DISCLAIMER - I OWN NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS, PLANETS OR LOCATIONS, EXCEPT FOR MY OC ANNA.
STARDATE 20th March 2263
As the sun rose Leo opened his eyes with a squint. He opened them fully when he realised he wasn't on the US Enterprise anymore. He sat up quickly when the memory of what had happened on the Enterprise and since came into his head. Spock! Spock had been injured.
"Spock!" he called but there was no response.
He glanced to the spot next to him where Spock lay. Spock's eyes were closed. Leo swore in his mind and moved so he was kneeling down beside Spock.
"Spock, wake up, damn it!" he called again, taking hold of Spock's face.
Spock's eyes opened but Leo didn't let go, looking into Spock's eyes to make sure his eyes react like they should do.
Spock lifted his hand and placed it on Leo's arm to remove his hands. "I am entirely conscious, Doctor. I'm simply contemplating the nature of mortality."
Leo sighed before moving back to seat beside Spock. "Feeling philosophical?"
As soon as he'd sat he wiped his hands on his legs and against each other to get the dirt from the floor off.
"Massive blood loss will do that to you." Leo commented before sighing again.
"You asked me why Commander Kirk and I parted ways." Spock began, "I became concerned in the light of Vulcan's demise, that I owed a debt of duty to my species."
Leo took a breath, understand what Spock was saying. "You think you should be off making little Vulcans?" Leo nodded, "Yeah, I can see how that would upset her."
"I intended to discuss it with her further, but I received some news which affected me unexpectantly." Spock explained.
"What news?" Leo asked curiously.
"Ambassador Spock has died." Spock replied quietly.
Leo didn't know what to say. How can you emphasize with someone who has heard of the death of their future self? "Spock, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine what that must feel like."
"When you've lived as many lives as he, fear of death is illogical." Spock commented like he almost couldn't believe himself but wished to do so.
"Fear of death is what keeps us alive." Leo replied seriously.
"I want to live as he did. That is why I decided to redirect my efforts and continue his work on New Vulcan." Spock explained.
Leo looked at him in shock. "You're leaving Starfleet?"
Spock looked away. Leo wished he could see some indecision in Spock's face but as usual to him, Spock face was neutral. "What did Jim have to say about that?"
"I could not find the time to tell him." Spock replied, not even looking over at Leo.
"Well, I can tell you he's not gonna like that. Neither is Anna. Hell, I don't know what either of them would do without you. I mean, me on the other hand, I'd throw a party, but…" Leo began but didn't finish.
He glanced over to Spock when he thought he heard a small laugh. He was right. Spock had a smile on his face and then began laughing. Leo looked over to him shocked, his eyebrows going up before turning into a frown, "My God, you're getting delirious."
"I can assure you I am not delirious Dr McCoy." Spock replied his face returning to his neutral expression.
The pair sat in silence for a moment. Leo stewing over everything that he heard before realising. "You and Anna are bonded, married in fact, in Vulcan society."
Spock nodded in confirmation.
"Can Vulcan's get a divorce?" Leo asked curiously.
Spock shook his head. "Vulcan's do not see the logic in getting a divorce. A Vulcan marries only once unless their mate passes away early in life."
"So, how will that work, you going off to be with another Vulcan while you're bonded to Anna?" Leo asked, his left eyebrow cocked higher than his other.
"I will not bond with the woman who carried my children. She will likely be a widow of the destruction of Vulcan." Spock replied.
"What about children with Anna?" Leo asked, curiously as the news that Anna told him back at Yorktown lingered in his head.
Spoke glanced down at this. "Children with Anna would be…" he didn't continue the sentence but Leo could guess what he would have said. There was nothing like having children with someone that you loved.
Spock shook his head, "They would only be a quarter Vulcan. They would not be accepted into the Vulcan society."
"Can I give you my honest opinion Spock?" Leo asked with a small frown on his face.
Spock looked to him. "I welcome it Dr McCoy."
"I can understand you want to help your planet and your race, I do. But you and Anna have something that the rest of us could only dream of." Leo told him. "Your bond is… well, special. And to break it, to leave it behind. What do you think will happen? Do you think she would move on or live out the rest of her life in misery waiting on her mate that will never return?"
Even Leo could see the grimace on Spock's face as Leo spoke about Anna moving on.
"I wish only to see her happy. While I have a duty to my people I would not want her to suffer from my decision." Spock commented though even Leo could see that it was said with gritted teeth, or as much as Vulcan could grit their teeth.
