Chapter 9

Trust

"Have you found his body yet?" Wolff barked out, storming into the Great Hall where his soldiers had just returned from searching the woods.

He paid no attention to the civilians-turned-servants who scampered out of his way and plopped down on the grand, wooden throne like he belonged on it. His eyes narrowed as he watched his men shift uneasily under his scrutiny.

"Sir, we combed the site of the crash and the nearby woods, but we found nothing. No bodies, no signs of Kirk," one of the five soldiers responded meekly, clearly afraid of what Wolff would do to them.

"Well, what did you see?" Wolff asked casually. "Paint a picture for me."

The soldier frowned. "Of what, sir?"

A flash of annoyance flickered across Wolff's face, followed by boredom. There was a barely suppressed sigh as he replied in a tone that was similar to one that someone would use with a particularly slow child. "The crash site, you idiots. What did you see that seemed out of ordinary? Better yet, tell me about the ship and the way it broke."

"There isn't very much to tell you, sir. The shuttle was broken to pieces. Nobody could have survived that."

"Kirk could. What was still intact?"

"Not much. The console was broken in two, the chairs were shattered, and so were the walls. There were a couple of storage units too, but those looked pretty mangled up too. One of them even had its door bashed open."

A grin suddenly spread across Wolff's face. "Good. Take a few more men and go scour the woods some more. Don't come back until you've found Kirk."

"How do you know that he's still alive, sir? His body could have burned up in the explosion."

Wolff waved a dismissive hand. He didn't want to waste precious minutes to explaining. "Just do what I say."

The soldiers bowed once and quickly made their way out, leaving Wolff to swing sideways on the throne and lean back a bit, kicking his legs up to rest on one of the armrests.

"Why is everyone around me so stupid?" he asked out loud.

"Is that why you're so pleased that Kirk is still alive?" a voice questioned.

Wolf didn't need to look to know who it was, but he still shifted a bit so he could see his uncle more clearly. "Good afternoon, Uncle," he said casually. "How may I help you?"

Greenaway was in his mid-fifties, but he had aged well with little wrinkles on his square-jawed face. He had a full head of brown-grey hair with deep green eyes that seemed to see far more than he gave away. He was tall, about six-feet-tall, and lean. There was power in every step, every movement, and it wasn't just physical. Charisma and authority oozed from his pores, forcing those with weak hearts to make way in his wake.

He crossed his arms, considering Wolff before turning to the servants around them. "Leave," he commanded in a hard voice that booked no argument. Instantly, the room cleared, leaving Wolff and Greenaway alone.

"Kirk is a dangerous man, Royce," Greenaway said, "I know how much you enjoy toying with the man, but every second he is alive, he threatens our plans."

"Relax, Uncle. If he hid in the storage units before the crash, then he has to be injured somehow. It'll be easy to pick him off once my men find him."

"And what are you doing about the giant ship floating just outside the atmosphere? You've said that the crew of the Enterprise is extremely loyal to Kirk, and we've kept their Command crew in our dungeons for four days. They could be gearing up to storm down to rescue them by now."

"I've been keeping in contact with them, saying that diplomatic relations is tedious and it's taking time for us to hash things out. They don't seem to suspect anything as of now."

"They believe those lies?"

"Humans are stupid. They only see what they want to see. Besides, even if they have figured out what's going on, I've left enough men on the ship to subdue them. And there's no one left onboard to crack the programming I've set on their communications system."

"Be careful, Royce. You're getting careless in your excitement."

"I know what I'm doing, Uncle," snapped Wolff. "I don't need your lectures."

Greenaway bristled with anger and took a step forward. "Do not use that tone with me, boy. You wouldn't even be here today without me."

Wolff immediately swung around, planting his feet solidly on the ground and facing off with his uncle with no hesitation. "And do not forget who it was that brought you to your position of power, Uncle. If it was not for me, you would not even be standing here on top of Zenobia."

"You need me, Royce, and what we have on Zenobia to pull one over on Starfleet."

"You haven't even managed to harness the Goddess' power yet! We need her to bring Starfleet to its knees, Uncle, but you haven't even been able to get a peak of her shadow! I thought you said that if you took all the children, she'll raise her head and come to their aid. But has she even shown up yet?"

