Settling Old Scores, Part 2

Posted on Wed Jan 21, 2015 @ 3:46pm by Commander Caleb Ryan & Civilian Aleczandra Naqiis-Ryan

1,237 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Things Past
Location: Risa
Timeline: FLASHBACK: 2 years ago

The sound of birds chirping and sparks popping greeted Caleb as he struggled to swim back to consciousness. He groaned, his head pounding, and then fiery pain shot through his leg. He gasped, lifting his head too quickly, which sent it swimming again. Something warm and sticky trickled down his cheek. He reached up, touching a bleeding gash on his forehead where he’d hit the console. Probably had a concussion, too, he thought, as he took stock of his injuries. He looked down, seeing a large piece of the exploded panel embedded in his thigh.

The panel. Mika’s panel! Caleb looked over in shock to see Mika’s pleading blue eyes looking at him, a piece of shrapnel embedded into her chest. From the sound of her breathing, it had punctured a lung, and from the amount of blood, possibly nicked the heart.

“Oh, God, Mika!” Caleb gasped. He looked back to see Aleczandra lying on the floor. She’d been bounced around pretty severely in the crash, cuts and bruises evident on her young body, but nothing that looked too serious. He would have to check her, though.

But first his wife!

“Mika, baby, just hold still,” Caleb said, unstrapping from his seat. He gave an agonized cry as the shrapnel in his thigh moved. He nearly passed out again. But he didn’t dare take it out yet, not until he could stop the bleeding, and Mika needed attention first.

Caleb grabbed a nearby medkit and opened it. Mika grabbed his hand with surprising strength, staring at him. She shook her head. “Too late…” she rasped, blood bubbling up as she forced herself to speak.

“No!” Caleb said, refusing. “No! You’ll be fine! Ah’ll call for help!” He looked at the communications panel that had blown up and shook his head.

Mika’s grip grew more firm. “Naqiis…” she said, her blue eyes pleading with him.

“Is it…?” Caleb asked, looking down at his wife’s stomach. He rested a hand over the pouch where the symbiont lay.

“Save…it…” Mika begged, and Caleb watched the light fade from her eyes.

“NO!” Caleb cried. “Mika! No!” He shook her, as if that would help, and then grabbed the tricorder from the medical kit. It told him just what he feared. Mika was gone. Naqiis needed another host soon if it was to survive.

Tears mixing with blood on his cheeks, Caleb sat numbly staring at his dead wife. He was pulled out of his grief by a small sound from the back and looked to see Aleczandra struggling to consciousness, only to slip back again.

Mika’s dying wish had been to save the symbiont, the dying wish of every Joined Trill. Caleb moved gingerly, his leg still pierced with shrapnel. He eased Mika out of the chair to lie beside her daughter. Gently he rolled up his wife’s shirt, seeing the smooth expanse of her stomach, no navel in evidence. He turned to Aleczandra and tried to get her awake again, to no avail.

“Forgive me, Zandy-bear,” Caleb said quietly as he rolled his daughter’s shirt up as well. Turning to Mika, Caleb carefully broke the seal on her pouch, sliding his hand into the warm, wet cavity. He felt the slimy skin of Naqiis settle into his hand and carefully eased the alien symbiont from his wife.

For a long moment Caleb stared down at the alien. This was all he had left of her, all he had left of the woman that gave his life meaning, purpose, had given him a daughter. He wondered if he was now about to ruin his daughter’s life, as well.

No, he told himself. Caleb knew enough of Trill biology. He had a little over ninety hours before the symbiont would no longer be able to be removed safely. He was determined to get them to safety well before then.

Gently Caleb broke the seal on Zandy’s stomach. This felt so…wrong, touching his daughter like this, so intimately. But he had to save Naqiis, had to save what was left of Mika. Gently he slid the symbiont inside the warm, empty cavity and pressed the seal closed. He pulled Zandy’s shirt down and slumped back against the bulkhead, his head pounding. A quick tricorder scan of Zandy showed she had a concussion and some bad bruising, but otherwise she was fine. Naqiis seemed to be reviving, as well.

Caleb turned the tricorder on himself. Concussion, the shrapnel in his leg, otherwise he was okay. He grabbed the medical kit and proceeded to remove the plastoid fragment from his thigh. His vision swam and he fought to remain conscious. If he didn’t, he might bleed out. He quickly wrapped a tourniquet around his leg and bandaged the wound, taking several deep breaths to clear his head.

It was a long time before Caleb was able to move. He was spurred on by the sound of a shuttle flyover. He had no illusions that someone had gotten this far out into the wilderness to look for them yet. It could only be the shuttle that had been following them. Even though Caleb knew they should stay with the shuttle to make it easier for rescuers to find them, Caleb knew it wasn’t safe.

Lurching to a computer panel, Caleb called up a map of the planet and their location. They had crashed into the middle of a wildlife preserve, right in the middle of nowhere. The closest place where they might find help would be a ranger station, but it was quite a distance to travel through jungle and injured. Caleb knew they would have to make it, though.

Downloading the map into a PADD, Caleb then yanked open an equipment locker. He pulled out a survival backpack. It contained a medical kit, rations, canteen, and other gear. He added the medical kit from the shuttle and grabbed a second pack, as well, though he emptied it of the larger items for which he didn’t need duplicates. He stuffed what he needed into the first bag to leave the second empty. Then he limped to the front again. He pulled out the transponder and the broken communications module and shoved them into the empty bag, along with a repair kit.

Caleb retrieved one of the medkits again and pulled out a hypospray. He loaded it first with an antihistamine and pressed it against Aleczandra’s neck. In the jungle, with bugs, there was the risk of serious allergic reaction should she get a bug bite. Caleb then soaked her down with insect repellent. Another hypo went into his leg, filling it with painkillers. He felt it go a little numb.

Loading one pack onto his back and the other onto his front, Caleb struggled to get Zandy into a fireman’s carry before limping out of the shuttle. He made it to the tree line outside the crash zone just as he heard the shuttle buzz by again. This time there was the familiar thump of torpedoes firing. Caleb dove into the underbrush and covered Zandy with his body as photon torpedoes slammed into the shuttle, sending it up in a fiery explosion.

FIN

Lt. Cmdr. Caleb Ryan
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Nemesis

Lt. Mika Naqiis
Science Officer
USS Nemesis

Aleczandra Naqiis
Their daughter

 

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