"So, you wouldn't mind if she turned to someone else… like me." Leo asked, testing Spock's real feelings on the subject.
"I am aware of your infatuation with Anna, Dr McCoy. She would be loved and protected by you." Spock replied non-committedly.
Leo shook his head. He could clearly see that it bothered Spock to hear about Anna with someone else, to even think of her with someone else. He wondered if Spock had even considered that fact that Anna may not have survived the attack on the Enterprise. They had no idea who had survived and who hadn't. He knew that James wouldn't leave until everybody had left and Anna wouldn't leave without James. Had they gotten off? Had they survived?
Elsewhere Chekov jumped down to the level of rocks below where Anna and James were standing. Anna followed quickly behind, and then James. They were making their way towards where the signals had come from for the others, including jumping down the rocky hills that they were currently navigating. Chekov was in front with his tricorder.
"How far are we from the coordinates of that call?" James asked as he brought up the rear.
"Still a ways, sir." Chekov replied pausing. He turned back and helped Anna up the step. "Captain?"
"Yeah" James responded, waiting for the inevitable question.
"When did you begin to suspect her?" Chekov asked.
James sighed, glancing at Anna. "Not soon enough."
James walked past them both down the little corridor through the rocks.
"How did you know?" Chekov asked curiously as he and Anna followed.
James glanced briefly back to Anna before replying, "Well. I guess you could say I've got a good nose for danger."
James jumped down the next section with Chekov and Anna closely behind. He only took a few steps forward when they heard a click. James froze and gas began pouring out of the rocks on the either side.
"Run!" Anna yelled.
All three jumped forward but the gas surrounded them and seemingly froze them in place, leaving only their heads out.
The three of them waited for a while before they heard anyone approaching. A woman with white skin with black lines down her face came around the rock first, a strange stick that glowed as a weapon. Then came a familiar face that made Anna smile. Scotty.
When Scotty saw them, he froze. "Captain?"
"You know these?" The woman said with an accent turning back to look at Scotty as Scotty came closer.
"Aye, lassie. That wee man there is Pavel Chekov." Scotty said cheerfully as per usual.
"Hello" Chekov replied as much as he could with his chin caught in the frozen gas.
"And this little lass here is Annabeth Kirk, one fine lady friend if you ask me." Scotty continued pointing to Anna.
Anna smiled at the woman. "Hello, nice to meet you."
"And that handsome man is James T. Kirk. They're my mates." Scotty finished to the woman before turning to James, "It good to see you, sir."
The woman pushed Scotty out the way before pressing some buttons on her staff.
"What is she doing? Scotty?" James called in worry.
"Don't hurt them because they…" Scotty began as her staff charged. "No, don't"
The woman pushed her staff into the gas and the gas shattered making James, Chekov and Anna finish the jump they had been frozen in. All three hit the rock underneath. Chekov rolled one way while Anna and James rolled down the other with Anna landing on top of James. The three of them groaned as they landed.
"You're free, James. T" The woman said as Anna pulled herself up and then helped James up.
She glanced across to see Chekov pulling Scotty into a hug. "Mr Scott."
Anna then rushed around the rock and pulled Scotty into a hug as well. "It's so good to see you Scotty."
"And you lass." Scotty replied with a smile as they pulled back.
James groaned again, "Who's your new friend here? She sure knows how to throw out a welcome mat."
"This is Jaylah" Scotty said in introduction.
"I do not know what is a welcome mat." Jaylah commented.
Anna smiled kindly towards Jaylah, "Ignore him. He's just a bit bitter about being outsmarted."
Jaylah seemed to hesitantly return the smile, unsure about whether she wanted to or not.
"You find anybody else?" James asked Scotty.
"No, Sir." Scotty replied, "I'm sorry, you're the only ones. What the hell happened up there, Jim? Why were we attacked?"
"They were after the artefact James brought back from Teenax" Anna answered from where she was stood in-between Jim and Jaylah.
"Did they get it?" Scotty asked.
James shook his head. "No."
"Have you got it?" Scotty asked, making Anna glance over to James as well.
James shook his head. "No. I had to get it off the Enterprise, put it on a shuttle"
"You hid it in a shuttle?" Scotty asked incredulously.
"Yes" James replied quickly. "And no."
Scotty didn't know what to say and so just smiled confusedly. Anna sighed and shook her head before turning to Jaylah. "You have somewhere safe we can talk. It's probably not a good idea for us to be out in the open."
