CHAPTER 8

Safire's POV

I sat in silence for the rest of the meal eating the meat which tasted like cardboard, I listened silently in on the Captain's conversation with Uhura who was talking about a transmit ion she had intercepted, I kept my head down but kept glancing at Pavel out of the corner of my eye, I had noticed that he was looking up at me periodically. I eventually placed my knife and fork together on my plate unable to stomach anymore of the food on my plate, I lifted my head up and looked around at the people sat around the circular table. Scotty was having a go at the tiny creature sat opposite me and Sulu was staring at his plate a smile plastered across his face, the Captain, Spok and Uhura were all deeply engaged in their conversation and Pavel was looking intently at his food. I stood up and took my plate to a bin throwing it in, I then walked back to the table, and sat down once again. For the next half an hour I sat in silence just listening in on the various conversations happening around the table. Suddenly the whole ship shook and I was thrown all the way across the reck room along with two other people, I opened my eyes and saw that Uhura and Sulu were sat crumpled against the wall like I was I looked across to the table and saw Pavel, Spock, Scotty and Mccoy all clinging onto the table breathing heavily. I noticed Sulu was bleeding from a cut on his forehead and was completely unconscious, Uhura was conscious and holding her leg which was bent the wrong way round, "Are you ok?" I asked, she nodded closing her eyes in pain as she did so. The ship then began to tip again, seconds later we found ourselves sat on the wall we had just been lent against, and I could see the tabled was now above us with Kirk, Pavel, Spok, Scotty and Mccoy all holding on for dear life. I crawled across the wall to Sulu who was still unconscious and moved him slowly so he was led down flat on the wall, I made sure I didn't move his neck trying to make sure i did no further damage than may have been done. There was a clang and I looked along the wall to see Spok had dropped down and was now kneeling besides Uhura checking her over. I felt Sulu's head move beneath my hands and I looked down and saw that he was coming around, I held his head steady as he tried to move it, "Don't move your head, your fine, but the doctor needs to check you over, ok?" "yeah" he was open and closing his eyes rapidly. "having trouble focusing?" "uh yeah, every things blurry" three more clangs were heard and I looked up again and saw the Captain, Mccoy and Pavel all drop to the floor. Pavel stumbled as he landed and lent against what used to be the floor, Mccoy rushed over to Sulu and I and started asking him questions, I moved out of the way and let him get on with his work, that's when I realised that Scotty was nowhere to be seen, I looked up and saw him still dangling from the table. The Captain must have seen where I was looking because he looked up as well. "Scotty, let go, it's not as far as it looks" "aye captain but, I'm a wee bit scared of height's." "Scotty" Captain Kirk said sternly. Scotty mumbled under his breath before dropping to the wall with surprising grace. I looked round and saw Pavel lent against the floor, I walked over to him quickly and put my hand on his shoulder "Pavel, are you ok?" "da" he was still leaning on the wall "are you sure?" I questioned. He nodded, but i saw him wince as he put pressure on his left leg, "what's wrong with your leg?" i asked. "i think i have sprained my ankle" I nodded. "Right any idea's what of what's happened" I turned and faced the Captain as he spoke. "Keptain, it's is likely there was a shift in the ships stabilising, which could be caused by a malfunction in engineering or damage to the exterior of the ship." Kirk nodded at Pavel as he had been the one to answer him. "Right, we're all heading up to bridge, we'll go via medical bay and Mccoy, Sulu and Uhura can stay there Scotty they'll need you in engineering, Spock, Chekov and Safire will continue on to the bridge with me" we all nodded and I flung Pavel's arm over my shoulder and helped him support his weight. He spoke up and said "It is ok, i can manage" I looked at him with my eyebrows raised, "yeah and we will see you on the bridge in three years" he glared playfully at me, but put up no further protests. As a group we all began the trip to the med bay, the journey was made dangerous by the now vertical corridors. Eventually however we finally made it to the med bay, the deck was engulfed in kayos when we arrived, which was soon put to rights with a few strict orders barked by Mccoy. We stayed there for half an hour, everyone doing something to help.

