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Jim, Chekov, and Lenore had been walking for hours. Lenore seemed to want to ask the Starfleet officers where they were going, but didn't seem to want to draw their attention any more than necessary.

"How do you know we're going in the right direction?" Chekov finally asked, taking the dilemma away from the newcomer who had gotten them into this mess. It wasn't to help her in any way, but he was curious. He trusted Jim more than anyone, but he really wanted to know if the older man had any kind of plan in mind – his own experience told him that Jim probably did, but he wouldn't mind being on the same page as the Captain.

Jim glanced back at the two younger people behind him. "Enterprise has scanners on board that should help us find any other life forms on this planet," he explained. "Even after crashing, we should be able to reroute whatever power's left to search the surface for any other survivors."

It wouldn't tell them who those survivors were, but at least it would be confirmation that there were other members of his crew out there. He could only hope and pray that Carol was one of them.

Chekov frowned. "How do you know where the ship crashed?" he asked curiously.

Lenore also looked interested. Interested and a little too eager. Jim's skin hadn't stopped crawling since they had all met again on the planet's surface, and if he was honest, he'd had a bad feeling ever since this stranger had set foot on the Enterprise's Bridge back at Yorktown. He should have known better than to accept Jon's word when he said this mission shouldn't be too difficult. He was Jim Kirk, things were never that easy.

Still though, Jim couldn't really do anything when all he had to go on was a 'feeling'.

In answer to Chekov's question, he pointed up to the sky. The trees were not so thick that they couldn't see to the blue sky above them. "See the sky over there?" he gestured off to the distance. Chekov squinted, and then nodded in realization. It was subtle, but the sky in the direction Jim had pointed in was grayer, and a little hazy. It looked like something large was burning. Jim smiled and lowered his arm. "I figure if we keep heading towards that, we'll find the ship."

With renewed determination, Chekov continued to follow his Captain.

At the back of the line, Lenore glanced up at the sky, and then back to the Starfleet officers. A small smirk formed on her lips, before she schooled her face back into neutrality, and continued following the two men.

XXX

Uhura and Sulu took a step back as the unknown man entered. He observed them carefully, and then sneered, "Good, you're here. We wouldn't want you to miss this."

Uhura glared. "You won't get away with this. I don't care who you are or what you're planning, Starfleet will stop you."

The man didn't seem phased by her protests. "You are too far out of your depth. You have no idea what you've stepped into."

He was correct, but Uhura didn't let it stop her from spitting at his feet. "Screw you," she said calmly.

Sulu almost groaned at her attitude, knowing that it wouldn't endear her to their captors, and vowed to protect her from any wrath in whatever way he could.

The man looked like he was gearing up to attack her, but a disturbance behind him drew his attention and let him calm down.

Another man was walking up to join them. "Krall, don't waste your energy. These people are dead already, let them have their moment of pointless defiance."

Uhura completely failed to hide her gasp as she caught a glimpse of the newcomer.

Sulu standing next to her felt his mouth drop open in shock, and even the other crew members, who had remained silent until this moment, couldn't help but recognize the face of Kodos, the man who had been splashed all over the news outlets when he had stood trial several years earlier. Stood trial for the genocide on the planet Tarsus IV, and been sentenced to life on a remote prison planet. It was even more personal for them, knowing what this man had done to their Captain when he was a teenager.

Kodos smirked at the two officers in front of him. "I can't wait for you to see what happens next." His gaze swept across the group of officers, his smirk widening into a leer.

After another moment of tense silence, he turned around and left the enclosure. Krall glared at the Starfleet officers one more time, before he followed behind. The gate swung ominously shut behind him.

XXX

After the fourth time Carol stopped to dart around a tree and empty the contents of her already empty stomach, April had had enough. Even a bad concussion shouldn't cause this much vomiting. Dizziness was common, even continued queasiness, but she shouldn't actually be throwing up this much. The doctor had also seen Carol holding her stomach a few times – possibly because of the nausea, but there may be a simpler explanation for all of this.

When Carol returned a few minutes later, wiping her mouth and grimacing, April just raised an eyebrow in expectation. "So how far along are you?" she asked curiously, playing her hunch.

Carol jerked back, looking at April like a deer in headlights. "What?" she replied, unable to hide the panic in her voice.

