Hi. How is everyone?

I'm so glad to see the reader levels rising, it makes me so happy, so thank you for reading :))

Now, in case you've noticed, I like to make things sound incredibly dramatic. I don't know if my last chapter was too far, or this one - please do say, I am so conscious XD

Enjoy

Nalien Chahine felt the storm coming before it did, so she decided action was necessary.

'Sir,' she said quietly, addressing Kirk. 'Permission to be relieved from duty temporarily.'

Kirk looked at her, saw her shaking frame, and could see something was wrong. He decided to let her go. 'Granted, Lieutenant.' As she moved out of the room, Kirk caught her arm. 'Rest,' he said quietly. She nodded.

The turbolift seemed to take longer than usual. There was a dull ache in her chest that was undescribable, but she could feel it welling up inside and threatening to spill out.

She quickened her pace, past the sick bay, past a number of doors before the doors to her quarters opened for her and she collapsed beside her bed.

Already, she couldn't breathe – sobs choked her, winding their way back into her lungs. Her breaths sounded hearse, louder than they should be, and shaky. This is the first time she'd cried in decades, and it felt like being punched multiple times in the stomach.

She had let Sherlock die without once letting him hear the words 'I love you' from her. She had let Suhur disappear without letting him know that she still loved him. She had turned her head away when she saw Spock's wounds, his skin hanging off his back, stained green with his blood. Everything she thought about hurt her more, and everything that hurt her made her think about something else – something just as upsetting, just as painful.

It was as Sherlock's dying face entered her breaking mind that she started to scream. She knew the quarters were soundproof – probably a good thing when Kirk and his interests were involved – but she still stuck her pillow over her face, just so no one had any chance of hearing.

She screamed until her throat was raw, and then felt as if something significant had left her – but the sadness still lingered like a rainy day when you wanted to go swimming. That wasn't enough. She needed more.

The pillow in her hand seemed substantial – so she threw it with as much energy as she could muster at the wall.

It felt, and therefore must have looked, utterly pathetic, but it made her feel slightly better nonetheless.

The pain felt more than she could handle, and soon she was gasping for breath – she was on her hands and knees, tears absorbed into the carpet below her. All of her blood rushed to her face, and her mouth was open in a silent scream directed at the floor. Her tears felt like acid, burning their way into her cheekbones and diffusing into her blood. All that anger, all the hate and sadness that was bottled inside her for so long felt ready to overflow, so she let it.

Energy bled out of her hands into the floor, creating dark streaks in the carpet that would glow golden with every heartbeat as long as their original power source was still supplying them. She stared at the streaks, her mind racing. She didn't want this power. It only reminded her of her mother.

She screamed again, standing and clutching her head as the anguish threatened to drive her crazy. Her mother. The woman who died trying to protect her and her brother, just so Suhur could disappear and Ali could survive the worst ideal anyone could imagine.

She felt a spark of energy in her stomach, but she supressed it, knowing that it was probably more powerful than this ship – and her fragile frame – could handle. Instead she collapsed onto the floor again, her breath leaving her.

She cried for ten minutes on all fours like a poised cat, all that time struggling for air, before her arms gave way and she fell onto her side. Curled like a foetus, she let the emotions out of her, eventually relaxing her face, but not moving.

It was in that position Spock found her.

It was admittedly a little bit of a shock to Spock when he found Ali in her quarters. He was looking for her for an explanation, after what he heard from Doctor McCoy about her speeding up the already excrutiating process to save them, but it didn't take him long to know that perhaps he wasn't welcome.

He stayed anyway.

'Nalien.' he began, his voice deep and ringing.

She didn't answer. Her back was to the door, and he could see her protruding spine through the uniform. He looked around the room, and saw the pillow lying limp on the floor beside the wall. He raised his eyebrow.

He took two steps towards her, then another three when he saw she wouldn't lash out. He moved around her so he could see her face and bent down. She was expressionless, her eyes open and unblinking. She was staring at apparently nothing, and as he moved they did not follow.

'Nalien.' he said again, looking her in the eyes. She eventually looked up at him, and pulled herself up to face him.

It only took Spock a second to hesitate, but what he was about to do scared him.

He opened his arms slowly and enveloped her into an awkward hug.

Ali was slightly shocked, but touched at his gesture, since he quite obviously wasn't used to doing it. She half hugged him back, putting her head on his shoulder and hands on his arms.

