Hello, baby birds!

Just to clear up any confusion, the large portions of italics aren't dreams, they aren't daydreams, they aren't flashbacks. I'm just telling both stories of past and present at the same time now from this point on until I decide you've heard enough from me or I've told you the whole back story.

Do you think Addy's being too harsh in her anger with Bones? Too petty? I think it's pretty fitting for the way I've structured her character, but give it a go and let me know!

Kisses!

MD

Disclaimer: I do not own Stark Trek or any part of the franchise. I gain nothing from writing this other than creative satisfaction.

For the first few hours, Adelaide wondered if Frank had lost his mind, because space travel was just as wonderful as she'd imagined, so where was the punishment supposed to be? It was better than she'd thought, even. On Earth, the stars were silver diamonds clustered together over a canvas of ink so blue, it seemed black. This was not the case actually in outer space. Which she'd known, of course, because Addy read those books when she was, like, four (but there was certainly a difference between logically knowing something and experiencing it for oneself). There were millions and billions and trillions of light years between stars. Once they broke Earth's atmosphere, it was nothing but a void where the solar system hung around their very own star, yellow and hot with the power of fusion. Even with the windows tinted to almost becoming opaque, sol was still a bit bright to look at directly without straining the eyes.

Addy never wanted to land on a planet again.

Their ship wasn't especially large or grand. It was a simple passenger carrying the 20 others, the piloting crew, and Addy to Tarsus IV. It was very far from Earth, even at warp, and they had three days of getting to know each other. She'd caught one of the pilots in her off shift, curious about this new planet. It was a planet completely different than Earth, with different constellations in the sky, different soil, and a different sky. She wanted to know everything before she landed so that she wouldn't look too ridiculous when she stepped off the ship and was dumbfounded by the world around her.

Tarsus was a rather temperate place, though warmer than what Addy was used to on Earth. The colony was currently the only settlement on the whole planet (which was ¾ the size of Earth), located on the edge of an expansive forest. The atmosphere was on the thing side, but still breathable, and according to this pilot, when the two suns were high in the above the planet, the sky was the most brilliant shade of green.

Apparently Adelaide had family there. Aunt Lilith and Uncle Henry; her mother's sister and husband. They'd met before, but only when Addy was a newborn. She was both wary and interested by these people. The word family had little meaning to the teenager, abused as it had been by people that she'd been raised expecting to protect her. But from the holos Addy had found around the house, this Lilith woman looked kind enough. She had Winona's same blonde curls (the same unruly mane poor Adelaide had inherited), and light caramel brown eyes. She was short, plump, and had a warm smile, but Addy was loath to trust anyone without having met them first. Still… despite her best efforts, she had hope for her aunt and uncle and what this opportunity could mean for her.

The three days passed quickly in a blur of books and 3D chess (a game Addy had never played much before, but discovered she liked quite a lot). When they got to Tarsus, Addy could barely keep her face away from the window next to her seat. Breaking through the 'sphere wasn't as bad here since it was thinner, but it still gave them all a good jostle. Addy could barely contain herself, she was so excited. Whether Lilith and Henry turned out to be just like Frank didn't matter anymore. She'd gone through space, and she was somewhere new. Forget being in a different country, she was on a new fucking planet!

And yes, when she stepped out of the craft and felt the hot, dry air whip through her poofy curls, and saw the apple green sky and the rust red grass, she couldn't help her eyes from going wide and her mouth dropping in wonder.

She foresaw many similar scenarios in her distant future.

Addy startled awake when the computer set off her alarm for her shift, disoriented. She looked around, her mind still stuck in the comfortable black of a dreamless, nightmare-less sleep. She shook it, and the cobwebs shifted, and she remembered. This was her alarm to get up for her alpha shift.

She threw the blanket off her and quickly hopped off her mattress lest she give in to temptation and really screw things up with Bones and then bring Spock in to this whole ordeal. With one last longing look at her bed, she darted off to the bathroom, stumbling in the pitch black of her room. The door opened, so she knew Spock had most likely already had his shower (the other's door automatically locked when one of them was in the bathroom). Unfortunately for Addy, she didn't have that luxury. She'd woken up to the last possible alarm she could and still make it to the bridge on time. She groaned in frustration when she walked in, the lights flashing on, and she saw her hair. Like a moron, she'd fallen asleep with it wet and in a bun, without brushing it or anything, and now she looked almost feral. Her curls, exacerbated by the loose bindings, were flying every which way, and she had no hope of brushing it to straightness, even if she did have the time. Annoyed, she stepped in the shower, turning on the water just to wet her hair and make it manageable.

