Disclaimer: I do not own Star trek.
Chapter eight:
Jennifer smiled as she watched James stared at the house before them, a small smile gracing his face. It was the first time she had seen James smile a truly happy smile and she knew this was a good sign. Of course he had smiled at the hospital, but there had been a lot of pain hidden in that smile, you could see it in his eyes.
But that pain had finally disappeared.
Well not completely.
Pain like that took years to overcome, but it was a start.
It had been a long trip on the shuttle to Tarsus IV. Both Jennifer and her husband, Chris, had been dying to get off that shuttle, while James had seemed truly at home, looking out the tiny widow at the darkness littered with stars.
She could understand why James reminded Winona so much of her late husband, but that was no excuse for leaving her children with that monster. For leaving them behind every time she went off on a mission, officer in Starfleet were able to bring their children with them on long term missions.
Sighing, Jennifer smiled, as her husband slipped an arm around her shoulders and stood beside her smiling as he watched James. The two of them had never been able to have children, so this was a new start for them just as much as it was for James. Glancing up at the sky Jennifer frowned slightly, the blue sky was rapidly becoming overcast. Shaking her head, Jennifer turned her attention back to James. She hoped he liked the rain, because the spring storms on this planet lasted weeks!
"Aunt Jennifer," James called, turning to face her. "Is what mum said true?"
Jennifer glanced at her husband, before glancing back at James. "What does Winona say?"
"That it rains so much in the spring, the roads turn into streams." James answered.
"Streams, my ass!" Chris snorted. "More like raging rivers of muddy water!"
"Chris!" Jennifer scolded.
But James just beamed at them.
"Does it happen every year?" He questioned, excitement in his voice.
"You bet it does kid." Chris answered. "Worst time of the year by a mile!"
Jennifer rolled her eyes. "My mother always used to say 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong cloths'."
"There's no cloths suitable for that kind of weather," Chris muttered. "But then your mother was a crazy old bat."
Jennifer glared at her husband, but before she had a chance to reply, a cheerful greeting sounded.
"Good morning, Jennifer." A women's voice greeted.
Turning James watched as a women with dark brown hair approached them, a boy two or three years older than him walking at her side.
"Samantha," Jennifer replied, smiling, before turning to the boy. "Tom, I'd like you to meet James, he's my nephew. Do you mind showing him around?"
Tom turned towards James and the two stared at each other for a moment.
"Of course not, madam." Tom finally answered, grinning at James.
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Bones glares as Jim glances at the exit of medical bay every couple of seconds, like he was planning on making a break for it any moment.
"Don't even think about moving off that damn bed," Bones growls, picking up his medical scanner and moving it up and down Jim's body.
"It's only a couple of scratches, Bones." Jim answers, glancing around the medical bay with a look of unease. "I've survived worse without treatment."
"I don't care if it's a peach tree growing apples," Bones answers, as he begins treating Jim's wrists. "It's my job, as a doctor and as your chief medical officer, to treat your injuries… Even if they are just 'a couple of scratches', which if they become infected could lead to countless health problems, you could even lose your hands!"
"You really are grumpy today," Jim mutters, wincing slightly as Bones touches a rather tender spot on his right wrist. "So mind telling me why there's a red alert? Seeing as no one else has seen fit to inform me."
"Intruders." Bones informs him. "I'm sure Spock will be along with a fall report any minute."
"Intruders." Jim repeats, his eyes gaining a faraway look.
Bones rolls his eyes. "That's what I said."
Jim doesn't move an inch as Bones begins treating the scratches on his arms, his eyes unfocused and his mind coming up with countless possibilities for why Kodos, or at least Kodos' men, would send people aboard a federation flagship. None of the reasons he could think of, had a good outcome for himself or Kevin… Or his crew for that matter.
