The damage wasn't as extensive as he had feared.
There were fires on all decks, the port nacelle was leaking plasma, and the shield generators had all but failed yet there was not a single place in the entire galaxy that Lieutenant Commander David Kelby would rather be. Enterprise was home.
It had taken nearly a year for Kelby to earn back the respect of the Engineering department, a year of strict obedience to an unspoken motto: keep your head down, your mouth shut, and bust your ass. He accepted the crap jobs without complaint, volunteered for Gamma shifts, and did his best to make sure no one important noticed him. If Tucker said to jump, he did so, asking how high only once he was in the air. He owed him that much.
Enterprise was his last chance.
"Burke!" he bellowed from his vantage point overlooking the warp reactor; it was the best spot for him, with an expansive view of the whole of engineering and access to the primary damage control console. The lieutenant in question looked up from her console and Kelby pointed to a small electrical fire; it wasn't yet dangerous but its proximity to the fuel cells made it a priority. He barely noticed Burke giving him a thumbs up and moving toward the fire - he was already again focusing on directing the damage control teams.
He'd been furious when Tucker returned to Enterprise and Kelby's own unexpected transfer to Columbia came through; whether it was intentional or not, the implied slight in his engineering skills had enraged him and the anger affected his job. He should have been happy on Columbia; the engineering staff there had not adopted the 'Commander Tucker is God' mentality that everyone - including the freaking Vulcan! - on Enterprise had. But his temper got him into trouble. Bad, bad trouble.
A shower of sparks and a strangled scream from one of the monitoring stations demanded his attention and he was moving toward it before his brain had fully registered the sounds for what they were. Ensign Beckham, a relative newcomer to the crew, was crumpled in a heap, her uniform still smoking even as the console spewed flames. Kelby didn't hesitate as he sprang forward, ignoring the growing fire that surrounded her. Seizing her by the arms, he dragged her free even as he heard Burke rushing forward with the extinguisher.
"Medic!" he shouted. Beckham was bad off: her face was horribly burned and she wasn't breathing. He was about to start CPR when the medic slid beside him, pushing him away.
"I've got her, sir!" He gave the medic a glance before nodding and standing up; he hid the wince as he realized one of his hands had been burned. It wasn't important. Enterprise needed him.
That didn't stop him from wishing Tucker was here.
It was weird even thinking that; at first, he'd blamed the commander for his situation. If it hadn't been for Tucker returning to Enterprise and taking his job away from him, Kelby wouldn't have been so pissed off, wouldn't have lost his temper on Columbia and physically struck a fellow officer during a stupid argument over something totally inconsequential, wouldn't have had to face the horrifying inquest that resulted in his demotion to lieutenant commander. The weeks after the demotion were the hardest to deal with; no one in Starfleet seemed interested in him, no one wanted to take the risk, to bring him on board anywhere. He was damaged goods. His career was circling the drain and he had seriously considered suicide more than once. Things couldn't get any worse.
And then, Charles Tucker the Third knocked on his door.
"Starfleet's givin' Hess the chief engineer slot on Columbia," Tucker had said without preamble and Kelby recalled the spike of pain he felt. His job. "Bumpin' her up to lieutenant commander and puttin' her on the fast track for full commander."
"She'll do a good job," Kelby recalled mumbling, all the while wondering why Tucker was here. Was he rubbing this in? Did Tucker take some sort of perverse pleasure in seeing his pain?
"Which leaves me without a rankin' second." The shock was absolute; was he saying what it sounded like he was saying? "This is a one time offer, Kelby; come to Enterprise and work for me. We'll start over, wipe the slate clean." He remembered standing there in stunned disbelief as Tucker offered his hand.
"Why?" The question seemed like a good one.
"'Cause I need an XO and, despite our differences, you've got the skills. I need a good number two and you ... you need a second chance. What d'ya say?"
He's said yes, of course, as if there had ever been any doubt. To his surprise, Tucker had been as good as his word; the Enterprise chief engineer treated him exactly as if they had never met, as if they hadn't exchanged blows while Kelby was under the influence of an Orion female, as if Kelby hadn't nearly thrown his career down the tubes because of his anger at Tucker. They weren't friends exactly, but had reached a mutual understanding that allowed them to not only work together but to work well together; it was only a little surprising for Kelby to realize that Tucker was as good as his reputation. David had learned a lot in the past year, had even made a couple of friends.
Enterprise shook hard and the floor seemed to roll under Kelby's feet. He threw his hands out to steady himself, grabbing the nearby rail in the seconds before he fell, even as distinctive-sounding alarms began echoing throughout the ship. His blood ran cold. No crewman or officer serving aboard a Starfleet vessel could fail to recognize the alert for what it was.
Hull breach.
Kelby ran his eyes over the master damage control console before triggering the comm; when he spoke, he sounded a lot calmer than he felt. A whole hell of a lot calmer.
"Breach on C-Deck; emergency bulkheads holding. I need all available DC crews there ASAP." He barely heard Rostov's acknowledgment before another shudder ran through Enterprise. Sparks rained down around him as an EPS junction blew overhead. He barely reacted as he noted a different sort of alert signal begin flashing. Why now? "Burke!" he shouted again. "Get everyone in rad suits!" Another EPS junction exploded and he jumped as the burning sparks hit his exposed skin.
This was getting frustrating.
