Number One made short work of her tree climb; it wasn't long before Chris lost sight of her entirely. He heard her try the radio a few times before her voice started to trail off as she climbed higher and higher to find a signal. The only sign Pike had of his XO's wellbeing was the slight rustling of leaves whenever she climbed. He felt guilty that Una was having do to all the work whilst he literally lay useless at the base of the tree. He hated sitting this out and he despised his weakening body for failing him in a time of crisis.

Realistically he knew that adrenaline and sheer stubbornness had carried him this far, and that nobody would expect to last or travel for quite so long after that shuttle crash, but that didn't make it any easier to accept. He was letting the side down, he was a liability and had become a burden to Una. Pike was even having trouble staying upright against the tree, his eyelids were growing heavy and each of his limbs felt like they were shutting down one by one. It was because of all these things, and the fact that he was more than a step behind mentally, that Chris didn't hear somebody approaching until it was far too late.

A twig snapped nearby forcing Pike to jump, breathe in sharply and tense all at the same time. His eyes flew open in a panic and swung to the sound, which was when he saw a man dressed in combat gear with a big gun pointed his way; he knew immediately that he was in big trouble.

Chris realised that the hand that had been holding his own phaser had dropped to the side, and that wasn't the worst of the news. The worst thing was that he could barely even feel that hand, when he tried to curl his fingers around the grip all he got in response was a meek flinch. He had allowed his body to become too relaxed and now he was at a big disadvantage. Could he raise the weapon in time? Usually he would grade his reflexes as excellent, but not now, not when he could literally see 3 identical gunman closing in on him even though he knew there could only be 1.

The gunman noticed the phaser in Pike's hand and obviously saw his hand twitch, wanting to bring the weapon up to fire. He adjusted the aim of his own blaster rifle to point at Pike's head and growled out a warning. "You even think about lifting that and I swear you'll live to regret it."

Chris didn't feel the need to tell the gunman that he doubted he could lift it, that didn't stop him from wanting to try though. He didn't want to be anywhere near his former captor again, especially after their escape attempt and there was no doubt that surrendering to this man would lead him right back there. Not to mention Una...

The gunman took a few predatory steps forward and barked another order. "Toss it to the side."

Pike kept his hand clenched tightly around the weapon as his mind whirled for a solution, the last thing he wanted to do was give up his and Una's only defence. The gunman noted his indecisiveness, closed the distance and kicked him viciously in the leg.

Chris groaned and curled forwards, clutching at the inflamed wound. The limb had already taken enough damage throughout the day, he really didn't need a maniac adding to his misery.

"I said throw it away!"

Pike saw the gunman rear back for another kick, which would be one more than he could handle. He quickly tossed the gun to the side and held up a hand in surrender whilst coughing up words. "Okay, okay... it's gone."

He waited in tense silence for another blow, but thankfully no more came. The gunman prioritised securing the weapon over causing Pike more bodily harm, he went over to the phaser all the while scouring the surroundings for something. Chris realised belatedly that he was searching for someone; Number One who was still high up in the trees and hopefully not thinking about trying anything stupid. It was Pike's failing faculties that had gotten him into this mess, he didn't want to drag Una down with him.

With the phaser pocketed, the gunman stalked back towards Pike and levelled the rifle at his head whilst he reached for his radio. Chris gulped nervously when he realised this situation was about to get ten times worse, one bad guy was difficult odds in their state but more would be impossible to overcome.

"I've found him."

A mixture of silence and static mixed through the open channel until a very familiar voice appeared. "He's alone?"

Chris swallowed heavily, Alec did not sound happy.

His current captor didn't look too happy either, he glared down at Pike before sweeping his gaze around their immediate area again. "Looks it. I'll find out where the other one's gone."

Pike didn't like the sound of that. He also didn't like the predatory stare that the gunman was throwing him.

"Get the information, just don't kill him."

The gunman closed off the channel and smiled down at Pike, his eyes gleamed with anticipation and he crouched down to meet Chris' eye-line.

"Where is she?"

