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Enterprise was docked at Starbase 1 for a couple of weeks, having just ferried two ambassadors from a planet considered for admission to the Federation, Captain Pike decided that some much needed shore leave would be approved.
Erica was hovering behind Uhura as she finished a comms diagnostic for some unusual signals they’d received during the trip.
“You will love M’Benga’s silly hat,” Erica explained leaning over the console. “It is for flyfishing, though I am not really sure why?”
“I am still not sure why you said I would join as well,” Uhura explained skeptically.
“Backup.”
“For what?”
“Me,” Erica explained. “I will need moral support and someone to mock his hat with me.”
Uhura looked down at the console, “Diagnostics complete.”
“Perfect. Let’s go,” Erica turned to leave before stopping just outside the turbolift. “Shoot. Forgot that Scotty wanted me to start a scan of the interface connections between the helm and Engineering. It will take just a couple of minutes. I will meet you in sickbay.”
“I am not fishing without you,” Uhura stated as she turned to go.
“I would never. Now go experience the hat for the first time all by yourself.”
---
Uhura stepped into the turbolift, humming softly, the doors shutting softly behind her. “Deck 5,” she requested.
Behind her there was a faint shimmer along the wall. Uhura’s humming stopped, there was something, a presence. She looked around and saw nothing, the space empty.
She had resumed her humming when she was certain she heard the sound of breathing in the small space. Whipping around she saw nothing and then a shimmer.
The shape lunged at her.
She didn’t have time to react. Didn’t have time to scream. A blade flashed into existence for a moment as it slid into her stomach. With a gasp she collapsed, breath coming out in desperate, pained bursts. The turbolift opened into an empty corridor before closing again, Uhura lying unmoving on the ground.
---
Having begun the scan, Erica called the turbolift. The doors slid open as it reached the bridge. She froze.
Blood. Uhura lying crumpled on the ground, her uniform stained. Chest rising in shallow, ragged breaths.
Behind her was a shape, unclear, melding into the background, but the edge just visible as it moved. A fleeting shape in the edges of her vision. Erica felt adrenaline coursing through her body as her heart beat increased. “Move!” she yelled in her head.
She darted forward. The intruder snapped at her with furious speed, striking her across her side. Pain exploded, but adrenaline kept her moving. The blade sank down her left arm. Blood welled up instantly, dripped down her arm and onto the floor. She felt it, but pain was just an afterthought. She needed to stop them.
The assailant darted again, but this time Erica was ready. As it lunged she surged forward grabbing the camouflaged figure with her good hand, using all her weight and momentum to pull his arm down. Whatever was cloaking them shimmered with the movement, their body slamming against the wall, the knife clattering across the floor as it came into view. Erica dove for it, her left arm screaming in protest at the impact. She grabbed the knife in her right hand before slashing at the shape.
The intruder bolted out the open door, a trail of blood drops following their steps.
Erica collapsed to her knees next to Uhura, her left arm uselessly dangling at her side, blood seeping from her own wound. With her right hand she pressed down on Uhura’s wound, hard. Uhura didn’t move, but moaned under the pain of the pressure. “Stop the blood, that is all that matters, stop the blood.”
“Nyota…hey, you’re ok…I’m here,” her own breaths coming in fast and desperate. Fighting through the pain and weakness she reached up to the communicator panel in the turbo lift with the hand of her injured arm. The side where the intruder had hit her initially came into awareness with a sharp sting. She blinked against the lights in the space, too bright at the moment.
Fingers trembling, she hit the comm button. “Enterprise, this is Lieutenant Ortegas! Medical emergency, two injuries, Uhura’s down, intruder on board with a cloaking device.”
She fought to stay focused. Her own breaths were coming in too fast, sweat beading on her forehead. Shock, she assessed. But she didn’t matter. Not now. Her focus was only on helping Uhura. There was too much blood seeping through her fingers, she couldn’t hold down hard enough.
The red alert lights turned on in the ship. Her message got through. The slightest bit of relief, but she couldn’t even get a breath in. She needed to focus, needed to stop the bleeding.
La’an and two security team members were there within moments. Phaser at her side, La’an assessed the situation.
“Someone did this,” Erica explained between breaths. “Cloaked…Imperfectly. I got them, but…”
“Ensign House, help with Uhura,” La’an paused for a moment, not wanting to leave, but she knew time was of the essence if they wanted to catch the perpetrator. “I see the blood trail. We’ll get them.” She ran down the hallway with Lieutenant Liu.
Ensign House, knelt down, “I can take over.” Erica nodded before pulling back her hand, sticky with blood, shaking with exhaustion.
“Nyota, hold on,” she pleaded.
“Lieutenant, try to apply pressure to your own arm,” Ensign House said gently, trying his best to triage both of them. Erica nodded, feeling faint as her own wound continued to seep blood between her fingers. Her hand was weak, fingers clumsy. Her arm felt cold under the warm blood. She fell to the side slightly, leaning against the wall of the turbolift.
As M’Benga slipped into the small space Erica faintly heard him activating an emergency medical transport. The last thing she noticed was the metallic smell of blood as she felt the familiar pull.
---
Erica sat on the biobed, her arm immobilized in a brace. The autosuture had sealed the worst of the damage, but it would still take time to fully heal. The injury to her side, mostly unnoticed in the panic, was treated as well. M’Bebga had given her something for the pain which had mellowed down the feeling, though didn’t mask it completely. Meanwhile she watched the slow regular rise and fall of Uhura’s chest as she slept post surgery.
The sterile smell of the sickbay was a welcome relief. It was calm, clean. Clothing changed. Hands scrubbed clean. But the memory of Uhura's blood seeping through her fingers lingered.
Thankfully the surgery for Uhura had gone well, no lasting damage.
La’an slipped into sickbay quietly. She looked focused, confident.
“You got them,” Erica stated, reading the look. A tension she didn’t even realize she was holding in her shoulders eased.
“Yes, he’s in the brig. He’ll be transferred to starbase custody soon. The blood trail helped,” she reported.
“Who is he?” Erica asked.
“Part of a splitter resistance group from the same planet as our ambassadors. Seems their world is apparently more divided than was previously known about joining the Federation.”
“I am guessing a communications officer and a pilot were not the targets,” Erica stated.
La’an shrugged, “We’ve not identified a motive yet. But you both likely prevented something worse from happening.”
“Well, I am hoping for less stabbing on my days off in the future,” Erica replied.
Before La’an could reply, Uhura stirred in the next bed. Erica was off the biobed and at her side, “Nyota, you’re in sickbay. You’re safe”
M’Benga walked over to check her vitals. “What happened,” Uhura asked sleepily, looking at Erica’s arm.
“What happened is that you both scared ten years off my life,” M’Benga explained.
“There was a cloaked intruder,” La’an explained. “Attacked you in the turbolift, then Erica almost bled out fighting him off and saving you. We caught him.”
Erica braced herself against the biobed. She could still feel the blood slipping through her fingers, the sinking panic that she thought she might fail. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there before,” Erica shared.
“It sounds like you did more than enough,” Uhura responded.
Erica nodded, letting herself relax. It was okay, they made it through. They were safe.