Assignment: Enterprise

Chapter Three

Riley had been keeping Seven apprised of their progress. It was time to go and save the bridge crew. Riley's quarters were near engineering, and both he and Chekov heard a commotion as some of Kahn's men had been revived and had taken over the lower decks, trapping the bulk of the crew in the shuttle bay and in the other parts of engineering. Some people had taken the precaution of boarding the shuttle crafts in the hangar deck, in case Kahn decided to depressurize the bay. Since there were not enough shuttles for four hundred people, the others were devising ways of escaping via the Jeffries tubes and the service crawl ways. The remaining twenty were being held under guard in the main conference room. The bridge crew were in trouble and there wasn't much time left to save them. Within fifteen minutes, if Riley and Chekov didn't act quickly, the bridge crew would suffocate.

Chekov watched with interest as Riley took out a pen-like device from the top drawer of his dresser. It chimed as he activated it.

"What do you plan to do, Riley? Write them to death with your fancy silver pen?"

"This isn't a ball point pen, Chekov. It's a weapon called a servo. Seven issued it to me before we left."

"When do I get one?" He asked, obviously impressed.

"When you grow up. Let's get going."

"Where to?"

"The supply cabinets. We have to get you an oxygen mask, a gun belt and a phaser."

Yeoman Mears had already been to the transporter room, which was now unguarded. Soon, however, she saw Marla Magivers returning, brandishing a firearm, about to return to the sleeper ship in order to revive the remainder of Kahn's men. Tracy couldn't let her do that. A fight ensued, as Tracy thought that Marla had killed Kyle. She had fallen in love with him. Angrily, she punched Marla square in the stomach, and as she bent over, she whacked her in the face. Marla dropped to the deck, now with a bloody nose and in a fetal position. The gun clattered to the floor. She recovered quickly, though, and a bit shaken, stood. Luckily, the transporter chief was only stunned. However, Tracy didn't know that.

"You stupid murdering cow!" Tracy shouted furiously, finally grabbing the gun from the floor as the older woman stood up.

"Striking a superior officer is a court martial offense, Mears!" Magivers said breathlessly.

"There is nothing superior about you, you empty headed sack of shit! You not only murdered John, you betrayed the crew!" As Marla tried to grab the phaser from her, Tracy stunned the lieutenant, a moment later realizing that Kyle was alive and stirring. Relieved about that and now with a weapon, she quickly made her way out of the room and to the storage cabinets on the next deck. She usually treated her superior officers with more respect, but she felt that Magivers deserved what she got. Anyway, it made no difference. Marla was going to be court martialed for her actions, and who was going to care about a few insults? This little scuffle in the transporter room was going to save the ship. Tracy thought that Marla should have her head examined, hooking up with a creep like Kahn. What was she thinking? She decided to use a Jeffries tube, because she came to the logical conclusion that Kahn had probably also managed to disable the turbo lifts. When she emerged, she realized that she had been seen by one of Kahn's men. Before she could react, he grabbed her and forced the weapon from her grasp, crushing it in his powerful hand. As he threw it to one side and started to strangle her with his bare hands, Riley fired his servo. Both Tracy and the criminal fell to the deck, Tracy from lack of oxygen and the guard from a servo stun. Chekov and Riley dragged her back to his quarters and to safety.

"Is she all right?" Chekov asked with concern.

"No, but she will be. Let's get going. The bridge crew is about to suffocate."

"We cannot just leave her here! She obviously needs medical attention!"

"Agreed." Riley took out his communicator and contacted Mr. Seven, who dispatched another agent named Isis, who, as a shape shifter, disguised herself as Nurse Chapel.*

From a utility belt, Riley took out a small device and handed it to Chekov as he donned a gas mask. "Here. Use this on the controls. It will block Kahn's access to the computer on the bridge and at the same time restore life support. I trust that Seven told you how to plug it in."

"Da. I know how." Chekov replied a bit irritably. "It fits into a computer slot like the old Russian invention, the floppy disk drive."

After they made it to the supply cabinet and procured the items they needed, they raced to the transporter room. When they arrived, Kyle had recovered and had a phaser trained on Magivers, who knew then that her goose was cooked. Kyle smiled as he saw the two men, but was curious to see Riley.

"Riley! I thought you had left the ship! Who is the kid in the gas mask?"

"There is no time to chat, Mr. Kyle. Beam the kid directly onto the bridge before they suffocate up there. Hurry!"

"Intraship beaming is a tricky thing, Mr. Riley."

"I am aware of that, Kyle. Just don't beam the little guy into a bulkhead."

Chekov looked up at the ceiling with a bit of embarrassment and frustration as he stepped onto the transporter pad. Kyle did as he was told. Within two seconds, Pavel materialized onto the bridge and went to work.

*Yes, I know that Chapel wasn't in "Space Seed", but, for the sake of this story, let's say she was.