Last Effort

Posted on Mon Sep 3rd, 2012 @ 2:02am by

Mission: Heart of an Explorer
Location: Escape Pod 008
Timeline: MD?? 2343hrs

There was only one circuit left. At least, there was only one left that Thryskal could use without completely compromising the escape pod. Most of the systems in the small craft were already offline except for key systems such as life support and the environmental controls. Sure, having access to short or long range sensors would have also been useful but they weren’t essential for the Insectoid’s immediate survival. From the start, there was no question on what it needed to do. The subspace distress beacon was the ensign’s top priority. Without it, the chance of being rescued were immensely small.

After putting the circuit in place and then rearranging a handful of isolinear chips, Thryskal began to punch in some commands into the console in front of it. There wasn’t much room to maneuver inside the pod. It made doing any kind of work very difficult, especially for the Insectoid’s elongated frame. Still, it managed. Whether its latest attempt at fixing the distress beacon worked or not, there wouldn’t be very much left for it to do after it was done. This was pretty much it’s last effort at restoring the system.

When the ensign had finished tapping at the controls, it waited. There was no sound. Nothing was happening. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. There wasn’t anything bad happening either. By now, most of the circuits either fizzled out in a fury of sparks or simply burnt out in a sputter. But right now, there was simply nothing. Thryskal was slightly anxious about this new development. It’s antennae twitched nervously atop its large cranium. It didn’t know what to do or how to reciprocate.

About a minute or two passed. There was still nothing. Despair quickly began to replace the nervousness. Fearing the worst, the Insectoid pilot clenched it’s three fingered hand into a fist and slammed it into the console. <“Blast it!”> it cried out. It had failed once again and now it was going to die alone in the vast emptiness of space. Or was it? Suddenly there was a soft hum and the display screen lit up.

SUBSPACE DISTRESS BEACON ONLINE.

Thryskal was in shock and again, it was not very certain what to do or say. That feeling quickly faded for the ensign though. Every second mattered and it couldn’t afford letting any of that precious time go to waste. It reached over to the control panel and pressed a button to begin recording its distress message.

<“This is Ensign Thryskal’Skelniikan, helmsman for the Federation Starship U.S.S. Mjolnir. My ship has been destroyed and I am stranded in an escape pod. There isn’t much time before the air runs out in this small vessel. My supplies are also running low. I require assistance immediately. I am attaching my co-ord.....”>

The recording stopped. Confusedly, Thryskal looked up to the display screen and to its dismay it read. SUBSPACE DISTRESS BEACON OFFLINE. That was it. It’s last effort to try and let someone know that it was out there. The Insectoid had no idea if the message actually transmitted properly or if anyone would actually receive it. To its knowledge, it was still located in the far reaches of the Beta Quadrant. Someone would come out here looking for the Mjolnir. Starfleet would send a ship to investigate its disappearance. Wouldn’t they? Starfleet was renowned, even to the Xindi, to care about all of its officers. Although Thryskal did not know if any of the other escape pods survived the destruction of the Saber Class starship, it only surmised that there were people out here remaining to be saved. It was the only thing that the ensign could cling onto now. Its last hope. Hopefully, someone would come to the rescue.