Michael's steps were naturally quiet as they walked from the shuttle. Though from the dry heat and the sun glittering off her flesh, Michael was pleased to at least enter the cave….until she felt a sudden sense of disorientation that suddenly made her freeze up.

It was cold like all her bonds were gone; or at least muffled… her connection to Chris was there; it was strong and beautiful but… it was like there was a vast distance between them. A distorted signal. There was also another sense of loss to it. Not with her Bondmate but…. Like she was missing other people. Her…connection to…Stamets even, it wasn't at all like the imprint bond but there was always a sense to him… even to Philippa was muffled.

"Michael, are you alright?"

Michael's attention suddenly turned, surprised to see Amanda so close before she pulled her senses together to answer. "I…I can't feel Chris's mind."

Amanda nodded, "Its fine, Michael. This cave is made of Katra stone. It blocks all outside telepathic communication."

That barely relieved her but soothed the concern; Chris was fine. Her clan was fine. Though, she felt not entirely without something; a small thread was there to her baby girl in her mother's arms. Her hands held out. "Let me hold her."

Misha whined softly as she was passed over though more or less settled against her shoulder. Though feeling her against her made her feel much better. It was probably a good thing that Chris couldn't yet feel their bond… he would be so worried; might think the worst and bring the Discovery here.

With something to ground her back, Michael sniffed, stretching out her senses through the crypt. Spock's scent was heavily saturated and his voice echoed, mutterings that repeated; steps echoed and stopped then grinding sounds of stone though his voice never stopped. She could clearly make out what he was saying though nothing of it seemed…normal.

Michael flittered ahead, though her eyes took in the natural pockets of darkness, the streams of light through stained glass though his low but fast heartbeat echoed from one area if darkness.

Amanda's words hadn't been false; though it was clear a lot of happened since they had last seen each other, not just in his mental state that was…clearly compromised but physically, she hadn't seen him look so disheveled. Longer hair, a beard which… was not something she expected to ever linger on his face.

His scent alone, she could detect high traces of cortisol and other stress hormones, the occasional spikes of dopamine and adrenaline as well, that seemed to affect his actions; to sit down or to pace, taking a moment to breathe or to start rambling. He was on a biological sense on overdrive.

His eyes passed over them but not seeing them, so she knew she couldn't talk to him properly, couldn't coax him back. He needed help.

"How long has he been here?"

"A few weeks."

"Has he always been like this?"

"No." Amanda's eyes were sad as Spoke got up and quite abruptly moved to one of the walls, picking up a small stone and began to carve into the wall, going over a series of numbers and a line picture of the red angel. "He was lucid and… he's been finding ways to ground himself as time passed."

"He's failing. His's regressed and… his body chemistry is unstable. If this goes on, he'll suffer a permanent cerebral collapse." One he couldn't recover from. "He needs medical help."

"I know, but given the state of everything out of this room…chances are he wouldn't receive it without them putting on the hand-cuffs." Again, a mother's defense.

" 7…" Again, Spoke continued to speak a series of numbers.

Her eyes flickered to the wall, though none of the patterns fit with what she knew; there was no context.

"What are those numbers?"

"I don't know, I tried looking through all the logical avenues; Coordinates, command codes, birthdays… there's nothing."

Michael inhaled deeply, her hand gently rubbing down her daughter's back, more to comfort herself than anything; seeing him like that was…oddly distressing.

"He still needs help."

"You're not taking him anywhere" The changes in Amanda's face was subtle, strong, and defiant.

"Mother."

"No. He came to me. And…I don't have to by federation law." Amanda's jaw tightened, her back straightened with a real sense of justice.

Michael's head turned as she felt a slight breeze and scent drift in, Sarek's scent. His steps quiet and measured. Amanda didn't hear anything

"As the wife of a Vulcan Ambassador, I have the legal authority to involve diplomatic immunity in order to shield my son from extradition.."

"Unless, of course, the ambassador objects," Sarek called, startling his wife. In her arms, Misha's head turned towards the sound, a grumble of complaint echoing through.