Pike tried to keep the fear he felt out of his voice, he decided the best tact was to play dumb. "Who?"

As it turned out that hadn't been the smartest move, as was demonstrated by an almighty snack around the head. Chris' neck snapped to the side and he felt a new cut join the others inside his mouth.

"You want to get cute with me?" The gunman yelled into his face, grabbing a hold of Pike's hair and yanking upwards. "Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." He ground the deadly weapon harshly into Pike's ribs. "Your choice."

Chris grunted from the pressure, his neck was forced painfully upwards by the hold in his hair whilst the jabbing in his side made him want to curl up into a foetal position. In this painful hold he couldn't escape the gunman's evil glare, or his pleasure at causing Chris harm.

He would have said almost anything to relieve the misery; what he did end up blurring out wasn't far from the truth. "She's gone."

The gunman tilted his head suspiciously, tightening the hold on his captive's hair. "She wouldn't leave you."

Chris tried to ignore the increasing pain level and ran with the story. "She went to get help, I was just slowing her down."

The gunman wasn't at all convinced by the lie. He shook his head in disbelief and without warning ground his rifle into Pike's dislocated shoulder, causing him to scream. "Where is she?!"

"Right here."

Una dropped from the tree gracefully with a large branch in her hands. Before the gunman could react properly to her surprise appearance, the branch was swinging towards his head at speed. Pike watched in awe as the branch splintered into a million tiny pieces, his attacker was bowled over with the force and Chris saw the man's eyes roll into the back of his head. Number One's attack was so explosive in nature that the gunman was out cold before he hit the ground.

Una studied the downed man for a few seconds; when she was satisfied he was in fact out for the count she rushed towards the fallen body and relieved him of his weapon. In the meantime Pike tried to pick himself up from the slumped position he had been forced into, he clutched his bad shoulder and winced from the movement. That interrogation had stolen what little energy he had left.

When Number One was done securing the guy, she hobbled over to Chris, her eyes scanning his inflamed injuries with sympathy. "Sorry about taking so long, I had to get into position."

"Was my fault." Chris countered. "Should have shot him."

Una shook her head at him and allowed a small smile to tug at her lips. "Now you see why I couldn't leave you alone?"

Pike didn't have an answer to that but it hardly mattered, they were both distracted by the gunman's radio bursting to life demanding an update.

Una looked at the device fearfully. "We need to get out of here, they'll all be converging on this position."

Pike groaned at the thought of moving and at speed, he didn't know if he had it in him. "Una..."

Chris didn't get any further than that. Una glared at him and snapped back. "If you even think about asking me to leave you behind one more time I'll knock you out and carry you."

Pike's mouth shut slowly as he took in his first officer's sincerity, she was deadly serious. He ended up nodding mutely which Una took as a sign to move forward. She got to her feet and hauled him to his, nearly causing him to pass out there and then.

When Chris stopped seeing triple of everything he managed a few unsteady steps forwards, his arm looped around Una's shoulders as she essentially dragged him along. They began the arduous and very painful journey out of the clearing, both wincing and grunting when broken bones were jarred.

It was only when they were well away that Chris realised he had no idea where they were going. "Where to?" He managed to mutter, astonished at how weak he was.

Una threw him a concerned glance, readjusted his arm around her shoulder and continued to pull him forwards. "I think my message got through to Enterprise. If they're coming they'll start searching at the crash site."

That made sense and Pike wished he could say as much. In the circumstances though he was trying his damned hardest not to scream with every footstep, so the most he managed was a head nod. If Una insisted on dragging him along he could do nothing about it, but he was damned if he was going to make it worse by giving away their position because he was in a little pain. Then again, he didn't know how this nightmare could get much worse.

In hindsight Chris shouldn't have jinxed it because of course, everything could always get worse.

"Dammit, get down!" Una cursed as she and Chris took a nasty tumble towards the ground narrowly avoiding a set of disruptor blasts which sailed over-head.

