Two chapters in one night? I'm on a roll! Ok so I know I've probably been lacking in the Bones/Lara interaction but it's coming people I promise.
And thank you so much to my reviewers, BrowneyedShamer and angel's lil devil angel. You have both been so much help and have given me great ideas! :D i love you two!
Anyway...on with the next chapter!
Disclaimer; I do not own Star Trek...I only own Lara Sheppard
The three made their way to hangar 1. Ordered chaos was going on. People were scrambling everywhere into shuttles and taking things on and off the shuttles. Commanders were calling out cadet's names and where they were to be assigned. Leo and Lara were both assigned to the USS Enterprise, but not Jim. "They didn't call my name…" Jim said walking off after the commander.
Bones and Lara followed, curious as to the reason why Jim's name would not be called. "Commander? Sir you didn't call my name. Kirk, James T."
The commander's finger was moving rapidly over a console screen when he answered, "Kirk you're on academic suspension. That means you're grounded," he turned to face Jim, "until the academy board rules."
Jim's shoulders slumped, and Lara felt really bad for him. It was his dream to serve on a starship, and now that his chance was upon him, he was grounded because of that hard headed Vulcan.
"Jim the board will rule in your favor," Bones said trying to console his friend as best he could, "Most likely…look Jim, I gotta go."
Lara stood next to Jim, "I'll catch up with you later Leo."
"Lara…" but stopped when he saw the look in her eyes. He faced Jim and tried but failed at finding words to console Jim.
Jim turned and shook Leo's hand, "Yeah, go. Be safe."
Leo turned and walked away. Lara touched Jim's arm, "Will you be alright?"
The two moved out of the way of an officer carrying a large case. Jim was about to answer when they both felt a hand grab each of their arms. "Come with me." Leo said to them dragging them both somewhere in the hangar.
"Bones, where are we going?" Jim asked keeping up with the doctor's brisk walk.
Leo held up a hand, "You'll see." He said leading them into a small room.
"What are you doing?" Jim asked when they entered.
"I'm doing you a favor, I couldn't just leave you there looking all pathetic," he said grabbing several different colored vials from a shelf, "Take a seat."
Jim sat down and Lara stood at his right side. "Leo, whatever you're planning had better work. I don't feel like getting caught and grounded like hot shot over here," when Jim looked up at her with defeated eyes she put a hand on his back, "No offense Jim."
"None taken," he said.
Leo loaded a colored vial into a needle, "I'm going to give you a vaccine against viral infection from mulvaran mud flees." he braced his hands on Jim's neck than released the shot.
Jim turned his head from the pain, "Ow! What for?"
"To give you the symptoms," Leo said turning and collecting more things from around the small room.
"What are you talking about?" Jim asked still feeling the pain from the shot.
"You're going to start losing vision in your left eye."
Jim turned toward Lara, "Yeah I already have…"
"Oh and you're gonna get a really bad headache, and a flop sweat." He pulled on a small bag and picked up Jim from his left side. Lara helped and picked him up from his right side, supporting his weight as he was now too disoriented to walk by himself.
"You call this a favor?" Jim asked as he was practically dragged out of the lab.
"Yeah you owe me one." Bones said to him.
They made their way to the shuttle that would take them to the Enterprise. "Lara go ahead of us…we will meet you on board." Leo said holding up Jim.
"Are you sure?" she hesitated.
"Yes, it won't look right if the chief tactical officer is helping a medical officer carry his patient on board, now go."
Lara gently touched Jim's sweaty forehead and gave one last look to Leo then went ahead. "Sheppard N. Lara. Welcome aboard the Enterprise. Captain Pike wants to speak with you; he's waiting for you at the pilot's chair."
She thanked the officer and stepped onto the shuttle. She snaked her way through the small, crowded shuttle and knocked on the door to the pilot's cabin. "Come in," she heard Pike's voice on the other side.
When she entered she saw only Pike in the pilot's chair, a data pad in hand. "Captain Pike," she saluted, "You wanted to see me sir?"
"At ease Lieutenant, take a seat." He pointed at the copilot's chair. When Lara was settled he looked up from his data pad, "I was very impressed by you today."
Lara blushed, "Thank you sir. If I may ask, what is this about? You obviously didn't want to just tell me how you thought I did."
Pike grinned, "Two reasons why I want to speak with you. First, since I am captain of the Enterprise I get to choose all of my officers who help me on the bridge. I want you to be my chief tactical officer Sheppard."
"Thank you sir, I…thank you." She smiled wide at him and shook his hand enthusiastically.
"The second reason why I've called you hear is to discuss Mr. Kirk." He said putting away his data pad.
Lara raised an eyebrow at him, "What about sir?"
