Adrift II

Posted on Sun 10th May, 2020 @ 8:35pm by Lieutenant Meghan [Maggie] Jericho
Edited on on Mon 11th May, 2020 @ 3:40am

1,090 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Resolution

[Continued]

Maggie knew that the plasma injector in the starboard nacelle had been knocked offline. She would have to crawl through the jefferies tube and follow the conduit to the Bussard collector in order to repair the damaged injector, but she also knew that it would be difficult to do safely as long as she was the only one on the shuttle. There would be nobody to keep the shuttle stable while she was in such a precarious spot.

She’d have to do without for now and hope she could make it to Federation territory before she lost life support back up or found herself ‘dead in space’. She needed a plan of action for now. She’d need to see what this shuttle actually had to offer.

A quick inventory told her that her former captor liked leisure, but didn’t believe in preparing for the worst. There was alcohol [she could use that for trade if necessary], the food slot worked for now, but if things didn't stabilize, how long would it work properly? She had basic life support, oxygen, heat, and lights. She replicated a few stores of food just in case, mostly protein bars, nuts and seeds that wouldn't spoil after a day or two.
She lowered the lights in the cabin to 50% and shut all auxiliary lighting off. She slowed the craft to half impulse and set her heading to the nearest known federation property. She was at least three light years from Federation territory and in Klingon space. God knows what would happen if she were picked up by an overzealous Klingon militant.

“Computer, scan the area and see if there are any federation ships.” She ordered as she moved to the navigation console to perform a scan of the area to get her bearings. She was too close to the asteroids to put out a distress call. She felt safe for the moment, but wasn’t convinced the pirates they encountered wouldn’t come after her. She put her hand to the small item hidden in a pocket on her top. She still had the plans for the prototype, after all.

*****

It had been two weeks since the shuttle left the Asteroid and Maggie had been adrift for at least half of that time. She was cold and hungry but not ready to give up hope. The shuttle’s internal temperature ranged from fifteen to sixteen degrees celsius, but Maggie had managed to find a blanket that she was able to stay warm under. She also had a jacket she had found while searching the pod for any food rations.

The craft drifted along at half impulse, although the navigation system had gone out five days ago, Maggie was sure she must still be on course. The food slot had gone down two days earlier and she’d been surviving on protein bars while she tried her hand at fixing it.

Waking from sleep to start her day, Maggie ordered the lights to 50%. She didn’t dare make them any brighter. She needed the reserve power for life support and she had no idea how much longer it would take her to find her way to help. She hadn’t been able to send a distress call yet as her communications were down. The shuttle had been customized to one man’s eccentric desires and try as she might, Maggie hadn’t figured everything out yet.

Several systems had been adjusted to allow extra comfort for the man when he travelled, but it seemed that no care was taken to supplement or protect the safeties or integral systems of the shuttle's basic engineering systems.
Maggie spent the next two hours, seven minutes, and twenty-four seconds on her knees, trying to establish a connection between the food slot and the power conduit without a spanner or any other tools. She’d been shocked twenty-three times, and burned twice...no three times. She was frustrated and getting hungry, but worse, she was thirsty. She had to get the food slot working, if only for a short time.

There were suddenly more sparks and the food slot came to life.

"Computer, I'd like a large pitcher of ice water." Maggie gave the command. The food slot lit for a moment and the water pitcher appeared - half full. "Better than nothing." Maggie smiled. She grabbed the pitcher and took a quick drink. She found several small bottles, most likely used for alcohol transport and filled them. She wanted to plan ahead. "I'd like seven peanut butter bars." She got four. "I'd like a bowl of dried fruits." She got a handful of dried apricots and what appeared to be dried nori sheets. It was something anyway.

"Computer, I'd like a bowl of beef vegetable soup in a fresh bread bowl." She was happy to see that the food slot had one more good burst. Unfortunately, that was all it had and as the steaming bowl of soup appeared, the slot sent out a shower of sparks and smoke. Maggie grabbed the tray and pulled it out of the replicator nearly dropping it as the sparks burned her arms.

The small burns on her arm were worth it. The soup was hot and filling. There was tender meat and there were healthy vegetables and potatoes. Maggie's stomach was full for the first time in several days. She was careful to save almost half for tomorrow, but the bread was as filling as the soup itself.

After the hot meal, Maggie moved to the pilot's seat. There was no way to be sure if she was on course but, some of the constellations were familiar. A quick scan of the area told her she was still alone. She wasn't sure if she was happy to be alone with nobody chasing her or saddened by the fact that she was still utterly alone in the vast area of space. Perhaps it wouldn't be so horrible to be found by the Klingons after all. Pulling her legs up under her in the chair and tucking in the blanket, Maggie lay her head back and closed her eyes. She was sleeping more than usual lately. She wasn't sure if it was boredom, stress, or if her health was declining from not eating and drinking properly.

"Hang in there little one." She rubbed her tummy as if to reassure her unborn child. "We'll get through this, somehow." It was getting harder to convince herself as she drifted off to sleep.

END

 

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