Woo! Ten reviews is an improvement for sure! Now more please! Cause this is the second last chapter and I'd like some good feedback so I can write an ending so badass you won't know what to do with yourself. I'm hoping for maybe a lot more reviews? Please?

Anyway, thanks to MacGateFan (thanks for the constant reviews *gives cyber hug*), Du Feu Aux Cendres (you don't sound stupid at all! Your review was very much appreciated and big which made it even more appreciated : D ), Banbi-V, starfire angel, Kelgadis, Optimist Prime (I laughed very much at your clever pen name! Thank you for your encouraging complements; reading that review over and over again got me through half of this chapter!), JadeMac2442 (apology accepted!), Helen Bache (hahaha you're craziness is awesome. I'm sorry for almost killing you!! : D!), Tenebrielle and Allie Capphar (Holy guac! That was the bestest long review of my life! I'm haping that I could make you feel all tense and that you're enjoying this story! Thank you thank you THANK YOU for the amazing compliments! Your review got me through the other half of this chapter!)

Also thanks to bethamet and an anon for your reviews for the other chapters.

You guys are my antidrug and this story would not be updated without you guys kicking my ass with your awesomeness. Please keep reviewing and the last installment will come out fast!

Just after 1208...

Jim stared up at the looming alien on screen and watched his scabby lips move in horror. There was no sound to accompany the menacing alien or the destruction around him, just daunting, everlasting silence. It was like nothing Jim had ever felt before; I mean, sure he had been stuck in silence before but he had always found a way to break it with humming or some random outburst of noise like "makaswack" or "shbamalamb". Silence reminded him of nightmares and for a split second he willed himself to wake up from the nightmare he was in. But this was no nightmare; this was reality, this was war.

Getting a hold of himself after the initial, paralyzing horror, Jim got to his feet and ran to the communications station to cut the feed. The Klingon's grinning face flickered out just in time to see Jim flip the gruesome alien the bird and Jim spun around in search of his First Officer. He found him quickly enough, typing away at some station with sweat pouring down face. It was at that moment that the young Captain realized how damn hot it was and how hard it was to breathe. He lumbered over to the Vulcan as fast as he could, limping over debris and stepping over strewn bodies. The Vulcan noticed his approach and his lips began moving quickly but Jim couldn't hear a word he was saying.

"Spock!" He screamed as loud as he could, hoping he would hear himself. He didn't.

The Vulcan looked up and gave his a quizzical look before talking again, his lips moving at such a rapid pace that Jim only lip-read a two or three words. He reached out to his First Officer and grabbed him by the arm, shaking him slightly.

"Spock, Spock I..." Jim shook his head, not ready to come to terms with what he was about to say, "Spock I'm...I think I'm deaf."

ð

Spock's jaw plummeted marginally as his Captain spoke loudly, his tone all over the place; he sounded like a three year old human with a sore throat trying to find the right words to say. Yet it was the words that his dishevelled Captain said that shocked him into displaying such emotion and he quickly gained his composure.

"Are you sure?" Spock said slowly, trying to enunciate with his lips as best as he could.

"Yeah," Jim replied, staring at the Vulcan incredulously, "Obviously or else I would be able to hear you."

The Vulcan took this insult to his intelligence in stride and began typing away at the station in front of him. Once he completed his reprogramming of the shields he looked up at where his Captain had been standing and saw him standing over by the pilot's station lifting the unconscious Sulu from his seat. He laid the insentient pilot down onto the ground and created a tourniquet from his own stained yellow uniform to stop the bleeding from the huge gash on his upper arm. Then, the now wondrously shirtless Captain sat down at Sulu's station and started to get the flight systems back online in hopes that he could fly his big ass ship out of there.

Spock was concerned with the amount of damage the ship had taken and hoped that Jim wouldn't engage the ship in any evasions that were too dangerous (or put his shirt back on). If he entered warp and the damage to the ship was extensive, they would all be dead in a matter of seconds and Spock anticipated that the young Captain would take that into account. Quickly, the Vulcan turned back to the station and started working on other important systems before the enemy ships started firing again.

