The smiling Vulcan pulled away from McCoy who looked as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Rin was staring at the Vulcan with an anger burning in her eyes as McCoy moved over to his captain.

"What have you done to my friends?" Kirk asked in almost an alarmed tone.

"I've done nothing," Sybok answered truthfully. "This is who they are. Didn't you know that?"

"Why?" he asked once more.

"Now, think about yourself."

"No," he answered rather quickly as he walked away from the Vulcan.

"Jim, I was wrong about this. Try and be open about this," McCoy urged bit Kirk refused to comply.

"About what?" he asked. "I made the wrong choices in my life? I turned left when I should've turned right? I don't need Sybok to take me on a tour of them."

"If you just bend a little…" McCoy began again but Kirk interrupted.

"And be brainwashed by this con-man?!"

"This con-man took away my pain."

"Darn it, Bones," Kirk said with an angry expression on his face, "you're a doctor. You know that pain can't be taken away by the wave of a magic wand. They're the things we carry with us; the things that make us who we are! We lose them, we lose ourselves! I don't want my pain taken away! I need my pain!" He directed the last part to Sybok.

Sybok continued to stare at Kirk for another moment and a peculiar expression passed over his face. He slowly turned around and his eyes rested on Rin. "How do you contain it with such ease?"

"What do you mean?" She sent him a slightly confused look and stepped backwards as he stepped toward her.

"Your pain…" he began with an empathetic tone, "…throughout all my travels across the galaxies, I have never sensed pain as deep, as strong, as painful as yours."

She looked like she was glaring daggers at him and she hissed in a most threatening way, "Don't try it."

But it was too late. Behind her, a forest appeared, think and humid, and from a thicket off to the right, an Aurelian chick came stumbling across the leaves and collapsed at the base of a tree. It was bleeding severely from a phaser blast to the side of its white neck and Kirk then realized the chick to be Rin. He glanced back at her. She had rested a talon over the black scar on her neck and looked to be trembling, as if she had been exposed to the cold.

The chick laid there for a moment or two trying to regain its breath and with much effort, forced itself to its feet. "Scill nai?" she whispered and McCoy glanced at Rin with a confused expression on his face.

"Why me?" Rin quietly translated and as the chick continued to whisper, she continued to translate. "Why is it me the Klingon's hunt? Can they not search someplace else for some other species but us?"

A horrible screech sounded through the trees and Rin hung her head as the chick took off running as fast as it could. Another screech found her ears as she continued to run, and another, and another. By the time she skidded to a halt just at the edge of the forest, many voices had filled the air, and to the human ear, although they had no knowledge of the message the sound carried, it sent shivers down Kirk and McCoy's spines. Sybok still had the same pitying expression on his face and Spock prepared himself for what he knew was coming.

Rin lost her anger for Sybok as the Sith and Klingon's popped back into her mind and she forced herself to look at the scene before all of them. All except for her hut, many others had fallen from their rightful place in the trees and had fallen to the ground. A few unfortunate adults had been trapped when they had fallen and their remains laid still, dirty and mangled from the weight that had crashed down on them.

The chick ran about the ruins screaming to any and all for a response and Rin didn't bother translating. As her younger self flew to investigate the ruins of her hut, Rin turned away, not wishing to see the inside again.

Though you couldn't tell from the outside, they were an extremely advanced race, owning all sorts of advanced technology, although they did not need it. The inside of the ruined hut reminded Kirk of the inside of the Enterprise, and Rin's quarters, he now realized, took the design of her species, as Spock did.

She shuddered as a crunch echoed through the now-abandoned hut and the little room on the ship and her younger self looked down and made a sound like she had been kicked in the ribs. She had stepped on the remnants of an eggshell, and as Rin glanced at the screen, she caught a glimpse of what would've been her sibling lying in the corner of the room, only half-formed.

The walls were coated with splats of silver along with the electronics and the floor, and off to her left a pile of various broken items, including a bit of the roof, moved. Without thinking the chick jumped onto the pile and dug until she reached the bottom of the pile. "Laqueta," the chick gasped and she pulled the Aurelian from the mess.

Regret was showing in Rin's eyes as she listened to her mother's voice and she thought the words to herself as her near-death parent spoke, "Rin, you live. Where is Callista?"

