Chapter 8

Transporter Room, U.S.S. Enterprise, 2277.131, 0120 hours. He could hear their sobs through the thick door and it set his teeth on edge, much like everyone else's who were waiting helplessly out in the corridor. "Scotty…"

"Aye, Cap'n, I've almost got it now…"

Seconds later sparks flew between the wires in the engineer's hands and the doors pulled back. Rushing in he found T'Alora, Se'tak and Selas huddled on the ground, their arms wrapped around each other and tears streaming down their face.

How Spock could hurt them like this Jim would never understand.

His blood ran cold and he fixed Bones a steely glare. "Stay with them," he ordered. Turning to McKeon he added, "Get upstairs and relieve Leghorn. I don't know what we're about to find down there but I want this ship ready just in case."

He noticed that Scotty had already anticipated him and was behind the controls, punching in coordinates to beam them down to the surface. Reaching into the nearest cabinet he pulled out a utility belt and phaser, carefully setting the weapon to stun. Addressing the rest of the group he said, "Suit up. We're beaming down."

Unohdettu, 2277.?, ?. Nyota rolled over on her dank earthen bed, hugging her shoulders and crying. She'd been thinking of Se'tak and Selas on their last shore leave on Earth, Se'tak laughing as he raced through the house tugging Selas along with him while they pulled pranks on their cousins. She wanted to cling to those memories and remember them all happy but every time she does it just brings on more tears…

…because they're dead. Her beautiful, beautiful children, whose lives had barely begun, were all dead. And Chris and Len, Jim, Taline, Sulu, Wendy-they're all gone. And Spock! He was supposed to survive her, not the other way around! His presence in her dreams haunts her each night in ways words fail to describe.

They all died when the ship crashed, though how that happened she may never know. The Unohdettuans—the ones that rescued her—won't let her up to see the damage but they're certain there aren't any other survivors. Her isolation and curiosity eat away at her almost as much as her grief. Were her family and friends taken by surprise and attacked? She knows the Unohdettuans are still too primitive to take down a Constitution class vessel, however, until they rescued her she didn't even know they existed. Were there others more advanced on the planet who brought down the ship?

But why?

And how?

No one cared to give her any answers, and for all she knew it could have just as easily been an on-board systems failure as an outside attack. Whatever the confluence of events that killed her family and sent her home careening toward the surface were they would forever remain a mystery. Nyota knew that as long as they kept her down here she'd never have a chance at finding out the truth, and even if she wanted to she doubted she could escape far. She'd already tried and failed a handful of times. The only reason she was alive now was because the crash startled the Unohdettuans and they found her and fished her out of the rubble.

She wasn't certain (their spoken language was difficult even for her to translate at times) but she got the impression that the people keeping her in quarantine considered her 'lucky'. She didn't believe it. Right now she was dirty, dejected and alone, wishing like hell she'd died right alongside everyone else.

If only she'd been able to get that morning off…

If only they hadn't found that other room…

If only she'd gone with Gary…

If…if…if…

Fresh sobs racked her body until she heard the voices of approaching Unohdettuans. They didn't think she understood even a word of what they said and so spoke fairly freely around her now and she wanted to get an idea of what lay ahead.

There was that word again, Gaita. They were talking about her, something about moving her—maybe it was a city or town that they wanted to take her to? Whatever it was she'd go willingly. She had no fight left in her as she had nothing left to live for.

Rolling over she started humming the song that T'Alora used to love when she was a little girl. When she closed her eyes she pictured her daughter at the age of three, dressing up and dancing like a ballerina in her room. Her crying started up all over again.

Unohdettu, 2277.132, 0056 hours. Her suffering pulled him in like a beacon, and was so palpable that even while unconscious she began responding to him as if awake.

"Nyota…"

"Spock! I've missed you!"

His love for her flew across the bond like his feet over the ground. "And I you, k'diwa; however, we will be reunited soon."

"Good." Nyota sighed in contentment and began to awaken. "I'm ready. Take me with you to Heaven."

Though he attempted to persuade her otherwise she firmly believed in his death and was even now embracing her own. This conviction spurred him on faster until he nearly passed her; she lay alone on a mound of dirt in a door-less, window-less room off the main corridor. Standing in the entryway, staring down at her alive and well, he felt pure, unadulterated joy.

In a flash she spun about out of bed and leapt at him in attack. Only when he closed his arms around her and brought her face millimeters away from his own did she truly see him. "Spock?"

Rendered speechless he merely nodded and she wrapped her arms and legs around him, peppering his face with kisses which he just as ardently returned.

"I thought…" she managed between frantic caresses. "I thought…" Though she could not articulate these thoughts he saw them all the same: how the Unohdettuans led her to believe the ship had crashed above the very caves she was studying and how she was the only survivor. The agony she felt over the loss of their children combined with his own non-existent bond almost made him lose his footing and he hastened to reassure her everyone was alive and the ship intact.

They had so many questions for one another but they would have to keep; Spock was about to suggest they depart when he heard voices coming from down the hall. Pulling Nyota behind him he tucked them both away into a corner of the room, and as they drew closer he felt his adun'a straining against him, no doubt translating the conversation.

