DISCLAIMER - I OWN NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS, PLANETS OR LOCATIONS, EXCEPT FOR MY OC ANNA.
STARDATE 4th November 2259
As far as Anna was concern, James, Scotty and her were now in a lot of trouble. They'd just allowed Khan to get to this ship, the very ship his greatest opponent was on and now they'd lost him.
"This way" Khan's voice suddenly voiced from behind them.
All three of them turned quickly to face him and Anna had to wonder why he had stuck around for them. There must be a reason.
"The minute we get to the bridge, drop him." James ordered to Scotty as soon as Khan was out of hearing range.
"What, stun him? Khan? I thought he was helping us." Scotty argued confused.
"I'm pretty sure we're helping him" Anna interjected, glancing between James and Scotty before turning and following after Khan.
The four of them carried on their way to the bridge, faster than they were before, when suddenly the lights came on in the corridor. They had full power again. They could fire on the Enterprise. Without saying a word all four of them sped up.
Just as they heard Admiral Marcus give the order to retarget the Enterprise they rushed in guns blazing, the hit being the one that had responded to the Admirals order, stopping him from retargeting. The four of them quickly stunned every crew member in the room apart from Admiral Marcus and Carol Marcus who was stood off the corner, looking very solemn and uncomfortable. James had explained before they left the Enterprise how Carol had been beamed on board the ship and she couldn't help but feel sympathetic for the girl who's father had just tried to kill a ship full of innocent people.
James came in front of Admiral Marcus, Scotty and Anna flanking the Admirals seat facing to the front of the bridge where Khan had positioned himself. James nodded slightly and both Scotty and Anna stunned Khan, in the face. Anna knew she wasn't ordered to do so but she remember he was genetically superior and she wanted to make sure she stayed down with a double stun.
"Make sure he stays down." James ordered Scotty and Anna, who both moved round to where Khan had fallen and pointed his blaster at Khan.
"Admiral Marcus, you're under arrest." James said to the Admiral.
"You're not actually going to do this, are you?" Admiral Marcus asked.
"Admiral, get out of the chair."James ordered.
"You better stop and think about what you're doing, Kirk. You better think about what you did on Qo'noS. You made an incursion onto an enemy planet! You killed a Klingon patrol. Even if you got away without a trace, war is coming. And who is going to lead us? You? If I'm not in charge, our entire way of life is decimated! So you want me off this ship, you better kill me." Admiral Marcus yelled.
"I'm not going to kill you, sir. But I could stun you ass and drag you out of that chair. I'd rather not do that in front of your daughter." James said, beginning aggressively but when his words started to turn onto the subject of Carol his words soften. He glanced over to her and asked, "You all right?"
Anna couldn't help but see the soft spot that James obviously had for the blond haired weapons specialist.
"Yes, Captain." Dr Marcus replied.
Al of sudden, in the split second that both Scotty and Anna had taken their eyes off of Khan, Khan sprung up knocking down both Scotty and Anna, knocking Scotty out and winding Anna. Anna watched as Khan jumped over the desk and onto James, punching him before lifting him by his hair and throwing him to the side of the bridge. Carol stood to stop Khan from making his way to Admiral Marcus who had made a run to the bridge doors.
"Wait! Listen" she protested but Khan quickly pushed her aside roughly and stomping on her leg, breaking it, causing to scream.
Khan grabbed Admiral Marcus putting his hands on either side of his head. They could hear the anguished noises the admiral was making and cracking his head.
"You... You should have let me sleep." Khan growled before putting extra force into his hands.
He crushed the Admirals head with his own two hands. The sight and sound of it made Anna want to throw up. The scream that Carol Marcus released was full of fear and anguish.
Khan rushed around, knocking James back down from where he was starting the get up. He stepped over Scotty and, to Anna's horror grabbed her. He placed his right arm around her neck and placed that hand up the side of her face. The arm around her neck was cutting off her breathing. It was loose enough for her to still breathe but it was hard. In the other hand he had a gun that he'd picked up on his way round. He pressed into the side of her forehead.
Khan must have pressed for the a transmission to the Enterprise bridge as an image of Spock came on the screen.
"I'm going to make this very simple for you" Khan said to Spock.
"Anna" Spock called.
"You crew for my crew." Khan continued.
"You betrayed us." Spock accused him aggressively, well as aggressively as a Vulcan can.
Anna squirmed under Khans hold, trying to break out of his grasp but all that caused was the arm around her neck to tighten, making it even harder to breathe.
"You are smart, Mr Spock." Commented Khan.
