Chapter eight

Moving

"Well, we were friends with him and his family god rests their souls." Klavdia told Sulu, Uhura and Scotty.

Karina scoffed. "God doesn't exist!" She cried out. "If God exists then why do people like us live in cardboard boxes on the street? And why do we starve every day? And why-"

"Alright! We get the idea!" Sulu cried. "What actually happened to his family?" Karina's expression was like someone had told her she was dead. Her mouth had dropped and she was staring in delayed shock.

"You mean, he never told you?" She asked. "Right friends you must be!" They got the distinct impression she was slagging them off but they didn't understand. It dawned on Sulu then about what Pavel had told him about his father.

"I think he told me once about his father. He was killed in a car crash or something?" Sulu questioned nervously.

Karina and Klavdia both turned instantly and looked at him. They were both staring intently like wolves watching their prey.

"What did you say?" One of them asked menacingly. They were hard to tell apart in the half-light, especially when they stood together.

"He- He told m-me that once" Sulu stammered awkwardly. The eyes doubled their intensity as another person came from behind Sulu.

"Well well well, lookie who we got here boys!" A boy shouted loudly to them. "We got some street girls on our patch! We all know what happens to street kids!"" His pronunciation was terrible. He had menacing, evil black eyes that glinted in the moonlight. His tubby figure was covered by a black satin tracksuit and gleaming white trainers that looked brand new. Numerous gold and silver chains hung from his neck and wrists. He obviously thought he was the tough guy.

"Why don't you just turn your mite-infested arse around and power-walk it back onto the estate before you find you can't walk at all?" Karina replied with a slobbish tone. She took one step toward the mean-looking rich kids and folded her arms across her chest. Sulu immediately recognised that stance. Chekov always used to stand like that when he thought someone needed educating the hard way.

The rich kid looked taken aback by her action, but a fraction of a second later, found his voice again.

"Why don't I just steal my dad's Harley and run you over with it? Because it's pointless you street-dwelling, ugly-faced, dumbass!" He answered. He drew out a knife as he spoke.

Karina unfolded her arms and pulled a dark shape off a leather braided belt she was wearing. Then she took a step forward and returned an insult.

"You puppy eyed, stupid, birdie muscovite!" After that she threw herself at him, grabbed his wrist and yanked downward. Her opponent was forced to drop the knife as his wrist was twisted and snapped. He cried out in pain as the girl carried on twisting.

"Okay! Okay!" He whimpered pathetically, "Please. Don't hurt me! Let me go, and I'll leave!" He sobbed. But his plea got him nowhere and pretty soon his pain turned to anger.

"Right that's it! You are going to pay for this!" He screamed. He kicked her bare ankle and pushed her away. Karina stumbled backwards as the boy made a lunge for her neck. She ducked – narrowly missing being strangled – and then head-butted him in the stomach. As he clutched his stomach in pain Karina shoved him backwards and into one of his friends.

That's when trouble erupted. While two of the kids went flying, the other nine that had been watching came forward. And to make matters worse, a siren a few blocks off broke through the eerie night-time silence.

Mr Tough-Guy number 1 attacked viciously. He clobbered Karina's jaw and left her dazed. With his other hand he punched her stomach with enough force to dint a sheet of metal. Then, using his ankle, he tripped her so she was sprawled on the sidewalk. But from her face, this was exactly what she'd wanted.

And after the next boy attacked they saw why. As he got closer, arms outstretched to get her neck, she kicked out wildly with both legs and sent him flying into the remaining boy who had been set to fight. Karina got up and took three steps toward the first boy who quickly got up and legged it, cradling his wrist as he went. The others who had watched followed suit.

Karina was smiling as she walked back towards them but then stumbled and fell to the floor. Scotty ran towards her and the others followed.

"What's wrong? Does it hurt anywhere in particular?" Scotty asked as he reached the girl's side.

"My side… feels warm… and sticky." Karina spoke in short bursts in-between desperate gasps for breath. Her hand fell away and from behind it, there was a silver glint and a tidal wave of blood…

The sensation of beaming always gave Jim a rush – of what, he wasn't sure. Either adrenaline or sickness. After blinking a few seconds he took in his surroundings. The long table was sprawled with maps with makeshift scribbles all over them. Plain beige walls, low, long white ceiling, simple light fittings. It all suggested a quick construction to Jim. Alexei's beaming face appeared in front of their eyes as they blinked. The dark fringe flopped down his forehead as he removed his helmet. The black hair was familiar, as was the pale, almost translucent skin. His dazzling blue eyes shone brilliantly in a memorable way. A way that Jim had missed only too much over the past weeks. The smile twisted the scar that – apart from his eyes - marred the otherwise mirror image of Chekov.

