Star Trek Oneshots

Heads Up (Pavel Chekov)

Prompt: "Back up!"

Summary: Reader's working in engineering, trying to repair damages to the Enterprise after they had to pull some crazy moves to get out of danger. They're running all over the place, and when the ship's resident Russian whiz kid finds his way down to engineering and almost gets himself killed, it might turn out to be just what reader needed.

Day Twenty-Nine of Fictober on Tumblr!

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I grimaced as sweat dripped down my face, and I tightened my grip on the wrench in my hands. Starfleet engineers had a whole host of high-tech tools at our disposal, but sometimes, the classic solution was the best one. My muscles strained as I worked to tighten the bolt in front of me, one of the only things keeping the ship from venting its hot air into engineering and frying us all.

I got the bolt to a point where it would hold, then ducked down from the catwalk to the computer below. I typed furiously, trying to route the excess heat from the engine through pipes tough enough to take it and eventually into space. The captain had called down with an impossible ask again, and again, we delivered. But we'd had to push the ship so hard she'd almost come apart, and now we were dealing with the consequences in engineering.

I managed to find half a route for my excess heat, but before I could finish saving the day, I heard noises coming from the bolt I'd just tightened. Even worse, it wasn't just more stress noises. It also sounded like a person.

I turned from the computer I was working on to look, and I saw a young yellow shirt leaning right over the steam pipe like a total idiot.

"Look out!" I yelled, diving for my wrench and sprinting for the guy. He gave me a curious look as I rushed towards him, but didn't move, so I shoved him in the chest to push him back a few steps as I popped back onto the catwalk with him. "Back up!"

He was too surprised to protest, so I whirled back around and refit the wrench to the bolt. I used all the strength I left had in my body to tighten it, but it just wasn't enough. I'd already used most of my strength trying to fix the rest of the ship. I felt the pipe starting to come apart.

Just when I was preparing to dive out of the way and deal with the consequences later, another pair of hands joined my own. The yellow shirt was back, helping me hold the ship together with pure strength of will.

"Vat is this going to do if it breaks?" he yelled over the groaning of metal.

"Long term? It's gonna seriously mess up this ship, to the point where it'll have to be drydocked for at least a month and a half to fix all the damage!"

"And immediately?"

"Immediately it'll kill us as soon as it gives."

"Wonderful!" he yelled back, focusing more of his strength into the wrench as he scowled. I looked back through the web of piping to the computer. If I could just reach it and finally vent all this heat... "You need to reach that?"

I looked up and the guy nodded to the computer.

"Yes! Badly!"

"Then go! I can hold it!"

I glanced down at his arms, which were already straining from trying to hold this with two people. I appreciated the spirit, but this kid did not look strong enough to hold this by himself.

Apparently, he could read my expression well enough to tell what I was thinking.

"I can hold it!" he insisted. "Maybe not for long, but I can hold it!"