Fanfic: Starship Elyssa Chapter 4. part 3

[kiyda]

Told you this was long


_+_+_

It wasn’t too hard for Roads to find the bridge. As soon as she found a computer locator, she appeared on the bridge, bright eyed and curious. Someone immediately spoke up, upon seeing her.

“May I help you?” asked the young Asian male in the golden command uniform. Roads tried her best not to come off as intruding or intimidating.

“Captain Kirk asked me to meet him in the bridge in order to go over the damage reports,” she replied. The young man nodded. Roads took the liberty of walking around as the other members of the crew made themselves busy, trying not to notice this blatant outsider. Roads immediately apologized, noticing their sneaky stares.

“I’m sorry, I’m just curious. I’ve heard a lot about this ship and it’s crew. I’m just,” Roads searched her memory for some kind of appropriate vocabulary, “observing. Please, don‘t mind me.”

The members of the bridge retreated one by one back to their work, every so often, glancing in her direction. Roads drifted by the helm, and the man at the seat of it took the opportunity of making himself known.

“I’m the Helmsman, Hikaru Sulu,” he said, introducing himself. He looked to be man of late twenties, of average height and muscle of his age, with kind, almond eyes. He extended a simple hand in favor, and Roads stepped up to shake it.

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Captain Watson of the Starship Elyssa,” she introduced herself.

“We know, we could see you on screen earlier,” said Sulu with a soft smile.

“Of course,” she suddenly remembered. She could see a young boy behind him, staring at her. He was thin, lean, of average height, with curly blonde hair. She glanced over to catch his eyes, but it was Sulu who took the liberty of naming him.

“This is Pavel Chekov, our Navigator,” explained Sulu. Pavel stuck out a hand rather bluntly, and Roads found it so amusing, she replied in the same manner and hoped it didn’t come off offensive.

“Pleasure to meet you, Chekov. I’m curious as to how-” Just as the words left her lips, the Captain of this ship entered the bridge. He had dressed out of that strange costume he was wearing earlier and into a pair of black pants, Starfleet standard boots, and a golden shirt and black shirt underneath. The light shades in his blonde hair matched his shirt. His blue eyes found her, and she quickly turned back to the young boy to avoid meeting them.

“…this ship is run, but I‘m afraid I have duties to attend to. I‘ll be happy to talk with you guys later,” she replied to the young boy who nodded in agreement. She stepped toward Kirk, as he came toward her.

“Engineering first,” he started.

“Then medical. Then physics and navigation,” finished Roads as she stepped past him toward the exit.

“Of course,” he said in agreement, following her with his eyes. “Sulu, keep all systems stationary. Uhura, check communications with the previous planet then notify me if you happen to make contact.”

“Aye sir.”

As the two captains left the bridge, Roads turned to the other.

“What planet?” she asked quite casually.

“What?” His attempt at innocence was terrible.

“What planet, Captain, were you hoping to contact?” repeated Roads.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you-”

“It had primitive life, correct? And you attempted to blend in, which is why you wore that strange tights and tunic, but-”

“We need to head to the eleventh deck, the Engineering Deck.” Kirk pressed a number of keys, and the doors slid open. He stepped inside, his hands behind his back, and looked up at her expectantly.

“Are you coming?” he asked. Roads gave a weary sigh before joining him in the lift on the opposite side. The doors closed behind her, and he pressed a key to administer the level before sound and movement occurred. All the while, Kirk sized up his rival in command.

“So,” he began, “Isn’t it a little audacious to rescue us in full Captain formality?”

“I was at a diplomatic banquet when I received the distress signal,” explained Roads. Jim gave a delightful scoff.

“Oh, when did we release that distress signal?” He folded his arms across his chest as he leaned against the side of lift. The sense of motion around the lift ended, and they could feel it. The doors opened as Roads looked up to Kirk with a response, her lips curving into a smile again.

“I think it was right about the time when you were completely surrounded by Klingons.”

The doors swung open, and Roads and Kirk made their way into the organized chaos of the engineering deck.

