3 –
Days later, unknown planet.
The whole bridge crew was there when it happened. Actually, there were even a few members of their relief team with them. McCoy would have enjoyed the company and the dirty ground under his feet if only they had arrived there willingly. As it turned out, even the company of the brightest, bravest people of a generation didn't make up for being confined in this giant glass cage.
Some people really were twisted mother f-
A gasp interrupted Leonard's thought and he looked over his shoulder to Clarice.
In the almost two days since the captain-less group had been taken prisoner straight from the security of their ship in the most amazingly incomprehensible kidnapping of history, Clarice had been one of the only ones to stay calm and collected. Most of the others had had a moment or two of total freak-out, crying, screaming, or both. They had all tried to break the damn glass prison they were held prisoners in, but then one by one they'd realized it was no use. Their cell was in the middle of nowhere. Or at least it looked like nowhere. Only desert. Sand and dirt as far as the eye could see, and on every side of their cubic transparent hell.
Everyday, heavily armed humanoids wearing dark masks arrived on a shuttle, brought them water and food, and left again. They were a total of eight prisoners, and although at first they had all brought their heads together to try and find a way out, the discussion had started to slowly dwindle after the first twenty-four hours passed without any new idea. Their new room was basically a giant, empty cube of a weird glass-like material. There was one door, and the only electric cables visible encircled it and then plunged into the sand through a small hole in the glass. The prisoners knew the door was protected in some way. There was no handle and no other way that they could see or think of to open it. They had quickly come to the conclusion that it was wired to make them regret it if by miracle they actually managed to unlock it. Despite the two suns hitting them hard, they didn't feel heat. After their eyes had adjusted, it was okay. Then the night would fall and it wouldn't be cold. McCoy hadn't bothered to listen to the potential explanations that had been thrown around for a few hours. He didn't care about the identity of their captors or how they pulled off the kidnapping (beamed away from the Enterprise). He didn't even care about what would happen to him and the others.
There was only one question spinning around in his head, driving him crazy with new feelings and thoughts every time he considered it. What had happened to Jim?
They had all appeared straight into their glass purgatory, and no one had told them anything about the rest of the Enterprise. Their jailers had kept their mouths shut, not answering demands, questions, or the insults thrown at them. Clarice had been the first one to say what everyone thought, "It's okay, the Captain will get us out," reassuringly patting Janet, a communication officer. But hours had gone by, and no one had arrived. No one had dared voice out loud the possibility that the Captain had been taken too, but to another place, for other reasons. If the word dead had crossed anyone's mind, they had thought better than to utter it in Leonard's presence.
But then Leo turned, and he understood why Clarice now crumbled to the ground, as if the strings holding her up had suddenly been cut without warning. The silent shuttle had arrived again. Just in time for their meal, so Bones hadn't bothered turning. Except this time they were not five, as usual. They were ten. And half-walking, half-dragged in the center of their group was a man Leonard would have recognized with his eyes eaten away by vultures and his ears pierced to deafness. In a perfect symmetry to Clarice, Bones raised to his feet.
What had they done to him?
Jim couldn't hold himself up without help. His head dangled from one side to the other as he was pushed and pulled to move forward. More than once, he almost fell over before being caught and straightened. He wore dirtied, bloodied jeans and a black t-shirt turned grey with dirt and who knew what else. Without realizing it, McCoy had moved to the see-through wall, as if pulled by the appearance of his friend. Uhura at his left and Spock at his right seemed to have acted just like him. None of them talked, but Leonard knew he wasn't the only one feeling fury and thunder course through his veins. Someone said something behind them, and there were answers, but Leo didn't give a fucking damn.
They grew closer and closer, then the door swooshed open and they presented Jim to them as if he was their meal. The Captain stumbled in, and the men left.
Everyone was on him at once, but the crew was wise enough not to place themselves between the Captain and the Doctor right now.
"Jim," Leonard called, putting an arm around his shoulders to keep him up. Sulu was already on the other side, helping.
Kirk's left eye was so swollen it stayed closed, but the other one popped open and McCoy was taken aback by how fierce the blue iris looked back at him. Suddenly, the weight grew lighter in Leonard's arms, and Jim was holding himself up almost fine on his own.
