Vulcan Shadows
By Estellio
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Spock goes missing and all evidence points to McCoy while he is following cryptic clues to find him. However, after discovering one of Spock's most shocking secrets will McCoy still be able to help or will he condemn his friend to death and commit professional suicide? First, do not harm.
A/N: Gets down on knees and beg you not to harm her. I'm really sorry for not posting sooner, I just went back to CK and it's taking up most of my time between class and projects and homework and...it's crazy. Anyway, I know it's kinda short but my must die in a freak fishing accident (How was I to know that the hook got caught in her mouth when I cast?) A lot is crammed into a chapter, I know but I was sick of rewriting it with one of the ideas so I stuck them all together. Ih hope you enjoy the latest Chapter, it even has a little Spock in it. So read, enjoy and REVIEW! Please people, there is nothing that can cheer me up better than opening my inbox and seeing Review Alert... Okay, maybe I can think of one thing that'd make me feel better but I doubt Paul McGillon will be paying me a visit anytime soon. Now, enough babbling. Onto the story!
IOIO
Draz'zir had been working as a barman in Arkhengrad for six years and he had seen many strange things. In fact, he was the expert on weird stuff, he could write a book on it…if he could write…or read but that was beside the point. He was now looking at something so weird it couldn't possibly be true. Something so weird that it was making him question his own sanity and that was something he had never done before, despite what he had seen…because to him, it looked as if there was a Vulcan in a Starfleet uniform, bound, gagged and half stuffed in a crate in his storeroom. The Vulcan also looked like he had been doped up majorly on happy pills. Now, not only was this the weirdest thing he had ever seen, but it was also looked to be his last as there was a Cardassian pointing a gun at him.
"You really shouldn't have come back here." The man rasped and shot. A blinding light filled Draz'zir's vision seconds before he couldn't see anything at all.
IOIOIO
The computer on board the Shau-bo barked out something McCoy could not understand and he sighed. There seemed to be so much he did not understand here and the language the computer was speaking was the least of his problems.
There was a thud from the back room and he winced.
She's a bad person, she's done bad things, V'au wont kill her, so it's okay. She's a bad person, she deserves what's coming to her. She lied to you, deceived you and hurt one of your friends. You don't care, you don't care, you don't care. He repeated it over and over in his head until it stopped making sense…it wasn't working, he still cared. She had been such a pleasant Nurse, so caring and kind. Always ready for a laugh with the patients. How could she be a monster? How?
The door to the back room opening broke his attention and a scowling V'au stepped out. There was a smudge of red on her forehead…and V'au didn't bleed red.
'Didn't you think she was a nice young lady too. Look what she is.' The little voice in his head piped up.
She is doing it to protect her father. She's not a monster, she's not.
The only reply he got was laughter deep within his mind.
"What did you learn?" McCoy asked, looking up at V'au with a blank face.
"He's switching ships, she doesn't know which one though and he's going to launch his ship off in the opposite direction to stall us. She thinks he's heading deeper into the Alpha Quadrant though. He went to a lot of trouble to get Federation passes." McCoy nodded and got up to go into the back. "Don't worry, Doc. She's alright."
"I'll check for myself thank you." V'au sighed loudly, slumping into her chair.
"Fine. Go ahead…"
McCoy found her slumped against the wall. The magnetic field was up again, pinning her arms to the wall above her head but she was sitting. A small dribble of blood was still glistening by her lip but otherwise she seemed unharmed.
"Leonard." She drawled, opening the amber eyes that had first drawn McCoy to her. He remembered them being so bright and honest…now they were bloodshot slits and cold. So cold. "How nice of you to drop by."
"Are you alright, did she injure you?" A dry chuckle slithered from beneath her swollen lips.
"Gentleman to the last, McCoy, gentleman to the last." She closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly before looking up. "No, she didn't injure me. Only my pride…but tell me Len, why are you along for this ride?"
Now there was a question he had been asking himself since this began.
"I know Spock better than anyone, and I'm a Doctor. Two heads are better than one, you know. Plus, she thought she'd need help." Vargo smiled humourlessly.
"Oh please, you're a trade off and you know it. She's going to sell you off to bounty hunters to claim the reward and go off and buy a nice plot of land on some paradisiacal planet. She doesn't give a damn about you, she gives a damn about nothing." McCoy raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really? She seems to give a damn about Spock." Vargo laughed mercilessly.
"Oh, she wanted to grab Spock first but Kek beat her to it so she settled for you." McCoy got up.
"I know what you're trying to do and it won't work." He snapped.
