Chapter Four

At least this time he had been chained to a wall without a bag over his head. The room provided the darkness enough though. The only thing Kirk could register was the ground barely moving underneath his feet and the occasional moan or groan for help from someone else that was locked up with him. Kirk knew that he would have to try to think up some sort of escape plan, no matter the headache he'd get from such an action. He couldn't just not do anything, especially after finding out that his captors had a plan to wage war against Star Fleet.

Twisting one of his wrists as far as the cuffs would allow, he felt along the key hole, trying to determine what exactly would fit inside it. When he didn't find a key hole and discovered that they were just pure metal, he sighed. His sigh was met with an answer from the dark that he had not been expecting, "Trying to escape is useless."

"That's not a very good attitude to have," commented Kirk as he turned his head slightly, trying in vain to locate the source of the voice.

"It may not be the best attitude to have, but it's the practical one."

Kirk refused to believe what this man obviously already had. He couldn't believe that an escape was useless. If he did, he'd surely go mad.

"Has anyone ever tried to escape before?" asked Kirk then, wondering if everyone had been too afraid to try escaping before.

"There has been one other person who has tried...He is using his family as motivation to get him through. He actually did come close, if I'm being honest. That's why he's locked up in his own room now."

"Who's he?" asked Kirk. "What's his name?"

"Don't know...I haven't ever met him. Haven't been here as long as him. He was the first captured Captain."

"They have been plotting this for a while then…" mused Kirk as he heard the door unlock then and squeal back on its hinges.

Now that Kirk's vision was clearer, he tried to view one of his captors as they entered the room and walked towards him, but still couldn't get a clear view because of the darkness of the cell. A bag was placed over his head once more, and he was unchained from the wall as he was gruffly led out of the room and the door was locked behind him.

He followed blindly down the hallways, wondering where he was going and when he would eventually stop. He soon got his answer as he was thrust into a room again and forced down into a metal chair. As they were strapping him in, he tried to fight against them, only to get rewarded with a few gruff punches to the gut.

"Stop trying to fight. You won't win."

"Easy enough for you to say now. Just wait until I'm out of this chair, and then we'll talk."

The familiar laugh reached his ears again, causing his anger to rise. He would have said something further had it not been for him hearing another, unfamiliar voice in the room.

"Leave him alone. Don't you have enough Captains anyway?"

"No one can have too many pawns in a game."

The voice. Kirk didn't know why it dredged up a familiar feeling inside of him. He knew that he hadn't heard that voice before, yet a part of him was telling himself he had. Maybe it was just the delusion from all the drugs he had in his system kicking in to full effect now. He supposed only time would tell. For now, all he could do was grin and bear the interrogation that was to come.


When Bones opened his eyes to look at the surrounding landscape once he had been beamed down, the first thing he noticed was that his legs were missing. He cursed under his breath, freaking out for half a second before he turned his brain on and realized that he wasn't feeling any pain from his legs missing so that meant they still had to be there. Using his hands, he found out that his legs were just buried deep in the sand below him.

"Just great...Tryin' to bury me, is he?"

Bones cupped his hands and tried to scoop the sand away from his legs so that he could scoot out of the hole that he found himself in. It took a few minutes, but he soon did. The black pants he had on were slightly tan now from the sand that still clung stubbornly to the material. Bones sighed and plopped down onto his butt. Casting his gaze about, he noticed that everywhere he looked was endless stretches of sand.

"How did Jim manage to drive a motorbike down here? There aren't any roads..." muttered Bones; the hot climate of the place getting him more grouchy than usual. "Something doesn't add up..."

Before Bones could even attempt to figure out what was going on, a small creature popped out of the sand in front of him. It served to surprise Bones so much that he let out a shout and scrabbled backwards and onto his feet.

"What on earth is that?" asked Bones, watching the fuzzy creature waddle towards him. It was no bigger than a baseball and was completely covered in sand colored fur. It looked up at Bones with reddish brown eyes, letting out a soft squeak.

"Oh, no..." said Bones with a shake of his head. "I don't do cute and cuddly. I'm a doctor, not some sort of vet."

"Did you make it in one piece, doctor?" asked Spock then in Bones ear through Bone's ear com.

"I did, but now I have some sort of furry creature starin' at me..." He muttered as he reached up to press the button on the device in his ear, watching the said creature waddle close to him and nuzzle against his arm. "And now its rubbing up against my arm..."

"What's the creature look like?" asked Spock.

"Well, it's small and round, and it's the same color as desert sand...GET OFF OF ME!" said Bones, standing to his feet to try to rid himself of the creature only for it to come closer to him again.

"I'm afraid, doctor, that you have adopted a pet. The creature you have with you is quite harmless, but it has now identified itself with you by rubbing up against you and will proceed to follow you wherever you go."

"Well that's just great! How am I suppose to carry out the rescue mission with fluffy pants here following me?"

"I'm sure you'll have ways of making it work, doctor."

Bones turned to look at the yipping creature by his feet. Knowing that he couldn't just kill it, he bent to scoop it up into his arms and look it straight in the eye.

"You'd better not cause me any grief. Understand?"

Tucking the creature under his arm, Bones began to walk north, hoping to find a road. He reached up to tap his ear device again, asking Spock, "Are there any roads nearby? I'm in the middle of the desert."

"I'll direct you to the nearest road," responded Spock before adding, "So, what did you name your pet?"

"Jim," replied Bones then with a shake of his head. "Because it's a pain in the butt like he is."