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 2/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 accompanies Scott to the Bridge after their lunch. Starbase Yorktown is a sight to behold, and they plan to watch it through the view screen in the Bridge. As they arrive, they can see Commander Spock and Uhura already standing there to do exactly the same. Celia sits down, and Scott leans on the side of her station. Together they watch the Starbase as they approach it. It's a gigantic globe in space, where gravity doesn't seem to matter. There are several buildings visible, collectively forming strange circular bands. It looks like a giant clockwork spinning top./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"It's magnificent."/em Celia comments/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;"Ensign Chekov agrees with her. em"That is impressive."/em he says wistfully./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;"Montgomery Scott smiles and turns a little to face him. em"Aye, she's a beauty, isn't she?"/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 approaching McCoy seems to hold a different view. He chimes in with em"What a damn monstrosity. Couldn't we just rent some space on a planet?"/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 chuckles and turns away, to hide her smile. It's no secret the good doctor doesn't like space much./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"Showing geographical favouritism among the inductive Federation worlds could cause diplomatic tensions."/em Spock explains, as he approaches his Captain./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"You don't think that looks tense?"/em The Doctor exclaims "Looks like a damn snow globe in space, just waiting to break."/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 raises his eyebrows, and turns to his friend. em"That's the spirit, Bones!"/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;"As they approach the affectionately named snow globe, Celia can see it's rotating ever so slightly. They enter the Entry Port, and fly gently through the designated tube. They can see the enormous circles with buildings all around them. It's baffling how people can live like this, all heaped together with gravity being this different than on their original planets./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;"At one moment the Enterprise glides underneath a pond, and Celia can look up through the water. The world looks extremely bizar, both floating and submerged at the same time. At long last they arrive in the right Dock. Celia directs her team to leave the ship. At long last, she heads out 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;"Walking through the corridor she takes out her communicator./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"Babe, how are you doing?" /emShe asks her boyfriend./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 few seconds of silence and then his gruff accent comes through. em"I gottae keep an aye on these technicians love. Cannae promise anything for tonight."/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 sighs, feeling slightly disappointed. em"That's ok babe. Let me know if something changes."/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"Will do. Love you."/em He responds./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"Love you to."/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;"She snaps the communicator closed. She knows he can't help it, being the Chief Engineer and all. It's just very sad that on their first shore leave in ages, he can't even be there. She shakes her head, trying to clear away the sad feeling in her stomach. Maybe she can ask Nyota to go out for a drink./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;"Her feat eat up the corridor as she nears the entrance. The man in front of her wears a yellow jacket. It's Hikaru Sulu, their Helmsman. He's walking very quickly. He remains blissfully unaware of her as she follows him out. She can see him looking around, he's looking for somebody. Celia looks around, and spots a face she's only ever seen on a picture on his station. It's his daughter! Sulu has spotted her as well, and Celia sees him run to her. She turns away, feeling slightly better now that she's seen how happy he is to be reunited with his loved ones./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's going to find herself a drink./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;"-/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"I mean, it's not like he has to be with me at all times!"/em Celia shouts at her friend, trying to be heard over the music./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"But I just wished he'd be here now, you know, 'cos it's shore leave, yeah? That's rare!" /emShe concludes, and she takes a swig of her drink. The alcohol burns through her throat./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;"Nyota looks on but isn't worried. She knows her friend can handle her alcohol./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"Maybe it's a good thing he's working!" /emShe says, eyes, lighting up with an idea. em"Now we can have a girls night, just the two of us!"/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. It sure feels nice to be appreciated sometimes./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"Let's get these drinks down!"/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 two friends smile at each other and toast their worries away. They don't go overboard, but a nice night together will make both of them feel a whole lot better. They end up chatting about Kirk, and how different he's been acting lately. He seems a bit, unsure./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"Don't you think he's less cocky now?"/em Nyota 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 takes a moment to think it over. em"Maybe he's more confident in the role as 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;"But before she can answer, Nyota starts to shake her head. em"He's be even more cocky if that was the case. No something is bothering him I think."/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;"Before she can answer, Celia feels her communicator vibrate. She looks at "I'm just gonna check if it's him, but if it is, I'm ignoring it. Girls night!"/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;"Her friend looks utterly perplexed. em"I don't think it's him."/em She says, as she reaches down and takes out her own 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;"Celia looks ones she checks her message, and then she goes into action mode. She flips open her own communicator, and sees it's from the Central Command of Yorktown./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: right; 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;"strongemPlease report to the USS Enterprise in Bay E4 for duty./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 sighs, and looks at her friend. em"Same one? Report for duty?"