A/N: HARRY POTTER PART TWO HOLLAAAAA! Fuck yeah, Harry Potter. I dressed up as the Whomping Willow. And the movie. HOLEE SHIT. Anyway.
Hope this makes you feel a little better, KHAAANN! :D
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Technical Difficulties
Chapter 19: Of Meetings and Metaphors
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The screens all over the Enterprise blinked with an incoming video message. Sitting at her station filing her nails, Rand clicked to accept it. Chekhov's face came on, and she smiled. His enthusiastic grin was infectious, as usual.
"Hello, these eez your nawigator Chekhov! Today ve vill be settink off for ze star system Zanabar, vhere Colony XI ees located, unt havink deeplomatik talks vith zem. Ve leave een vun hour. Make sure yoo are cleered for duty by Sickbay before zat. Sank you for your time."
The video ended with a wink. Rand exited the comm. And got back to her nails.
She was a Yeoman; she didn't have anything to do until the Enterprise set off into deep space. She just took care of people's various living needs; she didn't shoot phasers or talk space politics. Rand knew that some would think her job boring, but really, she had all the time she needed for rest and relaxation. Plus it was perfect for her needs as the queen bee of all the gossip on board.
Rand prided herself on being up to date on any developments in the romantic department on this ship. She even had a few rumors of her own floating around, even to the point where some people truly thought she was going steady with the Captain. Oh, were they deceived. Couldn't they see that Uhura was cheating on Spock with Kirk?
Rand shook her head with a derisive grin.
She popped her gum.
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Scotty had been running around the entire ship for an entire five days now, job after job after job. He hadn't had any time whatsoever to do anything with anyone, and had been hard-pressed to find time for sleeping or eating. He'd tried to fit them into the same time slot, but eating while sleeping is a skill reserved only for the truly talented. As he quickly observed in his first few trial runs.
He compensated for choosing to sleep by eating as he went on his rounds, constantly carrying around a bag of sandwiches. Like now, as he took these few quiet moments in the day to stuff his face full of the meats and vegetables.
He figured that this is what the Silver Lady must feel like when she's dry of antimatter: empty and waiting to devour a mountain of the stuff.
"Ready to fill her up, sir?" Scotty's communicator crackled.
He crumpled up his paper napkin as he finished it off. "Aye, lad, th' antimatter tank is prepared for ye. Give our Silver Lady her fix."
"Yessir!"
Scotty stood by the tank, munching on his last bite, and watched the swirl of antimatter build up to the brim. There were no problems, no finicky leaks or summat like that. And there was more than enough fuel to keep the Enterprise going for at least another three months. Of course, he'd tell the Captain that they only had enough for two months, just to be on the safe side. Scotty never liked waiting until they were on empty to get more antimatter in the tank, which the Captain sometimes did.
Besides, when that happened they were usually marooned on some random planet that had suspicious people on it. Suspicious people that happened to have antimatter and held it hostage for odd demands.
Scotty had never particularly liked being marooned on random planets.
Or having fuel withheld from his Silver Lady.
He checked over his PADD that had updates from all Engineering repairs directed to it, walking through his jungle of Engineering. They weren't totally complete yet; he was still waiting on some minor systems to be fixed before he could report to the Captain that yes, the Enterprise was as fit as galloping galoshes.
Scotty heard scurrying feet somewhere above him. "Keenser!" He called out. "Ye rascal! Ah found ye!"
A green head popped out of a bulkhead.
"Come daewn frum there! Ah've got t' finish off th' repairs and yeh're gonna help me oaewt with 'em."
Keenser hopped from the bulkhead to a station to the floor, right where Scotty was. He grabbed Scotty's leg in a tight hug.
"Aew, ye barmy rogue," said Scotty as he patted his head, ruffling his scales. "Ah missed ye too. Next tayhme, come oaewt an' see me instead o' hidin' off in th' far reaches of Engineering fer th' whole week o' repairs."
Keenser nodded fiercely into Scotty's slacks.
"Right, then. Tis tahyme t' fix summat."
Scotty set off for his next project, while Keenser followed dutifully behind him.
