Author's Note: I have been very flattered by the number of people who have listed me as a Favorite Author or put this story on alert. I hope to continue updating quite regularly as the plot is now beginning to thicken. If you do like the story, or hate it, please leave a note and let me know. Reviews are great motivation for me to keep writing even when I should be in bed.

CHAPTER THREE

Kirk was slightly worried that Lyla – Lt. Stone, he reminded himself – had barely been able to speak to him for a few moments before she fell back into unconsciousness. She had been too disoriented and relieved over their rescue to answer any of his questions about the attack, although that had not stopped him from taking a moment to admire her dark eyes. McCoy assured him that her body was dealing with the trauma it had suffered like most normal human bodies did, although he had also disclosed the fact that it might take her a little extra time to heal, as she was one quarter Betazoid. Kirk had never met a Betazoid before, or been to the planet Betazed, although like all cadets he was familiar with it as a member of the Federation. He was fairly sure that Lt. Stone was the Starfleet officer who was a distant relation to Ambassador Beril, whose daughter was thankfully still alive. Despite the deaths of the rest of the individuals on the Station, the lives of Lwaxana and Lt. Stone and the avoidance of a major diplomatic incident between Starfleet and Betazed was something to be thankful for, however slight it might be. He sighed quietly at the sight of the destroyed station still floating within the view screen and could see Spock's head turn toward him a fraction out of the corner of his eye.

"Lt. Uhura, please send a message to Starfleet Command that I would like to speak with Admiral Barnett as soon as possible. Update them as to the status of the Suwayda and our two survivors."

"Aye, Captain." Uhura's very capable voice murmured quietly in the background as Spock turned toward him fully.

"Captain, the Away team has re-entered the Space Station."

"Chekov to Enterprise." The soft yet consistently excited voice of Chekov echoed through the Bridge.

"Go ahead, Chekov. How does it look in there?"

"Not good, sir." The entire bridge could hear a serious of curse words being yelled in a belligerent tone of voice by what was most definitely Montgomery Scott and Kirk had to smile. Leave it to Scotty to put him in a better mood. Chekov sounded almost embarrassed when he spoke again and Kirk would bet he was blushing from that language. Chekov was a genius, but he was only eighteen. "The main computer has been severely damaged. It appears, sir, that the Klingons were attempting to destroy the mainframe as thoroughly as possible. Additionally, the area that appears to have suffered the most damage is the Hydroponics Bay."

Kirk frowned. Why would Klingons attack a Federation Station in the Neutral Zone to blow up a bunch of plants? "That's odd."

"Agreed, Captain. However, considering the more superficial damage to the rest of the Station's interior and the concentration of destruction in that area, I would conclude that something in there was their target. Mr. Scott agrees with me. He is attempting to recover what can be salvaged of the mainframe system."

"Captain," Scotty interrupted, "They did a fine job of blowing up this Hydroponics Bay. I'd say they set charges and blew it to Kingdom Come."

"What could they have possibly wanted to destroy so badly in a room full of plants?" Kirk sat down in his command seat but turned a thoughtful eye to Spock, who shook his head to indicate that he had no ideas as to the reasoning behind the Klingons' actions.

"No telling, sir. I'm hoping we'll be able to retrieve some imagery from the remains of the mainframe but I'm not holding out too much hope. Tell Commander Spock that I'll be remotely uploading them to his Station momentarily. To be honest, I'm not seeing much else here to salvage."

"Good work, you two. Return to the ship as quickly as possible. Engineering has beamed the remaining bodies to one of the cargo bays for storage until we return to Earth. We will destroy the remains of the Suwayda before departing. Kirk out." Kirk walked up toward the conn and clapped his hand on Sulu's shoulder. "Mr. Sulu, as soon as the Away team has returned and we are clear of the Station, fire two photon torpedoes at the engine of the Space Station. That should be enough to trigger a destruction sequence."

"Aye, Captain." Sulu's hands flew across the computer in front of him and Kirk nodded before turning again.

"Captain," Uhura's calm voice broke in before he could speak again. "I have Admiral Barnett waiting to speak with you and I have transmitted the information regarding the destruction of the Suwayda to Starfleet Command."

