A/N: So here is the last chapter. I have half written the third story in this series, with at least one more, unless another idea crops into my head. Enjoy!
I am So Sorry for not getting back to this story. I fixed the mixup of the last two chapters after it got pointed out to me, thank you to those that did.
It was a couple of days after the showdown with Jack the Ripper, that Scotty found himself and Keenser being invited to breakfast with Jim, Spock, Leon, Sam and Dean. While most of the action had been happening without him, he had had several Hunters with him in engineering keeping him up to date. He knew that the others and himself had a few questions and he was hoping that they would get them answered that morning. He entered the Hunters office and saw that it had been cleared up. The table that had been covered with jars, books and weaponry had been cleared and was now covered with food.
Keenser, it turned out, was an expert in Hunting lore on his own world, and had known of Sam and the others when he had seen the warding around the engineering area; his eyes enabling him to see different coloured wavelengths. He had been to the office several times and had explained this to him when they had received the invitation. After getting over that shock, he had bugged the Roylan with questions until the wee man had hit him over the head with a wrench and signed him to shut up.
The food was real, not rehydrated, if the smell was anything to go by. Wondering where it had come from, he joined the others. Jim, Spock and Dean were there already, and he asked where Sam and Leon were.
"If the last couple of days are anything to go by, his room." Dean said, grabbing a dish of fruit salad and putting some in a bowl. The others must have had similar looks on their faces to his own if Dean's next words were anything to go by. "What? Make-up sex is the best." He shrugged his shoulders and continued to fill his bowl. He seemingly had no problem of his sister being with the doctor.
"She locks down her emotions differently to others. Because she missed out on learning how to control them the Vulcan way, she taught herself another. The journals, as you've discovered, Commander, hold incredible amounts of emotions. She runs her hands over those that hold the most to override her own. Knowing that they are not hers, she can concentrate on what needs to be done." He stopped a moment and took a breath.
"Spock probably knows what she said to him that second morning, but it did hurt him, a hell of a lot, despite knowing she was distancing herself from him. Even after the mindmeld in the medbay, he was still hurting. The other is the closest thing either of them have had in terms of a stable relationship for a long time. And I think it's the first one Sam's had since Dad..."
Scotty saw him look at Jim, who nodded. Jim knew then, that their dad had been killed when he was a kid. Sam had raised him on her own, while working for Starfleet. Just as he was about to ask something, the door opened.
Sam and Leon looked like they had just come from a shower, hair still damp, his sticking up all over the place; and neither cared. They held hands and simply took a seat each, as though nothing was out of the ordinary. He couldn't remember the last time Leon had looked so relaxed, his current hair style and smile making him look several years younger.
"Winchester, Bones, good of you to join us." Jim said, lightening the suddenly dark mood with the playfulness in his voice.
"Captain, Commander, Monty, thank you for coming."
"What, no greeting for me? I only had an angry murdering ghost in me you know."
"I didn't invite you, brat. You invited yourself." She swatted him on the back of his head hard enough to make him jerk forward. The silliness worked, breaking the seriousness and prompting them to all attack the food.
It was another hour before Dean turned to his sister. Scotty caught a look of reluctance at destroying the happy atmosphere. You could have heard a pin drop in the silence once he spoke.
"You killed Dad? Ripper made sure I could hear and see everything."
It was a very long moment until Sam spoke, lifting her head from where she had dropped it at his words.
"You know what happens to a person that dies in a sulphur fire?"
"Oh God." Dean dropped his own head at that, Keenser sucking in a breath.
"What?" he asked at the same time as Jim, Spock simply raising an eyebrow.
"You remember what I said about demon possession?"
"Black eyes, flinging people across a room, yeah." Jim said, nodding.
"Sulphur is another sign, the smell, a deposit of it left behind or burned into whatever it touches." Sam said, and the others were beginning to understand.
"You and you father were under the impression you were dealing with one such creature." Spock asked, to which Sam nodded.
