Sorry for the delay. I have one more chapter in the works and am working on more! Hope you are enjoying!
Audrey found herself back in the gym for the second time in a hour, not that she was complaining. She had been out of touch with civilization for months, and sparring could help her work out her tension. She just didn't expect it to be against the captain of the Enterprise, as she deflected the punch directed at her. Backing away from the golden boy, panting hard trying to gauge what Kirk could do next.
Blue eyes started back at her, determination shining through. Jim was bouncing from foot to foot, waiting for her. "You're good," he stated. Audrey shook her head, and went to swipe his feet from under when he just jumped over her leg, and aimed a kick at her head which she ducked.
Rolling back up into a crouch, the petite woman glared at him. "Better than you think, Captain," she replied, when they attacked each other in a flurry of kicks and punches, each deflected by the other. Audrey was still clad in the figure hugging gym clothes she had on earlier, and had tried the female art of distraction to advantage.
Considering how close Kirk was to winning, it appeared that he being shirtless and sweaty was actually distracting her. Closing her eyes and envisioning something that wasn't a shirtless Kirk, she centered herself enough to dodge the right hook Kirk aimed at her.
He laughed. "You dodged my hand with your eyes closed. Cheating much?" Audrey glared back at him.
"Sometimes in a fight you can't always use your eyes. You have to sense what is around you, for instance, when you step off into a kick, your left leg moves more than necessary, creating a soft but telltale sound you're about to strike."
The blond hair man held up his hands in surrender. "Then by all means, show me Commander."
Audrey smirked. "Close your eyes Captain, and use your other senses." He closed his gorgeous blue eyes, remaining in the fighting stance. Walking silently to the back of him, the red hair woman gauged his other reflexes.
He turned around abruptly, reaching out and grabbing a hold of her wrist, and proceeded to flip her over on the mat, hard. Trying to catch her breath, she looked up at the still closed eyes of the handsome playboy. Noticing he still had hold on her, she tugged him down, sending one foot out to sweep his feet from underneath him. Taking advantage of the hold, she rolled and landed on top of him.
Blue eyes opened to meet hers, mirth sparkling inside of them. "I win." She said simply, pinning his arms over his head, straddling his chest. Jim stilled at her movements, holding her gaze. Their heads closed enough for her to feel his breath against her lips, when clapping interrupted both of them.
Audrey jumped up startled, as both of their heads swiveled toward the man who had interrupted them. Doctor McCoy just stood there smirking, and shrugged. "I take it you two forgot I was here." He said, tossing towels to both of them. "I have to say though, that was an interesting display of dominance."
Feeling Jim's hands on her waist, Audrey rolled off of him onto her knees, shaking her head. "Dominance? Please that was just us taking out our anger and aggression on each other." She said, watching as Jim's muscles rippled as he sat up, wiping his sweat with the towel thrown at him.
"You two were in a zone that is for sure." McCoy said, stepping up on the raised mat with his tri corder, waving it. "So who's first?"
Two groans met his question at Jim just flopped back down on the mat, waving his friend on, turning to look at Audrey, who was drinking from a water bottle McCoy had set down. "You are good."
She smiled lightly. "How did you know I was behind you?"
The Captain laughed, causing McCoy to growl. "You have a distinct smell, Commander." Audrey just looked at him. "It's true. I noticed your request for your toiletries. Vanilla and strawberries wasn't it?"
Audrey leaned down and got the gold t shirt Kirk had shed right before their fight and threw it at him hard. He caught it, and whipped it at McCoy who at turned to her. "Don't mind him, darlin', he's a nosy captain, always getting into people's business."
Before McCoy could ask her how her ribs were doing, klaxons and red alert warning rang throughout the ship. Jim shot up, putting on his shirt in record time, and immediately headed toward the bridge, Audrey not far behind.
"Bridge to Captain Kirk."
Kirk looked around for the nearest interface, and leaped toward it. "Go ahead Spock."
Audrey knew that the ship was still docked with the Starbase, awaiting the decryption of the message Kodos sent, so if the base went on Red Alert then so did the Enterprise.
"The sensors show three Cardissian ships on the horizon, Captain. According to my readings, two are armed at full strength, yet one is barely limping along. Lifeforms on boards show weak life signals."
Jim let out a breath, looking at her. "I'm on my way up now, Spock. Is the starbase willing to let us un dock?"
