Story:Star Trek - Infinity/Chapter 4

Star Trek - Infinity - Beta - Chapter 4

Stories → Star Trek - Infinity - Beta → Chapter 4

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“Sir, shields down to 10%. Two of the warbirds are pursuing us into the wormhole.”

By that time Lt. Cmdr. Forrester had managed to drag herself back to the ops station, but Tabora was still unconscious.

“The wormhole seems to be interfering with our shields sir!”

Chekov smiled. “That may just give us the upper hand. If our shields are down, I’m betting theirs are too. Lt. P’Trell, ready aft phasers.” Chekov raised a hand, and dropped it downwards in a sweeping motion. “Fire.”

The leading warbird was struck head on, and its bridge exploded into flames as it was torn from the rest of the ship. The second warbird’s wing was torn off, and it spiraled backwards into subspace in a mass of burning plasma flames.

I finally managed to get to my feet, and stared in awe at the monitor. We had exited to the wormhole next to a small blue planet, and beyond that was a bright red giant glowing in the distance.

The commander stood up and turned to P’Trell. “Stand down Red Alert. Status report.”

The Andorian tapped his console. “The wormhole destabilized as soon as we exited it. There’s some sort of interference with our sensors, source unknown. As for the ship, turbolifts are back online now. Our port nacelle was damaged in the blast, but Main Engineering is fine. The worst damage was in the Science Section. Everyone made it out in time except one; Third Year Science Student, Cadet Crusher.”

My heart skipped a beat and my eyes began to quiver as I faintly whispered, “Nicky?”

I bolted towards the turbolift, and the doors closed before anyone could stop me. I closed my eyes and prayed; prayed that she was ok.

---

I rushed through sickbay’s automatic doors and frantically scanned the room.

A Bajoran woman wearing a blue medical skant with a single triangle denoting the rank of ensign came up to me. “Dear, that cut looks pretty bad.”

I raised my fingers to my forehead and felt blood welling up from an open wound. I had forgotten about banging my head against the captain’s chair in my haste to get to sickbay.

The ensign reached a hand towards me. “Here, let me take a look.”

I moved away from her. “I’m fine! Please, I need to find Nicky!”

The ensign looked over her shoulder, and I followed her gaze. I spotted a limp figure lying on one of the biobeds, and I lunged in that direction.

The woman grabbed me by the arms and I shouted, “I need to see her!”

The ensign looked me in the eyes a calm expression on her face. “And you can, just as soon as I get that cut cleaned up.”

I looked into her soft gaze, then relaxed and nodded my head.

After she had cleaned up the wound and gone over it with a dermal regenerator, the ensign led me over to the biobed.

I gasped as I saw Nicky. She lay very still, and according to the computer that was monitoring her brain functions, her neural patterns were very unstable. Her skant was singed and torn in multiple places, and the left side of her hair was almost completely burned away.

I turned as Chekov and Doctor Layn came over.

Layn glanced at the commander. “She suffered several third degree plasma burns all along her left side. I managed to repair the damage to her face, but her hair will have to grow back.” She paused for a moment. “She’s in a coma from the blast. When it struck the ship it threw her across the room; she’s lucky she didn’t break anything, but the sheer force of the blast rattled her brain. Her neural activity is extremely erratic.”

Chekov sighed and replied, “What about Lieutenant Tabora?”

Layn frowned. “She too was thrown by one of the blasts that struck the bridge. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quite so lucky as to have made it through without any exterior damage. The impact from being thrown to the ground cracked her spinal column in two places and also did damage to her nervous system.”

I turned by gaze back to Nicole, my thoughts returning to the predicament we were all in.

‘Where are we? How far are we from home?’ As the depth of the situation sank in, I realized I might never see my home again, I might never see my mother again. ‘I might die here.’

I closed my eyes and lay my head down on Nicky’s chest, and cried until I fell asleep.

---

I awoke as somebody shook my arm. I looked up into the face of the Bajoran ensign as she said, “It’s time for you to head back to your quarters.”