A look of anger washed over Amanda's face, directed at her no doubt for not alerting her but Michael didn't react to such anger. No doubt Sarek was more intuned with her in his meditative state given the bond they had from the bombing. Thin as a thread but…there nonetheless. She hadn't tended or cared for that string for any reason and neither had he since he had placed it there. As a vampire, her telepathic abilities weren't yet developed enough for her yet there was clearly something he could detect; must have felt her disappear too and traced her shuttle.

"You lied to me, Amanda," Sarek spoke, though toneless, it was clear he wasn't too thrilled about this. His eyes lingering on Spoke for a moment before returning to his wife. "I assume you hid our son because it contains katra stones that…block out all outside telepathic link with him."

"You assume correctly, dear husband."

Sarek inhaled deeply, straightening up, "Your behavior is reckless and irresponsible." He stated.

Michael idly listened as Amanda continued to talk to him about Spock. Misha whined, her sound echoing a lot louder in the crypt so she lifted her to rest high on her shoulder and rocked her gently; if she could get her back to sleep, it was a necessary win for her.

Michael's eyes returned to Spock. Listening as he began to recite passages from Alice.

"He is regressing. Spock has…relinquished all logic. He's lost." Sarek's attention had moved now, concerned nonetheless

Amanda fluttered away after Spock as he sat down.

"Father, I believe this is connected to the red angel…and the ten signals we've been chasing. Spock saw it before they appeared to the federation."

That caught Sarek's attention, his arched eyebrow pushing up through the tightness in his jaw showed discontent at her. "You hid this from me."

"I was trying to buy time to get to Spock first. I believed I could find ways to save his life." From both this and… those who wanted him locked away. But given the condition, the second option was going for her. She could find ways to try to find something to help heal his mind. A trained telepath would suffice and while she was no doubt telepathic, she was not developed enough to tap into it further than what she had with Chris and her clan bonds. She doubted Sarek would be able to without being affected himself if it was affecting Spock to such a degree.

Sarek moved after a moment, his eyes returning to his wife and son before he moved towards them.

"Michael is right, Spock needs help. We must…deliver him to captain Leland."

"What?" Both of them answered.

"Throwing him at the Mercy of Section 31 is more or less throwing him to the wolves."

"You want to deliver him to the people who are after him?!" Defiance once again flushed through Amanda's body, her hand on Spock's shoulder tightening.

"The sole reason they must want him is that his mind is filled with information they and the federation needs. They'll be motivated to do everything to heal him."

"And after they're done with him?" Amanda pressed, "Lock him up."

"Not unless he is innocent." Sarek's head turned to her, "You must deliver him, Michael. As a Starfleet officer, failure to do your duty as an officer would be jeopardized." Inhaling deeply, Sarek looked to Amanda. "I am also not prepared to lose both my children on the same day."


Pike sat at the ready though felt frustrated at how wrong the trip had gone, but in all hindsight, nothing was as bad as it could have been if Stamets hadn't been here. He'd have to thank him properly once they were out of the damn rift.

"Not to rush you but how far away with those calculations?" Pike pressed.

"I'm using the network as a ground and a road map for our way out, sir." Stamets spoke up, a hand on the navigation so Pike was doing that he could to stay on his plotted course, even if it didn't make sense. "We're passing through our three plasma bursts, so we're getting close—"

Suddenly, the shuttle gave a lurch. His attention suddenly turning to see their probe suddenly back with them but… by the second he could see that it was very different to how they sent it. With a shudder, it's bottom opened up, revealing long mechanical arms that seemed to wrap around the hull, pressing into their shielding—looking for a way in.

"What the hell?!" Stamets jumped from his chair, "Pulling up external shielding."

"Agreed. I'll run an atomic decay rate." Pike slipped from his chair to the monitor putting the sensors to scan the probe. "Okay, it's definitely our probe with a few upgrades. Metals aren't registered and… Oh…" That was off. So, so off. "By the scans, it's suggesting that the probe's core has aged…five hundred years"

"Why would someone do that to a probe?" Stamets questioned, most likely rhetorical, "For what—"

A low grind echoed before Pike saw a sudden movement; flinching away from the arm that had penetrated through but it was mere inches away before it stopped. Stamets held its neck and quickly easily pulled it away and twisted, the metal complained loudly before detaching and became flaccid.

Pike gaped, mostly. Seeing such a display of strength was odd but thankful for his fast reflexes… it had went straight for him. Maybe it hadn't even known there was a vampire here.

