Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Wish I did.
Spoilers: For this chapter, TNG "Yesterday's Enterprise" and ENT "Silent Enemy"
Notes: A jump in time, between TOS and TNG, and the unexpected arrival of an ENT Guardian Angel. Who is it?
Two
May 2344, USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C, Narendra Three
The ship rocked again in the wake of another phaser blast. Commander Nina Sangalan grabbed the railing before she ended up flattened all over the lower deck. A console next to her blew up in a spectacular burst of sparks. She glanced up as one of her junior engineers grabbed a fire extinguisher and tried to put out the fire.
"Zanex, watch out!" she screamed. She rushed up the catwalk and bodyslammed the ensign out of the way, just as the whole bank of consoles went up in flames. Smoke choked her, but she managed to grab Zanex's uniform jacket and drag him to safety. Her second in command appeared next to her, using his hands to smother the last of the fire on Zanex.
"Commander," Zanex gasped. "What---"
"Are you all right?" Sangalan whispered in Denobulan. The ensign only nodded. She glanced at her second in command and ordered, "Get him out of here, Grady! Now!"
Grady tried to protest, but more hazy smoke rolled over them and cut off whatever he was going to say. Sangalan helped Zanex to his feet while Grady supported the Denobulan on the other side. She jerked her head towards the access ladder. Grady and Zanex made their way to the lower deck and she kept an eye on them until they vanished from sight. When she was satisfied they were safe, she made her way towards the warp core.
Just a little rescue mission, she thought dryly. The Enterprise had sped through space at Warp 9 to reach the Klingon colony at Narendra Three. If they helped the Klingons, then their actions might convince the Klingons to ally with the Federation. Captain Garrett's decision to aid the Klingon colony on Narendra Three was a noble one, and Sangalan made sure the engines stayed at warp nine to get them there. Her crew prepared the shuttlecraft to ferry the wounded and packed power generators and stasis fields. They were ready to help in any way possible and they came out of warp over Narendra, all prepared for a rescue mission.
They weren't prepared for an attack by four Romulan warbirds. Sangalan wasn't prepared to see her engine room, her ship, falling apart around her. She shook her head and pushed her way to the warp engine core; if she didn't shut the flow in time, they would all blow to kingdom come.
"Bridge to Engineering!"
She wiped sweat from her grimy forehead and barked out, "Engineering, Sangalan!"
"We've lost phasers and photon torpedoes, Nina! Can you---?"
Garrett's voice was stern and commanding, showing not a trace of panic. Sangalan hung on to that voice as she coaxed commands from a nearby panel. The Romulans had scored a direct hit on Auxiliary Command, but she still had a few tricks up her sleeve that they didn't.
"Sangalan to Weapons Room!"
"Bristow here," said a voice with a strong Dublin accent.
"Jamie, stand by. I'm gonna overload the junctions and give the phasers an extra punch."
"Oh, bloody hell. Gimme a minute to make adjustments. I knew I shouldn't have let you look through my old security journals."
"Hey, you started it."
"I told you: You shoulda gone into Security."
She laughed again at the running joke between them: their crews said she and Bristow knew each other's duties so well, they could switch places and no one would know the difference. Well, they were cousins. Four times removed or so. Her mouth twitched as she remembered the day Bristow had come to her quarters and announced he knew why they fought constantly.
"We're related. We've got some common ancestors."
"What? You're an Irishman. I'm Malaysian. There's no way in hell we can be related, Jamie."
To prove it, he'd brought up the family tree on her viewscreen. He zeroed in on the generation spanning the 22nd century and pointed at the information. Her eyes widened. "I'll be damned. Looks like we've got some interesting characters in there."
"Yeah," he agreed as he scrolled down to the present day. "From all over the globe. Ireland, England, Japan, the Southern United States, even some old Boomer blood too."
She looked up at him and grinned. "Well, Cousin," she said, stressing the title, "you might be related to me, but you still aren't getting more than your power allotment for your modified phasers."
"God, you're as bad as he was," he said, pointing at a certain name.
"Naaah. I think I'm more like him, actually." She indicated a second name.
Jamie thought for a moment, then laughed. "Yeah. Actually, you are."
The Enterprise rocked under another deadly blast and jolted her out of the past. "I can't guarantee it'll hold, but it should give you enough for a couple of shots." Her fingers danced on the controls and she confirmed that Bristow did the same on his side. To her fierce joy, she saw the readouts on her screen climb to a certain level and stay there.
"Son of a---this'll give us a fighting chance."
"Can't take the credit for it. Read it in that old journal of yours."
"Commander, thanks for the reroute, and when we get out of this, I'd be the first to welcome you to Security."
She laughed. "Hell no, Jamie. No one's gonna drag me from my warp engines."
"Don't say I didn't offer. Bristow, out."
Garrett's voice came on as Bristow signed off. "Engineering!"
"I'm rerouting all secondaries to the weapons and shields, but I don't know how long that'll last, Captain."
"That'll buy us a few more minutes. I'm about to order everyone into lifepods..." Garrett's voice broke into static, then went dead as the comm circuit exploded overhead. Sangalan swore as the deck under her feet tipped ninety degrees and she slammed upside down against the opposite wall. Gravity crushed the breath out of her for a second before it failed utterly and Sangalan found herself floating in zero-G.
She struggled to collect her thoughts, even as nausea threatened to overwhelm her. Ouch, that hurt. I think I broke something. Guess I'll see how good Doctor T'Vau's bedside manner is...Last time, she threatened to have my name engraved on that biobed, I'm in it so often...
