Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. I do not claim to. I only own my OC Farrah. :)
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On board the Narada, Ayel yelled out to his captain, "Sir, there's another Federation ship!"
Nero nodded and sat down in his command chair before giving orders, "Destroy it too."
"Fire torpedoes!" A Romulan man called out.
Back on the Enterprise, Farrah Pike looked at the readings in her screen before announcing, "Captain, they're locking torpedoes."
"Divert auxiliary power from port nacelles to forward shields," Christopher Pike ordered.
Her fingers moving quickly, Farrah did as he asked, she could only hope it would be enough.
She had never seen that type of ship before in any of her advanced weaponry class textbooks. She did however learn about Romulan weaponry, and knew that the shields on the Enterprise might not be enough for the type of torpedoes that they were using.
It seemed she was correct, as the torpedoes flew through the shields like there were nothing causing explosions to go off all around the ship where they were hit.
In the sick bay Leonard McCoy was slammed into a wall and pinned there until gravity stabilized. He dropped back down to the floor and looked around at the mess and the crew members that lay motionless and bloody on the floors.
"Shields? Status report?" Christopher questioned his daughter.
"Shields at 32%. Their weapons are powerful, sir. We can't take another hit like that," Farrah replied turning to look at her father over her shoulder.
He looked very calm, a little tense, but she felt a new-found respect for him. There they were, facing their possible deaths, and he was as calm and collected as ever.
"Get me Starfleet Command!" He yelled out to Nyota.
"Captain, the Romulan ship has lowered some kind of high-energy pulse device into the Vulcan atmosphere," Spock announced turning around to his Captain."It's signal appears to be blocking our communications and transporter abilities," He continued.
"All power to forward shields, prepare to fire all weapons," Christopher yelled out to his daughter who dutifully began working at the task.
On the outside, Christopher Pike looked the picture of calm. On the inside however he was anything but. He knew that he was responsible for over 1000 crew members on the Enterprise. And one of them being his daughter didn't help the situation.
Still, panicking would only make the situation worse. But looking at his daughter, who only continued to grow and look even more like her mother Vera, the woman he had loved, still loved so deeply. She just being there drove him even harder to find a solution to the fight they were in the middle of, one that would have her and everyone else aboard the ship return to earth safely.
He promised himself when Vera died that he would protect Farrah till the day he died. Something she had made incredibly difficult with her decision to join Starfleet. But, he knew being a Pike, she would never be happy to just stay on earth for the rest of her life.
She had told him she wanted to do something special and see amazing things. She felt like she was meant for more than what earth could offer her. And so he had relented, and let her go off to Starfleet. If Vera were still there with him, he knew she would only want for there daughter what would make her happy. And who was he to stand in the way of her happiness.
Nero watched the screens as the Federation ship turned and came closer to them
"Weapons ready," His tactical officer announced.
"Wait!" Nero yelled back and the officer obliged, "The hull. Magnify," He ordered them.
"Yes, sir," A Romulan man replied doing as ordered.
The screen zoomed in on the federation ship, giving Nero a clear view of its name.
U.S.S Enterprise
"Captain, were being hailed," Nyota announced standing up and turning to the screen.
A man appeared on the screen, he could have been a Vulcan, with his up turned eyebrows and pointed ears. But it was the emotions clear on his face, and the black tattoos that told them he was Romulan.
"Hello," He said to them.
"I'm Captain Christopher Pike. To whom am I speaking?"
"Hi, Christopher. I'm Nero," The Romulan, Nero replied.
"You've declared war against the Federation. Withdraw, I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romulan leadership at a neutral location," Christopher replied calmly.
"I do not speak for the Empire. We stand apart," Nero explained almost angrily, confusing them before he tilted his head and began speaking again, "As does your Vulcan crew member. Isn't that right, Spock?"
Everyone turned away from Nero on the screens to watch as Spock stood up from his chair and walked forwards, "Pardon me, I do not believe that you and I are acquainted," Spock told him coming to stand by the Captain.
