"Last message from the space station, captain," Uhura reported. "Commander wishes us godspeed."
"Acknowledge," Kirk said, smiling faintly. "Let's do this. Mr. Sulu?"
"Aye, sir."
Barely five seoncds into their mission and red alert klaxons began to blare. "Incoming warp signatures!" Chekov yelled, at the same time as Spock's, "Five Klingon ID's!" and the computer's, "PROXIMITY ALERT!"
Elle clapped her hands over her ears and tumbled to the deck as Sulu threw the Enterprise to the side to avoid the multiple Klingon warbirds. She grabbed the railing and pulled herself to her feet. "The Klingons," she groaned. "I forgot about the Klingons." She rubbed at her forehead where she'd hit the railing and tried to get over to the turbolift doors.
Sulu threw the Enterprise into another evasive maneuver and something in the turbolift shaft squealed behind closed doors.
Elle froze.
To her side, Uhura was keeping up with damage control reports. "Structural integrity field is at ten percent, turbolifts are offline," she murmured, redirecting the comms at a frantic pace.
Elle was trapped on the bridge. She stumbled her way over to an empty aux engineering seat and strapped herself in before she cracked her head again.
"Chekov, give me full manual control," Sulu said grimly.
Elle watched as autopilot sequences went offline. One Enterprise against seven Klingon ships. Oh Great Bird. She was going to be sick.
Thankfully, Elle did not throw up, the Enterprise did not blow up or shear a nacelle, and Scotty had three seconds to hit the Inverse Drive before they rammed facefirst into a star-
It wasn't dark, or cold. Or rather it was both, and neither. It was warm, and full of light, but only in the way that you felt, napping under a tree, the sun dappling the leaves behind your closed eyelids, making imprints, impressions of light, and warmth, and dark, and cool. She opened her eyes, and stepped forward into a tapestry of light and sound. It danced on her skin-
"Report!"
The sound of the captain's voice snapped Elle out of her trance (concussion?) and she jerked her head up. No more Klingons. No more- "nebula?" she asked, staring at the intense wall of colors and bright lights on the screen.
"Supernova'd star," Chekov corrected.
Elle undid the safety harness and slid out of her chair, feeling shaky and disoriented.
Kirk turned to her, a wry smile on his lips. "I can't believe you forgot about the Klingons," he teased.
"Sorry," Elle said absently, as she gazed at the star. The brightness made her eyes hurt.
His smile fell away. "You all right, Elle?" He came over and gripped her shoulders. "You're looking pretty pale, there."
"I'm okay," Elle said, and tipped forward into his chest as the world greyed out around her.
-/\-
She woke up to the soothing sounds of cooing tribble and the more alarming sounds of a sickbay full of voices. She bolted upright and nearly sent Simba flying as she lost her balance. The monitor above her head beeped sharply.
McCoy appeared promptly around the corner. "What are you doing up?" he asked, adjusting the flat bed so she could sit up without falling over.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You took a nice little tumble and got yourself a concussion," he said. "You passed out, scared Jim half to death, and have spent the last seven hours under observation after we got your brain un-rattled."
Elle pressed a finger to the tender spot above her ear. "Ow."
He rolled his eyes. "And I don't want to risk overtasking your system regenerating that goose egg until you're better so don't go poking at it."
"Can I have an icepack?"
He handed one over.
It was bliss. It was- "wait, why are there so many people in sickbay?" she asked, dread making her head ache. "What happened?"
"Everyone who had an out-of-body experience during the use of the new drive was ordered to report it," McCoy said with a sigh. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"
"Oh yeah," Elle said. "The more we use it the more it's gonna make a shared mental desktop or something."
McCoy sighed. "That's what we need around here, is more telepathy." He gave her a narrow glare. "Did you see something during that moment?"
She fidgeted. "I mean, kind of? There was this light, and dark, and there were these threads, and they were moving? I don't know. It was, it felt like, it felt like what you'd think going through a wormhole ought to feel like, but more like, sunlight."
McCoy patted her on the arm. "That's not the weirdest thing I've heard today. Get some rest, no electronic screens, and a nurse will bring you some dinner in a bit." He bustled away.
Elle lay back down on the bed and cuddled Simba with her free hand. No electronics. "I'm so bored," she told the ceiling, and it did not commiserate with her.
"Did someone say they were hungry?" Kirk asked, walking in with a tray in his hands.
Elle sat up. "You're not a nurse," she said, mock accusingly.
"Alas, all our nurses are busy taking psych readings, so I was press-ganged into service," he said, setting the tray on her lap. His hazel gaze swept over her and he winced sympathetically when his eyes landed on the bruise on her head. "Ouch, that's a pretty big bump."
"Yeah." Elle rubbed at it. "The hard floor is hard."
He chuckled and sat next to her on the bed. "Did you experience anything interesting during that jump?" he asked.
"I think I was a wormhole," Elle said slowly.
"I was the Enterprise," he offered.
"Nice." Elle ate another sushi roll. "You should get some sleep, captain. You look pretty stressed out and it's only going to get worse."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that supposed to be comforting, mister?"
"Nope."
He bumped her shoulder with his. "Get some rest, yourself."
"Yes, captain."
He stood up, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and went on his way.
Elle finished the rest of her food, put the tray aside, and let Simba's cooing put her back to sleep.