Disclaimer: I do not own Star trek.
Chapter twenty:
Tom glanced around before making his way out of the alleyway. It had only been the day before that he had been doing the same thing, the only difference had been that it was dusk, not the middle of the day.
Whilst he had been stealing food and supplies, a notice on the board in the main square had caught his attention. Kodos had declared a public execution at noon the following day, the execution of James Tiberius Kirk.
Thankful the execution was being broadcast live, rather than people gathering to watch it, giving Tom the chance to try and save JT. Ever since JT had been caught, their little group had slowly been falling apart. Kevin had hardly spoken a word and they were only just getting enough food.
As Tom sneaked through the town, keeping a look out for Kodos' men and praying no one looked out their windows and reported him. He had one chance to save JT and he had to time it perfectly, if anyone saw him, it would be game over.
As Kodos' compound finally came into sight, Tom was forced to duck out of sight as he noticed a patrol heading his way. Holding his breath, Tom shut his eyes and waited for them to pass. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, but he couldn't let his nerves get the better of him.
Once the patrol had vanished from sight, Tom took a deep breath and run for the compound. He came to a halt with his back to the wall and hidden deep in the shadows, Tom took a moment to calm down and look round, seeing if anyone had noticed his movements.
Sighing with relief, Tom turned and looked up at the wall. The only way he could get into the compound was by climbing up the wall. He knew without a doubt that JT would have been able to do it, JT was far better at rock climbing than he was.
Taking a look around one last time, Tom began to climb. The walls of the compound were old and decaying, meaning there were gaps Tom could use as foot holds. As he drew closer and closer to the top, Tom could feel his arms beginning to burn, but he couldn't let go, he had to save JT.
Pulling himself over the top of the wall, Tom landed on a small walkway, which run the length of the wall. Ducking down and edging forward, he looked down into the courtyard and watched as two men dragged JT out of the main building and tied him to the post in the centre of the yard.
Kodos appeared on a balcony and one of the men walked off, while the other prepared to shoot JT. Watching as Kodos raised his arm, Tom quickly raised his own weapon and took aim. Kodos bought his arm down and Tom pulled the trigger.
Even though Tom had been aiming for the man's chest, it hit his leg, causing his shot to go wide, but the bullet still hit JT. Not waiting to see if the man got up, Tom dashed down the walkway, heading for the ladder into the courtyard.
By the time he made it over to where JT had been tied up, JT had already moved and was sitting on his would-be-killers' chest. A knife in hand and covered in blood, he raised the rifle and shot Kodos. Tom watched Kodos fall, before he rushed forward and grabbed JT, pulling him backwards.
JT let out a pained cry and Tom quickly let go of him and rushed round to face him, he caught sight of JT's left arm, the bullet had left a nasty wound. Looking JT straight in the eyes, Tom could see the pain and fear held within them.
"Just hold on, JT!" Tom muttered. "Once we're out of here, I'll treat the wound. But we need to get out of here, or we're both dead."
JT stared at him for a moment.
"Tom?" He finally whispered like he couldn't really believe it.
"Yeah, JT. You didn't really think I'd leave you to die, did you?" Tom answered.
"You shouldn't have come," JT replied. "It's too dangerous!"
"Right." Tom agreed. "It is too dangerous, which is why we need to get out of here right now!"
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Bones is beside him in a matter of seconds. Meeting his friends gaze, Jim can't help but groan.
He knows that look.
McCoy glanced over his shoulder at Jim, who was sitting on one of the bio beds, chatting to Scotty, who thankfully had finally woken up along with the rest of the away team. McCoy had long stopped listening in on their conversation, the moment it went into technical terms it went straight over his head.
Engineering had never been one of his interests.
Uhura was holding hands with Spock as they spoke quietly, in a rare display of public affection. McCoy had no doubt they did this all the time, when hidden away from the rest of the crew or in their private quarters. Sulu and Chekov had just left to get some food from the mess hall and the head of security had left after getting details from himself, Jim and Spock.
McCoy turned his gaze back to Jim, who looked up and glared at him. Sighing McCoy turned back to his work. There was something big going on with Jim and he was refusing to talk about. McCoy hadn't forgotten the conversation he, Jim and Spock had in Jim's quarters and he knew Jim could get in a lot of trouble if he spoke about it.
But his best friend's life was in danger, so Starfleet and their rules be damned.
Shutting his eyes his thinks back to the disagreement he and Jim had just had.
McCoy dragged Jim over to one of the bio beds and forced him to sit down.
"Bones…" Jim complained.
