[mission: totally possible - Lambda 7 was the easy part]

[rn_chapel]

The mission itself had gone very well.

Lieutenant Nyota Uhura was pleased to be able to say so in her log as she and the other three women in the away team headed back towards the Enterprise in their shuttle, Columbus. The team had been assembled hurriedly in response to an urgent request for aid from Federation-allied Eresian colonists on a

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[just_uhura]

It took Nyota a moment to rouse herself, a heavy lethargy settling itself behind her temples and making the world feel as if it had slowed. It could have so easily been another late night and early morning on the Enterprise, when all she had to do was reach for the painkillers and wait for the world to right.

Except as she slowly opened one eye, she knew that she couldn't fool herself. She stayed still for a moment, taking stock of her body and the way it ached. There was a dull thud across her left cheek, and she knew that if she touched it, she would feel the bruised skin there. Her head was spinning as if they were still trapped in the storm despite being still. There was a damp wet at her side, and easing one hand up she discovered a small gash. Nothing serious. Cuts and bruises. They'd sting like hell, but she could handle them, had handled worse.

It was only when she moved both hands behind her to push herself up from the floor (how the fuck had she gotten on the floor?) that she let out a loud yelp of pain. Instinctively she cradled her right arm to her chest, hissing in a breath as the world suddenly became covered in dark spots.

"I uh, I'm f-f--" She couldn't finish her sentence, her experimental flex of her arm cutting her off with another whimper. She was no medical professional, but she had broken enough bones to know how it felt. She couldn't even straighten it out, every movement irritating it and causing her to let out a hissed breath. After the second attempt, she remembered where she had gone wrong; in the haste, she hadn't double checked her safety belt. The crash had sent her flying from the chair, landing on her arm with an unhealthy crunch that she felt more than she heard.

"I've broken my arm," she managed to get out through gritted teeth. "Is everyone else alright?" This had been her call, her responsibility. The pain she felt now would be nothing compared to the guilt of harming another through her own mistakes. Should they have veered away from it? Would they have survived another blast? Probably not, but being trapped on a planet god only knew where wasn't a comforting alternative.

[rn_chapel]

"A-Okay over here," Tina said, carefully reaching to undo her safety straps. She would have some bruises along hips and collarbones, but that wasn't anything to fuss over. "Stay put, everyone."

She leaned forward and reached under her seat to unhook one of the emergency supply boxes that she knew would be clipped there. It was too dark to see a goddamn thing, and she knew there'd be a flashlight in the kit. Hopefully, a fully charged one.

She found it by touch, and sighed with relief when clicking the button created a wide beam of clear, blue-white light. Tina played the beam low to the floor, illuminating the space next to her counterpart.

"Is there a kit under your seat, too, Christine?" she prompted. They should have done a quick check on shuttle familiarity, she realized now. The other nurse had no way of knowing where emergency supplies might be stored on this craft.

She waited until Christine had begun to feel under her seat before she panned the light across the rest of the shuttle. Leah was sitting up in the pilot's seat, and half-turned to look at her. Possibly a little dazed, but seemingly unhurt. Nyota was... All the way at the back of the shuttle.

"You must have taken quite a tumble," Tina murmured, moving to kneel by her side. "Don't move. I want to check you out thoroughly before you wiggle your spine around too much, okay?"

At Nyota's pained sound of assent, Tina turned back towards Christine - who was retrieving a working flashlight from her emergency kit, excellent - and Leah. "Either of you know anything about electronics? If we could get full light in here, that'd be helpful."

[leah_lawton]

Leah pried her hands from where they seemed to be stuck to the top of the control console, took a couple of calming breaths to control her still hammering heart, and managed to undo her safety straps. She'd somehow gotten herself buckled up properly after raising the shields.

Christ. Was everyone else okay?

She tried to see, but it was just too dark in the cabin. Ignoring the groan of protest from her body, she moved up further on the edge of the chair, blindly reaching down for the emergency kit.

"Jesus," Tina Chapel's voice cut through the darkness. "Is everyone okay?"

Leah unhooked the kit and sat back in her chair. She set the kit on her lap and opened it, quickly finding the flashlight.

"I'm fine," she said, though it came out so quietly she didn't know if anyone heard her.

From the back part of the cockpit of the shuttle, she heard a distinct hiss of pain. "I've broken my arm," Nyota said. "Is everyone else alright?"

Oh, no...

There was a beam from a flashlight not that far away - someone else must have gotten to their kit. She heard Tina Chapel asking Christine something, and Leah half-turned to look as Tina's flashlight was pointed in her direction.

It appeared that both Chapels were alright; it seemed like Nyota's broken arm was the only real injury.

She took her own flashlight in hand as Tina spoke to Nyota. She got up from the pilot's seat, clicked on the flashlight and moved closer to the group.

"Either of you know anything about electronics? If we could get full light in here, that'd be helpful." Tina asked with a look between Christine and Leah.