Scotty answered instead. "Aye sir. The lassie is ready when you are."
Audrey placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Let's get up there before we engage, Captain."
Jim turned to look at her carefully. "You have a gut feeling about this?"
She closed her eyes briefly. "More than a gut feeling. Dammit, I need to get up there."
"Spock, do not do anything until we are on the bridge. Kirk out." Jim and Audrey managed to get to the bridge within two minutes, and the image on the screen disturbed them both.
Spock got up from the command chair, as Jim settled down into it, looking as if he belonged. Audrey stood to his right, feeling kind of useless as the bridge buzzed around her. "Lieutenant Uhura, any transmissions coming from those ships?"
The Commander turned around to see Nyota purse her lips in annoyance while looking at the screen. "No sir. None whatsoever, just the usual chatter around the sector, and nothing in Cardissian."
"Captain, a second ship has powered down and is registering weak life signals." Spock sounded, Sulu and Chekov waiting for their orders.
Captain Kirk looked at the doctor, who in turned waved away the poor ensign manning a station next to the chair. "On it, Jim. Spock can you forward me those readings?"
"I have sent the life form readings to that station Doctor."
"Bones, what can you tell from the readings?" Jim asked, watching Audrey slip closer and closer to his station, when an ensign at the intelligence station started muttering curses. Three heads whipped around the poor ensign, whose face was beet red. "Something wrong Ensign Friedman?"
"Uh, I have been trying to access the Cardissian ship's computer system to locate where they were last. However, the security and firewall are giving me some problems."
Jim nodded. "I have the utmost faith in you Ensign. Keep working on it."
The poor ensign shifted in his seat, barely noticing that Audrey had made her way to him. Leaning over his shoulder, she looked over what the ensign was doing. "Can I be of assistance Ensign?" she asked, tired of feeling useless.
"I can't seem to get past this firewall. I am familiar with Cardissian ship systems but this is beyond my knowledge." He said pointing to a particular section on his screen. She knew exactly what he had missed.
"Ensign, I know what you missed. Can I try?" the Commander asked, when the green eyes of Friedman's looked relieved. He promptly got up and waved her into his seat.
"By all means Commander, this station is all yours." He replied, allowing the red head to sit down, hunching over the station. She did feel the inquiring gaze of the captain on her back, but ignored it, using her hacking skills to access the other ship's computer.
Soon, she knew what she was looking. "Ha!" she exclaimed hands up in victory.
The ensign behind her blew out an excited breath. "Whoa. That was amazing." He said, causing Jim to turn toward her.
"What is the cause of excitement over there Commander?" Kirk inquired. Audrey spun in her seat staring straight at him.
"I hacked the computer signal…"
"In record time I might add." Ensign Friedman interrupted causing her to smile brilliantly at him.
"Thank you Ensign. As I was saying, I hacked the signal and I managed to get their security feed." Audrey felt the rush of the adrenaline cease as she noticed more and more of the beings on the ship drop dead. "I think you need to see this."
"Put it on the screen Commander." She typed in the code and suddenly the dead bodies of Cardissians and some other humanoid form appear before them. The crew was well trained enough to not audibly gasp at the image but tension and anger was reeling off them in waves. Sometimes it really did suck to be able to read minds and emotions.
She let the ensign sit at his station again as moved toward the command chair. This was what she had lived for, the hustle and bustle of a star ship. The chair drew her, like she was supposed to be here, willing and able to captain a ship like this.
The more she gravitated toward the center of the bridge, the more she realized that what drew her to the chair was not the chair itself, but the enigma of the man sitting in the chair. Even with all her years at the Academy yearning to become Captain, that chair still called to her. Or maybe it was the man sitting in it.
She decided to interrupt her own train of thought by looking at the screen ahead of her. Dr. McCoy and Spock were both studying the images carefully, when she hissed noticing some bodies were leaking blood. Yes this was definitely some of her mother's work.
"I need to get on that ship," Audrey stated, causing the entire bridge to look at her.
"You can't… I mean, you don't know what is killing those people." Jim said eyes frantic. Audrey stared him down.
"I need. To get. On that ship." Audrey emphasized looking at Spock and McCoy for assistance who just stared at him.
"Why do you need to get on a ship that is obviously contaminated?" Kirk asked, making Audrey sigh.
"Because I know what's killing them, and if I don't get there right now, the people on this star base could too."
