Signal Fire (2/7)
Sep. 26th, 2009 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cloudydaiseSignal Fire
Scotty/Gaila
PG13
When Scotty arrived on the bridge, there seemed to be very little going on. Chekov was leaning back in his chair, staring off into space. Sulu had a PADD out and Scotty could tell even from that distance that he was playing Pong. Spock was, naturally, doing actual work, and the rest of the bridge crew seemed to be doing a good job of fooling him into thinking they were being productive. Kirk was at Uhura's station, leaning over in discussion with her. Scotty approached them.
"You rang, Captain?"
"Ah, Scotty." Kirk straightened and turned to him. "Yes. We've received a distress call from a nearby Federation research outpost. They've been having a few technical problems requiring replacement parts... they'd have gotten them themselves, but their shuttle is also malfunctioning. They're asking anyone in the area for assistance."
"Nothing we can't handle, seems like," said Scotty.
"My thoughts exactly," said Kirk. "We've been in contact and are en route." He handed Scotty a PADD with a list of supplies. "This is their list of requests. If you would, Mr. Scott, assemble whatever you need and prepare to beam down to the surface. We should be there in less than thirty minutes."
"Aye, sir."
By the time Scotty had gathered his supplies and had organized himself for this away mission, they were in orbit around the small moon. A young engineering ensign, Hank McBride, had requested to accompany him to the surface, and Scotty had seen no reason why he shouldn't. As they stood waiting on the transporter pad, however, Scotty was beginning to regret inviting him along, as he was fidgeting and overly excited.
"It's just a repair mission, Ensign," Scotty told him. "Don't wet yourself."
"I know, sir," Ensign McBride said hastily. "It's just, my first away mission, you know? I can't help myself."
Scotty tried not to roll his eyes, but he couldn't blame the lad. They'd all been there once.
"We're just about ready," said the transporter tech on duty.
Scotty sighed. He hoped this mission wouldn't take too long. He didn't regret that his conversation with Gaila had been interrupted, but he was looking forward to crawling into bed with her and falling fast asleep as soon as this was over. He hefted his toolbox to the other hand, waiting for the tech to be ready.
"Ready for beam out on your command, sir."
Scotty nodded. "Energize."
The bright light of the transporter room faded and was immediately replaced with a long, dark hallway.
Almost instantly, Scotty was on edge. Something was wrong. Were the lights malfunctioning? He tried to remember if that was on the list.
"Computer, lights," he said. No response. "This is not good."
"Sir?" Ensign McBride's voice nearly cracked.
"Better get your phaser out. Just in case." Scotty looked around cautiously. Every instinct he had was telling him this entire mission had just changed completely. He silently cursed himself for not bringing more back-up, but there was no way he could have foreseen this.
"Sir," Ensign McBride squeaked. He was facing the other way. "I just saw - I think there's a... a kid down there."
Scotty turned around and peered down the dark corridor. "Where?"
"He was just there, looking around the corner - "
A phaser blast came from behind them, striking McBride squarely in the back. He flew several feet and collapsed with a sickening thud.
Scotty whirled to look behind him, but he saw no one. He slowly moved toward McBride's unconscious form, intending to check his pulse. Scotty was almost certain he was dead - that had been a killing blast.
But before he had even reached the young man, he felt a blow to the back of his head. Everything went black.
Scotty stirred. He was lying on a cold, concrete surface - he established this immediately, as his face was mashed against it uncomfortably. His head throbbed. He reached back and felt the nasty bump that had formed. Wonderful.
He wondered how long he'd been out. Didn't feel like it could have been that long, but it was hard to tell. He opened his eyes, expecting darkness, but there was instead a single bright lantern on top of a small table about ten feet in front of him.
And he was in the outpost's brig. Bollocks. The room just outside wasn't deep. It looked like a hallway that stretched past his cell on either side. Scotty could tell by the way the air shimmered slightly that the force field was set on maximum. Not good. Not good at all.
He sat up, looking around his cell. It was empty except for him. His toolbox and communicator were both missing. Well. Naturally. What kind of captor would lock an engineer up with a bunch of tools and a means of reaching his ship? Apparently not his.
Scotty stood, wincing slightly at the pain in his head. He began running his hands along the wall near the origin of the force field. The paneling was not unfamiliar - standard Starfleet issue, and he could almost see the wiring running underneath. All he needed was a way to pry the panel off, and then he could short out the force field and be out of there.
