"Man, our spouses are gonna kill us," Leo groaned as he leaned against Scotty's shoulder. They were on an assignment to check up with one of their colonies. Usually, a team from engineering does some work on the old equipment and a medical team makes sure that everyone is as healthy as they should be. This was not one of those cases. The colony had been taken over and no one bothered to let them know.

The officers from the Enterprise showed up like they were supposed to and even spoke with the administrator, Doctor Tanner, before beaming down. Leonard figured out that they were in trouble within minutes but it was too late. Of course, Jim stayed on the ship to work on something with Chekov. Hendorff, Scotty, Riley and Chapel were tied up in what looks like someone's living room. Their captors didn't bother with him since his leg was broken in at least two places, he'd know for sure if he had his damn medkit.

"Now, laddie, that wife of yers is gonna come down here for us and she'll kill anyone in her bloody way. My wife, on the other hand, is gonna kill me." Scotty and Uhura have been married for a whole nine days. Jim did the ceremony near Starbase Eight so that the newlyweds –and everyone else- could have a few days off.

Their captors weren't exactly sure what to do about them and Leonard wasn't really in the mood to offer up ideas but he figured that he should give it a shot. "Hey, hey, out there," he yelled.

One of the men walked into the room, "What?"

"You need to let us go, right now," Leo told him.

The man chuckled, "And why should I do that? Do you know how valuable a group of Starfleet officers is?" All five officers laughed.

Leo shook his head, "You have no idea who we are. We're not valuable, we're a death sentence."

Another man walked into the room behind his friend, "How so?"

"You ever heard of a little ship called the USS Enterprise?" Both men nodded at Leonard's question.

The doctor smiled, "We're on that ship. It's in orbit. We're supposed to check-in, the second we fail to, someone will come looking for us. That someone will be Captain James T. Kirk, herself. What she did to Nero will pale in comparison to what she'll do to you when she sees me. You need to let us go if you have any plans on living past today."

The first man laughed, "Why do you think that your captain gives a damn about you?"

"First of all," Leonard chuckled, "anyone who's ever met Kirk knows that she values her crew. Nothing she wouldn't do for us. Second, the kid," he gestured towards Riley, "over there is practically her little brother. Lastly, and this one's really important, she's my wife."

Both men thought he was kidding because they started to laugh. The looks that the five Enterprise crew members sent them sobered the men almost instantly. "He's not joking?" the first man asked.

Scotty shook his head, "Nope, lad. I was there."

Hendorff and Riley both muttered, "Us too."

Chapel sighed, "You're holding The Captain Jim Kirk's husband and baby brother as hostages. There's a very good chance that she'll kill you without thinking twice about it. Or you give us our communicators and we beam back to the ship before Kirk and a security team slaughters the whole lot of you." That's when they heard phaser fire outside. He felt Jim the second she beamed down.

Hendorff chuckled, "Uh, too late. Anyone wanna bet on what weapon she using?"

Riley nodded, "Rifle."

Scotty shook his head, "No, laddie, I upgraded her sidearm."

Chapel chuckled, "You're all wrong, Sulu got her a really cool folding katana like the one he uses, she loves that thing." The two men in the room with them went as white as snow.

Leo sighed, "Could be the combat knife Pike gave her on her twenty-fifth birthday. She never leaves the ship without it." Leonard felt her get closer. The two men tried to leave but they weren't fast enough and slammed into Kai and Sulu.

"Bones. Guys, you okay?" his wife asked as she walked into the room like the damn goddess of war. Wearing her blacks, he wasn't entirely sure that she hadn't been Athena in an earlier life. Leo, Scotty and Chapel were all right, her phaser was on her hip, her retractable sword was strapped on her thigh and her knife was in her boot.

"We're okay, Jim. I need to get back to the ship to fix this, though."

She laughed, "M'Banga is gonna fix that and you are gonna let him. Come on." Jim cut the others free before she helped him up. She pulled one of his arms over her shoulder and Riley took the other side.

"What about those two?" Chapel asked, looking at the two men who held them captive.