Jaylah nodded. "Come with me."
She led the way, Anna moving to walk beside her leaving the boys to bring up the rear. She led them towards what seemed like nothing when they approached but it soon revealed itself to be a ship when they entered. From where they entered they had to go up some steps to reach the bridge of the ship. Once up there Scotty began explaining.
"This is USS Franklin, sir. Can you believe it?" Scotty asked incredibly happy with the discovery. "First Earth ship capable of warp 4. Went missing in the Gagarin Radiation Belt in the early 2160's."
Anna nodded along with James as the two of them walked forward to the front of the bridge.
"I remember that from the Academy" James commented. "Captain Balthazar Edison. One of the first heroes of Starfleet."
"The question is, how on Earth did it end up here?" Anna asked.
"There's a lot of theories, lass." Scotty replied, "Surrendered to the Romulans. Captured by a giant green space hand. This far out, it's got to be a wormhole displacement."
"Can she fly?" James asked seriously.
"She's missing a few driver coils and the EPS conduits are fried, but Jaylah has done a marvellous job of getting the ship's systems back online." Scotty said waving over to Jaylah who was approaching from the back where Chekov was standing in front of one of the stations.
The woman nodded and approached the Captain's chair, "Thank you, Montgomery Scotty."
Jaylah sat in the chair just James was about to sit.
"Pardon me" James said as the two stared each other down for the chair.
Anna let out a little laugh and she could see Scotty smirking before she moved to James and pulling him away, whispering quietly in his ear, "Not your ship, Captain."
"Mr Chekov, can you plug in the coordinates. See if you can track the crew's location from the ship's sensors." James ordered.
Chekov nodded before taking a seat. "Aye, Captain."
Anna could help but laugh as Scotty stage whispered to Jaylah "He likes that seat"
"Mr Scott." James began gaining Scotty's attentions. "Tour"
"Yes, the mess hall." Scotty said, before looking at Jaylah, "Jaylah, if you will."
"Yes" Jaylah said, hoping off.
"I'll stay with Chekov." Anna commented, moving to stand by Chekov's side.
Scotty followed behind Jaylah but not before seeing James patting the Captain's chair. He shared an amused glance with Anna before following Jaylah out.
Anna glanced over to Chekov who was working hard. "Is there anything I can do Chekov?"
Chekov glanced up but shook his head. "I've got it. Thanks though Anna."
Anna nodded before glancing around the ship. She moved to the Captain's seat which definitely looked the most comfortable. She sat down in it and lay her head back, closing her eyes. She placed one of her hands over her stomach, rubbing it soothingly as if it would calm not only her stomach but the babies. Where was Spock? Her stomach was in knots at the thought that he hadn't survived the attack on the Enterprise. She'd rather him go to New Vulcan as he had planned than him die in the attack. But it definitely made her realise just how much she would miss him should he go.
A tear dripped from her eye as she sniffled a little. She heard Chekov stop pressing buttons briefly.
"Anna?" Chekov's voice rang out.
Anna's eyes opened. She wiped her face and took a deep breath before turning to face Chekov. "Yes, Chekov?"
"Are you okay?" Chekov asked worriedly. He'd never seen her actually cry before.
Anna sighed but nodded. "I'm fine. I'm just worried about everyone else, about Spock, Leo, Nyota, Sulu and the others."
Chekov nodded. "We'll find them and we'll save them Anna"
Anna nodded with a smile at Chekov's attempt to cheer her up. Suddenly Chekov's station lit up. Chekov immediately turned his full attention to his screen.
"I'm picking up a transmission. It's Starfleet encrypted." Chekov said excitedly.
Anna jumped off the seat. "Narrow down the location Chekov."
Anna rushed out the room, searching the ship for James. She finally found them on the roof of the ship. She didn't bother looking around, she just got straight to the point. She didn't even both climbing up completely and instead just pocked her head out
"James! Chekov has intercepted a weak communication transmission. It's a Starfleet frequency" Anna yelled before climbing back down, knowing that all three would follow. She led them back to the bridge where Chekov was still working on the signal. All of them gathered around Chekov and the computer.
"Can you lock on to the signal?" James asked.
"Yes, but how do we get to them?" Chekov asked in response.
Anna was the first to spot Scotty raising his hand. "I have an idea, Sir. But I'm gonna need your permission."
