The Swell

Posted on Tue Oct 6th, 2015 @ 1:22am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Cor Cordale & Ensign Honey Flanagan

Mission: Commanding the Elements
Location: Ca'ael

The first thing the small federation team became aware of as they arrived on the street of Ca'ael was the noise. The storm was all around them the wind roared and even above that they could hear the crash and roar of the angry sea.

They had been deposited in the leeward side of a large wooden building; all the buildings seemed to be made of wood, except for a large low stone structure in the center of the town. They could see lights in the window of the low building but not in any of the others.

Looking towards the sea, they could make out a high wall of sand bags and a row of people trying to secure it. the people were already knee deep in water and it was only a matter of time till the whole structure was knocked aside by the raging surf behind it.

For all her life Honey had been the center of attention. Everything that happened around her, was because of her. Simply by existing, she had gathered some of the best geneticists, xenobiologists and behavioral experts around her. Cutting edge science and all the comforts anyone could ever ask for. She had been taught by the greatest minds. But none of that in any way had prepared her for what she experienced now, for the first time in her life.

The gravity was different, the feeling of the ground beneath her feet was different, the very air was different. And the violence with which it moved! Almost blowing her away, it felt like. Was this what 'weather' was like? A 'storm', raging and violent, primal even. She closed her eyes for a moment, just to take it all in. It felt so strange, so humbling, especially for someone like her. The feeling that she could be swept up by this ''storm' at any moment, being absolutely powerless to do anything about it, it felt ... Liberating. Exhilarating.

"I grew up in a mine." Cordale said to Honey, seeing that look on her face. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the wind. "Couldn't tell you how long I spent there, but the very first time I looked out into space and saw how much of it there was, and how it went on forever... I had that look. Or, at least I'm PRETTY sure I had that look on my face." he offered Honey a smile. "That first sunrise you see, you just stop thinking about rotational physics or Rayleigh scattering and you just say 'Damn...'."

"When all this is over..." and Cordale motioned to the storm, as though that were the 'All This', "... you'll see a sunrise." and he gave her a nod. She'd make it. He'd see to that.

"I'll be looking forward to that!" Honey shouted over the storm. She gave a shiver, holding her arms close to her chest. Yeah she was dressed warm enough, but this wind was still something else entirely. Finally she fully understood what people meant by the term 'wind chill'.

Aside from Cor and Flanagan were four security officers. One of them turned to Cor and yelled above the wind, "Should we be helping with the wall or checking on the refugees in the town centre?"

"First off, names. I don't want to shout out to HEY YOU or Ensign. Introductions." and Cor exchanged names with the security folk who'd be with him today. "Okay, James and Jesse. You go check Town Center." he pointed the way. "Marley. You, Robert, Honey, and I are going to check that wall. Give a call when you have an assessment but this storm is only going to get worse. Expect your comm signal strength to head directly into the toilet in about ten hours."

"Aye, sir!" Jessie responded and the pair headed out towards the low stone structure bent almost double against the wind. The others followed Cor down a muddy path to the foreshore. The could see along the shore boat sheds and fishing docks, most still intact, but some torn or broken.

There were a collection of about 80 people, Vulcan and Bajoran of varying ages, struggling with sand bags. The younger had the job of filling them from the sand of the foreshore, while the older and stronger were trying to pack them. Regularly a wave would rise high enough to pour down on the workers, and fine trickles of water could be seen in places where the sand bags were not quite snug. Cor had seen this sort of thing before in mines; a hastily erected brace to fix a temporary problem had been placed with no real plan or fore thought, then other added to it, and then more. It always ended the same way.

To one side a couple were working on a small generator which was plugged in to lights and an ancient field generator. This unit was not designed to be used outside, nor to provide the sort of power that had been asked for from it. At some point the elements must have got in because the pair of workers were kicking it and complaining about how lifeless it was..

" ... Want me to go take a look at that generator, Cor?" Honey knew it was more an engineering job than a science one, but a generator was very basic technology and as a scientist she had a more than broad enough knowledgebase to be useful. Besides, her taking a look at the generator would leave Cor more open for the civil engineering task at hand, the wall of sandbags that was hastily being thrown up.

