Their hosts apologised once again, apparently they seemed unable to stop apologising Hannah noted internally.

"We were not expecting two visitors, and we're afraid we only have the one room tailored to your needs," The lead individual bowed his head, and gestured at the door. Kirk assured him that the room was fine, and that he appreciated the extent to which they had made an effort for himself and Hannah. Hannah peered into the room, surveying it, and noting the singular, small bed.

"Forgive me, Captain," She began, faking a formality that did not come naturally to her. "But you really need to have that wound treated, and Spock did say that our hosts have an excellent capability for medicine…" She trailed off and looked at the creature before her hopefully. It was a huge reptilian creature- the smallest was easily over 6 feet tall- with greying green scales covering its flesh. Bizarrely, however, its elongated limbs did not end in the sharp claws and talons that Hannah expected, but digits not dissimilar to her own fingers. The Gorn looked her in the eye, with its large misty white globes that functioned as eyes.

"We have not encountered your physiology, I do not wish to promise an ability to heal, when we may not be able to," He spoke slowly, cautiously. Kirk began to dismiss Hannah's concern, but Hannah whacked his arm, and spoke over him.

"Of course, I understand. I was merely wondering if you would allow me access to your supplies to see if you possess suitable antiseptics, as I'm concerned his wound is going to get infected- and we wouldn't want to get blood poisoning, now would we Captain?" Hannah turned to look pointedly at Kirk. He caved, and allowed her to persuade the Gorn to treat Kirk.

They'd spent the day in different parts of the city, Kirk talking to the politicians, military leaders and anyone in anyway important in this city. He was told of their ongoing war with the Metrons- whom a general suggested had developed weaponry able to shut down their shuttle mid-flight. Whilst Hannah spent the day in a hospital, talking to the doctors about their means of treatment, about the Gorn's physiology and about Human physiology. She found some hydrogen peroxide, the closest thing to an antiseptic, and asked to borrow it- and was freely given it, for they did not use it except as a basic pain killer. As it was readily available, and not a crucially needed part of the medical store, the Gorn showing her around handed her far more than she could ever use. Hannah had loved visiting the hospital, asking the patients every question she could think of.

When they both returned to the room, neither of them seemed to be able to form words. Hannah was taken aback at the sheer difference of this world to what she knew, but the basic core of the issues had remained the same. War, disease, corruption, it was all the issues she knew from home. They both stood in the room, fiddling with something that did not need fiddling with, trying to look as though they were doing something to break the suddenly uncomfortable silence. Hannah began to braid her hair, and sank into an armchair in the corner of the room. She watched Kirk aimlessly wander around the room, and finally dragged something from the depths of her memories to talk about.

"Have you told Spock we're still alive?"

"Yeah, talked to him just before I came back."

"Oh."

Silence loomed over them once more. Hannah was rapidly running out of hair. Kirk had run out of things to shuffle, poke and move. Except for the bag Hannah had insisted on taking with her- the bag which had probably saved his life. He toyed with the idea of searching around inside it, but instead sat on the bed, and inspected her needlework.

"Silk." Kirk started, and turned to look at Hannah. She flushed and continued; "The stitches. It's silk, it was all I had. I had just had a lecture on the different types of material to use for different sutures." The pink faded from her cheeks, and she looked down at the floor. Discomfort filled the air between them. Hannah sat on the opposite side of the bed to Kirk, and didn't look up from the cool grey of the floor. Staring intensely at the swirls of lighter greys, and flecks of shining silver, she took a controlled breath.

"Thank you," Kirk looked over at Hannah's back. Her face remained turned away from him as she asked why. "You've probably saved my life at least twice on this away mission." Hannah's eyebrow twitched upright on the word 'probably', but she didn't call Kirk out on his use of it. She merely nodded to the floor, and dismissed it;

"It was nothing,"

During the night, Hannah must have migrated to the chair, for when Kirk woke up, he was alone on the bed. Kirk blinked himself into wakefulness, and stretched his back as he pushed himself upright. As his eyes focused, he was able to see her curled up on the chair, back facing him. He forced himself up off the bed, and scrambled back into his Star Fleet uniform, trying not to make too much noise, so to not wake the sleeping girl on the chair, curled in a pose that was almost cat-like. Kirk moved to leave the room, but paused just before leaving the room. He turned back, and walked towards Hannah, and gently, carefully lifted her up. She stirred slightly in her sleep, but didn't wake. Kirk moved her across to the bed, and placed her in it. Hannah rolled over in it, and squirmed into a comfortable position, causing the t shirt she wore to ride up, exposing her bare back. Kirk lightly pulled the thin cover up over her, his eyes falling on the scar that trailed across her lower back. He let the cover fall, covering the white scar tissue and left the room soundlessly.

