A venture into the deep voids of space, and those unexplored portions which lie in secret, is a wonderful feat. There are some missions, conducted as secondary or tertiary parts of the whole task, that are completed with nary a mishap, that 'go without a hitch', so to speak. Fate, or luck, is apparently on the side of the participants in most cases. Distress calls answered, assistance offered, orders followed and directives adhered to. No casualties, no fallen comrades, barely a scratch upon the face of those offering allegiance or rendering aid. All's well that ends well, yes?
In some cases, however, this does not ring true. There are those missions, on the other side of the coin, which fail to follow this trajectory of fortune. When luck is depleted and lives are endangered. When plans go awry and directives fly out the window. When fortune - and fate - is suddenly skewed in the opposite end of its own spectrum. When luck runs out.
This is one such instance of the latter.
The mission in question had at least garnered some degree of success, with evacuees extricated from their blazing ship. The ship from which the crew had been extracted was a mining vessel of adequate size, on the precipice of its own destruction. There had been an unforseen failure of one of the vessel's systems, with radiation slowly filling the air, and fires speckled throughout. A small team had been transported aboard, in order to assist with repairs and evacuation. Within reasonable time, all of the evacuees had been safely placed within the Enterprise medical ward and tended to by the staff situated within. As for the flagship's own crew, all landing party members had been returned safely to their vessel. Their home in the depths of space.
All, that is, with the exception of one...