Disclaimer: don't own Star Trek
Things moved quickly after that. Jim moved the vintage motorcycle outside in preparation, while Jayla walked McCoy and Spock through their entrance and where their crew members were likely to be held.
Scotty and Chekov would stay on the Franklin to boost the transporter as much as possible, allowing for multiple beam outs. They would also try to finish getting the ship ready to fly so that they could leave the planet as soon as possible after the rest of the crew returned.
April and Carol would remain behind as well; Jim wanted Spock to stay too, but they needed one more person to go in with McCoy and Jayla, and neither April nor Carol were combat trained. It made sense from a logical standpoint as well: Carol was pregnant, and they needed a doctor to be ready to deal with any potential injuries amongst their captive crew. McCoy hadn't had much in the way of combat training – besides a basic hand to hand combat course his first year at the Academy that he had actually managed to do quite well in due to Jim's assistance – but he had been working to boost his skills over the last few years; his reasoning was that Jim wasn't going to stop diving head first into dangerous situations, so it was the doctor's job to make sure he could keep up with the man when the shit hit the fan.
Neither woman was happy to stay, but agreed readily, and simply kept their goodbyes short before they headed inside to do whatever they could to help Scotty and Chekov.
Jim looked at McCoy and Spock. "This will work," he said reassuringly.
McCoy didn't say anything, and Spock looked too busy trying to conserve energy to respond. Jayla seemed uncertain. "Try not to break this," she said, handing Jim her staff.
Jim smiled and slung it over his shoulder. "Everything'll be fine. When I'm in position I'll send you the signal."
Without wasting any more time, Jim hopped on the bike and took off.
They were about thirty miles from Krall's location, and it took Jim almost an hour to get there, due to the dense foliage and rocky ground.
Moving into position outside the compound, Jim pulled out his transponder and clicked it. A few seconds later, Jayla, McCoy, and Spock appeared in a whirlwind of light.
Jim looked at them and nodded, just once, before he revved the bike and headed into the compound. Reaching back, he clicked a button on the staff on his back, and suddenly there were multiple copies of him, just like when Jayla had appeared to save Scotty.
All of the copies split up once they were inside, and Jim smiled slightly at seeing the enemy take the bait. He peeled around a corner and kept going.
XXX
Once Jim had left, Jayla immediately led the other two to the tunnel she had escaped from all those months ago. Once inside the compound, the trio separated. Jayla moved quickly, looking for a nearby vantage point. Lying down, she pulled out her weapon, and took aim. Methodically, she began searching for enemy shooters so that she could eliminate them.
McCoy and Spock headed in the opposite direction, following Jayla's instructions for where prisoners were likely to be held.
There were two guards standing outside what looked like a large enclosed courtyard. There was a fence all around, and a lock on the gate. It seemed that Jayla's hunch had been correct. The two Starfleet officers immediately took aim and fired, taking down the guards simultaneously before they even realized they were no longer alone. Even with their current situation, McCoy spared a moment to feel incredibly proud that he had taken his guard out with one well-placed shot. Jim had been working with him on the practice range for months, and it was definitely paying off.
One more blast to the lock on the gate by Spock, and the two men quickly headed inside.
Uhura and Sulu were ready for them as soon as they entered, but immediately dropped out of their defensive stances when they saw who it was.
"Spock!" Uhura exclaimed, rushing forward to hug her boyfriend.
Spock returned the gesture slightly less enthusiastically, as he tried to contain his wince of pain at her eagerness.
Pulling back, Uhura seemed to notice his predicament, and immediately started looking for the cause. Not seeing anything, she looked at McCoy expectantly.
The doctor smiled slightly. "He'll be fine," he assured her. "But we need to get out of here. There's a blackout area around this structure where we can't beam out so we have to get out in the open before they can lock on our signals. Let's get moving."
They started ushering the officers out of the cage, and Sulu grabbed Spock's arm as the Vulcan made to turn. "Spock, we know Krall's plan." Spock immediately turned, and raised an eyebrow expectantly. Sulu grimaced. "Yorktown. He's going after Yorktown."
