A/N: Second last chapter. Enjoy!
End Run
Jim looked over those with him, before he pulled out his phaser. He dropped the radio on the ground and shot it, killing it and any chance of Kodos using it to track them. He then stripped the man of anything that could be used, including his vest. He noticed out of the corner of his eye Thea and her brother doing the same thing with a couple of other soldiers nearby. As he tightened the vest, copying the Hunters, he looked up as Bones came over.
"Jim, what are you thinking?" His voice sounded disapproving.
"What makes you believe you know what I'm thinking?"
"I know you Jim. Better than anyone here. You're going to hand yourself over to that crazy bastard!" He through his arm out in the direction of the ruined city.
Jim looked into his eyes, his face set and hard. "So what if I am? If it means getting my crew back and getting you off this hell hole of a planet, then I'm going to do it."
"What about Sam? Have you thought about her? He wants her too, Jim. He wants to figure out what she is and how she did what she did yesterday." Bones dropped his hand to his hips now, elbows bent out like chicken wings.
Jim noticed Thea come over to stand beside her partner, right hand on his shoulder, "I'm aware, that's why JT is going to take me with him, after knocking me out. Kodos doesn't know I'm half Vulcan, which means that if JT ties me up with rope and I act groggy, Kodos will never realise that I can get free in a heartbeat. A little red dye on my forehead can add to it." She brushed his hair away from his face and he saw his friend calm down as he turned to face her and let out a deep sigh as he looked into her green eyes
Kirk nodded and continued with the plan that had to come to him in that last couple of minutes. "If we find the entrance before then and only give ourselves up once you're inside, he'll have no reason to suspect anything. The reason he hasn't attacked us before now is because of the pouches Thea and the others gave us stopped his sensors picking up any life signs. He didn't know where we were. And with regards to you guys leaving, he won't know you haven't for a while. If we wait until you guys get into position, he won't have any idea that you won't have left until it's too late."
"I have no doubt that Sh'ella will be waiting for you near the tunnel. She will be able to lead you to the others. If you come at them from the front, JT and I will attack from behind. They won't know what hit them until it's too late." Thea spoke up. "Dean, if you can get a cleanse ready, we can use it to destroy the shield and create a big enough distraction that we should be able to overcome them quickly."
Jim could see the emotions that crossed the faces of those in front of him. Spock was contemplating it and seemed to be in agreement; Bones was shocked, worried, fearful and on the verge of vetoing the idea, Riley looked to be on the fence and Campbell seemed to see it would work.
"Bones, it'll work." He took a step closer to his best friend and clasped his other shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
"The last time you said that, we ended up pulling Spock out of a volcano."
"And it worked out ok."
"If you don't count Khan."
"Leon," Thea spoke up then, removing the hand from her lover's shoulder to his psi-points. "It'll work and I will be ok." Jim motioned for the others to step away for a moment and took a few minutes to explain the plan that he had thought up. The pair joined them after a few moments and Jim realised that Thea had been thinking along the same lines as him.
They finalised everything before he contacted Kodos and arranged a time to meet.
Spock led the way that Winchester had seen when she had done her astral walk. Using a meld, she showed him everything and he was able to lead the others in confidence. As they approached the area Winchester had seen, he started to look for Sh'ella. The area had been heavily excavated, no doubt for the precious stones she had told then about before they had arrived. The ground was loose and crunched underfoot, each crunching footfall sounding louder than it was.
A few minutes earlier, they had approached and passed through the shield Kodos had created. Campbell had set up a cleansing ritual and had used an old 20th century alarm clock to tip a candle into it to complete it. A cell phone was connected to trigger it once they had found the others. He didn't know what would happen once the shield lost the souls powering it, but Winchester and Campbell appeared confidant it would cause a big enough distraction for them to be able to get the upper hand.