"Transfer him to my quarters. Mr. Spock, you have the bridge. Please take a look at the remnants of that mainframe and see if we can find out what the hell the Klingons were doing attacking a research vessel. I'm going to head to my quarters and update Admiral Barnett. At least we can tell Ambassador Troi know that her daughter survived."

"I will update you as soon as I locate any pertinent data in the mainframe, sir. It may take some time, as my initial assessment show that Mr. Scott was accurate in the extent of damage inflicted by the attackers."

Kirk grinned. "Good thing you came along, then. I know how much you love a challenge."

"Indeed." Uhura's eyes crinkled and she gave Kirk a slight grin at Spock's familiar comment. Kirk was pleased to note that marriage had not taken away her ability to be amused by her husband's unique speaking habits.

*****************************************************************

"Jim, we have a serious problem here." Kirk had barely taken a seat when a harried-looking Admiral Barnett's face appeared on the screen. It was never a good sign when a man as by-the-book as Barnett was calling you by your first name.

"Admiral, what's going on? I thought you'd be happy that Ambassador Troi's daughter was saved."

"Unfortunately, we're not going to have the opportunity to tell her." Barnett sighed heavily. "Last night, Ambassador Beril Troi was murdered in her home – shot in the chest." Kirk froze in shock. "Admiral Roman Conway has been arrested and is being kept under strict observation."

"What?! Admiral Conway? Wasn't Conway the instructor at Starfleet Academy who taught courses on non-violent negotiations? I took one of his courses." Kirk ran his hands across his face, a familiar gesture that usually helped to wake him up or to focus, its effects not helping at this particular moment. "That makes no sense."

"I absolutely agree with you, Kirk. I've known Conway for almost twenty years and the man does not have a single violent bone in his body. Apparently he was discovered by the authorities standing over her body with the weapon, raving about Betazoid traitors. Ambassador Troi had been dead for no more than ten minutes."

Kirk paused as a thought occurred to him. "Sir, I highly doubt it was just a coincidence that Ambassador Troi was murdered and the space station her daughter on attacked on the same day."

"No, I believe you're right." At that moment, Barnett looked every one of his years and then some. "The Betazoid Matriarch has already sent a screaming message to the Earth President and to Starfleet Command. Some are saying that there are rumblings of war on Betazed, or at least complete removal of their contingent from the Federation. If they were to rescind their participation, it could be potentially devastating to the Fleet. Betazed is one of only a few planets with naturally occurring dilithium deposits, and you know as well as I that when the dilithium stops, the ships stop."

"Sir, I do not think it would be a good idea for us to return Lwaxana to Earth right now, she's obviously at risk. We could make the trip to Betazed – it's possible that delivering the Ambassador's daughter safely to the Matriarch could help put us back in her good graces. I believe Ambassador Troi was one of the Matriarch's daughters."

"Absolutely not." Barnett pinched his nose and closed his eyes – it was obvious the man had not slept in quite a few hours. "That child is in more danger than ever. The Klingons, or whoever it was that attacked the Suwayda, most likely believe the child is now deceased – and that could work in our favor. While I agree that delivering her to Betazed would most likely assist in our diplomatic efforts, as we do not yet know who it is that is orchestrating this attempt to kill her and her mother, I do not want to risk telling anyone of her survival. Beril was a personal friend and while we may have not been able to save her, I plan to do everything within my power to see that her daughter is not harmed."

"Absolutely, sir. Whatever you need from the Enterprise, let me know. My engineering crew was able to recover portions of the damaged mainframe from the Suwayda before we initiated the destruction mechanism. Commander Spock and Lt. Uhura are currently attempting to retrieve and review any video surveillance from within the Station following the boarding by Klingons. It appears that they focused most of their attack on the Hydroponics Bay, sir. Do you have any idea why a Klingon war party would do something like that?"

"No, I don't. I hope that your review of the mainframe provides some useful context. The investigation into Admiral Conway's apparent murder of the Ambassador is on-going and I'm afraid that I must leave now to participate in the on-going conversation with the Acting Ambassador from Betazed. Please contact me when you have additional information. At this point I need you to focus on protecting Lwaxana Troi. We've got to figure out what is going on here before we proceed any further."

