Star Trek: Oblivion

06 || Engineering

Meanwhile, far below the bridge in engineering, Scotty and Jaylah were carrying out minor maintenance on one of the large lines running to the power assembly of an auxiliary fusion reactor. They had removed a square section of the walkway, which was now leaning against the railing. They laid on the small space below, wedged between the platform and the large metal pipes. Keenser sat on the walkway, handing down the various tools as they worked.

"What d'ya mean you've never heard the bagpipes?" Scotty asked in alarm.

Jaylah grinned as she tightened one of the bolts directly above her. "I heard of them before," She said. "You were playing them once and it is hard to not hear them."

"But you said didn't like them. The only people who don't are the ones who haven't had the great opportunity of hearing 'em yet," Scotty told her.

"Maybe they sound good for others, but you do not make them sound good Montgomery Scotty," Jaylah told him.

On the walkway above, Keenser nodded in agreement.

Scotty lowered the tool he was using and looked between the two of them in disbelief. "I cannae believe the two of you. Can't appreciate musical talent when it is looking at you right in the face."

"Or screaming at us right in the ears," Jaylah joked.

Scotty shook his head and continued his work. "You two are just jealous of my talent."

Jaylah grinned, looking at the small alien perched above them. "Yes, we are only jealous. Right, Keenser?"

Keenser gave a quick nod. "Yep," The usually silent alien said curtly in agreement.

Scotty finished reinforcing the metal seam and leaned back, examining his handiwork. "That should do," He said to himself, crawling to his feet and handing the tool up to his little friend. "I think that's all that needs to be done here."

Jaylah checked that the bolts were all fastened tightly on her end. "I am almost finished," She said. She gave the one on the bottom another quick turn before sliding out of her little space and climbing to her feet. Scotty climbed onto the walkway first, followed by Jaylah, who picked up the section of the walkway and set it back over the gap.

"Looks like everything's good here," Scotty said as he looked around the large room.

Keenser and Jaylah gathered up the various tools and tossed them in a case.

"Now we just need to do a quick check up on the other two lines and we should be good."

Jaylah stood, wiping her dirty hands on her pants. "That should not take as long as this," She commented.

Scotty nodded. "Aye, then we can head up to mess hall and—"

At that moment the lights flickered and went off for a second. A red light pulsed twice and then all returned to normal. Scotty looked around before suddenly taking off at a run down the narrow walkway.

"What'd I do now?" He moaned as he ran to the nearest console.

He looked at the readouts for a long moment. Jaylah quickly joined him.

"What is happening?" She asked.

The chief engineer shook his head. "It doesn't say anything happened. We just had a power surge and...hold on. Gonna get a hold of the bridge."

He pressed a button on the the side of the console, but nothing happened. "Huh?" He tried again, but was still unsuccessful. Mumbling in frustration he attempted a manual override of the communications system, but still was unsuccessful. "This doesn't make any sense," He muttered as he took out his communicator. "Engineering to bridge!"

There was no answer. He fidgeted with the dials and attempted to contact the bridge, but there was still nothing. He lowered the communicator, his face going blank. "Something's cut off our communications."

"If we can no contact them then we need to get to up the bridge," Jaylah said.

Scotty nodded in agreement. The two headed down the narrow walkways, heading towards the nearest lift. They were halfway there when they came to a sudden halt. The unconscious body of a crew member lay on the ground at their feet. With her eyes fixed ahead, Jaylah leaned carefully down and picked up the dropped phaser. She nodded at Scotty.

"Stay here," She instructed, turning around the corner and studying the empty walkways.

At the end of one walkway, was a small door to a storage room that was half open. Jaylah headed cautiously towards it, Scotty following close behind. Before the door, the walkway merged with another, she turned the corner quickly, staring down the end of the phaser. There was nothing there and she continued towards the small storage room. Scotty took a breath, about to say something, when there was a loud cracking sound and he crumpled to the ground.

Jaylah spun around, firing the phaser at empty space as the attacker moved quickly in front of her, swinging a pipe. She leaned back and was barely able to dodge the attack. She grabbed the attacker's wrist and tried to break his hold on the weapon but he slammed his head into hers, sending her stumbling backwards. She tried to fire, but the pipe slammed into her arm, knocking the phaser from her hand. She ducked as the weapon barely missed her head. She rushed forward, slamming into the attacker and sending him staggering back a few steps, but he was quick to recover.

She gasped as he grabbed a handful of her hair and knocked her legs out from under her. She slipped but held tightly to his wrists, kicking at his feet.

The attack was relentless and never gave her an opening as he slammed his fist into her throat, stunning her as he pushed her through the small storage door.

Jaylah tumbled into the far wall, knocking over a shelf of equipment. She crawled quickly to her feet and had just enough time to make it to the end of the room when the metal door slid shut in front of her. She screamed and hissed, slamming against the door with all her strength. Grabbing a large tool that had fallen from the shelf, she began to pry at the metal, but it was locked.

With a sinking feeling, she realized she was trapped. And that the rest of the crew had no idea what was going on.