AN: Usual disclaimer, the rights to Star Trek etc. belong to someone else. The entire story is complete on my PC, and I'll try to load up a new chapter every few days. Please read and review – constructive feedback will help me finalise the remaining chapters.
Chapter 19
Still in Kirk's cell, Spock nursed a bone crushing headache to go with the other aches and pains currently assaulting him. Having regained consciousness, he had lain immobile on the floor for an indeterminate amount of time. Yes, as plans went, that had not been one of the most successfully executed. Drawing his hand to his mouth, a pained cough wracked his body. Palm held upwards, droplets of copper blood slid down to the floor. Fascinated by the sight, he was soon distracted by the sound of familiar footsteps. The unfamiliar coil of fear writhing in the pit of his stomach forced him to sit upright, albeit rather uncomfortably.
As Samson's side profile came into view, he instinctively shuffled further back into the cell. The contrast of her distinctive red hair against the gun metal grey of the bars was a curious vision. Up until that point there had been no reason for them to interact, so he knew something was afoot.
The low murmur of discussion, followed by the tonal sounds of a key code being entered, then the door swinging open. 'Commander Spock, good news we are leaving', stepping into his cell partially blocking out the light from the corridor. Giving him the once over, 'are you able to walk or do I have to carry you?'
Samson stepped aside to allow Spock to pass. He pensively moved forward before stumbling. Unexpectedly she reached down to grasp his arm, the contact of flesh upon flesh; her feelings cascaded over him. Battling to make sense of everything, the brute force of her thoughts bombarded him to the point he thought he might be violently ill. Pulling his psyche apart from her own, quickly everything settled into some semblance of order. Her conflicting feelings for Freedan, the unease about her control being usurped, that she meant Spcok no ill will, Kirk going with Freedan; an amazing amount of things. Most shocking, that another participant had entangled themselves in the plan. It startled him to identify whom. Coming to his senses he did something he had never done before; he drew strength from her. A warm feeling washed over him, pushing away his headache and strange though it felt, some of the injuries spontaneously healed. All that from her momentary touch, he was almost giddy from the head rush.
Samson jerked her hand back, and involuntarily shivered from the sense that a cool hand had delved deep into her. Though she could not prove it, casting a questionable glance at the limping Vulcan, she knew he was the source of her unease.
'Hurry up Commander Spock, we do not have much time' sharply berating him.
Banging punctuated the staccato shouts of 'Let me out, let me out!' Freedan burst into the room to confront a flustered human and glowing orbs of the Sunstones. 'The bitch locked me in, she made me transfer the money over to another account...she's, she's...' huffing down at puffy fists.
Freedan hauled up the terrified Getta to face him. Getta's feeble attempts to break free only incensed Freedan more as he explained what Samson had made him do. 'You are coming with me...' dragging the whimpering Starfleet officer behind him. 'It's time to get the Captain. I'm sure you can't wait for the reunion', hastening his pace to Kirk's cell. Over his headset, he ordered every one of his men to locate Samson.
The proximity sensor on Uhura's tricorder started frantically beeping. Pulling it up to her line of sight; the blinking vitals of six Perpetuans headed straight for their location. Hand up she signalled for him to stop and turn off his light as she has done. They quickly activated their infrared eye wear. Instantly everything took on a hazy green glow.
'Why haven't we been using these since we arrived', Scotty slowly waving his hand in front of his face before Uhura's firm thump to his arm garnered his attention once more.
In a low voice 'Get ready, it looks like we're about to be discovered...', and then to satisfy his sense of curiosity 'because I didn't have a chance to completely charge them before we left...' Setting her phaser to the highest stun setting, a quick scout showed nowhere to hide. But at least they couldn't be surrounded.
Scotty shucked his rucksack to the floor, kicking it to the side. Slightly offset to her right he assumed a defensive position, phaser pointing forward, both waiting for the inevitable. Deliberately his arms dropped slightly, 'I lied to you, McCoy knows...we needed a back up plan in case, in case something like this happened'. He sensed her stiffen, then relax.