"They're coming back for me, I think. I don't know where to but they want to move me soon."

"Then we must make haste." Grabbing her hand he led her out the door and back down the corridor, keeping to the wall and dark corners until they reached the base of the ramp.

They'd barely taken two steps toward freedom when the alarm was raised, a howling screech that was so piercing Spock scrambled to cover his ears—only Nyota would not let him recover. "RUN!"

She grabbed his hand now, taking the lead, and they made a mad dash for the surface. They were still over fifty meters away when they were rocked by what felt like another earthquake. "No!" Nyota cried, trying to pick up her pace, "No, no, no!"

Spock turned around to look and was equally alarmed. The earth behind them rolled out like a wave and as it drew closer one segment broke off and crept up the wall. They needed to pick up their pace but Nyota's energy was flagging despite the adrenaline surge.

Grabbing her up he raced onward but even his speed was not enough. The movement in the wall overtook them and leapt into their path, giving Spock his first good look at an Unohdettuan. The man stood roughly eight centimeters taller than himself on two legs with elongated arms that just brushed his knees. He was as dark as the earth yet his skin was rough and reminded him of the bark on a Terran Acer diabolicum tree. His yellow eyes gleamed menacingly.

Somehow though, all Spock saw was red.

Nyota screeched as he ground to a halt and set her unceremoniously back on her feet. Three more Unohdettuans popped up behind him as he lunged, avenging his family for the suffering they'd endured. He tackled the man to the ground while Nyota stood between him and the other aliens. She tried reasoning with them but they were beyond listening, choosing to close in on her instead and bring her back further underground.

Spock swung his opponent around and sent him crashing into his comrades, all four falling backward like bowling pins. He tugged Nyota further up the ramp—if they could just get within sight of the entrance…

Unohdettu, 2277.131, 0124 hours. While Sulu checked and prepped the Commander's shuttle for departure Jim led the rest of the team into the caves. He was shocked by the size of the hole Spock had blown but he was even more surprised by the room that lay beyond it with a ramp that delved deeper below the surface.

Just what had his XO figured out? And why hadn't he told him?

"NO!"

He and Giotto shot each other a look. The voice was barely audible but it sounded faintly like Nyota; still he knew it couldn't be her…

"STOP IT, YOU'RE KILLING HIM!"

Kirk led the charge as they surged forward, phasers at the ready. "UHURA?"

"JIM! JIM, THEY'RE KILLING HIM!"

Unohdettu, 2277.131, 0122 hours. Long limbs snaked around his ankles, tripping him up and knocking him down so they could better bind his arms and legs. Spock struggled against their hands but their strength was overwhelming and he could only watch helplessly as Nyota stared at him in horror.

Then the Unohdettuans pulled him upright, hissing and clicking a tirade centimeters from his face—but he was focused instead on their thoughts. He saw their city, learned how they came to be, and what their plans were for his adun'a. He started pulling against them all the harder.

"Trasha'ma, k'diwa!" he commanded. "Korsau du b'elak!*"

"No! I won't leave you!" She began attacking her captors with a vengeance but they brushed her back easily and she landed on her rear in the dirt. The Unohdettuans squeezed and he felt the air rush out of his lungs. In the back of his mind he felt the children again but the connection was weak. He tried to reassure them, to tell them he had retrieved their mother just as he had promised, no matter that it now cost him his own life. They needed her; he was the expendable one.

The men began sinking back into the ground, dragging him with them, and Nyota clawed and kicked at their backs. "NO!"

"Taluhk nash-veh k'dular, Nyota, heh ro kanlar. Vokau ta.*"

She fought for him so frantically that he was not certain she heard. "NO!"

Spock tried again, now up to his waist in the earth and his vision swimming before him. "Taluhk nash…"

"STOP IT, YOU'RE KILLING HIM!"

"…k'dular…"

The world went black.

There, twenty meters from the entrance—Giotto eyed them first and fired, knicking the shoulder of what looked to be a group of giant tree/men. At the provocation the quartet began to sink faster into the ground, Spock still tight in their grip.

"Uhura, get back!"

"I'm not leaving him!"

Even though she was in the line of fire Jim didn't hold back, ordering everyone to let 'em rip. Phaser blasts tore through the air, hitting one of the targets in the back of the head and another in the middle of his chest. A third one got tapped where the sun don't shine, though when he thought about it later Jim figured the sun never saw any part of the creatures who'd taken his crew.

The stuns appeared to have little physical effect on them but the sheer size of their group and the fact that they were targeting them so relentlessly made the tree/men eventually abandon their targets. Once they were gone he and Hinzle rushed forward, draping Spock's arms about their shoulders and hauling him out of the ground and onto his feet while Ross moved to escort Uhura. Giotto ordered them all out as he covered the rear and they made their retreat.

"Is he alive?" she whispered.

"He better be," Jim muttered humorlessly. "'Cause I'm gonna kill him when we get home."

* "Trasha'ma, k'diwa! Korsau du b'elak!" - "Leave me, Beloved! Save yourself!"

* "Taluhk nash-veh k'dular, Nyota, heh ro kanlar. Vokau at." - "I cherish thee, Nyota, and our children. Remember that."