April rolled her eyes, Carol's own reaction confirming what she thought. "I'm a doctor, Carol. A pretty good one, too. Plus, I'm also a woman. I know what the signs of pregnancy are."

Carol winced and ducked her head, acknowledging that the doctor's guess was right. "About six or seven weeks I think," she admitted. "Though that's really just an estimate based on what I know about pregnancy and when I started throwing up every morning. I was going to see Len once we left Yorktown."

April grinned and moved forward quickly, giving her friend a tight hug. "Congratulations!" she said excitedly. "I'm so happy for you!" She pulled back suddenly, realizing that their situation had just gotten a whole lot more serious and complicated. She had another thought. "Does Jim know?"

Carol immediately nodded, easing at least one of April's concerns. "He found the box from the pregnancy test, and confronted me on the ship right before we were attacked. I had to keep leaving my station to throw up, and I guess he decided he couldn't wait until we got back to Yorktown to talk to me."

April smiled. "I bet he was thrilled. He's going to be a great dad."

Carol bit her lip and looked down. "He said he was happy, but I could tell it wasn't completely true." April frowned, and Carol shrugged. "He's scared. He said he had no role models for good parents growing up, so he has no idea how to do this."

April rolled her eyes. "No parent does," she said firmly. "I'm sure all new parents feel like that, and as for Jim not knowing what a good parent is? Please, he's got more practice than he realizes." Carol made a questioning noise, and April sighed. "Even just looking at recent circumstances, he's been great with Joanna for years. Yes, he does eventually always hand her back to her father, but I've witnessed him in the role of stern parent, fun parent, responsible parent. He knows how to do it, even if he hasn't realized that yet."

April took a seat, silently inviting Carol to do the same. They had been walking for hours, they could afford to take a little bit of a longer break right now. When Carol joined her on the ground, the doctor continued. "When he was fourteen years old, Jim became a leader to a group of over twenty kids. Some of us, sure, were even older than him, but there were many who hadn't even reached ten years old at the time. We might have called Jim our Captain, but he was also like a father to some of the younger ones. There's a reason we were known as 'JT's Kids'. Yes, he was busy making sure we all had food and medicine, and Percy and Anya were the ones taking charge of the younger kids on a day-to-day basis, but I also got to see him reading them bedtime stories, teaching them how to play chess, soothing away their nightmares and fears…" April sighed. The situation had been horrible, but as macabre as it sounded, she did have a few fond memories from that time – and almost all of them centered around Jim. Offering Carol another smile, she added, "You're both going to figure this out as you go. I promise Carol, even if he's scared, he's still happy. He can be both, so please don't doubt it."

Carol nodded, trying to muster up a smile of her own. "Thanks, April. I really appreciate it." She sniffed, and then wiped her nose and eyes. Her hands went through her hair in an effort to tame some of the knots that had developed from their long hike. "I guess I'm scared too. Not just about being a mother, but…" she gestured around them. "This whole situation. I suppose I haven't really had a chance to process yet, but I'm terrified that I'll never see him again, never get a chance to really sit down at talk about it." She fingered her engagement ring absentmindedly. "Will he even be alive to see our child born?"

April immediately cut off that line of thinking. "Don't even consider that," she admonished. "Jim's alive. He made it to the surface, and I know he's doing everything in his power to find you."

Carol frowned. "How can you know that?"

April offered up a grim smile. "Because he's Jim Kirk. Surviving is what he does." She fell silent for a moment, and then added, "Besides, he'd never put any of his children through what his own father did to him. He would never abandon his kids."

Carol's frown deepened. "George Kirk didn't mean to abandon his children. It wasn't like he had any say in the matter."

April inclined her head slightly, acknowledging that Carol was right. "My first point still stands though," she said firmly. "Jim doesn't know how to give up or give in. He's a survivor, and I bet he's already working on a way to get all of us back to Yorktown safely." She stood up and brushed herself off. "Come on," she offered a hand to Carol and used it to help drag the Lieutenant to her feet as well, "let's keep going."

XXX

"I think the smoke is getting thicker," Lenore's quiet voice broke the comfortable silence.

