Disclaimer: Star Trek is not mine, but I do enjoy making use of the characters. The possibilities are endless.
A/N: Thank you all for your reviews. I love reading them and it makes me happy to know you all enjoy this story so much. Keep letting me know what you think! Also, sorry for the late update. I really wanted to get this up sooner than this, but college classes interfered. I hope to be back on a regular schedule again from now on. Thanks for being patient!
Kirk and the nurses made their way to Engineering, their progress hampered by the absence of power through the ship. They quickly slipped down the Jefferies tubes and worked together to get sealed doors open, other crew members stepping aside to let them pass or to offer a helping hand when they could.
It took some time, but they finally arrived in front of the doors of Engineering. The area was deserted, Kirk remembering that only a skeleton crew had been on duty while the others were on shore leave or helping repairs on the station. With a practiced motion, having had to do it several times before, Kirk and Nurse Chapel worked in tandem, prying the doors open with great effort until they could all make their way inside.
The first thing Kirk noticed was the lack of sound. Engineering was always full of noise, most of it normally consisting of the pulsing of the engines or the mutterings of the engineers, the loudest normally being Scotty. Walking into Engineering now, the silence was almost deafening, wrapping around the group like a blanket. Not a soul could be seen and the emergency lights were dim, making them inadequate to counter the darkness in the large area. His guard up, Kirk pulled out a flashlight and his phaser, scanning the area as the three nurses pulled out their own lights. Without a word and with a small hand motion from Kirk the four split up, searching the area for the crew that had been on duty.
Slowly making his way through the engine room, Kirk flashed his light at every dark corner he came across, the nagging sense that something was wrong growing with every step. The fact that he had come across no one since arriving was unsettling, not to mention the fact that he had found nothing since searching either. No wounded crewmen and no sign of the explosion. It was wrong. No matter where the explosion had been, it was highly unlikely that all of the people in the area had gotten caught in the blast. The odds were probably astronomical. Kirk mused that Spock would probably have been able to tell him the exact odds if he were there, but for now Kirk had to rely on his gut instinct. A gut instinct that was telling him the situation was off and that he needed to be alert. As he rounded the corner of a large metallic structure, Kirk's instinct proved right once again.
On the open floor in front of him, bound back-to-back together in pairs, were the Engineering crew, all laid out on the floor. Kirk quickly rushed over and crouched next to the closest pair, his fingers pressing against the man's throat as he held his breath, dreading what he may find. A moment passed and then he felt it. A pulse, albeit a faint one, but it was there. Checking the other man next he found a pulse there too. Kirk could only assume that the same went for the others in the area.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Kirk stood up and turned away, putting away his phaser and grabbing his communicator so that he could contact the nurses. As he raised the communicator to his mouth, a sound from the shadows made him pause and look around. It had been faint, only a small rustling noise, as if pieces of fabric were being rubbed against each other, and Kirk was about to dismiss it as being nothing when he heard it again, this time closer and right behind him.
Kirk whirled around, his light cutting through the shadows, showing him that nothing but empty space surrounded him. He stepped forward cautiously, making his way past the unconscious crewmen and into a darker section of the area, casting the light and his eyes around slowly as he tried to find the source of the sound. The silence pressed in on him again, seemingly more encompassing than before and he cast a quick glance behind him to make sure the engineers were still where he had left them.
"I hardly think they are worth your concern at this point."
Kirk's attention snapped back to the gloom around him at the sound of the softly whispered, but undeniably masculine voice. His sense of unease growing, Kirk reached for his phaser, inwardly cursing when he found it missing. He froze where he was standing, not wanting to go further without a weapon and not willing to go back in case it put the engineers in more danger. A clatter of metal against metal sounded at his feet and Kirk lowered his light towards the floor, revealing his phaser lying broken in half on the ground. A quiet, but darkly amused laugh reverberated through the air, the sound seeming to come from everywhere at once. Kirk's annoyance and anger grew until he finally decided to try to do what he could to recapture control of the situation.
"Enough! I demand to know who you are and what you've done to my ship and crew!"
The laughter abruptly died and before Kirk could react a shadow off to his left separated from the others and flashed past him. Kirk winced and grabbed at his arm as he felt the bite of a knife slice through it. The wound wasn't that deep but blood flowed readily from it and through Kirk's fingers. He quickly swung around, attempting to keep an eye on his attacker, but the man had already blended into the shadows again.
