Transcript Begins…

Vice Admiral Pike's Personal Log. Stardate: 48-something. Fuck, I don't even know the Stardate - it's been a good few days since we got thrown half way across the universe, but I don't even know how many.

Since I last updated this log, we have got Commander Spock and McCoy back. Thank god for that, I was not a fan of being the only competent person in Sick Bay. McCoy is still healing from that bizarre disease that I still do not fully understand, but at least now my days are punctuated with little gripes and sarcastic comments as well as foolish engineers trying to set their skin on fire. Honestly, what is it with engineers? They are always getting injured, no matter what the context - away missions, basic maintenance, brushing their teeth…

I'm getting side-tracked. Apologies.

What was I talking about? Ah. Yes - getting McCoy and Commander Spock back from the centre of that bizarre planet. We'd gone down to the planet's surface with Neelix and a couple of hundred tonnes of water, planning to trade water for the boys. The offer of water had gone down well - turns out it isn't just Neelix having an aversion to water - but the main problem came along with the giving back of crew members. Neelix had been a little economical with the truth when he said he'd known where to find the boys, and had led us instead to people, the Kazon-Ogla, who were holding his girlfriend hostage. How sweet.

Yet, how very frustrating, if you were the people who wanted to actually get the crew members back. I mean, I am all for big romantic gestures and the using wily tricks and turns to get back the girl, but not when it means I cannot get my CMO back. He is snarky and annoying and I like him. I don't like it when people take away a sarcastic brat who I could be friends with. These Kazon-Ogla were not the most friendly of people, having grabbed us roughly as soon as Neelix started speaking to them, and hauling us off towards their camp. It was faintly amusing to watch them pick Neelix up, as though he were crowd-surfing and tow him away, but it stopped being funny when they took phasers away from everyone else in the group. Neelix tried to convince us that they were playing some kind of practical joke, repeating "Very funny" over and over until I wanted the Kazon-Ogla to just use the weapons pointed at us to shoot me in the head. He floundered so much in desperate attempt to seem in control of the situation, and I got shoved to my knees next to Kirk. It was very dramatic. Very…over done.

When Kirk asked for directions towards the Ocampa, the leader of this group, Jabin I think his name was, chose that precise moment to tell us there was no way to get to the Ocampa and that the only Ocampa he knew were the ones that made their way to the surface. We also then had to put up with a discussion on what poor servants they make, living only nine years. Given the state Kes, Neelix's girlfriend, was in, I think the translation software might have been being a little loose with the terminology. 'Slave' would have been a better fit. She had a swollen lip, black eye, the works. She looked the archetype of a beaten housewife - she even had the beauty to go with it. Thank God that Neelix bargained for her to come with us. I don't think I could have coped with the thought of leaving that terrified looking young woman on that planet alone.

I say 'bargained'. This part of our adventure actually made me respect Neelix a little more - he held Jabin at gunpoint with this tiny little device and threatened to kill him if the other Kazon-Ogla didn't drop their weapons. I mean, it was a ballsy move, and I am impressed he played us like that. I thought the destruction of the water tanks was a little extra, but hey - what's life without a little flair.

When we got back to the Enterprise, my argument that everyone should leave Sick Bay so that I could treat my patient in peace was shot down. Apparently, Kirk wished I actually was the Emergency Medical Hologram so that he could switch me off at will. What an arrogant, self-centred prat - thinking just because he is the captain that medical treatment is something that could be taken lightly. Granted, it did only take five minutes to fully heal Kes - but it was the principle.

Luckily for us, Kes knew where the tunnels leading to the surface were, and so we could know of a rough estimate of where to target the transporters. Unluckily for us, the barrier was quite an advanced one, there was no signs of an underground city and Chekov (who has the most adorable accent I have ever heard, holy fuck, he is so cute) Chekov voiced concerns that we wouldn't be able to beam through it either. Luckily for us once more, there were breaches in the barrier, said Kes, there are places where it has begun to decay.

Excellent, said I, now we've resolved this, you can all get out my Sick Bay.

Kirk ignored me, demanding that someone in a red shirt goes and tells the Transporter Room to begin a sweep for these breaches immediately. I resisted the urge to point out that we have a comms system and he could have told them himself. I swear, I am trying to hold back the jabs and the jibes, but I get insubordinate when I'm uncomfortable. And I have never been more uncomfortable than when I have been thrown HALF WAY ACROSS THE GODDAMN UNIVERSE.

I was glad that I managed to convince Kirk to take me down to the city, even just to witness Kes talking back to her elders. It was pretty badass, I have to admit.

