Dropping a Bomb

Posted on Tue Aug 11th, 2026 @ 3:31am by Petty Officer 2nd Class Peter Kozlowski & Crewman Erika Yang

1,933 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Die Hard: Chimera Edition (main)
Location: Main Engineering

"-and I know I shouldn't complain but when I find out who blocked two of the turbolifts, I'm going to knock their blocks off," Peter finished grumbling as he and Erika ran into Main Engineering. It had taken them too long to get there, finding two of the main turbolifts out of order, due to emergency bulkheads in place. He assumed Taylor had done it to block off the bridge, but it was still a pain in the ass to get around.

"All right, I'll see if I can access the computer," Peter said. "Freaking wish Katie was here."

“Or Sakura,” Erika agreed. “She and Bradley are probably having the time of their lives.” She cocked her head and pointed to the warp core. “I don’t think the MARC is meant to look like that. What the hell? Did someone attach something to it?”

"Could've double-dated, but someone had to volunteer to stay and help," Peter mumbled to himself. He did a double take when what she said finally penetrated. "What do you mean attached?" he said, looking past her to where she was looking. He frowned and came around her, walking closer to get a better look, but slowing down the closer he got.

"Erika..." he said, slowly, a pit in his stomach quickly getting larger, "please go back and get on a shuttle..."

“What?” Erika asked, confused. “No. Why? What is it?”

"Well, I'm guessing it's some kind of bomb," he said, licking his lips nervously. "And I have to go look at it. I need you safely in a shuttle and far away." There was a series of lights along the side of the device and as they watched, the third one stopped blinking and turned red, and the next one began blinking. "Nevermind," he said. "We may not have time..." He let out a long sigh. "Time to do something grotesquely stupid." He reached down to a storage compartment and pulled out a spare tool kit and screwed up his courage.

“Just tell me how I can help,” Erika said, her heart racing. “Jeez, real danger is not the same as orbital BASE jumping.”

"Tell me about it," Peter said. He walked over to the MARC quickly and ducked under the guard rail, coming right up to the mix chamber, looking the bomb casing over carefully. He looked back at her as she popped up next to him and, seeing her expression, reached over and gave her hand a quick squeeze. "You got this, babe," he said. "Like you would say to me, 'slow, deep breaths; do practical actions like checking gear; and focus on the sky, not the ground.' Just breathe and stay by my side."

She smiled and took a slow, deep breath. “Okay. Yeah. I’m all right.”

"All right," he said once he was sure removing the casing wouldn't kill them, "hand me a decoupler, the long thing with the black handle. Let's see what we're looking at."

She passed him what he asked for and winced as again a light turned red and a new one started blinking.

Peter saw it too and let out a frustrated huff. He was attempting to follow the mess of wires and leads to figure out which ones would set off the bomb. "Damn, this is a mess," he muttered. "I don't know if I can figure this out in time."

“Well I sure as hell can’t,” Erika told him. “You need to.”

"Well, c'mon, motivate me or something," he said. "Tell me you'll have dinner with me if we get through this," he said, trying to maintain his usual, casual tone.

“You sure you wouldn’t prefer dinner with Michelle?” Erika asked, her teasing tone deliberately hiding a hint of jealousy. “Seriously, what’s with that kiss?”

Peter looked at her incredulously. "Seriously? I give her one peck on the cheek and you're questioning me? I was being kind. She helped me out earlier and gave me something I desperately needed. Circuit router, the blue-ended scissor thing."

“Oh she did, did she?” Erika said, slapping the part in his hand roughly.

"I was referring to some wisdom," he said, heatedly, still focused on the bomb, but blushing at the unintentional accuracy of the implied accusation. "Evidently she's got some insight into unrequited love, and was trying to help me get some boldness in me because someone, who shall remain nameless, can be a bit intimidating since she's this awesome badass of a girl and thinks I'm just a doof."

He reached for a wire, then changed his mind, then looked at her. "And what do you care anyway? Since when do you get picky over who I kiss? I go after you for a kiss all the time and barely get a glance. And it's not like you and I have been together like that."

Erika winced and shifted slightly back. “We’ve been together.”

"No, we've fucked. And I've loved every second of it; seriously, the happiest times of my life. But I'm talking about something with some emotion in it. I'm talking about the fact that when I tell you I'm in love with you, I'm not 'joking' or 'just being goofy' or whatever else you come up with to ignore me."

“I—” Erika stammered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how serious you were being.”

Peter sighed. "Can't say that's entirely your fault, given I do act like a doof sometimes," he said, quietly.