"No!" McCoy snapped. "You're not getting out of here until I get some answers, Jim!"
"Weren't you listening?!" Jim exclaimed. "I can't tell you! If I tell, I'll get court martialled. I'll lose everything, Bones!"
"And being captain of a star ship is more important than your life!"
Jim glared at McCoy.
"God damn it, Jim!" McCoy growled. "Nothing is more important than your life!"
"Damn it!" McCoy mutters, before turning and walking over to where Jim was sitting.
Scotty who had witnessed there disagreement, nodded and turned to greet Sulu and Chekov, who had just returned from mess, arms full of what McCoy guessed were sandwiches, by the way Scotty's eyes lit up.
"Jim." McCoy greets.
"What do you want Bones?" Jim asks, a slightly hard edge to his voice.
"You're sleeping with me tonight." McCoy answers, his eyes widening as he realised how that sounded.
Jim smirks at him. "At least buy me dinner first, Bones."
McCoy rolls his eyes. "You know what I mean, kid."
Jim glared at him again. "I'm not a kid!"
McCoy forced himself to stop the smile that was threatening to break free. This was something he was familiar with, the 'I'm not a kid argument' they had at least once a month.
"You certainly act like one." McCoy answers.
"Shut up, Bones." Jim answers with a smile.
McCoy smirked. Jim hadn't out right refused McCoy's request, which meant McCoy was forgiven. It wouldn't be the first time they had slept in the same room after all they were roommates for three years.
McCoy knew Jim could return to his quarters and simply have a couple of security officers standing guard outside, but McCoy knew for a fact Jim would hate that. This was one of the few times McCoy was truly gratefully Jim had made him take hand-to-hand combat at the academy.
As long as Jim spent the night with a fellow officer, who knew hand-to-hand, there was no need for guards and McCoy had the feeling, nightmares were going to be the only thing visiting Jim for the next couple of nights.
Whatever Jim refused to talk about and what Starfleet refused to let him talk about, must have been bad.
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JT didn't so much as flinch when Tom began cleaning the wound on his arm, he just stared into the distance without seeing anything. Tom glanced up at him every couple of minutes, as he treated the wound the best he could, with the small first aid kit he had managed to steal while they were fleeing the colony.
"I just killed someone, Tom." JT spoke, his voice hardly more than a whisper. "I just murdered someone."
Tom began wrapping a bandage around JT's wound. "You had no choice, JT. If you hadn't killed him, he would have killed us. He would have shot us in the back as we fled… As for Kodos. Well, with him dead, maybe we'll be safe at last."
JT shut his eyes, tears rolled down his cheeks. "I can't get his face out of my mind… The look in his eyes as I killed him…"
Tom reached up and placed a hand on JT's shoulder. "JT…"
JT opened his eyes and looked at Tom. "What have I become, Tom? I've killed people. I'm… I'm a monster!"
"JT!" Tom snapped. "We're being hunted like animals! We were never going to make it out of this without being forced to kill or fight or do things we're not proud of. This is a fight for survival. All we can do is hope none of the casualties are on our side."
After a moment JT nodded and reached down and picked up the knife he'd killed with. He wiped the blade clean on the ground and studied that blade. It was a hunting knife, one edge was curved, which the other was straight until two thirds up, where in suddenly curved inwards and meet the other side at its tip.
"It's one sweet blade." Tom whistled.
JT nodded his agreement, but his hands were bringing to shake.
"And as sharp as a razor." JT added, shutting his eyes again.
Tom rested a hand on JT's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. He couldn't even begin to imagine what JT must be feeling, the first person JT had killed had been completely different to this.
This was on a whole different level.
Slicing open someone's throat was completely different to shooting someone and not even seeing the damage done.
JT was covered in blood.
And only some of it was his.
"Starfleet will come back," Tom muttered. "All we have to do is survive until they arrive. Then we'll be safe. Kodos is dead. You shot him."
"He could have survived, Tom." JT answered.
"You've never missed a shoot, JT." Tom replied. "Plus I saw him go down. If he survives that, it'll be a miracle."
JT bowed his head took a deep breath.
"How are the others?" JT finally asked.
"I've been stealing as much as I can, but we wouldn't have lasted much longer if we hadn't gotten you back." Tom sighed. "We can't survive unless both of us are getting supplies, one of us alone can't carry enough."
JT nodded. "How about Kev?"
"His ankle is getting better, but he still needs helping walking long distances."
JT got to his feet. "Let's get out of here."
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Hey, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I'll update as soon as I can, until next time,
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.