The smell.
Burnt flesh, fried circuits, melted metal, it all clashed together to make one cocktail that no one could ever truly make themselves forget. The sound of explosions throughout the bay was a constant as the ship was bombarded with attack after attack. Screams ripped the air from the unfortunate ones that had become trapped in the trouble.
"Chief! We've reached critical temperatures, the engines are nearing implosion and the impulse engines are peaking in temperatures, and several of the crew have been trapped in the southern sector!"
The shout came from a young man in the traditional engineering garb, bracing himself against a support beam as he stared down at a woman frantically working on repairs in a center console. She pulled her head out of the wall and faced the near frantic man. His eyes widened at the sight of his superior as she rose to her feet and pushed several tools into his hands.
"Finish up the repairs here, then I want an immediate evacuation of the lower levels. If the engines hit critical no one can survive down there!"She ordered before rushing past him.
"Where are you going?!" He called after her.
"I've got people depending on me Ensign! Finish those blasted repairs and get everyone you can out of here and to the upper decks!" She yelled back to him before vanishing down a corridor.
Her heart hammered in her chest while her blood pumped in her ears while she raced down the walkways, spouting orders to evacuate to anyone she'd encounter. Focusing her attention back on the way she was headed, she had to stumble back a few steps as fire spouted out of the walls. Shouting could barely be heard above the noise of the ongoing destruction of the ship.
"This is Chief Engineer! Reveal your location!" She shouted while pushing forward, beating back the flames that licked at her uniform, hissing when her arm burnt, and continued on her way.
"Chief! We're down here!"
The call came from just to her left, her gaze snapping to the side to find the walkway blocked by fallen pipes and metal wreckage debris. She rushed towards it, seeing several engineers peering between the small spaces available. Surveying them, they appeared panicked but no major injuries.
"Is anyone seriously hurt in there?"
"Negative. One member is trapped beneath a collapsed piping system, but we can get to him."
She nodded and stood up, feeling the hot metal and having grim determination build within her.
"All of you! Back away from the blockage! There's some live circuitry in here, I might be able to cause a controlled reaction to blow it out of the way enough for your escape!" She stated, already fiddling with the stripped cords. Sparks flew every now and then, burning her already burnt arms further. Rigging two wires together, she took a deep breath, said a quick prayer, and jammed them into the live wire that lay exposed in the largest pipe. Scrambling away from the pipe, she barely had a chance to cover her head before the explosion rocked the area. Her ears now ringing, she uncovered herself and quickly moved to where a hole lay in the once blocked off walkway. The engineers were already spilling out and looking at her with appreciation.
"Hurry up and get out of here! The ships going down and the engines are reaching critical. We've already evacuated most of the area. You should be the last ones. Did we get that man loose?" She questioned while making sure the group filtered out of what could have been their tomb safely. Her question was answered when two crew members helped a young man through the hole. He looked no older than 19 years old.
"Alright good, good, come on! We've got to get out of here!" She yelled before simply scooping the young man up and slinging him over her shoulders. "Let's move people!" She ordered, taking off at nearly a dead run, adrenaline fueling her strength as she focused on protecting her crewmates. Alarms were blaring and the temperature in the tight spaces was growing unbearable. Rounding the corner, her eyes flew wide open when she found the console she'd been repairing an empty station and the young Ensign nowhere to be found. Biting back a curse, she turned down another corridor, seeing the elevator just ahead of her.
"Hurry up and get inside! Head straight for the bridge and don't look back for anything!" She commanded, pulling the young man off of her shoulders and rushing them all into the tight space. The doors slid shut and when prompted for a designation, she practically screamed for them to be taken to the bridge. The small container shook as another explosion rocked the ships interior and she turned at hearing quiet crying. A young woman tried to hide her tears and brushed them off her sweaty cheeks while another woman held her shoulders. They looked up at her with expectant gazes and she gave them a placating smile.
"We'll be alright, we've made it out this far." She stated before the communicator went off. Before she could answer, another explosion could be heard before a sick weightless feeling overtook her and a harsh crash removed her from the land of the alert.