"Before we figured out that it wasn't, it entered Dad. We didn't have the marks we do now, so no way of trapping it. Dad vanished for several days, freaking me out. He never did that in the middle of a hunt. When he showed up, he was covered in scars and blood, enough to make me think he was dead. I hit him with a demon killing round from a gun that can kill almost anything, but it did nothing." She buried her head in her hands, "It looked at the wound, laughed, said that I'd just killed him and left. He was just alive when I reached him."
"He died in her arms, after managing to tell her enough to find it's bones and torch it." Leon said suddenly, wrapping his arms around her, "He also forgave her." He looked at Dean at that, conveying to the younger man that their father held no resentment toward the end.
Silence filled the office after that, only Sam's quiet sobs broke it.
Sam asked something several minutes later.
"Captain, I know it's not usually allowed," her voice still breaking in sorrow, "but we would like to build a funeral pyre for Max."
"Pyre? As in a fire?" Jim asked, his tone wondering the same thing he was, you don't have fires on spacecraft.
"Yes, it's a Hunter's funeral; salt and burn the bones, to put the spirit to rest."
Jim looked over at Scotty, he nodded, indicating he would look into it. "We'll see what we can do." He told them, "Is that what you did in the mess hall to the box? I didn't think there were any bones in it?"
"There weren't, but his spirit was attached to it, that's why it worked."
Dean joined in then, clearly forgiving his sister, if he had held her responsible in the first place. "The brothers once had to drag a ghost along a road to destroy it, a little hard to burn a road when the bones have long since become a part of it."
"That explains why that worked, but I have a couple of other questions." Jim said.
"Go for it, we'll explain what we can." Sam said after sharing a quick look at her brother.
"Of the brothers, which is your ancestor?"
The siblings shared a look, before turning back to them and shrugging.
"No idea."
"Not a clue."
"What? You don't know?"
"The boys weren't exactly monogamous. They were on the road all the time, and well, men need to let off a certain type of steam every now and again." Sam said, eyeing Jim. Scotty nearly choked on a laugh but managed to turn it into a chough when he realised what she was implying. While he steered clear of the crew on board, Jim was a notorious womaniser on planets. His friend was doing better if she was teasing the captain. "The only reason we know we're related at all is because of the last name. And DNA tests from some of the things in the car. Without knowing who's DNA profile is whose, we don't know. We know that there are programs that can break down what colour hair and eyes they may have had," she held out her hand to Leon, forestalling his response, "But, we kinda like the fact we don't know. Just another mystery of being a Winchester."
"They did document women they stayed with for any length of time, usually after one of them had died for a while. But it was so long ago, and with interfering angels and nasty demons, it's hard to trace back that far. Not to mention I'm pretty sure one of the angles changed a few memories on some of them to keep them safe at the brothers' request." Dean said.
"Wait, 'died for a while'? What in the hell does that mean?" Scotty asked, catching the odd wording.
"Is this what you meant on New Vulcan when you said 'depends on the ancestry' when Dlece said your name had nothing to do with your survival?" Jim said.
"Yes."
The next half an hour was spent with the siblings trading off one another telling them about how the ancestor they had been named for, died and came back. Scotty was shocked at the number of times it had happened; he had a better understanding as to why they didn't know.
"I have read a number of the journals written by the brothers; and the Hunters you have here, some of their names also appear within them." Spock said, a questioning tone in his wording.
"Yeah, a lot of them have taken the names of Hunters that have either saved family in the past, or a Hunter they like. Take Singer, for example. The original was like a father to the brothers after their own died. He had lost his wife to a demon, that was how he got into it."
"That's how one starts in this business usually, you lose someone to something you can't explain and you see it happen. A hunter saves you and explains. Most times, the family think you're crazy and call the cops, hence criminal records; other times, they join the fight. There aren't a lot of people like us that are born into hunting. As far as we know, we're one of only three families that have lasted this long, Fitz and Novak are the other two."
