Vivek jumped through the hole and after he scanned the immediate area he called her out. "We are unsafe here. We must move to a safer location."

Rin crawled out of the little burrow and into the moonlight under the watchful eye of her father. "On foot?"

"We'd be a target in the sky," he explained. "Come!"

Rin quietly followed him though the bushes and between the trees, doing her best to keep out of the moonlight.

He suddenly stopped at the edge of a small clearing and he stared long and hard at the open space and he sat. "One of the most dangerous spots throughout this entire forest," he growled, "the open spots, where 'tourists' have cleared away the brush to camp and 'Enjoy the scenery"." He was starting to shake again under all the physical stress he was putting on himself.

"Vivek," Rin whispered, "are you alright?"

He didn't answer her at all as he continued to scan the barely lit area. The only possible way to avoid the clearing was to fly, but that was far too risky. The only remaining option was to go through the lit minefield, and he slowly picked himself off the ground. Noiselessly, he gently picked up Rin and darted into the clearing. He stopped in one of the few bushes there and took a brief breather. He shot off again into the nearest bush and from the nest, to the next.

"Father, I hear something!" Rin whispered and his ears pointed straight up in the air.

As he narrowed in on the sound, he asked her, "Where do you think it is?"

She was quiet a moment and pointed off to the right. "It's over there." She shivered and muttered, "I fear the worst is about to happen."

"You are correct with the location," he acknowledged. "This last dash is the most dangerous. I want you to promise me that if I fall, you will not stop, but continue for the shelter of the forest. Do you promise it?"

"What?" she asked, half confused, half scared. "Abandon you to those creatures?"

"If it comes to that, yes." He looked grave as he spoke the words. "Promise me Rin, please. You must continue onward. Our family line depends on you."

Her expression was cold and pale, but she slowly nodded.

"Good." He prepared himself to run and Rin hesitantly took a place on the ground under his wing. "Ready" For when we begin we may not turn back."

She was shaking with fear as she calmly said, "Ready when you are."

"Very well." He poked his head out of the bush and in the opposite direction and tossed a rock as he whispered, "Go," and they darted toward the trees.

He narrowly missed a dart as it passed between his ears but he continued to run. The sound of lasers, bullets, and darts flying by surrounded them as they raced for the trees, then they stopped. A second later, it started up again, and they had aimed for just in front of him. He shielded Rin with his wing so she would not get hit, but a dart clipped him on the shoulder and he grimaced.

'No,' he thought as fear erupted in him. 'I can't stop here. No matter how badly poisoned I am, I must continue on.'

Another dart caught him on the opposite shoulder and stuck. He was already beginning to feel the effects of the deathly liquid when all opposing attack stopped again. The Klingons had come out from hiding and were standing in front of the edge of the clearing and one of their Birds of Prey was hovering above him so he wouldn't fly out. He went running in the other direction to buy himself more time and he telepathically told Rin, "I'm going to drop you off in that bush. You are to hide there either until I tell you to come out, or it is safe. No matter what happens, do not move from this bush. Even if I an endangered, do NOT call out, or leave this bush. They've yet to see you. Use that to your advantage."

He dove into the bush and left her there with that message and jumped back into the open again. He wrenched the dart out of his shoulder blade and threw it to the ground as he glared at all those that were surrounding him. "Why do you hunt us down here on our home-planet?" he demanded. "We have done you no wrong."

A finely-armored Klingon stepped forward with his arms folded over his broad chest and said, "The treaty has become… obsolete. After the death of your ancient home-planet Zelerohn, the moon that held the peace treaty between our two races vanished mysteriously. The Zelerhonian Treaty is no more, and peace to you is hereby relinquished."

Rin shook with fear at his words and she knew all that had been established here on Tyrius was all for naught. She fought the urge to run to him for his unending comfort, but she did not leave the bush.

"What nonsense is this?" Vivek asked, irritated. "You are taking advantage of the loss of a document to kill my people. Why do you terrorize my family when it is me you despise? Deal with me alone, and leave what is left of my family in peace!"

Rin had never seen him angry before. In the years she had known him, he had never raised his voice or shown any anger at all, until now.

The Klingon laughed aloud. "Certainly," he agreed. "Why not kill you? After you're out of the way, we'll finish off the rest of your weak bloodline, so then Malvadioum and his hated line will dominate whatever you have left behind."

