The Tirok Maneuver

IV

The two strode down to the bridge, anxiously waiting for another malfunction.

The bridge crew looked disheveled to say the least.

Kirk's hair was tousled in a way that Mac'hla had to admit looked quite handsome. Spock's shirt had wrinkled and creased around his waist.

Mac'hla imagined that she probably didn't look much better, so she had no room to judge.

As they walked to their monitor on the far left side of the bridge, Yeoman Janice came over and gently smoothed their hair down, "It was looking a little wild, dear." she smiled.

Mac'hla nodded, running her fingers through the curls sticking out of their scarf, "Thank you, Miss Rand."

Janice winked and left the bridge, waving goodbye cheerfully as the lift doors closed.

Mac'hla hoped that there would be no more malfunctions there. She suspected that she had gotten lucky, but if the lift were to freeze or shoot around as it had earlier, someone could get seriously hurt.

She sighed and turned to her computer, running analytics, grateful for the peace.

Naturally, the peace didn't last.

A bolt of electricity flew from their computer, shocking them.

They toppled from their chair, holding their chest where they had been electrocuted.

"Lieutenant?!" Kirk asked frantically, rushing to their side.

"I am alright." She assured him, rubbing the burn on her chest.

"Everyone back away from the consoles." Kirk ordered, and the bridge crew shifted away cautiously.

"Bridge to Scotty," Kirk said, peeking at Mac'hla's bubbling burn and grimacing, "What the hell is going on with our computers?"

"Captain? What are you talking about?" Scotty asked through the com.

"Lieutenant Tirok was just electrocuted by her computer. Are there any circuiting problems that you can find?" he asked.

"Sir, if it were a circuiting problem all of the computers would have shocked someone." Mac'hla explained, "The problem might be with the plasma tubes. Perhaps a sudden burst of energy caused my screen to overheat, and to cool down it released some of the energy as a bolt of electricity."

"I think the lass is right, Captain. I am picking up extreme fluctuations in the plasma tube by her computer."

"Then what is causing the fluctuations, Scotty?"

"I'm afraid I can't pinpoint it, sir."

"Figure it out, Mr. Scott. Kirk out." he muttered, "Spock, transfer Mac'hla's data onto one of your screens. They'll have to work with you."

Spock nodded silently and pulled up their data and gestured for Mac'hla to stand with him.

Mac'hla leaned over the con, examining her screen.

She scrolled over the surrounding area of space, searching for anything out of place.

Absolutely nothing. Everything seemed completely fine.

Spock bumped into them and they stumbled, "My apologies sir." they whispered eyes not leaving their screen.

"It was I who bumped into you, I-"

The ship jolted forward, and everyone was sent tumbling onto the floor.

Mac'hla grunted as Spock landed on top of her.

"Helm, what was that?" Kirk demanded, picking himself up off the floor.

"Sir, we've been sucked into some sort of gravitational pull!" Chekov said frantically, trying to pull the ship away.

"Reverse thrusters, pull us out of here." Kirk said, approaching the helm and leaning over the console.

"I... I can't sir!" Sulu stammered, focussed on his nav screen.

"Spock, can you find what's pulling us in?" Jim asked, glancing over his shoulder at the Commander.

Spock stood back up "Sir, there is nothing on my screen. No planets, no stars. Nothing."

Mac'hla stood and looked between Spock's and her screen before paling.

"Sir... if nothing around us and we are stuck in a gravitational pull that we cannot back out of..." they whispered, looking up at Spock.

"What do you think it is, Lieutenant?" he asked.

"A black hole."

A wave of unease passed over the bridge.

Mac'hla adjusted the setting on their scanner and scrolled forward and sure enough, a massive burst of dense matter appeared on their screen.

"I believe I was correct, sir." she said, beckoning the Captain, "See, here, it is a giant mass of unknown matter. According to the Starfleet Database, there is nothing here, but nearly 13.7 billion years ago, there used to be three neuron stars. One went supernova before it was expected to, and if, theoretically, it went supernova early, it could have triggered premature supernovae of the other stars as well. The three supernovae in such close proximity could have created too much energy and mass at once, creating a black hole. This area has been unexplored, explaining why we have no data on it."

Kirk's heart began to race, "That would explain the ship's malfunctions."

"The intense pull of the black hole could create all sorts of disruptions in the ship," Mac'hla agreed, "And we have no way of determining what or when they will be, or if they can be fixed."

"Does that mean life support could fail?" Uhura asked anxiously.

"Lieutenant, that is the least of our worries. One way or another, we..." Mac'hla looked at Kirk, "We have no escape. Our demise is imminent."