BaB: Hey readers!
BaB here just setting the ground rules and all that spiffyness. First off I apologize to any hardcore fans of Star Trek if I make any mistakes, I'm going off the more recent Into Darkness movie and am in the process of watching the originals. Just correct me when I'm wrong, say, hey BaB, you got this wrong and it's bugging me! I might fix it.
Also please excuse my grammar mistakes and misspellings I try to make sure to read through it and fix anything but sometimes my eyes skip things over.
Anyway, I do not own anything except for my OC, disclaimer, disclaimer. Hope you enjoy the story.
Chapter One
When she tried to punch him in the stomach he caught her hand deftly, twisting it out of the way as she used a bit of momentum to kick for his legs, he took the blow without moving and caught her leg. Loralie teetered a bit on her remaining foot before the man shoved it towards her, forcing her back to come into contact with the wall behind her. He reached for her throat but she ducked away from him and her fist connected with his shoulder, though she had been aiming for his cheek.
"I tire of this," he muttered as if he were bored. He caught Loralie's outstretched arm and twisted it behind her back, using his other arm to restrain her body she huffed and snarled at him.
Their bodies were touching, had Loralie been in another situation she would have blushed with embarrassment, she could even hear his heart beating through his chest. But this was no time to get heated about body contact, they were fighting each other and it was obvious that she was losing. It didn't matter that she was better than almost everyone else had been at the academy, she was even better than Spock at times. None of it mattered at all because this man was better, every punch she threw, every kick, it was like he was reading her mind. Quite frankly she was getting sick of it.
"Then let me," she grunted trying to shake free of his grasp. "Go," her voice gave out as he tightened his grip.
"Shame it turned into this, I only wanted to talk," he whispered into her ear.
Growling deeply Loralie let her legs give out so that he was holding her up completely, his grip sagged only slightly but she used it against him by pushing off the wall with her left leg powerfully. All too quickly he let go of her, throwing off her balance she stumbled and glared up at him defiantly.
"Maybe if you'd knocked on my door like a normal person I would've considered having a conversation," her voice was icy. "But not when you've followed me home," she held up her fists again.
0-0-0-0
"Dr. Finch, Dr. McCoy is looking for you," a soft voice called to the woman.
Loralie had been sitting at one of the many desks in the room and looking over a few reports of diseases when a young fidgety nurse called for her to go to Bones; he was teaching a few rookies how to operate on a moving shuttle. The kids were new editions to the Enterprise and Bones hated it when his nurses sucked, he tried to get Loralie to teach them but she refused on the account of having work to do. Most of the kids frowned when they saw that they were going to be stuck with a grumpy Bones as their teacher, and she couldn't blame them.
"Damnit Lor, just come over here!" She heard Bones shout from across the room. She recognized the tone he was using and picked up her pace a little until she was in front of him and his, mess. There was blood on his clothes, face, and everywhere else in the small space about them.
"You didn't blow up the rookies did you?" She asked setting her face sternly.
"I wish," he growled wiping his hands of some blood.
Letting a small smile break out onto her face Bones glared at her while she tried her best to hide her humor at seeing him like this, it was always funny when Bones's plans backfired on him. Reaching for a spare rag she started to clean up some of the blood before he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the bloody mess of a room.
"Where are we going?" She mumbled letting the rag fall to the ground.
"Pike is calling us in for a meeting," he growled letting her go once she was walking the same pace as him. "Something about the next mission to a new planet," he said watching to see how his friend would react.
"New planet?" Loralie's eyes lit up upon hearing what Bones had to say.
"I knew you'd be excited," he chuckled shortly.
Anything that had to do with new planets and species was enticing to Loralie, ever since she was a child she'd shown interest in different planets and cultures. When it came to knowledge about the different species and races on planets she was one of the best that Starfleet had to offer. Also carrying an interest for rare diseases was just a bonus for her, a lot of captains wanted her aboard their ship, but Jim had gotten to her first.
They'd met at the Academy in combat class, Lor had taken him out quite quickly, much to his dismay, he'd tried to flirt with her beforehand so it only added to his embarrassment. There was little to no one who could beat her in combat, Jim was no exception, but that didn't stop him from flirting with her afterwards as well. She was a stunning specimen, another of the reasons why everyone wanted her on their ship. With her cool green eyes, long black hair, and silky skin it was a wonder to everyone how she was so good at fighting in the first place.
