Disclaimer: not mine
Jim only took about sixty crew members with him as they left port at Yorktown. Lenore was on board as well, looking out of place on the Bridge – she was there to guide them to the location where she had used an escape pod to evacuate her ship, and seemed uncomfortable in a borrowed Starfleet uniform.
The command crew was all there, but all of the kids were left on the station. McCoy grumbled a little at leaving Joanna behind, but she would be staying with Kevin for a few days, and wasn't too upset.
April was on board too, as was Carol. Other than that, each department had a skeleton crew, just enough to operate the ship and provide assistance for any survivors they could find.
The trip passed in near silence. The nebula was a good six hours from Yorktown without pushing the engines too far, and there wasn't much to do until they got there.
At her station on the Bridge, Carol tried to sit calmly, but had already had to have someone cover her station twice as she needed to make a trip to the bathroom to throw up. Each time she did, she tried to ignore the confused and worried look Jim would throw at her.
After the third time, Jim intercepted her before she could sit back down, gesturing to his ready room. Nervously, she acknowledged the silent request, and followed him into the private room.
She came to a rest in front of Jim's desk, and watched as he chose to lean against it, facing her. His face was an unreadable mask, and Carol swallowed apprehensively. "Jim? Is everything all right?"
"Maybe you should answer that yourself," Jim shot back, raising an eyebrow. Carol gulped, but didn't reply. Jim pursed his lips and observed his fiancée. After a moment of silence, he sighed and crossed his arms across his chest. "I saw the box," he admitted, eyes searching for answers. Carol's own eyes widened as she froze in panic.
Jim immediately moved forward and gave her a comforting hug. "I don't care what the test said," he whispered gently. "I love you no matter what."
Carol grasped onto him like a lifeline. Slowly, she managed to get her breathing back to somewhat normal, and she pulled away, but didn't go far. She offered him a watery smile. "It was positive," she informed him. Jim was the one to freeze now. He had found the box that had once held a pregnancy test when he had been searching for his socks under the bed this morning. Even knowing Carol had been concerned enough to take a test, he still hadn't actually thought it would yield this result. Carol continued, seemingly oblivious to her fiancé's inner turmoil. "I probably need to see an actual doctor to confirm it, but considering I've been throwing up pretty much every day for the last week, I'm fairly certain Len or April will give me the same answer. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before now, but you've been so busy, and I kind of wanted to be sure before I said anything. I was going to go see Len as soon as we left Yorktown after the talks were over."
Carol stopped talking, and seemed to realize that Jim hadn't moved since her admission that the test had been positive. "Jim?" she asked hesitantly. "Are you all right?"
"How did this happen?" Jim asked softly, almost to himself. His gaze was focused on the far wall and he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.
Carol grimaced and bit her lip, looking down as she felt the question almost like a stake to the heart. "We've been careful, but Jim you know contraceptives aren't one hundred percent effective all the time. I'm sorry, I know we didn't plan this and I know it's not the best time."
Jim immediately snapped out of his erratic thoughts as he heard the undercurrent of pain and fear in his fiancée's voice. He immediately cupped her face gently and gave her a searing kiss. Pulling back just a few inches, he smiled reassuringly. "I love you," he promised. "I won't lie, the thought of being a parent terrifies me. It's not like I had a lot of great role models for the position, but I promise you, I'm happy. And I'll do my best not to screw it up."
Carol chuckled weakly and sniffed, but she felt much better hearing him say that, knowing that he wasn't really angry or disappointed, just shocked and scared. Jim was immediately concerned, but she smiled, and he knew she had to be on the same roller coaster of emotion as him. "I'll do my best not to screw up as well." Jim immediately shook his head, and Carol reached out, grasping his hands in her own. She pulled them down and squeezed gently, reassuringly. "Jim, I'm just as terrified as you are. I mean, I wanted children someday, but this was not exactly in my plans right now. I have no idea how to take care of a child. But we'll figure it out together, right?"
Jim immediately nodded. "Agreed." He grinned and kissed her again. "I'm happy," he reiterated. "No matter how badly we mess up this kid, we're in it together, right?"
Carol rolled her eyes, but didn't contradict him. Jim's comm. chimed at that moment, and Jim answered it with an apologetic look. It was Spock, informing him that his presence was required on the Bridge, so the couple immediately straightened themselves out, got rid of any evidence of emotional discussion, and headed back out to join their colleagues.