"So, we'll start looking for any clues as to his whereabouts where he beamed down." The young solider stated to them. His eyes, too, seemed to harbour a pain, Spock noted. "I can trace your ship's beam back to when the ambassador was beamed down on Aero City hill."

Alexei looked up from various maps strewn over the table. He studied Jim's face with searching eyes – eyes that could draw the secrets from the depths of a murderer's soul. "Would you think that was when he was beamed down?" He asked, still studying. It bothered Jim too much. The accent was too familiar, it disrupted Jim's thoughts – he couldn't concentrate with Alexei there, but he'd get nowhere without him.

He gave a small nod and focused his mind on finding Chekov as Alexei straightened up and led them through a musty smelling corridor and into the only high-tech room they'd seen so far. Wide, high-ceiling, spread-out. This room pretty much summed up Jim's first impression of Russia. All technology with no actual need for it. Alexei led them straight to one corner where there was a ten-person beaming pad. In silence they all took places on the pad. The young solider programmed the controls and leapt gracefully on to the pad.

Jim's vision blurred as he tried to open his eyes. He could tell he was on a hill from the way the land sloped away from in front of him. A brutal wind whipped him from the west. Suddenly from below them they heard frustrated shouting. Bones, Spock and Jim all recognised the voices and reflexively ran to break up the fight between Scotty and Sulu.

"No! You idiot! You don't do that! You need to apply pressure!"

"What on Earth are you doing? Are you trying to kill her? You need to levitate the wound above the heart! Do you know nothing?!"

Bones arrived shortly after Spock who was silently taking in the scene.

"Actually, you need to do both." He spoke very calmly as he walked. Luckily his face didn't portray how much his heart pounded as he imagined Uhura, lying on the floor bleeding. But as the body came into better view, they saw Uhura behind them, holding a child in her arms. She looked very pale as did the body on the ground. It moaned as Bones gently felt for the wound.

"That hurts. Alright we're going to fix that." He soothed gently. As he started to notice how much blood the girl had lost Bones knew he had to keep her talking, keep her awake. "Can you tell me where your carers are?"

"No!" Came an outraged cry from Uhura's arms. The other child I saw Bones thought. I wonder why they can speak English. He turned his mind back to his work and within minutes the girl's wound was stitched and padded. Shakily, she stood up and thanked him in a Russian accent they were more used to hearing.

"My parents' are-"

"Don't tell them! Do you really think they are so different? They won't act! Just like all the others."

"I believe they will!" She retorted. Jim tried to understand what they were arguing about. None of what they had said made sense. And from the looks on their faces, it meant nothing to the other five. "Look at how different they are! They haven't even mentioned 'the new authorities' once. That has to go for something! And you know as well as I do that they're from Starfleet. They might be his friends. They need to know."

"Karina, you might as well tell them all of Russian history it's just-" She stopped when Karina waved her arm at her friend.

Alexei had stood in silence through all of this but now he stepped forward with a phaser pointing at the two children.

"Street children aren't supposed to live. Stand aside!" he barked the last part at the three officers. "Move!" he growled after they ignored his order. "And captain, I should shoot you. You promised you wouldn't beam anyone down." he glared at Jim, making Jim realise that he should be scared of Alexei. Jim frowned sternly and pulled him back.

"You won't shoot at them. And as for my fate, well, these officers beamed down before the government told us not to beam anyone down." Jim told him. Alexei looked at him, deciding whether to believe him.

"Alright, I won't take action against you. But these, street-dwelling type, they have to die. They hold Russia back and they mustn't live."

"Are you really going to shoot at unarmed, innocent children?" Jim asked softly. Alexei gave one stiff nod and advanced. He turned the phaser towards Klavdia then paused. He took an audible breath. Jim blinked.

In a second, everything happened at once. Klavdia's limp body slumped to the floor, Karina dived into the bush and Jim pulled the phaser out of Alexei's hand while Spock nerve-pinched him. Bones ran towards Klavdia's form on the ground. As he kneeled he felt immediately for a pulse to find a warm hand holding his back. He looked up and saw Karina's face obscured by the bushes and trees.

She shook her head at him then disappeared. Bones wondered what she'd meant by that. Then he saw it. A tiny slip of paper on Klavdia's neck. It had some writing on it thought Bones couldn't make it out in the dark. Had Karina wanted him to get this? He slipped it into a pocket anyway. He'd read when he got the chance. He stood and turned. Bones didn't have to feel for a pulse to determine his answer.

"She's dead Jim."