Rescue
"Jaylah," Victoria sighed, moving after the woman.
But Kirk gently tugged her back, "Maybe we should let her go…"
Scotty was the one who answered though, "She's lost people too, Captain," he told the man, before he followed Jaylah into the next room where she seemed to be trying to fix something, the others coming with him, but waiting more in the doorway, "Look that's our friends out there, Lassie. Right? We cannae just leave them behind. Now we could really use your help. We just need you to be brave is all."
"When we were in that place," Jaylah began, after a long moment of silence, "Krall would come and take someone. There were screams. I can still hear them. And we would not see that person again. We did not know who would be next. My father planned an escape. But we were seen by the one they call Manas," she glanced over at them, "My father fought him so I could get out. He was brave and Manas killed him," her face scrunched slightly when she saw Victoria look away with a flinch, Kirk moving his arm around her to pull her closer, "What you want is impossible."
"Look maybe it's not," Scotty shrugged, "Right. My wee granny used to say 'Ya cannae break a stick in a bundle.' You're part of something bigger now, Lassie. Right? Dinnae give up on that. 'Cause we'll sure as hell never give up on you. That is what being part of a crew is all about."
Jaylah looked past him to Kirk, "Is that what you believe in James Kirk?"
Kirk was quiet for a moment, looking more to Victoria, knowing that what Jaylah said had hit her harder than him. While he had lost his father, to the same sort of fate, taking on the enemy so others could escape. He'd been a baby, he had never met his father, never known him, counted him as a hero yes, but he had never felt that loss the way Victoria had. And she had experienced it twice, when her father went to negotiate with Nero to give them time to save others, and when her father had died in front of her eyes. She had had her father all her life and she'd lost him due to an enemy attack. While Spock had gone through the same with his mother, the Vulcan was far better at controlling his emotions and working at not-feeling than they were, he'd look at it logically instead of allowing that pain to help guide his judgement. Jaylah wouldn't connect to that, not with her pain and grief still so raw.
Hearing how Jaylah had lost her own father, it would be hard for anyone and, of all of them, it would be Victoria who would then question their plan and the danger they could be heading into and bringing to their crew in their attempts. If she thought they should find a different way, he would listen to her. He had sworn to himself that he would never put her in a situation like she'd felt with her father, where she'd lost a man she loved.
Victoria took a breath and looked up at him, into his eyes, searching them for a moment, before giving him a short nod.
He gave her a soft smile, leaning in to press a reassuring and thankful kiss to her forehead, then turned to Jaylah, ignoring the smirk Bones was shooting him, "All I know is we stand a better chance with you."
"You lost your dad," Victoria spoke when Jaylah still hesitated, turning to wind her arm around Kirk's waist for grounding, "I have, too. To an enemy also. But you know what? Some of the people Krall took, they're fathers, mothers. They have children out there who will suffer that same loss if we don't help them," she looked Jaylah in the eye, "You would have wanted someone to save your father, I know it. Don't ask us to sit aside and not help them."
Jaylah let out a sharp breath, looking away, before nodding to herself, now determined as she looked back at them, "I will help you."
~8~
Jaylah was a godsend.
None of them knew what Krall's hold even looked like, how it was set up, the structures or land around it. They didn't know how many ways in or out there were, the buildings, the guards. Truly if it hadn't been for her, they would have really been going in blind and, looking at the crude display she'd set up on a table of how the base was structured, it could have ended very, very badly for them to have done so.
That was always the worst thing about the nightmares, Victoria thought, you remembered what happened in such crystal clarity, you looked at all the ways you could have done something differently to save the person you loved. Jaylah hadn't been at the hold in many years, working hard on the Franklin, but she remembered every wall, every path, every building, as though it were yesterday. It was clear to her that was how Jaylah remembered, the same way she knew she'd never forget the room, the meeting, the firefight when her father died either.
"The digging machines uncovered a tunnel that goes into the crater," Jaylah was pointing out, "That's how I got out."
"Well, now we have a way in," Victoria mused, eyeing the setup.
"An away team will beam to the other side of the tunnel," Kirk determined, "Follow it to Krall's base, get inside the building, and break out the crew."
"Uh, Captain we cannot lock onto anyone inside ze crater in order to beam zem out," Chekov pointed out.
"Mr. Scott?" Victoria looked at him, "Any ideas?"
He nodded, thinking about it, "I could rig up pulse beacons as pattern enhancers. That'd get the signal out of the crater."
