Hi. This is it!

A lot happens in this chapter, so it's super long (six pages..!)

Unfortunately, this story comes to end and a lot of the characters you know won't be coming back. But some will :)

TRIGGER WARNING: very mild sexual abuse, one use of the word 'rape'.

The trip to the Neutral Zone was a long one, as they had to make whatever power they had last.

In this time, Ali decided to only tell three people about the letter. The only three she really trusted.

And she would do it with them all together, in the relative safety of her quarters.

'He ran away again.' She growled, thrusting the now taped-together piece of paper with her brother's handwriting at Bones. He read it, and raised his eyebrows before handing it to Spock.

Ali didn't care that the contents were personal, and that Suhur probably didn't want anyone else to read it. She wasn't surprised, it made him look like a coward.

Spock looked up as he idly passed the letter over to Uhura.

'That is almost certainly an illogical way of approaching his predicament.'

'Well, it's too late now.' Bones muttered, expecting some sort of backlash. He was surpsied when he did not get any. 'How do you feel?'

'Like shit,' Ali replied. Uhura shook her head at the letter, her mouth forming a tight line.

'Why would he?'

'If I understand correctly, Nalien,' Spock began, gently removing the letter from Uhura's hands and reading through it again quickly. 'this is the third time this has occurred, is it not?'

'Correct. I could get him to come back if I wanted to, but something tells me that's going to be absolutely useless.'

'And what gives you that impression?'

'He's not here, Bones. That's what gives me that impression.'

'Oh, Ali.' Uhura said, coming over to her side and taking her hand. Nalien didn't move. She could feel the tears, but was determined not to let them out. She would never cry over him again.

'I don't care.' she said simply. And, for the first time since the Romulans killed her family, she believed it.

Mycroft Holmes had never been one for sentimentality. If anything, he considered it an utter waste of time. He thought of himself a bit like a Vulcan in that perspective, and always felt as if he had grown up as the wrong race.

However, when his dearest brother died, he felt something he had never felt before. It wasn't sadness, it didn't hurt him. It wasn't joy – he really did respect Sherlock.

He was numb. Empty, without the life that had threatened to make him express emotion.

When Sherlock died, Mycroft had felt remorse. Dreadful remorse. It was as if someone had cut a hole out of his chest, and left him instead with empty matter. For days, nothing seemed real to him. He tried to convince himself it was all a cruel, sick nightmare that he never had.

But his meeting with Nalien the day before had snapped him out of the bubble. He was alive.

And it angered him.

'Sir. Nearing the Neutral Zone.' Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu stated. His hand rose to press the screen.

'Stand by. Lieutenant, hail the Consultant.'

'Aye, Sir.' Uhura responded.

Ali's heart raced, and she began to feel sick. She felt Bones's reassuring hand on her shoulder.

She tried to distract herself. She couldn't get worked up about this.

Instead, she focused on her feelings for each of her crewmates as she looked at them. First, Uhura made her feel calmer inside. Her presence on the Bridge, silently obeying her orders, made her feel like the Bridge itself was as calm as the ocean on a particularly sunny day.

Kirk triggered mixed emotions. She was both afraid and drawn to him. He was solid, sitting bold upright in his chair – focused. Anxiety accompanied these emotions. She definitely did not want to get on the wrong side of him.

Sulu was one of the only members of the bridge crew she hadn't got to know. As with Chekov, neither of them sparked any particular emotion.

Scotty always made her laugh. His accent always made everything 30% funnier than it already was. She cracked a smile.

Bones. Doctor Leonard McCoy. Her feelings were confused. She was happier with him, more playful. He was softer to her than anyone else on this ship. What they had was the most solid friendship Nalien felt was possible to her. She knew that if anything happened to him on this mission, she would be beyond devestated.

Spock triggered something very almost unknown in her stomach, a sort of tingling that lasted for at least ten minutes after every word he uttered. It was not anxiety, she knew full well what that felt like. It was not excitement, she seldom felt that. It was similar to an emotion she felt very often when she was with Sherlock, which led her to believe that what she felt for Spock was...

She couldn't bring herself to even think the word, so she settled with 'complicated'.

And that's when the fuming face of Commadore Mycroft Holmes appeared on the screen before her, sparking absolute terror.

