Red 10

"Polanski how many transporters do we have on this ship?" said Sam

"Ah the standard five on deck four and two cargo pads on deck twelve, why?" said Polanski

"Get someone manning all of them and someone find me a volunteer" said Sam

"A volunteer ma'am, what for?" said Cho

"I want a sample of that ship somehow its repairing the damage we did to it and I want to know if we can use that to our advantage" said Sam

"Yes captain" said Polanski

"Captain three people just jumped from that shuttle down to the drilling platform" said Neru

"T'lin get me engineering I want that sample now" sad Sam

"Captain the crew reports the transporter pads are manned now what?" said Neru

"Have them start randomly targeting the citizenry of Vulcan and send them to our cargo hold. Have someone from operations run tie downs across that whole area they are going to need a way to hang on" said Sam

"Hang on?" said Polanski

"Captain, I must protest randomly beaming the citizenry into our cargo hold constitutes kidnapping and will greatly offend my people" said T'lin

"T'lin look out there what do you see?" said Sam

"A hostile Romulan vessel" said T'lin

"Yes it is a hostile Romulan mining vessel what do miners use to clear tunnels?" said Sam

"Explosives?" said Neru

"Exactly cadet Neru, now do you see why I am evacuating as many Vulcans as I can" said Sam

T'lin's eyes widened in shock

"You suspect they intend to blow up Vulcan?" said T'lin

"Yes, yes I do "said Sam

"But captain the amount of explosives needed to do so is more than most mining vessels carry" said T'lin

"When has that ship or its captain shown itself to be typical? Look if I am wrong I will formally apologize to the Vulcan senate in person" said Sam

"We won't be able to go to warp with that hole in our hull. The pressure change will tear the ship apart" said Polanski

"Yes I know that is why I need that sample, T'lin?" said Sam

She tapped a few keys.

" Putting you through to engineering captain, oh and deck four has starting beaming a bunch of angry Vulcans onboard and security is handling the tie downs would you like me to dispatch some to talk to our guests?" said T'lin

Sam could tell the woman suspected the worst too.

"Engineering Tucker speaking, what can I help you with captain?" said Trip

"Trip? Is that you?" said Sam

"Samantha? What are you doing on the captain's line?" said Trip

"I'm acting captain now Terrell and Hershey are in sick bay, trip I need you to find me someone willing to walk outside with a plasma torch and get me a sample of that ship" said Sam

"A sample? What for? And aren't they shooting at us right now?" said Trip

"we have a hole in the front saucer section, and I want to see if those self-repairing properties I am seeing will work for our ship, and no they can't even hit us where we are now, which is technically piggybacking them at the moment" said Sam

"They might try to stop us" said Trip.

"don't worry we'll be covering him" said Sam

" gotcha captain, I think I have just the man hold on" said Trip

He hung up and then came back on the line a few minutes later.

"Okay he's suiting up, where do I send him?" said Trip

"Tell him to go out the starboard side airlock on deck twelve, we'll cover him with the cannons" said Sam

Cho gave her a level look.

"The cannons?" said Trip

"Okay I'll tell him" said Trip and sighed off.

"Captain there appears to be a fight in progress on the drill platform and we just lost one of them over the side" said Cho

"I take it no one could get a lock on him?" said Sam

"No he was falling too fast, sorry captain" said Cho

She closed her eyes briefly. Another loss just what they didn't need.

Sam moved towards the opening and looked out

"Captain we have a lot of angry Vulcans onboard and some of them are demanding answers" said T'lin.

Sam sighed

"fine patch me through to the decks" said Sam

T'lin did so an looked towards her.

"This is captain Morningstar of the USS Reliant. I am sorry about the abruptness of your departure but in light of a significant threat to your world, I felt it necessary to evacuate as many people as I could. If I am wrong about this threat I do apologize. Also you will notice several straps lining the deck these are for your safety should we have to maneuver quickly. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation" said Sam

She gave the signal to kill the feed right afterwards. T'lin turned and stared at her because she had said that whole thing in Vulcan, oddly the Vulcan woman actually looked impressed. She spotted movement by her ship and saw her man slowly move out of the ship. T'lin had her head bent over the console and appeared to be monitoring their lone space walker.