Red, black, and chrome filled their vision. Hot iron and cold steel tangled orderly and graphed the mechanical and rational working organs of the ship. The paths and railings served as veins and branches of those veins, and the people working around the machinery through them served as blood cells. The engineering crew of the Enterprise were hard at work, crawling, rushing, and climbing around the organs in productive haste. The two captains wove their way through the engineers, who sometimes moved out of the way in respect, one behind the other, as the commotion and sounds of commands and demands blurred around them.

“Ensign Kogoe!” Kirk called out. Four eyes in a red uniform turned to his Captain, holding a large collection of tools. All four blinked at him, and his mouth opened in surprise.

“Captain Kirk,” his first words stumbled out of his mouth like a few of a his tools as they tumbled out of his arms.

“Kogoe, have you seen Scotty?” inquired Kirk. Roads leaned down to pick up the fallen tools, which only distracted the ensign.

“Mr. Scott is - no, you don’t have to - er, Scotty is in -” Roads placed the tools strategically in his arms as he answered Kirk’s question. “Scotty is repairing the dillithium chambers. Two crystals blew in the warp stop.”

“Do you need-” Kirk placed a hand on her forearm, stopping her from finishing that statement.

“Thank you, Ensign. Captain…” Kirk started as he pulled her away from the Engineer. Roads yanked her arm away from his hold as they made their way in the opposite direction.

“What was that all about?” asked Roads.

“The Engineers have got enough to worry about,” Kirk muttered to Roads as he led the way toward the chambers, down the stairs. People along the stairs moved to the side to let them pass.

“Captain Kirk, please excuse me for attempting my actual purpose for being here,” Roads retorted under her breath, but Kirk could hear her, and replied, dutifully.

“Of course, you may be excused,” his voice as equally low, but tired. Roads looked up at the back of his blonde haired head and made a childish face. The visiting Captain was having difficulty keeping up with him, down the stairs and hallways, ducking under low pipes and cords. Finally, the reached the dillithium chambers, but they were left open, people quietly operating on them in protective suits. Outside the glass, Jim mouthed to one of the men to the third stripe on his sleeve. The man in the visor pointed over his head, and Jim whirled around to the closed off section, his office, apparently, shielded with glass and frosted lettering.

PRIVATE SECTOR

The office, which was entirely made of glass, was entirely fogged, leaving Kirk hesitant to put his hand on the opening pad. His hand hovered over the receiver as Roads waited expectantly, arms folded. Instead, he rapped his knuckles on the glass.

Knock knock knock

“GIT OFF!” came a muffled Scottish accent.

“Tell him you‘re busy,” came a quieter voice followed by a happy sigh. Roads recognized that quiet voice and covered her eyes with her other hand.

“Scotty, it’s me. Is everything okay in there?” Kirk asked.

“Oh Aye Captain! Come in!”

Kirk gave Roads a weird look, but she was too busy covering her eyes from embarrassment to notice.

Nonetheless, the door slid open.

“Scotty!” Kirk walked in, avoiding looking ahead.

“Captain, what the hell are you doing?” said a quizzical female voice.

Roads was caught peeking through her fingers, but upon seeing the real scene, she flopped her hand down, annoyed.

With her brown hair and her freckles, the Chief Engineer of the Elyssa was innocently sitting with her legs kicked up on the desk, looking over her shoulder with one eye brow raised. A Caucasian man with short brown hair was sitting on the desk next to her propped up feet. Both had a well endowed, fantastically made sandwich in hand.

Roads looked next to Kirk, and upon seeing him staring intently away, she smacked his arm bringing him to attention their minds had mistakenly been in the gutter. He cleared his throat, glad and disappointed at the same time, and placed his hands on his hips.

“Scotty, we need an,” Kirk paused, looking at their sandwiches. “Where did subs come from?”

Scotty stopped halfway into another bite, before chewing and going over a thought. He spoke through half-eaten meats and cheeses.

“Mmm, just taking a break, Captain,” said the Scottman, bread and pastrami rolling around between his teeth.

