a/n- Wow, I really struggled with this one. I hope I did it justice but maybe I'll just stick to writing smut!


It had been a slow and uncomfortable process crawling through what seemed like miles of duct work, but eventually the landing party (or what still remained of it) found what they thought would be a safe exit.

First, they stopped at a vent and listened. They heard nothing and Julie twisted her light on and tried to peer down through the vent, making sure no one was in the room. It was dark and hard to see through the levers of the vent, but she could see just enough of what appeared to be consoles and chairs to hope that otherwise, the room was empty.

She had to curl herself into a ball to get her legs in front of her, but when she did she was able to kick the vent out, sending it clattering to the floor.

"I sure hope no one heard that," McCoy muttered over her shoulder.

"Too late now," she said, scrambling out of the duct.

Julie had been crouched for too long in the air shaft and a sharp pain seized her lower back as she tried to stand. She pressed her hands into her hips and gritted her teeth. Straightening herself, she quickly glanced around the room and found it empty as she had hoped.

McCoy was standing beside her now stretching himself. Clark and Chekov crawled out behind him. Julie was filthy; they were all filthy and the knees of her regulation black nylons were shredded from crawling. But she felt more secure now than she had since they landed. At least she felt like the ball was back in their court.

The room was lit only by the lights of the consoles and screens and the only sounds were the hums and whirs from the computers.

Clark wiped the grime from her face with her sleeve, walked over to a console and sat down. "I reckon we should try to contact the ship somehow."

Chekov joined her at the next console. He pressed a few buttons and tried to type in a command. Nothing happened and his face turned stony. "Iz password protected," he said disappointedly. He sat back in his chair, crossed his arms and scowled once again.

Julie watched him for a minute and began to wonder if he was famous for that scowl the same way Spock was famous for his eyebrows.

"Let's crack it and hack it," she suggested.

"Vat? You can't do zat, iz illegal."

"Uh Chekov, even if the captain and Spock are still alive, I don't think they're going to have a problem with you bending a few laws if it means getting us out of this mess," McCoy said, patting the young ensign on the back.

Chekov looked up at him desperately. "I vouldn't even know vhere to begin…."

"I do," Clark said softly. And for the first time, she smiled. It wasn't just a sweet shy smile, it was an ornery smile and Julie realized she was beginning to like this girl.

"Me too, "she smiled back. "Let's do it." She shooed Chekov out of the way and took his place at the console.

Julie and Clark started banging away on the keyboards and within a few minutes, Julie called out that she had something.

"It's not that important really, but the guy's name is Frances….Dr. Frances Eugene Gordon." She frowned at the profile on screen and added, "He's a shrink of all things."

McCoy snorted, "With a name like that, no wonder he has issues."

"Oh, I don't know Leonard, Frances isn't all that bad is it?" Julie said, giving McCoy a smiling glance. He glared at her and she quickly went back to her task.

"I've got security cams back online!" Clark exclaimed. Another screen blinked on and Chekov sat down in front of it smiling, watching the alternating views of the various rooms and corridor flick by.

"Do you think Dr. Frankenstein knows we're missing yet?" McCoy asked. He leaned on the back of Julie's chair and watched over her shoulder anxiously.

"I hope not," she answered, " but of course there is no telling how long we were out……or how long we crawled to find this room….or if the captain and Commander Spock are okay……or if the ship even knows we're missing yet….."

"OKAY! Okay….a lot of variables involved here. Let's just stick to the basics and get communications back online," McCoy demanded.

"I'm workin on it." Julie said defensively but it was Clark that managed to hack communications first.

"I GOT IT!" Clark shouted triumphantly. She almost jumped out of her chair in victory before she remembered where she was. She blushed and turned her attention back to the console. Julie stuck out her tongue and Clark smiled as she called the ship.

"Clark to Enterprise….Clark to Enterprise…come in Enterprise."

"Enterprise, Scott here."

Clark pumped her arm and mouthed an enthusiastic, "Yes".

McCoy leaned over her shoulder to speak. "Mr. Scott, listen carefully, we don't have much time. Dr. Gordon has murdered the entire Drexler staff and is running loose here in the main building. We have not been able to locate Spock or the captain. We need a security team as soon as you can beam them down."

"Dr. McCoy, Captain Kirk ordered a security team about six hours ago but we've not been able to beam anyone down. We've been trying but there's something jamming us from yer end. It's as though someone locked us out. "

"Keep trying Scotty. We'll see what we can figure out from this end. In the meantime, have you heard anything from Spock or the captain? " McCoy asked, his patients wearing thin in his voice.

"Not since the captain ordered the security team and like I said, that was hours ago."

On the security screen, they could see Dr. Gordon searching door to door, knife in one hand, phaser in the other. Searching for them, searching for Spock and Kirk; it did not matter. Sooner or later he would find them. They heard the sound of feet in the corridor and someone was fiddling with the door control.

"We have to Go Scotty, I think we're about to have company."

"Aye, I'll be standing by Doctor. Good luck. Scott out."

McCoy turned to Chekov and said, "Now might be a good time to scrounge up some weapons, Mr. Chekov."

The only things handy were the chairs, and the two men both took one by the legs and positioned themselves on each side of the door to wait. Julie and Clark minimized the screens and crouched under the console. It wasn't much protection but it was better than nothing.

When the door finally opened, Chekov and McCoy swung simultaneously hitting their target with a loud whack in the face and knocking him out cold. Two bodies hit the floor with a thud; the bodies of their captain and first officer.

"Ohhhhh shit…" a wide-eyed Clark gasped from under the console.

