Refuge

Posted on 23 Jul 2025 @ 9:45am by Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Lieutenant Maralen Seitha & Lieutenant Commander Raviran Dattek-Winters & Lieutenant JG Delenna Morak

3,004 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: The Festival of Unity
Location: Elysian Hangar

Rummaging around the unpowered hangar, Bast had managed to find some coveralls, a pair of boots, and a medkit with a dermal regenerator.

He used the dermal regenerator to heal the cuts and bruises on his feet, and the medical tricorder in the medkit accurately diagnosed two cracked ribs. Thankfully, not broken. There was a hypospray in the medkit, which he used to administer a painkiller.

As for the clothes, he figured they must have been Émilie's, since they were about three sizes too small. So he tossed them aside, and went off around the shop to search for anything else that might be of use - a light source, other clothes, or a comm unit that had some power.

Prehensile tails were definitely a blessing, Maralen thought as he used his to help anchor him to the boardwalk. The storm had torn the small hut he had been meditating in to shreds with little to no effort, and he had decided that he needed a better place to be, or at least a sturdier one. And looking up and down the beach, the only such structure he could see was the hangar nearby where Emilie had been working on that craft. So he had made his way toward it.

Now, mere meters from it, the wind and waves tried one last time to drag him off of the boardwalk. Reflexively, he wrapped his arms around the railing as well as his tail, letting that particular gust and wave pass before continuing on to the hangar. Just before reaching it, he had to uncoil his tail from the railing, and that did not make him happy. But what could he do; the hangar was back away from the boardwalk by several meters.

That last few meters was like being caught in a game of keep away between two giants. The wind alternated between trying to drive him back toward the ocean and pushing him forward. He finally reached the hangar door and pushed it open, slipping inside. It took much of his strength to close it again, though, as the wind had decided that it did not like that he had found relative safety. He did get it closed, however, and paused to shake out his fur.

He hated being this wet! The rain had matted his fur to his body, and the wind had churned up the sand. The combination had made the sand stick in his fur, and he hissed very softly as he tried to shake it out... and only barely succeeded -- he got a little of it out, but not nearly enough.

It was at that moment that his keen hearing picked up a sound in the hangar. Compared to the wind screeching outside about losing its newest toy, this sound was quiet, but it was nearer, and the wind was somewhat muffled by the walls being between him and it. He froze, shifting his mindset to Calm Vigilance, sniffing the air slightly.

Familiar but altered somehow. Another sniff. Commander Temerant Bast. But there was more, the alteration. Blood.

Sadly, even cats cannot see in pitch darkness. So he would need to rely on his other senses. "Commander?" he called into the darkness.

Bast finally wrapped his hand around a palm beacon. He turned it on, casting a bit of light around the vast hangar. Over the sound of the storm stirring the roof, he heard a voice calling out his name. He doubled back toward the door, grateful for the portable light source that would help him avoid stubbing his toe again.

"Here," he called out. He directed the light toward the door, and came upon the form of Lieutenant Seitha.

"Are you all right, Maralen?"

In the beam of the light, Maralen stood, clad in his native "attire", the leather straps holding the leather coverings by metal clasps. His fur was wet and clumped in places with sand and tiny bits of... stuff that had gotten stuck in it. He knew he must look like one of those poor, homeless kittens in old vids, bedraggled and pretty pathetic. But he tried to maintain some dignity as he looked back at the commander. His tail flicked slightly agitatedly behind him.

The small hand light had given him enough light for his feline vision to be able to see decently, and he nodded. "I'm not injured," he answered, stepping away from the door toward the other officer. "I probably look pretty funny, though," he added with a slight chuckle, his eyes giving Temerant Bast the once-over as he spoke. "Are you all right, Temerant Bast?" He used the complete name to be respectful of the fact that the commander was a dual life form. Granted, the man had likely gotten used to people using his symbiont's name as his 'last' name, but Maralen knew that wasn't how it worked, and it would have felt disrespectful to him to do so... unless the commander himself asked him to.

Delenna and Ziyi arrived at the hanger, as the storm whirled around and battered everything in sight. They had fought their way from Ziyi's place in the mountain. The huts were not very stable to hide in away from the storm. They were completely destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Delenna held her box tightly in her hands and opened the door to the hanger. She let Ziyi in first, and then she followed closing the door behind her. Delenna put the box in the bag and wrapped her hair to squeeze out the rain. She pulled out a hair brush and brushed out the sand in her hair and then put it in a ponytail. She then looked up, and got her bearings. "Everyone okay?" asked Delenna, knowing that people were already in the hanger.