“Engines, Mr. Kirk,” Roads reiterated. Kirk glanced from her to Scotty, but it was Teixeira who stood up.

“Engines are a loose term for them now,” explained Teixiera.

“Status?” asked Roads. Teixiera rose her eye brows and frowned, as she began wrapping her sandwich up in the paper it came in.

“Weeeeeeell, it’s-”

Scotty cut her off. “She’s in horrible shape, that she is. Without another two crystals we wan’t be able to reach maximum warp drive, not enough engine power to get out of the system, let alone the quadrant. We’re also lacking serious tools in which to operate on the machinery.”

“Well what happened to the tools we did have-” But Scotty wasn’t done.

“On previous excursions we blew ten fuses, and we destroyed eight wrenches just to release the tension,” explained Scotty.

“Plus, with your limited injured team, you’re going to need a bigger crew just to keep it operational,” added Teixeira. “Without a doubt, we’re going to be sticking around, at least until a towing vehicle can get here.”

“Nah, we can make it, can’t we?” asked Kirk, with hope in his voice.

“You’re kidding, right?” Teixeira said without a hint of joking.

“The lass is right, Captain,” agreed Scotty, taking another bite out of his sandwich. Teixiera was already moving stuff around on Scotty’s desk, appearing to be looking for something. Kirk was silent in his defeat. Roads was vocal in her victory.

“It looks like you‘ll be needing us after all,” clarified Roads, with a sort of smugness I her voice.

“We still have two more departments to go,” Kirk reminded her.

“Everything depends on the engines,” reported Roads. “And the engines, Miss Teixiera?” The freckled brunette paused in her search to make an explosive sound as she pointed her thumb downward. She mimed a crashing plane. Kirk wasn’t laughing, but Roads was honestly amused.

“Mr. Scott?” Roads said to Scotty.

“Aye.”

“You can count on Miss Teixeira sticking around until everything is in working condition. Teixeira, fill any and all needs of Mr. Scott‘s Engineering crew within reasonable means,” ordered Roads. Scotty gave Teixeira a toothy grin who returned it with a suspicious glare.

“Mr. Kirk? Next department, please.”

_+_+_

It took four hours, but the two captains went over all the damages. With each department, it became more clear that the Enterprise was barely keeping it together. With each discouraging situation, Kirk became even more annoyed and disappointed than ever and let Roads know with every angry look. Roads tried to ignore it and deal with the buearacratic twaddle that would make just enough sense to one man who would go over the technicalities of the mission.

After three hours, the Elyssa team came together in the meeting room by the Captain’s orders, each to give a report.

“So over all?” Roads was poised, one leg crossed over the other.

“Over all,” Konei sat up right, scanning down her PADD, “the computer is overraught with errors in trajectory and schematics. Whatever seemed to hit the computer overrode the original programming, short circuiting any means of estimating proper distances and correct manuvering of the ship. The short circuiting has also disconnected-”

“This is not an overall summation,” interjected Roads.

“Frankly, Captain, to give a brief synopsis of the damages would not be the efficient way to repair the ship,” replied Konei.

“We only need a brief summary of the categorical damages we found and report in,” replied Roads. Konei paused.

“Damages in circuiting, navigation, and manuvering of the ship,” restated Konei.

“Thank you.” Roads added it to the PADD in her lap. “Blair?”

“Huge shortage of vaccination, chemical medication, and food supplies. 113 people injured, 14 in critical condition.”

“Thanks.” Roads added it to the list.

“Limited tools, limited man power, two dilithium crystals exploded, engines failing, no warp drive, and a decreasing control on artificial gravitation,” explained Teixeira. “If you don’t mind, I’m going go back to work on keeping us alive.”

“Well noted,” agreed Roads as she added all the details to her growing list. Teixeira stood up quickly and headed out the door. “So obviously,” she sighed as she went over the list again with her eyes, “we can’t leave them to their own means.”

“I guess not,” agreed Blair, raising her eyebrows in mock surprise.