"Spock don't.." Anna gasped out before the arm around her neck moved and something forcefully hit the back of her neck, causing her to fall to the floor knocking her out. She woke minutes later in the middle of Khan's speech.
"...play this out logically for you Mr Spock. Firstly I will kill your wife and your Captain to demonstrate my resolve. Then if yours holds, I will have no choice but to kill you and your entire crew." Khan threatened.
"If you destroy our ship, you will also destroy your own people." Spock argued.
"Your crew requires oxygen to survive, mine does not. I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle, and after every single person aboard you ship suffocates, I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people. Now, shall we begin?" Khan asked
Anna managed to get onto her hands and knees as Khan spoke and could see Spock on the screen.
"Lower shields" Spock ordered to someone in front of him, presumably Sulu.
"A wise choice, Mr Spock." Khan said as he walked forward, kicked Anna in the stomach causing her to drop back to the floor again.
Anna coughed as she tried to regain her breath. She noticed Scotty was starting to regain consciousness.
"I see your 72 torpedoes are still in their tubes. If they are not mine, Commander, I will know it." Khan said fiercely to were Spock was still on the screen.
"Vulcans do not lie. The torpedoes are yours." Spock replied.
Anna could hear Khan pressing buttons on his screen and from the screen on the side, Anna could just see the torpedoes appearing.
"Thank you, Mr Spock." Khan said smugly.
"I have fulfilled your terms. Now fulfil mine" Spock ordered.
"Well, Kirk, it seems apt to return you to your crew. After all..." Khan paused as the white tubes of light that appeared when the transporter was in use appeared around all four of James, Scotty, Carol Marcus and Anna.
The four of them only just heard what Khan said before they disappeared. "No ship should go down without her Captain."
The four of them appeared in the same cell Khan had been locked in on the brig. Scotty ran to the cell door, yelling, "Let us out of here now."
The ship rocked moments later as the door was released. Khan must have started firing on the ship. James and Anna went either side of Carol Marcus lifting her up as the four of them rushed out of the brig and towards the medbay. It was hard to stay steady, the ship was being battered by fire.
They were almost at the medbay when they heard Spock's announcement "Crew of the Enterprise. Prepare for imminent proximity detonation."
"What's he talking about? What detonation?" Scotty yelled from behind James, Carol and Anna.
Anna had to wrack her brain for an explanation. A detonation on Khan's ship? Detonation! Torpedoes!
"The torpedoes. He must have armed the torpedoes." Anna yelled back.
The four them rushed into the medbay, Carol crying out at the speed they were going.
"Bones" James yelled.
There was no response.
"Leo" Anna yelled.
It wasn't Leo that came but a nurse and Uhura. They took Carol Marcus off of Anna and James and Anna couldn't help but notice that James still followed Carol with his eyes. Leo was stood at another table, healing someone's leg. Both James and Anna looked over to Leo.
"Good to see you, Jim, Anna." Leo greeted.
"You helped Spock detonate those torpedoes?" Anna asked him, curious.
"Damn right I did." Leo replied.
"He killed Khan's crew" James exclaimed surprised and in disbelief.
"Spock's cold, but he's not that cold. I've got Khan's crew. Seventy-two human popsicles safe and sound in the cryo tubes" Leo explained, pointing to the left side of the medbay where lines of cryo tubes were laid out, some on the beds, some on the floor.
"Son of a bitch!" James cursed in surprise.
Suddenly all the lights went out and ship started tilting, the red alarm lights being the only lights that were on.
"What's going on?" James yelled.
"The power must be failing." Scotty yelled back.
"Can we fix it?" James yelled back.
"Only from engineering" Scotty replied.
James ran out as best he could with ship tilting back and forth. Anna and Scotty followed him. As they ran the evacuation alarm sounded, Spock must have ordered an evacuation of the crew.
"One day I've been off the ship! One bloody day!" Scotty yelled as they ran, half hoping onto the wall as it began to tilt.
The ship tilted completely on its side causing Anna, Scotty and James to fall and grab hold of whatever they could to stop themselves from sliding down. All three of them were shaken loose and started slipping to a narrow passageway that crossed through a vertical tunnel gap through the floors, meaning if you were on the passageway and looked down, you would see down to several decks.
James and Scotty managed to grab hold of one of the posts on the passageway and Scotty managed to grab Anna and Pull her up to grab onto his post. A female crew member came sliding down, screaming, both James and Anna reached to try and grab her but both missed as she was moving so fast.
"There won't be time for evacuation if we don't get power to stabilise the damn ship!" Scotty yelled.
"How do we restore it?" James yelled back.