Jim shrugged, "I'm leaving that up to the security chief." They all looked at Hendorff, who had an evil gleam in his eyes. Leo really didn't want to know.

Jim was frustrated. How many times is someone gonna hold them hostage? This one wasn't even some random nobody, this was someone who should've known better. Jim and Spock beamed down to the Elba Two Asylum to drop off some revolutionary new medicine –that she didn't understand- to treat the inmates' mental disorders. They met with the penal colony's governor, Doctor Donald Cory, one of the shrinks she saw after Tarsus.

After an enthusiastic welcome, Cory explained that in order to maintain security, he had to reactivate the transport shield and invited them to stay for dinner. While there, they learned that the colony's population had just increased to fifteen inmates with the addition of Garth of Izar. The man was a legend. He was had been a well respected and admired Fleet Captain before he lost his shit. Garth's missions were part of the curriculum at the academy and Jim spent many nights drinkin' beers with Chris and talking about them. If she was being honest with herself, the man was one of her heroes. One of those men who liked to 'leap without looking' as Chris would put it.

Doctor Cory took them to Garth's holding cell, only Garth wasn't in it, the real Doctor Cory was. The man pretending to be Cory revealed himself to be Garth –shocker- and released the inmates of Elba Two. Garth stunned Spock and had him dragged away before tossing Jim in the cell with Doctor Cory. It turns out that Garth had learned how to change his form and morphed into Jim when she refused to help him take over the Enterprise. She didn't even bother to tell him that there was no way to pass himself off as her, Bones and Scotty knew her too well to be fooled.

She looked at the other occupant of the cell, "I can't believe I fell for that bullshit."

Donald chuckled weakly, "Don't beat yourself up, Jimmy, deception is his thing. I heard you got married, congratulations. Maybe I can meet your spouse when we get out of here."

Jim smiled, "The Vulcan they dragged out of here, Spock, he's one of my husbands. Leonard, is on the ship."

"Figured you need two of them to keep up with you."

"That's what Tom said," she chuckled.

Donald smiled, "You still talk to little Tommy?"

"He's stationed on the Enterprise and married to my helmsman. Kevin's up there too," Jim told him.

Donald seemed to find some relief in that, "Good that you're together. You three always worried me the most."

After the hell they went through, some Starfleet shrink tried talking to them but all the man did was scare the shit out of the smaller kids and piss her and Tom off. Cory offered to talk to them and the Captain let him. Jim didn't talk but Donald didn't try to make her. The few things she said on the ride back to Earth were uttered to him because he seemed to be the only one who bothered being honest. He never said that it'll be okay, he always said it'll be what you make it.

"How did Garth learn to change form?"

Donald sighed, "He learned to morph his cellular structure from the Antos natives to fix damaged cells but he learned to use it to mimic people. That's not what scares me. He claims to have developed the most powerful explosive in history and I believe him. If he gets your ship, we're all doomed."

"He won't. There is no way in hell they'll beam him aboard. I already told Leonard that Garth's impersonating me." She smirked at the look he gave her and tapped the side of her head, "Vulcan husband equals mental bond. There is no way they'll let him on the ship but there's also no way for them to help us get out of here either."

"Kirk to Enterprise." Leonard looked at the woman on the screen, it was a good copy but not that good.

Scotty stood next to him, "Scott here, ma'am."

Not-Jim sighed, "Beam me up."

"Aye, Captain. Queen to Queen's level three," Scotty said.

Not-Jim took a breath, "Beam me aboard."

Scotty glanced at Leonard, "Queen to Queen's level three."

"We don't have time for chess problems, Scott. Beam me up," Not-Jim instructed again. What she was supposed to say was 'Queen to King's level one. Using chess problems was Jim's idea, not only did she know the countersign, she came up with it. When the person on the other end on the comm pretending to be his wife realized that she wasn't going to get beamed up, she tried to play it off as a test and cut the communication.

"So, that wasn't Jim. Is she okay?"

