Futuristic Transsolar

[InsanEleven]

Doc

​

"I'd say the last thing you need is more needles. You're like a damn pincushion. I will try to get as many of the pieces that aren't lodged in too deep out, then try and secure the larger ones so they don't move until I have better means to remove them." Normally one wouldn't remove such large objects on the account of the patient bleeding out, but at this point Chrice wasn't quite sure anymore if the man needed actual blood in his veins to function. She could probably get away with just blatantly pulling out the big javelins sticking out of him, but that would pull all sorts of attention from the others. So for now she stuck with the standard protocol of leaving them in until the ways and means were kinder. "This'll hurt, but we have little time for comfort right now, so I need you to bite the bullet." With little more words dirtied on the matter she started pulling out the shards of chitin, moving precise and fast with trained hands.

Saami

​

With the aid of not having to struggle for air anymore, his mechanisms had redirected every last bit of energy into keeping the muscles of his heart going. Slowly but certainly his situation started to level out into a more steady movement downwards. Not yet stable, but it beat the freefall he had been in before. More or less gently floating downwards now, allowing more time to be caught before he was entirely lost.


While Doc treated Vincent's wounds, Saami was prepared for the long walk back; laid out on a brancard with several indicators placed that would monitor his heartrate and blood values. His heartrate dropping a beat about every five minutes, and one could nearly say that with his mechanic nature it was nearly ironic that his heart was now a morbid countdown clock.

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince clenched up tight as the first of the spikes was removed. He didn't curse nor speak, he simply grabbed onto the log he was sitting on and squeezed until his fingers dug small ruts into the bark. Thankfully with each piece of chitin that was removed the symbiote sealed each wound, keeping it from bleeding for more than a couple of seconds at the most. At least none of the crew was watching close enough to notice the fine details of his bodily functions. "You aren't carrying me out. I'll walk back to the camp on my own two feet." If nothing more Vince was drawing the line there.

 

[Dragongal]

"First things first, we're getting Saami out of here." Adira turned on her general comm line. She could deal with Vince's stubbornness later, at the moment they really needed to worry about Saami. Losing their pilot would be extremely damaging, especially since he could pilot at warp so much better than others. "Nadanya, you got the landing ship? We're going to make it to the path. We'll have the beacon with us.

 

[InsanEleven]

Nadanya

​

She had nearly dropped Jack when she heard her comms ring, thinking her head had been turned into a landing pad for a particularly weird bug. "Uh, yeah wait... no not yet. Nearly at the plane now, give me a few more minutes. But shouldn't I first bring the rest back? It'll take a while before you reach the..." She'd mentally already been preparing to get the crew beside her out of there before returning for the others, and in the midst of running, carrying a full grown man and trying not to freak out she'd not yet picked up on the urgency in Adira's voice. "Oh Ancient Skygracers someone's dying aren't they? Is it Woods? Or Blinkey... or both? Wait no, stupid that doesn't matter. Ehm... eh... plane. Yes. It should be about ten... five minutes for starting procedures. Ten more minutes to reach camp, and then come back." She'd just shortcut her way through the starting procedures, she'd cheated the software in similar models before. With her mind now turned on another objective, she finally regained some composure addressing the situation. "So I'll be waiting there in thirty minutes tops."

Doc

​

"Uh-uh. Well, I'll wave at you from the plane while you walk back." Chrice didn't have quite the opportunity to meet Vince's demands; if he wanted to walk so badly, she'd just have to patch him up in a better walking state. And if all else failed a little leaning still counted as walking right? Maybe dragging would count too if his feet still touched the ground. But that would be his problem in the end; he could be proud all he wanted, as long as he could keep up.

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince looked up, an eyebrow raised. "I understand." Pride might be bruised, but Vince was still alive, and that is all that mattered at the end of the day. "What does the damage look like so far? Before you go off the reservation, I know that you can't tell until you complete a scan. Just, give me your best estimation for damage and down time, if you can."

 

[InsanEleven]

Doc

​

"From what I see... you'd normally be laying beside Saami. Some of those spikes must have hit organs, internal bleeding... your earlier stitches opened up too. I think a few days at least, but I can't even tell what your enhancements will do." Right now Chrice wasn't even sure she could tell with a scan, and without was utterly impossible at this point. She wasn't trained for genetically modified superbug-human symbiotes.

