DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY RIGHTS TO STAR TREK, NOR DO I OWN ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS.
A/N: I don't know anything about engines, so forgive me if anything written on them is a little vague… I'm doing my best to stay away from the engines, yet still keep them in the story, since my main character is, in fact, an engineer.
Chapter 3
Three hours later, Izzy was released with a clean bill of health. The med techs weren't quite sure how she had healed, only that she was. She had one of them lead her to her quarters, wait outside while she showered and changed, and lead her to where the Enterprise was undergoing repairs. Thanking the man that had helped her get around, she made her way to a lift, and into the ship. From there, she grabbed a passing Ensign and had him lead her to the Engine Room. Thanking this one too, she went on to find Scotty, who was elbow deep in engines.
"Welcome back," Scotty said, pulling out an arm to wave at her before returning to his work.
"Good to be back," she said with a grin before scooting on her back under a piece of machinery, fiddling with this and that.
"So…" Scotty began, clearing his throat. "I talked to Bones this morning."
"And he caught you up on everything involving your new assistant," Izzy said, nodding, even though he couldn't see her.
"Yep," Scotty said simply.
"If you don't mind me asking," Izzy said, "what happened to your last assistant?"
"Shoulda known you'd ask eventually," Scotty said. "He wasn't up to snuff. Couldn't handle the job. He had the love for machines, but nowhere near your proficiency with them."
"Well, thank you for the compliment," Izzy said, smiling into the machinery above her.
"Any time, lass," Scotty said.
They continued working for hours, sometimes silent, sometimes talking about the different things that brought them into Starfleet ("They rescued me," Izzy said. "It's not like I had much of a choice."), sometimes just passing witty banter back and forth.
"Feel like helping me find some food?" Izzy asked after scooting out from under yet another piece of engine.
"Sure thing, lass. Let me just…" Scotty said, tightening a few bolts on the piece he had been working on, "finish." He wiped his greasy hands on his almost equally greasy pants before heading for the door. Izzy followed, wiping her yet again greasy nose on her sleeve.
"So," Izzy said as they walked back to the lift, "based off your own prognosis, about how much longer do you think it'll take for us to get those engines running?"
"With me and you working on them?" Scotty asked. "Well, if we work for the rest of today and tomorrow, we should have them up and running by quitting time tomorrow. That sound about right to you?"
"Sounds great to me," Izzy said, a smile on her face. "I can't wait to get back out into the black." Scotty laughed.
"I'd have to agree with you on that one, lass," he said, laughing as he led the way back to the building where the crew was staying for the duration of time they were on Earth. Izzy wasn't paying attention to where they were going; she wouldn't be able to find her way back if she did or not, so she didn't really see the point. Scotty led her to a mess hall, and, once they got their food, to a table where Kirk and Bones were already talking animatedly around their food. Well, Kirk was talking animatedly. Bones was just talking. Scotty and Izzy sat, and Scotty jumped right into conversation, whereas Izzy tried her best not to eavesdrop on her higher-ups. That worked long enough for them to realize she was doing so, at which point they decided to drag her in.
"So how are you feeling?" Bones asked, looking at Izzy.
"Huh?" Izzy said after a moment, looking around before she blushed as she realized they were talking to her. "Sorry, I zoned out there for a moment. What did you say?"
"I asked how you were feeling," Bones said, with a grin matched by Kirk and Scotty.
"Oh, fine," Izzy said, nodding. "Feels just like any other day."
"Any other day for a person that can light themselves on fire," Scotty said with a smirk.
"At least I can control it," Izzy said. "You should've seen me in the early days, when I first manifested my ability."
"How old were you when it started?" Bones asked.
"I was fourteen," Izzy said. "Ended up in the hospital, in a coma, for two weeks because of the power exhaustion from that brief flare up."
"Ouch," Kirk said. Izzy shrugged.
"I got better every time," Izzy said. "I had to practice, build up the capacity to use my ability, and, eventually, that rush of endorphins was there to tell me when to stop. By the time I was captured, I could light up and stay that way for hours, if necessary. But, after they got their hands in me, I lost all of that. I'll probably never be that good again, because of the Klingons."
"Do you hate them?" Scotty asked. Izzy looked at him, one eyebrow raised in confusion. "Do you hate the Klingons?" Scotty clarified. Izzy shook her head.
