Coming Together

"It's the USS Franklin, James," Victoria told Kirk as they reached the Bridge of Jaylah's 'house,' Kirk looking around at the room, stunned to even find a ship ON the planet let alone it be the Franklin.

"Can you believe it?" Scotty spoke with resounding awe, still unable to believe himself that they were standing on the long-missing ship, "First Earth ship capable of Warp 4. Went missing in the Gagarin Radiation Belt in the early 2160s."

"I remember that from the Academy," Kirk nodded.

"Captain Balthazar Edison," Victoria recited, her father had been adamant that she learn the captains of all the Fleet ships through the history of the endeavor. He had been even more fixated on the ones that went missing or died in action, Edison was one, "One of the first heroes of Starfleet."

"How the hell did his ship end up here?" Kirk breathed, still looking around at it. It appeared in relatively good condition, or it was stable at least. He wasn't seeing any excessive damage to the Bridge that would indicate an attack like what felled the Enterprise.

"There's a lot of theories, sir," Scotty shrugged, as did Victoria, but he continued to speak "Surrendered to the Romulans. Captured by a giant green space hand. This far out, it's got to be a wormhole displacement."

"I agree," Victoria nodded, "There's no other reason for it to be here, in this condition, without an attack that the Fleet would have recorded from distress calls or logs reporting it was heading into the Nebula on its own."

"Can she fly?" Kirk turned to the two engineers.

Scotty nearly snorted when he noticed Kirk seemed to be asking Victoria more than him. It was just as well though, he specialized in engines. Victoria would know more about the structural integrity of the ship as a whole than he would, both from her initial assessments and her general knowledge of Fleet ships and types. It was something Engineering Liaisons had to know as well, the makes and models of other ships, even the oldest ones, their parts, incase a time ever came where parts of other ships needed to be used for the newer counterparts.

"She's missing 3 driver coils and the EPS conduits are garbage," Victoria reported, "But Jaylah's been very hard at work and a majority of the ship's systems are back online."

"Thank you, Victoria Pike," Jaylah spoke.

Kirk moved to sit on the captain's chair, only for Jaylah to plop down there already, "Pardon me," he stepped back from it, shooting Victoria a look when she snorted at it, "Mr. Chekov," he called out, clearing his throat to try and cover up that minor awkwardness, "Can you plug in the coordinates? See if you can track the crew's location from the ship's sensors?"

"Aye, Captain," Chekov moved to quickly do that.

Victoria looked over when she heard Scotty whispering to Jaylah, "He likes that seat."

"Mr. Scott," Kirk called out, hearing it as well, "Tour?"

"Yes, the mess hall," Scotty jumped right back to attention, "Jaylah, if you will?"

"Yes," Jaylah nodded, getting up to lead them through the ship, Kirk and Victoria following, Victoria fighting a smile when Kirk took her hand and didn't let go.

~8~

"This is only recording," Jaylah spoke as she showed them footage on a monitor of another room of the ship, what appeared to be the last footage of the original crew rushing about around their captain.

"No clue what happened to the crew, huh?" Kirk wondered, watching it repeat itself.

"No," Victoria sighed, "Dad dug into it for years, but…nothing."

"They'd be dead a hundred years by now," Scotty remarked.

Kirk nodded to himself and looked around the room, stopping when he spotted something very out of place for a Starship, "Is that a...that's a PX 70!" he hurried over to the motorbike set up in the corner, "Wow. My dad used to have one when he was a kid. My mom said he'd put her on the back of it, drive her nuts."

"Sir," Scotty called and Kirk looked up to see Jaylah watching him in confusion, Scotty shifting a bit as the situation was quite serious, and Victoria shaking her head at him, her arms crossed, looking very bemused.

Kirk cleared his throat and got up from where he'd crouched over by the bike, "So you're telling me this thing's been here this whole time and no one's ever noticed it?"

"This way," Jaylah got up from the computer, "I show you."

