Carpathia IV: Episode 107 - Recovery
Unknown Planet, Camp
News that a tokki ringship was on its way buoyed the crew back at the campsite. The loss of the Shadowdancer still weighed heavily on everyone, but they didn't have to wonder how long they would have to make do living in tents with scavenged resources. Aire happily approved the materials needed for a small transponder to enable communication between the camp and the reethalit control center, going even further to send another two dozen crew members back with Ryuu.
The next day, the tokki ringship entered communication range and it was a familiar face, Reylen, who confirmed their suspicions. The Admiralty indeed noticed that the Shadowdancer was missing. Since Reylen's ringship was the closest to the Shadowdancer's last-known position, Reylen enthusiastically agreed to investigate.
With long-term survival no longer an issue, Aire focused his crew's efforts on salvaging what they could from the Shadowdancer and examining all the reethalit tech they could access. The ship's metallurgists were keenly interested in the alloys they found, immediately hypothesizing that it could be used to strengthen their armor suits. On top of that, meeting their first friendly demigod who didn't die immediately made their mission, and loss of their ship, a little easier to bear.
The day before Reylen's ship was set to arrive, both Minnie and Teek were well enough to emerge from their tents for the first time. Teek, however, had a particularly difficult time getting around, which Amenaru and Kit found quite evident when they paid him a visit. Teek had one of the larger tents, room for not only him, but also for the salvaged medical equipment used to treat him. Amenaru lifted the flap and stepped in first, spotting Teek in his bed at the opposite end.
Teek: Amenaru! How... When... You fell out!
Amenaru chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
Amenaru: Heh. I guess nobody told you yet. It's a long story. I'll tell you when you're less woozy.
Teek sat up in his bed and let his legs dangle over the edge. Where his tail used to be was now just a bandage, complementing the rest of the bandages scattered all over his body. At least Tayet found Teek's horn, for it was attached to his head with yet another bandage.
Teek: Maybe the doctor said something about that. I remember that she said I'd been under sedation for six days. I think she might have said something about you? I can't remember. Something about tokki coming too? My brain is a fog right now.
Teek put his hands on the bed and gingerly slid himself to the tent floor. Amenaru and Kit both thought of stepping closer but just as they started to approach, Teek put his arms out like he was going in for a hug and started to stagger to them.
Teek: Whatever. I'm glad you're okay!
Teek barely made it two steps before he toppled to the ground, prompting Amenaru and Kit to rush to him.
Kit: Are you okay?
Carefully making sure not to grab Teek by any of his bandaged areas, Amenaru and Kit helped Teek back to a seated position.
Teek: How do you do it? How do you go walking around with those stringy little tails behind you?
Teek sniffled and he buried his face into his arm.
Amenaru: Let's help you back to the bed, alright?
Teek said nothing, merely nodding almost imperceptibly. Taking that as their cue, Amenaru and Kit gently helped him back to the bed where he immediately laid back down.
Teek: Last thing I remember was when we hit the ground. The doctor said that it'll take time for me to learn to walk again. I didn't believe it could be that bad, but...
Amenaru forced a cheery smile, his attempt to lighten the mood.
Amenaru: Hey, don't worry. I'll be happy to push you around in your wheelchair when you get one!
With a sniffle and a giggle, Teek managed to smile back.
Teek: Ha! The hell you will!
In another tent, Minnie was also in recovery and under orders to rest. She, however, was a bit more mobile and a bit more stubborn than Teek and required a guard to keep her inside. On top of that, Tamati, a man strong enough to pick anyone up by the scruff of their neck, remained in her tent to monitor her. Minnie begrudgingly accepted this situation that she could not change, but still insisted on a communicator so that she could keep in touch with Phobos, investigating the condition of the engines.
Tamati: I'd honestly prefer that you stay in your bed. If you insist on working, I'm going to insist that you do so only for a short time.
Minnie sighed, knowing that arguing would be useless.
Minnie: Understood, Tamati. I just want to make sure the engines pose no further danger.
