Awry Ending /New Beginning

Posted on Mon May 1st, 2023 @ 3:04am by Lieutenant Amy Gordon

1,865 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Prelude to War
Location: On an unpopulated planet
Timeline: Before the Valiant

ON

As she flew the runabout they had been assigned to use, Amy stared silently out towards the stars. Beside her was Millicent who had her arms crossed, with a glare towards her unwanted partner.

"You know you could have let me go get the information from our contact, but no, once again you had to do it all by yourself not letting me get any sort of action." Millicent's cheeks reddened with fury.

"I told you not to imbibe too much of the ale, it was potent stuff." Amy remarked cooly. "And you were all over that guy's partner. Who certainly didn't mind the attention, he definitely wanted you to go with him in a private room. However, we were told not to get separated!" Amy raising her voice slightly. "This was an important mission and you almost blew it!" she looked over at Millicent.

Millicent huffed, "You never seem to allow yourself to have fun, and I hate being assigned as a partner with you!" still feeling the buzz from the ale she had imbibed in. It had been a rather strong ale.

"Well, I don't like being assigned with you either!" Amy shot back. "Also, see if you can find the medkit, I need you to sober up." Amy taking a look towards Millicent. Then her blood turned cold as she caught sight from the corner of her eye, something careening towards them. Amy barely managed to avoid a head on collision of some space debris, quickly veering to the right. The debris still clipped them, sending the runabout into a spin. Amy fought to gain control having popped out the emergency stick control, whilst Millicent was hanging onto the seat she was in, for dear life.

The shuttle quit spinning, Amy breathed out a sigh of relief. They weren't killed, though there was the possibility of damage to the runabout. Millicent somewhat more sober checked the readings her face turning pale,

"Amy, I think we are in trouble, you should have been keeping an eye out, instead of telling me what to do!" Millicent shrieked out in panic.

"That was what you were supposed to be doing!" Amy shot back, a worried furrow appearing.

She noticed that the runabout had taken damage, It had knocked the warp engine offline, all they had was impulse to move with. They were too far to get back to the planet they had left hours ago.

Noticing the furrow and worried expression on Amy's face, Millicent frowned. "Okay what is it you are not telling me."

Amy turned towards Millicent, "We do not have warp capability, all we have is impulse. We're going to have to land somewhere in order to try to fix it."

"Fix it? I do not know how to do that and you are not an engineer either!" Millicent yelled.

"It might just be a loosened coupling that needs to be tightened." Amy replied, "We can't just stay here and dodge anymore debris." her fingers flying over the console to get a scan for a planet they could land on. She found one, a couple of hours via impulse. She made note of the coordinates. "Okay I've found a place we could go." moving the runabout in that direction.

"Hopefully it will have a place to sleep and something to eat. I could use a hot bath." Millicent commented.

"Well, let's see what we can find when we get to that planet." Amy responded, she had to agree with Millicent, she would love to have a hot bath as well.

Two hours later, they arrived, and Millicent had taken over the scans, having taken the time to detox herself via the medkit that was there. Scowling at the readings from the scans, Millicent, turned to Amy. "I am not detecting any sign of civilization, What have you done? How are we going to be found!"

Amy had looked at the other readings on display, "That is the least of our troubles. We've got a slow coolant leak for the warp drive. Like it or not, we need to land and that planet is where we will be until we are found." in her mind she thought, if we are found, and I hope we are found. Amy wanted to see her grandmother and the rest of her family.

The craft flew lower and lower, going into the atmosphere of the planet, the azure blue sky a welcome sight for both women. For the moment, the enmity between them was forgotten, it was lovely to see the sky, the sun and see actual vegetation. Under the guidance of Amy’s hand and Millicent’s scans, the two found a place for them to land safely. It was near water, and plant life. An area of forest also could be seen. A brief amount of dirt and loose vegetation, puffed up when the runabout landed, settled as the craft was shut down.

“Okay, I need to set up the beacon for us to get help. And I do hope we get it.” Amy commented.

“If you had been paying more attention we’d not be in this situation.” Millicent began again, once they had landed and stepped outside.

Amy whirled around, “Stuff it Millicent, I have had enough of your lip, your snide comments, your actions of trying to sabotage me in anything that I have done. I’ve not done that to you, none whatsoever to you.While I go set up the beacon, I want you to take stock as to what we have on hand in the runabout, Food, emergency supplies, Water." With that, Amy turned and headed out a little bit away from the runabout, finding a small group of rocks to where she could set up the emergency beacon, hoping that they would be found.

