Uncaged Beast

Posted on Sun Jan 31st, 2021 @ 9:08pm by Lieutenant JG Sarah Wilson & Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun

Mission: The Jungle
Location: Jungle - Upper Level

Dr Sarah Wilson looked around her, taking in the dense jungle and taking stock of the situation. Remal stood next to her, looking even more like a caged beast than he had beforehand. Cautiously the Doctor approached him, laying a hand on his shoulder but preparing to jump out of the way if he turned around swinging.

"Hey, you ok?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

Head reeling from the stun effect, ears ringing, he responded. "I've been better." He rose up to a full standing position and turned to face her, "Sorry doc. I had no intention of getting you thrown in here with me." Anger and rage were battling sorrow within him. Somewhere in the middle he reminded himself that level heads prevail.

“ Well look at it this way - we may be able to find the crew of the senior staff - and your wife” Sarah tried to look on the bright side, taking a view of the jungle around them. It was growing dark and cooler by the minute.

"We won't be able to find much in the darkness except things ready to eat us. I say we look for shelter and worry about the rest in the morning." He was already looking around for somewhere large enough for him to hide. Normally in a setting like this there were low bushes, caves, even hollowed out trees which with a bit of planning could make for a protective hutch tent. His stomach gurgled adding to the complex situation. What he really wanted was to tear off into the jungle looking for Rhen, but he couldn't leave Sarah behind.

“ Yep, right Shelter. Sorry I’m not very good at this kinda thing” Sarah admitted, looking warily around. “I have no idea where anyone else is… do you think they all started in the same place?” She asked.

“Doubt it. That would be too much of an advantage. Here, follow the tracks of those who were here before you, sort of advantage.” He moved down into a thicket of undergrowth and lifted a large branch. There was a depression in the ground where something had once made a nest. “This will work for tonight. Try to find some sticks, as big as your wrist. We’ll use them to prop this up and create a sort of shelter.”

“ Eww it stinks” Sarah wrinkled her nose at the smell of the old nest. She had no idea what kind of animal had made it but it smelled alot like wet dog.
“Any port in a storm I guess. We’ve got nothing to make a fire with do we?” She asked, wishing they hadn’t been searched before being thrown in the holding yard.

“Nothing but our bare hands and our wits.” He smiled. “Though I’m not sure we want to attract attention to ourselves. If there are hunters about, a fire would lead them right to us.” He began taking the branch and propping it up with smaller sticks and twigs, leaves of various sorts. By the time he was done it would look just like the fallen foliage, but right not it was a mismatch of a hovel, and she was right it did smell.

“ Survival, I shouldn’t mention how much I despised the Starfleet survival course during the Academy. It wasn’t pretty - I may have cried” Sarah lightened the mood a little by revealing her skill set. “Open wounds and broken bones I can deal with, being stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing but bare hands - questionable.”

“I may have skipped that course.” He turned and showed his hands, already dirty from work. “Tell you what, I have the bare hands and the skills, you have the ability to keep me alive. We stick together and we’ll be just fine, okay?” As she talked he realized slowly that she was helping to calm his nerves about his wife. Too busy to think about one thing because his mind was distracted by another. He silently wondered if Sarah had ever considered becoming a counselor.

“ Got it” She crawled into their makeshift shelter and sat close to Remal, enough to feel the heat from his body. It was cold; enough to make her shiver in the night air. “ So tell me how you got such skills - I take it you have spent some time in the wilderness?” She asked, passing the time.

"You could say that. From the time I was young living at the Brotherhood to my days as a resistance fighter, it was either adapt and survive or die trying. He finished layering the leaves on their shelter. Now if anyone came close they would not see it as a shelter but a pile of fallen debris. "I had hopes those days were behind me but as you can see, not even close."

He noticed her shivering, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close. It was a jungle environment, normally hot and steamy but at night with no sun on the ground floor, it got chilly. He was warm enough for the two of them though. "So what brought you to the Liberty? If you don't mind my asking."

“It was an available posting and they needed medical officers before they launched” Sarah shrugged a little “The trend seems to be that you find a good ship and you stay on it, so finding new postings can be difficult. I heard Captain Kaylen was in charge and knew it would be a wild ride if nothing else” She thought back to those times, when all that matters was searching for available postings and working out where you wanted your career to go. “ She hasn’t disappointed I might add”

"Wild ride huh, speaking strictly from a counselor's perspective I would say she has a bit of a masochist side. I mean don't get me wrong but I've paid attention to the regulation regarding Captains putting themselves in harm's way and I can safely say she is a repeat offender." He was half joking and half not but he did know her better than most.

"Isn't there rules regarding that?" Sarah tried to recall the exact regulation but failed miserably. "How do you handle it, from a marriage perspective?" She asked, delving to the heart of the matter. She wriggled a little closer to him for warmth.

He gave a slight chuckle. "Not very well. Normally I would bite my lip and pray that she would come out of it okay. But lately I think it better to trust that she can handle herself with her crew as backup. And then I make sure I am there for her at the end of each adventure. I have big shoulders you see." He shrugged.

As she began to comment back he placed his large hand over her mouth and whispered, "Don't breathe." He had heard a rustling noise outside their hole and couldn't tell yet if it was humanoid or animal.

Sarah froze, holding her breath with her eyes wide. She had no idea what was out there and no idea what would happen next. The sound of pawprints and a sniffing nose could be heard outside.

He released the hold upon her mouth, but otherwise did not move. It was clear now there was an animal out there. Whether or not it could tell they were in this hole remained to be seen. Remal suspected the smell alone would mask their scent, but most animals had keen senses and this planet with hunters meant trained beasts. They would have to wait it out and be ready.

Minutes passed. The animal and its sniffer disappeared into the night. Somewhere in the distance there was a loud yelp and some whimpering. Remal looked at Sarah and whispered, “Get some rest, I’ll take first watch.”

Sarah nodded and rested her body against his, therefore able to pick up the slightest tense if anything was nearby. It was going to be a long night she suspected, as we're all the nights in the Academy survival training course. With only two of them they would only get 4-5 hours of broken sleep each. Hopefully they would find some other crew members before something else decided to sniff them out.