Jim and Chekov both glanced up at the sky, and it did look grayer then it had a few minutes ago. The air around them also seemed to be thicker, indicating they were getting closer to their goal. Continuing on their path, roughly fifteen minutes later they reached an opening in the trees. In front of them lay an enormous ravine, and there at the bottom was a rather scorched saucer that used to be the USS Enterprise.

Jim was glad he had been thinking ten moves ahead back on the ship. He had almost decided to destroy the entire ship, just in case. There was no telling what a warrior race might do with some of the technology on the Bridge. But the most damage would come if someone got their hands on the technology in Engineering – that was where the warp core was, where the weapons were, and where Scotty did most of his experimenting. Destroying that level alone would lessen the chance of anyone weaponizing their ship against them.

And Jim had been considering the next moves. He had known that he would need more than just a personal communicator to find the rest of his crew once they had landed on the planet. He had had a feeling he might need the ship's more powerful scanners to get them out of this mess, so it had made sense from a logical standpoint to make sure the Bridge would remain intact after they evacuated.

Chekov let out a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a moan, and moved to head down into the ravine.

Jim glanced at Lenore, catching an anticipatory smirk as she moved to let him go first, and he was moving before he even consciously thought about it. He grabbed Lenore and slammed her up against the closest tree. Chekov stopped walking and turned to look at the confrontation behind him, confused.

"What's waiting for us down there?" Jim glared.

Lenore tried to look confused at first, but then she smiled. "What gave it away, Captain?"

Jim's glare intensified. "It's the perfect ambush location. I've survived a lot of situations that should have killed me because I know how to trust my instincts."

Lenore's eyes gleamed. "So, you've known all along?"

Jim growled. "If I had had anything more than a feeling, we wouldn't be here in the first place. But your story was a little too perfectly contrived to be true. Must have thought you were springing the perfect trap, playing on our need to help."

Lenore smirked. "And you played so well into it, Captain. Made my job easy. Well, this has been fun, but I think you have a pressing engagement."

A shot fired, and Jim dove to the ground. The phaser fire impacted the tree, and Jim rolled to his feet quickly, grabbing a branch from the ground as he did so.

There were four men surrounding them. Jim used the reach of the branch to his advantage, and out of the corner of his eye caught Chekov dropping Lenore with a few well-placed punches.

Together, the two fought ferociously, incapacitating each enemy one by one until it was just the two of them left standing.

Jim didn't even spare a glance at the ship behind them as he grabbed Chekov's arm and gestured for him to run.

Now that the enemy knew where the remains of the ship were, and knew that Jim was interested in using the technology on it, they couldn't go back.

Fortunately, Jim had left out the part where he would have to do some coding to get the scanners up and running, and after a systems wipe none of the computers on board would respond to anything other than a series of specific Starfleet passcodes from Command – codes Jim knew because, well, he was Jim, but for anyone else it would be impossible. Lenore wouldn't be able to use the scanners to pick up any survivors.

The two ran for as long as they could, weaving through the trees to try and throw off any pursuers.

Finally, Jim pulled Chekov into a small dip in the ground, between a couple piles of rocks. It would provide a decent cover for them to catch their breath.

"You knew all along?" Chekov asked, winded.

Jim grimaced and pulled out his communicator again. The screen was cracked, but it still had a charge, even if it wouldn't work to call people. If he could rewire it, he might be able to use it for something else. "Like I said, I didn't have more than a gut feeling," he admitted. "The way she changed her story to fit the circumstances, and she seemed too eager to get the two of us into that ravine. I've spent a lifetime developing the skills necessary to stay alive, and Lenore was pinging off the radar from the beginning. But without more to go on, it's not like I could tell Jon or Commodore Paris 'no'."

Chekov nodded in understanding, and then watched as Jim pulled the back off of his communicator. "What are you doing? I thought you said it was broken."

Jim shrugged. "It won't make calls, but it's not completely broken. The calling feature is toast and the screen is busted, but if I rewire it a little, I'm pretty sure I can turn it into a scanning device."

"So we can find our friends without the Enterprise?" Chekov asked eagerly. "Why didn't you mention this earlier?"

