A/N: So I have FINALLY finished this story. There will be a couple of chapters after this one and this is a nice long one. Enjoy.
Taken
Morning dawned bright, if a little cool, causing a small shiver to course through Spock's body. He had been glad that Winchester had given him an extra coat as they had left the ship. He had noticed that she was able to handle the cooler temperatures a little better. He reasoned it had to do with growing up criss-crossing the country after creatures that mostly came out at night.
Everyone was up with the sun and they were soon discussing what to do. They weren't going to use the tunnel they had been told about as that was where they had been ambushed the day before. Clearly it had been discovered as a weak spot by Kodos at some point. Ideas were tossed back and forth for some time, before Sam sat up straighter.
"Wait. Sh'ella"
"What about her?" Dean asked.
"If she's dead, how come she hasn't shown herself? There's no way she would have had a Hunter's funeral. She knows me."
"That's right, she could see auras, and knew yours well because of all the time you spent with her as a kid."
"She was the one who taught me the control I had before I met you. Her own people's emotions were similar to Vulcans." She nodded to Spock. "If she was dead, she would have been able to help the others cross over, not to mention, she would have found me back then."
"If she's alive, where is she?"
"I don't know, but I can find out." With that, she grabbed the holdall her brother had been carrying and started to look through it. She occasionally muttered something, and thanks to his hearing, he was able to make most of it out. It was a list of items she named as she pulled each of them out. Some she set to her right, others she simply dropped. After a few seconds, her brother and the twins gasped. The Mills' stood and left the cave, calling for LtC Scott to join them as they pulled electronic equipment from John's bag. Ensign Campbell placed a hand on his sister's shoulder.
"Sam, you sure?"
"She's always been able to see them, not to mention she was always telling me to dial my aura down."
"But, sis, we won't be able to move, once you start."
She looked up at her brother then, pausing in her exploration of his bag. "I know, but this will be the fastest way of not only finding her, but also a way in."
"To what are you referring?" Spock asked. He noticed the confusion on Jim's face as well and had seen that he had also been only moments away from asking himself.
"Sh'ella may not have been a full witch, but she knew more than enough. One of the things she and her people was very good at, and that she taught me, is what we call astral projection. My mind's eye, leaves my body and I can cast it out, covering dozens of miles in a matter of minutes. When I do that, I can see the auras of people."
"Auras?" The Captain asked.
"Think of it as a visual version of what you can sense about others." Campbell answered as he replaced the things his sister had dropped in his bag. "For example, when I'm around Leonard, I have a sense of safety and family. Yourself, Commander, is a feeling of authority and calm. My aura is the colour of wheat ripening, Leonard's is a sky blue mixed with green."
"A person's aura can tell you more about them then they ever could. The colour, size, transparency." Sam said as she went about setting things into the soft orange sand. She lit a couple of candles, tossed the bag to her sibling and settled into a meditative stance; her legs crossed in front of her. She seemed to be waiting for something.
"We're as set as we can be, Sam!" A voice called from outside after another ten minutes. It had been Janet Mills.
Riley spoke up then, turning to Campbell. "You mentioned something about not being able to move, Dean?"
"When she's in this state, she can't be moved, to do so would force her back to her body and it'll be painful, if she doesn't return of her own accord." Campbell answered as he settled to the right of his sister. She rested her hands on her knees, palm up and Campbell rested his left on her right, fingertips and thumb touching.
"The twins have set up a warning system. Hopefully with Scotty helping them, it'll have a decent range on it. Dean will also be connected to me through a finger meld, so that he can call me back if things go wrong on this end."
"What do you require from us?" Spock found himself asking. What she was attempting to do sounded like a deep meditative state a Vulcan would try for if their T'hy'la went missing. As such, he could reason out the requirements she would need. However, it would be remiss of him not to be sure.
"Quiet. More eyes outside would also help, just in case the sensors miss something."
He, Lt Riley and Jim rose and left them to it. He noticed that Dr McCoy settled himself at the entrance, no doubt to alert the younger man sooner if something came across them. He, Jim and the Lt took up positions on the northern side of the caves.
