A/N: Here is the third chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: Not my characters, but the plot is all mine.
I've just edited this chapter slightly as I picked up a slight problem.
Suddenly the lights flickered again, causing Sam to jump up. Several screams came from the bridge through the other door, and they all ran. Leon saw an Enlisted Officer, frozen in the doorway to the turbolift. As he watched, something was pulled from the Officer as he collapsed. He went to help, only to be held back by Sam. And he could see why. A shadow was still in the doorway. She moved forward, the flickering lights causing her movements to seem jumpy. She pulled a metal bar from above the doorway and swiped it through the shadow. It vanished, but Sam still stood on guard.
"Who'd it follow?" She called out, looking around the room. Everyone stood still until Jim called out,
"Answer her. She's in charge until this is dealt with."
Another Enlisted Officer stepped forward, blood dripping from a shallow wound on her arm, Uhuru supporting her. Leon immediately went to her. "Me, he came at me, there was no one else around to help. I managed to get away by hitting him. What happened?" He pulled a bandage from the kit he kept on his hip, to wrap around the wound until he could get her to the medbay. After that, he went to the guy on the ground. His breathing was ok, but without his Tricorder, he couldn't figure out why he was still unconscious. He used the console to contact the nearest medbay and organise transport for the injured to medbay 4.
"The warding around the door stopped him from entering the room and forced him from his meatsuit." Sam went over to the woman and looked at her wrist. She fingered the bracelet he saw.
"Whoever gave you this bracelet, you need to thank them. They saved your life."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"The beads have protective charms engraved on them. Not directed against ghosts, but powerful enough to allow you to get away." Ignoring the looks of surprise from all, she then moved to the turbolift door and laid a hand on the frame.
"Lt, UV light settings please." She asked the tech in charge of the room settings. Leon saw Jim nod and a moment later the room was bathed in black light.
Leon gasped at what was revealed. The walls and consoles were covered in symbols. A five- point star within a circle and surrounded by glyphs, similar to the badge she showed them earlier, featured the most. In front of the door to the lift, several around the captain's chair and on the steering and navigation console.
"What is all this?" Jim asked.
"I believe them to be protective symbols, Captain." Spock said, moving to one on the wall next to the viewing screen. "This one is of Vulcan origin." He looked to her.
"Yeah, might have used that PADD of yours for more than what you were teaching me. Dad knew some of them from his time on Vulcan," she nodded toward the one he had pointed out, "But I've found others since." She waved toward the doorway. It was covered in fine writing, almost feather like. "This is a mix of Earth, Vulcan and a few other planets' spells for forcing a possessing spirit from its meatsuit and holding it."
"Meatsuit?" Jim looked angry at her use of the word, and so was Leon.
"Nine times out of ten, the host is dead, and it's easier to deal with the loss if you refer to it as such. You go mad otherwise. While I'm glad he's ok, it's only a matter of time." She looked back to Jim, "Captain, I need you issue a ship-wide command that me and the others are to be obeyed without question. Don't think I didn't see that look of confirmation you gave. We'll display our badges so they know what to look for. Kaylin," She spoke to the Gamma shift pilot, "best drop us out of warp. If the ghost manages to get past the warding, I don't want it messing with the warp factor." She nodded then to the captain's chair. Jim issued the order as she pulled her badge and set it on her hip. He also explained simply that something was going on and that they knew what and were handling it. While that was happening, the medics arrived. Leon informed them of what was happening and told them to get the patients to medbay 4; he would be there soon. Something told him that she wanted to show the three something else.
After confirming that Kaylin was dropping them from warp, she stepped from the room, pulling the device from her pocket again.
"Dean, meet me at Baby." She snapped it closed before looking back at him and the others. "Well, you coming?"
Leon followed her, the others just behind him as she walked along the corridor. He saw some of the crew stare at her, and he knew why. It wasn't because of the badge, nor of the fact that they had been ordered to obey her, but rather her bearing. She walked tall, with a confidence born of experience. She looked nothing like the Navigational Lt that he had come to know. She still held the metal bar, and was about to ask about it when Spock beat him to the punch.
"Lt, what is the significance of the metal bar? And of the salt you used on Sable?"
"This," she said, holding the bar aloft, "is pure iron. It repels spirits, or can be used to trap them, same with the salt. Although I'm surprised the replicated salt worked, since it's not natural. Demons also don't like it, nor do a lot of other Supernatural beings, except angles. Takes an angle blade to kill those winged dicks."
"You kill angles?" Leon asked shocked.
"They're real?" Jim asked.
"Not me, they haven't been seen on Earth for a hundred years or so. They aren't the fluffy winged nice guys that the books paint. They are downright mean when they want to be." She threw back over her shoulder, reminding Leon again that here was a woman in her true element. "This," holding the bar aloft again, "is real. Great times four or five Grandfather nicked it from a home when iron was used to make fire stokers."
They had taken several turbolifts as she spoke, and they now stood at the door of a large cargo area. A man in his early twenties was waiting for them, and Leon realised that this was the brother Dean.
"Since you know these guys," She said as they reached him, "guys, this is my brother, Dean Campbell."
"How're they taking it?" He asked. He had blonde hair and green eyes, though not a deep green like Sam's and was a good six or seven inches taller. He stood like she, with an air of confidence. They looked nothing alike, and Leon could see how no one had connected them together.
She looked them over a moment "Still digesting. It attacked another female." She said as they entered the room. Leon and the others following; Sam and Dean still talking as though they didn't have an audience, like they were commenting on the weather.
