Survival Instinct

Posted on Wed Aug 8th, 2012 @ 4:33pm by

Mission: Heart of an Explorer
Location: Escape Pod 008
Timeline: MD?? 1421hrs

A shower of sparks erupted from the nearby console and the Xindi-Insectoid known as Thryskal’Skelniikan let out a long curse in its native language before slamming its fist down against the panel in frustration. It was simply not working. Another circuit had blown and there weren’t many left to work with. The inside of the escape pod was pulled apart and gutted. It was marginally less cramped than it was originally. Wires hung from the walls. Only a handful of systems actually functioned properly. Screens flickered from time to time. It was the only thing that remained to illuminate the small space. Thryskal was quickly running out of time and options.

One too many days had gone by since the unfortunate destruction of the U.S.S. Mjolnir. It seemed so long ago now. Thryskal had never been able to get the escape pod’s chronometer back online so it couldn’t accurately track the amount of time that had already passed. It had been several days though. That much it knew for certain. Upon the destruction of its former ship, Thryskal was unable to pilot its pod at a safe enough distance to avoid the blast radius from the warp core. The resulting shockwave incapacitated many of the pod’s systems and it was only through hard work that the Insectoid was able to salvage the life support system. It wasn’t so lucky with some of the other systems though as it wasn’t able to repair the pod’s propulsion systems or the sensors. So, not only could Thryskal not go anywhere, beyond what it could see through the viewport, it had no idea where it was.

For all intents and purposes, things seemed pretty bleak and hopeless. What were the chances that someone friendly or not would discover Thryskal’s escape pod adrift in space? The odds weren’t very high. A couple of things that did work in its favor though were the fact that it didn’t require as much oxygen and food to survive. Because of the Insectoid metabolism, it could live for a longer period of time with less at its disposal. It provided it with a bit more time to try and get the subspace distress call beacon back online. The trained pilot had not been very successful with the repairs though. It wasn’t an engineer. Fixing things weren’t its speciality. Still, it had to try to mend the systems. If anything, the ensign just didn’t want to die enclosed in a Starfleet escape pod.

After pulling out the damaged circuit and casting it aside into the growing pile, Thryskal activated the nearest console in order to record its progress with the repairs. <“My latest attempt at bringing the subspace beacon online has ended in failure. Another circuit relay is fried. It is only a matter of time before I run out completely of relays and am no longer able to attempt further repairs. Had I chosen to pursue a career in engineering this problem would have been easily resolved by now. Unfortunately I am but a pilot. I can fly starships at the speed of light and yet I cannot perform such a simple task as this!”>

Thryskal paused for a moment with the recording of the log. It turned in place to face one of the exposed wall panels and then the Insectoid reached inside to pull out another circuit. Once the circuit was dislodged from its current position, the ensign stopped in anticipation of something bad happening. When nothing did, it turned once more in its seated position to resume its work. It also continued to record its progress. <“Even despite my failures, I must continue to try to repair this small vessel. I will either survive or I will die. Those are the only two outcomes that are available to me. Should I perish in this fight against time, let it be known to the council on New Xindus that my time in the Federation has not been spent in vain. Although there are still some who harbour ill feelings towards the Xindi, many have grown past such things and are willing to move on. As should the Xindi people. It’s been a few hundred years since the events that transpired on Earth at the hands of the our ancestors. It is never too late to seek out allies who could strengthen our cause, especially if our race is to survive.”>

Thryskal reached over to the computer panel once more and ended the log. There was only so much space and so much power available. While it was a good idea to keep a day to day record of what it was doing in case someone was to ever find the Insectoid, it had to make sure that it allocated just enough energy for the repairs that still needed to be made. The ensign’s biggest chance for survival would be if it was able to fix and activate the distress beacon. With that in mind, it returned to work. It was unlikely that it would get the device back online. Then again, stranger things could happen.

(( OOC: Please note that I use 'it' and 'its' alot because Thryskal has no gender. His dialogue is also outlined with < > because it is in the Xindi-Insectoid language. ))