Author's Note: I don't own Star Trek.
Ch. 7 - No Man Left Behind
Sometime earlier
"Requesting assistance! We are stranded and unable to start our engines. Klingon vessel Star Destroyer requesting immediate assistance," Uhura said in Klingon.
She switched off the intercom and took a deep breath.
"What did you say?" Scotty asked from the seat next to her.
"Exactly what the Captain told me to say," she answered. She was tapping her fingers up and down on the arm of her chair; she was nervous just like everyone else.
"What did you say was the name of the ship?" Scotty asked.
"The Star Destroyer," Uhura answered.
"Really?" Kirk asked, glancing over at the two officers in the back seats of Shuttle Pod One from the pilot's chair. "Bit violent for this tiny ship."
"If Mr. Scott adequately altered our warp trail then we will appear to be bigger than we actually are." Spock said from the co-pilot seat.
"And Klingon's love the name Destroyer for their ships," Uhura added. "Some famous ships translate loosely to the Planet Destroyer, the Life Destroyer, the Sun Crusher, the Universe's Nemesis...things like that."
Scotty looked at her and blinked a few times.
"What?" Uhura demanded.
"This is who we want to find us?" Scotty demanded in return. "What the bloody hell are we doing?"
"Rescuing a colleague," Spock answered calmly.
"A friend, Spock," Kirk corrected, glancing at the Vulcan from the side of his eye, "We're saving a friend."
"Poor laddie," Scotty murmured. Only Uhura heard him, but she didn't reply for the intercom had come alive and a Klingon voice came grumbling out.
Uhura grunted a reply and, Kirk assumed, said the lines they had planned. The Klingon on the other side of the conversation laughed as he replied. Uhura ended the conversation and turned off the communicator.
"Well?" Kirk asked.
"They're on their way," Uhura replied. "I told them that the Enterprise was just outside the neutral zone and he replied that they'd lost something that he's found."
"Chekov?" Kirk asked.
Uhura nodded; "I'm sure of it."
A small beeping noise came from the panel to Spock's right and he glanced at the reading.
"Proximity alarm is going off, Captain," Spock said. "They're almost here."
The Klingon bird of prey warped into being and Scotty gulped. It was much larger than their little shuttle pod...and he didn't know how long his fake signature would last. At the moment, as far as the Klingons were concerned, the Enterprise shuttle appeared to be a small Klingon vessel. At least, if his modifications held...
The Klingons hailed the ship and Uhura almost pounced on the controls to answer. After a flurry of talking, Uhura switched it off and said, "It worked! Hurry! Get inside their hangar bay before they realize their mistake!"
Kirk maneuvered the ship inside the Bird-of-Prey. He muttered, "Come on, Enterprise...now would be good..."
"We're insane," Nick Paris hissed at April Mayweather.
April's hands tightened on the controls of Shuttle Pod Two as she answered, "Maybe."
Nick drummed his fingers nervously on his seat and started slightly when Sulu's voice came over the intercom;
"Shuttle Pod Two, are you ready?"
"As ready as we'll ever be," April replied.
"Good luck," Sulu said.
April and Nick looked at each other. This they could do. They were no longer nervous - it was just reaction time now.
"Shuttle Pod Two, on my mark," came Sulu's voice.
Steely eyes, a furrow of concentration on April's face, Nick's hands now steady over the controls...
On the Enterprise's bridge, McCoy swallowed hard. The plan was deceivingly simple: the Captain would take Spock, Uhura and Scotty on Shuttle Pod One and fool the Klingons into letting them on their ship. Then, before the Klingons could realize their mistake, the Enterprise would be a distraction so they could rescue Chekov. The only problem was that the distraction part would require precision warp-driving. Another problem was that the Klingons could kill the Captain. Spock and McCoy had argued with Jim, trying to get him to switch places with Sulu but Kirk has made a good point - only Sulu could drive the Enterprise that precisely.
