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Donner Wetter
German for Thunder Weather
This is another challenge story. The challenge Romance and the couple had to verse nature or society. This is what came to mind with this challenge.
Donner Wetter
"Deanna!" Will shouted.
"I can't hold her much longer! Brace for impact!"
Deanna relaxed her body as the shuttle sailed through the storm
of gases, which caused flashes of light. They were headed
straight for the planet below at a very fast rate.
What was to be shoreleave to Risa turned into a nightmere, with a
horrendous storm. The storm left nothing untouched and grasped
everything in it's path tightly and sent it sailing towards the
planet below.
Will had no control of the shuttle, even though the readings
showed that he should have control. Everything was out of whack
and screwing up the shuttles systems completely. Will knew none
of the readings or the information the computer was giving was
accurate. He hit the panel hard and set it on manual override,
but the magnetic storm did not allow for even that.
"Damn!" He shouted as he hit the panel again. Then he
looked out the window before him. The last thing he and Deanna
saw was the flash of lightening from the storm.
Will let out a groan as he slowly awoke from the impact. The
storm was very noisy and gave a very bright light show. There was
no rain or precipitation of any kind. Just noise and light. He
looked over to Deanna. She was still out cold and it looked as
though she had hit her head during the crash.
Will released himself from the restraint that held him in his
seat. "Deanna?" He said as he touched her shoulder.
"Deanna?"
She slowly opened her eyes and as she did, she brought her hands
up to her head. She held her head gently trying to make the pain
of her head ease.
"I'll go get the med kit." Will said as he ripped off
part of his uniform sleeve. "Looks like you have a very bad
bump. Here, hold this on your head to stop the bleeding while I
get the kit."
Deanna took the material from him and held it on her sore head.
It hurt far too bad to put pressure on her head, but she knew she
had to do it. The roll of loud thunder did not help either.
Will got back with the kit. "I'm not much of a sewer, but
you need a couple of stitiches."
"That bad, huh?" Deanna asked very softly to keep her
own voice from hurting her head. The storm and Will's voice hurt
bad enough.
"'Fraid so." Will replied as he cleaned the wound.
"This may sting a little."
"Sst!" Deanna hissed as Will used some antiseptic on
her wound.
"OK." Will said as he discorded the antiseptic pad.
"This is just a hypo to numb the area. I can't promise it
will look pretty, but at least you'll be closed up."
Deanna sat very still while Will did his best to sew up her
wound. "Well, I guess it was four stitches." Will
stated. "Wanna have a look?"
Deanna almost shook her head, but her head smarted at the
slightest move. "No." She said softly. Thunder crashed
through her brain and made the pain worse.
"Afraid you might not like my reupholtering job?" Will
tried to joke.
"Another time I might find that humourous, Will, but my
brain is killing me." She replied, still trying not to talk
very loudly. Even so, the words painfully echoed in her brain.
Will looked back out the window. "This storm is really
bad." He said. "When it dies down, I'll take a look
around. Check out the damage to the shuttle."
Deanna started to nod but then grabbed her head with pain.
"Hey, Imzadi!" Will said to her, while touching her
shoulder in sympathy. "I'm going to get the medical
tricorder."
He scanned her, but was not happy with the results or the
tricorder's functioning. He made an educated guess from the
information he knew to be correct on the tricorder. "Just
what I was afraid of. You have a concussion."
"Tell me something I don't know." Deanna replied
softly. "My brain is killing me and your voice makes it even
worse."
"Oh, gee thanks." Will said jokingly. "First time
anyone said my voice hurt."
"Will please. I don't feel like jokes right now." She
said holding her head as another roar of thunder belted her
brain.
"OK, just stay awake for me." He said. "I need to
know you're going to be alright."
She nodded with pain.
Time passed and the storm finally stopped. Will kissed Deanna
before he went out to investigate their surroundings and the
outer hual of the shuttle.
"Great!" Will exclaimed. "Just great! The computer
and sensors don't work on this planet and the outer haul is
shot!"
Will decided to look around the area and see if there was
anything on the planet that was useful. While he was walking
around the storm started again. Will looked up at the sky to see
the storm brewing. He had no idea how much time he had, then he
heard the thunder.
"Great!" He said and headed back to the shuttle.
As he turned back he was struck by a bolt of lightening and fell
to the ground, unconscious.
Time past and Deanna was getting a feeling something was
seriously wrong. She knew she should not have, but she had
blocked Will from her mind. It pained her too much to allow her
sense of empathy to sense anything.
Thunder and lightening belted her head again and she felt her
head pounding even more. She tried to over come the pain in her
head by breathing deeply, but even that hurt.
Regardless of the pain, she opened her mind and tried to get a
sense for Will. Nothing. She knew her empathy was working for she
felt him before she blocked him.
"Something is wrong." She said to herself. "Very
wrong."
She slowly rose from her seat and started to head out into the
weather. Her head throbbed and she felt very dizzy, but she knew
she had to find him. Each step, every bolterous thunder and
bright flashes of lightening pounded her head. She stood at the
opening of the shuttle and held her head.