When Hannah woke to an empty room, in the bed she knew she hadn't gone to sleep in, she stared around the room in puzzlement. She hadn't moved from waking, and threw the cover off her body. Only when the air chilled her lower back did she realise it was not covered by her t shirt anymore, and quickly tugged the t shirt back down over it. Rubbing her eyes wearily, she sat upright and blinked into the room, now flooded with light. Her eyes protested at the bright white spilling into the room, but not quickly as much as her feet objected to the stone floor. All heat was seeped from the soles of her feet in the brief moment they touched the floor, before Hannah swiftly recoiled them, bringing them up on to the protection from the bad, cold floor.

"Bad," she glowered at the floor, sternly telling it off for daring to be cold. Kirk laughed from the doorway, causing Hannah to leap off the bed in alarm. This only made Kirk laugh harder. Hannah pouted, and let out a shaky breath, telling her heart rate to 'please calm down'- this time, only internally. Kirk lounged against the doorway, his hair still mussed from sleep, despite him having been awake for hours. Chaotic good, thought Hannah, as she crossed her arms at the Captain.

"Morning," Kirk smirked. Hannah didn't respond to him, but pulled a small jar out of her bag, and tossed it to him.

"You should disinfect your stitches," She told him tonelessly, "Forgot to give you it last night." A collection of what appeared to be cotton wool pads swiftly followed the jar, and Kirk caught them just as easily. He looked at the two items in his hand, and did not move. Hannah rolled her eyes, and strode around the bed, taking them back from his hands.

"The Gorn have offered to transport us back to The Enterprise, as soon as you're ready," Kirk told Hannah, as she dabbed at the scabbing wound on his abdomen. Hannah looked up at him, and then returned her gaze to the wound in front of her.

"When I woke up, I thought you had." She spoke quietly. Kirk frowned.

"Thought I had, what?" He asked, confusion marring his face. Hannah hesitated, her hand wavering a few millimetres above Kirk's cut.

"Gone." She said simply. "I thought you might have just gone back to The Enterprise, and just left me here." Kirk's head snapped down to look at her sharply.

"Why the hell would I do that?" His voice wasn't abrasive, only surprised. Perhaps a little offended that Hannah thought so lowly of him. "You're part of our crew now, and we don't leave behind our crew." Hannah stared stoically at Kirk's healing slash wound, and lightly pressed her fingers into the skin around it, for no other reason but to appear to be doing something. Despite her best efforts, a ghost of a smile haunted her face. Her mouth remained as still and emotionless as before, but there was a humour that lit her eyes which she could not control. Kirk frowned at her.

"Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind," Hannah mumbled, under her breath, just out of earshot of Kirk. She lifted her hand off Kirk's abdomen, and pushed herself upright. Standing, she twitched an eyebrow at Kirk and spoke, audibly this time, "Well, if you're ready to go back to the ship, I am."

The Captain must have looked worse than he felt, for the moment her materialised on the transporter pad, McCoy groaned. He grabbed Kirk by the arm, and seemed to drag him to the Med Bay.

"Bones, get off my arm." Kirk spoke utterly deadpan, only mild irritation creeping into his voice.

"No. You wouldn't let me last time, so this time you don't have a choice," McCoy almost sounded like a petulant child.

"You do have a chunk of flesh missing from your stomach," Hannah chirped helpfully. Kirk tried restrain his amused grin at her falsely innocent smile.

"You have what?" McCoy spluttered. "How do you manage to get a bigger injury each time?"

Hannah's grin broadened. McCoy's grip on Kirk's arm tightened. He tugged him towards the door, and let go of his arm, pushing him lightly through the doorway. Glaring suspiciously at his captain, McCoy made Kirk walk in front of him to the Med Bay, as though he was ensuring the captain didn't try to run away to the Bridge. Spock dutifully followed them. As the doors slid shut Hannah heard McCoy ask tauntingly:

"So did this go better or worse than the encounter with the Teenaxians?" And then the doors shut, and she was alone.

She was still alone the walk back to the room she had been assigned- it still didn't feel like it deserved the title of 'her' room. It didn't belong to her, nothing here belonged to her. She didn't belong to anything here either. She felt like an invading virus, or a bacterial infection. Diseased, unwelcome and probably f-cking weird. Her solution was to blast music as loudly as she possibly could, and dance manically, singing along badly out of tune. She kept the music blaring as she showered. She kept dancing as she showered.

She stopped forcing herself to fake happiness. Sat in the wash of the shower, the water pouring over her face, she slid down the wall and let herself fall into a mounting despair. The tears mingled with the water on her face, the music drowned her silent sobs. Her hair fell forwards, clouding her face, and she hugged her knees to her chest. Hannah didn't move from this position for well over an hour.

Kirk was finally allowed free of the Med Bay, and immediately returned to the Bridge. Returning to his chair, he smiled slightly. Ah, home, sweet home. He leant back in his chair, and looked over his crew. Despite the monotony of the ship's life, Kirk did love being in this seat, being part of this crew- it felt like the only place he ought to be. Even now, as they seemed to merely be drifting through space with no distinct destination, or direction, there was a bizarre form of purpose to their wandering into the unknown. Exploring for no other reason than to explore, to find new things to discover. It was both exciting, a little terrifying and surprisingly, not any more dangerous than the charted space they had previously explored. Suddenly, the entire ship juddered, throwing Kirk out of his reverie- and nearly out of his chair.

