Free Star Trek: The Original Series: The More Things Change by Scott Pearson

crossed the cabin to Dax, staggering a little bit as the impulse engines engaged.
    Dax, still clinging to her restraints, looked a little pale but otherwise appeared fine. “I never liked carnival rides.”
    Chapel was looking at the monitor above the bed. “I wouldn’t get back on line for that one either.” It appeared the rough ride hadn’t harmed Audrid, the symbiont, or the bond, for which she was relieved. “Try to relax. I need to check on Spock.”
    As the door slid open she was momentarily frozen by the sight of the Jovian planet practically filling the forward port. Spock glanced back at her. “I see you are well. Is the commissioner all right?”
    The laceration on his forehead, and the green blood running freely from the wound down the side of his nose, shook her out of it. She got a medkit and began running the dermal regenerator over the cut. “We’re fine. What happened up here?”
    Careful to keep his head still while she treated him, he said, “I underestimated the instability of the maneuver as I apportioned the inertial damper adjustments. On the positive, the warp shutdown propelled us even faster and farther into the system than I expected, and the impulse engines are operating at full power.”
    Chapel was listening, but she was focused on sealing the laceration. As she gave his forehead a few more passes of the regenerator for good measure, she tried to replay what he’d said in her mind. She furrowed her brow. “What was that about apportioning the adjustments? What do you mean?”
    “I prioritized the aft cabin for power distribution to ensure the commissioner’s safety.”
    “And mine.” Chapel dropped the regenerator back into the medkit before she threw it across the room. She couldn’t believe Spock had done this. “You risked the safety of the pilot. That sounds like a command-level decision to me, and one I would not agree with.”
    Spock’s eyes widened just slightly at the accusation. “I was protecting the mission and our passenger.”
    “Does that change my assessment of the situation?”
    He hesitated, then said, “No. You are correct.”
    “Damn right I am. And what would have happened to our passenger and me if you’d been seriously injured?” She didn’t give him time to attempt a response. “I don’t say this lightly: Don’t do that again, not while I’m in command.”
    Spock was sitting ramrod straight. “Understood.”
    Chapel exhaled and softened her tone. “Okay, at ease, Spock. Give me a status update.”
    Before he could answer, multiple alarms went off and the emergency lighting came on as all the displays flickered and went dark.

Chapter 7
    “We have entered RF III’s magnetosphere. Our limited sensors did not detect the intensity of the charged particles and plasma we would encounter when crossing the bow shock.” Spock was almost pounding at the sluggish controls. “Attempting to route additional power to shields.”
    Chapel wanted to help but didn’t know what to do as she stared at the powered-down displays in front of her. Finally, they came to life. She brought up some additional data and didn’t like what she saw. “We’re losing power in the impulse engines, and the planet’s pulling us in. We’re accelerating!”
    “Maneuvering thrusters are on-line. I am adjusting our approach to get out of the plasma torus created by the largest moon. With less electromagnetic interference, I should be able to get impulse engines functioning properly.”
    “ Should? Can we overcome the planet’s gravity with just thrusters?”
    “That is unlikely under the circumstances.”
    As Spock struggled to maneuver the Copernicus , Chapel began turning off the cacophony of alarms that filled the cockpit. At this point, they really didn’t need reminding of the deep trouble they were in. She reviewed the alerts before deactivating them, making sure Spock was aware of the problems first. Her approach was somewhat random, as the controls continued to