From within his robotic prison, Delta (the real Delta) slowly blinked his eyes, when he opened them they had returned to their normal green colour. Even though his real eyes were open, Delta could still see through the ones in his alternate body. But he kind of wished he couldn't, since he was greeted by the sight of him tightly holding his creator in the air and she was clearly in a level of pain. "Lexie? What am I doing! Was I about to..." Delta didn't even finish his own thought since he didn't really want to know the answer, instead he slowly placed Lexie down, much to her surprise. "Delta?" She muttered, hoping that she would actually get a reply. But instead of getting an answer, Lexie watched as Delta walked over to Roman who was looking a little afraid of his so called pet. "I ordered you to attack her! What are you doing?" He cried as he was picked up, Delta then walked him over to the cage and threw him in. Somehow the bars reappeared, now Roman was the one locked up. After making sure that his 'master' wasn't going anywhere, Delta wandered back over to Lexie. "Delta?" She asked, just then the robots chest opened up to reveal a now awake Delta staring back at her. He no longer had wires protruding from his head and his eyes were no longer red.
Lexie gasped happily as she opened her arms, Delta didn't waste a single second before leaping into them and buried his head in her chest. "Delta! You're back! You're really back!" Lexie cried as she hugged him tightly, tears of joy pouring from her eyes. "Lexie! You came for me!" "Of course I did silly, I wasn't going to let them get away with taking you. Besides, you did call out for me." Delta then looked up at her and smiled, "I knew you would hear me, I just knew it." He then noticed the tartan handkerchief wrapped around her arm, even though his mind was a little fuzzy of recent events Delta could remember enough. "I remember… I hurt you… I'm so sorry Lex! I didn't mean…" Delta stopped mid-sentence as he felt himself being gently squeezed tighter, "It's alright Delta, you didn't hurt me. It was Roman, not you." Delta then heard footsteps coming towards him, he turned to see Scotty smiling down at him. "Hey there wee lad." He said softly, suddenly Delta jumped at him. "Scotty!" He cried as he clung onto the Scotsman's shirt, with his ever growing smile Scotty hugged the robot back. "I'm glad to see ya too lad, I've been so worried about ya." When Scotty let go of him, Delta looked up to see the others gathered around, "We can continue with the reunions once we're back on the ship, for now let's get out of here." Kirk stated. Scotty nodded as he handed Delta back to Lexie, before the group took off running to hopefully escape.
Lexie clutched Delta close to her chest as she ran, along the way they had managed (by some miracle) to find their phasers and communicators. "Does anyone actually know how to get back to the planet's surface!?" Yelled McCoy as they all bolted around a corner, Delta looked up at Lexie. "Wait, we're inside of a planet? How?" Lexie smiled at him. "I'll explain later Delta, I've got a lot to tell you." Delta simply nodded, he knew now wasn't really the time for questions. "I think we'll just have to guess Bones and hope that we're right." Call Kirk as he ushered them out of a door, which took them back into the abandoned city. Now Delta was even more confused, there was a city down here? It was then went Lexie started to recognise a few of the buildings, "Captain, I think I know where we are." Kirk instantly beamed with joy. "Brilliant! Lead the way Lexie." He cried as Lexie ran passed him. They followed her as she sprinted down the streets, god Lexie hoped she knew where she was bloody going.
Thankfully her good sense of direction paid off as her eyes soon fell upon the opening to the corridor that they had entered through, "Great job lass, you would make a great Navigator." Scotty stated. "Thanks, but I think I'll stick to being an Engineer." Suddenly something flew past her head which made Lexie turn around, to see Roman and his men chasing them. "Can't we ever just make an escape in peace!" Cried McCoy. He had also noticed their pursuers and clearly he wasn't too happy about it, "Of course not Bones, that would be too easy." Joked Kirk as he fired his own phaser backwards. The group soon bolted into the corridor, running as fast as their legs would let them. By this point Chekov had joined Kirk in firing at their pursuers, hoping to slow them down which didn't seem to work. They were all so focused on running that they didn't even bother to be careful where they stepped, so it was entirely possible that someone was about to set off a trap or two.