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There was a horrendous line that branched out of Sickbay's doors and down Deck Seven's newly rebuilt hallway. Most crewmen had neglected their checkups all week and were forced by regulation to be here now.
And if regulation didn't get them here, then it was the fear of the Chief Medical Officer's wrath that kept them in line.
It moved fast enough, but the pace wasn't fast enough for the masses of people stretching down the deck. The waiting crowd grew faster for every second that went by.
Bones was well aware of the situation. It happened every single time, right after everyone got back from leave for the next mission.
That didn't make him any happier.
"Dammit, you should know better," he groused to his current patient, Ming Troung, as he scanned their vitals with his brand-new medical tricorder. "Next time get here earlier so you don't have to wait in line."
"Yessir, Doctor."
Bones waved him away. "Alright, get out of my Sickbay, you're cleared." The ensign scuttled out obediently.
He moved to the next one. "You're Johnson, Kelly?"
The female engineer nodded and sat down. He knew her name; he knew everyone's name. But it was always nice to be sure. And asking the question was the force of habit by now. He held the tricorder up and scanned.
"Ms. Johnson, you have a minor deficiency in Vitamin D." Bones grabbed a tube of pills from the nearby medical cabinet. "Take one of these a day and eat some ice cream for dessert."
"Uh, but sir, I'm trying to watch my weight…"
Bones rolled his eyes. The girl was a goddamn stick. "Your body fat is about as low as it can go, Ensign. If anything, you need more fat on you. As your ship physician, I order you to eat ice cream for dessert for a week. No exceptions."
She hung her head. "Yessir."
He huffed, annoyed. "I also order you to be happy about it, Ms. Johnson. You're perfectly in shape, so don't you dare be self-conscious about your weight. I'm your doctor, dammit, and by God I'll make you see sense."
Ensign Johnson hinted at a hidden smile. "Yessir."
Bones motioned at the door as he sat down. "Go on, get. You're cleared."
He signed off on her profile on the PADD on his desk. Then he called into the hallway. "Next."
The Security Chief came in.
"Giotto, how nice to see you," Bones shot sarcastically. "Could have been a little nicer if you'd come in earlier this week, though."
"Sorry Doc, I had – "
"Spare me the excuses, I've heard everything already today. I've been through over a hundred crewmembers already in the past hour and I'm betting a hundred more by the time we have to go. Whether it's a last-minute repair or a family send-off, don't bother. You're cleared, high on the charts as usual. Go."
Giotto zipped out of there.
"Next."
Bones aimed the tricorder at the closed door, just to save time.
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It was always a guessing game between them. Chekhov would tell Sulu the coordinates, and Sulu would guess the systems that they would be passing on the journey. Turns included.
"So we go left past Sirius, right at the Jewel Stars, left by the Paulson nebula, and right of Beta Penthe?"
Chekhov clucked his tongue. "Nyet, left uff Beta Penthe."
"Right, okay. Left of Beta Penthe." Sulu mumbled: "But hey, I got the system, that should count for something. Half-credit?"
Chekhov threw up his hands. "Eef I vas not here, zis ship vould get lost all ze time."
"Hey!" Sulu looked offended. "I can do directions!"
But Chekhov just rolled his eyes. "Da, like Meester Spock can sowersault on ze Bridge. Zere is reason vhy I am nawigator unt yoo are not."
Sulu raised an eyebrow. "This reason wouldn't have anything to do with Russia, would it?"
Chekhov lit up. "Da! Eet's because I am from ze mother country! Eweryone from Mother Russia eez good at finding directions, or zey die in ze bitter cold." Chekhov grinned as he always did when finding another reason why Russians were ultimately superior to all other life forms.
"There's no way to prove that."
"Only ze fact zat ze truth vill out itself een time."
It was Sulu's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, just like the Russians created the beret."
"Eexactaly! Ze French copied many sings frum Russia, ewen fashion…"
"Uh huh, right. And the katana?"
"Ze time vill come ven yoo see ze light, Hikaru. Zen yoo vill understand."
"What? Understand what?"
"Ze greatness unt reach uff Mother Russia."
"Maybe by the end of the five-year mission, you'll have also brainwashed me into believing that African tribal dances are the first attempts at – at microwaving breadsticks or something crazy like that."