"Keep this in mind, McCoy. She is not all that she seems. She can kill in cold blood…can you?" McCoy turned his back on her. "She's blind on her left side! Use that to your advantage!" She called after him as he left and slammed the hatch behind him. Her cruel laughter echoed off the walls back at her for a long time.
"You alright, Doc?" V'au asked when he came back. McCoy sat down and belted himself in, staring out the screen "Doc?" She asked, moving forward.
"I'm fine." He said coldly. "I'm just finding this a little hard to digest." She smiled sympathetically at him.
"I understand. It was hard for me at first too. My sensibilities preventing me from doing anything, my conscience gnawing at me when I did." She shook her head. "What you have to learn is that it is a dog it dog world out there, Doc. You do what you can to survive because others wont be so nice to you. Actually, scratch that. You don't need to learn it at all because we're ten minutes away from Arkhengrad and we're going to get Spock out of there. Then I'm going to escape back into the wilds and buy a nice plot of land with my money." She smiled pleasantly at McCoy. "I can't wait, sun in my face, wind in my hair, birds chirping all around me and not a phaser in sight. Not a care in the world. It's the kinda dream you'd do anything for, eh Doc….doc?" McCoy was looking at her sceptically.
"Well…not anything." He said carefully.
"Speak for yourself. I'd sell my own mother for it." McCoy's face hardened.
"How about your father." She looked over at him, confused. Suddenly it dawned on her what had transpired.
"I wasn't being literal, Doc! What did she say to you?" McCoy resumed looking out the window, V'au frowned, genuine sadness creeping into her eyes as she turned away.
"It's not like I asked for this, Doc." She murmured. "I hate it. All the senseless violence and the backstabbing. It's not the life I was reared in, it's not the life I want. Would I be here, now, doing this, if it was? Please, Doc. You have to help me here, I didn't bring you along because you're a pretty face, you know."
"Why did you bring me along?" McCoy snapped, a little harsher than he had intended it to come out.
"I can't do this on my own, Dr. McCoy. I am not Surak, I can't turn the masses from evil to good by sitting on my backside and keeping a blank face. I have to go out there, and do something. It may not be much but it is something…We're here." McCoy looked out the viewscreen to see the station looming in view. It looked like a giant, floating piece of…junk. That was the only word he could use to describe it.
It was multicoloured, with patches of silver, gold, grey and green all over it. Pieces stuck out at odd angles and mismatched metals were bonded together by sheer force of will. It looked as if it was about to fly apart at any given moment and McCoy certainly didn't want to be within a thousand light-years of it when it did.
"Great, huh?" She asked, grinning out the window. "You know, I think it is the greatest architectural marvel of our time. I mean, sure, Vulcan space central is pretty and, yeah, I suppose the Icarus Station orbiting Andor is round and shiny but this. Now this is something special." McCoy looked at her disbelievingly. She actually sounded sincere.
"What in the blue blazes are you talking about? It looks like a giant ball of junk! It also looks like it's about to explode into a thousand deadly pieces." V'au shook her head, laughing as her hands danced over the controls. They were now at a dead stop.
"No, Doctor. Look. Organised chaos. Look how all the different colours and metals blend together so seamlessly. Metal from a thousand worlds crafted by a thousand hands over the years. It continues to grow and expand endlessly. Can't you appreciate it's uniqueness? All Federation stations look the same, feel the same, are the same but this. Ah, this is beauty. Look at it again Doctor. Not for it is…but for what it represents. No one fought over this metal, the Reman steel doesn't hate the Quo'nos Ore…it's a harmony amongst discord." Doctor McCoy looked out the window, perhaps truly seeing the station for the first time. He could see how V'au saw beauty but…
"I still think you're crazy. It's a big hunk of thrown together metal." V'au's laughter carried coolly through the ship and she flicked a switch, sending the station to a tiny little speck. "What the…how close are we to the damn thing." V'au consulted a panel on the controls in front of her.
"About, five million Hak'pa…that's roughly equivalent to a Terran kilometre if I'm not mistaken."
"Why so far back?" V'au smiled.
"Doctor. I don't intend to chase Kek around the galaxy for years, I intend to finish this now. Take a last look at Arkhengrad. I'll miss the place."
"YOU'RE GOING TO BLOW IT UP! BUT SPOCK!" V'au waved him silent.
"Doctor, don't be stupid. Of course I'm not going to blow it up…" She said, as if speaking to a child. "I'm just going to…just sit back and watch. It'll all make sense in a moment." She snapped finally and then returned to her console. Something shot from the ship and disappeared from view almost as soon as it came in visual range.