"Callista?" the chick asked back in the language that flowed so smoothly through the human and Vulcan ears in the room. "I do not know. I have not seen her since early before the sun rose."

The look on the Aurelian's face was one of calm and she then collapsed onto the ground. She spoke as if she had never been injured and asked with a concerned tone, "The egg… where is the egg, Rin?"

The chick's eyes widened and she asked, "Are you injured? What has happened to you? Who has been here?"

Her mother's eyes bore deep into her chick's and she answered in a hoarse voice, "Creatures, with shin the color of the soil, mane as askew as the branches of the skrimlore trees, eyes as cold and cruel as death itself, and they carry the scent of a thousand rotting corpses… the Klingons."

At the sound of the foreign word a cold blanket descended on the room, and all could easily tell what it meant. "They entered normally enough, until one demanded the egg. In their foreign tongue I declined, and was attacked." She lifted a wing to reveal a long and deep gash down her side. "Tell me, Rin, where is the egg?"

Rin stared with a saddened expression and looked to the corner. "It was all for naught," she whispered quietly as her mother laid eyes on the tiny embryo. "Laqueta, what should we do? What can we do?"

There was silence as she stared at her lost chick and she commended, "Go find and warn Vivek."

"Father?" Rin repeated. "But why-"

"Just go, Rinsaku!" she interrupted. "Go find and warn him. He will do all he can to protect you."

"And what of you?"

They stared long and hard into each other's eyes and she muttered, "My time is overspent. But you still have a chance. Please, my dearest Rinsaku, go to him before it is too late!" Rin stood firm and did not budge. "You will go," Laqueta said again and when Rin did not move still, she grabbed her by the scruff of her little neck and launched her out through a hole in the roof. "Go!"

Not seconds after being thrown from the hut, there was a loud crack and the limb that the hut was resting on smashed to the ground. Bits of splintered wood went flying in all directions and Rin fought the urge to return to her home and flew off, not wishing to see the destruction she was leaving behind her.

Another wild call sounded in the distance and Rin dove out of the skies for cover, but not fast enough. A red jet of light just missed her as she barrel-rolled to the left and she plummeted to the ground and landed on all fours. Without a second thought she took off running toward the sound of the cries while avoiding her pursuers.

The frustrated shouts died down behind her and she slowed a bit. As she came to a slow stop in the middle of a clearing, all sound stopped with her. Rin tensed up and her fur stood on end in fear as she realized her possibly-fatal mistake. "Surrounded?" she whispered to herself as a dozen or so Klingons appeared around her with their guns at the ready.

She was frozen at the center of the clearing and pitifully sat and lowered her head, almost a sign of surrender. If she ran, they would fire. If she flew, they would fire. If she called for help, they would fire, and take many more lives besides hers.

They were slowly closing in around her. One held chains in his hands and a few others held nets in their hands. They were nearly upon her when a horrifying sound filled the air. This sound was even worse then the first one. Every Klingon tensed and looked over their shoulders in fear. "What was that?" one asked in his native tongue but none were able to answer.

Rin's ears shot up to better hear the sound and she stood again. "Vivek?" she whispered to herself and she listened harder to the sound. It was none like she had ever heard before in her life. It was a cry of ferocious anger, a terrible rage. It was of pain; not physical, but mental pain, emotional pain. A cry of sadness, of loss, and worry.

With all the Klingon's staring off into different directions, she sprinted out of the clearing and into the skies. "He's seen the wreckage, he's found her remains," she told herself, and her eyes suddenly went wide. "I left trace amounts of my blood at the hut. He thinks I'm dead too." After realizing this, her flight seemed that much longer because of her thought pattern although she was moving faster. In time the call seased and the forest fell quiet.

She dove into a tree nearby on the topmost branch and strained her hearing for the slightest noise. "Where are you, Vivek?" she quietly asked him and a breeze picked up. "That scent," she mumbled as she sniffed the air. "That is Vivek!"

Rin took off again and when the scent was strongest of all, she landed again in another clearing. "Vivek!" she called frantically but there was no answer. "Vivek!" she cried again, but louder this time and behind her she heard something coming through the bushes. Someone was moving toward her at an alarming rate. Thinking it was her father she darted toward them bushes, but just before reaching them, a group of Klingons and men dressed in white armor emerged, weapons drawn.