"Cho watch that ship for any movement" said Sam

She watched a bright spark light up against one of the other ship's tendrils, she wasn't sure what purpose those things served as but they were protecting them at the moment.

"Captain we've got movement" said Neru

Sam heard T'lin pass that information on to the lone away member.

"Is he done yet?" said Sam

"No captain he still has a small section to go" said Polanski

"Mr. Cho target those advancing Romulan's with the plasma cannons and blow them away, T'lin tell whoever that is out there to keep working" said Sam

She relayed the message and Cho's finger flew across the panel in front of him. Their guns only needed to fire once and all five advancing attackers were gone. Sam waited tensely expecting Nero to respond in some way.

"Captain that shuttle went inside the Nerada and hasn't come out yet" said Neru

"T'lin contact the enterprise and find out what is going on" said Sam

Their guy was done and currently making their way back inside. She sighed when he reached the airlock and vanished inside.

"Captain their communications officer reports that Captain Pike has surrendered to the enemy ship, and Kirk and Sulu were trying to sabotage the drill, acting captain Spock has come to the same conclusion that you have" said T'lin

She sounded worried to same

"Is our guy back on board yet?" said Sam

"Yes captain" said Neru

"Good have him report to the bridge and bring that chunk of funky space ship with them" said Sam "Funky?" said T'lin

The turbo lift doors slid open and onto the deck walked a kid in a jump suit. He stared at the hole in the front of the room

"Hey kid you got it?" said Sam

He held up the piece in his hand. It looked like it was already trying to repair itself in his hand.

"Great now weld it to that strut" said Sam

She pointed at the hole. They gave her a strange look.

"Captain?' said the boy

"Yes, now move we haven't got all day" said sam.

The boy shrugged and moved forward to comply. Several sets of eyes were giving her weird looks. The boy started welding it in place and the piece moved. The boy jumped back and Sam moved closer. She knelt down and stared at it. The small piece he had welded in place was growing. Sending out some sort of tendrils like plant vines.

"Captain careful you're not wearing gloves" said the kid

"What's your name kid?" said Sam

"Reese sir err ma'am" said the kid

"Good work Reese, that'll be all" said Sam

The kid nodded and walked towards the lift. Sam turned back to the now rapidly diminishing hole in their hull.

"Captain they've just launched something down the drill" said Neru

"any idea what it is?" said Sam

"No clue captain its readings are too off for it to be standard explosives" said Polanski

"Captain I am picking up severe tectonic disturbances all over the planet originating from the drilling site" said Polanski.

"Our evacuation efforts?" said Sam

"Our holds nearly full and we've barely got over a thousand we've started filling up empty cabins and other storage areas" said Neru

" keep them coming even if you have to start filling corridors to do it" said Sam

"Captain someone just beamed down from the enterprise and the Nerada is firing up its engines" said Polanski.

Sam quickly sat down at the helm and strapped in. she fired up their engines.

"T'lin have they gotten pike back yet?" said Sam

"Yes captain enterprise reports him as being back aboard" said T'lin

"Great now patch me in to all decks" said Sam

T'lin moved her fingers to obey.

"This is your captain speaking, hang on to something the ride is about to get seriously bumpy" said Sam

She gave the signal to cut the transmission just as the Nerada pulled up its drill and jumped to warp. The planet below them looked like pieces were breaking apart from the continents. Sam reached for the warp controls.

"Captain we can't go to warp yet, it's not fully repaired" said Polanski

Sam's heart did a lurch they were going to die.

"Captain the enterprise is asking if we need assistance" said T'lin

Sam looked towards the other ship through the small rapidly closing gap.

"Tell them no and to save themselves" said Sam

Come on come on hurry she silently urged.

"They aren't moving captain" said Polanski

Through the last part of the hole Sam watched Vulcan collapse in on itself. The enterprise jumped to warp a second or so after

"Oh god!" said Sam

"Captain?" said Cho

Sam turned the ship away from the planet. They couldn't possibly outrun the debris wave at impulse speed.

