Chapter 10: Dark Side of the Moon
Pavel woke what seemed like seconds later, in a Sickbay bed, with Nurse Chapel standing over him.
He sat bolt upright, only to be pushed back down again by the worried nurse. "Don't move."
Chekov remained upright despite the pain in his shoulder and bruises he didn't remember receiving.
"Where's Max?" He said. When the nurse gave him an unsure and even more concerned look he tried again, making sure to use the correct language.
"In surgery. The cancer is going to complicate—" Chapel stopped, knowing she had given something away.
"No." Pavel whispered, finally falling back against bed weakly. That was why McCoy was so worried about Max. That was why Max wasn't eating, why she tried so hard to be happy. She was dying.
"Pavel," Nurse Chapel said softly. "Dr. McCoy is a great surgeon. She'll pull through."
"I'm not so sure zhis time."
Frantically, Madeline pressed out a long equation on the keypad in front of her. The ship was under attack. As soon as the harpies had realized their leader to be missing they had blamed the Enterprise and started a heavy attack on the ship.
The romulan war bird had disabled Main Engineering and injured many of the people stationed there. Madeline managed to get away unscathed, and headed to Auxiliary, hoping to regain some power.
"We've lost control of helm and navigations." Uhura reported over the auxiliary com once Maddy had contacted the bridge to make them aware she had things under control- if you considered this control anyway.
"Come on…" She urged the computer. Waiting for it to load took forever, and waiting was a luxury the Enterprise didn't have time for. "Uhura, I've got minimal control back for Navigations, Chekov can—"
"Chekov isn't on Bridge." Uhura said. It was hard to hear her over the blaring of the red alert, as well as Spock's loud, yet completely calm orders. "He's in Sickbay
I had forgotten he was hurt. "Well get him the hell up there!" She said, surprising her self with the use of the word. "I can't trust anyone else up there with how delicate the system is!"
"Bridge to McCoy." Pavel heard. The sudden call broke through a misty haze of thoughts. His head hurt from who knows what and the knife wound throbbed in unison with his heart, a dull ache in his chest that at this point, he wished would just stop completely.
"Chapel here. McCoy's in surgery. What do you need?"
"More like whom, Nurse. We need Mr. Chekov to report to the Bridge."
" isn't in very good health right now, Commander. Certainly there is an ensign that can take his place."
"Not in this circumstance, no. Do whatever you can for him and send him up. Spock out."
Chekov was already standing up, ready to go.
"I'll give some pain meds and you can leave."
"Thank you." Chekov said.
Chekov arrived exactly 2 minutes after Spock had requested him to.
Uhura handed the communications earpiece to him and said, "Madeline wants to talk to you."
"Chekov here." He said quietly.
"Good, your back. I need you to keep the starboard side protected. That's where we're taking most of the damage." Chekov taped furiously on the panel, and the ship tilted at a crazy angle then spun around, now the port side facing the romulan war bird.
"Fire when ready." She told him.
For a moment, everything seemed silent, and then, the photon torpedo struck home.
The romulan war bird drifted.
"Great shot, now—" The war bird fired a last shot and Chekov retaliated with out thinking. This time, the ship didn't fire again.
Chekov could here multiple explosions through the earpiece, and immediately he remembered that someone was still on the other line. "Good job—Loverboy." Madeline gasped. After a ragged breath she fell silent.
"No!" Chekov cried, throwing down the earpiece and running off the bridge as fast as he could to get to auxiliary control.
When he arrived he scrambled through a half open door and looked through torn metal in search of his friend. He didn't find her.