Bast turned toward the door, and pointed his light in that direction, careful to keep it directed at the ground to avoid blinding anyone.

"Counselor, Ensign," he said. "We're fine here. Are you all right?"

At the Counselor's voice, Maralen turned toward her as well just as Bast did. He did not say anything, though, as the commander had covered what was needed. Instead, he gave the pair the once-over looking for any signs of injury.

Last to make it to the large and seemingly sturdy hanger, Ravi had managed to drag her "always with me" med kit with her through the storm as she had scrambled out of the rapidly disintegrating hut that she had first hoped to take shelter inside, but it had sadly proven too easy for the storm to dismantle and blow away, piece by piece until finally left exposed to the rain, the CMO had been forced to search around as best she could for a new and more robust place to shelter.

As she managed to prise the door open, the wind pushing against her to prevent it giving to her tugs, she got it finally coming towards her only for the next gust to snatch it from her wet and slippery hand to throw it back against the wall on the other extent of its complaining hinges.

Pushing her battered, mudstreaked and soaked med-kit ahead of her into the doorway, Ravi had to turn back out into the storm to attempt to get a hold of the door to close it again. Despite the effort that this entailed, she did eventually get a moment between the snatching grabs of the wind to use her bodyweight to close it again and rest back against a nearby pillar to get her breath back.

"Is anyone here hurt?" Ravi asked, the medic in her first to the front.

"A bit banged up, but we'll survive," said Bast, stepping up toward the doctor. "How about you?"

Delenna passed the hairbrush around the team that was in the hanger, offering a silent permission for others to use. She knew the nightmare of sand and water in long hair.

Ravi responded to Bast by saying "Thanks Sir, I'm okay. A bit bruised but not too battered about."

"All right, first order of business," said Bast. "Let's go around the place, and see if we can find some kind of power unit. We need a bit of light. Let's try to find a comm unit, to try and contact Starbase 375." He shivered, his damp skin feeling cold in the hangar. He winced as the shiver triggered pain in his ribs. "And if anybody finds a set of clothes, I certainly wouldn't mind not running around in my underwear."

Delenna nodded at the instructions.

Ravi, trained to this kind of thing, noticed the slight but present wince. "Sir?" she questioned softly, following him towards the edge of the space as he looked into doorways and rickety cupboards. "I have a loaded hypospray already filled and ready for that pain" she confided, trying not to let the others hear.

Bast simply nodded to the Doctor, giving her the go-ahead to administer the painkillers.

Delenna walked towards the wall and found a container, it had lights and batteries. She picked them up and loaded the batteries, then handed them out to those that didn't have lights.

Bast thanked the Counselor as he took one of the portable lights, and went on with the search of the hangar.

Ziyi also took a light, and headed off in another direction. She pushed back a strand of wet hair that was clinging to her forehead, and suppressed a shiver. Her skin felt cold and clammy in this hangar. She looked inside one of the cabinets, and directed her light inside it.

"I have a comm relay," she called out, pulling the unit from the cabinet. "Although I doubt it will be of much use. There is too much ionization in the atmosphere, a comm signal will never get through. We have to wait for the storm to pass."

Having delivered the necessary amount of analgesic in a hypospray to the XO, Ravi closed her med kit and took it with her to find an unsearched space, corner, cupboard or bench to see what she might un-earth in turn.

Maralen took the light with a nod of gratitude and a slight smile. Being Security, his main concern was the safety of those in his charge. Therefore, he was in search of anything that he could use to protect those in the hangar if need be. Given where they were, though, he really doubted that would be the problem. No, the main problem was the storm raging outside, and he did not really have a way to protect them from that.

Turning toward Bast, he called out to be heard over the sound of the storm trying desperately to claw the building apart... and failing. "Commander, perhaps I should go out just a short ways to see if anyone nearby needs help?"

"Venture no farther than a hundred meters from the hangar," instructed Bast. "I want you back here in one hour. Be careful, use those feline senses to watch out for flying debris."

Maralen nodded. "Understood, sir. One hour." He then turned his attention toward the door, using all his strength to pull it open enough to slip through but not far enough for the wind to grab it and tear it from his grasp. Slipping through the crack, he braced himself and hauled it closed.

* * * * * * *

Taking a moment to reorient himself to the area as much as was possible, he made his way back toward the boardwalk, hoping to use the rails once more. That proved unsafe as some of the posts had been torn from the ground by the storm and their attached rails cast to gods only knew where.