"What about you? You have the goddamn Command crew bleeding out in our basement! What benefit do you have to keeping them alive?"

"Don't deflect, Uncle. We need the Goddess. You had one job." Wolff leaned back, thinking. "You said that the Goddess protected the children. Perhaps we're still too kind to them."

"Are you proposing that we harm the children?" Greenaway's eyebrow rose, but he didn't look perturbed.

"We've come this far, Uncle. Surely, that doesn't make you queasy. Where is your conviction?"

Now, Greenaway had anger in his eyes and he tilted his chin in confrontation. "And what of yours? You never answered why you're still keeping the Enterprise and her crew hostage. We don't need them, save for the ship itself."

Wolff smirked. "I'm just having a little fun. After playing the good boy for so long, I think I deserve it."

"Your bad habit is showing, Royce. You always play with your food before you eat it. What's your obsession with Kirk anyway?"

"He's a good man. And that just makes me want to mess with him more."

"You're twisted, Royce." But there was no heat behind Greenaway's words.

"Well, it takes one to know one, isn't that right, Uncle?"

Greenaway smiled. "You mind if I have a go at Kirk's men? I've been itching to get my hands on that woman of his."

"Have at it, Uncle. Just don't break the goods."

"Why not? Aren't you planning on killing them anyway?"

"I can't kill them now. I do and Kirk will break completely, and I want to see that happen in front of me."

"Enjoy, nephew, but don't let your enthusiasm cloud our endgame."

Wolff looked away, staring out into the open window with a grim expression on his face. "I won't. Believe me. As long as Kirk is still alive, I won't let my guard down."

"If he's still alive, why hasn't he shown his face yet?"

"He's too smart for that. But I have no doubt that he's lurking around somewhere, plotting and waiting for the right time." He flashed his uncle a feral smirk. "Trust me. I'll bet my life on it."

The woods were quiet, save for the sounds of the birds and insects chirping around them. They were loud and obnoxious, but Jim found solace in the noises as he made his way quietly through the trees. He was careful to not brush up against any stray branches and break them on accident, and he kept a watchful eye on Thea doing the same, albeit a bit more choppy than his own graceful movements.

She was clearly used to the bow and cache of arrows on her back, bending lower beneath leaves to prevent her weapons from getting caught on anything. A sense of smugness breezed through Jim. Even with his head pounded like monkeys playing bongos in his head, he was still able to note the worn wood of the bow, indicating how often it was used, and the brief second of her eyes flickering towards it when Jim first started to pocket in the few weapons that she had lifted.

It was her weapon of choice, and she had been using it since the moment Greenaway made his move, and Jim was glad he handed it to her. With what he had in his hands, his boot knife and the Berettas with a few bullets, he was limited to close combat in case they encountered any of Wolff's soldiers. He needed long-range backup – one that he knew that Chekov, unfortunately, couldn't provide.

"Hey, we've been walking for about five minutes now with you leading. Do you even know where you're going? Because this isn't the way to Greenaway's castle," Thea called out, her voice subdued.

Jim glanced at her briefly, taking in her expression of frustration, impatience, and distrust before moving on. "We're going back to the crash site," he said simply.

Thea frowned. "How do you that this is the right way?"

"Before we crashed, we were heading north-east. Judging by the position of the sun right now, we're going in the same direction." Jim said, eying the trees before him. "I was concussed after we hit the ground and all I could think about at that time was that I had to get Chekov away from there. If I was in the right mind, I would've changed up my route and covered up my tracks better. So, I'm pretty sure I just went straight, towards the sun, until I collapsed."

"Even half-conscious, you knew that you were going westward?"

"Chekov wasn't exaggerating when he said that I'm the best undercover agent Starfleet has."

"But that still doesn't explain how you knew to take this route from the cave."

"In order to bring Chekov and me back with you, you needed at least Liam's help. And you would never let Liam venture too far out or wander about while Greenaway and Wolff's men were out looking for us. Therefore, the most likely route you'd take is straight from the cave's opening. Hence us walking this way."

There was a moment of silence. "You didn't really need me, did you?"