Leo nodded at Scotty's question, "Locked in a cell but okay. There's no way for us to go down there without getting everyone we send killed but she's working on an exit. Spock's… unconscious but not hurt. Looks like you get the chair for a while longer."

"I swear I'm gonna punch the next person that calls me crazy. We gotta get out of here," Jim told him through their bond. Garth 'invited' them to have dinner with him at phaser-point, so here they sat watching the 'entertainment' of the young Orion woman that Garth appears fond of, Marta.

"If you have a plan, I am open to it, Jim."

"Maybe I could cause a distraction and you could get to the control room." Spock did not like the idea of leaving her alone with these people who were mentally ill and he told her as much. They would have to consider another option.

"Wonderful, isn't she? She's yours if you wish, Captain."

Jim shrugged at Garth's offer, "That's very magnanimous of you, all be it unnecessary." Spock knew Jim wasn't attempting to anger Garth, neither of them had interest in Marta.

The self proclaimed Lord smiled, "I am magnanimous to my friends and merciless to my enemies. I'd like for us to be friends."

"On what, precisely, is our friendship to be based?" Spock asked. Garth rested a hand on both Spock and Jim's shoulders.

The man chuckled, "Upon the firmest of foundations, Mister Spock. Enlightened self interest."

Jim glanced at him and her mind touched his, "Self interest is illogical. Even I know that."

Garth looked at Jim, "You, Captain, are one of the finest military minds in the galaxy. It's not flattery, it's a fact. The young commander who appeared almost out of nowhere and saved the Earth with a mind for strategy and tactics, backed by a crew of young and untested officers. You are quite the legend for someone as young and beautiful as you are."

"I'm more of an explorer, I just happen to know what to do in a fight," Jim told the man. From the very first time Spock and Jim interacted with each other on an interpersonal level, he could tell that she didn't like to fight, it was just a tool she used to survive. Of course, the most important and most powerful of those tools is her mind.

"So was I. I've charted more new worlds than any man in history, thus far," Garth gloated.

Spock looked at their captor, "And yet, you tried to destroy Antos Four. Why?" Garth seemed to be under the delusion that he was above reproach.

Garth smirked, "Well, I could say that they were actively hostile towards the Federation."

Jim sighed, "You could say that but it would be a lie. They're one of the most peaceful and cooperative races that has ever been encountered by the Federation."

"They rejected me and I condemned them to death," Garth told them, rather smugly.

Spock looked at Garth, "How could you, a Starfleet Fleet Captain, expect a crew of Federation officers to destroy an entire race? The Antos people are famous for their peaceful and benevolent pursuits."

"That was my only miscalculation. I had changed. I had risen above this weakness, which still has its grasp on you, by the way, Captain, my crew had not. I couldn't sway them. My new crew, the men in this room have no such weakness. Kirk, Spock, you have eyes but you do not see. Galaxies surround us. Limitless vistas. And yet, the Federation would have us like ants on a large anthill. I am not an insect. I'm master of the universe and I must claim my place."

"I agree that there once was a time for war," Jim interjected. She sighed, "I studied your victory at Axanar. It's required reading at the academy."

Garth smirked, "As well it should be."

Jim rolled her eyes, "My first visit to Axanar was a cadet on a mission of peace; hell, I even got a medal. They were humanitarians and statesmen and they had a dream, a dream that became a reality and spread throughout the stars, a dream that made Mister Spock and I family."

"Mister Spock, do you consider Captain Kirk and yourself family?" Garth asked him.

Spock nodded, "Captain Kirk speaks with undue emotion, however, what she says is logical, and I do, in fact, agree that she and I are family."

Jim wanted to laugh and he could feel it, "It's those logic bombs, Spock. They're sexy."

"Blind. Truly blind. Captain Kirk is your commanding officer. You are her subordinate, that is all. Yet, Mister Spock, you are a worthy commander in your own right and there will be a ship waiting for you in my fleet." There were multiple facets of Garth's statement that were incorrect. They did not wish to reveal that they were married to each other unless they had to but there was one thing that Spock could not resist asking.

"What fleet are you referring to?"

