A Good Captain's Guide to Solving Crimes

by sattlergrant

Summary:

"Maybe he’d just missed something in the docking roster, and it all was just some really weird coincidence. Maybe Bones just got it wrong, and it really was just a pretty rough fall from a catwalk. But the USS Arden sneaking into the Starbase when the Enterprise was supposed to be the only ship here for months, and then Bones getting called into the base Medical Centre in the middle of night cycle with absolutely no notice or explanation.

Something wasn’t right. Jim was certain of it"

The USS Enterprise is two years deep into its five year mission, and the crew have settled into their posts. But something is about to rock the boat. What starts with just a few odd incidents at Starbase 42 soon grows into something potentially much more sinister, and its up to Jim and the rest of the crew to get to the bottom of it all

Chapter 1: Prologue

Notes:

so disclaimer I am still updating this fic and planning to for the forseeable future. I have a full plan written out and I am determined to get through it. I am however, also a mentally ill 21 year old who is also a chronic procrastinator so like, bare with me lol.

Also, i'm kinda not feeling the title fully so it may change at some point? again, bare with me and trust the process

Ensign Simon Haley had left his post for five minutes. Five minutes. And in that time, a section of piping had overheated causing a leak and melting a section of the catwalk underneath. To make things even better, his superior chose that exact moment to start doing the rounds, meaning not only did he have to deal with a faulty pipe and dodgy catwalk but a ten (ten!) minute lecture. And to top it all off, it wasn’t even his fault. If Danubes’ just knew how to reprogram a sensor array properly, he wouldn’t have had to leave to go and alter it.

So here he was, sitting underneath said piping like an idiot fixing something that shouldn't have even happened on an extended shift as punishment for something that again, wasn’t even his fault. Technically. Yeah, ok maybe he could have just comm’d someone to check it for him, but honestly? Right now it was a lot easier to just blame Danubes. Especially when all his friends were currently sitting in the rec room decks above him enjoying their (and once his) night off.

A creak from the other end of the catwalk pulled Haley from his spiral of self-pity. He looked down at the support beams. From what he could see, the acid hadn’t damaged them. Maybe he should grab the safety harness?

Another creak.

Yeah. Harness.

As he stood, a wave of dizziness hit him. He gripped the side of the catwalk and trying to steady himself. He clenched his eyes, as waves of dizziness kept washing over him, somehow worsening by the second and overwhelming him. He gripped the catwalk tighter.

Another creak.

He had to get off this catwalk. Opening his eyes, he tried to move, but before he could, an overwhelming pain shot through his stomach. Was he falling? It felt like he was falling. He could feel his feet on the ground, but his head was spinning, and his body felt like nothing.

He opened his eyes to check. Dark spots clouded his vision, and he looked down to see even more dark spots. And they seemed to be growing? A darker colour against the red of his shirt.

A flash of orange, he tried to follow its movement, but couldn’t.

With a final gasp and a distant jolt of pain, everything went black.

Notes:

Thank you for reading! I am truly really excited to continue this fic. I've never written a longfic before, and instead just many, many drabbles that either never see the light of day or get sent to one of two people (who are most likely reading this now, and if so, hello)

finally, come visit me on tumblr? i dont know how to add links in the notes section yet so my blog is mccoyyy x