"Thanks."

Spoken too soon as the head of the arm lit up and with a spurt of power, fired itself straight into the helm.

"Shit!"

Stamets was suddenly launched back and straight into him then everything turned black.


Paul felt the harmonics frequency echo throughout his body painfully, tingling at his shunts in his arm but they responded back, counteracting the resonate and enabling him to move.

Under him, he could feel the warm human body so he quickly got off, wincing a little because…Burnham was going to be pissed at him for this. Pike looked out cold, mostly.

He bent down and set Pike to rest up against the side and darted to the monitor; on the screens, the probe looked to have been directly integrating with the systems, flicking through it at incredible speeds though he could track easily. It looked to be hunting directly through the ships' data core in technology and historical files. How odd.

The closer hi hand got, the pulse of the frequency increase hurt so he took it as a warning that touching it may be unfavorable for him so he opted to focus on getting them out.

A low grown echoed behind him but he kept his focus, his communicator chirping into life, Immeaidaly he opened up the line.

"Discovery, this is Stamets." He called out, we've picked up a hitch hiker and it's not friendly. It's accessing our ship's data core."

"We're got you on visuals." Saru called, "and we've mirrored your screens here."

"The probe is searching the computers at an extraordinary rate. I'll attempt to lock it out." Airiam spoke up.

"We'll try on our end," Pike's voice was groggy, crawling into the seat beside him

"I can touch it, sir. It' emitting a more advanced Harmonic resonate against me. I could end up shattering a limb."

"Damn..." Pike groaned. "Rhys, can you target the probe without destroying the shuttle?"

"Not with your shields so low."

As he piloted, Paul began to run other calculations, they were exiting the anomaly, which went they were soon in transporter range.

"Sending you our transporter coordinates."

"I'll set the shuttle to self-destruct."

Another thunk and a shudder ran through the ship, the echoing moving this time down the end of the shuttle. It was going to try the doors. Naturally a weak spot… they didn't have a lot of time. Minutes at best.

"Setting it for the next 10 seconds."

"Owosekun, now, beam us out now!" Paul called.

Thunks echoed against the door, the metal starting to cave under… golden light filling his vision.

Airiam's fingers touched over her monitor though as she worked, she felt an odd sensation as she saw three dots blink across the screen. A calm and distant feeling washing all over her.

"Commander Airiam…are they safe?" The sound was so distant she didn't hear it.

The red dots echoed, small chirping sounds echoing that felt…good. Made her worry dim just a little bit. Red dots that seemed to feel like her entire world…

"Commander Airiam." Then suddenly, the reality returned in an instant, and she blinked, the red dots in her eyes disappearing quickly though a glance to her monitor told her as much as they needed to know.

"All three are safely on board."


Michael's eyes flittered around as they walked, her senses filled mostly with the low smell of garlic, and she could feel the echoing sensation of a harmonic's jammer that seemed to be active. Section 31 had been going all out and she felt distrustful of the entire ship. Enough to keep her daughter on her shuttle than risk her out here in her arms. No doubt would feel discomforted and wake up from her nap which… she had only managed to succeed in.

Spock was sedated and wheeled on a gurney through Michael was flanked by Philippa who seemed to be a little slower in step than normal which meant the jammers were having an effect. Though she didn't seem any down about it.

"I'm surprised you found him before us and used your own mother to do it." Philippa mused out loud, clearly to fill the silence or to bother her. Or both. "I would have enjoyed manipulating mine like that…if she had lived a little longer."

Again, stuff like that leaving her mouth was…not at all surprising. Far too used to it from their stay at bloodstone when she had managed to get her to open up if a little, though most, she had a hunch was bent truth. Philippa kept her walls up for many reasons but she had hoped to get past them, sooner or later.

"Did you kill her?"

"It's a blur. Human memories are so much dimmer now."

Though they seemed to sidle off into a room, Michael felt her apprehension grow as Spock was loaded into a reclined seat and two medical officers in white and plastic uniform began to prep a series of equipment onto a near table. There was a particularly nasty looking one she did not enjoy. The whole vibe was…off.

