"Captain on the bridge!"
Kirk and Spock exited the elevator quickly, Kirk walking over to stand in front of his chair.
"ETA of the incoming ship." He requested.
"Fifteen seconds, sir." Sulu answered, while an alarm blared through the room.
Kirk sat in his chair. "Shields." He ordered.
"Aye, Captain." Sulu replied, clicking a few switches to activate them.
The bridge was silent for a few seconds before the other ship arrived. The blue flash of warp disappeared in an instant, leaving the enormous, black shape of a Starfleet ship in its wake. This ship, while similar in design to the Enterprise, dwarfed it considerably. It emitted an ominous blaring noise as it slowed to a stop, the two ships facing each other directly. Painted across the top of the new ship were the words "U.S.S. Vengeance"." Everyone on the bridge was in awe, having never seen a ship like it before. Kirk was more worried about who was inside.
"They're hailing us, sir." Uhura reported from her station.
"On screen." Kirk replied, before adding. "Broadcast ship-wide, for the record."
The screen flashed an "INCOMING TRANSMISSION" box, before the smiling face of Admiral Marcus appeared on it.
"Captain Kirk." The Admiral nodded.
Kirk let out a deep breath. "Admiral Marcus." He greeted, putting on a fake smile. "I wasn't expecting you. That's a hell of a ship you've got there."
"And I wasn't expecting to get word that you'd taken Harrison into custody, in violation of your orders." Marcus replied.
"Well, we..." Kirk trailed off. "We had to improvise when our warp core unexpectedly malfunctioned. But you already knew that, didn't you, sir?"
"I don't take your meaning."
"Well, that's why you're here, isn't it?" Kirk asked. "To assist with our repairs? Why else would the head of Starfleet personally come to the edge of the Neutral Zone?"
Sulu looked down at a sensor that was quietly chirping. "Captain, they're scanning our ship." He reported.
"Is there something I can help you find, sir?" Kirk asked.
"Where is your prisoner, Kirk?" Marcus asked.
"Per Starfleet regulation, I'm planning on returning Harrison to Earth to stand trial. Along with the rest of his crew."
"Well, shit." Marcus rubbed his forehead. "You talked to him. This is exactly what I was hoping to spare you from. I took a tactical risk and I woke that bastard up, believing that his superior intelligence could help us protect ourselves from whatever came at us next. But I made a mistake."
Kirk's expression turned from sarcastic victory to disbelief. The other side of the story was presenting itself, only it wasn't as hard to accept as Kirk thought it might be.
"And now the blood of everyone he's killed is on my hands. So, I'm asking you, give him to me, so that I can end what I started." Marcus said.
"And what exactly would you like me to do with the rest of his crew, sir?" Kirk asked. "Fire them at the Klingons? End seventy-two lives? Start a war in the process?"
"He put those people in those torpedoes." Marcus replied. "And I simply didn't want to burden you with knowing what was inside of them."
Inside the med bay, Carol and McCoy listened to the exchange, while looking at Harrison. He sat straight up on one of the beds, seemingly not absorbing what Marcus was saying, while the security team surrounding him watched him nervously.
"You saw what this man can do all by himself. Can you imagine what would happen if we woke up the rest of his crew?" Marcus asked. "What else did he tell you? That he's a peacekeeper? He's playing you, son, don't you see that? Harrison and his crew were condemned to death as war criminals. And now it is our duty to carry out that sentence before anybody else dies because of him."
Kirk looked down, not knowing whose story to believe.
"Now, I'm going to ask you again. One last time, son." Marcus warned. "Lower your shields. Tell me where he is."
Kirk had to make a decision now. When he looked back up at the Admiral, he knew who to believe.
"He's in engineering, sir." Kirk sighed. "But I'll have him moved to the transporter room right away."
"I'll take it from here." Marcus replied, and his face disappeared from the screen, leaving a box saying "TRANSMISSION TERMINATED".
"Do not drop those shields, Mr. Sulu." Kirk ordered, standing up and walking behind his chair.
"Aye, Captain." Sulu replied.
"Captain, given your awareness of Harrison's true location in the med bay, may I know the details of your plan?" Spock asked.
"I told Marcus we were bringing a fugitive back to Earth." Kirk replied. "That's what we're going to do." He clicked the comms button. "Mr. Chekov, can we warp?"
"Sir, if we got to warp, we run the risk of seriously damaging the core!" Chekov replied.
"Can we do it?" Kirk asked again.
Chekov sighed. "Technically, yes, but I would not advise it, Captain."
"Noted." Kirk nodded, clicking the comms button again. "Mr. Sulu, set course for Earth."
"Yes, sir." Sulu replied.
Kirk sat in his chair, preparing himself for what was to come. "Punch it."
