A/N: Inspiration comes from some of the strangest places. This one came from that Beyonce/Dixie Chicks collab at the CMAs. I must have listend to that song on loop for at least an hour. Amaya's character came out of that song and the story grew from there. DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except Amaya and the Avis crew. Enjoy!
"Dunia!" Amaya bolted upright at the sound of Captain Thalker's voice coming out of the intercom by her head. "Dunia, get your ass to the bridge right now, we're under attack!" The transmission cut off abruptly as the Avis shook from what was unmistakably an explosion. Alarm klaxons ripped through the halls as Amaya stumbled into the wall, catching herself on the dresser to keep herself upright. What in the hell was happening?
Amaya righted herself and stuffed her feet into the first pair of shoes she came to. She didn't even bother to stop and tie the laces as she grabbed her phaser and thigh holster from the drawer and yanked open her door. She stepped directly into hell.
The corridor was hazy with smoke and smelled of fried wiring and something else she would rather not think about. She covered her nose and mouth with the collar of her shirt as she made her way to the lift. Her eyes stung and watered from the acrid chemicals that hung in the air. Amaya reached the lift and punched the call button. Alarms and lights continued to go off around her, echoing and ricocheting in her head. Two crew members—she couldn't tell who—went running by carrying fire suppressant, phasers at the ready. Neither of them noticed her and they were already down the corridor before she thought to ask them what was happening.
The lift arrived and she stepped in telling it to take her to the bridge two levels above. Within seconds she was on the bridge although it felt more like being in the middle of a maelstrom. She nearly tumbled out of the lift as another explosion rocked the Avis. Captain Thalker spotted her from his place in the captain's chair and motioned her over.
"Damage report!" he barked at the crew man manning the ship's systems monitors.
"Hull breaches on the port side on levels three and five. Engines took some damage and lost fifteen percent of their functioning power."
Amaya came to stand beside the Captain, her gaze fixed on the view screen and what lay beyond.
"Klingons," she spat. She should have known. There had been reports of Klingon activity in the quadrant recently and the Avis happened to be carrying a full load of dilithium crystals and other precious metals and gems that were necessary for the operations of starship, primarily those belonging to the United Federation of Planets. The Klingons wanted the hard to come by materials for their own uses.
"Where did they even come from? Did the sensors pick them up?" someone asked.
"It's those damnable cloaking devices they have. They just appeared out of nowhere," Thalker said.
Amaya turned to the Captain Thalker, anger coursing through her veins. "I told you we should have waited for the escort ship the buyer was going to send us. This area of the galaxy is notorious for piracy."
Captain Thalker grimaced as the ship shuddered from another impact. "Your objections have been noted Dunia, but right now I need my first mate's help getting out of this alive and in mostly one piece."
Amaya bit back her comment about his concern for profit over his concern for his crew. Instead she took her station on the bridge where she could see readouts on every aspect of the ship both inside and out. She didn't like what she saw.
The Avis was a cargo freighter with minimal defense mechanisms despite the fact that it operated in some of the wildest frontiers of space. She wasn't meant to take a beating like this. Immediately Amaya began damage control. Her father's voice echoed in her mind from her childhood. "Remember Amaya, you can't fight the real fire if you can't see through the smoke of the smaller ones." Amaya scanned the damaged areas for signs of life and sealed them off if she found none to prevent the damage from spreading. So far their cargo remained stable and untouched. She eyeballed the ship's shields and saw they were holding at around forty-seven percent. Not great, but it would have to do. People ran on and off the bridge as more Klingons warbirds appeared out of thin air.
"Dunia, what do you have?" Thalker barked. She turned to glance over her shoulder at the captain. He was profusely sweating with a white-knuckled grip on the arms of the chair. She could tell the man was barely holding it together. Hell, even she was shaking in her boots a bit and she had grown up in a mining camp on the Texas plains, which was not the most hospitable of places.
"Shields at forty-seven percent, extensive hull damage I've sealed off the damaged compartments, which are so far limited to non-essential areas. Structural integrity holding at seventy-five percent. In short, she can't take this much longer."
Captain Thalker nodded. "How many are there?"
Amaya scanned her instrument panels. Everything blurred as another explosion rocked the ship. Alarms lit up all over her control panel. Shit.
A volley of phasers flew from the Klingon warbirds. The bridge exploded in a shower of sparks. Amaya was thrown face first into the controls in front of her with enough force that she was momentarily dazed. When she gathered her senses about her she pushed herself upright and felt a hot, damp substance dripping into her eyes that blocked her vision. She reached up a hand to wipe it away and her fingers came away slick with blood. She blinked a few times to clear her vision. Things were still slightly doubled, but at least she could see again. She grabbed the edge of the control panel and pulled herself to her feet.