There was another human she recognized, Leland that stood waiting whom she took every opportunity to study. There was the strong smell of garlic, coming from him which made it hard to distinguish his blood type and what chemical released in his reactions, but, despite that limit, she could still hear his pulse and every step and… One thing all beings had were universal was the fact they had to breathe, It gave away a lot and she was pleased to see he was mildly nervous. His behavior was well trained though she couldn't help but note the slight flush around his neck and stiffening of his posture.

"We've given Lieutenant Spock a sedative for this procedure, this machine is designed to map and repair neuro-connections to the brain and hopefully, restore you brother's mind," Leland spoke, though he seemed confident in his words but…there was a minor off beat to his heart, controlled well, but… she knew what that indicated.

Michael fixed a skeptical expression but said nothing.

"Control wouldn't have supplied this if it wasn't safe." He 'assured', Leland took a deep breath, eyes flickering about. "Everyone, leave us."

Everyone complied, except Georgiou though Michael could see that she was well aware of the situation… and the human's bio-slip up. She'd have to get more from her.

"You too." He eyed her warily though Georgiou flashed her teeth with a warning hiss as she went.

A low shiver running down his spine as she felt though he composed himself quickly as the door shut. "It's a wonder how you kept her as a childe than a rival."

"My bond with Georgiou has nothing to do with my brother and his wellbeing." Michael reminded coolly, to get to topic. "Though…I do have to say you've kitted this ship out with impressive anti-vampire tech…"

Leland nodded, feeling somewhat proud as he straightened up. "We're doing our best."

"Hmm.." but clearly not enough. But she wasn't about to mention that to him, of all people. She didn't have the time to and certainly nothing more they deserved.

"I do hope he's innocent," Leland started, gesturing to Spock. "I know from Chris that… he'd a fine officer and—"

"How long will this procedure take?" Michael interrupted smoothly. She didn't have time for his attempts to butter her up or anything. It was a polite front. "And when will it take place?"

Leland look mildly bemused at her attitude, "It's…not for discussion, commander." Using her rank this time as a warning but it didn't faze her. Section 31 wasn't Starfleet or the VL enough. "We're passing by Starbase 23, while we perform his procedure you'll have to stay away since this vessel is for authorized personnel only."

Her eyes narrowed before she turned her eyes back to her brother. As much as she wanted to grab him and run, she had to get to Georgiou first.

"Fine." Her eyes flickered back to Leland. "I need to check on my new born baby after all." She turned and headed away, casting a lingering look to Spock…

Michael did check on her daughter; not only that she was where she left her but also still asleep, thankfully both though she was just stepping out to find Georgiou when her scent crossed close. Her childe's hovering in a cranny with darkened eyes with a vivid sense of anticipation.

"I've disabled the cameras for forty seconds." Georgiou started, Her speech faster than the usual speed they spoke, "We both know Leland is lying. It's a Terran Memory extractor, it's designed to find and tear away relevant memories into digital files but it damages and kills the neurons once complete. It'll kill him."

Michael's head turned. "Then I need to get him and go."

"Attack and disable me before the jammers activate, then get to Spock and out of here."

"Why are you doing this?"

Georgiou shrugged, "I make making a little chaos… and given the amount of effort you've put into keeping him alive, I think you wouldn't want his blood on your hands."

There was more to be said, of course on what she was saying and while the time between the seconds was slow for them, she had to decide on her course of action. She shouldn't have brought him here.

Answering swiftly, Michael jammed her fist into Georgiou's gut and with that, they flurried into a fight. Georgiou blocked and pushed her back but Michael knew her skills to know she was holding back on purpose and their speed was hard to catch on slow cameras

It was almost too easy to run the entire wall up and jump onto her back and lock her legs around her waist, earning a growl and a hiss before she sunk her fangs into her shoulder.

A sharp sound leaving Georgiou's lips, fingers clawing at her legs but with a low thunk; and a sudden ringing of harmonic resonators, Georgiou's form stiffened before her head detached from her shoulders and flumped solidly down. Michael jumped off her and carefully lowered to stop further damage before she shot off towards her brother.

A few thumps, her fingers broke through the door and with a few nerve pinches before the doctors knew she was in. Grasping a new hypospray, she jammed it into Spock's neck, waking him before she slipped her arm under him and lifted the half-Vulcan and darted back to the shuttle for their escape, Misha waking loudly with complaint….