Chapter 2

Enterprise To The Rescue

The USS Enterprise, designation NCC-1701 was a twenty third century Federation Constitution-class starship operated by Starfleet. It had a saucer shaped primary hull which was over four hundred feet in diameter. A large strut connected it to the cylindrical secondary hull, which was three hundred and forty feet long. Two long struts connected the warp nacelles to the secondary hull, giving the ship an overall length of nine hundred and forty seven feet.

The ship was en route to Deep Space Station K-Seven for assistance with an important assignment regarding the disputed Sherman's planet, which was only one parsec from a Klingon outpost. The Klingons were a humanoid warrior species that originated from the planet Qo'noS (pronounced Kronos), an M-class planet in the Beta Quadrant.

One of the major powers of the galaxy, the Klingons were a proud, tradition-bound people who valued honor and combat. The aggressive Klingon culture had made them an interstellar military power to be respected and feared.

The science officer, Mr Spock, who was also the first officer, entered the briefing room of the Enterprise. He was a Vulcan, who had pointed ears, and a yellowish green complexion. 'Space Station K-Seven now within sensor range, Captain,' he declared as he sat at the table.

'Good,' Captain Kirk replied. 'Mister Chekov, this flight is supposed to provide both experience and knowledge . . . How close will we come to the Klingon outpost if we continue on our present course?'

The young Russian ensign had studied the history of Sherman's Planet. 'One parsec, sir. Close enough to smell them.'

'That is illogical, Ensign. Odours cannot travel through the vacuum of space,' Spock informed him.

'I was making a little joke, sir,' Chekov said, pinching his thumb and index finger together.

'Extremely little, Ensign,' Spock said without any implied humour.

Kirk interrupted the exchange. 'Mister Spock, immediate past history of the quadrant?'

'Under dispute between the two parties since initial contact. The battle of Donatu Five was fought near here twenty three solar years ago. Inconclusive.'

'Analysis of disputed area?' Kirk asked.

'Undeveloped. Sherman's Planet is claimed by both sides, our Federation and the Klingon Empire. We do have the better claim,' Spock informed him.

'The area was first mapped by the famous Russian astronomer Ivan Borkoff almost two hundred . . .' Chekov started to boast.

'John Burke,' Kirk corrected him.

'Burke, sir?' Chekov said with a frown. 'I don't think so. I'm sure it was . . .'

'John Burke was the Chief Astronomer at the Royal Academy in old Britain at the time,' Spock interrupted.

'Oh, Royal Academy. Well . . .' the young ensign started to back track.

'Is the rest of your history that faulty, Ensign?' Kirk asked. 'Key points of dispute?'

Chekov decided not to pursue his country's claim to fame. 'Under terms of the Organian Peace Treaty, one side or the other must prove it can develop the planet most efficiently.'

Kirk continued. 'And unfortunately, though the Klingons are brutal and aggressive, they are most efficient.'

Chekov saw another opportunity for patriotic boasting. 'I remember once Peter the Great had a problem like that. The . . .'

Before he could continue, the communications officer cut in on the desktop view screen.

['Captain?'] the dark skinned woman enquired.

'Kirk here.'

['I'm picking up a subspace distress call from Sherman's Planet. Priority one.']

'Go to warp factor six,' the captain commanded. Priority one could only mean one thing. The the Klingons were invading the planet.

Chekov had come to the same conclusion. 'Code One emergency? That's a disaster call.'

['This is a Red Alert. Man your battle stations. All hands,'] they heard the young lieutenant declare as they hurried out of the room.

'Captain's Log, stardate four, five, two, three point three. Sherman's Planet has issued a priority one call. More than an emergency, it signals near or total disaster. We can only assume the Klingons have attacked the planet. We're going in armed for battle,' Kirk dictated into the recorder of his command chair on the bridge.

Spock was leaning over his curved workstation on the starboard side of the circular bridge, studying the information on the sensor display unit.

'Captain. I am not detecting any Klingon ships in the vicinity.'

Kirk frowned. 'What? None at all?'

'No. And furthermore, the distress signal is not emanating from the colony. It appears to be coming from a canyon to the south.' He made an adjustment to the dial on the side of the viewing unit. 'Two life forms seem to be caught in a flash flood in a canyon. One human. Female. And the other is a male of unknown species.'

Kirk pressed a button on the arm of his command chair. 'Doctor Mccoy. Would you meet us in Transporter Room One. I think we may have some casualties for you.'

['On my way Captain,'] the gravelly voice with a deep south accent replied.

Kirk rose from the chair, and addressed his Vulcan first officer. 'Mr Spock, with me.'

The Vulcan straightened up from his curved scanning desk and followed his captain to the red doors of the turbolift at the rear of the bridge.

'Mr Scott, you have the con,' Kirk said to the chief engineer.

'Aye Cap'n,' Scott replied, and left his station at the rear of the bridge to sit in the command chair.

They entered Transporter Room One, and Spock went to the transporter control desk, taking over from an ensign who was on duty. He started to lock onto the two life forms which were being swept along in the torrent of water.

