[Sometimes Choices Have to Be Made]
Jan. 24th, 2010 04:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kirktasticThe beeping came suddenly from off from the side of his desk where he sat in his office. For a second Kirk was grateful that no one was in there with him as he jumped, just a little startled. Grabbing his comm and flipping it open, Kirk got out "Hello" before realizing it was only an alert.
The alert was coming from Jim's communicator, down there on the planet, trapped with Nero. Knowing that Jim had managed to sneak out two messages before, a small shiver of worry passed through him as he realized what only an alert could mean. It had to be a warning that something was happening - something that Jim couldn't sneak away to tell him. Considering the circumstances, there were very few things that the warning could have been. Kirk could only hope that getting out this warning wasn't putting Jim's life in danger.
Kirk thought about what George had said the other night. The idea had gotten stuck in his head - transported against their will. He had thought about it, laying in bed at night when he couldn't sleep. Could there be a way to do just that? To transport not only Jim and Spock, but the Romulans as well? If something was happening right now, something that Jim thought was worthwhile enough to have to warn him about, then maybe it was their only chance. He had a good feeling that whatever was taking place wouldn't give him much time to think this over.
Just as Kirk started to get out of his chair, the computer spoke to him as simultaneously a red alert appeared on the console before him. Sensors indicate the Narada is no longer aboard this ship. Repeat - sensors indicate the Narada is no longer aboard this ship. Kirk felt a cold fear run down his spine as he stared at the diagram of the Enterprise the computer automatically pulled up. It showed the Narada's last known location in Jim's quarters with the single red dot disappearing and reappearing over and over again.
With that in mind, Kirk found himself rushing down toward the nearest transporter room, with his comm still in hand. "Captain to Lt Commander Scott - Captain to Lt Commander Scott!" When Scotty didn't reply fast enough, Kirk snapped off a curse and hit the transporter room at a dead run. Kirk looked to the startled ensign behind the controls. "Ensign - the last known coordinates of the Narada should still be in the system, pull them up for me," Kirk said quickly as he slid in behind another console. His fingers flew over the screen, and using the coordinates the ensign pulled up, he scanned for information about the Narada.
The Enterprise's powerful scanners swept across where the Narada lay dormant on the surface of the planet below. To his utter amazement, the powerful shielding that had not only protected the Narada from every attack they had launched her way but kept them from doing something like this before was down, as if it had never been. To his greatest fear, Kirk could also see that her power levels, which had previously been so low, were now quickly picking up. That had to be it. That had to be what Jim was warning him about. The Romulans had done exactly as they feared - they had managed to not only locate but mine up the dilithium without the use of the plasma drill Kirk had helped destroy.
There was no time to think about what he had to do or talk to any other officer if this was the right course of action. Kirk looked to the confused ensign beside him and said, "Prepare - four to beam up." The computer recognized Jim and Spock's signatures immediately - it was Nero and Ayel's that Kirk had to locate. It wasn't hard, there seemed to be little else in the immediate area around the Narada. The mining must have scared everything off, Kirk thought to himself off-handedly. He had no doubt that every second counted. After all, it was impossible to say how long it would take for the Narada to get her shields back up.
Kirk hadn't realized he was holding his breath until the computer finally located Nero and Ayel's signatures. Something else that George had said came into his mind. He wasn't sure that Stockholm Syndrome was the right term for it but Kirk understood what his father meant. He didn't know how Jim and Spock would react to what he planned to do. With that in mind, he carefully divided the instructions to the transporter. Spock and Jim would be sent the conference room on Deck A. He instructed the computer to lock the door on the conference room and put his own personal code as the clearance needed for the lock.
The next set of instructions were a little more difficult to do in such a hurry. Choosing two open rooms in the brig, he set each one to its highest level of security. Only the captain would be able to lower the force field that separated the Romulans from the rest of the ship. Knowing the anger he had seen in Spock's eyes, and knowing the revenge in some people's hearts, even in his own, Kirk had to ensure that his crew was protected from Nero, and Nero from his crew. I'll need to speak with Security myself, Kirk thought quickly as he typed.
As he finished the last of the instructions to the computer, with the transporter locked on the four life signatures below, Kirk could only hope that he was doing the right thing. He looked to the ensign beside him and nodded only once. "Energize."
The alert was coming from Jim's communicator, down there on the planet, trapped with Nero. Knowing that Jim had managed to sneak out two messages before, a small shiver of worry passed through him as he realized what only an alert could mean. It had to be a warning that something was happening - something that Jim couldn't sneak away to tell him. Considering the circumstances, there were very few things that the warning could have been. Kirk could only hope that getting out this warning wasn't putting Jim's life in danger.
Kirk thought about what George had said the other night. The idea had gotten stuck in his head - transported against their will. He had thought about it, laying in bed at night when he couldn't sleep. Could there be a way to do just that? To transport not only Jim and Spock, but the Romulans as well? If something was happening right now, something that Jim thought was worthwhile enough to have to warn him about, then maybe it was their only chance. He had a good feeling that whatever was taking place wouldn't give him much time to think this over.
Just as Kirk started to get out of his chair, the computer spoke to him as simultaneously a red alert appeared on the console before him. Sensors indicate the Narada is no longer aboard this ship. Repeat - sensors indicate the Narada is no longer aboard this ship. Kirk felt a cold fear run down his spine as he stared at the diagram of the Enterprise the computer automatically pulled up. It showed the Narada's last known location in Jim's quarters with the single red dot disappearing and reappearing over and over again.
With that in mind, Kirk found himself rushing down toward the nearest transporter room, with his comm still in hand. "Captain to Lt Commander Scott - Captain to Lt Commander Scott!" When Scotty didn't reply fast enough, Kirk snapped off a curse and hit the transporter room at a dead run. Kirk looked to the startled ensign behind the controls. "Ensign - the last known coordinates of the Narada should still be in the system, pull them up for me," Kirk said quickly as he slid in behind another console. His fingers flew over the screen, and using the coordinates the ensign pulled up, he scanned for information about the Narada.
