So the action wraps up here in part two of the giant chapter of doom. There's a little bit of language in this chapter, a few Spanish swears I learned from grandmother, who forgets that I don't know the language like she does. I usually have to either ask one of the Spanish teachers at school, or if I'm out of school, like now, find a translator online, which I don't entirely trust. You'd think I would have a better grasp on the language, since I've been studying it for ten years. We started learning Spanish in the third grade, and I still suck at it. But oh well. You didn't need to hear about that. Anyway, here's the rest of the adventure, then we get to explore what happens afterwards. And I'm still, as always, taking ideas and suggestions.
Natalia had both her Captain and Spock onscreen, monitoring everything from heart rate to charge of their phasers. She wasn't going to lose them, not unless-
"They have activated they drill." Chekov said, his voice breaking the silence. Natalia's jaw dropped as her screen flickered, then went blank.
"Maldita sea." She shook her head, not noticing the language slip as she punched in every combination she could think of.
"Communication and transport are inoperative." Uhura burst back into the room. "Sulu, please tell me you have them, otherwise we won't be able to beam them back."
Sulu shook his head, turning to Natalia, who also shook her head. "Kirk and Spock are on their own now." He said.
"There is no way to disable the drill from here." Natalia said, still frantically looking for a way to fix the problem. Finally, she leaned back in her chair, removing her hands from the controls. "We just have to wait." She turned to Sulu. "Right?"
He nodded. His dark eyes were watching her every move, and he slid his chair towards her, casting a glance around the room before addressing her. "Flores, are sure you can handle this?"
She bit her lip. She had been trying to hide all of her insecurity, all of the little things in her mind telling her that she wasn't ready for this. And yet, Sulu saw right through it. But she knew better. No matter what, she knew where her place was.
"Lieutenant, I have never been more sure of something in my life." She said, looking him square in the eye. "If I felt I could not handle this mission, I would gladly turn the controls over to you and Mr. Chekov. However, I have been training for this for three years, and while nothing prepares you for the situation where you must fire upon your captain and commanding officer, I must say that the last ten hours have been more than enough training on how to handle difficult situations."
He nodded, and smiled lightly. "Just making sure, Natalia." He turned back to his station, dropping the subject. She just raised an eyebrow and turned back to her own screen.
"Chekov, will you know if they deactivate the drill?" She asked.
"Of course." He nodded. She set her computer to automatically search out their signals and disabled the alert that signified the signal could not be found.
"Only good news." She mumbled to herself.
The bridge was quiet, almost deathly so, until there was a chime from Natalia's and Chekov's stations.
"The drill has been deactivated." He said.
"I have Kirk and Spock." She said, her hands flying across the screen. "Spock is…in space." She pulled him up first, studying the information streaming in. "He's in some sort of ship. Heart rate is elevated, but he's fine." She then turned her attention to Kirk, wincing slightly. "Kirk isn't fairing so well. He's not dead, though he has taken a beating."
"Typical." Uhura said as she connected with their frequencies. "Spock's line is silent, and there is too much background to get anything from Kirk. It all sounds like machinery."
"He's still in the enemy ship." Natalia confirmed. She watched the screen, her eyes growing wide. "Spock just jumped to warp."
"What is he doing?" Sulu asked, more in wonder.
"The Narada is following." Chekov confirmed.
"I'm picking up another signal." Natalia said. She opened the section, her eyes widening. "Captain Pike is alive but badly injured. He's aboard the Narada." She turned to Sulu, who was suddenly very busy at his controls. "What are we doing?"
"Following orders." He said. "We're pursuing the Narada. With the drill disabled and Spock leading them away from Earth, this is our moment to eliminate the threat." He turned to his intercom, pressing the correct button. "Mr. Scott, can you lock onto the signals of Spock, Kirk, and Pike?"
"I dunno." Scotty yelled back. "Three people onto one pad from three different locations is a bit new for me. I'm giving it a shot, though."
"Good." Sulu turned to Natalia, who had already traded her signals of those aboard for the weapons menu. "We are going to jump to warp. Chekov, do you have a pursuit course."
"Yes sir." He performed one final command. "Course locked, sir. Warp four on your command."
"Flores, we need to come out of warp blazing." He said. "I want full photon volleys. Don't play around with this, we may not have enough time."
"Yes, sir." She set everything up, leaving just the final command. "Fire on your command."
"Don't wait for a command." He said, sending them to warp. "When we drop out of warp, the moment I say one, fire all."
"Yes sir." She waited, tense. They were not in warp long.
"Get ready, Flores." Sulu said, watching his own commands. "End warp in three…two…one."