~8~

It didn't take long for Scotty to work out how Jaylah had managed to hide the ship from everyone else on the planet, a quick stop to the top of the ship revealed it. There were some scanners stationed all around the ship that were cloaking it, flashing an image of rock over the top of the ship even as they stood on it.

"She's rigged up image refractors," Scotty realized when Jaylah moved to check on them.

"So like some sort of holographic camouflage," Kirk surmised.

"Exactly," Victoria nodded, moving her hands onto her hips as she looked out across the plane of the planet, the trees and canyons in the distance, wondering where on the planet the crew was. She got the impression that Kirk had a way to find them, he had instructed Chekov to scan for something so he had to have coordinates of some sort.

Speaking of the Devil, Chekov popped out of the hatch they had used to get to the top of the ship, "Captain!" he called out, "I have intercepted a weak communications transmission, sir," he scrambled up through the hatch and over to them, "It's a Starfleet frequency. Come, come!" he turned and led them back into the ship, right to the Bridge to show them the transmission he'd picked up.

"Can you lock on to the signal?" Kirk asked.

"Yes, but how do we get to them?"

"I have an idea, sir," Scotty spoke up, hesitation great in his voice, "But I'm gonna need your permission."

"Why would you need my permission?" Kirk eyed him.

"Because if I mess it up, I don't want it to be just my fault."

Victoria shook her head, "I'll help you work it out, Mr. Scott, come on," she grabbed Scotty's arm, urging him to lead them to his idea.

~8~

It took a bit of doing, but between Victoria, Jaylah, and Scotty, with some assistance by Chekov, they were able to get the teleports up and running in the Franklin, at least enough to do a single teleport at a time, which was for the best. With how old the equipment was and the fact that one part of the wiring was literally held together by a paperclip Scotty found in his pocket, they shouldn't risk teleporting more than one until they knew how it would work. The signal Chekov had picked up wasn't the coordinates that Kalara had sent her transmission to, but two Enterprise comms. and they were moving.

Two of the crew, at the very least, were out there and if they could get them back it was all the better.

Scotty's plan SHOULD work, but there were risks because the ship WAS truly very old and the last thing they wanted to do was only transport part of the person or try and teleport two at once and accidently merge them together…that would be unpleasant.

"Ok," Scotty breathed, moving to sit at one of the controls, "Here we go," he glanced at Kirk for one final approval, getting a nod in response, and took a breath…getting to work.

A moment later there was a flash of light and Spock appeared in the teleport pad.

"Spock!" Victoria lunged forward when the Vulcan appeared to nearly keel over to the side, his one arm wrapped around his middle, hand pressed to his side, looking paler than normal. It was clear in just his posture, for one usually so rigid and straight, that he was in pain and wounded. She didn't even need to look at the torn part of his uniform or the discoloration stained into it to make the connection.

She hurried to get him off the teleport pad, another precaution to keep the next person they teleported in safe. She tried to be as careful as she could while she rushed him as much as she could, being mindful of his injury.

As soon as they were off to the side, Chekov moving to help her steady him, Scotty triggered the next teleport…and Bones appeared, looking like he was about to start a fist fight, his hands in the air, ready to go to blows against someone…which meant they'd likely been surrounded by their enemies moments before they'd gotten them out.

"Good to see you in one piece, Doctor!" Scotty cheered, nearly sagging in his chair in relief to see that the plan had worked.

"Oh, am I?" Bones groaned, lowering his hands to his stomach as he tensed more from discomfort than fear, "I feel like my innards have been to a barn dance!"

"It's the transporters," Victoria explained, leaving Spock in Chekov's hands as she moved over to Scotty, double checking the readings to ensure nothing had gone wrong with Bones' 'innards,' "They were designed for cargo, we had to modify them at the drop of a hat, and recalibrate them for living organisms."

"I thought it best to beam you one at a time though," Scotty added, "You know, in case you got spliced."

