"Frozen Witnesses"
[previous "Odds and Mathematical Probabilities Are not Always Right"]

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Setting: VIPER 3, Cockpit
Stardate: 30148.0840

The two pilots had done all that they could to bring the ship down in one piece. The explosion of the power cores had not made things any easier, forcing Jayson and Wydran to pull away at the very last moment. That meant that the SPHINX had been on its own for the last 300 meters before it crashed on the rocky surface of the moon.  At least its nose had been up allowing it to bounce a few times before it finally stopped.

If at least there had been water or even sand at the crash site, he would have felt a little more at peace.  Even a few tress would have helped soften the crash but this world seemed to greatly lack in all of those things.  The OPS officer glanced around the crash site and was thankful that they had actually stopped where they did. Red hot rivers of molten magma flowed near the broken shell of the SPHINX, but at least it had not fallen into any of them.

"VIPER 3 to SPHINX."

=/\= They have no power, they won't hear you. =/\=

"VIPER 3 to anyone on board the SPHINX, come in."

Jayson knew they had no power but he still had to try, just in case. The crash had been a rough one but from where he was he could see the shell of the SPHINX almost completely intact.  That little ship had been made to take a pounding and a pounding was exactly what it had received.  All that the pilots could do was to hope that those inside had fared as well or better than the craft.

=/\= We need to land. =/\=

"Easier said than done." The landscape beneath them, and what surrounded the SPHINX for as far as the eyes could see, had been dangerously rocky and uneven making any landing nearly impossible. The shifting boiling red rivers did not help any, threatening to swallow anything that they came in contact with.

=/\= So what do we do? =/\=

Jayson had been ready to reply many things, none of which they could safely do. They needed to get down there and help, but how and in what way? Without communications the pilots could not even confirm that everyone was alright or if they needed any sort of immediate assistance.  He became instantly concerned for those inside the SPHINX especially Eve for some reason.  Of all those down there he hoped that she had been the one safe above everyone else.

The VIPERs hovered over the crash site, not sure as to what to do next. Landing might put the last two remaining crafts at risk, but staying in the air meant they could do nothing but wait.  What had they been expected to do? This training exercise had turned into a quest for survival that no one could have expected.

Right now Jayson could barely remember what he had learned during the Wilderness Survival classes back at the Academy. His mind too full of questions and concerns. Had this meant that their mission had come to an end or was this nothing more than an obstacle for them to overcome?  Were they truly expected to make their way to where the LOCUS were and continue, or were the two pilots expected to bring survivors back tot he ANUBIS?

He found himself frozen by uncertainty, unable to think as to what to do next. 

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Jayson Sousa

Ensign Jayson Stark
Operations
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501