"We should have had backup power by now," Leah stated. "I'll go take a look and see if I can figure out what's wrong." With a look of concern at Nyota, she went through the door that lead to the Engineering section.

[headnursechapel]

Attacks on the Enterprise were a regular occurrence, and by this point Christine had no problem working calmly and efficiently through surgery as sirens blared and the floor shifted under her and McCoy's feet. Experiencing a shuttle crash was...something else entirely. Christine had just sat for a moment, unable to do anything but clutch on to the armrests as her mind whirled, trying to steady her breathing and wait for her heartrate to slow.

It wasn't until Tina gently called her name that she was able to move, closing her eyes briefly before she released her iron grip on the seat and moved to find the emergency kit. We're all right. We'll be fine.

She bent down, feeling around for a moment before retrieving the kit and fumbling at the latch in the darkness, finally getting it open and reaching in to find the flashlight. She turned it on and glanced around the shuttle. There was plenty of room near the back end; most of the seats had been removed in order to make room for the supplies they'd just left back on Lambda Seven. Tina was crouched over Nyota in the empty space.

As Leah passed them and headed back to check on the power, Christine joined the other two in the back of the shuttle. She winced internally at the sight of Nyota's arm, but didn't let her concern show on her face.

"Here, Tina -" she moved to Nyota's other side, careful not to jostle her as she did. "I can hold the flashlight up if you want to check over her, see if she's okay to move." She'd only get in Leah's way, so for now she just hoped that Leah could get the lights back on soon.

[rn_chapel]

"Thanks," Tina said. "I'm going to get a medkit." The emergency kits strapped under all the seats on shuttles, designed to be easy to grab and run with if necessary, held a few very basic medical supplies, but shuttles were also routinely equipped with a bulkier full medical kit. And Tina knew that Nyota had made doubly sure that theirs was stocked before they left the Enterprise, because of the nature of their mission.

It was too bad, Tina thought as she retrieved the kit from a storage locker, that even this more comprehensive package wouldn't have anything that could aid in bone knitting. But then again, they wouldn't have had power to run it.

She knelt by Nyota's side again, activating a medical tricorder and taking readings before addressing the broken arm. "Okay, good. No spinal injuries," she said, knowing that her friend would want to hear that right away. "Looks like this arm is by far the worst of it."

She paused. "Nyota, I'm sorry, but we're going to have to splint it the old-fashioned way." She loaded a hypospray with an analgesic and injected it as she talked. "I've just given you a general painkiller, but this is still going to hurt."

Tina unpacked the supplies she was going to need. A roll of aluminum splinting material, soft bandages to secure the arm, and... Oh, good. There was a sling in the box, too. That would save one of their uniform shirts for a little longer at least, she thought wryly.

"Are you ready?" she asked, addressing both Christine and Nyota simultaneously.

[just_uhura]

Nyota had to bite down on her tongue to stop from snapping an impatient I'm fine at them, knowing that it was an irrational reaction to the pain. She wasn't too stubborn to not allow Tina and Christine to do their job, although she knew that their job wasn't going to magically fix her arm as she was used to.

So instead she focused on taking deep breaths, carefully wiggling her toes to make sure she could still move her legs. Well, she could feel that, so she didn't think her back was damaged. A few bruises that she knew were going to punish her, but her spine was intact.

The reassurance from the tricorder relaxed her a little, but she knew what was coming next. "I know, I know," she muttered, shutting her eyes. She could handle the pain, but she never did have much fascination watching her own medical treatment, or anyone elses for that matter. "Just do it." The sooner that thing was in a splint, the sooner she could assess their communications system and see if they could get the hell out of here. The dark interior of the shuttle didn't give her much hope, but if Leah could get the secondary power on, she could at least see if there was anything worth saving.

[leah_lawton]

Leah made her way to the power panels. She quickly swept her flashlight over the small area and went to the panel for backup power. She opened it, and saw that as near as she could tell, the only thing wrong was that the circuit breaker had been tripped. That was easy enough to fix.

The lights and instruments on the shuttle came back to life.

[rn_chapel]

Tina unrolled and cut off a measure of splint and folded it, rolling the edges to create the rigid brace that would protect Nyota's bones. She gently raised Nyota's arm, moving it as little as possible, and slid the splint into place before securing it with bandages.

"Almost done with it," she said, checking Nyota's pulse to be sure she hadn't reduced circulation. "Okay, sit up - slowly, there you go - and I'll arrange the sling."

The lights came on, suddenly, and Christine moved back to give them room, switching off her flashlight.

"Oh, good," Tina said. "Leah fixed the power."

She returned her attention to Nyota. "We need to get you to a proper medical facility before I can set that bone. It's not a bad break, but there's some fracturing. In the meantime, this splint will keep it from moving and should reduce the pain a lot."