"In engineering." Scotty replied as the ship began to level out. "We have to get back to the warp core."
Anna, James and Scotty stood as the ship completely levelled out and Anna was horrified when she looked up and saw crew dangling from the upper levels of the ship.
"Jim?" Scotty yelled, spotting the same thing.
James looked up, his face horrified as well, but he knew they had to keep moving. "Scotty, Anna, we got to get the power back on! Come on!"
They carried on on their way to the engineering decks when the ship tilted again, causing them to run on the very bumpy walls that they could easily trip and fall on. Anna was worried when she saw that there was a gap where this corridor met another. She saw a crew member fly past, hit the wall and continue falling down the corridor.
"We got to jump" James yelled.
"What?" Scotty and Anna both yelled in response.
"Jump! Jump" James called.
"Oh god." Scotty yelled just as James launched off. James reached the other side and as did Scotty. Anna jumped as far as she could and just managed to get on, half her foot on it, her forward momentum was the only thing that kept her going forward and not fall down the corridor.
They soon reached the same engineering floor that Anna, Scotty and James had been going through when they snuck back onboard the Enterprise during the Nero situation. They were passing through the small metal passageways that metal grates underneath them and metal bars on either side to hold on to. When they were in the middle of the passageway the ship started tilting. James, Anna and Scotty all grabbed hold on the metal sides that had now become their floor. They were sure that they were going to be okay as they were safely on them but then something from above fell down, smashing into the passageway, jolting it and sending them over the edge, holding on for their lives.
"Jim?" shouted Scotty in panic.
"Hold on!" James yelled back.
"Well I wasn't thinking of letting go" Replied Anna.
"I can't" Scotty yelled suddenly causing both James and Anna to look over. Scotty's hands slipped and he fell. James only just managed to catch him arm. Anna panicked. Even Jim wouldn't be able to hold both of them with one hand she wouldn't be able to hold up both of them when James eventually slipped. She could see James' hand slipping and she got ready to grab him even though she knew she wouldn't be able to hold them. It might just give them enough time for the ship to level back out.
James slipped but by to their surprise it wasn't Anna that grabbed him. Chekov had appeared from seemingly nowhere and grabbed him.
"I've got you, Captain!" Chekov yelled.
"Chekov" James breathed in relief.
"Don't let go" Scotty yelled from where he was dangling.
Eventually the ship managed the levelled back out allowing Anna to climb back onto the passage way to help Chekov pull James and Scotty up. The four them rushed off, deeper into engineering. James first, then Anna, then Scotty, with Chekov bringing up the rear.
"Even if we get the warp core online, we've still got to redirect the power!" Scotty yelled up to James at the front.
James and Anna stopped to look back at them.
"He's right, Captain" Chekov agreed.
"What are you talking about?" James asked them, confused.
"Someone has to hit the manual override." Scotty said to James and Anna before turning to Chekov and saying, "Laddie, there's a switch..."
Chekov didn't let him finish. "Behind the reflector dish. I'll flip the switch."
Chekov had ran off before anybody could argue.
"Let's go" James yelled to Anna and Scotty.
Just to their luck, the ship began tilting again. Scotty, James and Anna quickly grabbed on the closest thing and held on until they ship levelled back out. What worried her was she could hear Chekov yelling, "Oh no, oh no, no, no"
James, Scotty and Anna ran as soon as it was level enough to do so, they passed the shuttle bay where they saw the evacuation shuttles falling off their docks, meaning nobody could reach them to get on them and escape.
Scotty, James and Anna kept running, knowing there was nothing they could do about the shuttles. They finally reached the thing they were looking for just for it be yelling "Core misaligned. Danger. Core misaligned."
"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Scotty yelled.
"What?" Both James and Anna asked.
"The housings are misaligned! There's no way we can redirect the power! The ship's dead, sir. She's gone." Scotty answered, first looking at the screen but then turning and facing James and Anna.
Both James and Anna looked back in desperation, desperately trying to think of something they could do.
"No, she's not." James said, before he went dashing off.
"Wait Jim!" Called Scotty as he and Anna went running after him, "If we go in there, we'll die! Do you hear me? The radiation will kill us! Will you listen to me?"
In the time Scotty had been yelling James had reached the door to the core chamber.
"What the hell are you doing?" Scotty yelled pushing James aside.
James just moved back replying, "I'm opening the door. I'm going in."
"That door is there to stop us from getting irradiated! We'd be dead before we made the climb!" Scotty yelled desperately, glancing between James and Anna, obviously wanting some back up from Anna.