/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;"Nyota smiles and starts to get up from her chair. em"Guess we can't just catch a break, can we?"/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;"Together they head for Bay E4./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-/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"Attention, the crew of the Enterprise."/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 is talking about the mission. They need to fly through a nebula, and rescue a crew on the other side. Of course. Because nothing can be simple, ever. Celia sighs. She's just in a bad mood because of the cut short shore leave./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;"Suddenly she receives a message on her screen./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: right; 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;"strongemHow was Yorktown?/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;"It's from Montgomery./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: right; 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 went out with Uhura. We had fun./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;"After a moment, she decides to add something more./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: right; 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;"strongemAnd sorry, but I've lots to deal with now… (the rescue) Gotta go./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 feels petty and stupid, and it doesn't make her feel good at all. But sometimes you have to just go for it. A few moments of tension, and there comes his reply./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: right; 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;"strongemSure show em who's boss!span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/strong/span/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;"br /She closes the little popup. She takes a few moments for deep breaths, and then she turns to her actual work. She needs to makes sure a team of officers is ready to disembark to the planet beyond the nebula./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-/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;"There is the planet below. She can see it on her sensors. Honestly, she doesn't really care at the moment. Her emotional turmoil is getting the better of her. They can't even see life forms on the planet. Celia looks up from her fingernails. No life forms? Wasn't the crew supposed to be there?/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;"Sulu speaks up from behind her. em"Proximity alert, sir. There is an unknown ship heading right towards us."/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;"A sinking feeling hits her right in the stomach. The unknown ship is jamming their sensors! Kirk jumps up and shouts em"Shields Up! Red alert!"/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 updates her team of the specifics, but there is little she can do. The battle is going terrible for the Enterprise, this way of fighting is nothing they have encountered before. She's receiving messages of breaches on all levels./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"I'm receiving reports of enemies on board on in at least 7 levels, Captain!"/em Celia shouts at Kirk./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;"It's getting worse and worse,span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanand then a message from Spock comes through. He has seen the leader and according to him, he's after the artefact from their previous mission./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;"Then, Spock stops responding. em"Spock? Spock!"/em Kirk shouts aloud. He then turns around and starts running. He looks at the two officers always stationed at the Bridge. em"You two with me. Sulu, you have the command."/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 sees it happen, and without thinking she runs after them. Kirk leads the way, and he's running at full speed. She can't quite catch up with them. She spots Kirk run too far, and dive for cover. Her two team members are caught in the line of fire and they go down. Celia just looks on horrified. Kirk is crouching in cover, and he's whispering something in his communicator. Celia looks at him, and she's furious./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 looks at her, and then looks down at the corpses at his feet. Before he can say something, Celia speaks up. em"I'll cover you, go on three."/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 nods./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 counts from em"One… Two… Three!"/em On three she breaks cover and starts firing at the aliens in front of her. They go down one by one, and she only stops when she can see Kirk down the barrel of her phaser. There is a small struggle and the Kirk just bolts. Celia tries to step out of cover again, but suddenly the aliens start firing at her. Green sparks break off the wall she's hiding behind. Celia can't break out of cover to help Kirk. She can't advance at all./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;"So Celia fires once more, blindly, and then she runs away. As she's running, green blasts fly around her ears. The Abandon Ship-alarm is sounding all around her. She heads for the escape pods./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 arrives in the room, and spots everybody getting inside. She stands guard at the door while everybody behind her ejects from the ship. When she doesn't hear anybody behind her, she heads for her pod. She wriggles inside, and watches anxiously as the doors close in front of her face. She clutches her phaser tightly./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;"Suddenly her world disappears and she drifts into space. The blackness of space is broken up by the green sparks and red flames of the battle. Celia can finally see the enemy in all its terrifying glory. It's a bee-like swarm that consumes the space all around her. Suddenly a shock vibrates through the capsule her body and the world becomes pitch black./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"Hey!"/em She shouts in defiance, but she's secretly terrified. She can feel her pod change direction. Something swallowed her little pod, and is bringing her somewhere. She's pushing buttons frantically, but nothing seems to happen. Her pod is her prison 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="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 takes out her communicator and types in one last message./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: right; 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 love you/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 sends it, hoping it will find its way to her boyfriend. With a bit of wriggling she manages to hide her communicator in her sock. She's not too sure if it'll stay there, but it's worth a shot. She holds her phaser in her hands, it's no longer on stun./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 waits for the doors to open. She waits for freedom./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 accompanies Scott to the Bridge after their lunch. Starbase Yorktown is a sight to behold, and they plan to watch it through the view screen in the Bridge. As they arrive, they can see Commander Spock and Uhura already standing there to do exactly the same. Celia sits down, and Scott leans on the side of her station. Together they watch the Starbase as they approach it. It's a gigantic globe in space, where gravity doesn't seem to matter. There are several buildings visible, collectively forming strange circular bands. It looks like a giant clockwork spinning top./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"It's magnificent."