"Captain, I'm picking up a distress signal from a Federation shuttle. It's broadcasting on all channels, sir."
"Someone really wants our attention. Uhura, input the coordinates; Sulu, get us there fast. Let's not leave them in distress for any longer than we have to."
"Aye, aye."
James Tiberius Kirk, the recently-made captain of the USS Enterprise, settled back in his seat as the ship leapt into warp drive. The feeling was barely perceptible but Kirk felt it anyway, his body attuned to the normal functions of his ship; it hadn't taken long at all for him to consider the Enterprise his, and it certainly hadn't taken long for him to fall in love with the ship. He watched the stars blur and stretch outside the viewscreen and a few minutes later they were dropping out of warp, a short distance away from the shuttle in need of assistance. The engines fell back to impulse power with a soft shudder, the stars returning to their normal state as points of light in the blackness of space. The Enterprise dropped to thrusters and edged closer to the Federation shuttle.
"Sir, I'm picking up another signal," Uhura said, her fingers moving deftly across her console. "There's a small ship next to the shuttle. I don't recognize the signal and they're not responding to our hails. There is some rudimentary technology in place meant to block long-range scans, but it can't withstand any scans from this close."
Kirk pushed himself out of his chair and strode across the bridge, stopping in front of the viewscreen and peering out into the black beyond. He could just make out the square shape of the Federation shuttle and the more rounded shape of the other vessel. There were no lights coming from either craft. They looked like they were dead, hanging in space. If it hadn't been for the signals Uhura was tracking, he wouldn't have believed there was anyone to save. He could tell was the strange ship was much larger than the Federation shuttle and it was not a ship he was familiar with.
"Chekov, are we picking up any weapons signatures?" he asked, turning around to face the bridge.
The young officer consulted his console. "Negative Captain."
"I've identified the shuttle, sir," Uhura interjected, spinning so she could meet Kirk's gaze. "It's from the USS Marissa, an Excelsior-class ship under the command of Captain DeFalco."
"Where is the ship now?"
"Command has them listed as on patrol near the Neutral Zone. I have already sent a subspace transmission and am awaiting a reply."
Kirk nodded, his plan of action already formed. "Any identity on the other vessel?"
"Negative," Uhura answered. "It's unregistered, and there are no markings. It's leaking radiation though, so it's not a military or official vessel of any kind. Smugglers or slavers probably."
Kirk started towards the turbolift at the back of the bridge, conscious of the eyes of his crew on him as he moved. He nodded again, acknowledging Uhura's words. "Inform me immediately if there's a response from the Marissa or from the other vessel." He leaned over the console closest to the turbolift doors and called Engineering. "Mr. Scott, meet me in the transporter room and get Bones to join you. Mr. Spock," he said, finding the dark eyes of his first officer where he sat in front of his console. "You have the bridge—Sulu, you're with me."
The helmsmen joined the Captain in the turbolift and Kirk hit the button to take them down several decks, glad Spock hadn't tried to stop him from leading the away mission. He rolled his shoulders, preparing himself for what they might find when they rematerialized. One thing was certain: Kirk wasn't going to let slavers or smugglers get away with any Federation personnel.
She had a headache, her wrists were killing her, and there was blood dripping down her hands, sticky and warm. Her wrists were bound with some rigid, unforgiving material and she was blindfolded.
Alianna Lordeck, security chief on board the USS Marissa, was on the verge of freaking out.
It was hard for to breathe, her chest aching with her attempts to get a satisfactory gulp of air. Even though she knew it was fruitless, she continued to struggle against her bonds, the cuts on her wrists worsening and sending more blood to pool in her fists. But she couldn't sit still. She knew the irrationality of her fear, of her response to being tied up, but it didn't matter.
At least the pain was helping her keep the panic at bay.
Alianna finally managed to get a deep enough breath and let it out slowly, forcing herself to stop struggling—it was her fault she was bound anyway. If she hadn't attacked the Orions who'd boarded the shuttle, she wouldn't have taken the blow to the back of her head and they wouldn't have tied her up while she was dazed.
Panic started to creep in again. She swallowed another gulp of air and focused on what she could hear and feel and smell to keep her mind off her capture.
She was sitting with one shoulder against wall and someone was leaning against her legs. One of her feet was prickling with pins and needles and her knee was starting to ache from being twisted into an unnatural position. There were soft whispers and whimpers filling the air around her, which meant at least some of the passengers from the shuttle were alive. That was a huge relief and calmed her further.