"Lor, Bones," Jim greeted them when they arrived. He didn't even question the doctor about his attire that still had bloodstains on it, he was used to seeing some sort of bodily fluid on him by now. "Don't touch me," he added back to him with a disgusted face.
"Don't flatter yourself," Bones grumbled pushing past him into the room. Lor followed him with an amused smile on her face, glancing at Jim before going to sit down next to her doctor friend she waited for the meeting to start.
In two weeks time they would be heading towards a planet that was inhabited by a rather new civilization that they knew nothing about. Their task was to observe the race from a safe distance and determine whether or not the planet would be useful to Starfleet at all. They were not to be seen by the developing species, their very appearance would alter anything that the culture would do.
Lor was only slightly excited now, she'd done studies on plenty of under established civilizations, and they more or less all went through the same process. Create religion, language, establish traveling means, create the wheel, and so on. All she had left to look forward to was the make-up of the planet; it was one of the more intriguing aspects of all new worlds they came across. There were planets with black water and green skies, or lands that never even saw a sun. How each species thrived on their respective planets was always something Lor enjoyed studying.
Getting up to leave Pike finished by looking at Loralie.
"I expect a detailed report," he said holding her eyes for a few moments.
"Only the best," she assured him. Their eyes broke contact and Lor looked over at Jim to see that he was giving her that look again. Every time she wrote a report he would read it and make sure there was nothing too exposing about his orders, once he'd let it slip and Jim had been reported for destroying a central water course for a smaller species.
"I look forward to reading it as well," Jim said giving her a grin. Pike looked between the two of them before walking out the door with a sigh, the rest of the people in the room shuffled out after him except for Bones, Jim, and Spock.
"Perhaps I will read it, Dr. Finch's reports are always most accurate," Spock said butting into the conversation.
"First officer does not have permission to read it," Jim said before looking away from Lor with a laugh. Sometimes Lor wondered why Jim kept Spock as First Officer if he bugged the crap out of him so much. "How do you know they're accurate?" He asked turning towards the Vulcan suddenly.
Spock looked like he was about to jump off into some long conversation before Jim stopped him by walking away.
"How alarmed do you think the other nurses were when they saw that room?" Lor asked Bones with a smirk.
"More than a turkey at Thanksgiving dinner," he muttered following Spock and Jim out of the room. Lor was always fond of the metaphors and stuff that came out of Bones when he was trying to relate something to everyone. Though no one else seemed to appreciate them as much it was comical to see Jim's face after every new one he said.
Spock dismissed himself from their little group saying he had to ask Uhura something, though all of them were pretty sure what he was really doing they bid farewell to him before making their way towards a cafeteria. Lor hadn't eaten anything since she'd woken more than thirteen hours ago and Jim was always ready to eat when he saw that he could flirt with some pretty girl sitting across from them. Bones mumbled something about bloody bed sheets and left as soon as Jim got up to start his business, the doctor always hated staying behind when their captain decided it was time for some messing around.
When Lor finished her food she left Jim to whoever it was that he was currently talking to before heading back to her office to finish up some work until it was time to go home.
The streets were full of people on their lunch breaks and Lor had only slight trouble pushing her way through the mob on the way to the office. At one point she ran right into the shoulder of a man who turned to look at her sharply before going on his way, she hadn't gotten a good look at him but was sure he was made of metal or something. The way he kept walking made it seem like Lor wasn't even there at all. Finally when she got to the building she worked in when she was not on the Enterprise she saw that it was empty, of course there were only ever two or three of them in there at a time anyway. A note on her coworker's desk read that he had been feeling feverish and since Lor had been gone away to Bones's building he couldn't ask for medicine. The bugger had gone home early. Of course there was always the receptionist, but Lor never really counted her as a accomplice.
Settling down to her work Lor almost didn't notice when someone had entered the building and made it to the receptionist. Her eyes immediately went to his form as she saw that he was definitely eye candy to the receptionist who pointed him in her direction. His eyes were what caught her first; they held each other's stare while he walked towards her desk with even steps. Tearing her eyes away from his finally Lor went back to looking at her work, she could still feel the stare of his icy eyes bearing into her form.
