p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s1" style="text-decoration-line: underline; font-kerning: none;"Chapter 1/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia Murray walks the corridors of the USS Enterprise. She has got a clipboard in her hand and a frown on her face, and her feet lead her to an airlock. Quickly approaching from the opposite side is Montgomery Scott, the ship's Chief Engineer. She smiles at him, but the frown doesn't disappear./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"What's up, lass?"/em he asks, touching her shoulder class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"The frown deepens. em"Just frustrated, Monty. He's out there doing god knows what, we're violating the prime directive, and there is no security personnel involved in all of this. My team is feeling overlooked."/em She sighs. em"Kirk doesn't listen to anything I say."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"He's a great Captain though."/em Scotty tries to defend his friend./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia smiles. em"Is he? Or is he just the luckiest bastard in the whole galaxy?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"The control panel next to the door in front of them suddenly blinks to life. emAirlock open. /emThey look at each other. Showtime. emAirlock closed. Draining water initiated. Draining water finished./em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"The airlock opens, and Celia looks at her Captain and Chief Medical Officer. They look soaking wet. They've got these ridiculous blue swimming suits on and Bones looks pissed. Water drips from the ceiling, and they take off their goggles./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Scotty starts first. em"Do you have any idea how ridiculous it is to hide a starship on the bottom of the ocean? We've been doon here since last night. The salt water's going to ruin the... "/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Kirk cuts him off quickly before he gets going. em"Scotty, where is Spock?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Scotty looks at Celia for support. He sighs. em"Sill in the volcano, sir."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Bones and Kirk quickly rush to the bridge. They are still wet, so sometimes they slip a little on the corners. Celia tries to get a response from her Captain about the natives./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Captain, can we expect them to find us here?"/em Kirk ignores her and keeps running./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Did they follow you in the ocean, Captain?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Kirk keeps running. He arrives at the doors of the bridge, they open, and he bursts inside. When he's standing still, Celia grabs his arm. em"Captain, what..."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"He tugs his arm back and looks at her. He's pissed. em"Lieutenant Murray, our priority now is getting Mister Spock out of this volcano. I have no time for your rules. You're Chief of Security, deal with it. Dismissed."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"He turns around, ignoring her. She just stands there, clutching her clipboard. She's mad. Her insides are boiling. It is her job after all to make sure the defences are strong in case of an attack. It would be nice to be able to prepare, for one. She heads for her console and ignores the discussion. She's sure Kirk wouldn't appreciate her input anyway. They are discussing wether violating the Prime Directive is worth it, if they can save Spock that way. Celia thinks they should leave Spock where he is. The Prime Directive is the most important rule in the book. Spock chose to go down into a live volcano. They shouldn't risk influencing this civilisation for one person. But of course, Kirk votes to do the heroic thing, and the ship rises from the sea./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"She informs her team about the developments, and tells them they will head for San Fransisco after this. She ponders the decision to save Spock some more. Another reason to not risk the ship is that the volcano could erupt and rupture the hull. Kirk is risking everything for one grumpy Vulcan. Honestly, it's baffling./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Kirk returns to the bridge with his yellow uniform on. He's got the biggest cocky grin on his face Celia has every seen. She feels her stomach starting to boil again, and she gets up to leave. She'll check up on the weapons depot, wether not everything has been returned correctly. Anything to not have to look at his smug face right now. Uhura notices her friend leaving quickly, and follows her out./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"She pulls Celia into an empty corridor for a quick chat. em"Hey, you ok?"/em she asks./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks at her. Uhura is her friend, she needs to make sure she doesn't take out her frustrations with Kirk on her. She takes a deep breath to steady herself./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Kirk dismissed me in front of everybody. I was simply asking him about an enemy pursuit. He didn't consult me about this stupid plan. Me, his Chief of Security! My team wasn't even involved in this!"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"He voice becomes louder, and she looks around quickly. Uhura looks on, and Celia sees that she feels bad for her. em"My team doesn't feel useful at all. They look to me for guidance, and all I can tell them is that the Captain dismissed me in front of everybody."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Uhura gives her a hug. em"I can try to talk to him if you want?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia smiles at her friend when the hug breaks up. em"Please don't. He's going to hear it from me before we take off again. That's a promise. Don't you worry about it. I just don't feel like looking at his face right now."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Uhura laughs out loud. em"Now that I understand! See you later then, we'll have a drink in San Fransisco, yeah?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Deal!"/em Celia responds. The friends smile at each other and part ways. Celia send out a message to her team./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemI know you're all feeling a bit let down by our Captain not utilising our full potential. I will discuss this with him before our next trip. He will be notified, and if he still doesn't understand, I'll smash his head through a panel. This is a promise. Murray out./em/strong/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"She breathes out, feeling better about herself. She'll fight for her team, and she needs them to know that. Quickly, responses flood in./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemRead./em/strong/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemAcknowledged./em/strong/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemGo get him Chief!/em/strong/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemHahahaha!/em/strong/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Hendorff's response makes her smile. Their relationship has improved a lot since their first mission. He seems to trust her judgement now./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemWe know you're trying your best Chief. Our Captain is a blockhead sometimes./em/strong/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"A weight falls off her chest. She breathes out, and heads for the weapons depot. Weapons to check, Captains to avoid. So much to do!