"You mentioned grave robbing and murder before, what did you mean?" Leon asked, making Scotty wonder where he was during that conversation.
"In order to burn the body of a spirit, often you have to dig it up. Most times, you don't have time to rebury the body after, since by then someone will have noticed the nice bonfire you've created." Dean answered.
Sam took up. "Take Singer again. We needed experienced Hunters on board, but there aren't that many that have a clean enough record. I've known him since before I started at Starfleet. He was just a kid in his teens, but he already had a record a mile long. The murders, come about when you kill a shape shifter, werewolf, vampire and such things that were human, or can take on the shape of a human. ME's don't know what to look for or how to explain what they've found, since such things aren't covered in med school. As such, it is recorded as a murder, and if they find evidence of a Hunter and it matches other cases, a Hunter can build up quite the rap sheet pretty quickly."
"So he took another name and started fresh." Jim finished.
"Yes, by using the same program I did to hide. By taking the name of a past well known Hunter, even if they've never met you, others will know who you are. These journals," She said as she waved a hand across the journals behind her, "are Hunter 101, when it comes to new ones starting out. No one else has ever hunted anywhere near as many things as they did, nor come across some of the things they encountered."
They each took a moment to sort things out as they filled a cup of coffee, savouring it.
"We have seen that you have used spells from different planets, is that why you disappeared on Littaner?" Spock asked. Scotty remembered when the ship had gone off when it had lost her biosignature. He had been worried sick until she had called, explaining that she was entering an area that was going to block it and her comm device. He never did get a report on what she found.
"Bimbge mentioned that you showed some of his people something? Something about death rituals?" Jim asked.
"Not quite, I saw some symbols on a wall of their cemetery and they looked a lot like some of ours that trap spirits in objects or places. I approached the nightwatchmen and showed him a couple of similar symbols from Earth. He quickly contacted their version of Hunters and I spoke to them the next day after shielding myself from the ship. Picked up a few things from them in terms of spells, but also salt. It's not mined any more on Earth, and you can only get the replicated stuff which we've found doesn't work as strongly as the natural stuff."
Dean spoke up then, "There aren't a lot of places left that still have active Hunters. Most are scholars, and only do the book work now."
"Yeah, and look how well that worked for Earth." Sam growled. She finished her bowl of fruit and took a drink of coffee to hide her annoyance.
"Why, what happened?" Scotty asked.
"On Earth, there was a society called The Men of Letters. They did a lot of research into the supernatural and left all the grunt work to the Hunters. When the American chapter fell in the 1950s, the British one did nothing to help re-establish them or find out what happened. When the sun was dying suddenly in the 2010s, they came over shortly after to take a hand and try to 'help' the American Hunters." Dean explained.
"Only they made a big mistake; they attacked, kidnapped and tortured Sam. It turned all the American Hunters against them in the end, and they were driven out because they didn't understand how things worked there."
"They tried to do things like they had done them in England for so long." Scotty said. He had a feeling it didn't work out so good. America was and still is a hard place to tame.
"Yeah. They fell only fifty years later. A group of werewolves had managed to escape them centuries before. Their numbers grew until they managed to attack the Bunker they had there, only it wasn't a bunker anymore, just a house. And it fell easily. The Men of Letters had no idea how to handle them, except for in books. Their own Hunters had no natural instincts, they had been honed out with computer tracking and satellite imagery and they had been taught to rely on the information given to them by the Letters people." Sam said. "Also, there were plenty of signs in the papers, only the Hunters no longer looked at them, again relying on the scholars."
"Books are one thing, but it's hands on practical fighting that wins things in this sort of war. That's why we're still going."
"So, England, still werewolf territory?" Jim asked, Scotty remembered it was one of the things that Keenser had told him about.
"No, we found a solution to turning them back, so long as they're less than a hundred years old. The brothers found something once, but as far as we know, it only worked once, on Novak's ancestor. We found a planet that had similar creatures. It was caused by a virus there, and it seemed, on Earth. The ones in Canada, we're negotiating with to try and get them to take the antidote."