"Captain, there is an unknown ship approaching." Spock didn't waste time with pleasantries, he simply stood up from the Captain's chair and gave his report.
"Have you hailed them?" Jim asked brusquely, focusing immediately on the issue at hand.
Uhura was the one to respond this time. "They're not responding."
Jim glanced at the Communications station, and then back to the main window in front of them. They were surrounded by the nebula; it looked like the middle of a dust storm – he had been caught in one once while he had traveled through Africa as a teenager. It hadn't been pleasant, and that feeling of being surrounded on all sides with nowhere to go was not something he would forget. Through the dust cloud around them, they could just make out what looked like a planet.
"How far away are we from the last location of Lenore's ship?"
The woman in question jerked slightly at the sound of her name, but didn't say anything as Spock responded, "Considering all factors both known and unknown, I feel confident in assessing that we have reached the approximate location Ms. Lenore speculated she departed from her ship."
Jim grit his teeth, knowing with absolute certainty that he had not been given the full story, but knowing that there was no more time for debate. "Shields up," he declared. "Uhura, send a message to Starfleet, tell them there might be an issue."
The ship rocked at that moment, and Jim grabbed onto the arm of his chair to stop from falling to the floor. "Report," he barked.
"Shields as eighty percent –"
"Multiple incoming –"
"Locking weapons –"
"Communications jammed –"
The reports came in quickly, one on top of the other. Jim turned to look at Lenore, who was standing by the railing looking slightly afraid but also guilty. "What haven't you told us?" he asked, his tone stating quite clearly that he would accept nothing less than her full cooperation.
Lenore gulped. "It wasn't a malfunction or the nebula," she admitted. "We were attacked. I didn't think you would come if I told you. I'm sorry."
Jim grit his teeth. "Your ship likely crash landed on the planet here," he acknowledged. Lenore nodded, still looking guilty.
Jim turned to Uhura, but she just looked at him regretfully. "No messages are getting out," she informed him. "I can't get through to Starfleet, there's some sort of signal blocking our communications."
The ship rocked again, and Jim ordered them to return fire. They were being swarmed though, and weren't doing nearly enough damage in response.
"Shields at ten percent," Carol reported, her voice shaking slightly.
"Options?" Jim asked Spock quietly. The Vulcan remained a steady presence at his side, and offered up the only information he could.
"Captain, I do not see a way to neutralize the threat. If we continue to take heavy fire, I anticipate less than fifteen minutes before the Enterprise is completely destroyed."
Jim nodded. He couldn't see any other options either. "Abandon ship," he said. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him in surprise. He swallowed harshly and repeated himself. "Evacuate. Spock, tell the crew to get to their escape pods and get out."
Spock immediately turned to do just that, as most of those on the Bridge rushed to comply. Jim himself led Lenore to a pod and put her inside. He pushed a button, mustered up a reassuring smile, and then watched as the pod dropped off the ship and headed towards the nearby planet's surface.
As the rest of the crew started heading towards their own pods, Jim pulled Spock aside. "We need to do a systems wipe."
Spock looked at him for a moment, and then nodded. "We cannot risk vital information falling into enemy hands," he agreed.
Jim tried to hail Engineering, but nobody answered, so he sighed, and then turned back to his First Officer. "Get to Engineering and enter the code. I'll stay here to follow up and complete the process."
To wipe an entire starship was understandably difficult, and required two separate sets of commands to be entered from two different locations – Engineering and the Bridge.
Nobody who was still there looked happy with this development. Sulu and Chekov had paused in their rush to their separate pods, hearing Jim's order. Carol and Uhura were likewise drawn to the conversation between their respective significant others.
Jim took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. His expression was determined. "Spock, after you enter the code, get the hell out of there. No hesitation, no stopping for anything."
Spock raised an eyebrow in apparent confusion.
Jim grimaced. "The most valuable piece of technology we have on this ship is the warp core, Spock. Once the system wipes, I'm going to initiate self-destruct. It'll take a couple minutes for Engineering to be destroyed, so you won't have much time."
"Jim, are you sure –?"
Jim immediately cut Uhura off. "We can't afford for the technology to fall into the wrong hands, Lieutenant. Now all of you, get the hell off this ship." He turned back to Spock. "Before you leave, separate the saucer. That will stop anything else from being destroyed and buy everyone more time to evacuate."
Jim turned and almost pushed Carol towards an empty pod. He turned her around quickly before she stepped inside, and gave her a searing kiss that hopefully conveyed everything he felt.
