Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 18 of Never Again. I want to thank those who have left reviews for this story. It does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this. I hate to admit it, there is only one chapter left after this one. I know you guys are probably wondering if L'hai will go with Spock and Jim onboard Nero's ship, and that will be revealed in this chapter. I hope that you guys enjoy this next part. Without further ado Chapter 18. ENJOY!
Chapter 18
"Whatever the case, we need to get aboard Nero's ship undetected." Jim said, talking to the crew members that were near him.
L'hai pursed her lips together as she listened to the captain and his friend bicker back and forth with one another.
"And just go in there guns blazing, Jim. No…"
"I'm telling you the math doesn't support…" Sulu said, shaking his head.
"Captain Kork, Captain Kork!" Chekov said, coming up to Jim.
"Yes, Chekov. What is it?" Jim questioned turning his attention to the young man.
"Based on the fastest course from Wulcan, I have projected that Nero will travel past Saturn. Like you said, we need to stay inwisible to Nero or he'll destroy us. If Mister Scott can get us to warp factor four, and if we drop out of warp behind one of Saturn's moons, say, Titan, the magnetic distortion from the planet's rings will make us inwisible to Nero's sensors. From there, as long as the drill is not actiwated we can beam aboard the enemy ship."
Scotty pursed his lips together in thought. "Aye, that might work."
"Wait a minute, kid, how old are you?" Leonard questioned looking at the young man.
"Seventeen, sir."
"Oh, oh good, he's seventeen." Leonard said sarcastically not liking the idea that this young man was that insane to even state that.
"Doctor, Mister Chekov is correct. I can confirm his telemetry. If Mister Sulu is able to maneuver us into position, I can beam aboard Nero's ship, steal back the black hole device, and if possible, bring back Captain Pike." Spock said, coming forward.
"I won't allow you to do that, Mister Spock." Jim said, shaking his head.
"Romulans and Vulcans share a common ancestry. Our cultural similarities will make it easier for me to access the ship's computer to locate the device. Also, my mother was Human, which makes Earth the only home I have left."
"I'm coming with you." Jim said, moving towards Spock.
"I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it."
"See, we are getting to know each other."
"I'm coming with you." L'hai said, looking at her brother.
Spock shook his head. "No, you will not be coming."
L'hai looked at her brother with wide brown eyes. "What do you mean I'm not coming along?"
"I wouldn't risk you and harm father more. He's already lost mother."
"Spock you're speaking nonsense." L'hai snapped looking at her brother with anger in her eyes.
"L'hai I'm doing this to protect you. You remind father of mother…"
L'hai felt tears prick the back of her eyes, but didn't want to show her own brother that she was emotional.
Jim looked at L'hai. "Miss L'hai you're acting captain from this moment."
L'hai nodded her head weakly knowing that Jim was giving her something to do until he and her brother returned. "Affirmative Captain." She said softly knowing that she needed to take the job up. She moved towards the Captain's chair knowing that this wasn't going to be easy for her whatsoever. But Jim was trusting her with such a job.
STARTREK
"How are we doing Mr. Sulu?" L'hai questioned her voice becoming a little louder knowing that she needed to do this job and do this job properly.
"All stop in three... two... one. Give me one quarter impulse burst for five seconds. I'll do the rest with thrusters, on my mark."
"Aye."
"Sulu alerts them in the transporter room."
"Fire." Sulu said, nodding his head. "Transporter room. We are in position above Titan."
"Really? Fine job, Mister Sulu. Well done." Scotty said over the com.
"Whatever happens, Miss L'hai, if you think you have the tactical advantage, you fire on that ship, even if we're still onboard. That's an order." Jim said over the com.
L'hai swallowed the lump in her throat knowing that this part wasn't going to be easy. "Affirmative, sir."
"Otherwise, we'll contact the Enterprise when we're ready to be beamed back."
"Good luck, Sir."
STARTREK
L'hai's head shot up in worry.
"They have actiwated the drill, Captain." Chekov called out looking up in worry.