So now McCoy was nervously looking at the sensors over Lieutenant Carol Marcus' shoulder and waiting for it all to start. It was almost time. Sulu paused in his conversation with April and Nick and looked straight ahead, his hands hovering over the controls.
"Now!" Carol shouted as the Captain's shuttle pod entered the Klingon Bird-of-Prey.
Suddenly, they were at warp and as quickly they were dropping out of it right in front of the Klingons.
"Now!" Sulu shouted. The warp residue was still dissipating as April and Nick shot out of the hangar bay, and started doing loops around the Enterprise.
"Make it realistic!" Sulu called over his shoulder. "Aim our tractor beam at them and shoot off some phaser fire!"
"Let's give the Klingon's a show," McCoy muttered as the Ensign at tactical complied.
"That's them!" Scotty exclaimed as a shuttle pod went barreling past the open hangar doors of the Klingon vessel.
"We logically have five minutes until the Klingon's realize their mistake," Spock said.
"You are remarkably calm for this situation," Scotty hissed at him as they all got out of the shuttle pod.
"Uhura with Spock, Scotty with me. Don't use the communicators unless you need help or have found Chekov and hurry!" Kirk whispered furiously. The doors to the rest of the ship slid open with a hiss and Kirk and Spock stunned the two Klingons before the aliens realized what was happening. The group went into the hallway and split up.
"We're coming, kid," Kirk thought.
The Klingon's communicator started beeping just as he was going to swing down his sword. Chekov gasped in relief, going limp against his restraints as he suddenly remembered how much he didn't want to die.
The Klingon lowered his sword in annoyance and opened his communicator with a snap. He grunted something, someone replied, there was a lot of shouting in Klingon and they all raced out of the room. Chekov was left there alone. Red alert lights began to blink, and the young man began to laugh.
"Right on time, Captain," he whispered in Russian. "Right on time."
The red alert lights began to blink but there were no sirens, no angry Klingons running through the halls so Kirk assumed they the lights had been turned on because of the Enterprise and their runaway shuttle. The rescue crew was safe…for now. Scotty gulped when he saw the light, but perked up when he saw a computer console.
"Captain...?" He said.
"Hurry," said Kirk. Scotty ran to the console and began to work - his fingers flying over the keys.
"What do you know?" Kirk asked impatiently.
"Hold your horses, Captain," Scotty said, "I don't speak Klingon!"
"Can you tell anything?!" Kirk hissed, looking around nervously.
"I got something," Scotty said, "They seem to be diverting extra power to one of the cargo bays..."
"Chekov."
"Probably...this way!" Scotty ran down the hall, counting doors as he went. His phase pistol lay forgotten on the computer console.
A sudden shout in Klingon behind him spurred him to run faster and he heard Kirk stun their pursuer before an alarm could be raised.
Scotty found the correct doors. And the Klingon guarding them. Then he realized his phase pistol was gone. With a strange cry reminiscent of the Viking warriors of his homeland, Scotty charged the Klingon at a dead sprint. He only succeeded in causing the Klingon to stumble back a bit. The Klingon punched him in the stomach and Scotty dropped like a sack of potatoes. Kirk rounded the corner and stunned the Klingon in the face.
"You okay?" he asked Scotty, offering him a hand.
"Yeah," Scotty said. He hit the door console and it slid open revealing Chekov, hanging from his wrists in the middle of the room.
"Chekov!" called Kirk, running forward.
"My God, laddie! Are you...? My God..." Scotty stumbled over his words as he follows the Captain inside.
Chekov raised his head, revealing his bruised face; but he smiled.
"I knew you'd make it in time," he whispered weakly.
"I don't leave anyone behind," Kirk replied. "Never." Kirk pulled on the chains, trying to set Chekov free. Chekov hissed, his face tightening in pain. Kirk's eyes darkened with anger but all he said was, "Scotty, lift him up."
Scotty nodded and supported Chekov as Kirk blasted the chains apart with the phase pistol. Chekov basically fell into Scotty's arms.
"Hi Scotty," he said faintly.