'I know Scotty...' now not the time to be angry at him, she would save that for Samson and Freedan. 'You always were a terrible liar', momentarily looking at him.
Rubbing his eyes with the back of his free hand, an idea formed 'we need to slow them down. Can you hold them off...?' Ducking down to empty the content of his bag onto the floor, he estimated they had five minutes at most, luckily he only needed three. Grabbing his transporter device, he flipped off the cover and began working. Tongue partially poked out to the side of his mouth his hands moved methodically.
'Scotty you need to hurry up, they're nearly here', her tricorder beeping ever louder as the Perpetuans got closer. Adjusting her stance to cover Scotty, they heard the first voice.
'Surrender and we won't hurt you', came the menacing offer.
'Chop chop Scotty', Uhura bouncing on the balls of her feet. She recognised the surge of adrenaline preparing her for fight or flight.
Frantically searching through the contents of his bag, he spread everything on the floor. Fuck fuck, where is it? The first shot narrowly missed him, causing him to jump back. Uhura rapidly fired back suppressing fire. Back and forth they went, closer the Perpetuans crept. She heard shots ricocheting off the walls, as rock clattered to the floor. Uhura would only kill as a last resort, so all her shots were purposely aimed to slow them down.
'Are you done yet?!' grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and pulling them further back into the tunnel. They had nowhere to go, but they couldn't stay where they were. The falling rock just as lethal as any phaser shot. Uhura had already sustained a deep gash to the top of her right shoulder, the rip in her body suit leaking out precious body heat.
Finally done, Scotty leapt up giving her something to put in her ears. 'This will block out most of the sound, but not all. I'm not going to lie, this is going to hurt like hell'.
'I thought we were incapacitating them not us?' perplexed she pushed the foam device into her ears. Everything now muffled, she removed one of the plugs to catch the end of his sentence.
'-disorientate and stun them, then carry on this merry mission to get Kirk and Spock'. Scotty stood, 'Let's do this, cover me...' sprinting forward with the device. Uhura careful to aim away from him, lighting the way with her shots. She saw him lob the device into the void, and run back. Appearing to mouth something rapidly, with the make shift earplugs she couldn't hear anything.
'Oh my fucking god, run!' he screamed at her.
Then it happened, a flash of light and a sound that pierced right into her core. She swore her heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. Dropping to her knees she clawed at her ears, the pain unimaginable. Groaning as lights danced in front of her vision, whatever Scotty had done she sincerely hoped it worked. Only when a hand patted her she dared look upwards. Scotty crouched down, the sound of his voice camouflaged by the dull ringing in her ears. Pulling her upright, side by side they inched forward passing the fallen bodies of the Perpetuans; each time collecting weapons.
'Are they dead?' she rasped, her throat felt like she had swallowed broken glass.
'No, but they'll be unconscious for a very long time'. Scotty rubbed his ear to soothe the ache pulsating around the base of his earlobes.
'Remind me never to get on your bad side', as they returned back to their scattered equipment. 'So what's your plan for when we get to the entrance?' Praying it would not be that particular gambit again. The eyewear removed and the headlamps went on once again.
'I haven't a clue...I'll figure it out soon enough.' Referring to his tricorder, like Uhura's it had been modified to monitor the life signs of everyone within the network. At once he could see Spock and others on the move, subconsciously he picked up his speed. Two turns away from the hideout entrance he grabbed Uhura back to him. 'I'll go first...' dropping his bag at her feet. Drawing in a deep breath, summoning his inner Kirk, he cockily swaggered forward palms up in the air in surrender. Uhura remained back, pressed against the wall wishing he had bothered to fill her in on the plan.
'Gentlemen, how's it going?' The momentary confusion at one, the random human appearing in front of them, and two, asking such a ridiculous question, gave Uhura the distraction she needed to charge out and stun them. Crumped in a heap on the floor, she and Scotty swiftly disarmed them. 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall...' he sarcastically commented.