Sulu pushed the warp lever forward, and the Enterprise's twin thrusters fired, sending them speeding forward at warp speed. The ship flew through the long tunnel of elongated stars, seemingly safe.
Down in the med bay, McCoy held a whirring medical sensor to Harrison's face, continuing his investigation of what exactly the man was.
"Well, at least we're moving again." McCoy shrugged.
"If you think you're safe at warp, you're wrong." Harrison replied flatly, his gray eyes flickering over to Carol.
Carol realized what he meant, and turned, sprinting out of the med bay. If her investigation into her father's new technologies was correct, then they were all in danger.
"Lieutenant Uhura, contact Starfleet." Kirk requested. "Tell them that we were pursued into the Neutral Zone by an unmarked Federation ship."
"Long-range comms are down, sir." Uhura replied, trying every signal that she could.
The elevator slid door slid open and Carol ran in, breathing heavily. "Permission to come on the bridge!" She requested, sounding panicked.
"Doctor Marcus." Kirk said, standing up and looking at her with concern, noting her urgency.
"He's going to catch up with us, and when he does, the only thing that's going to stop him from destroying this ship is me, so you have to let me talk to him." She said rapidly.
"Carol, we're at warp. He can't catch up with us." Kirk replied.
"Yes, he can." Carol insisted. "He's been developing a ship that has advanced warp capabilities, and I-"
"Captain!" Sulu called, as a loud beeping started. "I'm getting a reading I don't understand."
As the Enterprise continued its steady path through warp, the enormous black shape of the Vengeance had appeared behind it. The black ship was gradually gaining on the Enterprise, and it eventually loomed over the white ship like a shadow. Its thrusters blared louder than any ship that anyone onboard the smaller ship had ever heard. Even in warp, there was no escape. The Vengeance fired from two small phaser cannons, sending red bursts of energy into the Enterprise's main hull.
Inside the Enterprise, the bridge crew was thrown from their stations at the impact, stumbling around as the ship rocked.
But the Vengeance didn't stop, firing blast after blast. Down in engineering, a series of phasers tore through the hull, pulling debris and several screaming crew members out into the flashing warp tunnel, and they flew by the two ships in less than a second. Another blast hit one of the Enterprise's thrusters, and the white ship spun out of control, passing through the flashing wall of the warp tunnel out into space, the usual droning of warp speed replaced with silence.
All throughout the Enterprise's bridge, alarms were blaring and lights were flashing. Every bridge officer was at their station, monitoring the damage that had been done to the ship.
"Where are we?" Kirk yelled.
"We're two-hundred and thirty-seven thousand kilometres from Earth." Sulu reported.
"Damage report!" Kirk requested, walking along the bridge.
"Weapons are down!"
"Shields are dropping!"
"We're defenseless, sir."
"Sir, we have a bulkhead breach."
"Where's the damage?" Kirk asked.
"Major hull damage, Captain." Another officer reported.
Before any more reports could be given, the Vengeance emerged from warp, firing across the length of the Enterprise, peppering it with explosions. Several officers were thrown down hallways as giant billows of fire filled entire rooms.
The bridge jolted again, and Kirk began to panic. "Evasive maneuvers!" He yelled. "Get us to Earth! Right now!"
"Captain! Stop!' Carol yelled, holding out a hand. "Everybody on this ship is going to die if you don't let me speak to him."
Kirk let his panic slowly ebb away, control flooding in. "Uhura, hail him." He ordered.
Uhura turned and rapidly clicked the necessary switches, opening a direct channel to the Vengeance.
"Sir, it's me. It's Carol. "Carol said into the comm.
A few more phasers hit the Enterprise, before the attack suddenly stopped, debris slowly floating through space around them.
Marcus's face re-appeared on the main screen, but now he looked shocked. "What are you doing on that ship?" He demanded.
"I heard what you said." Carol answered, with tears in her eyes. "That you made a mistake, and now you're doing everything you can to fix it. But, Dad, I don't believe that the man who raised me is capable of destroying a ship full of innocent people. And, if I'm wrong about that, then you'll have to do it with me onboard."
Marcus stared at his daughter for a second. "Actually, Carol, I won't." He replied.
White light beams started to spiral around Carol, along with the telltale whirring of beaming.
"Jim-" She started to say.
"Can we interrupt the transport signal?" Kirk asked.
"No, sir." A red-shirted officer replied.
Carol ran down the bridge, as if she was trying to run away from the signal, screaming as the lights flew faster and the whirring grew louder, before she disappeared.
"Captain Kirk, without authorization, and in league with the fugitive John Harrison, you went rogue in enemy territory, leaving me no choice but to hunt you down and destroy you." Marcus said, leaning back in his chair. "Lock phasers."