A woman suddenly appeared out of the shadows of the tunnel entrance, causing Spock to raise his weapon. She was human, light brown coloured hair blowing slightly in the breeze. She was around 50 years old and walked with a cane. As they got closer, he saw she had blue eyes and pale skin. He was about to call out for her to identify herself when Campbell cried out.
"Sh'ella?!" He didn't even wait for a response before he was running toward the woman. He gently grabbed her up in a hug and lifted her off her feet.
"Dean Campbell, as I live and breathe." Once she had been put back on the ground, she held him at arm's length to have a good look at him. "When Sam Astral walked to me the other day and said she had others with her, you were the last one I was expecting." She then looked over at himself and Riley. "Nor was I expecting Starfleet." Her eyebrows turned into a frown and her voice sounded disapproving.
"I don't know what Kodos has been telling you, but Starfleet did not know what he had done, not until Sam, myself and another managed to get a message out. They rescued about 200 survivors." Riley said as he came over and joined the pair. Spock put away his phaser and held his normal stance. They had started out at dawn, while Kirk and Winchester were meeting up with Kodos at noon. They had several hours yet, so a few minutes to explain things would not do any harm.
"You were rescued?"
"Twice. First by Thea, sorry Sam just after the massacre started. She helped me and several others hide over the following months. Then by Starfleet when they arrived a couple of days after we sent them a message about what was really going on."
"As far as Starfleet was aware of at the time, a massive earthquake damaged the shield and everyone was dead from radiation poisoning." Spock spoke up. "A large part of the city had also been destroyed by the disaster according to sensors."
"In reality, Kodos used the mass killing to jumpstart a shield."
She gasped in understanding. "Using soul energy."
Campbell nodded. Sh'ella then seemed to notice that he and the others weren't confused. "You understand what we are talking about?"
It was Dr McCoy that answered. "A little. Dean and his sister as well as over a dozen others are Hunters. We found out about them a few years ago when a ghost managed to get on board our ship."
"Shell, this is Dr McCoy, Sam's fiancé. The Vulcan is Commander Spock and Riley." Campbell pointed to each of them and Spock dipped his head in greeting. He watched as the woman before him suddenly changed, her skin turning almost transparent with a hint of blue; her eyes turned a vibrant purple colour and her ears faded as a pair of antenna the colour of pale straw appeared.
"How did you keep up the glamor for so long?" Campbell asked as she turned and lead them into the tunnel. Spock brought up the rear and listened as the two continued to talk; she informed him as to what she had done with the glamor while he told her of what had he had set up to create a distraction. The woman nodded, clearly pleased with the idea as she also extracted a promise from him to tell her the whole story once they were back on board.
It took them a couple of hours to walk what had taken Winchester only a few minutes in her Astral state. It seemed that Sh'ella had been right, many wanted to leave as they ignored the newcomers as they passed. Only twice did their guide have them hide from Kodos' true believers.
"Ahead is where Kodos takes those who cause him trouble. If he were to take Samanthea and your Captain anywhere, it would be to the holding cells." She shook her head. "I still cannot understand how I managed to miss this about him. When the disaster struck, I did not realise that he had created a shield to hide what he was doing. Nor did I sense that he had powered it with the use of the souls he stole."
"Why would he need to re-power the shield? Unless souls move on or are crossed over by a Hunter, the shield shouldn't have weakened." Campbell said as he walked alongside the blue tinted woman.
Spock also wondered at that. He conceded that he didn't understand all that would have been involved in the initial casting of the spell, but what he did understand was that souls get stronger. The more violent a death, or reason for not crossing over, traps the spirit and the longer they stay, the angrier and stronger they get.
"The charm I laid here when I arrived included within it an incantation that weakened or dissipated any other spell cast in a language other than the one I spoke in. As Hunters of Earth, you speak the same language and as such, your spells will work better that anything Kodos could do."