Neither able to carry any more weapons, she discarded and disabled the rest. Keeping the daggers, one was strapped to each of Uhura's thigh, whilst Scotty slide one into his belt. Although adequately trained in hand to hand combat, both intensely hoped to avoid the situation. With a quick nod to confirm readiness, they pushed the door open into the lion's den.
Freedan thrust Getta into the open arms of a waiting guard stationed near the entrance to the holding facility. His pincer like grip eliciting a squeal of disapproval from the human. 'Get up!' Freedan yelled at Kirk manhandling him out into the corridor. The Sunstones were currently on their way to his shuttle, the guards under explicit instructions that family members would be murdered in the most heinous way possible if anyone including Samson attempted to remove the box from their presence. Getta's moaning drew Kirk's attention, undeniably confused at the appearance of his communications officer.
Kirk glared at Freedan whilst attempting to mirror the psychopath's dominant posture. Thrusting his face mere centimetres from Kirk's, Freedan smirked revealing a perfectly aligned set of teeth. 'Getta has been very useful providing all the help I could ever need. So helpful, he's taking the Sunstones back on your precious Enterprise'. Withdrawing back from Kirk and strolling back to Getta, the familiar sneer returned as the human's face dropped at the reveal. Freedan dismissed the guard and sent him on his way to secure the craft.
All-encompassing rage pulsated throughout Kirk. Observing Freedan's unyielding grip on Getta, Kirk fixed him with a brutally cold leer, Getta dropping his gaze instantly. The guard stationed behind Kirk made her presence known, the point of her phaser digging perilously close to his spine. With a grunt she gestured for him to move forward.
Haltingly, Kirk moved realising it is just the four of them. Whipping his head around to be sure, yes it was just them. A good 10 metres separated both groups. As before the other cells were empty and the narrow corridor lit by emergency lighting. Each cast a spotlight highlighting their features as they moved in and out of the light source. He flung his body backwards, surprising the guard as they both tumbled back to the floor. With the advantage and having prepared himself for the fall, he was ready to grab her weapon. Driving his elbow into her sternum, her agonised yelp alerted Freedan. Disarming the guard he rendered her unconscious by slamming the butt of the weapon into her temple. Jumping to his feet, he pivoted to take a shot at Freedan and Getta before diving behind a pillar.
Freedan drew his weapon firing indiscriminately at Kirk, a side wards glance saw Getta curled up into a small ball trying to protect himself. Right at that very moment, he didn't know who was more annoying - him or Kirk.
Kirk crouched down and fired several shots in retaliation. He needed to get closer to Freedan. To his right and diagonally opposite him a metal table. If he could overturn it he would have protection and easier access to his captor. 1, 2, 3, laying down suppressing fire he threw himself into a forward roll towards the table. The firefight deafening within the confined space.
Freedan wrenched Getta out of the entrance before engaging the main locking mechanism. A feral Kirk slamming into the other side banging and screaming to be let out.
'I guess he decided not to come after all...' Freedan to a shocked Getta, 'So you'll have to do', dragging him to the shuttle bay.
Out of sight Kirk lurched back from the door, hand moving towards his abdomen tentatively examining the shot that hit him. Grimacing, his blood glistened under the lights, then he keeled over onto his back unable to fight the overwhelming desire to fade into nothing.
Uhura and Scotty stealthily crept forward ready for action. In front of them the sight of unexpected evacuation - broken artefacts strewn on the floor. The area abandoned there was only silence. The tricorder now fixed in front of Uhura's face sounded out Kirk's tanking vitals.
'I need to get to him. You find Spock and the Sunstones...'
Scotty barely acknowledged the order before Uhura sprinted away. One man versus several angry Perpetuans, brain would definitely need to top brawn from here on out. He carried on towards to what he assumed was the shuttle bay; they all seem to be congregated there.