Jim glanced at him briefly and then went back to work. "I didn't know if it would work, and I didn't want Lenore to know we had alternatives. I wanted to play it out, see if she would show her true colors. And she did." He winced as a few sparks were thrown by him crossing two wires. "Besides, this isn't going to be nearly as powerful as the Enterprise's scanners, and there's no guarantee there will be anyone within range. The ship could have done this all with just a few keystrokes, and would have easily been able to search for life signs for a hundred miles. We won't get nearly that big a search radius with this," he wiggled the device slightly, "maybe twenty or thirty miles, max." Jim fell silent as he got back to work.

Chekov let him be, knowing that he would just be a distraction while Jim was trying to concentrate. After about fifteen minutes, the older man let out a triumphant sound, and put the device back together. "That should do it," he said victoriously.

Chekov watched eagerly as Jim powered the device back on. He had managed to figure out why the screen was dark, and so they could faintly see a map appear underneath all the cracks. It was very dim, but it was something.

Jim frowned in concentration as he fiddled with the communicator. "I can't search for life signs," he admitted, "but I'm scanning for Starfleet signals. If anyone has a communicator turned on, it should show up."

Chekov watched over his shoulder as Jim zoomed the map out. He pointed to a red dot in the top right corner that was coming from the direction they had run from after defeating Lenore and her companions. "That's probably the Enterprise," he said. "Even if the ship is dead, there's still the emergency transponder that would emit a signal." He moved the map around a little, and then frowned in confusion. "There's another signal coming from over here," he glanced up, looking in the direction of the signal. "I'd say twenty miles or so in that direction. But there's something off about it." He looked back down at the communicator and pulled up some more information.

"What's wrong?" Chekov asked.

Jim's frown intensified. "It's very outdated," he said slowly. "It's definitely Starfleet, but it's got to be decades old. The only reason I even recognize it is because of the research I did while studying for my master's degree."

"Is it another ship then?"

Jim shrugged. "I don't know," he replied, unhappy with the uncertainties. "But it's probably our best bet."

Chekov pursed his lips. "Maybe we'll find more scanners there? Even if they're older, we could probably boost the signal, right? We can find everyone without going back to the Enterprise."

Jim nodded again, not quite as positive but knowing that whatever this signal was, was probably their best option. "Let's get going," he said, keeping a hold on his comm. as he stood up.

Together, they left their slight protection, and headed towards whatever was sending out the signal.

XXX

Scotty had been walking alone for hours and had no idea where he was. He could be heading further and further away from any other survivors, and he'd never know. His thoughts kept getting darker as the hours passed without seeing anyone else.

A grunt and a rustling sound drew him out of his morose thoughts, and he looked up just in time to see five people stumbling through the trees towards him. Four were strangers, but he recognized the fifth as the woman who had escaped her ship and been rescued by Yorktown. Lenore? That was her name, right?

All five of them looked a little worse for the wear, sporting bruises and dried blood. He was about to call out to them when he was spotted first, and then the men with Lenore immediately rushed towards him threateningly.

Scotty let out a yelp as one man punched him, and he dropped to the ground. For Christ's sake he was an Engineer, not Security! He wasn't trained in hand to hand combat!

He took a few kicks to his stomach, and then suddenly the men were gone. Scotty braved looking up to see a stranger coming to his rescue.

She was tall and well built, humanoid but clearly not human. Scotty didn't recognize her – he wasn't as good with faces and names as Jim was, but he knew every crew member at least, they had all served together for years after all. She also wasn't wearing a Starfleet uniform, so that was another tip off.

The Chief Engineer watched in awe as the stranger took her staff and clicked the end. Suddenly, there were four of her, and all of them immediately attacked the enemies.

It didn't take too long for all four of the men to go down, but Scotty saw Lenore slip away while the strange woman and her copies were occupied. If he wasn't so winded, he might have chased after her.

Instead, he just relaxed into the ground slightly, now that the immediate danger was over. The woman clicked her staff again, and the copies disappeared as she straightened from her fighter's crouch.

Scotty sucked in a deep breath and stood up as well, holding up his hands immediately in a gesture of surrender as the woman leveled her staff at him. "I'm unarmed," he said quickly. "Thank you for your help."

The woman looked at him silently, but didn't respond.

Scotty frowned. "Do you… speak Standard?" This could get really complicated if she didn't. It wasn't like he had access to a universal translator out here. He could probably whip one up if he had a communicator, but unfortunately he didn't have that either.