"How many people can the Franklin transport at a time?" Kirk asked them.
"Based on the readings from transporting Spock and Bones," Victoria began, "I would say…15, maybe 20?" she looked at Scotty and Chekov for confirmation, both of them a bit more familiar with the transport than she was.
"With a wee bit of modification, 20 max," Scotty agreed, "But I'm not sure how long it would hold out."
"Then we need to be fast and efficient."
Kirk nodded, "Bones, Mr. Chekov, Jaylah, you're with me on the away team. Mr. Scott, Victoria, modify that transporter and then do everything you can to get this ship operational."
"Captain," Spock spoke up before Victoria could open her mouth, "Mr. Chekov's technical acumen makes him more valuable aboard the Franklin with Mr. Scott. It is thereby logical that I would replace him."
Kirk scoffed, "Why is that logical, Spock? You just got back on your feet."
"Lieutenant Uhura is in that facility, Jim," Spock said, in a rare moment of emotion.
Victoria stepped up, "I'll make sure she's ok," she promised Spock, turning to Kirk, "I'll go in Chekov's place, he is more familiar with the transport systems than I am, I'd feel more secure with him working on it with Scotty," she glanced at Spock, "Commander Spock is your First Officer," she reminded Kirk, "When you are off-ship, he is in charge," it was a subtle reminder of how much she hated when she would be put in charge over Spock, before she looked to Spock again, "Nyota is my friend," she reminded him, "I'd never let anything happen to her and she'd kill me if I let you go in there injured."
Spock seemed like he wanted to argue, but a clear twinge in his side made him flinch…or as much of a flinch as a Vulcan could manage…and sighed, giving her a nod.
"James?" Victoria turned to him, an eyebrow raised, as though daring him to deny her request.
Kirk, contrary to what Bones thought he might do, given how the last 3 years had played out, just smiled and it was, in a way, like a breath of fresh air for the doctor to witness. He couldn't remember the last time Kirk and Victoria were on the same assignment, working together, on the fly no less, but he knew, in the past, they were a force to be reckoned with.
"Sounds like a plan," Kirk said.
And Victoria beamed, jumping forward to hug Kirk as he laughed, winding his arm around her and he felt a weight lift off him. THIS…this was what he had been missing for the last three years, this…ease. Not having to hold himself back, to remain rigid and detached, especially with the one person he always wanted to be closer to. His shoulders hurt with how much he'd have to lock his hands behind his back in a pose while Victoria was near him during professional moments so as to not reach out and touch her. It was a comfort, it was a relief, a security. He hadn't realized how much he'd needed this, this simple moment, to just be alright.
Maybe he had just been holding too much of himself back all this time. A new job as an admiral wouldn't solve that, it would make it worse, because he wouldn't even be able to SEE Victoria during his working hours.
This wasn't him.
The man who had been captain of the Enterprise for the last few years wasn't him, a version of him yes but not HIM.
Victoria was right, operating by the book didn't help when the people who wrote the book were wrong in some cases. The Fleet made the rules, he followed them, the Fleet gave this mission, he followed it, and he'd lost almost everything. This time it hadn't been HIS fault, it hadn't been because of his rule breaking or disregard for policy, it had been the Fleet officials sending him into an unknown trap, not him.
It wasn't his fault.
It felt like he could actually breathe again with that realization, it wasn't his fault. It wasn't always his fault, there could be a balance between the two hims that had been operating. He just needed time to find that, but right now…right now his crew needed him more.
"But his soldiers are everywhere," Jaylah reminded them, pulling Kirk out of his thoughts, "We won't pass unseen."
"What we require is a diversion," Spock rationalized.
Kirk's gaze drifted over to where the motorcycle was resting and smirked, "I think I have an idea."
~8~
"Oh I hate you sometimes!" Victoria yelled over the whiz of air flying past her as she and Kirk rode the motorcycle towards Krall's camp, ready to be both a distraction and the way in. She was behind him on the bike, grabbing him tightly around the middle, and really hating this as well as him right now, "You really have no idea how much I hate you, James. And that smirk on your face is NOT helping."
"You can't see the smirk on my face," he called back to her.
"I know it's there!" she defended.
And, indeed, it was.
Kirk was smirking with pleasure, not just at the freedom and fun of riding the bike, but of having her behind him, with him, while they both took their enemy head on. He'd missed this, he really had, doing things his way for the benefit of the crew.
