━━ Captain Obvious
System Loading... Bethany O'Neal... 34%

Bethany did her best to keep up with Captain Pike, Jim, and Spock as they descended towards the shuttle. In her hands was a portable scanner as she checked each of the men's vitals. Part of her was unsure of how she felt about the mission ahead. She knew that logically it had more flaws than perfections, as Spock pointed out repeatedly, but she also saw the beauty in it. All Pike wanted to do was save Vulcan and if that meant giving himself to the enemy then so be it.

"Without transporters, we can't beam off the ship, we can't assist Vulcan, we can't do our job." Pike said as the group weaved in and out of other members of the crew. "Mister Kirk, Mister Sulu, Engineer Olson, will space-jump from the shuttle. You will land on that machine they lowered into the atmosphere that's scrambling our gear. You'll get inside. You'll disable it, then you'll beam back to the ship."

Jim looked more than ready to cut him off, but Bethany shushed him. He sent her an irritated look before pulling her out of the way of a particularly burly crew member. Together they continued to follow Pike and Spock, but Jim had yet to let go of her hand. Instead he used it to navigate them safely as she continued her assessment of his health. Especially after his reaction to the vaccine.

"Mister Spock, I'm leaving you in command of the Enterprise." Pike continued. "Once we have transport capabilities, communications back up, you'll contact Starfleet, report what the hell's going on here. And if all else fails, fall back, rendezvous with the fleet in the Laurentian system."

Pike stopped in front of the shuttle that was being prepped to go over to the Narada and turned to the trio. Bethany stepped forward and ran a quick diagnostic on him. He stood perfectly still as he did watching her every move. The girl tried her best not to meet his gaze. She wasn't sure what she would find if she did.

"You seem to be in perfect health, captain."

"Thank you, O'Neal." Pike said before placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm appointing you Chief Nursing Officer. Seek out Doctor Puri and let him know of your new assignment."

"Yes, sir." Bethany answered and stepped back to Jim's side.

"Kirk, I'm promoting you to first officer."

"What?" Jim asked, his face showing nothing but shock as well as disbelief.

"Captain, please, I apologize. The complexities of Human pranks escape me." Spock said.

"That's one way to say you're surprised." Bethany muttered and received a chuckle from Jim.

Pike smiled over at Bethany and then looked at his second in command, "It's not a prank, Spock. And I'm not the Captain, you are. Let's go."

"Sir, after we knock out that drill, what happens to you?" Jim asked as Pike stepped on board the shuttle.

"Oh, I guess you'll have to come and get me." Pike said before looking over at Spock. "Careful with the ship, Spock. She's brand new."

Spock didn't utter another word as he departed from the shuttle bay. Bethany could only assume that he was reporting back to the bridge. She turned her head back forward and found Jim standing in front of her. She felt her hand twitch with a longing to hold him as fear overtook her. She was scared to lose her friend to an early grave.

"Watch yourself out there." Bethany breathed.

Jim said nothing, but took a step forward so that their bodies were inches apart. Her breath mingled with his as she looked up into his brilliant cobalt blue eyes. She said nothing as his face said it all. He was making her silent vow. When he made it back they would talk about what this was. A moment briefly shared and yet both wanting more. There was something there that hadn't been there before.

Jim reached up and cupped her rosy cheeks with the palms of his hands, "I'll come back scrubs. I promise."

Bethany smiled at the nickname and nodded, "Have fun skydiving"

"Don't I always?"

Bethany watched as Jim stepped onto the shuttle and it took off towards the Narada. She stood mere seconds before springing into action and heading towards Medbay. Crew members jumped to get out of her way as she finally made it to the main deck where chaos ensued.

Leonard was trying to set up triage between the different cadets as Nurse Chapel played the role of second in command. Bethany made her way over and began directing the different colored shirts to three main areas. Nurse Chapel looked more than grateful to have her take over as Bethany began seeing the woman, who was struggling to breathe.

Over the communicator Bethany hears Spock's voice, "Doctor Puri, report."

Leonard looked over at Bethany, but she was too busy shouting orders that she could not leave her patient, "It's McCoy. Doctor Puri was on deck six. He's dead."

"Then you have just inherited his responsibility as Chief Medical Officer." Spock replied.

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know."

"Miss O'Neal was also appointed Chief Nurse Officer by Captain Pike." Spock added.

"That I didn't know."

Leonard whipped around to look at Bethany only to find her doing chest compression on a gangly looking cadet. The monitor beside him showed a straight red line, but after a few moments it began to beep a hopeful song. The girl climbed off him and directed him to the east side before coming up to stand beside Leonard, who held a look of surprise on his face.

"What?" She asked.

"Forget to mention a little promotion." He asked.

She winced, "This wasn't exactly how I pictured getting the position."

"Congratulations."

"In coming!"

Leonard and Bethany turned to see another Nurse wheel a red shirt in. Leonard walked over to access the damage while Bethany went to the nearest monitors and pulled up the vitals of the shuttle jumpers. All of them showed erratic heart beats, but she knew it wasn't medically induced, but rather adrenaline. She watched in anticipation, as did the rest of her medical staff, as they awaited to see how this mission would play out.