'Mr Spock?' Kirk said with concern. If he took too long, the victims might drown.

'The life forms are moving erratically in the current. It will take me a moment to compensate,' the Vulcan said in a calm, dispassionate tone.

A few seconds later, they heard the transporter engage as Spock pulled down the sliders. The transporter pad shimmered as two muddy blobs appeared on the floor. They were on their hands and knees, coughing and spluttering.

'Pah! Anymore bright ideas?' a female voice asked in an annoyed tone as she spat out mud and wiped her mouth. Her hair was bedraggled and matted with mud, and hung down, covering her face.

'Gah! It wasn't my fault the ropes on the bridge were of an inferior quality,' a male voice replied defensively as he also spat out mud. His hair was flattened down over his eyes and face as he stood up.

The female blob of mud stood up and scooped the mud from her eyes with her fingers. 'It was your fault that it collapsed though,' she said accusingly. 'Safe as houses you said as you jumped up and down on those rickety boards.'

'Ahem.' Kirk cleared his throat to get the attention of the muddy blobs who were apparently having a domestic.

The two muddy blobs turned to look in the direction of the "ahem". The male muddy blob wiped his hair up over his forehead.

'Oh. Hello,' he said in surprise.

The female muddy blob raised a hand and waved her fingers, causing a dollop of mud to fall to the floor. 'Hello.' The mud hit the transporter pad with a quiet splat. 'Ah . . . Sorry.'

Kirk glanced at McCoy with a lopsided smile before replying. 'Hello. I'm Captain Kirk. Welcome aboard the Enterprise.'

'Captain Kirk? James Kirk? THE James T. Kirk?' the male muddy blob asked enthusiastically.

'Hang on. Captain Kirk? The Enterprise? They're off the telly. This can't be happenin',' the female muddy blob said in confusion.

'Er, yes. I'm THE Captain Kirk,' Kirk replied, squinting as he tried to see who was under all that mud.

'Oh brilliant!' The male muddy blob went to shake his hand, and realised it was caked in mud. 'Ah. Best not . . . Anyway, thank you very much. I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose. And can I just say, that was one of the smoothest teleports we've had in a long time,' the Doctor said, looking at Spock.

Spock nodded his head in recognition of the compliment, but he didn't really need it. He was merely performing his duty to the best of his considerable ability. No more, no less.

'Oh-my-god. It's Spock an' all!' the female muddy blob realised.

McCoy stepped forwards. 'Are you injured? Did you ingest any of the mud?' He was waving a spinning salt shaker over them and looking at the readings on a handheld device.

'Er, no I'm fine,' the Doctor said. He looked at Rose. 'You?'

'No. No, I'm fine. Got some in my mouth, but I spat it out.' She looked down at the muddy transporter pad floor. 'Sorry.'

Kirk gave them a warm smile. 'That's okay. We can clean it up. Talking of which, it looks like you could do with a good clean up.' He looked to the ensign. 'Ensign Reid. Ask a cleaning squad to clean this up, and take our rescued visitors to guest quarters.'

'Yes Captain.'

'I'll get Yeoman Rand to bring you some clothing while we get your things laundered,' Kirk told them.

'Thank you Captain. That's very kind of you.'

'No problem. Always glad to help out. However, a priority channel distress call should only be used for a global disaster,' Kirk told them.

'Well, it was a bit of a disaster for us,' the Doctor joked.

'Distress call?' Rose queried. 'What distress call?'

'We detected a distress signal from your vessel,' Spock explained.

'Ah, that would be the TARDIS Rose. When she saw us being swept away, she would have panicked and sent out a distress signal,' the Doctor explained.

'Oh, good girl!' Rose exclaimed. 'Is she all right?'

Spock tapped a few keys on the transporter desk. 'You vessel is still on the surface.'

'Are we able to recover it for them?' Kirk asked.

'It is a remarkably small vessel, Captain. I can transport it to the Shuttle Bay.'

"Whee-ee-woo" the intercom whistled from by the door. ['Captain Kirk?'] Uhura voice asked from the panel.

Kirk went over to the intercom and pressed the button. 'Kirk here.'

['I'm picking up a subspace distress call. Priority channel. This time from Space Station K-Seven.']

'Another one. Go to warp factor six,' Kirk commanded. Priority one could only mean one thing. Space Station K-Seven was under attack.

['This is a Red Alert. Man your battle stations. All hands,'] they heard Uhura declare for the second time that day.

Kirk turned back to the Doctor and Rose. 'If you go with Ensign Reid, he'll show you to the guest quarters,' Kirk said.

Rose smiled. Her smile seeming brighter as her white teeth contrasted with the dark mud. 'I can't believe this. Thank you Captain Kirk. That's very kind of you.'

They squelched their way out of the Transporter Room as they followed the ensign along a corridor to a set of red doors, which slid open to reveal a cylindrical turbolift pod. The pod travelled up two decks and after a few minutes of travelling, they arrived at a door in the corridor, which Reid opened by touching a button on the wall. It slid open to reveal a room which wouldn't have been out of place in a Travel Lodge.

