"Get down," Jayme pulled on Voight's arm just as a rudimentary arrow came flying at his head.

"What the hell?" he asked as he looked around wildly. "That's a piece of rock, some string and a stick."

"Yes, it is. God, I love the classics," she smiled as she pulled it out of the tree. "Stay here and stay down."

"Kirk…" Voight started but she was already moving, sliding her tomahawk into one of the straps on her bag and holding her hands up.

"I know you kids don't wanna kill me," Jayme called out. There were three or four of them from what she could gather.

"How do you know it's not just me?" Quinton Wyse, the boy who reminded her of Spock, asked. He had a bow in his hand, another arrow aimed at her chest.

"About eleven years ago, I was in your shoes. I never went outside the cave without at least one person with me. Usually it was two or three. Got a little complicated after my second took a shot to the face but that's another story for another day. I'm Jim."

"I don't care. Leave or I'll send you back to that freaky Klingon in pieces," Quinton told her. Jayme actually smiled because the kid sounded just like her.

"I don't work for him. My friends and I, we're Starfleet officers," she said.

"Bullshit," Quinton spat. "If you were Starfleet, you'd be in uniform."

"Because we would want the Albino and his cronies to know who we are, right?" Jayme asked sarcastically. "I've seen your file, Quinton, I know you're smarter than that."

"Why should we trust you?" he asked.

"I never said you had to. Just thought you'd might wanna know that the Albino has a team out here looking for you right now, they got turned around but it won't be long before they find you. Then what? You're all too tired to fight for very long. They will kill or capture every single one of you."

"We can handle it."

"No, you can't and you know that you can't. Look, I know it's hard. Somehow, you're in charge of all these kids and you don't know what to do other than keep them fed and hidden. I've been there."

"What makes you think you have any idea?"

"When I was thirteen, half of the colony where I lived was massacred due to a famine and I hid a group of kids out in the caves with nothing more than the food we could scrounge up and some emergency gear I got from a retired Starfleet officer. It was my duty to keep them all safe until help arrived. I looked at the Vulcan officers who found us the same way you're looking at me right now."

"You trusted them," the boy said. Jayme noticed the set in his shoulders shifting and the weapon in his hands wavering.

"No," she shrugged. "I didn't trust a lot of people then; I still don't trust a lot of people now."

"Why'd you go with them?" he asked.

"Because, as much as I didn't trust them, I didn't have any other options and I preferred not to die in that cave. I couldn't let the little ones die in that cave, either," Jayme answered.

"We're gonna have company in… three minutes," Sulu whispered from somewhere behind her.

"Quinton, I need you to listen to me. They're on their way here, right now. This is your group, your team, your… kids. You can shoot me and wait for these jerks to show up and do God knows what to your people or you can trust that I'm not here to hurt you and we can all get out of here. What do you want to do?" she asked the boy, hoping he was as smart as she thought he was.

"Thyni and Thiri, lead them to the others. I'll stay and cover our tracks," the kid ordered two of the kids, the pair of Andorian siblings who jumped out of a tree.

"Sulu and I will stay with Wyse," Tikhonov said. "Kirk and Voight…"

"Get to the others and contact Tyrrell," Jayme finished for him. "We're on it."


"Thought I gave you an order," Tikhonov grunted as he as Sulu made it to the hideout that was like a low treehouse. He was bleeding from his side and, from what Jayme could see, it was bad.

"Comms are down," she told him as Voight tended to the injury. "Most likely a subspace transmission scrambler. All we get is static."

"Which means we can't raise Tyrrell," Voight said. "I think it's safe to say that we're gonna die out here."

"We're not gonna die. At least, not any time soon," Jayme sighed. "We just have to take out the jammer."

"Oh, like it's that simple," Voight said sarcastically.

"It is that simple," Sulu chuckled. "Best bet, it's hooked up to Jordani's main relay, in the main building."

"We go in, take it out, comm Tyrrell," she added.

"We were told to stay under the Albino's radar," Voight reminded them.

"I rarely do what I'm told," Jayme shrugged. The medic gave her a look. "As much as I would love to toe the line, I'm not wired that way. There's the mission and there's what's right. In this case, they're the same thing. We can't stay here. They can't stay here." She motioned to the kids that were huddled up and eating her and Voight's field rations, because Jayme would rather die than see children starve. "The only way to get them out of here is to end this thing all together. The Albino's team?"

"We took them out and grabbed their gear," Sulu said as he dumped the weapons and communicators on the floor. "I don't think they phoned home yet."

"Which means," Tikhonov said with a grunt, "you have a very limited window of opportunity to get in and take that jammer out without anyone noticing your presence."

"I'll go with you," Quinton said from where he was checking on his group.

"Look, kid…" Tik started.

"He can hold his own and he knows his way around better than we do," Sulu said, cutting Tik off.

"Up to Kirk. I'm not exactly in a position to lead you in," Tikhonov said. He did his best to hide the pain but Jayme could see it. "You know what you gotta do."


"Found it," Jayme said, her fingers flying over the console as she accessed the system. Quinton probably could've told her where to look but someone needed to protect the other kids and Tikhonov, Voight was not that person. So, she left Quinton with the others. It made her job harder but her conscience can live with that. She pointed at the screen. "It's in this room, two levels up and thirty yards in."

"I thought you said you couldn't hack?" Sulu looked at her.

"I said I could handle the basics… and Spock fed me some code," she told him. "Communications may come and go but Vulcan marriage bonds… not so much."

"How's that work?" he asked.