And maybe that had been the balance he'd needed all along. Before it was doing things because he thought they should, because it interested him, or he wanted to be the hero, he wanted to be the one to make history. Khan had forced him to realize it wasn't about him though, it was about the crew and how his actions and decisions had consequences to them. Whether he did things his way or by the book, it had to be in the best interest of his crew first. There was leeway and gray space between rule breaking and abiding by the law, wiggle room, within reason.
He wouldn't make that mistake again.
"Here we go!" he called to her in warning as they came to the wall Jaylah had mentioned. They tensed as they got past it, leading the bike to the side and pausing long enough for Victoria to jump off and get cover. She waited till he'd gone off before triggering the signal that would help the Franklin locate them for transport.
Not a moment later, Bones and Jaylah appeared in a flash beside her, Jaylah already with her weapons in hand, ready to go, "This way," the woman said, with one quick glance around to get her bearings, before she led them off.
Victoria looked over when she heard the sound of weapons firing, catching a glimpse of one of the aliens in the distance attacking Kirk, trying to strike him, but Jaylah had offered him her replication device since it was very clear he would be the diversion. He was making use of it now, multiple versions of him appearing, motorcycle and all, racing about to draw their enemy's attention.
She took a breath and forced herself on, they had to get to the crew and get them back to the Franklin, neither she nor Kirk would forgive themselves if they failed their crew, their friends. The only thing that gave any of them pause after that moment was when Kirk activated a smoke machine from the back of the motorcycle, creating the mud-like wall between them and wherever he rode past, giving them more cover.
"I've got to admit, that's a hell of a distraction," Bones muttered beside her as they hurried on after Jaylah.
"It was the only other option we had," Victoria returned, "His usual distraction tactic wouldn't work on Krall."
Bones frowned, "What usual tactic?"
"You don't want to know."
Bones opened his mouth to ask, only to catch sight of the smirk on Victoria's face. She glanced at him, adding a waggle of her eyebrows to tease him more.
"Oh, god, I can't know that!" he grumbled, grimacing at the thought of how Kirk would 'distract' her from anything given they were both very professional from the moment they stepped out of their rooms…which meant the only distracting happening was in their rooms.
"Your friends are over there," Jaylah cut in, thankfully saving Bones from any other image his mind could unwillingly conjure up. She pointed them in a direction before turning to go down another path to help Kirk with the enemy soldiers, being more familiar with their weapons and fighting styles.
"Come on," Bones muttered, pushing past Victoria to take lead, her phaser in his hand as he was a better shot than her. That...and Kirk would kill him if she got hurt.
~8~
"Move," Victoria called as Bones tried to break the lock on the gate keeping the crew locked away in some sort of pen-like area. They had been able to find them rather quickly, the sounds of the attack going on had signaled to the crew that help had arrived and they had begun calling out. But the lock was not an easy thing to get off without a key. Luckily Victoria had something better than a key in hand. Bones jumped aside and she jammed the phaser he'd given her for the moment right at it and fired, unable to miss it being so close, destroying it.
"Come on!" Bones began to call to the others, ushering them out.
"Liaison Pike," Sulu hurried over to her, noting her weapon, "Uhura, they took her."
Victoria gave him a firm nod and turned to Bones, tossing him the device that would signal the teleport for Scotty, "Get them to safety," she ordered quickly and turned to head off in search of Uhura, trusting Bones would be able to beam them out in increments of 20 without her there.
She could see in the corner of her eye as she moved through the camp that Kirk was holding strong, keeping the others distracted, zooming about on his bike, with Jaylah high above and picking off the enemies one by one as best she could. She faltered when she heard a cry of pain and looked over to see one of the enemy soldiers had managed to reach Jaylah and was attacking her. She hesitated for a moment, wanting to help, but Jaylah had rolled off her perch, the enemy going after her, the building blocking her view of them.
She had to hope Jaylah's skills would hold up and turned to find Uhura, only to jump back when she nearly came face-to-face with one of their enemy minions rearing back to attack her, having snuck up on her in her moment of distraction.
She managed to raise her phaser to fire, hoping the nearness would improve her aim, when the enemy pitched forward, a clang sounding, revealing Uhura behind him with a metal beam in her hand.
"Ny!" she breathed in relief, hurrying forward to hug the woman, "Are you ok?"
"Fine," Uhura hugged her back tightly, before pulling away, "What are you doing here?"
