Hail Mary, In Space
"It's been four days. The shuttle's systems are steadily degrading." Sulu tried to keep his voice level and his words concise. He wasn't sure he'd succeeded, but was determined to finish, determined to get Chekov to see reason.
"Life support is down to forty percent efficiency and though we've got plenty of food and water, at the current level of system deterioration we won't live long enough to use it. Sensors are completely shot and irreparable. We've got only the most basic of manual navigation. We're in the middle of nowhere and there hasn't been any sign of life since we fell out of warp. I'm sure the Enterprise is looking for us, but they don't have much to work off of and we don't have any idea how much damage they received themselves in the skirmish with the insurgents."
Chekov sat with his back to Sulu, but Sulu could see the other man's shoulders tremble with each statement as though Sulu were raining blows down upon him instead of mere words.
"It's time, Pavel. If I'm going to have any chance of successfully piloting us back to anything resembling civilization, I need to do it before our power levels drop any lower. I can compensate now, but if the controls get any more sluggish then we'll be in even more trouble. I need you plot a course, any course, as best you can from the data that we have. We need to at least try. If not, we'll die out here and the Enterprise will never know who the traitors on the station are."
Chekov spun around in the copilot's chair and gestured at the controls in front of them angrily. "Look at the system, Hikaru! Look at it!" Chekov brought his fist down on the dimly-lit display, causing it to flicker disconcertingly. "I do not have any data to use, we have no idea where we are in orientation to anything else, and I could just as easily point you in the direction of a star's center rather than an inhabited planet. I could kill us both more easily than you can imagine!"
"But if we don't try we'll die anyways." Sulu didn't raise his voice, which seemed to deflate Chekov's bluster.
"I do not want to be responsible for killing you." Chekov didn't look Sulu in the eye, but that didn't detract from the emotion in his voice.
"Pavel." Sulu waited until Chekov finally raised his head and looked him dead in the eye. "You won't be. If we die the only people responsible are the assholes who sabotaged the station's shuttles. If we survive, however, that will be because of you, and you are someone I'm willing to bet my life on."
Sulu saw Chekov's jaw tense and knew that he was clenching his teeth.
He waited.
"And I on you, my friend." With that short statement, Sulu knew that Chekov had made up his mind. Thank goodness.
Chekov turned to the controls and worked quickly, bringing up flickering displays and half-finished calculations based more on guesswork than on reliable data, the shuttle sensor's having failed mere seconds after the damaged engines dropped the sorry excuse for a ship out of warp. A short time later he keyed in a course and relinquished all remaining shuttle power to Sulu and the engines.
"We will probably not survive, you know. This is not like the explorers of old who can try to guide by the North Star. If we end up crashing into a planet made entirely of lava, do not say they you were not warned."
Sulu grinned and Chekov smiled back, shaking his head.
"Let's do this."