Cor gave Honey a nod, "Probably just needs a new distributor board... or a sponge!" he commented, "See what you can do." before introducing himself to the first of the workers that his presence caught the attention of.

"Cordale, we're with the Victory. We're here to help." he called over the wind and the rain before turning to Marley and Robert. "Grab some bags, plug up holes. Build up where you can. We've got a good influx of sandbags, so just concentrate on reinforcing the wall." Cordale instructed the two with him, before he picked up a pair of sandbags himself and go to work in the trenches, as it were.

The com pin chimed, =A=Ensigns Merr... er... James here, si... Cor. The structure here seems secure for the moment. We have maybe two dozen people here; nursing mothers, some old people, and someone who is very sick. We've told them that evacuation will begin in the morning. They're frightened, but they are settling down for the night. Dd you want us to remain or come out to you?"

"We'll designate the sick, the old, and the wounded for first pass evac. One of you gets to stay and make sure people are calm and safe. The other gets to come down and play in the sand." was the reply. "I'll leave the decision of who to you two." Though, if he didn't hear a definite, or see a definite, in a few moments he'd decide.

After about five minutes Ensign James Merriweather arrived, his uniform half covered in mud from a spill he took on the slope to the beach. He didn't wait to be told what to do, but jumped in to help plug the sea wall.

-------------

Meanwhile, Honey looked at the generator while the pair of would-be engineers looked on. This was a well worn and oft-repaired piece of hardware. The colonists, in typically rural way, had made what rushed repairs they needed just to get the machine working. It was unlikely the original designers would recognize more than half of the parts.

"Thisss generator isss on itsss lassst legsss, but I'm sssure you knew that already. If we take the intake pipe off and clean it, it ssshould be ok again, at leassst for a little while." Honey mused, furrowing her brows. "Doesss anyone have a number 2 philipsss? And sssome clothsss, pleassse."

"Missy," called one bajoran, "This piece has been on its last legs since my Grandfather's time."

The other knelt and pulled on the restraining screw which began to come loose in his fingers. He explained, "Threadings gone, so we can't get a good seal on the intake. Can't do much about cloth that isn't being used for sandbags, but we got plenty of water."

She sat down in the mud next to the generator, not caring about her uniform at all, and started unscrewing the intake pipe.

When the housing came off it was obvious that water was the problem. There was so much sea water around that as the generator ran and heated up it was boiling of the water and caking the valves in salt. She could see they were going to have to clean the generator every few hours to keep it running.

It was only a matter of a few minutes of work to take the pipe off and she could start cleaning it. Another few minutes of rigorous polishing to get all the muck and debris out, before she could screw it back on. All the while she flicked her forked tongue out every few moments, the tip of her tail twitching a bit as she worked.

And with a flick of a button the old machine sputtered back to life again. However, there was still the matter of power draw. Currently it was linked to an SIF to reinforce the wall, as well as a field generator to provide some cover for the workers, and lights so they could work through the night.

"All thessse thingsss you're trying to power, that'sss way too high a power draw for a machine of that sssize and age." Honey furrowed her brows, looking up at the men. A moment's hesitation before she tapped her comm badge.

"Flanagan to Victory."

=A=Go ..ead, Fl....an =A=

"We have a problem here with local power. Could you sssend down a type 93 generator with a model 5 plug and appropriate cabling? If we don't have any of thossse generatorsss, a ssset of type 3a batteries with model 5 plug and appropriate cablesss ssshould do the trick for a few hoursss at leassst." Honey requested. "At my location if possssssible."

=A=....hat we can d..ut, we are ...ting the sam...quest form every........ every beam ou... slowing our beam in.=A=

The batteries arrived about fifteen tense minutes later. They would boost the power for about 24 hours.

When the battery arrived, Honey tapped her comm badge again. "Flanagan to Victory. The battery arrived sssafely. Thank you!"

"If the sun does come out tomorrow, we have a solar panel that might help." The locals offered, helping her rig up the booster.