Will slowly woke and felt pain through out his body. His right
side felt very numb, but he slowly crawled over to a tree and
pulled himself up to a standing position with his left arm. Then
he looked at his side and could barely see where he had been hit.
The stinging burn wound started from his side and went somewhere
in back of him.
"I have to get back to Deanna." He thought to himself
and staggered in the direction of the shuttle or what he thought
was the right direction. He had a hard time seeing through the
storm. He tried his com badge. Nothing. "Great. It even
effects our communication! Damn!"
"Will!" Deanna shouted as she held the side of her head
and another roll of thunder hit her.
She had also tried her combadge, but had had no luck either. She
also found the tricorder of little use for picking up Will's
trail. The wind had long since covered his path with debris and
so she had no idea which way he went.
She sensed him finally and knew he had been hurt, but she could
not get any idea of where he was. She kept trying to thought send
to him and call out for him regardless of how much her head hurt.
The wind blew hard. The dust and debris blew in her face. The
lightening continued to flash and the thunder was louder outside
the shuttle, which made her head pound harder. She struggled to
walk in the wind and stumbled occassionally as she tried to get a
feel for which way Will went.
"Will!" The wind muffled her cry for him, so she sent
to him. "Imzadi, can you hear me?"
Will finally heard her mental cry for him. He thought back to
her, "I'm here, Deanna."
He too was struggling against the wind and flying debris.
"You need to go back to the shuttle."
"No!" He heard her send with urgentcy. "I have to
find you! Where are you?"
He heard her worry and struggling in her mind sending. He hated
admitting it, but he had no idea where he was in this weather. He
could not see anything, for the wind blew very hard in his face
along with the debris. The flashes of light did not help, either.
The light
was blinding, due to the darkness prior to the flashes. He knew
Deanna was struggling against the same forces.
"Go back and try to send a call for assistance if you
can." He thought to her.
"I've tried. It was no use." She cried her thought to
him.
They both stubbled at the same time, but they had been no closer
to finding each other. The wind continued to howl and no matter
how much Will tried to get her to return to the safety of the
shuttle, Deanna refused to go until they found one another.
Will fell again. "Deanna, it's too dangerous out here. Don't
make me call rank on you!"
"You couldn't out here if you tried, Imzadi." She sent
back defiantly.
He hated it when she was being so stubborn and he feared for her
being out here in this storm. She finally got a sense of the
direction he was and followed the sense of him. She felt she was
walking blindly in the storm, but her empathic sense led her way
toward him. She kept stubbling and let out a groan or soft scream
each time she fell.
Neither had a sense of direction in the blinding storm. They had
no idea which way they were going, but had no care for their own
safety. All they wanted to do was get back to each other and see
one another again.
Deanna's head seeped blood where the stitches were and her head
pounded harder with each step, thunder, flash of lightening or
mental call to Will. Will's side kept smarting as he moved and
stung with every fall.
Will stubbled once more and decided to crawl his way back to
Deanna and the shuttle. It seemed better than continuing to try
and stand in the violent weather. The thunder seem to get louder
and louder as the storm worsen. He feared for Deanna being out in
this storm instead of going back to the shuttle.
Finally, after what had seemed like hours of fighting with the
storm, Will gave into exhaustion and laid face down on the
ground. The power of the storm became so strong that he could
hardly move. The wind and debris hit his face so hard that he
protected it by keeping his face down towards the ground.
Deanna refused to give up though. She fought the powers that be
to get to her Imzadi. She still sensed him, but he did not
respond to her mind sending. "Was he still conscious?"
She thought to herself. She knew he was wounded and in pain, but
she had no idea how bad it was. All she knew was she had to find
him and she was determined.
She tried hard to drag her body up a small hill that seemed so
steep in the conditions the storm was throwing at her. She
grunted and groan as she used a tree to pull herself up the small
hill. She could tell it really was not as steep as it felt, but
the wind pounded her and the dizziness her head was causing her
did not help either.
A bolt of lightening shot past her, barely missing her, and made
her scream loudly. Will heard her scream, but could not move any
farther. The pain from his side and the exhaustion from fighting
the storm was more than he could bare. He laid his face back down
towards the ground, while he tried to summon the strength to move
and the thunder continued to roar.
The howl of the wind became so loud that it was eerie. It made
their ears feel that the only sound on the planet was the howl.
Then the sound of thunder crashed through the howling at an even
more deafening pitch. The lightening seemed to become brighter
and brighter each time it cut through the darkness of the planet.
Deanna was getting very close to Will, but because the storm was
so loud, she could not hear him nor could he hear her. Deanna
struggle to stand against the wind again, took a couple steps
then fell again. This time she landed on top of Will and he let
out a scream of pain, for she not only landed on him, but also
his burn from the lightening that hit him.
She felt his body and heard his scream of pain and quickly rolled
off his body. "Will!" She was over joyed to find him.
The lightening flashed and her eyes quickly confirmed it really
was him in the blinding light.
Tears of joy started to fall from her eyes as she touched him
with her hand. "Imzadi." She said, smiling through the
tears and the pain of her head.
The sounds of thunder were getting so close together that it was
getting harder to tell if it was all one or many. It rumbled
through the planet so frequently that she was in almost constant
pain, but she fought the pain just to get to him.