"Come on," she reached out to grab Uhura's free hand, "We've got a teleport set up, we need to go. Now!"
~8~
It was almost surprising, how loud Bones was being, a sure sign of how worried he was, that Victoria and Uhura could hear him from quite a ways away as they hurried to reach where the crew was being teleported out.
"Wait for my signal!" the doctor was shouting into his comm., clearly Scotty had said something to upset him.
"Doctor!" Scotty seemed to be at his wits end too, yelling right back at him.
"Damn it man, we're not leaving without them!" Bones snapped.
"Bones!" Victoria called, seeing how tense the man was, how rigid, for being a doctor, he wasn't handling this particular brand of stress very well.
Maybe she should use that against him one day. He always got exasperated when she refused to enter the medbay, out of a genuine phobia, however irrational the man seemed to think it was. But now the tables were turned and he was in the middle of an essential battlefield, on the frontlines, and he clearly wanted to be anywhere else.
She urged Uhura on as Bones turned to see them coming. He nearly sagged with relief to see them both alright and quickly began to lead the next, and what appeared to be last, group over to the flat surface of the camp he was using as a transport base.
"Come on," he pushed the crew, "Let's go. Move! Let's go! Come on!"
"Down!" Victoria called over, aiming her phaser past them, seeing a handful of their enemies racing for them, ready to attack. The crew ducked down, still trying to keep moving, as she fired at their enemies as wildly as she could, hoping she'd get a hit on them somewhere. Kirk rode past, the smoke on his bike offering more cover and defense while she moved into position with Bones and Uhura, working to guard their backs so they could teleport out.
The second they were back in the Franklin, Victoria ran to Scotty's side, checking the readings, "Prepare for James and Jaylah," she told the man.
"Aye," he nodded, "Already doing it," he added, before reaching out to grab the comm., "We're ready for you next, Captain. Just turn on your beacon."
"Scotty, do you have everybody?" Kirk shouted over the noise of the motorcycle.
"Yes," Victoria answered, "We're all here, James. We just need you and Jaylah."
"Hit the beacon and we'll grab you," Scotty added.
"On it!" Kirk called out.
~8~
Kirk sped through the camp, trying to find Jaylah. He knew she'd been atop one of the towers, helping to pick off their enemies and help him, but that firing had long since stopped. He'd feared she'd been harmed, but he had spotted her fighting on as he drove through the camp to distract Krall and his flunkies, now he just had to get back to her.
He skid to a halt when something landed on the ground near him, Jaylah's beacon, the way Scotty would be able to find her and beam her out.
"Shit," he breathed, looking around for where the girl was.
"Captain, your beacon!" Scotty urged through the comm..
But then he spotted her above him, facing down one of Krall's generals, alone, without a weapon to save her.
"James..." Victoria began.
"Jaylah's in trouble," he told her, "Lost her beacon."
"Then share yours!" Victoria replied.
He grinned, knowing she'd say that, and revved the engine, to speed away. He'd spotted a ramp of sorts a few feet away that would get him higher up, get him to Jaylah on the building above. He'd love nothing more than to ram the motorcycle into her attacker's back and knock him off the building, but he'd settle for just getting to her to help.
Because Scotty was right, she was part of the crew now as far as he was concerned. She'd saved Victoria and Scotty, gave them shelter, she'd offered her equipment to help save to more of the crew, given them medical supplies, and then even more than that. She'd risked herself, confronted a place of her nightmares, where she had lost so much, so that he wouldn't lose his crew. And she had covered his back, she'd had his back and kept him safe and he could do no less than the same for her.
He leaned forward on the bike, urging it faster as he circled the base to get to the ramp. He sped up it, gripping tight to the handles, knowing he'd need the extra momentum.
Right as he reached the top, he flicked on the beacon.
"Zere it is!" he could hear Chekov over the comm..
"Mr. Scott…" Spock added.
"Energize!" Scotty declared.
"Jaylah!" he shouted out as he saw himself starting to be beamed out, "Now!" he added, throwing himself off the bike as it went flying in the air towards the building, launching himself towards the woman.
It was almost as though time slowed down, and he could see everything happening as though it were moving through water. Jaylah, knocking the general off the top of the building, running for the edge and leaping towards him. He lost sight of the general, but that wasn't his main concern, it was getting to Jaylah. The woman reached out a hand, reaching out for him, and he held out his own, just barely managing to grab her arm mid -air as the teleport completed, taking them both back to the Franklin where they slammed into the floor of the teleport room.