Nadanya

​

3487/12/17 11:40:13 SST


Frantically she turned the buttons on the plane, darting from left to right as she started the plane up in overdrive mode. Basically bypassing all mechanical warm-ups, stripping the software of unnecessary programs and cold sparking the engine to life. Not something you should do daily, and she felt a little sting when she heard her baby call out her betrayal, but she knew these ships were made to be able to handle far worse things. Behind her the crew was at the same time busy strapping in Jack on the wall mounted stretcher. Lydia was sat next to him as she was technically still on the medical crew, while the rest of the defense and scientists strapped themselves in the chairs. They would first return the living to the camp, as the procedures recommended; but that meant those down in the jungle would have to defend themselves for a little while longer.


Quickly she whispered a little good luck charm while the minimum requirements to fly started up. "Okay baby, time to show you how humans fly." With that she pushed the throttle forward; her flying best described as clearly influenced by some less than legal drag races, even if she was keeping it mild mannered at the time.

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia muddled along near the back of the group once they had reached the surface. She wasn't the last in line for their little march back to camp, but she hung back near the end. Her eyes scraped the ground like rakes. Damn, she'd kill the captain and commander-- again, if they were already dead-- if they didn't bring back at least some of the bug's paralyzing venom. Of course, if they got Saami back dead or alive, that would be achieved anyway. There probably wouldn't be enough in JT's bloodstream to get much research out of it. Shame.


3487/12/17 11:56:36


On the way back to camp and with something to do, Lydia was weaving around among the rest of the medical team after having stored the multitude of samples in a corner, one she warned everyone not to disturb. She hadn't organized them yet, that would happen back at the camp.


JT wasn't in critical condition, or seriously injured, so about half of the team attended to him in his paralyzed state while the rest of them prepared for the other injured crew members to arrive. They weren't entirely sure who would come in and with what kind of injuries, but they had a small idea. They expected either Saami, Woods, or Adira to be hurt in some fashion, but they had little clue who or how many of them would be, so they simply prepared for the second-to-worst scenario; all three of them severely injured.

 

[Dragongal]

3487/12/17 12:03:13 SST (approximately thirty minutes after calling Nadanya)


Finally they had arrived on the path. Adira had kept a careful eye on Vince, to make sure her didn't need help. The walk to the path had been rather quiet, with only a few bugs needing killing. Now that they were on the path, it was merely a matter of waiting for the ship. Adira still found it a little funny how she had been the one to charge after the centipede beast - despite a lot of advice against it - and yet of the three who had been down there, she was the only one who was uninjured. Well, Saami had already been injured, but that wasn't the point. "Nadanya, we're on the path. You should be able to see the beacon."

 

[InsanEleven]

Doc

​

She had plucked Woods' the best she could, but there was still an awful lot of bug stuck in the man. Whenever an opportunity arose on the walk she would take a few more out, and she was planning on starting on the smaller pieces once they had boarded the plane. With Saami in competent hands, she only occasionally checked to see if everything was still firmly fixed in place. The duty of intubating was rotated between Jericho and a defense member, to make sure they didn't get tired. All in all they moved quick and in unison, even with Woods in such an awful walking shape.

Nadanya

​

"Yes, I see it on my screen now. I'll be there in a few minutes, and the rest of the crew got back safe. They're working on Jack now, last I saw." Now she didn't have to transport anyone her flying had picked up a notch in speed, but that hadn't made the ride any less bumpy. Occasionally the plane would whine a bit when she got a tad too close to a pillar; and more than once the alarms sounded. Yet she consciously decided to ignore it in favour of getting up to speed, knowing those seconds could be very precious in the end.


3487/12/17 12:07:48 SST


The plane came in sight, and immediately turned on it's airbrakes. Nearly overshooting the target, having to turn 180 degrees mid-air to actually land close. The metal of the plane making a pained sound when it landed a bit too hard still. A sound that made Nadanya cringe internally immediately exclaiming: "Sorry baby, I didn't mean to do that." But the feeling of guilt was short lived as she set her mind to the task of opening the hatch and turning the plane back into transport mode.

 

[Dragongal]

"Alright, Jericho, Doc, and Woods get on first and secure Saami. Everyone else file in after," Adira said as they saw Nadanya approaching. Her landing was a tad rough, but it was good enough at the moment. They just needed to move quickly to get Saami stable. After that... well, Adira had a mind to see Vince to the Med bay (Or else he might not go) and then go to the kitchen and make some food. Oddly nonchalant considering recent occurrences, but not especially odd for Adira. Once she was on the ship she took her helmet off and gave Nadanya a grin. "Thanks for the lift."

 

[BookWyrm]

When Saami had been dealt with Vince found a seat and flopped down into it, leaning his head back against the wall. The various wounds that had been tended to were oozing slightly. Combined with his internal damage and loss of blood, Vince wasn't feeling his best at the moment. Nothing I can do until we get back to safety. For the time being Vince busied himself by looking over his armor, what was left of it anyway. He would have slung a stream of curses strong enough to peal the paint off the walls, but he found himself too tired to care. I guess I'll be spending time in fabrications then.