PAVEL'S POV

We spent half an hour in Med bay and Doctor Mcccoy strapped my ankle in to a pressure cast, which meant I could now put pressure on my ankle without any pain. After I was strapped up Safire, Spok, the captain and I all made our way up to the Bridge and Scotty made his way down the engineering, the Captain, Scotty and Spok led the way holding their phasers at the ready, eventually we reached the bridge doors and the Captain made some motions to Spok before they burst onto the bridge, what we saw when we arrived was utter madness, half of the bridge crew was missing and most of the other half that were still present looked as though they had been injured. "Everyone ok?" The Captain asked. Some of the crew answered though most remained silent, "Where are the other crew members?" the captain asked, "sir" a young red headed women some quietly from where she was sat on the floor, the captain knelt beside her on the floor and she continued to speak. "sir, they came aboard on the bridge, we tried to contact you but we were unable to use the coms, one of them came on to the bridge and started screaming something at us, i couldn't, we couldn't.." she trailed off sobbing. "Lt, what happened to the rest of the crew?" she took a big gulp of air before continuing her story "he told them to take him to engineering, sir he was a, he was a like, he was like her." She raised her hand and pointed at Safire. As soon as the word left her lips my stomach dropped, and my heart rate increased dramatically, I looked at Safire who couldn't looked any more shocked if she tried. The Captain stood up and walked over to Safire and looked at her, his face void of any emotion, "what the hell is happening?" he asked. Safire just stared at him for a moment before replying "Captain, I promise you I have no clue what is happening, i swear to you on my life" she stared at him, her eyes never once leaving his. The Captain seemed satisfied with her answer but didn't reply to her, instead he turned to me and spoke "Chekov, i want the camera's from Engineering on screen now" "yes Keptin" i nodded and rushed over to the console as fast as I could which wasn't easy as the large cast around my ankle meant that with every step i took I had to swing my leg in a large circular motion. Despite my ankle I soon had the live camera feed up on the screen and we watched the man on the screen "Shit" i looked round to the owner of the voice and saw Safire her eyes transfixed on the camera feed being displayed on the screen. "What is it?" questioned the captain looking at Safire. "Captain, I am sorry this is all my fault, he is looking for me." "Why?" spock was the one to ask the question we were all thinking. Safire ignored the question and said "Captain, send me down to him, once he has me, he will leave the ship alone everyone will be safe" "what the hell is going on?" the Captain boomed. Safire looked to him and her eyes were filling with tears "Captain, there is some information I have kept from those aboard the ship, simply because I didn't think it relevant, Captain I am the Missterin of the Tobashi" "A Missterin?" the captain looked puzzled. "It is a similar position to the princess of some races" Spock answered the question. "He is looking for me captain, it is vital to my species that those of high positions of power are felt with the strongest force of our laws, he is here to insure my return to our planet and my execution" "what about your parents?" the captain questioned "surely they would have something to say about killing their child" "I have many siblings, so long as there is an heir to succeed them, it does not matter to them, Captain please, I do not want anyone to lose their lives for me." The Captain gave her a look I had rarely seen him give anyone a looked of pure adoration. Spock spoke up as the captain continued to stare at Safire "Captain as much as it displeases me to say this, the only logical thing to do is to do as Safire has suggested." "out of the question mr Spock, Safire is as much a part of this crew as anyone else aboard this ship" at that moment the screen opened up the onboard com link to engineering and the face of a man with three large scratches covering his face appeared. "I want Safire, or he loses his life" we all looked to the struggling figure he held round the neck. "You all right mr Scott" the captain questioned. "Aye captain" he said making what would have been a funny face had it not been for the circumstances. The man spoke up again "I want Safire or i start with killing him, then i blow up this ship, you have half an hour" and the comm was closed down. "We need a plan quickly" the captain spoke turning again to look at all those aboard the bridge. I looked to the place Safire was standing and found the space empty. My eyes scanned the whole of the bridge and my stomach seemed to drop when i realised that she was no longer aboard the bridge. "Where has Safire gone?" i questioned. Everyone looked round the bridge all realising what I already knew. "I believe she has gone down to engineering"