Alone in all the world
Posted on Sat May 28, 2022 @ 3:16pm by Captain Maritza Soran
1,316 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Pangea, Southern Continent
Timeline: MD04 1200 (station time) (Just after the surrender)
[ON]
Maritza opened her eyes, not sure for a moment she was going to rematerialize at all. She patted herself down, mentally inventorying her body, and then looked up. The stars were the familiar sky of the southern continent. She breathed a sigh of relief. Beaming out of the shuttle had been an act of desperation to try and throw the Cardassian's of her trail, but she had no idea when she'd called out energise! if it would work with the unpredictable atmosphere of Pangaea, or worse, work, and put her in the worst wrong place, on the forbidden Northern Continent.
She wasn't where she wanted to be either though. The mountains around her told her that. She reached into her small back pack and checked her position with her tricorder. She was far to the east of the colony, thousands of kilometers from it. Weeks, months, of walking to get to the colony or the portals. She had hoped to get close enough to broadcast a report to Starfleet.
She was alone, miles from help. Her station was in the hands of the enemy, and the many people she was responsible for were dead, or suffering. And she missed her father. Maritza dropped to her knees in the alpine meadow, and let the tears fall. She had failed so completely it left her breathless, staggered. The weight of it pressed her down, choked the air out of her. She didn't even have the breath for screaming. She had never felt so completely alone
A bird squawked, taking flight, and she looked towards it. It had leapt from a tree further down the slope of the meadow. She was out in the open here, she realised. Exposed. She had to move, At least until she reached the trees. Then she could rest, find somewhere to hide, get her small shelter popped up somewhere flybys or cameras couldn't see her easily. Somewhere she could light a fire, get warm. Sleep. She had barely slept in the last few days, and the exhaustion was bone deep.
She hefted the backpack to her shoulders and started walking. With potential rest in sight, the pack seemed to drag her shoulders down, and her legs felt like jelly, but two hours later she was into a small wood. Pine needles carpeted the ground, soft and absorbing all the sound. She felt no fear. There were no predators on the planet. The shelter unfolded with a pop, and it took a few minutes to nail it down and throw the sleeping bag in. Then she crawled in after it, and collapsed into a dreamless sleep.
When she woke the day was sunny and warm and she was absolutely desperate to pee. A brief scramble later she had a moment to look around. The sun seemed lower in the sky. Flailing for a moment, she found the tricorder. At first, she didn't believe the reading, and shook the devce out of hope of changing the result, but now. She'd been asleep for nearly 30 hours. And she was absolutely gaspng for a drink. She gulped down the contents of her water bottle without thinking. sh'ed worry about finding water later. She was in verdant mountain forest. There would be lenty of water somewhere.
Still exahuasted, but more emotionally than physically, she pulled the shelter down, and started walking. If she went downhill, eventually she'd find water. Once she had that, she'd worry about food. So she walked. She walked all the hours there was sun in the sky, but didn't find water. She had left the trees crossing across a huge meadow sloping down to a new patch of woodland, but it didnt feel like it was getting any closer.
Maritza was about to give up and collapse in the long grass when she saw a flash of movement further down the slope. It was deer-like, long legged with graceful curling prongs and its coat was bright white. It looked straight at her for a long moment, and then trotted away.
Maritza watched it go, and the found herself walking towards it, cutting across the darkening meadow towards where it was grazing at a lump of some short tufted shrub. It paid her no heed for a few monutes, before moving off slowly, away from the woods, and further into the meadow. Maritza changed direction, unsure why. It wasn't as if she'd be able to do anything even if she killed it. But the pattern continued. The white deer was leading her somewhere, she realised, and once she realised that, it just started trotting at her walking pace, no longer stopping for her to catch up.
The sun set and the moon rose as she followed, all fatigue forgotton, until the meadow dropped over another slope, and she saw a small valley below, and in the valley, a long tall mound, stone pillars framing an opening in one end, neatly pointing at the full moon. The deer, gleaming and glowing in the moonlight paused at the entrance to the barrow, and bounded inside.
The trill had to scramble down a short bank, getting covered in dirt as she went, to reach the valley floor. She landed awkwardly and her ankle twisted. The stab of pain made her shout, but at least it wasn't broken. Limping over to the mound, she tried to see inside, but the moonlight only showed her the first few feet.
Pulling out a small flashlight, she walked in. The strong beam illuminated a narrow hall, with sets of niches in either side, three highe, roughly two meters long. Occasionally, there was a set of bones in a niche, the body that had surrounded them long turned to dust, and the bones had collapsed into rough piles that hinted at how they'd been laid out. some on their backs, some curled up on their sides. between niches were faded paintings on the stone. Stylized armoured figures fending off waves of white humanoids, fighting with long clawed hands in acrobatic assaults turned aside by old dfashined weapons until the armoured figures were fighting on mounds of slaughtered dead.
"Charming." Her voice sounded far louder in the hall than she would have expected. she shivered and looked away from the scene, wondering what was going on above her on the station. She knew her people woulldn't be fighting on a carpet of their enemies, but she wasn't sure the Cardassians were so squeamish. In the face of overwhelming odds, she knew that the right thing to do was for Ryan to surrender. She knew it. She was glad that in the end, the decision was taken away from her. Ryan would have saved lives. She wouldn't have given Turvan the satisfaction. Surrender was not in her nature. And how many would have paid for that.
She kept walking. There was no sign of the deer, and despite having walked for what she was sure was twice the length of the barrow she had seen, still the hallway went on, beyond the reach of her flashlight. Stopping in the corridor, she wondered if it was worth going forward, or if she shouldnt just turnaround. Or at least stay here for the night. She'd be free from visual searches form overhead, at least, and the chances of Cardassians actualy catching her here was laughably small, so it would be safe enough from that regards.
Her stomach took that moment to rumble, reminding her she hadn't eaten, and that brought back fresh thirst. She should try to find water at least. And then come back, use the shelter the barrow provided if nothing else. She turned, and took a step in retreat. Which is when the floor fell out from under her, and plunged her down into the dark.
To be Continued…
Captain Maritiza Soran
CO?
Deep Space Five
RSS Feed