Red shirt
Pavel Chekov hurtled across engineering, phaser fire crashing around him. The invading Romulans exchanged fire with the engineering staff and Pavel flicked open his comm, sliding behind a panel.
"Keptin! Romulens hef breached engeeneereeng! I don't know eef ve veell be eble to hold zhem!"
Jim Kirk spat a curse and looked to the rest of the bridge staff. Uhura linked her fingers around Spock's and Bones grabbed Jim's arm. Hikaru Sulu clutched at his panel, gazing at the comm. Jim knew that they were all terrified and for god reason. Connection still open, the bridge could hear the phaser fire and howls of pain as their crew was killed.
Down in engineering, Pavel was shooting as if his life depended on it, which it did. It began to grow quiet, with just Pavel and a few Romulans shooting. Bang! Seven Romulans left. The exchange took the Russian back to his days in the academy. Those were the nights he'd wake up screaming, cold sweat pouring off him and unable to sleep again, he'd slip out of the room, careful not to wake Hikaru and go to the shooting deck. He would shoot until the sun began to rise and then he would return to his dorm. Now he put those hours of practice to good use, taking down all the Romulans. It was only then that he noticed the gaping hole in his abdomen and how weak his breaths were. Gasping into the comm, he said,
"Ze ship… ees safe… sir. Romulens…. Defeated…"
On the bridge, panic only increased at Pavel's gasping breaths.
"Pasha!" shouted Hikaru, voice fearful.
"Heeku… I lowe you…. So wery much…
"And I love you, Pavel. So much. So so much." It was obvious that Pavel was fading and Hikaru bolted from the bridge, closely followed by Bones. But by the time they reached engineering, it was too late.
Four days later, they were back on Earth. They stood, on a stage in front of the whole of Starfleet, wearing their dress uniforms, but there were slight differences. Uhura wore a black head scarf, eyes red. Spock had tied a black neckerchief around his wrist, Bones an armband. Jim wore a black cap instead of his regulation hat. Scotty was tearful and wore a black kilt, murmuring that it was all his fault whereas Hikaru wore a plain black suit and tie. He stepped forward to the microphone.
"Pavel Andreivich Chekov was my roommate at the academy and my truest friend. He was honestly the most intelligent person I have ever met. He died to save us all." Here, Hikaru choked up, tears streaming down his face. "I love him so much and will miss him like someone misses their lungs. My little Russian. May the stars shine down upon you forever more."