Crossfire
by Muirinn
Summary, disclaimer, and rating in the first chapter.
Thank you to my wonderful reviewers. Many thanks for pointing out my stupid mistake in the first part. I hope you enjoy this second chapter.
Hoshi hurt. She hadn't been fortunate enough to lose consciousness when the starship had rocked uncontrollably. She'd been thrown to the floor, her right arm bent beneath her awkwardly, snapping it with seemingly no effort. She could feel something on her cheek, and a strand of dark hair was stuck there. Stuck in the blood, she thought, grimacing. She scrambled to her feet, whimpering as something pulled in her side, and then gasping as loose debris shifted beneath her feet. Slowly, painfully, she lifted her gaze to take in the bridge.
"Oh, dear God…" Her voice trailed off as her jaw dropped. She couldn't see much; emergency lighting was all that was available and some of that was covered by dust and debris. What she could see, however, definitely let her know that Enterprise was in a bad way. Consoles were mostly dark, some flickering of light peeking through twisted pieces of metal. Hoshi stumbled toward the turbolift door, where the crewman was lying on the deck. She couldn't suppress a whimper as her foot slipped when she stepped close, and she had visions of blood smeared across the bridge. She shook her head. She was a professional and this was an emergency situation. She would not fall apart now. Her hands were trembling, though, when she touched the crewman's neck. A strangled sob caught in her throat when there was nothing there.
She rocked back on her heels, her left hand over her eyes. "Come on, Sato. Keep it together." She stood up slowly, her hand drifting to the side to find something to grab onto. Check on the others; she had to check on the others.
Helm was easy enough; it was right there, in front of her. The ensign was sprawled on the floor, next to the end of a support beam that stretched from the helm to the tactical console.
Tactical.
With a gasp, Hoshi took in the damage there. For a second, she stood stock still, frozen in place. She forced herself forward, eyes already roving over that side of the bridge, hoping against hope she'd find Malcolm alive, whole, and able.
She couldn't do this. He had to be there somewhere. She couldn't. She couldn't be alone with only corpses and she certainly couldn't command a dead starship…
A groan broke through her scattered thoughts. Hoshi scrambled forward, her gaze lighting on a long-fingered hand shoving weakly at debris. "Malcolm?" She fell to her knees next to him. "Lieutenant Reed?" Her hand brushed against his as she hurriedly tried to help; it wasn't that she was doing much good, but she had to at least feel like she was helping. She bit her lip, eyes darting around the darkened bridge, before turning her gaze to where Reed lay. "Come on, Lieutenant." I can't do this on my own.
Reed coughed, and rolled onto his side. When he went to push himself to a sitting position, Hoshi reached out instinctively and yelped as her right arm was jostled. Reed froze, his eyes – eyes that were still somewhat glazed – jumping from Hoshi's face to her arm and back again.
"I'm ok," Hoshi said softly.
He raised a brow, and Hoshi found herself smiling slightly at it; Malcolm and T'Pol had found themselves the butt of many a joke thanks to that particular quirk they shared.
"Really," she continued, her voice still small. "Just didn't think when I moved."
Malcolm shook his head and shifted, biting back a groan as he flexed his knee. "What happened?"
Hoshi's eyes went wide. He didn't know? "We were hit by something," she answered, her voice shaking. Did he have a head injury? Why didn't he remember?
He blinked. "Not to Enterprise. I remember that all too well. What happened to you?"
A sense of relief so profound had Hoshi physically wilting. "I landed wrong." She cast a bemused glance to her arm. "I broke it."
Malcolm offered her a small smile and started to push himself up. Hoshi offered her shoulder, and together, they rose to their feet, Malcolm hissing as he put weight on his knee.
"Did you hurt your knee again?" Hoshi asked, panting, as Malcolm straightened and limped toward the helm.
Reed grunted as he cleared off the helm and prodded a few toggles in vain. "'Again' would imply I was not injured to begin with." He sighed and lightly slapped the console. "What of the others?"
