Light The Way (And I'll Follow) || Spirk

Chapter 4

"First Officer's Log, Stardate 1672.9. The Enterprise's scanners have located something amiss, but is yet unable to fully identify the threat. We are awaiting word from Chief Engineer Scott."

-

A starship could not avoid danger forever. Spock knew that the day would come where the Enterprise and her crew would be tested on their ability to handle a dangerous and potentially life-threatening mission, yet when the day in question arrived, Spock realized that a crew could never truly be prepared for such an occurrence. Not even a million versions of the Kobayashi Maru could prepare one for facing a seemingly unwinnable situation in real life.

As previous first officer of Pike, incidents like these weren't new to Spock. In fact, he'd faced a life or death situation on his first day on a starship (which just so happened to be the Enterprise, under Captain April's command) back when he was 18 years old. Obviously, he'd made it through all of them thus far, but that didn't grant him any reassurance.

The U.S.S. Enterprise had been ambushed and boarded by a group of Klingons who, according to their own words, acted separate from the Klingon Empire. Spock and Kirk had been lucky that the Enterprise's scanners had been upgraded, for she had alerted them of the cloaked bird-of-prey soon enough for them to act accordingly; the bridge crew had signalled for red alert, located the ship's breach as soon as the first Klingon troops had beamed aboard, and temporarily blocked the Klingons' transporters.

For the first time since becoming captain of the Enterprise, Kirk hadn't sent both himself and his first officer on the same dangerous mission, and although endangering both highest ranked officers on the ship remained an illogical decision, this time Spock wished his captain had made it anyway.

Instead, Spock was currently making his way down to the armoury with Lieutenant Sulu and Lieutenant Commander McCoy, while the captain was on his way to the hangar deck (where most Klingons had beamed aboard) with Lieutenant Uhura and Ensign Chekov in an attempt to negotiate. It was an attempt that they already knew would fail, hence why Spock, Sulu and McCoy were in charge of securing the armoury before it could be taken by the Klingons.

Naturally, Spock had objected to the idea of the captain knowingly putting himself in grave danger, but he wasn't in the position to disobey direct orders. There was logic in Kirk's current plan—while he distracted the Klingons, Spock and his team would have enough time to get to the armoury, properly arm themselves against this ambush, rally the security team and retake the bridge that would no doubt be captured in the time of their absence. Despite this logic, Spock would've preferred any different plan.

A more preferable plan, for example, would've been one in which Spock placed himself in danger rather than Kirk.

"We're here. Starting negotiations now," Kirk's voice sounded from Spock's communicator, who lifted it instantly.

"Be careful, captain," he reminded him. Kirk laughed.

"When am I not?"

The armoury came into sight, and Sulu shared an apprehensive look with McCoy before bravely taking the lead. When the doors opened before him, his shoulders visibly slacked in relief; the armoury was still empty and devoid of Klingon troops.

The Enterprise's security force was already present, as McCoy had previously requested to meet them here, and Spock instantly made his way towards Lieutenant Commander Flynn.

"Several Klingon troops have beamed aboard the Enterprise," Spock explained, as Flynn would know of the red alert but have no knowledge of the situation itself. "The captain is currently keeping them distracted, so that we will have time to prepare for the attack and secure the bridge."