"No, we're not. Not yet," Nero replied, "Spock, there's something I would like you to see," He told him but offered no clue as to what that was.
"Captain Pike, your transporter has been disabled. As you can see by the rest of your armada, you have no choice. You will man a shuttle and come aboard the Narada for negotiations. That is all," Nero instructed before the communication was cut off and he was gone.
Farrah along with everyone else turned to look at their Captain as he stood up and began to slowly walk from the bridge.
"He'll kill you. You know that," Jim told him what he already knew.
"Your survival is unlikely," Spock agreed.
"Captain, we gain nothing by diplomacy. Going over to that ship is a mistake," Jim continued quickly looking out the window at the Narada.
"I, too, agree. You should re-think your strategy," Spock told him.
"I understand that," Christopher replied before turning to the rest of the bridge, "I need officers who've been trained in advanced hand-to-hand combat."
Farrah had been practically frozen since Nero had ordered her father on board the Narada, but she was pulled out of her paralysis from what he asked, as the next thing she knew she was standing and walking towards him.
"I have the training, sir," Farrah told her father what he knew from her telling him of the classes she had taken.
"I too, have the training, sir," Hikaru Sulu volunteered standing up and stepping forward as well.
"You two, come with me," Christopher told them eyeing his daughter.
He wanted to tell her to stay there on the bridge, but in the ship he was a Captain first and then a father. He had heard from many of her instructors praise from how well she performed and progressed over the years, he knew her skills were needed and that she could take care of herself.
"Kirk, you, too. You're not supposed to here anyway," Christopher said to Jim as the four of them followed him out of the bridge.
"Chekov, you have the conn," Christopher said to the Russian genius.
"Aye-aye, Captain," Chekov replied.
On the Narada, Nero walked up to Ayel, "Prepare the red matter," he ordered.
"Yes, sir," Ayel replied and quickly left the bridge to go to the ship they had taken that contained the red matter.
Inside, a Romulan scientist extracted a tiny part from the large ball of red matter and put it inside a long clear cylinder holding container.
Ayel took the cylinder from him and then walked away to the drill platform where he loaded the red matter in the apparatus.
Farrah walked slightly behind her father beside Jim with Spock and Sulu right behind them.
"Without transporters, we can't beam off the ship, we can't assist Vulcan, we can't do our job," He said before turning to her, Jim and Sulu, "You three and Engineer Olson will space-jump from the shuttle. You will land on that machine they've lowered into the atmosphere that's scrambling our gear. You'll get inside, you'll disable it, then you'll beam back to the ship."
"Mr. Spock, I'm leaving you in command of the Enterprise. Once we have transport capability and communications back up, you'll contact Starfleet and report what the hell's going on here," Christopher spoke to them as they walked through the halls of engineering.
The Captain turned around to face them as he stopped before the turbo-lift, "And if all else fails, fall back, rendezvous with the fleet in the Laurentian system," Before he turned to face only Jim, "Kirk, I'm promoting you to first officer."
"What?" Jim stared back at pike open-mouthed in shock.
"Captain?" Spock asked making Christopher turn and face the commander, "Please, I apologize, the complexities of human pranks escape me."
"It's not a prank, Spock. And I'm not the Captain, you are," Christopher replied before turning back around to Sulu, Kirk and Farrah.
"Lets go," He told them as he led them inside the lift.
"Sir, after we knock out that drill, what happens to you?" Jim asked the Captain as he stopped behind him beside Farrah.
"Well, I guess you'll have to come and get me," Pike replied before looking out at Spock, "Careful with ship, Spock, she's brand new," He told him right before the lift doors closed and they were going down to the shuttle bay.
Spock on cocked an eyebrow before he left and walked back to the turbo lift, which took him to the bridge.
He sat down in the command chair and turned on the comm,"Doctor Puri. Report."