“Please, let me stay here with Nicky.” I pleaded.

The ensign replied, “I’ll let you know as soon as anything happens.”

I nodded, and solemnly headed back to my room.

When I entered, I found Phoebe and Denarchia already there, and still awake.

Phoebe glanced at me as I came in. “They’re saying the sensors are being interfered with. I bet you that’s just a cover up; they don’t want us to freak out because we’re so far away from home that we’ll never be able to get back. I bet you we’re in the Delta Quadrant.”

I replied, “Then that’s a good thing. I mean, Voyager made it home just fine when it was stranded in the Delta Quadrant.”

Phoebe responded, her tone growing harsher, “Yeah, but that was only because they had Admiral Janeway to lead them, and a reliable starship. Commander Chekov may be a good speaker and teacher, but he’s not capable of getting us home, and neither is this tiny little excuse for a ship. You know, I’m starting to envy Crusher, at least she’ll die in peace instead of here with us, without any hope of returning home.”

I responded, my voice shaking, “No, Nicky’s not going to die, and we’re all going to get back home soon.”

Phoebe spat back, “What do you know you green-skinned freak?”

I was caught off guard by the remark, and I stood there for a moment, then I turned and ran out of the room, as tears began welling up in my eyes.

I ran to the shuttlebay, and scrambled into one of the shuttlepods. I curled up in a corner and buried my face in my hands, and continued to cry until I once again fell asleep.

---

I awoke at the sound of a voice calling out, “Destiny? Cadet Carver, are you in here?”

I sat up and called back, “Yes, I’m in here.”

A moment later the head of Chief Todd peeped through the hatch. “Destiny, what are you doing in here?”

I looked away, not wanting her to see the pain in my eyes. “I just…needed some time alone, that’s all.”

She came over and sat down beside me. “Destiny, Nicky’s going to be fine, and we’re gonna make it back home too.”

This time I did make eye contact. “You don’t know that.”

Alyssa replied, “I know we’ve got two dozen of the smartest cadets in Starfleet onboard, and some equally talented officers. And I know that if we work together, we’ll make it through this just fine.”

I glanced away, and she changed the subject. “I came to tell you Commander Chekov’s making a promotion in the officer’s mess. How about we go see it together?”

She got up and headed for the hatch, and I slowly followed behind.

‘Who on earth could they be promoting at a time like this?’

As we headed through the doors to the mess hall, I saw Commander Chekov standing at the front of the room. Everyone else was there, save for a few people that were probably watching the bridge and making repairs.

Alyssa and I sat down at one of the tables as Chekov started, “Hello, officers and cadets alike. As most of you already know, we have travelled through a wormhole in order to avoid being destroyed by Shadow Warbirds. We aren’t certain why the Romulans attacked us, and at this point, it’s not important. In the midst of all the chaos, I’d like to take a step in the direction of restoring order to this ship. For his courage and quick thinking, I would like to promote Cadet Arch to the rank of ensign.”

Cadet Arch stood up and walked over to Chekov. The commander unfastened the four arrow bars on Christopher’s uniform, and replaced them with a single gold triangle, denoting the rank of ensign.

“I don’t think it’ll hurt to shave off the last four months of your training, after all, most of it is just Calculus courses.” He chuckled a little, and then continued more seriously, “With the injuries sustained by Lieutenant Tabora, I am in need of a new helmsman. Because of his bravery today, I am certain that Ensign Arch will make a fine helm officer.”

Everyone clapped as Christopher walked back over to his table and sat down, everyone except me. ‘This means our classes together will be over.’ I thought.

Since Tabora had been injured, I had already somewhat guessed that. Would I end up continuing my lessons with P’Trell? He had taken the Pilot’s training courses, but would he be able to teach me, especially if he had his hands full with the security Cadets?

‘Does it even matter? Will I ever even get home and get a chance to use those skills on any other ship besides the Infinity?’...