Oh, I've finally updated it! I'm so sorry this update took so long to post. I'm a college student about to graduate, and I'm currently studying to take the MCAT for the second time, so I just haven't had the energy to really write a lot. But the next chapter is in the works, so hopefully it won't take so long to update the next chapter!
As always, please review. It really does help. xx - Rabbit
Alina and Bones arrived back at Jim's apartment, both thoroughly exhausted from their passionate lovemaking they had earlier. It took every ounce of self-control they both had not to take each other again both before they left, and in the taxi there, but they both knew that Jim needed comfort far more than they needed sex. Jim opened the door with a weak smile, as he was still incredibly depressed but happy for his best friend.
I wonder if I should high five him or not, Jim thought absently. Alina grinned at him.
"You should," she replied to his thoughts. "He's very talented with his tongue." Bones's face turned red almost immediately, but he gave Jim the high five anyway.
"You're both probably tired," Jim said. "I put new sheets on my bed so you two can sleep there and I'll take the couch."
"No way, Jim. Alina and I can stay in here no problem."
"Leonard. Let's take him up on his offer," Alina said gently, but her tone made it clear it wasn't a suggestion. Jim sighed in relief as Alina took Bones's duffel bag and put it in Jim's room. He followed her in confusion.
"Why are we taking his bed? He only offered to be polite." Alina shook her head.
"He offered because it smells like Spock. It's too painful for him to sleep in here right now. I heard him thinking that. He's hoping we'll cover it up with how we smell." Bones nodded in understanding.
"I'm so damn glad I have you," he said. Alina smiled and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. Bones thought he saw a twinge of sadness in her eyes, but he couldn't be sure. Alina walked back into the main room, Bones trailing behind her again.
"Do you need anything before bed, Jim?" Alina asked.
"No, I think I'll be okay. You two get some sleep. Or not. Just try not to make too much noise if you decide to get frisky again," Jim replied with a wink, making Bones blush again. Alina giggled, pulling Bones back into the bedroom.
"G'night, Jimbo," he called into the living room.
"Goodnight," Jim replied. He curled up on the couch and fell into a fitful sleep, still exhausted from the depression threatening to drown him. In his room, Alina and Bones were both lying on their sides and looking into each other's eyes. Bones noticed that Alina's green eyes almost glowed in the dark, and she looked ethereal as ever. He couldn't resist moving closer to her and kissing her, never wanting to stop. She kissed him back just as passionately, gently tangling her slender fingers in his short hair. Her taste was almost intoxicating, and the delicious cool of her skin made Bones shudder in pleasure.
"I feel like I've known you forever," he whispered against her lips. He felt her lips tug into a smile and she kissed him again before nestling her head in the crook of his neck. He heard her breathing slow and deepen before long, and he fell asleep soon after as well.
Far away on New Vulcan, Spock's father heard his communicator beeping. He opened it to see a video call from Spock incoming. He glanced at his multi-planet clock and saw that it was early morning on Earth. He knew his son would be en route to New Vulcan soon, and he was confused why Spock would be contacting him.
"It pleases me to see you, Spock," Sarek said tonelessly.
"The feeling is mutual, father," Spock said equally tonelessly. Still, Sarek sensed that Spock was holding back.
"Something troubles you, my son," he said.
"It is… nothing of importance, father."
"Why is it you have called, then?" Spock sighed, knowing he had no other reason to call.
"In truth, I am very troubled at present," he said.
"What is it that upsets you?" Sarek asked.
"The Captain and I had a rather pointed disagreement. I was to care for him while he recovered, but after our disagreement I left and scheduled my trip to New Vulcan, as I'm sure you know." Sarek nodded. "I do not believe I was angry with the Captain for a valid reason. I believe I was angry with him because I…" Spock trailed off.
"Your mother would wish for you to speak your feelings, Spock," Sarek said quietly. "I wish for you to speak them as well." Spock looked into the communicator camera again, and Sarek saw the pain Spock was feeling. He wished that he could take the pain away from his only son, but he knew Spock's feelings were something he would have to deal with on his own.
"I am in love with Jim Kirk," Spock whispered, looking away. Sarek did not react, and Spock irrationally feared that he would be upset with him.