"It's McCoy . Dr. Puri was in Deck 6. He's dead," Leonard told him as sparks went off behind him and people were being dragged from the damaged sick bay.
"Then you have just inherited his responsibility as chief medical officer," Spock replied.
Leonard turned and looked at the mess behind him before speaking in his comm again, "Yeah, tell me something I don't know."
The lift opened in the shuttle bay and all four of them stepped out where they found Engineer Olsen waiting for them.
"The four of you, go get your suits on. I hope none of you has a particular fear of heights," Christopher told them before walking to the shuttle.
Sulu and Olsen did as he asked almost immediately, Farrah stayed to speak with her father, not even noticing Jim turn around and seeing she wasn't following come after her.
"You can't do this!" Farrah yelled to her father coming up behind him.
"If it will keep you and everyone else on this ship safe, then I will gladly do so," Christopher replied turning to her.
"There has to be something else..." Farrah said to him, but she knew there wasn't anything they could do.
"Come here," Christopher told her and she did so throwing herself into his arms and burying her face in his neck.
It wasn't like Jim had intended to eavesdrop, he had noticed that Cadet, or Lieutenant Noël wasn't following them and had come back to see what was the matter with her, he didn't think she had a problem with heights. He found himself hiding behind a shuttle, but still within viewing and hearing distance of her.
So, when she threw herself into Christopher Pikes arm, you could say he was more than confused. And he couldn't help his curiousness, he wanted to know what relationship they had.
He also realized he found himself feeling jealous of the Captain, he wanted to be the one comforting Farrah... He shook himself of those thoughts, that was not the type of guy he was.
He was the one where he slept with a girl and left before she even woke up, in the event she did it was with a promise to call her later, (which he never did) it was just an excuse so he could get them to let him leave.
He found himself caring for Farrah, and thought of her as a friend. The name game they had been doing since they first met had started out as a means to get her in his bed. Then he realized he actually liked Farrah, there was lust at first, and still was. She was a beautiful woman and any guy could see that, but then he found he actually liked spending time with her even if he hadn't known her name.
"Look at me," Christopher said to Farrah and she pulled away from his shoulder and looked up at him.
"If something goes wrong, which there is a chance.. Then don't you dare try to rescue me. You get out of here and you get home," He told her looking in her eyes with determination, he knew if something went wrong that's exactly what she would do.
Farrah just shook her head back and forth. She couldn't, wouldn't leave him there to die, "I can't do that!"
"Promise me!" He said to her.
"I can't," She repeated staring at her father.
She had lost her mother, and couldn't imagine losing her father to. He was all she had left of her family, if something happened to him, she would basically be an orphan.
Sure she had Magnolia, who was like a grandmother to her. And all her friends at the academy, some of them here on the Enterprise, like Nyota and Lenny, even Jim and a few other cadets she had come to know.
But he was her father, and she just couldn't fathom life without him there to guide her.
"Promise me!" Christopher said to her again putting his hands on the sides of her head.
"I..I promise you," Farrah replied while her father looked in her eyes and could tell that she meant it.
"Good," Christopher replied nodding in satisfaction.
"I love you," Farrah told him fighting back tears that threatened to fall.
"I love you too," Christopher replied kissing her on the forehead before pulling back.
Jim had seen enough and quickly backed away from his hiding spot and to go after Olsen and Sulu and get his suit on.
He felt more jealous now seeing them profess their love for each other. He thought that he and Farrah had some kind of connection, and that maybe over time something might have happened between them.
He did maybe one day want a steady relationship, the reason he never attempted any other than the odd girlfriend in high school was because of his parents.
He saw how broken up his mom was for most of his life. The heartbreak and depression she seemed to suffer from his father's death, a father he had never met. That fact seemed to hit her the hardest, and it took its toll on both him and his brother George.
He didn't want that to happen to he girl he loved, he didn't want for her to end up like his mother had.
Sighing, he decided it was for the best he hadn't tried anything with Farrah and began putting on his blue semi flexible drops suit with the help of a technician. But still, Farrah and Captain Pike? The guy was like 80 in Jim's eyes, what did he have that Jim didn't?