They all took several minutes to digest that information. It was a lot, but it also explained a lot of things. Many of his own questions had been answered, and it seemed those of the others as well. Just as he thought there was nothing else for the moment, Leon, it seemed had one more.
"Sam, when Ripper first appeared, you said something about gloves and what had happened last time. What did you mean?"
The siblings were silent for a moment, until Sam spoke. "As you know, I haven't got the walls that Spock does, and when I was younger, I never went anywhere without them on. Dad and I were Hunting a ghost that left ecto. I'd never seen it before, and at the time, didn't have my gloves on as I was nowhere near the area where the victim appeared." She stopped and shuddered.
"She ended up in a coma for a week. It was a few years before I was born." Dean said, allowing her to touch his fingers.
"To someone like me or Spock, it's like blood."
"You picked up emotions from it." Scotty said, remembering what Jim had mentioned over dinner the day before.
"More than that, it's personality took control of me. My body shut down so my brain could fight it. That's how strong it was. Ripper would have been worse, if Spock's reaction was anything to go by, and he had training." Sam continued.
Scotty couldn't imagine what it would have been like for her. Growing up without the knowledge of how to block such things, fearing everything she touched; would have been a nightmare for her.
He was pouring a coffee for them a second time when Jim asked, "What happened that day, with you and me? I saw memories, but we weren't doing a mind-meld. Same with Sable in the medbay. You were able to get information without melding."
Scotty remembered that. While it had been happening, Jim had been completely unresponsive. Spock, because of his touch-telepathy, had been unable to touch them, but when Scotty himself had, neither had responded to his calls, or light shakes. Spock didn't have any idea as to what had happened. The medbay incident, Jim had told them about later.
"Dad only knew where to place the fingers, but he didn't know of how to initiate it, Mom did that. Since I didn't know how to do it, as a kid, the finger-meld I created, worked on a similar level. I can control what I show to another and what I can see from another, if I get them to think about it."
"How is that different from a Mind-meld?" Scotty asked.
"Mind-melds are everything; feelings, thoughts, emotions; all flowing freely from one to another, no holding back, hiding nothing. Finger-melds are controlled by the person doing it. Only something or someone strong can over-ride that control."
"I would like to learn that technique, Lieutenant." Spock asked, to which Sam nodded, a smile breaking out on her face at the thought of teaching the Vulcan something he did not know. Scotty hoped she would tell him of any stuff ups so he could get back at him about it later.
The friends sat for several minutes until Jim was called to the bridge. They broke up and went their separate ways. Scotty headed back to engineering, Keenser at his side. On the way, he asked
"The, pyre, did you do that for those you lost?"
Keenser nodded and signed back {Yes, we would do the same thing. It's a sign of respect to the Hunter, and honour for those who not only attend, but participate.} Reaching their level, Keenser looked back at Scotty {I've found an area they can do it in. It won't damage anything, and we can blow the ashes out into space once it's done.}
Scotty realised that the Hunters had spoken to him, and that asking Jim was just a formality; they would have gone ahead with it regardless of his decision. Nodding, he contacted Jim and informed him of the area Keenser had found. After that, he had contacted Sam, and informed her.
The area was locked down two days later. No one, other than the Hunters were allowed in. Sam told him later that they had replicated logs to burn, the fire lasting several hours before they cleared the room and opened a hatch into space. Scotty could tell that she was still reeling over the loss of a lifelong friend.
They soon settled into a routine again, well as routine as it could get for the Enterprise. The Hunters returned to their usual duties, only having to don the role again once more during the rest of the five-year mission. Scotty, while learning a lot about Hunters and their life from Keenser, was glad he wasn't one. He was also glad that he knew there were people out there taking care of the things that went bump in the night.
YEAH! Finished. I have still got a bit to write on the next instalment of this series involving Sam and Dean. All the favorites return, and a few new ones appear. Hope you have enjoyed this story and the tale of the Hunters of the Enterprise.