 

[InsanEleven]

Doc

​

Chrice had secured Saami and taken the seat next to him, just in case something went wrong. Yet her focus now mostly laid on Vince, who seemed to be in quite a pickle with more time passing. She couldn't treat any of his wounds while on the plane though, so he'd just have to stay stable for the plane ride back to the camp. This didn't however mean there was nothing at all she could do, even if it was just talking from the opposite of the ship. Pulling his attention with a few snaps of her fingers.


"Woods... Woods! Whatever you do, don't take a nap. Just keep talking to me or someone else, or keep busy counting your fingers." As long as he did something that required him to focus on one thing it'd be harder for him to accidentally give in to tiredness. She wasn't sure how bad it was, but at the least it warranted a well meant warning.

Nadanya
​

She had returned Adira's grin, but it wasn't quite in full, the lines around her eyes betraying the worrying. The moment everyone was strapped in she took off again, the ship slowly pulling itself out of the soft soil.


"Okay, I'm going to try and hurry back without crashing. I still can't believe you took on that thing though, honestly, I'd just have left Blinkey there. He gave himself up didn't he? Still better than losing you and Woods, and besides... uhm..." She just caught herself before admitting that she didn't believe that Saami was alive in the first place. But she doubted that'd raise the morale much more, so she just fell silent and tried to ignore that she had been talking a moment before. Instead focusing on the buttons and controls of the ship more concentrated than she'd ever been.

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince kept his eyes closed and his head laid back against the wall. "I'm not napping you nag." At this point all Vince wanted was some peace and quiet and a glass of dark whiskey. Sometimes being around people was painful. Adira wasn't bad, if he was being honest, but then again few people actually took the time to get to know him. "Just let me have my peace and quiet, for what it is worth."

 

[Dragongal]

"I told you, you just need to trust your Captain. It's not like it was my first time." Adira chuckled to Nadanya, then walked over to Vince and sat down next to him. He didn't seem to be doing too well. Adira smiled and nodded to Doc to tell her that she didn't need to keep Vince awake, Adira would do it. "Sorry to ruin your silence, but we need to talk. Once we get Saami to the med bay, and you accompanying him, we can get to breaking down camp and getting the hell out of here. These bugs are only going to get worse, with the rains. We should get to the ship within an hour, ideally. "

 

[BookWyrm]

"I get the feeling that you are implying that I will stay in the med bay and weren't just making an implication?" Vince opened an eye and looked over at Adira. She had the power to dull out orders if it got down to it, but would she? No, probably not, but then again her reputation as a maverick was earned for a reason. "I don't think this planet is even worth naming, let alone colonizing. Damned thing just needs to be blown to pieces, but those bleeding heart scientists'll wanna keep it intact so they can study those fuckers. Hell, I don't give a rat's ass if they come back as long as I don't have to come back with them."

 

[Dragongal]

"Actually I was thinking we'd have Marshall and the security team break camp. " Adira shrugged. "I need to log how the mission went, and I think that may take a while. If you want to go down and help, and Doc clears you, you can. I trust you to know your limits."

 

[InsanEleven]

3487/12/17 16:04:27 SST


By now storms were rapidly rolling in across the moon, enveloping the green surface in a grey hue light up by a near violet thunder. The camp had been wrapped up, with the last few cargo flights returning to the Lullaby, stored and secured back in the haul of the ship by the defence, engineering and navigation team. The scientists had already taken their turn on storing the numerous samples, and the medical deck was finally calming down now the influx of wounded had been dealt with.


Saami and JT had been stabilised, blood samples taken for testing and to attempt to find an antidote to the paralysing agent. Chrice herself in the meanwhile had been busy removing all the chitin from Woods, fixing his internal wounds and bleeds. For now the foresight was that the ship's crew needed some respite and a few days off, before they could finally leave the solar system to move on to new uncharted territory.

 

[InsanEleven]

Saami

​

3487/12/17 16:12:34 SST


The medical team had just barely managed to stabilise Saami, knowing full well that he couldn't have lasted another hour down on the surface. The paralysation was deep, effectively shutting down his entire body, but with mechanical aid he survived. Held out of the grasp of death by a whole safety net of tubes and wires; measuring and controlling nearly all vital functions. Regular, calm beeps and noises coming from the machines.