They soon came to the bottom of the stair case, they were almost back on the surface. Each of them stumbled up the stairs and soon they popped back out of the hatch that Chekov had discovered, Kirk never believed he would be so happy to see this again. One by one they stepped onto the sand, Delta was even more confused but didn't bother asking any questions. Kirk looked around to see if everyone had made it and the hatch was shut before yanking his communicator off his belt and flicking it open, "Kirk to Enterprise." "Spock here Sir, is everything alright?" Kirk smiled even though the Vulcan wouldn't be able to see it. "It will be when we're back on the Enterprise, six to beam up Spock and hurry." Spock simply replied with a yes and told Kirk to stand by while the ship locked on to their signal, "What's taking that bloody Vulcan so dam long?!" Complained McCoy as he stepped over to Kirk. "Patience Bones." Kirk replied as he glanced over at the others to see Lexie still clutching the robot tightly, Delta hadn't really spoken much not since he had noticed Lexie's injured arm. He felt terrible for hurting her and for everything he had done, even if he couldn't really remember everything. But at least he was now among friends, but Delta would feel much better when they were back on the ship and as far away from this planet as possible. Suddenly the hatch was blown clean off its hinges, Lexie instinctively tightened her hold of Delta as she quickly stepped away along with Scotty and Chekov. Kirk instantly pointed his phaser at the hatch, along with McCoy which surprised the Captain since the Doctor rarely used his.
"What's Spock playing at?" Muttered Scotty, Kirk wanted to give his Chief an answer but he just didn't have one. From the opening Roman appeared along with his men, just by the look on his face it was clear he wasn't too happy. "You've got nowhere left to run! Now give me back my pet!" Roman cried as he stared intensely at Delta who just buried his head in Lexie's chest, "Please don't let him take me Lex!" The little robot whimpered. "I won't Delta, I promise." She said while rubbing his back reassuringly, there was no way that she was going to let him get taken again. "How many times do we have to tell you! None of us are pets!" Kirk yelled angrily as Roman walked towards Lexie, phaser in hand. Lexie just stood there, frozen as she watched him get closer, just then Scotty stepped in front of her, his phaser raised. "Take one step closer to her and I won't hesitate to fire at you." But it seemed that Roman wasn't going to be deterred by the Scotsman's threat, since he just continued to walk towards them. It was as if he knew that deep down that Scotty wouldn't shoot him, which was true. Scotty didn't really wish to shoot at him since he didn't want to start anything, not when they were so close to getting home. But apparently Roman didn't have the same restraint as he was more than happy to fire his phaser. "Duck!" Kirk ordered, but it seemed it was unnecessary as they were surrounded with light before disappearing completely.
Kirk blinked several times, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Thankfully he wasn't, they had actually beamed back aboard the Enterprise. "Apologies for the delay Captain, it took the transporter a while to lock onto your signatures." Spock said as he stepped over to the steps with two security officers, "Better late than nether Spock." Kirk replied with a smile, he then turned to see that Delta still had his head buried in Lexie's chest. "It's alright Delta, we're on the Enterprise, we're safe." She said softly, not even caring that there were officers in the room who didn't know about Delta, they were going to find out sooner or later anyway. The little robot looked up for a split second before burying his head once again, "Oh Lexie, I was so scared!" Lexie smiled gently as she gave him a kiss on the head. "I know you were Delta, but your safe now, I'm here." Suddenly the entire ship shook violently, sending everyone flying. "That was bloody quick!" McCoy called as he hauled himself off the floor, "Too quick Bones!" Kirk replied as he hurried out of the doors closely followed by the others, that was when they had all picked themselves up off the floor. Kirk had a feeling that Roman would confront them in a ship but he didn't expect it to happen so soon after them being beamed back aboard, he had hoped that they could have at least made it back up to the bridge. They all cramped into a single turbo lift and scrambled out of it once it had reached their destination, Kirk ran to the command chair while Chekov relieved the replacement Navigator. Scotty was just stood on the steps with Lexie when he saw someone sitting at one of the consoles, it was Keenser.