For once, Captain Pike seemed at a loss for words, "Just…since you two seem to be close…"
"Yes sir…oh! Not in that way, we are just very good friends," she said suddenly feeling awkward.
"Yes, well. Since he only ever seems to listen to you, could you do me a favor and talk some sense into him?"
Lara laughed, "Sir I don't know what you mean."
"You and I both know he cheated on that test. Just when we get back from Vulcan, see if you can tell him something, anything would help."
"Yes sir I will. So when we arrive, do I report straight to the bridge?" she said standing up.
Pike turned his seat and started up the engines, "Head to your quarters, there will be an officers uniform waiting for you. Once you've changed report to the bridge, you're station will be at the right hand side of the captain's chair. It's the standing kind…sorry," he turned to face her.
"Oh that's alright captain, I guess all of that SFSO training will pay off. I'm so used to standing for a long period of time."
Pike smiled, "Good. Go find a seat Lieutenant, we will be arriving shortly."
Lara found a seat near Bones and Jim. When the shuttle docked Lara said a quick goodbye to Bones and kissed Jim lightly on the cheek before she left them. She found her quarters and entered. They were small but big enough for one person. Lara opened up the closet and found her uniform, a red short dress. Well it's a good thing I work out every day, she thought to herself as she pulled on the uniform. It stopped barely above her mid thigh, and Lara felt that she was exposed.
She looked in the mirror, fixed her makeup and made sure her braid was secured than headed up to the bridge. She entered and found her station. Lara stood in front of it and started checking weapon systems and other things about the ship that she needed to know. When Lara was satisfied with her station, she heard the doors swoosh open. She turned and saw Commander Spock, the Enterprises science officer walk to his station and take a seat.
Pike walked in and addressed the commander, "Mr. Spock."
"Captain," Spock said as he took his seat, "Engineering reports, ready for launch."
"Thank you," Pike said walking around to his seat, "Ladies and gentlemen the maiden voyage of our newest flag ship deserves more pomp and circumstance than we can afford today. The christening will just have to be our reward for a safe return. Carry on," he said sitting and turning on the comm.
"All decks, this is Captain Pike prepare for immediate departure. Helm, thrusters." Pike said to the officer at the helm.
"Moorings retracted captain, dock control reports ready. Thrusters fired, separating from space dock." He reported.
Lara saw lines of code on her screen reporting to her what the Lieutenant had just done. Her fingers flew over the console. She felt the ship move as it pulled away from the dock. Either that or she was just imagining the feeling.
"The fleets cleared space dock captain. All ships ready for warp."
"Set course for Vulcan," Pike said turning his chair around to watch his bridge crew.
"Aye aye captain, course laid in." the helmsmen reported.
"Maximum warp, punch it." Pike ordered.
Lara prepared herself for the number of codes that would stream in once the ship went to warp. She watched all of the other ships of the fleet zip off into warp…but not Enterprise. The engines roared, and then died.
There was a moment of silence as the helmsmen pulled back on the thrusters. "Lieutenant where's helmsmen McKenna?" Pike asked calmly.
"He has lung worm sir, he couldn't report to his post. I'm Hikaro Sulu," he said turning to face the captain.
"You are a pilot right?" Pike asked.
Sulu smiled politely, "Uh, very much so sir," he said turning toward his console sounding flustered, "I'm uh, not sure what's wrong here."
Pike turned toward Lara; she gave him a half smile. "Is the parking brake on?" Pike asked sarcastically.
"Uh no," Sulu said laughing nervously, "I'll figure it out, I'm just uh…"
"Have you disengaged the external inertianal dampener?" Spock spoke up from his seat.
Sulu paused in his fumbling, than calmly released the dampener, "Ready for warp sir."
Pike grinned, "Let's punch it." Sulu revved the engine and the Enterprise jumped to warp.
Several minutes passed while the bridge crew ran diagnostics over the ship. Sulu turned from his console, "Engines at maximum warp Captain."
Pike leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, "Russian whiz-kid what's your name again?"
The co-pilot turned to face the captain, "Ensign Chekov, Pavel Andreivich sir."
"Fine, Chekov, Pavel Andreivich. Begin ship wide mission broadcast."
Chekov turned toward his console, "Yes sir, rapid tu."
Lara giggled at the boy's accent, and then began reading the codes coming from the warp drives. She wondered how Jim was doing, and hoped that wherever he was, he was currently not getting into more trouble than he already was.
The Russian co-pilot tried the voice command but not without difficulty, "Ensign Authorization code, nine, five, wictor, wictor, two."
The computer beeped loudly, "Authorization not recognized."