Anna couldn't think of what to say, she could barely think. She was in shock. She had always been the quick thinker of the crew but this time her mind is blank.
James paused in opening the door. "You're not making the climb."
James suddenly spun and punched Scotty, knocking him out cold. He then turned to Anna who glared up at him fiercely making him pause.
"I'm going with you and don't even try to argue James Tiberius Kirk." Anna growled.
James just nodded and pointed to Scotty, "Get him somewhere safe. I'll still be here when you get back"
Anna glared at him suspiciously but bent down to grab Scotty. As she began dragging him she said to James, "You better be James"
Anna quickly pulled Scotty back to the computer that had told them about the core being misaligned. She managed to lift him into the chair and strap in him before running back to the door.
When she got to the door she froze in shock. James wasn't there. He'd gone in without her. She didn't even think, she just reacted, she opened the door and went in after him. Her skin burnt and her eyes watered as soon as she reached the second protective door. She went through and began climbing through the tunnel. It was only then she realised that she had just condemned herself to die as well as James when he obviously left without her to stop her from going in. She carried on anyway, the metal grate she was crawling on burning her hands.
As much as she originally thought it was a mistake she was wrong. When she reached the big round room that had the housings in, she found James on the floor at the bottom. She looked up. It would be an even bigger climb if she went down to James first and she probably wouldn't have the energy then. As much as she hated to say this but James would have to wait.
She started the painful climb to the top, everything she touched burnt her hands, her legs. Just the air burnt her skin and made her eyes water. With each painful step she took she thought back to the people that she would, if successful, save by doing this.
Carol Marcus. A woman who deserved the chance to grieve her father and gained the same family relationship that the rest of Enterprise shared.
Anna stepped up onto the lower tube, climbing her way up, her hands on the top.
Uhura. Her best female friend on the Enterprise. The woman who allowed Anna to hide away in her apartment when she had a fight with Spock.
Anna grabbed the upper tube and pulled herself up. Groaning in pain.
Sulu. Her sparring partner. He always gave her a run for her money. You could never tell who was going to win between them.
Anna grabbed the smaller wires that were wrapped around the tube and used them as leverage to move even further up towards the housings.
Chekov. Young Chekov. The cute lad melted her heart the first time she saw him when he had a mental breakdown after his attempt at the Kobayashi Maru.
Anna had to jump from the tube to the wires that circled the housings. She dangled for a moment trying to find the strength to pull herself up and onto the little platform.
Scotty. Ever since mentoring Scotty she knew he was a great engineer and an even better friend. If there was one person she knew would have her back, it was Scotty.
Anna pulled herself up, throwing her leg over the side. Once she was up she lay on her back looking up. Was this it? Was it as far as she could go?
Leo. She trusted him with her life. And with the adventures that they have had he's proved why she holds that trust. He wasn't just a friend or a best friend. He was as close to her as another brother would be. He protected her. She would happily give her life for his, just as he would give his for her.
She rolled painfully and got up onto her hands and knee's. She couldn't give up. She had to save them.
James. She supposed in a way she wouldn't be saving James' life. He's still given up his life in an attempt to save this ship but she couldn't help but think of him anyway. He was her brother, her younger brother. They'd been through hell together and came out of it the other side. They protected each other. They'd die for each other. She loved him. She remembered when they were both little and she would take them to the park because their mom was off planet and Frank was in the process of getting drunk. She would take him to the park and he would ask why their mom wasn't around and she'd tell him the truth, because she wouldn't lie to him. It was because she wanted to be with their dad. James would asked would look after them. And she said she would. No, she promised she would, because she loved him. It seemed she hadn't looked after him very well. He was lying beneath her, possibly dying from radiation.
Anna got the energy to stand. She grabbed the bars above the housings and lifted herself up.
Spock. Her best friend. Her husband. The love of her live. She'd committed her life to him, her world. Marrying Spock was probably the best decision she'd ever made. The day she married Spock was the happiest day of her life. It had been a beautiful wedding. She was dressed in the traditional Vulcan bridal clothing. Amanda had lent her the same clothes that she had worn in her Vulcan marriage to Sarek. She remembered the bliss she was in that day and the days that followed. It was truly a wonderful day.
Anna kicked her legs down into the housings. It jolted under her feet but didn't move. She growled in frustration and she kicked again with the same result. She knew she was running out of time and energy. She was in incredible amounts of pain as the raditation took hold of her body. She kicked again, and again and again with no result. She finally snapping kicking it over and over again without even putting her feet back down. Suddenly the housings snapped into position. The force pushed her back and sent her to the bottom of the room.