"Hey there wee man, we found the lad." Keenser didn't need to hear anymore, since he had already bolted over to Lexie and had gave Delta a gentle tap on the head. Delta turned round slowly and smiled when he saw Keenser, "He's been worried about you, just as much as we have." Lexie said. Delta was just about to reply when the ship shook violently again, this time Delta went flying out of Lexie's arms, but thankfully Keenser was there to catch him. Keenser quickly handed the robot back to Lexie before scrambling off the bridge to get down to Engineering, "Shields are at 62% Captain, whatever Roman's ship is firing at us its dealing some damage!" Chekov cried. "Sulu get us out of here!" Kirk yelled, but the ship didn't move. "Sulu!" "I can't do anything Sir, something is blocking my commands to the engines!" Scotty darted over to the Helmsman to see if there was anything he could do to sort the problem, "Scotty, can you sort it out?" Kirk questioned. "No, there's nothing I can do. Whatever Roman has done I can't undo it." Lexie had placed Delta down on one of the consoles and had joined the Scotsman to see if she could figure out what to do. Delta felt terrible, "This is all my fault, but maybe I can fix it." He thought to himself. Delta then jumped down from the console and hurried off the bridge, unnoticed by anyone since they were all trying to figure out what the hell Roman had done to the ship.
Delta made his way back down to the transporter room, he couldn't really care if he had been seen by the crew since he had no doubt they wouldn't try and stop him. He made it to his destination undisturbed, but that wasn't going to last. Stood at the transporter controls was a young Ensign who had clearly noticed the robot walk in by itself, the officer blinked a few times before reaching for his communicator. "Please, don't inform the Captain that I'm here. Believe me when I say he won't be too impressed." Delta pleaded, the officer stopped dead, his hand just inches away from his communicator. "You can talk?" "Yes but now's not the time, I need you to beam me over to the attacking ship." Delta asked kindly, he didn't really want to appear rude. "But I need the Captain's approval before I can do that." The Ensign replied, Delta should have seen that coming.
"Look, I can stop the Enterprise from being blown to bits. Now you transport me over there or stand by and watch the ship be ripped apart." The Ensign just stared at him, "I'll play no part in this, you seem intelligent enough to work the dam thing yourself. Whatever you are, you're on your own." The officer replied as they left the room, which Delta was happy about but knew that the Ensign would most likely be going to tell the Captain about this. So without delay, Delta jumped up on the control panel and set the transporter to beam him onto the other ship. Then he hurried over to the pad and hopped on, Delta hoped it would work and that he wouldn't just get beamed into space. Thankfully it did work as he found himself on Roman's ship, even if he did get beamed inside a cupboard, he still made it. "Now I know how Scotty feels." Delta muttered to himself as he clambered out, all he had to do now was to figure out how to stop Roman from destroying the Enterprise.
Scotty was lying on his back underneath Sulu's station along with Lexie, the two of them were trying to give the Helmsman back control of the ship but it wasn't going very well. "Dam it!" Scotty cried angrily as he got shocked by one of the wires, "Scotty?" Kirk questioned. "We're trying our best Captain!" "I was actually asking if you were alright?" The Scotsman wormed his way out from under the console and gave Kirk a soft smile, "I'm alright Jim, just a small shock that's all. Sorry for snapping." Kirk returned a smile before watching Scotty dart back under. As Kirk walked back over to the command chair the ship was hit once again, Kirk would have been sent flying if it hadn't been for Spock's lightning quick reflexes. "Are you alright Captain?" The Vulcan asked as he yanked Kirk back onto his feet, "Yes Spock, thanks for the catch. Chekov, how are our shields holding up?" The Navigator turned round quickly in his chair. "Not good Captain, they're down to 48%." Kirk didn't really want to hear that, Lexie had been talking to Scotty while trying to help him, she suggested that Delta could possibly help them so she called for him. "Delta, can you come here." But he didn't reply, almost instantly Lexie scrambled from under the console and stared over to where she had left him only to find he wasn't there. Then the doors to the turbo lift opened and on to the bridge walked a young officer, "Captain I must speak with you?"