Suddenly, it all made sense to Kirk. Marcus could never allow the truth to get out, and the only reason he would destroy the ship, and everyone aboard, was to protect that truth. But not everyone knew Harrison's secret, so Kirk did the only thing he could think to do.
"Wait, sir, wait!" Kirk yelled, running forward to the screen.
"I'll make this quick." Marcus said. "Target all aft torpedoes on the Enterprise's bridge."
"Sir, my crew was just following my orders." Kirk pleaded. "I take full responsibility for my actions, but they were mine, and they were mine alone."
Marcus turned back to face the screen, looking at Kirk again. He held up a hand to his crew, delaying his kill order.
All around Kirk, the bridge crew stared at their captain.
"If I transmit Harrison's location to you now, all that I ask is that you spare them." Kirk continued. "Please, sir, I'll do anything you want. Just let them live."
"That's a...hell of an apology." Marcus nodded. "But, if it's any consolation, I was never going to spare your crew."
Kirk's pleading expression faded away as he realized what was about to happen.
"Fire when-" Marcus started to say, before the "TRANSMISSION TERMINATED" box appeared again.
Beneath the Vengeance, enormous twin cannons emerged, turning slowly to point at the Enterprise, while blue lights flickered on down the length of them. When they were charged, this very one-sided battle would be over.
Kirk turned slowly to look at his crew, all of whom were still staring at him, but now their hopeful expressions were gone, and they had joined him in realization of their fate. Any chance that there had been of their survival was now gone, and in any second, their lives and their mission would be over.
"I'm sorry." Kirk said, having no idea what else he could say.
The blue lights were filled, and the mechanical hum steadily grew louder as the cannons prepare to fire. But, before they could, they shut down, the lights turned off, and the cannons slumped limply out of place.
"Our weapons won't fire, sir!" One of the Vengeance's bridge crew said.
"Our shields are down, we're losing power!" Another called out.
"Someone in engineering just manually reset our systems!" Another officer reported.
"What do you mean, "someone"?" Marcus yelled furiously. "Who?"
"Their weapons have powered down, sir." Sulu reported.
A familiar, Scottish voice crackled through their damaged comms.
"Enterprise? Can you hear me?"
"Scotty!' Kirk yelled, hope suddenly reappearing.
Scotty ran out of the ship's engineering room, his face drenched in sweat. "Guess what I found behind Jupiter." He said into his communicator.
"You're on that ship!" Kirk's voice crackled through it.
"I snuck on." Scotty nodded. "And, seeing as I've just committed an act of treason against a Starfleet Admiral, I'd really like to get off this bloody ship. Now beam me out!"
"You're a miracle worker." Kirk grinned. "We're a little low on power right now. Just stand by."
"What do you mean, "low on power"?" Scotty asked. "What happened to the Enterprise?"
Before he could get an answer, he heard a door open in the distance, and knowing what would happen if he was discovered here and now, he opted to wait.
"Call you back!" he said quietly, before closing the communicator and running back into the engineering room, the door sliding shut behind him.
"Scotty!" Kirk called, but got no response. But now, they had more time, time that Kirk could use to formulate a new plan. He turned around, walking quickly across the bridge "Spock. Our ship, how is she?" He asked the Vulcan.
"Our options are limited, Captain." Spock answered. "We cannot fire and we cannot flee."
Kirk thought for a moment, many of his plans removed by those facts. "There is one option." He replied.
Spock looked up at the captain in surprise, piecing together what he meant.
"Uhura, when you get Scotty back, patch him through." Kirk ordered.
"Yes, sir." Uhura nodded.
"Mr. Spock, you have the conn." Kirk nodded to the Vulcan, before he turned and headed towards the elevator. But Spock followed him.
"Captain, I strongly object." Spock said, as Kirk clicked a button and the elevator door closed.
"To what?" Kirk asked. "I haven't said anything yet."
"Since we cannot take the ship from the outside, the only way that we can stop it is from within. And as a large boarding party would be detected, it is optimal for you to take as few members of the crew as possible." Spock said.
Kirk already knew where he was going with his thought, and didn't say anything as the elevator doors opened. The two of them exited and began walking down a hallway towards the med bay, Spock continuing his explanation.
"You will meet resistance, requiring personnel with advanced combat abilities and innate knowledge of that ship." Spock pointed out. "All of this indicates that you plan to align with Harrison, the very man we were sent here to destroy."
"I'm not aligning with him, I'm using him." Kirk corrected. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"An Arabic proverb attributed to a prince who was betrayed and decapitated by his own subjects." Spock noted.
"Still, it's a hell of a quote." Kirk shrugged.
"I will go with you, Captain." Spock said dutifully.
"No, I need you on the bridge." Kirk replied.
Spock grabbed Kirk's shoulder, stopping him. "I cannot allow you to do this." He said. "It is my function aboard this ship to advise you on making the wisest decisions possible, something I firmly believe you are incapable of doing in this moment."
