The Training Exercise Part 2
Chekov surveyed the bridge from his Captains chair. He swivelled around and around.
"Sulu, "he commanded "any air traffic?"
"Erm…" said Sulu, unsure of how to decode the cipher in question.
Chekov turned to Uhura
"Decode that please Officer." he ordered.
Uhura leant over the screen "It says that our first mission is to reach the planet Rigel 4 within two hours." she reported.
Chekov rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Ensign Kirk." he said decisively "Plot a course for Rigel 4."
"Erm…aye Captain." Kirk replied. He picked up the plotter and held the stylus aloft. Grinning nervously, he started to plot a course at random, hoping it would lead in the right direction.
Chekov sat back in the chair again. Wondering vaguely what to do, he punched the sickbay button.
"Sickbay, Spock here." came a voice from the other end.
"Doctor Spock." he said in what he hoped to be a commanding tone "Is all clear down there?"
"Affirmative." replied Spock
"Oh…er…right…Chekov out."
Spock left the communicator and sat down in a chair. As there were no patients as of yet, he decided that he would meditate for the time being. Closing his eyes and adopting the correct mediation position, Spock drifted into deep thoughts…
The door banged open with a sound not unlike cannon fire. Spock looked up, annoyed at whoever had decided to interrupt his meditation.
"I couldn't stand it any longer Spock!" came a familiar voice from the doorway as McCoy leapt over the threshold and flung himself into a chair.
Spock raised an eyebrow.
"I dunno how Scotty stands it!" McCoy continued, a pained expression on his face "All alone down there with only the machines to keep you company…it's enough to drive anyone insane…"
", it is not strictly true that Scotty has to 'stand' the same as you do. Under normal circumstances, he would have a team of Engineers to keep him company."
"Well, these aren't normal circumstances!" McCoy snapped back.
Just then there was a bleeping sound indicating communication. Spock reached for the device.
"Sickbay, Spock here." he answered.
"Doctor Spock," came Captain Chekov's voice from the speaker "we ave a problem."
"Please enlighten me."
"Vell, It's ." he said. McCoy, who had previously been searching the cupboards for Romulan Ale, froze, hand outstretched towards a bottle of blue liquid.
"Yes…" said Spock, with a sideways glance at McCoy.
"He has disappeared; he is no longer in Engineering."
"I see." said Spock, once again shooting a glance at McCoy.
"Vell, we're sending Scott down to find him, but have you seen him?"
McCoy shook his head viciously and drew a finger across his throat.
"Um…" Spock began "I may have spotted him at some time although I cannot be sure."
"Right." said Chekov "Chekov out."
McCoy grabbed the bottle of blue liquid and downed it in one before sprinting out of the door. Spock's eyebrow disappeared in his hair.
McCoy ran down the corridor, screeching round the corner. He leapt into the lift and willed it to go down. It started downwards but then went back up again, presumably because Scotty had called it from the bridge. McCoy punched the down button again and jumped up and down on the spot in nervousness. The lift continued to rise. McCoy hit the button again and this time kept it down. He removed his finger as the lift started downwards and the button popped out of the socket.
"Stupid contraption." he muttered under his breath. Then as if the lift had heard this downright insult, it started to rise again. Powerless, McCoy tried to think up a realistic reason for why he was in the lift but couldn't quite make one up before:
", what are you doing here?"
The doors had opened at the bridge and Scotty was standing on the other side.
"I..er…um…" stuttered McCoy.
"Yes?"
"Well, I er, needed to report something." McCoy was delighted with himself for thinking of such a believable excuse at such short notice. There was one thing he hadn't considered, however.
"What is it then?"
"What's what?" said McCoy, still basking in self- happiness.
"The report."
McCoy felt as though someone had taken a large pin and popped him.
"To report…" he stuttered "that…everything is ok." This last he said so quickly that even Spock would have had to strain his ears to catch it.
"To report that everything's ok?" laughed Scotty in disbelief.
"Yes, as a matter of fact." said McCoy, increasingly irritated.
The argument was stopped, however by Sulu: "We have a new message Captain, from what I can make of it using the manual…" he consulted his notes "It says: Two ----- up, ---- co-ordin---- are not even in ----- prox---t- t- th- --qu-ste- locat---. i.e r-gel 4. tes- fai-ed."
"Vell, zat's not wery clear!" said Chekov irately.
"If you'll allow me, Captain." said Kirk.
"Vhat do you mean Ensign?"
"I used to do crosswords a lot when I was a child, I might be able to decipher it…let me se…hum…Two blank- I guess that's hours- up, co-ordin- well, that's obvious- ates…"
His voice drifted off in to the background as everyone shifted uncomfortably.
"GOT IT!" yelled Kirk "Two hours up, your co-ordinates are not even in close proximity to the requested location i.e rigel 4. test failed!" He looked incredibly pleased with himself. He was too worked up about solving the message to realise what bad news it brought. They had failed the test…failed it! There was a subdued silence as everyone sunk to the floor. Then McCoy spoke
"We've never failed a training test before, not with such a good crew!"
"Yes." said Spock, appearing in the doorway "Although the crew makes little difference if they are not played to their strengths."