"Jim," Carol whispered, a few tears escaping from her eyes as she tried not to cry.
Jim gave her a smile that mostly covered his unease. "I'll be right behind you," he promised.
He watched as her pod dropped, followed by Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov. When Jim turned back around, Spock was already gone, heading for Engineering.
He immediately set about shutting down systems in preparation, transferring controls back to Starfleet. He didn't need an active communications line to do this, fortunately. Starfleet would now have access to all of the data they had collected over the last few years, so it wouldn't be completely lost.
Spock commed him just as he finished, confirming that the overrides were set in Engineering. Jim thanked him, and told him to get to an escape pod, before he started typing in code sequences on the computer console.
The self-destruct was a systematic process, and Jim's expertise with the ship allowed him to focus it on specific areas while ignoring the rest. He typed in the commands just in time, as a large jolt indicated Spock had separated the saucer from the rest of the ship.
Jim didn't waste any more time, and headed for the last escape pod on the Bridge.
XXX
Spock was heading towards the nearest escape pod when there was a large bang and he saw a strange machine protruding into the ship from the outside. He ducked around a corner and watched, concerned, as several unknown personnel emerged from the machine – an enemy ship? – and started running in the opposite direction. He considered following, but he had at best five minutes before the entire Engineering deck would be gone. Self-destruct was a last resort, but Jim was right in that it was their only option if they wanted to ensure no one would get their hands on the Enterprise's warp core.
He was about to stand up and continue on his original path now that the enemies were out of sight, but a hand on his arm stayed his movement. He was about to grab it and twist, when he realized it belonged to Doctor McCoy. He frowned minutely. "Doctor, why are you still on board?"
McCoy glowered. "Helping injured get off the ship," he replied. "I was clearing Engineering when I saw the saucer separating. Those guys who you're hiding from were heading up – I think they were trying to get to the Bridge. They won't be happy to find that that's impossible now. What the hell is Jim's plan?"
If Spock were completely human he might have bitten his lip in apprehension. But instead, he just offered up a small head shake. "The Captain made the logical point that we must wipe the ship's systems to ensure no enemy could find classified Starfleet details. I performed the necessary requirements in Engineering, while he remained behind to complete the process on the Bridge. Following that, he planned to initiate a self-destruct of Engineering, to ensure everything would be destroyed. Specifically, he was concerned about the warp core technology."
"Damn it," McCoy muttered. He couldn't go looking for Jim now though. He just had to hope the idiot would get off the ship before it crashed on the planet below them. "We need to go. From what I can tell, we're the last of it, everyone else should have already evacuated."
A loud boom shook the ship around them, and Spock knew that was the fuel cells igniting. "Doctor McCoy, we must depart. The nearest escape pods are –"
"You don't have to tell me," McCoy griped. "I know they're too damn far away." He looked around, and then focused on the enemy ship that had pierced through the Enterprise's walls so that the assholes could board. "No time, we gotta go."
He headed for the vessel, and Spock had no choice but to follow.
XXX
Jim landed heavily in a forest. The pod impacted with the ground in a move that made him especially glad he was buckled in. Even so, his bones seemed to shake in protest, and he felt a few ribs twinge painfully. He ignored the ache and focused on the keypad in front of him, entering the sequence to open the pod.
As he stepped out shakily, he found himself looking around at a planet similar to Earth. He was surrounded by trees, but there was no one in sight. He pulled out his communicator, but immediately slumped disappointedly at seeing the cracked screen. Pressing the power button confirmed that it would still turn on, but it wouldn't work as it was intended. He couldn't get it to make any calls.
A shout caught his attention, and he put the comm. away, looking around. A moment later, Chekov came rushing out of the trees. His face split into a relieved grin when he saw Jim, and he hurried over.
Behind the navigator, Lenore followed. She seemed no worse for the wear, but looked like she had bitten off more than she could chew.
"Jim!" Chekov gave him a tight hug, and the Captain tried not to wince as his ribs groaned in protest. "Thank god!"
Jim pulled back and looked between him and Lenore. "Have you seen anyone else?" he asked.
Chekov immediately shook his head. "Lenore and I landed close to each other. We haven't found anyone but you."
Jim tried not to show his worry, but it was hard. His crew was out there somewhere. Sulu, Uhura, Scotty, Spock, McCoy, April, and especially Carol. Not to mention the other roughly 50 crew members who had come on this rescue mission. Where were they?