The black and white striped leaves catch his attention after half an hour as they clinked together. He pulled out his tricorder and analysed them, trying to work out why they make the noise they do while feeling as soft as fabric. As the minutes turn into a couple of hours, himself and Kirk, whom he noticed is picking and eating everything he finds, have wandered several hundred yards from the cave system. He asks Jim about the plant life, and the younger man talks between bites. Spock remembers what he had said about the food plants when they had first arrived.
He has collected a myriad of data on the plants and is looking it over as he and Jim make their way back. They are still a fair walk away from the caves when they hear the sound of gunfire. Pausing for just a split second, they race back. They pull out their phasers as they arrive and are soon joining the others in fighting Kodos' men. He wonders again at the choice of weapons, until he sees one of the Mills twins get hit, then dragged off by a couple of the attacking forces. There is no reason to drag off a dead body; the weapons are just as useful to incapacitate as kill, without the need to pause to change the setting.
He manages to take out a couple of the hostiles. After a few more minutes of fighting, they suddenly fall back into the surrounding forest and leave. He stands slowly, eyes roaming the area. He notices Jim beside him and lets out an internal sigh that his friend in alright.
"Sound off!" Jim calls suddenly and nods to him.
"Spock." He calls out, loud enough for the others to hear him and know he is there.
"McCoy."
"Thea."
"Campbell."
"Riley."
Spock and Jim shared a look as silence reigned for several moments before Jim call out again. "Mills?! Scotty?!" Nothing answered except the calls of the animals as they returned.
SuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrekSuperTrek
Sam's thoughts flowed as she recited the spell to disconnect her mind from her body. It was an unusual feeling, one that always left her off kilter for a few days. She ignored everything around her; thoughts from her brother as they flowed through their fingers, the wind and clinking leaves, the sounds of the others as they settled into watch, though she could make out two leaving the area. Her vision was dark for a moment, until she opened her minds eye. She nearly closed them again at the brightness that overwhelmed her.
It seemed that everything on Tarsus IV held an aura, not just sentient creatures. It gave her a slight pause, making her think of another line of inquiry in case this didn't work. Shaking her astral head, she thought of Sh'ella. Instantly she was 'tugged', colours slipped passed in a dizzying blur as her astral self sought after her request. She managed to catch sight of the city boundary before everything flashed white as she passed through the shielding spell.
A moment later she found herself underground, racing along passageways sporadically lit. She looked around, trying to remember the way; but without knowing where she had entered the tunnel, she wouldn't be able to lead the others to it. The place had a mixed feel to it, metal walkways suspended over streams, earthen paths and chiselled stone passages. She couldn't feel the temperature, but she guessed it was cold.
It was about half an hour before she noticed that she had started to slow, and she guessed that she was getting close to her target. After another few moments floating through well-lit corridors leading to private rooms; from what she could make out through open doors, she phased through a wall and stopped behind a woman with long light brown hair seated at a table in a private room.
As in the passageways she had first travelled through, metal, dirt and stone made up the room. Her aura was off though, as though what she was seeing didn't match the aura. After a moment she realised why; it was Sh'ella's aura, but it didn't match what she was seeing because she was using a glamor. Sam looked around, making sure that the door was closed before she floated in front of her. Her head was down, but she quickly looked up from writing something as she no doubt sensed Sam, her facial features resembling that of a human woman with blue eyes and pale skin.
"Sam?!" She half whispered, looking for her before she saw her aura. "Sam?!"
She placed a hand on her shoulder as she floated beside her. Normally she wouldn't be able to talk to someone in this state, but Sh'ella wasn't normal, and neither was she. "Yes, I don't know how much time I have, certainly not enough to explain. Where can we get in?"
"We?" She shook her head, no doubt realising that there wasn't time. Sam could see the relief on her face, the thought that she could leave at last flashing in her mind. "To the South, there is a bridge, I made an escape tunnel there in the hope that I would be able to escape, but I have been unable to use it. It has no sensors and as far as I am aware, no one knows of it." Her voice was melodious, rising and falling as though she was singing. The lack of contractions in her speech was odd, but added to the melody of her voice.
"Are you ok?" Sam asked.