McCoy frowned, confused. "Why?" he asked. "I mean, I know it's a hot target, but what's his endgame?"
Uhura shook her head. "The peace talks," she explained. "He's a xenophobic asshole who thinks humans shouldn't mix with any other species. He sees the talks as the epitome of all that's wrong with the universe."
They started moving, leading the other officers towards what the rescue team had agreed on would be the beam out point.
"Who is this guy?" McCoy asked curiously and slightly disgustedly. The universe was full of idiots and assholes, he really shouldn't be that surprised, but he still found himself marveling at the absurdity that even as advanced a race as they were, there were still people who thought they should be held as better than others based on some arbitrary measure of superiority. The doctor glanced over at Spock. "I wonder how or if the Franklin plays into all of this."
Uhura and Sulu looked very confused, so McCoy briefly explained their situation and how they had found the crashed ship.
Spock just shrugged his uncertainty. The ship could have been lying on that cliff long before Krall decided to make this planet his base. They might never know what had happened.
"I don't know about any connection," Uhura said, "but Leonard, Kodos was here as well."
McCoy stopped short, and Spock also looked startled, though he hid it quickly in a neutral Vulcan mask. Uhura nodded grimly, and Sulu looked upset. "He wanted Jim," the pilot explained softly. "He was really angry when he wasn't with the rest of us."
It was concerning, but they didn't have time to worry about it now. They gathered the crew around them, hiding just out of sight. McCoy explained what was going to happen, "We can only beam about twenty out at a time," he said apologetically. "We'll go in three groups. First group, get ready. The beam out point is exposed, just beyond that wall."
He gestured for those in front to move, and as soon as they were in position, he clicked his transponder, sending the signal to Scotty.
A few seconds later, the group disappeared, and McCoy gestured for the second group to get ready. He motioned for Spock to join them, which the Vulcan did, though not entirely willingly. Uhura went as well, which made him slightly less upset. Spock activated his transponder this time, and the group disappeared a moment later.
McCoy gathered the last group around him, and they got into position.
XXX
Jim was running out of copies. He had already lost five to the enemy's weapons, and only had two left. The chance of them picking him off instead of one of the decoys was getting bigger and bigger.
He paused for a moment, hidden behind a large rock outcropping, and took a breath to observe the situation.
He saw a large swirl of lights off to one side of the compound, and noted that there was only one more group of officers to beam out now.
On the other side of the compound, he saw a fleet of small ships lift off. He couldn't do anything but watch as they disappeared above the clouds. "Shit," he muttered, and then turned his attention to a disturbance on one of the compound's towers.
It looked like Jayla, fighting in close quarters with… someone.
In another whirlwind of lights, the final group of Starfleet officers disappeared, and then Scotty was contacting him. "Jim, we've got everyone but you and Jayla. Turn on your beacon and get out of there!"
Jim nodded, though he knew the Engineer couldn't see him, and looked back at Jayla. She didn't seem to be capable of beaming out at that moment, or aware that it was time to leave.
He revved his engine, and she turned to look at him. "Come on!" he yelled.
Jayla nodded shakily, and stood up. Before she could go far, however, she was grabbed from behind and thrown back to the floor.
Jim immediately started moving, circling the bike around and trying to build speed.
"Jayla!" he called out, getting her attention. Seeing he had it, and hoping she could tell what he was about to do, Jim rode the bike off a rock and straight up into the air.
Timing the move to get the most height, he activated his beacon as he jumped off the bike.
Jayla threw herself off the tower and towards him, reaching desperately for his hand.
They just managed to grab onto each other when Jim felt the transporter signal lock on, and together, the pair disappeared.
They crashed onto the transporter pad on the Franklin a few seconds later, in a tangle of limbs.
Jayla groaned as she forced herself to her knees, and Jim shakily sat up. "Let's never do that again," he mumbled, shaking out his arms and searching for any sign of more injury. His ribs throbbed painfully, reminding him of the hard landing he had taken in his escape pod a couple days ago.
