A/N: Keep track of the Star dates and hours for a better understanding of what is happening when :)

Chapter 14

Star date: 2248.186 – 0300 hours

Captain Nensi Chandra had had a tiring day. They were preparing the USS Newton to respond to an SOS sent by what seemed to be a teenager from Tarsus IV, and from the Governor's comm signal no less.

As soon as the SOS had arrived at 0100 hours, the better part of the day had been spent trying to verify if it was a prank sent by some kid. The official records of Tarsus IV were scanned and nobody named Jim Rice had ever lived on the planet. But deeper probing showed the presence of the Rices, a family of three and one nephew, James Kirk who lived with them. It was the only possibility that had a slim chance of being true.

Calls had been made to Tarsus IV but officials there had said it must have been a false alarm as everything was in perfect order. They had let it rest after that but that night, Admiral Barnett received a call from his long-time friend's wife, Lieutenant Kirk, who had been in touch with him ever since that fateful day. She had been worried for her youngest son who was not responding to her calls and she could not even try to get in touch with anybody on the colony. This had alarm bells ringing in his head and he had sent the USS Newton to have a look, just in case.

And so, here they were, going through docking procedures and flight protocol in preparation for the journey to Tarsus IV, a seemingly backwater colony, that had been established only about three years ago.

His First Officer, Commander Howard Jenkins chimed "Captain, Engineering reports they are ready for launch."

Captain Chandra pressed a button on the console of his chair and announced in a tired voice. It was Gamma shift after all, his off-duty time and now they were busy on a mission. "All decks, this is your Captain speaking. Prepare for immediate departure."

"Course laid in, Captain" the officer at helm announced.

"Warp 3, punch it" Captain Chandra said, making himself comfortable in the Captain's chair.

The ship vibrated minutely as it shot to warp. The lieutenant occupying the Navigations console announced "Estimated arrival in 4 hours, sir."

"Noted" Captain Chandra said and stood up. "Commander Jenkins, to my ready room. I want heads of Medical and Security to be there too" he said and the Communications officer relayed the message to the concerned officers.

In about five minutes, all the requested people gathered in the Captain's ready room.

"Thank you for convening on such short notice" the Captain spoke as he traversed around the oval conference table to get to his chair. "As you might be aware, if you are reading any of my memos at all, we are on our way to the relatively new colony, Tarsus IV. It's been only a couple or more years since it has been established. twenty four hours ago, Admiral Barnett received a distress call from, apparently, a teenager. His name is James Kirk."

"Kirk? As in George Kirk?" the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Phil Boyce exclaimed in surprise.

"It seems to be the case" Captain Chandra said and continued "He seems to be living with his Aunt and Uncle, since his mother is on a deep-space mission. But that is not the point."

Commander Jenkins continued "The point is the distress signal sent by little James Kirk stresses on mass murder that he says is currently happening in their colony."

The Security Chief sounded alarmed "Mass murder? What is this, World War III?"

The security officer who had accompanied him said "Maybe, it's a prank. He's a kid after all."

The Captain chose to answer "That is what Command thought too, but his mother contacted Barnett saying she hadn't been able to reach anybody on the colony for a week. We made some calls, but their officers seem to think everything is normal. And notice this" he said, leaning in "the call was made directly to Admiral Barnett. That means he was using their colony Governor's comm channel. We verified it too to be sure."

The doctor spoke "How could a boy contact anybody using the Governor's private channel?"

"That is exactly what we want to know" Jenkins said.

"But, the officials at Tarsus did say everything was fine. Maybe, it's a very elaborate prank?" the security officer wondered, doubt coloring her voice.

"This is the message he sent."

Saying so, Jenkins tapped a few buttons and an audio message was heard throughout the room "My name is Jim Rice."

"Rice?" Boyce wondered aloud but the captain gestured him to wait.

The audio continued "I am a resident of the Earth Colony Tarsus IV and I am sending an official SOS. Governor Kodos has assassinated half of the population. Our crops have been destroyed by a fungus and there is a famine. We are being hunted down and killed. We are in mortal danger. We request immediate help from Starfleet. I repeat, we need your help!"

The audio recording stopped and the room went silent.

"That sure doesn't sound like a prank, Captain" the Security Chief said, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Why did the kid say his name was Rice?" Boyce asked, puzzled.

"It seems he was living with his Aunt and Uncle and had changed his name in the official Tarsus records. God knows, it must be hard for that kid to live with that name attached to him" Jenkins said, sympathetically.

"So, if we are going to believe whatever the kid says as the truth, there is a famine due to a fungus and the Governor's killing off people? Who is that bastard?" Boyce asked vehemently.

Jenkins pulled up a holographic photo of the man as the Captain spoke "His name is Anton Kodos. He was a politician in the Brenyx Colony before he moved to Tarsus. He was appointed as the Governor of Tarsus IV on 2247.359. There's not much information on him. He is divorced and had a daughter. She was killed along with his ex-wife during some freak accident in Brenyx. That's about as much as we know about him."

