Title: Forgiven Author: Keridwen Disclaimer: Oohh I feel Guilty now. Bad author Bad author. How dare you write cliffhangers and keep these poor souls in turmoil. Well, I just don't know, Maybe I have an evil streak that comes out at three in the morning. Also I am writing another fic on the side for Final Fantasy VIII, sorry, split interest. That one is only coming up AFTER I have finished Forgiven, however, so don't despair. Star Trek and paramount, that's all I gotta say.



Chapter Fourteen: Mrs. Captain Takes Some Action



"You are breaking up, Mr. Spock, I can't hear you! Can you boost your transmission?"

Lt. Uhura was having a very exciting shift. After the Captain and Mr. Spock had beamed down, circumstances had led to her being left the conn. Now she was filtering messages from Mr. Spock, while trying to run the ship at the same time. She thought is was the most fun she'd had in a long time.

"Approaching base, Captain is.... Are moving in anyway.....will contact you. ..later. Spock out."

The message died before Uhura could reply, but she had gotten the jyst of what Mr. Spock had been trying to say. She settled back and tried to relax. It wasn't as if this happened on every mission that the Enterprise was assigned to. Just most of them. Silently she let her thoughts drift back to the landing party. She hadn't known any of them except for Dr. McCoy, but that alone was enough to bring small tears to her eyes. Although he was just the ship's Doctor, he would be missed on the bridge just as much as in the sickbay. McCoy had always made it his prerogative to watch the Captain like a hawk in intense situations. Uhura figured that he thought that if he could only keep the Captain alive and sane, the rest of them would survive as well. Often he was right.

"Lieutenant!" came a call from the replacement comm. officer, a sharp young woman named Katalina Ortega, "We are receiving a transmission from the planet!"

"Is it the Captain?"

"No mam, but it is from one of our communicators."

"And it isn't from the Captain or Mr. Spock?"

"No, mam, it's a gentleman claiming to represent a powerful faction of a group called the free thinkers of Nilana. He demands to speak to the commander of the Enterprise."

"Oh, I see. Put him on."

The screen flickered, and the face of a rather sour looking Nilian appeared. He held one of the Enterprises Communicators in his hand and a rather nasty looking shock weapon in the other. He was in a non-descript room with stonewalls, a dirt floor and a barred window at the top.

"Are you the commander of the space vessel now orbiting our planet," He spoke in heavily accented Standard English?"

Uhura didn't like his tone and decided to let him know that right off."

"Dasson ir renk nor un tal menekanutna!"

The Nilana blinked and stepped back.

"You speak our language?"

"Obviously, now what do you want, you are wasting my time."

The man gathered his composure, but he still looked a little shocked.

"We are a very powerful force on our planet, and we do not tolerate interference of outsiders. We demand to know the location of your secret base of operations."

"On the outside Uhura showed no reaction, but inwardly she was cringing. /So much for the Nilians not finding out about the base, she thought/

"I protest, sir, the Federation doesn't use such deceitful ways of getting information." She stated, "If we wanted information about your planet and the people, we would just ask for it."

"That is not what I know. I wish to speak to the commander of the vessel, so you may tell him to come out from hiding behind a female."

Uhura turned on her special reserve of indignation for this clown.

"You are SPEAKING to the Captain, Mister, and unless you do not want me to trace your signal and blow you out of the sky, I would show a little more restraint if I where you!"

"Oh, I doubt you would want to do that, Captain, especially if you want your physician back.

The Nilian stepped back to reveal the crumpled form of a man in the background. The figure was barely recognizable. The blue medical uniform was so streaked with dirt that it looked black. The face was bruise almost out of proportion, and the arms were pulled up to his sides, concealing painfully swollen hands.

A small gasp was all that Uhura would let herself show.

The Nilian charged up the shock stick and rammed it against the prisoners back.

"Speak for your friends, Physician," he ordered as McCoy twisted in pain.

The only response he got was a weak, "Go to hell!"

Uhura heard it and cheered inside. She knew the Doctor was letting her know that he wasn't done for yet. That fact gave her a little leeway time in figuring out what to do.

He wasn't dead. She had a flash of brilliance than and decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Kidnapping of Federation personnel is a criminal offense, and believe me, Mister, you will be punished for it. Captain out."

She gave the sign to cut the transmission and turned to Lt. Ortega.

"Kati, did you get a fix on this clown."

"Yes Mam, he is centered underground in the city of Le'Gin. There are no beam shields, and not many civilians concentrated in that area, according to our last scan. It seems that these resistance members have found themselves the perfect deserted hideaway."

"Well it wont be deserted for long. Kati signal Sulu and Chekov and tell them we are going to move ahead of schedule and that the objective has changed. Brief them on my conversation, and tell them to leave as soon as their ready."

"Aye Aye, mam!"

Uhura called down to engineering next. The excitement in the room from the other officers flowed through her.

Scotty, how are those psionic shields coming.

"They're almost done now lass. With these new additions, not only will those little buggers not be able to read us, they will also not be able to read anybody else. From what the Captain has told me about their fighting styles, these little devices will bring about mass confusion long o nuf fer Chekov and Sulu to get out of what ever trouble they may get into.

"Great, Scotty, sent them right up, Sulu is leaving as soon as possible."

"Did the Captain find out who ever was behind the bombin then?"

"No, Scotty, they still haven't reached the base, but the situation had changed, you had better meet me on the bridge."

"Alright, Scott out."

Uhura folded her hands and looked back ad the planet in the center of the main view screen. She was sure Scott would support her decision. She was also sure that she had done exactly what the Captain would have wanted her to do.

Not only were the crew of the Enterprise going to get their answers, they were also going to get their Doctor back as well. Not even a planet of mind readers could commit the atrocity of attacking one of their own and expect to come away clean.

Another thing was also sure in her mind. Now that the Nilians knew the Federation had been spying on them and monitoring their development, relations with the planet Nilana would never be the same again. Uhura couldn't say she was sorry however. People should not have to grow up on a world with the feeling that they were constantly being watched, like some experiment in a test tube. It was not right.

"Transporter room to bridge."

"Bridge here."

"We are ready to beam down to the planet, Uhura."

"Ok, boys, do you look the part?"

"Oh yes, both Chekov and I look like mascots from the Florida Orange fair."

"It is not so bad weally, Sulu looks worse than I do."

"Uhura giggled as she gave them permission to beam down. After seeing the Captains new look she could just imagine what one excited Oriental and one moody Russian would look like as Nilians.

"Godspeed gentlemen."

Now if only they could reach the Captain.....











Arugh I did it again, didn't I. Sorry, I think it's a sickness really. I'll try to post the next one tomorrow.