No. 17 Hanging by a threat (breaking point)
~
The ship was floating dead through space. Every single engineer on board the Enterprise was working as hard as possible to repair it.
Keenser had been up for nearly three days. And he knew that he didn't have time for a break.
They had to keep life support going so that the crew wouldn't suffocate to death… or freeze.
He was in charge of keeping the heating system going.
It wasn't an easy job, but someone had to do it.
Scotty was trying to get the ship moving again with other engineers.
Keenser's eyes were about to fall close when suddenly his comm bleeped. He was startled by the sound but quickly grabbed the device.
A grunt was his only answer.
("Keenser! We need more heat up in sickbay! People are freezing!")
McCoy. He was yelling at him. Of course… the doctor was under pressure too. He had to keep his patients alive.
Keenser gave him another grunt.
He'd fix it. He'd get them the heat they needed.
Keenser started to sway around. He was just so tired. His vision was getting blurry.
("It's getting warmer. Keep the work up.")
With that McCoy ended the call.
Good. The problem was fixed.
Another call. Another complain. It went on and on.
They were all yelling. They were angry.
Keenser tried his best but… he was at his breaking point.
When he eventually collapsed, he wasn't done with his work. But his body told him to stop. And he couldn't do anything about it.
He woke up in a biobed, feeling exhausted like hell. Nurse Chapel was staring at the monitor next to him.
When Keenser grunted softly, the nurse's head turned towards him.
"Thank goodness, you're awake Mr. Keenser."
The Roylan blinked in confusion and Chapel smiled gently.
"You fainted. You hadn't eaten in three days. Neither did you drink or get sleep."
Keenser remembered. That was true. He had only focused on getting his work done.
"Work," he explained but the nurse gave him a scolding look.
"Mr. Keenser…" Chapel sat down beside him and grabbed his hand, "you need to take care of yourself. Or else you can't take care of the ship."
Keenser blinked. He knew that. Of course he knew. But he tended to forget.
Luckily there were people reminding him of his needs. And he was grateful to have them around.