"Oh, I couldn't imagine a worse scenario," Bones grumbled, seeming to realize Spock was there and still injured, resuming his professionalism, pushing away his discomfort to tend to his patient, moving over to his side to check that the teleport hadn't done more damage to his injury.

"Good to have you back," Kirk spoke, "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. He's hurt."

"I am functioning adequately, Captain," Spock spoke as Kirk turned a concerned look over to him.

"In a pig's eye you are!"

"Captain," Spock struggled a moment to straighten himself out as he gave his report to the man, "We discovered that the stolen artifact appears to have come from this planet."

"Spock!" Victoria shouted, jerking forward when the Vulcan nearly pitched forward, "Would you sit down!?"

"Damn it, Spock," Bones grumbled, a tone in his voice that told them all Spock had been doing this for a while now, "Are there any medical supplies on this thing?" he looked around to the others, recognizing a ship even if it was an old one.

"Jaylah?" Victoria looked at her hopefully.

The woman nodded, "This way," and led them off.

~8~

Kirk couldn't help but chuckle softly to himself, his hand resting on the small of Victoria's back, his thumb absently stroking her spine as he watched her nearly buzz with relief. Apparently the Franklin hadn't had an actual medbay, or if they had it had become so defunct and decrepit it was more unsterile than anything else. They hadn't been forced to take Spock there, but instead an area Jaylah had converted into a sort of lounge room for him to rest down on a couch while she went to gather the medical supplies she had.

It always amused him how much she loathed the medbay.

One time, when he'd gone to visit her while she was recovering from Khan, he found her on the floor, having crawled halfway to the door before her strength gave out and she was just lying there. He'd picked her up and, well, Bones hadn't been happy with him breaking protocol and sneaking her out of the medbay and into the room they'd soon come to share on the Enterprise. But she had woken up much more at ease and far less stressed. He liked to think she'd recovered far faster being comfortable than she had when she'd nearly been panicking and hurting herself staying in the medbay.

Now they just had to hope what Jaylah had would be enough.

He patted Victoria on the back a moment, before stepping away from her to help take Spock from Chekov, the man struggling a bit to lead Spock over to the couch. He took Spock from him and helped him sit, "Alright, lie down," he began to maneuver the Vulcan into that position, trying to take the strain off his wound, "Come on. There you go. How are we gonna get out of this one, Spock?" he mused for a moment, "We've got no ship, no crew. Not the best odds."

"We will do what we have always done, Jim," Spock answered, "We will find hope in the impossible."

Kirk snorted at that, knowing where that remark had come from. It had been a bit of an ongoing joke among the crew for years now, him and Victoria. Whenever something truly overwhelming or serious or dangerous or impossible came up, someone would remark about overcoming the impossible and then glance at him or Victoria. It was a not so subtle reference to their tumultuous history, their rivalry at school, their bickering, how more people thought they'd kill each other than like each other.

And how they'd somehow gotten past that to the point where he couldn't imagine his life without her.

If THEY could come together, anything could happen.

He patted Spock on the shoulder, "Let's get you patched up first, ok?"

"No, Captain," Spock shook his head, "You must focus your efforts on helping the crew."

"Well, that's why I need you around, Spock."

Spock gave him an unamused look and tried to shift so he could catch a glimpse of Victoria, "Liaison Pike," he began, "You must convince the Captain to focus your efforts on helping the crew."

Victoria crossed her arms as she came to stand at the arm of the couch where Spock's head was, looking down at him, "You realize you ARE part of the crew, Mr. Spock? We are helping the crew, right now."

Spock blew a breath of air out of his nose in frustration, realizing he should have chosen a better word sequence given how Kirk was smirking at Victoria's taking his side.

"These things are from the dark ages," Bones grumbled as he made his way over with some sort of device in hand, though he didn't seem happy with it.