They nodded as it confimed the theory they had and continued on in silence as she indicated that they were nearing the cells. As they rounded a corner, they came across Scotty and the Mills twins being led by several armed members of Kodos' forces. The surprise on their faces blanked out a second later as Campbell held a finger to his lips while Spock nodded. They nodded, and while they clearly had no idea as to what was going to happen, they trusted their First Officer. The attacking force five managed to get out of sight before they were noticed by the armed men, while Campbell dialled the cell phone he had used to trigger the cleansing ritual.
The three captured members of the ship were in line with them when what could be best described as an earthquake rocked the area, dust filled the tunnel and small pieces of rock showered them. Screams rent the air, causing everyone to cover their ears as the sound reached glass shattering capabilities. Kodos screamed in denial as the shield fell.
Outside, the sky lit up like it had all those years ago, bright to the point of blinding. If anyone had been outside, they would have had to cover their eyes. The shield exploded, with enough force to level every building to dust, finally burying those that had been killed in them when Kodos had started his massacre. The souls he had used to keep powering it, finally free, knew that while they could very easily get their revenge on the man, wouldn't be worth it. He would never be able to achieve his goal of a superior race, and instead face the rest of his life behind bars. That would be the best punishment for someone like him. They faded and crossed over.
Kirk watched as the tension in Sam's face faded and relief swept into her features as an earthquake hit. A moment later he went to his knees as screams filled the air, forcing him to cover his ears. Sam, he noticed was talking, though he couldn't make out the words. He watched as several ghosts appeared and spoke to her. Seconds later they faded in a burst of light, crossing over. As he blinked out the spots, he stood and hurried after her as she started to run toward the others.
Ahead he saw several fights breaking out between his people and Kodos' forces. He joined in, much to the surprise of Kodos. He dove into the fray and started trading blows with the man that had hunted his dreams for two decades. Despite his age, the man could still hold his own.
"I will achieve my dream, Kirk. With or without you and the woman. I will rule the universe!"
After a few blows, they knocked each other apart; Kirk clutching his side, Kodos his stomach. "You can try, but I don't think you'll be able to find anyone to help you anymore. Not after what you've done here. Everyone will know how you turned on your own supporters after a mistake on your part. How you refused to acknowledge that your actions in keeping trapped those who saw the folly of what you were trying to do only exacerbated everything." His voice rose as the decades old pain resurfaced and joined the recent pain inflicted the last few weeks. He lunged toward the man that had long filled and fuelled his nightmares.
"If I can't escape, then neither will any of you!" He sneered. He delivered a powerful kick to his stomach, forcing Kirk back long enough for him to pull a gun. Instead of turning it on him, Kodos spun and aimed at Thea. He didn't pause as he pulled the trigger.
"NOO!" He yelled as his childhood saviour fell, a bullet to the back. His cry sounded feeble compared to the one that then rent the air.
"SAAMMM!" Dean's scream caused everyone to still and look to him. The three men surrounding him suddenly were flying away from him as several others in front of him stepped back, fear in their faces. Jim stood and could understand why.
His eyes were black.
He didn't speak as he held his hands up and 'grabbed' the two men before him before flinging them to the sides. His face was as black as his eyes, his moves precise as he stepped toward Kodos.
"Do you know what happened to the last person who took out a Sam Winchester like that?" He asked casually, like he was commenting on the weather as he walked toward Kodos; though Jim could hear how he controlled the tone of every word. As the madman re-aimed his gun on Dean, the Hunter 'grabbed' at the gun and ripped it away from him. Jim could see the full blown fear on the older man's face.
Dean tugged him closer until they were nose to nose, his voice changed, dripping venom as black as the ink that covered his green eyes. "A Dean Winchester obliterated them." He raised his hand and lifted the former Governor to the roof of the tunnel. He shouted a few words and threw something he pulled from a pocket; the dark powder settling before him; and suddenly the floor opened up, tearing like it was pulled apart. Heat and the smell of sulphur filled his nose, and Jim suddenly realised that he had created an opening to Hell. The man was screaming to be put down, clawing the air trying to get loose.