"James!" Victoria called out, running over to him as he landed, hard, on his stomach.
"Ok..." he groaned, "Let's never do that again."
"I agree, James Kirk," Jaylah muttered as Scotty moved to help her as well.
"Are you alright?" Victoria asked, a hand on Kirk's arm as she helped him up, her other hand on his chest, absently rubbing the center of it because he really had hit the floor hard.
Kirk just turned and pulled her into a tight hug, half burying his face into the side of her neck in his relief to see she was alright. He never liked being split up from her, but he wouldn't have risked keeping her on the back of the motorcycle when he knew they would be fired at the entire time. Hearing them confirm everyone but him and Jaylah had been teleported, hell even hearing her speaking over the comm. with the others, it wasn't the same as having her in his arms and knowing she was safe, knowing HE was safe too.
"Jim," Victoria murmured in his ear, a relief heavy in her voice too before she pulled back. For all that she sounded relieved, and he knew she was, her expression was one of sorrow, "Krall…" she shook her head, recalling what Uhura had told her as they were escaping, "Not everyone taken survived."
Kirk tensed at that, thrown back into the role of captain instead of just a man grateful the woman he loved was ok. He knew Victoria hated to have to do it, but that sort of knowledge was something he wanted and needed to know as soon as possible.
He knew that some of the crew died in the initial attack, that was unavoidable given the damage he'd seen in the halls. But he knew the other members had been taken, for hostages they'd assumed. There was no reason to kill hostages when the people you were using them against had no contact with you and the threat hadn't been made.
"Who?" he looked around at the others, though the question was directed to Sulu and Uhura, knowing they would be more aware of who didn't come back, having been around the others taken.
"Ensign Syl," Uhura spoke, grim, "He used this...thing he has to kill her and take the artifact. He's…"
"Yorktown," Sulu cut in, "He's gonna destroy Yorktown."
It was a testament to how much Jaylah was Fleet material that she immediately stepped up, not needing to know everything to know that this 'Yorktown' was some sort of base with people in it, people who were now in danger because she knew very well what sort of weapons Krall had in his possession, "You take my house and you make it fly," she offered without hesitation.
Kirk turned to Scotty and Victoria, both for their familiarity with the Franklin through working with Jaylah and their backgrounds in engineering, "Can you get this thing started?" he asked them. Scotty would know how the engine would fare, but he trusted Victoria to know if the old rust bucket could even handle breaking atmo or what they might encounter in space just going through the nebula.
"Started, yes," Scotty spoke, the crew following Kirk out of the room as he headed for the Bridge, glancing at Victoria for confirmation of his guess, "Flying...that's a different thing."
Victoria sighed, but agreed, "Ships like the Franklin were typically built IN space and never supposed to break atmosphere unless they were being retired. They aren't designed to take off FROM atmo."
"Can we make it happen?" Kirk glanced at them.
"They're called starships for a reason, Captain," Scotty defended the assessment.
"Captain," Spock cut in, near the window of the Bridge and looking out of it.
There, in the distance, in the middle of Krall's camp, they could see a force swirling up to the sky, like an energy or a dust storm, gathering speed and intensity.
"He's launching," Victoria realized, recognizing the tell-tall signs of a launch. Her brow furrowing as a thought struck her…
"The attack on Yorktown may be just the beginning," Spock looked at them, "Armed with this bio-weapon, he could rid it of all life and use the base's advanced technology to attack an untold number of Federation planets."
Kirk rubbed a hand down his face and turned to the crew, though his gaze landed on Victoria, at the thoughtful look on her face, "Then we're just gonna have to get this thing flying."
Scotty scoffed, "We cannae just jumpstart it, sir!"
"Maybe not," Victoria murmured, before looking from Kirk to Scotty and back, "But maybe we don't have to."
Scotty nearly groaned, "I'm not gonna like this, am I?"
~8~
There was a nervous energy buzzing through the ship, but nowhere was it felt more than on the Bridge of the Franklin. All throughout the ship, the crew were strapping in to every available surface with whatever binds they could find to offer stability at this…very hairbrained scheme to try and get them back to space.
Either it would work…or they were all going to die.
So it was business as usual, or…at least what used to be usual almost 3 years ago.
Sitting on the Bridge, Victoria could see that, even with the nervousness many were feeling about what they were about to attempt…the crew seemed willing and almost eager. No, not quite eager, no one would be eager for this to happen, but they seemed…relieved, in a way, as though some sort of weight or strain had come off their shoulders, like something had been returned they hadn't known was missing.
