Losing Mary

Chapter 1

Deck three of the Enterprise was busy and crowded. People running from here to there, trying to get ready for the five year mission, which was scheduled to start in an hour.

Meredith Stern stood just outside the lift doors, watching it all, a big smile on her face. Anyone who noticed her, would think her kind of young to be on a starship, and she was. She was only sixteen.

Mary held a slip of paper in her fingers, trying to find someone who would be kind enough to show her to her room. She'd been on deck three for the most part of half an hour, and still hadn't found it.

Finally spotting someone who didn't look too busy, Mary walked up to him. He easily towered over her, with spikey black hair, and warm, friendly eyes.

"Um, excuse me? Could you help me find room 207? I'm kind of new here..." She said with a thick Irish accent.

The man looked down and smiled. He looked Japanese, or maybe Chinese? Mary was to shy to ask.

"Oh of course." He said, and began walking down the hall. Mary followed him, anxious to see her new home for the next five years. "I'm Hikaru, by the way. Hikaru Sulu, I'm the pilot." He said, extending his right hand to Mary.

She shook it, a smile on her face. "I'm Mary Stern. Doctor." Her sleeve rose up a little, showing a mark on her wrist. Sulu glanced at it curiosly, but looked away politely.

"Here we are, room 207." He said, pointing at the door. Mary's gaze fell on the little number pad to the right of the door. "That's were you put in the pass code. Right now it's on default, you can change it when you get inside."

"Thank you Hikaru. It was nice meeting you!" She said, entering in the code and walking in through the open door. He nodded and walked away.

Mary let the door close behind her before she turned on the lights. She reached for the button on the wall, and they flashed on, she couldn't help but smile. The room was, fantastic.

It had a small sitting area with a TV and a couch, a dresser, and a bed. And divided by another door, was a small bathroom.

Mary walked over to her bags, which were delivered earlier that day, and began unpacking what little clothes she owned. Her gaze fell on something blue in a partly open drawer, and she opened it.

It was her blue uniform. Her smile grew even more, and she changed into it, enjoying the way it felt on her body.

She felt....grown up. More like an adult, and less like the dorky kid she really was. Her watch beeped, and she checked the time. Time for her first shift. Jumping excitedly, she changed shoes, and made her way to the Med bay.

~~~^~~~^~~~^~~~^~~~^~~~

Mary walked into the Med bay, to be greated by a very grumpy doctor. "You're late." He said gruffly, his arms crossed.

"I'm not late Dr.McCoy. I am on time." She replied, smiling. He simply grunted at the girl, and walked back to his office, mumbling something about 'on time is too late.'

Mary pulled a rubber band from her pocket, and put her reddish brown hair up in a pony tail, her bangs framing her face.

She just got started looking at some patients who needed attending, when two ensigns brought in a barely conscious man.

The front of his yellow shirt was smeared with blood, coming from a steady stream from his nose, which was crooked at an unnatural degree. He seemed familiar somehow, she just couldn't find out why.

Immediately she guided them to the nearest bed, and they set him down. A quick scan from a Tri-Corder showed both a broken nose, and a concussion. Poor guy.

"What happened to him?" She asked, having one of the other men hold a paper towel to his bleeding nose.

"Some guy beat him up, claimed-" the man stopped his explanation when Mary popped the patients nose back into place, causing a loud pop! noise.

"Claimed that he stole his ID card."

"Did he?" Mary asked, putting special tape to hold his nose in place while it healed.

"No, Chekov wouldn't do something like that. He's not that kind of guy." Her eyes widened slightly. This was Pavel Chekov. The Pavel Chekov, the guy who graduated from the academy at seventeen. The guy whose record she beat.

"Well, uh...thank you for bringing him. You can go now." She said, and the men nodded, and walked away. Sitting down, Mary grabbed a medical wipe, and began to wipe away the blood from his face.

He was kind of handsome, with curly blonde hair, and pale skin. Not even realizing it, she began to humm as she grabbed another wipe.

"Vwhat song is that?" He asked weakly, making Mary jump.

"What?"

"That song, I like it. Vwhat song is it?" He asked again, opening his eyes, they were a warm brown color, like dirt.

"Oh, I don't know. Just some song, does your head hurt?" She asked, and he nodded. Standing up, Mary grabbed a pill and a small cup of water, and handed them to him.

He swallowed the pill, and lied back down, his head sore. About five minutes later, Mary came back to finish the paperwork on her new patient, when he whispered something. "What was that?"

"You're pretty. Like a flower." He said, smiling slightly. Chekov fell asleep, and Mary just stood there, her face red.

He didn't mean it, right? He's on powerful pain medication. He couldn't mean it. But even as he walked out, a few hours later, Mary still couldn't help but smile.