Saving Yorktown, Part One
Once they were safely in space, Cora unstrapped herself from the chair, not a fan of being restrained by anything longer than was necessary. With their escape from the planet, she could feel the joy of the crew, the reaffirmed confidence that they could overcome any odd so long as they were together. She looked to the main window, seeing they were heading right for the nebula, but if the ship could survive their escape from Altamid, she was certain the pilots could get them through the nebula as well.
Though it was a nearly silent process, no one wanting to distract anyone until they were finally out and past the rocks.
As soon as they were though, the comms. kicked in and what they heard was not anything good.
"I'm picking up distress signals from every frequency coming from Yorktown!" Uhura reported from the side of the room, "Krall's already started his attack."
Kirk grit his teeth, they may not have been able to follow Krall instantly, but for the distress call to still be sounding meant that there was still a Yorktown to send it, "Mr. Scott," he opened the comms., "What kind of weapons do we have?"
"Uh, we have pulsed phase cannons and spatial torpedoes," Scotty reported.
"Great. Lock and load."
"It does not matter," Jaylah insisted from where she was still strapped to her chair, "You cannot defeat the bees."
"They did not appear easily destroyed the first time," Cora had to agree, subtly reminding Kirk of their original plan to enter the trap with caution. Their weapons had been far more advanced then and the swarm had still managed to destroy their ship, they couldn't afford the same thing happening to this one or all would be lost.
Kirk considered and realized that, "Maybe, uh, maybe we lure them away," he altered the plan, "How do we get Yorktown time to get people to safety?"
"No," Sulu shook his head, assuming Kirk meant to use them as bait, "We are a horse and buggy compared to those things. We're barely holding together as it is, Captain."
"What are bees?" Cora asked, looking to Jaylah. She had never encountered bees before, they were not native to Hestia or the Academy bases, or at least they were not from what she had encountered. Was that what Krall's swarm were called? If Jaylah knew anything else about them, perhaps it could help them find a weakness.
Spock, however, seemed to realize something else from her words, exactly how the swarm compared to the way bees worked, "Captain, the flight patterns of bees are determined by individual decisions. Krall's swarm formations are too complex not to rely on some form of unified cyberpathic coordination. I surmise that if we..."
"Spock!" Kirk cut in, "Skip to the end."
"What he's saying is that if we disorient the swarm we can kick its ass!" Uhura translated, knowing that even a simplified explanation from Spock could sometimes be long-winded.
"Precisely," Spock agreed.
"Scotty," Kirk called on the comms. once more, "Can you beam me onto one of those swarm ships?"
"Have you gone completely mad?" Scotty demanded.
"Yes or no?"
"No! …yes! Maybe."
"Captain," Spock spoke up, "My familiarity of the interior of those ships, however brief, makes me more qualified for this away mission."
"You would be out of range for me to help you," Cora reminded him gently. She seemed to have developed a wider range when it came to assisting Spock, able to sense and send emotions more when it related to him. But she was sure, with him in another ship and flying in all directions, it would be harder to help numb the pain in his side. It could come back and distract him, "You will begin to hurt."
"She's right Spock," Kirk agreed, "You're still injured."
"I acknowledge and respect your concerns," Spock looked between the two of them, "Perhaps you would feel more confident if I were accompanied by someone with familiarity of both the ship and my injury."
"But that would be Leonard McCoy," Cora spoke, "I do not believe he would like such an option."
Kirk began to smirk at her words, "Oh, he's not gonna like this," he agreed, "He's gonna love this."
Cora just frowned, "I do not believe that is the word I would use."
~8~
Cora looked over from where she was attending to Spock, trying to numb his side a little more, hoping the effects could last longer with extra effort. They didn't know how active Spock might be once they were beamed onto another ship, but she hoped it would be nothing too strenuous. Still, she was not about to not take as many precautions as she could manage.
She could steadily feel McCoy growing more incredulous and irate as Kirk explained the new mission to him as they stood in the teleport room with Scotty at the controls.
"You want me to do what?" McCoy demanded.
Cora sent a tendril of reassurance over to him, which only caused him to let out a breath of air in a huff.
"Come along, Doctor," Spock spoke as he headed for the teleport pad.
