Disclaimer: I do not own Star trek.
Chapter twenty-five:
Kev entered the room, JT's warning coming too late. He froze at the sight which greeted him. A man hung from the ceiling, their body slowly rotating back and forth, as if moved by a small breeze.
JT reached out and gripped Kev's arm, turning him away from the sight, as it became clear Kev wasn't going to look away. As JT pulled him from the room, Kev glanced over his shoulder at the hanging man.
"Kev? Kev, you okay?" JT asked, once they were clear of the room.
Kev just looked at JT, before shaking his head. "No."
JT sighed. "You shouldn't have seen that… I should have done something… Will you be okay out here while I go back in and check it out? There may be something of use in there."
Kev shook his head. "I'll come with you."
"Kev…" JT sighed. "Please don't. Nobody our age should have to see that… Nobody in general should have to see death like we have. The massacre was bad enough, you don't need more things to haunt you."
"I've already seen him, JT!" Kev answered. "What difference is it going to make?"
"You have no idea, Kev." JT answered. "Just stay here. If you hear anyone else other than me, whistle and hide. Someone bound to be looking for him. He's one of Kodos' men, I know that for sure."
Kev nodded. "Okay, JT."
JT gave Kev's arm a reassuring squeeze. "I won't be long."
Kev nodded again and watched as JT vanished back into the hidden room. Turning around him, he slowly began looking around. He and JT had already looked through most of it, but there wasn't much else to do and Kev wanted to take his mind off what he'd just seen.
He was thankful JT hadn't let him go back into that room, if he had actually had something in his stomach, he would have thrown up. But he hadn't wanted to appear weak in front of JT… JT had done so much and risked so much, Kev just wanted to help and not feel like a dead weight.
He knew JT would never think of him as such. It was just JT had faced death over and over again, he had killed and he still had the strength to carry on and fight, to keep them all alive. He hadn't given up, even now, they wouldn't last two weeks more, yet he still carried on.
JT was his hero, his saviour, his friend, his brother. Kev wanted to be as brave as JT was, to always carry on fighting, to never give up, even when the odds looked unbeatable. He'd follow JT to the ends of the universe, all he had to do was ask.
"Come on, Kev." JT muttered appearing beside him. "Let's get out of here."
Kev noticed a roll of paper in one of JT's hands. "What'd you find?"
"Our salvation." JT answered.
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But they both knew it was true. Bones would miss Jim, he was his best friend after all.
Jim walked across the medical bay, heading for Kevin's private room. The man from security nodes as he passes, from where he's standing guard at the door. Jim nodes in return as the door to Kevin's room slides open.
He almost backs straight out of the room as he's greeted by the sight of a women holding a loaded hypo to Kevin's neck. She was dressed in a security uniform and Jim recognised her as one of the new officers Cupcake had been training.
The door slides shut behind him, but Jim doesn't move, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the women holding the hypo to Kevin's neck. She smirked at him and pressed the hypo harder against Kevin's neck.
"Don't even think about moving captain." The women threatens as Jim began to edge towards the intercom near the door behind him. "If you move your friend dies."
"Why are you doing this?" Jim questions.
"Kodos wants you dead," The women sneers. "The revaluation must be successful."
"Then why don't you just kill us here and now?" Jim challenges, slowly moving his hand to the communicator clipped to his belt. "I mean you could kill Kevin right now. I'd sooner go to my fallen friends' side than raise an alarm. You could kill is both here and now!"
Jim pushes one of the buttons on the side of his communicator, not taking his eyes off the women and hoping she doesn't notice what he's doing.
"Hands where I can see them!" The women suddenly snaps.
Jim slowly raises both hands in the air. "You still haven't answered my question, why don't you just kill us now?"
"My orders have changed," The women answers. "Kodos wants to kill you both in person, as it seems I'm not up to the task and you're both still alive!"
"No hard feelings," Jim answers. "But even a baby Denebian slime devil would have more chance of killing us, than you ever did!"
Jim knew for a fact, adult Denebian slime devils were not to be messed with. The things were deadly if you weren't too careful around them, but baby ones not so much. The only came to a centre meter in length, so as long as you weren't smaller than that, you were safe.
The women glares at Jim furious. "Don't get smart with me, Kirk. Or your little friend here won't make it where you're going."
"And where are we going? I mean how are you even going to get us off the ship? It not like you can just walk us down to the shuttle bay and escape!" Jim points out, trying to drag this out as long as possible.
The women pulls something from her pocket and throws it at Jim. "Put it on."
Jim stares at the small gadget it his hands, it was almost like a bracelet, but Jim knew what this was. It was almost like a tracking device, but was able to calculate your weight and mass. They were often used when beaming people from one place to another using one of the old model transporters.
"Put it on!" The women snaps again. "If I have to tell you again your friend dies."
"Your wrong," Jim answers. "Kevin Riley is not my friend. He is my brother."
"Just do it." The women growls.
Slowly Jim clips it around his wrist. It beings to flash red before finally turning green. Suddenly there are shouts from behind him and Jim spins on his heels just in time to see the does to the room slide open. A security team stand there, phaser's at the ready.
He meets Cupcake's gaze, seconds before the light of the transporter beams surround him and he's gone before he can even say a word.
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JT rolled out the piece of paper, using a handful of small stones to hold down the corners. On the page was the complete blueprints of the ground under the colony. It consisted of every tunnel, every pipe, every ventilation shaft, every electric cable, every basement, and every underground storage room.
It had everything on it.
"Wow." Tom muttered. "That's impressive."
"Why would Ms Sato even have this?" Kev asked, staring at it.
"She didn't," JT replied. "The man we saw, he left this."
"What man?" Tom questioned.
"We found a hidden room under Hoshi's house," JT explained. "A man had hung himself, this was left on floor next to his body, with this note."
JT held out a bit of paper, Tom took at quickly read it, whilst Kev moved and read it over his shoulder.
"That's… so sad." Tom muttered. "I never really thought about how it affected everyone else still alive. Do you think other people will do what he did?"
JT shrugged. "I don't know. But it's possible… I feel guilty enough about surviving the massacre, it would be so much worse if I had been chosen to live, while the rest of my family died."
Tom handed the paper back to JT. "I wish I could thank him, he's just saved us all."
"What do you mean?" Kev asked. "How has he saved us?"
JT pointed to the blueprints. "See this tunnel here, it's connected to the ventilation shaft which keeps the food storage room cool under the town hall. This is our way to steal food, I highly doubt Kodos will have it guarded."
"But Kodos must know about it." Kev pointed out.
"But he thinks we don't," JT answered. "How could we possibly know about this? The blue prints aren't even missing, this is simply a copy."
"But what if he knows about the man who left us this?" Kev answered. "Maybe he tried something else first? Or what if Kodos was suspicious of him?"
"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" Tom cut in. "We can either risk it or starve to death."
JT nodded in agreement. "I think it's worth it, Kev. Me and Tom have been able to out run Kodos and his men before… Plus if he knew about the tunnels, why hasn't he stopped us before? All the tunnels we've used are marked on this."
"So when are you going to go?" Kev asked, as his stomach rumbled.
"Tonight." Both JT and Tom answered at the same time.
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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.