"Will do. I'll have Sulu put us in orbit around Saturn or Jupiter. I don't want to be this far out of the solar system in the event that we need to respond quickly."

"Good work, Jim. I'll be in touch. Barnett out." The screen flickered and then went black. Kirk leaned back in his chair, linking his fingers behind his head. The simultaneous attack on Lwaxana Troi and the murder of the Ambassador made no sense. Why would Admiral Conway, a man who had devoted the last twenty years of his life to the promotion of peace over war, suddenly shoot a respected Ambassador from a peaceful planet? And why the HELL were the Klingons blowing up a greenhouse in space on the edge of the Neutral Zone? They needed to see what was on that mainframe and he needed to speak to Lt. Stone in more depth. He tried to ignore the fact that a part of him wanted to see those dark eyes again. She's a junior Starfleet officer. Stop acting like a horny kid.

Jim sighed. He seriously needed to get laid.

***********************************************

"I'm glad to see you looking so much better, Lieutenant." McCoy tapped a few more buttons on the screen next to Lyla's bed and issued one of his infrequent half-smiles.

"I have to admit I am as well." Her throat was still killing her from the smoke she had inhaled on the Station, but the blessed drugs had rendered her shoulder pain free and the sight of Lwaxana happily, safely, playing in the corner of Sickbay more than made up for those horrific hours in the storage locker on the Station. Her brow crinkled slightly as she thought of the other children that she had not been able to save.

"If you keep frowning like that, your face will stay that way." Kirk smiled at her as he walked through the automatic doors, ignoring McCoy as he rolled his eyes out of Lyla's line of sight. Damn, the woman was good-looking when she wasn't covered in blood. Her long black hair had been washed at some point, and tumbled over her shoulders in a glossy shower – he had never been more thankful for a nurse's efforts to clean up a patient. Pale skin seemed almost illuminated, even in the horrific lighting of sickbay, which he considered fairly impressive. But what really struck him again was her eyes. He knew most Betazoids had black irises, rendering their eyes dark, but he had never really seen any up close. A man could drown in those eyes. Junior officer, he reminded himself firmly.

"Captain Kirk." She winced at the rasping quality of her voice, as did he when he heard how painful it must be to speak. "Thank you for saving us. Lwaxana and I. We would not have survived much longer."

"You don't have to thank me for that, Lt. Stone. Although, you could apologize for shooting me while I was trying to do it." He'd meant it in a joking manner but felt guilty when she looked shocked. He placed his hand on hers in effort to comfort her. "Hey – "

Kirk did not have the opportunity to finish his sentence as, in an instant, he was flooded with emotions that he somehow knew were coming from her. Those dark eyes were wide and staring at him, embracing him, and without control he felt himself gravitating toward her. Pain, anger, joy, gratitude, shock – everything swelling within her eyes was pouring into him and he felt as powerless to stop it as he had felt when the elder Spock had melded their minds. Dimly he heard McCoy calling his name, worry in his voice, but he could not see beyond the burning black depths of her eyes, emotions swirling – her own shock at the contact echoing between them – her face as frozen in a moment of surprise as his. He was, perhaps for the first time in his entire life, rendered completely speechless, his vocal chords frozen, his mind blank as her emotions overpowered him, rushing through him like a wave upon the beach, reaching into his core and grabbing hold with a power he could not begin to understand. Kirk felt in that moment as if her very soul was exposed and touching his own, a heady feeling of connectivity rushing through him. A wrenching pain ripped through him – through both of them – as McCoy violently separated their hands, and he stumbled back, gasping.

"Jim! Are you okay?" Kirk stumbled, his legs giving out, landing hard on the desk. Tears were leaking from his eyes and he heard a whimper as he looked up and saw Lyla's hands holding her temples as if in pain.

"Lyla." His voice rasped as painfully as hers a moment before. McCoy was kneeling next to him, tri-corder humming, but he could see only the pain on her face and feel the burning of his palm where moments before her hand had been.

"Hold still, Jim. Your brain waves are all over the place – I need you to calm down for a second."

"What the hell just happened?" He coughed, trying to breathe deeply and regain a sense of equilibrium.