"Whoa!" McCoy shook his head, "Wait a minute…" he looked between Kirk and Spock, working something out, "Why you green-blooded ingrate. This was your idea!"
There was no way in hell that Cora had suggested Spock beam onto a swarm ship given his injuries. And there was no chance Kirk would have even thought to include HIM along with this. Spock was the one who would see it as 'only logical' that someone who had been on the ship and helped with his injury would go with him. Because he knew neither of them would have wanted him to go alone.
"It's a good idea, Bones," Kirk defended.
McCoy just shot him a glare, before stepping onto the pad with Spock, "You know," he told the Vulcan, "Next time you have a piece of pipe stuck in your transverse, call a plumber."
"That is why you must go with him," Cora pointed out, "The wound has not completely healed and if it were to reopen…"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," McCoy cut in with a minor grumble.
Cora just gave him a smile, "Many thanks, Leonard McCoy."
McCoy shook his head, "You're lucky I like you, Red."
She tilted her head, "You like Spock as well," she stated, sensing it off him, causing Spock to smirk, "Not in the same manner I do, but you have a tremendous respect for him and care about his well being as a friend and crew."
Kirk nearly burst out laughing at the horrified expression on McCoy's face at her words. No one but Cora would have been able to gather that from the man's expression, stance, or words. He'd been standing so gruffly, as irritated as anything, and looking like he'd rather murder Spock than heal him. And Cora had seen right through it to the heart of him.
"Good work, Cor," Kirk smirked as he patted Cora's shoulder, before focusing on the two men ready to teleport, "Just make sure you find a way to break those things."
"If it gets hairy, I'll beam you straight back," Scotty offered, the man not hiding his amusement with the situation as well as Kirk was.
"I wish you the greatest of fortune," Cora spoke.
Spock nodded his thanks before calling out, "Energize."
Kirk turned to go, calling back over his shoulder, "You're gonna do great!" as he left.
"Damn it, Jim, I'm a doctor not a f..." McCoy was cut off suddenly as they were beamed off the Franklin and right onto an enemy swarm ship.
He and Spock turned quickly, pressing down on two levers to open part of the ship and eject the enemy within. As soon as the doors sealed shut again, he ran to the controls, getting on them once more.
"You do realize the last time I flew one of these things we crashed," he huffed at Spock as the Vulcan moved over to a monitor and began to tap on it, "So don't blame me if we..." he winced as the ship slammed into another one, "Hit something."
"Spock to Franklin," the Vulcan ignored him to call into the comm. he'd managed to hack into.
"Spock, we read you," Kirk called back.
"Are you both well?" they could hear Cora ask.
"We're alive," McCoy replied, "And Spock's in one piece for now."
"Captain," Spock continued, "From what I can ascertain the ships do, indeed, share a cyberpathic link which coordinates their actions. Patching it through now."
~8~
On the Bridge of the Franklin, the crew looked up, hearing an odd noise over the comm.. Though it was a noise familiar to one of them.
"That's what that signal was," Uhura realized, it was the sound she had assumed was the enemy jamming the comms. just before the initial attack, "They weren't jamming us, they were talking to each other."
"Well, how do we get them to stop talking?" Kirk looked around for suggestions.
"What about electromagnetic focusing?" Scotty asked, "We could use the transporters disrupt their network."
"The focus might be too specific," Spock replied over the comm., "If we could plant some sort of disruptive communication signal inside the swarm, it might adversely affect their capacity to coordinate."
"It would hawe to be at a frequency zey will not anticipate," Chekov agreed.
"We could cause a chain reaction that would wipe out the whole swarm!" Sulu realized.
"Sir, a closed network like that might be susceptible to very high frequency," Spock added.
"VHF," Kirk murmured, "Radio!" he looked at the crew, "We can broadcast something from the ship to drown out their link. Something loud and distracting."
Scotty perked up at that, "Loud and distracting? I've got just that thing!"
~8~
Cora watched in curiosity as Scotty put something down on top of one of the back consoles, a rectangular device with small speakers on either side of it.
"Do not break my music!" Jaylah warned him as he began to pull wires out from the back of it.