Then a voice out of nowhere roared, Bloody hell, girl, screw your head on straight! They're depending on you! For a moment, she thought Jamie Bristow was next to her, but no...the accent was wrong. Not Irish, but...the harsh tone slapped her back into reality. Sangalan focused on Garrett's last words...Lifepods, we need to give the pods some kind of protection, so someone can get out and warn Starfleet...but how...
Then, out of nowhere, the voice rang out: Shields, luv. Extend the shields.
"What---?" Sangalan managed to snag her arm around a pole and stop her free-float. "Extend the shields? But---wait a minute..." Jamie's interest had sparked her own, and she'd stumbled over an idea in some old family journals...extend the shields just enough to protect the lifepods, let them get away! She closed her eyes and visualized the unfinished schematics on the page; it could work. By God, it could work!
"Weapons Room, Jamie, you still there?" Another section of the status board had turned red. Sangalan's heart rose in her throat as she realized the Weapons Room was gone, that entire deck was open to space. A dull pain began to throb in her chest, but she shoved it aside.
"I promise, Jamie, in my next life, I'll go into Security." I swear to you, I'm gonna make sure your death isn't for nothing.
Garrett's voice returned, but it was fading in and out. "Engineering! Engineering, report!"
"Captain...I can extend the shields for a brief moment---"
"You can do that?" Garrett sounded shocked. "I thought---"
She coughed slightly; something was definitely broken, bleeding inside. "Rachel, you need to tell me the minute the pods are launched, so I can shift our shields."
There was a pause; both women knew their duty. "Acknowledged, Nina. Good luck,"
"See you on the other side, Rachel. Sangalan, out." Moments later, Garrett's command to board the lifepods rang through the ship. She glanced over her shoulder at the pitiful remains of her engineering crew. "All right, everyone out---"
Another volley rocked the room and sent bodies flying from the upper decks down to the floor. Alarms blared and more smoke erupted from the warp core, but she only stayed at her console and did her job. "Warp core breach!" she yelled. "Get out of here, now!"
"Commander!" screamed one of her lieutenants. "We're not gonna leave you!"
"I've got to shut this down! Go on, I'll be right behind you! That's an order!" It was a lie, and they all knew it. She input the commands to eject the warp core, but she couldn't launch it until the lifepods were a safe distance away from the Enterprise. By that time, it wouldn't matter for her...
But she needed to extend the ship's shields around the lifepods for those critical moments. Sangalan chuckled under her breath and thanked her long-ago ancestor.
I suppose you'd be proud of me, Great-Five Times or So-Grandfather, that I actually read your journals. Gave me something to base my crazy theories on. I'm actually looking forward to arguing with you in the Afterlife.
A light flashed on her panel and Garrett confirmed it a few moments later. "Lifepods away, Nina."
"Stand by." She manipulated her controls and watched her screen. The Enterprise's shields drained off the main section and expanded along her aft side, enveloping a steady stream of tiny pods. The Romulans took advantage by aiming their disruptors on the nacelle section. Sangalan braced herself for the final onslaught that would tear the ship apart. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited.
Then, inexplicably, the shot didn't come.
She opened one eye, then the other. Time was suspended between breaths; even the smoke had frozen in its tracks. What the hell? What's going on? Is this Death? I don't feel dead---
"Nina Yumiko Sangalan," said a voice behind her. The man whose journal she'd read, whose idea it was to extend the shields.
She turned and saw a figure approaching her through the smoke. Her mouth dropped open as she saw a person that she'd only seen in Jamie's family holophotos...in a royal blue jumpsuit, red stripes on the shoulders, and a slight smile on his face.
"Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather," she whispered and bowed her head.
"You missed a 'great'," he pointed out dryly, and she realized he sounded exactly as she'd imagined, down to the clipped English accent. "And I'm glad you were listening to me, for once."
She chuckled. "I tend to be hardheaded sometimes."
He suddenly grinned and extended his hand. "I daresay you've made quite the engineer, though I still wish you went into Security instead..."
"You sound just like Jamie Bristow."
"Ah, Mister Bristow He and I have a lot to discuss as well, but you...Your other Guardian Angel bet me a whole case of Guinness that you'd go into Engineering. He's been gloating over his victory for a long time."
She thought she heard another voice laughing in the air around them and heard a distinct Southern drawl say, "Told ya so."
Nina rolled her eyes and ignored it. "Family tradition and all that, huh? As I recall, you didn't exactly follow it yourself."
She expected an angry outburst, but his eyes sparkled with suppressed humor instead. "Point to you, my dear. Of course, I had help, especially from your Great-Five Times-Grandmother. Are you ready to meet her and your other Guardian Angel? They've been eager to meet you."
She laughed and took his extended his hand. "I'd be delighted, sir."
"You may call me 'Malcolm'. All those 'greats' tend to be a mouthful," he replied. "This way."
And as he led her away through the smoky haze of Enterprise-C's ruined engine room, he said, "Now, you'll have to enlighten me about that last trick you did with those shields. However did you do it?"
Nina chuckled. "You want the short version or the long version? After all, it was based on your design---
And the ship blazed into eternity around them.
Commander Nina Sangalan (my creation) is a direct descendant of Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and Ensign Hoshi Sato. Her "other Guardian Angel" is none other than Trip Tucker. I think Trip would have had a special eye on one of Malcolm's kin, especially if she turned out to be an engineer. Jamie Bristow is from the Irish side of Malcolm's family.