It hadn't yet occurred to him to be afraid. He'd been in tight spots before - not usually alone, but the Enterprisewas in orbit. Help would come sooner or later, if he needed it.
He thought briefly of Gaila. Clearly, there was someone dangerous down here. He hoped she would sleep through this entire ordeal. Better to have her out of harm's way - no need to make a bad situation worse.
"Hey mister."
Scotty jumped a little. Was someone talking to him? Or had he imagined that? How hard had he been hit on the head? This was alarming. But then he heard it again - "Hey, mister" - and Scotty was sure there was someone there.
"Hello?" He looked out past the force field. He didn't see anyone.
"I'm down here." The voice was very, very small.
Scotty's eyes settled on the table. Getting down on his hands and knees, he discovered that underneath this table, there was a person. A tiny little person, a human girl, with short, wispy brown hair. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around them. Her chin was resting on her knees and she rocked back and forth slightly. Apparently, Ensign McBride really had seen someone.
"Hello, lassie," Scotty said, friendly. Despite her appearance, he kept himself on guard.
"I'm sorry you're locked up," she said softly.
Scotty cocked his head. "Well, I'm sorry too."
She regarded him with wide, round brown eyes. She seemed not to have a response to that.
"Do you know who put me in here?" Scotty asked.
She nodded.
"Can you tell me who?" He sat down, eye level with her.
She nodded again.
"Who?" He tried to keep the exasperation from his voice.
The little girl paused for a long time. "The bad man," she finally said, her voice so quiet Scotty could barely hear her.
His brow furrowed. The bad man. That was ominous. "I'm Scotty," he said, changing tactics. "Will you tell me your name?"
"Poppy."
"That's a pretty name."
"Thank you," whispered Poppy.
"How old are you?"
"Five."
"Where are your parents, Poppy?" Scotty asked gently.
There was an even longer pause this time. She looked away. "I think they're dead."
"Did the bad man hurt them?"
"Yeah." Her voice sounded dead.
Scotty guessed that this little girl and her parents had been the original inhabitants of this outpost. "Listen to me very carefully, Poppy. I'm going to get you out of here, but I'm going to need you to help me. Do you think you can do that?"
"I'm scared."
"I know. I'm scared too." It wasn't a lie. It was one thing to get himself out of a situation like this, but now he was responsible for getting an innocent little girl out of there. "We're going to get away, okay? I promise. My ship is in orbit right now, and all I have to do is call them, and they can beam us out of here. Okay?"
She bit her lip. "Okay."
Scotty stood up stiffly. Poppy crawled out from under the table and stood pressed against the far wall, watching him intently.
"Poppy, is there a control panel on the other side of this wall, where I'm pointing?"
She nodded.
"Can you reach it?"
She stared at it. "I think so."
"Okay. I'm going to tell you which buttons to press, so you can turn off the force field."
Poppy suddenly looked off to Scotty's right, towards an unseen door, her face filled with panic.
"What is it?"
"The bad man. I think I hear him coming."
Damn it. Damn it. "Okay. We have to hurry."
Poppy took a couple of timid steps toward him. She held out a hand, and Scotty realized she had been holding something tightly all along. Scotty almost laughed with relief when he saw what it was.
"Is this yours?" Poppy asked squeakily, the lantern light glinting on the silver casing of his battered communicator.
"Yes. Yes it is," Scotty said. "Oh, bless you, lassie."
"I found it before the bad man did."
"Very, very good, Poppy. That was very brave of you."
Poppy looked pleased for a split second, then quickly glanced back at the door. "He's almost here. I can hear him. He walks loud."
"Poppy, you take that communicator and you go and hide Do not lose it. You can use that to talk to the people on my ship. Do you know how it works?"
"Yes. My dad had one."
"Good. Now go quick."
Poppy disappeared in a flash, heading off to Scotty's left. She was a fast one. Scotty supposed she had to be, with this intruder around. He shuddered a little at the thought of her locked up in here with him. Whoever he was, he must have earned her nickname for him.
Almost as soon as Poppy was gone, the door to Scotty's right hissed open. Appearing now before him was the "bad man" - an enormous, terrifying, jagged toothed Klingon.
"Ah! You're awake," he said, sneering. "Let's have a little chat, shall we?"
