Solo Girl
Discoveries

An eternity passed. Or it felt like it, at least. Either way, enough time had gone by to leave Linnet feeling bored. One can only be frantic for so long, and she'd been terrified out of her wits for ages; fearing what she was going through, what was going to happen next, where she would end up. And so far absolutely nothing had happened.

She was tired of it. This nothingness that she seemed to be floating in was agonizingly static. She puffed out a breath of air, but didn't hear it. A while ago the fact that she was apparently deaf nearly had her crying; now, she was almost used to it. Idly, Linnet wondered if this was the world that hell bitch sent her to … but that would be horrible. All at once the panic returned full force, flooding her system with adrenalin. If this was really her destination, this endless black with no sound and no nothing — that was torture. That was insanity! Not even the mind of a slayer could withstand that for more than a few weeks. Mostly because the mind of slayer wasn't any different than the mind of a regular human, but still.

Her pulse quickened. But just as she was about to commit herself to a life of imaginary friends and deafening silence, she began to feel heavy.

Weight! Oh, hallelujah, gravity was returning. She found footing, balanced herself, and gazed around, ecstatic, as the black fell away, crumbling as though loose paint peeling.

She could hear again. She was in a field, or at least it seemed that way, and the sound of the wind again the grass was soothing. The grass was so tall, she couldn't see above it. The sky was blue and hazy, with fluffy white clouds drifting by. That was good at least. She caught sight of something odd though. Was that … was that two suns?

Okay, well, now there were other things to worry about.


"Atmosphere is breathable, Captain," Sulu announced, swiveling around in his chair.

Captain James T. Kirk face broke into a wide grin. Finally. Finally, a potentially habitable planet. Since the incident with the Romulans, it was the first one they'd come across in four months. He beamed around at the crew.

"Now," he said, rubbing his hands together in boyish excitement, "we don't know what could be down there, so I want people with combat experience. Sulu. And my chief science officer, of course." He nodded at Spock, who rose from his own seat. "Let's go."

"Captain."

Jim turned his attention to the Vulcan, who stood elegantly by his dashboard, hands clasped behind his back. "Yes?"

"Would it not be wise to bring the whole team of planetary specialists?"

Jim scoffed. "Too cumbersome. They can go down later."

"I would try to reason with you," said Spock, the corner of his mouth quirking up so very slightly one would have to be waiting for it to notice, "but I can see you have your mind set."

The young captain's grin broadened. "Great! Let's go exploring, folks." Eagerly, he hopped up from his captain's chair. "Chekov, you're on deck."

"Aye aye, captin!" the Russian boy replied cheerily.

Jim and his companions headed off to the transporter room, Jim's stride a bit bouncier than usual. He was itching for some excitement. He hoped something interesting was to be found on this planet.


Linnet was kind of at a loss. A different world, she could deal with. Hadley had a bit of an obsession with alternate realities and the like, so she was at least prepared for that possibility. Another planet was something entirely different. Her heart was beating out of her chest.

She'd known, of course, that there might be hundreds of habitable planets out there, but the idea of actually seeing it was so far out of reach she never gave it a second's thought. She had enough to worry about battling the forces of darkness; she didn't need the possibility of aliens occupying her mind, too.

She took a deep breath, exhaled it slowly. When in doubt, it was best to slip into slayer-mode. Linnet closed her eyes, checking her senses. She felt her surroundings. There was nothing to set off alarm bells, and she was fairly confident in her spider-senses. Feeling safer, but not entirely comfortable in this strange place, she opened her eyes.

She wasn't sure what to do, but with her mind ever so slightly calmer, she decided to start walking. Left seemed to be the way to go, but whether that was slayer-intuition or a random guess wasn't really clear.

This planet was hot. The grass smelled nice, even though it was making her skin itchy, and the breeze was gentle, but it was just much too warm. Within minutes, she could feel the burn that was threatening to mar her face, and her dress was sticking to her uncomfortably. She had to wonder why she ever bothered buying nice things. They always got ruined.

Twenty minutes went by, and Linnet was still lost in the tall grass. She was beginning to realize how futile this situation was. She was completely helpless. She was so used to running to Hadley whenever anything came up that she was entirely lost on her own, and now he was nowhere she could reach him. Worst of all, that bitch Hecateri was still back on Earth, doing god knows what. She could only hope the other slayers had arrived in time to stop her.

Frustration was beginning to get the better of her. She was trapped here and she hated that, more than not knowing what was going on in Richmond. Desolate, she stopped. There was no point walking anywhere. Where was she going to go? Over there to that other endless patch of grass?

She groaned, dropping to the ground, crushing even more grass. Sitting cross-legged, she clutched her head and tried to keep the tears at bay, but the negative thoughts kept coming. There was no way to contact Hadley. No way to get out of this. She was on a weird planet of grass and heat. Feeling entirely alone, Linnet let her guard down and cried.


"Do you hear that?" Jim stopped in his tracks. Beside him, Spock and Sulu ceased their pace.

"Hear what, Captain?" asked Sulu, glancing around curiously. All they could see was grass.