'Commadore – we are being hailed by the Starship Enterprise. They just entered the Neutral Zone, Sir.'

'The Enterprise?' Doctor Watson said from behind Holmes, who's fists had clenched. 'Isn't that Ali's ship?'

'It is.' Mycroft swallowed his anger, ready for later, once this had been sorted out. 'On screen.'

'Commadore.' Kirk said, the weak connection causing his voice to crackle. It stabilised as they came closer.

Holmes's nostrils flared. 'What did I tell you?' he spat. 'This is dangerous. You are not nearly-'

'We thought,' Kirk interrupted, much to Mycroft's amusement. He raised his eyebrow. 'that the information we had would be better delivered in person.'

This made Mycroft think. Logically, this would be an appropriate way of approaching the situation. It would call the Romulan's bluff immediately, and hopefully send them away.

In fact, he did not know why he was so angry. Kirk had gone against his own orders, but that didn't upset him.

He thought, with some dismay, that the fact that Nalien was once again to meet the Romulans on a mission which could potentially go very wrong, angered him. Kirk had put his friend in direct danger.

He looked over at Watson, who looked back at him and shrugged. There's not much they could do now to make him go away, so they might aswell just let him stay.

'Very well. There is a Romulan fleet approaching our coordinates. We shall remain here until they intercept, and display the information. With all luck on our side, they might well consider their cause lost and admit defeat. However, knowing the Romulans,' - he tried not to look at Nalien as he said their name – 'this will not be the case. I recomment no shields, and not preparing phaser banks – there will not be a ship destroyed today.'

Kirk nodded. 'Understood. Kirk out.'

Mycroft nodded, and braced himself for what was about to come, hoping beyond hope that his instruction to his late brother's girlfriend was understood.

The bridge went silent. Everyone knew that what was about to come was not going to be peaceful. In fact, it would be entirely the opposite. The Romulans would not go down without a fight.

Kirk closed his eyes. 'Mister Spock, pull out the recordings from the destruction of the Warbird. Leave absolutely nothing out.'

'Understood, Captain.' Even Spock's voice was sullen.

Bones gave Ali's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before moving to the Captain's chair.

'This is it, Jim.' he muttered.

Ali shook her head to herself. It wasn't 'it'. It was just something that would blow over.

Then she remembered that not everyone in the room was immortal.

'Sir. Romulan vessel approaching on the portside.' Sulu said, and it was as if a spell had been broken. Suddenly everyone was moving, to their stations, their arms flying at incredible speeds, doing this and that. Ali could see Sulu's arm hover over the phaser bank loading button, then away from it.

'Lieutenant,' Kirk began, signalling to Uhura. 'Open a hailing frequency with the Romulan vessel.'

'Aye, Sir.'

Ali suddenly felt her body tense, and her eyes fluttered closed. Yelling at herself mentally to get a grip, she opened them again, and tried to relax, to no avail.

'They have accepted, Sir.'

'On screen.'

As the terrifyingly familiar face of the Romulan General Amo appeared on the screen, Nalien felt she was going to throw up. The unsettlement in her stomach lead her to believe, even though she didn't immediately recognise the face, that this was the very alien who tortured her all those years ago.

And as that recognition appeared on General Amo's face as well, a cruel glint appeared in his eyes that weren't there before. However, neither of them said anything.

'Captain Kirk, I presume?' he said, and the sound of his voice made Ali's heart skip a beat.

'Affirmative. General Amo, I presume?'

'What are you doing here? Back for more? I can assure you, this time there will be no Warbirds reduced to debris at your hands.' the way he was saying it made it seem as though he believed it.

'There never was, a Warbird reduced to debris at our hands. Rather, it was your own.'

Amo's lip curled. His eyebrows curled too, but that wasn't to do with his sudden flare of anger.

'We distinctly remember a Warbird going out to the Neutral Zone and not returning!'

'And we distinctly remember it being in Federation Territory, and we have proof that it was not our vessel that destroyed yours.' Kirk's voice had taken on an edge, and it rippled through the room. The levelness of it calmed Ali, and she felt her body relax slightly. She was no longer shaking.

She felt it was not the time to run out of the room, or to scream, or to make any fuss at all. The tension was almost tasteable, hanging like a dust cloud just at the level of their heads.

