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It was painful once again seeing Spock fight with Jim. Audrey grimaced as she watched Jim take Spock's objections personally and as her father tried to make sense of either of them. Leo was going to be in a shit ton of trouble if Jim didn't have anything substantial to say. However, when Jim laid out his argument backed up by Nyota, Audrey's heart fell.
An attack?
At the captain's orders, she raised shields and stood at attention ready for any attack. But a sickness grew in her as Sulu counted down to the seconds to when they would reach Vulcan, but every second grew heavier and heavier.
5.
The world slowed down and Audrey looked to Jim. "Please. Let him be wrong," she prayed.
4.
Audrey looked to Leo who caught her eye. In his eyes, she saw terror and utter confusion. How did it come to this?
3.
Her father, Captain Pike, was next. His face was composed as was expected of all Star Fleet captains, but she was thankful for his calm. She needed his calm to steady her own heart. Never before had Captain Pike felt such immobilizing fear but for his daughter, for his crew he would be strong.
2.
Spock. Her best friend. She knew that fear was beginning to paralyze his thoughts. If Jim was right, his whole world could break into two. Audrey feared for him but prepared herself for the long journey ahead. She would be there right beside him through anything.
1.
The ship burst into frenzy as the captain ordered an emergency evasive and the ship began to dodge all the debris hanging in space. That's when they saw it, the massive ship that would haunt their dreams for days to come.
"Captain, they're locking torpedoes," Spock announced urgently.
Without a moment to spare, the Captain ordered all power to forward shields and my mind went into autopilot as it had done many times before. Her conscious mind of emotions became detached from her body as her hands began to tap and reset settings according to captain's orders at immense speeds. Her emotions faded to the back of her mind as she worked with near perfect efficiency when the Enterprise was hailed.
"Hello," an angry, tattooed face responded from the screen.
"I am Captain Christopher Pike. To whom am I speaking to?" Her father was the embodiment of composure as he responded to the hostile threat.
"Hi Christopher, I'm Nero," the Romulan responded with almost maniacal glee. He looked… happy to see them. He then went on to make strange comments of Spock that she did not understand. He seemed angry at Spock despite their having never met. Nero then ordered her father to come aboard the Narada for negotiations and that is when her conscious mind broke through to follow her father after serious protests from Spock and Kirk.
There was nothing she could do to change his mind. She knew that but she could do what her training was for. She could guarantee the success of the dismantling of the mining device that was disabling their communications and teleport abilities.
"Mr. Kirk, Mr. Sulu, and Ms. Pike will space jump from the shuttle. You will land on that machine they have lowered into the atmosphere that is scrambling our gear. You will get inside, disable it, then beam back." The captain grabbed Audrey's hand and held it tightly looking into her eyes as he spoke. He didn't want to ask her to participate in this mission. Christopher Pike hated himself for doing it, but he knew that without her, their chances of success were slim to none.
"Mr. Spock, I am leaving you in command of the Enterprise. Once we have transport abilities and communications back up you will contact Star Fleet Command and tell them what the HELL is going on here. And if all else fails, fall back and rendezvous with the fleet in the Laurentian System." He squeezed Audrey's hand once more as he looked to Kirk, "Kirk I'm promoting you to First officer."
Audrey was technically Second officer and should be the one promoted to First but she found that she didn't mind it. In reality, she had no ambition to be captain. She simply wanted to serve under the best.
"Captain. Please, I apologize but the complexities of human pranks escape me." Spock was confused as he replied. How could Kirk be seen fit to belong in a command position?
"It's not a prank, Spock. And I'm not the Captain, you are. Alright, let's go."
Kirk stopped and asked, "Sir, after we take out that drill, what happens to you?"
"Well I guess you'll just have to come get me. Careful with the ship, Spock, she's brand new," and with that the elevator doors closed. As they traveled to the shuttle, Captain Pike couldn't let his daughter's hand go. He understood the danger that they were all in but above all he understand that he may never see her again. The danger he was putting her in was hard enough, but he also knew that the statistical likelihood of his survival was slim. With the remaining time he had left, he hoped that Audrey understood how much he loved her and how much he was sorry for.
As the elevator doors closed, Spock looked into Audrey's eyes. He willed her to come back alive. Their friendship was too precious for it to end here and he had no intention of ending it prematurely. She would return, or at least that's what he told himself as he promptly walked back to the bridge.