Chekov cursed quietly than tried again, "Ensign Authorization code…nine, five…victor…victor, two," the computer was satisfied and then the ensign began his report, "May I have your attention please. At 22 hundred hours telemetry detected an anomaly in the neutral zone what appeared to be a lightning storm in space.
Soon after, Starfleet received a distress signal from the Vulcan high command that their planet was experiencing seismic activity. Our mission is to assess the condition of Vulcan and assist in evacuations if necessary. We should be arriving at Vulcan within…three minutes, thank you for your time."
Lara listened intently to the report. Something just didn't feel right about this whole distress signal. She shrugged off the feeling and returned to her work. She entered in a code and opened up on her screen the security footage from medical bay. She saw Jim lying on a medical table but he sat up abruptly. Bones walked over to him but stepped back in shock. Lara had to suppress a gasp when she saw that Jim's hands were large and swollen.
She had to get down there to check on him but she couldn't just leave the bridge. She turned toward Pike, "Captain, may I go see the doctor?"
"What for?" Pike asked not looking up from a data pad in his hands.
"I'm feeling a little nauseous. First time flying at warp sir."
"Fine go, make it quick." Pike said not looking at her once.
She thanked him quickly than made her way down to medical. She just stepped off the elevator when she was almost run over by Jim. He grabbed her by the shoulders, "Lara! Come with me!" he said not stopping and running over to the console by the elevator. "Computer find crew member Uhura."
Bones had a briefcase full of medical equipment and was trying to administer something to counter act Jim's reaction to whatever he had been given. He was rambling about how he hadn't seen anything like this since medical school but Lara was too concerned about Jim. He scanned the computer screen, "We're flying into a trap!" he said taking Lara's hand into his own severely swollen one and running off.
"Jim hold on!" she said trying to calm him down. They stopped on one of the lower floors; several people were running back and forth. Jim was scowering the crowd for Uhura and Lara was trying to keep Jim still for a few seconds.
"Damn it Jim stay still!" Bones said shooting another vaccine into Jim's neck.
Jim turned his neck in pain, "Ow! Stop it!" He spotted Uhura and ran to her, followed by Lara and Bones.
"What the hell is going on Leo?" she asked not breathing heavily from all the running.
Leo however, was, "Severe reaction to that vaccine and the sedative. We need to keep his heart rate down."
"Oh my god! What's wrong with your hands?" Uhura nearly screamed.
Jim shrugged it off, "Who is responsible for the Klingon attack, and was it Rommullum…"
"Was it what?" Uhura asked flustered.
"Was it is—whatth happening to my mouth?" Jim turned to Bones.
"You've got numb-tongue?" he asked calmly.
"Numb-tongue?" Jim was now very annoyed and frustrated.
"I can fix that!" Bones said preparing yet another vaccine.
"Was the ship what?" Uhura asked again.
"Rommullum." Jim repeated for her.
"What?"
"Romulan."
"Romulan? Yes!"
"Ye—ah! Ow! Damnith!" he cursed when Bones injected another sedative into his neck.
"Jim wait! Hang on!" Lara shouted after him as he practically dragged her onto to the bridge with Bones and Uhura following close behind. She was going to be in big trouble for helping him get on board.
"Captain Pike sir we have to stop the ship!" Jim said once he came to a halt. He still had a tight grip on Lara's hand.
"Kirk," Pike said surprised, "How the hell did you get on board the Enterprise?" he said, than he glanced at Lara and Jim's entwined fingers. Lara lowered her eyes, a blush creeping up her neck.
Bones stepped up and placed a hand on Jim's shoulder, "Sir this man is under the influence of a severe reaction to a vaccine. He is completely delusional."
"Bones! Bones! Bones!" Jim said over the doctor to make him stop, "Vulcan is not experiencing a natural disaster, it's being attacked by Romulans."
"Romulans," Pike exclaimed, "Cadet Kirk, I think you've had enough attention for one day, McCoy take him back to medical, we'll have words later."
"Aye captain," Bones said trying to restrain Jim but he wouldn't step down. He stepped up to be eye level with the captain, pulling Lara up with him.
"Sir that same anomaly—
"Mr. Kirk!" Pike said surprised by his actions.
Spock stepped up behind Jim, "Mr. Kirk should not be aboard this vessel."
Jim rolled his eyes at the Vulcan, "Look I get it you're a…" Lara lost track of where their little argument went because they started to talk over each other. "Try it! This cadet is trying to save the bridge!" Kirk exclaimed, silencing Spock.
"By recommending a full stop mid-warp during a rescue mission?" Spock challenged.
Jim turned to the captain, "It's not a rescue mission, listen to me it's an attack—"
"Based on what facts?" Spock challenged again.