"Is there anything I can help you with, sir?" She asked politely. When it came to talking to her friends she'd give them a once over before ignoring their presence completely, but that hardly qualified when it came to strangers.
Bringing her eyes back up to him she grazed them across his body, taking in his tall stature and overbearing aura Lor had to admit that he was quite handsome, but it took more than looks to win her over. Jim had looks, all women could agree to that, but he was more or less the kind of jerk that she was friends with, not someone she'd be interested in. This man had the looks going in his favor definitely, but Lor wasn't taken with him like her receptionist.
"Dr. Loralie Finch?" The man asked in a deep voice that caught her attention. A baritone voice that demanded her attention she looked up at him quizzically, his eyes caught her again and she couldn't help a shiver that passed through her. There was something about him that seemed off.
"You're not a robot are you?" She asked standing up slowly.
The man's expression didn't change, if anything the air seemed to have gotten colder around them, as if her question had gotten a rise out of him that she could not see.
"Certainly not Loralie," he answered shortly. She was surprised that he'd used her first name right off the bat, she certainly didn't know this man and it was only courteous that one be addresses by their last name until given other instruction.
"And who are you?" She asked letting her eyes cloud over slightly. Whoever this man was he wasn't winning any points in Lor's scoreboard, save for in the looks category. She often forgot that she needed to guard herself when it came to strangers, or had she forgotten what happened in the past. "I don't recall giving you permission to use my first name," her voice was icy against him.
"John Harrison, I'm working under Alexander Marcus in sector 31," he explained making Lor straighten her body completely in front of him. She came up to his nose and was distraught when he seemed so superior before her; she still had to look up to catch his eyes.
"Is there something you needed from me? The days almost over and I'd like to leave my work behind me for the night," she muttered breaking eye contact with him to gather her things.
"I need your file," he said placing his hand on the desk between them.
"If you ask your superior officer I'm sure they'll give you my Starfleet background notes. It'll tell you everything you want to know about Dr. Loralie Finch," she muttered letting a dull look come over her face. She was starting to wish her receptionist had asked the man to leave.
"It wasn't there," he said curtly.
"What wasn't?" She asked knowing for a fact that her file was there because she updated her travels whenever the Enterprise returned from a mission.
Lor sighed and walked away from him towards her bag, where was Bones when she needed him, he would have turned away the man as soon as he used her first name. As if to be even more irritating the man followed her as she walked away from him, he stopped right behind her. He was so close that she could feel his breath on her neck when he spoke.
"The first available knowledge of Loralie Finch appeared fifteen years ago when you first came to Earth. There was no one with you, no father, no mother; you were an abandoned child someone had picked out of the wreckage of an ancient ship. The other humans on the ship had died in the crash and yet you were still alive, do you know why that is?" he spoke to her in a chilled tone that matched her own icy voice.
At first when he started speaking about her past Lor felt her breath hitch in her throat and she'd quickly turned around to come face to face with the man, her expression was dead and empty save for the malice in her eyes. He regarded her emotionlessly, his expression remained as it had during their whole conversation, which made Lor's anger spike, she wanted to wipe that bland look off his face.
"Because my brother shielded me from the debris, he saved my life," she spat out at him before turning fully away from the man.
"But you've never had a brother," he stated darkly. By now Lor had had enough of Mr. Harrison; the file he was speaking of was something she kept on paper so no one else was able to view it by going into the Starfleet members files.
"Andalib I'm leaving for the day," Lor called out to her receptionist loudly. John seemed to get the message when Lor started towards the back entrance, for when she turned to look at him again he was already walking away.
On the way home Lor stopped at Bones's office to see that he was grumbling at some poor nurse who'd left a patient with a needle in their arm. The nurse pushed past Lor after Bones made sure she was good and scared.
"What's wrong with you?" He asked noticing the way her eyes were set on glare mode.
"Some bozo came to my office and demanded to see my personal files, I swear he was a robot," she growled darkly. "I feel like I might go down the Bust again," she seethed. John had done more than piss her off; she was ready to rip something apart. The Bust was a sort of training gym that set robots against another species, it was a great way to let out frustration.