Carol was there as he tried to stand up, helping him get to his feet and practically dragging him off of the pad.
When he looked around, he saw that most of the officers seemed to have dispersed, but the command crew were still there, plus Carol and Jayla. A questioning look at his fiancée, and Carol smiled slightly. "April went to check on any injuries with the crew," she informed him.
Jim nodded, and pulled away, looking at Scotty. "How's the ship?" he asked hopefully.
Scotty grimaced and looked at Chekov. The navigator nodded. "Almost there," he promised. "We could use some help finishing up though?"
Jim agreed, and headed to the Bridge with most of the crowd, while Scotty remained in Engineering to make the final repairs there.
On the way, Uhura filled Jim in on Krall's plan, while Spock informed him of Kodos' presence when it looked like the Communications officer was debating on whether or not to tell him. Uhura shot him a mild glare, but the Vulcan didn't react.
Jim barely slowed in his stride, acknowledging the information with a tight nod but more focused on the current problem. First things first, they had to get to Yorktown, which meant they had to get this ship in the air.
Once on the Bridge, everyone dispersed to their respective consoles. "Uhura, are communications active?" Jim asked from his position next to Chekov.
Uhura ran a quick systems check and then replied negatively. "Working on it, give me a few minutes."
Jim nodded and left her to it. "Sulu, how're we looking up there?"
The pilot grimaced as he did his own checks. "If Scotty can get things up and running in Engineering, we should be good to go," he said, but he didn't sound completely certain.
Before Jim could call him out on it though, the Engineer chimed in. "Everything's ready down here, Captain. Let's fire her up and see what we've got."
"Strap in," Jim ordered, doing just that and watching as everyone else on the Bridge followed suit.
Sulu took a deep breath as he buckled his own seatbelt and started punching in commands. "Everyone hold on," he added to Jim's order. "This is going to be a bumpy ride. These things weren't designed to take off from atmosphere."
"Just do whatever you need to do," Jim said. "I trust you."
There was no higher compliment for Sulu, and he focused all of his attention on the task at hand. Together, he and Chekov entered their commands and slowly, systems began to fire up. Around them, they could hear the rock crumbling as the ship, which must have been lying there for years, began to separate from the mountain surrounding it.
The ship moved forward towards the precipice, and Chekov gulped. "Are you sure this drop is big enough?" he asked quietly, not wanting to catch anyone else's attention.
Sulu glanced over and offered up a small smile. "We're about to find out," he replied in what was probably a very Jim-like answer. "It's the only chance we've got," he added when Chekov just looked more nervous. "We need to build up velocity."
Chekov swallowed again, and then focused his attention on the window in front of him, and he nodded grimly. "Let's do this."
Sulu grinned, and pushed the controls forward.
The ship tipped, and then fell straight down.
Behind them, Jim held on to his armrests and watched the duo intently. "Any time now," he said as the ground just seemed to get closer and closer.
"Hold on," Sulu cautioned. The numbers on the speedometer slowly crept up. "Almost…" he muttered.
Chekov looked over at his partner as well. "Too close!" he yelled. "We need to pull up!"
Sulu shook his head. "Not yet!" They fell for a few more seconds, and everyone on the Bridge seemed to stop what they were doing to hold on to anything they could that might help them brace themselves. Until finally… "Now!" Sulu shouted, pressing the commands.
The ship rocked and then jolted to a sudden halt as the trajectory changed. The impulse engines fired up, and then they were shooting towards the sky.
Sulu would never admit to letting out a triumphant shout as his plan worked, but there were enough people on the Bridge that it would be useless to try and deny it anyway.
Once they leveled out, people unbuckled themselves and got back to work. Jayla, who had no task assigned to her, moved almost trancelike to the window, stopping when she was right behind Sulu and Chekov. Silently, she watched the stars get closer as they left the planet behind.
She was free.