"Deanna!" Will yelled at her. "You disobeyed a
direct order!"
"You never gave a direct order!" She shouted back
through the wind and thunder. "You only threaten too. You
knew I would not have listen to you anyway."
"Well, we can't get back to the shuttle until this storm
settles." He yelled. "But it's not safe out here,
either."
Suddenly, a tree fell a few feet from them and they both jumped.
The lightening flashed and they saw the direction the tree was
falling and were thankful it was not in their direction.
Struggling to sit up, Deanna looked at him and shouted,
"What do you suggest we do?"
Will had no idea and shook his head, knowing she could not see
his head shake in the darkness. However, she sensed he did not
have an answer for her as lightening continued to flash around
them and the wind and thunder deafened them.
Will finally pulled his body to a sitting position and shouted,
"We have to try and get back to the shuttle. It's our only
option out here."
"But it's a long ways in this weather!" Deanna yelled
through the wind.
"You have any better ideas?" He shouted. "I'm open
to suggestions."
Deanna sighed, but no one heard her sigh. The storm did not seem
as though it was going to quiet itself anytime soon.
"Are you sure you can make it?" She shouted back to
him.
"There's no other choice."
The thunder vibrated through the planet and their bodies. It
seemed to be getting louder and louder the longer the storm
continued. Still there was no rain. Only the roll of thunder, the
howl of the wind and blinding lightening.
"If we stay low, we might make it." Will tried to
communicate through the noisy of the storm.
Deanna's head pounded very hard and the blood became a trickle.
She had the feeling she had broken a stitch in her search for
Will, but until she found him, she did not care. She had to find
him and now they had to make their way back together some how.
They both laid flat on their stomachs and crawled as far as they
could. The debris continued to hit them in the face and Deanna
suddenly gave a cry of pain.
Will was slightly ahead of her, so he had to turn to her.
"Deanna?" He shouted and rushed over on his hands and
knees to her.
She laid very still on the ground. The wound on her head was now
reopened and it was too dark at the moment for Will to see her.
Suddenly, as an answer to prayer for light, lightening flashed
brightly again and Will saw her limp body rolled over onto her
back and he saw the wound.
Immediately, he grabbed her wrist and checked for a pulse. He was
thankful when he found one. It was weak, but there. He was not
about to leave her, so he laid down beside her and held her in
his arms as he tried to protect her from the eliments with his
body. He
kept her face buried in his chest so she could not be hit with
anything else. He stayed with her, holding her until the storm
calmed and quieted. Not caring how loud the wind howled or how
loud the thunder was drumming the planet.
It seemed forever before the stormed past, but when it did, Will
kissed Deanna's forehead. She gave no response. The blood had
finally harden where the wound was, but it was very thick and
crusty.
Will stood and lifted Deanna's unconscious body. He tried to
ignore the pain in his side and back as he carried her back to
the shuttle. He hoped he was going in the right direction for
Deanna's sake. He gave no thought of his own wound.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Will found the shuttle. He
was exhausted and under normal circumstances Deanna was light as
a feather, but not today. His battered and bruised body, along
with the lightening burn in his side, made her body feel even
heavier, but he was determined to get her back to the safety of
the shutttle and try to send out a call for help.
He stumbles into the shuttle. Deanna did not stir from the fall.
He lifts her back up and walks to the back of the shuttle to lie
her down on the bed. Then he walks back to shut the shuttle door.
He gets the emergency med kit again. There was nothing to close
Deanna's wound this time. No regenerator and restitching it was
out of the question for fear of infection. All he could do was
clean the wound and hope for rescue.
His side was killing him, but he had to get the message for help
out while the weather was calm and hope for the best. He got the
comm working and sent the message out, hoping someone would
receive it very soon, before another storm came.
He checked Deanna's vitals. Pulse rate, temperature, and blood
pressure were very low. He cringed at the readings and was hoping
they were wrong. He checked her vitals by hand as best he could
and deduced the same as the now working tricorder.
He was thankful her bleeding had stopped. However, there was
nothing more he could do for her, so he laid back down beside her
with exhaustion and prayed help came soon.
He had fallen asleep and hours later he awoke to the sounds of
Beverly's medical team. "Lie still, Will." She said to
him. "We'll get back to the Enterprise and in Sickbay
soon."
"Deanna?" He started to inquirer.
"She has a very bad concussion, but she will be fine once we
get her back to the ship."
Will felt relief roll over him as Beverly treated his burn.
"There is some nerve damage, but you'll be fine as soon as I
can get you back to the ship, too. For now, this will have to
do." Beverly informed him. "You two are lucky we
arrived as soon as we did."
"What does that mean?" He groaned out.
"Nothing to worry about now." Beverly said, refusing to
tell him what might have happened if they had not arrive when
they did. "I've treated the infection that was trying to set
into your wound, but I can't do anymore for you just yet. As soon
as Deanna is stable enough we'll beam back to Sick Bay."
Stable enough. The words sent chills up Will's spine. He tried to
take his mind off the words and concentrate on the fact that
rescue had come for them. He was thankful they were both alive
and he still had his Imzadi with him.