Her ears were ringing as she took stock of the damage. The bridge had descended into complete chaos. The only source of light was from the emergency lights that case everything in an eerie half-light through the clouds of smoke that were pouring from various control panels. Sparks shot from some exposed wiring nearby. She scanned the bridge looking for the crew. A couple of people were moving, looking about as dazed as she felt. Most were on the floor or slumped over chairs or control panels not moving. One such person was Captain Thalker who was sprawled across the floor in front of the captain's chair. Amaya scrambled over debris and her own feet in her haste to get to the captain. She may not have agreed with or been overly fond of the man, but he was still the captain and right now they needed him.
She dropped to her knees next to the captain. Her heart sank as she noticed how unnervingly still he was. She noted that he appeared to have sustained a significant blow to the right temple as she felt for a carotid pulse and looked for any sign of breathing. She found neither. Shit.
"Captain! Klingon ships approaching!" a crewmember called.
Amaya whirled to face the view screen that showed the Klingons were indeed advancing on the Avis. They were a sitting duck in their current state. Amaya grabbed the nearest mobile crewmember.
"Grab a stretcher and get the captain down to the sick bay. I doubt anything can help him, but we have to try. Once you're done there get a few people set on transporting the injured to sick bay."
"Yes ma'am."
Amaya took one last look at Captain Thalker and then took her new seat in the Captain's chair. She was now the acting captain of the Avis. Opening a comm line with engineering, she started to form a plan.
"Bridge to Adaz."
There was a long moment where Amaya wondered if the ship's engineering crew was still alive before the chief engineer, Ursuro Adaz, answered.
"Adaz here."
"Adaz, it's Amaya. What's the status of the engines down there?"
"They've taken a beating, but so far they're holding up. What's happening up there?"
"Klingons," Amaya spat. "Listen, I need you to direct whatever power you can to the engines. Leave only the necessary systems online and be ready to get the hell out of here when I say."
"Got it."
Amaya signed off and turned to the Avis's communications controller. "Harshaw, open a broadcast channel." To his credit the man barely blinked at the change in captaincy. He ran adept fingers over his controls.
"Channel opened, but I'm not sure how well it's transmitting. The communications array took some damage."
Of course it did, Amaya thought to herself. "It'll have to do. I need you to broadcast on as wide a frequency as you can. Get out our location and what's happened and pray to whatever higher powers you believe in that someone hears us," Amaya instructed as the Klingon warbirds moved ever closer.
Captain Jim Kirk settled more comfortably in his chair on the bridge of the Enterprise. They had finished the rebuilds at Yorktown a few months ago and had resumed their deep space mission. Currently they were sailing through space to investigate a new star system they had discover with a probe last night. After the events with Altamid and Krall he welcomed the routine of this. Excitement was overrated at the moment. Nebulas and star systems and mapping space, that was all he needed right now.
The doors to the bridge opened behind him and he turned to see McCoy walk onto the bridge.
"Bones," he called. "How's the ship's company today?"
"In top shape. That break for repairs on Yorktown really helped improve health and let me get everyone caught up on vaccines. I got nothing to do besides the occasional sniffle or scrape. Not that I'm complaining."
"I here you there. I'm more than happy to have some peace and quiet."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than he heard an incoming transmission from the communications board. Both he and Bones turned to watch as Uhura placed a hand over her earpiece and turned a few dials. Her brow furrowed as she listened to the message coming in. She looked over at Kirk.
"Captain, I'm getting a distress call from the CSS Avis, a cargo freighter. It's faint, but they say they're under attack by Klingons. They've given their location, which I just sent to navigation."
Kirk turned to where Checkov was madly punching information into his section of the control panel. "By these calculations we can be there within the hour captain."
"Mr. Sulu, set course for those coordinates, maximum warp."
Sulu nodded already setting in the course and reaching for the warp controls. "Aye Captain."
"I'll go prep sick bay," Bones muttered as Jim turned back toward Uhura. Jim thought he also caught a muttered, "He had to go and say something didn't he."
"Uhura, try and hail the Avis if you can."
"The signal was weak, but I'll do what I can."
"Excellent." He turned to face front as the Enterprise warp drive hurled the ship through the uncharted wilds of space. So much for that peace and quiet.
