dark_ages | landing party ( for thecanarylives )

landing party ( for thecanarylives )

[ He comes to with his head pounding, his vision blurred, and a persistent ringing in his ears. It takes him a while-- a good while, maybe seconds or maybe minutes, to even regain his vision properly, and to take in his surroundings. He's in a shuttle, which is completely wrecked, panels broken and burnt, wires hanging from everywhere, sparks going off and small fires here or there. They're also tilted forward slightly, so he can feel his weight pushing against the belts keeping him strapped to his chair. He looks beyond the window and he sees a lush forest just outside, trees and blue skies as far as the eye can see. It'd be pretty if not for the fact that they've clearly crashed on the planet they were supposed to land on.

Shit. Holy shit, they crashed. How the fuck did they crash? Leonard just wanted to gather some samples from the surface, it didn't even warrant a landing party bigger than two people, how the fuck did they end up like this?

That thought gets his brain into gear. Because he's not alone. He looks over to find Sara passed out, though at least thankfully still strapped to her seat. He lets out a shuddered breath, trying not to panic as he struggles to undo his own safety belt. ]

Sara!! Come on, you piece of shi-- [ His panicked grousing is cut off as his belt comes undone, and he just barely manages to brace himself against the controls rather than slam right into them. Head still spinning, he nevertheless forces himself to stumble towards her, looking her over briefly for possible injuries before he cups her face, trying to wake her up. ] Sara. Hey, can you hear me? Come on, open your eyes...

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[ Please don't call him cute, he might just die.

Right now he's just weirdly curious when she says that, but he doesn't get into that. He just murmurs, ] Wasn't aware it was a competition or anything.

[ He clears his throat and tries to think of a good question for her. After their conversation, turns out that truths are just as tough to think of as dares. ]

What is something that would embarrass you?

[ She just might do it out loud, then. ]

If it's a competition, I don't think either of us actually wins.

[ She falls quiet a moment, smile faltering. ]

There's a lot... a lot that happened before Starfleet that I'm not proud of. It's not exactly embarrassment, but... I'm not exactly shameless, if that's the question.

No, doesn't sound like either of us is actually a winner, there.

[ You know, he's got a divorce under his belt already, a kid he hasn't seen in years now, and a number of failed relationships since. Not a huge number, granted, but enough for him to have decided a while ago that maybe it is for the best that he's not so active in pursuing something like that again. ]

No, that's different. I meant embarrassing as in... stupid shit that makes you feel awkward. Shame and regret are— entirely different things.

Least I'm in good company.

[ She nudges her elbow against his, putting on another smile. Truthfully, she's never actually had a healthy relationship in her life. Neither Oliver or Nyssa were all that level-headed. Not that she is, either.

She frowns, thinking again. ]

You mean like thinking you're gonna have some really great sex and then getting rejected instead? [ They can joke about that now, right? ]

[ Well. Things would be a lot easier right now and a lot less awkward if only she hadn't said that. Leonard's expression sobers almost instantly at that, eyes wide that she'd even say something like that.

If it's a joke, it's not a good one, and if anything it just makes him think that she's more upset over all this than she's letting on. ]

Never mind.

[ Yeah. Truth or dare, bad idea. ]

[ Shit. She scrunches her nose. ]

Too soon. Sorry.

[ She stares down at her hands again. ] You should get some sleep. It's my turn to keep watch, anyway.

Right.

[ He's not going to be able to sleep, now. But things are just awkward and tense, and what he thought would be the best way to diffuse that has apparently only made it worse. Figures, really, given his track record with relationships. And they weren't ever even dating to begin with, yet he somehow's still managed to make it crash and burn.

Fucking fantastic. ]

Wake me up if anything changes.

[ He'll just close his eyes now and pretend to get some sleep, until either the sun goes up or something happens. That should do the trick. ]

[ Welp. Her attempt at humor hadn't exactly smoothed things over. Nice going, Sara.

It was probably for the best that they nip it in the bud, all things considered.

She nods, scanning her surroundings again more for something to do than for any real necessity.

Shit. ]

[ Can't be that long until sunrise, he wagers. Or he hopes, anyway, because the silence is awfully stifling and he can hardly stand it right now.

He shifts so he's leaning with his side against the wall, facing away from her, and closes his eyes. Maybe who knows, he might just be exhausted enough that he drifts off until the Enterprise finally manages to beam them back on board. ]

[ She wakes him a few hours later, crouching over him with a finger pressed to her lips so he keeps quiet. Pushing a blaster into his hand, she mutters under her breath. ]

There's something out there. Keep your back to the wall, if you see anything that's not me, shoot.

[ He actually managed to doze off there, so he startles a bit when she wakes him up so abruptly. He's quick to grip the blaster, though, nodding quietly at her, shifting position into something more alert as he tries to look around them and spot where any movement might be coming from. ]

[ She draws her own blaster, slinking along the shadows of the mountain and into the dark.

It's quiet for a while, just the faint rustle of wind in the leaves before a soft thud. Then another, and the muffled sounds of a blaster. A moment later there's a scuffle, grunting and a cry of pain, and then silence. ]

[ Leonard stays back for a good while. Longer than he feels comfortable with, admittedly, and at some point he starts thinking about following after her.

