Tau Eridani I-IV
Major Tucker landed on his back, knocking the wind right out of him. Which was vaguely funny, considering that Vulcan psycho back there hadn't managed that even when he'd lifted him clear off the floor and slammed him into a wall.
It was just temporary. It'd pass in a minute. It was just his diaphragm objecting to all the recent abuse, spazzing out and refusing to do its job for a while just to get the point across. Didn't stop him from panicking a little because he couldn't breathe. Or from dropping his rifle either. Both things being pretty damned inconvenient considering where he'd landed.
The spiney critters were all around him. Barely out of reach in some cases. And thank God for whoever that was up there that was still shooting, keeping them at bay. Because he had to catch his breath, get up and get out.
Of course, fragmentation and splash from the plasma bolts so close at hand wasn't exactly comfortable either. Hurt like hell when they popped him now and again. But the main thing was that he couldn't breathe!
He arched his back and tried again to pull some air in, succeeding not at all, before finally starting to roll over on his stomach in the hopes that'd get things going. And if not, at least make a good start on the 'get up and get out' thing. Even if he couldn't breathe.
Maybe he could make it back up on the platform and just pass out there or something.
He reached out desperately, still focusing on taking a damned breath, to get that rifle back before the critters got it…
…and couldn't believe that he was so shook up and shaky that he knocked the thing right out of his reach.
Somebody up there, give me a break! Just let me get…!
Something thumped next to his head. A pair of thin-soled boots he was kind of surprised he recognized. So he took the hand offered him in order to pull himself back to his fee. Because maybe he could breathe again up there…
And with a sudden catch, he did. Taking a mighty gasp he drew every bit of air he could into his lungs. Even though it hurt and he really wanted to cough it right back out again…and even though he shut his eyes and staggered back a little, focused so fully on nothing more than breathing…with all those black spiney critters running around…but that didn't matter yet, because he could breathe again…
"We have to go!" T'Pol shouted, right next to him. And she had his phaser rifle, which was damned nice of her. Nice enough that he decided to go ahead and let her hang on to it for a minute, since she was doing a pretty good job of keeping the critters back. Hell, he was barely standing up right now.
A glance over his shoulder showed the platform was somehow way too damned far away. He hadn't just fallen the hell off it, pretty spectacularly it seemed, but it looked like it had shifted away lopsided for some reason. Which wouldn't be that big a deal except most of the critters seemed intent more on trying to swarm up the thing rather than just going ahead and eating the two of them instead.
Enough of them were trying to get at them that it kept T'Pol pretty busy…but they were already pretty thick around the platform's supports…
So he got his head in the game and snatched T'Pol's pulse pistol from her side so he could start pulling his weight around here.
The critters weren't having much luck piling on top of each other to get high enough to gain the platform…but that wasn't the sort of thing you took for granted…
He and T'Pol were almost three meters from the platform themselves, maybe less than two from the battery housing…which was a nice jump from that overhang Wilson had perched on earlier…
"Sergeant!" He yelled, as loudly as he could. "Get the hell out of here!"
"Major! Come on!"
Tucker didn't spare Reed a glance or so much as another yell. They had to get out. So he sprang forward, right on top of one of the critters there and jumped up onto the battery housing. It was about chest high, enough to hold them off for a good while if he could just make it…and he was desperate enough that he kind of impressed himself with how quick he scrambled up there.
He was pretty glad to see T'Pol follow right behind too, not leaping around so much since she was trying to shoot and move…but he was ready when she spun around and held out an arm for him to lift her up.
And she may have been a little heavier than she looked, but the girl could jump…he hardly had to do much more than steady her a bit so she didn't jump over the thing…
And she could throw, too. Because the second he reached high and out to try to pull himself up on that overhang just out of his reach…she literally grabbed his ass and slung him halfway up there one-handed.