..st.
Jim could not believe his ears when he heard Audrey say she needed to get on one of the dying Cardissian ships. His protective instincts riled up thinking of his…no. She's a commander, not his woman, at least not yet.
However, upon hearing that she knew what was killing those poor souls on the ships and that it could possibly travel to the innocents here at the base, Jim felt like he had no choice. Sometimes the needs of many outweigh the needs of one.
"How do you propose you do that without possibly spreading of the illness on the Enterprise?" the Captain asked, when he met the determined gaze of a very talented half Betazoid.
"Doctor do you have decontamination chamber in Med Bay or any labs on the Enterprise?" Pearce asked, the Doctor who looked insulted she would ask that.
"Of course we do, Commander. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.*" he said, as Jim tried to stifle a laugh. Of course Bones would use the line when disease was mentioned.
"Don't patronize me, Doctor. I was just asking." Audrey retorted, looking back at the screen. "And I assume you have hazmat suits also?"
McCoy just leveled her with a stare that he used on Jim many times. "Okay…" she looked at Jim. "Can I get a hold of Scotty?"
"What kind of insane are you planning, woman?" McCoy ranted, making Jim let out the laugh he's been holding. It was nice not to be at the end of Bone's rants for once.
Audrey turned to face the doctor directly, arms crossed. "What I am planning doctor is to beam aboard the ship, in a hazmat suit, gather the blood and air sample and be beamed back to the decontamination chamber." She replied, glaring at him. "That way I don't place this crew in danger. Got any better ideas?"
"How about, I don't know, NOT going?"
"What better way to find a cure than to actually get blood samples instead of off files?" Audrey retorted as the two hovered toward each, causing Jim to stand between. Placing a hand on Bones chest, and holding the other one toward Audrey, he stared them down.
"Now children, now is not the time to be fighting," he said, making Audrey to take a step back. "Bones, she is right. Someone has to get onboard that ship to figure out what killed them. You can't save them but you can save others by letting her go."
His best friends gaze softened, finally listening to Jim's reasoning. "Fine, Jim but at least let me go with her. The faster we can get in and out of there, the more time we have in finding a cure."
Jim looked back at Audrey, whose eyes were averted to the floor. She still wasn't used to not being a lone wolf, something he totally related to. However he had to get it through her head she wasn't in this alone. "Commander?"
Her brown eyes looked straight at McCoy. "You follow my lead, and do not stray ok?" she finally said. Jim sighed in relief and stepped away from them only to have Spock stand next to him.
"Captain I must insist that I accompany Doctor McCoy and Commander Pearce." Spock said, as Jim spared a glance at Nyota, who only had a resigned look on her face. Spock must have said or portrayed something in their bond to get that reaction of her. He made a mental note to ask her about it later.
"If you insist, Spock. Commander, gather your supplies and I will have Scotty meet you down in the transporter room." Jim said, watching at the three most important people to him walked toward the turbolift. "Oh and Commander Pearce?"
Audrey turned around and let her emotions show. He felt the comfort she conveyed and felt a weird tug at his heart. "Yes Captain?"
"Please don't get my First Officer and Chief Medical Officer sick. I don't need them whining about it the entire mission." He said, getting a Vulcan eyebrow and a glare thrown in his direction. However, he knew Audrey translated as "I care about you too, so don't go do anything stupid."
She smiled brightly at him. "No worries, Captain. I will make sure these two are well taken care of."
Jim nodded as the three climbed into the lift together, hearing Spock say "Commander, I must relay that I do not whine. Such actions are illogical," and all he heard what laughter in return when the doors closed.
He looked at Nyota, who was trying to feign professionalism when in fact she was worried. "Lieutenant?" he inquired, making her look at him.
"Yes Captain?"
"He won't get hurt." She gave him a look that asked did he know. "Oh come on, I'm not there. How much trouble could they get in?"
She relented and nodded. "Besides, I know you're monitoring his frequency."
That comment earned him a stylus lobbed at his head. "Hey I thought it was against regulation to throw anything at your captain." He said, trying not to laugh. He was just glad he could take her mind of the ships in front of them.
"Some rules are worth bending, Captain, especially if it can knock some sense into you." Nyota retorted, returning to her original position of facing away from him.
Still he wondered, how much trouble could those three get into? Jim knew he was about to find out, if those three didn't try to strangle each other first.