Oh My Gods!
Posted on Thu Oct 10th, 2024 @ 11:42am by Lieutenant JG William Verhoeven & Lieutenant JG Kaydren Aukai & Ensign Aaron Soong & Thor Odinson & Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Commander Rylen Lyo & Commander Clay McEntyre III & Lieutenant Odren Xall & Ensign Ross Clarke & Crewman Recruit Candice Kayne & Christine Graham
3,957 words; about a 20 minute read
Mission:
Silver Rain
Location: P-25-j
Timeline: MD4: 1000 hours
Max woke up on a biobed in a tan sickbay. It felt very retro USS Voyager, but the Lamarr class was not retro Voyager. His left eye was open, but his right eye was still swollen quite badly shut. There were chairs flipped up against the sides. Small windows let in sunlight.
He was in an escape pod. He was confused. Max tried to sit up, but he was held down by a force field. Now he was confused and annoyed!
Christine Graham appeared in his line of sight. She appeared much like her Andorian slip, but now she was a generic white human woman. Max would figure that out later. “Finally, I was hoping you would wake up soon! Don’t try to move too much, Captain. You’ve got a broken right clavicle, a broken right humerus, a hairline radius/ulnar fracture and, most seriously, a broken femur and tibial/fibular fracture. You also have bruised ribs, both sides I’m afraid.
“I am concerned that you’ll be her for some time as I don’t have the tools to repair your femoral fracture. I’m currently using the ancient method of a plaster cast on your leg, but you may need a cloned replacement leg.
“Oh! And you’ve got an orbital fracture, hence the swelling of your right eye.”
Did you get the number of the truck that hit me?” Max croaked. His throat was dry.
“Water, you’ll want water,” Christine said as if it was a major medical oversight. The biobed started to incline and Max knew pain as he never done before.
A small pouch with a straw was presented to Max by hands he recognized. “Small sips. You don’t want to get sick by drinking too fast.
Now Max knew it was Aaron. “You been quietly staying out of sight.
“I’ve activated my medical database, so I can be of more help. Lieutenant Verhoeven has his hands full since the new tribe arrived this morning,” Arron explained, though now well.
“New tribe of indigenous , I expect?” Max asked, his voice a bit stronger now that he had some water on his dry vocal cords. He sipped some more water.
“He’s been explaining that we arrived from over the Norther Mountains. This tribe has no knowledge of that area except that it’s brutally cold and they were surprised we were able to survive in that climate. Um…I should mention that Commander Clay is known to them as an awara cat and represent good luck. Lieutenant Aukai is known as a greeska, generally a bad omen, so they keep their distance.”
“Probably better that way,” Max answered. The metal bracelets he usually wore one on each wrist were now on his left wrist. It was going to hurt like hell, but Max had little choice. Closing his eyes, the metal disappeared into his skin through the capillaries. Once inside, Max sent his inheritance, two of the four Rings of El-Auria - the other two were lost during the evacuation), through his blood stream and down to collect his femur and reconstruct it like a jigsaw puzzle. By the time he was done, a sheen of sweat appeared around his hairline and he had to relax his jaw.
“Well, I can’t very well be seen laying about all day. Let’s get me outside, shall we?!” Max proposed.
Christine sighed. He was about the pull the ‘Captain’s Prerogative’ or ‘Direct Orders’ nonsense. She wasn’t going to win, but at least his awakening coincided with his medications. She loaded the high doses and injected the through the hypospray. After a few moments, she and Aaron made light work of moving the much larger man than them. It was good she was a hologram and Aaron a synthetic being. Max now rested as comfortably as possible in the hovering chair.
He exited the short ramp to the grassy area. It really was a beautiful area, with short green grass, trees that allowed dappled light through, but off put the heat of the day. Max could make out dozens of escape pods linked together, golden sun panels were raised above each one, providing enough energy to power most of the pods. Most would be powered down during the day, except the medical pods, like the one he had just escaped from.
A large man approached with Will not far behind, trying to keep up with the other man’s large strides.
“You must be the Chieftain, Max Coolvur? There, did I pronounce it correctly? Those letters don’t fit in our vocabulary together. You Northerners are strange people!” the rotund man announced, and as if recognizing his faux-pas, he backtracked. “Strange in a wonderful way! You have a giant cat, Clay, and a demon blue creature.” The man spat on the ground at the mention of Kaydren - though not by name.
Max smiled, it increased the pressure of his orbital fracture which caused pain. “Kaydren’s not a demon. He’s cast out and raised with this Northern tribe,” Max managed. “He has been a good addition to our strange little group.”
Max looked to Will for a number of dead from the Lovelace. Will picked up on this quickly. “Oh, well, now that you’ve decided to live, three hundred and ten is our final number after the difficult pass over the mountains.