The Enterprise's powerful scanners swept across where the Narada lay dormant on the surface of the planet below. To his utter amazement, the powerful shielding that had not only protected the Narada from every attack they had launched her way but kept them from doing something like this before was down, as if it had never been. To his greatest fear, Kirk could also see that her power levels, which had previously been so low, were now quickly picking up. That had to be it. That had to be what Jim was warning him about. The Romulans had done exactly as they feared - they had managed to not only locate but mine up the dilithium without the use of the plasma drill Kirk had helped destroy.
There was no time to think about what he had to do or talk to any other officer if this was the right course of action. Kirk looked to the confused ensign beside him and said, "Prepare - four to beam up." The computer recognized Jim and Spock's signatures immediately - it was Nero and Ayel's that Kirk had to locate. It wasn't hard, there seemed to be little else in the immediate area around the Narada. The mining must have scared everything off, Kirk thought to himself off-handedly. He had no doubt that every second counted. After all, it was impossible to say how long it would take for the Narada to get her shields back up.
Kirk hadn't realized he was holding his breath until the computer finally located Nero and Ayel's signatures. Something else that George had said came into his mind. He wasn't sure that Stockholm Syndrome was the right term for it but Kirk understood what his father meant. He didn't know how Jim and Spock would react to what he planned to do. With that in mind, he carefully divided the instructions to the transporter. Spock and Jim would be sent the conference room on Deck A. He instructed the computer to lock the door on the conference room and put his own personal code as the clearance needed for the lock.
The next set of instructions were a little more difficult to do in such a hurry. Choosing two open rooms in the brig, he set each one to its highest level of security. Only the captain would be able to lower the force field that separated the Romulans from the rest of the ship. Knowing the anger he had seen in Spock's eyes, and knowing the revenge in some people's hearts, even in his own, Kirk had to ensure that his crew was protected from Nero, and Nero from his crew. I'll need to speak with Security myself, Kirk thought quickly as he typed.
As he finished the last of the instructions to the computer, with the transporter locked on the four life signatures below, Kirk could only hope that he was doing the right thing. He looked to the ensign beside him and nodded only once. "Energize."
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Date: 2010-01-27 12:32 am (UTC)Watching the barrier made his eyes twist. The color meant nothing, reflected back in blinding brightness, clear and worthless. He saw past it, watched the door, and lost more time. It burned, kept burning.
Maybe it was just his hand, but his eyes held it.
The silence continued, unfamiliar whispers of air brought strange sounds that weren't really sound. He closed his eyes against it and tried to think in sound, not the liar light. Did light lie? Here it did, everything lied.
He turned, pressed back against the wall behind him, and folded his arms. He had a knife, long one, in his coat. He'd left the rest in his right boots, not these radiation tipping work boots. Unprepared. He was so unprepared.
A sound, shifting of air cracked his eyes. Something was moving behind him, against the wall. He twisted his head, tried to see, and his eyes stopped him. Was he seeing?
That face. It was a hundred years and thirty, wrong.
She was staring back at him, against the side of his head, where his cheek met metal. He could see her watching. She was in the blue light of the field, the ledge of the threshold. Her dark eyes were focused and sad, staring through the lines of his grief, through the prison he'd written her into. An appendix for a lost corpse, a life already grieved.
He was unprepared. His teeth clenched and his fury echoed in her face. She was mad at him, but he didn't need her any more, didn't need a shield, a soldier. Did he? Her face calmed but there was bitterness there. He'd failed.
He had to fix this.
Nero closed his eyes, shut her out and exhaled a soundless apology that resounded with her name.
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Date: 2010-01-28 04:59 am (UTC)They'd taken Nero somewhere else. Think of him by that name here. He will need that name and its anger.
He was elsewhere. Ayel had to find out where. And that meant finding a way through the field, to get at the lock panel.
Not to escape. No good running through an unfamiliar layout and trying doors at random armed with nothing but a knife. If he could get to the interface, he could talk to the ship--find Nero and warn Narada away from here. These people rattled on about peace, but they were scientists, and scientists lived to dissect things. And they had already proven they could and would promise him anything he wanted to hear.
Like friend.
Gettting loose meant first finding a flaw in the white. And he hadn't yet. It was too bright. Much too bright.
And there was something wrong with their grav system, or Earth was heavier. It kept pulling him off-balance, made him stumble, had him faltering in the single-colored confusion of the room.
Even the bed slat was white, smooth and blinding, so bright it would glow during a power outage. Too thick, too hard to snap properly. All one piece. He hadn't found a seam anywhere, nothing to suggest wiring, the recorders he knew were in the wall, the charges that must be in the floor. He couldn't even pry out the panel protecting the damned lights.
He'd check again. As soon as the spangles cleared from his eyes. They were starting to water in protest. The sheer dazzle of this room was building to a hard, slow throb behind his forehead.
He shut his eyes, sheltered them with the heels of his hands. Hair brushed at his fingertips.
He jerked upright. His head would have bounced on the wall, and did, but he had hair and it was wrong, bizarre, tufted and soft. Freakish. Chilling, after so long without. And his face had been wrong, too, in the floor, distorted and strange.
Oh. Air and Fire and Rain.
They were scientists. Scientists experimented all the time.
What had they done. His heart was trying to take up the rhythm in his head, pounding hard. Didn't want to look, didn't want to look, didn't want to see--
A dead woman glaring back at him, snide and cold, gangboss strength given the lie by long, sharp bones.
Sharra.
It had finally happened. He was mad. This was what going mad felt like.