"Shh!"

The Vulcan and two humans perked up their ears, listening intently. Sulu was about ready to declare that it was nothing when, in the distance, they heard a wail. Shortly following that, a female voice screamed something they couldn't make out, but there was no doubt she was anguished. Maybe even in trouble. At once, the captain and his first officer began sprinting, Sulu right behind them, in the direction of the sound.


"I'm such an idiot!" Linnet screeched, in the midst of a full on self-pity-party. She wailed, the tears streaming down her face freely, tracking black mascara in their wake. "What was I thinking? I shoulda listened, I shoulda listened. Oh, Hadley was right!" She collapsed into a heap on the ground, her hands over her head, heaving impressively sorrowful sobs.

Though she was making the biggest mistake any slayer could make — that is, not paying a lick of attention to her surroundings — Linnet felt them before she heard them. Her skin tingled and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. In reaction, her tears stopped immediately, and Linnet was on her feet in a flash, wide-eyed and action ready.

Now she heard them. The stomp of feet, the rustle of grass as they whipped past. There were several of them, whatever they were, and they were running in her direction. They were close.

Quietly, Linnet moved off to the right. She crouched down in the grass and waited.

Their pace slowed, and she heard voices presently. They were male, by the sound of them, and thankfully they spoke English.

"I don't hear anything," one was saying. "What happened to her?"

A cool, even voice spoke next. "It is reasonable to presume that she heard us and was frightened of being discovered."

Linnet smiled to herself. The best part about being a slayer was occasionally being able to kick around the guy who thought women were comparable to skittish kittens. Actually looking like one, as Linnet did with her pigtail braids and big eyes, made it even better.

"We have to find her. She could be a primitive inhabitant of this planet."

"What do you suggest, Captain?" asked the aloof voice.

"Should we split up?" another voice chimed in.

"No," said the first. "She was somewhere around here. I don't think she went far. Hang on." After a beat, he spoke again. "Chekov, I need a reading of life forms within twenty yards of where we are."

She heard a faint crackling, but couldn't discern the response.

"Yes, humanoid. Oh." The man lowered his voice then. Linnet couldn't hear what was said, but she knew when they were moving toward her. As silently as possible, she backed away and to the left, but they followed her. She moved forward. They followed. Right, and then left again.

Shit. Somehow they had her position. She tried to evade them as long as she could, making crop circles in the field, but it was useless, and her attempts to keep quiet slowed her down. They were very close. She could see the grass rustle as they moved, which meant they would see it if she did moved too.

She could run. But then again, her slayer alarms weren't going off, and staying out here by herself wasn't going to get her anywhere. Reluctantly, Linnet let herself be found. She didn't have much of a choice anyway.

The men broke through the grass, but one of them didn't immediately see her and just kept going. The blond man, donned in a green-yellow shirt, walked right into her, and would've tripped over her (for she was still crouched) had his companion not grabbed him back in time, with almost unnatural reflexes. She took note of this.

The three men stared down at her, and slowly Linnet rose, falling into a defensive stance as she eyed them. They were all young, in their mid-twenties probably, and seemed to be in uniforms of some kind. The blond man had a charismatic aura about him, and a look of triumph graced his features despite his near tumble. The man on his right was a handsome Asian fellow, and beside him stood the tallest of the three. His hair was pitch black, trimmed in an unusual fashion, and he had oddly slanted eyebrows. His face remained the perfect picture of practiced composure, though his eyes held a barely detectable hint of curiosity. And … no. No. His ears were not pointed.

Linnet gawked.

Noticing her gaze, the pointy-eared man raised an eyebrow, but did not comment.

The blond man spoke up first. "We mean you no harm."

Her eyes snapped to his. "Who are you?" she demanded, glancing back and forth between him and the tall man's ears. Maybe "what" would've been the better question.

She hated these humanlike non-undead demons. They fooled her senses more than she cared to admit.

"Captain James T. Kirk, of the USS Enterprise. This —" he gestured to the demon "— would be my first officer, Commander Spock, and this is Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu."

"I'm sure I'm charmed. What do you want?"

The captain shared a glance with his first officer. "We heard you crying," he stated.

Linnet felt a blush rising to her cheeks. "I wasn't crying," she asserted uselessly. Like they couldn't see her puffy red eyes. "I was … uh. Well, it's none of your business, really."

"Right …" said the one called James. "Listen, we mean you no harm," he repeated. He took a step forward.

In reaction, Linnet stepped back swiftly, tightening her pose. She realized she was being a bit hostile and she didn't care. If they weren't planning to kill her or do horrible things to her, they could deal with it like gentlemen. "If you come any closer, I will kick your ass."

The men's eyes widened. The demon remained as calm as ever, watching her quietly.

James stepped back, holding up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, watch it now, I said we meant no harm."

"We were unaware that this planet was inhabited." The demon's voice was smooth, even. He was the one who had suggested she was frightened of being discovered. She wouldn't have hated the opportunity to prove him wrong.