"Yes, but there is a lot going on that you need to know. Not a single child has been born here in the last fifteen years. Kodos changed the shield settings to stop anyone from leaving; when he did that, he let in radiation that has sterilised the population. Not only that, but many people have disappeared, mostly after they had tried to change his mind about leaving."
"We know what happened to them. He's been using their souls to power an illusion and keep-away spell. A spell he jump-started over twenty years ago." Sam felt the shock and horror flow through her from the older woman.
"Kodos has also killed any who have not reproduced. Despite being told that he needs to either bring in others who have not been made sterile or leave, he refuses. The personnel from the supply ships are not even allowed into the city, and we are not allowed onto the surface. Of the almost four thousand people he started out with, only around 500 remain. He has gone mad, trying to create a race of super-humans. He cannot see that we will all die if he continues. I fear once the last of us are dead, he will leave and try again. Sam, I believe he plans to kill the last of us and do just that in a couple of days. He has called a meeting of all of us then."
"We'll get you out…" Sam stopped mid-sentence as her brother called frantically to her through the meld.
"Sam, we're under attack!"
She didn't waste time explaining to Sh'ella, she'd understand. She recited the spell that would return her to her body. She closed her eyes as the colours blurred passed, hoping that when she returned, she would at least be able to get to her feet without falling over. The speed with which she slammed back into her body knocked her on her back, causing Dean to grab hold of her. Her hearing returned a moment later, and she flinched as she heard bullets impacting the orange stone outside. She managed to get to her feet with her brother's help, and she pulled her gun. Leon, she noticed was hunkered down beside the opening, looking out, phaser in hand. He looked back and she saw the relief on his face when he saw she was standing. She made her way over to him and took up the other side, Dean heading up to the hole in the ceiling.
"How many?"
"Not sure, but the sensors have picked up at least a dozen."
"Crap. The others?"
"Jim and Spock wandered off somewhere last I saw, but they should be back by now. Scotty, Riley and the twins spread out to cover each direction." They both ducked as a bullet hit near them, before she slipped her head out to find a target. Firing, she took one out, then saw Janet go down. Before she could shout, she saw three of their attackers fall. A few minutes later, silence descended on the area, broken only by the wind through the trees and the sound of animals returning.
She heard Kirk call out, asking for them to respond. She heard Spock call from the same area, no doubt with the Captain. She nods to Leon.
"McCoy." He said, waiting and holding his breath.
"Thea." Knowing that, despite the siblings voices sounding different, Kirk is expecting her to answer such.
Her brother sounds from above them and she heaves a sigh of relief that he is ok, "Winchester."
"Riley." The other survivor answers.
They wait a moment for the others to answer, only to be met with nothing. Sam knows that at the very least they managed to grab Janet, but with no response from her twin nor Scotty either, she realises that they have either been killed or taken as well. She hopes it is the latter, she can't bear the thought of losing another Hunter and friend so soon after the Canada mess.
Dean joins them in the ensuing silence and the three look at one another a moment before they head outside to join the remaining members of their team.
Jim heard movement to his left and saw the siblings and Bones walk out of the caves, Riley coming at them from another direction.
"I saw Janet Mills being dragged from over there after taking a projectile to the shoulder." Spock points in a direction to their right. Jim nods, he had seen the same thing.
"Let's see if we can find any sign of the others." He says, and they head off in two groups, Spock and Riley with him, the remaining Hunters and Bones.
Another half an hour saw them all back at the caves, and what they had found, confirmed what they believed to have happened.
"Janet was dragged off by several soldiers. They met up with another group that had another captive with them, but we couldn't tell who." Jim started, telling them what he and the others had found. He went on to say they lost the tracks in a nearby creek.
"Chances are it was Scotty. We found where John was grabbed. He also got hit by a bullet, I got a reading from his blood." Jim understood what she had done.
"Did your, astra thingy work?"
"Astral walk, and yes. Sh'ella is using a glamor to stay hidden. She told me of a tunnel she has built. To the south there is a bridge over a small stream, the entrance is under it."
"South, isn't that where the mines are?"
"Yeah, but I doubt they will focus too much on them. They'll be more concerned with watching for us trying to get in a known tunnel, not one they don't know exists." Thea said, allowing Leon to wrap an arm around her. Jim let out a small smile at the affectionate gesture.