“It’s against protocol to abandon a Federation vehicle and crew if it is incapable of defending itself and supporting life on it’s own,” explained Konei.

“How long do you think it will be in order to get them to the nearest station?”

“Lauren told me it’s going to take at least three weeks to tow them.”

“That’s not a calculation including the amount of time it will take to repair the remains of the ship.”

“The amount of fuel and energy it would take-”

“This is beyond the budget that Pike set us on.”

“Pike,” Blair said with a sort of loathing similar to the kind Roads had reserved for spiders and slugs. She snorted, slapping her PADD on the table angrily. “He put you on probation?”

Roads leaned back in her seat and sighed, running a hand through her hair. “He put me on probation after the Argementalist incident.” She rested a finger tip on the table in front of them, and dragged it across the surface, ildly. “When,” she stopped, then began again. “When we paid that short shore leave to earth, Pike requested that I come to his office. To talk about my latest report.”

Blair observed from Roads’s finger tip rubbing a specific spot on the table to her drifting downward eyes of guilt. She wondered if the same feelings of anger she felt were also flooding Road’s head.

“Aaaaaand, in light of the situation, he put me on probation,” finished Roads, and Blair was suddenly brought back in the room. “But never mind that, really.”

“So Pike expects you to clean up this mess as punishment?” asked Blair, a little confused.

“No, probation is punishment, this has to be our way of repaying it,” replied Roads looking up at her red headed officer.

“Admiral Pike has shown evidence of being impartial,” Konei contributed to the conversation. Roads gave Konei a smile.

“No, Pike is neutral, but he does play favorites,” supported Blair. “My second year in, he asked me to come to his office, and then suggested I explore psychology as a concentration.”

“I know all my reports file exactly to his basket. I’m pretty sure he has Kirk in his collection as well,” confessed Roads.

“I wasn’t aware that Admirals are allowed to keep surveillance on certain ships,” spoke Konei.

“They do keep tabs on some of us,” said Blair.

“I don’t like being some kind of toy solider on some game of Risk. He can’t just move me if he feels like he’ll lose Australia to the other team players,” muttered Roads.

“He can, actually,” said Blair standing up. “However, I suggest we continue to approach this situation in a professional manner.”

“What would make us approach the situation in a non-professional manner?” asked Konei.

Blair froze and gave Konei a quizzical look. “Did you not see who crews this ship?”

Konei didn’t say anything, and the standoff silence between Blair and Konei caused Roads to glance between them.

“They’re the heroes from the Battle of Narada,” Blair reminded her.

Konei stared at Blair’s face blankly.

“You went to the ceremony.”

Roads watched Konei’s blank expression, expectantly. “Didn’t you go to the after party?” she asked.

“If it is not an academic requirement, then I don’t attend it nor pay attention to it,” explained Konei, stacking her PADDs as she stood up.

“Oh come on-” Roads began to protest, but Blair interrupted her, rolling her eyes.

“Leave her alone. Not everyone reads the tabloids or watches the news,” said Blair. “We should just be grateful that Konei at least knows who Captain Kirk is.”

“Captain Kirk is Captain of the Enterprise, the flagship of the Starfleet Armada. Since he graduated in Stardate 2258, he has won numerous awards for his bravery and missions -” Konei was stopped by Road’s up raised hand.

“Excellent job, Konei. This concludes are tedious meeting,” Roads finished. Konei’s look could be seen as empty to many. To Roads, it was tart, and it made her smile. She wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she tucked her PADD under her arm. “C’mon, dear, let’s go.”

As they exited the room, they were greeted by the sight of Kirk, waiting and standing awfully close to the door. Road’s sweet affection was instantly replaced by a sour expression. Her arm instinctively tightened around Konei’s shoulders, causing Konei to raise a brow, curiously.

Kirk grinned playfully. “Have fun at your girl meeting?”

Roads narrowed her eyes at him and turned to Konei and Blair. The pale green girl was attempting to hold back a smile from his joke.

“Head back to the ship, gather the personel and the tools we need to repair the Enterprise. Notify Cannito to instruct the crew on the current mission,” Roads ordered.

