The Kellina Barrens
Moon She'lla
Alpha Centauri
As the team approached the rendezvous point, reaching the two-kilometer mark, Trip suddenly refused to be carried.
"We've all got enough air to last one kilometer." He argued. "Let me have some small dignity. You can carry me if or when my air runs out."
It took some arguing but T'Pol and Sovak finally accepted his logic. So it was that Trip stumbled just past the one-kilometer mark. Then fell to his knees, clawing at his helmet and clearly in distress. Nonetheless he said nothing over the suit radio, apparently wanting to show as much courage as he could and be a good example for the crew. But he couldn't help panicking as he slowly suffocated, though,
T'Pol intervened in order to prevent another Titan incident, while Trip's gasped his last breaths across the suit radios. She carefully guided his hands away from the seals on his helmet until he finally went limp and toppled into the dust.
T'Pol took him up immediately, tossing him over one shoulder, prepared to carry his near-lifeless body across that last kilometer.
"T'Pol," Savok said, "It would be logical for me to carry the Captain as I have a greater bodily muscle mass than a female…"
She interrupted, "I will carry him. This is not open for discussion. You will run with me, starting now."
She ran, wth Sovak close on her heels, leaving the rest of the group to fend for themselves.
"She took the scanner." Olson noted. "How are we supposed to navigate now?"
"We will simply follow their footprints," P'Trell said, indicating the clear visible trail T'Pol and Sovak were leaving in the dust.
T'Pol and Suvok arrived at the shuttle only four minutes into Trip's unconscious state. They were pushing the limit and they knew it. Suvok bounded forward ahead of T'Pol to bang as loudly as he could with his Vulcan strength on the shuttle airlock. Hopefully someone would hear and respond, as no one had greeted them at the door.
It readily became apparent that no one was going to answer the door, so Suvok moved to the sealed emergency entry pad just to the left of the airlock. Breaking the seal, he entered the emergency code and cycled open the airlock.
Once inside and with the airlock cycled again, Savok could see at a glance that the pilot/medic for the shuttle was either unconscious or dead. He spared no more than that one glance to triage, putting Trip first for medical treatment.
Savok quickly searched and found an automated CPR machine. Once Trip was out of his EVA suit, that, along with a shot of adrenaline, did the trick. Trip was instantly awake, though disoriented. T'Pol was forced to hold him down while Savok applied a neural infuser and issued a hypospray of triox.
Trip responded quickly, passing Suvak's cognitive testing with ease. Disabled one moment, giving orders the next.
"Suvok, check the pilot." He said. "T'Pol, lets you and I check for any damage we're not seeing. We can at least spare Olson the trouble."
Suvok had his diagnosis after only a moment scanning the young man.
"The medic is dead." He said. "I detect massive internal bleeding, three broken ribs and a collapsed lung. I believe the man impacted the control console with extraordinary force. The inertial dampeners clearly failed at an unfortunate moment."
"I'd better take a look at that." Trip grumbled. "But it's a miracle the guy managed to land safely in that condition."
"Indeed." Savok affirmed. "The will to see to his duties must have been considerable."
Trip was still in the diagnostics stage when the rest of the group arrived at the airlock. Seeing them coming, Suvok was able to cycle the airlock so they wouldn't have to knock. Thereby, Olson was able to assist in repairing the inertial dampeners. It took a couple of hours, but it was worth it. Accelerating or decorating at the speeds most ships traveled would pancake the average person. The dead pilot, now in the cargo bay, stood testament to that.
"Okay that does it." Trip announced, his work done. "Now let's all strap in. P'Trell you're with me in the cockpit. This should be your first non-simulated piloting of a MACO shuttle."
"Shouldn't be a problem." P'Trell said, as he took his seat.
P'Trell lifted off easily enough, breaking the thin atmosphere in short order.
Trip hailed the Challenger.
"Challenger, this is the Captain, come in."
"Captain, this is Mitchell. Glad to hear from you, sir."
"What's our status, Mitchell?"
"We tangled with a Romulan frigate, sir, but we managed to defend ourselves. Sensors are damaged and our hull's at 88%. Weapons are offline."
"That's who we're fighting. The Romulans?"
"Yes, sir. It looks that way."
"Good work keeping the ship, Mitchell."
"Don't be too generous, Captain. They were already damaged when they engaged."
"You took out the frigate, that's good enough. But be ready, we're coming in hot."
"Sir, it looks like you've got an unknown shuttle coming your way."
"I see them," P'Trell said. " Off port, ten thousand kay."
T'Pol interjected. "If they are the same model as the shuttle I examined, we are already within range of enemy fire."
"Feral," Trip said, "Let's switch places. Looks like we have some trouble of our own."
They switched smoothly, with Feral accessing tactical systems immediately.
"Captain," Feral said. "I assume Starfleet protocols won't let us fire first."
"That's right, Trip rescinded. "We don't know if this shuttle represents a threat yet. They're already in firing range and they haven't fired."
The shuttle shook slightly.
"Twin impacts from the shuttle, "Feral reported. "Plasma bolts. Hull 90%."
"Scratch that. Weapons free." Trip ordered.
"Acknowledging weapons free."