Captain Pike frowned at the instruments in his hand and glanced up at the barren surroundings; he was getting seriously annoyed that the readings weren't matching what his eyes were telling him. According to their equipment and records this was the capital city of this planet and should have been home to millions of people. Pike glanced around the space and couldn't help but tremble at the eerie atmosphere, there wasn't a soul in sight, not a sound made in what should have been a bustling city.

"I'm not getting any readings that make sense." Michael sounded as annoyed and as puzzled as he was.

Chris pocketed his scanning equipment and turned to Michael. "Me neither. The equipment says everything is fine here yet…"

"Yet there's not a soul in sight." Michael finished for him grimly.

Both Chris and Michael were dressed in civilian clothes that should match this era, not that they had any people on the surface to compare against. General order one was always something in the back of their minds, and Chris had a bad feeling that the disappearance of the people was not part of this planet's natural evolution. Hence the search teams.

Pike looked from one end of the street to the next for any sign of movement but predictably didn't see a thing. Whatever had happened here had turned this place into a ghost town, and there was no sign or clue as to what that could have been. More importantly there were no sign of the millions of inhabitants and life sign readings kept popping up and disappearing on their scans. The entire situation was weird and didn't sit well with Pike.

"Any reply on any of the emergency channels?" Chris asked.

Michael shook her head despondently. "Nothing. It's like there's no one listening."

Pike almost lost his temper. How was it possible for this many people to go missing? He didn't often feel helpless but this was fast becoming one of his worst days in some time, and it was definitely his worst day since being put in command of Discovery.

"10 million people, vanished." He grimly stated. "This was a thriving world, 10 years ago survey teams identified this planet as being close to warp travel. What the hell happened here?"

Michael too put aside her tricorder, strapping it to her waist and ignoring the useless readings. "We need to search for records, maybe we can find something in the official buildings."

Pike nodded agreeing with the plan. They really needed more manpower down here but he was loathe to pull anyone else away from the ship until they knew what had happened here, there were already 10 other pairs spread out across the planet investigating like Pike and Michael. If their scanners were missing something and this place was indeed dangerous then the least crew-members in peril the better, something catastrophic had to have happened to make the entire planet's population vanish.

"Meet back here in one hour?" He queried his officer. Michael nodded and made a note of the current time.

"Good luck Sir." Michael smiled at him before trotting off North.

Pike watched her go and muttered back. "You too Burnham."

Chris had headed towards the South end of the city figuring he and Michael would cover the most ground and buildings split up; there were numerous buildings across the capital that looked like they would hold records of some kind. Sadly so far Chris had only come across computer terminals that were well and truly dead, there was no power anywhere planet side. As he moved from empty building to deserted street he felt morbid and a little freaked out by the stillness of the place. All over it looked like there had been riots, signs of fighting and it looked like everyone had left in a rush. But where too?

He was just exiting one of the buildings after finding nothing yet again when something caught his eye. Chris glanced to the end of the street and spotted something he had lost hope of seeing: a person, or more specifically a kid. The Captain could barely believe his eyes and he resisted the urge to rub them like this was some mirage. He started towards the kid who was still staring like a deer caught in the headlights.

Suddenly the kid shot off down the street and disappeared round a corner. He was gone so fast Chris hadn't even had time to see what kind of state he was in. Pike frowned deeply and started sprinting towards the boy's last known location, yelling out in the hopes he hadn't scared him off for good. "Hey wait!"

Chris skidded round the corner and just caught sight of the boy disappearing into a building. He shot off after the kid and smashed through the door of the building, desperate to not lose sight of the only person he had seen on this planet. "I'm not going to hurt you!" Pike yelled desperately knowing it was most likely falling on deaf ears.

Pike rushed through the building and caught glimpses of the tail end of the kid, the boy was bloody fast and was giving Chris a run for his money. The Captain ignored his racing heart and continued to give chase, leaping down stairs two at a time just to keep the boy in sight. "I'm here to help." He cried out urgently as the kid looked back over his shoulder and panicked when he saw he was still being followed.