Jim was silent for a moment than looked Spock dead in the eyes, "That same anomaly, a lightning storm that we saw in space today also occurred on the day of my birth, before a Romulan ship attacked the USS Kelvin," he turned to face Pike, "You know that sir I read your dissertation. That ship which had formidable and advanced weaponry was never seen or heard from again.
The Kelvin was attacked in a place on the edge of Klingon space and at 23 hundred hours last night, there was an attack. Forty seven Klingon war-birds were destroyed by Romulans sir and it was reported that the Romulans were in one ship, one massive ship."
"And you know of this Klingon attack how?" Pike asked.
Jim paused and then turned toward Uhura; she spoke up when the captain gave her a questioning look. "Sir I intercepted and translated the transmission myself. Kirk's report is accurate."
"We're warping into a trap sir, the Romulans are waiting for us I promise you that." Jim said holding Lara's hand tightly.
Pike turned toward Spock, "The cadet's logic is sound," he said stoically, "And lieutenant Uhura is unmatched in zino-linguistics, we would be wise to accept her conclusion."
The captain turned toward the linguistics officer, "Scan Vulcan space check for any transmissions in Romulan."
The officer unfortunately didn't know or understand the Romulan language. Uhura however did, and relived the officer of his duty and took over for him. When Pike asked to hail the other ships, it was reported that no ships were responding. Uhura was also not picking up any transmission.
Jim looked to the captain, "Sir it's because they're being attacked."
"Shields up, red alert," Pike said calmly sitting in his chair. Lara squeezed Jim's hand than moved to her station entering in codes to power up the shields and the weapons systems.
"Arrival at Vulcan in five seconds," Sulu reported, "Four…three…two…one." The Enterprise dropped out of warp into a debris field of left over hulls and parts from the rest of the fleet.
Sulu navigated through the debris as best as he could; only scraping the engines of its new coat of paint. When they exited the debris, what Lara saw made her heart sink. It was the largest Romulan ship she had ever seen. It was at least ten times the size of the Enterprise, and that was just a guess.
Lara's station started beeping rapidly, "Captain they're locking torpedoes." She reported calmly despite her racing heart.
"Divert auxiliary power resort the cells to forward shields!" Pike ordered. Lara did so, her fingers flying over her console. The Romulans released several torpedoes.
"Sir medical bay has been hit, it's been breached." Lara reported to Pike as she diverted a small amount of shield powers to cover up the breech in the medical bay hull.
"Sulu, status report." Pike's stoic, calm voice ordered over the chaos in the bridge.
"Shields at thirty percent." The pilot read off his console.
Lara entered in several more lines of jumbled codes, "They're weapons are powerful Captain, we can't take another hit like that."
"Get me Starfleet command," Pike ordered.
"Captain," Spock spoke up from his seat, "The Romulan ship has lowered some kind of high energy pulse device into the atmosphere. Its signal appears to be blocking our communications and transport abilities."
"All power to forward shields, prepare to fire all weapons." Pike ordered.
Lara did as he commanded, entering several different algorithms and codes. Her hands were shaking from the adrenaline and anxiety. "Weapons ready sir." She said, her voice staying completely calm.
"Captain we're being hailed." Uhura stood from her new seat in anticipation.
The face of the Romulan captain appeared on screen, "Hello," he greeted casually.
"I'm Captain Christopher Pike, to whom am I speaking?"
The Romulan captain nodded in Pike's direction, "Hi Christopher, I'm Nero."
"You've declared war against the federation, withdraw, and I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romluan leadership at a neutral location."
"I do not speak for the Empire," Nero said, his voice turned serious; "We stand apart. As does your Vulcan crew member, isn't that right Spock?"
Spock stood and walked slowly to stand by Pike, "Pardon me but I do not believe that you and I are acquainted."
"No we're not," Nero said, watching Spock, "Not yet. Spock there's something I'd like you to see. Captain Pike, your transporter has been disabled; as you can see by the rest of your armada, you have no choice. You will man a shuttle, and come aboard the Nurata for negotiations. That is all." The transmission ended, and silence filled the bridge.
Pike stood from his seat slowly. Jim knew what he was going to do, "He'll kill you, and you know that."
Spock agreed, "Survival is unlikely."
"Captain we gain nothing by diplomacy going over to that ship is a mistake."
"I to agree, you should rethink your strategy."
Pike looked at both Spock and Kirk, "I understand that," he looked around the bridge and pointed at Lara, "Sheppard, with me. Are there any other officers who have been trained in advanced hand-to-hand combat?"
Sulu raised a hand, "I have training sir."
"Come with me," he said making his way to the elevator, "Kirk you to, you're not supposed to be here anyway. Chekov, you have the con."
Whew! That was a long chapter! :) read and review!