After that he was pretty happy with how well his half-baked escape plan was going. Pulling her up with him was easy enough and they found themselves almost four meters off the ground in no time. Away from those things below and standing atop probably one of the highest points on the mountain.
T'Pol didn't waste any time, turning her back to him and pushing up against him a little. She was already firing at the critters coming around, finding every which way they could to get at them up there. He took the hint and put his back to hers, tossing plasma at everything that looked like it was going to come from the other direction.
And they held them off for a good long while. Long enough for everyone else to leap aboard the shuttles before the platform collapsed under them. And long enough for Reed or T'Sen or whoever to get one of those shuttles turning around to pick them up.
He focused on shooting then, letting the shuttle focus on getting itself the hell over there so they could get out. Those spiney things were quick, once they start moving. And they were sure as hell moving, considering he and T'Pol had suddenly become the only thing left on the mountain for them to go after.
And damned if that crazy-ass Vulcan wasn't laughing back there…
"This is very stimulating, isn't it?" She yelled. And he could hear the joy in her voice.
And, really, hell. He had to laugh, too. Because, yeah. Maybe he'd never admit it or anything…but it kinda was.
"You havin' a good time back there, darlin'?" He laughed back.
"Indeed!" She yelled. "We can kill them all!"
"Yeah, okay! But how about we get the hell out of here instead of that?"
"Yes! The shuttle is coming!"
"When it gets here, you hand me that rifle and get your…!"
"No! You will go first!"
"No, you get your ass on the…"
"You will go first, Major!"
Aw, for the love of...!
"I'm not gonna…my job is…just get on the damned shuttle, Captain!"
"I will help you get on the shuttle!"
"Dammit, are you listening to…?"
"Stop arguing and go, Major!"
A quick glance confirmed the shuttle had finally drifted in enough to maybe jump on. If he took his focus off keeping the critters back. Which would leave the Captain wide open for the damned things to just crawl right over her.
So he wasn't about to do all that. He turned to snatch that rifle away from her instead, and toss her contentious Vulcan ass on the shuttle like he damned well told her…
But, besides jumping and throwing, she was more agile than he figured, too. Because she did both those things at once. Grabbing him one-handed, jumping a full meter closer to the shuttle and using her momentum to toss him head first right through the door.
He did bang his head pretty hard on the far wall, though. So maybe she'd misjudged the throw just a bit...
Once he shook that off he dropped her pulse pistol and dove for the door, where he and everyone else in the shuttle with a free hand to spare reached out to pull her in.
Once Major Tucker was fully through the door of the shuttle, T'Pol slung the rifle at her feet. Partly to get both hands free to ensure she could devote all her efforts to joining him. And partly in the hopes of impacting the creature curling around her leg that she might knock it loose.
Once she'd grasped the first hand that came within reach, and began pulling herself in, at least five other hands had appeared to grab and pull her as well. So it was some relief to her, knowing there was little chance the she would slip and fall from the shuttle, as she had rather come to expect would be the case.
There were two of the creatures on her already. Leaping, it would appear, from atop one another to reach her before she escaped. One clawing its way painfully up her back. The other, on her leg, slipping and falling away. So perhaps she'd managed to hit that one with the rifle after all…
But all told, despite the outrageous events that had occurred since their arrival on the planet, the current situation was quite agreeable to her. The creature on her back could be dealt with momentarily, perhaps with some minor injuries at worst. The crew aboard the shuttle were surely already preparing to do so once she was safely inside.
It certainly presented the more acceptable alternative here. Falling back into the large swarm immediately at her feet was indeed less preferable to dealing with only one…
Pulling forward and falling into the shuttle, the creature still painfully dug in at her back, she almost didn't feel the sting at the base of her neck. She had been entirely overcome with desperate relief for a moment. Enough that it took some effort to redirect appropriately.
When she finally acknowledged that the creature had bitten or stung her in some fashion, it was already too late.
Because she abruptly felt nothing else at all.
Though she did remember…
Indeed, she found she suddenly remembered everything…