“I was explaining to Chieftain Barrol that that meteor strike sent you into an uncontrolled descent on our last mountain. If Clay hadn’t been able to catch you, you would probably be dead now. He’s considered good luck by Barrol’s tribe.”
Max nodded. “I think it was good luck that the meteor landed on the hardest stone we’ve ever seen,” Max agreed with everyone’s assessment.
The Lammarr class had a crew of just over four hundred and Max was as glad as a captain who had lost a ship could be. Max could feel the hovering tension of Aaron Soong close by, disapprovingly. “I think this has been enough activity for today,” Max agreed. He WAS uncomfortable.
Though he had a strange sensation, an odd desire to touch the grass and the planet, so as they returned to the medical pod he was held up in, Max touched the grass and through it, the ground.
The grass died almost instantly, the planet linked through Max and lent him its strength? It’s power? He set himself back up and felt far less painful. “Gather round crew! We need to make a plan!” he decided, now feeling a lot more energized.
Death was nice. It was sunny, and bright, and she didn't feel...anything. The momentary but searing pain in the entire left side of her body was...gone?! She had been paralyzed by a barrel falling on her head but she could MOVE now. A familiar voice met her and she opened her eyes.
Do not be afraid, child.
GRANDPA!! She moved towards the man's outstretched arms.
"Is this heaven?" She asked, but her voice sounded echo and far-away.
Yes, my dear. Let's go.
The vision faded as Candy's vital signs did, and once she was "on the other side," she coded.
Clay furiously tried to keep Candy alive. He knew some first aid, some CPR, but it wasn't working. The crash was too much, even with his bulk, it wasn't enough and they had been thrown clear into the viewscreen glass when the ship shuddered to a stop.
Now the hulking Caitian was trying not to lose the reporter he was supposed to protect but the effort was for not. She'd been down too long, almost 15 minutes at this point. The tricorder on his wrist shrilled and beeped the long tone of flatline.
She was gone and he had failed.
Grandpa, tell the others that they did good...
And then it went dark. So dark. Dark like a night time. A night time without stars.
Max waited as the command crew could be located. It would take some time, despite their combadges still being affixed, the crew dare not use them. First, they had set up an emergency communications station, in case the Intrepid made it close enough to pick up a signal. Second, they were still a powerful power source. The battery inside the small device would not die; in fact, it would surpass Max’s old age by a few thousand years.
While he waited, Max closed his eyes, his hands instinctively touching the grass and the earth under his fingers. ’Rylen?!’ he called silently sending his thoughts into orbit with no idea where to direct them.
On the bridge of the Intrepid, Commander Rylen Lyo felt the faintest brush against his mind. Like somebody had plucked a wispy feather off a gizzar bird and brushed it against his brain. And because it lasted for only the smallest fraction of a second, Rylen was unable to latch onto it to discern anything other than its existence. It was almost nothing...but at least it was something.
Clay had appeared from the small tent he'd been occupying for sometime since he was found by the body of the reporter. His uniform was ripped to shreds, damaged and torn from the crash landing. His armor was still in tact so he'd had forgone the uniform jacket in favor of the short sleeved undershirt with his armor over it and a cloak around his neck.
"Reporting Captain," Clay nodded as he approached Max.
Despite having accompanied their captain, Aaron reminded the CO, their Chieftain apparently, that he was still there. He was a little surprised when the little blue demon appeared over his left shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m here too,” Kaydren said, as if his behavior was in anyway normal. The disapproving stares of the other crew indicated that Kaydren seemed to have done something wrong. “I was just taking a quick nap with the strongest guy we got while also hangin’ around the Cap to make sure we didn’t have any trouble with the fat guy from the other tribe.” At this, Kaydren laughed. “You do realize tribalism is still alive and well on S’ti’achai, right?!”
Will huffed. “Well, anyway, I found the Chief Engineer of the Lovelace, Captain,” Will responded. “Lieutenant Odren Xall.”
Odren stood tall as he was introduced, his Trill spots visible under the torn edges of his uniform. Despite the chaos of the crash, his demeanor remained calm, his sharp blue eyes assessing the situation. "Captain," he acknowledged Max with a firm nod, his voice steady, "I've conducted a preliminary assessment of the settlement’s structural integrity. The escape pods are holding for now, but the solar systems are showing some strain. We’ll need to establish a more reliable power source if we want to keep all our systems online... including our doctor," he added.
“And I guess that just leaves me,” the holographic doctor said as she approached the larger group.
Max looked to the Chief Engineer. “First, I’m sorry about the crew you lost,” Max paused as he looked north to where the saucer had impacted. “We’ll mourn them when we have time,” he added quietly.
It was a good thing the crew had managed to use a natural valley and stone harder than diamond to scorch the planet with. There was minimal fallout and the skies remained clear overhead.