She dashed out, quickly combed it through, and pulled it up in to a high bun, tight and confining on her treacherous locks. She beat back feelings of panic when she asked for the time. She had two minutes to get dressed and be up the door before she was late. She ripped a clean uniform out from her closet, and jumped in to her under shirt and leggings before she threw the yellow dress over her head and grabbed her boots. Running out her door, she almost tripped as she tried to slip on her boots while not actually stopping. She got some giggles and snorts from her crew, which she quickly sent away with a vicious glare. She only finished with her boots and zipping up her uniform when she stepped in to the turbolift. Panting slightly from her exertion, she jammed the button for the bridge, and leaned the wall with an exhausted huff.

She felt better this morning, she realized. Well… sort of. She still felt stressed and afraid and angry, but she'd gotten better rest than she had when she'd first heard that Kodos was alive.

Boy that had been fun.

There were only nine people in existence that could positively identify that monster. The Tarsus 9. Addy was one of those nine. The list was culminated of a group of children – obviously older now – that had seen Kodos' face on the day of the massacre, but had escaped certain death and survived exile long enough for Starfleet to rescue them. She didn't know why they had been deemed so important by Starfleet if they'd truly thought Kodos was dead, but the list was so heavily guarded with above top-secret clearance that only the actual Nine and the very tip top of Starfleet command could look at the names and current contact information without setting off alarms. Like… only the very way high up in the ionosphere of Starfleet could see that. Admiral Marcus couldn't even look at that list, and he was almost as high as you could get up the food chain.

Addy had looked at it a few times over her life. Not to try and really keep in touch with the other eight children, because regardless of how close they had been on Tarsus, she didn't want to come barreling in to their lives as stark reminders of something truly horrific. She really only cared about one of those people so much to disregard her hesitancy and that was Kevin. She'd connected with that young boy better than any of the others she'd tried to save, and though their different lives made it hard to keep in regular contact, she made a point of knowing where he was and checking in every once in a while. She hadn't spoken to him since before the Kobayashi Maru incident, however.

She hoped to God it wasn't Kevin that had spotted Kodos. Or Anton Karidian as he was known these days, it seemed. She couldn't imagine going about her daily life, not even thinking of Tarsus, when his face suddenly appeared out of a crowd. She thought of what she would have done most likely and cringed at the graphic violence her mind instantly supplied.

She really hoped it hadn't been Kevin.

Of course, she couldn't ask, because the orders hadn't come from someone without the kind of clearance to know which of the nine had spotted this man, and he wouldn't have given her that info even if he did unless he knew she had the clearance. Which she did. She had better clearance when it came to Tarsus than almost everybody in the universe. But she couldn't tell any old body that without giving them protocol codes way above their paygrade and making some important people very angry with her.

Addy blinked out of her thoughts when the turbolift doors opened, and she saw the flashes of color of her crew's uniforms. She smiled. She felt bad for shirking her duties yesterday, and she knew she'd have to answer for it now, but she was glad she'd done it. It had allowed her the space to cool off, and she was able to come back to this space without it feeling like it was another notch on the list of things stressing her out recently. She had more than enough to deal with. She didn't want what she loved doing more than anything to be tainted with her bitterness as well.

She took a couple steps out of the turbo and let the door shut behind her. There were a few nods from people close to her, and she returned them with a grin. She left her arms loose at her sides and silently watched her people work as an Orion that was closest to the door announced the Captain was on the bridge. A few heads snapped over to look at her with curious/suspicious/worried looks, no wonder questioning what Bones had deemed so important, and then why she had never returned to her shift. She smiled pleasantly at them. They would have questions, and she would answer them, but only in private.

Addy walked over to her chair, directly in the center, and sat down with a soft sigh. She pushed a few buttons on her right arm, reading the reports of the end of her shift yesterday on the little display screen, and frowned.

"Commander Spock?" she called out. He turned away from whatever calculations he had been conducting at his station and stood smoothly, clasping his hands behind his back and walking to stand beside her.

"Yes, Captain?"

