Post 250: Change of View

Stardate:70625.1200
Title: Change of View
Author. Simon Biggs
Scene. Bajor and Transporter Room
Time: Just prior to"Welcome Back Home"

Simon stood by, waiting to hear that the Independence had engaged its transporters to take them home. As he waited, he thought back over the time they had spent on Bajor.

*Flashback*

After Simon had beamed down with Blane, K'pajek, Samson and Salvek, his first task had been to scan the immediate area for survivors.

Lt. Commander N'Dura's team and most of the rest of the search teams were traveling along the shoreline. Salvek's team, including Simon, had headed off from base camp in the other direction down into the Plains themselves. Soon they came upon the ruins of what looked like it had been a small village and split up.

Simon's tricorder beeped to indicate there were a couple of life forms hidden below the rubble before him. He quickly moved through the debris. There wasn't much left of the home after the storm hit, it had basically destroyed everything in its path. Just like an Earth hurricane at category 5 intensity. Nasty.

After Simon had removed as much as he could from the pile of rubble, he found a mother and child underneath. They were unconscious. They had cuts and bruises everywhere. Simon tapped his combadge

"Ensign Biggs to Commander Salvek! I found two more people, I need a medical team here immediately!"

[Medical team is on the way. Stand by.]

Simon had taken field medic training while at the Academy and so he began to check over the mother with his tricorder. He found that she had a broken arm and leg. He then looked at the child, who was starting to come around. Simon smiled at him.

"Hello, my name is Simon. What's yours? he asked quietly. The small child looked at him, then looked at his mother who was laying still and started to cry. The sight of his mother and what he had been through were too much for him, which was quite understandable, thought Simon.

The child stopped crying after a couple of minutes, as Simon monitored him and kept talking to him gently. The tricorder scan indicated the boy had only suffered the obvious cuts and bruises, he'd been lucky. His mother must have covered him, shielding him with her body while the house collapsed. *Brave woman.* Simon thought to himself.

"What are you doing?" the young lad asked him, speaking at last.

"I am looking to see if you're injured. Apart from a scrapes, you are just fine." Biggs reassured him.

Simon then heard a groan coming from the mother. He wondered what was taking the medical team so long to get there.

"Errr. My head. What happened?" The lady asked. "Who are you?"

"My name is Simon Biggs, ma'am. I'm a Starfleet officer, from the USS Independence. There was a storm, do you remember? You seem to have some broken bones. Stay still for me, help is on the way."

Suddenly the familiar sound of shuttle engines came closer as the small ship descended and then landed next to the ruins of the house. A medical team came through and put the woman and child on stretchers. They quickly moved the two into the shuttle, and the door closed. The shuttle took off, heading towards a medical facility in another province. Simon's combadge chirped.

"Two saves, Commander." Simon said in answer to the hail.

"Well done, Ensign. Excellent work." Salvek commended him. "We're going to make our way back to base camp to regroup, there appear to be no other survivors in this area," Salvek explained.

Simon wondered to himself from then on what would become of that woman and her son.

The days following those saves were a blur. For a time he'd been assigned to make close to surface shuttle runs with Lt. Neil. They were told to do their best in mapping the new, muddy roads that survivors had created as they tried to escape the rising flood waters. They were to assess the damage of the ruined towns and villages from the air so the teams on the ground would know where to focus their efforts. The hope was that by doing this they might find survivors that were not visible or detectable from ground level. They had to be sure they found everyone who could be saved.

After returning from the shuttle assignment, Simon had rejoined Salvek and the rest of his team to continue searching on the ground.

*End Flashback*

Simon's mind returned to the present. At last, fresh troops had arrived and it was time to go home.

The command team was recalled to the Independence, and Simon materialized on the transporter. Lily T'Ana approached him as he stepped down.

"How are you, Simon?" she asked. "I so wanted to go down on the away teams but with circumstances with the Captain it was just impossible."

"Oh, I'm okay. How is the Captain, Lieutenant? We didn't hear a whole lot and we were so busy down there."

"Busy? That's got to be an understatement. I made new maps of the land, Simon. I know it was bad." she said sympathetically.

Simon explained how awful it had been to her, and then expressed his concerns about the Captain again. Before he knew it, he was in Lily's arms. She hugged him tight, and he hugged her back.

Ensign Simon Biggs
Security Officer
USS Independence