"Put up their positions," Eliza said to Chekov from her position in the Captain's chair.
The bridge crew watched as the trio descended towards the drill site, gasped when Olsen acted like the idiot that he always was and nearly ruined their chances of stopping the drill.
Eliza breathed a sigh of relief when the drill was deactivated, but that didn't last for long. When they saw that something was launched into Vulcan, the wristband that Eliza always wore buzzed, alerting her that Spock had an elevated heart rate.
Many people had bands that told them what was going on in their own bodies, but it was five years ago that Spock had acquired them...
Flashback...
Spock worries far more than most people would ever notice. Even Eliza, who has the strange ability to see right through him, sometimes seems oblivious when what he is feeling concerns her. Spock worries about Eliza. All the time. The anxiety he gets when they are on break from the academy and he knows she is out there alone doing very dangerous things is unlike anything he has ever felt before.
"Eliza," Spock started one day, "I have procured something that I would like you to have."
Eliza put down the book she was reading and looked up at Spock, "What?" She asked.
Spock presented a black box to her, she looked at him slightly oddly before opening it. Inside was a black wristband that had a small display.
Eliza looked up at him in confusion, "What is it?" Eliza asked.
Spock smiled slightly, "It's a device that will allow us to monitor each other's well being. If something happens to one of us," Spock pushed back his sleeve slightly to reveal that he was wearing an identical one, "We simply use this to alert each other."
Eliza was at first, uncertain about the idea, but upon the realization that since it was Spock that she was dealing with, there must be a fairly logical explanation.
"When'd you come up with this?" Eliza asked. Spock was silent for a moment, and Eliza could instantly tell that perhaps his motivation was not exactly... logical. "You don't have to say, it's fine, I-"
"Eliza," Spock interrupted, "I do not mind telling you, but I fear that you may find my motivations... foolish at best, and insulting at worst."
She looked at him with a strange half-smile, "Okay... well, I promise I won't think it's foolish or insulting."
Spock nodded, "I occasionally become concerned with your safety when we are separated by great distance."
Eliza looked up at him in shock, she hadn't seen that coming. She put on the bracelet and reached her hand out for Spock's. He took it.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Eliza asked.
Spock paused for a moment, "I thought that you may not appreciate my concern."
Eliza squeezed his hand, "Of course I do. Spock... you know you can tell me anything right? Even if you think I'm not going to like it." Spock nodded and Eliza let go of his hand. "So what else do these things do?" Eliza asked about the wristbands.
"They send an alert to the partner if something is wrong, for example, an injury, or abnormal heart rate and breathing. Additionally, the signal appears on beaming displays, making it exponentially easier for someone to lock onto your signal," Spock explained.
Eliza nodded, "Well, that could be very useful."
"Chekov, run gravitational sensors. I want to know what they're doing to the planet," Spock said.
After a few moments Chekov replied, "Keptin, gravitational sensors are off the scale. If my calculations are correct, that pod they launched is creating a singularity... that will consume the planet."
Eliza glanced up at Spock, horrified for him. "How long does the planet have Chekov?" She asked.
"Minutes Keptin, minutes," Chekov spoke sadly.
Eliza stood, followed quickly by Spock, "Chekov, you have the con."
She quickly left the bridge, followed by Spock, "I assume you are joining me in beaming to the surface?" He asked her.
She nodded silently, "We'll get them, I promise."
Eliza and Spock arrived in the beaming room just as Sulu and Jim landed hard on the floor.
Eliza walked up to them, "Clear the pad."
Jim looked up at her with confusion, "Where are you going?" He asked Eliza and Spock.
"The surface," Spock replied.
"You're going down there! Are you insane?! You can't!" Jim exclaimed in shock. He grabbed Eliza's arm, which was a mistake as she swiftly grabbed his forearm and flipped him off of the pad. Sulu got the message and quickly vacated the area as well. Eliza nodded to Chekov, who was now sitting at the controls.
They appeared on the surface of Vulcan a mere moment later. Spock took off running, and Eliza followed quickly behind him.
...
Sarek was surprised when he heard his wife say his son's name, but he was even more surprised when he turned to see the face of a woman he had only seen in pictures before.
"The planet's not safe, it has only seconds left. We must evacuate now," Spock spoke as calmly as he was able.
Sarek followed behind his son and his wife, suddenly, there was a large crashing noise coming from above him, and he was quickly pulled backwards. A huge rock crashed right into where he used to be standing. He turned around to see Spock's friend, what was her name again? Elise? Elana? Eliza? Yes, it was Eliza.
Before he could thank her, he heard Spock's voice, "Hurry, the planet is destabilizing!"
The ones who made it, stood around them, waiting to be beamed up to the USS Enterprise when something... truly terrible happened.
The ground under Amanda's feet suddenly disappeared, and then Sarek saw a dart of black follow her into the abyss. He would not have known what had happened if Spock had not shouted "Eliza!"
It seemed the young woman dove after his wife... but Sarek did not dare dream that he would see them again, he couldn't bear to hope and be disappointed...
...
Spock felt like he couldn't breathe, he had just watched the two people that he... that he cared about the most fall into the black hole that was consuming his home.
He knew that Eliza had the strangest urges to do the most dangerous things Spock could imagine, but this... she just killed herself.
Spock saw the interior of the beaming room on the Enterprise, and he shut his eyes tightly. It was then, when he was trying to drown everything out, that he heard Chekov's frantic voice.
"I've got them! I've got them!"
Spock opened his eyes and turned just in time to see his mother land on top of Eliza on the pad, not unlike how Sulu landed on Jim not too long ago.
Amanda stood and embraced her son, and then her husband. Eliza didn't want to intrude on the moment, so she quietly stood and began to exit the room. Not quite before Spock noticed.
