New Chapter! Yay!
I do not own any rights to Star Trek. This chapter is mainly about speeding through the rest of the movie, or the rest of the action in the movie. The changes between what you have already read and what is on screen are minor, so as a result this chapter will cover a lot of ground and not go into much detail of those scenes. I'm just trying to get by this so I can get back to the point in the story where I have more control. Bwahahahaha.
This is a little hard to write, partially because I'm impatient to get to the fun parts, partially because I'm now on vacation, and partially because I think I'm getting sick because the room is like a FURNACE and I feel like I'm burning up.
Chapter Seven
Sickbay and Cargo Bay
Jim's time spent in sickbay was not particularly pleasant. He hoped he'd never have to go back there again. It was not the staff, who were mostly friendly albeit stressed under their current conditions, but the medical treatment he reluctantly received.
Jim had never been a fan of hypos, and the chief medical officer in charge seemed to favor them. Jim almost swore it was some kind of punishment because the chief medical officer, McCoy, kept grumbling disapprovingly over his various injuries, new and old. Jim rarely got a chance to be looked over by a medical professional, let alone a Starfleet certified one.
When he got hurt or sick he usually just dealt with it on his own. Or, if it was bad enough, he would wake up in some planet's or space station's hospital. Always a disorienting experience.
A dermal regenerator was used to fix up his frostbite and the cuts and bruises he had. A sharp stab to the neck combatted the fever he didn't know he had, and was followed by several meant to combat all the diseases he might have picked up on the planet he claimed he beamed from. Jim wondered what treatment he would get if the man knew how many planets and sketchy systems he has really been too. Just thinking about it made him sore.
He wasn't sure what to think of McCoy. He was older, but not by too much. He was acting Chief Medical Officer, a title he just inherited due to the casualties from this mission. He seemed stressed, and Jim couldn't help but feel bad for him. He seemed to have a bad temper that was constant, judging by the way the staff tiptoed around him, and all the chaos did not help.
At least he did not try to make small talk. Everyone was dying to ask Jim questions. He could see it on their faces. Why wouldn't they? He was a mysterious outsider, an unknown element, and if this did out work out as he (desperately) hoped, the reason they all die.
What the hell had he gotten himself into?
Fatigue was tugging at him now, and the angry mumbling McCoy was talking about forcing him to sleep.
"How long have you been awake?"
Jim just shrugged in response with a sly grin, inciting an angry sigh.
McCoy was just about to use one of his hypos against Jim to drug him to sleep when, by pure luck, the bridge requested his presence.
A plan had been hatched in his absence. The Russian kid (How the hell did a kid this young get on the ship anyway? And in a position the bridge? He looked like a puppy that Jim just wanted to pat on the head and give a treat too. Wait, that sound's weird.) was some sort of physics genius and found out that if they dropped out of warp near Saturn, behind one of its moons, the rings would keep the Enterprise off of the Narada's sensors, but allow them to locate the Narada. From there they could beam a team directly onto the ship to carry out a covert mission to disable the Narada, remove the Red Matter, and save their lost captain, Pike.
It all sounded brilliant. The pilot, Sulu or whatever, seemed confident he could pull it off with enough finesse to keep the ship hidden for as long as possible, and once the team, the captain, and the red matter were safely removed, and hopefully the weapon systems were offline, he would be in the perfect position to launch an attack.
The infiltration team had to be as small as possible to avoid detection for as long as possible. Jim was the ideal candidate, having already been on the ship. He knew the layout and rough estimations of the crew's strength and the ship's technology. He volunteered right away.
He knew it was a risky move to put him on the field, considering the fact that he was not a trained and loyal Starfleet member, but it was also a risky venture to go without him.
Spock accepted his request instantly, giving Jim a little shock of surprise. It was weird being near this Spock after having been around Old Spock. They looked very similar. Both had very angular faces, pale skin, and the almost annoying black haircut. Both also had the dark more-human-then-Vulcan eyes, though Old Spock held much more emotion, as did the expressions he made on his face. This Spock seemed as reserved and closed up as any Vulcan. Jim was still able to pick up on his flashes of emotions before he suppressed them, but he blamed that on I-just-lost-my-planet control loss. And while the Old Spock seemed very fatherly (or grandfatherly), this Spock was so young and almost handsome. If that made any sense.
Jim's mind was still reeling with the fact that there were two of them, and how his life was alerted as a result.
There was a catch, if you could call it that, behind Spock allowing him to go on the mission. Spock would go as well.
It made sense, Spock was the highest ranking and most trustworthy Starfleet member, the complete opposite of Jim. He had a strict follow-the-rules vibe to Jim's make-it-up-as-you-go ways, so in theory they might work really well as a team. Or not. There was only one way to really find out.