"Not true. I don't know the way to Greenaway's castle. I mean, I could definitely find my way there sooner or later, but I don't exactly have the time to waste tracking Greenaway's men back to headquarters."

"Then why are you heading back to the crash site? I'd thought you would want to scope out the castle first."

"The crash site is the last place that Greenaway or Wolff would think to look for me now that they've searched for me there already, and there might still be some things I could use lying about. At this point, I'll take anything I can get."

"You have a backpack full of things that MacGyver would envy, and you still need more?"

Jim snorted. "You know about MacGyver? That was like centuries before your time."

"My father used to like watching old holos. I know for a fact that you have a phaser in your backpack, which is more than enough of a defense."

"Offense," Jim corrected absentmindedly as he moved underneath another branch. "That phaser is meant for offense. And it's too flashy to use when I'm trying to sneak around. Why are you going through my backpack anyway?"

"Had to make sure that you weren't carrying a bomb or anything," she returned, her tone almost matching his, "So what are you hoping for at the crash site?"

"Some way to contact my ship. I may be good, but even I'm not arrogant enough to think that me alone can take down Greenaway's and Wolff's army."

"And if you can't?"

"I'll improvise."

They crept on in silence for a few more minutes before they reached the crash site. It was as Jim remembered: the ground was littered with debris and shattered metal pieces. Chunks of the shuttle stuck out of the dirt like gravestones. Even the storage container that had kept Jim and Chekov alive was left exactly the way it was.

Nothing had been touched. Nothing had been moved. It was perfect.

Immediately, Jim set to work, moving around like a shadow as he touched and uncovered various objects, throwing whatever was useless to a side. Thea watched carefully, noting how he would still go out of his way to make sure that the things that he tossed away would be returned to its relatively same spot. He was careful to cover his tracks, even as he tore apart the wreckage.

Curiosity was still biting at Thea. Despite Jim sharing all that he did, it still felt as though there was a barrier. He gave enough to answer the barest of questions, but did not divulge into details, and damn it, Thea wanted to know. If Jim was a Tarsus IV survivor, then he was more fit than anyone else to know what she and her kids were going through, and Thea needed to know something very, very important.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" she finally asked after a few minutes of shifting around uneasily.

"Fire away," Jim replied, not even looking up from where he was tearing apart a circuit board and shoving parts of it into his backpack.

Thea hesitated a bit, biting down on her lower lip before asking shyly. "How did you survive?"

"Wit and sarcasm," came the curt reply. Jim clearly had thought that she was asking about the shuttle crash or at least his imprisonment under Wolff's hands.

"No, I mean, how did you survive Tarsus?" Her voice was so soft, but it held hope that Jim could never fulfill.

Jim completely froze and glanced at her with such sorrow in his eyes. He caught her eyes before looking back down at the ground, searching the wreckage for something only he could see. "I didn't," he answered simply. He moved forward a couple of steps. "Some part of me never left Tarsus. And it never will."

The silence behind him was stifling, and he knew exactly what Thea was thinking. Immediately, he turned and straightened. A bright smile – full of things that he could only dream of – crossed his face as he shrugged, sticking his hands into his pockets. He looked almost boyish with the innocence and gladness in his expressions.

"That won't be you, Thea. You'll survive this. You and your kids."

There was such confidence in his words, but she felt none of it. She shook her head, and whispered. "You don't know that. You don't know anything. There's no hope left for me."

Jim quickly stepped forward and cupped her cheeks. His sparkling blue eyes drowned her. "There is. You know why?"

She would shake her head if she could.

"You're not me, Thea. You're far better than me. I see what you've done for your kids, but you've having lost yourself yet. Beneath all the hurt, all the pain and fear, you still haven't given up."

"How do you know I haven't? I never expected to survive this, Jim. As long as my brother and those kids live, that's all that matters."

"But you've won where I've lost, Thea. You've won."

"What do you mean? I've lost everything! My parents, my home, my friends! I'm only sixteen years old! I should be worrying about boys and rebelling, but all I've got on my mind is how to live through each day. All I can think about is how I'm supposed to find scraps of food without running into any soldiers and how to keep those kids safe! What have I won, Jim? Pray tell, because for all that is good and holy, I can't think of anything!"