In front of them was a large bed, with a painting of a nebula on the wall above the pillows. To the side of the bed, was a high backed swivel chair. The ceiling sloped gently away from them towards the bed, following the curve of the hull. There was a door on the right hand wall, and an opening with half wall on the left, which led to another room with a table, two swivel chairs and a counter with a food replicator on the wall above it.

'The bathroom is through there,' Reid told them, indicating the door on the right. 'It's got a bath and shower. There are towels and bath robes. Yeoman Rand will be along soon with some uniforms that you can wear, and she'll take your clothes to be cleaned. If you need anything, there's an intercom on the wall by the bed, and on the table through there.'

'Room service as well,' the Doctor joked. 'I don't know. Drop us in muck, and we come up smelling of roses.'

'Smellin' of Rose's what?' Rose asked as she sniffed her armpit. 'Yeuk! Cos at the moment Rose smells of a stagnant pond.'

Reid laughed and left the room.

'You'd better have first dibs on the bathroom then,' the Doctor said.

'Yes!' Rose said with a fist pull. She moved towards the door, which swished open as she approached. She turned to look at the Doctor. 'So how can we be here? I mean, this was all an idea by Gene Roddenberry wasn't it?'

'Yeah. It was, based on his experience,' he told her.

Rose's eyes went wide. 'Wha'? Roddenberry was an alien?'

'Nah. Don't be daft,' he said with a smile. 'He was as human as you are. Do you remember the episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday", where the Enterprise is catapulted into the past?'

'Nope. Never watched it.'

'What do you mean you never watched it?' he asked in disbelief.

'It was off the air when I was growin' up. I was into "Byker Grove",' she explained.

'But you know who Spock is,' he responded. 'You even told Captain Jack I was Mr Spock when we first met him.'

'Everyone knows who Spock is. He's an icon,' Rose told him.

'No he's not. He's a Vulcan,' the Doctor said with a cheeky smile.

'Oh, very funny,' she said with a smirk.

'Go and get cleaned up and I'll explain later,' he told her.

'Hah! I'm in an episode of Star Trek,' Rose laughed as she turned and entered the bathroom. The door swished closed behind her.

The Doctor took off his muddy jacket and tie and looked for somewhere to put them where they wouldn't make a mess. When he saw the muddy footprints on the floor, he shrugged and dropped them on the floor. He kicked off his Converse, and the door "bonged" gently.

'Hello?' he called out, and the door swished open.

An attractive blonde in a red minidress, dark tights and black, calf length boots, entered the room. Her hair was styled up in a futuristic "bee hive", and she was carrying two clothes bags. 'Hello. I'm Yeoman Rand. Janice. You must be Doctor . . . er, I didn't get your surname.'

'It's just the Doctor,' he explained.

'Ah, right. These are some clothes for you. I'm afraid they're only Starfleet uniforms, but they are quite comfortable,' she said.

'I'm sure they'll be fine, thank you Janice. But I'm afraid we've made a bit of a mess on the floor.'

Rand smiled. 'Don't worry. All the surfaces on the Enterprise are easy clean materials. Just leave your clothes, and someone will collect them later.' She laid the clothes bags on the bed and left.

Half an hour later, Rose emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a bathrobe with a towel turban on her head. 'That is SO much better.'

'I hope you haven't used all the hot water,' he joked.

Rose rolled her eyes and smiled. 'It's a starship, not a bedsit.' She noticed his jacket and Converse on the floor. 'Oh look at the mess you've made.'

'A bit difficult not to with the state our clothes are in at the moment. And anyway, Janice said it was okay to leave them there.'

'Janice? Who's Janice?' Rose asked suspiciously.

'Yeoman Rand. Her name's Janice. And she brought our clothes,' he told her as he patted the clothes bags.

'Careful, don't get mud on 'em. Go and have your shower.'

Rose pulled down the zip on one of the bags and saw a red sweatshirt, black trousers and black calf length boots. She pulled down the zip on the second bag and saw a red tunic, but no trousers. Just a pair of dark tights and boots. She took the tunic out and held it against her.

'I've got a tunic here, but I think Janice forgot the trousers,' Rose called out to the Doctor. And then she remembered the costumes from the show. She hoped that real life didn't mimic art.

The bathroom door swished open, and the Doctor had a big grin on his face. He'd seen Janice's uniform, and he knew the trousers weren't missing.

'That's not a tunic,' he told her. 'It's a dress.'

Rose's mouth and eyes went wide. 'You are kiddin' me. A dress? This is hardly gonna cover my bum, and it's gonna look SO big in this.'

'Your bum will look as lovely as ever,' the Doctor said, and realised it had sounded better in his head. 'I mean your bum has never looked big in anything you wear . . . Not that I've been looking at your bum . . . Er, I'll go and have a shower now.' He stepped back and the door swished shut.

'You'd better make it a cold one,' Rose called out.