Note: I own nothing involving Star Trek
Captain James T. Kirk was not having a good day. Not only were the repairs to the space station taking longer than planned, but he had just received a distress call from the Halberds. The news was not good.
Two of his crew were now missing and one was dead. To top it all off none of the Halberds knew what had happened or where the two missing members could have gone. The only clues were the dead ensign and drag marks, however the latter ended after a hundred yards indicating the perpetrators had beamed onto a ship to escape.
He had left several of his engineers to continue work on the space station and turned the ship on a course back to Jarvis. He would have left Scotty as well, but something in his gut told him he would need the man. Not to mention the Scot and the Head Engineer for the station did not see eye to eye.
It took almost a full day to get to Jarvis. Time he knew they didn't have. Upon arrival he, Spock and surprisingly McCoy beamed down to the surface. His CMO usually detested using the transporter for any reason, but he swept it to the back of his mind for later. Now he needed to concentrate on his missing crew.
"Captain, thank you for coming so quickly," Uhai the leader of the city met him and his senior staff upon their arrival. "Again I apologize for the bad tidings. We have searched everywhere and have not located the missing women."
"I understand and thank you for calling us immediately," Jim kept a tight reign on his temper, knowing that it would not do any good in this situation. "Can you take us to where they were last?"
"Yes, please, this way," the Halberd led them to the sight of one lone building that was in the process of being rigged for demolition. "Your Lt. Leigh is quite amazing. She managed to drop all but this building in the time she was here. And without damaging any of the surrounding structures. Quite amazing indeed."
"Who else was assigned to work with her on this building, besides Michaels and Nelson," Spock decided to get right to the point, his eyes searching the area. It was clear that the workers had no intention of leaving any time soon, from the amount of supplies lying around.
"Just two other Halberds, Kahl and Masu," he gestured the two Halberd men forward. "They had left on an errand to secure more charges, apparently this building had more pillars than anticipated."
"What do you two remember," Kirk turned to them immediately.
"As Minister Uhai stated, Lt. Leigh sent us to gather more charges, she claimed that someone did a 'piss poor' job of blueprinting the building," Masu explained.
"That sounds like her," McCoy murmured.
"In any case she needed more charges. We were gone only ten minutes at best," Kahl continued the story. "We had stocked the extra supplies in a truck that was parked two blocks over."
"Why so far away," Kirk frowned.
"We asked Lt. Leigh the same thing," Masu shrugged. "She stated 'if we wanted to blow ourselves to kingdom come then by all means we should bring the truck closer'. We gathered that meant it was dangerous to have extra explosives near 'ground zero', as she called it."
"No shit," McCoy rolled his eyes but held his tongue further after a look from Jim.
"What happened when you returned," Kirk pressed.
"We saw Michaels lying on the ground by the main entrance. We ran to him, worried when we saw blood. We called for Lt. Leigh and Ms. Nelson but they did not answer," Kahl looked somewhat pale at the memory. "There was blood, only a little, but we think it was from them."
"Can you show us," Spock requested. The two Halberds nodded and proceeded to go over the site with the three Starfleet officers. Spock verified that there were three distinct sets of blood, all belonging to the crewmembers. Only Michaels' was in larger quantities.
Once done there they asked to see Michaels' body, where McCoy took over the examination.
"Blunt force trauma to the temporal lobe, puncture wound through the chest cavity," he observed. "Looks like whatever they shot him with after the blow to the head went all the way through."
"Why use such a primitive weapon when they obviously have a star ship," Jim murmured thoughtfully.
Spock turned to Uhai, noting that he looked more than a little worried. "There is something you are not telling us. Has anything like this happened before, Minister?"
"What… I mean, I don't know what you are insinuating," Uhai stuttered, now more than a little panicked.
"It's a legitimist question," Kirk now eyed the man, eyes blazing with suppressed anger. "I suggest you answer. Has anything like this happened before?"
Before the man could even answer another voice made itself known.
"Yes."
"Kira!" They turned to find the minister's wife walking toward them, a frown set on her face as she shrugged off her husband's plea to stay silent.
"No. You did not wish to tell them before for fear they would not send aide. Then you assumed 'they' would be too afraid of the Federation to make such an attempt," the woman glared at her husband, not backing down.
"Who are 'they'?"
"They are a group of pirates, marauders, whatever you wish to call them. They are scum that prey on others," Kira turned to them standing tall. "They have made similar 'heists' before. Each time the targets are different. Sometimes they want only males, sometimes only females, or both depending. I have heard they have done similar to other planets in this sector."
"And why do they take these captives," Jim felt dread filling his stomach.
"For pleasure, or sport," she answered matter-of-factly. "Whatever they think will draw the most attention and the most money."
"Wait, they take hostages then sell them as whores or pit 'em in dog fights," McCoy nearly growled.
"Yes, that is the gist of it," the minister spoke up now. "We and the other planets have been unable to prevent it. Even with increased guard. These ruffians grow bolder all the time. And none can chase after them…"
"Why not," Kirk demanded, anger growing the more he heard. He had brought his people here, he had ordered them to stay, and now they may die for it or worse.
"They operate from within the Neutral Zone."
A tension filled silence settled over the group. Finally it was Jim that spoke.
"And you chose not to share this fact, why," the barely controlled rage in his tone caused Spock to step closer. The Vulcan knew he might have to restrain the captain.
"As Kira said, we were afraid you would not help us with the demolition and rebuilding," Uhai finished lamely.
"On the contrary minister, we would have helped, but I would have put more security in the area had I known there was a possible danger to my crew," snapped Kirk.
"I…I am sorry," Uhai muttered abashedly.
"Captain," Spock intervened before Kirk let his emotions get the better of him. "At this time it would be wise to look for any possible signs of the kidnappers, as well as alert Starfleet of such activity in this quadrant. We must follow regulations."
McCoy and Kirk were both seconds away from telling Spock where he could shove the regulations when Kirk's communicator beeped.
"What is it," he snapped harsher than he meant.
"Captain," Lt. Uhura's voice came across loud and clear. "I'm picking up a signal. It's a Starfleet frequency, but it's coming in fairly weak."
"Where's it coming from?"
"The Neutral Zone, sir."
The three officers shared a look. "Understood, tell Scotty to stand by, we're on our way up. Kirk out." Turning to the minister and his wife he frowned in agitation. "We'll call the Station and have them send some engineers to help finish the job and the rebuilding, only this time there will be more security. Right now we need to go save our crew members."
"We understand Captain Kirk, and thank you," Kira advised for her husband, the other too flabbergasted at the continued assistance to speak. "I wish you luck in finding them. I only hope that Lt. Leigh and Nelson are strong enough for the trails they will face."
"Yeah, I can only imagine how happy they'll be to learn they'll be sold as whores," Kirk drawled sarcastically.
"Oh no captain. It is the men that are sold as pleasure slaves," Kira corrected him. "They use the women to fight."
That caused the three to pause.
"Huh…"