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She sprints down the corridor towards Engineering, several of her officers and medical staff following behind with her through the pandemonium, the ship’s computer counting down the minutes until a warp core breach. Their ship, the USS Jemison, was on a scientific mission studying a newly formed nebula on the edge of the Bolian sector when they were caught in a rift. While they were able to free themselves, it caused, among other things, a malfunction with the antimatter containment field. She, along with her team, was sent by Captain Maynard to assist the new Chief Engineer. Other than seeing him at a senior staff meeting introducing him a week ago, she has not interacted with him at all, not when she was up to her eyeballs with the crew’s physical performances and security drills.
Seeing a clear space, she directs the medical crew to make that their triage. “Make sure that every crew member that comes out of Engineering gets checked over,” she barks at Lieutenant Ransone.
“Aye, sir.”
Secure that he has everything under control in the corridor, she rushes into Engineering. It’s a complete mess; computer stations fried, severed components littering the ground, and a slew of crewmen and officers racing against time to contain the antimatter chamber and to make sure that the warp core remains stable. There, at his station near the warp core, is Lieutenant Commander Nash bouncing between his computer station and assisting his personnel. The first thing she notices as she runs up to him is a deep cut along the sleeve of his bicep. “Lieutenant, reinforcements are here.”
He doesn’t look up from his console. “I have ordered all nonessential crew to evacuate Engineering.”
“We are setting up a triage right outside of Engineering as we speak.”
“We can contain the antimatter chamber.” His fingers fly across the screen. “We just need more power.”
Stepping up next to him, she pulls up the power relays. “I can divert power from all nonessential areas of the ship.”
“What about shields?”
“Negative. We have hull breaches all over the ship, including decks ten through twelve where the families are housed.” Fear, like the relentless bitch she is, grips her by the throat. Her sweet Harry was in their quarters on deck ten working on his homework when they got caught in the rift. With the overall safety of the ship her priority, she hasn’t been able to check on him. May, thankfully, is in the safest part of the ship.
“There’s about to be nothing left of this ship if we can’t divert all available power towards the antimatter chamber.”
Growling under her breath at the truth of his statement, she draws up the schematics of areas she knows are safe from hull breaches. “Diverting all available power other than key areas of the ship and life support.” Their fingers fly across the console as they work in unison; the power she is able to divert is swiftly syphoned into the antimatter containment field. She doesn’t think, doesn’t feel, doesn’t breathe. She moves with a speed that she is only able to replicate in this type of situation.
‘Antimatter chamber containment field breach in three minutes and thirty seconds .’
“Fuck,” he murmurs under his breath. He taps his badge. “All Engineering personnel are ordered to evacuate.” All at once, a cacophony of several crew members yell across Engineering.
“We can do this, sir!”
“We just need a few more seconds!”
“We are nearly done recalibrating the containment field.”
For a brief moment when the lights around them flicker, his fingers stop, his hands shaking against the smooth console.
She can’t have him fall apart, not now when their lives depend on it. “I have diverted all the power I can. It’s time for your Hail Mary.”
Her words have their desired effect when he springs back into action. He taps his badge. “Attention all engineering personnel, we have diverted all available power to the antimatter containment field. Let’s light it up.”
As their teams work together at various consoles and work stations, everyone in engineering holds their breath collectively until they finally hear, ‘ Antimatter chamber containment field has been reestablished .’
They don’t celebrate with the others, not when they know that the warp core is still vulnerable. Their fingers, once again, fly across the console reverting the remaining power to stabilize the warp core. They are nearly done when an indicator on her side of the console goes off. She barely has time to push him away before the flash from the console knocks her back. The last thing she remembers before her world goes dark is the sight of his dark brown puppy dog eyes.
“Diaz! Kinard!” Both of his best come running over. “We have stabilized the warp core.” Digging his arms underneath the Chief of Security, he lifts her up. “I’m going to take the lieutenant to Sickbay.”
One of her security officers, he thinks his name is Ramos, runs over. “We need to transport—”
“All transporters are down. I will take her there myself.” He is already in the corridor when the chorus of ‘aye, sir’ reaches him. He barely knows the woman, but he’ll be damned if he allows her to die on his watch, not when she saved his life. Several people wisely move out of his way as he makes his way down the tight space, thanking every deity known to man that the ship designers were intuitive enough to put Sickbay on the same deck as the Engineering department.
Once he walks in, one of the nurses directs him towards a bed where he gingerly lays her down. When her vitals don't appear on the screen behind her, he remembers that they had to divert all available power into Engineering. Sickbay will be my first priority .
