In the room next door, everyone seemed unaware of the horror which had taken place beside them. Kirk and McCoy were fast asleep, snoring every so often while Scotty was also asleep. But it seemed like the Scotsman's slumber wasn't as relaxing as his friends, he was tossing and turning under the covers, it was as if he was having a bad dream. But to Scotty it seemed more than that, it was almost as if his mind was trying to tell him something, like something was wrong. He opened his eyes slowly while he sat up in his bed, only to hear something coming from next door. "What are them lot doing?" Scotty muttered as he switched on the bedside lamp, before getting up and walking towards the door, he was just about to place a hand on the door knob when a quiet voice spoke to him. "Scotty, what's wrong?" Turned out to be Kirk, "Sorry Jim, I didn't mean to wake you." "It's alright Scotty, but what's going on?" Now Kirk himself was sitting up in his bed. "I heard a noise coming from Lexie and the lads room, not to mention something doesn't feel right to me."
Kirk was slightly confused, but something in the back of his mind was telling him to believe Scotty. "Well then, that seems like a good enough reason to go investigate. But, me and Bones will come along, just to be on the safe side." Kirk's smile was faintly illuminated by the lamp, the young Captain then got out of his own bed and walked over to McCoy's, he gently shook his friend. "Bones, get up." But it seemed like the good Doctor wasn't planning on getting up, so Kirk took a different approach. He grabbed the glass of water which sat beside his friend and preceded to pour it over McCoy, who bolted up at supernatural speed swearing as he went. "Jim! What the fuck?! It's two in the god dam morning!" Scotty was trying not to laugh, but it wasn't going so well. "Next time, wake up the first time. Scotty heard something strange next door, we better go and check on the others." That seemed to get McCoy's attention, "Why didn't you just say that, instead of drowning me. Let's go." The three men left their own room and swiftly entered into the other, only to stop and stare at the scene which was laid out in front of them.
Each of them ran to a different person. Kirk ran over to Keenser, Scotty rushed to Delta while McCoy went to Chekov who was the only one who was still awake. "Chekov, what happened?" "Strange woman. Shocked us. Lexie." Due to the paralyzes which he was under the effects of, Chekov could only say a handful of words. Scotty had been listening, when the young Navigator had said Lexie's name it was then when Scotty realised that she wasn't in the room. The Scotsman got up and sprinted into the other room, calling out Lexie's name. But she was nowhere to be seen, let alone heard. Feeling his panic level raising quickly, Scotty ran back to the others to see that Keenser and Delta were slowly coming around. He knelt beside Delta once again and gently lifted the robot up into his arms, "Scotty?" Delta's voice buzzed several times, whatever had knocked him out had clearly done a number on his voice box. "Yes lad, it's me. What happened?" Scotty was happy to see that his digital friend was awake, "Some woman appeared out of nowhere, she used some sort of tail to electrocute Keenser then me. After that I don't know, my memory cores out of alinement." Delta sounded terrible, it was almost as if he had a sore throat.
"I can mend ya lad, but it will take time. But first, where's Lexie?" Despite the damage that Delta had received, he jumped out of Scotty's arms. "Wait, she's not here?!" Delta went to take a step but his leg buckled under him, causing the tiny robot to fall to the ground. Scotty scooped him back up in his arms, he knew that Delta would be in considerable pain. "Take it easy lad, you're hurt. Just stay still." Scotty's voice was soft, he didn't want to see Delta causing himself any more pain. While Scotty was dealing with Delta, McCoy was giving Chekov and Keenser something to reverse the effects of the paralysis. "There, you should be able to talk a bit better now Chekov." McCoy stated. Chekov was just thankful to be able to move again, even if it was only a little at the moment. "Thank you Doctor, I didn't like being paralysed." McCoy smiled at the Navigator before turning his attention on Keenser, who was sat beside Kirk, "How you feeling now Keenser?" "Better." Kirk smiled faintly, he was glad to hear that his crew mates weren't too badly hurt. But that didn't answer the question of where the youngest was, where was Lexie?
"Chekov, where's Lexie?" Asked Kirk, "She went with the woman who broke in here." Answered Chekov. "She did what?!" McCoy cried in surprise, "Matrix threatened to kill me if Lexie didn't go with her, so she did to keep me alive." Scotty could feel his heart begin to beat faster and his fists begin to shake, how could this have happened? He was only in the room next door, how hadn't he heard someone break in? Why hadn't Lexie called for help? There were so many questions swirling around inside Scotty's head, but he didn't have an answer to a single one of them. He was trying not to blame himself, but he couldn't help it. "I told her that I would be there to protect her, to keep her safe." Deep down Scotty knew there wasn't anything he could have done differently, which would have prevented this, "You said a name, Matrix? Was that the woman's name?" Chekov nodded. "Yes, well I think so. She said that's what Lexie could call her, but there was something strange about her?" Kirk just looked blankly at him, "You mean beside the fact she broke into your room in the middle of the night, knocked you all out and ran off with Lexie?" Kirk then felt a swift poke in his ribs, which was delivered by McCoy.
