Chapter 9: Endangered

"Acting Captain's Log, Star-date 2258. 42."

On the bridge of the Enterprise, many people turned in their chairs to watch and listen to the hollow blank tones of their half-Vulcan Acting Captain as he spoke to the recorder in the Captain's chair.

"We have had no word from Captain Christopher Pike, nor his daughter Lieutenant Layla Pike. I have therefore classified them both as hostages of the war criminal known as Nero. Nero who has destroyed my home planet and most of its six billion inhabitants. While the essence of our culture has been saved in the elders who now reside upon this ship, I estimate no more than ten thousand have survived. I am now the member of an endangered species…"

But even as Spock opened his mouth to continue speaking, he found for the first time in his life that his voice had constricted itself in his own throat.

Not that anyone really could blame him.

Not when they too shared in his grief.

As such no one made a move to stop him when he made to stand from the captain's chair and walk over to the turbo lift. None save Lieutenant Nyota Uhura.

But no one commented on that either.

When Jim Kirk limped into the Enterprises' Medical bay he was instantly rounded on by a very frantic, very frustrated Doctor Leonard McCoy.

"Goddamnit man! What were you thinking? Trying to pull a chute for two people when falling at the speed of-"

"Bones…" Jim's murmured over the top of his friend "not now alright"

Leonard stopped abruptly in his spot. The younger man's voice was uncharacteristically quiet and distant even as his gaze turned down to the ground.

The doctor quickly looked about the two of them, his eyes searching the medical ward.

But no matter how many times his eyes swept over the crowded room, or behind Jim's back, not once did he see the short head of dark hair he was searching for.

He turned back to Jim and his scowl softened ever so slightly.

"Come on" he grumbled grabbing the younger man's shoulder as he led him over to a bio bed and sat him down.

He did his best not to look too worried as he saw Jim not protest to being looked over by any medical instruments. Instead he just gazed ahead; his blue eyes that usually glinted with life and light were now empty and cold as he let his friends' voice wash over him.

"Slightly twisted ankle, minor cuts and bruises. No concussions. No heavy internal injuries. And one sprained wrist. Jim could you-"

He paused when Jim silently held up his hand before him.

"uh…thanks" Leonard gulped as he quickly made to pick up a clean set of bandages from a kit to his left. Then just as he began to wrap the material about the damaged limb-

"They took her"

"What?" Leonard blinked and looked down to see Jim glaring hard down at the sterilized sheets on the bed.

"Nero's crew. They took Layla hostage" he then ran his uninjured hand over his blonde head of hair "I can't believe I was so stupid! I should've paid more attention. She had to kill a Romulan to defend herself! She had to cover my back when I should've been covering hers. We should have beamed her out sooner. I should've talked Pike out of letting her come alon-"

"Hey-hey-hey stop right there!" Leonard cut across him sternly "I know this is difficult to swallow at the moment but you don't go beating yourself up about it. What's done is done. Layla chose to go into this mission knowing full well all the risks."

Jim shook his head with a sigh.

"But Bones you didn't hear her. She was so scared-"

"Jim. Listen to me." Leonard dropped his patients hand so that he could grip his shoulders instead.

"Layla's young but she's a tough little cookie with more balls than most of this crew put together. You've seen her in training. She'll be fine. If anything I feel sorry for the stupid Romulans who made the mistake of kidnapping her and her father in the first place. Because once she's cleared her head and started thinking I have no doubt that she'll turn that ship upside down and send them all into a world of pain. We just gotta have faith in her. She'd have faith in us if she were in our place."

"I guess you're right." Despite his worry, Jim felt the corners of his lips quirk upwards into the smallest of smirks only for it to fall "But still, we can't just leave her there. It's like you said, if she were in our position she'd come back for us. She's our friend"

"And the daughter of our Captain who is also captured" Leonard groaned as he made to look back on his medical tray with a heavy sigh. "Man…we've really gotten ourselves screwed over…"

There was a tiny cough from beside them and both Leonard and Jim turned to see a young blonde haired nurse bite her lip nervously as she handed the former a PADD.

"Orders from Acting Captain Spock. He wants you both to report to the bridge immediately."

"Chuck her in here with the other prisoner"

Layla grunted; both pain and anger flooding her even as her body was thrown unceremoniously onto a cold hard floor.

"Make sure she stays put till Prod Nero sends for her" a harsh voice snapped from behind her.

Quickly she looked up just in time to see a door made of bars swing shut with a loud clang, whilst two shadowy figures made to stride away.