Chris just wished they would come to a dead end soon or the boy became too tired to continue running. He just needed a chance to talk to him and then he could finally get some answers about this place and what had happened here. The kid glanced over his shoulder again then darted through a room to his left, and the footsteps strangely fell silent.

The Captain reached the corner and skidded to a halt. He was breathing heavily and felt a thin layer of sweat plaster his hair to his forehead; his legs burned from the chase and it took a few seconds to adjust his eyesight to the dim lighting this far down. He was pretty sure they had descended several levels below the street and were in some kind of underground bunker, perhaps that was where people had been hiding? Beneath the streets.

He took out his communicator and tricorder, hoping either could she'd any light on the situation or that be could contact Burnham and let her known what he'd seen underground.

Annoyingly both devices failed to display anything properly, all he got was static from the communicator and the tricorder was giving him some odd readings. They could be life signs but he wasn't sure, all he knew was there was something registering in the room he had last seen the kid run towards. He pocketed the useless equipment and carried on with the search.

"Hello?" Pike called out cautiously and took a step forward across the threshold; he stared out into the darkness and saw multiple shapes moving.

Before he got the chance to take another step a colossal force crashed down upon his head and he crumpled to the floor like a puppet who had just had its strings cut. Captain Pike's world descended into darkness as he tumbled over the precipice of consciousness.

Chris was mildly concerned when he came to and found he couldn't move his hands, felt something tight around his chest and had apparently lost the ability to see. His brain felt like it was still ping ponging in his skull and he groaned all the way back into the world of the living, feeling nauseous and already sporting a thunderous headache. He could also feel something sticky seeping down his neck and grimly mused it must be blood, probably caused by whatever the hell had hit him.

He couldn't remember the moment well but whatever had struck him had felt bloody heavy and would certainly leave a nasty lump for days. Pike finally realised why he couldn't see anything when his eyes fluttered against cloth; someone had blindfolded him with some kind of scratchy material. The implement had been wrapped round his head tightly and was pressed snuggly against his face, letting no light in at all.

"He's awake."

Pike snapped his head to the voice wincing when the sudden movement set his head aflame. Why did he always get himself into these situations? He decided to take a few steadying breaths and take stock of the situation and more importantly get any clues as to who his captor's were, and if possible their number. He also wanted to know where that kid had gone.

The Captain flexed his hands and wrists against the restraining material and identified it as some kind of rope, the knot felt messy and overdone but he had to admit the rope was tied tightly and didn't budge an inch when he twisted and pulled. He felt the restricting sensation across his chest when he tried to roll over and twigged that several loops of rope had been tied round his chest and over his upper arms, keeping his limbs pinned to his body effectively. Again for some reason it didn't feel like a professional job, like whoever had tied the material hadn't really known what they were doing.

Chris suddenly heard footsteps nearing and cried out when a boot pushed and rolled him flat on his back, coming to rest against his chest and pressure was applied. "Stop moving."

He coughed as the foot pressed into his chest, feeling his lungs constrict painfully as they lost precious oxygen. "Okay." He eventually managed desperate for the pressure to be removed.

Thankfully his stillness and words were enough for whoever had stood on him as the pressure suddenly disappeared, Chris gulped in oxygen greedily and stayed where the boot had rolled him. He heard multiple sets of voices whisper and echo throughout the space and wished again that he could see what the hell was going on; he felt like he had just tumbled into another world.

He tensed automatically as he sensed someone near his head. "Who are you?" A deep voice cut through the pounding in his head; it was oddly pitched though almost like someone was putting on a voice.

Chris licked his lips nervously. "My name's Christopher." He felt bold enough to try and get some information of his own. "What's yours?"

Silence followed. Pike strained his ears in an attempt to hear anything but the whispers were too quiet to make out what was being said. Eventually the same deep voice replied. "You can call me Zak." Chris swallowed nervously as he felt Zak walk round his body, stepping exceedingly close to his head. "Where did you come from Christopher?"

Ah, now the tricky question.

Chris also didn't miss the mocking lilt Zak had used, like he didn't believe a word he was saying. Pike couldn't very well tell these people that he was a starfleet Captain not when the planet had no knowledge of starfleet. As far as he knew this was still a pre-warp society so therefore general order one had to be upheld.