Jim let go of her face and slowly reached down to hold her hands, bringing them up to eyelevel. "Because your hands are still clean. Unlike mine, you haven't let yourself fall so far that there was no coming back."

She looked away. "It's only a matter of time. I'll do anything to make sure Liam makes it through this."

"And that scares you more than anything else, doesn't it? The fact that you'll do anything, even if you gave up your soul, to keep them safe. I get it, I really do. But there's a reason why I know you'll survive this in one piece, soul intact. One huge difference between you and me."

"Yeah? And what is that?"

Jim grinned. "You've got me."

It was so ridiculous that Thea felt a snort of laughter shake her small, trembling body. "And what makes you so arrogant to think that you'll make any difference in my life at all?"

"I'm James freaking Kirk. I can do anything I put my mind to. I don't believe in no-win scenarios." He leaned down and touched his forehead to hers. "And I don't see a no-win scenario in front of me anyway."

She chuckled wetly, pulling away to swipe at the tears that were beginning to form. "You're delusional."

"Yes," Jim smirked, taking a step back. "But at least I'm not a dreamer. That ship has sailed a long time ago. Now, doesn't that make you feel better?"

"You must be joking. Just because you've got pretty eyes and a glib tongue doesn't mean that everything's all fine and dandy now, you know," Thea replied, her eyes shining in a way that hadn't happen for a very while now.

Jim batted his eyelashes. "You think I have pretty eyes?"

She pushed him away, rolling her eyes, leaving Jim to chuckle as he turned around to examine the ruins again.

She watched him again, but this time, in a whole new light. A few smooth words was never going to lift the burdens from her shoulders, nor was a smile going to do anything. Her fears were never supposed to be so easily uplifted and her hope had almost been long forgotten, but yet, Jim had done the impossible just by simply understanding. He wasn't patronizing nor did he pity her. He didn't presume to pretend that he knew exactly what had happened to her, but he understood.

There was a vast difference between feeling sorry for her and being sorry that all this crap happened to her. The former made her feel weak and vulnerable, like she was another poor orphan who couldn't fend for herself. The latter made her feel that she had done thus far to survive and keep her brother and those kids alive wasn't for naught.

If Jim hadn't gone through something similar, and probably through something that was far worse than she could ever imagine, she had no doubt that she would have seethed in furious anger if he even tried to assume what was going through her head. People would never be able to understand the desolation and the desperation of trying to make it through the day, one hour at a time. They wouldn't understand what it was like to have to crawl and beg until the raw flesh of their fingers were bleeding. Having her world turned upside down and dyed a permanent crimson color was not something that she could easily explain, nor did she ever think she would be able to, and if anyone tried to empathize with her? Well, she reserved the right to break someone's nose.

But Jim was a different story entirely. He took everything that he had learned and experienced, all that he hated about himself and what had happened, and spun it in a way that he grew from it all. He had pieced together those broken pieces of his soul so meticulously that he could stand before everyone today as the Captain of the Enterprise and as someone who could bring her back into the light.

He had lost so much of himself to Tarsus – that much Thea could see – but he was still able to come out of the other end stronger. And if he could do it, then so could she. But even if she couldn't – even if she fell through the wafer-thin ice she was standing upon – at least she knew that there was someone there to catch her.

By a few smooth words and a bright smile, Thea felt all the despair, desperation, and fear of keeping her kids alive shift from her shoulders to Jim's. Simply by meeting Jim, she had been saved in a sense, but if Jim was doing all the saving, who was going to save him?

Jim grabbed hold of a few wires, bending down closer to gut the console further, with a look of concentration on his face. His shoulders looked so strong and stable to Thea, and yet, she couldn't possibly fathom the weight that was on them. He had to save his family and crew – people that he would give anything to protect – get his ship back from Wolff and debunk the whole scandal behind Jim's arrest, and hold up the enormously heavy expectations of Starfleet and the world to be the Captain of the flagship. And, without a second's thought, he added Thea's burdens on top of everything else like it was nothing, even though it seemed like he could and should be crushed at any time.