"You're right!" Kirk yelled, stopping Spock from continuing. "What I'm about to do, it doesn't make any sense, it's not logical. It is a gut feeling."
Spock didn't seem to understand. Kirk shook his head, trying to come up with a simpler way to explain his line of thinking.
"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do." Kirk sighed. "I only know what I can do. The Enterprise and her crew need someone in that chair who knows what they're doing. And it's not me. It's you, Spock."
Kirk turned and walked away, leaving Spock to think on his words.
Kirk entered the med bay, stopping to stare ahead at Harrison, who hadn't moved, while the door slid shut behind him. If Kirk wanted, he could abandon this plan now, and try another one. Something logical, like Spock would recommend.
Kirk walked forwards.
He stopped in front of Harrison, who didn't react, again as if he'd been expecting him to come down.
"Tell me everything you know about that ship." Kirk said.
"Dreadnought class." Harrison answered. "Two times the size, three times the speed, advanced weaponry, modified for a minimal crew. Unlike most Federation vessels, it's built solely for combat."
"I will do everything that I can to make you answer for what you did." Kirk promised, again receiving no reaction from Harrison. "But right now I need your help."
"In exchange for what?" Harrison asked.
"You said you'd do anything for your crew. I can guarantee their safety." Kirk answered.
"Captain." Harrison sighed, shaking his head. "You can't even guarantee the safety of your own crew."
Kirk was distracted from the conversation by McCoy walking up beside him.
"What did you find from his blood?" Kirk quietly asked the doctor.
"His cells regenerate like nothing I've ever seen." McCoy answered. "I'm still running some tests, I'm trying to figure out the source."
Kirk nodded, and McCoy walked away. Kirk looked back at Harrison, who had on his same neutral expression, betraying no thoughts.
"You coming with me or not?" Kirk asked.
"You want to do what?" Scotty asked through the communicator, still running through the engineering bay.
"We're coming over there." Kirk explained again, while he, Harrison, and the security team walked down a hallway. "Sulu's maneuvering the Enterprise into position as we speak."
"To this ship? How?"
"There's an airlock opening in Hanger Seven, labelled "Access Point One-Zero-One-A"." Harrison said into Kirk's communicator. "You need to find the manual override to it."
"Are you crazy? Whoever you are..."
"Just listen to him, Scotty." Kirk said. "It's going to be all right."
"It is not going to be all right." Scotty countered. "You want me to open an airlock into space, whereupon I will freeze, die, and explode!"
Back on the Enterprise's bridge, Spock walked over to Uhura's station.
"Lieutenant, could you perform a search in the records for me?" He asked.
"Of course." She answered. "What do you need me to find?"
"I want you to search for any references to John Harrison, in association with the Eugenics Wars of the twentieth century." He requested.
"I'll do my best."
"Thank you." Spock said, walking across the bridge and sitting in the captain's chair. "Mr. Sulu, what is the status of the other ship?" He asked.
"The systems are still offline." Sulu answered. "I'm aligning our ship now."
Sulu clicked a few buttons on his console, matching the signals of airlocks on both ships. Outside, small thrusters slowly rotated the Enterprise so that it would be a straight line from one ship's airlock to the other's.
Scotty made his way down a series of tunnels, periodically checking behind himself to see if he was still being followed. He reached a glowing console, trying to access the ship's internal hardware. He couldn't find a way in, and the report being shown on the screen was anything but good for them.
Inside one of the Enterprise's airlocks, Kirk and Harrison climbed down the wall's ladder into the main tube. They were now dressed in space containment suits, with glowing helmets, containing the guidance software that would keep them on the proper path, so as not to end up as a stain on the side of the Vengeance.
When they were secure inside, Kirk held a thumbs-up to the officers above, and the airlock was sealed. "Scotty, how are you doing over there?" He asked into the suit's comm.
"Captain, I wish I had better news." Scotty's reply crackled. "They've locked out access to the ship's main computer. They'll have full weapons in nine minutes. That means next time, I won't be able to stop them from destroying the Enterprise. Stand by."
Scotty then took off running down the hallway, headed towards Hanger 7.
"Commander, our trash exhaust is aimed at access port One-Zero-One-A of the other ship." Sulu reported.
Spock clicked the comms button on the chair. "Captain, the ships are aligned." He said into it.
"Copy that." Kirk nodded. "Scotty!"
The door to Hanger 7 opened, and Scotty ran inside. "I'm in the hanger." He reported. When he realized the size of the hanger, he added. "Give me a minute."
He started to sprint down the length of the hanger, wheezing. "I'm running. Stand by." He said into his communicator.
Eventually, he reached the end of the hanger and saw access port 101-A.
