Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek in any way shape or form. The only thing that's mine is Nova.
This was not how I wanted to do this. Not how I planned to use this pod and definitely not how I wanted to leave.
I had no other choice. The world was literally frying and I had missed the evacuation because I was off the coast diving and when I came up everything was fire. Flames rising into the air so high and thick they blocked out everything in the world.
My name is Nova Nallan, yeah creative title I know. I used to live on the coast of the planet Mercidian; my people were nicknamed "Merciful People" because we were a very peaceful planet and didn't believe in confrontation. Now though, I don't know what we'll be called because there are only a couple hundred of us left. A few stragglers that managed to evacuate before the planet was incinerated.
My story begins a few weeks after I launched myself off planet in a space pod I had built myself recreationally. I had been unconscious, with no food and water in my little craft and nearly dead, but thankfully I had been rescued, by the crew of a much beloved ship called the Enterprise.
"How's she doing Bones? Can she hear us?" A voice assaulted my ears and a bright light warmed the other side of my eye lids annoyingly.
"She's still a little dehydrated and probably has a killer headache. She's coming around though, so she can most likely hear you." Another voice spoke closer to my side, with some sort of accent I couldn't place.
I struggled to recall the last thing I witnessed. My brain slowly rebooted and I stiffened at the onslaught of painful memories—flashes of heat and ash falling from the sky, people screaming from every direction, the realization that my planet was dying as I soared through the air in my space pod, and the overwhelming emotions that consumed my soul as I wept on the floor of the craft before blacking out.
The hiss that ripped through somewhere in my chest was feral and scared me as I opened my eyes and felt the scrape of my nails as they elongated and made an awful screech against the metal bed frame I lay in.
"Whoa, Bones do something!"
"Damn it, Jim! Get out of my way."
I jerked my head to the side and took in my surroundings as my heart rate accelerated and an obnoxious beeping sped up next to my head that must have been a monitor. A tired looking man with stubble, wearing blue, was racing to my side with a hypo in hand and shoving another man in yellow out of his way.
"Captain, perhaps we should wait to question her until a more appropriate time." A new voice said and my eyes swiveled to the far corner of the room. A tall, black haired man, with pointed ears and stiff posture stood a safe distance away from me and I assessed his danger in half a minute. He seemed least threatening of the three.
In a panic I whipped my hand out and grabbed the older man's arm to stop him from giving me the hypo. "Please, don't do that."
I quickly released him before my touch could suck up any surface thoughts from the man. My people were very skilled telepaths, but we did not believe in reading another's thoughts without consent, and I was too weak to deal with blocking them out.
The man, who was obviously a doctor, halted and seemed to relax a little when he realized I wasn't going to tear his face off and demolish his lab.
"Do you promise not to hurt anybody, yourself included?"
I nodded and retracted my claws before flopping back on to the bed.
"Where am I," I said.
The man in yellow and the less threatening man in blue moved forward.
"You are on the starship Enterprise, I am Captain Kirk, and these are my chief medical officer and second in command, Dr. McCoy and Commander Spock. If it's not too much trouble we have some questions for you." The one in yellow offered.
I swallowed dryly and looked at the one called Spock more closely. It finally dawned on me that he was a Vulcan. I had studied them vaguely a few years back and knew he was somewhat like my people, and therefore would be able to gather the information his Captain sought without my having to tire myself with talking.
I closed my eyes against the nausea and dizziness swirling inside me and took a deep breath. "Commander Spock, you are Vulcan are you not?"
"I am half Vulcan. Why do you wish to know?"
I slid my arm over and let my hand hang off the edge of the bed, opening my palm toward him. "I'm tired and I do not wish to talk. If you want information, I suggest you take it quickly before I lose consciousness again."
"That is not an advisable solution. We may come back when you have recuperated." His voice sounded clipped. Had I offended him in some way? I couldn't remember a lot of the Vulcan's culture, but in mine it would have been no problem to do as I asked. I had given my consent, where was the problem?
"Would you like us to come back later?" Kirk's voice was laced with concern and I tasted the sympathy in his words. My shields must have been very weak if I was getting readings without touching him. Seeing as his thoughts were directed at me, it was not hard to pick up on his emotions though.
He was a kind man; I sensed much devotion to the people he looked after, and an insurmountable amount of courage.
I blinked my eyes open and squinted at the harsh light. I was not used to being in this much light and my pale lavender eyes were not appreciating it. Mercidian was a dark planet, or at least it was.
I resisted the urge to keen in mourning, but a muffled whine came out anyway.
"Are you in pain?" Dr. McCoy, the one Kirk called 'Bones' began fussing over my readings.
"Not in any way you can fix." I cleared my throat.
Kirk and Spock shared at look.
"First, can you tell us your name?" Kirk pulled a chair up beside my bed and handed me a glass of what looked like water from a table nearby.
I gladly took it and sipped it slowly. "My name is Nova Nallan."
"It's nice to meet you." Kirk really was trying to make this easy on me.
"Do you remember the last thing that happened to you? We found you about two days ago floating through space, nowhere near a planet and without an identifiable license."
I looked up at Dr. McCoy and pointed to the lights above. "Doctor, could you please turn the lights down. They're bothering my eyes."
"Lights to fifty percent." The room instantly dimmed and I could fully open my eyes.
"Oh, wow that's cool. Your eyes kind of glow in the dark."
I chuckled at his childlike enthusiasm.
"The last thing I remember was shooting myself off my planet and watching it disintegrate before my eyes. I hale from Mercidian, maybe you know something about what happened?"
Kirk looked up at Spock.
"I will check on it Captain." He turned and marched out of the room. My eyes were glued to his back as he walked away. He had barriers up, so I wasn't picking anything up from him, but I wished I could. The half Vulcan intrigued me. I didn't think his people believed in inter-species relationships.
"Damn pointy-eared bastard. You'd think considering the situation, he would be more sympathetic." The Doctor mumbled away from behind his papers.
"So you have no idea what happened to your planet? Was there an attack?" Kirk continued with his questions ignoring the doctor.
I shook my head, which didn't help the dizziness any in hindsight. "There was no attack that I could see. As I left the planet, I saw no ships, only fire."
Kirk patted my arm and I tensed at the thoughts racing through my brain.
The poor girl…just like Spock…can't imagine being in her place…
"Well don't worry Nova, we'll do our best to find out what happened and help you." Kirk reassured me.
I nodded and hoped that he could before I lay back and fell into a deep sleep.