It is only when he steps back from her still figure does he realize just how inundated Sickbay truly is. When his mind catches up with all that has happened, he realizes that this is the first time he’s been in Sickbay since the day he woke up after being rescued from the bowels of the USS Yamaguchi after Wolf 359. The sights and the smells pull him back into that dark place he thought he left behind. When he took this position on a smaller science ship, he didn’t think that he would experience this again; the flashing red lights illuminating the darkened ship, the rancid smell of burning wires and singed flesh, the shouts of those trying to be heard over the chaos surrounding them. I… I can’t…I shouldn’t—
“Mom?!”
That one word, spoken so softly, pulls him from his nightmares threatening to suffocate him.
The young woman, maybe barely eighteen, tugs on his arm. “What happened?”
“We… we were stabilizing the warp core when our station overheated. She pushed me away and took the brunt force of the explosion.”
“Let him go, May.” Doc Hen steps up to Lieutenant Grant’s biobed and begins to check her vitals. “Your mother will be alright. Just from what I see from the tricorder, she has a concussion and a few second and third degree burns.” She turns to the petrified young woman next to him who has refused to let him go. “Go get a dermal regenerator. I’ll see if I can sweet talk someone from Engineering to get Sickbay back up and running so that I can do an enhanced scan.”
With a firm nod, she is about to leave when she turns to him. “Thank you for saving my mom.”
He is saved from saying anything in return when she bolts off to gather all the instruments needed to heal her mother. Feeling more of a nuisance than a help as more people rush around him, he takes a few more steps back.
“Bobby,” Doc Hen calls out over her shoulder, “come to Sickbay once everything has calmed down so that I can fix your arm.”
“Of course.”
“If you don’t, I’ll have Karen chase after you.” Her threat is said in jest, yet it does its job all the same. Karen can be rather relentless when it comes to following protocol. “Also, make sure to get my Sickbay up and running.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Just as he is about to walk out of Sickbay, he sees Lieutenant Grant’s daughter return to her mother’s bedside.
Slowly opening her eyes, the soft beeps and the gentle murmurs of the machines surrounding her tells her that she is in Sickbay. The last thing she remembers is being in Engineering working with Lieutenant Nash on stabilizing the warp core when things get a little fuzzy.
“Good morning, Sunshine.” Hen’s cheery voice instantly sours her mood.
The one thing she hates more than a trip to Sickbay is not remembering her trip to Sickbay. Adjusting herself so that she is sitting up, she notices that at some point her uniform was replaced by a blue gown. “What…” She clears her dry, itchy throat. “What happened?”
“The station you and Lieutenant Nash were working on exploded.” Hen gives her a cup of water. “You, being the smart woman you are, took the full brunt of it.”
“Harry? May?”
“I’m here, momma.” May stands next to her bed. “Harry is doing just fine, being annoying as ever. We were very lucky Lieutenant Nash brought you into Sickbay when he did.”
Hen leans closer to her and murmurs, “More like carried your sorry ass.”
“Excuse you?!” She looks between her daughter and her best friend, embarrassment at having someone carry her anywhere crawling up her spine. “He did what?!”
“Mom! The console you were working at exploded. You had burns and, what we first thought, a concussion. If he didn’t bring you here right away or if you were in a different part of the ship, you could have died.”
“I don’t think—”
“We discovered not long after Sickbay regained its power that your brain was bleeding. We had to take you into surgery.”
“How long have I been in here?”
“About twenty-four hours. The kids have been staying with me and Karen.” Hen pulls out her tricorder from her pocket and starts scanning her. “Once I see that you are improving, I will release you to rest in your quarters.”
Although she doesn’t like staying in Sickbay for longer than she has to, she knows that it is no use arguing against the CMO. “How’s the ship holding up?”
“With toothpicks and duct tape, but the Enterprise was close by when they received our distress call and is towing us to Starbase 307 for some much needed repairs.”
“Momma? Would you like for me to get Harry?”
“I would like that but you need to check with your commanding officer first. You never leave your post without permission.”
“Yes, momma.” May looks at Hen. “Permission to retrieve my brother.”
“Permission granted.”
“Thank you.” Giving her a sweet kiss on the cheek, May beelines it out of Sickbay.
Once they are alone, she looks at her dearest friend. “Honestly, will I be okay?”
“Of course, but May wasn’t exaggerating. If Lieutenant Nash didn’t bring you in here when he did, then it could have turned out a lot differently.”
Her grumpiness returns in full force. “Why did he have to carry me?” She focuses all of attention on her cup. “It’s just… embarrassing.”
“The transporters were down.” Hen smacks her lips in that testy sort of way that lets her know that she is being ridiculous. “That man avoids Sickbay as if it is the plague. He willingly brought you here after you saved his life.”
She rolls her eyes. “I can’t see why he would avoid Sickbay, not when it’s filled with nosy doctors.”
The silence coming from Hen puts her on edge. It is very rare that she doesn’t have a quick-witted comeback at the ready. “Several years ago, he woke up in Sickbay only for us to tell him his entire family was killed at Wolf 359. He avoids Sickbay because, for him, that is where his whole universe crumbled.”
