Storms and Mountains and Pirates, Oh My, Part 6

Posted on Sun 31st Jan, 2021 @ 3:10pm by Lieutenant Elliot Jericho & Lieutenant Commander Kiara Lena

1,398 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Denouement
Location: Uncharted Planet in the Thetacron Sector
Timeline: MD: 2, 1715 hours

She put a hand on his arm. "You'll see her again. If she's not waiting for you, I'll help you search for her." She dropped her hand. "Shall we see to that beacon?"

Elliot smiled back, "Let’s go get that beacon and get off this rock." Elliot led the way back towards the cave where he hid the pack with the beacon in it.

Kiara found her old clothes. They were still a little damp and needed a good wash. She left them where they were to dry out. She'd pick them up on the way back. Now she had clean clothes, she wanted to wear them until they could get back to their cave. Because of the rain the night before, she was mostly clean, too. Well, as clean as she could get here. She checked her pack and nodded. "Ready."

Elliot nodded, "I am." The two left the cave and headed up the mountain to find a good place to put the distress beacon so they could signal for help. The rest of the day was uneventful and they found a good spot-on high ground to place the beacon.

While Elliot placed and configured the beacon, Kiara sat down to look out over the land below. It was beautiful. After the storm, the creature, and the pirates, everything looked so peaceful and serene. "It only took us two days to get here," she joked. "I don't want to think about the return journey." But they did need to get back to the shuttle and their home-away-from-home.

It took Elliot about two hours to set up and configure the beacon to breech the planet's ionosphere. There seemed to be some type of interface. He finally got the correct frequency that would cut through the barrier, the signal was out! Elliot sighed and slowly stood where he had knelt beside the little box and antenna. He turned to face Kiara, "Now, hopefully someone picks up our little distress signal, someone close."

Kiara stood and nodded. "Hear that, little beacon, you're our only hope." She was only half joking. She dusted off her pants as she walked over to Elliot and grabbed her pack. "Now let's see if those pirates left anything on the shuttle or in our cave we can still use."

"I don't know about you, but I could use some nice long sleep when we get back to our great little cave." Elliot said as he shouldered his bag and began leading the long walk back to their cave.

Sleep. "Yes. Sleep and a meal." Even their cave would be a welcome sight right now. And hopefully, when they woke, there would be some good news.

It took a little over a day and a half but the two made it back to their cave without any incident. Elliot was wore out, his whole body was sore and he hurt all over. First, he was trampled by a bear monster and then everything that happened with the Pirates, not to mention the walk there and back. Once he entered the cave he sighed and dropped his backpack before nearly falling to the floor himself. He managed to sit, but didn't have energy for anything else.

"Sleep. I'll check the shuttle and see if anything is still salvageable. I'll be back," Kiara said. "And yes, I'll take a weapon."

Elliot leaned back on his backpack, even though he was hungry, rest seemed to be more important at the moment. Soon his eyes were closed and he was a sleep, dreaming of Meghan and that fateful date at the Pirate Base. He would relive every night until he got closure one way or another.

Kiara watched him for a moment, then slipped out of the cave to find the shuttle.

It was as she'd feared. The pirates found the shuttle. They'd given it a pretty thorough going-over. Anything of value was gone and the wiring had been pulled out. She spent several minutes looking for anything the pirates might have missed, but there was nothing. She sat down on the deck and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. For the first time since they arrived, she let despair wash over her. She still hoped for rescue, but as the days and weeks passed, she knew their chances grew slimmer--especially as they diverted from their planned flight path. How would anyone know to look on this small planet among the dozens of others in the area? And now, they wouldn't even know if a message came in. All they had to hope for was the beacon.

She didn't care that tears were running down her cheeks. Elliot was sleeping and she was alone. For several minutes she let herself cry. Then she wiped her face on her sleeve and stood, dusting off her pants. Time to head back to the cave and see about food.

Elliot was there when Kiara turned around and he took her into his arms and embraced her tightly, "It's okay." He whispered into her ear, "We'll be okay, you'll see. They're coming for us." He used one hand to gently caress her hair as he held her tightly.

She hugged him tightly, then stepped back. "Sorry. I didn't mean for you to see me cry. It's just...been a long few days." She gestured to the shuttle. "There's nothing left of use here."

Elliot smiled warmly, "It’s good to cry and let your feelings out. Keeping them bottled up is bad for you." Elliot looked around, "Looks like they picked it clean. Too bad they will never get to use any of it."

She nodded in agreement. She took a moment to collect her emotions. "Thank you. I think..." She paused to take a breath. "I think we should find something to eat. I hope someone will come along, but how long do we have before that beacon fails?"

"I rigged it up with a small solar panel so the power should never run out. Mechanical breakdown is another subject. Let's go eat some of those wonderful Starfleet rations. After that I will start to make some weapons and snares so we can start to eat wild game. Hopefully they will be edible."

She nodded. There was no telling how much longer they'd be stuck here. "Lead on, MacDuff."

"MacDuff?" He said softly before walking back towards the cave. Once his hunger was gone, he would begin to make some rudimentary tools and weapons that they would been.

"It's from an ancient earth author named Shakespeare. He's quite the writer," she said. "Sorry." If they were going to be here for a while, maybe she should start looking for edible plants they could grow in a garden.

Elliot laughed, "It's alright," He found a couple of sticks that he could sharpen and use for spears and snatched them up. Once back at the cave he would work on sharpening them.

They ate quietly. Kiara was still thinking about the pirates and the beacon. When they were done, she gathered all her clothes. "I'm going to bathe in the stream and wash as much dirt out of these as I can." She'd replicated a couple bars of soap early on and took one. "I'll be back."

Elliot nodded, "Okay, I'm going to start making some weapons." He watched as she moved away from the cave.

Kiara found her favorite spot in an eddy of the river and stripped down to her underwear. She first scrubbed her clothes to get them as clean as possible, then hung them over a nearby branch to dry while she bathed and washed. When she got back to SB109, she'd take a long, bubble bath with her favorite fragrance, then have a big mug of hot cocoa while she listened to music. She wasn't sure if she missed music or bathing more. She sighed. No, she missed Dallas. She missed their conversations while they explored different parts of the star base. Finally, she sat on a rock to dry a bit before dressing in her still-damp clothes. The second set of clothing she'd let dry in front of the fire.

She put on her shirt, which covered the top of her thighs, and her shoes, but decided wet pants would be far too difficult for now, and went back to the cave.

 

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