<USS Avalon> "The Fall From Heaven" Pt. 1

“The Fall From Heaven” - Part One
by Junior Lieutenant Savannah Eckstein



“I don’t see how she expects me to comprehend any of this stuff,” Savannah Eckstein said as she tossed the PADD on the cushion next to her. A ‘gift’ from her grandmother. She wanted to throw it out an airlock. Some worthless document on the ancient Egyptians and the tale of the Sphinx. What a time-consuming frivolous pursuit, the fourteen-year-old thought. She tossed it into the replicator, “Computer, recycle.”

Jared Eckstein swivelled in his chair and his eyes grew wide, “You better not let mom or dad find out you did that. Grandma would fly down here and blister your butt and you know that.”

“I’m fourteen, that doesn’t phase me.”

“I’m sure. OK, Amazon woman, why don’t you tell me what your pain threshold is and I’ll relay the information to our parents. I’m sure in the discipline department that is very valuable information.” The young man, nearly twenty, smiled and returned to the console. “And, history will do you good when you apply to Starfleet.”

She crossed her arms and scrunched her face up to show her disapproval at his comment. “And what makes you think that I want anything to do with Starfleet? You come parading home in your uniform which, by the way, makes you look like a clown, and recite your doctrines and your regulations. Whoopee do.”

“I think he looks cute in his uniform, Savvy,” Samantha Eckstein said as she emerged from the hold behind the two. “It makes him look older and mature. Some day we’ll be calling him Captain Eckstein.”

“Yep,” Jared nodded form his seat.

Savannah rolled her eyes. “I’m sure. That’s if you even graduate the academy. Didn’t you say something about failing astrophysics. The ratios of atmospheric pressure to the inertial damper specifications? Sounds easy to me.”

“Well,” Jared cut in, looking over his shoulder at her again, “it’s not. And, to be honest, I don’t see how my studies are any of your business. You need to worry about graduating high school. No university will take you without that completed education. And, you can forget about Starfleet...”

“I don’t care about stupid Starfleet! I’m going to be a hermit who lives in the arctic who does nothing but eat, paint, and fish. That’s the life I want.” She looked up as if picturing herself in the tundra-laden environment with a huge fluffy fur coat on with a narrow skinny fishing rod. That would be the best life: the simple life.

A chorus of laughter dragged her from her make-believe world. Jared had been joined by the youngest sister at the controls. Samantha leaned back in the chair as her small body shook with fits of laughter. Something she had said must have been funny because Savannah wasn’t laughing. “That’s the funniest thing I ever heard!” Sam said in a giggle.

“Oh, shut up.”

“Savvy the hermit. Sounds like a children’s book.”

“I said be quiet, Jared,” Savannah said as she stood up. She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes in a pathetic attempt to seem intimidating and a lot stronger than she was. It was her defensive mechanisms kicking in. Unfortunately, and quite to the contrary, it usually came off as if she was pouting. “You two are not from our parents’ gene pool.”

The young cadet looked at her again, “I just can’t see you receding into a life of solitude. Plus, it would be a great loss to the universe if Savannah Eckstein disappeared forever. I just feel, as your older brother who looks out for you, that you should do something with your life.”

“Besides fishing,” Samantha chimed in.

“I’m going to do something with my life you little troll.”

Jared gave her a skeptical look. One that she saw all too often as far as she was concerned. “Savvy, you don’t even know calculus. I was doing that in sixth grade. You took it then and then gave up on math all together. You’re behind everyone else.”

“I can do other things,” she sighed stepping up next to him, “I could pilot this shuttle blindfolded. I’ve done it in the holo-lounge a bunch of times. One of my favorite programs because you can add enemy fighters and blow stuff up.”

“You could not,” Samantha said.

She shooed Samantha from her seat before sitting down next to her brother. Looking over at him, she smiled, “So, Bro, wanna let me have a go at it? I’ll show you and the little brat that I’ve got what it takes to be a pilot. And, subsequently, you can be more than welcome to get off my back.”

“I don’t know, Savvy.” Jared looked at her with a concerned and uncertain gaze. He knew that she could probably do it, but he also knew that there was a vast difference between simulations and the real thing. He was there monitoring her, though, that in itself had to count for something.

