Captain - Star Trek Fan Fiction

Signatures From Below

I woke up with a clear head and felt someone poke me in the arm.

"Wake up Rua Galina," came the teasing voice.

"Pavel?" I turned to see him. "Um hello." I smirked. "I haven't heard you call me that in a while."

"Well it's been a while since we became friends."

"This is true. Anyways what are you doing here?" I asked as he helped me stand up.

"What, I can't come to see if my friend is alright?" He grinned. "The captain asked me to bring you to the bridge when you woke up."

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"Not too long Sparky," Bones told me, appearing from another room suddenly. "A couple of hours."

"Am I good to go?" I blinked.

"Yea. A good rest was all you needed."

With that remark, I followed Chekov out of the sick bay and into the lift. As we began to rise, I turned to my friend.

"What happened with the diplomacy?"

Chekov looked at me. "They finally came to a peaceful solution. We are now on course to the new planet."

"If you are the navigator then why aren't you on the bridge?"

The lift came to a stop and he stepped off. "I am on the bridge."

"Hey Sparks," Kirk greeted, swiveling in his chair.

"Captain," I replied respectfully.

"I'm sure Chekov debriefed you," Kirk said and received a confirmation nod from the young Russian as he walked to his console. "Great! So our next mission is on a new planet. We aren't sure what kind of data we will find. Scotty asked if you could him prep some instruments for an away team expedition."

"Can do," I told him.

DAYS ON BOARD: 4

I happily made my way to the bridge, trying to get a peek out the window. The ship was approaching Nibiru in the early afternoon and the entire morning I had been nervously awaiting in engineering for the Captain to call me to the bridge. 

Doctor McCoy happened to be heading to the same lift I was.

"Someone is a little excited," he remarked, almost scaring me to death.

"Geez Skeleton Man!" I gasped with a small laugh. "Doctors aren't supposed to give their patients heart attacks!"

"Sorry," he said as we moved upwards in the turbo lift. "I just couldn't help but notice your grin." He gave me a warm smile.

"Well, we are about to look at a planet that has never been explored before! Think about that Bones McCoy!" I said. "I'm excited!"

"That's obvious. Just don't do this squealy thing you are doing now once we are up there."

I cleared my throat. "Yes. You are right. I need to seem responsible." I let out a deep breath.

The door opened and we both stepped onto the bridge. My eyes widened as I stared out the window. A large and vast earth-like planet was spinning in front of the ship. It was definitely smaller than Earth but clearly expressed similar features. A red tint drowned out the blue waters I could see and dotted the surface of the land.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Kirk's voice got my attention and I looked beside me to see him also admiring the planet. "It is called Nibiru. Spock, are we getting any readings yet?"

"There's no satellites or any form of wavelength communication," Spock said from his station. "If there is life then it is not scientifically advanced."

"Check heat signatures from the planet," Kirk ordered.

I observed as Spock did just that. "It would appear that there are groups of signatures dispersed planet-wide. I do believe that there is life on the planet."

"Yes," I said to myself quietly but Kirk heard and smirked.

"Jim," Spock said suddenly. "There also seems to be a large amount of heat coming from a specific region that I predict to be a volcano."

My eyes widened. "Volcano?"

"Is the volcano active?" Kirk asked.

"It might be wise to call in a geologist."

The captain sent a call out to the science department and a man wearing a blue uniform appeared on the lift. He looked at the readings from Spock's console for a few minutes and then turned to Kirk.

"Sir, the volcano seems to be coming out of a dormant state. From this data, it seems that it will be erupting soon."

"How long until it blows?" he asked the officer.

"I'd say hours, Captain."

"Captain," Spock interjected. "A large amount of the heat signatures seem to be arranged near the base of the system."

"If this is the first time in centuries that volcano has erupted then the life forms on the planet will not know what is about to happen," I said and everyone turned to me.

"On what evidence are you basing that statement?" Spock challenged with an interested look in his eye. He was testing me.

My cheeks slightly heated up at the attention. "Well, there aren't any satellites or space debris I can see orbiting the planet and you said that they probably weren't scientifically advanced. So if they had seen a volcano erupt before then no one with good sense or instinct would settle at the base of it unless they thought it was extinct. In this case, they are advanced enough to collect data on whether or not it is extinct or just dormant. They have no way of knowing. I mean, take Pompeii, for example. No one wanted to live there once their civilization was destroyed." I had said all of it very fast and wondered if anyone had understood me.

Spock nodded and looked at the Captain. "Her logic is sound and I believe she may be correct."

Kirk smirked at me. "Well done Sparks." I smiled as he paced across the bridge. "You are excused, Mr. Gulf." The geologist nodded and walked back to the lift. Once he had gone, Kirk continued. "Spock we have two options here. One, we can beam down and warn the civilization what is going to happen."

"That would violate the Prime Directive."

"Well, you didn't let me finish... Or two, we can simply try and stop the volcano from destroying what little of life has developed on this planet."

"The second option is the only option I can see that doesn't violate Starfleet Regulations."

"Good." Kirk nodded. 

"However, if we fail to stop the volcano then it will destroy the settlement anyway."

"Then we figure out a way to evacuate them without letting them see us."

Spock blinked. "That could work."

"Great," Kirk told him. "Go down to the science department and prep to stop the eruption." The Vulcan nodded and made his exit. Kirk spun back to me. "Pop quiz Galia! What's this button do?" He pointed to one button on the side of his chair. I answered and he asked a few more questions. In confusion, I answered them and he grinned, standing to his feet. "Perfect! Mr. Sulu and Uhura go meet Spock in the hangar bay. Bones, you are with me. And Galia..." He gave me a firm nod. "You have the conn."