"Vell, zey are." Chekhov blinked innocently.
"Come on, you don't believe that at all."
"Da, I do." But here Chekhov couldn't help a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Ze dances vere an attempt of ze unciwilzed to call upon zere gods unt help make ze food healthy unt tasty. Unt as far north as Egypt, vere ze bread eez plentiful enuff."
Sulu sounded a little flustered. "Oh, seriously, come on, you don't really, you can't, that's ridiculous." He fidgeted before leaning forward seriously. "…Do you?"
Chekhov full-out grinned, and reached out to pinch Sulu's cheek. "Gullible, nyet?"
"Very," answered Uhura over her shoulder, all the way over from communications across the bridge.
Sulu smacked away Chekhov's pinching fingers from his face. Not without good humor.
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Jim munched on an apple. He regarded the briefing room, which was still empty.
Well, almost empty.
It was pretty good, sweet and juicy and succulent. Snappy, like a good apple should be.
"You know," he said thoughtfully, "this apple is great. It's got the perfect texture, superb color.
"But the best part," he continued, "is no doubt the taste."
Jim tossed the apple into the air and it fell with a satisfying smack back into his palm.
He swiveled in his chair to face Spock. Who was lifting an eyebrow.
"You point, Jim?"
Jim's face slowly turned serious. He took another bite.
Munch munch munch. "But what if…" Munch munch. "…it leaves a bad aftertaste?"
Spock inclined his head in sudden understanding. Had he not had the bond with Jim, he most likely would still have been completely befuddled by what seemed to be rather dull small talk. But as it was.
"It is true that the… apple… in this instance is not isolated from other… fruits, Captain."
"Yeah, lots of fruits surrounding it. Like Klingon and Romulan fruits."
Spock took a moment to assess the functionality of the ceiling bulkheads.
"Perhaps the metaphor referring to food should be discontinued for the sake of fluency, time, practicality, and sanity, Captain."
Jim grinned.
"Right, I wouldn't want my First Officer going bonkers on the bridge right before a mission."
He stood and aimed, catapulting the apple core to the dispenser across the room in a perfect shot. He fist pumped in a quick celebration of his victory.
"Okay, let's set off and then have an away team meeting. Comm the people we put on the away team and inform them to report to the briefing room as soon as the Enterprise has taken off."
"Understood." Spock stalked to the door.
"Oh, and one more thing." Jim tapped his temple. "Don't cheat on me when we go planetside with some sassy Colony girl. I'll know."
Spock raised an eyebrow. "And I say the same to you."
Jim sent over a cheeky grin just as the doors hissed shut between them.
The door opened a few minutes later, and Bones exploded into the room. He zeroed in on Jim with a vengeance. Jim froze.
"Oh, Bones, how nice to see you." He shot up to his feet and tried to find a way out of this; he'd been hiding out here for a reason. Jim went for the innocent look.
It didn't work.
"Dammit, Jim," Bones pulled out his hypo. "Always have to make this so goddamn difficult, doncha?"
Bones closed in, but Jim just barely parried the hypo with his PADD. He grinned in victory as he zipped to the edge of Bones' range, but his face quickly slackened in shock as he saw the matching grin on Bones' face – and then he saw the other hypo in Bones' other hand, which came down in what seemed like slow motion, intent on its target.
Jim winced, clinching his eyes shut. He'd stepped into a trap.
Fsssssh.
Bones barked out a maniacal laugh in triumph.
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Sulu always checked if the inertial dampener was on before take-off. It was sort of a personal, touchy thing. Every ten seconds, he'd check it like a paranoid madman. Chekhov thought it was because on his very first mission piloting a starship, the Narada incident, Sulu had left it on.
That sort of thing stays with you forever. A level of embarrassment few others could comprehend.
The Captain and Chief Medical Officer came in ten minutes after Spock and sat down, Kirk greeting the bridge with a few funny remarks about the weather that was met with hearty chuckles. There were only minutes until the scheduled departure. Everyone was accounted for on the bridge now, and the Captain could give the order whenever he desired.
Right on time, he gave it.
Sulu flicked on the throttle and eased up the thrusters. Chekhov observed Hikaru's profile out of the corner of his eye, when he usually would have been checking up on his own station. It was hardened into intense concentration. Chekhov needed to be patient and wait for exactly the right moment.