Jim joined her, but didn't speak. Finally, Jayla looked at him and smiled. "I never thought I would make it off," she admitted gratefully. "Thank you."
Jim nodded and grasped her arm lightly, reassuringly. "I told you, you're a part of this family now. And that means no one gets left behind."
Jayla's smile widened, and Jim went back to his seat. "Uhura, any luck?"
The Communications officer bit her lip and typed in a few more commands. Finally, her console flickered to life and she grinned. "Got it."
Jim sighed, relieved. "Contact Yorktown. Tell Archer what's going on and get them to engage the station's defenses."
Uhura nodded and turned back to her station. Admiral Archer was with Commodore Paris in the control room when she reached them, and both were relieved to hear from the missing crew of the flagship. It had been several days, and they had been concerned when they lost contact with the Enterprise shortly after the ship had departed.
Both were also alarmed to hear of Kodos' involvement, and though Archer clearly wanted to ask after Jim, he restrained himself and simply queried about their plan.
Uhura glanced back at Jim, and then returned her attention to the screen in front of her. "We're working on it," she said simply. "We'll be in contact soon."
She signed off and started monitoring frequencies, looking for any sign of the swarm of ships Jim said he had seen leaving the compound as the rest of them had escaped.
Jim remained focused as they got closer to Yorktown. He didn't have time to think about Kodos and what his plans were. First things first, get to Yorktown. Krall and Kodos seemed to be working together, but Jim knew Kodos didn't play well with others. The man was a sociopath, and had to have his own agenda.
They were almost to Yorktown when Scotty came to the Bridge, telling Jim he had found something. Jim immediately stood up and joined the Engineer off to one side; Spock came as well, and Scotty immediately launched into an explanation. "I've been dissecting that signal we heard when Krall and his crew attacked the Enterprise," he explained. "I thought it was jamming us so we couldn't call for help, but it wasn't actually a jammer," he said excitedly.
Uhura glanced over, hearing what they were talking about, and nodded quickly. "He's right, Jim," she joined in. "I've been working on that too, and I'm monitoring for that frequency so we can hopefully find them before they spot us. But the signal wasn't designed to jam us up, I think they were using it to talk to each other."
Scotty looked a little disappointed that Uhura had taken away his big reveal, but pressed on regardless. "The captive crew said Krall didn't have more than a few dozen henchmen, but we easily saw hundreds of ships. I don't think they were all manned, I think they must be linked to a common signal. They get orders from one person, Krall, and then it's just technology. Incredibly advanced, but machinery nonetheless."
"Which means we can disrupt it," Jim commented thoughtfully. "If they're all linked and getting orders, that means there's a frequency we can hijack. If we can separate Krall from these… bees… then it's just him and a few dozen others. We can work with that."
"Bees?" Spock asked, confused.
Jim shrugged. "Like a hive mind. It made sense in my head."
"How do we get the frequency?" Uhura wondered, interrupting them to get them back to the issue at hand.
Spock pursed his lips in thought. "The most logical solution would be to board one of these vessels and download the frequency from the onboard computer," he commented.
Jim glanced at him, concerned. "It could be suicide," he replied. "Not all of the ships are manned, sure, but we have no way of knowing which ones are occupied."
Spock offered up the equivalent of a Vulcan shrug, a small ripple of his shirt where one shoulder lifted minutely. "It may be the only option," he reasoned. "I can beam aboard the vessel and determine the correct frequency."
Uhura immediately jumped in, "Spock, you're injured. You're still hurting, surely there's another way?"
Jim nodded in agreement. "She's right, Spock, you're hurt."
Spock raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps it would ease your concerns if I had an accomplice who is both versed in my injury and has also boarded one of these vessels previously?"
Jim stared at him for a long moment, before he sighed and shook his head, a small smile lifting the corners of his mouth. "He's going to love this," the Captain muttered, amused, before sending a request to McCoy, who had joined April in the Medbay, to meet them in the transporter room.
XXX
McCoy was not loving this. Where the hell did that hobgoblin get off volunteering him for this mission? "What the hell is wrong with you people?" he growled. "I did not agree to this!"