Just then, a radio on one of the soldiers they had felled crackled to life.
"Captain Kirk." The voice sent a shiver down his spine. "I know you can hear me. As you know, you are unable to contact your ship. Your ship is also unable to get you out. I have three of your crew, they are fine, for the moment. If you want them to remain that way, you will hand yourself over to my men." There was a pause as they all looked at one another for a moment. Just before they all started to talk, Kodos continued, "Of course, I want the woman who killed my men yesterday as well. The rest of your crew are free to go once I have you both."
Jim looked over those with him, before he pulled out his phaser.
Kodos was quite pleased with himself as he looked down at Kirk the next day from the top of the hill. The captain and the strange woman were in the central garden where he had separated the population all those years ago. He knew that Kirk would only be able to see ruins, thanks to the shield, so he wasn't worried about Kirk or anyone else seeing him. He and several of his men advanced until he was at the edge of the shield. The woman had been laying on the ground where Kirk had dragged her, but had managed to get to her knees; he could see that one side of her face was stained red.
"When the others find out what you've done, they're going to rip you apart, Kirk." Her voice growled, a dangerous tone in her speech.
"If it means getting the rest of my crew released,… I'm sorry Thea." Kirk sounded genuinely sorry, and he placed a hand on her shoulder, only to have her throw it off. "If you had just come with me quietly this morning, I wouldn't have had to stun the others." Seemed Kirk had gone behind the backs of everyone else on his crew.
"When they wake, they're going to be coming."
"By the time they wake, the twins and Scotty will be with them and the shield will be down. Enterprise will beam them back the moment it does. Even then, I've changed the location that they knew of."
"I will take you to hell myself for this, Kirk."
Kodos almost took a step back in fear at the venom in her voice. She was still groggy, which meant that she would be easy to move. Kirk would be unpredictable, but with the threat of harm to his crew hanging over him, he wouldn't be doing anything. He pondered the unusual threat and real fear on Kirk's face at her words.
He signalled his men to get ready, before they then stepped through the shield and stood in front of the younger man.
"Well done, Kirk. I trust you didn't have to many difficulties?"
"Aside from betraying his best friends and his crew, he had no difficulties." The woman, Thea, growled. She looked at Kodos through her fringe, her hair hanging loose. Her face showed the most hatred he had ever seen on a woman, it made him smile. It would be a pleasure to find out what she was and how she did what had been described to him. He bent down and grabbed her chin, noticing her flinch.
"I will take great pleasure in breaking you."
"If being in Hell wouldn't, what makes you think you can?"
He was confused by her words, it was the second time she had referred to hell like it was a real place. "I'm sure I can come up with some creative ways. I've become very good at it."
"Where are my crew?" Kodos spent another minute gazing into the woman's eyes before he turned to Kirk to answer him.
"Inside, once you and her are contained, I will release them, not a moment before. You cooperate, and they will be able to walk out of here under their own power. Fight me, and I will make it very painful for them."
"I want to see them."
"Of course. Follow me." Kodos took the lead, listening as his men hauled the woman to her feet. He heard the click of handcuffs as they were restrained before the sound of footfalls when they were pushed along after him.
They walked down the street to the city's CBD until he led them off the main path. He opened the door to a house and lead them through to the basement, not looking back once. He smiled to himself, thinking how he would be able to use the abilities Thea had, once she had told him how she had gained them. After that, he might have some fun with her; keep her drugged so she couldn't use them against him and get her pregnant. He even thought about the other woman he had caught the day before. Maybe fake an accident and keep her too, the men they would extract sperm from. From the scans his men had done on Kirk the day before as he walked away from the others, the man wasn't sterile. It was shocking, given how much radiation he had been exposed to when he had been born, not to mention when he and the others had ventured outside the shield to contact Starfleet.
From that, he should be able to reverse the effects of sterilisation that had occurred when he had changed the shield. Then he could really start to make some headway on creating his superior race. A race that would be even more powerful if he could recreate Thea's abilities.
They spent half an hour walking down the corridors. The steel gave way to stone and earth as they had quickly run out of the substance. They used it only when there was little to no stone or to bridge a gap. They had stopped expanding one he discovered he had sterilised the population. But now that there was a possibility that would be overcome, he started planning expansions.