"Awesssome." Honey asked. "You can hook up the battery yourssself, it'sss all ssstandard cabling, compatible with your own sssetup. I should get back to the Lieutenant." she added with a smile.

---------------------

T-45

The work on the wall was a frenetic pace, hour after hour. People didn't talk except to yell instructions or call for help. Cor could see these people had been already going for many hours, and it was not likely to ease up any time soon. If they were made to work all night, they would get sloppy and make mistakes. That's when accidents happened.

Cor didn't think people needed to be told to take a breather when they needed it. Hell, he was never afforded such a luxury, but that was the difference between a life in the mine and a life on the ground. They had at least a day before the real swell would hit them, and if things turned terrible sooner the ship would contact him or Honey. Or someone. So he told the nearest hand on the wall to pass a message down. If you're tired, take a break. No use working yourself to death, really.

Simple things like that. Sure, they were afraid, sure. Fear is a great motivator, but fatigue is a great way to build a shit wall. The presence of three new hands also meant they could rotate out the three most tired. It was sand, not rocket science, but Cordale couldn't fault them. They were scared.

"James, when you finish that section there, take a walk down the line. See when the last time these folks had something to eat or drink. Folks who need to eat get a breather," the Thux called to the ensign.

"Aye sir," James responded. "Just out of interest, when was the last time you ate? It's just you are looking a little..."

The spray and the rain already pelting the region had done a great job soaking Cordale already. "You make one wet fur joke.... just one...." he said with a smirk to the Ensign before he returned to the task of the wall.

"Oh no, sir," James countered with his own smile. "I am very well known for having no sense of humour at all."

Once they shored up this wall, they could start with secondary walls. A sandbag wall was only so effective, after all.

To Cor's surprise his compin chimed.

=A= USS Prospero t....ordale. We are mak....asses over the plan....ervice a number of ... more remote places wh......ugees have been stranded. We expe...o pass over your location once .... hour. Unfortunately we are ....ble to take 6 ... time. We will need one ...... team on the ground t..ominate a point and isolate ...... for priority beam up.

This was a welcome sign. He hoped that site to site comms were better than the site to ship comm signal as he tapped his chirper, "Cordale to Jessie. How's the comm signal?"

No use going full explanation if the signal was shit.

=A= Reading you at strength four, Lieutenant, =A=

"Good news and bad news. The Prospero is going to be making passes overhead, probably about once an hour. Shitty comm signal so it's my best guess but I was able to hear they can only take six at a time, and they'll need them isolated. Sick, critical, infant and mother, old. Priority beam out. There are a lot of scared people there, but no one should push an old lady out of the way." a pause, "If they have the energy to fight for a spot in line, they have the energy to build the wall out here."

=A= Understood. No one here is in any state to put up much of a problem. =A=

"Just keep an eye out for ambition." he warned, "But otherwise, keep up the good work." and with that he signed off. Sparing a moment, he chimed over towards Honey.

"Cordale to Honey. How're things over on that side?" he inquired over the comms.

"Ssslightly better than they were fifteen minutesss ago." Honey's voice sounded from right behind Cor. "Got the generator working, got a ssset of type 3a batteriesss to bolssster the power sssupply, should be fine for a few hoursss to come. How are thingsss over here?"

The Thux gave a bit of a jump, not expecting her there. He looked exactly like a Thux would look while out in the rain and the spray. His fur had gathered in lines, or spikes, and his uniform was soaked. Which only drew attention to the form that Cordale maintained with a gym regiment. The rain did wonders for his prosthetic limb, since it looked shiny with the rain beading off it. Expecting sand, Cordale had the joints double sealed, and had given the old southpaw a good maintenance cycle before beaming down.

"Cloudy, with a chance of sandbags." Cor commented, putting his physique to work carrying and layering sandbags. "But we've got good people here, and no one's complaining. The walls will be ready for the real storm." he smirked. "At least it's water. We had some nasty floods once or twice in the Latinum mines." he remembered, and was silently thankful that Honey was one of the few people on the Victory who apparently didn't have telepathy.