He knew if Kodos really was alive, like Tom had always believed and like he himself was starting to believe, then his crew were in as much danger as he and Kevin were. The Kodos he had seen on Tarsus IV, was mad and willing to go to any length necessary to kill those in his way. Jim had kept tabs on the others since they had been rescued, all those years ago.
They were all dead.
It was only now their deaths seemed less innocent then they had first appeared.
Bones who was in the process of patching up one of the deeper scratches, frowns as he notices a small line of silvery white skin on Jim left arm, half way between his elbow and his shoulder. Lifting the tattered fabric of Jim shirt sleeve, he frowns at the scar he sees.
It looked like an old fashioned bullet wound and it looked old, but Bones had never seen it before and he'd been Jim's doctor long enough to know there was no way he could have missed this.
Running his thumb along the scar, his frown deepens as the scar becomes clearer. Looking down at his thumb he notices it's was covered in a coloured substance, not much different from makeup foundation. Bones knew it was a substance commonly used to hide scars which couldn't be removed that easily, so that would explain why he had never seen it before.
Turning and picking up his scanner, Bones scan Jim's scar, but nothing shows up. According to the scanner there was no scar tissue there. Frowning once more Bones turns over his hand and scans it, its results confirmed small amounts of scar tissue, he was a doctor after all and accidents did happen when cleaning equipment with sharp edges.
"Jim," Bones mutters, peering at friend. "Jim, JIM!"
Jim snaps out of his trance like state, his gaze quickly focusing on Bones. "What?"
"You were shot," Bones answers, before Jim can reply he continues. "By the looks of it, I'd say with an old fashioned rifle. Yet on your medical record it shows no such injury occurring."
"What are you talking about?" Jim answers quickly, trying not to let his line of sight drop to his left arm.
Bones points to the scar on his arm.
"Mind explaining how you got this? Why it isn't on your medical record? And why my scanner isn't picking it up?" His tone making it clear Jim wasn't getting out of medical bay until he did.
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Tom and James walked side by side, as they followed the road towards the centre of the colony. James was carefully studying their surroundings, whilst Tom walked along staring at the ground in an attempt to stop anyone noticing him. As they reach the main square outside the colony's meeting hall, James frowned at the sight which greeted them.
A group of five men dressed in matching uniforms were approaching the notice board. One stepped forward and began nailing a notice to the board, whilst the other four stood guard, rifles held loosely in their hands.
James nudged Tom.
"Who are they?" He asked pointing towards the men.
"Governor Kodos' men," Tom answered. "I'd keep clear of them, if I were you. Don't cause any trouble either. They're the law on this planet and their punishments are anything but just."
"Why doesn't Starfleet do anything?" James questioned, remembering his mother once telling him about a mission where they had overthrown a colony leader who had been breaking federation laws.
Tom snorted. "Starfleet does a yearly supply drop, that's it. Kodos gives them his reports and Starfleet send them to headquarters. I don't think I've even seen a Starfleet officer set foot in this colony outside of his compound… Plus even if they did, nobody would speak up about it."
"Why not?"
"Because you'd have a hard time proving it." Tom answered, with a slight shrug. "They're discreet. They know how to get away with it…"
James turned back and watched as the men returned the way they had come and people began gathering around the notice board.
"To be honest with you," Tom suddenly spoke up. "I don't think Kodos knows what his men do. Everything Kodos writes on that notice board seem innocent enough and he's not hard on the people here."
"You make it sound like no one's ever seen him." James muttered.
"That's because hardly anyone has," Tom answered. "Kodos never appears in public. I've heard a rumour saying he's afraid of public speaking, only those who are called to meetings at his compound have seen him. I've seen his daughter, Lenore, though. She's in the same grade as me at school."
James stared at Tom for a moment.
"Don't you think it's a little bit odd that hardly anyone has seen him?"
"I think it's damn right suspicious," Tom agreed. "But what can we do about it? It's the way things are done on this colony… I can't wait until I'm old enough to leave this place."
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Hey, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I'll try and put up the next chapter soon.
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.