"I'm from out of town." Chris decided to go with. "Can any of you tell me why this city is deserted?"

He heard Zak snort. "Out of town huh? You must have come from pretty far."

Chris frowned. "What makes you say that?"

Pike stilled when he felt someone's breath near his face, and realised Zak had knelt down, perhaps to study his expression closely. "Because you're still alive."

Chris couldn't keep the confusion off his face' he had no idea what twilight zone he had just walked into. Zak noticed the expression and jumped back and away from his bound captive. "He doesn't know…"

"But that's impossible." Another voice piped up, a voice that sounded suspiciously young.

"I know that." Zak snapped back impatiently.

"He's lying he must be."

"Look at him! He can't lie about that, he's old."

Pike was a little sick of being kept in the dark, literally and figuratively. He stretched out and attempted to get to his knees whilst the combined voices continued to argue. Sadly someone noticed.

"Hey, he's getting up!"

Chris had just about gotten to his knees when something that felt rather like a baseball bat slammed into his chest, winding him completely. "Stay down!" Zak shouted panicked.

Pike groaned miserably and doubled over, head bowed as his lungs cried out for oxygen and his ribs buckled under the harsh strain. It certainly hadn't been the hardest he'd been hit but it hurt enough to make his chest ache and knock the energy out of him.

Eventually he caught his breath and breathed out impatiently. "I'm not your enemy. I don't know what happened here or who you are but I can help."

"He's lying."

"What if he gives it to us?"

"You know it doesn't work that way idiot."

"He shouldn't even be alive."

Chris tried to keep up with all the conflicting voices but it became too hard, they kept talking over one another and from the sounds of it were trying to disguise what their voices really sounded like. Whoever these people were had information he needed, and Chris was getting sick of the game playing. He decided then and there he was done with his predicament and decided to cut into the middle of their argument, ignoring the cynicism and trying to get his feet to function so he could get off the damned floor.

"To help I need to know what the hell is going on here-"

The voices all stopped when he managed to stand. "Get him back on the floor!" Someone screamed urgently, cutting off Chris' demand.

Pike didn't have time to react or prepare for the assault, hell he couldn't even see what was coming at him. One second he was finally vertical and the next multiple bodies crashed into his chest and he felt himself fall back under the tackle, completely losing track of which way was up as he tumbled under gravity's will. Chris moaned and grunted when his body smashed into the ground powerfully, and his head thudded into the floor forcefully, tasting blood when he involuntarily bit his tongue.

The Captain felt multiple weights fall upon him and heard several yelps when the bodies tumbled over, someones foot caught his chest and he coughed wildly when he was unpleasantly winded again. His thoughts were completely muddled and his head felt dazed again; his senses were overloaded and what he wanted more than anything in the world was this bloody blindfold off. He despised being out of control and he was sick of not being able to see anything, and there were too many noises and bodies crushing him to make out what the hell was going on. Oddly his captors felt threatened by him, even though he was the one bound and blinded.

"Tie down his legs!"

"What-"

Chris felt multiple sets of hands try to grab at his feet in order to bind them together. Of course the idea didn't sit well with him; he did not want to be anymore constrained than he was. He was already at such a disadvantage as it was with no use of his hands or sight, he didn't want to be grounded completely. When he felt the mysterious captors begin to win the war against his legs he panicked, and he kicked out wildly like a bucking horse. He felt his feet catch a solid body firmly and whoever he had just kicked at went flying away crying out as they fell; horrifyingly the shriek sounded like it belonged to somebody very young.

Pike didn't have much time to consider the revelation because soon after he lashed out there were suddenly lots of screams and yells; he felt lots of bodies pile on top of him all at once causing him to groan and his lungs to compress. Chris was helpless and completely pinned to the floor so when his feet were grabbed there wasn't much he could do to avoid the inevitable. He struggled wildly against the insistent weights but to no avail.

"Hang on, we can talk-"

Unfortunately his captors had grown tired of his continued struggles so something whacked his head from behind, hard. The harsh blow cut off his desperate pleas to stop his legs being tied down in their tracks.

"Stop moving!"