She felt like she was going to throw up, but didn't dare say anything or even move. Instead, she watched silently.

'You tell blatant lies. Where is your proof?'

Kirk smirked a little, and glanced at Spock. 'Mister Spock, put the recordings on screen.'

'Yes...' Spock said slowly, tapping three buttons before looking up at the screen as a picture replaced the face of the Romulan General, '...Sir.'

The screen had split in half – one half was the suddenly bewildered face of General Amo, and the other the footage and audio of the past events.

Halfway through the recording, the Romulan screen blacked out.

Kirk rose in his chair. 'Raise sheilds!' he yelled, but it was more than too late.

'Hello...' sang the all-too-familiar voice of Officer Amo, who had just cranked the metal doors open, ready to extract his next victim.

The room seemed to cower in fear, and some people tried to cover their faces or move further from him.

In the pitch-black darkness, only one soul was visible - the girl with the glowing eyes, the Oracle. Amo walked directly up to her, and placed a cold, gloved hand on her hairless head.

'Are you ready, dearest?' he cackled, pulling her up by her arms and running his finger down her cut, bruised and bleeding face. Her eyes had shut, and she was shaking. 'Time for us to go.'

Three Romulans entered the bridge, and took out the two security guards who tried to stop them.

One of them was carrying a different weapon to the other two, and wore heftier armour with a helmet so they couldn't identify him, so when the accompanying Officers were shot down by phaser beams, they did not affect him.

Uhura was already sending out a distress signal to the Consultant. Before long, she, Sulu, Chekov and Scotty had been beamed away.

Which left Kirk, Spock, Ali and Bones on their own.

'Lieutenant, lock onto all the bridge crew,' Mycroft growled as half of the Enterprise's crew appeared before them.

'Impossible, Sir. They had raised their shields, what we did to try and locate them cannot be repeated, or the ship will... die.' the Lieutenant sounded calm, but Uhura could see he was suddenly scared.

As scared as she was.

The Romulan removed his helmet, and threw it to the ground. No one dared move to shoot at his head, as that weapon looked far more lethal than anything they could conjure.

Amo's lips curled cruelly. 'It's pleasurable to see you again, Oracle.'

Nalien's fear was suddenly converted to blind anger. Her face remained neutral. She still dared not speak, but as Bones' head turned towards her, he saw the glint of a tear swimming in her eyes.

'Do you like my disruptor?' Amo said, brandishing the thing towards Kirk.

'Are you sure that's not a whole ship in itself?' Bones muttered, earning a look.

'Quite sure. This has the power to dismantle the entirety of the molecular structure in your feeble bodies.' his stare turned to Kirk, who glared back. 'You dare defy us, Kirk?'

With a flick of Nalien's head, the gun was on the floor next to her. Amo's lips curled in a grotesque smile.

'So all those years of you doing nothing for us, and now you have the power to defy me?'

'You stripped that power from me.' Ali said, her words shaky and careful. Amo was a ticking bomb to her. She knew what he could do, especially to her.

Spock made to step forward. 'Stay back!' Ali yelled, her voice cracking. He stepped back again.

'Quite the white knight, aren't you? Well. You're right. This is our fight now.'

He pulled out a phaser and shot her quickly with it. It was just on stun, and she was able to stay awake, but it dazed her enough to lose focus and let Amo get the gun. Pointing the phaser at her, and with his other hand, the larger one at Kirk, he began to walk towards the Captain, causing both Bones and Spock to tense their entire bodies in anticipation. Bones's eyes flickered to Ali's face, which was watching every move the Romulan made.

'I feel like I should get a VIP card on this ship. After all, me and your little witch were very good friends a few years ago, when I was merely an Officer. Weren't we, Oracle?'

'I'm afraid I can't agree.' Ali said, but her mind was screaming.

'No, you're right. I tortured and raped you. Even on our terms, that's not the best basis for friendship, but what's done is done, and I'm sure you can learn to forgive me.'

He loaded the phaser. 'Now, Captain Kirk. If you don't move this will be far less painful, but you'll still be dead afterwards.'

In the second it took for Amo to pull the trigger, Nalien's instincts took over. Moving like a snake attacking it's prey, she leapt forward to take the shot. The beam hit her shoulder, and she turned mid-air, landing on her back with a scream that made Bones's heart shatter.