How the hell could he still stand up so straight? He must have been drowning and screaming for help since this entire fiasco started, but there was no one to hear him. He couldn't call out to anyone because the only ones that could've pulled him up from under the water were the very ones that Jim had to save. He was spiraling down as time went on, that much was clear, but he couldn't let himself fall just yet. Not when he had so much to do and expectations to fulfill. He was an elastic coil, stretched out so far that he was inches from snapping. He was barely clinging on through the sheer force of will.

Somehow, Thea knew that the only ones that could bring Jim back from the brink were sitting in some cell in the basement of Greenaway's castle. She had no power, and honestly, no ability or emotional strength, to help Jim out in any way, but if she could get him to his family, the people who could help him faster, then maybe he wouldn't break quite as much when this was all over.

She stepped forward, scanning the ground for anything electronic that wasn't too shattered. "Do you have everything you need? What else are you looking for?"

Jim looked up from where he was sitting on the ground, playing with what looked like a broken communicator, half of a dashboard, and a few pieces of stripped wires. He had already formed some sort of device and his fingers were practically dancing as he made more modifications. "I think I got all that I need." He stood, holding the makeshift object carefully, as if it was a baby. "We should head out to Greenaway's castle now. We don't want to be away from the cave for too long."

Thea nodded and pointed behind Jim, towards the east. "It's that way. It's probably around a thirty minute walk."

"Lead on, then, Thea," Jim said, a little bit distracted.

She easily took point and trudged into the forest again. She glanced over at her silent companion. Jim was already back to being preoccupied with the electronic in his hands. His backpack was slung precariously and yet, balanced across his shoulder; no doubt for easy reach of his weapon now that they were about to embark into more dangerous territory.

They walked on in silence for ten or so minutes while Jim focused on the project in his hands. There was a slight clicking sound when he completed the makeshift communicator, followed by empty static. Without breaking his stride, Jim shut it off and threw it into his backpack.

"I thought you were going to use that to contact your people?" Thea commented.

"I'll need Chekov for that. I have no doubt that Wolff encrypted all communications, to and from the ship, so I need those PADDs that Chekov's working on to find a subroute around Wolff's programs."

"How old is Chekov anyway? He can't be that much older than me, and yet he's the Navigator on the Enterprise?"

Jim's chest swelled with pride. "Yeah, he was only seventeen years old when the Narada incident happened. Child prodigy, I'm telling you. The kid is absolutely brilliant. The ship and I wouldn't be here a thousand times over if it wasn't for him."

"Is that why you left him back at the cave? To keep him safe?"

"Partially. Mostly, it's because Wolff doesn't know I smuggled him onto this planet, which means I have a hidden advantage. He's my secret weapon. "

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about your friend's safety. He's still considered a child according to the laws of Zenobia, which means he's under the Goddess' protection."

Jim frowned, confused. "Is that some sort of task force or law? Because I thought that the Goddess was just a belief."

She shook her head. "She's more than a belief. The Goddess has been known to emerge during dark times to protect the children of Zenobia."

He tilted his head, trying to understand. "So she's actually a living being?"

"Spirit, is probably a better term for her, but yes. Or so the legends go. Her powers are great, though no one knows the extent of her abilities besides her blessings over the land." Thea shrugged, "But I have yet to see her do anything against Greenaway."

"Maybe she's hiding from him. If what you say is true, and that is common knowledge to Zenobians, I'm pretty sure that they've thought to capture the Goddess to harness her powers. I wouldn't be surprised if that's part of the reason why they took all the children."

Thea paused. "I hadn't thought of that."

"How do you know she really exists anyway? Or are you sure she's not just a legend?"

"Records have said that she appeared."

"Right, but how long ago?"

"Centuries."

"And the people of Zenobia still believe in her?"

Thea crossed her arms, getting slightly irritated now. "Yes. I believe in her too."

Jim raised his hands in a mollifying manner. "I'm not trying to condemn your belief, Thea. Honest. I'm just trying to piece things together. Is that why the townsfolk won't do anything against Greenaway? Other than him holding their children hostage, do they not feel the need to stand up and fight back because they believe the Goddess will come and save them?"

"I have no idea."

"Greenaway's a bastard."

Thea rolled her eyes, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "What gave you that idea?"