In an instant, her heart breaks for him. She remembers watching the report come in from home when she was called in to go serve on USS Archer to defend Earth from the Borg. The ship she was serving on before her maternity leave was the USS Firebrand where all hands were killed in action. She had lost many friends and countless co-workers, but her family remains safe and alive because Michael insisted that she give birth to Harry on Earth. “I didn’t know.”
“That man is genuinely scared of Sickbay, but he came in just to check on you.”
“I’ll make sure to thank him.” At Hen’s raised brow, she adds, “Nicely.”
“Good. Now let’s get you looking halfway decent before your kids come back.”
Hearing the buzzer, he closes his book before he allows the door to open. “Come in.” He stands when Doc Hen steps in. “Doc.”
“Bobby, I’m off duty; call me Hen.”
He gives her a mock salute. “Yes, ma’am.” He softens his silly joke by inviting her to sit with him with the flick of his wrist. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“I wanted to check in on you, see how you're holding up.”
“I’ve…” He stumbles over what he wants to say. If he gives her the full rundown then, as the CMO, she could pull him off duty. If he tries to bluff his way out of this conversation, she will see right through him. “I’m having some trouble sleeping, but with us now stationed at Starbase 307, I plan on calling Counselor Roz.”
“I’m glad.” Her small smile helps to calm his anxiety. “If you need a friend, Karen and I are here for you.”
“Thank you.” He truly means it. A few years ago, he would have scoffed at her invitation and found the closest watering hole to help drown his crippling depression. Now that he’s clean, he appreciates her offer. It was Hen, after all, who recommended him for this position as Chief Engineer on the USS Jemison. “How is Lieutenant Commander Grant doing?”
“Grumpy but all healed up. I just cleared her for duty.”
“Grumpy?”
Hen playfully rolls her eyes. “She gets that way whenever she is brought into Sickbay.”
While he barely knows her, he has had this fleeting need to check on her to make sure she is doing okay. At first, he thought it was because she had saved his life, but, now, he’s not sure why. As a general rule, he avoids Sickbay at all cost, but he had gone in while she was still asleep to sit with her for a few minutes. “I’m glad to hear that she is okay.”
“Apparently thanks to both you and Athena, we are all living to see another day.”
He shakes his head. “It was a team effort.”
“Funny. That’s what Athena said.” She pats him on the knee before standing. “A small group of us are meeting in Stars and Bars to celebrate her first day back. Why don’t you come join us?”
His heart begins to race at the thought of seeing her, but he forces it to slow. Normally, he does his best to keep away from bars, but he was assured that there is no alcohol being served in the one aboard the Jemison. “I don’t want to impose.”
“You won’t.”
“I’m sure she’ll want to spend time with her family.”
“Harry sprinted off the ship the moment we docked at Starbase 307 and May is working in Sickbay until 2100 hours.”
“And her spouse?”
His cheeks flush bright red when Hen smirks at him. “She’s not married. She and Michael divorced a few years ago but have remained good friends. He and his partner David are taking a transport here so that they can spend time with the kids.”
He wants to see her, to talk with her, to get to know her, but he holds himself back. When he found out that Marcy, Brooke, and Bobby Jr. were killed, he never thought he would open himself up to anyone else. He still doesn’t think he deserves to be happy, not when his family was killed at Wolf 359, however his sessions with Counselor Roz has taught him that he can still mourn his family and find happiness beyond the bottom of a bottle. It’s been a long road of recovery with several bumps and curves along the way, but he’s making some progress. “Maybe. What time will it be?”
Her smile is positively bright. “1800 hours. Your first club soda will be on the house.”
He stands and walks Hen to the door. “I’ll see you at 1800 hours.”
“Baby?”
Her smile lifts into the heavens when Karen calls her that. “Yes, darling.”
“What are you up to?”
She innocently bats her eyes at her beautiful wife. “I’m not up to anything.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Obviously Karen isn’t buying it. “Bobby and Athena don’t need your meddling.”
She can’t help it though. At first, she didn’t see it, but now that both Athena and Bobby are in the same room, she is convinced that they would absolutely be wonderful together. Bobby still has a way to go on his recovery, however, when she invited him, she noticed how he blushed beet red when she told him that Athena wasn’t married. Better yet, when Athena walked into Stars and Bars, she could have sworn her smile reached all the way to her eyes when she saw Bobby, something she hasn’t seen in a long time. “They’re sweet with each other.”
Both women glance across the busy room to see the couple in question sitting at a table near the window, deep in some sort of discussion.
“They are.” Karen kisses her cheek. “But let them figure it out on their own.” Her hand slips into hers and pulls her out of the seat. “Let’s go. I have a surprise for you.”
Being an absolute sucker for Karen’s surprises, she follows her wife out of the bar.