"What was that?"
"A Shrike."
"And that is?" She sighed, shaking her head.
"Do they teach you nothing at that famed Academy of yours. It is a Romulan fighter ship. I've it set up to work on remote control."
"You're going to attack the station?"
"Sort of. You'll see." McCoy watched the little panel to his left, unfamiliar symbols danced across the screen as the Shrike got closer…it opened fire.
"ROMULAN SHRIKE DECLOAKING! IT'S OPENING FIRE!" A panicked Tellerite squealed as it read the screen.
"What?" A wizened Orion leapt to his feet. "A Romulan vessel? Where's it firing?"
"It just destroyed docking arm 3."
"Was there a ship docked?"
"Yes…it was…Kek's." The last word came out in a hushed whisper. "It's destroyed Docking arm Two…Four…One…seven…six…Eight… They were all empty. The Shrike is retreating. Five, nine, ten and eleven are all undamaged but the control towers are all down, as is the radar. No ship will be leaving here in a hurry, that's for sure." The Orion snarled at the screen.
"I think that was the whole point. I knew we shouldn't have allowed him to dock. This is going to cost a fortune to repair and there's going to be a lot of very unhappy people. I better get on the intercom."
"And you see, Doctor. The debris, coupled with loss of the sensor net, makes it impossible for ships to leave but not for ships to dock. If he's on that station, I'll have him within the hour. If he's not, I'll have him within a day."
"Clever." McCoy conceded as they began their approach, the Shrike safely docked. "I have to hand it to you, you did a good job."
"I'm a professional, Doctor. I always do a good job. Now, I'll head into the station and ask around. I've got a few contacts I can tap. You stay here and make sure no ships leave." A soft clunk sounded as they attached themselves to one of the few remaining docking arms.
"Oh no, hold on just one damn minute. If you think I'm staying here then you've got another thing coming." She raised an eyebrow, reminding him eerily of Spock.
"Doctor. This is a pirate station, think about that…have it in mind? Now look down." McCoy did as he was told and sighed. She, unfortunately, had a point. He was still in his uniform and walking through a place like this in a Starfleet Uniform would be as fatal than going on an away mission with Jim in a red shirt.
"I see you're point. I'll wait here."
"Good boy, don't worry. I'll get you some clothes, I'll radio back in about an hour. Okay?" It wasn't like McCoy really had a choice as she beamed down and into Arkhengrad. Throwing himself into a chair McCoy watched the panels in front of him as if from far away. All he could think of was,
Why me, why me, why me, why me, why Spock.
IOIOIO
The music was loud and tawdry, the place smelled of blood, sweat and booze and in every corner a half naked Orion was entertaining the clientele. V'au felt right at home.
"ARIE! ARIE! MAFWENSA!" A large Andorian rose from where he was sitting, throwing his arms wide as if he meant to hug her. "Tola Nearu Si Nessa." He laughed, approaching her swiftly from where he was sitting, she shook her head and turned to face him.
"I don't have the time, Harlen. I have to find someone. I'm looking for Kek." The whole entire bar quietened. "That's right, you heard me." She said, as the musicians stilled their instruments. "I'm looking for Kek. He has something belong to me and I want it back."
"Kek? What could he possibly have that would make you seek him out. All know that that is a death warrant." A nameless Regulan hissed, taking a step back from what he considered a dead woman. V'au looked around the room and took a deep breath, trying to find a way of phrasing this that didn't go against everything she had learned to guard over the years…she didn't find any.
"He has a Vulcan, a Starfleet Officer named Spock. Some of you may have heard of him." There were a few murmurs and nods around the room but no one stirred.
"Why is this Vulcan so important?" A nearby Orion girl asked, still half clinging to the pole she was dancing at.
There was no other way to say it, she was just going to have to be blunt.
"He's my father." There were a few gasps from some of the clientele who knew her well or at least knew of her but the Andorian laughed.
"Spock 'cha Sarek? Commander Spock of the Enterprise?" V'au nodded. "He has no daughter. Plus, everyone knows you are an orphan, V'au. You search for your parents."
"Yes, I searched, and I found. Now Kek knows, and Kek has taken and I want what he has taken back. You all understand that, yes?" She paused for a moment, looking around the room. "Now, you understand that this means a lot to me…it means this much." She pulled a small stick out of her back pocket. It's dull green surface was followed by everyone in the room.
"How much is in it?" A nearby Klingon asked, half rising.
"The tube is capable of holding one thousand credits…and it's full. Whoever gives me a lead that proves fruitful gets it." The Klingon smiled.
