“You want me to do what?” Samuel looked at the Commanding Officer with a mix of amusement and horror. In his mind, all the ways this could go wrong were running over and over in his head. They were in the middle of a difficult situation, and Starfleet picked now to send their Captain on a crazy assignment. 

“It would appear, according to this message, my passing score at the academy in survival training was incorrect,” Naris looked at her XO, “and get that stupid smile off your face.” She turned, looking to the door, “It’s already been programmed with the required elements; all I need to do is enter the holodeck and make it out in one piece.”

“In one piece,” the XO smirked. 

“Yes, thank you, Commander,” Naris rolled her eyes, “in one piece.” 

The Captain entered the holodeck in what appeared to be the cockpit of a shuttle. She hated this part, “I shouldn’t have to do this,” she muttered as she strapped herself into the chair. She hesitated for a moment, then spoke. “Computer activate simulation,” she braced herself for what she knew was coming next.

The setting was simple, and she knew at least that much. As the simulation took off, Naris found herself at the bottom of a raven, looking up at what appeared to be a mountain. She undid the buckle on her restraint as she fell to the floor, well, the ceiling of the craft. She rubbed her head, “this is a simulation, right?”  She looked around as the contents of the shuttle’s cargo had been tossed all over in the descent. 

She rummaged through the broken containers as she muttered to herself, “this is not a good time for this,” she hissed as she knocked her head on a nearby piece of metal. “We’ve got a fleet-wide alert, an unknown situation, and Commander Malik in command,” she started to say something but stopped. “Wait,” she looked around the broken craft, “is he watching me right now?” She grew concerned.

“Malik, you there?”

The Captain’s request was met by silence, “Commander?” 

“Samuel Theodore Malik, I swear if you are…” she stopped. It was all a part of the experience. It wouldn’t be a proper survival exercise if she’d been able to talk to another person; outside the simulation. Naris grabbed a small bag and tossed several items inside. “A medkit, a tricorder, and a container for water,” she looked around the broken craft, “night is going to come fast, and this thing will not keep me warm.” 

Naris stepped out of the craft; simulation or not, instinct took over immediately as she grabbed the side of the shuttle, her heart jumping up a few beats. Just to her left was a large ravine, going down at least twenty feet, maybe more. She took a few deep breaths as she held onto the shuttle, her knuckles turning white. “Come on, pull it together, Naris,” she told herself, “we’ve been through worse.” 

She reached down with her left foot as she gingerly stepped down, still holding onto the side of the craft with an intense death grip. “This is not where the shuttle was supposed to land,” she told herself as she slammed a fist into the craft. Her left foot slipping at that moment, Naris about lost it as the fear set in. She looked over the edge at the ravine, “the safeties will stop that, right?” She wasn’t entirely sure who she was attempting to convince.

Naris moved to the side of the downed shuttle and pulled out a tricorder. She needed water and food and a place to set up a shelter. According to her tricorder, a freshwater source was roughly 20 minutes north of her present location. The hiking would take a bit longer, but she was confident. 

“Shelter will be easy,” Naris told herself, “find a nice tree and set up a platform.’’ Getting off the ground would help with moisture and large animals, but they did nothing for bugs and things that crawled in trees. She shivered at the idea of a snake or spider-like critter crawling over her. She almost debated on if a command was worth it. She could hand in her pips and remain spider free for the night. She settled on a large tree and used several pieces of broken scrap from the shuttle. She put together a large platform and used a strap to secure herself to the tree. Now, she needed a few blankets or emergency wraps to stay warm, and she would be set.

The rest of the first day went by faster than Naris had expected. The trek to the freshwater source had been easy, and she was grateful for that. She’d found a small beacon in her pack, and using parts from the downed shuttle, she was confident she could convert it to an SOS beacon. She found herself actually wishing that one of her former hosts had been an Engineer or something useful. Rebuilding a beacon wasn’t her most robust skill, but she knew enough to make it work. 

The following day came with a vengeance; Naris was sore, tired, and hungry. Her first task was a quick dip in the river; probably not the best idea to bathe in your drinking water, but she didn’t care. She filled two small containers with enough water to last her for some time and set out to find something to eat. The forest had plenty of edible berries, vegetation, and edible plants. Food wouldn’t be a problem; hell, her phaser still worked. 

She thought back to Laran, her first host. He loved the outdoors, camping in the woods. The man always felt that being in nature helped to inspire his artwork. While Naris wasn’t a lover of the arts, she was grateful for the memories of Laran. He could dig a hole anywhere, carve out a small cave, and survive for several nights. The other difference between her and Laran was she drew the line at eating bugs.

By the end of the second day, Naris had scavenged berries and other plants and vegetation; she wouldn’t starve. The food may not taste the greatest but flavor wasn’t part of a passing grade. The SOS beacon was beeping above her head, thanks to the spare parts from the phaser. She’d had to use the power cell from the phaser to provide energy to the beacon and replace several damaged pieces of wiring. She knew it wouldn’t last long, but she was home-free as long as it sent out a signal. 

Her only remaining task was ensuring that Malik let her out. She suddenly found herself wondering if he would. Of course, he would. The man may want the center chair, but she knew he didn’t want it with the current situation. As soon as she’d met the requirements, he would let her out, and she’d been back in command. She’d no sooner finished that thought as the doors to the holodeck opened. 

“Well, you didn’t die,” Malik laughed, “but you could use a shower, Ma’am.” He took a step back from the Captain. “So is this where I tell you that Starfleet sent orders to rescind their survival requirements, but we all were taking bets on your survival skills?”

Naris picked up a small pebble and tossed it at her Executive Officer, “if I find that to be true, Commander.”  She stood up, “I’ll bust you back down to Ensign.” 

“Just kidding, Captain,” Sam laughed, “now go get cleaned up and meet me on the bridge; we’ve found those dilithium crystals on Kimuramin XII.” 

Naris didn’t like the sound of that, “this was terrible timing for this assignment,” she looked at her XO, “they could have waited.” 

Sam looked at the Captain, attempting to lighten the mood. “Hey, at least you survived.”