A/N: Thanks to the two reviewers who took the time to give me some feedback. It was very much appreciated!
Now on with the story, once again from a new point of view.


Nyota couldn't help but watch her Captain worriedly. It'd been three hours in her estimation since he'd been brought in and his untypical behaviour concerned her. Not that he was injured, no, he seemed fine, but she had never seen him act like this before. When he'd first been shoved into the cell next to her, he had immediately started to tap against the glass separating the two of them. He had called her name and asked if she was alright, what had happened after he'd been taken away from them. And she had answered, but he hadn't heard her. Had continued to bang against the glass, not reacting to what she was doing at all. She had soon realized that he apparently was caged by a one-way mirror. She could see him, she could hear him, but he could neither. She had tried to communicate by tapping on the glass, too, but it hadn't worked. Whatever material these cells were made of, it was different from what they had back on their Enterprise. This seemed to be perfectly isolated, completely sound-proof.

After about an hour he had finally given up, had circled the room twice, tapping at every wall and pressing his ear to each of them, and had then let himself fall onto the bench in the back of his cell. He was still sitting and almost straight at that, but somehow he looked more defeated than she had ever seen him before. When Spock had nearly killed him, a calculating look had gilded the fear in his eyes, when Nero had attacked, determination had been the only thing to be seen on his face and when Pike had been shot, pure anger had been coming off him in waves. But now... Worry was all she could detect on him. She had only ever seen this raw emotion on him when a crewmember was in peril or injured, most of all when Doctor McCoy was the one in question, but even then had it not been like this.

Judging from his reaction to the mirrored glass, it was the complete isolation that caused this strong a reaction. James T. Kirk wasn't someone to be found alone. In fact, it felt as if he was always in company, always around someone, maybe except for when he was sleeping. It dawned on her how much he needed people. People to communicate with. People to look out for, even. Thinking back to their time at the Academy, Nyota could only shake her head at how wrong she'd been about him. She'd always thought he was an irresponsible, obnoxious prat who didn't care for anything but himself and maybe his best friend. Then he had become her Captain and soon she had developed a careful respect for how much more complicated his character truly was. And then she had piece by piece discovered to what length this man was prepared to go to protect those around him, especially those he was responsible for. When that had finally become clear to her, she had assumed it was a one-way thing. He cared for them when they needed him. And of course they would protect him if he needed it, but he never let it come so far. But now it became obvious that it was a two-way street, always had been. He needed them as much as they needed him. Being without his crew, helpless and cut off from all of them, rendered Jim Kirk utterly defeated. Upon realizing that, a strong wave of affection and sympathy washed over her. As little faith as she had had in his ability to be Captain even of a single shuttle let alone the Fleet's most advanced starship only three years ago, as much would she now do to defend him and his position. It really was amazing how strong the reactions were this man provoked in those around him. There was no being indifferent towards Jim Kirk.

For the last two hours, he had been almost motionlessly sitting against the far wall, staring off into nothingness. She would have given a lot for the possibility of communicating with him. Both to ease his distress and her own. She was somehow glad that he apparently didn't know about what this Spock had done to McCoy. It had been horrible to watch. Not only the deliberate, unnecessary use of violence but especially the man exacting it. She knew Spock, probably better than anyone else did, and his actions often seemed extreme, but he would never hurt someone just for the sake of it. Quite the opposite. Corporal punishment without legitimate cause was highly illogical, as he would state. The thought of him made her draw a pained breath. She missed him already and seeing this evil version of him made it that much worse.

It was sometime that evening when an to her unfamiliar Ensign showed up and brought a small tray with food for each of them. There wasn't much on them, only a glass of water and some rice in a bowl, by the looks of it. She didn't move to take it, just let it sit there on the floor. She looked over to Kirk. He ignored his completely. It wasn't that she didn't want to eat or drink, she just wasn't sure it would be healthy to do so. This world's Spock himself had said it. She was of no use to them, so what hindered them from poisoning her? While she was still pondering this, a voice suddenly brought her out of her reverie.

"Nyota?" She looked towards Kirk's cell. Without her noticing had he moved closer until he was leaning against the glass nearest to her. "I..." He paused shortly. "I don't know if you can hear me and I don't know if you even need to hear this, but in case you do: They brought me food so I guess you got some, too. It's fine, you can eat it. They're not trying to poison you."

She was surprised that he had guessed correctly. But then again, when wasn't she surprised by him?

"Spock – this Spock – told me we'll all stay alive because they don't know if they can reverse the process when not all of those who switched places are still available." He sounded bitter now. "Not the best of reasons not to kill someone, but I guess we have to take what we can get, don't we?"

Nyota realised he was still talking although the necessary things were already said and he couldn't know if she was able to listen to him at all. Another wave of compassion towards her Captain hit her. If he risked showing weakness like this, the whole situation must be even harder on him than she had guessed.

Apparently, he, too, noticed what he was doing and suddenly straightened up. "Okay, whatever. Point is, you can eat it." With that, he moved back to his original spot and settled down again. It didn't escape her attention that he himself didn't touch his tray. She wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't hungry or because Doctor McCoy's endless tirades about not eating stuff when he couldn't be entirely sure of the ingredients had finally paid off. She almost smiled at the variety of memories of the older man chastising the younger because he had once again shown an allergic reaction to some impossible combination of vegetables or something. If it wouldn't almost cost the Captain's life on a regular basis, it would be downright funny.

Sighing, she finally got up and fetched her tray. It really was only rice and although it was practically tasteless, she was glad to have something at all to fill her stomach. There was no knowing when she would next be given something.

