Making Do Is What We Do

Posted on Wed Apr 24th, 2024 @ 6:44pm by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Lieutenant Commander Savin

Mission: Character Development
Location: Podreia Sigma, Naghel IV Star System
Timeline: After "Express Elevator to Hell"
1753 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Matthew lost track of time. Maybe he passed out. But the once-active battleground was now silent, their attackers having returned to who knows where. At some point he must have fallen over, because he had to push himself up a little to look around. The movement sent searing pain through his core, and it took everything he had to stifle the pained groan to avoid attracting attention. The scratch across his chest, he could feel it still bleeding. The suit at least somewhat helped to apply pressure to his wounds, but he could tell he needed medical attention.

He needed to get out of here.

Moving slowly, Matthew pushed himself to his feet, using the wall for support. Fumbling with his weapon, he positioned it under an arm before taking slow steps, the weapon lowering slightly when his legs would slightly give. The blood loss sapped his strength and made it hard to think, but if he could find cover, or maybe a teammate, then maybe, just maybe, he could survive. As he backtracked, he saw the full extent of the carnage. Some of the debris included bits of the marine suits, pieces of limbs strewn about. The sight nearly made Matthew faint, but he forced himself to look away, to keep going. He didn't like how much he was relying on the wall, but he was sure he'd collapse without it.

Footsteps? Ray's ears perked up and his spine stiffened as he listened for the distance noise. Scuffling. Whatever it was, it was struggling to walk. He leaned in further towards the opening of their hiding spot and as the sound came further, he inched himself closer to the main tunnel. The noise was unlikely to be a gorn, but perhaps another marine survivor. Ray hoped that would be the case anyway.

Finally Ray had made his way to one of the bigger intersections, where it sounded like the scuffling was coming from and in the distance he saw a young man. Though dirt covered the boy's face and uniform, Ray knew exactly who is was.

"Letchers?" He whispered harshly through the dimly lit tunnel. "What the hell? You're dragging your ass through this tunnel so loudly I'm surprised there isn't a whole herd of gorn on your tail. Let's go," he slung one of Matthew's arms over his shoulder and helped him back to his small secluded cave where he had made camp with Martina.

Looking up toward the voice, Matthew identified the figure and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thought..." he grimaced as Ray moved to support him, a sharp hiss pressing through his teeth. "Thought you'd want... something to shoot, Captain." As they moved away from the main intersection, Matthew fought to stay upright, leaning heavily on his teammate. He tried to keep his weapon ready, in case he did bring unwanted attention, but it felt heavy in his hand.

"I... I made sure it was... clear, before I moved." The fog in his thoughts prompted Matthew to shake his head, which only helped make him dizzy. "It's not... not a pretty scene back there. I couldn't tell w... who was who." His knees went weak again, Ray being the only thing keeping him from collapsing to the floor. The chest wounds were throbbing, feeling like they were pressing against the armor. Matthew was panting, feeling like he was short of breath, or maybe mildly suffocating. He did his best to keep a grip on his weapon so it wouldn't clatter to the ground and actually draw attention.

Still feeling fuzzy, Martina struggled to sit up. "How badly are you hurt?" She asked, unable to determine without getting up and that was something she couldn't do because of her own injuries. She could hear the pain in the young man's voice however, could hear the struggle in his breath.

"It's not pretty," Matthew strained. There was enough light to see the four claw marks that left his armor shredded, the blood that was visible faintly glistening. "I... ohh... I'm dizzy..."

"Both of you shut up," Ray ordered as he gently set Matthew down in the corner of the cave he and Martina had found as shelter. "Don't you worry about him when you're in bad shape yourself," he lightly chided Martina and grabbed a tricorder. He began scanning the young man, not that he needed to. It was clear that he was in bad shape and without serious medical attention, he wouldn't survive more than a couple of hours at most.

"Not pretty is putting it lightly," Ray closed the tricorder with a grim expression. "You need a transfusion and meds that we don't have here, but we'll just have to make do with what we have. That's why we're marines right?" He pressed a hypospray into Matthew's neck with a gentle smile, an expression that Ray had practiced plenty during his time as a medic. Not that most would know of it.