She crawled forwards to peer through the bars and saw two tall Romulan males make to stand on either side of the single door at the end of a long corridor, lined with similar barred doors to her own.

But there wasn't anyone behind each one of those bars.

"Wait!" she called at the guards "Where's my father?"

But both Romulans did not answer her.

They only just stayed still at their posts, one of them turning to the other and quickly striking up a conversation in their native tongue.

Whatever they were saying to one another, it could not be plainer that they did not care much for their young prisoner's predicament. Indeed they smiled jovially as one of them cracked a joke.

What was one pathetic human girl's suffering to them anyway?

Oh come on Dad. Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead!

Layla chanted over and over to herself as she pulled away from the bars to sit in the silent darkness of her cell.

"He's not dead Short-stack." A voice spoke up quietly from behind her.

Layla spun around in alarm.

There sitting in the shadows of her cell someone was sitting hunched over his curled up knee. It appeared to be a man, a young man, if his voice was anything to go by as he spoke again:

"The other guy they brought in here. The one in the gold shirt. He's alive. Or he was when they took him"

"Who are you?" She mumbled her back leaning against the bars as she eyed the figure warily.

As the stranger adjusted his body to lounge against the wall, his features were faintly illuminated in the dim yellowing light above their heads.

He appeared to have white hair, though on closer inspection Layla saw that it was actually very pale blonde and cut short. From what she could see of his body, which was clothed mostly in dark obsidian clothing, he was definitely a Caucasian terran human. His eyes, each a stormy grey orb, were looking over her with an odd mixture of intrigue, amusement and pity even as he caught her eye and smirked.

"The name's Hawke. What's yours? Or should I just continue calling you short-stack?"

"No you shouldn't" Layla clipped with a scowl, desperately fighting off the temptation to lunge at her new acquaintance. Instead she opted to turn her face down as she made to clutch at her damaged wrist, which was still stinging badly from the fracture the Romulan had inflicted on the drill.

"It's Layla"

"Layla…it fits…" Hawke quirked an eyebrow as his eyes lingered on her dark tresses that fell about her face "Layla what?"

"Just Layla" Layla grunted as she tried to shrug her shoulders. She was still in her black EV suit, and even though it was fairly elastic it still was quite restraining on her shoulders flexibility.

Hawke seemed to notice her discomfort for he pointed to the suit's shoulder pads.

"You should take that off if you can't move. These cells aren't exactly the most comfy of places"

"Thanks for the info" Layla muttered though she made no move to rid herself of her gear. Not with her wrist so bunged up.

"So…" she clucked her tongue in bored fashion as she looked about the cell. "What are you doing in this cell?"

"Just chilling. Because I so love chilling in brig cells" Hawke groaned sarcastically and Layla rolled her eyes.

"No I mean, why are you in here? How did you get on this Nero's bad side?"

"Oh that" Hawke gave an exaggerated nod of recognition "I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. My…spacecraft was found drifting into the same trajectory as this ship and they just picked me up and slammed me in here. Me and another guy."

"What other guy?"

"Dunno" Hawke shrugged "just this really old dude with pointy ears and weird eyebrows. Talked kinda funny too. So stiff and formal."

Layla frowned as she looked about at the other cells. As far as she could tell no one else was there with them asides from the two guards, who were still chatting away with one another.

She was so engrossed by trying to figure out Hawke's words that she didn't even notice him as he made to crouch down opposite her.

It was only when he coughed that she looked up.

"Whoa-What the-"

"Chill out short-stack! I ain't gonna kill you." Hawke rolled his eyes as he reached out to take her wrist in her hand.

Layla winced, but stayed as still as possible as her cellmate made to pull off her glove and examine the damaged, slightly swollen limb over.

"fractured" he mumbled as he tilted it gently in front of his eyes.

"I know" Layla muttered

Now that he was close enough she could see that he was quite handsome, if in a slightly rugged way.

Oh no!

She groaned in her head doing her best to avert her gaze from his face.

Oh no Layla! Back away from the cute guy! You don't have time for this! You need to get out of here! You need to find dad. Oh god

She couldn't help but gulp as Hawke leaned in to her ear and whispered softly.

"Scream"

"huh?" she blinked.

"Scream" he repeated tensely "act like you don't want me close to you"

"And what makes you think I want you close to me now?" Layla scowled and Hawke smirked.