"The travel brochure clearly said 'Sunny Skies'." Cor teased as he set another few sandbags up.

Honey's own uniform was as soaked as Cor's, though instead of a miner's physique, it showed a swimmer's. Her skin looked slightly shiny in the rain, water dripping off of her hands and tail. Yet, she didn't seem uncomfortable in the least. To the contrary, she seemed to enjoy this weather. But whether that was simply because this was her first time experiencing 'weather' or whether it was the wetness and the rain she enjoyed wasn't clear.

"Didn't expect to be ssstacking sssandbagsss on my firssst misssssion out." she mused, though not as a complaint. Not nearly as strong as Cor, every bag she handled was a job in and of itself.

"Pace yourself." he offered her advise. "Don't want you to hurt yourself."

T-44
A dismal and weak dawn was marked by the rain stopping, but the bitter wind continued. Just as the team were considering turning off the flood lights there was a horrendous sound of wood tearing and one of the beach front structures folded over the sandbags and into the greedy ocean.

There was a cry of distress from a Bajoran woman by the seawall, who collapsed in tears.

"Her home," muttered the Vulcan who was shoveling sand into Honey's current sack. "There will be more gone by nightfall."

"It'sss ssso sssad, really." Honey frowned, looking over. "All thossse memoriesss and everything they owned, jussst gone like that." she added.

About an hour later Cor's pin chimed again. The signal was stronger now at least.

"Jesse, here," the locals have been preparing a hot meal and drinks for you lot. I don't think they should try and bring it down to you. Can you spare people to come and eat in shifts?"

In truth, the 30 or so people who had been working all night on the wall were close to collapse. The wall itself was definitely stronger, and nearly five meters tall in some places. The lack of rain meant it was leaking less, too. It would still need regular inspection, and if it were possible, someone looking at the side that faced the pounding waves.

"Absolutely. I'm good to keep going. We'll send up some of the locals first." and Cor did exactly that. The ones here on the wall, the ones filling sandbags... they got to eat and rest first. Or at least the first few dozen.

"You go." he offered the first few workers he saw, "You've earned a rest."

Work continued during the day. The daylight made the work easier, but the workers were exhausted. Of the original 80 workers at any given time thirty of them were eating, sleeping or just resting their exhausted muscles. The Vulcans proved to be the most resilient, both to the work load and the emotional pressure as waves slowly reclaimed more and more of the surrounding town.

By the early afternoon it became harder as the Prospero had finished collecting the infirm from the main building and was now collecting the workers from the wall.

T -36 hours.
It was about four in the afternoon according to Cor's chronometer. He was taking a break and trying to grab an early meal ready for the main work that would have to happen overnight. There were only about 50 people left, including his own team by this stage. Even at the slow 6 people an hour, they would have plenty of time to get everyone out before the solar flare front arrived.

It would be dark in another two hours. They would probably need to abandon the wall soon. You needed a certain mass of people to maintain an earthwork like this. Perhaps they could move the field generator up to the stone building, which was on slightly raised ground...

He was only aware he had been drifting off to sleep when the chime of his com pin woke him from his doze.

"US... rospero to Ca'ael," the voice crackled. "We a....rry to report we ha...eached capacity. ...and by for instruc...om USS Cairns."

He woke with a start, thankful for the interruption. Leaning against an edifice, he tapped his badge. "This is Cordale. Heavy interference. You have reached capacity. Confirm. Standing by for instructions from USS Cairns." he paused, "Efforts appreciated. Be safe."

Well, until things moved over to the Cairns, it was just the fifty or so of them. He tapped his badge again, "This is Cor. Jesse, James, Marley, Robert, Honey, status reports. How are our colonists holding up? Everyone playing nice?" he paused, "Wall's looking good. Gonna need a hand transporting the generator to higher ground, maybe get a few spare bags around it to keep it high and dry."

=^= Jesse here, sir. I'm the only one up at the Community Hall. Good thick stone walls though, so if we can get the generator inside we should be able to protect the group.=^=

"We don't have enough leads or power to cover the wall if we move the generator up there," one of the few remaining Bajorans pointed out.