Chris hissed when he felt the heat of the beam sear the nape of his neck; that one had been far too close. They both groaned on the floor, their limbs entangled and sluggish. He didn't have the time to truly feel just how much his body had rebelled against that swan dive, not when he and Number One were literally running, or more accurately hobbling, for their lives. He was running purely on adrenaline now and even that was starting to run thin, he had no idea how many times he could keep picking his broken body up again. It was only because Una kept dragging him to his feet that he'd even survived this long.

"Come on!" Una hissed at him whilst hauling him upwards, firing their own stolen weapon back towards their pursuers.

Chris heard a strangled cry in the distance from one of Una's victims, and he felt a stab of satisfaction that they weren't going down without a fight. Sadly the satisfaction was obliterated by the jarring pain of his bones being jostled and his vision greying even further. He hadn't been able to see straight for some time but seeing upside down trees was definitely a new low... His head had been knocked around so much he literally didn't know which way was up anymore.

"Ahhhh." He hissed when Una forcibly dragged him forwards, keeping them both low and moving between the thick vegetation for cover.

"Sorry." She muttered, voice full of remorse. She knew how much he was hurting; how much he didn't need this after the pounding his body had taken, but this was a matter of survival. "Just a little further."

Chris felt awful but he just didn't have the strength to do anything anymore, he clung to Una's shoulder like a limpet and ended up sagging on her more with each step forward. All the while his head was hanging limply against his chest, whilst he focussed on dragging his feet forward an inch at a time. He had no idea if Una was lying to him about their progress, he certainly didn't have the faculties to check so he just took her word on faith.

"...Kay..." he managed to mutter back, coughing either side of the word.

If he thought it would make any difference he'd tell Una to just go and leave him here, but she hadn't listened to him the last 10 times and he sincerely doubted she would start now.

The two made slow progress through the thicket whilst the trailing enemy tried to keep up. As far as Chris could tell, they'd only had a few on their tail and thanks to Una's sharpshooting that number had dwindled. The number of shots sailing past them were decreasing but they both knew that wouldn't last. It wouldn't take long for the main group to catch up to them and if they did...

Well, that was better not thought of, especially after their attack on Alec.

"I see the shuttle!" Una actually sounded surprised, she hadn't thought they would have been strong enough to outrun their hunters let alone make it all the way to the crash site.

Despite feeling like death warmed up, Pike perked up at the news. He managed to lift his head and sure enough the clearing and rubble were in sight. If they could make it to cover they could put up a defence, and pray that somebody had heard their cry for help. The Enterprise command team hobbled the last few metres with a new determination, already hearing an increase in enraged voices following their path. Chris bit back a cry when Una shifted his shoulder up to get more of a hold on his mid-section, he didn't want to make this anymore difficult for her; he felt guilty enough as it was.

Their last dash for cover was awash with colour as lasers whizzed past them, passing far too close for comfort. Una dragged Chris behind the shuttle fuselage, causing them both to yell out in pain. Chris closed his eyes and tried to control the fiery agony, he tried to take deep even breaths but even that was a struggle. He heard Number One scramble beside him and begin to return fire, he heard explosions from the enemy and the air started to smell of burning. The last thing he saw before his vision greyed entirely was Number One's sweat-streaked face, mouthing something to him rather urgently.

Pike jolted back into reality with a start, his body was still lying on the forest floor and the ground was thick with smoke and fire. As his vision cleared he saw Number One by his side, nursing a few new scorch marks in her uniform but otherwise looking ready for a fight. Her teeth were bared, her face covered with grime and soot, the phaser held tightly in her hand as she left cover to fire back against the hunters.

He must have lost some time there because their shelter was considerably more marked, and the shuttle wreckage was in even further disarray. How long had Number One been holding them off for, alone?

When she ducked back into cover her eyes swung his way, widening when she saw he was awake. Una scooted over to him, flinching when bolts continued to smack into their shelter. Chris tried to focus on her movements but his vision kept blurring, as well as his other senses. He could see her lips moving but the sound was all muffled.

All of a sudden everything snapped into focus at once; the sounds of the raging firefight and Number One's yelling.

"Captain!" She fought to be heard over the top of the chaos. "You've got to stay awake!"