"It makes sense," Jim reasoned, still smiling. "You know the ship, you've flown it before."
"Yeah, and in case you don't remember, I crashed," McCoy retorted.
Jim sighed and shook his head. "We need to get someone on that vessel, Bones," he said quietly. "This is our only viable plan to stop hundreds of ships from waging an all-out war on Yorktown. We don't have time to argue, they've already started their attack."
McCoy fell silent at that. Joanna was on that station. Joanna, almost five hundred members of their crew, and thousands of other innocents whose only crime seemed to be that they wanted to maintain peace in the universe. He nodded somberly, and then joined Spock on the transporter pad.
Scotty frowned in concentration, isolating one ship where he could send these two. It was hard since they were all moving, but by measuring the trajectories and speed of the ships, he could place the duo on board one without accidentally missing and beaming them into space instead.
"Got it," he said triumphantly, and then punched in the commands.
McCoy and Spock disappeared from the Franklin, as Jim returned to the Bridge.
"How're we looking?" he asked, glancing from Carol at the weapons station, to Uhura a few seats away.
Carol grimaced. "These weapons are ancient, but they'll work," she allowed. "If we can get close enough we should be able to at least get a few of them, but there are hundreds out there. We'll need some serious help."
Uhura glared at her console. "We're too close to the bees," she said, annoyed, unconsciously adopting the same word for describing the swarm as her Captain. "Communications are out again. We won't be able to communicate with the station unless we can knock out the frequency. Which means we're on our own, and unfortunately, so is Yorktown."
Jim nodded, expecting that but not happy with the information all the same.
Uhura's station chimed a moment later, and the officer eagerly transferred the call to the main screen so that the whole Bridge could hear. "Looks like the jam is only one-way," she informed them, relieved. "Incoming call from an unknown vessel, has to be Spock."
Jim nodded, relieved. A call was much better than the only other plan he had come up with to get the two men back – have Scotty track the ship and then try to beam them back blind, without knowing whether they had actually gotten the information they needed.
XXX
On the enemy vessel, Spock and McCoy got further confirmation that their theory of technology linking the ships together was correct when they arrived to see there was no one on board, yet it was obviously flying in a set formation.
McCoy immediately took a seat at the steering console; thankfully these ships could be operated by a person if necessary.
Spock went to the computer and started searching for the information they needed. After a few minutes, he had it, and contacted the Franklin. "Captain, I have the frequency. Stand by to receive." He sent the information along and then followed up, "The linked connection has the ships operating under a hive mentality as you posited. By disrupting the frequency, I believe we can force them out of their current formation, which may cause many of the vessels to crash."
On the Franklin Jim nodded in confirmation. "What do we need, Lieutenant?" he asked, looking at Uhura.
The Communications officer quickly isolated the frequency and then furrowed her brow in consideration. "Something loud," she mused. "I've got the frequency, we just need to play something over it. If it's disruptive and loud enough, it should drown out the signal they're getting, and it'll have the reaction we're looking for."
"There is a music maker on board!" Jayla immediately chimed in. "We can wire it to the ship and broadcast it, right?"
Uhura nodded. "That would work."
Jayla immediately left the Bridge to get the device.
Jim looked at the Communications station. "Get ready to tell Yorktown what's going on and let them know what we're going to do as soon as we get communications back."
Uhura nodded as Jim turned back to the open comm. with Spock. "We're almost ready here," he informed them. "All hell is about to break loose, so get ready to drop out of the formation so you don't go down with the rest of them."
"Pleasant."
He heard McCoy's growl in the background, though all Spock said in response was "Understood."
Jayla returned, and she and Scotty immediately got to work wiring what was probably a very old boom box into the ship's sound system. Jayla must have found it among the Franklin crew's personal effects.
It took them a few minutes and some arguing, but finally Jayla stood up. "Done!" she announced.
