WARNING: SHOCKER!


"Any word from Star Fleet, Uhura," Jim asked, glancing down at the PADD, noting the minor incident report.

"Negative, Captain," Uhura responded, slight concern in her voice, "they haven't responded in four days."

Jim glanced up, trepidation coursing through him. He'd already known that would be the answer. Star Fleet wasn't responding to their calls. They were one day out, and they hadn't responded to anything since the Mitchell incident. Almost a month ago. Jim had had Uhura attempt to contact a different ship, only to receive a response within three minutes. It seemed they also had not heard from Star Fleet in several days. But, as the Enterprise was the closest ship to Earth, they had volunteered to look into the reason for silence and promised to contact again with further information.

Jim took a deep breath. 'Nothing is wrong,' he thought to himself. 'They're just all out having coffee. At the same time. All of the time.' Okay, that was a dumb thought. He knew something was wrong. Just like he'd known something was different about Harry. He'd been right about Harry. Sort of, at least. He'd known something was different and had assumed it was bad. Instead, it was just that Harry was a wizard. He mentally rolled his eyes, that was something he'd never thought he'd think about someone and not be in the loony bin.

"Keep us posted, Uhura," Jim continued, "if there is any change between now and when we arrive, contact us immediately. We're less than one day out, and something is going on. I can feel it. Until then, dismissed."

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"So, just to be clear," Bones said, pointing his fork at Jim as they ate their lunch. Harry sat beside him, carefully chewing his food as his eyes went back and forth between the CMO and the captain. "You want to appear just outside Earth space, beam directly into Star Fleet, which is against regulation, based on a hunch that something is wrong. You could get court marshaled, you know that, right?"

"Hey," Jim said, eyeing the bit of steak that was being waved in his face. "My hunches have been right before! Look at how I thought something was weird about Harry!"

"Excuse me," Harry interrupted, "but nothing is weird about me! In fact, from my perspective, it's weird that you aren't a wizard!" He took another bite of his fish, rolling his eyes as Jim raised a brow at him. "What exactly do you think is wrong at Star Fleet?"

"I don't know!" Jim said, throwing his fork down in defeat, "They aren't responding to any message. Any attempt at contact is either being ignored or not received."

"The captain is correct that something out of the norm is wrong," Spock commented. "They have not responded to any attempt to contact even from other vessels. We should approach with caution."

Harry nodded, seeing the logic. "If it's all the same, I'd like to join the landing party when we go down."

"No," Jim and Bones both said, throwing stink eyes at the black haired man.

"Yes," Harry said, smirking back and leaning back in his chair. "Let's look at the facts, shall we? One: you can't actually stop me from joining. I can apparate. Two: if there is something wrong down there, you'll need the extra man power. Three: I have magic. Four: If there isn't anything wrong, you can just say that you thought it would be better to beam directly to the admiral's with me." He leaned forward, picking up more fish and chewing it.

Jim glanced to Spock, who looked as though he had no problem with Harry going. Honestly, the man made sense. Everything he said was valid. Dammit. He ignored Bones when he sighed loudly.

"Alright, you're coming Black," Jim said, pointedly not looking at his best friend, "but you listen to me. I'm in charge of this mission."

"Pfft," Harry said, looking up to meet Jim, "like that is going to happen."

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"Alright, keep the comm open, but keep it incognito, Lieutenant," Kirk said to Uhura, standing before her. He was on the transporter pad, along with the rest of the away team. Spock stood to his right, Harry to his left, two red shirts behind him and Bones behind Harry. Bones had insisted that if Harry went, so did he. Kirk rolled his eyes but agreed. It's not like he really had much of a choice.

"Yes, Captain." Uhura nodded, before waving to Spock.

He raised his hand to wave back, nodding to the Scotsman, as they were beamed down directly into Star Fleet.

The first thing they noticed was the entrance hall was completely devoid of life. Not in the sense that there were bodies everywhere, it was just completely empty. There was no one. The entire hall, where people usually congregated to talk, or meet up before lunch, was empty. There was no one at reception. There were no guards standing just the side of the glass doors. No one.

Looking around, the landing party felt ice pour down their spines. Where the hell was everyone? Jim glanced to Spock, who held concern in his brown eyes. This was very scary. Jim began to walk toward the admiral hall, knowing that whatever was happening was probably happening there. They all pulled out their phazers, setting them to stun, just in case they accidentally shot a Star Fleet member. They met no one along the way, no resistance, no personnel, no security and no admirals. There were at least twelve admirals on site at all times, but every office was empty. Even admiral Burnet, who was the new head of Star Fleet.

Jim shook his head. No one had said anything, since they'd touched down, per the orders from before. Now, they all looked as though they wanted to say something. Jim shot a warning glance to them. Something was wrong; the last thing they needed to do was give away position to potential enemies. Harry glanced behind them, noticing no one, before nodding to Jim to continue. He turned around, readying himself to continue. Where the hell was everyone? Were they being held hostage somewhere? Was it Klingons? Or Romulans? Terrorists?

BANG!

The entire party jerked at the loud noise that came from the meeting chambers of admiral Burnet. Glancing to each other for only a second, the party began to make their way to the door. They couldn't hear anything after that first sound, and Jim felt his nervousness course through his veins as he reached up and touched the door pad. He hesitated for only a second, allowing his breathing to slow, his mind to clear before he entered in the security override code he'd learned back in his hacking days.

As soon as the doors opened, the entire team rushed inside, phazers out and ready to shoot.

The bodies of every admiral lay on the floor of the chambers. Blood poured from wounds and was smeared all around them. Their lifeless eyes looked out to Jim, their final moments of fear evident, as their lifeblood spilled onto the carpet. All of these officers, all of these men and women, were gone and Jim could do nothing but know it was somehow his fault. Every last admiral that had been in the vicinity was dead.

"So kind of you all to finally join me, Captain," a voice came from the chair at the center of the table.

The entire landing party jerked in surprise at the sound of the British voice.

"H-how… the fuck is this possible," Jim exclaimed, his eyes widening as the swivel chair turned to reveal General Harry Black in the head admiral's chair with the dead body of admiral Burnet draped limply over his lap.


AN: HOLY SHOCKERS BATMAN! Haha, please REVIEW and tell me how much you love/hate me!