The turbolift stopped and Chekov and I stepped onto the new floor.
"Zis vay," he said, leading me down the corridor to the right.
We made our way to a door on the left just a few paces from where we started. The door opened and Chekov motioned for me to go in ahead of him. When I stepped through the entryway, I saw a conference room, very much like the one the TARDIS now sat in back on Earth. But there was no one there.
"Vell...zis is embarrassing," Chekov breathed. "Vhere is ze Keptin?"
I shrugged. I had thought he would be on the bridge already, but apparently not.
"Come wiss me," the Ensign instructed as he exited the room.
He led me through a few corridors, down a few floors in a different turbolift, and stopped at a door labeled "Captain's Quarters". He pressed a button on the control panel.
"Keptin, Ensins Chekov and Sputnik to see you, sir." He stepped back and looked at me. "I don't know vhat he is doing. He is supposed to be in ze ozer room, vaiting to prep ze new bridge crew."
After a moment, Chekov tried to buzz in again, but there was no answer. With a sigh of frustration, he pressed the open button and walked in. I followed slowly, holding the tablet in front of me for protection or...something.
As we entered the room, the lights came on and we found the most disturbing sight. Captain Kirk had a woman in bed, but she wasn't human. I still have no idea what species she was. Kirk probably doesn't remember either.
They stopped what they were doing and looked up at us. Both of them seemed aghast at our presence.
"I swear I locked that door," Kirk told the girl.
I looked over at Chekov to see his mouth and eyes wide in shock. I think my mouth was hanging open too. Then, Chekov took both hands and covered his eyes.
"So sorry, Keptin," he was saying. "Ve vill leave now. Pleese resume and meet us in ze conference room vhen you are finished."
I watched him turn to leave, eyes still covered. He ran into a wall with a thud and what I guess was a curse in Russian. I struggled to keep from giggling at the absurdity of it all. Taking one last glance at the happy couple, I turned my own scarred eyes away to help Chekov find the door.
Once outside, I made sure the door got closed while Chekov spun around in a daze with his hands still covering his face. He bumped into a few people who looked at him like he was crazy as he muttered endless apologies. Finally, it ceased to be funny and I took him by the arm to sit him down against the wall.
"You know we're outside the room, right?" I asked as I lowered us both to the floor. "You can open your eyes now."
Slowly, he let his hands fall to his sides. He pulled his legs in to sit cross-legged, staring at the floor just in front of his knees.
"Are you okay?"
He seemed to come out of whatever kind of trance he was in at the question. Wide eyes glanced over at me, then quickly looked away. His face was the darkest shade of red, almost that of my uniform. I attributed it to the recent events.
"I'm fine," he said simply.
I touched his arm, giving it a small pat before letting my hand rest there. "Are you sure? You acted like that was your first time seeing people...you know."
"...it vas."
I was a bit taken back. How had he never seen people doing it before? Was he twelve?
"H-how old are you?"
At this he seemed to perk back up. He turned to me, a proud smile on his face. "Nineteen."
I let a short laugh escape my throat. "I'm eighteen. We're probably the youngest people on this ship."
"Ve are! I vas ze youngest. I know zat for sure. But now you are here and zat makes YOU ze youngest!"
His renewed enthusiasm was rubbing off on me. I smiled and started to stand, but he hopped up before I could even start the ascent and offered me a hand.
"Thanks," I said once I was on my feet.
"You're velcome," was the reply.
I couldn't help but notice his lingering gaze. It seemed to be getting longer every time he laid eyes on me. It was a little bit unnerving. I didn't know what was going on. Maybe it was a Russian thing...
"Lyet's go back to ze conference room to vait for ze Keptin," he suggested.
I nodded and followed him through the myriad of halls again. It was a good thing he was leading. By the second turn, I had no idea where I was. The turbolift ride seemed shorter this time, and the room was still empty by the time we got there, so we sat at the table in awkward silence while Captain Kirk "finished".
Finally, the door opened and the Captain, now fully clothed, stepped in and took a seat at the head of the table. Neither Chekov nor I could look at him with a straight face. I just couldn't get the picture of him naked out of my head. This was probably going to make working on the bridge difficult.
"So Chekov, what did you need?" Kirk said as he sat down.
Chekov sat up straight and cleared his throat. "Zis Ensin vas assigned to ze bridge, so as is regulation, I vas bringing her to report to you, sir."
Kirk turned to me, a careless smile on his face. "And you are...?"
"Sputnik. Ensign Sputnik, Kris Marie," I supplied for him.
"Sputnik," he repeated. "So you're Russian, too?"
I shook my head. "No, sir. It's just a name." I was starting to regret choosing the Doctor's nickname as my alias. It seemed to cause more problems than it was worth.
Kirk nodded at my reply. "So let me see your orders."
I handed him the tablet that I still had in my hands. I was glad to be rid of it for a moment.
"It says here that you know English and French." He looked up at me. "What good is that gonna do us going out into space?"
I shrugged. "Commander Spock said he thought I could be of assistance."
He turned to the tablet again, leaning back in his seat. "He has ordered a comprehension test for you, administered by himself." He looked back to me. "Good luck with that."
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, he gave me back the device.
"Report back to me after Mister Spock has administered the test." And with that he got up and left.
I looked at Chekov across the table. "Is this always how organized this ship is?"
He sat back in his chair, breathing a deep sigh into the air. "You vould sink no, but...yes."
The despair on his face was quite amusing and I couldn't stop myself from laughing. He pulled his head up from resting on the chair to look at me. I saw his eyes light up at the sight of me giggling and, before I knew it, we were both crying from laughing so hard. I guess we needed the relief after all that tension.
This was going to be an interesting adventure.