My time on the Enterprise
Chapter four: Welcome to the sick bay
Natalie didn't feel the shot hit her until she rematerialized on the Enterprise. McCoy and his team were waiting there. He ran to the pad as soon as they appeared. Natalie touched her side where she was hit. Thankfully it hit her in the side; it was still painful but not lethal. So minutes later they arrived in sick bay. McCoy patched them up and put them in adjoining beds. There was silence between them for a few minutes. Kirk looked over at her. "See, its better that I was there to distract them from shooting at you the whole time." He pointed out. Natalie looked over at him and started laughing. "What?" He asked. "Nothing that was just totally the right thing to say after what happened." She replied. She then held her side as it hurt from the laughter. "Ow, that hurt." Natalie commented. "I never had time to ask you your name." He told her. "Lt. Commander Natalie Sterling." She told him. "And you?" He frowned at her. "You don't know who I am?" He asked. "Nope, should I?" She asked. "Captain James T. Kirk." He told her. Natalie's jaw slackened in shock. "Really? Well, it's nice to meet you." She said. "I heard about what you did to save Earth, but I never got to find out anything more. Kinda preoccupied with repairing the station."
He smirked at her. "You're an engineer?" He asked. "Yep and a good one too, well at least that's what my commanding officer said." Natalie said then sighed. "He's dead, so are the captain and first officer. Out of all the people on the base only ten of us made it." She wiped the start of the tears from her eyes. "Sorry." She muttered. "Don't be, you barely survived yourself." He said. She smiled at him slightly. "Well, I probably would have been dead if you hadn't come with me." She told him. "I would have never thought about the communicator and try it, so thanks." He nodded. "Don't mention it." He told her. Natalie then realized something and pulled the data chip out from under her shirt. It was thankfully still intact. "What is that?" Kirk asked. "Something that Capt. Spitcher told me to take to Starfleet Command and only to Starfleet Command." Natalie replied. "It's a data chip." He commented. "Yeah, so?" She asked. "So, what's on it?" He asked. Natalie shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know, he gave it to me just before all hell broke loose." She told him. "All he said was that it contains something Starfleet needs if a war breaks out with the Romulans." She then gasped. "Do you think that's the reason why they attacked a research station?" She asked him.
"I think that's exactly the reason why, and I think we need to go to Earth as fast as we can." Kirk told her. "Why is that, Capt. Kirk?" She asked. "Because if they attack a Starbase for that chip, it stands to reason that they are going to come after the Enterprise." He told her. "And call me Jim." Natalie frowned. "Why would I do that?" She asked. "Because that is my name." He told her. "Well, you are way too young to be called Jim, I would maybe possibly call you James, but I am a junior officer and I can only greet you as Capt. Kirk." Natalie pointed out. Kirk rolled his eyes and got out of his bed painfully. "What are you doing?" She asked. "Getting out of here, you want to come?" He asked. "But Dr. McCoy told us that we had to stay the night at least." Natalie replied. He hobbled over to her bed. "So, Bones' bark is worse than his bite." He commented. "Come on Natalie, you just got out of hell and your stuck here." Kirk offered her his hand. Natalie hesitated. She then put her hand in his. He helped her up. Natalie stood but winced slightly as the motion pulled at her wound. "Okay, but just for a while." She said. "And I want to check up on the rest of the survivors." He smirked at her. "Good, but I have one requirement before we go." He said. Natalie bit her lip. "What is it?" She asked. "Stop calling me Capt. Kirk, I would prefer that you call me Jim, but James is fine." He said. "Okay, James." She said with a smile. He pulled her out to the hall in front of the sick bay. They made quite the couple as they slowly and painfully walked, one hobbling and the other holding their side.
"Have you ever been on a starship?" He asked. "No, but I did request to be assigned to one." She replied. "And I got sent to a Starbase." She said the last with a sad sigh. James still held her hand in his and was leading her down the many passageways. He chuckled at what she said. "Let me guess, boring?" He asked. "No, the station was falling apart." Natalie told him. "All there was to do was repairs. Not that I don't love to fix things, but I wished that I could take a little time to myself. See the stars, not from Earth but from the windows of the base. I wanted to explore the stars and I was stuck in a falling apart base and hardly ever got to see out the windows even." McCoy had discovered their absence just seconds after they left. He had been following them for the past five minutes and decided to end this little escape attempt. "Jim, what are you doing out of bed?" He asked. Both of them jumped and turned to look at him. "It was all his idea." Natalie said. "Thanks for the support." James mumbled. "For your information, Jim, I already figured that it was your idea." McCoy said. "Now you two will march your butts back to bed now." Natalie chuckled at the order. "You can't make me, Bones, I'm the captain." James pointed out. Natalie rolled her eyes. "I'm the CMO, and I can order a captain, even an admiral around when their health is at stake." McCoy said. "Now did you even happed to notice in your little escape attempt that your companion here was getting tired?" He motioned to Natalie. "That she had been walking slower and slower every second? She almost died from that last phaser shot and you have her gallivanting around the ship!" James was at a loss of words for a second.
"Yes, I did notice that, but I wasn't taking her far." He commented. "I don't care if you were taking her to the moon and back or just across the hall from the sick bay." McCoy replied. He came between them and took each of their arms. He started walking back to the sick bay. "Now, you two will get back in bed and no more escape attempts." He said. Minutes later they were back in their beds. Natalie was actually kinda of glad to lying down again, but James had his arms folded across his chest and was pouting. Natalie looked over at him. "Stop acting like a child, it's just for the night." She told him. "I could be doing better things." He said. "I need to be on the bridge." Natalie sighed. "Why do you hate sick bay so much?" She asked. "I just hate feeling useless." He told her. "You're not useless, you're healing to be that brave captain of the Enterprise again, that's all." She pointed out. "I guess you're right." He said and looked at her. "But at least the company is better than last time." Natalie smiled at him. "See, there is a bright side to everything." She said. Spock then entered the room. "I came to see how you were Captain." He said. "Oh, Spock I was just about to call you." Kirk said. "About what sir?" He asked. "We need to change our heading to Earth, there is something in Lt. Commander Sterling's possession here that Starfleet Command will need urgently." Spock's eyebrow went up in a questioning manner but he nodded. "Yes, sir." He said and left to go to the bridge.
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