Away Team One: Alone in the dark

Posted on Tue Aug 4th, 2020 @ 4:36pm by Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Lieutenant JG Haru Hernandez & Lieutenant Bianca Lee

Mission: Into The Delta Triangle
Location: Kessik IV - in the mines

Voices could be heard from the tunnel ahead. A siren's call leading deeper into the mine, away from the wall of rubble cutting access off to the surface. "Shouldn't have to tell ya how ta do yer job. Start with a damn head count!"

Haru had moved from person to person tending the injuries that he could. Some broken bones, some scrapes, a few more serious. With the help of one of the other miners he'd moved the more injured to the front so that they'd get taken out first when the time came. He had been scanning the crowd but Walker was no where to be seen.

There had been several shocks that shook the rocks around them and he'd stayed low during those. He'd lost track of Lee and had been about to search for her when he saw someone in the corner. He hurried to check on the still figure and was surprised to see Walker. He cursed and did a survey quickly. The man was unconscious who knew what kind of wound he had.

Haru pulled him off to the side and then remembered the tricorder in his pocket. He pulled it out quickly scanning the man that lay at his feet. Great! A concussion. He caught sight of Lee and waved her down. "Lee!" He shouted.

Bianca heard rather than saw Haru at first, but saw some sort of motion from him and waved back at him. She said another couple words to a miner and pointed him towards a clump of people that looked to be organizing for something or another, then slipped her way back over to Haru, "What can Ah do for you, Haru?" She asked with a wry smile on her face, "That group over there is lookin' at starting to clear towards the entrance to the mine, but it'll be some hard goin' Ah bet."

"We have to get him to the entrance. He's got a concussion. I hate to say this but he's coming with us. Admiral's son...if we leave him and the Admiral ever finds out...we're as good as rankles." He motioned to Walker. "Can you help me get him over there?"

Once again Bianca rued the fact that she was a foot shorter than Haru and massed a bit more than half of the taller man, but she was always game and crouched down to the other side of the prone form, "Yeah, we can do that, say that he's one of the ones that needs the most medical help, so we're staging him to be the first out? I can play nursemaid if needed."

Walker, half conscious, muttered, "can..live...that."

Haru raised a sculpted eyebrow. "Don't make me knock you out again."

Walker looked over at Lee trying to give a disarming smile, one that ended up looking like a grimace.

"Ah call dibs on it." Bianca gave Walker a look that would have flattened him if made into force. She visualized the open-handed slap to the face that would put him out for a while, but only visualized it, "You aren't gonna give us any trouble now, are you?"

"No."

Haru, with Lee's help, moved Walker to the front. It was painstakingly slow but they managed it. When he was settled Haru was called to help move someone else so that only left Lee and Walker there. Walker was more lucid now. He studied Lee. "He's really going to make me go back?"

Bianca was already wondering how she'd keep Walker here if he tried to fight staying, but she figured she could handle it, but she nodded, "Yes. Why wouldn't you want to go back from here?"

"D...Don't want to. Left...home. Left...Starfleet."

"Ah can understand the desire to leave, but things can be solved." Bianca smiled down at him, "You know they do offer retirement as an option and Ah'm certain they can work somethin' out."

"Not my father."

Haru had migrated back. "Your father wants you safe. The Admiral has put out a capture order for you. He wants you back with him. You're also AWOL."

Walker looked at him. "At least I would be free to love who I want. My father wants me married to a woman of his choosing. Helena and I we left, now we're together."

Haru looked at Lee. "What's love got to do with it huh?"

"Everythin'." Bianca's face was dead serious as she looked over to Haru, a pained expression on her face, "Some people think it's a secondhand emotion, but it's more than that." She crouched down by Walker, "Mah family has been pushin' for me to get married, even though they haven't gone so far as to arrange a weddin' for me, yet. So Ah do understand that." She stood back up, "But we do have our orders to follow."

Walker looked pleadingly at both. "Haven't you ever met someone that you would die for? Someone who gives your life meaning?" His strength was returning. "Haven't you ever met someone you was your other half. Your best friend, your family, your lover."

Haru looked uncomfortable because his mind went back to Earth. He shook the memory off and sighed. He motioned Lee to the side. He stood and walked far enough away for Walker not to be able to hear them and waited for her to join him.

Bianca gave Walker a pitying look and shook her head slightly, "No, suh, no Ah haven't." Then, keeping herself facing him, she walked backwards to where Haru was standing, "Ah feel bad for him."

"Yeah...Here is the thing. I can't be sure it's him. He could have bumped his head so hard he thinks he's our Walker." Ultimately the decision was Lee's she was the ranking officer. "How about you ma'am?"

Bianca glanced back at Walker, mind occupied as she went over the ramifications of what was being suggested. This Walker was the son of an Admiral, with a seize and detain order on him for both going AWOL and a more personal touch by the Admiral Walker. If things went south, any consequences were hers. She kept her voice very low, "Lieutenant, that man has a concussion and must have overheard us talkin' about Admiral Walker's son, thinkin' that if we were lookin' for him, we'd be willing to help him out of this mine." Her eyes flicked back to Haru's, "Ah clearly remember seein' Walker's son goin' deeper into the mine and he hasn't walked back up this way that Ah've seen, so he must still be down there, don'tcha think?" The last was the absolute truth, since they all but carried him here. "Why don't you go back to helpin' some of the others while Ah clear up the matter here?"

"Yes ma'am." He said. He paused as he was turning. "Thank you." He headed to help others.

Bianca patted the side of Haru's arm as he walked off, then retraced her steps back to Walker's side and crouched back down next to him, "Suh, Ah am afraid that we must have mistaken you for someone else entirely. Since Ah must make a report involvin' this mine collapse, Ah want to make sure that Ah identify any parties we run across appropriately, so Ah must ask your name, suh." She quirked a smile.

Relief filtered through his face. "Bill. Bill Thompson. Miner." His eyes filled with tears. "Thank you for your help, on behalf of me, my soon to be wife and our child."

She reached down and rubbed a hand in the dust on the ground, then brought it up and wiped across his face as if trying to clear some of the sweat, smearing it with enough dirt to make it look like he'd been in a semi war zone, obscuring some of his more identifiable features, running a thumb over one eyebrow, a slight smile on her face, "Bill, since Ah don't want you to confuse any other responders on your identification, Ah figure this should help. Mind you, Ah suspect we'll have some official Starfleet responders comin' to help, Ah would recommend that you find a group of your fellows and try to blend in until ya'll can get out of here." She paused a moment, "And God Bless you and your family, suh."

He blinked away tears. "Thank you both." He looked around but Haru was already gone.

The cavern shook for a second time and the sound of further collapsing can be heard from the direction of the lift shaft. "Get back!" A voice shouts. "It's coming down!"

As all hell broke loose Haru's mind turned back to Earth and the revelations that had taken place.