Featured Mission - A Life Well Lived

[Rayek trLhoell]

Helga Tragnar
[Alien Planet - Cave] (Five Years Later)

[Alien Planet]

Dem was relieved to find nothing was wrong with Vila. At this point, even a small infection could prove fatal. He heard the Bajorans intrigue in his latest creation. "Yeah... It's my parents" He softly mumbled. He noted Helga walking into the cave as they conversed about rotating their watches. He admitted to himself that he was initially intimidated by the Klingons imposing nature, but over time he had found it as more of a comfort. She was no nonsense, honest. He flashed her a brief, awkward smile before returning to the back of the cave where he slept. He took out his knife, and started to chip away at his latest inspiration.

"I'll get breakfast going..." Malik sounded positive. Breakfast was always the highlight of his day. He brought the spider and rodents to the fire and began to butcher them with skilled hands at this point. The spiders were good enough to eat, so long as you removed the venom sacs first. They'd learned that lesson the hard way. They cooked to a crunchy consistency, like crispy bacon.

Soon enough the meat was cooked and ready for eating. Malik knew they had to stick together and maintain morale, because the group was their source of strength. They needed each other to survive.

"Nothing like a good dose of protein to get you going. Say, can anyone remember the names of our old ship crew. My mind's starting to go fuzzy on the details...I wonder what they're up to now. I think we had a Romulan, but I forget..."

Helga had always thought she'd had a great mind for details and remembering but like Malik said some of the details were getting fuzzy. But not the names of her last Captain and Commander.  Those were crystal clear.  "Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell was his name." Helga pointed out, she remembered him quite well.

Helga had gone through the Technical Services Academy with tr'Lhoell, on his repeat year; and in the time that she struggled to make it to Petty Officer 3rd Grade.. he had been promoted numerous times - all the way to Chief Petty - and then in some weird decision by Starfleet Command had been promoted up to Lieutenant Commander and made First Officer of the outpost in the Gamma Quadrant.

The man was also best friends with Lek, her mate.  Former mate.

Helga hoped that Lek wasn't still alone, though she suspected he was.  She knew how terrible that felt and wouldn't wish that loneliness on him.

Unexpected thoughts of her former Par'Mach just made her feel all the more alone, and Helga lost her appetite. She too moved to the back of the cave, where she curled up under a rancid smelling hide. She faced the damp wall, fighting back unbidden tears, and hid her emotional weakness from the others.

[Kinley Garrison]

[Home base]

Murphy stood, insisting to Helga. "No-no really, you deserve some sleep. I-I never get it these days anyways. Always could be s-something or someone watching, y'know? If those W-watchers come back to take us home, I- I wanna be the first to know." he said. Did he hold out hope that he'd get to go home someday? He wasn't sure. It would be nice to, but every day, he was less and less certain, of any sort of rescue. Perhaps Discovery simply vanished without a trace, or forgot them, or,  worst of all, got destroyed? He hoped that wasn't the case, but the thought had crossed his mind several times. Times he'd like to forget, to be honest.

He looked at Dem's most recent carving. He mentioned it was his family. They seemed like very lovely people from what it looked like. Would his own family have missed him? He wasn't sure given how his mom was so demanding of him. "They look v -very nice, Dem."

He wondered who took care of his grumpy old duck when he disappeared. Hopefully someone who loved ducks. That reminded him of a certain velociraptor who liked to chase his duck. He remembered; Before he had done that mission, he was watching his old Flight Chief's Delta Flyer, the one who created that raptor.  That Delta Flyer almost did get him a girlfriend once. Maybe she had gotten it back? Too many questions.

He went over to Vila to prep the bags to get those berries. Perhaps they could try preserving them this year, now they had a decent way to keep things cold in the depths of the caves.