"Does he feel the same as you do?" Sarek finally asked.
"I am unsure," Spock replied.
"Perhaps you should tell him how you are feeling."
"I plan to. But I will tell him once I have arrived at New Vulcan. If Jim and I do feel love for each other, it will survive less than a year apart. I feel that time spent among my people will be beneficial for my emotional state."
"If that is what you feel is wise, then I support your decision. I will see you when you arrive. Live long and prosper, my son," Sarek said.
"Live long and prosper, father," Spock replied, both Vulcans holding up the Vulcan salute before Spock ended the call. As soon as the screen went dark, Spock released the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. So his father supported him. He knew he shouldn't be surprised. His father had always been understanding, after all. Feeling like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Spock called for a taxi and gathered his suitcases for his long trip to New Vulcan. The drive seemed shorter than usual, and Spock wasted no time getting checked in to the shuttle bay. Once he had settled into one of the chairs awaiting the call to board the ship, he was able to spend time assessing his surroundings.
His fellow passengers were fairly unremarkable, but a group of six men and a female did catch his eye. The girl had deep grey skin and narrow eyes looking around nervously. She had a long tail that twitched in agitation, and although the men she was with appeared much calmer, Spock was able to see subtle signs of nervousness in them too. All six men were human, and had scowls firmly locked onto their faces. He couldn't tell what it was, but something about the group gave Spock a thoroughly unsettled feeling. The female glanced over and quickly got the attention of her companions when she saw Spock. He saw her whispering to them, and saw them nod in response, which served to add to the discomfort growing in Spock's gut. His attention was diverted by a voice announcing over the speaker system that his shuttle was boarding, and to his dismay, the group that had been eyeing him was boarding the same shuttle.
With a steadying breath, Spock gathered up his jacket and carry-on bag and calmly walked up to the entrance to the shuttle, his exterior belying none of his nerves. After he had presented his ticket to the attendant at the gate, he walked into the shuttle and chose a seat in the corner where he could monitor as many of the other passengers as possible. In the other seats around the shuttle, Spock saw several families of different races, as well as single passengers. The group from earlier walked in, and Spock noticed immediately that the female was even more agitated, and it had become painfully obvious. She sat across from Spock and eyed him venomously, and her companions sat beside Spock. They didn't speak, and neither did Spock, although the sinking feeling in his gut was growing large by the second.
The shuttle took off after all passengers had boarded, and he heard the captain announce they were about to enter warp speed. Once they had and the passengers were allowed to walk around, one of the men in the group stood and walked out of the room they were in.
"You are Vulcan," the female said, her voice deep and thick with an accent.
"That is correct," Spock replied, his voice as monotone as ever.
"You know science," she said, more of a question than a statement but worded as the latter.
"Why is it that you ask?" Spock replied.
"No reason. I think many questions," she said with a shrug, but Spock noticed the sly grin that she flashed at her companions. The lights in the passenger area suddenly began flashing red, and the female and the men all stood. A voice different from the captain's came over the speakers.
"Hello, everyone. This is not your captain speaking. In fact, I can't see him speaking ever again. I'm sorry to ruin your day like this, but we need this ship more than you all do. Seela, boys, go ahead." The female, apparently named Seela, and the other men all exchanged wicked smiles before unceremoniously walking up to each passenger and killing them with modified phasers they had tucked into their pants. Spock felt close to vomiting as he watched Seela pull a young girl no older than six from her mother's arms and shoot her in the head. She handed the corpse of the child back to her now-sobbing mother before killing her as well. Despite being highly skilled in combat and possessing great strength, Spock knew he could do nothing as the five remaining men surrounded him. Their phasers were all aimed at his head, and he knew he was very close to death.
"Since you are man of science," Seela began, striding towards him. "You will help us. You help us without fight, we may let you live. You cause us problem, we kill you. Good? Good. Now sit. We have many hours journey to planet."
"What planet is it you are speaking of?" Spock said, allowing a small amount of the raw hatred he felt seep into his voice.