"What do we do?" Chekov's voice sounded small and uncertain, and Jim immediately focused on the immediate problem.
He glared at Lenore. "Who was that who attacked us?" he asked harshly.
Lenore bit her lip. "His name is Krall. He attacked my ship as well."
Jim was still seething at this woman's deception, but there were other things he had to focus on right now. He looked back at Chekov. "Do you have your communicator? Mine's not working."
Chekov shook his head regretfully. "I didn't grab it before heading for the escape pods."
Jim sighed. "All right then. Pick a direction, and let's see what we can find."
XXX
When Carol came to, she didn't immediately understand where she was. As her blurry vision cleared, however, she slowly recognized that she was in an escape pod, and the recent events came flooding back. She also felt like she was going to throw up, and really didn't want to do that until she got outside.
Carol groaned weakly, and lifted a hand to the keypad to try and push the buttons in the right sequence so that she could do just that. Before she could, however – not that she was altogether certain she could hit the buttons, considering how dizzy she was – the door opened on its own, and then there was a pair of hands helping unbuckle her and pull her outside.
Carol stumbled away and fell to her knees, throwing up harshly.
The hands were there, rubbing her back reassuringly, and once she finished, Carol looked up to see who had saved her.
April smiled gently, hands moving to probe a dark bruise around Carol's left temple. There was some blood there too, and the doctor knew how to detect head injuries, even without proper medical equipment. "Just breathe through it," she advised. "It looks like you've hit your head pretty hard, huh?"
Carol shrugged, and tried to stand up. April was immediately there helping her. She swayed on her feet for a moment, before she settled. "Shit that hurts," the Lieutenant breathed, one hand moving to hold her head in a futile effort to get the pounding to stop.
April winced sympathetically. "Blurry vision? Dizziness?" Carol nodded, and then stopped quickly as the pounding intensified. April pursed her lips. "That with the nausea makes a pretty compelling case for a concussion. We can't stay here though, so do you think you're up for a hike?"
Carol wasn't one hundred percent sure if the nausea was the head injury or the pregnancy, but she didn't say anything either way. "Lead the way," she said instead, and let April guide her away from her escape pod and into the surrounding forest.
XXX
McCoy had barely passed his flight exam at the Academy – everyone had to take the basic piloting course in order to move on to second year, and it had taken him three tries to beat the final exam. The only reason he had managed to pass was because of Jim and Sulu, who had taken him up on multiple test runs almost every weekend for the last half of the semester; he had been grateful for their help that saw him scrape out a C in his third go.
Even if he had done exceptionally well, however, the enemy ship's controls were completely different from any Starfleet vessel he had seen.
Spock wasn't too much help either, though he had passed his own flight exam with considerably higher marks than the doctor. Interestingly enough, that fact actually made McCoy feel slightly better.
Their combined effort resulted in them managing to slow the ship down enough that they weren't immediately killed on impact when it crashed on the planet's surface. It still caused both officers to get tossed around a bit, and Spock lost consciousness before they came to a stop on the planet's surface.
When he regained consciousness, he had been dragged out of the destroyed ship, and McCoy was hovering over him with a look that, if Spock didn't know better, would have been called worry. "Doctor?" he asked, simultaneously informing the emotional human that he was alert while also requesting a status report.
McCoy blinked, startled, and turned his gaze from Spock's abdomen to look the Vulcan in the eye. "Well, we survived," he said needlessly.
Spock raised an eyebrow. "That is obvious," he deadpanned.
McCoy shifted back slightly in surprise, and then smiled slightly. He knew Jim thought the Vulcan had a wicked sense of humor, but he rarely got to see it for himself. "Anyway, try not to move too much. You've got a hunk of metal sticking out of your abdomen. If what I remember of Vulcan anatomy is correct, it's dangerously close to your heart. I need to get it out soon, but if I just pull it, you could bleed out before I can do anything."
Spock stopped trying to sit up, and let the doctor work. "Your care during our service together has shown you to be competent at understanding the anatomy of many Federation races, Doctor, including Vulcans. I trust your expertise."
McCoy was the one to raise an eyebrow now. "Was that Vulcan speak for you trust me not to kill you?"
Spock closed his eyes. "Indeed."
McCoy shook his head, and got to work. He glanced at the destroyed ship in front of him, and focused on the small fire that had sprung up inside. "Shit," he muttered, the beginnings of a Jim-level of stupid idea starting to form.
