The Man Out of Time

Chapter 10

"Yeah?" I ask him.

"There's a nearby planetoid to open up one of the torpedoes, Doctors Marcus and McCoy are gonna be going down in a shuttle in a few." Jim says. "I'll be there in a second."

"Okay." I say, signing off of the communicator.

"Mr. Sulu, make sure the shuttle that Doctor Marcus and Doctor McCoy will be traveling in is prepped to fly." I order.

"Yes Captain." After a few minutes, Sulu informs me that the shuttle has just taken off and is heading to the planetoid.

Not too long afterwards Jim walks onto the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge." Sulu announces.

I stand up from the Captain's chair and stand next to it like usual.

"Mr. Sulu, have Doctors Marcus and McCoy landed on the planetoid yet?" He asks, sitting in the Captain's chair.

"Yes sir. They're moving the torpedo into position now." Sulu replies.

"Good, any activity from the Klingons?" I ask.

"Not yet, but if we're stuck here much longer, they will find us."

"Which worries me." I say quietly to Jim. "What happens to the crew when they find us?"

"We'll all be dead." Jim says. "Chances are they'll kill us because of our little visit to an 'abandoned' part of Kronos."

"Lieutenant Uhura, did you let Starfleet know that we've got Harrison in custody?" I ask.

"Yes Captain."

Chekov calls in right then. "Hello! Uh...Captains, can you hear me?"

"Mr. Chekov! Give me some good news."

"We've found the leak sir, but the damage is substantial! We are working on it."

"Any idea what caused it?" I ask.

"No Captain, but I accept full responsibility."

"Something tells me it wasn't your fault, stay on it." Jim says, hanging up.

"Shuttle standing by, Captains." Sulu informs us.

"Bones, thanks for helping out. Dr. Marcus asked for the steadiest hands on the ship."

"Yeah I know, when I dreamt about being stuck on a deserted planet with a gorgeous woman, there was no torpedo!"

"Dr. McCoy may I remind you, you are not there to flirt."

"So how can these legendary hands help you Dr. Marcus?"

"Bones." I comment.

I hear him chuckle to himself for a second. "Yeah I know." He says to me.

"To understand how powerful these weapons are we need to open the warhead, to do that we need to access the fuel compartment. Unfortunately for us, the warheads on these weapons are live." Carol explains.

"Sweetheart, I once performed an emergency C-section on a pregnant Gorn-octuplets. Let me tell you those little bastards bite. I think I can work some magic on your missile."

Jim and I both stifle a laugh and look at each other. I roll my eyes and he smiles in return.

"Dr. McCoy," Carol says, ignoring him. "There's a bundle of fiber optic-cables against the inner casing. You'll need to cut the 23rd wire down." She says carefully. "Whatever you do, do not touch anything else, do you understand?"

"Right, thought never crossed my mind." Bones answers.

"Dr. McCoy wait for my word. I'm re-routing the detonation processor. Are you ready?"

"And raring."

"Good luck."

Suddenly we hear something like the torpedo closing on Bones' hand, he cries out in pain.

"Captains, the torpedo just armed itself." Sulu quickly informs, swiveling his chair to face us.

"The warhead's going to detonate in thirty seconds!" Navigation Officer Darwin quickly adds.

"What the hell happened?" Bones asks. "I can't get my arm out!"

"Get their signal, beam them back right now." I order as calmly and quickly as possible.

"Transporter cannot differentiate between Dr. McCoy and the torpedo. We cannot beam back one without the other." Spock informs.

"Damn it..." I mutter to myself.

"Dr Marcus, can you disarm it?" Jim asks.

"I'm trying, I'm trying." She says quickly.

"Captains get her the hell out of here!" Bones says.

"No, if you beam me back he dies, just let me do it!" Carol says.

"Ten, nine, eight," Bones starts counting down.

"Standing by to transport Dr. Marcus on your command, Captains." Sulu says.

"Four, three." Bones counts.

Carol curses, and we hear the sound of the torpedo deactivated and both Bones and Carol being thrown back onto the ground.

"Deactivation successful Captains." Sulu says.

"Dr. McCoy, you okay?" I ask.

"Bones?" Jim asks.

"Hey guys..." Bones starts. "You're gonna wanna see this."