"Whoa, whoa, hold on, now, Captain." He said into his communicator. "This door is very wee. I mean, you know, small. It's four square metres, tops. It's going to be like jumping out of a moving car, off a bridge, into your shot glass."
"Really?" Kirk asked. "Weird, I've actually done that before."
Harrison slowly turned his head to look at Kirk, his neutral expression not changing, but still conveying confusion.
"Yeah, it was vertical." Kirk explained. "We jumped onto a...well, it was a..."
Harrison turned his head back towards the airlock door.
"It doesn't...really...matter..." Kirk trailed off, returning to the task at hand. "Scotty-" He started to say.
"Did you find the manual override?" Harrison asked.
"The manual override, Scotty." Kirk added.
"Not yet, not yet." Scotty replied, sprinting across the hanger again. He eventually came to a console, clicking buttons rapidly while he held his communicator in his mouth. After a few clicks, a light turned on over the airlock door with a resounding noise, and Scotty knew that he was on the right path.
"Captain, before you launch, you should be aware that there is a considerable debris field between our ships." Spock warned, while he looked at a diagram of the area in space around them.
"Spock, not now." Kirk replied. "Scotty, you good?"
"It's not easy!" Scotty hissed angrily, beginning to type rapidly on the console. "Just give me two seconds, all right, you mad bastard!"
Kirk nodded, still not having complete confidence in their plan. Harrison knelt down on one knee, preparing for their launch. After a few seconds, Kirk did the same.
McCoy knelt down next to Spock in the captain's chair. "Tell me this is going to work." He requested.
"I have neither the information nor the confidence to do so, Doctor." The Vulcan answered.
"Boy, you're a real comfort." The doctor muttered.
"Okay, Captain, stand by." Scotty said, still clicking rapidly. The console lit up green, and Scotty threw up his hands in victory. "Yes! Okay, I'm set to open the door!"
"You ready?" Kirk asked Harrison.
"Are you?" Harrison asked back.
Kirk ignored the comment, getting tired of Harrison's baiting. "Spock, pull the trigger." He ordered.
Spock hesitated for a moment, but still followed the order, "Yes, Captain." He nodded.
Members of the bridge crew turned to look at Spock, many of them sharing the lack of confidence in their captain's plan.
"Launching activation sequence on three..." Spock said.
Harrison's facial display lit up inside of his mask, the targeting computer loading the path to the Vengeance's airlock.
"...two..."
Kirk's matching display lit up.
"...one."
The airlock opened, sending the two men flying out into space, while the door slammed back shut behind them. The two of them flew through the silence of space towards the Vengeance, the only sound that they could hear being their own breathing. As they moved, they could see the variety of debris floating around them, and they both knew that this would be more difficult than they originally thought.
"Sir, Kirk is headed for collision at point four-three-two!" An Enterprise bridge crew member reported.
"Captain, there is debris directly ahead." Spock warned.
"Copy that." Kirk replied. He clicked a button on his suit's hand, activating the pack on his back. The pack fired compressed air, moving Kirk out of the debris' path. But this action caused him to fly away from Harrison, who looked after the captain with mild concern.
"Whoa!" Kirk heard McCoy exclaim in his ear. "Jim, you're way off course!"
"I know, I know! I can see that!" Jim replied, watching his HUD. He began to wildly fire his pack, continuing to maneuver quickly through the debris, trying desperately to get back on course.
Scotty had found a long piece of rope nearby, and was busy tying to the console. When it was secure, he started to wrap it around his wrist, his communicator being held in his mouth. He was so focused on securing himself to the console that he didn't hear a security officer come up behind him, before the officer's phaser clicked behind his head.
"Don't move." The tall, muscular officer ordered.
Scotty froze, the communicator clattering to the ground.
"Use your display compass, Captain." Sulu said. "You must correct precisely thirty-seven point two-four-three degrees."
"Got it. I'm working my way back." Kirk replied, following his display's now twisted line to the Vengeance. "Scotty, you're going to be ready with that door, right?"
Scotty held his free hand in the air, completely frozen in fear.
"What are you doing here?" The security officer asked, the phaser not wavering.
"Wee bit of maintenance on the airlock console." Scotty answered nervously. "You're big." He also noted.
"Mr. Scott, where are you?" Kirk yelled.
"Captain, he can't seem to hear you." Uhura reported. "I'm working on getting his signal back. Stand by."
Before Kirk could say anything else, a small piece of debris hit his mask, causing a crack to appear in the glass. "Damn it." He muttered.
"Captain, what is it?" Spock asked.
"My helmet was hit." Kirk answered, watching as the crack slowly expanded. "Uhura, tell me you have Mr. Scott back."
"Not yet. I'm still working on a signal."
"His communicator is still working. I don't know why he isn't responding." Scotty's communicator squawked.