"Seriously. I may be a manipulative son of a bitch who's going to hell, but I have at least never used a person's belief against them. It's like desecrating a grave - you don't mess with something as pure as faith."

"Do you believe in something, Jim?"

There was a beat of silence before Jim turned to her slowly with a cocky smirk on his face that hid the sadness and pain of his past in his eyes. "Yeah, I believe in myself. I'm just so fabulous, after all."

She rolled her eyes, seeing through him easily. Another month, and even she would have lost her faith in the Goddess. But the answer to all her prayers was standing before her with a cocky smirk, despite losing his own faith.

So she did the only thing she could, and smiled genuinely for the first time in what seemed like forever. "I believe in you too."

His grin grew broader. "I would tell you that that's a bad idea, but I'd be lying then. I'm awesome." He patted her comfortingly on her back. "You good?"

"Yeah." Thea looked up at him and saw those bright blue eyes. Her heart thumped unnaturally for a brief moment and found that she was absolutely alright with the rush of emotions that she had locked away. Her smile softened softly, making her seem just like the sixteen-year-old teenager that she was supposed to be. "Yeah, I'm good."

Jim and Thea crouched down at the edges of the clearing surrounding Greenaway's castle. The green shrubbery was thick enough to hide their presences, even as they popped their head out to scout out the cavalry. There were gentries posted at every possible entrance of the castle; the drawbridge was drawn up, leaving a twenty feet wide moat between Jim and the front door. If he tried to cross that while under scrutiny of Greenaway and Wolff's men, he would be struck down in seconds.

At least twenty men were posted on the battlements, but that was only on the north side. He was going to need to get closer if he wanted a better idea of the castle defense. And he really needed to know what sort of weapons Wolff and Greenaway were hiding in the keep of the castle. If they were using the keep as it was intended to be - the last defense of the castle - whatever was inside it could very well make or break Jim's plans.

"I'm going to go get a better look at things," Jim whispered to Thea. "Stay here so I know where to come find you again, okay?"

She nodded mutely.

Satisfied, Jim stood up and took a few steps away from her, his eyes already focused on the task before him. Thea blinked once, and Jim seemingly disappeared from her view completely. He had literally merged into the shadows of the trees, becoming one with the green.

With slight surprise, Thea realized that he really wasn't exaggerating when he said that he was the best operative that Starfleet had. She wondered if he learned his almost inhuman skills from Tarsus, but she honestly didn't want to ask. She had a feeling that Jim was hiding more than he was letting on, and people were entitled to their secrets. Especially Jim.

She sat back on her heels, her eyes straining to see if they could even catch a glimpse of her elusive friend. She couldn't have been there for more than twenty or so minutes, her attention on high alert, before she heard rustling amongst the trees. Her grip on her bow and arrow tightened and she pressed herself against the trunk of a tree. Voices reached her ears, becoming louder and louder.

Mentally, she prepared herself for the worst, thinking that she was going to have to attack them to survive. Without really noticing it, her hands began to tremble slightly at the prospect of having to possibly hurt these men. It made the string on her bow quiver with a low hum.

Jim had been gone for probably a little over twenty minutes. There was no possibility that he had finished canvassing the castle yet. She would have to deal with these men herself. She couldn't risk getting caught – she knew that she would be tortured for Jim's location, or worse, her kids' hideout. She had had lived a fairly decent life up until now, free of turmoil or pain: she had no doubt that she would crack easily under the prospect of more pain.

She straightened up, steeling herself even as she felt her stomach twist in a painful knot. Her hands shook terribly and she closed her eyes, breathing slowly. If she could picture these men – these human beings like Liam and her – as deer or game, she could do this. She had to do this.

The sounds came closer and she could now make out the conversation between what seemed like two soldiers. Just another couple of feet and she knew that she would be discovered. It was now or never.

Resolving her will, she rolled back her shoulders and with a quick exhale, she wordlessly sprang out, her bowstring pulled back as far as it could go.

Shock and surprise were clearly written all over the soldiers' faces, but she didn't have time to consider them. Taking a split second to aim, she let loose her arrow and watched the feathers twirl had high speed with a sinking heart.

