Joint Duty Log|XO&CINT;&Civ;.|Ltcmdr. Dhej & Ltcmdr. Rinehart & Civ. Sh'eik|"Rescue" Part 2

Posted on 241410.28 @ 2:30am by Commander Tierney Rinehart & Cadet Sh'eik

=/\=Runabout Hawking=/\=
After carefully getting Tierney settled in the co-pilot's chair, Karim looked at the distress call. It was simple, and repeating. Someone was in serious trouble, and since he was in the area, he knew he needed to help. Taking a deep breath he opened a channel to the source of the distress call and said "This is Karim Dhej, we have received your distress call. We are on our way. Please respond."

=/\= Moon Ischkara IV-B =/\=
Sh'eik bolted awake from the bunk, nearly hitting his head. He held his handpaw up in front of himself, staring at it, as it quivered.
"I can't keep doing this" he said, growling at the fuzzy headache he was having.

He hadn't eaten in days, sleep came in short disjointed bursts, ending in nightmares like the one he'd just had. It had been just over a week since he'd launched the automated distress beacon/probe. He knew it could be a very long time before he got picked up... Then again it could be never.

He had been operating under the premise that he WOULD be picked up. After launching the probe, it dawned on him, just how big and dangerous space is. He might never be found... As the days wore on, that realization was eating him away.

Sh'eik wished he'd programmed the probe with a repeater cell, if anyone found it it could've acted as a relay to his console. He'd opted not to, in exchange for longer power cell life. It was out of range at this point, he had no way of knowing if it was even still running. He prayed his message and co-ordinates would be received.

Frowning, Karim entered a few commands to boost the signal and opened a channel again "This is Karim Dhej attempting to contact the being who sent the distress call from this location. We are on our way. Please respond." Looking over to Tierney he said "Can you confirm the message has been sent correctly? And can you scan the planet it is coming from? I'd like to know what we're getting into."

The little probe detected the runabout's transmission and scans, and promptly dropped to sublight, changing to an intercept course at low impulse and redirecting power to its transmitter, as Sh'eik had instructed it too. Its message, re-broadcast then, this time with the co-ordinates of Ischkara IV on the carrier wave, initially on federation standard distress frequencies, then wide band, in case its contact was not of federation origin.

"To anyone, receiving this probe's message. I am a survivor of a doomed expedition. Our ship has crashed on a moon and I am in need of rescue. Co-ordinates follow." It was audio only, with a gentle purring drawl in the voice.

Karim smiled as he heard the message, and entered the coordinates into the helm. Turning to Tierney he said "We've found our survivor, Let's hope they are friendly." As the runabout made its way to the moon, he began preparing to beam down. Knowing Tierney would probably object, he said "From the readings we received from the probe, the ship seems to have life support. I need to go down there and help whoever sent that message." Tapping the phaser on his hip, he said "Don't worry, I won't go down unarmed. I'll also expect you to keep a strong transporter lock on me."

"With hope." The tired little Commander managed a weak smile and watched as Karim moved about the cramped quarters of the run about's bridge. She should have protested, could have, but knew better than to argue with the Trill at that point. "You know I will."

Soon the runabout was in orbit of the moon. Taking a deep breath, he set the beamdown site near what appeared to the center of the wreckage. Moments later he appeared, and immediately grabbed his tricorder in one hand, and phaser in the other. Clearing his throat, he said "Hello? Is anyone here? We've received your distress call and we're here to help."

The familiar sound of federation perimeter alarm sounded, and the area immediately bathed in a red glow. Sh'eik grumbled and threw a pillow at the flashing console near his bed. It was the third false alarm in as many hours. He knew better, a predator hadn't wandered into the wrecked hull in months.

Still... the teenage Caitian yawned and trudged out of bed, plopping down in front of the console, idly flicking up the sensor pallet. It wouldn't shut up if he didn't switch it off manua-... ... ...

There WAS something in the midst of the bays... Something alive... The pallet was damaged, years ago in the crash, and the moon had been caught in an eclipse by the planet for the last few days so power levels were too low to identify what it was.

His pulse quickened, hackles standing up, tail puffing out. Sh'eik hadn't felt much at all over the past week, slumping into depression after launching the probe. He'd easily lost ten pounds from not eating, the adrenalin rush, and fear was like waking up from slumber, to a marching band.

He'd long since drained the phaser power cells to survive, so he reached for one of the few things left behind from the hunting crews, a carbon bow, and slipped a few arrows under his belt, before noting the position of the animal and heading out from the lab.

Sighing, Karim set his tricorder to pick up any lifeforms nearby, and began walking in the general direction of where a life form was shown to possibly be. If there truly was someone in need of help, he wanted to get to them, rescue them, then hightail it back to the ship. Tapping his communicator to boost the volume of his voice he said "Again, I am Karim Dhej. We have received your distress call and are here to help. Please do not be afraid, we mean you no harm."

The door of one of the farther away bays hissed open then closed, a few leaves rustled and then it closed again. Sh'eik padded quietly across the floor. His head pounded, his vision blurring and occasionally star bursting.

His adrenalin keeping him alert, despite his body screaming all around him. Sh'eik's ears swiveled in the direction of Dhej's words, but could detect nothing of them, over the road of his own pulse. Weakly he padded slipping behind the various pieces of wreckage until finally he pounced out, arrow ready, bow drawn.

He'd misjudged, his state obviously weaker than he'd realized. Sh'eik wasn't the dozen meters or so back from the creature... Why couldn't he focus? It was right here, in striking range...

For a moment, the sheer idiocy of it amused him, in his delirium. He'd die now, after surviving all this time, alone on this rock, after repairing and launching a probe with little or no assistance, after beating the odds, one of these big reptilians would take off his head, and pulls his corpse to it's nest to feed it's young, like it had his parents... All because he couldn't, bloody, sleep.

The bow fell harmlessly, the arrow clattering on the ground as Sh'eik fell to his knees. It was gone now, the adrenalin, the surge of strength, the resolve, the fight... The flight...

He held out his arms to the hallucination standing in place of Dhej, in front of him, "Mrarneeq fubu Tay'rng."
The teen's eyes glazed over before rolling back in his head and he pitched forward, succumbing to exhaustion and malnourishment.

Reacting quickly, Karim caught the young man before he hit the ground. With a free hand he holstered his phaser, and then tapped his combadge "Dhej to Hawking, 2 to beam up to the medical compartment, initiate standard quarantine protocols."

"Copy that Dhej." Tierney responded and her hands flew across the controls to initiate both sequences at once.

Moments later the duo appeared in the medical compartment. Carefully lying the young man on the biobed, he said "Computer initiate scan of the individual on the biobed, and myself. Are there any traces of any contaminates present in either of us." Moments later the computer replied "Scans complete no contaminates found." Smiling slightly he scanned the being, and determining he was stable, grabbed a hypo, pressed it to his neck to ensure he would sleep and said "Computer, deactivate quarantine. Authorization Dhej Gamma 920." "Quarantine deactivated" the computer replied.

Rushing out into the forward compartment he said "Commander, set a course for the Enterprise warp 6. Engage when ready." Sliding into the other chair, after receiving a nod, he began preparing a brief report to give Rhodes, and another for Quoicho in Sickbay."

=/\=End Log=/\=
Lieutenant Commander Karim Dhej
Executive Officer
USS Enterprise 1701-F

Lieutenant Commander Tierney Rinehart
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Enterprise 1701-F

Civilan Sh'eik
Survivor
USS Enterprise 1701-F