach roil.

The wreckage around them creaked and groaned as though under stress that was steadily increasing, causing Alex to look around. She pulled the tricorder back out of its holster and scanned the surroundings, taking a gauge of the environmental situation. The results didn't look promising and she swore under her breath before shifting to take a look at the patient next to Xalanth. She performed a quick examination and shook her head before checking the stasis generator on her arm to finetune its settings and properly activate it. "She'll live if we can get her to sick bay... but she'll have a long recovery from her injuries. It looks like the base of her spine at least is completely crushed; it is going to be a long surgery."

Alex looked up at Xalanth from her kneeling position and smiled. "Good job finding her."

" Thank my mothers for teaching me how to hunt and evade. " The lizard replied with a grin, still gently squeezing the woman's hand.

"I am glad for that; in all honesty. I can't do too much here but the stasis generator should keep her stable. Why don't you see if you can find anyone else and then regroup with Nash? I am going to transport back with her." Alex braced his shoulder and gave him a thankful look before tapping the commbadge on Aziza's chest three times and then pressing her own. "Blackstone to Astrea; two to beam up. Directly to sickbay please."

The lizard nodded as he watched the doctor vanish. Picking up his gear he began to move towards Nash.

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