While Tamati waved his scanner around her back, Minnie turned her attention to Phobos on the screen of her communicator.
Minnie: Anything new, Phobos?
Phobos: The core appears inert. If there was a reactivity spike when we entered the atmosphere, I'm guessing that the interaction with the reethalit technology had something to do with it.
Minnie: Are the monitors in place?
Phobos: Two more to go.
Minnie: I'm glad Ramei initiated that plan. Let us know when you're done. Tamati is giving me some dirty looks right now, so I'll be headed back to my bed.
Phobos: Right-o, Chief, and don't worry. We've got this.
A day later...
One might think, upon witnessing this shuttle landing, that an alien was making first contact with a planet for the first time, what with the excited crowd standing around the landing area. When the door opened, Reylen emerged to be greeted with a cheer and a smiling captain. While Aire and Sassinesa stepped forward to greet Reylen, two dozen more tokki rushed out of the shuttle with supplies and made for the encampment. While everyone went to work, Reylen guided Aire and Sassinesa into the shuttle.
Reylen: Come in! It's good to see you again!
Aire: Very good indeed to see you. This is Sassinesa. He's been very helpful since we crashed here.
Reylen: Any friend of yours is a friend of ours!
Sassinesa did not reciprocate, though Aire and Reylen noticed that he seemed unusually excited, with his twitchy tail and fidgety fingers.
Sassinesa: Oh, I can't stand it! A ship full of tokki! How many?
Reylen: We're actually running at about half capacity right now. Around 1200, give or take? Why do you ask?
Aire answered for Sassinesa, for this news excited him beyond his capacity to respond.
Aire: He is apparently horny and hoping for a bit of accommodation in that area. Ryuu says it's safe.
Looking at Sassinesa, a person might wonder if a demigod could explode and what it would look like if that happened. Luckily, there was no combustion, but rather an outburst of exuberance.
Sassinesa: I should have been a tokki!
Reylen: We'll surely have lots of willing volunteers. Before we get to that, shall we discuss the plan?
Sassinesa slapped his paws to his hips and blew a raspberry at both of them.
Sassinesa: Pbbtht! That's no fun! I'm going to see what the others are up to!
With that, Sassinesa was gone, leaving only the two of them and some welcome silence.
Aire: He's a bit of a handful.
Reylen: I can see that.
Aire: Still, he's been very helpful, so I have no complaints. Anyway, you have a plan for the Shadowdancer?
Reylen: I'll give you the overview and we can go over the details with your engineers later. It's going to be a bit tricky. The Shadowdancer is just inside the limit of what our tractor beam was designed to handle in an atmosphere, but it's full of water right now. We'll have to pull it out of the ocean and immediately set it down somewhere so it can drain. I've got several shuttles stocking up with cargo containers, so we can remove any critical equipment or personal effects. Once that's done, we'll take you all back to our ship and tractor the Shadowdancer off the planet.
Aire: I suppose that's as simple as it can get under the circumstances. I'm not looking forward to seeing the state of it when it comes out.
Reylen: We've scanned it and it's pretty bad, but structurally sound enough to drag it back to Polaris Deep at least.
Aire: My engineering team is at your disposal. There's one more thing, though. There are still two deceased crew somewhere in the lower hull. We'd like the opportunity to respectfully remove them before taking the ship to space.
Reylen: Absolutely, Captain. Just let us know if we can help with that.
Reylen suddenly lowered his head and began to fidget nervously with his ears.
Reylen: One more thing... Um... Is Dr. Teagan around? I'd... um... like to say hi.
Aire took note of this change of demeanor and filed it away in the back of his mind. He had more important things to to worry about, but this interested him.
Aire: With our injured crew recovering, I ordered her to bed. I'll let her know you're looking for her when she wakes up.
Reylen seemed to perk back up, at least momentarily, alternating between a look of hopefulness and disappointment. In his response, the hopeful side won out.
Reylen: That'd be swell!
Commissioned art in this episode from:
AvareonArt
Zelbunnii
Thatwildmary
Colourbrand