"The wall was always a temporary measure. We cannot save the town, only our people," a Vulcan responded.

"Then we can work on a secondary wall closer to the Community Hall, and when the time comes to retreat to that building, we move the generator." Cor offered. "Sound feasible?"

"It would seem illogical to split our dwindling resources between supporting this wall and attempting a second," the Vulcan countered. "Surely if the storm is able to breach this earthwork, then any secondary structure will be insufficient also."

"Depends on the topography. If the land closer to the Community Hall is above us, like on a hill or something then a secondary wall will buy us a little more time. Otherwise, you're absolutely right. Without a height advantage, a secondary wall does us no good." he paused to get a quick lay of the land. "Yeah, I think you might be right." It made sense for the native to know more about the lay of the land.

"How're you all holding up? Taking breaks, getting water?" he asked of his fellow away team. There was a bit of fatigue in his own voice. It had easily been almost twenty hours since he'd known sleep.

"Better'n you," Marley responded with a grunt. "I got about four hours earlier. I think James and Honey are already asleep while they walk."

"That's a load." Cordale scoffed with a chuckle, "Everyone knows that Thux are solar powered." another chuckle. "Okay, I think I'm going to catch what sleep I can. Wake me up in, oh, four hours or so? Bring bacon and coffee, please." He chuckled. On a planet full of Vulcans and Bajorans, bacon was a pipe dream. Though Bajorans knew how to brew a cuppa' joe, that was for damn sure.

Honey meanwhile seemed to work mostly on instinct, any semblance of conscious thought having left her already. She was sitting in some corner nearby, not quite dozing off but seemingly willing herself to stay awake and almost succeeding. The youngest out of the group and the one least used to hard work, now learning what exhaustion meant.

The weaseloid gave the xenobiologist a smirk, "Honey, go grab some snooze." he suggested, then opened a comm to the rest of the team, "Wake me if anything changes. Otherwise, gimme four." and Cordale started to head to wherever was close that had a roof and wasn't about to collapse. He spent a lot of his life in a mine shaft. Comfort is what you make it. Truth be told, that Thux could sleep almost anywhere.

Honey gave a tired nod and a smile, then found a place she could nap. Other people might think twice about sleeping somewhere half submerged in water, but not Honey, who found it comforting. Truth be told, she would have loved to sleep in the actual sea, but a puddle that had formed near some cover worked just as well. She did take the time to put a small sign up before sleeping. A sign that red. 'Yes, I am comfortable in the wet. Yes, I can breathe fine. Thank you for your concern.'

T- 30
It was dark when Cordale felt someone shake him awake. a quick check of his watch told him that he had slept for more than 4 hours. it was nearly 10 at night and the storm was attacking with renewed vengeance.

"Sorry to wake you," Marley bellowed above the noise. We've just got word that the Cairns has moved off. The Agamemnon will not be in a position to collect anyone tonight; priority is still Capital city. We are going to have to wait for the Victory, and that probably won't be for another 8 hours."

Cor looked around them. Jesse and Honey were curled up asleep nearby. The other two SF crew apart form Marley were still working on the wall. Apart from that there were four Bajorans and ten Vulcans still present; 20 people in total. He gave a grumble, but it wasn't an unhappy one. Just one of the universal noises that life forms make while they're waking up. "No no, thanks for the wake up call." He stretched, a motion he oddly made with both limbs despite one of them lacking any need to stretch out the kinks.

Marley continued, "I'm not an engineer, but I think the sea is taking its toll on the far side of the wall. We need to reinforce that side, but the sea is too rough."

"Y'know, if I had a latinum slip for every conversation that started like that, I'd own my own moon." the Thux chuckled. "I'll see to the wall. I might need to wake up Honey to see if she's up for a swim, but I don't want to risk losing her to a riptide." the weaseloid added as he went over to check out the wall in question. "Sea's supposed to batter at it. It's not a fix, it's a patch." a pause, though Cor shook out the cobwebs quickly enough. "Get a few half-full bags of sand, we can use it to plug up any holes. Though, I may need Honey's help on this one after all." He looked over towards the slumbering reptilian officer, curled up and napping peacefully. This was her first planetfall, and it was a horror story.