Another strong wind came, and Maralen lowered himself into a crouch, minimizing the surface area of his body that the weather had to use against him but also lowering his center of gravity. Planting both of his hands on the ground as well distributed his weight to make him more stable, but he couldn't search effectively this way. He would need to find a more efficient way. Not to mention that his vision was being obscured by both the rain and flying sand and debris.

Flawed, his mind chastised. You have other senses. Use them.

He had already been opening his other senses, so he ignored the now-all-too-familiar criticism from his Realm-trained mind. Sniffing the air proved unhelpful as the scent of salty sea water and wet sand overwhelmed any other scents that might have been in the air. He swiveled his ears in all directions, listening carefully for any sound that might be someone in need of help.

* * * * * * *

Back in the Hanger:

Ravi had opened a lot of cupboards and found nothing particularly useful but she then saw some crates stacked neatly in a recess. She began at the top of the double stack and discovered some supplies. There were some packs of what looked like emergency or hiking type of rations which she grabbed and handed around to all the others within reach. She held some up and called across, hardly heard over the storm but waving the packs so their presence could be seen by anyone at the other end of the building (such as it was).

With that crate's contents shared out, Ravi put some aside for Maralen when he should return, and then pushed the crate aside to gain access to the next one down in the stack.

In this one, she found waterproof, windproof, hiking clothes which she again held up for the others to select their size and requirements.

Bast took a set of hiking clothes. Thankfully, this one was made of a stretching material. It fit - in a skin-tight way that left nothing to the imagination, but at least it was warm.

Finally on the bottom level, the crates were filled with bottled water in easy to carry containers. Now!! This one was a real treasure!!

Most of the others were still close by and the distribution of these was much easier. Someone else was opening the second column of crates and seemingly finding more emergency supplies.

"I wonder if the people here are so used to this type of storm that they keep stores ready?" she shouted to the XO, hoping he could hear her.

Bast looked at the Doctor's find, and shook his head. "Doubtful. The weather modification grid should dissipate these storms before they reach this level of destruction. Why they have all these supplies handy is..."

He shook his head and turned away from the cabinet. "A question for another time, Doctor."

Maralen, now completely drenched and covered in sand with tiny bits of debris sticking in his fur, heaved the door open and slipped through though not as gracefully as he usually moved. Pushing the door shut behind him, he paused, leaning against it for a moment to catch his breath.

After that few moments to both catch his breath and to allow his eyes to readjust to the 'lighting' in the hangar, he raised himself from his leaned position and looked at the others. Apparently, they had found quite a few supplies while he was gone. His eyes settled on Bast.

"Sorry, Commander, but I didn't hear anyone. Vision, even mine, was pretty much useless out there. Too much sand and debris flying about. Scent didn't help either. Also, the boardwalk railing is pretty useless. A good many of its anchors have been torn up, so I didn't go as far as your limit. I can go out again in a bit if you want me to in order to search again just in case someone makes it close enough to us by then."

He was torn on not finding anyone. On the one hand, it might mean that there was no one out in that hell to find, that they had all found shelter. On the other hand, it could simply mean that he did not have the requisite senses to penetrate that hell to find them if they were out there. And as the Chief of Security, the crew were his responsibility; and the idea that even one of them might be out there and he missed them was... distressing.

Flawed again, that same voice in the back of his mind pointed out. Lamenting what you cannot do and cannot change is counter-productive and wasteful. Focus on what you can do.

He shook off that mental admonition and moved toward where the bottles of water were. Taking one, he sat on an empty crate and took a sip from it.

Ravi retrieved the stash of other useful items, such as the rations and so on, that she had put aside for Maralen and handed them to him where he sat.

Maralen smiled at the doctor as he took the offered supplies. "Thank you."

Bast took one of the lamps and set it down in the middle of the crates, and took a seat next to Maralen. "There may have simply been no one out there to find," he said.

He took a sip from the water bottle. "Nothing to do now but wait out this storm."

Maralen nodded. "That may be true, sir, but it's my job to worry," he answered with a look that said it was half joke. As to the latter statement, that was a truth that did not need an answer from him, so he only nodded and set the supplies next to him on his crate.

Bast motioned for the others to take seat, and looked into the light.

"Anybody know any good campfire stories?"

-----

End


A JP by

Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast
First Officer
USS Cygnus

Lieutenant Raviran Dattek-Winters
Chief Medical Officer
USS Cygnus

Lieutenant Maralen Seitha
Chief Security Officer
USS Cygnus

Lt JG Ziyi Zhao
Science Officer
USS Cygnus

LtJG Delenna Morak
Chief CNS
USS Cygnus

 

RSS Feed