Pike groaned and let his head fall back to the ground limply; he felt completely dazed and his body fell silent under the numerous bodies sitting atop of him. He distantly felt his feet being finally forced together and by the time he was back in the land of the conscious and aware it was all too late; thick rope was pinning his feet together tightly and his captors were busy tying up his lower legs too.

He tried to shift or wiggle against the weight of all the bodies sat across his chest and legs but it was no good. Chris was starting to accept that there was nothing he could do to stop this from happening; he was sorely outnumbered and at his captor's mercy.

When they were done all of the bodies leapt off of him like he had spontaneously combusted. He heard them all back away from his bound body and soon there was an upstart of mutterings and whispers. Now he was listening carefully he was convinced that there were children near, and not only that but he was pretty sure it had been kids sitting on him.

"Why are there kids here?" He asked frantically, who in the hell would let children be allowed near violence like this?

The mutterings stopped; silence fell and for the umpteenth time Chris was frustrated he couldn't see anything. He had never felt so helpless. He automatically stilled when footsteps approached his head and then a hand reached out to the side of his head. Chris flinched at the touch but stopped struggling when he realised someone was reaching for his blindfold. They fingered the knots swiftly and roughly pulled the thing from his eyes.

Chris blinked at the sudden change in light, wincing when the accompanying tug from the blindfold brushed his head wound and set off a blaring sharp pain.

"We're all kids."

The Captain used the words as an anchor point but when he registered what had actually been said his mind stalled in disbelief. He looked around wildly and saw children all around the room and him. Some of them looked as young as 10 whilst others were close to adulthood. Chris' gaze swept round the circle until he saw a groaning young boy crouched down clutching at his stomach like he was in pain.

Horrifyingly Pike connected the dots and realised that the kid must have been the body he had booted off of his chest, with all his strength and desperation no less. A sudden pit of guilt opened up inside him seeing the young boy curled up in pain because of some he had done; he could have broken the kid's ribs the way he had bucked him off.

"I'm sorry I didn't-"

"Save it." The kid standing over him growled, Chris looked him and the group over and realised this must be Zak.

He certainly wasn't what Chris had been imagining when he had heard his voice earlier. A mop of scraggly blond hair hung down over Zak's face; it was wild and unkept to reflect its owners personality. Zak was taller than he had imagined, his features were harder and scarred, his face was dirty and bloodied, and his eyes looked like they belonged to a person who had seen far more than a kid should have done. The fake voice had now disappeared which explained why he had missed the fact he had been talking to a kid, well a teenager really. If he had to guess he would place Zak's age at around 16.

Amongst the crowd of boys Pike recognised the boy he had been chasing earlier near the back; the kid wasn't meeting his eye and he hung back behind others sheepishly. Chris felt his mouth go dry and his brain turned to mush; it was like his mind was playing tricks on him and this was all part of some big game. How could kids have done this, why were kids doing this and where the hell were all their parents?

"Where are all the grownups?" He eventually managed to formulate words and somehow put all his frazzled thoughts into one overriding question.

"You're not asking the questions anymore." Zak growled.

He Indicated to one of the kid's to come forward. Chris felt a spike of fear as he noticed the kid had a bow and arrow in his grip and had an arrow loaded, which was pointing in his general direction. Chris recognised the threat and saw determination settle around the archer's features; he was visibly wary and keeping his distance but was much harder and colder than a usual kid.

Now there was a weapon held steadily at his head, Chris shut his mouth and decided staying schtum would be the best strategy for the moment. Zak walked over to a pile in the corner and Chris recognised it as the equipment he had brought down to the planet, and oh god Zak had just picked up his phaser. Zak also picked up the communicator and tricorder then walked over to the Captain's bound position. He knelt down near him but Chris noticed he was careful to keep his distance and to not block the archer's aim.

Pike looked round at the faces crowding him and saw that all of them looked terrified of him, although some of them masked it better than others. It was odd that he was here tied up like this and completely immobile with a bow and arrow pointed at his head and these kids were the ones that were scared.

Zak dropped the bundle next to them both. "What is all this?"