It was at that moment that the ship jostled left; then all went to hell in a handbasket. Again.

ð

1209 and thirty seconds...

Jim tackled the pilot's station hungrily, getting all the systems back online as fast as he could. He knew absolutely nothing about flying a ship and he certainly didn't know a thing about the systems it required. He relied completely on instinct as he tapped away furiously, hoping desperately that he was pressing all the right buttons. His prayers were answered when the green light for manual flight was enabled and he grinned with relief, feeling a little weight drift off his heavy naked shoulders.

Then, all of the sudden, an almost inaudible buzz started to tingle in his ears. He faltered for a moment, listening to the irritating tone take up the deathly silence that he had only just acclimatized to. He shook his head like a wet dog to see if it would go away but it didn't; it only got worse. Frowning, he pressed a random button just to see what it would do and the entire ship flew sideways, throwing the alive crew members sideways with great haste. Then the ship started to sink sidelong and Jim groaned out loud, forgetting that he couldn't hear himself. He quickly pressed the button adjacent to the one he had just punched and the ship levelled itself quickly, launching the crew members across to the other side of the ship.

It would have been hilarious to watch if it had been in a television show or a movie perhaps, but obviously that would have been completely unrealistic. Obviously.

Thrusters! Jim thought to himself, feeling a mixture of both excitement and stupidity. At least I got those figured out. Now what about these things? He pressed down on the big black button above the thrusters and felt the ship start to vibrate slightly below him slightly. Oooo...ion propulsion!...Let's try...this!

Jim started playing with the thrusters and the ion propulsion systems, sending the ship up slowly as if it were taking a deep breath right before a plunge. Then, the ship lunged downwards in a gentle swan dive. He turned the ship 180 degrees and kept the hull pointing downwards smiling as he went. I think I'm getting the hang of this...

ð

Spock inwardly groaned as the ship rocked back and forth as if it were on turbulent water. Of course it should have occurred to him sooner that Jim had no experience whatsoever with piloting a starship. It was in a moment of weakness that he neglected to analyze the situation due to the complexity of the circumstances that had evolved in the past few minutes. Life support systems were back online and already he could feel the temperature dropping slightly, just enough to stop him from sweating so profusely. Of course his fully Vulcan counterparts didn't suffer from such an irritating trait; he cursed the human blood in him for having picked up such a useless gene from his mother.

He was halfway across the bridge to the Captain when the Klingon leader appeared on screen again with quite a sour expression on his ridged face.

"Surrender you ship Captain Kirk. We will not ask again," He sneered irately, almost itching with the impulse to blast him to smithereens. Spock stepped in front of the pilot's station where Jim was sitting to get his attention and mouthed the words that the Klingon just said. Jim nodded and Spock moved out of the way so he could address the vicious alien.

"Naaaah. I'd rather not," he derided, smirking at the Klingon. Jim had a plan in mind, "But it appears we are sinking! Oh no...We're floating down, down..." The alien leader stared with blatant suspicion at the young Captain as he kept the ship in its slow pace sinking downwards.

"What are you doing Captain?" Spock stepped in front of the station and asked his question quietly so the Klingon couldn't hear. It took Jim a moment before he understood and he laughed cheerlessly, running his hand through is messy locks.

"I have no idea Spock. I'm improvising." The buzzing in his ears was getting consistently louder as the time progressed; it felt as loud as say, a bunch of copper skillets crashing together would be. It was not unbearable yet but it was quickly reaching the boiling point where he'd feel like he was standing behind a ship right before it goes into warp.

"Captain, perhaps you should let someone more experienced handle the piloting duty," Spock said fruitlessly; he knew his Captain wouldn't listen to a word he said, literally.

"I've got an idea," Jim muttered back, the buzzing reaching an almost unbearable clamour. He winced in pain as is vibrated every bone in his body as if he were inside that ion propulsion system himself.

"Surrender now!" The Klingon barked, barring his teeth at the young Captain. With as much effort as he could muster, Jim ignored the excruciating pain from the noise in his ears and smiled.

"No."

POP!

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Love and fluff, Brontë