So much for hoping to keep her soul intact. So much for Jim's promise to her, but it was either her or her kids. And she was never going to choose anything other than them.

All of a sudden, there was a loud crashing sound and Thea took a step back, notching her bow again with a new arrow in anticipation of the new threat. She hadn't expected to see Jim literally fall from the trees and land squarely on the shoulders of one of the soldiers so that he was practically sitting on him. Jim rotated roughly with his thighs, flipping the soldier so hard that he crashed against the ground, smashing his face into the soil with Jim crouching above him.

Jim had literally moved so fast that he had taken down that soldier in the blink of an eye – quick enough to shove the man out of the way of the arrow that Thea had shot at him, though just barely. The arrowhead did skim across Jim's arm, which he had raised in defense of the man, and left a tiny scratch, but Jim didn't even pause.

In the next instant, he reached forward, grabbed the hapless man's head between his two hands, and twisted. The resounding crack echoed in the forest, making Thea flinch harshly.

"What the…?!" was the only thing the dead man's companion got out before Jim drew out his boot knife and threw it with one swift movement, sinking into the middle of the soldier's forehead with unerring accuracy.

Both soldiers were dead before Thea even had the chance to breathe again.

Without wasting any time, Jim got to his feet and started patting down the first man he had killed. His blue eyes had taken on a grey tint; his movements were cold and calculating. It was as if this was an entirely different man before Thea, and honestly, it scared her shitless.

Jim had found an archaic gun on the man and made sure the safety was on before he tossed it into his backpack. He moved onto the other soldier. He yanked out his knife and wiped it on the man's clothes before shoving it back into its sheath. With callous movements, he quickly found another gun and added that to his collection. As a bonus, he also found a working communicator on the soldier, which he quickly cracked open. In seconds, he found the GPS tracker, tossed it out, snapped the communicator shut, and slid it into his pocket.

It was only then did he look up and see Thea staring at him in utter horror.

The coldness and darkness faded away from those blue eyes and his entire posture became softer. He stood slowly, raising his hands up in a surrendering motion, as if he was afraid that he was going to spook Thea like a deer.

It was that simple action of him worrying about scaring her that made her realize that the man in front of her now was not the same as the one from a few seconds ago. Whoever it was before was someone that had to do what was needed, no matter what. That was the shadow of Tarsus IV, but this, this was Jim. And she could trust Jim to protect her.

"Thea?" Jim asked cautiously. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, still trying to find her voice.

Jim reached forward, his hand taking hold of her bow and slowly took it from her as she relinquished her death grip on it. "It's okay. You don't need this anymore. It's okay."

"I know it's okay," she snapped back, anger suddenly taking hold of her. "Don't treat me like a child."

"I really wouldn't. You just saw me kill two men in cold blood and you still haven't run screaming from me." Pain marred his features. "I'm sorry you had to see me do that." He gestured almost helplessly to the men on the ground. "But I couldn't risk them seeing you and getting away to tell Greenaway or Wolff."

She shook her head. "It's fine."

Confusion crossed his expressions, making her roll her eyes. She let her delicate fingers brush against the small scratch on Jim's right arm. "You did it so I didn't have to. Thank you."

Jim shrugged it off like it was nothing. "I've got a lot of pent up anger. Just wait until I get my hands on Wolff."

He bent down and grabbed the arms of one of the soldiers and dragged his body towards the bushes. Jim took great lengths to cover the man up amongst the leaves, leaving no traces behind, and went on to do the same to the other one.

"Isn't Wolff or Greenaway going to know that you've been here once they realize that these soldiers are gone?" Thea asked.

"Nope. These men are just unimportant foot soldiers. They don't even have communicators on them. No one is going to notice that they're gone, at least not for a while. And by that time, we'll be prepared enough to make the first strike."

Thea frowned. "Okay, I believe that you're basically a ninja, but I give us at most two days before they figure out that you're sneaking around and they create a counterattack against you."

Jim flashed her a proud smile. "And this is where I get to show you how truly ingenious Chekov is. Come on, he is going to absolutely dazzle you."