Time went by and she steadily grew more tired. It must have been around midnight when she finally succumbed to sleep and drifted off into a restless slumber. She woke more than once, and every time her wary eyes fell onto the motionless form of Jim Kirk who was still sitting on the same spot and stared into nothingness.

A loud banging on her cell roused her the next morning. A new guard had appeared to release the one from gamma shift, who bid his farewell by brutally waking her. A mean smile played over the man's face when she reflexively looked at him. He then said something to his relief, too low for her to understand, and left.

The day went by and nothing happened. Kirk alternated between sitting and pacing restlessly but didn't again try to communicate with her. He reminded her of a caged animal.

She didn't know if she was relieved because she was left in peace or if she wished someone, anyone, would come. At least then she could have tried to ask about the others. Her mind kept replaying the moment Doctor McCoy's arm had been broken and how he had swayed on his feet from the pain. She silently prayed that he had been allowed to mend it. Although she highly doubted it. And Pavel... The young Russian had looked terrified when he had been dragged out of the CMO's office. But at least she could be sure they wouldn't severely harm him. They needed him fully functioning if they wanted to get things back to normal as soon as possible.

When alpha shift was over and the guy from last night's beta shift took over, she was already waiting for someone to hopefully bring a tray of food again. She had marvelled at Kirk's ability of staying away from the water and rice until she had remembered what she had heard about his childhood. If he really had been in that colony all those years back, his body probably didn't react in the same way to food deprivation as it normally should anymore. That would certainly explain why she had more than once witnessed Doctor McCoy practically grabbing Kirk's collar and pulling him to the Mess to get some food into him. Again her heart ached for the man she had almost despised only a few years ago.

The door separating the Brig from the corridor opened with a hiss and she expectantly lifted her head. It wasn't the Ensign from the day before but three Lieutenants in red shirts. She knew two of them, Moles and K'Tan, they belonged to Security, so probably the third one did, too. They were nice guys on her Enterprise but after what she had experienced in the last thirty hours, she didn't even hope for it to be the same here.

They walked to her guard and spoke to him. Whatever they were saying needed a moment to get the man's approval, but then he nodded and turned towards her. He entered something into the control panel on the wall of her cell and suddenly it opened. Her confusion only lasted a second. The way the four men were now slowly walking towards her made their intentions pretty obvious.

"Well, well, well", the man she knew as Moles said, "I say we have a little fun with this beauty here. Seize the opportunity." His grin was sickening.

She backed towards the wall bordering on Kirk's cell and lifted her arms in a defensive stance. She was scared and could her heart feel pumping three times as fast as usual, but she wouldn't go down without a fight. She had never been one for the role of damsel in distress. She had always stood her ground, had always defended herself and she wouldn't stop now. If four grown and physically top fit men were to much for her, she could live with it. But she would never surrender without even trying.

"Oh, look at that, she wants to play." That was the unknown man.

"Wants to make it even more fun". K'Tan.

"All the better for us". Moles again. The blonde man ws standing slightly in front of the others, clearly, he was the leader. "Let's see what we've got here." He came nearer and reached out, apparently intending to grab her hair. Instinctively, she slapped away his hand. He raised his eyebrows at her, then turned to his companions. "You see that? She's serious." He laughed and looked back at her. "Okay, you can have that, too, if you want." Like an attacking snake he rushed forwards and grabbed her wrists, still grinning menacingly. Her body switched to auto-pilot. All the lessons in hand to hand combat rushed through her mind and without consciously thinking about it, she reacted.

She violently pulled her left leg up and thrust her foot into the man's midsection. He instantly let go off her and stumbled back, gasping. She obviously had taken all of them by surprise. Neither man laughed anymore. Their faces were now masks of pure hatred, and she knew they wouldn't show her any mercy.

K'Tan charged at her next and tried to punch her in the face, she ducked around him and heard his hand crashing against the wall behind her. He cursed. For a second she was satisfied with herself, then she saw the remaining men in front of her.

"Grab her!" Moles ordered.

She felt strong arms grabbing her from behind. She reached with her arms for her attacker's face and scratched it. He hissed in pain.

At the same time, the other three came nearer. The unknown man was too careless and caught her boot in his groin which provoked the other two to come at her from both sides. She struggled in the arms of her captor, kicked his shins and drew blood from his cheeks. She was aiming for his eyes but couldn't reach them. Although he constantly showered her with swearwords and names now, he didn't show any sign of letting her go just now.

Her guard, the most careful of the four, was to her right but still more than an armlength away from her. He cast a fleeting glance at his companion who was still trying to catch his breath, leaning against the wall. Apparently, she had hit the right spot and with force at that. To her left was Moles. His eyes were dangerously small and he practically sneered.

"This is not what we wanted from you", he snarled. "No, not at all." He took another step closer.

And she spit in his face. It wasn't planned and nothing she had ever done before, but right now, it seemed like the right thing to do.

"That's it!" He was furious now. With one last step he was within reach and finally grabbed her hair. He pulled violently and she screamed. It was the first noise she had made since the men had entered her cell.

"Yeah, that's right", K'Tan said into her ear. "Scream."

She was about to smash her head against his face when a movement at her cell's entrance stopped her. Standing there, face unreadable, was Commander Spock.


A/N: And a cliffhanger once again, I hope you'll forgive me for it ;-)
One question before you leave: Do you agree with my version of Nyota and especially how she sees Jim? I'm not entirely sure about it...
And a last annotation: As you noticed I took another liberty with the story's circumstances by indicating that this Jim lived through Tarsus IV, I hope you don't mind that.