Across the Universe... and Back?

Chapter 1

DolenzStarr

Tension on the bridge was soaring high as everyone waited for the captain's orders.

"Sir, they are still gaining speed and closing," Spock spoke up, and Captain Kirk nodded.

"I'm aware of that, Spock. Thank you." It was obvious that Captain Kirk was about as fed up with the situation as he was on edge, and Spock raised an eyebrow as he went back to looking into the problem of ship that was following the Enterprise. They had been trying to open hailing frequencies since they'd spotted it, but with no luck. The only thing the Enterprise crew knew for sure was that a Klingon Bird of Prey had materialized not five minutes ago, and was closing on them much to quickly to for anyone's liking. Not only that, but where it materialized had everyone very worried.

The ship wasn't on an important mission that the whole fleet depended on or anything of that sort, in fact, they were going for some shore leave. They had been heading for the shore leave for some time before the Klingon ship had appeared, and immediately everyone had reacted accordingly, considering both ships were almost within firing distance of Earth. That was the shore leave was to take place.

Captain Kirk was just deciding whether he should simply fly away from Earth and lead the ship away, when Chekhov suddenly let out a sound of surprise.

"Yes?" Kirk glanced at Chekhov, who turned back to his captain, confusion written all over his face.

"Sir, the ship has increased speed, but I haven't touched the controls. We've increased power from our current speed to warp 4." Chekhov stared at Kirk, who frowned.

"Scotty, did you just do something down in engineering to the warp drive?" Kirk asked, hoping for a yes.

"Negative captain, I noticed the increased speed, but I thought it was you trying to get away from those Klingon beasties!" Scotty's voice told Kirk, whose frown deepened.

"No, we haven't touched the controls," Kirk said, just as Chekhov spoke.

"Warp five, captain! We're still gaining speed!" Chekhov turned to look at Captain Kirk for advice, and Kirk said to Scotty:

"Scotty, try to slow us down from the main engine."

"Warp 6!" Chekhov cried in shock, and Captain Kirk frowned at the communicator on his chair arm.

"Scotty, slow us down!" Kirk sternly said, and there was a pause.

"I can't Captain, the engines aren't listening. I'm doing all I can, but it seems as though I can't take full control of them!" Scotty told the captain, "Argh! We just increased to warp 7, we can't keep increasing like this! If we keep this up, the engines won't be able to take it for too long!"

"Try to override the warp drive," Kirk told Scotty, "Is the Klingon ship still behind us?"

"Affirmative, Captain. And they are matching our speed," Spock told Kirk, who was becoming increasingly unnerved by this. Earth was passing now, and with no way to slow down, it was looking as though shore leave would have to wait no matter what he decided.

"Captain," Scotty's voice came on, "We are still gaining speed, and I can't override it! There's something wrong with the engines! We can't keep this up, it's dangerous ground!"

"Sir, look!" Sulu pointed out of the front of the ship, and everyone stared, confused. The stars had been replaced by lines of neon lights shooting by the ship. "What is it? I've never seen anything like it!"

"Spock?" Kirk asked, completely baffled, and Spock tried to discover what was happening.

"Captain, it appears our speed is dangerously high, causing some sort of disturbance in space, the Klingon vessel is having a similar problem," Spock decided, but as soon as the lights had appeared, they went away. Now stars once again filled the screen.