in the captain's chair

It turned out that Scott's physics were far more accurate than his suppositions. Jim and Spock materialized right where the engineer said they should, in the center of the Narada's rambling, multicompartmented cargo bay.

It was not, however, empty.

Half a dozen crew reacted with surprise as the two Starfleet officers appeared in their midst, so close that there was barely time to react. Arriving mentally ready for combat, human and Vulcan lit into their foes with a deadly combination of speed, skill, and desperation. Unlike the Romulans, they had nowhere to go if they went down.

Fortunately, only one of the cargo bay workers was armed. Singling him out, Jim engaged him immediately. Mindful of the difficulty he'd had with hand-to-hand combat atop the drill platform in Vulcan's atmosphere, he made sure to go on the offensive immediately and not let up. Being general crew, this Romulan proved easier to get a hand on than the more highly trained specialist Jim had tackled high above Vulcan. That left Spock to deal with all the remaining Romulans.

( It was difficult to tell, but it was possible that he was pleased. )

[NFB, NFI. Taken from the ST novelization. All done except the epilogue!]

There was no one present in the open engineering bay to hear the steady, powerful hum of the ship's engines. Maintenance was busy elsewhere, still battling to repair the last of the serious damage that had been incurred in the fight with the Narada. At the moment no technicians were on hand in the vicinity of central cooling and water distribution, a largely automated corner of the ship that required little attention.

So it was that there was no one present to see the twin vertical columns of lambent particulate matter that swiftly solidified into the shapes of two human beings.

One of those figures stumbled, gasping, to look down at itself in amazement. Jim realized he was intact and breathed out a sigh of relief. His brain and attendant mechanical parts had all survived the impracticable, implausible journey in one piece. As he rose and began to slip out of his cold-weather outer clothing, a quick look around revealed that he was indeed in the engineering section of a starship. While no identification was readily at hand, he had little reason to doubt it was the Enterprise. If the elder Spock had managed the transport, surely he had also succeeded in putting them aboard their target vessel. Engineer Scott would confirm it.

( Where was Engineer Scott? )

[NFB, NFI. Taken from the ST novelization.]

"As it stands," Spock was saying, "we've not yet received any kind of orders or recommendations from Starfleet on how to respond to what has happened here, which suggests that even our emergency transmissions are still being jammed, deflected, or otherwise prevented from reaching the nearest relay."

( Jim nodded in agreement... )

[NFB, NFI. Taken from the ST novelization. Nothing objectionable here.]

Jim spun around angrily as the hand grabbed him. Ready to hit out at anything, he was drawing back a fistful of frustration when he recognized McCoy. Shock at his situation gave way to incomprehension as he stared at his friend.

"What—Bones, what're you doing?" He nodded past the doctor. "Your shuttle's waiting. I thought you'd be…"

McCoy was tugging at him. "Shut up and come with me."

( Too numbed by the circumstances that had befallen him to object, Jim allowed himself to be dragged... )

[NFB, NFI. Taken from the Star Trek novelization. Warning for: length. More to come later.]

The communications officer's tone was more than bored: Uhura sounded almost resentful. "We are receiving a distress signal from the U.S.S. Kobayashi Maru. The ship has lost power and is stranded. Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them."

( Whipping around in the command chair... )

NFB, NFI, OOC is fine. Taken from the ST1 novelization. Nothing objectionable in this part!]