“And what is the current mission,” the words slipped her lips with a sort of sarcasm even she didn’t suspect.

“Yeah, what is the current mission?” Kirk jumped in without warning. Roads gave him an unbelievable look, then turned back to Konei.

“The current mission is to repair the Enterprise. To bring it to the nearest space station on Sangapoi Vea. To attend to the needs of the crew and the ship. To keep to all protocols and regulations,” explained Roads.

“Keeping the protocol and regulations is a given understanding,” collected Konei.

“Just a reminder,” said Roads. “See you in a bit.”

Konei nodded and departed. Blair stepped into her place, opening her mouth immediately.

“Just a reminder?” she copied. Roads chose not to answer, instead she looked at Kirk expectantly.

“May I help you, Captain?”

If Kirk was annoyed, he showed no evidence of it. “ I’m afraid I must warn you ladies, that at midnight, I plan on kicking everyone out, and you don‘t look fit to drive.”

“Are you saying this is a party?” asked Roads skeptically.

“Not in the least, just wondering how long you intend to roam my halls.”

“As long as it takes.”

“So you plan on spending the night?” asked Kirk, blatantly.

“No, I -”

“Is that an invitation?” said Blair folding her arms over her chest. Kirk smiled at her with those glittering eyes and that charming, shit-eating smile.

“Of course,” Kirk said with every hint of kindness to Blair, then looked to Roads with every hint of it being fake, “as long you plan to frisk my ship.”

Roads didn’t look the least bit amused, but as she glanced sideways to her pleading officer, Roads realized that maybe being on the ship would encourage some sort of teamwork and cooperation, which they were seriously lacking on, at least between Roads and this man.

“Well, sure, why not? If the damages permit the space allowed for us to stay, Blair and I will spend the night, moving repairs along,” explained Roads. Kirk seemed all too pleased to hear it.

“Great, we’ll set up with Yeoman Rand, she knows what‘s available on this ship more than anyone, and -”

“Fantastic, sure, wel! We should beeeeeee getting back to work now. Captain,” Roads dismissed herself, tucking an arm into Blair’s, and pulled her first officer in a direction away from the blonde haired captain. Kirk watched them go with an annoyed look that did not go unnoticed from his own first officer sweeping behind him.

“You’re annoyed, Captain,” Spock observed. Kirk gave him a look.

“Do you secretly meld with my mind when I’m not looking?”

“It would be unnecessary now seeing as how you’re visably showing your anger with the situation.”

“Hm?”

“You’re digging your fingernails into your bicep captain,” Spock pointed out. Kirk blinked and then stretched out his arms, shaking out his tense fingers.

“I don’t appreciate other people getting personal with my ship,” explained Kirk.

“Meaning the Elyssa Crew does not hold up to your standards?”

“Well,” Kirk chewed on his lip thoughtfully. “They seem like a nice group of girls. Aside from their Captain.”

“Does she not operate efficiently?”

“She does.”

“Then what is the problem?”

Kirk gritted his teeth.

“Is this a problem that can be verbalized, Captain?” Kirk began walking in a direction towards the bridge with Spock close behind.

“Oh it can be verbalized,” said Kirk with raised eyebrows. Yeoman Mikako cut him off showing him a PADD to sign off on. He quickly took the tablet pen and signed off. “Thank you, Mikako.” They began walking again. “Buuuuut it’s probably not within the limits of professional opinion.”

“You are referring to a human profanity.”

“Yes, but mostly referring to her horrible means of social interaction. You know, small talk,”

“I did not know that social interaction was high on Starfleet’s officer list of credentials.”

“In that case, I rephrase to ‘some kind of manners‘,” corrected Kirk, and he muttered under his breath. “You know, out of all the Starfleet officers, they had to send her. Would‘ve taken even someone I‘d slept with.”

“Captain?” Spock wasn’t sure he heard him correctly. Kirk abruptly changed the subject.

“….The communication deck needs help rewiring the system. Let’s go see if they’ve made any progress.”

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Next, Part 4
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