Chris glanced at the pile and hoped to hell Zak would stay away from the weapon. "My equipment." He replied truthfully.

Zak hovered his hand over each of the items in turn, and watched his captive's face carefully. Predictably his hand stopped over the most deadly item in the mix; the weapon, and he picked up the phaser. Dammit. Pike stilled and schooled his expression carefully not wanting to let on just how much power Zak now held in his hand.

"And this?" Zak watching Pike's face carefully.

"It's a scanner." Chris carefully replied, hoping his poker face was enough to fool a kid. If Zak's incredulous expression was anything to go by then he was skeptical at best and at worst didn't believe a word Pike was saying.

Zak swayed towards not believing a word of it and smirked. He held out the phaser like a weapon and pointed it at Pike's chest. Chris sighed deeply then glanced at the side of the phaser. He was mortified to see the notch on the gun had been set to overload; Zak and the kids must have been messing with it when he had been passed out. His mind caught up with the fact that Zak's finger was exceedingly close to the trigger. If he pulled it the phaser would overload and it would go off like a grenade in Zak's hand.

"Wait don't." He interrupted urgently and tried to sit up to reach out to the threat; he cursed the rope that held him down and unable to intervene. Zak grinned like a cheshire cat at his captive's defeated expression; like he'd won.

It was time for Chris to put the fear of god into Zak and show him how close he was to getting himself killed. "It's a weapon okay, but if you fire it now it will overload."

Zak's grin fell off his face and he glanced down at the phaser in his hand wary all of a sudden. "What do you mean?"

Pike watched the weapon and more importantly Zak's trigger finger. He indicated with his head to the switch. "The setting is wrong, at the moment it's set to overload meaning it'll go off in your hands."

Zak looked generally fearful and his hands began to shake minutely. "How do I make it normal again?"

Pike didn't exactly want a lethal phaser in the hands of a child, but one that wouldn't kill said child if he pulled the trigger was better than the alternative. Chris didn't want that on his conscience. "Dial the switch round to the left, all the way down."

Zak nodded and quickly did as instructed; after a few seconds the weapon shook less in his hand and the whine emitted decreased. He glanced from the phaser to the power switch and down to Pike. Eventually the previous confidence returned and a small smile spread across his face.

"It's the power setting…" He adjusted the dial to the middle; not all the way round like Pike had instructed and pointed up the weapon at the wall. "…So if I."

Zak pulled the trigger and a lethal beam of energy shot out of the phaser and crashed into the wall with devastating effects. The burst of light lit up the cave and then there was a loud crack and large chunks of rock splintered off; dust filled the air and Chris felt a couple of shards of wall slice into him. The kids all looked at the smoking hole in the wall with awe-struck expressions but they all backed away all the same. Thankfully none of them had been hit seriously by any debris but that had been too close. Zak could cave this place in if he wasn't careful.

"Cool." Zak breathed staring at the smoking hole and the damage he had Inflicted.

Chris snapped. "That's not a toy, you could have gotten us all killed."

Zak switched his gaze to him and Chris realised he had made a mistake snapping at Zak like that. These kids really hadn't had grown ups around and now here was one coming in and telling them what they could and could not do; as you would expect they didn't like it.

Zak pressed the phaser against the Captain's chest and threatened. "I know it's not a toy. Despite what I may look like I'm not some kid."

Chris glanced from the weapon pressed against his chest to the kid who was threatening to blow a hole through him; he corrected his use of the word kid when he met Zak's serious gaze. He saw something in the depths of Zak's eyes that was angry and untamed; he had lived a life that had changed him and made sure he was no longer a kid.

Zak leaned in to whisper. "I've done things you wouldn't believe."

Pike resisted the urge too shiver. He had heard enough empty threats in his life to know this wasn't one. Zak wasn't boasting for the sake of it nor was he particularly happy with the fact that he had seen things no child ever should have to see. He was simply telling the truth.

"Captain?!" A very familiar voice echoed distantly from the corridor.

A/N - This is the latest in my line of the adventures of Pike and Michael aboard the Discovery, as usual I've not been very kind to Chris but what's new? As you may have noticed Michael will be making her debut in the next chapter.

Enjoy :)