Spock opened his eyes at the swear. "Something tells me I am not going to like your solution," he observed.
McCoy swallowed. "I'm not even going to like this plan, Spock, but I think it's all we've got." He picked up a small branch, and handed it to the Commander. "Bite down on this."
Spock took the branch, confused, and watched as McCoy stood up and disappeared from his view, moving back towards the ship that was behind Spock.
The doctor returned a minute later, carrying a small piece of metal that was a glowing orange color on one side, regular dull gray on the other.
McCoy had been lucky to find a separated piece he could lift, that was only lying half in the fire on the ship. It would be crude and hurt like hell, but it would work for now. "Bite," he instructed.
Spock looked back at the stick in his hand, now understanding what McCoy's plan was. "I am not going to like this at all," he reiterated, and then stuck the branch between his teeth.
McCoy didn't give him a chance to settle. In one quick move, he pulled the piece of metal out of Spock's abdomen, causing the Vulcan to let out a muffle scream around the branch. Searing pain erupted in his stomach, as the doctor then pressed the burning hot piece of metal to the open wound, cruelly cauterizing it to stop the blood flow.
A few seconds later, McCoy removed the metal, and threw it aside. The area around the wound was scorched slightly, but at least it was no longer bleeding. He knew there was probably internal damage he would need to fix later, but the chances of Spock dying before they could find help or any of their friends was significantly lowered.
He gave Spock a few minutes to catch his breath, and then sighed when it looked like the Vulcan had his pain under control. "We really should get moving," he said regretfully. "Don't get me wrong, the last thing I want to do is drag you around with an injury like that, but if someone saw the ship go down, they'll be looking for us."
Spock just nodded and let McCoy haul him to his feet. "I concur," his voice was winded, but he was steady enough when McCoy let go.
With no idea where to go or where their friends were, McCoy randomly picked a direction, and they started walking.
XXX
When Scotty managed to extract himself from his escape pod, a quick glance around showed that he was alone. The woods around him were quiet, eerily so. With no companions, no communicator, and no idea where the hell he was, he was left with no other option than to pick a direction at random and hope he found a friendly face soon.
XXX
Uhura and Sulu didn't even get a chance to step outside their pods and wonder where they were or what the hell had happened. Both had felt themselves snatched out of the air as they fell towards the planet's surface, and the enemy's faces were their first view of this new dire situation.
They found themselves herded towards a large courtyard surrounded on all four sides by tall fences. Every time they tried to talk, a phaser prodded their backs and warned them to shut up.
Pushed inside the cage – because that's what it was even if it was outdoors – Uhura managed to turn around and glare at their captors before they slammed the gate shut and locked it from the outside.
Attention focusing back on her surroundings, the Communications officer gave Sulu's arm a reassuring squeeze, before her gaze swept over the other occupants of this cage.
There were roughly forty to fifty members of the crew there, meaning they could be missing up to twenty people. Even in this grim situation, Uhura couldn't help but feel grateful that they had left Yorktown with a skeleton crew for this mission. Sure, it was abundantly clear that 'easy mission' was a serious understatement, but she shuddered to think of what could have happened if they had had their full crew of over five hundred on board when they were attacked.
Sulu looked over at his fellow senior officer. He, like her, had probably immediately noticed several glaring absences. Where was the rest of the command crew?
Before he could say anything, however, the gate opened once more, and a large man, skin darker than Nyota's, entered.
XXX
April kept trying to comm. any of their friends, but all she kept getting was a low static. She tried to hide her worry, but it was obvious to Carol, who was doing her best just to keep walking in a straight line.
"Could the atmosphere be interfering?" the Brit asked when they stopped for a quick break after a few hours of wandering through the trees without seeing any signs of intelligent life.
April bit her lip and glanced at her comm. "Possibly," she acknowledged. Another alternative would be that no one had their comm. with them when they abandoned ship, or their devices were broken, or had been taken from them if they had been captured by whoever had attacked them, or… they couldn't answer because they were…
Her mind shuttered closed, not even allowing herself to complete that thought. Her mouth formed into a grim line, and she looked over at her friend. "We should keep going."
Carol was exhausted, her head was killing her, and she hadn't stopped feeling queasy since escaping the Enterprise. She had already forced April to stop twice while she threw up everything in her stomach – not that there was much left at this point. But she refused to drag April down, so she just pushed herself up, and let the doctor continue to lead her forward.
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