It'd make her next planet all the more enjoyable. Unless it was a desert planet. Or a volcano.

"Get me some more sand." Cor mentioned after a moment's thought. "And yeah, we're going to need Honey. Wake her up, but be gentle."

A few moments later Honey joined Cor, yawning and stretching a bit. "I'm awake,I'm awake." she offered. "What can I do?"

"I'm going to need to put your swimming talent to the test." Cordale said as he motioned to a part of the wall. "She's taking more of a beating than the other sections. Think you're up for a swim in a storm?" he offered.

"I need to know what things look like on the storm side of that wall." the Thux expanded on the issue. "There's a weakness in it somewhere, and I can't see it from this angle."

Honey furrowed her brows, looking in the direction of the wall. "I've never ssswum in a ssstorm before. Theoretically there isss very little ssstorm underneath the sssurface so I ssshould be fine. Apart from the risssk of unpredictable currentsss." Then a sage nod. "I'll give it the bessst of my triesss. Just need a good spot where I can go in and get out again."

"We can use the roof of one of the buildings already compromised by the flood." Cordale offered, "It's a touch disrespectful of the original owner, but it means we won't have to risk the sandbag wall." a pause, "Plus, easy nearby access." he added with a smirk.

"That sssoundsss good." Honey agreed, heading towards the indicated old house. She stripped off half of her uniform as she did, placing it aside for now, and clambered into the broken down building with just her uniform pants and shirt still on. She looked at the relatively peaceful water for a moment, rolling her shoulders some. "Which part of the wall relative from here do you need checked?" she asked.

Cor turned his head to inspect the structural integrity of the far wall as she removed part of her uniform. Once she was halfway into the water, he motioned. "There are three sections that need a good look over. There... There... and there." he motioned out three points. "I don't know how much wall experience you have, but you're looking for any areas where water is getting in. Look for sediment flowing in, or signs of flowing water. If you spot something like that, and you can, snag some muck or something from that side and see if you can plug the hole. If it's beyond a simple fix, let me know when you get back and we'll work on something. I'll wait right here for you." he pointed to the spot he was currently standing.

"Alright. I got it." Honey said. She then turned around to face the water and steeled herself for a moment. She counted down "Three .. two .. one .. Here I go!" before diving in headfirst.

The temperature of the water was a shock to her system and she shuddered, writhing a moment, twisting and turning in the water. Her gills functioned just fine, allowing her to draw oxygen from this alien environment, that only resembled her pool back home - the only water she ever really swam in - in that 'there was a lot of water'. The shock to her system caused her to become disoriented for a brief moment, though the natural pull of gravity and the light coming in from above was more than enough to reorient herself.

A slightly bigger problem was the low temperature of the water. It drew warmth out of her body, and - being 'luke-warm blooded' as xenobiologists called it semi jokingly, her metabolism slowed down, her veins contracted and she found it a bit more difficult to concentrate, thinking was a little bit slower, too.

She felt the pull of the current outside the wrecked house, already gently trying to draw her in. Current. Yet another thing she had never experienced before. Yet another thing she would want to explore, and knew she needed to look out for. For now though, she knew Cor was watching her and saw her get disoriented, and she knew he might be worried about her wellbeing, swimming for the first time in an alien sea, on an alien world, in an alien storm.

As such she surfaced again and gave him a little wave, shivering slightly as she did. "I'm ok Cor! It'sss - ... Nothing like the pool back home. There'sss ssso much to feel, so much to experience~." she gave a toothy grin. "But firssst, the wall!" And with that she dove back under again. Though not as flexible as Cor, she still had a certain undeniable grace, especially under water where she almost seemed to be more in her element than outside of it. Holding her arms besides her, with undulating body and powerful sideways thrusting tail she quickly vanished from sight.