Most of the alarms had finally stopped shrieking as crew members started to put out fires and patch up some of the damage. It had only been ten minutes since the attack had begun, but it felt like it had been days. Crew members ran on and off the bridge to carry away the injured and to give updates on the status of the ship. The first one had been the crew member who had taken Captain Thalker away to inform her that the captain had not made it. Amaya was officially captain of the Avis. Although she might not be captain very long given the current state of events.
The Klingons were right on top of the Avis by now. They weren't doing anything yet, which was concerning her, especially since she hadn't heard anything more out of the engineering crew. If they couldn't get out of here they had a problem. What were the Klingons waiting for?
"Adaz to bridge." Amaya practically fell on the comm button.
"Dunia here."
"As you've requested I've diverted whatever power I could into the engines. They've sustained a bit of damage, but after a quick inspection they're still serviceable and are ready whenever you are."
Thank God for small miracles, Amaya thought. To Adaz she said, "Thanks Adaz."
"Aye Captain, Adaz out."
Amaya signed off. The Klingon ships were still hovering around the Avis. She was about to check in with the ships' doctor when the view screen from being filled with stars to being filled with an imposing Klingon commander. Everyone on the bridge went still when they saw the Klingon.
"I am Commander Lorten of the Klingon Empire. Surrender your cargo and we will let you live as servants of the empire. Resist and you will be terminated. You have one minute to decide before we board you." The screen went blank. Shit. As if things couldn't get worse. She looked around at the crew member on the bridge. They were all seasoned space travelers, used to the perils of cargo vessels. Most of them were from planets that were barely hospitable at best and hellish at worst. They all wore the same wary, tense expression. None of them wanted to die. They also didn't want the Klingons to have their cargo either. Amaya wasn't going to let either of those things happen.
"Ferkis," she barked at one of the men manning the controls, "are they scanning us at all?"
"Negative Captain." It still felt stranger hearing them call her captain. She gathered this information and called back to her engineer.
"Adaz, can the Avis hold it together well enough to reach maximum warp speeds?"
"We'll leave a few parts floating around, but I believe she'll hold up to it. I do recommend not maintaining the speed for a prolonged period of time though."
"Acknowledged." She turned to the crewman running the helm. "Rahjah, maximum warp to somewhere that's not here." Their maximum warp wasn't very fast, but she hoped this plus the element of surprise would be enough to get them away from the Klingons.
Amaya was pressed back into her chair as the Avis lurched into warp. It wasn't smooth by any stretch of the imagination, but she was giving it her all. Amaya had to give the ship's builders credit. They built some sturdy space craft. She waited for a long, tense moment before turning to the crew member who had taken over her position. "Kalara, is there any sign of pursuit?"
The woman scanned the panels in front of her before shaking her head. "No captain, no signs of anyone following us."
Amaya slowly released a sigh of relief. "Good, I want you to keep an eye on that and let me know if anything changes."
She pressed the comm button and called back down to Adaz.
"How's she holding up Adaz?"
There was a long pause before the engineer's voice came on. There was an incredible racket in the background. "The old girl is holding it together so far, but, as I'm sure you can hear, she's not overly happy about all this recent abuse."
"Can we hold it together for a little while longer?"
"We'll do everything we can Captain. I give five, ten minutes tops."
Amaya nodded her head even though he couldn't see her. "That'll have to do. Thanks Adaz." She signed off. "Rahjah, drop down to warp 4. We'll need to maintain this for a bit longer. I want to put as much distance as we're able between us and those Klingons."
The crewman nodded. "Aye Captain."
Hearing the word captain reminded her that she needed to appoint a new First Mate. She thought through the ship's crew about who might be the best fit for the position, but ultimately left it for a later time. Aside from Engineering and the bridge, she didn't even know who all was left alive.
"Captain!" She shook her thoughts off and looked up to Kalara. "I have a ship incoming."
Amaya was immediate alert. "Klingon?"
"Negative. It is coming toward us instead of from behind us."
"Toward us?"
"Aye Captain."
"Captain, I'm detecting a ship approaching at approximately warp 4. They're headed directly for us," Sulu called.
Kirk leaned forward in his chair, "Can you tell what type of ship it is?"
Sulu punched in a set of instructions. "It appears to be a cargo ship sir."
"Lieutenant Uhura, have you been able to reach the Avis?"
"Negative Captain. The distress call has also stopped. Perhaps their communication system has been damaged."
Kirk turned back to the view screen. "Perhaps."
"Sir, the vessel is almost upon us," Sulu warned.
"Right, drop us out of warp Mr. Sulu."
Space snapped back into its normal dimensions as the Enterprise dropped out of warp almost right on top of another ship.
"Jesus."
A/N: As always I would love to know what you think. Leave me a review after this note. ~Naomi