She lay there for a minute, watching the bright light of the core, she turned her head and then she spotted James. She found whatever energy had left inside of her and crawled over to him. He was still alive but unconscious. All she cared about in that moment was he was alive and it gave her one last boost.
She climbed up to the tunnel, dragging James the entire way. She crawled back through the tunnel, dragging James and she finally reached the doors. She pulled herself through, not having enough energy to lift herself up. She turned and pulled James through. She moved up against the door frame so she could lean on it and press the button, but before she did she pulled James to her so he was almost seated in-between her legs, his back resting on her stomach and his head on her chest. He was facing up and she couldn't help but think he looked peaceful. She reached up as best she could and pressed the button to close the second door and start the decontamination process, though she knew it was too late to save her and James.
James' eyes fluttered and Anna couldn't help but let her tears fall. She was dying and so was James.
"Anna..." James called.
"Yes, James." Anna replied, trying to make her voice as steady as possible with her tears rolling down her face.
"Why?" James asked.
"We promised... together, till the end" Anna said, leaning her head back.
"Did you do... it?" James asked her.
"I think so" Anna replied, her hand moving to rest in James' hair. She planned to stroke down his hair, just as she had done just before she left for Starfleet Academy. She hadn't done it since. But when her hand touched his hair, she ran out of energy to move it to stroke the hair, so she just let it lie there.
She saw Spock run up to the door. He stood in front of it, looking down at her and James in horror. He turned to somebody else, Anna presumed Scotty, and said, "Open it."
Anan could only just hear Scotty's response. "The decontamination process is not complete. You'd flood the whole compartment. The door is locked, sir."
She watched as Spock knelt down next to the door, pressing his hand on the glass, looking between her and James. He focussed more on her, his eyes telling her everything. He was sad and afraid. He was afraid to lose her.
"How's our ship?" James asked Spock, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Out of danger." Spock said to James before looking at both of them. "You saved the crew"
"You used what he... wanted against him. That's a nice move." James said, complementing Spock's actions. Anna smiled slightly but she worried about how weak James sounded. His head was completely slack against her chest as if he couldn't hold it up himself.
"It is what you would have done." Spock replied.
"And this... this is what you would have done. It was only logical." James commented, his breaths getting faster. "I'm scared, Spock. Help me not be... How do you choose not to feel?"
Anna's tears kept rolling down her face as she saw Spock's emotionless mask shatter. She wanted to talk but she knew James had been in this compartment longer than she had. He was closer to death than she was, and they both needed this conversation.
"I do not know." Spock replied glancing between the two before settling on Anna. "Right now I am failing."
"I want you know why I couldn't let you die... Why I went back for you." James said his eyes flickering as if they wanted to shut but he kept opening them back up again.
"Because you are my friend." replied Spock, finally, after all that had happened, getting the answer.
Anna could feel James struggling to breathe and her tears came faster. She didn't want to watch her younger brother die when there was nothing she could do. She watched as James put his hand up against the glass, Spock mirroring him. They both put their hand as a Vulcan salute.
Anna could feel as James stopped breathing and she cried, pulling him closer to her.
"Anna!" Spock spoke.
Anna glanced up at him and gave him a small smile. "I love you Spock. You know that."
Spock leaned forward and placed his forehead against the window where Anna's head was resting. She turned her head to put her forehead against his.
"I know. I love you, my T'hy'la" Spock replied, his tears rolling down the glass as well as his cheeks.
"Spock, I.. I'm sorry. I promised you forever. This... this was a very short forever." Anna replied. She knew that if she had the energy to, she'd be sobbing. She'd just lost James and now she was about to follow him. Ever since he came Captain she seemed to have been following him everywhere, and now she was following him in death.
Her eyes dropped. They sprung back open when Spock banged against the glass shouting "Anna!"
She looked up to him. She wanted him to be the last thing she saw. She wanted to tell him again how much she loved him but her voice failed her. Her mouth just opened and closed again. Her vision began to blur and she knew that this was it. She still kept her eyes on him, she was determined to keep her eyes on him.
Her vision blurred out. Her eyes didn't close but all she saw was black and the nothing.
AN: CHAPTER DONE. ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER AND AN EPILOGUE TO GO. THE EPILOGUE IS WRITTEN SO I'M GOING TO TRY AND FINISH THE LAST CHAPTER SO I CAN UPLOAD THEM BOTH. I'VE ALMOST FINISHED IT SO THEY WILL BOTH BE UP SOON. I ONLY NEED TO DO TWO MORE SCENES.
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU THAT HAVE REVIEWED AND STUCK WITH THE STORY THIS FAR.