"I hate what they did to me," she clarified, "but I don't hate Klingons in general. At least, I try not to. If I ever ran across any of the ones who did this to me, I'd probably fry them. But, I can't bring myself to hate the entire race. Do you, Jim, hate all Romulons because of what a few did to your father? Or you, Bones, do you hate all women because of the way your wife left? Or, Scotty. Do you hate Starfleet because of the way they stranded you out on Delta Vega?" All three shook their heads, though it seemed to pain Kirk the most. "Then you know what I mean."
"When did you read our files?" Bones asked. Kirk was deep in thought, and Scotty was just watching Izzy, waiting for her response.
"I read yours this morning, while I was waiting to be released," Izzy said. "I read Scotty's and Jim's as soon as I found out I would be working under them."
"Well, you certainly did your homework, lass," Scotty said.
"I may have had a lot of issues going through the Academy, but homework was not one of them," Izzy said. Because of the way they were looking at her, she decided to expound. "You see, it's hard to have a social life when you're a paranoid lump. It doesn't help if you make plans, then miss them because you can't find the place."
"How did you make it through without being able to find your classes?" Kirk asked.
"In the beginning, I relied on my roommate, Rayne" Izzy said. "But she went into a different field, and I ended up wandering around a lot after that. At best I was late for class. At worst, I'd be wandering campus for a hours, not really sure where I was, not really remembering where I was going."
"That's horrible," Kirk said.
"Yeah, well that's what my life became because of that one group of Klingons," Izzy said with a sigh. "No sense of direction, horrible depth perception, and my powers will never be as good as they once were."
"Why was it so much easier for Rayne?" Scotty asked.
"She could read minds," Izzy explained. "She could just pluck the location out of a passerby's memory."
"So, you were a paranoid lump, were you?" Scotty said teasingly, trying to rile her up, pull her out of the mood she had fallen into.
"Yep," Izzy said, biting into her food, not quite raising to the bait, but still coming out of her funk. "The first year I was there, after my basic recovery, there'd be times that I wouldn't leave my room for days on end, and I'd just sit on my bed, terrified, until I'd fall asleep. Rayne was much the same, though she hadn't been held by them for as long as I had. But we both still get the nightmares, which I know tend to put me back into the position I was in when Starfleet rescued us."
"Should anyone seeking admittance into your quarters in the morning fear flying, flaming objects?" Kirk asked with a grin, coming out of his own funk.
"You told them about that?" Izzy asked, looking at Bones.
"Had to," he said simply. "He's the Captain."
"To answer your question, Jim," Izzy said, returning to the matter at hand, "no, those seeking early morning admittance into my quarters need not fear flying, flaming objects. Unless I just really don't like them."
"But you said that the nightmares put you back with the Klingons," Scotty said.
"They do," Izzy said. "But Starfleets accommodations are slightly more, well, accommodating than being stripped naked and strapped to an operating table." The guys shook their heads simultaneously, as if they were all trying to shake horrible images out of their heads. "I think the only saving grace of that place was that I knew it would come to an end."
"How did you know that?" Jim asked. "I mean, I can understand hoping that either somebody would manage to rescue you or you'd somehow escape, but how did you know?"
"Because of Sienna," Izzy said quietly, after a moment of thought. She was quiet for another long moment, and each of the three men at the table was thinking of changing the topic when she spoke again. "She was the first to see Starfleet coming, but she didn't survive to actually see us rescued." Silent tears dribbled slowly down her cheeks as she continued. "She was a Seer, she could see the future. And while she didn't actually share with all of us that Starfleet was coming, she did show us an end, though this particular end was years down the road. Eventually, Klingons and Humans will form a pact and begin working side-by-side. I hope and pray that I'm still alive when that day comes, and in the same breath I hope and pray that the Klingons who captured Rayne, myself, and countless others, and killed Sienna, and many others like her, don't."
A/N: Sorry for the time between updates. Really I should have been working on my Nano, but this chapter was already mostly done anyways. So, I'd like to thank everyone that reviewed, because those things really helped. Anyways, I'll be working on the next chapter once I get this one gets posted… so it may take a bit. For the record, I actually finished my Nano this year… Yay!
Live long and prosper.