Whatever the crew had done to spread news among two hundred people without the use of communicators was impressive. It had taken less time to get them gathered together on the planet than it would have done on the ship.
Max looked about. “Do we have word about the Lower Decks personnel I assigned to this mission with us?” He was genuinely concerned for their safety, especially that dingbat reporter.
Clay looked somber, ears drooped down. "I'm afraid, I must report that Miss Kayne did not survive impact. I attempt CPR but was unsuccessful in bringing her back. I will, of course, accept full responsibility for her loss and will answer to a Captain's Mast should you feel it is warranted, Captain."
“We have lost a lot of good people within the last twenty four hours, Clay. No one could have foreseen the advancements of the X model androids on this planet anymore than we could have foreseen the Mars Attack. We’ve done all we can to keep others away, especially the Intrepid’s crew.
Lingering upon the threshold, a battered and hallowed Ensign Clarke heard of Candy's passing. He already knew, but was still upsetting to hear especially how Clay took responsibility for her death. The whole thing was messed up, yet somehow a large portion of the crew had survived the destruction. Perhaps the Intrepid would be able to avoid a similar incident, at least he hoped so.
The Ensign shifted closer to the gathered group each looking shaken and directionless.
Max looked from one man to the other. “We have no choice but to make the best of the rest of our lives here. Until or unless Starfleet finds a safe way to extricate us. We stand no chance against those millions of droids on the other side of that force field.
“But we can still do our jobs in the meantime. “Lieutenant Xall and Ensign Clarke, I need you both to work on that force field. I want to know what powers it and if we can disrupt certain portions for our own power use or so we can escape the planet and avoid the X androids. Making that easier for another ship is in our best interests."
"Understood, Captain," the Trill engineer replied with a nod. "I'll see if there's any weakness we can exploit. With any luck, we can disrupt a segment without triggering a full system response."
The Ensign's eyes flickered up to meet Culver's and he nodded mutely only half understanding what the Captain was asking of him. The request felt rather outside his capabilities and far outside of his current thinking ability.
“Will and Kaydren will work with the people of the other tribe. Clearly we arrived on the plains before them or they would know where we came from and that the Lovelace was no meteor.”
“Damnit! They don’t like me, Cap’n,” Kaydren grumbled.
“Them and, I’d venture, half the survivors. You have a job to do as a scientist focusing on Anthropology. Pull it together and make like a nice puppy dog,” Max ordered, his eyes as hard as the tone of his voice.
“Clay, I want you to talk to the battle master of the other tribe. I’m sure Will can make introductions. It sounds like he’s ingratiated himself among them, so far.”
"Understood. I'm gone." Clay lifted the hood of the cloak that was around his neck and took off towards the other tribe, rifle in hand, just in case.
“Aaron, you’ll keep working as a medic alongside Doctor Graham for the time being. If you find yourself with too much downtime, see about boosting our distress signal.”
“Of course, Captain,” Aaron responded. There wears still plenty of injured men and women that needed attention, even if it was stone age needle and thread stitches. He had the tactile sensitivity for it and was nearly as fast as the computer generated Doctor.
Max paused for a moment. He considered the rest of the crew, but there was no need to give special orders. The pods were arranged and integrated with each other already. The solar sails and communications tower were established to avoid using battery backup for too long. Someone had already, very hopefully, set up transporter enhancers. The pods generated clean, filtered water. Their bathing needs could be met at a nearby hot spring according to the other tribe’s Chieftain.
Having nothing to do but sit uncomfortably, Max decided to follow the trail to the hot springs. The tall grass was so trampled, it was an easy spot to find.
He wasn’t sure if adrenaline had worn off or if drug interactions had caught up to him or the heat and humidity near the pools caused it, but his hand slipped and the front edge of the hover chair ground into the dirt, tossing Max into the water.
Something about the water seeping in around his casts was comforting until the weight of the wet plaster and slog of clothing started to drag him deeper than a shallow pool. He’d been caught unaware, so he hadn’t caught his breath and his lungs were starting to burn.
Fortunately, the waters seemed to respond to his bidding as he thought he would die if he wasn’t shoved upward. As though by miracle, Max was tossed upward and into the air so he could breathe. The plaster casting was melting off of his body. Doctor Graham would not like this development, and yet, as with when he touched the grass and felt the ground had given him some strength, now he was drinking in the water.
People seemed to begin gathering around the scene. Chieftain Barrol pointed and gave Max a new name. “Sorcerer and Chieftain?! Truly, you are a tribe of many surprises!”
Odren was at the edge of the spring, casually washing his hands when the commotion began. He glanced up as Max hit the water, watching calmly as the Intrepid's captain was tossed upward by the strange forces of the pool.