Amy returned, fully expecting that Millicent would have done what she asked, instead she found Millicent asleep. Amy was tempted to shake her awake, but realized that what Millicent was doing would be a good idea for herself. She closed up the craft, checked on the coolant leak, and managed to seal it. It was time for her to get some sleep as well.

Morning came, the women woke up to a thunderstorm, it was wild and raging, blinding flashes of light as bolts of lightning ripped the skies overhead. Amy woke up hearing someone whimpering, she bleary eyed glanced over to where Millicent was curled up in a ball quivering in fear. Amy didn’t know that Millicent had a fear of thunderstorms. She quietly turned her back, to not embarrass Millicent, Amy went back to sleep. Apparently that was the wrong move for her to do, Millicent became angry, and went to shake Amy awake rather roughly.

“How can you sleep through all of this, can’t you see I am scared?” Millicent yelled.

Amy winced, as yelling in such close quarters raised quite the din. “Millicent, please take a breath or two. I didn’t want to embarrass you by paying attention to you being curled up into a ball, whimpering.”

“You could have just reached out and touched my shoulder, and said words of comfort.” Millicent fumed.

Amy huffed, sitting up, and throwing up her hands in frustration, “Millicent, you would have just groused at me for doing just as you suggested. You've done that before on multiple occasions, I just gave up after that. I got tired of being rebuffed by you, I am not a glutton for punishment, and I am not a masochist.”

“Amy…” Millicent started anew, then quieted when she saw the look in the other woman’s eyes. “Fine be that way!” turning her back to Amy and sulked.

Shaking her head, Amy went to check the supplies to see what they had. It looked like they had some supplies which would last them for a little bit. Amy didn’t want to subsist on just emergency rations though. Plus who knows how long the batteries would last as well. And definitely not using a replicator either. Amy was soon lost in going over plans on what they could utilize to survive, while the storm thundered overhead. Amy did look towards where Millicent lay, in the interim of the thunder, she could hear that Millicent was finally asleep.

The storm moved on, and all was quiet and still, Amy decided to go check on the beacon to see if it had survived and it had, thankfully. She came back to find Millicent outside of the runabout, her back was turned, sitting on a crate, the younger woman having her arms around herself, looking forlorn and alone.

Amy contemplated the situation that they were in, who knew how long they were going to be here until someone would hopefully come rescue them. A slight sigh, Amy decided she needed to try once more to make a connection with Millicent. Walking up to Millicent, Amy placed a hand upon her shoulder, “Okay, I am sorry I didn’t help you out there, just, Millicent, as I said you’ve made things difficult. Lets talk, as we’re going to need to work as a team”

Millicent nodded, then without warning she turned and gave Amy a hug, burying her head in Amy’s side and just burst out in tears.

Amy was taken aback, then she draped one arm around Millicent’s shoulder and held her whilst the tears flowed. When they subsided, the emotional storm abated, the two women went inside and began to talk, clearing the air between them.

During the course of their conversation, Amy was surprised to find out that Millicent felt inadequate compared to Amy, a definite self confidence issue, Amy was flabbergasted at this, as Millicent had given out the air of confidence and she expressed that to Millicent.

“You have always had the air of such confidence’ Amy said to Millicent.

“You’ve heard the old saying, fake it until you make it?” Millicent had shared.

Amy nodded. “Oh so you've been doing that and worried that you’d be found out to be a fake, right?”

Millicent nodded, and Amy laughed incredulous at this information. “Hence your being such a..”

“Sour person, and jealous as well. “ Millicent replied.

“Okay I say we need to put aside our differences, and work together from here on out. Otherwise we’re going to be miserable, besides I do know that you’ve got skills so let’s pool them together, get to know each other like we should have done in the beginning and, with this in mind we will survive. ” she looked at Millicent. “Are you agreeable with this?”

Millicent nodded eagerly, and what Amy said made sense.

There were some squabbles between the two women but they were minor compared to before. Short tempered due to hunger or lack of sleep at times but, the two women were able to work the difficulties out. Three months later, their distress signal had been noticed. It was a welcome sound hearing a voice come from the communications, letting both Amy and Millicent know, that they had been found.

END

 

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