"What is this?" He looked down to what she was pointing at before looking blankly at her face. He blinked.

"I believe that is your built-in display screen on your–"

"No, no, that's not what I meant," she rolled her eyes. "What is this here in your report? Something about a miscalculation on Mr. Sulu's part, but you added no further details."

"Mr. Sulu and Mr. Chekov initially calculated the projected time to Planet Q to be that of 84 hours 12 minutes at warp factor three. During last alpha shift Mr. Chekov informed me of a discovered magnetic field in the planet's atmosphere, known to distort sensors and readings, and recalculated the time to be much sooner than previously anticipated. I made a note of it in my Acting Captain's log and continued on with the duties expected of me."

Addy's face was pale. Wait… they were going to get there sooner than they originally thought? She whirled her head on a tense Ensign Chekov and Helmsman, no doubt listening to the conversation behind them and waiting her admonishments.

"How long?" she asked them hoarsely. Chekov jumped, looking over at his friend nervously before turning around. His curls even seemed nervous and they bounced lightly against his forehead.

"We should be arriwing within three hours, Keptin," he stammered anxiously. She tightened her grip on her chair, nodding stiffly. She took a big gulp of air, stilling her wild heartbeat. She looked back up at Spock who was watching every nuance of her face quiet curiously. She carefully schooled her expression into professional neutrality.

"Mr. Spock, gather the department heads in meeting room 3 within twenty minute for a debriefing, please. Seems like we need to prepare to get this bastard much sooner than I'd originally thought." He nodded once.

"Aye, Captain."

Addy sighed heavily and wiped a hand over her face. So much for a better day.

"Why wasn't this magnetic field found and accounted for with the initial calculations, Mr. Chekov?" He cringed and looked down at his hands.

"Sorry, Keptin. I was not expecting such a thing when I was locating the planet. I did not read any reports about the planet until after you… left. I take full responsibility, Keptin." Addy regarded the boy. As a Captain, it was her job to discipline such a mistake, but she liked the Russian whiz kid. He was earnest and dedicated himself to his job wholeheartedly. He was a good officer, but still only seventeen, and as such, she didn't hold it too much against the man.

"We'll talk more about this later, Ensign." He gulped and turned back to his station miserably.

"Understood, Keptin." Addy stood from her chair, rolling her shoulders and took one last look around the bridge before setting off for the door leading to the hallway.

"Mr. Spock, you have the conn," she said, looking for his nod of recognition before walking through the door and setting off for the meeting room. She had to prepare all the info she had been given about Kodos… Anton Karidian, before the debriefing. The meeting room was one of the smaller ones, but big enough that everyone would be able to fit comfortably. She chose it because it had the best display screen. When she walked through the door, she picked up a PADD lying around and accessed her personal files using her Captain's codes and downloaded the package with Karidian's current information from Starfleet.

Exactly twenty minutes later she looked up to the sound of her heads chatting as they walked into the room. Sulu and Chekov came in first, followed by Spock and Uhura, then Bones, Witwer (the man she'd first known as Cupcake all those years ago and also her head of security), and Obst, her head of the tactical department. She waited patiently as they settled around the room before starting.

"Thank you gathering on such short notice," she started, seeing Chekov and Sulu blushing out of the corner of her eye. "I gathered you all here to debrief you on the target. Approximately 69 hours ago, Starfleet told me a criminal previously believed to be dead was spotted by irrefutable sources on Planet Q." She pushed a button and a picture of Kodos, young, and exactly how he haunted her nightmares, flashed up on the screen behind her. She stared at his cold eyes on her PADD for a few moments, feeling the warmth of the rage from yesterday curl in the back of her mind.

"How many of you remember the Tarsus IV incident?" Every face flashed with surprise except for Bones (who was watching her like a hawk) and Spock (who never looked like anything), and most of the people raised their hands, but there were a few who looked clueless. Addy wasn't surprised. There had been a lot of brushing under the carpet after Tarsus. Starfleet didn't like the blip on their record of mistakes that Tarsus was.

"18 years ago, Tarsus IV had a new colony of 8,000 settlers making their way in life when an unforeseen tragedy struck in the form of a fungus that infected their food supply." Addy stared down at the red goatee, and the red points of his moustache. Her arms shook. She could feel Bones' eyes on her, looking for any sign that this was getting to be too much. She flung the memories back and took a deep breath. She could do this. She was the Captain of the Enterprise. She could handle this.