"She ok?" Dean asked as they headed in. They were aiming for an aft section.
"Yeah, remind me to ask her who gave her that bracelet; it has some nice warding on it that allowed her to get away. Oh, the meatsuit it used, male again."
"There's a pattern if I ever saw one."
"Yeah, I've texted Jones to see if they have anything in common. Anything from the autopsy?"
Before Dean was able to answer, they reached an area that had a wall of crates, and Leon was getting a bad feeling.
"Ah, Sam? This place is giving me the heeby geebies."
Sam and Dean looked over their shoulders at the three men following them. "Good," Dean said. Leon and the others shared a look.
"Spells are working fine." Sam continued, as she opened a crate and lifted out a bowl. "We've put warding around this area to give people a bad feeling and leave. Can't have the uninitiated stumbling onto Baby now, can we?" She said as she sprinkled a couple of things into the bowl. She asked for their hands, and quickly pierced a finger with a needle before any of them could say a thing. "Sorry, only way you'll get in, and it'll only work this one time."
Leon watched fascinated as the blood dripped into the bowl. She then tossed in a match. He and the others stepped back as it flared.
"Normally we don't have to do this, but since you weren't part of the initial spell, you won't be able to enter the area until we do this." Dean said as Sam said a few unusual words. "The others can enter because their blood is part of it, but all that would happen for you guys is you would hit an invisible wall made to look like the crates."
"Hence the 'heeby geeby' feeling." Sam said as she stood. "It's a spell that makes a person feel uncomfortable and leave the area, because they think it's unsafe."
Following Sam and Dean, Leon walked through the creates. An old black car appeared as they went through.
"What kind of car is this?" Jim asked, his voice in awe. Leon remembered his liking of old vehicles.
"Baby here, is a 1967 Chevrolet Impala." Sam answered as she walked past it, sliding a hand along the bonnet as she did so. Leon saw the love she had for the car.
"She still run?" Jim had walked over to it by now and was looking at every detail. He could understand why. A car that was a couple of hundred years old in a good as condition as this one was, was rare to the point of non-existent.
"Yep." She pulled the keys from the steering column and continued toward the back as Dean spoke.
"Belonged to one of our ancestors. From what we've been able to find, Dean and his brother Sam were raised in it. This car was their home." Dean said, walking over to her.
"Wait, Sam and Dean? That's where you guys got your names from?" He asked.
"I was telling the truth when I said I was named after my great uncle. The elder child retained the name Winchester, while the younger got the ancestral Mother's maiden name, both got their first names if possible. Kept us hidden from some pretty nasty things over the years with the use of different last names." She opened the trunk with a squeak and ducked under it, Dean joining her a moment later,
"We need to find some more iron for rounds." He said, as Leon and the others joined them at the back of the old car. "Had to use a few before Q'tincr."
The floor of the boot had been lifted and chocked with a sawn-off shotgun. Underneath was a myriad of … everything. Guns and knives of all sizes were strapped to the underneath of the floor, there was even a silver spike. Jars held still in a crate with what was in them written on top (sheep knuckles, angle feathers, Ronan twigs, funeral cloth). Bags of all sizes were scattered around and several boxes of ammo with symbols on top could be seen sprinkled amongst the rest. It was these, that the siblings were looking through.
"I know. I got some back on Lattiner. Haven't tested to see if it works yet, but they said it would. Chemical makeup is the same." She loaded another shotgun with white rounds before having it take the place of the one holding the floor up. "Got some salt too. I don't think that replicated stuff will work a second time." She loaded it with more rounds and set it on the floor beside her.
"Just lucky that first time?" Dean copied her movements with several others.
"Or it wasn't expecting it. What did the autopsy show?" She asked again as she stood and dropped the floor, handing the gun to Dean and picking up the other. They both placed a hand on the hood to slam it close with a creaking thud.
Dean took a moment to look over at the men beside them, and continued when Jim nodded to show that he wanted to know. He sighed and took a breath before saying, "Both had their throats slashed." Leon wasn't the only one who gasped, but he noticed that Sam only winced. "Morrows also had major wounds on her lower abdomen. M'Combe was looking into that when you called me here. He'll contact us once he's finished with her."
"So you're thinking it got interrupted before it could continue with L'in?" Sam asked as they each shouldered a bag and made their way back to the lift. Leon got the 'bad vibes' feeling again as they made their way through the 'wall'. The hair on the back of his neck stayed standing until they exited the lift.
"Maybe. I've got Jones looking into their backgrounds, as well as that of the Officer that survived."
"She said he just came at her, no warning. McCoy, I want you to head to the medbay and see what the Officer from the bridge has to say. I'll have, who's near there?" She paused as she and Dean went through who was where. Singer and Fitz were in the mess hall the ghost first appeared in, Mills and Novak were covering the floors where the victims were found and Jones was doing research in the science section, with Turner.
"Smith and Wesson have the engineering section locked down," Dean added, "Janet Mills is on that level."
"She'll meet up with you there, McCoy." She said as she handed him one of the bags she had on her shoulder.
"Why are you using last names, Sam?" He asked, taking it, but not moving off.
They both paused for a moment; and Leon could have sworn that he could see an apology in her eyes, before Sam straightened and headed off, throwing "Dean, make sure the Dr gets there in one piece." over her shoulder as she left the hallway.
A/N: And I couldn't have this type of story without the brother's precious Baby in it. That episode is still my favourite. Hope you liked it. How they got her on board they will answer in the last chapter.