Chris knew that too, it was dangerous to fall asleep after sustaining such a nasty head wound. Not trusting himself to speak, he managed a nod which was enough for his XO. She turned back to the matter at hand and restarted her effort to hold the gunman back. That was when Number One lost the battle.

Pike watched on, horrified, when a phaser bolt slammed into her shoulder area, sending her crashing back to the floor with a yelp, clutching at her wounded limb whilst the weapon flew out of her hands.

"Una!" He called out, genuine terror breaking his voice apart at the seams.

He forced himself upwards and only started to breathe easier again when he saw her chest rising and falling, and when he heard the whispers of pain pass her lips. She was alive, and by the looks of it the blast had just missed her heart.

Chris wanted desperately to go to her side, to soothe her hurt and suffering but if he did that they were both dead. Without Una firing back there wasn't anything stopping the gunman from overwhelming their position. It was that fact that drove Chris onwards. He rolled onto his front, zeroed in on the fallen phaser and started to drag himself painfully across the floor.

He almost blacked out once or twice but gritted his teeth and pinched himself to stay conscious. Chris didn't dare listen to their surroundings, he was aware of Una's gasping but hadn't heard anything from their pursuers. He was just within reach of the phaser when he heard footsteps and felt a presence approaching from behind.

Out of nowhere a boot appeared, slamming down onto his outstretched hand and grinding it into the dirt. Chris cried out and tried to snatch the limb back but to no effect. When his eyes followed the boot up to its owner his heart dropped, Alec was staring down at him malice written clearly all over his expression.

"Hello Captain."

Chris grunted when his captor's hands shoved him back towards the dirt, his search over. Of course Alec hadn't found anything useful, Una had been carrying the communicator and their weapon was currently on Alec's belt. After their capture the pair of them had been swiftly surrounded on all sides and then subjected to a rather rough search, one which their captors seemed to take no end of joy out of.

Pike huffed against the dirt, and clenched his fingers into the mud until he got a handle on the burning pain flowing from his shoulder. He heard the sound of crunching leaves getting quieter, indicating that the gunmen were moving away; with any luck far enough away so they weren't standing directly over the pair of them. When Chris heard their captors begin to mutter between themselves he stole a glance over to Una, desperate to see how she was.

He caught her gaze immediately, she had clearly had the same idea. They both checked the other over, Pike's eyes slid to Una's new shoulder wound and he winced when he saw the gory mess. Number One's gaze slid to his shoulder and ended back on his head, staring at a point above his hairline. When their brief check was over they met back in the middle, looking even more depressed and downtrodden. Their expressions were mirrored, equal in their dismay and both broken.

Frankly, Pike felt defeated. He didn't have any energy left, they were outgunned and outnumbered, and there was no sign of any help coming their way. It was hopeless. All of this had been for nothing, their desperate escape attempt had failed leaving them to more misery and pain. They knew there would be nothing better in store for them, now, he and Una shared a fate worse than most. Although Chris knew he probably wouldn't last long enough to find out, he felt like death warmed up as it was and he was definitely hanging by his last thread.

Pike's head snapped up when he heard the group disband, some heading out to form a security perimeter, others towards the shuttle but the most alarming movement were the men heading their way. Chris noticed at the last minute what they were carrying and what that meant for him and Una; rope.

Alec glared down at Pike coldly, nursing his head wound with one hand whilst pointing down at his victim with the other. "Tie his hands behind his back this time, I don't care if he passes out."

Chris tried to backpedal away from the oncoming men, his eyes wide with fear. He didn't want anyone's hands near his damaged shoulder, let alone people who actually wished him harm. When they grabbed at his arm he kicked out wildly, yelling against the assault and hearing Number One do the same.

The gunman sidestepped his kick easily and deftly flipped him over onto his front, trying to grab his arm and yank it from where he had it protected. Pike tried to struggle against the prying arms but after a punch to the lower back he lost all of his strength, and when they succeeded in pulling his injured arm up behind his back he screamed and promptly blacked out.