Glancing at Kirk, Victoria couldn't help but smile as she noticed the way HE was more at ease, more anticipatory than he had been in a while.
"Ok!" Chekov called over the comms. through the ship, "All systems online. Dilithium chambers at 70 percent and climbing. Primary support engines standing by."
Kirk glanced over at Sulu and the handful of other pilots who would be responsible for the next part, "Mr. Sulu. You can, you know, fly this thing, right?"
Sulu gave him a look over his shoulder, "You kidding me, sir?"
Kirk grinned, "Fantastic," he knew, of all the pilots, Sulu would be the one taking the lead and be the one most familiar with how to fly a relic like this one. Similar to Victoria being a Liaison and needing to know every inch of the ship she served in, Sulu was a more specialized pilot, one who was tasked with knowing how to fly a number of other vessels, and capable of flying different makes and models through the Fleet's history, "Scotty," he called into the comm., "How we looking?"
"Ready as she'll ever be, sir," Scotty spoke.
"That's what I like to hear," Kirk cut the comm. and looked over at Victoria, winking at her as she rolled her eyes. Technically she should be down in the engine room with Scotty and the other engineers, but this was her hairbrained scheme and if anything was off, she needed to be able to SEE it and warn the pilots quickly, and he needed to know what was going on in the engine room and Victoria was gifted at translating Scotty's stressed jabber. He pushed another button to activate a different comm., "Alright, Bones, where are we with the crew?"
"I could use a functioning medbay but, otherwise, we're secure down here," Bones reported.
"Mr. Sulu," Chekov reported, "We have to achieve terminal velocity in order for the stabilizers to provide lift," he glanced back at Victoria and back to Sulu, "Are you sure this drop is high enough to do that?" he asked, quieter in the hopes Victoria wouldn't hear him doubting her plan even after she'd confirmed the calculations with both Sulu, himself, Scotty, and Spock.
"We'll find out," Sulu murmured, starting to powerup the ship.
Kirk glanced over at Victoria one final time, waiting till she nodded, before he turned forward again, "Call it, Mr. Sulu."
"Aye aye Captain," Sulu replied, "Mr. Chekov, be ready to hit the forward stabilizers full on my mark. One quarter impulse."
"Aye," Chekov reached out to increase the impulse engines, glancing around nervously when the ship began to shake.
"One half impulse, Mr. Chekov."
"Aye."
"Easy, Mr. Sulu," Kirk called as the shaking got worse, "Let's not break her in half."
"It should hold," Victoria spoke up from behind him, her gaze locked on the viewing window, watching as the shaking moved the ship closer and closer to the edge of the cliff it was balanced on, everyone tense and watching as, between one moment and the next, the ship toppled over the side and began to fall.
"Any time, Mr. Sulu!" Kirk called out when Sulu didn't give the next instruction.
Sulu, however, was watching the velocity on the screen, not the way the ship was growing closer and closer to the ground. The second it reached 'terminal' he shouted, "Now, Mr. Chekov!"
Victoria lost her breath as the rest of the ship was activated, the vessel hitting a few rocks before it suddenly veered upwards, heading for the atmosphere, time seeming to slow as they waited to see if they would make it or fall out of the sky a second time.
Seconds ticked by, the shaking grew worse...but then...it lessened, the ship bursting away from the planet and into the vastness of space.
They'd done it!
A/N: Lol, I am Victoria. My dad had a Harley motorcycle once and he always thought it was 'great' to give his kids rides on it and while father-daughter bonding time is great...probably more enjoyable ways to spend it than me crushing his ribs, with my eyes shut, trying not to scream :/
I couldn't see her staying behind, not now, not when there are people more qualified than her to handle the teleports with Chekov, Scotty, and Spock. She'd want to be out there helping get her crew, her family, back :) And I think that was what Kirk and her really needed to officially be like 'we're back, baby!' :) Both of them, into the fray, 'breaking the rules,' and taking chances to accomplish a goal :) I feel like they also needed that 'against the rulebook' way to do it, as a reaffirmation that being by the book really wasn't what kept everyone safe all that time, there were ways to protect that were outside the scope of 'the book' :)
I'm very excited for the...next 3 chapters O.O Oh wow! This story will be over in a week! Time flies lol :)
No real notes on reviews today ;)