There was a short silence as she let him keep working on the bomb. “For the record, I don’t think you’re a doof. I think you’re sweet, caring. And right now you’re being braver than I’ve ever seen. But…you think I’m a badass?” She scoffed. “I think I’ve proven today how untrue that is.”

"Babe, you jump off of orbital platforms and plummet to the surface. I stick my hands in live conduits and damaged power grids. Both of us do things that would terrify other people. The difference here is that I do this for a living. You do that stuff for fun." He gave her a sideways glance and smirked. "Badass doesn't mean you aren't scared. You can be a badass and still need me to take care of that sand spider on your leg on our last shore leave. You can be a badass and be terrified about our ship blowing up. You'd be crazy not to be scared. Hell, I'm one giant white knuckle right now." He looked over the bomb again, frowning in frustration. "Only thing that scares me more than this is actually having to take you on a date."

Erika chuckled, the comment helping to break the tension. “Why?”

Peter glanced at her sideways again. "Because then I'd have to prove I'm good enough, and I wasn't sure you thought so," he confessed.

“Well,” she said, “you’re more than proving it now. Not that you ever had to. So, when we’re free of this, yes. A date. A real one.”

"All right," he said, chuckling. "Fine. Next Saturday night. You, me, dinner, Holodeck Four. I'll be in a pressed shirt and tie."

“And I pick the restaurant,” Erika said, smiling as she looked close at the bomb. “And you don’t get to see what I wear until I get there. That evening I’ll go to Sakura’s after work and get dressed there. No spoilers, so when I walk in and you see me, I blow your socks off.”

"Low bar for you; you're a master at doing that." He sighed and stepped back. "Unfortunately, I think this thing is going to blow them off first."

“Nothing you can do?” she asked.

"The wires run around the back, and with the rest of the MARC in the way, I can't get at a good angle to see anything," Peter said in frustration. "We need to get to the bridge and tell Taylor and his girl to get to an escape pod with us and hope it gets away fast enough."

“Pretty big if,” Erika said as looked more closely at the bomb again. “Weird question. Does the tray come out?”

Peter stared at the MARC, then looked at her. "God, I am such a fucking idiot." He stopped looking at the bomb and looked at the piece of the MARC it was mounted to. He turned back to her and shook his head. "If we live through this, I'm going to marry you," he said, pulling her to him and kissing her hard. He turned back to the MARC controls, put in an authorization code, and popped the hatch to the crystal interface tray. As it slid out, the second-to-last light began to blink, so he quickly removed the crystals, then the inner alignment tray. He quickly detached the shelf from the MARC and then disassembled it, removing the hatch cover as the final light began to blink. He held it tightly and quickly kissed Erika again. "Love you," he said before vaulting over the guard rail and running full speed out of Engineering.

He didn't stop to think, or consider his options. He had to get it off the ship, and the best way was to jettison it with other debris. Waste management was two decks down, and he knew he'd never make it. Instead, he raced down the corridor to the port escape pods. He accessed one and as the doors opened, put the hatch cover inside and input the code by the door to close and seal the pod. He tapped in his authorization code and ejected the pod without hesitation. He suddenly realized he'd been holding his breath and began sucking oxygen quickly. He watched the pod fly away from the ship as fast as it could, before he had to look away from a sudden flash of bright light He shielded his eyes and when he looked back, the escape pod was gone. He turned, still grinning and ran back to engineering at full speed.

He made it two steps back into the bay when he was met with a fierce squeeze around his ribs and shoulders. “Is it gone?” Erika said quietly into his ear.

He held her tightly and started shaking as what just happened finally caught up with him. "Yeah, it's gone," he said. "Are you okay?"

She held him tightly, supporting some of his weight as she felt the shaking. It was catching up with him, while for her it was finally passing, so she could be the strong one. “Yeah I’m okay,” she reassured him. “We both are. The whole ship, even. Though Jenna might be mad about the tray,” she said with a giggle.

"Yeah we...um...replicators can do it again. We're good there," he said, half mumbling, just enjoying the feeling of holding onto her.

“Come on,” Erika said, pulling slightly back to look him in the eye. “Let’s get to the bridge and tell Henry and Tessa.”

Peter nodded. "Right...Henry and Tessa...on the bridge." He kept his arm wrapped around her as she did the same to him as they walked back to the working turbolift. As the doors opened, he stepped inside and leaned back against the wall. "Bridge," he said.

As the doors closed, he sighed. "I've got to learn how to tie a tie."

 

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