"Time and place, dude," Jayme smiled. Sulu gave her a nod before he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back onto the floor as a disruptor blast went off over their heads. "Plan B?"

"Plan B," Sulu agreed before he shot their would-be killer with the phase rifle he pulled off the guard they knocked out on their way in. Jayme popped open the hatch to the ventilation system as Sulu pushed a desk in front of the door. "You first."

"Such a gentleman," she groaned as she climbed up. Someone at HQ was getting a boot up their ass for this. Or, at the very least, a strongly worded letter from the office of the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth. She was definitely using her consulate email account. And maybe Sybok's too.

'Calm, adun'a,' Spock thought to her.

'I am calm,' Jayme thought back as she and Sulu crawled through the vents. 'I just don't like being played for a fool.'

'I am aware,' her husband told her. 'Captain Pike has ascertained that your team is the only one in the area. There is currently no mission to liberate the Jordani Research Station.'

'We're figured as much but thanks for trying.'

'You are not aware that the Albino's purpose at that facility is to complete the development of a virus using a derivative of a plant called retlaw.'

"Retlaw plant?" Jayme whispered.

"Mobile plant native to the planet Phylos in the Beta Quadrant," Sulu whispered back. "It moves by walking on its roots. When it stops, its roots bore back into the ground. It has this poisonous array of thorns and is deadly to most humanoid life. What about it?"

"Albino is working with it for a virus," she told him.

"Lieutenant Commander Spock?"

"Yep."

"Does he know what kind of virus?"

"Not without seeing the compound," Jayme answered, relaying Spock's response.

"We might be able to stop him from finishing it if we can cut the power to the building. Plants and viruses need specific temperatures to remain viable. It would also solve our communications problem and kill the jammer," Sulu said.

"I guess the botany stuff explains why you're on this mission," she smiled.

He let out a quiet chuckle, "And here I thought it was because I look good traipsing through the jungle."


"I know your face," the Albino said to Sulu when they were dragged to him. Shutting down the power wasn't hard but it came at a cost; they got captured.

"You should," her friend said with a snarl. "You tried to kill my mother on Ganjitsu. You killed my friend."

"I see you got yourself another woman," the Albino grabbed Jayme's face. "What should I do with you?"

"You could let me go," Jayme smiled. "I'm really high maintenance. I like things like food and freedom and..." One of the Albino's men caught her attention. "Don't play with my tomahawk. You'll poke your eye out."

"Kill her," the Albino said, dropping her on the floor.

"But then I'll miss the best part," she pouted.

"What is that?" the ghostly leader asked.

"My friend over there is going to kick your ass," Jayme declared just as Sulu pulled a knife from somewhere and stabbed the Klingon holding his arm. Having the advantage of being on the ground, Jayme rolled under a workstation before kicking the legs out from under the idiot who was playing with her weapon. "I'll take that. And that." She grabbed her tomahawk and the disrupter off his belt before she shot him in the chest.

While she was busy with her guy, Sulu had retrieved his katana and was making quick work of the other two men in the room. "The Albino ran. I'm going after him, Jim."

"Go. I'll get the civilians just in case he tries to blow the place," she said as they ran into the hallway and split up.


It didn't take her long to find the scientists and other personnel assigned to Jordani, the problem was the huge Orion in the room standing watch over them. There was no way to get everyone out while he was still there. She came up with a plan.

'I do not recommend that you continue with that thought,' Spock jumped in.

'I don't have any another options, he'll probably shake it off if I shoot him. You can bitch at me about it later,' Jayme thought at him.

'If you insist on engaging him in close-quarters combat, a direct approach would be most advantageous. Like the females of their species, males have pronounced pheromones. You must disable him before he becomes excessively angry as his body chemistry would, not doubt, affect you and anyone else in the area,' her husband warned.

'Thanks for the advice, honey,' she thought before she sucked in a deep breath. "This is gonna hurt... a lot." Jayme walked into the room like it was nothing, everyone turning to look at her, some with hope and others with fear. "Hey, big green. What do you say we let these good people go?"

The Orion didn't say anything, he just charged at her. She expected but she wasn't ready for it by a long shot. Jayme's back hit the wall as the wind got knocked out of her. Jayme's been in plenty of fights with plenty of people much bigger than her but they usually aren't trying to kill her. Her biggest advantage was actually being so much smaller than him.

'Focus, Jim,' Spock thought at her.

'Big, angry Orion. I know, I know,' she thought back as she dislodged herself from the big guy's grip, dropped to the ground and rolled between the Orion's legs. He looked at her and pulled a something from his waistband.

"Oooo, a dancerknife," she smiled when the Orion activated the energy weapon. "Kinda girly, don't ya think?" He growled and lunged at her again, and Jayme rolled under his swing again. Unfortunately, he expected it and grabbed her with his other hand before tossing her across the room. She went sliding over a table, hit a wall and landed in a heap on the floor. "That's gonna leave a mark."

'Jim.' Spock was worried and he didn't even pretend that he wasn't.

'Still here, love.' Jayme didn't move, she just waited as the thundering steps got closer to her. As soon as big green was close enough, she swung her tomahawk at his leg, hitting him right above his boot and bringing him to his knees. Jayme gave a solid kick to the guy's face and knocked him out. "Wait until I tell Kai and Gaila about this."

"Are you okay?" one of the scientists asked.

"More or less. I'm Jim Kirk, I'm with Starfleet. Let's get the hell outta here," Jayme groaned as she tried to get some air. They all gave her a look. "The guy in charge has a knack for bombing research facilities, so let's go. I know some kids who will be happy to see all of you."