She'd left out the part about what John had spoken to her about and the way he'd gotten right behind her ignoring any personal space issues that their culture upheld. That was another reason why she was so angry with herself; she should have turned around and clopped him in the face, at least that's what she would have done to anyone else. But there was something about the way that he spoke to her that made her shiver and feel almost fearful of what he had to say next. Especially since he already seemed to know so much about her.
"You can't," Bones grumbled. "Don't get me wrong I love watching you wreck robots but tomorrow we're to report to the Enterprise and make sure its prepared for the new planet we're going to," he explained.
"But we have two weeks," she complained glaring at Bones.
"Don't give me that look," he said walking away from her. "Go home Lor, get some rest. Think about the new planet and what you're going to do to get me in trouble when we go there," he growled turning away from her.
"Fine," she finally agreed before turning away from him speedily.
"Don't be late," he shouted after her. Hearing her shout at him Lor turned towards him sharply before narrowing her eyes darkly.
"That only happened once," she snapped back at him before exiting the building. Bones chuckled at her remark, hoping that she would actually go home and he wouldn't have to bandage her knuckles the next morning.
The night was cold and Lor was thankful that she'd grabbed a jacket that morning, from Bones's office to her house was a good ten minute walk, not very far but far enough that someone could follow her without her knowledge. Her mind was so overrun by old memoires and thoughts of anger that she didn't notice at all until she opened the door to her building.
"Hold the door please," she heard as she was about to let it close.
Mumbling something under her breath she reached to hold it open until she saw who was behind it, the same John Harrison that had visited her desk that day. Pulling the door closed as quickly as she could she grit her teeth when he easily pushed it against her and entered the building. Lor breathed in deeply, feeling anger and fear lace through her veins and make her swallow shallowly she took a few steps away from him as he stared at her.
"Loralie," his deep voice was the same as it had been at her office.
"So you followed me home," she said trying to hide her emotions as best she could. "That's a, little strange Mr. Harrison."
"Which floor is yours?" He questioned walking past her towards the elevator.
Staring past the man with tired eyes Lor simply turned back around and headed out the door she'd just entered through, John turned to see that she was leaving and reacted quickly by grabbing onto her shoulder. His grip was tight and Lor had to wretch herself away from him in order to move at all, she tumbled out the door and down the steps with frantic steps. Taking off down the sidewalk Lor made way towards where she knew Bones would still be, but John had other plans for her.
He was far faster than she had anticipated and soon enough he was upon her. That was when they had started fighting, except that Lor was the only one throwing punches in his direction, it was apparent that he didn't want to kill her or anything of the sort.
0-0-0-0-0
At last his patience had run out and Khan reached for her neck again, this time he was too fast for her to even react and he pushed her against the wall with his hand on her throat. She snarled at him darkly and clawed at him arm uselessly. He hadn't expected her to be so wild in a fight, it was as if she had been a caged animal only recently released, but she lacked the strength to make him move.
Khan had been curious about Dr. Finch the first time he had seen her sitting in a meeting room dully, she was beautiful for being human as there were far more stunning life forms in the universe. The way her long black hair was pulled over one of her shoulders and tied at the end so as to keep it together and the stony intelligent expression in her green eyes. There was something else about her that stuck to his mind enough for him to research her and come to a dead end. There was nothing about her birth place or where she had come from in the file; her first sighting had been in the ruins of an old ship that had crashed into the Vulcan planet long ago. There were three other human bodies with her, one of them being a young boy whom she later claimed was her brother.
There was a flaw in her file that made Khan believe there was something missing from it, so he'd done some more research and come across a line of information that hinted at something viable to him.
She was defensive and cold when he started asking her questions about how she'd come to Earth, and when it came to talking about her dead brother she finally turned from him and walked away. Her cold expression said she was done talking for now, probably going to the other doctor whom she spent most of her time with.
Squeezing her neck tightly Khan moved closer to her when he saw her start to lose consciousness.
"What floor?" He asked her clearly.
"Seven," she spat out at him bitterly.
Letting her body fall to the ground Khan waited for her to regain her breath before clamping his hand down on her wrist and pulling her to her feet.
"If you try to run again I will break your legs," he hissed to her quietly. The girl merely growled at him before he pushed her body in front of his and led them back into the building and down the hall towards the elevator.
