No Heroics
Posted on 26 Feb 2021 @ 12:55pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Captain Corvus DeHavilland
Mission:
M1 - Emergence
Location: Marine Checkpoint
Timeline: MD07 ~0915
784 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure
The orderly chaos involved a quick inventory of the available weapons and gear. The two Marines with the most knowledge of what might be needed were handling most of the sorting and selection. They had just five minutes to pick. It reminded Calliope of those awful hypothetical scenario exercises. You’re going to the moon and can only take ten items to survive- what will they be?
What would they be? Having already selected a rifle and charges, Calliope quietly picked out a pair of dark vision goggles, a shortwave radio with a signal booster, and an emergency trauma med kit. She had her tricorder and her phaser. Calliope unzipped her eva suit to get at something else in her uniform jacket- her mother’s graduation gift to her, the much used and abused pocket knife. It had gotten her out of a fair share of pinches. Calliope kissed the inscription which read Draw your own constellations and put it in her suit’s thigh pocket. In a hostile environment, anything zipped inside the EVA suit wouldn’t be accessible, after all.
While others moved with some energy and purpose, she felt sluggish but since no one seemed to bring it up she supposed that to anyone else she must have just appeared to be cautiously meticulous. Looking up, Calliope watched one young Vulcan crew member across the bay, dry heaving behind a stack of crates. Classic zero-g motion sickness.
Corvus should be aware, before T’Limm became a problem. She felt a stab of conviction at the thought. Corvus should be aware before *she* became a problem.
“Captain,” Calliope’s voice was smaller now, as if she had spent it all on the earlier briefing. When Corvus didn’t hear her over the shuffling of crates and bustle of preparations, Calliope waited for her to finish.
“Ready, Commander?” Corvus asked, finishing with the Sergeant who looked far more laden with armaments than he had when they left.
“I’ve selected Lieutenant Hokir to join me when I split off to go for the transporters. She has some expertise to lend. And you should know,” Calliope heaved a sigh, resigned to being honest. There were still faint haloes of light in all of her vision and her head throbbed. “I’ve started experiencing numbness and headaches.”
“Zero-G sickness?” Corvus asked before leaning in a little closer, “Or is this related to what we discussed the other night?” The last thing they needed right now was for Commander Zahn to have a medical emergency in a zero-g environment.
“I’ve never had any trouble with zero-g before,” Calliope said by way of a process-of-elimination answer, but with some consideration then added, “But it’s possible zero-g is affecting me from my not being in the best state to begin with. The gun was loaded, so to speak.”
“You’re sure you can handle this? There’s no shame if you can’t. We can regroup in medical and get you checked out, then come back,” Corvus offered concernedly.
“I can handle this. We’ll be breaking off less than halfway along the space walk, and I won’t be on the thousands deck drop. So I won’t be in zero-g as long as everyone else and Hokir will spot me. The sooner we can gain back control, the sooner you and the doctor can gloat over me in the infirmary about this,” Calliope promised with a kind of meager humor.
“If you for a moment think you can’t make it, you turn back. Understand? Your mission here isn’t make or break. It’s not worth your life,” she declared firmly. Corvus absolutely understood her position; one that she’d been in many times before herself. She probably would have told her Captain the same thing. But her point stood. This plan might hasten the enemies fight, but it wasn’t the end of the line. It wasn’t worth a sacrifice.
As if making a pledge, Calliope’s hand strayed over her EVA left breast pocket and pressed where she knew the necklace to be. There had been times during their shared service when something brave but a shade foolhardy had tipped the scales. “I swear I won’t do anything stupider than you would.”
“No heroics, Calli,” Corvus smirked.
“And… watch out for Ensign T’Limm. I’m going to get her a motion sickness tablet.” Calliope pointed out the Vulcan. “I think she’s got her inner ear scrambled.”
“We’ll be ok, Calli. If we all stick to our plans, and don’t take any stupid risks. We’re going to be ok.”