"Bones," Kirk stood, giving Bones space to get closer to Spock as he moved back over to Victoria's side, his hand sliding to her back and resting there again, grounding himself, giving him that connection and reassurance she was there.

"I'm pretty sure this is a protoplaser," Bones twisted the device this way and that, not sounding 'pretty sure' at all, "Should stop the internal hemorrhaging. At least that's my hope."

"'The miserable have no other medicine but only hope,'" Spock remarked.

Bones rolled his eyes, "Death's door and he's quoting Shakespeare," he muttered, before getting to work.

Kirk glanced at Victoria as she flinched at the sight of the quasi-medical procedure going on before her and took her hand, leading her off to the side, wandering down a hall or two till they got to the Bridge. He'd given Scotty a firm look as they'd been leaving, a sign to give them a moment, which got a nod in return that he'd keep Jaylah and Chekov from following.

"Hey," he tugged her to him once they were on the Bridge, pulling her into his arms and just holding her close, "You're safe," he murmured, more to himself than her, thanking every god on every planet they'd come across for that fact.

"So are you," she mumbled into his chest, before she took a deep breath and pulled back, but he wouldn't let her go completely, keeping his arms around her waist, so she rested hers over his shoulders, "But you're not ok."

He let out a sharp breath, "I almost hate that you know me so well now."

"No, you don't."

"No," he agreed, a soft smile on his face, "I don't."

"James," she moved one of her hands to the back of his head, absently stroking the hair at the nape of his neck, "You were there for me when my dad died," she said, finally able to get the words out without pause or her voice cracking, it only took three years of trying, "Let me be here for you."

He nodded slowly, but didn't speak, trying to gather his thoughts into some semblance of coherency, "I broke the rules," he began, "And I almost lost everything. The ship, the crew, you," he gave her a look for that, knowing they both hated thinking about what happened with Khan, but it had to be said, "And I swore to myself I'd keep to them this time. I wouldn't do anything wrong and, if I didn't do anything wrong, I wouldn't lose all that again."

"And now you have lost it," Victoria spoke quietly, nodding slightly, getting it, "Even after doing everything right."

"Except you," he tried to smile but could only crack up the corner of his lips, not from any sort of unhappiness at her being the one thing that he hadn't lost, but a reminder that he nearly had lost her. He had managed to push it aside, running through the woods with Chekov, he had managed to distract himself and focus on the threat Kalara was and finding out where the crew was with the hope he'd find her there. But just because he distracted himself didn't mean he hadn't known it was there or felt that fear. Having her back, in his arms, it was all crashing down on him, how close he'd come to not having her in his life any longer.

Words couldn't express how relieved he was to see her alive.

Victoria leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss of reassurance and understanding and he found himself with his eyes closed, resting his forehead to hers for a moment.

"How much of a crap captain do you have to be to lose everything whether you follow the rules or not?"

"A very crap one."

"Hey!" he pulled back more, his eyes flying open to look at her, ready to glare at her, only to see her fighting a laugh, "Funny."

"James, this has nothing to do with being by the book or not," she reminded him, thinking back to her own thoughts about all of this, "Not now, not this time. You were given this mission BY the Fleet, you did what they wanted. This was not your fault."

"Feels like it is," he admitted quietly.

Victoria was silent for a moment, looking at him, "Did you want to take it?" she asked him, waiting till he looked back at her, "I know you were annoyed at dinner, but after meeting Kalara…did you want to take it?"

"You know I didn't," he murmured, because there was no point in asking her out loud if she had, he knew she had. He could tell when she was reluctant or hesitant, the same way she could. She knew how he acted when assigned a mission he actually wanted to take up.

"Why?"

"Kalara," he said, "There was something wrong with her, with her excuse, with how she was acting, her story. It didn't add up. I lost my crew before, she wasn't acting like someone who had lost them."

Victoria nodded, she had gotten that impression, too, "So why did you take it?"

"The Fleet…"

"Told you to," she finished for him.