0o0o0o0
That had been over a year ago, the tragic destruction of the USS Harbinger being a loss felt by many. Many of the crew had escaped the destruction, but others were not so fortunate, among those were almost the entirety of personnel in the lift. Having been comatose for nearly the entirety of her trial, Joy Ceballos awoke to find that she'd been court-martialed and found guilty of the charges being pressed against her. Her sentence was to be stripped of rank and continue working for Starfleet in the Archives. This was where all the dusty relics were held and old history recorded. Not surprisingly she found herself being the only worker in the Archives, leaving her alone with her thoughts, the relics, and schematics still bouncing about in her head. Time passed, people moved on, but no one really forgot about the USS Harbinger, or what could have been considered the greatest screw up in the known universe. Mostly people simply forgot where the cause had been placed, leaving Joy alone and able to absorb the forced solitude. She had no friends, no allies, but she didn't mind. If enough people call someone a murderer, a hazard to health, a monster, they eventually start to believe it.
o0o0o0o0o0o
The scratching of a pencil against paper filled the empty area. A young woman was hunched over an old-fashioned wooden desk, furiously writing and glancing at a mess of papers next to her at brief intervals. Big brown eyes narrowed in concentration as soft pink lips parted as a tongue tipped out and whetted them before closing once again. A slightly calloused hand rubbed tan skin in a poor attempt at warding off a building headache. Standing from her seated position, Joy Ceballos scuttled over to an overstocked shelving unit, nearly overflowing with scrap metals, papers with designs and equations scribbled on them, and an assortment of tools. Securing her desired tool, Joy quickly turned to go back to her seat only to have her white T-shirt catch on an outcropping piece of metal. She jerked to a halt at the sudden resistance and carefully unhooked herself before returning to her station.
"Okay, so if I reroute most of the power from the side power conduit, and funnel it down the side panels to the…" Her murmuring trailed off as she relapsed into focusing on her project. The silence was comforting for her, and so she did nothing else to disrupt it. Merely enjoying the faint scratching of the pencil on the paper, she relaxed…until the sound of someone calling her attention shattered the comfortable silence. A quiet shriek escaped her and she spun to face whoever had stumbled into her domain. Slightly gasping, she faced a man wearing a uniform she was very familiar with and she immediately calmed. She snapped into a salute before faltering as the man simply cocked an eyebrow and gave her a funny look. Lowering her salute, she frowned at the man.
"Erm, can I help you sir?" She timidly questioned, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and glancing about nervously.
"My name's Captain James T. Kirk." He stated before he took a step forward and she shuffled the smallest portion backwards.
"Do you need something Mr. Kirk?" She softly questioned, attempting to keep her eyes on anything but him. She was failing and her nerves were building.
"I'm the Captain of the USS Enterprise. The ship's docked in right now and recruiting engineers which, unfortunately, we're experiencing a shortage of. I have reviewed your academic prowess and achievements and have come to the understanding that you would be a key part of my crew."
Joy's jaw dropped.
This guy can't be serious!
Her heart was in her throat and she could feel her hands beginning to sweat as she struggled to come up with an answer.
"Sir a-are you c-cert-"
"I can make it a direct order ensign." He stated, looking at her dead in the eye. "I really would like to avoid that happening. You only need work on board until more engineers are available for recruiting." Mr. Kirk firmly, but not unkindly, stated.
Still floundering, but not seeing any other option for her to squeeze her way out of this arrangement, Joy lowered her gaze and stared at her shoes.
"Yes sir. When should I be expected aboard?" She quietly questioned, fiddling with the hem of her T-shirt. Unbeknownst to her, Kirk's facial expression dropped to one of sympathy for a brief moment before steeling himself once more.
"The Enterprise leaves at 0600 hours. I believe that gives you enough time to gather your essential belongings. Everything else will be transported aboard at a later time. Anything else ensign?"
She kept her eyes on her shoes, gently shaking her head.
"No sir."
"Good. I'll see you on board then." Those were his parting words before the Captain turned and exited the archives the way he'd come in.
Joy took a shuddering breath, rubbed her eyes before checking the time and flying into action. Preparing her projects, papers, and other items she'd culminated in the Archives for transport.
0o0o0o0o0
Hi there! I'm new here and this is my first story so I'm really nervous about sharing this. Hopefully you guys enjoy this so if you guys have any thoughts or if you just liked it, go ahead hit that button and review X3
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over anything relating to Star Trek, only thing I own here is Joy so...yeah see you in the next chapter!