"You do not command me, Captain. Do not make the mistake of thinking me like one of your petty crew members."
The voice was controlled, but Kirk could hear the underlying hint of malice behind them. It was apparent that whoever this man was, he didn't take too well to authority, or at least not Kirk's authority.
Letting his arms fall to his sides, Kirk glanced at his bloodied hand briefly before straightening himself, ignoring the slight tinge of pain the movement caused from the wound. It was time for this stranger to learn that a little pain wasn't going to deter him from getting the answers he wanted.
"That may be, but you're still on my ship, and as Captain I have the right to know anything that happens under my command. Now, would you like to show yourself so I have something to speak to besides open air, or do you prefer to keep hiding in the shadows like a coward?"
The room fell into silence again as Kirk waited, his body tensing in case another attack was sparked by his confident words. Minutes passed and when no response seemed forthcoming Kirk panned his light around the area again. He had almost turned completely around when the beam of light revealed a dark figure standing next to the wall to the right of him.
The person's nondescript clothing didn't give much away as to his identity. Covering him from head to toe in form-fitting black cloth, his head was obscured by a large hood that connected to a cloak hanging freely around his body. Although he couldn't see the figure's eyes, Kirk knew the man was staring at him and as he glanced downwards as the glint of a large and crude knife caught his eye from where it was being loosely held in a gloved hand. Blood, his blood, slid down the blade, dripping silently to the ground, and Kirk shifted his gaze back to the hood and the darkened shadow within, his body refusing to relax.
"Thank you."
The captain's voice was tense and filled with unmasked sarcasm as he addressed the silent man before him. He attempted to discreetly raise the light to lighten the shadows of the figure's face, but the man simply ducked his head down, keeping his features well hidden in the prevailing darkness.
"My pleasure. I figured it was the least I could do, considering."
The hand holding the knife suddenly moved and Kirk reflexively took a step back and readied himself for an attack. The man only proceeded to wipe the knife on his sleeve, cleaning the blood from it with ease. Kirk scowled when an amused laugh sounded from the man.
"What did you do to those crewmen?"
Kirk gestured to where the engineers slumped unconsciously against each other on the floor. The cloaked man stopped his cleaning and the infinitesimal tilt of his head showed Kirk that he was looking in the direction that the captain had indicated.
"Knocked out. May take a while to come out of, but they should be fine. Although you may want to train them better. They were much too easy to take down."
Kirk ignored this jab at his crew and pushed further.
"And my ship?"
"It needed to be disabled. Makes the job easier."
Kirk waited for more, but as the silence dragged on it became apparent that the only answer he was going to receive was the one he had been given. He shifted on his feet, eyeing the figure in front of him suspiciously. The man's behavior was contradictory with his earlier actions. To go from berating and attacking Kirk to calmly answering his questions without complaint just didn't seem right.
"Why are you telling me this?"
This seemed to be the question the man was waiting for as Kirk could all but see the twisted smile directed at him from under that hood. He frowned as he felt the sudden change in atmosphere, as everything seemed to still around him and a chill worked its way through his body.
"Because you are too late, Captain."
The man darted forward without warning, the knife in his grasp swinging through the air in a downward arch. Kirk stumbled backwards from the sudden attack, but the knife still managed to rip into the front of his uniform, leaving a large slash across his chest. Kirk hissed as the blade cut through into his skin and backed off a step more, using the distance to size up his opponent and look for an opening to attack. His attacker took no such time and lunged forward with the knife without any hesitation. Kirk quickly sidestepped and dodged the knife, aiming a fist at the figure's head. It connected, but didn't seem to faze the man, only causing him to shift sideways a step before he turned to face the captain again. With a sudden change in tactics the figure swung his free fist at Kirk, the movement so quick that the captain had no time to react before it slammed into his face.
Kirk staggered from the force behind the hit, momentarily seeing stars as he tried to focus on his attacker. The cloaked figure used Kirk's second of disorientation to circle behind him, wrapping an arm around the captain's neck and applying pressure to cut off his air. Kirk grunted and attempted to break free from the hold, but the arm refused to budge no matter what he did or how he struggled. The pressure on his neck increased until Kirk's vision started to fade to blackness and his strength slowly left him, his efforts to fight back becoming feeble and altogether useless against the man's iron grip. As Kirk tried to stay conscious he heard a sinister, almost gloating chuckle from the man behind him.
"Good-bye, Captain."