"What is that?" The security officer asked, looking at the communicator on the floor.
"Are you Starfleet or private security?" Scotty asked.
"Show me your other hand." The officer ordered, gesturing with his phaser.
"Because you look like private security." Scotty added, silently making a decision.
"Imminent collision detected!" Sulu exclaimed, watching the display from Harrison's mask.
"Harrison, use evasive action!" Spock warned. "There is debris directly ahead."
"I see it." Harrison replied. He clicked his hand buttons, allowing him to weave through large pieces of metal debris. But before he had time to react, a large metal block floated up in front of him, and he collided with it, spinning in space.
On the Enterprise's main screen, the moving dot that indicated Harrison disappeared, followed by a rapid beeping.
"Mr. Sulu, did we lose Harrison?" Spock asked.
"I don't know, Commander." Sulu answered. "I'm having trouble tracking him in all of this debris."
Kirk looked to the side, not seeing the man who had been flying alongside him. "Was Harrison hit?" He asked.
"We're trying to find him now." Spock replied.
"Captain, you need to adjust your target destination to one-eight-three by four-seven-three degrees." Sulu added.
Kirk continued to fire his pack, dodging the huge pieces of metal that had originated from his own ship. But suddenly, his targeting tracker started to flicker, and eventually died, leaving Kirk staring through a cracked helmet at debris and the Vengeance still much too far in the distance.
"Spock, my display's dead. I'm flying blind." Kirk said, now finally sounding nervous.
"Captain, without your display compass, hitting your target destination is mathematically impossible." The Vulcan said.
"Spock, if I get back, we really need to talk about your bedside manner." Kirk muttered.
"Commander, he's not going to make it." Sulu said, turning to face Spock.
Spock looked down and didn't reply, but was quietly running ideas through his head that had formed since Kirk had explained his plan. If the captain was going to die, then he needed to find a way to save the rest of the crew.
Before he could decide on one, the dot indicating Harrison appeared again.
Harrison used the compressed air bursts to fly forward, making up for lost distance and steering himself through the wreckage towards Kirk.
"My display is still functioning." He said. "I see you, Kirk, you're two hundred metres ahead of me at my one o'clock."
Kirk looked to his left, seeing Harrison slowly approaching him.
"Come to your left a few degrees and follow me." Harrison continued.
Kirk nodded, and clicked the hand buttons, moving to his left. By the time he was next to Harrison, the other man had closed the distance, and they were now flying side by side straight towards the Vengeance. The two men shared a look, Harrison's usual calm face briefly breaking into a smile at Kirk's glare.
"Scotty, we're getting close." Kirk said, again ignoring Harrison. "We need a warm welcome."
All that anyone heard from Scotty was silence.
"Do you copy? Do you copy, Scotty?" Kirk repeated, growing increasingly aware of their proximity to the enemy ship.
"If you can hear us, Mr. Scott, open the door in ten, nine..." Spock started.
"Scotty!" Kirk's voice crackled through the communicator on the hanger floor.
"...eight..." Spock continued.
"That person counting down, what is that?" The security officer asked.
"I think you're hearing things, mate." Scotty replied, tightening his grip on the rope around his wrist.
"...seven..."
"Mr. Scott, where are you?" Kirk asked.
"...six, five..."
"...eighteen hundred metres, sixteen hundred metres..." Another Enterprise bridge crew member joined the chorus.
"...four..."
"Sorry about this." Scotty said.
"About what?" The security officer asked.
"Scotty, where are you?"
"...three..."
"Do you copy, Scotty? Please!" Kirk yelled again, while he and Harrison were almost at the door.
"...two..."
"Mr. Scott, open the door!" Spock said.
"Open the door!" Kirk yelled.
"Mr. Scott! Now!"
Scotty took a deep breath and turned to the console, slamming his palm down on the activation button.
The airlock door flew open, pulling the security officer down the enormous hanger towards the vacuum of space, screaming his last breaths. Kirk and Harrison flew into the hanger side by side, passing by the officer in mid-air, who few outwards. Scotty slowly pulled himself back up to the console and hit the button again, and the door slammed shut, causing him to slump to the ground. Kirk and Harrison joined him, but they still rolled along the floor with their momentum, turning over and over until they eventually slowed, lying still near the console.
Scotty slowly sat up, breathing heavily. "Welcome aboard." He said.
"It's good to see you, Scotty." Kirk nodded.
"Who is that?" Scotty asked, pointing weakly at Harrison, who was already up and alert, looking around the hanger on one knee.
"Harrison, Scotty. Scotty, Harrison." Kirk said, pointing between them, and then stretching his back.
"Hello." Scotty nodded politely. "Wait, isn't Harrison the-"
"They'll know we're here." Harrison interrupted. "I know the best way to the bridge."