"This is Kodos, a self-proclaimed governor, currently living under the alias Anton Karidian. He ordered a sanctioned massacre of half the population based on his own idea of eugenics under the guise of making the food in storage last longer." There were a few horrified gasps and noises of disgust as Addy pushed another button and a picture came up of the dead corn and wheat, their roots still stuck in the ground and covered in brightly colored spores.

"Starfleet thought Kodos had died when his runaway shuttle crashed and exploded, and they only retrieved one body burned beyond recognition. However, new evidence was submitted, a witness questioned, and we have every reason to believe that this man –" she pushed the last button where a blurry picture of Kodos, aged significantly but obviously the same came up on screen "– is the same monster that killed 4,000 innocent lives under the ruse of self-preservation."

Addy glared at the picture, furious. Kodos was surrounded by people, all laughing. He was smiling. She wanted to rip the smile off his wrinkled face. She looked away from the picture, trying to stem her anger, and gauged the mood of her crew. Most of them looked horrified. A couple looked like they were going to be sick to their stomach. Almost all of them looked angry. Except for Spock. His eyes were centered directly on her, making her start at the intensity she saw. Uhura sat next to him, a hand covering her mouth, her eyes watering, but he had no attention for the man on the screen behind the Captain. She felt like he was searching her brain for something, which was ridiculous, because Vulcans were touch-telepaths, and there was no way he could read her mind without bodily contact unless they were bonded which they were not, thank you very much.

"Our mission is to retrieve this criminal and bring him back to Earth to stand trial for the crimes he committed against the Federation. Are there any questions?" Witwer raised her hand, and Addy nodded at him, allowing him the floor to speak.

"Who is this 'irrefutable source' that saw this man, and why now?" Addy blipped the display down and logged out of the PADD, putting it to sleep.

"You don't have the clearance to ask, nor do I have the clearance to tell you, Mr. Witwer," she said cooly. He frowned, but nodded and crossed his arms. She looked around the room expectantly, leaving the silence open for anyone that had any other questions. When there were none, she continues with her debrief, deciding to wrap it up.

"I will be going down to the planet with a small away team to apprehend this man. Mr. Witwer, I need two of your people; no brutes, I don't want to scare him off, but make sure they are capable in case he tries to resist. Mr. Spock, please tell the brig they are expecting a high-alert criminal and to prepare an isolated holding cell. There is to be no contact with this man when he is on board. No one is to speak to him or give him any information on where he is going. Don't let his old age fool you into thinking he's pliant. Kodos always has been and always will be an evil, intelligent, and cunning man, and he is to be treated as such until sentenced on Earth. Understood?"

Everybody nodded, tense and grim faced. She hated doing this to her people. Hated burdening them with the atrocities he'd done. They didn't know the half of it, though. Didn't really know the kind of horror this man had instilled on the colony, the kind of power he'd wielded from that fear. If she could help it, they never would. Addy suppressed a sigh. She wanted this day to be over already and be asleep back in her room where she could lose a few hours to her subconscious and forget the turmoil in her life.

"Dismissed. Mr. Witwer, have your team ready to go in transporter room 2 in three hours." Her heads nodded and stood, talking in hushed tones over the new information. She looked at them all for a moment before making her way towards the door, but she was intercepted by Bones, looking worried and worn down. She stopped, standing stiffly in front of him, her eyes narrowing.

"What is it, Mr. McCoy?" she snapped. His face fell when he realized how angry she still was over what he'd said to her yesterday. She was not one to forgive easy, and that part of her personality usually was much more lenient with her best friend, but he'd said one of the only things that could truly hurt her, and it had hurt even worse coming from his mouth. It didn't matter if it was out of concern for her well-being. He'd crossed a line for her, and she would need some time before she could put it behind her.

"I wanna go with ya," he said softly. She folded her arms over her chest.

"No."

"Look, none of those muscle head know, okay? I'm not tryna find an excuse to getcha outta the chair, kid. I'm tryna make sure you come home in one piece." His eyes twinkled stubbornly, and she knew that certain sparkle meant he was being particularly stubborn and wouldn't take no for an answer. She barely refrained from rolling her eyes and forcibly shoving him out of her way.