He appeared to nearly disappear in this organised mess of artificial life. Though his white skin and hair helped too in camouflaging him against the sheets. The machines having stripped him of the man he wanted to be, to reveal with nearly painful accuracy the kid hiding behind that mask. All his achievements, appearances and behaviour meant nothing here; and somehow the frailty made him look awfully human. Not much different from anything else that could die.


Until an antidote was found, or the paralysation subsided Saami and JT were to be kept in the medical bay. JT wasn't in a life threatening situations; the paralysation had stabilised before it reached anything vital, but it also didn't seem to get better. By now it was just a waiting game, and the medical crew couldn't do much but stand by in case something went wrong or one of the two showed signs of recovery. However, the ICU was devoid of human motion or sounds, at least for the time being.

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince sat through the whole process without much complaint besides an occasional curse or wince when something a tad more painful occurred. When Doc had finally patched him up enough to not worry about everything Vince had taken the time to grab his tablet and look over the scans of his armor. Nothing was in good enough shape to use refurbish, but the respite came with the knowledge that some of the tech could be reverse engineered. It didn't matter if it pissed SIAD off or not that their reactive armor was being studied. The lives of the security team mattered more to Vince than the opinion of his former combat unit.

 

[Dragongal]

3487/12/17 16:15:34 SST


Adira walked into the medbay with her tablet in one hand and a grimace on her face. She definitely looked to be in a foul mood, like she had just gotten some kind of bad news. This made the medical staff scatter away from her immediately. Since she was the Captain, she could freely move about the med bay and visit patients that weren't in the ICU, so the medical staff had no reason to bug her anyway. It only took her a moment to find where Doc was working on Vince in private. Adira pulled the door open and walked in, her expression immediately turning to weariness and concern. She walked to Vince's side and leaned in to press her face into the crook of his neck. "I'm sorry, Vince. Are you okay?"

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince looked up from his tablet and smiled when he saw Adira, yet when she embraced him so intimately he froze. This was.... different. After a moment or two Vince finally wrapped his arms around Adira and kissed her cheek. "I'll live, and so will Saami." Vince groaned as he laid back, his body protesting any real movement that stressed the wounds. "I asked doc for only mild painkillers. I don't want any issues again, and once I leave the med bay I'm not taking anything with me, so if I want painkillers after that I can either see her or find a beer."

 

[Dragongal]

"Well, it sounds like you have a plan." Adira sat on the edge of the medical bed. At least Vince was in a better shape now. "If Doc will let you go for a bit, I was going to make dinner for the crew that went into the caverns. I'd like it if you could come too. It's not right away, so you can still rest, but it would be in a few hours." Adira took his hand in hers and smiled a bit. At least in this private little medical room they could be together - Doc already knew about them, she wouldn't let anyone in. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, though."

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince held Adira's hand, squeezing it gently as he laid his head back. "Actually, that sounds nice. The real question is whether you can get Doc to release me or not." In truth Vince didn't feel like doing much at all, but if Adira was willing to cook dinner for the team that went into the caverns he would find an excuse to be there. "A little alone time in a comfy bed wouldn't be turned away either." Vince managed to crack a smile and chuckle. "Or a hammock for two posted up in the wilds of Mars. No one for miles around. Just you and me."

 

[Unlimited]

JT laid up in his bed fast asleep, recovering from the bullshit that had taken place back on the planet. He had only been awake immediately after boarding for the Docs exam and then immediately passed out to allow the paralytic to work its way out of his system, two days would be long enough to return to full capacity and start work on something else. He had sweet dreams about his hero, Saami, who valiantly saved his life. Dreams where the two of them shared a drink over some light conversation in a dimly lit jazz bar, something that would go on JT's bucket list of things he wants to do before he dies. During his brief time away he was informed that Nadanya had been the one who carried him to safety, so he made a mental not to thank her before falling into a deep sleep.

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia was sitting in a corner in the ICU, waiting with the others of the medical team for something to happen. The place could have been drowning in tension, or it could have felt as unusual as any day, she didn't know nor care. Although she wasn't quite doing anything, her mind was tossing and turning over the idea that some kind of something could be engineered from the toxin. A non-lethal weapon? Perhaps an addition to a field medical kit to staunch severe bleeding or slow the effects of other foreign chemicals and venoms?


The most intruiging thing to her was if it would effect the smaller insects. She could imagine the monstrous centipede reprimanding its tinier chitinous company to stay in line, like a superior with a whip.


Also, if they could get a pure sample of the stuff and transform it into some kind of vapor, that would solve lots of problems with unexplored planets with life film problems.


Lydia was startled out of her thoughts when she heard Adira arrive, looking like she wanted to eat someone. Lydia promptly stood up and went to go look like she was working until the Captain disappeared. After all, there wasn't much at the moment to do.