"We've developed a talent for dependence. For simply taking what we're given," Kes had said to one of them in a tone so calm and so composed it was perfect. It wasn't anger or defiance driving her speech, just a cold analysis of her people's current state. I was a little bit in awe, I have to admit. I can talk shit with the best of them, but I could never have the composed delivery that Kes had just then, could never hold back any anger I felt in order to be heard, truly heard. Icon.

It seems that the Ocampa have been relying on the Caretaker, hailing it as though it were a god for generations upon generations. Kes was having none of it. She turned away from her elders, and led us through the underground city, hunting for McCoy and Spock.
As we were searching for them, the array suddenly stopped sending its pulses. There was a brief moment where no pulses sounded through the city, no reverberations as the energy hit the conduits. Then, the ground shook. I stumbled in my step, falling half on to Kirk, grabbing his forearm to stop me from face planting on the floor. Just saying that I nearly fell on Kirk makes the shame flood through me again - my god, how embarrassing. If it wasn't enough that I'd gone from 'slightly annoying new Medical Officer' to full blown 'pain in the arse', then stumbling like a newborn foal was definitely the thing that would seal the final nail in my coffin. He actually looked genuinely concerned when he asked if I was alright - like I was just a kid, going to be scared by a little planet shaking blow.

Turns out, the array had started firing a weapon at the planet, sealing off the conduits from the outside world. I'd made an offhand comment about him getting his affairs in order, only to be met by puzzled looks as we all fell back into our rhythmic march. What had seemed obvious to me, had not been obvious to Kirk or the others. The Caretaker was dying - he'd been increasing the power supply so that the Ocampa could last five years without him, he'd made those strange comments about not having enough time… it was clear that 'the debt that can never be repaid' was a debt to the Ocampa. Or at least, it had been clear to me.

Hence the soul destroying fear that had taken ahold of me over the last few days. Because the thing that brought us here was very clearly dying and very clearly not interested in taking us back home. Is it any wonder I've been a little bit of bitch?

Anyway, the transporters stopped working and so we had to run to the tunnels where we found McCoy and Spock huddled together, half dead. McCoy was a little unimpressed at how long it had taken us to get to him. I may have referred to him as my friend. He, well, he corrected me on that regard. He might have had pus filled growths all over his body, but he still had time to tell me we were not friends. What a great guy.

The tunnels felt like they were crumbling around us with every single blast from the array. Dust filtered down through the air, clogging throats and obscuring everyone's vision as we clutched at the railing and hurried up to the top. The gap in the barrier was tiny - I mean, tiny. We had to squeeze past it, or it might, and I quote "burn your skin off". Charming. I and a few others managed to scramble our way up to the top, McCoy and Spock hauled out of a gap in the ground with some difficulty, but one of the blasts from the array hit the ground near by. I could hear the clattering of stone against metal, could feel the shaking of earth as the tunnels closed themselves up behind us. Neither Kirk nor Sulu answered their comms. I wish I could tell you the name of the third person in the away team, but for the life of me, I cannot remember who it was. All I know is they were trapped, and a security officer Kirk had called 'Cupcake' were up on the surface with two ill, but not dying, crew members.

I may or may not have insisted that the Enterprise beamed Cupcake and the invalids up, and then headed back down into the tunnels myself. I reasoned that they might have been hurt, they might have needed medical attention - and I was right to think this, Sulu's leg was shattered in about three places. Truth be told, I didn't think. I did made the call and headed back down, and I am aware of how foolish and idiotic it was to do so. I mean, it's one of the first things you learn at Starfleet - if someone is drowning, don't jump in to save them. It'll just mean there are now two people drowning instead of one.

Kirk did all the fun bits, jumping around on disintegrating staircases and screeching metal to pull Sulu up to safety. He did the heroism, and my god it was a good look on him.

Not that I am attracted to James Tiberius Kirk. Just…it didn't feel cliched when he was doing it. He made self-sacrifice look an awful lot lame than it seems in films. And, it had the added bonus of not actually ending in his death, he just threw Sulu over his shoulder and carried him, fireman style, out of the tunnels. He was barely even puffed when he called to the Enterprise to beam us up. His voice wasn't so much as strained, as though carrying a fully grown man was no big deal.

"Vice Admiral?"

"It's fine, Captain, just come into my room. Not like I was doing anything."

"Oh - if I'm interrup-"

"Sorry. No. You're fine. Come on in. Sorry for being snippy - both just then and earlier. Just…"

"You don't need to apologise."

"Yeah. Yeah I do - one second - Computer, end personal log."

…Transcript Ends.