'What about now?' Mycroft asked for the fifth time, waiting for his Lieutenant to be able to lock onto the signal of his old friend and her crew.

'I'm afraid not, Sir. The shields are still too strong. It'll be a while yet.'

'As soon as you bloody well can.'

Amo disappeared as soon as soon as Nalien hit the floor, in a beam of particles that sent him back to his ship. He had dropped the gun.

Spock and McCoy almost ran to her, as her screaming had died down but a soft whimper was frequently emitted from her lips.

Kirk ran in the other direction, to the control panel. He lowered the shields, knowing what Mycroft was trying to do. Almost instantly, they were beamed aboard the Consultant.

Chaos erupted as everyone realised what had happened. Nalien was dying.

Her eyes were directed at the ceiling, and her breaths were short and rapid.

'What's happening, Bones?' Kirk asked, his voice hushed.

'Every atom in her body is being rewritten. Her molecular structure is reconstructing itself, Jim.' If Kirk had known otherwise, he would have sworn he saw tears pooling in his eyes.

A group of people had gathered around the girl, who's breath had significantly slowed. Holmes pushed through the crowd, and his face fell once he realised what he had done.

Uhura fell to her knees beside Ali and stroked her hair, in an effort to calm both herself and the girl before her.

'What does that mean, Bones?' Kirk asked, his voice cracking.

There were only four words moving around in McCoy's head as he heard his Captain's question. Four words that could have saved her life, but ended another. Get ready to run.

He choked on his words as he answered.

'It means we've lost her, Jim.'

It was Mycroft that took her with him. She was blacked out, but still breathing. McCoy had used a hypospray to calm her.

She was going to live, without a doubt – she was immortal. But her memory had been erased, and there was no way they could get it back to what it was.

It was as if she was dead.

A memorial service was held a week later, and it came around slowly.

Everyone came, even though the majority of the crew either didn't know her or really didn't like her.

Words were said, condolences exchanged, tears spilled. Spock stood silently in a corner, watching the entire event with emotionless eyes. He didn't speak, he didn't sit.

If he had to be honest, he felt as if the entire ship, his career, and Starfleet in itself suddenly had no purpose, as if the main reason for him being there had disappeared. Of course, this wasn't the case, because she was very much alive, but he would never see her again.

Starfleet had told Kirk to wipe her memory files. To leave no trace of her behind. She was gone, and she could never know what she was. It would be catastrophic, her now so simple mind to be flooded with the memories of her past. She would fall into a phase of madness, all that trauma, fear and devestation that had accompanied her prior life.

However, her close friends had kept something of hers. McCoy had a book of poems written by Ali, which made him cry every single time he read one. They were all so full of sadness, and deep, deep longing for freedom, since almost all of them were written on the Romulan base.

Uhura had a dress that she occasionally wore, even though it was too small for her and she had to adjust it. It was a deep red colour and made entirely of silk. It was a beautiful item of clothing.

Kirk had a little glass ornament she had made herself, depicting a dancing flame. It was small, but it shimmered in a way that made it look like fire.

Spock, as well as keeping the letter from Suhur, decided that he didn't want something of hers, but rather something of her. He had made a holographic image of a picture taken of him and her in uniform, the vitiligo showing through her transparent black tights, laughing at something someone had said. He had chosen that picture because not only did she look happy, he looked happy. There was a glint in his eye and the faintest of smiles on his face.

And every time he looked at it, a warm flutter in the pit of his stomach that made him feel almost uncomfortable made him feel something.

And for the first time ever, he embraced the emotion.

And that, as any good food addict would say, is a tortilla! (by that I mean wrap. sorry, how could i resist?)

This is the end of Nalien's story... as you know it.

As I know it, too, because frankly i don't know what's going to happen next.

A complete story! Wow!

Never in my entire life have I ever actually completed a story before. never. so many times I have tried, but then just decided to make a new one because that other one got boring and I am not one for sticking to boring things.

Thank you so much to everyone who's read this, and to everyone who commented and followed.

A mightily special thank you to Ensigns, who, without knowing it, encouraged me to finish this story. You were so kind and supportive.

I will begin writing the next one as soon as possible, but still feel free to comment any ideas, I would love to hear them.

Thank you.