Uhura had a grim smile on her face as she glanced back at Gem, who had attached herself to Uhura once the pen she had been held in had been opened by more of Keenser's corrosive secretions. She didn't really worry about having Gem at her back except for the concern that McCoy would hold her responsible if anything happened to the empath.
Leading the way to the next group, Sulu felt their odds had improved considerably. While it was true that most of the crew remained in their pens because they feared Krall more than Sulu and Uhura, all of McCoy's nurses had joined them, including McCoy's personal androids, Glory and Iris. When the next pen contained both his and Uhura's androids, a smile began to form. While there was a good chance that neither Spock or Kirk's androids would join them, he thought the odds were good that Scotty and Chekov's would. If they did, the ten androids together would make a decent strike force.
Uhura moved close enough to Sulu to speak to him without her voice carrying far.
"What is the plan?"
He gave her a sly smile.
"We locate the other androids, then we find the Captain. After that, we start getting payback."
Uhura looked around, frowning.
"We need to look for where they put our weapons. I dislike not being armed in an enemy's camp."
"You're right - first, we find the androids, then we arm ourselves even if it has to be with their weapons."
Agreeing with the revision of plans, Uhura concentrated on looking for any place that might conceivably hide an armory as they continued through the holding area.
Kirk, McCoy, and Spock turned almost as one as Scotty approached with Jaylah and he found himself relieved to remember that he was on their side. He did automatically take hold of Jaylah's arm to prevent her from bolting.
"Captain, Jaylah here has been in the area where Chekov says are people are being held."
"It is a place of death! You cannot go there - going there will lead to your deaths!"
Jaylah lowered her head and looked at the ground after her outburst. She flinched slightly when she felt someone touch her chin, but the touch was gentle. Raising her eyes, she found herself looking into McCoy's eyes and the gleam in them was almost mesmerizing.
"You don't know us well enough yet, Jaylah, but you're right about one thing. Us going there is going to lead to deaths, but they won't be ours. Krall's people won't be the first group we've wiped out of existence and they won't be the last. Now, we're going in there for two reasons - to retrieve what is rightfully ours and to take revenge for the loss of our ship. Our house. Krall killed your family, didn't he?"
Jaylah nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off of his.
"Then work with us. Take your own revenge alongside us. Then we'll all leave this forsaken rock together."
Kirk watched, but didn't make a sound as he watched McCoy in action. He had a way with the young and despite her considerable skills in both fighting and engineering, Jaylah was still, in many ways, a lost child.
For her part, Jaylah might have been young, but she was far from naïve. Still, she picked up nothing from McCoy but sincerity. The man believed they would win and she found herself believing in his belief in turn. Drawing a deep breath, she nodded.
"Your fight is my fight. I will show you how to get in around the guards and how the area is set up. But there is one there, Doctor Bones. One of Krall's men named Manas. My father fought him to allow my escape. Manas killed him."
"Then we will make sure he dies as slowly and as painfully as you like, my dear."
At those words, Kirk took over.
"Alright people - war conference. I want us to keep this simple. We need to find a way to go in that will take them off-guard. After that? Anyone we don't recognize, we kill. Scotty, we'll need trackers rigged up. You and Chekov will be staying here to keep the equipment running and teleport our people back here in groups. How many could this thing bring across at a time once you've finished your adjustments?"
"Twenty at most, sir. More than that and we'd be risking some messy intermixing between bodies."
"So, we'll require one tracker each for us plus one tracker for every set of twenty with some way to signal you when to teleport."
Scotty did some mental calculations and nodded.
"Basic stuff, sir and I've got what I need. I just have to have the time to put them together."
"Get started while Jaylah starts teaching us about the layout and the way in."
Captain's Log - Stardate 2262.396
Thanks to the pet collar, we have a rough fix on our missing crew. Jaylah will be accompanying us as she knows the area's layout, but we're going in with a simple plan - if we don't recognize them, we kill them. Repeat as often as necessary to free our crew. I've always found basic plans like that have the least chance of fouling up.
Scott and Chekov will remain behind to teleport our people out as we find them. Once that's done, we find a way off this rock.