"That is of no concern to you, Vulcan. All that is of concern to you is doing what you are told," Seela replied. "Now, it is time for you to sleep." Before Spock could even react, she had set her phaser to stun and pulled the trigger, and Spock's world went black.
When he awoke, Spock found that he had a throbbing headache and he felt woozy and weak. He struggled to sit up, and was promptly met with another phaser aimed at his head.
"We are at first planet. We switch to different ship now and leave this one," Seela told him.
"Why are we changing ships?" Spock asked.
"Starfleet ships easy to track. Warp speed leave big trail. We switch to small ship without warp speed. Much harder to find," Seela replied, nodding to the men on either side of Spock who hauled him to his feet none too kindly. The thug piloting the ship docked the two ships together so that the he and the others could cross into the smaller ship. Once they were safely inside, they were met by three other men and two women, both of the same species as Seela who wasted no time in shackling Spock to the wall where the other ends of his chains had been welded. The Starfleet ship was set adrift, and Spock and his captors began journeying to the next rendezvous point. It took every ounce of self-control that Spock had not to panic, and he found he was desperately wishing he could see Jim, knowing it might be the last time.
Several hours later back on Earth, Uhura received a transmission that a Starfleet passenger vessel had been found in a nearby star system and that it appeared all passengers had been killed. She was told that a Starfleet Commander had been aboard but that his body had not been recovered. To her own amazement, Uhura managed to keep her composure until she was done speaking with the officer delivering the transmission to her. As soon as she ended the call, however, she let out a choked sob.
She reported the transmission and immediately called Montgomery Scott, not knowing who else to turn to.
"Scotty, Spock got on board a ship to New Vulcan that was hijacked. Everyone on board was slaughtered. They didn't find his body, but oh god, what if they killed him?" she sobbed into the communicator.
"Now, calm down, lassy," Scotty said as gently as he could. "Ye cannae know if they killed him or not, so there's no use cryin' just yet. Have ye told Jim?"
"No, and I don't think I can. That's why I called you. Can you please go tell him for me?"
"I'll go do that now. And after that, I'm comin' to see ye. Ah don't think you should be alone right now," Scotty replied.
"You're probably right," Uhura relented before saying goodbye to Scotty and curling up on her couch, crying into her pillow.
Scotty arrived at Jim's apartment as quickly as he could, and he banged relentlessly on the door until Jim opened it.
"Jesus, Scotty, what is it? Someone die or something?" Jim said.
"Ah need to talk to ye, Jim. It cannae wait," Scotty said. Jim sobered up quickly when he heard the seriousness in Scotty's voice, and he stepped aside to allow the engineer in. Bones and Alina were sitting on the couch, and looked in confusion at Scotty. Not long after, though, Alina let out a gasp from the thoughts she had heard Scotty thinking.
"Scotty, this is Alina Sinda. She's working under Bones now. She's telepathic. Alina, this is our chief engineer, Montgomery Scott. We call him Scotty. Now, introductions over. What's going on?" Jim said. Scotty sat down on the ottoman near the couch and put his head in his hands.
"Jim, the ship that… the ship that Spock was on was… well, the bloody thing was hijacked," Scotty said, his voice strained. "Everyone on board was killed. It was a goddamned massacre." Jim paled and slumped down on the couch beside Bones.
"Now, before ye go assuming, they didn't find Spock's body, and there weren't any traces of Vulcan blood found. We cannae assume he was killed just yet," Scotty said. Jim was staring blankly at the wall, tears forming in his eyes.
"Don't think like that," Alina said quietly, reading Jim's thoughts. "You had no way of knowing this would happen. Neither of you can blame yourselves for what you said to each other before he left. You couldn't have known."
"He'll probably be killed. And the last thing I told him was that I didn't need him. He'll die thinking I didn't need him."
"Ah don't think ah understand," Scotty said in confusion.
"Jim and Spock had a fight. That's why Spock decided to leave early," Bones told him. Scotty nodded slowly, understanding beginning to dawn on him.
"Jim, this doesn't mean he's gone. Starfleet already has patrols out lookin' for him. If he's out there, we'll find him," Scotty said. Jim's face darkened.
"You're goddamn right we will. Because we're going to go get him."