"Because you haven't pushed me away yet"

"Piss off" She snapped quickly glancing at the guards nearby who stiffened upon noticing the actions in their prisoner's cells.

Oh so that's what he's getting at…

"I cannot believe I'm doing this" she groaned softly rolling her eyes as Hawke smirked and leaned in closer, placing both his hands carefully on her waist.

"S-Stop!" she whimpered doing her best not to growl with irritation as the man over her sniggered in her ear.

"I don't think they heard you short stack"

"You jerk!" she snapped her uninjured hand shooting up to push hard at his chest. She was surprised when he stayed put. Usually by now a normal man would be hitting the other wall.

What the hell?

But she was distracted by the shifting of the guards and Hawke's next instruction.

"keep going. I'll do the rest"

She gave a minute nod to show she understood before hissing:

"H-hey! Stop it! get off of me! Get off of me"

"Not a chance" Hawke grinned his face dipping down so that it was hidden in the crook of her neck. However in spite of their closeness he did not make any other inappropriate move.

Even so she still pretended to struggle and writhe even as she whispered.

"There is a phaser in my pack. NO Stop it don't touch me you creep!" she added her voice getting shriller

"I got it" He nodded his eyes quickly darting sidelong as both the guards made to stride over briskly to the cell door and open it.

"Hey! You stop that AGH!"

They both yelled as two blasts of light hit each of them square in the chest.

They fell backwards, unconscious before they even hit the ground. But their prisoners did not seem to care as they shoved themselves away from one another.

"Quick take this" Hawke hissed chucking Layla a phaser rifle and one of the Romulan's long dark coats as he took the others.

She quickly slipped it on, wincing as she moved her injured wrist.

"We should try and get to a communications port" She muttered, as they stepped out of their cell door. "If I can send a distress signal to Starfleet HQ we might have a chance"

"A chance of what?" Hawke snapped as he locked their two unconscious captors into the cell, pulling their coats hood up over their heads "I did not just bust us out of here so that we could play damsels in distress"

"excuse me?" Layla snorted derisively as they crept out of the door and into a long dark corridor. "Just because I am calling for help doesn't make me a damsel. Also you forget that if it wasn't for my acting skills you'd never have the chance to shoot those mor-ugh!"

She grunted as a hand made to force itself about her throat and push her into the corridor wall.

"You really are beginning to bug me" Hawke snarled down at Layla who glared back up at him just as scathingly.

"Then kill me now and be done with it. You've escaped haven't you?" she spat as the fingers around her throat twitched. "Go on! I dare you."

There was silence as Layla waited, eyeing the face above her closely.

Hawke really did look like he wanted to kill her. His grey eyes were filled with a hot savage heat that came with the thrill of violence.

Or was it violence…

In spite of her disdain, Layla could not help the small tingling at the back of her neck as the fingers around her throat went slack as Hawke leaned forwards, his nose brushing her pale temple.

She stayed stock still as she heard him suck in a deep breath, only for it to hitch as he exhaled.

"What?" She glowered as he pulled away from her his face strangely stricken.

He glanced up at her face eyes widening even as he drunk in every feature under the brighter light above them. As his eyes found hers they widened.

"no way… it couldn't be…they're just like his…" his voice was barely a breath, so soft that Layla almost missed it.

"Just like who's?" she growled but already he was turning his back on her and scowling.

"Come on! Lets get going. They'll be looking for us soon"

But even as she made to follow him, Layla couldn't help but frown in confusion.

What the hell was that about? And just what the hell is this guy's deal?

She rolled her eyes to herself as the man continued to ignore her presence, as they walked by corridor after corridor.

Then suddenly he stopped.

"Ow!" Layla winced as she walked straight into him, her nose colliding painfully with his back "hey what the-"

"shh!" Hawke hissed as he peered around a corner.

Layla followed his gaze and her heart dropped like a stone.

Christopher Pike was not a man that was frightened easily. He had seen and experienced many dangerous situations and faced them head on and would continue to do so till the day he died.

This interrogation was no exception.

Nonetheless his eyes were wary as he watched the tall dark form of Nero stalk about the examination table he was strapped to.

"You must have a lot of questions for me" the Romulan's voice was soft as he stalked to stand by the human Captain's head. "But I only have one for you."

Christopher tensed as Nero's tattooed face came up close to his own and snarled:

"I need the subspace frequencies of Starfleets border protection grids. Specifically those surrounding Earth."

But the captain made no move to open his mouth. He only glared defiantly.