"How the hell should I know? One second you're being your usual pain-in-the-ass charming self and the next you're both not moving and her monitors are going haywire. Hold on, this should help with the vertigo." McCoy squinted his eyes slightly when Kirk did not even have the where-withal to complain about the hypospray in his neck.

"That's never happened like that before." Her voice was soft from the bed and both men turned to look at her. "I'm sorry." Lwaxana had appeared out of nowhere and was in her arms, Lyla's uninjured right arm wrapped around her.

"So it has happened before? Scratch that, what the hell was it?" McCoy stood up, anger radiating off of him. "I don't appreciate a patient in my Sickbay injuring an accident-prone Captain." Kirk was at least able to muster a glare at him for that one, even as he took a deep breath and forced himself to his feet. His mind was still whirling, but at least his body's equilibrium had stabilized.

"As I am sure you're aware, Doctor, I am one-quarter Betazoid." Her voice was soft and her eyes apologetic as she looked at Kirk.

"And?"

"Then you know that the Betazoid race are highly telepathic, more so even than Vulcans. With my limited heritage I have never had the full capability that an individual such as Lwaxana here has – the ability to share emotions and thoughts with others. I do have some small ability, which is usually magnified by touch. It has never manifested itself so powerfully, though. Normally I am capable of only absorbing emotions from others, not sharing my own with non-telepaths." Kirk leaned against the bed next to her, still unable to look away from her eyes – still a little in shock. "Are you alright, Captain Kirk?"

He smiled crookedly. "I've had far worse things done to me by far more horrible people. I think I'll live."

McCoy rolled his eyes, this time not even trying to hide it. "Far be it from me to be concerned when your brains apparently shut down right in front of me. I give up on trying to keep either one of you safe."

Lyla could not bring her own eyes to glance away from his ice blue ones. The brief moments they had been connected had shocked her into silence, her mind carried on a torrent of emotions not her own. Never in her brief life had she experienced another's emotions as she had Jim Kirk's – the touch of another had been occasionally uncomfortable, but never so powerful. His shock at the event and his anger at the events upon the space station had been foremost within him. But buried beneath the surface emotions had simmered a spring of conflictions erupting with powerful force. Guilt for what she did not know, fear for his crew, a latent attraction to her as a woman that he was embarrassed enough by to try and suppress, and shock over the death of Baril…..

"Baril." Her face twitched but did not change, though Jim had expected her to cry when he realized what she had figured out. "Lwaxana, why don't you go play some more? I need to talk to the Captain." The girl nodded and slid off the bed and resumed her motions in the corner of the room.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Stone. I only recently found out myself."

"Why would someone kill her?"

"Wait." McCoy looked at them both in shock and spoke in an urgent whisper to avoid alerting Lwaxana. "Something happened to Ambassador Troi?"

"She's dead." Lyla whispered, the pain at the passing of her close friend and great-aunt ripping through her. Kirk was impressed that she did not cry or display the obvious pain she was feeling. He had felt the strength of the emotions running through her, felt them as deeply as he felt Spock's pain at the loss of his planet.

"Well, shit." McCoy scrubbed his hand over his face in a gesture that Kirk was momentarily amused to note reminded him of himself. "This just got a whole hell of a lot more interesting."

"Bridge to the Captain." Spock's calm voice came across the intercom.

"Go ahead, Spock."

"Captain, we have recovered a limited amount of video from the Station's mainframe. I believe you will be interested to see it."

"I'll meet you in the briefing room, Spock. Kirk out." He turned to Lyla. "Do you feel well enough to come with me? We need answers and as of right now you are the only person who may know even a few of them."

"Not that you're asking her physician or anything, but she should be okay to move a little." McCoy glowered at him but did not try to stop Kirk. The seriousness of the situation had occurred to him.

"Of course, Captain. If you don't mind me wearing my pajamas in the briefing room." She attempted a smile in his direction and began to slide off the bio-bed with McCoy's assistance.

Jim felt the same crooked grin from before emerge upon his face before he could stop it. "There's a first time for everything, Lt. Stone." She placed her hand upon his arm, and he noted her careful attention to make sure none of their bare skin was touching. Her eyes briefly met his again and she took a deep breath.

Her eyes showed a resolve that reminded him of the look on her face when she was determined to save Lwaxan or die trying. "Let's find out what the hell is going on."