Her and her sister Sindari had been the only Starfleet officers on board the shuttle and could take care of themselves, but the others had all been civilians and trusted the officers to keep them safe on the journey from Andoria, where the sisters had been visiting their parents on shore leave. It was a task which they had failed.
Alianna groaned in frustration and her heart rate escalated again, the panic clutching at her insides.
"Ali?" came her sister's voice in a whisper.
A fresh wave of relief washed over Alianna at the familiar sound. "Sin?" she croaked. "Sin, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Everyone's fine—no serious injuries. You?"
Alianna shook her head and gulped down a breath. "Are you sure?" There had been a couple children on the shuttle, and if any of the Orions slavers had harmed the children… She gave her head another shake. She couldn't do anything tied up, blind. "You are absolutely sure?"
"We're all fine," someone answered.
"Keep your mouths shut!" one of slavers called. "Or I'll shut you up myself."
Alianna snarled, her panic turning to hostility. Hostility was easier to handle, usually more productive. For her at least.
She wiggled out from under whoever was sitting against her legs and tried to climb to her knees; she hadn't thought so far ahead as to know what she was going to do if she managed to get on her feet, but she was trying anyways. Something cracked into the back of her head, sending her sprawling forward. Alianna's face slammed into the floor, pain exploding outward from the point of contact and joining the throbbing caused by the exacerbated headache. Blood filled her mouth and she blinked rapidly, trying to clear the stars from her limited vision.
"Fuck," she muttered, rolling onto her side.
"My sentiments exactly—you are on my antenna."
Alianna groaned and pushed herself back into a seated position. "Sorry." She spit her mouthful of blood onto the floor beside her, where she knew no one was.
"Be quiet!"
The slaver watching over the captives might have been about to say more, but the zap of a phaser discharging cut him off. Shouts and curses in English and Orion filled the air, along with the pounding of running feet and more weapons fire. Alianna's heart was beating loudly in her ears, the pain increasing as her head whipped back and forth as she attempted to track the noises. She cursed under her breath again and wished she could get the blindfold off. She struggled against her bonds, the material cutting deeper. She cut a scream short, stopped struggling. She didn't have the restraint to keep from slamming her shoulder into the wall in frustration though, connecting hard enough to bruise.
A loud grating noise sounded a few minutes later as the doors to the cargo hold were opened all the way and light flooded in, peeking around the edges of the blindfold. Alianna sat up straighter, her face turned toward the illumination.
"They're in here!" a gruff and unfamiliar voice yelled. "All fifteen of them."
"Are you sure, Bones?"
"Yes Lieutenant, I am, now help me free them while the Captain finishes 'talking' to the Orions."
Alianna listened as those around her were freed. She was relieved to know the other passengers were free, but without the distraction of trying to free herself or the sounds of battle, Alianna's awareness of her bonds came back to the forefront and she began struggling again. The rational part of her mind told her she was only imaging the bonds getting tighter, but the more primal part of her didn't believe that. The bonds were getting tighter and she was going to die, tied up and blind.
She didn't know how long it actually was until she heard those closest to her being freed, until she was aware of someone moving behind her, but it felt like an eternity.
She wanted out. She wanted out now. Strangled noises escaped through clenched teeth. All her muscles tensed and the panic flared into hostility once again; her body prepared for attack.
A hand settled on her shoulder and she reacted without thinking, throwing her head back and connecting with the face of whoever was behind her. She felt something snap against her head, in the same spot which had already taken two hits. Pain exploded through her head and she cried out at the same time whoever she'd hit swore.
"What the hell?" the man behind her barked. "You broke my nose!"
"Ali! They're Starfleet!" Sindari's voice was suddenly close to Alianna and then the blindfold was gone. Sindari's face was in view, a slightly exasperated smile on her lips. "They're Starfleet, from the Enterprise. We're safe and you just broke a captain's nose."
Alianna took a deep breath and her eyes locked on her younger sister's face, on the green eyes the exact same shade as her own. She matched her breathing to the rise and fall of her sister's shoulders and used the rhythm to calm herself. Sindari's smile widened and she pushed some hair back from Alianna's face, cupping her sister's cheek. When she was sure Alianna had reached a more stable place, she nodded at whoever was standing behind the still-bound woman.