By the time they returned to the cave, Chekov had already fashioned a timer out of the broken communicators and fixed the other one to work, though it was barely functional. With what he had on hand to use, Chekov could only get the communicator to receive messages, but he couldn't send out any. And he did it all with an hour to spare, which he spent playing with the kids and telling them stories about their crazy adventures, filling their heads with Jim's and Sulu's ridiculous antics.

Jim just grinned at Thea's incredulous expression at seeing how childish Chekov was, giggling with the rest of the kids, and at the same time, realizing that Chekov was far brighter than all of them combined (except Jim, though she had not yet discovered how ingenious Jim truly was. She definitely suspected though).

"He's just seventeen, right?" Thea whispered to Jim.

"He's actually closer to eighteen now. In a month, give or take," Jim replied proudly.

She smiled at him. "You make a great older brother, you know that?"

At that, Jim's face darkened a tad. "I wouldn't say that. If I was a good brother, I never would have brought him to into so much danger, and yet here he is." The cloud on his face cleared in a split second, covered by determination, as if he was solidifying his resolve once again. He stepped forward as he opened his backpack for Chekov.

"Chekov, we can't contact the Enterprise because of some sort of virus that Wolff left onboard. I brought back some stuff that might be able to help us bypass that if we connect the old-fashioned way and use radio signals."

"Vill the signals be strong enough to reach the Enterprise, Keptin?" asked Chekov, already pulling out the circuit boards, wires, and whatever else Jim had in his backpack.

"We'll have to amplify it for sure. Think you can make an RF power amplifier out of this?"

Chekov frowned, thinking. "I do not know."

Jim squatted down and started shifting things around. "Making the amplifier should be fairly cut and dry – I made sure to get what we needed. The problem is going to be driving it to a high power source."

"The PADD may contain the power charge ve need for that!" exclaimed Chekov, already scrambling to grab it. He returned with the PADD in his hands. He was trying to split the PADD into two with his blunt nails even as he reached Jim, who just took out his boot knife and handed it to Chekov.

Chekov instantly got to work, tearing the PADD and rerouting certain wires to amplify its batteries, while Jim settled down beside him, building an RF power amplifier from scratch.

As they worked, Thea ushered her kids and brother towards the backend of the cave, shushing them as they attached to her like ducklings to their mother.

Liam nudged her. "What do you think about him?" he asked, nodding at Jim. "You think we made the right decision bringing him back here?"

Thea just smiled softly, combing her fingers through Daniel's hair comfortingly. "Yes."

In that instant, Liam saw his sister for who she was before Greenaway came rampaging through their village. The harshness and coldness of her eyes and features had softened, making her seem her age again. And she was smiling for the first time with no inhibition.

He hadn't realized how much he had missed his sister until now, and how relieved he was that she no longer shouldered the weight of the world on her shoulders. He had tried to do what he could to help her, but someone had to stay behind to protect the children while she went out to find them food. She would never have shared her burdens with him anyway – in her eyes, he was always going to be her little brother. She would always give her life to protect him, and even if he wanted to do the same for her, he had always felt powerless and helpless. Each day, he could see her fading away little by little, but nothing he said or did could bring her back.

And yet, a complete stranger did what he could not: Jim Kirk had brought back her smile.

It made Liam feel envious and irritated that he wasn't the one to do so, but he was far gladder than he was jealous.

Liam leaned over and kissed Thea at her temple, hugging her happily for a brief moment, before pulling back and looking at Jim again. "He seems like a good man," Liam said, a relieved smile on his face too.

Thea glanced up, watching every one of Jim's movements, and smiled brightly. "Yes, he is. I trust him. He will save all of you." Her eyes sparkled. "Just you watch."

To be continued.

Hi all! So yeah...sorry, updates will still be slow, but we're getting into the good bits soon! I'm also working on Ingenious Idiot and as much as I have the ideas for it, I haven't had the time to write. Sorry. School comes first (seriously, crazy busy to the point where I barely have time to eat anymore). But I assure you guys that I'm working on both of these stories. I just have my head full of this story, so Ingenious Idiot has kind of been on the backburner. Please don't be mad at me. I'm trying!

Thank you guys for reading this and sticking with me so long though. I appreciate all the kind words and reviews! You guys are the absolute best!

As always, thanks for reading and please review!

Cheers,

Yuna