'I'm sorry,' he muttered into her ears. She could feel his breath down her back, short and anxious.

Ali felt a sort of warmth erupt in her stomach. This was his human side – no part of his being at this current second showed his Vulcan self. She closed her eyes, and the last tear slipped from it – unstinging, all the anger and sadness was gone now.

'Thank you,' she whispered back.

Lieutenant Uhura was not really one for sitting down in a public area, drinking actual alcohol and talking with people. It never really struck her as something that she should do.

However, after listening to a particularly stimulating piece of early 21st Century music, she felt like some socialising was probably a good idea.

She walked into the main socialising area to find Spock strumming at his Vulcan instrument, several crewmembers drinking and playing some sort of card game, including Scotty and Chekov. She looked around and saw Ali curled up in a booth right in the corner, staring at Spock's hand movements intently. She looked rough.

'Hey,' Uhura started as she slid into the booth opposite her. Ali moved her head to face her.

'Hi.'

'You okay?'

'No.'

'What happened?'

Ali hesitated, trying to find a suitable answer. Then she shut her eyes and shook her head. 'nothing happened. It just sort of did happen.'

Uhura nodded, in a way that showed she understood. 'You need a distraction.' she said, her eyes lighting up as she thought of ideas.

Ali nodded. 'Desperately.'

Uhura stood, holding her hand out. She saw Spock turn his head from the corner of her eye. 'Come with me,' she said as Ali took it and stood up. 'I have something to show you.'

The doors opened to Uhura's quarters and Ali was met with a wave of culture. There were African-style decorations everywhere she looked, which made her feel warm inside. Homely.

She followed her to her bed, and accepted her invitation to sit down.

'Do you listen to music?'

Ali shook her head. She loved it, and was enthralled by it, but she never found the time to listen to it.

'I think it would help you to be able to feel this music, to sing it, to dance to it, to play it – it would definitely distract you.'

Ali spent the rest of the evening listening to various different Indie style early 21st century music, listening to Uhura sing it beautifully, then giving it a go herself. She found singing to be a pleasurable experience.

'We can start dancing, too. Then we can see about performing it.

'I don't want to perform anything.' Ali said quickly.

Uhura laughed. 'Well, I have to dance with someone. Spock isn't much of a dance partner, Ali.'

Ali stopped smiling, her brow furrowing. 'Hey,' Uhura came over and took her arm. 'You okay?'

'I think so.'

'What happened?'

'You mentioned Spock...'

Uhura frowned. 'Is he okay?'

'I don't know.' Ali debated telling her friend about the events earlier today. Then she decided that she had already gone too far – to say nothing now would just raise suspicion. 'I... was upset earlier today.' she began, sitting on the side of Uhura's bed. The other woman sat beside her. 'Spock found me. He... I am fairly certain he hugged me, and he said he was sorry.'

Uhura's eyes lit up like an excited schoolgirl learning of her best friend's crush, but her expression stayed the same. 'What do you make of that?' she asked, scooching closer to Ali.

'I don't know. It was quite clear he had never hugged anyone before. I could not understand why it would be me, of all people.'

'Didn't you go down to save him? Didn't you negotiate with the Klingons?'

Ali chose her next words very carefully – she didn't want even her best friend knowing about the power she posessed. It could make her think differently of her.

'That wasn't particularly special, I just used words.' In fairness, that was partly the truth. She had used words, inspired by Kirk's ever-useful speeches to random alien species they defeated. But it was indeed special.

'But you still saved them.' Uhura said, oblivious. 'That's what counts, right?'

'But what do I say to him? Am I just supposed to work alongside him as if this never happened?'

'I wouldn't mention it to him now, I would wait until he asks you something similar... or something.' She grinned. 'Spock is human after all!'

Ali couldn't sleep that night, or the next night. Something was keeping her awake, a buzzing inside her chest and stomach that wouldn't go away.

On the third night, she became too restless, and decided to take a walk to aid her troubled mind.

She wound her way through the corridors, counting the doors and eventually knocking into someone else.

'Sorry,' she muttered, looking down.

'Forgive me for asking,' Spock asked, making Ali's heart plummet to her feet. She was avoiding him. How did she manage to knock right into him? 'But why are you up so late?'

'I couldn't sleep, Sir.' she looked up at him to see his eyebrow raised.

'Is there something on your mind?'

'You could say that, Sir.' Oh, for God's sake. Why did she say that. What the hell was wrong with her? Don't mention him.