/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia Murray walks the corridors of the USS Enterprise. She has got a clipboard in her hand and a frown on her face, and her feet lead her to an airlock. Quickly approaching from the opposite side is Montgomery Scott, the ship's Chief Engineer. She smiles at him, but the frown doesn't disappear./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"What's up, lass?"/em he asks, touching her shoulder class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"The frown deepens. em"Just frustrated, Monty. He's out there doing god knows what, we're violating the prime directive, and there is no security personnel involved in all of this. My team is feeling overlooked."/em She sighs. em"Kirk doesn't listen to anything I say."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"He's a great Captain though."/em Scotty tries to defend his friend./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia smiles. em"Is he? Or is he just the luckiest bastard in the whole galaxy?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"The control panel next to the door in front of them suddenly blinks to life. emAirlock open. /emThey look at each other. Showtime. emAirlock closed. Draining water initiated. Draining water finished./em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"The airlock opens, and Celia looks at her Captain and Chief Medical Officer. They look soaking wet. They've got these ridiculous blue swimming suits on and Bones looks pissed. Water drips from the ceiling, and they take off their goggles./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Scotty starts first. em"Do you have any idea how ridiculous it is to hide a starship on the bottom of the ocean? We've been doon here since last night. The salt water's going to ruin the... "/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Kirk cuts him off quickly before he gets going. em"Scotty, where is Spock?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Scotty looks at Celia for support. He sighs. em"Sill in the volcano, sir."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Bones and Kirk quickly rush to the bridge. They are still wet, so sometimes they slip a little on the corners. Celia tries to get a response from her Captain about the natives./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Captain, can we expect them to find us here?"/em Kirk ignores her and keeps running./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Did they follow you in the ocean, Captain?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Kirk keeps running. He arrives at the doors of the bridge, they open, and he bursts inside. When he's standing still, Celia grabs his arm. em"Captain, what..."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"He tugs his arm back and looks at her. He's pissed. em"Lieutenant Murray, our priority now is getting Mister Spock out of this volcano. I have no time for your rules. You're Chief of Security, deal with it. Dismissed."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"He turns around, ignoring her. She just stands there, clutching her clipboard. She's mad. Her insides are boiling. It is her job after all to make sure the defences are strong in case of an attack. It would be nice to be able to prepare, for one. She heads for her console and ignores the discussion. She's sure Kirk wouldn't appreciate her input anyway. They are discussing wether violating the Prime Directive is worth it, if they can save Spock that way. Celia thinks they should leave Spock where he is. The Prime Directive is the most important rule in the book. Spock chose to go down into a live volcano. They shouldn't risk influencing this civilisation for one person. But of course, Kirk votes to do the heroic thing, and the ship rises from the sea./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"She informs her team about the developments, and tells them they will head for San Fransisco after this. She ponders the decision to save Spock some more. Another reason to not risk the ship is that the volcano could erupt and rupture the hull. Kirk is risking everything for one grumpy Vulcan. Honestly, it's baffling./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Kirk returns to the bridge with his yellow uniform on. He's got the biggest cocky grin on his face Celia has every seen. She feels her stomach starting to boil again, and she gets up to leave. She'll check up on the weapons depot, wether not everything has been returned correctly. Anything to not have to look at his smug face right now. Uhura notices her friend leaving quickly, and follows her out./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"She pulls Celia into an empty corridor for a quick chat. em"Hey, you ok?"/em she asks./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks at her. Uhura is her friend, she needs to make sure she doesn't take out her frustrations with Kirk on her. She takes a deep breath to steady herself./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Kirk dismissed me in front of everybody. I was simply asking him about an enemy pursuit. He didn't consult me about this stupid plan. Me, his Chief of Security! My team wasn't even involved in this!"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"He voice becomes louder, and she looks around quickly. Uhura looks on, and Celia sees that she feels bad for her. em"My team doesn't feel useful at all. They look to me for guidance, and all I can tell them is that the Captain dismissed me in front of everybody."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Uhura gives her a hug. em"I can try to talk to him if you want?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia smiles at her friend when the hug breaks up. em"Please don't. He's going to hear it from me before we take off again. That's a promise. Don't you worry about it. I just don't feel like looking at his face right now."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Uhura laughs out loud. em"Now that I understand! See you later then, we'll have a drink in San Fransisco, yeah?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Deal!"/em Celia responds. The friends smile at each other and part ways. Celia send out a message to her team./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemI know you're all feeling a bit let down by our Captain not utilising our full potential. I will discuss this with him before our next trip. He will be notified, and if he still doesn't understand, I'll smash his head through a panel. This is a promise. Murray out./em/strong/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"She breathes out, feeling better about herself. She'll fight for her team, and she needs them to know that. Quickly, responses flood in./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemRead./em/strong/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemAcknowledged./em/strong/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemGo get him Chief!/em/strong/span/p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemHahahaha!/em/strong/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"Hendorff's response makes her smile. Their relationship has improved a lot since their first mission. He seems to trust her judgement now./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"strongemWe know you're trying your best Chief. Our Captain is a blockhead sometimes./em/strong/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none;"A weight falls off her chest. She breathes out, and heads for the weapons depot. Weapons to check, Captains to avoid. So much to do!/span/p