"Yeah," he gave her an odd look for why she as asking when she had been right there beside him when it happened, "What's your point?"

"You have a great instinct, James," she told him, "It was something dad admired about you, it was the thing that told him you'd be a great captain," she stepped back slightly, trailing her hands down his arms so she could take his in her own, "I think both of us lost sight of things over the last few years," she looked down at their hands a moment and back to him, "The crew, the ship, everything…"

"You," he cut in, not about to let her forget herself.

"Me," she added with a smile, "Are so important to you, to me, too, we don't want to lose them. To the point where…we lost ourselves," she squeezed his hands, "When was the last time you even put your hand on my back around the crew?" she wondered, "Or when we hugged after a hard mission when others could see us? Or…even let our arms brush?"

He was silent, thinking on it, "Too long."

"Three years," she told him, "That's not us. And this…" she lightly swayed her arms, gesturing between them but then more to him, "This wasn't you," she looked back at him, "You would have said no. You would have dug more up on Kalara, argued, fought back, sent a smaller shuttle to investigate first before going in with all the crew. But because it was an order…"

"I didn't listen to my gut," he nodded.

"We tried living by the book, and we still lost. So it's not the book that kept things safe," she reasoned, "The Fleet isn't right all the time, they were wrong this time, not us. And…" she let out a breath, "If we were wrong about that, what else were we wrong about?"

Kirk looked at her a moment before looking down at their joined hands, getting what she was saying. So long ago she would have just flat out told him he was an ass or an idiot and shoved it in his face how wrong he was, but this was too close to the both of them, they'd both grown from that point to be more considerate about something so important.

They both sacrificed themselves, parts of themselves, to do their best for the crew and the ship, to keep it all together. And maybe they'd gone too far, given too much, lost too much of themselves. Because neither of them were happy and both of them would have been happier doing something slightly different. Victoria hated not being able to be closer to him during their active roles, and he hated being so strict and by the book.

If they hadn't…

If they'd just kept true to themselves, maybe a bit more professional but still themselves…they wouldn't be in this position.

Not just trapped on a planet, with their ship destroyed and their crew in danger, but happier. It wouldn't be so monotonous to him, and Victoria wouldn't have felt so distant from everyone else either. He knew it wasn't just their relationship that suffered but the friendships she'd made with other people, too. Being his partner in their personal life, she was more cautious about how she acted around him, not wanting people to think he agreed with her or listened to her because of that. It had extended to others, trying to keep things as professional as she could even when engaging with friends. It made them both miserable, and it made them both complacent…and now they were paying the price for not trusting themselves…and worse, not trusting their crew.

That had to change.

They couldn't keep going like this and, as she stood before Kirk, Victoria had a feeling it would only be worse in the jobs they had applied for outside the ship. She'd have to deal with the monotony of working on the same projects and engines and parts over and over. And HE would have to be even more by the book because he'd have to ensure others were following rules too. They'd be stuck on a base stationary in space, with the same stars and no planets nearby, no adventure, nothing different.

They'd be miserable.

"The Fleet can only take away things if we let it," Victoria murmured, her thoughts drifting to her conversation with Scotty, "I won't let them take anything else from us."

Kirk gave her a soft smile, but a true smile, "I think we have a lot to talk about."

"But it has to wait till we get the crew first," she agreed, starting to return his smile as well.

He leaned in, his hand moving half to the back of her neck to pull her in to a kiss.

Scotty, bless him, after stepping into the room with words dying on his lips at seeing them like that, waited as long as he possibly could behind the door before having to clear his throat and alert them to the fact that Bones was finished.

~8~

"We should wait until we're absolutely sure," Scotty spoke as they all gathered on the Bridge to examine the location Chekov had of where Kalara's call transmitted to, trying to come up with a plan for how to get there and get the crew out.

"No," Kirk shook his head, sounding more sure of himself now, standing before the small group with his hand in Victoria's, "We have to get the crew back, now. Chekov has the coordinates that can lead us to Krall's base, so we go!"