'Do you wish to discuss it?' Ali hesitated. She reasoned she could talk to him, about anything. He wouldn't be offended, it would just embarrass her. Eventually, she nodded, and followed Spock to the games room.

He pulled out a chair for her, and she sat on it, thanking him quietly. He sat opposite her, his posture straight and rigid, almost like he was being interrogated. Ali noted that his back was not pressed against the back of the seat.

'Before you say anything,' he began as he sat down. 'I must ask, was that you down on the planet? I have come to two logical conclusions – the first one being it was my head, and I was hallucinating from the dark and the pain. The second being... it was you.'

Ali's head was bowed low, and she was staring at his feet. 'It was me.' she muttered, her accent thick and her voice deep but not dangerous. 'I am an Oracle of the Universe.' They had a more complicated name than that, but it was unintelligable to all other races, so they had to be nicknamed the Oracles – the most powerful beings in the Universe. 'Whilst you were down on the planet, my brother found me. Suhur. He showed me how to gain access to my... abilities, but it would take three days or more of excrutiating pain before I could use them.

'Just after the first twenty-eight hours, he came to me in my quarters and said that it would be good for you and Captain Kirk if I sped up the process – about ten times the pain that I had experienced before. I accepted. Then, before I really knew it, I was okay, and I came down to the planet's surface and... you know the rest.'

Spock nodded. 'Fascinating.' he muttered. 'that someone so little could be the Universe's most powerful creature.'

Ali's head rose slightly, just enough so she could look into his eyes. She decided it was now or never. 'Why...' she hesitated. 'Why did you hug me the other day?'

Spock's eyes glinted slightly with amusement, and his eyebrow quirked. 'I was wondering when you'd ask about that. Three days is a long time.'

'Spock.'

'I... did that because you were upset, and I know it's a particularly human thing to do when someone is upset.' Ali laughed slightly, her eyes dancing.

'Well, thank you. It helped.' she said, nodding. She then stood. 'I should go, I have the early shift tomorrow.'

'I hope this talk helped you somehow – it certainly did me.' Ali could tell he was restraining himself from asking something, but she did not want to press him.

She nodded again, then turned to the door. Just as she reached it, she realised there was a question she wanted to ask him.

'Spock,' she said, still facing the wall.

'Mm?'

'Are you okay?'

There was a pause, in which Ali heard him stand. 'I cannot say yes, but I cannot say no either.'

'Oh,' she replied in a small voice. 'okay.' the doors opened, and she began to step out.

'I... feel immense gratitude for what you did for us.' Ali turned, and saw he was still standing at the chair. She nodded, then walked out.

'Doctor, did you, by any chance, inform Spock of the speeding of the Initiation?' Ali said. She was sitting on one of the medbeds, kicking her legs like a young child as Bones worked around her. She had just completed her third physical of the week.

'He asked if I knew about it.'

'And?'

'I explained what you did to save them.'

'Oh.'

'Is there a problem?'

'No,' Ali lied. She didn't quite know why she had a problem with Spock knowing, but it bothered her nonetheless. It made her feel squeamish, as if she was embarassed by him knowing that she did what she did to save him.

'I have to ask,' Bones began, and Ali feared the worst. What was she, why was she here, etc – things she'd had to answer over and over again before. 'When you were crying when you met Suhur in the transporter room,' - this is just as bad, Ali thought – 'why didn't it look like you had been?'

Ali let out a breathy laugh. 'I guess it was because I just wanted to scream.'

'I understand.' Bones said, even though it was quite clear he didn't. 'You are free to go. See me again on Monday.'

'Okay.'

For the first time in a week, Kirk felt like he could relax. There was no pressing matters he had to respond to, no alien vessel threatening their existence, no mad officers putting the safety of the ship in jeopardy.

He was listening to Spock's Vulcan instrument, the steady strum of the strings intermixed with the gentle chat of the room around them. It calmed him, that noise – he knew nothing had to be done.

It was peaceful.

There we go! the end of the first era. I will continue posting chapters on this story, and I'm excited for them to start exploring strange new worlds and discovering new life and new civilisations - like they should be, instead of just like escaping death by a millimetre.

I'll get back to you.

But, on a serious note - I am skeptical about the breakdown scene. I don't know if I did it right - emotive language isn't really my area.

Help would be useful... but the internet is useless...

see you next time :)