Sorry it's been a while. My computer was down for the count for a bit.

The shuttle door opened to reveal Uhura and McCoy. They were dressed in civvies and had grave looks on their faces. They stepped out of the shuttle and headed toward the enormous white building nearby. Along the way, they saw humans and aliens alike bustling around and taking care of everyday business. Once they reached the building, they entered through, what seemed to be, the front door. The place was definitely classy. Uhura's boots clicked down the marble hallway as they made their way to a large, chamber-like room. Looking around, Uhura didn't immediately see someone who looked like they were in charge, so she stopped one of the burly-looking men. She noticed his blue skin and webbed ears and made a mental note because she had never seen an alien like him before.

"Excuse me. Who's in charge here?" she asked firmly, and air of confidence about her. McCoy eyed her, surprised she was being so forward. Then again, she had always been a straight forward woman. The guard seemed to appreciate the tone because he led them to a small room to the left of the chamber. There was an alien of the same species as the guard sitting behind a large desk doing, what looked like, paperwork. He looked up when the guard cleared his throat.

"These humans wish to speak with you." The man behind the desk smiled politely, but Uhura was good at reading people and she could tell there was malice behind it.

"Please, sit." He motioned to the two chairs in front of his desk. Uhura and McCoy took their seats. "My name is K'lar. How may I be of service?"

"I'm Nyota. This is Leonard. We heard about your recent auction and would like to know the location of two of your products." K'lar's expression hardened and his eyes took on a suspicious gleam. Uhura narrowed her eyes.

"Why would I give you the personal information of my clients?"

"We came here to aquire certain...merchandise, but our shuttle broke down mid trip and we arrived late. We were hoping to persuade their buyer to sell to us." After Uhura finished, McCoy leaned forward in his seat.

"We'll make it well worth your time. How does two thousand credits sound?" he asked. K'lar smirked.

"Make it ten and you've got a deal. Let's see how bad you want them."

"Deal." Uhura and McCoy said at the same time. K'lar's smirk turned into a grin.

"Good, good. Now, who were the slaves you were looking for?"

"The Starfleet officers. The human and the Vulcan." Uhura stated, keeping a straight face and not belying anything.

"Yes, those were sought after slaves. They were sold to a Romulan. Let me get his contact information." McCoy had paled at the fact that it was a Romulan that had Jim and Spock. Uhura shot him a glare and he quickly schooled his expression. K'lar looked back up. "His name is S'Tcaevra Khellian of Romulus. If you have a PADD, I can transfer the coordinates of his home to you." McCoy pulled his PADD out of his inside jacket pocket and accepted the data transfer.

~x~x~x~

"They're on bloody Romulus!" McCoy exclaimed as he walked onto the bridge. Sulu and Chekov shot him surprised looks.

"We got the coordinates we need." Uhura added, walking in behind McCoy. Sulu nodded.

"Alright, we'll chart a course for Romulus. Chekov, shields up, just in case."

"Yes, sir." McCoy took a seat in the captain's chair. He refused to leave the bridge until they brought Jim and Spock back. Jim always got himself in trouble, so McCoy was used to that, but this. This was different. Jim had never been gone like this before. McCoy was brought out of his thoughts of Jim when he heard Sulu comm Scotty.

"We need warp six again. Let me know if anything adverse happens."

"Aye, sir."

~x~x~x~

Spock groaned when he was hauled out of the bed by his hair. He was becoming weaker and weaker from the constant abuse. Jim attempted to protect him only to get electrocuted every time. This time was no different. He lunged at S'Tcaevra and immediately fell to the floor when that little button was pressed. Spock was thrown to the floor and savagely beaten. Jim could only watch, tears in his eyes and anger boiling his blood as Spock was kicked over and over. Suddenly, Jim felt a familiar tingling in his cells. Slowly, the room dematerialized and, all of a sudden, he was back in the transporter room of the Enterprise. Jim almost let his tears fall as he saw McCoy and the entire command crew waiting for him. He looked around frantically until his eyes fell on Spock, laying curled up on the transporter pad, back to him. Jim quickly crawled across the pad and gently rolled an unconscious Spock over onto his back.

"Bones, get over here!" he yelled over his shoulder. McCoy, who had been stunned into inaction, came back to himself and rushed over with the biobed they had had on standby. Jim and McCoy slowly and gently lifted Spock onto the bed. Jim held his hand as they ran down the corridors to sickbay. Jim was pulled back away from the bed as McCoy, M'Benga, and nurses began to work on Spock. He turned and saw Uhura with her hand on his shoulder, eyes soft and sorrowful.

~x~x~x~

"What happened?" McCoy asked as he sat in a chair at the foot of the two biobeds in the private room at the back of sickbay. Jim was sitting up on one of the beds staring at Spock who was unconscious on the other bed. He was bandaged up and changed into a hospital gown and looked starkly pale, even against the white of the bed sheets. Jim turned his gaze back to McCoy.

"A lot." McCoy scoffed.

"Yeah, I can tell that. Now, give me specifics." Jim sighed loudly before answering quietly.

"Where do you want me to start?"

"How about the beginning. What happened after the flash of light?"

"We woke up on a ship. It was the...um...S'lara. That's it. We had these on." He motioned to the collar that he and Spock still wore. They were waiting on Scotty to take them off. "They electrocuted us, kept us in line..." Jim relayed the entire terrible story to his friend and, by the time he was finished, he had tears running down his face. McCoy's eyes softened as he took in his friend's distress.

"You and Spock are to report to me every week for counseling until I say so."

"But-"

"No, you've been through a trauma. You need to talk to someone. It's me or a Starfleet appointed counselor. Your choice." Jim deflated, bowing his head in resignation.