Scotty gulped.
chapter three
Scotty/Gaila
PG13
When Scotty arrived on the bridge, there seemed to be very little going on. Chekov was leaning back in his chair, staring off into space. Sulu had a PADD out and Scotty could tell even from that distance that he was playing Pong. Spock was, naturally, doing actual work, and the rest of the bridge crew seemed to be doing a good job of fooling him into thinking they were being productive. Kirk was at Uhura's station, leaning over in discussion with her. Scotty approached them.
"You rang, Captain?"
"Ah, Scotty." Kirk straightened and turned to him. "Yes. We've received a distress call from a nearby Federation research outpost. They've been having a few technical problems requiring replacement parts... they'd have gotten them themselves, but their shuttle is also malfunctioning. They're asking anyone in the area for assistance."
"Nothing we can't handle, seems like," said Scotty.
"My thoughts exactly," said Kirk. "We've been in contact and are en route." He handed Scotty a PADD with a list of supplies. "This is their list of requests. If you would, Mr. Scott, assemble whatever you need and prepare to beam down to the surface. We should be there in less than thirty minutes."
"Aye, sir."
By the time Scotty had gathered his supplies and had organized himself for this away mission, they were in orbit around the small moon. A young engineering ensign, Hank McBride, had requested to accompany him to the surface, and Scotty had seen no reason why he shouldn't. As they stood waiting on the transporter pad, however, Scotty was beginning to regret inviting him along, as he was fidgeting and overly excited.
"It's just a repair mission, Ensign," Scotty told him. "Don't wet yourself."
"I know, sir," Ensign McBride said hastily. "It's just, my first away mission, you know? I can't help myself."
Scotty tried not to roll his eyes, but he couldn't blame the lad. They'd all been there once.
"We're just about ready," said the transporter tech on duty.
Scotty sighed. He hoped this mission wouldn't take too long. He didn't regret that his conversation with Gaila had been interrupted, but he was looking forward to crawling into bed with her and falling fast asleep as soon as this was over. He hefted his toolbox to the other hand, waiting for the tech to be ready.
"Ready for beam out on your command, sir."
Scotty nodded. "Energize."
The bright light of the transporter room faded and was immediately replaced with a long, dark hallway.
Almost instantly, Scotty was on edge. Something was wrong. Were the lights malfunctioning? He tried to remember if that was on the list.
"Computer, lights," he said. No response. "This is not good."
"Sir?" Ensign McBride's voice nearly cracked.
"Better get your phaser out. Just in case." Scotty looked around cautiously. Every instinct he had was telling him this entire mission had just changed completely. He silently cursed himself for not bringing more back-up, but there was no way he could have foreseen this.
"Sir," Ensign McBride squeaked. He was facing the other way. "I just saw - I think there's a... a kid down there."
Scotty turned around and peered down the dark corridor. "Where?"
"He was just there, looking around the corner - "
A phaser blast came from behind them, striking McBride squarely in the back. He flew several feet and collapsed with a sickening thud.
Scotty whirled to look behind him, but he saw no one. He slowly moved toward McBride's unconscious form, intending to check his pulse. Scotty was almost certain he was dead - that had been a killing blast.
But before he had even reached the young man, he felt a blow to the back of his head. Everything went black.
Scotty stirred. He was lying on a cold, concrete surface - he established this immediately, as his face was mashed against it uncomfortably. His head throbbed. He reached back and felt the nasty bump that had formed. Wonderful.
He wondered how long he'd been out. Didn't feel like it could have been that long, but it was hard to tell. He opened his eyes, expecting darkness, but there was instead a single bright lantern on top of a small table about ten feet in front of him.
And he was in the outpost's brig. Bollocks. The room just outside wasn't deep. It looked like a hallway that stretched past his cell on either side. Scotty could tell by the way the air shimmered slightly that the force field was set on maximum. Not good. Not good at all.
He sat up, looking around his cell. It was empty except for him. His toolbox and communicator were both missing. Well. Naturally. What kind of captor would lock an engineer up with a bunch of tools and a means of reaching his ship? Apparently not his.
Scotty stood, wincing slightly at the pain in his head. He began running his hands along the wall near the origin of the force field. The paneling was not unfamiliar - standard Starfleet issue, and he could almost see the wiring running underneath. All he needed was a way to pry the panel off, and then he could short out the force field and be out of there.
