Lieutenant Commander

"Do you have any idea yet what may have caused the overheat?" I asked casually, leaning against the arm of the captain's chair.

I had been sitting there for a while by now. My shoes were back on my feet, thanks to Bones who volunteered to fetch them from my room for me. After hovering over me for a while, he must have decided that I was not over-exerting myself and wandered back to the med bay.

"Er...no, not quite..."

"Did you check the external trash chutes for blockage? Or the...wait," I sighed, "Is it those damned missiles?" Scotty just might have been right after all.

I had a minimal knowledge of engineering. Such was expected of someone in my position.

"No, no," Pavel answered, "Ze chutes are clean and I personally checked ze missiles...no emissions or radiation. I'm sorry, Astrid, I'm doing everything I can."

"I know, Pavel, just...keep working on it, okay?"

"Aye, Astreed," he answered.

Sulu chuckled from the helm, "On a first name basis with your fellow redshirt, eh?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. Then I said, "Pavel, what's the chance that the meltdown was caused by someone leaving the parking brake on?"

He laughed though the communicator, "Slim."

Sulu rolled his eyes, "It wasn't a parking break it was the--"

"External inertial dampener, I know, shh," I hushed him, the transmission to engineering was being interrupted.

"Bridge, report from shuttle dock. Bridge do you copy?" another voice replaced Pavel's.

"Shuttle dock, this is Captain Watson. Report." I responded calmly.

"The landing party has returned with the prisoner, Captain."

I could feel an angry blush creeping onto my face. That murdering criminal was on my ship.

"Understood, on my way," I said, pushing myself out of the chair.

"Uhh, Captain Kirk says that's not necessary..." the voice urged nervously.

I raised my eyebrows. "Understood," I emphasized, "Tell him I am on my way."

I ended the transmission and pressed another button to broadcast to the entire ship. "This is Lieutenant Commander Watson, all available security officers will report to the shuttle dock immediately for prisoner transport."

A large group of security officers had begun to form by the time I got there. I let out a breath of relief as Nyota stepped safely off the ship, followed closely by Jim and Spock. But my eyes narrowed suspiciously when I saw the prisoner restrained tightly between the captain and commander.

"So, this is the murderer." I sneered, walking over to them. I crossed my arms over my chest as I glared at Harrison. He was tall and thin, and his clothes were ripped and dirty. His dark eyes were cold and unfeeling as he looked down his nose at me.

"Restrain yourself, Lieutenant Commander," Spock reminded me calmly.

Harrison raised an eyebrow at my assertiveness. "Ah, Miss Watson, it is a pleasure to meet the one who threatened me in person," he acknowledged. His eyes swept over my body, taking in my ever intriguing appearance.

"The feeling is not mutual," I hissed.

I shot him another deadly glare and turned back to my officers. "You are to form tight ranks around the prisoner," I commanded, "he will be escorted to the highest security cell this fine ship is equipped with. Watch him carefully. As we have learned before, he is highly dangerous." Jim and Spock let go of Harrison's arms as the officers blocked up around him.