He led them to a row of cells, hollows cut into the stone walls with metal bars blocking the entrance. He gestured and had his men toss Thea into one of the cells, she fell heavily, grunting as she rolled across the floor and hit her head on the wall. She managed to get to her knees then onto a stone bench, whereupon she glared at Kirk and himself. He smirked at her, the glare not as scary when she couldn't focus. Seemed she had hit her head quite hard.
"I cannot wait to see how long it will be before you're begging me to kill you."
"What makes you think I will ever do that?" Her voice was slurred, and she was shaking her head to try and clear it.
"Everyone has a breaking point. I found Kirk's simply by capturing some of his crew. You are just a woman, and not a very strong one, from how you are acting. I don't see you lasting more than a day at my hands."
He turned from her and nodded to his men to undo the cell doors. "Behave, or I will kill your Captain." He called out as the doors were opened. He watched as those within came out. The older of the three had been knocked out by a rifle butt, the other two with bullets.
"Scotty, Mills, you ok?"
"My head's buzzing and I want to throw up but I'm fine." He held a hand to his head before looking his Captain over. Then he spotted Thea in the cell behind him.
"Jim, what's going on? What's…"
"It was us for you. Spock and the others are still at the caves, unless they've woken up." Kodos almost cackled in glee at the torment in Kirk's voice. He looked from Kirk to Scott then the others and saw that their faces were livid as they took in Thea.
"As soon as you reach the others, Enterprise is beaming you back then leaving the system." Kirk looked at the younger pair, tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry guys, but I had to get you out." His voice broke, and Kodos was enjoying every minute.
"If Kodos doesn't kill you, we and all the others will." The other male said, the threat dripping from his words like venom. "We'll be back. And it won't be just those on the ship. Any and all who can, will."
Kodos wondered at the odd choice of words but put it aside as he nodded to the guards. By the time anyone returned, he, Kirk, Thea and everyone else would be long gone. Kirk entered the cell adjacent to Thea, whereupon he sat on the stone bench and slumped against the wall, eyes closed as the tears he had been holding back slipped silently down his face. The other captured crew members were ushered out, wrists still shackled. He had made a promise, and if it meant for a short time the cooperation of Kirk, he would keep it, despite wanting to keep them to repopulate.
Once they were gone, he turned to Kirk. "I have kept my end of the bargain. I trust you to keep yours." With that, he motioned for two of the guards to enter Thea's cell. They shackled her to the wall after removing her handcuffs. She tried to fight, but she was still quite groggy and didn't put up much of a fight. They put a blindfold over her eyes before one of them clocked her across the face, knocking her out completely.
"Once your people have gone, I will return. While I would like to have the other survivor that is with you, I will be happy with you. Once I figure out how she came about her abilities and I have duplicated them, there will be no one who can stop me."
He turned and left then, but before he did, he called back over his shoulder. "I hope you weren't expecting a rescue, Kirk. By the time anyone returns here, we will be long gone. Even now, my people are packing up. In 24 hours, we will be gone, and your people won't ever be able to find us again. Get some rest, Kirk, after tomorrow you won't be sleeping for a long time." He finally let out the cackles he had been holding in since the confrontation with his crew. The sound reverberating off the walls, sounding darker and more sinister with every echo.
Kirk waited with his eyes closed until the door at the end of the corridor leading to the cells closed before wiping the tears from his face and saying one word. "Thea?"
"Yeah." Jim looked over at her and watched as she lifted her head and rubbed the blindfold off her eyes. "Good thing I'm not full human, that blow would have knocked me out otherwise." She focused on the cuffs holding her to the wall before they clicked open. When she turned back to face him, her eyes faded from black to green. She then stood and headed over to the door to her cell. She crouched down and spent a moment looking at the lock, before it opened. Kirk was never as glad as he was in that moment for her abilities.
She walked over to the wall and grabbed a set of keys hanging there before turning to his door. Shuffling through the keys, she found the one to his cell and opened it. He walked out with her as they traversed the tunnel they had been taken down to get to the cells. They knew they didn't have long before the others arrived. They each thought back to what had led them to this point.