Kirk suddenly found himself pushed free from the choke-hold and he stumbled forward as he took a long gasp for air. Turning around, Kirk's face met with a powerfully clenched fist and he lurched backwards, his head slamming against one of the walls behind him. He slid down the wall slowly as he lost all awareness of his surroundings and blacked out.
Spock closed the communicator, the snap sounding hollow in the darkness. He was still standing in the private room that had been used for the doctor, although there was no longer any sign of anyone having been in there except himself now. After the attack and kidnapping of the doctor, Spock had stared in shock and surprise at the spot where McCoy had vanished, which quickly changed to an angry determination as his thoughts raced. His failed attempt to contact the captain made him pause for a moment, but he finally decided that he couldn't waste anymore time. He needed to get to work and there was nothing he could do in Sickbay.
Spock glanced down at the fabric he still held firmly in his grasp, his thumb stroking the material as he pictured the shadowed face of his attacker. Gathering himself, Spock strode purposely through the doors, into the main area of Sickbay, and then out into the dim corridors beyond, not taking the time to spare a glance at anyone else around him. The hallways were relatively vacant, the only people he passed hurrying off to other destinations, possibly trying to sort out the problem with the ship. Spock had other concerns to focus on besides the Enterprise at the moment though.
It didn't take him long to reach his quarters and as he walked up to the doors he quickly threaded his fingers along the seam and pushed them apart with minimal effort, revealing the darker than normal space inside. Spock strode into the room, making his way straight to his computer terminal. Like the rest of the ship, nothing but the emergency lights seemed to be in operation and this was reflected in the unresponsive computer in front of him. He only gave this a moment of notice before switching his attention to a wall panel in the corner of the room, casually ripping it away to expose the wiring underneath. Spock threw the offending wall panel to the side and set to work on the machinery inside, pulling wires from certain connections and rerouting them to suit his purpose. The emergency lights in his room, as well as the ones in the outside corridor, dimmed and blacked out, plunging the area into completely darkness, which was quickly accompanied by the surprised gasps of the crewmen wandering the hallway as their vision vanished. Spock ignored all of this and instead turned towards the center of his room where his computer terminal now glowed with a subdued, but present light as it finally received power and started working again.
The repairs on Starbase 14 were almost done, the only thing left to really be accomplished was cleanup. Scotty grudgingly looked around the area, surveying the finished work with no small amount of displeasure. With the amount of time that they'd been working on the damage, which wasn't very long, and the limited supplies they had available, the best the work crews had been able to do was block the breach in the side of the station and patch up the holes in the floor and ceiling made from the resulting blast. It wasn't pretty, but it did the job and made it possible for people to traverse the area safely. Scotty would have liked to take the time and smooth out the repairs a bit more as he hated leaving any job without whatever he was working on looking better than it had been before, but he had to make do with what he could. Starfleet was sending in a technical team to finish the work to the structure and install any upgrades that were required.
Scotty stepped back from the seal that had been placed over the hole in the station, finishing his last minute tinkering and checks of the section, and turned to the rest of his team of engineers that were spread out behind him working on their own projects. He surveyed their work for a minute before gruffly addressing them, catching their attention.
"Alright, lads! Let's finish up and get back to the ship. Not much we can do now but wait for Starfleet to get their hands on her."
This statement was met with the few grumbles and heavy sighs that always accompanied the loss of interesting work to others. Scotty had to give a small smile at his engineers. He was proud of their willingness to work and see a job to completion, even if it was during their shore leave time. He was wondering how many would join him in continuing repairs, despite Starfleet's orders to stand aside for now, when a shout drew his attention.
"Mister Scott!"
All heads turned in the direction of the voice, where an ensign was standing by a large window that looked out into space, his eyes fixed firmly on something outside. Scotty quickly walked up to him, taking note of the urgency and alarm in the man's voice.
"What is it, lad?"
"The Enterprise, sir. She's dark!"
Scotty turned to look out the window himself and quickly located the Enterprise. It was indeed dark, not a single light could be seen coming from her and she seemed to be slowly drifting through space. Scotty frowned in concern and puzzlement, his mind immediately telling him that something was wrong.
"I think we better be gettin' back to the transporters, gentlemen. Seems the Enterprise needs us more than we're needed here."
With that Scotty quickly ran back in the direction of the transporters, his mind running through possible causes for this situation and wondering what could be going on with his lady now.