"What was strange about her, kid?" "She had some sort of non-organic tail, but I don't know what it was. That's what gave me my paralysis, that I know for certain." It was then when Kirk noticed a lone tear slowly rolling down Chekov's cheek, "What's wrong Pavel? Are you hurt?" When it came to his crew Kirk was extremely caring and protective, especially to those who were much younger than himself, so like Chekov and Lexie. "No I'm not hurt Sir, it's just that… I should have stopped Lexie from going with her, there's no way of knowing what Matrix is going to do to her and knowing I could have prevented it... That hurts more than the shock I got." Kirk should have known that Chekov would be upset by all of this, Lexie was one of his best friends after all, not only that but he saw her as a sister. Scotty knew exactly how Chekov was feeling, "None of this is your fault, Pavel." McCoy said but it seemed Chekov wasn't really listening. He was too busy trying to keep himself together, for once it wasn't Scotty who was on the brink of breaking down. Well, the Scotsman was, but he just was hiding it.
Scotty knelt next to Chekov and wrapped an arm around the young officers shoulders, "Don't be blaming yaself lad, there was nothing any of us could have done. Lexie is a grown woman who can make her own choices, sure I don't agree with what she did, but how would any of us stopped her with a knife to our throats." Kirk and McCoy were surprised at how calm Scotty was about all of this, which was slightly concerning if the pair were being honest. It was then when Kirk noticed McCoy deep in thought, "What's up Bones?" "I was just thinking Jim." Kirk gave his friend a small joking smile. "Careful, you're dangerous when you think." McCoy just glared at his Captain, clearly he didn't find that joke very funny. "Doesn't this whole thing seem, familiar?" Now that McCoy mentioned it, Kirk was getting a feeling that this sort of thing had happened once before, "I think you're right Bones, but what?" Scotty himself was now deep in thought, along with the others. Suddenly Delta sprang up, "Lilo!" He cried.
"What?" Questioned Kirk, "This is like what happened back on Lilo, but instead of it being me that someone is interested in, its Lexie." Of course! How could Kirk forget that, well he didn't really. What happened back then was burned into his memory, he will never forget the day they all believed Delta was dead. "You're right lad, this is one hell of a case of deja-vu!" Scotty hoped he would never have to deal with something like this ever again, especially when the person who had been targeted was the woman he called daughter. When they found who was responsible for this, he would make them regret ever choosing to mess with the crew of the USS Enterprise. "Let's get looking, surely they couldn't have gotten far. Besides, a woman with a futuristic tail is bound to stand out." Kirk suggested, but by the look on McCoy's face he wasn't so convinced. "Remember Jim, we're on a planet known for how futuristic it is. Looking for who was it? Matrix will be difficult." The Doctor was right, but they still had to try. They split off into pairs, at least that way none of them were alone.
Scotty searched the streets with Delta flying beside him, the little robot would dart down alleys and around corners blindly. He just wanted to find his creator, he was missing her so much already. "Do you think we'll ever find her, Scotty?" Questioned Delta after a little while with not even a clue, "Of course we will lad, we won't stop looking. Just have faith." Scotty replied quietly. "Was this what it was like? When you guys were looking for me." Scotty nodded, he felt his emotions jump up, hearing how sad Delta was about all of this was killing him. It was only natural for him to be missing Lexie, she was his creator after all and the two of them were basically always together, they were almost never apart. Not like this anyway. Then again, Scotty himself was never far from Lexie's side either. They worked together in Engineering every day, in their free time they were together. The pair knew where the other was, no matter what time of day. So not knowing where Lexie had been taken was hard for Scotty to deal with, he was trying not to think of what could have happened to her, since he knew that would only make him cry. Just then Delta suddenly fell to the ground, thankfully Scotty managed to catch him. "You alright laddie?" "I'm OK Scotty, my wings just cut out, that's all. That shock must have done more damage than I originally thought." Delta glanced over his shoulder to look at his wings, "I kinda need them right now." He muttered to himself as he was placed onto Scotty's head.
"You can sit up there lad, at least that way you can see a bit better than me." Delta nodded in agreement before Scotty set off walking once more, the streets were quiet. No they were deserted, there was no one around so they couldn't even ask anyone if they had seen Lexie. Well it was almost three in the morning, so there was bound not to be people wandering the streets. What felt like hours slowly rolled by, when in fact it had only been about thirty minutes. But still there wasn't any sign of Lexie or this woman Matrix anywhere, Scotty soon got a call from Kirk telling him to return to the hotel. Scotty sighed loudly before looking up at Delta, who was still sat on his head. "Let's go meet up with the others lad, maybe they had better luck." Scotty was trying to sound enthusiastic, but it wasn't something he was good at when he was worried. But Delta played along, "Sure thing, let's…" The AI cut his own sentence short. "Delta, what is it?" "There's a girl walking towards us, but it isn't Lexie or Matrix." Scotty couldn't see the girl, that was until she got closer to them. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you. You're looking for your friend right? The one with two different coloured eyes?" Scotty just blinked, this girl knew Lexie? "Yes, do you know where she is? And who took her?" "I know where she is yes, I also know who took her, or more who ordered for her to be taken, that person would be my mother."