The Enterprise shot out of orbit.
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"Okay, I'm starting this meeting, guys, sit down." Jim waved the twenty officers to the table, where they all took a seat.
"So. We're headed to Zanabar. More specifically Colony XI. Where we picked up Slistas and where we believe illicit activities are being performed such as torture and kidnapping. While we are on the planet, our cover mission is to check Zanabar according to regulations to see if it is badass enough to be in the Federation. But really, our mission is to investigate these crimes."
Jim assessed the men before him. "Which means this will be a stealth mission." The men nodded but didn't budge.
He rolled his eyes. "Come on, guys."
They looked around at each other, confused. Except for Spock.
"That means you only wear Starfleet blacks. No brightly colored clothing. Got it?"
Some murmured assent while everyone stripped off their uniform colors.
"Every man carries a phaser and two communicators. And I don't want anyone going off alone, anywhere. Everybody has to stick with their groups, okay? Okay.
"Right, speaking of groups. There will be a team that will go down to the planet with me and participate in diplomatic talks and tours. This includes the senior officers of the ship that can be spared. Spock, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekhov, you're with me. That'll be Alpha."
Jim glanced at his PADD to refresh his memory.
"Beta is Poole, Rodriguez, Zheng, Isshin, and Miller. Gamma is Yorik, O'Leary, Orono, Reilly, and Harper. Delta is Cortes, Kelley, Petranoff, Delacour, and Kasting. Beta through Delta will not engage in diplomatic activities, but will scan the planet for any signs of suspicious activity and a base while putting on a façade of observing the planet for environmental readings and cultural practices. You know, the official stuff."
Jim stood up smoothly and clicked on a wall screen. "Okay, so on the first day, Alpha is in the capital city here, Beta is in the next city to the east, Gamma is down south, and Delta is to the west. We'll keep these basic positions as we move across the whole populated side of the planet."
"Sir?" Cortes half-raised his hand.
"Yes, Lieutenant."
"How long do we have on the planet?"
"We have a week of diplomatic talks scheduled, so the projected time for a successful mission is two weeks. However, this assumes we find the base at the end of the week. Any other questions?"
Another officer raised his hand. "How are we checking the unpopulated side of the planet, and what are we looking for in the populated area that's different from the unpopulated area?"
"Suspicious activity of the crimes indicated is key. Not only does that give us a clue to the lion's den, it also gives us evidence that will hold up in court. What we're ultimately looking for is the base for the crimes, which will most likely be in a populated area rather than the desert. We're scanning the entire planet for any underground bases, but we may not find it that way. I don't want to waste time."
Kirk looked around, but there were no more questions.
"Right." He clapped his hands together. "Chekhov, take the floor. Tell us what you've found about Slistastostas."
"Yes, Keptan." Chekhov took over a station and input a memory card into it. Visuals popped up. Chekhov selected a particular star map.
"Thees eez ze ion trail lefft by Sleestas ven he escaped ze Enterprise." The trail glowed gold and shot off from Earth.
"Eet runs frum ze orbit around Earth all ze vay to Colony XI." He tapped the endpoint of the trail, which landed perfectly on the planet.
"Howewer, I vas unable to track vere he landed and his current position because ze trail dissipates in ze atmosphere unt he has most likely discarded ze craft."
Chekhov looked around. "Zat eez all, Keptan."
"Thanks Chekhov." Kirk then addressed everyone, "Now, this is another thing we have to be on the lookout here – Slistas. We know he's on the planet. What we don't know is what he's doing and why. We know he's not guilty of killing the man Finnegan set up, but he's still on the run and we're unsure as of this moment if he's an ally or a foe. Keep an eye out for him but do not, I repeat, do not make contact with him until you inform me and I decide what to do from there. Understood?"
"Yessir."
"Good, then get back to your positions. We've got a mission to take care of. Let's do our best to make this mission a success."
Officers filed out and headed back to their positions on the ship.
Jim glanced at Spock as they headed back to the bridge. Jim was very aware that they were only hours away from their destination. His hackles were raising already, in the premonition of a battle. Colony XI would not be a clean mission.