"Hi Chekov," Scotty replied, putting Chekov's arm around his neck. "Don't worry, we've got you."
Kirk put Chekov's other arm around his neck and flipped open his communicator.
"Kirk to Spock."
"Here, Captain."
"We have Chekov. Get to the ship."
"Yes, Captain. Will you require assistance?"
"Just start the ship." Kirk stores the communicator, grabbed his phase pistol and said, "Let's go."
"How...exactly...did you get...in here?" Chekov gasped.
"Pretended to be Klingons," Scotty said breezily.
Chekov's brow furrowed, "What about...the cameras...?"
"Cameras?!"
Kirk's and Scotty's shared exclamation was answered by a road in Klingon behind them.
"Drop!" Kirk roared and the trio dropped to the ground, narrowly missing the phase fire over their heads.
"Shoot them!" Kirk shouted at Scotty, trying to take down their attackers with some well-aimed shots.
"I don't have a..."
"Then get Chekov to safety! Now!"
Scotty got to his knees and half-dragged, half-led Chekov to shelter behind a computer console. Scotty flipped open his communicator.
"Spock!"
"Mr. Scott? What...?"
"Help!"
There was no reply and Scotty said some choice words in Scottish before shoving the communicator back into his belt. Then he stood, took a running started and rammed into a Klingon that was trying to behead the Captain with some sort of sword.
Chekov cursed his own weakness and pulled himself to his knees, he grabbed onto the top of the console to try to pull himself to his feet and he made a face as the console moved beneath his hand. He pulled the loose piece down, stared at it in surprise, and then stunned the Klingon that was currently choking the Captain with a well-aimed shot from Scotty's missing phase pistol. Phaser fire from the end of the hallway dropped the other Klingon's and Spock examined his friends; "Everyone alright?"
"Sure," Kirk gasped, rubbing his neck, "Let's just get out of here!"
Spock basically lifted Chekov off the ground and supported him almost the entire way to the shuttle on his own. Scotty helped once he caught up and Kirk walked there backwards, a phase pistol in each hand.
Uhura had the engine started. "Is everyone..." she began, "Oh my God...Chekov!" She ran to take Chekov from Spock and Kirk threw himself into the pilot's seat.
"Sit down, hurry!" he called. "Enterprise! Shuttle Pod Two! You there?"
"Here and still chasing the shuttle pod, Captain."
"We're here but I don't like the look of those Klingon weapons, Captain!
"Sulu! We're busting out of here! Get ready to warp! Mayweather, get back to the Enterprise as soon as we're clear!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Got it, Captain!"
Kirk told his passengers, "Hold on!" And he "punched it." The shuttle pod shot forward and Spock's hands flew over the controls.
"Bam!" The hangar bay doors were blasted apart and the Klingons watched in surprise as a Starfleet shuttle went flying out of a hangar bay that they had assumed only held a small Klingon scout ship.
April and Nick, one engine smoking from a few Klingon pot-shots, flew into the Enterprise hangar seconds before Kirk more or less crashed his shuttle into the hangar-bay floor.
"Sulu!" Kirk shouted over the intercom.
Sulu went to warp and the Klingon leader limped into his bridge. He glared at the empty space that seconds before had been occupied but not one, but three Federation vessels. Then he started yelling.
Back on the Enterprise, April raced out of her shuttle and hugged Chekov tightly as Spock and Kirk helped the young Ensign out of their shuttle.
"I'm okay," Chekov gasped into her ear. "I'm okay." Then he fainted in her arms. April started to fall, only to be saved by Spock.
"I've got him," he told her.
To April's surprise, Spock picked up Chekov easily and carried him all the way to sickbay where McCoy swore and fussed and shouted for everyone else to get out.
"He'll be fine," said Scotty as the sickbay doors slid shut in everyone's faces, "He's home now."
Author's Note: Don't go away! One more chapter will be posted soon! Please review, and thank you to everyone who favorites this story. Another story featuring a bit more of our favorite half-Vulcan is on the drawing board please keep a lookout for more stories!