It hadn't yet occurred to him to be afraid. He'd been in tight spots before - not usually alone, but the Enterprisewas in orbit. Help would come sooner or later, if he needed it.
He thought briefly of Gaila. Clearly, there was someone dangerous down here. He hoped she would sleep through this entire ordeal. Better to have her out of harm's way - no need to make a bad situation worse.
"Hey mister."
Scotty jumped a little. Was someone talking to him? Or had he imagined that? How hard had he been hit on the head? This was alarming. But then he heard it again - "Hey, mister" - and Scotty was sure there was someone there.
"Hello?" He looked out past the force field. He didn't see anyone.
"I'm down here." The voice was very, very small.
Scotty's eyes settled on the table. Getting down on his hands and knees, he discovered that underneath this table, there was a person. A tiny little person, a human girl, with short, wispy brown hair. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around them. Her chin was resting on her knees and she rocked back and forth slightly. Apparently, Ensign McBride really had seen someone.
"Hello, lassie," Scotty said, friendly. Despite her appearance, he kept himself on guard.
"I'm sorry you're locked up," she said softly.
Scotty cocked his head. "Well, I'm sorry too."
She regarded him with wide, round brown eyes. She seemed not to have a response to that.
"Do you know who put me in here?" Scotty asked.
She nodded.
"Can you tell me who?" He sat down, eye level with her.
She nodded again.
"Who?" He tried to keep the exasperation from his voice.
The little girl paused for a long time. "The bad man," she finally said, her voice so quiet Scotty could barely hear her.
His brow furrowed. The bad man. That was ominous. "I'm Scotty," he said, changing tactics. "Will you tell me your name?"
"Poppy."
"That's a pretty name."
"Thank you," whispered Poppy.
"How old are you?"
"Five."
"Where are your parents, Poppy?" Scotty asked gently.
There was an even longer pause this time. She looked away. "I think they're dead."
"Did the bad man hurt them?"
"Yeah." Her voice sounded dead.
Scotty guessed that this little girl and her parents had been the original inhabitants of this outpost. "Listen to me very carefully, Poppy. I'm going to get you out of here, but I'm going to need you to help me. Do you think you can do that?"
"I'm scared."
"I know. I'm scared too." It wasn't a lie. It was one thing to get himself out of a situation like this, but now he was responsible for getting an innocent little girl out of there. "We're going to get away, okay? I promise. My ship is in orbit right now, and all I have to do is call them, and they can beam us out of here. Okay?"
She bit her lip. "Okay."
Scotty stood up stiffly. Poppy crawled out from under the table and stood pressed against the far wall, watching him intently.
"Poppy, is there a control panel on the other side of this wall, where I'm pointing?"
She nodded.
"Can you reach it?"
She stared at it. "I think so."
"Okay. I'm going to tell you which buttons to press, so you can turn off the force field."
Poppy suddenly looked off to Scotty's right, towards an unseen door, her face filled with panic.
"What is it?"
"The bad man. I think I hear him coming."
Damn it. Damn it. "Okay. We have to hurry."
Poppy took a couple of timid steps toward him. She held out a hand, and Scotty realized she had been holding something tightly all along. Scotty almost laughed with relief when he saw what it was.
"Is this yours?" Poppy asked squeakily, the lantern light glinting on the silver casing of his battered communicator.
"Yes. Yes it is," Scotty said. "Oh, bless you, lassie."
"I found it before the bad man did."
"Very, very good, Poppy. That was very brave of you."
Poppy looked pleased for a split second, then quickly glanced back at the door. "He's almost here. I can hear him. He walks loud."
"Poppy, you take that communicator and you go and hide Do not lose it. You can use that to talk to the people on my ship. Do you know how it works?"
"Yes. My dad had one."
"Good. Now go quick."
Poppy disappeared in a flash, heading off to Scotty's left. She was a fast one. Scotty supposed she had to be, with this intruder around. He shuddered a little at the thought of her locked up in here with him. Whoever he was, he must have earned her nickname for him.
Almost as soon as Poppy was gone, the door to Scotty's right hissed open. Appearing now before him was the "bad man" - an enormous, terrifying, jagged toothed Klingon.
"Ah! You're awake," he said, sneering. "Let's have a little chat, shall we?"
Scotty gulped.
chapter three