Jim took a seat in the Captain's chair once more, relieved. A glance out the large window in front of them showed how dire the situation was about to become. The large space station of Yorktown loomed ahead, and all around it was a swarm of enemy ships. A few small explosions on Yorktown's shields showed that they were already attacking. "Let's do this," he said grimly.
Uhura immediately started preparing the music to broadcast on the correct frequency. "For this to work we have to be close," she warned.
Jim glanced at her. "How close?" he asked for clarification.
Uhura's responding look was not that reassuring. "Very," she replied. "Sulu, you need to get us right in front of them."
"We need to draw their attention away from the station," Jim said. "Chekov, Carol, fire at will."
Neither officer hesitated to follow the order, firing multiple shots into the swarm of ships.
It got the response they were looking for, as the swarm turned as one, abandoning Yorktown to focus on the newcomer.
Sulu gulped, but kept the Franklin on its original trajectory, heading straight for the oncoming wave.
"Put us in the middle of it, Sulu," Jim said, perhaps unnecessarily. Sulu knew he needed to get them closer. "Uhura, get ready to broadcast."
Uhura's hand hovered millimeters over the button, ready to press it as soon as she was given the command.
The distance was shrinking rapidly. Two hundred meters. One hundred meters. Fifty. Twenty.
"Now!" Jim yelled, and Uhura pressed the button.
Jim blinked, startled, and then grinned as the opening sequence of Sabotage, by the Beastie Boys started screaming out from every speaker the ship had. "Good choice," he complimented.
Jayla looked at him and grinned back.
The music had an immediate reaction, as explosions started to go off among the wave of ships in front of them.
Sulu expertly swung the ship around to avoid getting hit, and then was circling back immediately as Chekov and Carol kept picking off stragglers.
"Can we communicate again?" Jim asked quickly, and when Uhura nodded, he smiled slightly. "Tell Yorktown the frequency," he ordered. "Have them broadcast as well."
"Captain, three ships have separated from the swarm and are entering Yorktown," Spock interrupted them. "We are in pursuit."
Jim nodded quickly. "Sulu, follow as well. Spock, keep them in your sight but don't engage."
From the station, the same deafening song began to play, and more ships started to explode. It seemed the situation out here was under control, so Jim didn't feel guilty at his decision to enter the station in pursuit of whomever was operating those ships. Most likely it would be Krall and possibly Kodos, carrying out whatever plan B they had for destroying the talks taking place on the station.
"Commodore Paris is sending a few ships out to help, but I'm not sure how much they'll have to do once they arrive," Uhura informed Jim. "With the frequency disruption, it's likely that most of the ships out here will be destroyed in the next few minutes."
Jim nodded to show he heard her, and then focused on the helm. "Any idea where these guys are going?"
Chekov calculated the trajectories quickly. "Based on their current path, they're heading straight for the city center."
Jim considered options. "Any chance we can get in front of them?"
Chekov furrowed his brow. They were heading through a tunnel underneath the city, while the enemy ships – and Spock and McCoy's vessel – were out in the open. "Uncertain, sir," he finally replied.
"Do it anyway," Jim ordered.
Chekov barely refrained from rolling his eyes. Why ask if you weren't going to listen? But he just followed orders as Sulu increased their speed.
"It looks like they're heading for city control," McCoy's voice chimed in through the communicator.
Jim nodded slightly. "Keep them in sight, we're almost there."
"What the hell are you planning to do?" McCoy's voice sounded skeptical to all of them.
Jim shook his head. "Just make sure they stay on the same heading." He turned back to the helm. "Sulu, get ready to exit the tunnel."
Sulu looked back at him, startled. "Seriously?"
Jim raised an eyebrow but didn't respond, and Sulu turned back to his station. Of course. This was a Jim-level crazy plan, but somehow, Sulu had no doubt that it would work.
All of them watched their progress on the screen in front of them; the large window showed the tunnel, but the readouts also showed everything from their speed to how far away the end of the tunnel was from their current location.
Jim counted down in time with the readouts, and at what he hoped was the right moment, yelled for Sulu to exit the tunnel.
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