"I don't inhabit this planet," Linnet protested. "And what —" she pointed a finger at the demon " — the hell kinda demon are you?"

The demon raised one eyebrow delicately, but before he could reply James jumped to his defense. "Hey, Spock's not a demon! He's a Vulcan, one of the last."

She had no idea what that meant. She shrugged. "He's not human. Ergo, demon."

James glared at her now. "What kind of people raised you? Vulcans are our allies."

She bristled at the comment. "I don't ally myself with demons."

"He's not a demon! Demons don't exist."

"He's not human."

The two men looked absolutely baffled, while the Spock demon stated calmly, "I was born on the planet Vulcan. I am half-human."

Linnet shifted uncomfortably. It was a tricky situation. They could all be demons in guise for all she knew. Spock's demeanor unnerved her. He seemed mechanical, but underneath she could tell that he wasn't. The slayer racked her brain for a list of demons that had emotion, but suppressed it, and came up empty. This was one of those situations where she wished she paid more attention to Hadley.

What choice did she have but to trust them? And they were only three … if it turned out to be a mistake she could probably take them. As long as they didn't have any Hecateri-like powers.

"Um, well. I don't know what a Vulcan is, but since you're half human I'll let you live for now."

No one looked quite sure how to react. The demon said smoothly, "Thank you."

The one called James glanced sidelong at him as though he were insane.

Turning his attention back to Linnet, he asked, "Well, you know who we are. Who are you?"

"Linnet Dalton," she answered, though she felt it was kind of pointless. On Earth most of the demons she ran into vaguely recognized her name, but she was sometimes confused for another Virginian slayer named Lynn, which was incredibly embarrassing because Lynn Ramsey was only sixteen.

"Is this planet your home?" asked James. She could take that to mean it wasn't theirs, she supposed. How strange. How'd they get here?

"Earth is my home."

The men all shared a look.

"How'd you end up here?" asked Sulu.

"Uhhh …" Linnet remembered how ridiculous these things could sound to people who hadn't been surrounded by magic since the age of thirteen. Telling them a demon cast a spell on her seemed so stupid al the sudden. Accusing someone of being a demon seemed even weirder. They must think her insane. "I made a mistake. Listen." She turned her attention over to Spock, trying to keep her eyes away from his ears. "That thing about killing you. I'm sorry about that. I've been having a bad day."

Spock just looked at her, and an uncertain silence passed.

"Are you … guys from Earth?" She hoped that wasn't an obvious question.

"Well, Spock's not," James answered lightly. "But Sulu and I are. Here, you know what, we'll take you back to the ship. We'll see about getting you back there." He smiled charmingly.

"Oh," said Linnet, feeling awkward. Suddenly she was acutely aware of how she must look. Her makeup smeared, her eyes red, her hair falling out of its braids. Her social skills were kind of lacking when it came to men, as slaying tended to interfere with the whole dating scene, and honestly she didn't know how to respond to the captain's flirtatious smile. "I wouldn't want you to go out of your way just for me."

"It's really no problem."

Sulu rolled his eyes, and Spock spared James a glance.

"Honestly, I'm not sure it'd do any good."

"What do you mean?"

"It's complicated." Then the obvious hit her. "What year is it?"

"Year?" He frowned. "2258."

Linnet relaxed her stance in shock. "What?"

"2258," Spock supplied helpfully.

"Uhnn," she said intelligently. "Oh Jesus."

"Are you all right?" asked Sulu.

Linnet sat back down, rested her chin atop her knees. "No, I'm not. This is the second worst thing to ever happen to me." And fast approaching the worst thing, but that would only happen if she were positive there was no way home. For now, she held out hope, and that incident with the parasite still haunted her enough to keep the number one spot in the list of Horrible Things That Have Happened to Linnet.

"We should go back to the ship," said Sulu.

Spock nodded. "Dr. McCoy should examine her, to be sure she is sound of mind."

"Hey!" snapped Linnet, but it was with a half-hearted indignation. "I'm perfectly 'sound of mind.' I'm just a little lost."

"Scotty," James said into a talky-thing. "Beam us up."

Linnet nearly had a panic attack when the white light tendrils began to shimmer around their bodies. Not this again.

But this time there was no darkness. The light faded away swiftly to reveal a bright, white room. They seemed to be on a dais, and off on the floor was console of sorts, with a cheery looking man seated at it.

Linnet's slayer sense was screaming at her. Rapidly, she unfolded from her position on the floor and whirled around, just in time to grab the wrist of a severely startled man, who was holding what looked like some kind of gun. Her reflexes kicked in and she pulled back her free arm, only to send a punch straight into the man's solar plexus, with so much force that he was propelled backwards against the wall. The gun fell from his hand, and then Linnet realized it didn't exactly look like a gun. Actually, it more resembled a hypodermic needle.

"Oops."


A/N: I just want to thank all my reviewers. You guys are the best! You made me one very happy writer, and inspired me to get writing asap. Thanks to everyone who put me on alerts, too. :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Keeping everyone in characer is high on my list of priorities, so do let me know how I'm doing!