She paused and checked Nyota's pulse again, now that the sling was in place, holding the arm against the other woman's chest. "I need you to let me know right away if you start losing feeling in your fingers, okay? Otherwise, we're all done with your arm, now."

[headnursechapel]

Christine glanced up and sighed in relief as the lights came back on. She'd been afraid that the electrical systems might have been completely ruined in the crash.

Standing back to allow Tina room to check Nyota for other injuries, she turned off the flashlight. She glanced around the shuttlecraft, noticing the storage compartments above the seats and moving to check them for supplies.

The shuttle was, thankfully, equipped for emergency survival. She found a stack of blankets and pulled them down, tossing them onto a chair as she continued searching. She came up with a few emergency ration packs - enough to last them a few days, if they planned well - and....three bottles of water. She frowned. Apparently the shuttle wasn't as well stocked as it should have been. Hopefully, they would be able to get the shuttle's comm and sensors system working, and wouldn't have to worry about the rations and water lasting them too long.

[just_uhura]

With her unharmed hand, Nyota gripped her leg tightly as all of McCoy's rants about the dark ages seemed to make sense. Even with the painkillers every movement of her arm made her head spin in an entirely unpleasant way. But she bit back the pain, trying to focus on the situation instead. They had no idea what their co-ordinates were, and until she was able to assess the communications system, they had no way of contacting anyone. While she had double and triple checked they had enough supplies, there was no way they would last more than a few days.

Once Tina was done, she shifted around a little more and shot the nurse a grateful smile. "It's fine, thank you," she assured her, licking her dry lips as she considered the shuttle. It took her a moment to pull herself up, a little unsteady on her feet thanks to the tumble. But it was no concussion, she was grateful for that much.

"Alright, we need to assess the damage but..." There was a pause as she glanced out of the frontview window. What she could see (and that wasn't much) was shrouded in a darkness that seemed too inky black. There was absolutely no light except that in the shuttle. Clearly there would be no exploring outside for now, so they'd have to stay inside. She knew the emergency power wouldn't last for too long, and neither would their flashlights. "It's dark out, so we'll stay inside for tonight."

She motioned for Leah to pass her a flashlight, moving over to the control panel for the comms system. Sticking the light in her mouth, she turned around and dropped down to the floor, shimmying carefully underneath so she could see what was going on. She knew enough about engineering to fix the comms consoles on the Enterprise so she could only hope that Leah would have experience enough to assess the rest. Although if she was hoping for miracles, she would hope that nothing was damaged too badly so they could get the hell out of here.

It took her longer than usual to slowly work off the panel and look through the wires, to see what was affected and what she could make work, and a few times she went to move her splinted arm only to have the dull thud of pain remind her that she couldn't. Eventually she was done, and popped it closed, leaning her head back against the cool metal of the floor. It was not good, and Nyota couldn't even spark it enough to get out a signal. Surely they couldn't be too far from a Federation vessel, or planet, something. For all they knew, this might even be one. She couldn't see enough outside to recognize it, if she could.

After a minute of quiet contemplation, she moved out from underneath the console. "Comm systems are fried. I don't have the right tools to fix it," she sighed, sitting down in the co-pilot chair and switching off her flashlight. They would need to conserve them as best they could, though if they were stuck here she had no idea what good a flashlight was going to do them. But these were now her decisions to make as team leader. "We need to... rest. Until daylight, so we can see better, and assess the outer damage. See where we stand." And she was so tired.

It was going to be a less than comfortable night, but it was the best she could think of right now. Motioning for Chapel to hand out the blankets and Leah to switch off the power to save it, Nyota pulled a blanket over herself and sunk back in the chair. What would Jim do? Spock? she asked herself. After a few minutes she closed her eyes, attempting to get as much sleep was possible. Tomorrow she'd get to see what kind of leader she made.

[leah_lawton]

Leah took a blanket from Christine and sat down in the pilot's chair. Back in Engineering, she'd also taken a look at the main power panel but after resetting it too, and nothing happening, she decided that the problem must be elsewhere.

She glanced out of the window in front of her. There was nothing but darkness and the vaguest outline of tress. Where the hell werethey? Had the storm dropped them one of the planets close to the course they'd originally been following or somewhere else? If they were in another universe entirely(and that possibility wasn't out of the question),then what?

It was plain to see that there was really nothing more they could do tonight though, and everyone was exhausted and not really in the mood for talking. Nyota was right; it best to deal with everything else in the morning.

At least all of them were safe and relatively okay, although Nyota's arm must have been killing her. They had supplies enough for a few days and some source of power to the shuttle. She'd didn't even want to consider how much worse the situation actually could have been.

"All right," she said with a look at Nyota and then at Christine and Tina, who were also now sitting in their chairs. "I'm shutting off the lights. Everyone try and get some rest, okay?"

Leah shut down the backup power from her console, and settled back in the chair.

Though she never would have thought it possible after all that had just happened, she fell asleep within minutes.