Her legs pumped hard and fast, every second that passed his life signs grew weaker. Coming upon the door she fired her phaser at the lock. The door shuddered opened revealing the sight of Kirk on the floor. Sliding down to her knees 'Jim! Jim! I'm here...' cupping his face, willing him to hold on a little longer. She pulled his head into her lap, ripping open what was left of the material on his torso, gingerly exploring the injury. With so much blood, and the eerie lighting he was deathly pale. Emptying her bag onto the floor, the metallic sound of the medikit hitting the floor reverberated around the corridor. The blood made it difficult to open the box, several times her fingers slipped off the catch before she got a firm handle on the hypospray.
Kirk struggled to keep his eyes open, thinking he was hallucinating; the warmth, the familiar scent, her angrily telling him to hang on. Sorrowfully lifting his arm to pull her close to him, a coughing fit shook his body as blood bubbled from his mouth and dribbled alarmingly to the floor. Gasping for breath he tried to focus on Uhura's face, if these were his last minutes alive he would happily spend those with her, real or not.Tears streamed down his face, carving a path through the dirt and grim. Uttering terms of endearment, he suddenly felt so cold.
Uhura strained to understand his incoherent mumbling, 'Don't you dare die on me James Tiberius Kirk!' the hypospray plunged into his jugular vein. 'Stay with me, stay with us...' the last thing he heard before slumping into unconsciousness. Roughly wiping away her tears, she focussed on steadying her hand as the regenerator repaired his wound.
Every pass she made more and more blood leaked from his wound. 'No, no, no!' she wailed watching his vital dip into the danger zone. 'Damn you Jim, you are not going to die!' banging the floor in frustration.
'I can't do this by myself, you have to help me. Goddammit Jim, you are going to be a father. You have to fight!' she wheezed. His breathing becoming shallower and shallower.
In that moment everything she knew about Jim flashed through her mind. Their first meeting in the bar, their experience on Jupiter, his unrequited attention when she was with Spock, the horror of Theytan, the life they had built since then. Everything. All the love they shared. With all her might she begged him to live, promising anything to make him better as heaving sobs wracked her body.
Startled, by the firm grip of a hand over hers. Peering downwards, the sight of familiar blue eyes locked in with hers. The intensity startled her, she felt as if Kirk were trying to communicate a whole raft of unsaid things to her. Involuntarily gasping his cardiovascular system kicked in. His heartbeat increasing in strength and intensity, his breathing regulating once more. Utterly shocked she was really there, all reason rapidly vanished as he forcibly pulled her down for a life reaffirming kiss. Painfully, he clasped the back of her neck until they finally break apart for air. Not willing to let her go, she could only hover a few centimetres above him. The height advantage still enough to allow her to assess him, where once was a gaping wound a fading scar remained. A few more passes with the regenerator and it would be completely gone. Stunned, she gently pressed his abdomen to confirm that her eyes were not deceiving her.
'You really came for me', welcoming her touch.
She carried on her exploration, not quite able to believe he was alive. With that kind of injury and blood lose, he should have died. Her hands intuitively moved upwards to his face, resting on the spot she had touched in her dream. Slender fingers brushed over his cut eye where she had lain a kiss to make him better. The bruises were real, and it made no sense to her. How could she have known?
'Nyota Uhura speechless, I should nearly die more often...' rolling away from her he pushed himself up to his feet so he could really see her. Uhura followed, enthralled by the sight before letting loose the full force of a stinging slap. Months of pent up rage, hurt and fear finally finding their target.
In an instance he pulled her into an embrace. Fighting to get away from him, she pounded at him with all her might, pushing him away, cursing him with every expletive she knew, until her knees buckled forcing her to yield against him. He let them collapse to the floor once again, Uhura sat in his lap gently sobbing. Gradually the sound subsided until all that could be heard was their ragged breathing.
Tipping her face to his, 'I missed you too...'
Uhura mutely nodded and lethargically tried to move away from him. Exhausted, she didn't deny him when he refused to let her go.
Arms tightening around her, 'Nyota...please…' he begged.
Finally she spoke, her voice flat 'we need to go...'