"Eliza," He spoke. She turned and looked at him as if she was expecting him to ask her a question. "You're bleeding."
She brought a hand up to her forehead and saw that there was blood on her fingertips from a cut caused by a falling rock. She nodded her head slightly, "I'm fine," She said. "And Commander, there's no rush to return to your post, take your time."
Spock locked eyes with her and nodded his head slightly, "Thank you, Captain."
...
Eliza entered the bridge and quickly re-entered her role as Captain. "Sulu," She started, "Make sure we are outside the minimum safe distance from the black hole."
Sulu nodded, "Already done Captain."
"And does anybody know where Nero is now heading?" Eliza asked.
"Yes Captain," Uhura answered, "Their trajectory suggests no other destination but Earth."
Jim then looked at Eliza, "You're bleeding," He commented with surprise.
"I am aware, I'm fine," Eliza said.
"Why didn't they destroy us Keptin? I do not understand," Chekov said to Eliza.
"Nero said he wanted Spock to see something, I believe that the destruction of Vulcan was what Nero wanted him to see," Eliza said. During Eliza and Chekov's little discussion about Nero's motives, McCoy had come up behind Eliza with some of his medical instruments. "If you touch me, doctor McCoy, you'll regret it," Eliza said sharply.
Bones raised an eyebrow, "What is with you Kirks and hating doctors? There's got to be a story there," Bones muttered to himself.
"I just don't understand how the Romulans jumped so far ahead in the arms race," Sulu said, returning to the original topic
Just then, Spock came aboard the bridge. "The engineering comprehension necessary to artificially create a black hole may suggest the answer. Such technology could theoretically be manipulated to create a tunnel through space-time."
Eliza looked at him in surprise, "Are you sure?" She asked.
"I don't buy it," Jim stated, "Time travel? Seriously?"
"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," Spock recited.
"So what are we going to do then?" Bones demanded grumpily.
Everyone turned to Eliza, Spock had been so focused on proving his theory to be correct that he hadn't noticed that Eliza was not looking well.
"Captain Pike was very clear in his orders, we are to meet up with the rest of the fleet in the Laurentian System," Eliza said. She then stood from her chair, "Spock, you have the con. Dr. McCoy, with me."
Eliza left the concerned eyes of Spock behind her and led Bones to the medbay.
"What are we doing Captain? Finally letting me look after that nasty cut?" He asked her.
"Just some quick stitches, I can't have a bloody face on the bridge, it's distracting."
Bones mumbled something but got to work anyways.
He was almost done when his curiosity was getting the better of him.
"So... why do you Kirk's not like doctors?" Bones asked.
Eliza looked at him with deliberation, "It's not really my story to tell. You should ask Jim, but if he gives you some bullshit answer about how I didn't do anything, that's a flat out lie."
Bones narrowed his eyebrows in confusion but finished the last stitch.
Eliza stood and walked out of the medbay. When she arrived back on the bridge it was in a slight stage of chaos. Jim was being restrained by Sulu and Spock looked... livid.
"What's going on here?" Eliza asked.
"Cadet Kirk was making it quite clear that he was objecting to the ship's current course," Spock answered. "He was just being escorted off the bridge."
"Alright then," Eliza said.
Jim had been planning on going fairly willingly, but when he heard her brush him off again... it brought back bad memories, and Jim wasn't going to leave without a fight. And Eliza was the closest one to him.
He lunged towards her, but she was sort of expecting a reaction from him, so she stepped to the side, twisted, and turned out her foot. He tripped and fell onto his face. He quickly got to his feet and turned to Eliza, he took a swing at her, which she easily dodged. He tried again, with the same result.
She then stepped towards him, still evading his punches. She punched him in the soft tissue of his side while kicked his hip, causing him to hunch over and bend his leg. Then she quickly put one leg over his shoulder and twisted over his shoulder. When the movement was done, she was kneeling on his back while he was on the ground again. Before he could make any move to get up, Eliza pulled her blaster from her belt, which was on stun, and shot him in the back.
Sulu and Spock, who had seen this sort of display by her before were impressed, but overall unphased. However, the other crew members who hadn't seen her fight before were, to say the least, scared.
Checkov turned to Sulu and mouthed, "Wow."
"Have transportation prepare a deployment capsule," Eliza said as she stood and moved away from his unconscious body.
...
A while later, Spock was chasing Eliza through the corridors as she was marching with purpose to a small shuttle.
"Captain, where are you going?" Spock asked, but was either not heard or ignored. Spock ran up beside her and grabbed her arm, "Eliza." She looked up at him with vague annoyance. "What are you doing?"
Eliza looked him right in the eye and smiled in the way that she always did when she was about to do something that he didn't approve of. "James was right about one thing, that if we take the time to meet up with the rest of the fleet, we're going to be too late... so I'm going to buy us some time."
Spock's blood ran cold, "And how, exactly, are you planning on achieving that?"
"Spock... he only wanted two things, he wanted Pike... and he wanted me. So I'm gonna do what I should've done the first time," Eliza said to him. Her voice seemed calm, but Spock knew her well enough that he could tell she was quite afraid.
"Eliza, you can't be serious. He'll kill you!" Spock exclaimed in a rare outburst.
Eliza shook her head, "No, I don't think he will... actually, I'm almost certain he won't."
"And how's that?" Spock asked.
"Because you wouldn't be there to see it," Eliza said softly and Spock froze. "That's why you need to promise me that whatever happens, you won't find your way onto that ship."
Spock stood there and looked at her with a mixture of desperation and sadness. "If something happens to you because of his vendetta against me... I'll never forgive myself."
Eliza looked down briefly before looking at him one last time, "Then I'm sorry."
She boarded the shuttle alone and he had to go back to the bridge to fulfill his new role as Captain.