Nero's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Christopher, answer my question."

"No, you answer for the genocide you just committed against a peaceful planet" Christopher growled only for his captor to snap harshly as he straightened up to his fullest height.

"No, I prevented genocide. In my time, where I come from, this is a simple mining vessel. I chose a life of honest labour. To provide for myself and the wife who was expecting my child"

And at this he reached up to flick a switch above so that a hologram flickered into life to show an image of a rather pretty Romulan woman.

Christopher's face softened pity as the woman smiled, holding her full term pregnant stomach with the pride and warmth only a mother could have. It didn't help that the woman held a slight resemblance to his own wife Helene. His heart twinged at the thought of both her and his Layla, who must have been back aboard the Enterprise, now would be worrying themselves sick about him.

Nero noticed his prisoner's sympathy and relishing in it he continued to rant.

"I was off planet, doing my job while your Federation did nothing, and allowed my people to burn while their planet broke in half. And Spock, he didn't help us! He betrayed us-"

"No-no you're confused" Christopher shook his head confusion clouding his mind "You've been misinformed. Romulus hasn't been destroyed. It's out there right now. You're blaming the Federation for something that hasn't happened-"

"It has happened" Nero yelled loudly so that Christopher winced "I watched it happen! I saw it happen! Don't tell me it didn't happen!"

But then he quickly took a breath and pulled away again, sucking in a deep soothing but still shaky breath before muttering.

"And when I lost her, I promised myself retribution. And for twenty five years I planned my revenge against the Federation. And forgot what it was like to live a normal life. But I did not forget the pain. A pain that every surviving Vulcan now shares…"

Christopher stiffened as his interrogator stepped forwards to hiss softly.

"A pain which you too will share very soon if you don't answer my questions"

"What are you talking about?" Christopher's face paled as Nero's eyes glimmered maliciously.

"Why…that very loyal crewmate of yours…what was her name again? Oh yes that's right…Wasn't she called Layla Pike?"

There was a sudden scuffling noise and two of Nero's guards raised their phasers high as Christopher began to struggle fiercely on the slab.

"Don't worry" he hissed softly and the guards stood down "He won't be able to escape. He's too secure. However if he does try to move anymore you have full permission to shoot his little brat"

He turned back to Christopher who stilled where he lay, his face livid with fear and anger as he was approached again.

"That's better" Nero murmured softly "You see Christopher. I don't like doing this sort of thing. It doesn't have to be this way, me hurting your child to get back at you. But sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to fulfil your purpose. And my purpose is not only to avoid the destruction of the planet I love, but to create a Romulus that exists free of the Federation. You see only then will she be truly saved. That is why I will destroy all the remaining Federation planets. Starting with yours"

There was silence as Nero watched Christopher's face tense as he muttered and turned his head away.

"Then we have nothing left to discuss"

"You will give me the frequencies to disable Earth's defences" Nero sighed heavily as he moved away to a table close by.

His expression was passive, even detached, as he picked up a pair of tongs and reached into a glass jar in which something dark and small was wriggling unpleasantly.

"Centaurian slugs"

Christopher could not help but shudder at the sight of the insect, which indeed was slug like in shape, but with large mandibles on its head and a hard little black exoskeleton.

He tensed as it was brought over to where he lay, its carrier sneering even as he made to say:

"They latch onto your brain stem and release a toxin that will force you to answer. Frequencies please, sir"

But Christopher just clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.

"Christopher Pike, Captain U.S.S. Enterprise-"

"As you wish" Nero growled signalling to his two guards who rushed forwards, one of them forcing their prisoners jaws open.

Christopher Pike struggled hard. But it was all in vain as the small horrible creature was shoved harshly down his throat.

His smirk widened as a horrible retching and choking sound filled the air.

It wouldn't be long before the small creature would worm its way into his system, and it would take even shorter for its toxins into his bloodstream.

But even as he made to sneer down again at his prisoner there was a loud clang.

He looked up quickly as did his guards and his eyes widened to see a young man and woman standing behind a nearby knocked over torture station.

"Shit" Layla gulped, glancing sidelong at Hawke who grabbed her hand tight in his and quickly dragged her off at a run just as Nero's voice roared after them.

"After them! NOW!"

HI guys!

I hope you liked the surprise. to those of you who don't know, Hawke is one of my OC's from my other ST fanfic "The Dark Before Dawn" so if you want to see more of him you can check it out there.

hope you guys enjoyed and keep R&Ring for more :)