After he and Kirk had removed their suits, Kirk removed the pack from his back, opening it to reveal the parts of three phasers. Kirk pulled them out and assembled them one by one before distributing them amongst the three.
"It's locked to stun." He added when he handed Harrison his phaser.
"Theirs won't be." Harrison replied.
"Then try not to get shot." Kirk suggested.
Scotty clicked his phaser together and exchanged a nod with Kirk. The three of them took off out of the hanger, following Harrison towards the bridge.
"Commander, I think I may have found something in the records that can help." Uhura said, walking over to the captain's chair and handing Spock an electronic pad.
Spock nodded when he took the pad, and began to read. The more he read, the more concerned his face grew.
"Is there a problem, Commander?" Uhura asked.
"Yes, there is." Spock answered, evenly but with a slight edge of nervousness.
Carol was lead onto the Vengeance's bridge by two security officers. She had given up trying to resist a little while ago, but the mask of pure anger remained.
"Admiral." One of the officers said.
Marcus turned away from the console he was looking t to slowly face his daughter. "I'll deal with you in a-" He started.
He was interrupted by Carol slapping him across the face, but he quickly recovered and grabbed her wrist, holding her in place.
"I am ashamed to be your daughter." Carol spat.
Marcus released her, still angry, but with sadness threatening to appear on his face as well. She hadn't been part of his plan.
"Sir, we just had a hanger door open on Deck Thirteen." One of his bridge crew said, snapping Marcus back to the issue at hand.
"Harrison." Marcus hissed.
"They're going to have full power and we're walking?" Scotty asked, as Harrison led Kirk and him down an engineering hallway.
"The turbolifts are easily tracked, and then Marcus would have us in a cage." Harrison explained, tucking his phaser into the back of his pants. "This path runs adjacent to the engine room. They know that they won't be able to use their weapons here without destabilizing the warp core, which gives us the advantage."
"Where'd you find this guy?" Scotty asked, confused but admittedly impressed.
"It's a long story." Kirk replied.
They continued down a winding trail of hallways, Kirk and Scotty also holstering their weapons to eliminate risk.
"I don't mean to tempt fate here, but where is everybody?" Scotty asked.
"The ship is designed to be flown by a minimal crew, one, if necessary." Harrison answered.
"One? I-" Scotty started.
He was interrupted when a security officer threw a punch at Harrison from around a corner, but Harrison ducked back, and in a flurry of movement, delivered sharp blows to the officer's stomach and throat, before slamming his body against the wall, before punching his stomach again.
Kirk and Scotty backed up slowly, but were soon engaged by other security officers, who swarmed from around corners and machinery. Kirk and Scotty fought as hard as they could, but the trained security could take their punches.
Harrison continued to tear through officers, knocking another one unconscious after a series of jabs to the head, and running a few feet down the corridor to deliver a kick to another officer's abdomen. The man flew backwards through the air, knocking down an approaching man. Another officer tried to punch Harrison, but Harrison grabbed the man's gun and slammed it across his face twice, knocking him out cold. Harrison turned to look back at how Kirk and Scotty were doing.
Scotty had been knocked to the ground, while Kirk grabbed a piece of machinery from overhead and kicked one of the officers in the face, dispatching him. The other officer managed to get a few punches in against Kirk, but Kirk eventually managed to twist the man's arm and drive his head against a metal panel, ending the fight.
"You all right?" Kirk asked as he helped Scotty up.
"Yeah." Scotty nodded. "Where's Harrison?"
Kirk turned to look down the hallway, which, apart from the usual blinking lights and littered unconscious bodies, was empty.
Spock got up out of the captain's chair, walking over to Uhura's station. "Lieutenant, I need you to assemble all senior medical and engineering staff in the weapons bay." He requested.
"All right." Uhura nodded, looking Spock up and down as if she was trying to understand his plan.
Spock turned to McCoy, who was now standing behind him, looking interested. "Dr. McCoy, I inadvertently activated a torpedo. Could you assist me in replicating the process?"
"Why the hell would I want to do that?" McCoy asked.
"Can you assist me or can you not?" Spock asked again.
"Damn it, man, I'm a doctor, not a torpedo technician!" McCoy exclaimed.
"The fact that you are a doctor is precisely why I need you to listen very carefully." Spock replied.
Kirk and Scotty were sweeping the entire engineering bay, cursing every wasted second while they searched for Harrison.
"Where is he?" Scotty asked, frustrated.
Kirk had no answer. They turned down a small hallway, but it was all starting to look the same to him "Shit." He muttered. He had found Harrison, only to lose him again.
"This way." Said the deep, British voice that Kirk, for the first time, associated with relief.
Kirk and Scotty both turned to look back down the hallway, where Harrison was standing. He pulled the phaser out from his pants, and walked away.