“Come on, Jer,” Savannah said, shaking her brother’s arm in a fit of teenaged tantrum. The Earth was getting larger and larger in the window and she knew that the best time to show off her ability was during a descent to the surface. “Come on, I’ll make the call to McKinley and I’ll have us down in ten minutes.”

Samantha moved to the other side of Jared and placed her hands around his neck, “Jared, don’t let her, I don’t trust her.”

It struck a nerve in Savannah, but it created an even bigger hole in her stomach. Her own younger sister didn’t trust her with keeping her safe. It made Savannah seem like a failure as an older sister, but at the same time more determined to show her that she was serious. “Jared, I can do this.”

Jared cast a glance at his youngest sister and then to Savannah. Both eyes had gone into ‘puppy dog mode’. “Sam, go get buckled in. This may be a bumpy ride.”

“You’re an ass, you know that?”

“I’m letting you fly us down, aren’t I?” Jared smiled as he switched primary control over to Savannah’s console. “There you go, kid. At the first sign of trouble, no matter how small, I’m back in control. Got it? And, for the love of everything holy, do not tell mom and dad I let you fly.”

She grinned menacingly, “I wouldn’t tell them unless there was something to be gained out of it.”

“I got it!” Samantha shouted from the rear compartment, “you can be a Ferengi!”

“Can it, Samantha!”

“Bite me, Ferengi!”

Jared interjected, “focus, Savannah, you’ve got to relay a call to McKinley so we can get clearance to go home. You know how to do that, don’t you? Just press...”

Savannah cut him off, knowing full well what to do. “Yes, Jared, I’ve gone through all the communication protocols in my simulations. Let me handle this. If I need anything, and I doubt that I will, I’ll be sure to ask your opinion and get some advice, OK?”

He nodded, albeit somewhat hesitantly, “go ahead.”

She opened the communication frequencies to the familiar beeping of the shuttle’s computer. “This is Savannah Eckstein of the shuttle Rollister requesting permission to descend into the atmosphere while en route to Paris, France.”

There was an almost unbearable pause before the station’s commander relayed back that their request has been approved. Savannah smiled as she set the descent ratio and felt the initial pull of gravity as they entered the upper troposphere. It was a bumpy ride, but it wasn’t like anything that she’d experienced before. The real thing was almost...tamer.

“I told you I could do - ” Her words were cut off by the sudden listing of the ship. Samantha scream as she dangled helpless in her harness. Savannah’s eyes bulged as she saw that the port nacelle gave out. The temperature levels skyrocketed and, for the first time flying, she didn’t know what to do. “Jared!”

“I got it!” Jared said, trying to sound confident, but his words dripped with indecision. He didn’t know what to do anymore than Savannah did. The bigger brother was trying to be the hero. His hands flew across the console in an attempt to stabilize the ship. “We’ve lost engine integrity!”

“Emergency transporters, Jared!” Savannah shouted as she tried to hold on from falling out of her seat. She knew that it was there only hope. They were too high and would be falling too fast to survive any type of landing.

His face twisted into a scowl. His fingers pounded the controls relentless, but were met with tones of disregard. “I can’t get them to go, there’s something wrong with the transporter buffer and the confinement beams! We’re going to crash!”

Samantha began crying in the background. She cried for her mom and her dad. She cried for life. Savannah tried to shut out the worried screams as she tried to maneuver herself through the steps to re-engage the engines. “Reverse power the engines!”

Jared shook his head through the vibrations in the shuttle, “it won’t do anything but cushion the impact!”

“Well,” Savannah shouted, “let’s cushion the impact!”

“Done!” Jared said as he tapped the console, “and I’m sending a distress signal and engaging our search beacon. Someone will find us if we survive!”

Samantha cried louder as she heard her brother give up hope. It wasn’t apparent, but he meant it and the meaning dripped from every word. Savannah cringed at the words as well because she wasn’t ready to die any more than her eight-year-old sister was. Starfleet had desensitized him to death and that had a negative effect on her.

The ship flew out of control towards the Earth’s surface. The last thing she remembered seeing before she blacked out was the twisted face of her sister through bitter tears and the unsettling peacefulness in her brother’s _expression_. She blacked out when the Earth rushed up to meet them.



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