Spock pissed Garth off, which didn't seem hard to do, and was removed from the room. Garth tried to get her countersign for the ship and she knew he was getting desperate. Marta tried to talk her into giving Garth what he wanted but Jim wasn't gonna put her family in danger. So 'Lord Garth' decided to try another tactic.

He put Donald in a rehabilitation chair which he has modified to cause pain. Jim watched the man that spent hours just sitting with her after Tarsus as he screamed but Jim still wasn't talking. "Put Kirk in the chair," Garth instructed his people. Jim watched as they moved Donald and strapped her in. "Queen to Queen's level three, Captain."

She smiled, "Go to hell."

Jim wasn't gonna lie, it was excruciating. She did her best to keep the pain within herself and not let Bones and Spock get hit with it too hard. That's the last thing she remembers before she passed out.

"They're hurting Jim. Is there still nothing we can do?" Leo asked Scotty.

The other man looked at him, "With that field up, there's no way to send anyone down. How is she?"

Leonard concentrated on Jim, "She's in pain but it's weird."

Uhura looked at him, "How so?"

He sighed, "It's not organic. It's like she's in some kind of device. Her body is fine but her brain is still registering pain."

Scotty nodded, "That's not impossible, especially since they're in an asylum. I'm sure there's all kinds of equipment down there that affects the mind. Nothing that would cause pain but doesn't make one bit of difference with the right about of engineering knowledge. Did ye find anything, Mister Sulu?"

"Nothing of use, sir," Sulu said sadly. They had to get Jim and Spock away from Garth.

"What if we offer up the ship and capture him?" Leighton asked from his spot at Spock's workstation. It was a good idea but there was a major downside to it.

Leo sighed, "If we do that, there's a good chance he'll kill them before he beamed up."

Spock was surprised when the Andorian that was guarding him released the force-field to the cell he was in. It was even more surprising when Marta handed him a phaser. "Go, she in a room at the end of the corridor. Leave while you can." Spock nodded and followed the young woman's instructions.

Spock let his mind lead him to his wife and found her on a bed in what appeared to be Doctor Cory's quarters. He caressed her face, "Jim. Jim."

She leaned into his touch, "Spock." He was relieved that the pain he felt from her earlier did not do any damage.

"We must go, Jim." Spock helped her to her feet and together they made their way to the control room.

The Tellarite inmate was standing guard, however, Spock simply stunned him and took Jim's phaser from his belt. Jim moved to the console to contact the ship when Garth appears disguised as Jim. "Wait, I'm Kirk."

Jim and Spock shared a look before Jim burst into laughter, "Do I really sound like that?"

"You do not, Jim." Garth must have realized that Jim and Spock were more familiar with each other than they appeared during the duration of their time in this place.

Garth changed back to himself, "Why did I not see it?"

Jim shrugged, "You didn't want to. Stand down and we can help you." The other man roared as he charged towards them, Jim sighed and fired her phaser. Garth fell to the ground at their feet. "Can we go home now? Bones is worried and pissed."

"How long has she been asleep?"

Spock looked up from the PADD he was reading, "Two hours, nine minutes." Jim was curled up against Spock's side and their husband was running his free hand through her hair.

Leo chuckled, "You are her favorite pillow."

Spock raised an eyebrow, "That is incorrect. She prefers sleeping on you."

"Maybe," Leonard muttered as he pulled his shirt over his head. A thought crossed his mind, "Did you know that Jim knew Doctor Cory?"

Spock nodded, "She informed me that he was one of the doctors she saw after Tarsus Four before we beamed down. He was a civilian physician on the ship that rescued the colony and he volunteered to speak with the children."

"So that's why she's been thinking about Tarsus since we got the assignment."

Spock nodded, "There are many things in her mind, Leonard."

The doctor sighed as he climbed into bed behind his wife, "I wish she would share the load with us."

"She shares what she can, k'diwa. There are some things that are above our clearance level and she has no choice. There are other things that she keeps to herself, I believe, in an effort to shield our minds from them. We have had her nightmares, I believe she wishes to protect us and herself from those memories."