Kirk turned to face the officer who had addressed him. "Best make it quick Ensign, I'm kinda busy here." The Ensign placed his hands behind his back, "Captain, I just saw a small talking robot in the transporter room and it asked me to beam it abord the attacking ship." The bridge fell completely silent. "What?!" The Ensign quickly repeated himself, Kirk just blinked at him while his mouth hung open. "Please tell me you didn't?" "No Sir, but I highly doubt that it didn't do it itself." Lexie felt her heart slow, why would Delta do this? Did Roman somehow gain control of him again? She hurried over to the Ensign, "What colour were his eyes?" She asked, the Ensign stared blankly at her. "They were green, but what's that…" Lexie felt sick, Delta had gone over there by his own free will. Just then Uhura span round from her station, "Captain, we're being hailed!" "On screen." The screen flicked on to reveal Roman's smug face staring at them. "Well Captain, I will admit, your ship is something else since it still flying after our bombardment. Now I'll make this plain and simple, give me back Delta and I may leave your ship intact." Kirk crossed his arms, he really hated this guy. "And if I refuse? Which I do!" Roman grinned, "Then I will destroy your ship, you see Captain with a single switch I can set my ship…. Hey! How did you get here you brat?!"
Everyone stared at the screen in confusion, Roman had suddenly disappeared. Kirk was about to speak when a familiar face popped up on the screen, "Delta?!" Kirk cried. "Captain, I'm sorry to have gone behind your back but I did what I had to do in order to save the Enterprise." Lexie was staring intensely at the screen, "What do you mean Delta?" The robot sighed quietly. "It's because of me that you are all in this situation, but I now have made it up to you." Kirk was even more confused, "How?" "I have taken control of Roman's ship and have forced them to abandon it by turning off the life support systems, but not before they had a chance to set the ships self-destruct protocol in action." Lexie felt a shiver run down her spine. "Then what the hell are you still doing there?! Get back on the Enterprise." But Delta didn't move, "When the self-destruct protocol was activated it locked every computer system on the ship and since I uploaded myself into the ships computer to force Roman to abandon ship, I now cannot leave." Lexie's eyes widened. "No… Delta you can't! There's got to be a way for us to…" Delta closed his eyes slowly, "There isn't anything you can do Lexie." Kirk felt his heart skip a beat, he couldn't believe this was happening.
"Captain, I have given you back control of your helm. Please get a safe distance away." Kirk nodded, he didn't wish to leave him but he had lives at risk. "No! I won't lose you! Almost losing you was bad enough!" Lexie cried as tears dripped from her eyes, Delta gave her a small smile. "Don't be sad Lexie, I'm only a program after all." "But you're not just a program! You're my best friend! My family! Please don't leave me alone!" Delta placed a hand on the gold heart which was engraved on his chest, "You won't be alone Lex, you've got the crew besides, I'll never truly be gone. I'll always be with you, in your heart." Lexie grabbed a gentle hold of the star pendent as more tears ran down her face. "Thank you for creating me Lexie and for taking me on the journey of a life time, continue to grow and learn. I love you Lexie, goodbye." Just then the screen flickered off, Kirk ordered for Sulu to get them a safe distance away and he did just in time. They all watched on in horror as the other ship exploded, scattering debris across space. Lexie's view of it was blurred due to the mass amount of tears in her eyes, she really wanted this to be a nightmare, but she knew deep down that it wasn't.