Chapter 4

A quiet "snip" and then a muffed 'uh ohhh...', sounded from underneath a control panel in engineering. Emily quickly pulled herself from inside the panel and kneeled just in front of it as an urgent bleeping began and she flicked a few switches and surveyed the readouts in front of her. 'That's not good...'

Scott, who had been working in a similar panel nearby quickly pulled his head out and looked at her as she quickly got to her feet and ran to a station on the other side of the room, wrenching off the side and quickly discarding it noisily on the floor, to reveal an exposed cluster of wires.

'What on Earth did ya bloody do?' He asked angrily 'Did you cut one of those wires that I specifically said to be careful not to-' as if in answer to his question the bleeping noise became louder and the the lights around engineering began to flicker and dim.

'Maybe' Emily replied, hurriedly connecting and disconnecting wires, trying to reroute the power. 'I may or may not have just accidentally hit one of the primary power cords and on the way out may hit something else that was important.'

'That was the secondary backup power system. Lass, you said you knew what you were doing!' Scott said in anguish.

'No' Emily replied, 'I said I "THINK" I can fix it, not I "CAN" fix it. They're too completely different things. Now, if I just reverse the polarity of this circuit...' She flick a few more switches and connected a few more wires, 'Fixed!' She exclaimed with a triumphant grin.

Scott shook his head, she sure was clever. Maybe he might even talk her into staying on the Enterprise. 'All in good time' he thought.

A comm unit beeped on the wall

'Scott here.' He answered.

'What just happened down there?'

Kirk asked 'We had readings of massive power failure ship wide.'

'Nothing to worry about Captain, I'll give you a full report later.' He said, shooting Emily a conspiratory smile.

'Well what ever it was, be more careful. Kirk out.'

He turned to Emily, 'Well then, what's our cover story?' He said with a wink. Emily laughed.

...

On the Bridge, Kirk had been thoroughly impressed with the way the Doctor had helped with the problem of power loss to both primary and secondary systems. Before he or Spock could move to the engineering console to help the ensign manning it the Doctor was already there, making the necessary adjustments to help keep them temporarily out of trouble.

'A man of many talents' he mused to himself, 'I've got to find out more about him.'

Interrupting his train of thought, McCoy suddenly appeared by his side. 'Jim, I've just gotten the initial life sign scans from the planet that we took while we were first surveying it and there's some pretty unusual stuff here.' He held out the tricorder for him to read the signals himself while he explained. 'It doesn't give a specific area, but we're picking up different readings from the normal flora and fauna that should be present on Omeiron. I've analysed it and I can't identify what type of life form it is at all.'

'Is it Thelusian?' Kirk asked, not falling for the same ruse again.

'No Jim, I definitely checked for that.'

'Very well then. I think I might have the perfect person for you who may be able to help you identify it.' He said with a slight smile, 'Doctor, do you mind coming over here for a second?'

The Doctor swiftly crossed the Bridge and Kirk explained the situation.

'I'd be happy to help.' He agreed. 'On one condition.'

'Name it.' Kirk replied evenly.

'My ship is still down there on the planet. Do you mind if we sent Emily down to go and fetch it? Just in case we suddenly have to warp out of orbit, I don't want to leave her behind.'

'Your ship is in the tunnels isn't it?' Kirk asked, buying time to make his decision.

'Sure is.'

'Fine. Mr. Spock, you can accompany the Doctor's companion down to the planet's surface to get his ship. Uhura, please contact Emily and tell her to report to the transporter room.'

'Aye, sir' both replied in almost exact unison. Spock turned and walked towards the turbo lift while Uhura turned to her console. The Doctor quickly walked over.

'I'll talk to her.' He said.

...

The comm unit on the wall beeped again. This time it was Emily's turn to answer as Scotty was finishing off the repair work.

'Emily here' she chimed after flicking the switch.

'Ah Em, good to hear from you. All well?' Came the Doctor's cheery voice.

'Yup, just about finished here. What's up?'

'Do you mind going down with Commander Spock to Omeiron and getting the TARDIS back up to the Enterprise? I just have a feeling she shouldn't be left down there.'

That sure unsettled her, the Doctor always insisted the TARDIS could look after herself.

'Yea, ok.'

'Oh and one last thing before you go Em. Be careful.' The Doctor said, and then cut the comm link.

Emily stood there for a minute looking at the unit in the wall. Why was the Doctor so worried all of a sudden? She shrugged, sometimes that man worried unnecessarily.

'Hey Scotty!' She called, 'Which way's the transporter room?'