Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any related characters or objects. Nor do I own a house, a car, or a dishwasher. I own nothing, I tell you! Nothing!! (Just kidding...)
A/N: Sorry for the late update! I wasn't in much of a writing mood last week because our dog passed on.
A/N 2: I also apologize for any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or lousy plotlines. I, desperate to post a new chapter, completed all 1,622 words of it in a grand total of less than two hours, so I didn't really do much checking.
Anonymous Review Reply:
Bladecutter25: Thanks for the review - I'm glad you liked it. I'm trying to start writing longer chapters, but remember this: If I write a very long chapter, that means that the chapter following the long chapter will be really delayed and short. Why? Because I will have used all of my material in the long chapter! Anyway, thanks again and please enjoy this (slightly) longer chapter!
Pavel Chekov:
Navigating a Life
Chapter Ten, Day Three
Ensign Pavel Chekov was in a bad situation.
Correction: He was in a very bad situation.
He was on a Klingon ship with no phaser, no communicator, no friends, and an aching body. And now he had to escape! By himself. Alone. No help.
This would be fun.
Chekov, using the wall for support, slowly proceeded down the corridor, hoping to find a transporter or an open communications line that he could use. Meanwhile, he desperately tried to search for a bright spot in this dilemma.
Vell… um… I'm… alife…
Yes, that was certainly a bright spot.
And… ah… vell… I can valk…
That was pushing it a bit, considering that the ensign needed to keep a shoulder pressed to the wall in order to remain standing, but it was still a plus.
…And I'll get a vonderful funeral…
Going downhill…
…If they can find my body…
…Definitely downhill.
Think happy thoughts, Chekov told himself sternly. Like… maybe I von't die too painfully…
…Real happy, Pavel. Real happy.
Seeing as the happy thoughts had just been sucked into a black hole with no chance of return, the Russian fixed his mind firmly on the mission at hand, blocking off all other thoughts.
He eventually came to a turbolift and, pressing the button to open the doors, quite literally fell into the small space, grunting in mixed pain and annoyance. The doors closed automatically, and Chekov reached up for something to grab onto, so that he could stand up.
Grabbing onto a stick that his fingers found, Chekov hauled himself up, noticing at the same time that the rod moved down.
With a mental shrug, Chekov leaned against the side of the lift and figured that going down a deck instead of up was just fine with him. After all, he wasn't exactly an expert on the construction of Klingon ships—for all he knew, a lower deck could have been home to the bridge.
The lift doors opened again a few seconds later, after Chekov had randomly released the controller, and the ensign looked both ways warily before stepping out of the compartment.
What he saw changed his opinion on his immediate future considerably.
-
Meanwhile, Kirk was discussing with Spock what to do about the ensign stranded on their enemy's ship.
-
And Karagg had just discovered Kembri and K'trok's current (unconscious) state, and Chekov's disappearance, and had alerted the remainder of his small crew of this dilemma. They were ordered to set their weapons to "kill" and seek out the Starfleet crewman.
-
Uhura, receiving a signal from the bird-of-prey, called the captain over the intercom to let him know of this development. Kirk took the communication in the meeting room.
"Audio only, sir," Uhura finished before hitting a couple of buttons to allow the captain to speak with the Klingon ship.
"This is Kirk," James T. stated. "What is it?"
"Kirk—Captain Kirk…"
-
"…I am truly surprised at you," Karagg said, glaring at the communication system as he spoke to his least favorite captain. "You have managed to block your ship to our transporters, and your ensign has knocked out my first officer and my niece. I would have thought that a high-and-mighty Starfleet officer such as yourself would train your crew to have better manners when visiting a foreign ship."
Kirk tried not to grin: this was good. Chekov was alive, and apparently well enough to fight. Not trusting himself not to burst into laughter at Karagg's crew's predicament, he limited his response to a controlled, "Oh?"
"Yes. Also, I just wanted to let you know that we are searching for your ensign as we speak. At the moment, my orders are to have him killed."
"Now, wait a min—"
"Of course, I may be willing to reconsider," Karagg cut off the Enterprise's captain.
"Under what conditions?" asked Kirk, having a feeling that he was not going to like the answer.
"Open your ship to our transporters and we will beam your ensign back there. I cannot guarantee that he won't have some company, but…"
Nope. Kirk did not like the conditions. Time to renegotiate.
"Look, Karagg, let's talk this over a little more," he suggested.
Spock, who had remained silent up to this point, now commented to the Klingon, "Before we hold our conference, I do not think it would be unreasonable for you to tell us why your ship is in Federation territory."
"Alright," Karagg nodded at the Vulcan he could not see. "I will tell you: We want your ship."