"Well, we're about to take a bite of the apple. Let's hope it isn't rotten."
Spock inclined his head. "…It is unlikely for the apple to be ripe, as the corruption underlying such crimes as interplanetary capture and detainment as well as abuse of prisoners takes the sufficient amount of time for the fruit to become unsanitary and distasteful."
Jim laughed.
"This is why I keep you around."
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Bones ended up walking back to the turbolift with Scotty. He'd not slept for over three days, having constantly worked on repairs, so Bones was more dragging him to Sickbay than Scotty coming voluntarily.
They reached Sickbay, which was empty and quiet except for the harried nurse who was going through a whole stack of PADDs. Bones nodded to her with a greeting, "Nurse Urbanski."
He threw the dazed Scotty on a medical cot, scanning him with a tricorder.
"Naew, Doctor, Ah dunnae have any diseases t' speak of, do Ah?" He beamed, his toes wriggling in the air.
Bones rolled his eyes. "You have the terrible disease of overwork, just like me."
He reloaded his hypo, which was probably pretty tired from all the work it had done today, and gave Scotty the newest vaccines. He also made sure to give him some another stimulant with vitamins, minerals, and proteins.
"You're free to get back to wearing yourself out." He clapped Scotty on the shoulder as he jumped off the bed.
"Thankee kindly, Doctor."
Scotty headed back to Engineering with a spring in his step.
Bones knew Scotty's burst of energy was from his second shot, but he preferred to think it was more because Scotty liked to see him.
He sighed at his stupidity and went back to refilling all his hypos.
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Chapel's shift was scheduled to start soon. She waltzed out of her room, down the hallway, to the turbolift, through the crowd on Deck Seven, through the doors of Sickbay. She dazedly relieved another nurse who was doing a ridiculous amount of paperwork, sending all of the completed medical forms over communications.
She took a seat at her desk, her eyes focused on a dream rather than reality. Her hands zipped through her work without her and finished everything pretty quickly. She had had a lot of practice in this area, and it showed.
Click, click, beep. Click, click, beep.
She was half an hour early.
"Chapel?" Bones was there. She turned her head towards him, unfocused eyes barely taking him in, with his bemused face. There was a faint beeping in the background. Chapel knew that beep.
He was scanning her.
"Yes, Doctor?" asked Chapel dreamily.
"What the devil is the matter with you?"
"Nothing is wrong, Doctor." There were practically stars in her eyes as she sat forward, her chin held up by her elbows on her desk. She looked like a child.
"Chapel…?"
"Nothing… There's nothing…"
The tricorder beeps sounded like they were lightyears away.
"Chapel, I order you to respond. What is going on with you?" The Doctor's voice hardened in seriousness. It was louder now, right in front of her, cutting aggressively into her ears.
Chapel looked around at him. Almost as if it was the first time she had seen him there. It was as if she had just been pulled forcefully back to the Enterprise.
"Doctor."
"Nurse. What's going on with you? What's the matter?"
There was a long, tense silence. Doctor McCoy was waiting for some kind of response. She could barely think of words to describe her situation, but they were bubbling up. And as they reached the surface of her mind, she remembered all over again and was bowled over by the enormity of it all.
The look in her eyes was full of joyful disbelief as she righted herself.
"I'm engaged," she said.
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End of Chapter 19
tbc
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Author's super-awesome life-changing note: woot. Chapter. Almost on time. A little short, but this is mostly A to B stuff. Pretty straightforward.
Yay for upcoming action! Boo for no recent Action. You know what I mean. ;)
You ready for some shit to go down? I am. Let's go Enterprise crew!
Oh, and like any other starving artist, I like seeing the review counter go up… :D Think you can do it? Not just anybody can leave a review… it takes something special.
By the way, HARRY POTTER. How'd you like the last installment? :D Personally, it drew so much emotion out of me that I loved it even though I had things to complain about. But mostly, the stuff I complained about was in the book, so it wasn't the movie's fault. Some of the stuff they put in that wasn't in the book made me laugh like a crazy person… Voldy hug, anyone? Oh man, I've been talking about it ever since I came out of the theater. If you haven't seen it… Go do it. Now.