"Break it?" Scotty grinned, "You're getting an upgrade!" and ducked down under the console to rip out more wires, working quickly to try and connect them to each other.
Cora looked over at where they could now see Yorktown base in the distance, making sure to keep the calm on the Bridge going. Sulu especially she was adding extra reassurance to. As far as she knew, he was the only crew who had family on that base, visiting him so they could spend time together. He, of all of them, would be most concerned and fearful for the fate of the base. And, as pilot, it was even more imperative that he be calm and collected.
She had seen how humans could sometimes react when desperation was strong, when anger or vengeance struck them. If anything happened to the base, Sulu would need to be watched to ensure he didn't react and try to attack Krall with the ship himself.
"Swarm ships are 60 seconds from breaking through!" Sulu reported to the crew.
"I've just got to reconfigure the VHF output into a multiphasic sweep," Scotty's muffled voice called from under the back console, though it was clear he was struggling to do just that.
"Let me do it," Jaylah offered.
"Ah, Lassie…"
"Let her do it," Uhura insisted when Scotty wasn't quite able to get it.
A moment later there was a spark under the console that had Scotty yelping and scrambling out, "You do it," he told Jaylah, not about to risk being electrocuted twice.
Jaylah nodded and crouched down, managing it in a few simple steps, standing up and pushing down a final lock, "There, see? Simple."
"Alright," Scotty nodded, "Captain, we're ready to broadcast."
"But the signal won't travel far," Uhura warned, "We have to get closer."
"How close?" Kirk frowned.
"Very."
Kirk nodded, "Cora?"
"Yes, Captain Kirk," Cora nodded, understanding what he needed her to do without him asking. If they were about to head towards the swarm, it would be an unnerving experience.
"Mr. Sulu," he called out, heading back to his chair, "Intercept course. Put us right in the middle of that thing."
"Yes, sir," Sulu agreed, the crew getting ready and bracing themselves in chairs and against equipment.
"Ze swarm ships are doubling back!" Chekov reported, it appeared that the ships had realized a new threat was heading for them and were dividing forces to try and take them out once more, "Zey are forming an attack wave, sir."
"I think we got their attention," Kirk sighed, "Hold steady, Mr. Sulu. Brace yourselves, everybody. Spock, stand by to drop out of formation. Scotty, you all cued up back there?"
"Aye, sir!" Scotty called as Jaylah set up the box.
"Ready to broadcast at 57.7 megahertz," Uhura added.
Scotty looked over at Jaylah, "Made your choice, lassie?"
Jaylah nodded, "I have the beat and shouting."
Cora could only watch on as the swarm seemed to spread, opening as though a giant mouth and heading right for them.
"Let's make some noise," Kirk gave the order.
Jaylah quickly hit a button, and a loud music began to play out of the speakers, not just broadcast out to the swarm, but filling the room as well.
Cora winced, her hands flying up to her ears as she closed her eyes tightly shut as it grew louder and more complicated.
"That's a good choice," Kirk remarked as they flew right at the swarm.
"It is very loud and distracting!" Cora agreed, shouting over the music, just barely managing to keep the emotion stable in the Bridge despite how the music was starting to hurt her head and shake her body from the beating of it, "Are you certain this is music?!"
Spock would sometimes play music in their room, not often, they were both people who preferred quiet and peace than loud noises. But there would be a time or two where he would hear a piece through another crew member playing it and find it agreeable to his tastes. He would play it for her to see how she felt about it. They were usually very soft pieces, calm if she had to describe it another way.
This did not sound anything like that music.
It sounded more like a battle going on, with people yelling at each other and, what she'd heard humans call, the 'drums of war' sounding.
"It's working!" Chekov shouted with a whoop.
Cora forced her eyes open, able to see that they had flown right into the middle of the swarm, but none of the little 'bees' were able to touch the ship. They were bursting into flames before they could get that close. This mission certainly wasn't making it easy for her to keep the calm when, at every turn, the ship encountered something else terrifying to witness, like massive fireballs exploding around them while the ship flew into the inferno.
~8~
"Faster, Doctor," Spock called out to McCoy as they raced through space in the ship, seeing the massive fireball behind them, "We risk being consumed by their trajectorial decay."
"Damn backseat driver," McCoy muttered.