"I'm going to cut you free and then we'll get you on your feet," the main, the captain, behind her said. "Please don't hit me again."
Alianna didn't say anything as the bonds on her wrists were cut. She did, however, sigh in relief when she could bring her arms in front of her again and she flung her arms around her sister when they were both standing. Sindari rubbed Alianna's back and pressed her face into her shoulder. For a moment, the sisters just stood in the embrace, knowing they, and everyone else from the shuttle, was alive and safe.
When Alianna stepped back, she surveyed the damage she'd done to herself and she winced at the chafed and bleeding skin. She shoved the pain to the back of her mind as she turned to face the captain.
He was a few inches taller than her with startlingly blue eyes and a cocky smirk, no less impactful for the blood streaming from the broken nose he was pinching with the fingers of one hand. He didn't seem overly angry about the injury. Alianna knew him right away, though she'd never actually had the pleasure of being introduced. Everyone knew who he was—the cadet who'd saved Earth and taken command after only three years at the Academy.
"You're Captain Kirk," she said, her voice a little harsher than was warranted.
"What? No apology? No 'thank you?'" he asked, that smirk growing. "We did just save you from Orion slavers."
Alianna's scowl deepened and she heard Sindari huff behind her, knew her sister would be rolling her eyes in frustration. "Thank you, sir. Now, would you mind telling me why you're answering the distress signal rather than the Marissa?"
"We were the first to respond." Kirk sniffed back some of the blood and winced. "We sent a transmission to your ship and are waiting for a response."
"They should have responded."
Kirk nodded.
"Why haven't they responded?"
"I don't know."
Anything else Alianna might have said was cut off when another man appeared beside his captain. He was of Asian descent, wearing a yellow tunic like Kirk, and his voice identified him as one of those she'd heard earlier. While they were discussing the transfer of the civilians and the Orions, Alianna looked around the cargo bay and realized her, Sindari, Kirk, and the other man were the only ones left. She inhaled sharply, shocked at how oblivious she'd been. Maybe she had a concussion. She probably had a concussion.
"Ali, are you all right?"
She turned to look down at her sister. "I don't know," she said quietly. Sindari looked a little alarmed. Alianna wasn't one to admit weakness.
"Your head is bleeding."
Alianna turned sharply to look at Kirk as she raised a hand to touch the wound at the back of her head. Her fingers came away bloody. "So is your face," she snapped. She wasn't sure why she was angry: weakness, fear, shame or, most likely, some combination of the three. "Are we going to stand around here all day or are we going to get to medical? I'm beginning to see spots and unless you want to carry me, I suggest we hurry."
Sindari looked a little mortified at her sister's behaviour and Kirk look amused, even going so far as to chuckle. He turned to the other man and said, "Mr. Sulu, contact the transporter room and have them beam us back." His voice sounded more garbled than before and he was starting to look a little pale from blood loss, regardless of his keeping his head tilted back. Maybe it was the pain.
"You may want to tone down the hostility," Sindari whispered as they began to dematerialize.
Something like a growl escaped Alianna's throat, but once again, she didn't get to respond.
When the four Starfleet officers appeared in the transporter room on the Enterprise, her knees buckled. Points of light darted across her vision, followed by darkness creeping in from the edges. Someone grabbed her under her arms and hauled her back to her feet, her head rolling around a bit as she tried to focus on whoever was supporting her. She blinked slowly a few times and attempted to get her feet under her, but the arms around her tightened then shifted and she was leaning on someone, her head on their shoulder, her feet off the ground. When she finally found herself able to focus, Alianna was looking at Kirk's bloody face, the smirk still in place under those bright blue eyes.
"Lemme go," she slurred, trying to glare and finding the motion nearly impossible. She attempted to push away, but the captain held her in place. She shook her head, her senses coming mostly back; everything still felt sort of fuzzy. "I can walk on my own."
"I don't think you can, but sick bay isn't far. I don't mind carrying you."
Alianna rolled her eyes and immediately regretted it as a fresh wave of dizziness struck her. "Damn you," she mumbled as her eyes closed. Kirk's shoulder was suddenly very comfortable.
Kirk chuckled again and Sindari was saying something, but all Alianna was truly aware of as they moved down the hall was the pain in her head and the warmth of Kirk's arms around her.