Cor did mutter a silent 'Thank you' to whoever was listening up above when she came up from the water. "Tell you what. When this is all over, if we go to someplace with an actual beach... you and me." he offered before she dove back under the water. He followed her for as long as he could before she vanished out of sight.

"Keep an eye on her, guys." he said softly, intended for ears only he could see.

It was a wonderous world, down there. Shades of old buildings, the comfortable yet alien feel of the water enveloping her body, the taste - for lack of a better word - of the oxygen in this water, the ever present feel of the pull, the current trying to slowly draw her deeper into the black void where light dare not tread - it was almost overwhelming for the young, inexperienced science officer.

But she had a job to do. She had a place to go, a wall to inspect, weaknesses to find, and hopefully - reinforce. As such she disappeared into the darkness, working on touch as much as on sight, where only a little light from the surface penetrated the murky water - barely enough to be able to see the wall itself as an absence of light, an even blacker void in the black void.

Finding the weaknesses was even more of a challenge, compared to find the wall. But she knew the gravity of the situation. And by touch she found the first one, where some sandbags had been pulled out of the wall by the current and it all seemed rather unstable, rather weak, as if ready to fall. She could even feel a small current pulling her into the gap, from the water that was flowing through it. The gap found, and soon enough the missing sandbags found by following the current down, fallen into the clay-like mud. Mud, she knew, that she could use to try and strengthen the wall. But for now, trying to heft these heavy sandbags, heavy even in the water - and then the real, physical labor began.

T-24 hours (2AM)

An hour later Cor was startled by his com pin crackling alive with a message from the Victory.

=^= Attention all remaining away teams, we have an emergency situation. The solar event has radically shifted and the time table has shifted from twenty four to two hours, I repeat two hours. We are re-prioritizing pick ups. Again, the time table has become two hours and we a re-prioritizing pick ups. Please Acknowledge. =^=

Cor grogged himself to his feet, gave a yawn out of the sheer shift from nearly dead to very awake, then tapped his comm badge. =^= This is Cordale. Asknowledge, two hour time table. No longer twenty four. Will prioritize transport of remaining injured and infirm. Cordale out. =^=

Then Cordale gave another comm badge bash, only this time for his troops on the ground, =^= This is Cordale to Honey, Jesse, James, Marley, and Robert. New orders, they're moving up the time table on this op. We have two hours until whatever is going to happen happens, instead of twenty four. Yeah, yeah I know, someone in Science lost a decimal place or something. We have to prioritize all remaining injured and infirm refugees for transport, and then whatever happens happens. I, for one, plan to be the last person off. No cutting in line, and do your best to keep people calm and relaxed. Anyone has an issue, you send them to me. Someone gets hostile, send them my way. Cordale out. =^=

=^= Uhm - Marley here, Cor. Flanagan is still in the water. At least, I haven't seen her come out yet. Will try my best to find her ASAP. =^=

Cor had watched her sleep in the water, move in the water, and look more at home in the water.... but this was her first time down on actual mass. An actual planet. Real weather, real gravity, real danger...

=^= Marley, keep an eye out for her, but remember that water is her element. Get yourself a rope or something to toss in if she looks in distress, but I can't lose two crewfolk because one tried to outmuscle the ocean to save the other. =^=

He hated having to say it. He looked up to the darkening sky and muttered something that, if someone overheard it, sounded a lot like a request for a lookout from up above.

Then, eventually, a dark shape - barely visible - made its way into the old broken house that Honey had vanished into the water in. Honey emerged, looking rather exhausted. Muck and mud staining her hands and arms, torso and legs. Bruises and cuts seeping a little bit of blood, and weakly she tried to climb out of the water, trying to pull herself up onto a dry ledge by her arms, but unable to find the strength in her exhaustion.

Marley was beside her in a n instant, dragging her from the sucking surf.

"On your feet, ensign," he yelled jokingly above the wind, "I don't want to be the one to tell Cor you're taking a rest so close to the finish line."

OOC:
E: Post this up guys! This is awesome! I am fully impressed with this and I must say it has Simm post of the month contender on it! :D
Bert: Fully agree!