"Did they feed you?" was the first question out of his mouth.
McCoy frowned in surprise and wondered if they had kept him without food in addition to the obvious torture session.
"Yes, we're all perfectly peachy."
Jim got away from the two pairs of hands touching him as if he recoiled from the contact, and walked into the glass room to check up on everyone by himself. Shocking everyone, Uhura only gave him a few seconds to reassure himself before throwing her arms around him.
"I thought you were dead," she whispered, but McCoy was close enough to hear.
Leonard glanced around. Everyone seemed relieved somehow, and he realized he'd been right. People had not dared speak of Jim's death for his sake only. At the same time, a new sense of defeat seemed to infiltrate the air. If Jim was trapped with them, he couldn't be the one saving them.
Only after several seconds passed did McCoy realize Kirk was not returning Uhura's hug. He had snorted at her low avowal, as if the mere idea of his death could be deemed absurd somehow. It was a dark kind of sound, and suddenly Leonard understood why the flash in Jim's eyes earlier had made him uneasy. It had looked way too similar to the savage glint the doctor had seen in the dirty blond's expression as he was choking him on the bridge. As Nyota moved away and quickly regained her composure, Bones realized Jim was on the edge of being that animal again. What had they done to him?
The Captain started to tilt to the left, and almost immediately everyone's hands jolted his way to steady him.
"No," he shouted them to a stop. His eyes slowly rose to meet Spock, who, come to think of it, had not pronounced a word in hours. "Don't touch me."
The Vulcan nodded to the order and retreated. He didn't comment but his eyes carefully observed every inch of the battered man. Bones quickly saw that Jim was exhausted and needed to rest, and he was adamant that any questions would have to wait. They were not going anywhere, were they?
"Wake me up before the suns rise. Do you understand? you have to wake me up before the suns rise," Jim first ordered and then kept repeating obsessively even as he started to nod off.
Just when Leonard replaced his own legs with a rolled up jacket to act as a cushion for a now sleeping Jim, the latter's voice raised clearly and as alert sounding as could be.
"Spock, the order still stands: don't approach." He didn't open his eyes, but he sounded unyielding, and everyone stood silent as they watched the First Officer, exiled to the farthest corner of the cube, nod again. "Tonight, only one on watch-out, rounds of 3 hours," he added. And then he didn't make another sound for hours.
.
Nyota woke up both Leonard and Spock, who had been in a deep state of meditation, when her shift as a watch-out was up. If they weren't too off in their calculations of the suns cycle, the first one would soon appear in the desert's horizon.
"It's time," she whispered, not wanting to wake up the others. Some were already stirring up though, and she just put a finger to her mouth when Chekov opened his eyes and found her hovering around him to get to the Captain.
She squatted by his side and looked at him for several seconds, probably assessing his state the same way Bones had tried to for almost two hours before he could actually fall asleep.
"Captain," she said very softly as she extended a hand to touch his shoulder. She hadn't even grazed him before his hand shot to intercept hers; blocking it in a tight grasp smoothly and soundlessly. His eyes opened then, and he stared at the woman several seconds, his eyes hard and demanding, before recognition finally dawned on him just as Bones started quickly making his way toward them.
"It's just me, " Uhura said, still careful not to disturb anyone else.
"Okay," he answered her, low and deliberate.
Spock hadn't even budged in their direction, respecting his orders, but Chekov was on alert now, and he looked from Bones to the Captain, waiting for someone to cue him on what was happening and what he was supposed to do.
Jim let go of the communication lieutenant and passed a hand on his face as if it could wash away dirt, sleep and pain at once. Carefully, he rose up to his feet, shaking his head no when McCoy extended his arms in support.
"Not now," Jim mouthed. He then looked up to the sky, which was starting to lighten up slowly.