"Why would you need my permission?" James asked confused. Both Anna and Chekov were equally as confused.
"Because if I mess it up I don't want it to be just my fault." Scotty replied making Anna smile a little.
At James' nod Scotty rushed towards another room. It was a transporter. Anna bit her lip at the thought. The old transporters weren't overly safe. Scotty began playing around with some the cables before calling Chekov over to put in the coordinates.
"There's two of them." Chekov said as the readings came up on the screen.
"Best to do it one at a time." Scotty replied as he began pressing more buttons.
Anna and James stood directly in front of the transporter pad as the first person was beamed in. A familiar blue shirt, clean cut black hair and pointy ears appeared. Instantly they could see that something was wrong as Spock bent over slightly.
Anna dashed forward calling "Spock!"
Spock turned, his breathing heavy and relief was clear on his face. Anna paused as she saw the injury on his side but quickly moved into motion and lifted an arm over her shoulders to help him off. James also rushed forward to help, placing Spock's other arm on his shoulder. They helped him to the side.
"Spock! You're alive!" Anna exclaimed with a watery smile as she placed a hand on his cheek.
Spock actually smiled in response, placing a hand over her hand. He lent forward placing his forehead on hers. Anna's didn't care at this moment that they had 'separated'. She just wanted to be able to feel him, see him and be comfortable by him.
"Beaming the second person now Captain." Scotty announced causing James to break away.
In a moments time Leo also appeared. He reacted to being beamed up worse that Spock did.
"Good to see you in one piece, Doctor." Scotty called.
"Am I?" Leo asked, placing his hands on his stomach. "I feel like my innards have been to a barn dance."
Scotty walked to Leo's side, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Aye, well, these old transporters were only ever used for cargo but a few modifications seem to do the trick. I thought it best to beam you one at a time, though. You know, in case you got spliced."
Leo glanced over to where Spock and Anna stood, finally separating their foreheads. "I couldn't imagine a worse scenario."
James smiled. "Good to have you back. You all right?"
Leo waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah. I'm fine. He's hurt.
"I am functioning adequately, Captain." Spock disagreed.
"Spock you can't even stand up straight" Anna argued, looking worriedly at his injury. She'd forgotten about it in joy of seeing him alive.
Leo agreed, "In a pig's eye, you are!"
"Captain, we discovered that the stolen artefact appears to have come from this planet…" Spock began before he began to drop.
Anna caught him as best she could. Leo and James both jumped forward to help.
"Damn it, Spock!" Leo exclaimed. "Are there any medical supplies on this thing?"
"This way." Jaylah said, leading them out.
James motioned for Anna to move so he could help Leo get Spock to wherever Jaylah was taking them but Anna shook her head. She could handle it.
She led them to the mess hall where Anna and Leo carried Spock to the sofa and sat him down. Leo then moved to get the medical supplies that Jaylah had fished out. James grabbed the closest thing that was soft before placing beside Spock.
"All right, Spock. Lie down. Come on." James said as Anna helped Spock lie down. "There you go."
Anna kneeled down beside Spock's head, her right hand running comfortably down the side of Spock's face. James knelt beside her.
"How are we gonna get out of this one, Spock? We got no ship, no crew. Not the best odds." James commented morosely.
"We will do what we have always done, Jim. We will find hope in the impossible." Spock replied, making Anna smile.
"Let's get you patched up first, okay?" Anna asked softly, glancing over to James briefly who nodded in agreement.
"No, Captain." Spock almost yelled catching James' attention. "You must focus your efforts on helping the crew"
"Well that's why I need you around, Spock." James said.
Anna seemed slightly confused as this statement made Spock look past James to Leo. James and Anna also looked back at Leo who just waved a few bits of equipment.
"These things are from the dark ages." Leo commented.
James sighed, placing a comforting arm on Spock's arm before moving away waving Leo in, "Bones."
Anna continued running her hand along Spock's forehead as he let out another pained groan. Anna lent down, placing a kiss on his forehead and whispering. "You'll be okay Spock. I know you will. I need you to be. I need you. I can't do this alone"
Spock's eye met Anna's but another pained groan came out of his lips making Anna's eyes water.
"Your needed so much. Leo needs you so he has someone to argue with. James needs you to be his logic to his emotion. I need you by my side. And…" She paused briefly before continuing, "Our baby needs its father."
AN: She finally told him.
I will struggle to get another chapter done before the 27th December but I'll try. If not you'll definitely get one on the 28th.