The three of them were suited up waiting for the final go.
"Good luck."
The door whooshed open and very quickly the three were launched into space hurling towards Vulcan. Silence filled her mind as she zoomed through the air and in those few seconds, Audrey let her emotions fade to the back of her brain and the mind seasoned by rigorous training reserved for only the elite of agents took control. Her body flew fast and silently as she navigated towards the platform. She heard Sulu and Kirk yell how far away they were and she could hear their heavy breathing as they entered the atmosphere but it was all small distractions as the target came into focus. Easily at 1500 meters, farther down than Sulu and Kirk, she opened her chute and landed gracefully on the platform.
Unfortunately for the other two, they had a much harder time landing. While the two were trying to land, Audrey swiftly took care of the Romulans who were impeding on the mission. The Romulans were strong in terms of physical strength than Audrey but her speed and their overall clumsiness is what led to their downfall. Using the Romulans' own momentum, she was able to kick out the Romulan's feet from underneath him and effectively push him off the platform where he met his untimely death.
The next Romulan put up more of a fight and took Audrey by surprise. He swung his axe with such force and surprising speed that Audrey had not anticipated. She put up her arm to protect her body from further harm and in doing so, was wounded deeply by the Romulan. It was a deep wound but not a fatal one.
Sulu, finally on the platform, grabbed his sword and began to duel with the Romulan. With Kirk's help he was able to swiftly deal with the Romulan. Unfortunately, however, the charges were lost during the fight.
"What are we going to do?" Sulu yelled grimacing.
"This!" Kirk grabbed the guns left behind by the Romulans and began to fire upon the drill. Soon the drill was damaged enough for our communications and teleport abilities to be reestablished.
"Beam us up, Enterprise!" Audrey yelled into her com, but as she did the platform began to shake. In the back of Audrey's mind her emotions burst with horror as she saw Sulu falling and Kirk falling with. Quickly, she dived as well trying to catch up to the two, but her mass was too small to reach the two falling men. "BEAM US UP, ENTERPRISE!"
Crash. They opened their eyes to find that they had not crashed into Vulcan but rather the familiar floor of the beaming pad of the Enterprise. Relief flooded Audrey's senses as she stood and found Sulu and Jim to be in one piece, but Spock's immediate order to vacate the beaming pad concerned her. He was… beaming to the surface.
2258 – May 24th 2200 hours
"DAMN IT Audrey! You were the one person I wasn't supposed to worry about!" Leo snapped while guiding Audrey towards a bio bed. "MOVE! OUT OF THE WAY!" He pushed aside several other ensigns and nurses as he made his way around the chaos that was the Med Bay and sat his patient down on the bed as he pulled up a chair to examine her arm.
Audrey couldn't help but give Leo a sorry sad smile as she whispered, "I'm sorry… Leo."
Leo looked up from her arm to look into her eyes in alarm. "What's wrong? Scratch that. I'm an idiot. There's plenty wrong. Damn it. And I'm supposed to be the CMO." He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. "Is there anything I can do?" Leo whispered softly as he held Audrey's hands.
She couldn't help but feel safe and secure. There was that familiar tugging of her heart as she gazed into Leo's eyes. His sincerity under all that gruff sarcasm brought a small smile to her face. "Patch me up Doctor?" said Audrey as she raised her arm.
Leo looked at her arm and began to gently stitch up the offending wound. "You know that's not what I meant."
"I know, but I suppose now's not the time is it? Spock needs us to both to… perform admirably." Audrey said sadly.
Silently Leo finished stitching up Audrey's wound and ran the bio med tool across her arm. He bandaged her arm and helped her from the bio bed. "All done," Leo said with a sigh.
Audrey tiptoed and gave Leo the slightest of kisses on the cheek blushing bright red as she went. "Thank you Doctor. I'll try and keep myself out of trouble." Leo blushed and scratched his head, but when she turned to leave when Leo grabbed her wrist to turn her around to face him.
He sighed before he said, "I don't know how this'll end Audrey. But I'll be here to heal any wound you have. It's my job." Leo stared deeply into Audrey's eyes as if to prove his point. Troubling events have happened in the last two days, but friends will always be there.
She smiled understanding. "Thanks Doc. I'll keep that in mind." Audrey turned to leave the Med Bay as she heard the Bridge call for her.
"You better stay out of trouble! Damn woman…"
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