Walking around the room, he inspected each and every sleeping individual in the room, all the while stretching limb by limb. He winced and his breath caught in his throat a few times, probably because of injuries the foolish kid didn't want Bones to look at yet. By the time the second sun was set in the sky, Jim was sitting Indian style right in front of the door, watching straight outside. Spock was standing up in a corner, hands behind his back, and both Nyota and Bones were sitting by his side. Leo had paced for half an hour before Jim had finally looked at him and advised to save his energy. So now they waited.
The suns progressively woke up the rest of the sleeping crew, and when morning really settled in night's stead, most of the prisoners were alert. Some moved to join others, Sulu and Chekov walking to stand guard behind their Captain for example. There were murmurs and quiet conversations for a moment, but Jim's obvious deep concentration ended up imposing silence just as if a heavy cloak had fallen on everyone, muffling the sounds until it was useless to talk any more.
This was a new Captain. They had seen James T. Kirk facing impossible situations, from staring into the eyes of weapon-wielding Klingons to quelling crazed tribes' rebellions and saving the universe. They had seen him win no-win scenarios, always with his unstoppable will to survive, that incredible force that emanated off of him in waves and was impossible to turn down or ignore. Until the last minute, he bit, kicked and fought. He loudly shared ideas and asked crazy questions to build even crazier plans of actions.
But now he looked nothing like that.
He just sat there, his hands folded on his lap, his eyes locked on a point far away with a burning passion that had never looked this savage. He was so focused; no one -not even Bones- tried to talk to him.
"Get ready," Jim then said, simple but powerful. Everyone rose to their feet, looking at one another and trying to understand what had happened until it quickly became clear: the shuttle was back.
The five usual black masked men walked out of it immediately, but leading them was a new face. He was a human, tall and lean, he sprung toward them quickly and his uncovered face was set in a furious expression that grew clearer as he approached. The six captors stopped before the door, and Jim slowly straightened and got up.
"What have you done?" the leader spit, his voice clear despite the glass barrier.
"You shouldn't have taken my people, Bruce," Jim bat back in the exact same tone.
"What do you think you can do from here? You have no idea where you are and you have no way to leave. You weren't even able to protect your crew when you were on your own ship, just give up."
"You really don't know me, do you?"
And then something impossible happened. The door opened.
Before anyone could start to comprehend that it had not been the captor's doing, Jim was at his throat. He advanced quickly, keeping the man between him and the other guards by never untightening his chokehold. He didn't stop walking and in one seemingly choreographed movement, he grabbed the first masked man's phaser and shot two of the others with it before they could react. It was set on kill. The three remaining guards tried to shoot, but the body of that Bruce man was still protecting Jim, so they hesitated. The captain pushed said body on the closest standing attacker and shot another one, never missing his targets. Spock, who had moved as soon as the phasers had been drawn, swiftly took care of one of the opponents using his psi-points. Kirk, now shield-less, threw his weapon away carelessly and ignored the last man trying to kill him – Spock dealt with him soon enough – to run toward the shuttle without a care for the fact that a few hours ago, he was unable to hold himself upright.
From where the other captives were, now pouring outside their cell, Sulu was the first to recognize the signs of a shuttle getting ready to take off, but before the wide doors closed, Jim had jumped inside. Bones, Sulu and Spock ran after him – one of them yelling at the idiot to stop before he killed himself – but the ship was sealed shut, and no one could see what was happening inside.
Time stood still for several seconds before the doors fell open, hitting the floor to cough the few steps that lead inside. And their champion finally got out.
"Damn it, Jim," Bones heard himself say with relief. The stupid genius had managed to collect a brand new series of injuries bleeding all over his face.
"Not now, Bones," he threw the doctor's way without even looking at him.
He was walking decidedly, each step could have made the ground tremble, his fury seemed so heavy. They arrived just as Chekov was picking up a phaser to aim at a slowly recovering Bruce. He passed by Pavel and grabbed the now severely bruised and dirtied man by the collar and arm, dragging him away just as easily as a lifeless doll despite his attempt at kicking Jim away.
"Stay back." It was Kirk's lips moving, but the man around them was barely recognizable. The aura he oozed, the voice he used… Bones wasn't sure he knew who that was. His order rang in the air and lingered, weighting on everyone like steel.
