Marooned on Giri Minor
Days pass. The recovery mission to Giri Minor is over, all of the survivors have been transported to safety, and now you have been left alone to rest and recover in the Med Bay of the Starship Orion. You have been here for how long now--two, three days? It's been at least that long since you regained consciousness, anyway.
You remember how your heart sank the first time you looked around and realized you were the only patient, right after you awoke. The Med Bay was otherwise devoid of patients--no Dr. Munro, no Commander Andrade. Just you.
Based on that visual evidence, you were able to deduce there were no other survivors, although no one at first wanted to tell you why. They waited until your doctor gave his blessing, then brought you up to speed in the form of a military briefing. In a small consultation room off to the side of the main Med Bay, the ship's Operations Officer and an aide informed you that while most of the passengers of the EWR210819 survived the initial crash landing, an indigenous life form had killed everyone by the third night. You probably survived because you were unconscious and immobilized, and therefore couldn't be lured into the desert like everyone else.
As for Yigaro and Easa, the Operations Officer told you they witnessed everything. The two young kids survived because they were too terrified to leave the cargo bay. In addition to yourself, they were the only people left to recover from the crash site on Giri Minor. And while you were undergoing treatment, they were reunited with their extremely anxious parents, and that was the end of that. You never see Yiggy and Easa again.
For some time now, on what is to be your last day of medical supervision in the Orion's state-of-the-art Med Bay, you have been staring at the passenger and crew manifest of the EWR210819. Lots of people perished at Giri Minor, including Tira Indrian, Mori Hatuso, Dionysya Andrade, and too many others. You survived only because of what seems like a completely arbitrary reason; had you not hit your head on the bulkhead, had you stayed on the bridge, the outcome might have been much different.
You are not sure how to process that information. A counselor that has stopped by once already says that what you're experiencing is guilt, and that it is completely natural for someone in your situation.
As you peruse the crew and passenger manifest, the one name that stands out is Captain Siggo's. You realize you never knew much about him during your few months of service with him, but now by clicking on the pad in your hand you can access his entire service record:
Name: Siggo, Jinan R
Rank: Captain
Species: Human
Date of birth: 6.21.2935
Location of birth: Cartan City, planet Kaitoo
Deceased 10.15.2993
There is a lot of information here, but the detail that catches your eye is the period just before he started piloting transport vessels. You knew Captain Siggo had served aboard the Starship Draco, but he never liked talking about his past.
What you see here is that he spent much of his career as a security officer attached to the Marines. In one deadly skirmish with the Iib Ch'iib, and alien race with which humans have been skirmishing for centuries, then-Commander Siggo lost an entire survey team he had been leading on some inconsequential planet that no one had probably heard of before or since. Within minutes Siggo's people were dead, but he himself was barely wounded.
The record shows his captain gave him a commendation for his actions, but you suspect Siggo must have been deeply bothered by the incident. From that point forward his record shows he transferred off the Draco and never set foot on a starship again.
You have a similar decision to make too. Because of your injuries in the line of duty, the Astral Navy is giving you the option to separate from the service. The crash on Giri Minor has genuinely shaken you, so perhaps this is the time to pursue another career option.
You remember how your heart sank the first time you looked around and realized you were the only patient, right after you awoke. The Med Bay was otherwise devoid of patients--no Dr. Munro, no Commander Andrade. Just you.
Based on that visual evidence, you were able to deduce there were no other survivors, although no one at first wanted to tell you why. They waited until your doctor gave his blessing, then brought you up to speed in the form of a military briefing. In a small consultation room off to the side of the main Med Bay, the ship's Operations Officer and an aide informed you that while most of the passengers of the EWR210819 survived the initial crash landing, an indigenous life form had killed everyone by the third night. You probably survived because you were unconscious and immobilized, and therefore couldn't be lured into the desert like everyone else.
As for Yigaro and Easa, the Operations Officer told you they witnessed everything. The two young kids survived because they were too terrified to leave the cargo bay. In addition to yourself, they were the only people left to recover from the crash site on Giri Minor. And while you were undergoing treatment, they were reunited with their extremely anxious parents, and that was the end of that. You never see Yiggy and Easa again.
For some time now, on what is to be your last day of medical supervision in the Orion's state-of-the-art Med Bay, you have been staring at the passenger and crew manifest of the EWR210819. Lots of people perished at Giri Minor, including Tira Indrian, Mori Hatuso, Dionysya Andrade, and too many others. You survived only because of what seems like a completely arbitrary reason; had you not hit your head on the bulkhead, had you stayed on the bridge, the outcome might have been much different.
You are not sure how to process that information. A counselor that has stopped by once already says that what you're experiencing is guilt, and that it is completely natural for someone in your situation.
As you peruse the crew and passenger manifest, the one name that stands out is Captain Siggo's. You realize you never knew much about him during your few months of service with him, but now by clicking on the pad in your hand you can access his entire service record:
Name: Siggo, Jinan R
Rank: Captain
Species: Human
Date of birth: 6.21.2935
Location of birth: Cartan City, planet Kaitoo
Deceased 10.15.2993
There is a lot of information here, but the detail that catches your eye is the period just before he started piloting transport vessels. You knew Captain Siggo had served aboard the Starship Draco, but he never liked talking about his past.
What you see here is that he spent much of his career as a security officer attached to the Marines. In one deadly skirmish with the Iib Ch'iib, and alien race with which humans have been skirmishing for centuries, then-Commander Siggo lost an entire survey team he had been leading on some inconsequential planet that no one had probably heard of before or since. Within minutes Siggo's people were dead, but he himself was barely wounded.
The record shows his captain gave him a commendation for his actions, but you suspect Siggo must have been deeply bothered by the incident. From that point forward his record shows he transferred off the Draco and never set foot on a starship again.
You have a similar decision to make too. Because of your injuries in the line of duty, the Astral Navy is giving you the option to separate from the service. The crash on Giri Minor has genuinely shaken you, so perhaps this is the time to pursue another career option.