Spock's eyes widened when he saw another ship appear on the monitor, "Evade, Doctor!"
"I see it, I see it!" McCoy grumbled, twisting the ship to the side and evading another crash but also managing to break away from the swarm enough to escape the fireball catching up to them. He frowned though when he heard the music start to reach their comms., "Is that classical music?"
Spock considered it, "Yes, Doctor, it would seem to be."
McCoy looked over, hearing an odd tone in his voice, to see Spock almost seemed a cross between fond and amused, "What?"
"It is nothing."
"Spock, it's just the two of us here, and I think I'd rather hear you talk than listen to this garbage," McCoy told him. It wasn't that it was bad music, it was just not his favorite genre.
"I was merely considering what Cora would think of this music."
"Oh?"
"Indeed, she is probably very displeased," he murmured, thinking on Cora. It was almost like he could feel her displeasure himself, he knew her reactions to various forms of music.
"I take it she's not a rock fan?"
"No. She prefers the softer variety of sound."
If he had to pick a specific genre, he wasn't sure he could. There were sounds Cora appreciated more than others, but those sounds were not what most would deem to be 'music.' She was fond of what others would call 'nature sounds,' something as simple as crickets chirping or wind rustling through trees. She didn't know why it spoke to her more than others, it just made her feel peaceful.
He was of the opinion that it might be a remnant of her Empathic nature, some instinctual notion from before the Mas'heirs had invaded and subjugated her people. From what he understood, they had been very nature based, Hestia like what humans would call an 'Eden' of flora and fauna. It was nothing of the sort now, Cora had never seen her planet the way it was depicted in very old pieces of art, green and bountiful. So there should have been no reason for the sounds to comfort her the way they did, given she had never heard them on her planet and they did not remind her of sounds she did hear there. That was merely his thought on it.
"She must be having kittens right now, then," McCoy muttered.
Spock frowned and looked back at him over his shoulder, "Why would Cora be birthing or gathering feline offspring, Doctor? Especially at a time like this?"
McCoy rolled his eyes at how offended Spock sounded at the first part, "Turn of phrase, Spock. She ain't gonna be pleased, is all."
"Oh," he nodded, turning back to the monitor, "No, she will not."
~8~
"Is it almost over?!" Cora shouted, perhaps louder than she should have. But between the music blaring and how she was covering her ears, she honestly wasn't sure who could hear her or if anyone could.
"Just a little longer, Cor," Kirk called back to her.
"What?!" she yelled. She had seen him turn in his seat, half facing her, and to say something she knew was directed at her, but the angle hadn't been enough for her to tell what exactly he said.
In response, he held up a single finger to tell her another minute or two, before he turned in the opposite direction to where Uhura was, "Lieutenant Uhura, make sure Yorktown has the frequency to broadcast."
"Yes, sir," Uhura nodded, getting to work to transfer the frequency to the base.
They all stared out the window of the base, watching intently for any sign that Yorktown had heard them, that their call had gotten through to them. When suddenly an even larger fireball went off across the sphere of the base. They had been able to make out the swarm ships trying to launch themselves at the glass of the dome, trying to break through it, but now it was like they were bursting into flames moments before they could hit.
It was working!
All across the base, a wave of flames spread out, taking out the rest of the swarm.
"Scotty!" Kirk called over to the man, who turned down the music. Now that Yorktown had the frequency and the music, they could set their own volume and take out the rest of the swarm. He smiled at the sight, and looked back, "You alright, Cor?"
But Cora was sitting there with her eyes closed, her hands still over her ears.
He chuckled only slightly as he stood and made his way over, putting a hand on her shoulder for a moment before he reached out to grab her wrists gently, prying her hands away from her ears. It took a moment before Cora peeked her right eye open, glancing up at him.
"It is over?" she asked, though she was still tense, as though this might just be a calm point in the song and she would need to cover her ears once again.
"The swarm's taken care of," Kirk agreed, giving her wrists a light squeeze and letting go.
Cora let out a relieved breath, finally relaxing and lowering her hands, "If I may request that we never do that again, Captain Kirk?"
"I'll work on it," he promised her with a smile.
She inhaled deeply, nodding, "Are Spock and Leonard McCoy safe?"