"You wanted to know how we got our powers? Why don't you find out." And with that, he released his hold on Kodos, who fell screaming into the hole. A moment later it closed up as Dean collapsed, blood running from his nose.
Leon raced forward as Sam fell, managing to catch her before she hit the ground. He cradled her as he watched the events unfold with Dean and Kodos. He wondered as to how Dean was able to do what Sam could. They had said that because he had never been to Hell himself that he shouldn't have been able to. But then he thought back to what else they had talked about over the years. The changes had managed to manifest in her after she had been to Hell. Who's to say they couldn't in Dean if their father had gone to Hell again before he was born.
He watched as the man that had haunted Sam's dreams since they had been assigned to have a look at the planet only a couple of weeks ago vanished into the ground. He turned to Sam as she stirred in his arms.
"Sam?" He called and he heard hurried scrambling and wasn't surprised when Dean crawled up beside him.
"Sam?!" His voice pitched in fear.
"Ughh." She moaned and twitched her head in the direction of her brother. Leon hurried and pulled his Comm. device from his pouch.
"Enterprise, come in."
"Dr McCoy?! Man, are we glad to hear you." Sulu's voice came over, clear and relieved. "We lost contact with you guys almost the moment you touched down."
Leon broke in, needing transport for Sam to the Medbay fast. "Lock onto my signal and get me to Medbay 4, now! Sam's been shot."
"I can't, I'm not picking up any signals from you guys!" Uhura came over, panic and tapping keys clearly heard.
McCoy was worried for a moment until Janet patted him down and pulled out the pouch the Hunters had made to hide them from Kodos. He remembered then that they had said they would need to burn them to remove the spell. He watched as she collected them all them set a lighter to them. They went up in an exploding puff of smoke.
It hadn't even cleared before the communications officers voice cried "Got you!" and he was swallowed in gold lights. He appeared on the floor of the Medbay, right in front of Chapel who screamed at his sudden appearance before she saw who it was and the reason. He was clutching her to his chest, Dean holding her hand and both had a hand on the wound on her back; trying to keep her forest coloured blood where it belonged. It still leaked out and was slipping between their fingers.
"Someone page M'Benga! Chapel, get out every ounce of blood we have for her." He continued to shout orders as he and Dean laid her out on a table. He wasn't trained on Vulcan physiology, so he wouldn't be able to work on her, but he was going to do everything he could to get things ready.
As he was engaged to her, M'Benga had ordered him out of the room. He had at first objected until her brother had pulled him out stating that they both needed a good shower after all the time on the planet. He looked at himself then noting that his uniform was almost the same colour as the soil and realised that he would have contaminated anything he touched. Another nurse collected him and Dean before they left the area and conducted a post planet medical. Annoyed at the delay, he realised it would be remiss of him not to do it, especially in light of all the time spent on the planet. He could be bringing back something that could be detrimental to the health and safety of the ship.
After completing the medical, Leonard followed Dean to the crew area and headed to his quarters. He hurried to shower and change before he made his way back to the operating area.
He watched from the viewing room as M'Benga worked. He watched as the blood stored for both her and Spock were used. They had just started on the last one and Leonard was contemplating on calling Spock to get his ass to the medbay when the man walked into the room. Sighing in relief, he watched as Spock did what Sam had for him several years before. It was another hour before M'Benga finished the repairs to her back and left the last of the dermal regenerating to the nurses. Spock was still connected to his fiancé as the other Doctor left the room, Leonard departed the viewing are to meet him at the doors.
"Neal? How…?" He didn't want to ask, didn't want to voice his fear that she wouldn't be able to walk again.
"She should be able to walk, however, I won't know for certain until she wakes. We may need to wait until the swelling goes down to know for sure." He reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, which helped to calm him somewhat. "She's tough, she'll get through this."
He nodded as his fellow doctor left then to check on other patients after telling him he could sit with her. He and her brother would be the only ones allowed until she woke.