Julie let a nervous giggle escape her lips before she clamped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from bursting out into laughter. In the dimness she saw Chekov's mouth form a slow, silent "Oh no" and the shocked expression on McCoy's face.

"Sonuva…" he whispered, reaching down to pull Kirk out of the doorway, which was now closing and opening automatically on his body. Chekov struggled with Spock but together they managed to drag the unconscious men to a corner of the room where McCoy could assess the damage.

Spock's nose was bleeding and was set slightly off center. Kirk had a large goose egg forming on his forehead. He raised his head up, babbling something incoherent. His eyes crossed, then rolled back in his head and he passed out.

McCoy used Julie's filched penlight to examine Spock and the captain's pupils. Then he checked their pulse and respirations and sighed.

"Well, Spock's nose is broken but that's nothing I can't fix once we get back to the ship. And Jim is going to have one nasty headache but I think he'll be alright. At least we know we have everyone accounted for."

Chekov looked like he was going to be sick and he righted a toppled chair and then slumped into it.

Clark was already back at her console working on the transporter problem. "Okay, based on what Mr. Scott said, I think I might have this figured out."

Everyone gathered around her to listen and she continued, "Before I was accepted to Communications, I was a transporter tech and we had this thing we could do, where we could reprogram the transporter so that it only allowed certain people to use the transporter. It was good for a laugh and I reckon that's what's going on here, only Dr. Gordon reversed it from this end. Not only can no one beam out, but no one can beam down anymore either."

The longer she spoke the heavier her accent became and the faster she talked. "So what we need to do is...... we need to reconfigure a tricorder, if we can find one, and put it in testing mode."

Clark took a deep breath, "Then, we either enter the code of the person who reprogrammed it; which I'm willin' to bet Dr. Gordon ain't gonna give us, or find a generic code. It would trick the transporter into thinking we were the ones who programmed it and Mr. Scott could beam us up."

She looked up at them, then back at the screen. She crossed her arms, nodded, and said with finality, "Yep, that would about do it."

"So you're telling me we need to find a tricorder and get back to the lobby," McCoy asked skeptically.

"Yep," Clark chirped.

"Well, Spock doesn't have his. It's the first thing I checked after we hit him."

Chekov sat up straight in his chair. "Vhat do you mean ve hit him. I did not hit him, I only hit the keptain." Then he looked like he was going to be sick again and muttered, "Oh my God I hit the keptain."

"Take it easy Chekov," Julie said. "I'm sure Captain Kirk will understand once we explain." She looked to McCoy for confirmation, "Won't he?"

"I don't know Lieutenant, I've never hit him in the face with a chair before," McCoy answered sarcastically.

"Then might I suggest we get moving?" Julie asked. "The sooner we get back to the ship, the sooner you can straighten him out."

Everyone agreed and by then Spock was able to walk on his own. Between him and Dr. McCoy they were able to carry the captain.

That left Julie, Chekov and Clark to walk point and guard the rear.

Julie went out into the corridor first. It was dim but at least she could see without using her penlight. She signaled to the others. Spock and McCoy were next with a very groggy captain Kirk. They were followed a few seconds later by Clark and Chekov.

They walked as quickly and quietly as they could, only stopping to peak around corners or to listen carefully, making sure they would not be ambushed again. Sometimes they could actually hear Dr. Gordon in some other part of the building. His insane laughter and angry tirades echoed through the corridors.

At one point Julie thought she heard him coming and signaled the others to back into a niche along the corridor. As they flattened themselves against the wall they heard his footsteps getting closer and becoming faster. He was running. As he ran past them, unexpectedly Clark leapt out from her hiding place and tackled Dr. Gordon like linebacker. She smashed into him, knocking his knife and phaser out of his hand and sending them clattering to the floor. She used her body to trap him against the wall, elbowing him in the chest and ribs, and when he was finally on the floor being pummeled in the head with her fists, Chekov managed to drag a kicking and punching Clark off the unconscious man before she beat him to a bloody pulp.

When she realized she was no longer fighting a knife wielding psychopathic killer, she calmed down, dusted herself off, jerked the hem of her skirt back in place and said with a satisfied smile, "Well I guess I kicked his ass!"

She reached down and jerked the tricorder off Dr. Gordon's neck and checked it. "And I got my tricorder back too!"

"Well done Yeoman Clark," Spock said, taking a communicator and looking about as pleased as a Vulcan with a broken nose could look.

"Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, Commander."

Spock answered by raising an eyebrow and nodding.

When they finally reached the lobby and the transporter pad, Clark put her tricorder in testing mode and began trying the generic codes she already knew. When they failed to work, Spock contacted the ship again with his communicator and Clark tried the codes Scotty suggested.

When they too failed, Julie had an idea. She took the tricorder from Clark and punched in a code she noticed in the research room. It was so simple it had to work. She finished entering the code and was rewarded when the console lit up.

"How did you guess that code, Lieutenant," asked Spock.

"That sequence was plastered all over the walls in the research room," she explained. "I figured if Gordon reprogrammed the transporter he would probably use the one code that was constantly on his mind."

For the second time in less than a few minutes, Spock's eyebrow darted upwards again and he admitted, "A logical assumption. One I would not have thought of."

She crossed her arms and considered his statement, then replied, "Hmph....I thought it was kinda obvious."

Everyone stepped up on the transporter pad and she took the communicator from Spock who was holding up a smiling, cross-eyed Captain Kirk. She flipped it open and picked up the ship's frequency.

"McKenzie to Enterprise."

"Enterprise, Scott here." He sounded relieved to hear from them again.

"Scotty, beam us the hell outta here....... Please." She paused and added for good measure, "Energize."

The captain looked up and giggled. "Heeeeeyyy, thasss my line."