"Let's find out," he murmured, before turning back to the chair and activating the comm., "You two alright, Spock?"
"We are fine, Captain," Spock's voice replied, "Is the crew…"
"Cora's fine," Kirk cut in, knowing that was what Spock would really want to know first, "The rest of us are fine too."
"Thank you, Captain. I should inform you, though, that there are still three ships heading into Yorktown."
"It could not be the swarm," Cora reasoned, "The frequency has destroyed them."
"It's gotta be Krall," Kirk sighed, "Probably two other swarm ships too. Keep on him, Spock," he called out, "Do whatever it takes to stop him from using that weapon."
"Sir!" Sulu called.
Kirk turned around to see they were heading right for Yorktown. They could see three ships had just reached the edge of the base, and smashed through the closed port where ships usually entered. Another swarm ship followed close after, it had to be Spock and McCoy.
"Everyone, brace yourselves!" Kirk called out, moving back to his chair, "Scotty, Jaylah, get to engineering!" he ordered as the two ran out, knowing that such an impact would undoubtedly strain the ship.
Sulu drove the Franklin right through the small port too, breaking off parts of it and scraping the edges as they tried to push through the mechanisms after the much smaller swarm ships. It was a violent jostling within the ship, though the crew remained level-headed and calm with Cora's assistance, focused and ready.
"My house is breaking!" Jahlah's voice came over the comms..
"Scotty, report!" Kirk shouted.
"We've lost the polarization of the hull plating!" Scotty replied, "I can reroute the power from the dilithium chambers."
Cora gasped suddenly when they saw the three ships in the distance suddenly rocket straight up. They could make out a series of crafts that had been flying at Krall's ship, flashing red and blue lights of the police force of Yorktown, trying to stop Krall's attack. But the man and his two swarm ships had evaded, moving through the waters that made up small streams that flowed through Yorktown. But then single swarm ship that had followed them kept right on their tail, shooting up after them.
The Franklin, though, was far too large to do the same and was stuck in the undertracks.
~8~
"Do not lose them, Doctor!" Spock called, watching on the monitor as Krall and his ships grew farther away.
"You're more than welcome to switch places with me, Spock!" McCoy grunted out as he pushed the ship to catch up to them, only to end up skidding a long a building when Krall and the ships suddenly went higher up.
"Captain," Spock called over the comm., "Intercepting all three ships is an impossibility."
~8~
"Get me a schematic of Yorktown," Kirk called out and Chekov quickly brought on up on the main screen. He looked at it intently, finally finding what he'd hoped to see, "There! Yorktown headquarters!"
"That is where they are heading," Cora agreed, the most effective way to use anything that affected other people was to be in the middle of them.
"We need to stop him getting there."
"Can we get ahead of them?" Uhura called.
"Perfect!" Kirk quickly thought of a plan, "Mr. Sulu, find the safest option that gets us in front of Krall's path."
Sulu nodded, already thinking of areas where they'd be able to bring up the ship without damaging too much of it or Yorktown, "Mr. Chekov, can you do a bioscan of Central Plaza?"
"Aye," Chekov quickly did so, "They are clearing civilians."
"That's where we can cut them off."
"Bones," Kirk called into the comm., "There's a city plaza coming up. You gotta make sure Krall heads for it."
"Why?" McCoy asked.
"Just do it!"
"Try to force them along the water," Cora added. If they were about to do what it appeared, then the nearer Krall was to the water they would emerge through, the better.
"Sulu, get us up there," Kirk ordered.
"Hold onto something!" Sulu warned, starting to force the ship faster and pull it up as soon as the water above them spread out.
It was bumpy and rocky, ships were not meant to come through into the base in such a way, but they managed it, as had McCoy done as instructed. For they arose from the water just after Krall's forces were forced to duck low towards the water, with little time to turn out of the way from the starship that had shot out.
There was a severe shaking, Cora quickly sending reassurance through as much of the ship as she could, when Krall and the two swarm ships crashed into the underside of the Franklin.
"Great work, Bones," Kirk breathed, seeing the ships were stuck and even able to see some of the Fleet officials running out of buildings and towards them to help.