“Need a hand, Captain?” he asked, moving over at an unhurried pace. “Seems like the water’s doing most of the heavy lifting for you.” He smirked slightly, grabbing Max's arm to help him out of the spring. “Looks like you’ve discovered another feature of this planet. We should probably let Doctor Graham know so she can have a look.”
Max looked down at himself, a mess to be sure, but the plaster cast was falling away. The cast on his arm slurped and then fell to the ground.
Odren shook his hands dry. “At least the locals seem impressed,” he added, nodding toward the Chieftain with an amused expression.
Max was beyond impressed, he was certain his wounds had healed. Entirely.
The water returned to its basin, turning a dark, murky brown and bubbling like a tar pit. Max looked back at it again, the clean, clear water seemed to take his wounds and suffer itself those self-same wounds.
With the hour approaching noon, now many of the crew were coming to wash off and gnaw on an MRE or two. Most of the remaining crew were heading to the new source of water. Doctor Graham rushed forward through the crew easily dodging a few elbows and shoulders by walking through them. She already had her tricorder in hand.
As odd as her face appeared in human form, her blonde hair brushed just so, it seemed stranger still to see it surprised. As she recovered herself, Christine announced, “I can’t believe it! You’ve been healed in minutes what should have taken months. I’m going to start a detailed study of the pool right now!” She finished strongly, as though anyone could argue.
The commotion had bought Clarke over to investigate the noise. He quickly side stepped the Doctor as she flew past in a hurry, yet her face didn't show alarm, rather awe.
“Cured?” Max asked doubtfully, but knowing it to also be true. “It’s not possible. People have been searching for the Fountain of Youth and the Garden of Eden since humans thought up such silly fantasies.”
“And yet, we know that the metaphasic radiation of the Briar Patch is, essentially, a Fountain of Youth. Why couldn’t this be a healing place,” T’Via countered, finally making her presence known.
“I too will begin…” She paused as the sky above darkened unnaturally.
Overhead the clouds gathered and grew dark in what had been a bright blue sky above. Lightning thrashed and thunder so strong it shook their very boots. A maelstrom appeared at the center of the cloud growth and filled the air with reds, blues, purples, yellows and violent lightning.
Drawing away from the violent storm Clarke squinted against the bright light confused what was happening around them.
Everyone covered their eyes until the sudden wind and light show stopped. Raising their heads, where the maelstrom and light show had been was a man. Blond, tall, oddly looking like the Chief Engineer who had just pulled him from the water. Max looked from one to the other to confirm he wasn’t mistaken.
“Who is the planet eater?” The newcomer asked. In his right hand, he held an impressive looking hammer. His eyes shifted one way and then the other.
Taking bold strides, the blond man pushed his way through an astounded crowd of crew and villagers. The few he had to push, most of the people parted, as if touching him was anathema. He pointed to the ruined pool of water. “I’ll ask again. Who did this? Who is the planet eater?”
The crowd around Max split tha same way it had for the man when he walked. The man sized him up. “Are you joking?” He asked, amusement in his voice this time. “The mop is the planet eater?”
This annoyed Max for some reason. Soggy all around, a plaster mold drying him to the ground, and Max locked his brown eyes onto their new arrival. He grit his teeth. “Try me, Risan Viking.”
It was a comeback, but considering only half the gathering knew what Risa was, it was probably as sad as…the hammer headed directly at his head.
Max threw his right hand up and stopped the hammer in dead air. He could still feel the hammer pushing against his telekinesis, but he was confident he could hold the hammer for some time. Instead, Max decided to return it to its owner.
“Listen. Space. Viking.” Each word was punctuated with a step toward said Space Viking. “We. Have. Been. Having. A very. Rough. Couple of. Days.” Max paused a moment between himself and the massive man. “I. DO. NOT. Have. Time. For. This. Shit. Right NOW!”
For his part, the Space Viking looked astounded. He had clearly never seen this happen before. With Mjolnir straining mere inches between them, Thor took back his hammer. Looking into the younger man’s eyes, he simply smiled before introducing himself. “I am Thor Odinson of Asgard! I’ve never met a man, sorcerer or God who could do what you just did.”
Max nodded. It wasn’t without its toll, holding that hammer back. “It’s a great party trick,” he managed a minute later.
“I owe you a beer! Come! We’ll drink!” Thor announced to the crowd. “Who would deny the God of Lightening and Thunder and the Man who can stop Mjolnir with his mind?! We drink!”
Clarke rubbed his eyes and then pinched himself firmly. This had to be a dream, right? He glanced around at the others close by to gauge their reaction
“My name’s Max and I’m sopping wet at the moment,” Max argued.
“Someone fetch Maxwell a towel and some dry clothing. I’ll take a barrel of beer, ale or mead!” Thor directed certain people who ran off to accommodate his demands.
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