Farrah couldn't believe she had just promised her father that if something happened she wouldn't go back for him, she felt awful. He knew her to well it seemed, she had already thought of things she could do to try to save him if something went wrong.
But she had just promised him not to, and she couldn't break a promise to him.
"Now get going and get your suit on. We don't have time to waste," Her father told her and she nodded giving him one last hug.
"I love you dad," She whispered in his ear before letting go and running up beside Sulu and in front of the green suit she would be wearing.
She turned her back on them and stripped off her gold uniform before putting on a thin skin-tight black suit that went on underneath the drop suit.
A female technician helped her put on the green one as fast as they could, checking things over before she quickly went after the three men who had left seconds before her.
It took a bit to get used to it, it was bulky and semi uncomfortable but eventually she adjusted and climbed inside the shuttle to sit between Jim and Sulu.
"Shuttle 89, U.S.S. Enterprise, you are clear forward," A mans voice announced over the comms as Christopher sat down in the pilot's chair, "Interval check shows positive and steady,"
"You got the charges, right?" Jim asked Olsen who sat next to him in a red suit.
"Oh, yeah. I can't wait to kick some Romulan ass. Right?" Olsen said to him with much to much excitement for Farrah's taste.
Down there on the drill platform it was going to be a kill or be killed situation, and Olsen seemed much to enthusiastic about that. She had never killed anything or anyone before, this would not be an easy experience even if the Romulans were the enemy.
"Yeah," Jim agreed though not very much meaning it.
"Hell, yeah." Olsen replied nodding.
The four of them in the back felt it as the shuttle took off and left the Enterprise.
"So what kind of combat training do you have?" Jim asked looking at Sulu who was in a yellow suit.
"Fencing," Sulu replied proudly.
Jim stared at him before looking at Farrah who sat next to him, "And you?"
"Advanced hand-to-hand," She told him and he nodded, at least some one would know what they were doing.
"Pre-jump," Christopher called back to them.
The four of them reached below and picked up their helmets and set them on there heads snapping them into place as the doors of the shuttle leading to the pilot's chair closed tightly.
The suits automatically pressurized. Internal instruments would preserve proper atmosphere, humidity, and pressure as long as suit integrity remained intact.
"We're approaching the drop zone. We have one shot to land on that platform. They may have defenses so pull your chute as late as possible," Pike announced over the comm.
The four in the back stood up and set their hands on the bars standing right above the shuttles doors.
"Three, two, one," Christopher announced and then the gravity in the back of the shuttle lessened causing them all to become weightless and hit the ceilings.
"Remember, the Enterprise won't be able to beam you back until you turn off that drill. Good luck," Christopher told them before pulling a lever and the four of them were dropped out of the shuttle.
Instant compartment depressurization had kicked them out as forcefully as if they had been shot from a cannon.
Beneath them the planet's surface was thousands of kilometers away, but until they reached it all that was around them was mostly nothing.
They used their suits small and individual, mechanical thrusters to adjust their descent attitude until they were rocketing along head first into the drill and planet below them.
So, on note of Jim thinking that Farrah and Captain Pike are in a romantic relationship, I think that might be realistic for him. He hasn't ever seen Farrah and Pike interacting before and so came to that conclusion. Honestly I was a little weirded out by it...don't know about you guys. But the idea sort of stuck, I wont have Jim thinking that for long I promise! Also, Farrah looks much more like her mother than Pike so that has something to do with him not making the connection. But in the bar in Iowa I had Jim compare Farrah and Pikes stares. So that should come up again.
I tried to think about reasons that Jim doesn't have serious relationships with women and came to that, hopefully it fits with his character...
A note on George, Jim's brother, he was in a deleted scene from the movie, and you may want to remember my mentioning of him.. he might just pop up again later...
Thoughts on this chapter?
Until tomorrow! :)