"Thanks, Jim," McCoy muttered, "Now I've just got to figure out how to land…"
"Great work everyone," Kirk looked around, proud of his crew.
Unfortunately, the good feelings and the relief at having stopped Krall couldn't last.
"Captain," Chekov reported, "I hawe three hull breaches from ze impact. Deck 3, ze cargo bay, and ze engine room."
"Montgomery Scott, are you alright?" Cora moved over to the comm..
"Aye, lass, we're ok," Scotty called, "A bit stuck though."
Kirk nodded, "We're on our way to assist," he told the man, before looking over at the crew, "Alright, Sulu, Chekov, check the cargo bay and Deck 3. We need confirmation that the weapon has been neutralized and Krall is dead."
"I fear he may not be," Cora warned him, "I can sense the crew, but also another radiating anger and determination. It may be Krall."
It could be one of the two swarm ships though, she couldn't identify the specifics as she had not encountered Krall closely or long enough to determine it or match it to what she felt now.
"Move out," Kirk ordered the other two men, "Phasers ready."
"Yes, sir," Sulu nodded as he and Chekov hurried out.
"Uhura, Cora, you're with me," he continued, leading the way out of the Bridge and down to engineering.
Cora stopped short at the entrance to the mess room though, keeping them from continuing on. She felt something pass through her, felt something fade away, but felt a pain behind it. She hadn't realized she'd been running towards it, it was in the same direction as engineering. But now she knew, when she felt it disappear.
"What is it?" Uhura asked her, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder, seeing tears in the corner of Cora's eyes.
"He has killed more crew," Cora told them, moving straight into the room and leading them over to where one of the other crew members was lying on the floor, withered and looking as though he'd been drained of life.
"It's Krall," Uhura told them, "We've seen him do this. It's some kind of energy transference. It physically changes him."
"Then he's still on board," Kirk murmured, realizing their hope that the energy signature Cora had sensed was not one of Krall's minions, "We would have seen him leave. Cora?"
Cora took a breath and stepped back from the fallen crew, looking away and closing her eyes to concentrate. The emotion she'd been sensing had been in this area, but then she'd sensed the crew member dying and it had distracted her. She let out the breath, focusing…
She shook her head, "No," she looked at Kirk in alarm, "He is no longer on the ship."
"But how?" Kirk shook his head, "There's no way we missed an alien like him getting off!" he huffed, bringing up the comm. "Sulu, contact Yorktown security and lock down the ship," if they could get to engineering, because that was the only area Krall's ship could have been if the other two areas were secure, they might be able to follow his path into Yorktown, "Let's go."
"Captain," Uhura called just as Kirk had turned to go.
He and Cora looked over, seeing Uhura had been distracted by the monitor in the wall that was replaying the same footage of the crew as before. They moved over to it, watching as Uhura slowed down the feed and kept repeating a moment over and over, just at the end, trying to capture something.
A moment later they saw what she had, just as a crew member passed, a dark skinned man turned to face the camera, the captain of the Franklin.
"It's him," Uhura breathed, looking over her shoulder at them in alarm, "That's Krall."
Kirk stiffened as he stared at it, because it wasn't just Krall.
It was Captain Balthazar Edison.
A/N: Poor Cora, I can't imagine she's a fan of loud music lol. But also Spock! I'm now picturing him walking in on Cora sitting on the floor with a basket of kittens in front of her :) Lol, Bones, he's so horrified that his respect and genuine concern for Spock is now known by Kirk and Scotty (and Cora) too :)
But oh wow! Only two more chapters left O.O
Some notes on reviews...
I'm glad the bond between Cora and Spock came through :) I wanted to try and show how they've both grown over the last three years and how their bond has affected them :) As for the music, oh yes ;)
That's something I tried to allude to without making the Fleet seem awful. Empathics are SO useful, to the point where they eventually do sort of work out and repay the cost spent to get them in the first place. Just in terms of crew morale, keeping them from making rash decisions, their mental health, and dealing with enemies and so on. They sort of have a Vulcan-like effect in a way, by keeping a crew or captain calm they ensure that decisions made will be rational and not the result of an extreme emotion like anger or fear. They just sort of don't let on when the Empathic has 'paid back the debt' :(
