Stardate:70711.2350
Title: Crashing Down
Author: Lair Kellyn
Scene: Beach/Holodeck Four
Time: Following "Late Night Surf" and "Calm Before the Storm"
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Even though she couldn't tell for sure, February Grace was certain that everyone was staring at her. She had wanted to ask the doctor a question. Quietly. But the conversation had died out suddenly as everyone waited for her to speak.
"Nothing, never mind. I'll- I'll ask you later." she waved her hand, dismissing the doctor's attention.
Lair Kellyn's eyes were glassy, even though the food had helped quite a bit to kill the buzz she was feeling earlier.
"Beer," she demanded, snapping her fingers and holding her hand out toward Ashlyn.
"Sorry, dear, the beer is gone." Ashlyn lied, rustling around in the ice chest and pretending not to find what Kellyn sought.
The Bajoran groaned, and tipped her last empty bottle upside down to see if there was anything left in there she'd missed. No such luck. "Why is the beer always gone?" she lamented.
"Look up there!" Ashlyn pointed heavenward, and they saw a message being spelled out across the sky in glittering, flaming letters. "Ooo. Nicely done, Mr. MacDougal."
Kellyn and February both seemed to sigh, romantic gestures being the very last thing they found appealing at the moment, each for their own different reasons.
"Pretty!" Fox exclaimed. "I wish that my suitors-" she stopped. Her mind turned back to the jewels and the singer stone left by Xander T. Corbinsky without her prior knowledge or encouragement. She twisted a strand of her hair nervously at the thought, unable to help but wonder when his next gift would appear from out of the blue just as the others had.
"This kind of thing impresses women of other species?" N'Dura laughed, gesturing toward the sky with her drink before finishing it and slamming the bottle down into the sand.
February had been listening to the waves all night and noticed that the sea sounded angry, all of a sudden. "Hey, has anyone seen Samson?"
"I think he went off to hide somewhere after mowing you over. He looked absolutely mortified." Kellyn replied.
"Yeah, but the waves sound like they're getting bigger."
"Sound like?" Ashlyn had been watching February for a little while now, and she was not acting like herself. "February, you started to say something before, but you stopped." Ashlyn moved closer to the younger Trill and putting a hand on her arm. "What was the question you meant to ask?"
"Well, um, it's not so much a question anymore...it's just that I can't see."
"You can't see very well at night, we know, dear." Ashlyn said sympathetically. "It should get better when you have your surgery soon."
"No, you don't understand. I can't see." She stressed the last three words and waited.
"At all? Since when?" the doctor grew concerned.
"Since about two hours ago." February admitted. Everyone sat in silence, until she turned again toward the sounds of the ocean.
"Are you sure you can't see Samson it sounds like a storm is brewing out there. But that can't be."
"That wave is enormous!" N'Dura exclaimed, climbing to her feet quickly. "I see him, he's at the top of it, and-" The Klingon got no further as everyone except Grace suddenly began to shout.
"What happened?" Bru demanded, but all she heard in the moments that followed were bits and pieces of conversation and the sound of people running away.
"Did you see where he went?" Kellyn yelled as she and N'Dura ran toward the surf, Sunshine the dog on their heels.
"No, I cannot see him. I saw the board hit him on the head before he went under," the Klingon shouted back. "Computer, end program!"
Nothing happened.
"Computer, freeze program!" Fox shouted, thinking that at least if the water stopped moving, he'd be easier to find. The three women began to paddle though the water even as the waves kept pounding against them, harder and faster.
N'Dura finally felt what she thought was a head of hair beneath the waves and yanked. The unconscious form of Micah Samson appeared on the surface, as the dog kept barking and fireworks began fill the skies above. Fox and Kellyn helped her drag the science officer from the water.
"Is he breathing?" Ashlyn called as she also rushed into the surf and grabbed Samson's flailing left leg to help the others get him to dry land.
"I think so," N'Dura said, "But he definitely took some in as well."
He began coughing, choking water out as they turned him over onto his side.
"Micah, can you hear me? Answer me!" Ashlyn demanded, but he merely moaned softly. "The safeties must be off. It's like that thing TC and I saw earlier," Ashlyn said as she looked him over for other obvious signs of injury. "We need to get him out of here from the knot on his head I'd say he's at least got a concussion at the very least."
"We tried to shut the program off, but it won't respond." Fox explained, catching her breath. "Won't freeze, won't stop."
"No arch." N'Dura finished, shooing Sunshine away as the dog tried to thank her with a kiss for pulling Samson from the sea.
"This is bad." Kellyn replied, "If the safeties are off, then anything could,"
The sound of the fireworks igniting and exploding grew louder, and nearer.
"No."
All she could do was point and stare, as the fireworks barge on the water began sparking at the base, and the shells began to catch out of sequence. One lit another, and another, and they began exploding on the barge, skimming the surface of the water, and also firing off back toward the house.
"NO!" Kellyn screamed, as a large explosive shell launched from the barge and impacted against the roof of the house, spraying fire into the surrounding trees.
"Salvek! ARIE!"
She took off running down the beach, and N'Dura and Fox followed as Ashlyn tried to bring Samson around. February had followed the sound of Trind's voice and stumbled her way over to the water's edge. She tried to grasp at Sunshine's collar so that he wouldn't take off after the others, but knowing that TC was in that house, the dog would not be stopped.
No matter how far or how fast they ran, they weren't getting any closer to the house. This became obvious to N'Dura first before anyone else. She tried once more to get the computer to end the program, but again, nothing happened. She grabbed Kellyn's arm and held the Bajoran back, even as she began wheezing, her old lung injuries rearing their ugly head again as she ran.
"Let me go! My family is in that house!"
"We cannot reach them, Lair Kellyn. Not this way," N'Dura said sadly. "We have to find another way, or,"
"Or hope they find the way out on their own." Fox said softly, as Kellyn dropped to her knees on the never- ending beach.
Sunshine, unsure what to do next, kept running up and down the sand. His barks echoed up into the chilly night air, along with the sound of explosions in the distance and the continued, anguished screams of one woman.
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Lt. Commander Lair Kellyn
Engineering Officer
USS Independence NCC-90791