/em Celia comments/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;"Ensign Chekov agrees with her. em"That is impressive."/em he says wistfully./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;"Montgomery Scott smiles and turns a little to face him. em"Aye, she's a beauty, isn't she?"/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 approaching McCoy seems to hold a different view. He chimes in with em"What a damn monstrosity. Couldn't we just rent some space on a planet?"/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 chuckles and turns away, to hide her smile. It's no secret the good doctor doesn't like space much./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"Showing geographical favouritism among the inductive Federation worlds could cause diplomatic tensions."/em Spock explains, as he approaches his Captain./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"You don't think that looks tense?"/em The Doctor exclaims "Looks like a damn snow globe in space, just waiting to break."/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 raises his eyebrows, and turns to his friend. em"That's the spirit, Bones!"/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;"As they approach the affectionately named snow globe, Celia can see it's rotating ever so slightly. They enter the Entry Port, and fly gently through the designated tube. They can see the enormous circles with buildings all around them. It's baffling how people can live like this, all heaped together with gravity being this different than on their original planets./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;"At one moment the Enterprise glides underneath a pond, and Celia can look up through the water. The world looks extremely bizar, both floating and submerged at the same time. At long last they arrive in the right Dock. Celia directs her team to leave the ship. At long last, she heads out 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;"Walking through the corridor she takes out her communicator./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"Babe, how are you doing?" /emShe asks her boyfriend./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 few seconds of silence and then his gruff accent comes through. em"I gottae keep an aye on these technicians love. Cannae promise anything for tonight."/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 sighs, feeling slightly disappointed. em"That's ok babe. Let me know if something changes."/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"Will do. Love you."/em He responds./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"Love you to."/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;"She snaps the communicator closed. She knows he can't help it, being the Chief Engineer and all. It's just very sad that on their first shore leave in ages, he can't even be there. She shakes her head, trying to clear away the sad feeling in her stomach. Maybe she can ask Nyota to go out for a drink./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;"Her feat eat up the corridor as she nears the entrance. The man in front of her wears a yellow jacket. It's Hikaru Sulu, their Helmsman. He's walking very quickly. He remains blissfully unaware of her as she follows him out. She can see him looking around, he's looking for somebody. Celia looks around, and spots a face she's only ever seen on a picture on his station. It's his daughter! Sulu has spotted her as well, and Celia sees him run to her. She turns away, feeling slightly better now that she's seen how happy he is to be reunited with his loved ones./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's going to find herself a drink./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;"-/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"I mean, it's not like he has to be with me at all times!"/em Celia shouts at her friend, trying to be heard over the music./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"But I just wished he'd be here now, you know, 'cos it's shore leave, yeah? That's rare!" /emShe concludes, and she takes a swig of her drink. The alcohol burns through her throat./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;"Nyota looks on but isn't worried. She knows her friend can handle her alcohol./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"Maybe it's a good thing he's working!" /emShe says, eyes, lighting up with an idea. em"Now we can have a girls night, just the two of us!"/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. It sure feels nice to be appreciated sometimes./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"Let's get these drinks down!"/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 two friends smile at each other and toast their worries away. They don't go overboard, but a nice night together will make both of them feel a whole lot better. They end up chatting about Kirk, and how different he's been acting lately. He seems a bit, unsure./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"Don't you think he's less cocky now?"/em Nyota 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 takes a moment to think it over. em"Maybe he's more confident in the role as 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;"But before she can answer, Nyota starts to shake her head. em"He's be even more cocky if that was the case. No something is bothering him I think."/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;"Before she can answer, Celia feels her communicator vibrate. She looks at "I'm just gonna check if it's him, but if it is, I'm ignoring it. Girls night!"/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;"Her friend looks utterly perplexed. em"I don't think it's him."/em She says, as she reaches down and takes out her own 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;"Celia looks ones she checks her message, and then she goes into action mode. She flips open her own communicator, and sees it's from the Central Command of Yorktown./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: right; 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;"strongemPlease report to the USS Enterprise in Bay E4 for duty./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 sighs, and looks at her friend. em"Same one? Report for duty?"