She backpedaled as quick as she could but a Klingon jumped behind her and held her tight. "I know you can understand me, little one," he hissed he tightened his hold. "Consider yourself the spoils of war. I do not wish to harm you further, but I will not hesitate." An evil smile crossed his face and he added, "And if you do defy me, I have been searching for a rug for my quarters."

"You will do no such thing," she hissed back in his language and bit his hand. He shouted out in pain and fury as he dropped her and she sped off as fast as her legs could carry her. "A rug? Out of me? I think not."

Rin sped down the hill rather quickly and turned her head over her shoulder. Al the Klingons had stopped at the top of the hill and were staring down at her as she continued to run. "Have they given up?"

Her pace slowed a little but as she continued to stare at them over her shoulder. Not watching where she put her paws, she continued jogging until something closed tight around her right talon. Rin screeched loudly in pain as she tried to pull out of the metal jaws but to no avail. She could hear the Klingons rapidly approaching down the hill toward her and she began to panic. Silver was gushing from her injured wrist and pooling on the ground. She could hear them charging through the bushes just behind her and she pulled harder then before.

The pain was excruciatingly painful, without a doubt, but with her freedom, not to mention life, at stake, she tugged and pried away, praying that the iron jaws would give, but they did not. Rin let out a wild scream for help to any and all who would listen, but none replied. She called again, louder this time, but still there was no answer.

The leader of the invading group stopped and stared as she continued to right for her freedom. He patted one of the white-armored men on the shoulder and growled, "Shoot it once, and kill. Aim at the chest. I want its head for a trophy, understand?"

Rin stopped and stared at him as a cold feeling washed over her. A pitiful sound escaped her throat as the weapon rose to level, almost a sound begging for mercy. The Klingon was not at all moved by the noise, but the armored man was fighting internally to try to make himself pull the trigger. She quietly exhaled as she prepared for the shot, and a sound coming from the bushes on her left made her ears stand on end.

"On my count…"

Rin tugged again as the shuffling in the bushes slightly grew louder and she let out a low whine to the trembling trooper.

"Three…"

She sent the Klingon a look of disgust and he shot back a hateful look. "Two…"

The trooper lowered the weapon slowly and let it hang at his side as he exhaled. "What are you doing, soldier?" the Klingon hissed as a look of frustration passed over his face and he stepped awfully close to the trooper.

"I…" he began quietly, "… I cannot shoot it, Sir." His eyes were on the ground almost in attempt to avoid the anger that was radiating from the enraged alien.

"Alright then, soldier," he muttered with an underlying sound of anger and he took the blaster from the trooper. "'Tis a shame," he sighed and he pointed the blaster at the trooper. You were full of promise." He pulled the trigger and as the trooper dropped to the ground he threw the blaster beside him. "Humans…" he said loudly with a tone if disgust, "…all the same. Too soft and emotional." He looked up at one of his fellow Klingon brothers and commanded, "You. Shoot. Now."

Without and question he raised the gun, and just as he was firing, a black blur ran in front of Rin with his wings wide open to protect her and took the shot. A shower of silver blood covered the surrounding area and Rin shakily looked up. "Vivek," she breathed with a small smile.

He said nothing and went straight to work on prying the metal mouth apart. His face looked worn with worry as he worked and he was splattered with the blood of men, Klingons, and that of his own.

"Don't just stand there!" the Klingon was screaming at his little battalion of soldiers. "Shoot them both at will! Fire! Fire!"

He carefully removed her talon from the trap as they began shooting and without waiting a second longer he grabbed her and took to the skies.

Rin stared at him as the ground disappeared below them and became what looked to be a giant patchwork quilt. "Vivek," she whispered with a small smile and she tapped her small beak to his large one.

"Now… is not the time," he responded with an unusually strained voice. She could see in his eyes that he was fighting something, though she was unsure of what it was. "The time for words will come, but not now."

She could feel him shaking, but with pain or fear she could not tell. His attitude change and with the difficulty he was having staying airborne disturbed Rin further but her respect kept her quiet for the rest of the journey.