When the Enterprise did drop out of warp everything worked out just how Checkov calculated and Scotty was able to calculate what he believed to be the position of the cargo bay on the enemy ship. It was a tricky situation, as Scotty had to use guess work to figure out where to put them. It would be a one way trip until they disabled the drill. Scotty couldn't relock-on to them until they did.
Spock and Jim got on the transporter pads, ready to beam out, but before Scotty finished his final calculations a beautiful woman walked onto the pad and gave Spock a warm hug.
She was tall, with flawless dark skin and long, glossy hair. She was a true exotic beauty. Spock just stood stiffly in her warm embrace, reacting as any Vulcan would with human physical affection, but he raised a hand to pat her back, an almost endearing attempt at returning her affection. Jim was not sure what to make of it.
"Come back safely," She told him, "I'll be monitoring your frequencies."
Her sweet expression turned fierce when she looked at Jim, as if she was challenging him to come back alone and face her fury.
Sadly Scotty's calculations did not work out as planned. Instead of ending up in a nice empty area of the ship, they ended up in the heart of crew activity, immediately inciting a barrage of phaser shots being fired in their general direction. To be fair to Scotty, it was cargo bay-ish. Just also heavily populated.
Though Jim knew were Captain Pike was likely to be held (based on his own held-against-his-will experience) Spock melded with a fallen Romulan to find the location of the red matter and double checked on Jim's hypothesis (he was right, which boded ill for Pike).
Together they made their way to the red matter and the sleek tiny spaceship it was stored within. It was decided Spock would fly the ship out, as the ship was made of futuristic Vulcan technology, so he would more likely be able to figure out the controls. It helped that the ship recognized Spock's face and greeted him by name. When Spock rose a questioning eyebrow to Jim, who just avoided making eye contact and remarked, "Wow, that's weird!"
They split up from there. It was too much of a risk to leave to red matter in the hands of the Romulans while they searched for Pike, so Spock would take the ship away and attack the drill from the outside while Jim would find Pike.
Spock managed to get the ship safely away, but Jim unfortunately ran into the second-in-command before he could get to Pike. Jim couldn't remember his name, but that mattered little as the Romulan decided to favor his fists over his phaser to attack Jim. Luckily he was arrogant enough to not pay attention, and Jim managed to get ahold of his phaser and used it against him. Sadly not before he managed to hold Jim up by the throat while mock him about history and being human.
Sore-throated, Jim continued his quest to rescue Pike, and he found him on the interrogation chair he himself had been on not too long before. After a rushed introduction (it went like "Hey! It's me! Yes, I'm that guy! The name's Jim! I'm here to rescue you! Come with me if you want to live!" or something to that effect) Jim helped Pike out of the chair and started to carry him to safety, shooting down all opposing Romulans as they went.
Outside the ship Spock had managed to destroy the drill and lured the Narada away from Earth. The Enterprise followed, so when the Narada opened fire on Spock, they countered every missile. Nero must have been pissed off by this point, which made Jim grin at the thought of it.
Spock directed the red matter ship onto a collision course with the Narada. Before the collision occurred Scotty managed to lock onto Spock, Jim, and Pike simultaneously (and at the last moment possible) and bring them safely back to the Enterprise.
The crash of the Vulcan ship into the Romulan one ignited the red matter and started the process of creating a black hole, right at the center of Nero's ship. Spock and Kirk managed to get onto the bridge just in time for Kirk to request a communication link ("It's important" was acceptable). Spock allowed it, and Jim was able to impress Spock and the rest of the crew by reciting Starfleet regulations concerning incapacitated ships in peril, offering assistance for the Narada on behalf of Starfleet. Nero refused.
When Jim was questioned by Spock, he just stated it was the logical thing to do.
There was no need to stay any longer, and the danger of remaining grew every second. Spock ordered full warp away. The pull almost trapped them, but quick thinking on Scotty's behalf and a desperate adrenaline-driven "Do it! Do it!" order from Jim (to which he later apologized) saved their asses and shot the Enterprise away from a horrible death and into the starry black void ahead.
When the crew finally had time to catch their breaths, a cheer went up. Everyone was grinning madly, even Spock looked on the verge of looking happy, and Jim let out a single "Whoo!" before once again stealing all the attention and collapsing out of exhaustion.
End of Chapter.
Certain parts of the events of this chapter will be looked at more closely, so if there was a part you wanted more Jim or Spock (or other) insight on, one day might be your lucky day.
Nice first Jim and McCoy interaction. McCoy seems rather grumpy. He could probably use a friend. It only gets better from here.
Now the fun begins.
"I was so afraid Fernando
We were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die
And I'm not ashamed to say
The roar of guns and cannons almost made me cry"
- From the song Fernando by ABBA