There was silence for a moment; Hoshi couldn't answer right away. Swallowing past a lump that suddenly rose in her throat, she lifted her chin toward the turbolift. "Crewman Stark is dead. I checked on him before I got to you." She gasped. "Ensign Allen! I went right past him." Hoshi stepped around Malcolm to kneel at the helmsman's side, she pressed shaking fingers to his neck and sighed. She looked up, her eyes wide. "He's alive." Hoshi leaned closer, fingers gently probing the back of Allen's head. She grimaced suddenly and pulled her hands back. "He's got quite a head wound. Doctor Phlox will need to see him."
"As well as the rest of the crew, I'm sure," Reed said, sighing. "See what you can do for him; I'll pull out our torches and…" He trailed off, looking around. Truth be told, he didn't even know where to start. If the bridge was any indication as to the condition of the rest of the ship, Enterprise was dead. Casting his gaze about the broken bridge, he sighed and turned to Hoshi. "You know anything about repairing ship's systems?"
Hoshi looked up from where she was struggling with a med-kit stuck in its cubbyhole. "I don't know any about field medicine and I'm about to dress a wound I can't see with one hand." With a yank and a yelp, the med-kit pulled free and Hoshi barely kept from falling backward.
"Let me get a torch, and I'll help you," Reed offered, pushing away from the helm console and limping up to Tactical. He could have saved himself some pain – and unsightly hobbling – and used the Helm's emergency kit, but he'd made a few modifications to Tactical's; his had a phase pistol, extra rations, and more medical supplies (including a painkiller which was sounding pretty damn good about then). After retrieving the light, and grabbing the rest of his kit, he turned around, sighed balefully – moving around was not on his list of fun things to do right now – and hobbled back toward Hoshi and Allen. He handed the light off to Hoshi. "I at least have two hands. You hold, I'll dress."
Hoshi nodded, her left hand wrapping around the light as Reed slowly and stiffly knelt next to her. "What do you think happened?" she asked as he handed him a length of gauze.
He shook his head. "At first I thought it was weapons fire." Fingers more used to weapons gently probed the wound on the side of Allen's head. "Damn. More to the left, please, Ensign."
Hoshi obliged, swallowing as she saw the blood covering the right side of Allen's face. "At first?" she questioned after a moment.
"I polarized the hull plating before that last hit," Malcolm murmured, unfolding a wipe. "I don't think this is quite as bad as it looks."
"The ship or Allen?"
"Allen." Reed pressed the wipe against the wound. "He'll be out for a good long while, I'm sure, but I think it can wait once we get it cleaned."
Hoshi nodded, uncertain if he honestly meant that or if he was trying to reassure her. Even so, she took the statement at face value. "You said you polarized the hull plating?" she asked as she adjusted the light again. "Shouldn't that have protected us?"
He shook his head, frowning. "It's not foolproof, but even so…" He sighed. "I'm not entirely sure what hit us, Hoshi. I thought it was weapons fire at first." His frown deepened. "Something's not adding up. I need to see the sensor logs."
Hoshi pursed her lips. "Good luck with that."
He snorted. "First thing's first." He lifted the bloody wipe and peered at the wound on Allen's temple. "We'll attend to this." He looked up and sighed. "Then we find out what still works."
Hoshi sighed, shook her head. "I have a feeling that's a very short list, Lieutenant." She suddenly shivered as a thought struck her. "I hope life support is still on that list."
"I'm sure it is, Hoshi." She could hear him say the words through a smile. "The grav plating is still functioning, at least."
She couldn't help it. "Oh, thank God," she blurted. Silence met her, but when she looked, Reed was sporting a small smile. "What do we do once we know what's working?"
The smile fell away. "Fix what's not."
Hoshi winced. "Damn."
"My thoughts exactly, Ensign." Reed sighed, and looked around before locking eyes with her. "My thoughts exactly."
tbc…
Again, thanks to all my reviewers. You make it worth posting.
(Yes, I do short chapters. //winces//)