"Fine. Don't get in my way." She pushed past him, the warm tendrils of anger trying to push their way to the surface once more, but she stamped them down. Never again. She would never lose herself like that again.

Addy left the meeting room and started making her way towards the bridge. She had a little under three hours to prepare herself to confront arguably the biggest demon of her past, beam down to the planet, hunt him down, and bring him back without any incident or losing her cool. How was she supposed to do that, again?

"You look lost, child." Addy jumped, looking to her left. A man stood, watching her amusedly. She blushed. Damn it, she told herself she wasn't going to gape, hadn't she? She eyed him suspiciously.

He wore a black shirt and black slacks with matching shoes and a belt. It made his already pale skin seemingly glow in the harsh sunlight. He had a receding hairline of bright fiery orange hair, a small goatee, and a mustache that reminded of her pirates from the bedtime stories her mother had liked to read to her as a baby. He was gaunt, wraith-like, and his dark green eyes shone with intelligence, but there was something about him that she didn't like. He was too… clean. He was unnatural. She shifted away from him uncomfortably.

"First time off planet?" he asked. She nodded mutely. He smiled warmly.

"Well then, welcome to Tarsus IV. I am Lieutenant-Commander Kodos. Maybe you could step down and let the good people behind you off the ship? You've all had a long journey, I'm sure." Addy flushed and hurried down the walkway, letting the others off the shuttle with an apologetic smile. When she turned back around, Kodos was standing right behind her. She jumped once again and stepped him out of her personal space.

"What's your name?" She thought about it for a moment, deciding if it could hurt her in any way for him to know her by name.

"Addy…" she relented hesitantly.

"Addy. Pleasure. Are you here by yourself?" She nodded. Kodos frowned.

"Not much for talking, are you?" She shrugged. He sighed.

"Well come along, then. Let's go see if we can't find you somewhere to stay." She frowned. She already had somewhere to stay. Then she realized, like a moron, that when he asked if she was here by herself, he meant here to stay on the planet.

"Actually, I already have somewhere," she called out, stopping him and making him turn back to her. "I travelled here by myself, but my aunt and uncle are settlers and offered to let me stay with them."

"How kind of them," he smiled. "They should be waiting over towards this area. Follow me." Addy trailed behind him, relaxing slightly. He didn't seem so bad. Maybe she was just too suspicious of people.

Soon enough, they were leaving the shuttle docking station and the full blast of the heat hit Addy in the face. It was hot. How did they stand it here? Kodos chuckled at her when he saw the desperate look in her eyes. He stopped when she brightened and pointed at a woman with her blonde curls and brown eyes, waiting anxiously.

"That's your aunt, I presume?" Addy nodded. Kodos regarded the woman for a moment before looking down at Addy. "Then I shall leave you here. I have other duties to see to. Welcome, once again Addy, to Kodos. I hope you enjoy your time here."

She watched in silence as the man turned and left. How he could stand to wear all that black was beyond her. She would have shriveled up like a husk by now and died. She shook her head and walked through the crowd to her aunt. Addy was surprised to find that she was already as tall as the short woman.

"Oh Adelaide," the woman cooed, looking her over lovingly, "look at you! Henry, look at how big she's gotten! Oh, to think the last time I saw you, you could fit in my arms. And now you've grown so big, and just like your father. Poor thing got ort mother's hair, though." Addy blinked as Lilith pulled her in to a tight hug. The woman talked faster than Addy's brain could process the words, making small noises of affection touching her face in adoration. Addy was floored. No one touched her like this except her mother, and she'd been gone for months.

"Lilith," Henry admonished softly, "let the girl go. Look at her, she's sweating all her weight away. Wait until we get her home before you smother her to death."

"Dear me, you're right! Oh, I'm sorry Adelaide, darling, I'm just so excited to have you here!" Addy nodded numbly, shuffling off behind them towards their car. She threw her one bag on the seat next to her as Henry started up the engine, and she smiled softly to herself, looking out the window at the green sky.

She had the sneaking suspicion that she was going to enjoy herself quite a lot here.

Alright, minions! You know the drill. This is the part where I shamelessly beg for your love and a review telling me what you liked/didn't like, and then comes the part where you leave me a review of love telling me what you liked/didn't like.

[/insert shameless beg]

Did it work?

Peace.