"The minute we get to the bridge, drop him." Kirk said quietly.
"What, stun him? Harrison?" Scotty asked, confused. "I thought he was helping us."
"I'm pretty sure we're helping him." Kirk replied, brushing past Scotty after his fugitive-turned-ally.
The three of them continued, getting closer and closer to the bridge, now checking every hallway that they passed. Suddenly, all of the lights around the hallway that they were walking down turned blue again, instead of the flashing red of emergency power. The Vengeance was ready to fire.
The three of them broke into a run.
"Power coming online, sir!" One of the Vengeance's bridge crew reported.
"Retarget the Enterprise now." Marcus ordered.
"Aye, sir."
The officer never got the chance, as a stun phaser bolt hit him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Kirk, Scotty and Harrison had reached the bridge, and were now filling it with blue phaser bolts. Every member of the Vengeance's bridge crew was knocked unconscious, stopping them before they could fire at the other ship. A few officers tried to fire back, but they missed, and never got a second chance to fire. Carol slammed her elbow into the nearest officer's face, before Scotty took out the other one, freeing her.
In seconds, the firefight was over, with Scotty going over to Carol, Harrison still watching for any officers that they had missed, and Kirk face to face with Admiral Marcus. Before he continued, Kirk gave Scotty a small nod, and Scotty fired a stun bolt into Harrison's head, knocking him out cold.
"Make sure he stays down." Kirk ordered.
Scotty hurried over, passing Carol. He stopped over Harrison's body, pointing his phaser at the unconscious man's head.
"Admiral Marcus, you're under arrest." Kirk said, his phaser still pointed at Marcus.
"You're not actually going to do this, are you?" Marcus asked, sounding more bored than concerned.
Unseen by any of them, Harrison's eyes slowly opened.
"Admiral, get out of the chair." Kirk continued.
"You'd better stop and think about what you're doing, Kirk." Marcus replied calmly. "You'd better think about what you did on Kronos. You made an incursion onto an enemy planet, and disobeyed direct orders to destroy a dangerous fugitive from the law." Marcus' voice was slowly climbing into a yell. "Even if you got away without a trace, war is coming. And who's going to lead us? You? If I'm not in charge, our entire way of life is decimated! So if you want me off this ship, you'd better kill me."
"I'm not going to kill you, sir." Kirk replied. "But I could stun your ass and drag you out of that chair. But I'd rather not do that in front of your daughter."
Marcus' eyes flickered to Carol's for a second, but she refused to meet his gaze.
"Are you okay?" Kirk asked, turning to look at her.
"Yes, Captain." She nodded.
The bridge was silent for a moment, and Harrison broke it by rising to his feet in an instant, grabbing Scotty and knocking him unconscious.
"Jim!" Carol yelled.
But her warning came too late. As Scotty's body hit the floor, Kirk turned, just in time to see Harrison jump over a console and tackle him to the ground. Marcus took this opportunity to get up from his chair and run for the door. Harrison pinned Kirk down and slammed a fist against his face, yelling angrily. It stopped Kirk's resistance instantly, Kirk having never felt a punch as hard as Harrison's. For good measure, Harrison grabbed Kirk's face and slammed his fist against it again, sending Kirk groaning to the floor. Harrison grabbed Kirk's hair and pulled him to his feet, earning more pained yells from the captain. Harrison slammed his knee against Kirk's leg and threw the weaker man across the bridge, to the ground.
Carol went to Kirk's side, but held her hands up defensively as Harrison advanced on her. Marcus was typing rapidly on the door's opening panel, trying to set it to lock behind him.
"Listen! Wait!" Carol pleaded.
Her wishes fell on deaf ears. Harrison grabbed her and threw her backwards with no effort, sending her sprawling to the ground. As Harrison walked past her, he paused, and, as if in revenge for Carol being related to the Admiral, he slammed a foot down on her leg. The noises that emerged from this were a sharp snap and Carol's pained scream.
Marcus was just about to open the door when Harrison reached him, grabbing his head and pulling him away from the panel. Harrison squeezed the Admiral's head as he pushed the older man down into a chair, and Marcus gripped at his hands, but having no effect. Small cracking sounds were starting to become audible from Marcus' head.
"You..." Harrison snarled, looking down at the Admiral with a mixture of rage at the man's actions, and satisfaction at his own revenge. He had prepared what he would say in this moment for a long time.
"You should have let me sleep."
Harrison focused all of his strength, the strain visible on his face, and he brought his hands together.
The Vengeance's bridge was filled with the sound of a wet, squelching crack followed by Carol Marcus' horrified scream, as Kirk slowly looked up in shock.
So, that's Chapter 4. We've only got two more chapters left, and the next one will have the most changes. Hopefully you enjoy!