Despite the pain, Matthew attempted a faint smile. "Makin' do... is what we do." The extent of his injuries as reported by Ray was disheartening to say the least. They were trapped, with enemies hiding who knew where. Despite the lighting, he could see that they were in much better shape than he was. Does the Athena know what happened? "Did-" A tickle in his throat prompted a cough that he tried to stifle, out of fear for exposing their position to the Gorn. He could taste the blood in his mouth. "... did anyone else... make it?"

Martina ceased her attempt to get up, watching Ray work when she saw he knew what he was doing. As a trained and experienced medic, she could also detect the lie in his statement. She said nothing however as she also knew the younger man must be terrified at this point. "There seems to be just us three," she said softly, "but I haven't been in much of a condition to search for any so who knows..."

"What she said," Ray confirmed. "Martina was the only one I saw on my way out that was still alive. I've been scanning for other survivors and making small trips when I can to see if I can find anyone, but so far only you," he swallowed hard and then cleared this throat. "I'm sure there are others though, probably just holed up like we are," he said trying to keep the mood from swinging down too far.

Matthew only caught about half of what was said. The coughing fit must have agitated something, because everything felt heavier, even his chest. It felt like he had to push against his armor just to breathe. At least it didn't really hurt anymore. "How... embarrassing would... it be... to be... be the only one... to die down here?" He gave a weak chuckle. The heaviness was starting to make his head bob slightly, a sign that he was trying to stay awake.

Alerted by the trailing off of the youth's voice, Martina tried to sit herself up despite her own injury. "Sir!" she called, getting Ray's attention. "Help me get over there...get me next to him...please..." The youth was dying, she was sure of it, she'd seen this happen before in combat. And the last thing she wanted, was for the boy to feel alone.

"No!" Ray could feel the emotion coming from Martina and knew exactly how she felt. "You can't do anything for him, and I'm here. I won't leave him. Moving you will only make things worse and I don't need two people on death's doorstep." Only one hyprospray remained from the few supplies he managed to gather on their way to the cave and he momentarily thought about weather he should give it to the young man. Truthfully it wouldn't help much if at all, he was too far gone. Then again, they were all probably goners if the the gorn managed to find their location. Ray sighed, pressed the last hypospray into Letchers neck to stabilize him even for just a few more minutes before helping Martina over. He had his doubts about any of them making it out alive, so why not do what he could to make everyone comfortable?

Though she was in no condition to take care of the injured young man, she could just simply be there for him. She wrapped her arms around the youth and held him close in a very motherly fashion. "Shhhh," she soothed softly, while occasionally looking up at Ray. "You'll be alright," she lied smoothly, perhaps too smoothly. "We're all getting out of here, all three of us." That much wasn't a lie, even if they didn't survive she was certain someone would retrieve their remains, somwhen.

"N..." Matthew tried to refuse the hypospray, wanting them to save it for a more pressing emergency, but Ray was faster than his sluggish movements. He then felt the pressure of Martina's embrace, and a longing ache to see L'mei again filled his core. He had the ring, a very simple and unflashy design that she could wear on a necklace. He knew what to say to her parents. He knew exactly where he was going to propose. Now he'd miss his own wedding.

Moving slowly to save energy, Matthew reached into one of his pant pockets, wincing through his agitated wounds, and pulled out a small box. Inside was his carefully crafted promise to devote himelf to her on a small chip, the ring resting underneath the chip inside a smooth inset. "Sir..." he said to Ray, holding it out weakly with a trembling hand. "I know... it's... not lookin... good for me... p... please... give this... to... L'mei. Promise."

It was hard to focus, harder to stay awake, but Matthew couldn't die with his promise in his pocket, knowing it could never reach his partner. He gently pushed the box into Ray's hand before he could refuse, then relaxed into Martina's embrace. He could feel it now, a sense of closure with his situation. It provided a sense of warmth, comfort, much like Martina's assurances. As he closed his eyes, he mumbled, "thought... bout her... till th... the..."

This part never got easier. Watching a young life fade from this plane of existence. It torn at Ray's heart, but he knew that he had to hold this last request. So Ray gently placed the box in his pocket, looked back at Matthew and said, "I promise."