"Communication and transport are inoperative. Sulu, please tell me you have them. Otherwise, we won't be able to beam them back." Uhura said, looking over at Sulu in concern.
"Kirk and Spock are on their own now." Sulu said, shaking his head.
"Uhura they'll be fine." L'hai said softly, looking at her friend.
Uhura looked at L'hai in worry.
"My brother is resourceful." L'hai tried to sooth Uhura, but she was also trying to sooth herself.
STARTREK
L'hai got up to her feet. "Sulu, if Captain Kirk gives the order to fire, do so."
"Yes, ma'am."
L'hai moved out of the bridge knowing that she needed to get down to the transporter room. She met up with Leonard who was rushing towards the transporter room as well.
"Enterprise go!" Jim's voice rang over the comm.
L'hai let out a breath as she saw Captain Pike, Jim, and Spock were safely in the room.
Jim smiled at Scotty. "Nice timing, Scotty."
"Ha ha ha ha! I've never beamed three people from two targets onto one pad before." Scotty said happily.
"Jim!" Leonard said moving forward.
"Bones!"
Leonard took Captain Pike from Jim. "I've got him."
"That was pretty good." Scotty said with a smile.
L'hai moved past everyone towards her brother and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
Spock carefully wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. He knew that she was scared of what had happened. "I am alright sister."
L'hai took a shaky breath as tears slid down her cheeks.
"Don't cry." He told her softly.
"We're needed on the bridge. I left Sulu in charge."
Jim moved past the two Vulcan siblings.
Spock put his arm around his sister and led the two of them out of the transporter room following Jim towards the bridge.
The three of them entered the bridge.
"Captain, the enemy ship is losing power. Their shields are down, sir." Chekov said, looking up at their blond haired captain.
"Hail them now." Jim ordered easily to the young man.
"Aye."
Nero appeared on the screen.
"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Your ship is compromised. Your too close to the singularity to provide assistance, which we will provide."
Spock looked at the Captain. "Captain, what are you doing?"
"Showing them compassion may be the only way to earn peace with Romulus. It's logic, Spock. Thought you'd like that."
Spock's brow raised slightly. "No, not really. Not this time."
"I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times. I would rather die in agony than accept assistance from you." Nero snarled, his lips curling in anger.
"You got it. Arm phasers, fire everything we got." Jim said, looking over at Sulu.
"Yes, sir."
L'hai turned her head away as the Narada was shot upon before disappearing into the black hole vanishing from sight.
Jim looked at Sulu once the job was finished. "Sulu, let's go home!"
"Yes, sir!" Sulu said as he prepared them for warp.
L'hai moved towards her seat knowing that warp was the only thing that was saving them from utter demise from the black hole.
Jim had sat down in his seat but noticed that something was really wrong. "Why aren't we at warp?"
Chekov looked up from his screen. "We are, sir."
"Kirk to engineering. Get us out of here, Scotty." Jim shouted over the comm not liking the idea that they were not getting out of there.
"You bet your arse, Captain. Captain Kirk, the gravity well has got us!" Scotty said over the comm.
"Go to maximum warp. Push it!"
"I'm giving her all that she's got, Captain?"
The bridge began to crack.
"All she's got isn't good enough. What else you got?"
"Okay. If we eject the core and detonate, the blast could be enough to push us away! I cannae promise anything, though!"
"Do it, do it, do it!"
L'hai held onto her seat as a large shock wave pushed them away from the black hold after detonating multiple warping cores. She was rather thankful that they had gotten away safely, but at what cost did all of this have on them. She was rather concerned about the whole thing: what damage was done to the crew and what damage had been done to Captain Pike.
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This is the end of Chapter 18. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. We have one chapter left in this story. I can't wait to write the ending of this part of this series. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I am going to try my best to update next week with the final chapter. Hopefully everything turns out well with the ending of this story. I know that it is going to take time to write the second part of this series just due to the fact of how many stories that I have out there at the moment. Reviews help me keep going when it comes to writing. Until next time.