In one graceful move, Natalia fired all the photon torpedoes, just as the Narada appeared in front of them. Her hands dancing across the screen, she armed and fired again, this time at the volley of enemy torpedoes she saw closing in on the unfamiliar ship that held Spock.
"Cease fire, Flores." Sulu said, steering them below the Narada. "Mr. Scott, do you have their signals?"
"I'm pretty sure I do." He said, and from his tone he would be successful. "Locking now."
Sulu switched channels. "Dr. McCoy, get a team together and head to the transporter room. Captain Pike is coming in." He didn't wait for an answer, instead going back to Scotty. "Mr. Scott, do you have them?"
"In about four seconds." He said, and there was the hum of the beaming and whoop of joy.
"Nice timing, Scotty." Kirk's voice came over the speakers, and the bridge visibly relaxed slightly.
"I've never beamed three people from two locations onto one pad before!" Scotty said, still laughing with joy and relief. "That was pretty good!"
"Good job, Mr. Scott." Sulu said.
"Thanks man." He said. "The captain and Spock are headed your way. Pike has gone to medical."
"Thanks." He said. Barely a minute had gone by when the turbo lift opened, and Spock and Kirk stepped out.
Natalia turned, a hint of smile on her face. "Captain, the enemy ship is losing power. Their shields are down."
"Hail them now." Kirk ordered, he and Spock moving to stand in front of the console.
Natalia watched as Nero's face flickered into life on the front view screen. "This is James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise." Kirk began. "Your ship is compromised. You are too close to the singularity to survive without assistance, which we are willing to provide."
There was a pause, and when Spock turn around Natalia caught a glimmer of conflict in his eyes. "Captain, what are you doing?" He said, soft enough not to be picked up by Nero.
"Showing compassion may be the only way to make peace with Romulus. It's logic, Spock, I thought you'd like that." Kirk was just as quiet, and for once not terribly expressive in the face. Both knew that Nero was still watching, and Natalia had to look at everything else just to avoid him.
"No, not really." Spock said, with the slightest tilt of his head. "Not this time."
Their conversation was cut short as Nero spoke. "I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times. I would rather die in agony, than accept assistance from you." Natalia couldn't help but roll her eyes, despite the serious situation. Who knew Romulans were such drama queens?
"You got it." Kirk said, turning away from the screen. "Flores, arm phasers, fire everything we've got."
"Yes sir." Natalia said, half her job already done. She punched in the last command and suddenly the sky was alight with red. The destruction was quite beautiful, in a way. The black hole was growing, sucking in the Romulan vessel as the phasers destroyed the ship. Natalia kept a steady volley, as the metal shattered, only to be pulled deeper into the darkness.
"Sulu, let's go home." Kirk order from his command chair just a warning flashed across the screen.
"Mierda." Natalia swore under her breath as he watched Sulu go to warp with no visible results.
"Why aren't we at warp?" Kirk asked.
"We are, sir." Chekov said.
"The black hole's pull is too strong." Natalia added.
"Kirk to Engineering. Get us out of here, Scotty." Kirk ordered.
"You bet your ass, Captain." His voice said over the speaker. Natalia turned around, hoping to see someone looking a little more confident that she was. There wasn't one. Even Spock had lowered his eyebrows.
"Go to maximum warp!" Kirk said.
"I'm giving her all she's got!" Scotty responded. A snapping noise echoed across the bridge as something began breaking. All eyes found the cracks as they worked their away across the ceiling. Suddenly Natalia felt warm skin against her hand, and she looked down to see her hand entwined with Chekov's. He didn't look at her, his wide eyes still on the ceiling, but she understood the gesture.
"All she's got isn't good enough." Kirk yelled, not pausing to register some of the more terrified expressions. "What else you got?"
"Uh…" Scotty paused, but not for long. "If we eject the core, and detonate, the blast could be enough to push us away. I can't promise anything, though."
The bridge gave way to more cracks, a few cutting across the view screen that still displayed the warning.
"Do it! Do it! Do it!" Kirk yelled. There was a slight disturbance as the cores were launched, and then came the blast.
Natalia watched it from the front screen, a growing ball of white-blue light. It approached the Enterprise, at first gently buffeting the ship, then hitting full force. Everyone was pushed back against their chair as the ship was pushed out with enough force to escape the gravitation pull of the black hole. There was a moment when the ship was finally moving forward of her own accord that was silent. Then, Kirk broke the silence with a small, exhausted laugh. Soon the rest of the bridge (except for Spock) had joined him.
Natalia slid slightly to her right as she felt Chekov pull on her hand. She looked up and saw him touch her fingertips to his lips for the briefest of moments before letting go. She knew that literally was the smallest of gestures he could perform in that moment, and yet she knew that was far from the gesture he wanted to perform.