"NOTHIN' DOIN'!"
-
Kirk jumped as the Scottish voice boomed throughout the meeting room. Turning in his chair to face the engineer standing in the doorway, the captain asked, "Scotty?"
"I'm sorry, cap'n," Scotty made the obligatory apology. "I was just comin' to give ye that status report on the Repulsion Device—she's still workin' fine, by the way—an' I couldn't help but hear."
"Is that a community center you have over there, Kirk?" Karagg's voice, sounding infinitely ticked off, demanded. "More people keep suddenly joining the conversation."
"This was the last interruption," promised Kirk, just as another button blinked on the comm unit, indicating that another person wanted to talk to him. "Except for this one. Just let me tell them to talk to me later."
"Fiiiiiine…" was the growled response.
Kirk quickly switched the right button and said, "I'm a little busy. Kirk ou—"
"Jim," McCoy's voice replied urgently, "Sulu isn't doing very well."
"I'm a captain, not a doctor," Kirk stated in exasperation. "Take care of it, Bones!"
"No, no, I didn't mean 'not very well', I meant 'not very well at all'. As in he needs treatment I can't give him in order to make even a partial recovery!"
You know those moments where you just feel like repeatedly smashing your head against a wall? Kirk was having one of those moments.
-
On the other hand, Chekov felt like shouting for joy. Not five yards in front of him was a beautiful shuttlecraft, waiting to be used.
So what if he had no idea of how to operate a Klingon craft? This was good. This was very good.
Joy temporarily dissipating his pain, the ensign darted forward, opened the shuttlecraft door, and hopped in, locking the opening behind him.
"Time to blow this joint," Chekov muttered to himself, searching the control panel for anything that might propel the craft forward. A moment later, he concluded that it might be a good idea to open the passage that would allow the craft to exit the bird-of-prey's hangar.
"Idiot," he mumbled, unlocking the door and running out, flipping the switch conveniently placed next to the passage's opening. The Russian then hurried back to the shuttlecraft, got in, locked the door, and sat down in the pilot's chair.
"Now ve're going places."
And so he was, as, after fiddling around a bit, Chekov hit upon a stroke of good luck and found the craft moving towards the exit. He was going home.
Well, not home. To the Enterprise. But that was close enough at the moment.
The shuttlecraft advanced—slowly at first, but then more quickly once Chekov found the accelerator—and finally cleared the exit passage, sending the ensign out into open space.
While managing to keep the craft on a more-or-less steady course towards the Enterprise, he glanced at the control panel from time to time, searching for a communicator to use. After all, it would ruin his entire escape from the Klingons if his own ship's crew thought that he was an enemy.
Yes, being blown apart into his individual atoms by a laser would definitely spoil things.
Finally, Chekov's eyes caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a piece of communications equipment and twisted a knob, grinning victoriously as it turned on. He twisted another little knob back and forth for a while until it met the Enterprise's frequency.
"Uhura?" Chekov asked hopefully, once he was fairly certain that he'd turned on the audio.
"Yes, this is the Enter—Pavel?" the communications officer's voice interrupted itself.
"Da, da! Is me! Pavel!" the ensign enthusiastically proclaimed.
"Pavel!" exclaimed Uhura. "Where are you? Rand!" she continued, "Get the captain! Are you alright, Pavel?"
"Da, I am fine; I am in the shuttlecraft. To the Enterprise's starboard."
"Good," Uhura sighed. "You're sure you're alright?"
"Yes… vell… mostly," he admitted. "I hurt a little, but I am alife. That is good."
"That's very good, Pavel. How did you get in the shuttlecraft?"
"I take it," was the simple reply.
"Well, as long as you're alright, that's just fine. Get behind the ship if you can, so that the Klingons can't fire at you when they realize you're gone."
"Okay. I vill. Is Sulu good?"
"He's in sickbay right now, but the last I heard, he was supposed to be doing well."
"That is good. Vas Scotty wery mad at us?"
"No, not too mad, I don't think," Uhura answered. "Just very upset. …The captain's here, Pavel. He wants to talk to you."
"Okay."
"Chekov," Kirk promptly spoke. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, sair. I am alife and vell. Vhen can I beam aboard?"
There was a pause from the Federation ship. "It may be a little while, Ensign. For now, just move your shuttlecraft behind the Enterprise."
"I am doing that, sair."
"Good, good… Uhura, keep the line open. I want you to stay in contact with Chekov. Ensign, I'll talk to you again later. For now I have a few other things to attend to."
"Aye, sair."
"Yes, captain," Uhura added. She continued to Chekov, "What do you want to talk about, Pasha?"
"Anything besides Klingons."
"Good choice."