/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;"Nyota smiles and starts to get up from her chair. em"Guess we can't just catch a break, can we?"/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;"Together they head for Bay E4./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-/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"Attention, the crew of the Enterprise."/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 is talking about the mission. They need to fly through a nebula, and rescue a crew on the other side. Of course. Because nothing can be simple, ever. Celia sighs. She's just in a bad mood because of the cut short shore leave./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;"Suddenly she receives a message on her screen./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: right; 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;"strongemHow was Yorktown?/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;"It's from Montgomery./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: right; 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 went out with Uhura. We had fun./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;"After a moment, she decides to add something more./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: right; 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;"strongemAnd sorry, but I've lots to deal with now… (the rescue) Gotta go./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 feels petty and stupid, and it doesn't make her feel good at all. But sometimes you have to just go for it. A few moments of tension, and there comes his reply./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: right; 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;"strongemSure show em who's boss!span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/strong/span/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;"br /She closes the little popup. She takes a few moments for deep breaths, and then she turns to her actual work. She needs to makes sure a team of officers is ready to disembark to the planet beyond the nebula./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-/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;"There is the planet below. She can see it on her sensors. Honestly, she doesn't really care at the moment. Her emotional turmoil is getting the better of her. They can't even see life forms on the planet. Celia looks up from her fingernails. No life forms? Wasn't the crew supposed to be there?/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;"Sulu speaks up from behind her. em"Proximity alert, sir. There is an unknown ship heading right towards us."/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;"A sinking feeling hits her right in the stomach. The unknown ship is jamming their sensors! Kirk jumps up and shouts em"Shields Up! Red alert!"/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 updates her team of the specifics, but there is little she can do. The battle is going terrible for the Enterprise, this way of fighting is nothing they have encountered before. She's receiving messages of breaches on all levels./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"I'm receiving reports of enemies on board on in at least 7 levels, Captain!"/em Celia shouts at Kirk./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;"It's getting worse and worse,span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanand then a message from Spock comes through. He has seen the leader and according to him, he's after the artefact from their previous mission./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;"Then, Spock stops responding. em"Spock? Spock!"/em Kirk shouts aloud. He then turns around and starts running. He looks at the two officers always stationed at the Bridge. em"You two with me. Sulu, you have the command."/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 sees it happen, and without thinking she runs after them. Kirk leads the way, and he's running at full speed. She can't quite catch up with them. She spots Kirk run too far, and dive for cover. Her two team members are caught in the line of fire and they go down. Celia just looks on horrified. Kirk is crouching in cover, and he's whispering something in his communicator. Celia looks at him, and she's furious./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 looks at her, and then looks down at the corpses at his feet. Before he can say something, Celia speaks up. em"I'll cover you, go on three."/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 nods./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 counts from em"One… Two… Three!"/em On three she breaks cover and starts firing at the aliens in front of her. They go down one by one, and she only stops when she can see Kirk down the barrel of her phaser. There is a small struggle and the Kirk just bolts. Celia tries to step out of cover again, but suddenly the aliens start firing at her. Green sparks break off the wall she's hiding behind. Celia can't break out of cover to help Kirk. She can't advance at all./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;"So Celia fires once more, blindly, and then she runs away. As she's running, green blasts fly around her ears. The Abandon Ship-alarm is sounding all around her. She heads for the escape pods./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 arrives in the room, and spots everybody getting inside. She stands guard at the door while everybody behind her ejects from the ship. When she doesn't hear anybody behind her, she heads for her pod. She wriggles inside, and watches anxiously as the doors close in front of her face. She clutches her phaser tightly./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;"Suddenly her world disappears and she drifts into space. The blackness of space is broken up by the green sparks and red flames of the battle. Celia can finally see the enemy in all its terrifying glory. It's a bee-like swarm that consumes the space all around her. Suddenly a shock vibrates through the capsule her body and the world becomes pitch black./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"Hey!"/em She shouts in defiance, but she's secretly terrified. She can feel her pod change direction. Something swallowed her little pod, and is bringing her somewhere. She's pushing buttons frantically, but nothing seems to happen. Her pod is her prison 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="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 takes out her communicator and types in one last message./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: right; 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 love you/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 sends it, hoping it will find its way to her boyfriend. With a bit of wriggling she manages to hide her communicator in her sock. She's not too sure if it'll stay there, but it's worth a shot. She holds her phaser in her hands, it's no longer on stun./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 waits for the doors to open. She waits for freedom./span/p