Lor coughed a few times while holding her neck gently, she was sure that John was aiming to knock her out but he'd let her go just as her vision started to turn black. Besides her fighting ego being seriously wounded Lor's mind was going crazy with thoughts of what was going to happen now that John was going to be in her home.
Placing her hand on the scanner she kept her eyes away from John the whole time, when the doors finally opened on her floor he pushed her inside so the elevator could leave and the door behind them close. Lor looked around at her messy apartment, between missions and working she rarely went home to rest or relax, her apartment was merely another place for her to put everything she had taken notes on and observed. Thus explained the maps and pictures that littered the walls and tables, Lor believed that if she were to put anything into her personal Starfleet journal someone would be able to hack into and steal her findings. So she kept everything on paper in her apartment, in no particular order since someone could still break into her apartment in search of something.
"What do you want?" Lor finally asked the man with venom in her voice. Her throat still throbbed but was starting to get better with the passing moments.
John walked away from her form into the space surrounding them, all around them there were notes and drawings of planets and solar systems, comparisons and alien species. The look on his face seemed wondrous as Lor only looked around in disgust. Now that there was someone else in her home looking at her stuff curiously she realized that everything about the space of weird. Sure people brought their work home with them but she pushed it to the limit. Perhaps the only empty rooms were the bathroom and the kitchen.
John walked further into the living room that was covered wall to wall in her research, the only thing he had to move around was the couch, and even then there were files he could have sat down and looked through on the cushions. Lor regretted not staying with Bones and helping him with whatever he was doing now, if she had stayed perhaps she wouldn't be in this predicament right now.
"I had not expected this," he muttered flipping through some of her drawings of common species to certain planets. "You're searching for it," he said turning to look at her skeptically.
His expression was different from what it had appeared to be at the office and when they were fighting, it wasn't stony and cold to hide his emotions; he looked almost pleased to be in her apartment. His eyes were accusing as he stared at her, she'd been slowly moving away from him as he wandered through her papers.
"For what?" Lor bit out while walking towards the kitchen ever so slowly. She had a few kitchen knives that she always left out of the counter so they wouldn't get lost in her mess of papers.
"Loralie," he spoke her name again. His expression reverted back a more stoic one as he moved closer to her, forcing her against the counter she let her hands roam the cold tile of the countertops until she found the handle of one of her knives.
"Don't call me that," she shouted pushing against him and whipping the knife across his form. John moved back easily, and continued to dodge any attempts Lor made at slicing through his skin; she was quick, but not fast enough.
He caught her wrist easily and forced the knife out of her grasp before pinning her against the wall to her bedroom, holding her hands down firmly with his own he looked into her wild green eyes before something else caught his attention. Lor turned her head to look past him and into her room, her eyes widened as she looked back at him to see that he was staring down at her.
Snarling at him viciously Lor pushed against his hold on her with a great amount of force, he simply responded by kneeing her in the stomach and stealing her breath and strength away from her. She slumped against the wall and fell onto the ground trying to catch her breath as he walked around her struggling form.
Walking into the room Khan looked around the room slowly, everything he had been curious about because of Loralie Finch was right in front of him. The crash, who had taken care of her, how it connected with who had found her, everything except where she had come from. There was a map of a ships planned course; it was the ship that they had found her in. There was also a faint red line of something else on the map, it continued until the end of the paper but did not show him what he was looking for.
He'd only been curious about the crash because of the ship that she had been found in; there was more to the story than was given in her profile. There was a good chance that what he was looking for was somewhere in her apartment, what with all the information lining the walls he would surely find out.
Still it was magnificent, the girl had proven worthy of his time for the next month.
"You are searching for your home," he said walking back out of the room. She stared at him bitterly, her eyes held a hint of defeat in them but otherwise she looked ready to lash out at him again. "If you tell anyone of me I will kill Dr. McCoy and James Kirk, am I understood?" He questioned watching her expression change only slightly in response to him. Her eyes darkened and she glared at him but didn't answer, but she made no complaint. "Good."
BaB: I actually have a really good idea for where this story is going to go, and I'm pretty excited about it at the moment. I ask that you leave a review to tell me how I did and if you're interested in reading more.
I try to stay at least one chapter ahead of what's posted so I'm running low on steam I can still post something, just beat with me.
Thanks for reading!