"I'm sorry" said Sam

She started to say more when she noticed the last of the hole had closed. She hit the lever and jumped to warp. The sudden speed pushed her against the seat. Her fingers flew across the controls as she dodged around the debris in a desperate headlong flight out of the system. She ended up nearly inverting the ship twice and making so many sharp turns her stomach ached from the impacts against her harness. They were still running at top speed when Polanski told them they had successfully outrun the explosion. Sam pulled back the lever and dropped them out of warp.

"T'lin get me engineering" said Sam

She stood up and near took her seat.

"Polanski keep an eye out for the Nerada" said Sam

She turned towards T'lin, the woman was sitting there in shock. Sam swallowed she couldn't even begin to understand how it felt to watch your world be destroyed. The Vulcans were now an endangered species. All that was left was however many they had beamed aboard and what the enterprise managed to get. Speaking of which they really should get a count of them.

"T'lin do you need to go to medical?" said Sam

The Vulcan woman swallowed.

"No captain... I" said T'lin

"Would you like to take a moment to compose yourself?" said Sam

The Vulcan woman nodded yes

"You may use my ready room if you like" said Sam

The Vulcan nodded again and took the ear piece from her ear. She stood up and quietly walked towards the door leading to the captain's ready room. The door opened at her approach and then slid shut behind her. Every crew member on the bridge watched her silently go. When the door slid shut. Neru calmly walked over and took T'lin's place. Sam sat down at the helm again. She was reluctant to sit in that captain's chair and with at least one man down they had no one to fill the empty position anyways.

"Neru get me security" said Sam

"Yes captain" said Neru

Her voice was shaking and Sam could tell she was holding back the urge to cry.

"Security on com line two" said Neru

Sam hit the button.

"O'Malley here, what can I do for you captain?" said security

"Mr. O' Malley I need you and your team to get a count on all of our new passengers. You'll find them on all decks except this one" said Sam

She heard the other man whistle.

"Oh man, okay on it captain" said O'Malley

"Captain I've got engineering on line one" said Neru

Sam hit the button and answered him.

"what can I do for you captain?" said Trip

"Have you started those repairs yet?" said Sam

"Ah actually all I can do is patch it for now, anything else is going to mean dry docking her" said Trip

"All right do what you can we're heading back to earth" said Sam

She clicked off the line and took a deep breath. The ships log would note this but Sam felt she had to at least tell the refugees onboard what had happened. She forced the urge to cry away.

"Neru get me all decks please" said Sam

Neru complied just as the door to the captain's ready room slid open. Just the facts Sam decided they were a logical people and they wouldn't appreciate an overly sentimental retelling. Neru signaled that Sam was on the air. She slowly stood up and smoothed her uniform. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

"This is your captain speaking, on star date 2258.42 at 1500 earth standard time the planet of Vulcan ceased to exist. The Romulan captain known as Nero was responsible for its destruction and I want you to know that Starfleet will make every effort to bring this criminal to justice. I apologize for the cramped conditions you find yourselves currently in, I have laid in a course to earth so they will be mercifully temporary, I am sorry for your loss, captain out" said Sam

She sat back down and wiped her eyes because the tears had gathered despite her best efforts. T'lin walked across the floor to her station. She looked composed at the moment but Sam wasn't fooled. Neru vacated the seat and let T'lin have back her station. Sam watched as near went back to the rail she had been standing beside. Sam groaned, the girl had no real station and here she was doing double duty.

"Neru take the helm" said Sam

The girl froze.

"Captain?" said Neru

"Yes, what is the problem Neru?' said Sam

She noted the antenna on her head was in a position that indicated embarrassment.

"I have never flown anything outside of a simulation" said Neru

Sam smiled at the girl.

"You've got to start somewhere, besides I already laid in the course all you have to do is keep us from hitting something" said Sam

Neru nodded and nervously took the seat that Sam vacated. Sam walked slowly towards the captain's chair and sat down.