Victoria sighed, "I agree we need to get to them, James, but we should know more about what we're heading into. We need some sort of plan. We know that's where Kalara sent her call, but we don't know if that's where the crew are being kept, too."

Kirk ran a hand through his hair, she was right about that. For all they knew Kalara sent it to Krall personally and there was no saying he was there lording over the crew.

"Or if they're even still alive," Bones just had to add.

"Mr. Chekov," Spock called out, moving over to where Chekov was sitting and typing something into the computer, "Can you reconfigure the search parameters in order to compensate for this formula?"

"Aye, Commander, but what is zis formula?" Chekov frowned at what Spock wrote onto the monitor.

"It is Vokaya, Mr. Chekov. A mineral unique to Vulcan which emits low-level radiation."

"I will have to filter out all other energy emissions…" Chekov began, but got right to work, Scotty moving to his side to help.

"Spock, what the hell would a Vulcan mineral be doing way out here?" Bones eyed the Vulcan.

"Where are you going with this?" Kirk had to wonder.

"Lieutenant Uhura wears a Vokaya amulet which I presented to her as a token of my affection and respect," Spock declared.

"Wait…" Victoria shook her head, "That blue necklace? It's radioactive?"

"The emission is harmless, but its unique signature makes it very easy to identify."

"So…you gave her a tracking device and didn't tell her?"

Spock blinked and considered the description of it and what was happening in this situation, "...that was not my intention."

"I'm glad he doesn't respect me," Bones muttered.

"Don't even think about it, James," Victoria spoke, without looking at Kirk just as he opened his mouth to joke that he should get her one.

Kirk only grinned, even at being cut off, because it was so familiar and so long ago that they were able to barb and tease each other in front of the crew, show any amount of 'disrespect' for each other. He pulled his hand from her to slide it around her waist, glancing at the crew to see…nothing, at all, not even a side eye at them. They really did not care if they were close.

And that should have been a clue, because they'd been closer before and no one had had any complaints, they'd just gotten too paranoid in their rule abiding.

"Huh," Chekov spoke when the computer beeped, "I am detecting a wery trace amount of Wokaya."

"Does the location match the coordinates you acquired from Kalara, Mr. Chekov?" Spock inquired.

He nodded, "It is a match, sir."

"Its presence suggests that Lieutenant Uhura, and thereby the rest of the crew, are being held at Krall's base of operation," Spock confirmed for the others.

Kirk looked between Victoria, Chekov, and Scotty, "Can you beam them out?"

"If we get a clear signal…" Victoria began.

"No," Chekov gave her an apologetic look, "There is some geological interference that is blocking the transporter signal."

"Well," Kirk let out a breath, before a grin started to grow along his face, one that had Bones both tensing and sagging in relief to see after so many years of him in captain-mode, "I guess we're gonna have to go in and break them out the old-fashioned way."

"You cannot go to this place," Jaylah spoke up, having been silent for quite a while as they debated what to do, "Everyone who goes there he kills."

"Have you been there before, Jaylah?" Victoria looked at her, "You know where it is? Its defenses?"

"Well, why didn't you say something, Lassie?" Scotty nearly laughed, but Jaylah was serious and grim.

"Because I know you will ask me to take you there," Jaylah nearly spat, "If your friends are there, then they will die, just like my family. And I will not go back to that death place!"

"Aye," Scotty began carefully, "But if you've escaped then you can show us the way in and the way out."

"No!" Jaylah snapped, jumping to her feet from where she'd been sitting in the captain's chair, "This is not the deal we made, Montgomery Scott. If you choose to do this, you are on your own."

The group could only watch as Jaylah glared at them and stormed out of the room.

A/N: Awww, we're starting to see Kirk and Victoria peeking through and being Jim and Tory again :D

I'm very excited to see the return of their 'spark' ;)

No real notes on reviews today ;)