{Star Trek One-Shots}

Bones

You head hung limply in your hands as you felt exhaustion overwhelm your brain. Your stupid boss had been overworking you lately. He was second in command to the Chief Engineer, so you answered to him then he answered to Scotty. Jean Richardson, your boss, had asked you out a few weeks ago. When you declined, he continued to ask you. When you made it very clear you were not going to go out with him, he throwing all of the nasty, hard jobs that were usually meant for two officers to you alone. It was so petty, and you tried to get him off your back. Yes, there were several ways to end the torture. Tell the captain, tell Scotty, apply for another position, etc. But he had threatened you on multiple occasions not to tell anyone how you were treated or he would inflict some unannounced act of aggression upon you. So, you made do. The job today was to log every repair or change to anything in engineering to the main computer. I was so stupid and time consuming, and your head hurt like mad. Tossing the PADD to the table you massaged your temples. There was a sudden harsh rapping on the window to your office.

"Hurry it up in there!" Richardson yelled.

You didn't even glance at him. Muttering some choice words, you picked your PADD back up and started again. About halfway through your work, your tired eyes began to droop. You longed to be in your soft bed dreaming about the good doctor, but that was not to be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At 5:30 am, you finally finished the tiring and pointless work. More than half asleep, you meandered your way to your quarters for a forty-five minute nap. After your doors slid open, you flew onto your bed, not even bothering to change or take your shoes off. Falling asleep instantly, your dreams were vacant. But you had some much needed rest. After about half an hour, your PADD beeped. Groaning and pissed at whoever was daring to wake you, you threw off your blankets and turned your PADD on.

You're late. Get to engineering. I have a job I need you to do.

You almost threw your PADD at the wall. Late? What the hell was he thinking?! You still had fifteen minutes left of break and he was accusing you of being late?! You hastily brushed your hair and took a few Advils to stop your aching head. Stomping into Richardson's office, you immediately addressed him.

"Reporting for duty sir," you spat, staring daggers into his face.

He smiled at you smugly.

"There are pipes on the starboard side that need fixing," he said, handing you the PADD that had the data.

You quickly scrolled through the information. Bewildered, you glanced up.

"This will take days! Especially if I'm by myself! How do you expect me to be done  with  this in five hours?" You angrily demanded.

Jean just leaned back in his chair and shrugged. Furious, you sped out of his office and huffed your way to the starboard bulkhead.

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Almost two hours in, the anger wore off, causing the exhaustion to set in. You slowly bent down to grab your wrench, you sighed.

This was not how you imagined your morning. Sliding back under the pipe, red alert began blaring through your ears. Alarmed, you tried to get out from under the pipe. But, your body was weak and tired, so you couldn't move fast enough. The loud squeal of metal bending sliced through the red alert sirens. Unable to see where it was coming from, you thrashed under the pipe in panic. The squealing stopped.

You froze, waiting for the crash of metal hitting metal. It never came. Instead, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the Enterprise halls. It took you a second to realize it was your own. The shock subsided and excruciating pain shot through your legs, causing you to scream out again. Determined to get out, you felt around with your hand and it soon found the pipe. You pushed. It didn't budge. Trying to lift the pipe from below, your hand quickly met a sticky puddle of liquid. Thinking it fuel, you brought it to your nose. Blood. You were lying in a big, sticky pool of your own blood. Blinded by panic, you thrashed and struggled beneath the pipe but only managed to hurt yourself more and tire your aching body. As you tried one last time to move the pipe crushing your legs, your arms faltered. Nausea and dizziness worked itself into your consciousness and you begun to loose it.