“Starship separation in five minutes.”

“I don’t like the sound of that…” Lisa muttered as the Enterprise’s computer voice sounded over the comm. system. She was in Data’s quarters, taking care of Spot. Although she wanted to spend as much time with him as she could, she did promise him she’d take care of the cat when he was on duty.

Now, however, something was going terribly wrong.

Lisa, her Kinsellan flit, Jamie, said telepathically, everyone is agitated. Something is severely wrong.

“Starship separation in four minutes, forty-five seconds.”

“You’re right. Spot, Jamie, we’re getting out of here.”

“Where to?” Spot asked.

“Anywhere. If they’re separating the ship, that means something bad is going to happen and I promised Data I’d take care of you.”

“What’cha gonna do?”

“Starship separation in four minutes, thirty seconds.”

She walked over to the door and let it open. “Run, Spot. Get somewhere safe and we’ll come get you when this is all over.”

The orange tabby looked up at her.

“Starship separation in four minutes, fifteen seconds.”

“Just go! Jamie, come on.”

Lisa, Spot and Jamie dashed out of the room, Lisa and Jamie going in one direction and Spot in another. They only hoped the cat would be all right. Then again, she was pretty resourceful.

Where shall we go? Jamie asked.

“The bridge. I have to see him.”

The journey to the bridge took longer than usual because of all the people running down the corridors trying to take cover somewhere. When they finally made it, she heard Data announce, “One minute to warp core breach.”

“Begin separation sequence,” ordered Will. “Full impulse power once we’re clear.”

Captain Picard was nowhere to be seen, but this wasn’t the time to go questioning anything. She’d find out in due time. Instead, she stood at Data’s side. He looked relieved to have her there, but he was too busy to acknowledge her further.

“Warp core is going critical,” said Worf.

The Enterprise jolted and jostled as the saucer section separated from its lower half.

“Separation complete,” said Data.

“Engaging impulse engines,” reported Deanna.

“Core breach in progress.”

Instinctively, Lisa held onto Data’s chair. Something told her this was going to be a bumpy ride. Jamie landed on the floor and hunkered down, bracing himself.

They were right to worry, as the shockwave that the explosion caused knocked the saucer off course, causing the entire portion of the ship to buck and throw most of them to the ground.

“Primary stabilizers off-line,” announced the computer. “Engaging secondary systems.”

The saucer continued to roll and buck, tossing everyone about like rag dolls.

“Report!” shouted Will.

“Helm controls are off-line!” Deanna shouted right back.

On the view screen, the green and blue planet was rushing up towards them. Data’s reaction could have summed up everyone else’s as well.

“Oh, shit!”

Lisa had to guess that the nose of the saucer was glowing red as it entered the planet’s atmosphere. The Enterprise never was meant to land on a planet, and, now, they were crashing down.

Everyone held on for dear life as everyone at their stations worked frantically to hopefully lessen the impact.

“I have rerouted auxiliary power to the lateral thrusters,” said Data. “Attempting to level our descent.”

“All hands, brace for impact!” said Will.

Lisa brought Jamie up into her arms and they both flattened themselves against the ground. Seconds later, the saucer made contact with the planet’s surface. The ship shuddered and consoles exploded, the lights going out and the red emergency lights taking their place. The crew were thrown to the floor and even Lisa and Jamie were bucked around. Expressions of pain were made throughout the ship and it was still moving.

Data, seeing part of the ceiling start to come loose, threw himself over Lisa and Jamie to keep them from being flattened. He held her close to him as the saucer continued its journey over the planet’s surface, taking her hand.

The saucer screeched to a sudden stop, throwing everyone forward. Only Data’s body prevented Lisa and Jamie from being injured any further.

When all was still, he looked at her, face filled with concern. Lisa took a moment to collect herself, judging if anything was broken. When it wasn’t, she loosened her grip on her flit. “Jamie?”

I am all right.

Knowing that, Lisa gave Data a small smile. “I’m okay, too.”

Relieved, he kissed her, then disentangled himself to survey the rest of the damage. The sun was shining down through the hatch, showing the bridge to be a disaster. They stood and began to take stock of the wounded and casualties, gathering things together and making their way to the outside of the saucer.

As things were getting together, Lisa stopped in mid-search as an icy chill shot down her spine. Confused, she shielded her eyes and looked up at the sun. Nothing was amiss, yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was…different.

“Lisa?” Data said, his voice and touch bringing her out of her reverie. “Are you all right?”

She turned to find him standing behind her, Jamie perched on a large piece of debris. He, also, was looking at her with some concern.

“Yeah…I think so,” she said, looking to the sky once more. “I don’t know…something’s weird.”

Data canted his head at her choice of words. She often used a twentieth-century way of speaking, which confused him most of the time. However, this time, even Jamie was confused.

What is wrong? he asked her.

“I don’t know,” she repeated, then suddenly gasped and clutched a hand to her chest as her left heart gave a sudden and painful twist. She would have fallen if Data hadn’t been there to catch her.

“Lisa!” he said, concerned. “What is wrong?”

Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to catch her breath, willing the pain to go away. Tears fell from her eyes as her chest throbbed. “Stop…” she said to no one in a small voice, hitting her chest as if to get her left heart beating again. “Stop…”

Lisa! Jamie said, worried, able to feel her pain.

Finally, after several agonizing minutes, the pain in her chest faded but the tears continued to flow. An overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over her like a wet blanket. “Great Orion…” she whispered.

“Lisa, what is wrong?” Data asked again, still holding her.

“I felt…someone I’m close to…” Her eyes grew wide with sudden realization and she started to cry in earnest. “No…oh, no…Jim…Jim’s gone…”

Jim Kirk? asked Jamie. I thought he died 78 years ago.

“No…Jim didn’t die 78 years ago,” she said, sniffling and wiping her eyes, repeating the statement for Data’s benefit.

“Are you speaking of Captain James Kirk?” Data asked. “Killed aboard the Enterprise-B in 2293?”

Lisa nodded. “He wasn’t killed. I’d’ve known…like now. Jim…Jim Kirk is dead. I don’t know where or exactly when…but he’s gone.” She took several deep breaths to calm herself, though the tears still refused to stop. She’d more-or-less accepted Jim’s not-death 78 years ago; she’d had no way of finding or contacting him. She hadn’t even really thought about it until recently. She’d find out what happened one way or another. Someday. In the meantime…

“Come on,” she said, swiping the remaining tears with the back of her hand. “Let’s finish…getting everything together. Let’s get on with it…”

Together with Data and Jamie, they continued their search through the wreckage.

The End

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