That's around the time when the phaser sounds come through, and at the cry of pain he's throwing caution to the wind and delving into the dark after her, muttering a curse but otherwise keeping quiet so that whatever attacked Sara won't come for him next. Hopefully. ]

[ It's pitch black, but soon enough he'll come upon one of the locals, unconscious on the ground. Then another, and then a few more. Sara's doubled over against a boulder, a bloodied spear in one hand, other hand clutching the right side of her ribcage. ]

Holy shit.

[ That's pretty much all he can say. At least it doesn't look like there are any others around, but she's evidently hurt now, so he rushes towards her as soon as he's sure the natives on the ground won't just get up and come at them. ]

What happened? [ He urges her to lean against the boulder, bending a little lower so he can check the injury. ] Let me see.

M'okay. [ Her breath is tight, and she has to willingly force it to even out. She's bleeding from an open wound, and it's not exactly shallow. ]

Locals were watching us. Probably saw the light from the transmission. [ She scrunches her nose, attempting to straighten and then thinking better of it. ]

Don't give me shit, Sara. You are not okay.

[ He needs to take her back to his med kit. He may not have his tricorder working anymore (thanks for that by the way), but he should at least have the trauma kit to tend to her wound the old-fashioned way, while hoping all the harder than the sun rises soon. ]

Come on, let's go back before any more come lookin' for these two. We need to stay close to the signal.

M'fine. [ She insists stubbornly, pushing herself up to stand again, the blood soaking deep red into her uniform. Never mind that her face is even paler than usual in the dim light of the moon. ]

Sara, please.

[ He reaches for both her sides, holding her up just in case she falls over. It's starting to look like she might at any moment now. ]

I don't wanna argue. Alright? I just... want you to not die. Please, let me take care of you.

[ And hopefully whatever he manages to do will keep her alive until they're beamed back up to the ship. ]

[ One of her hands grips his forearm, clammy and shaking. ]

I'm not gonna die, Doc. [ Stubbornly, she musters up the effort to stand, stumbling a little and leaning her weight into him. ] C'mon.

Not if I have anythin' to say about it, you aren't.

[ He heaves a breath as she leans against him finally, then he starts guiding them back to where they came, making sure to leave nothing behind. He can only hope that these guys won't come to for the next hour or so, or that others won't come up here too looking for them. Sun should be rising before then, he hopes, so they can get the hell out of here before causing any further damage.

Once at the top of the mountain, he stretches out the blankets a little more,then helps her down onto them, coaxing her to lie back so he can take a proper look at the injury. ]

[ She's trying to convince herself that she's been through a lot worse. Which doesn't necessarily help with the current situation, but if she's stubborn enough, she can manage through the pain.

The wound doesn't get much better when she's moving around like this, and by the time they make it up the mountain she's pale as a ghost, the shirt of her uniform heavy with blood. She eases herself down on the blanket with his help, resting her head back and focusing on her breathing - despite the dizziness quickly taking her over.

The gash is small, but deep - done with the head of a spear fashioned from stone, shaped to do more damage on its way out than in.

She should've seen it coming. She's a better fighter than that. Should've been able to take down a few primitive locals without a thought, even in the dark. She curses under her breath, shutting her eyes tightly a moment to try to keep the double vision at bay. ]

[ The fact that she's been through a lot worse does absolutely nothing to make this situation any better. The one good thing is that at least she's stuck with a doctor, and one who's not only used to these kinds of situations, so he can keep very calm under pressure, despite what most people might think.

His kit's at least well stocked, so once she's lying down, he grabs his diagnosis wrap to check the damage to her organs, see where he needs to start before he even thinks about patching her up.

The gash goes deep so he has to work from the inside and outwards. First he presses the hypospray to her side, with a dose of local anaesthetic that should at least alleviate the pain as he next grabs the autosuture and starts stitching up the damage from the inside out. ]

Sara. Stay with me, don't fall asleep. You'll be just fine, alright? They'll beam us up any moment now, I promise you.

[ They've both done this dance before. Being a security officer means she's always coming back to the med bay with a vast array of injuries, but this time they don't have the luxury of having all the ship's equipment handy. It's a novelty in itself that he actually has to stitch her up by hand.

The tension in her muscles eases slightly as the effects of the hypospray and anaesthetic start to activate, her tightness in her breath relenting just a little. ]

Mm. Not even tired. Got a whole two hours, 'member? [ Still, the blood loss is edging her very quickly towards traumatic shock. Her eyelids droop heavily, and she struggles to keep them open, already feeling the weight of it start to take hold. ]

[ At the stitching is going well. With the deepest cut done, he moves outwardly to the next, using the laser of the autosuture to make sure that he stops any bleeding on his way. He has to be steady and precise, though, or else he might cut her up even worse, and he stops every so often to check with the wrap and see if he's not causing any further damage.

The blood loss, however, might be a bit of a problem. He knows they're the same blood type, but a transfusion down here, with the limited tools he has access to, would leave a chance that she might end up getting some kind of infection. Or worse.

One problem at a time, though. For now he focuses on fixing her injury, and hope beyond hope that by the time he's done they're being beamed aboard their ship. If not, then he'll have to monitor her vitals and decide later if it might be worth it to take a risk like that. ]

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