"I have information you might find interesting. Draz'zir is a Lokken who works in Muriel's Corner, by docking arm three. Everyone knows Kek's ship was stationed there before the attack, yes?" No one answered as the Klingon rose. "He was shot, with a particle weapon. Burned him up bad and you know how thick Lokken scales are. A weapon like that sounds expensive and the last I heard he was in the medical bay…awake and able for questions…but no one is asking them. You could…drop by and ask some questions." The Klingon made a grab for the tube but V'au pulled it back.
"Na ah. How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"Ask anyone, it's been all around the station." She looked over at the Andorian who had confronted her earlier.
"Harlen, is this true?"
"I just collect debts, I don't pry into peoples business."
"Harlen…" She pulled out a second tube. "Is this true? And don't tell me what you think I want to hear, tell me the truth. If I find out you're lying I'll return and kill you, if I find out you're telling the truth I'll have more money sent…to both of you." The Andorian licked his lips as he stared at the tube.
"It's true!" He said, grabbing it from her and slipping it into an unknown pocket. He began to back away, knowing that he was know a target for a knife in the back and a hand in the pocket. V'au tossed the other cylinder to the Klingon and turned to leave.
"What are you going to do when you find Kek?" Someone from the crowd called out and she smiled, turning slowly.
"Kill him." An awed silence descended before someone began to chant her name, the chant was picked up quickly and she left before it escalated into a riot.
V'au made a bee-line for the medical bay, ignoring all the familiar faces who called out to her and the various hawkers who tried to sell her smuggled goods. It didn't take her long to find the eight foot form of the Lokken she was looking for. His sky-blue hide glistened silver from the unwashed blood and it was obvious he had only been there about an hour, maybe less. This was a lead that might actually pay off.
"Draz'zir?" The beasts massive black eyes opened and it grunted. "I want to know something, tell me, and you'll be rewarded." She took out a silver tube from her pocket and placed it on the Lokken's chest.
"That's a credit roll, they're used to hold credits. This can hold 10,000 credits. Now I have a few questions. First of all…who shot you?" The Lokken looked her up and down slowly.
"Who are you?" He grunted out after a long stretch of silence.
"My name is Arie, I'm a bounty hunter and I need to know who shot you." The Lokken looked at the roll on his chest.
"Ten thousand, huh?" He sighed deeply. "Well I 'fraid I didn't see who was, he shot from 'hind."
"Really?" V'au asked, looking at the silver stained bandages. "Well…" She knelt up on the side of the bed and placed her hand on the bandages, leaning down where the silver stain was deepest. The Lokken shrieked in agony but no one came to help. "Why are your wounds on the front then? Well? WHO SHOT YOU?"
"CAN'T!"
"CAN'T? OR WONT? WHO WAS IT?"
"CAN'T! CAN'T! DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
"WHO! WHO WAS IT DRAZ'ZIR! WHO!"
"A CARDASSIAN!" He shrieked at last and V'au sat back.
"Good, now we're getting somewhere. Was there a man with him, a Vulcan?"
"Yes." The Lokken growled, twisting in the bonds that strapped him to the bed.
"Was he okay? Did he look in anyway harmed to you?"
"Look drugged. Very drugged." V'au nodded, biting her lip. That wasn't good.
"Alright then. Where exactly did you see him? What room?" Draz'zir hesitated but the moment V'au moved to press down on his bandages he spoke.
"The store room in Muriel's. He was hiding in crates." V'au raised an eyebrow.
"I see…any idea what he was doing? What was in the crates?"
"Spices, they to be shipped away today."
"Shipped where, Draz'zir, shipped where?"
"I don't know, somewhere in Federation territory I think. Ask the Captain."
"Where can I find this Captain?" Draz'zir looked around, his eyes searching for a clock.
"Oh, he already left. He to leave at 15:15 and now it 15:49. He well gone, always on time Captain Grahs is. He ferry all our goods into Federation space, he has crates and Cardassian put Vulcan in crate so Grah will have Vulcan." V'au's mouth fell open.
"A spice freighter? He's stowing away on a spice freighter? What's it called, what's the ship called?"
"The Sheyla! It's called the Sheyla! An Igralein Spice Freighter, it's slow, you go now and you catch it! Now go, please! No more questions!" She got up and threw another credit roll on his chest.
"For your troubles."
"Dead men don't spend no cash."
"Dead men can't kill you either." She snapped, leaving the sickbay.
"You mean you gonna kill Kek? You crazy." But it fell on deaf ears as V'au was already hurrying back to her ship.
IOIOIO
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