The Security Chief said "If there really is a famine in Tarsus, wouldn't they have requested aid from Starfleet by now?"

Jenkins spoke "That is exactly the cause for our confusion. Starfleet sends supplies each year to the colony, the last one being during the start of this year. There had been no issues and the colony received them. Whatever happened there must have happened only after that."

Captain Chandra drew up their plan "We'll be reaching in a little more than three hours. I want Medical ready for accommodation of incoming patients. We can't be sure how many are suffering or injured so it's best to be prepared for the worst."

Dr. Boyce nodded "I'll see to that."

The Captain nodded at him before continuing "I want at least six search and rescue parties from Security. If contact with Tarsus proves fruitless, we will have to go in on foot."

The Security Chief nodded.

"Okay gentlemen, let's get -" the Captain could not finish his sentence as the entire ship pulled out of warp, knocking them on the floor.

"Captain, we're being fired by an unknown ship!" Communications Officer, Lt. Rita Harrows informed urgently through the comm channels to his ready room.

"On my way!" he yelled back.

"Jenkins, with me" the Captain said as everybody rushed to their posts. The Captain and First officer reached the bridge as Lt. Harrows announced "Captain, they're hailing us!"

Looks like Tarsus will have to wait, Captain Chandra thought as he settled in his chair.

Star date: 2248.186 – 2200 hours

"Send in three search parties. Scan the Parava hills. We're looking for about three or four children. I want the search to be successful and completed before dawn" Kodos said to two of his men.

One of them spoke up "Sir, shouldn't we just kill them? They are on the Negative list after all, save for that one Vulcan girl."

Kodos smiled, eyes glinting "Oh, I have something better planned for them. You just make sure you bring them here alive."

"Yes, sir" the guards answered in unison and left Kodos' office to himself.

Kodos walked back to his chair and sat down, thinking.

A knock on his door later, a guard entered. "Sir, 24 hours ago, Starfleet made a lot of calls to your communication wing. They seemed to think somebody sent a distress signal from our colony. The men in Communications smoothed it out, but I'm informing you sir, just in case. I would have come by sooner but I was unable to find you."

Kodos frowned. A distress signal? Only somebody from the TCIA building could have sent that. But all his men were under threat of death. Maybe, someone had been bold enough to defy him, or…

Something snapped into place in Kodos' head. That's what the kid must have done in that staff's office! Kodos felt triumph at figuring out the answer, but he quickly squashed it down. He was going to get up close and personal with that kid. God knows, how much he enjoyed playing with him. It wasn't like he had a lot of entertainment in this God-forbidden planet.

Kodos nodded at the guard to show he had understood and also as a dismissal. The guard left.

Kodos made his way to the basement where that James kid was being held.

Star date: 2248.186 – 2130 hours

It was quiet and the silence stifled him. He could hear the steady drip, drip of something, the sound magnified in the empty room. He felt hollow and exhausted. He couldn't open his eyes, let alone lift his head. After a supreme effort, he opened his eyes and blinked. It made no difference. The room was dark, its only source of light turned off at the moment. His nose was assaulted with the stench of blood that had congealed on his face. His arms were numb and he tried to move them. A clanking noise, made him aware of the shackles binding him to the wall. How did he get here?

The last thing he remembered was being in the cave with his kids. Somebody had been missing then. Who? Yui… and Ashley! They had gone searching for them. But they had been caught and put in this dungeon here. How long ago had that been? It could have been ages. But then he had seen them. Yui and Ashley, dragged in. They were put in this same room!

"Ash-ley…" he rasped, wondering if anybody was still in this room. "Ju-lie" he tried again. No response. So, he was well alone in this room. Where had they gone off to?

Think Jim, he told himself.

Ashley had come to him and the others were dragged elsewhere, leaving them both alone. They had talked, yes, about what, he didn't know. Then she had kissed him on the neck. He savored the feeling again, imagining it, as he couldn't quite remember how it had felt. Then… then, Kodos had come. Demanded for information… and… and killed her!

Realization dawned on him as tears trickled down his face. Ashley was dead, murdered in front of his eyes. A vivid image of Kodos slicing her throat floated in his mind, and a guttural moan escaped him. The look of fear on her eyes, when he had divulged the location to save her, had been in vain. He felt an intensely hot surge of anger course through him.

Time was running out. For Kodos.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I'm working on a short story at the moment. It's a sick!fic with the sick character being Kirk (obviously!). Check out my tumblr link on my profile page for an excerpt.

This chapter required a lot of background work. Some canon faces are here namely Nensi Chandra and Phil Boyce. Check out Memory Alpha to know how they are canon after all. And, check out the new cover image for this story! Took an hour to customize _

The story is proving hard to write now that we're arriving to the climax. Some reviews would help me out ;)

Thanks to the people who have favorited or alerted my story. Special thanks to SilverNightfall for staying with this story from the beginning. See you soon :)