The woman studied him carefully, her gaze narrowing as she seemed to focus on his chest. "What is that?" she asked brusquely, allaying his current train of thought with relief that even though she was probably about two seconds away from spearing him to death, at least they could speak the same language.

Scotty tilted his head in confusion. "What's what?"

The woman pointed her staff towards his chest, and Scotty looked down. "That. That mark. What is it?"

Scotty risked lowering one hand to point at the symbol on his chest. "What, this? It's a Starfleet insignia. It means I'm a member of Starfleet, a peacekeeping organization for the Federation. This particular design means I'm a member of the Engineering crew."

The woman frowned. "What is Engineering?"

Scotty smiled slightly, and lowered both his arms, feeling a little bit calmer now that she didn't seem to be as likely to kill him. "It means I fix things. I'm responsible for making sure our ship can fly and function properly."

There was a loud snap from the trees around them, and both Scotty and the stranger turned in that direction. The woman held up her staff, ready to attack.

A minute later, two more people stumbled out of the trees, and Scotty almost wilted in relief. "Oh thank God! Do you have any idea how long I've been stumbling around here alone?" He looked over at the woman next to him. "They're friends," he assured her. "Their names are April and Carol. And I'm Scotty by the way."

The woman frowned indecisively, considering. April and Carol had immediately held up their hands at seeing the weapon pointed at them, but lowered them when the woman put her staff down.

"Jayla," she replied shortly.

Scotty smiled. "Nice to meet ya, lassie. You've got really good timing." He gestured to the bodies around them, showing April and Carol the stranger's handiwork. Turning back to the two newcomers, he bit his lip. "Have you found anything, or anyone?"

April shook her head, and Carol looked like she was trying really hard not to cry. "No one," the doctor confirmed. "We could all be walking in circles and completely missing each other. I tried my comm., but haven't gotten any response."

"Come," Jayla cut in brusquely. "I take you to my house."

Scotty frowned, but followed the woman when she started walking away. Carol and April shared a look, but they followed willingly enough.

"Where do you live?" Scotty asked, huffing as he ran to catch up.

Jayla just pointed in front of her. "This way."

April frowned. "Why do you want us to go to your house?" she asked, confused.

Jayla looked at Scotty. "I need you to fix something." She looked at the other two women. "Do you engineering too?" The way she said the word made it clear it wasn't one she was familiar with.

April and Carol shook their heads, smiling slightly. "I'm a doctor," April replied.

Jayla looked at Carol, and she shrugged. "Science." It was easier than trying to explain molecular biology and applied physics.

Jayla turned her attention back to her surroundings, and didn't speak again as they continued to their destination.

It was nearly an hour later when the trees opened up, and Jayla led them onto what looked like a rocky cliff. What lay at the top, however, stunned all of them.

It was a ship. An old, probably dead ship, but it was definitely a ship.

Scotty gaped as Jayla led them inside, passing through a force field that seemed to recognize the woman and deactivate, letting the rest pass as well.

Inside, Scotty was drawn immediately to an insignia on the wall. "This is a Starfleet vessel!" he exclaimed, running a hand across the old fashioned and out of date insignia. Jayla's interest in the pin on his shirt suddenly made sense.

Carol frowned as she took in the logo as well. Next to the insignia was the name of the vessel, and her frown deepened in confusion. "The USS Franklin was one of the first space-capable ships designed after the Vulcans initiated contact," she recalled. "But it wouldn't have been capable of traveling out here. We're light years from Earth."

Scotty looked over at her and nodded. "I remember that name. The ship went missing during a mission, right? Everyone just vanished and no one ever heard from them again."

Carol nodded. "The crew is still listed as missing in Starfleet's files."

"How could that happen?" April wondered. "And how could it make it all the way out here?"

Jayla looked slightly curious, but mostly impatient.

Scotty shrugged. "Wormhole maybe? We may never know." He turned back to Jayla. "Right, so what was it you wanted me to fix, lassie?"

Jayla pointed to the main computer console at the front of the Bridge. "Fix it. Make it fly, so I can leave this place."

Scotty's eyes widened, and he shared a significant look with April and Carol. Here was a way off this planet. If they could find the others, they now had a way to leave. His mouth set into a grim line, and he nodded, focused. "Let's see what we're working with then."

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