"What just happened?" He asked the room at large. Spock, Uhura and Chekov all began to press various keys on their consoles.

"We just dropped out of warp," stated Sulu, "I don't know why-"

"Not this again," mumbled Kirk under his breath. "Scotty," He called, sounding almost bored.

"I didnae do this Captain!" Scotty protested over the comms. "I don't know what did! There's no damage I can see down here."

Another jolt shook the Enterprise, and the crew all swayed with the impact. Kirk looked around the Bridge.

"Is there any damage? Any crews near us? Anomalies? Anything?" He demanded. Uhura began to tap at her console even more frantically.

"There is a distortion off our starboard hull- it could be a cloaked ship, but I've never seen anything like this."

McCoy swayed on his chair, and glanced up as the door opened to the Med Bay. Hannah sauntered into the Med Bay, and jumped on to the nearest bed. She pushed back her still-drying hair out of her eyes, and even from his distance, McCoy could see the redness that ringed her eyes.

"Sounds like we're all gonna die," Hannah commented, crossing her legs on the bed, and swaying with the impact. "Figured maybe you'd want some help in case every member of the crew comes hobbling in with some kind of injury." McCoy raised an eyebrow.

"I have a feeling we're going to need your help," He commented dryly. "Though if you could avoid practising your needlework on the crew this time, that would be helpful." Hannah, maturely, stuck her tongue out at McCoy, and folded her arms. McCoy smirked at her scowl, and then sat down on the next alongside her.

"I thought I handled the situation aptly given the limited resources."

"You had an entire trauma kit in the shuttle," McCoy raised an eyebrow. Hannah frowned. She threw her arms up and cried:

"How was I supposed to know how to use it!" She spluttered, indignation edging her voice. McCoy only laughed at her childlike sulk. Shaking his head incredulously, he sighed at her.

"Come on, get up. You'll be taking up room that our thousands of casualties will need." Hannah groaned comically as she threw herself off the bed. She intended only to slide and roll off it on to the floor, but she made her legs go limp, the ship lurched yet again, and she was flung to the floor. She told the ship to stop being so inconsiderate and rude, sternly wagging a finger at the wall.

The Med Bay had filled, emptied and then filled again, with a constant influx of crew members, flowing and ebbing like the tides. And much like the sea, they wreaked havoc on the Med Bay. Pillows had been moved around to support broken bones, blood pooled on the floor. Much of the equipment had been tossed around, some tricorders lying abandoned on the floor. The only constants in the room were McCoy, Hannah and a handful of the medical staff, though many of them had become patients themselves, and even more of them had been sucked out of the ship, never to be seen again. A hull breach on Deck 7 had followed a control panel exploding, and when McCoy had sent some of the medics to go deal with it, they had been caught in the vacuum that drew them out into space. There was no chance of them surviving. When he'd heard of the next exploding console, he was hesitant to send out even more people, for fear of losing all of his staff, but he hadn't expected the recklessness of his newest acquaintance in the Med Bay. Hannah had seen his pause, and miss a beat. She swiftly injected her patient, and turned and strode out of the door. McCoy didn't have time to worry about her, as some engineering officers staggering into the Med Bay, and tried to push any concern out of his mind. It transpired his worry was unnecessary, as less than two minutes later, Hannah returned, with Cupcake's arm forced over her shoulder. His ankle closest to her was limp, and he clenched his jaw with every step, yet still insisted on telling the "little girl" that he was fine. Hannah didn't respond, and shoved him on to the closest chair, and grasped his ankle firmly between her hands. Cupcake stifled a cry.

A ship suddenly materialised on the view screen, and exploded in a supernova of red and gold. The explosion filled their view, and decorated the vast blackness with nothing but pain and death. The bridge was silent. Uncertain of what to make of this surprise attack, of the ship that evaded their sensors until the moment of their demise. Kirk pushed himself upright, and walked towards the view screen.

"Scotty, we're going to beam aboard some of the debris, think you could identify who the ship belonged to?" He asked. Scotty answered in the affirmative, albeit amongst sounds of panic and rushing.

"Could we maybe fix the ship first, Captain?" Scotty answered back, almost insubordinate in his strained voice. Kirk apologised and said he'd give him the time he needed.

"Damage report," Kirk turned to Spock, who listed off hull breaches on several decks, multiple system failures and power drainage. With each new thing Spock listed, Kirk's face darkened further, sorrow, anger and fear clouding his brow. Spock's list lasted a full two minutes, and spanned through engineering through to the mess hall, and to Med Bay. Even the life support was damaged on Deck 5, which Kirk noticed with horror, was where Med Bay was located. Injured personnel were going to soon suffer even more health issues, when all the oxygen in the air had vanished.