He pulled that Bruce guy far enough to be out of ear shot, and the rest of the crew just stood there, watching as their Captain all but jumped on the man on the ground. He landed with cat-like agility, one knee blocking a right arm, the other expertly digging into the leader's stomach to easily inflict damage if need be. His fingers dug into the other man's jaw and cheeks as he made him look up to the sky. This couldn't end well. Not thinking of anything but Jim, Bones walked closer, ready to intervene, but Spock quickly came up to him and stopped his approach.
"The Captain has issued orders," Spock explained, but Leonard knew there was something else. He didn't care though, he was close enough to hear and see Jim clearly, and he could stop him if things went too far.
"Look up," the captain said with this new tone of his, his own eyes locked on the target of his ministrations. His face drew even closer to Bruce's, and his grasp visibly tightened on him too. "I said look up."
Bones himself only looked away from the scene when several exclamations behind him forced him to raise his eyes to the sky. The Enterprise! The doctor had never loved the damned piece of junk more than in that second as it seemed to arrive right from between the two suns.
"My Enterprise. Did you think my ship, my men, wouldn't recognize your second-hand useless ersatz of a crew? Did you think you could replace us?"
"How is that –"
"You chose the worst possible moment in your life to take away my people from me. What had you planned for them? Were you going to abandon them here to starve, if your plans for the Enterprise had worked out?"
Bones wasn't sure what scared him most, Jim's hand moving to the man's throat, or the utter, irrational, immeasurable distress radiating from the Captain as he began to shake over Bruce's body.
"Captain this is not him. You are not there. Release that man; your people – your crew – is safe and unscathed," Spock said.
What the hell?
But Jim didn't move. He wasn't actually choking his opponent, but the hand was there, threatening to.
"I know exactly where I am, Commander," he answered, his voice still authoritative yet controlled. He didn't move an inch before a full team of armed red shirt beamed by their side. There were five of them lead by the head of security, also known as Cupcake within the Enterprise.
"Captain!"
Jim rose to his feet and caught the communicator Cupcake threw him with one hand.
"Bridge, this is your Captain. Beam the rescued crew aboard. I'll go last with our prisoner and security. Have a team ready to walk Mr. Bruce Bailey to the brig."
"Beaming the crew. It's good to hear you, Captain."
For the first time since the moment he arrived the day before, Jim's expression cleared. He finally looked up to the sky and gazed at the immensity of the Enterprise.
"It's good to be back."
.
The following return to the Enterprise, caring for the injuries (a.k.a, having Kirk in sickbay) and explanation of the whole episode flew by quickly. A group of men exiled out of Earth on a personal vendetta against Starfleet had used advanced alien technology slash mumbo jumbo to bypass the Enterprise's security and managed to lock the bridge long enough to beam everyone inside out, and use the same alien powers to transport an equal number of people in. This was beyond technology; this was what Earthlings called magic. Holding them captive in the weird cell was necessary because the originals needed to be alive for the copies to be able to keep up their appearances. This was far from being their first supernatural encounter since the Enterprise had embarked on her five-year mission, but it was still as difficult to comprehend to McCoy as the first time.
The plan had been to manipulate the Enterprise into starting a war with the Klingons (what was new?) and then using it to lose that war badly. Of course, they hadn't counted on Captain Kirk, who they'd beamed into their own ship and HQ for more personal fun and interrogation (on the off chance they could learn something useful).
"Their first mistake was leaving me alone in a room of their ship between interrogations," Kirk had explained. He had found his way through the pipes to a computer, and had hacked the system to send untraceable messages to key members of the crew of the Enterprise. That was on the first day. On the second one, he had slipped away again, but this time to find a way to track the part of his crew that was captive. He found the information coming from the cell soon enough (turned out it was highly monitored, but Bones certainly had no idea how) and was able to hack the door system too. It obeyed a recognition program, which was good for Jim because he easily added himself into the list of people with authorized access. Then it was just a matter of good timing.
Or at least that's how Jim put it, downplaying everything from the torture he'd lived to the utter brilliance he'd put to use. Oh how Bones was glad the kid was a genius.
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New pace for this chapter, liked it?