An ear-splitting roar shook the ancient trees and ran across the ground. Half the troops shrank back in terror at the sound that had erupted from his throat. He took a threatening step forward. "If it kills me," he hissed in a dark tone as his claws left several small trenches in the ground, "I will not allow you to inflict any more harm here to the ones I care for."

"It'll kill you anyway," he scoffed. "Have you forgotten? Those darts were not free of toxin. You will die either way."

He growled loudly and frowned upon the situation. "Cheng, please," he asked in a way close to begging, "leave us in peace. Torment us no longer."

Cheng's cold eyes caught the trembling bush out of the corner of his sharp eye and a dark smile played itself across his stern face. "What have we here?" he asked as he pointed one of his men over to the bush. There was a roar from behind him and at least twenty Klingons pounced on the Aurelian and held him still. Cheng took Rin from his soldier and held her in the air by the scruff of her little neck. He looked her in the eyes and he remarked, "It's so young and weak. It's almost pathetic."

Rin glared at him. "You know what else is pathetic?" she challenged. "The fact that you poison him instead of honoring him with a fair fight. It is you who is 'pathetic'."

In his anger he spit in her eye and her face turned grey with rage. Without thinking, she scratched his face with her talon and was careful to ruin his left eye. He howled in pain and flung her against a nearby tree. Rin scrambled to her feet and growled at the Klingon who thought to grab her. He back-pedaled and tripped over his own clumsy feet in fear.

Pink Klingon blood spilt onto the ground from the cut orb and the cringing Klingon rounded on her again. "You touch me, and I get the other one too," she hissed. She had puffed up and had outstretched her wings in attempt to look bigger.

In their native tongue, Vivek hoarsely ordered, "Leave, and get to safety. Do a roundabout and make for the mountains. You'll be safe there." He snapped at one of the Klingons that had made to grab his beak and grumbled, "I'll buy you what time I can."

She made a whimpering noise when the feather on her neck dropped in temperature. Rin could feel that he was loosing his energy and he was straining to remain conscious. In her mind's eye, she could see Death hovering just over him, waiting for the creature to quiet the fight against the inevitable.

Cheng nodded to one of his crewmates, and at the command, the young Klingon soldier speared a large, jagged knife down into his prisoner's thick chest. A howl echoed through the trees and every animal therein went into a frenzy. Rin was going ballistic at the sight and sound and she wasn't sure if she should rush forward, or retreat.

They let him up and he staggered to his feet. He only managed a few feet forward before collapsing and he lay still, all with the occasional labored breath.

"Vivek!" she cried as she ran to him.

He narrowed his eyes and again in their language ordered, "Go, before it is too late. Please…"

She didn't listen and stood before him. "You have to get up," she cried mournfully. "Come with me!"

He released an irritated growl from his throat and repeated himself. When Rin did not listen, he snapped his beak threateningly and growled louder still until she backed away. He snapped again and she turned her back and bolted out of the clearing.

Something wrapped itself around her feet and she fell to the ground. As she struggled back to her feet something hit her hard on the side of her head and everything went black.

Rin was glaring at the floor heatedly in her own time. Sybok turned to face her and he set his hands on her shoulders.

"Release your pain," he urged soothingly. "Let the burden of this memory trouble you no more."

She trembled a little at the offer. The thought of being able to forget everything was a tempting one. She shook her head and lifted it slowly so her hard eyes could tunnel into his. "Let go of me," she whispered almost inaudibly.

"Release your pain."

She grabbed one of his hands and pulled it off, leaving claw-marks in the back of his hand. He quickly removed the other one. "Don't touch me, Vulcan traitor. My pain is mine, and mine alone. I don't wish to forget what I have suffered… and learned."

Rin stared at him coolly for another second and with that she left the rom. Kirk later found her in her quarters.

Her back was turned to the door when it opened and he asked, "Can I come in?"

"Are you going to try and remove my pain?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," he answered honestly and she invited him in. "I'm sorry about Sybok. I never knew-"

"Not many do," she muttered. "Sybok has always known, and Spock longer. He'd just never seen it. Sybok only showed it in attempts to break me, but I can't say this was the first time."

"Do you… fear him?" Kirk asked quietly and he silenced when she turned around to look at him.

"I fear no man," she hissed "I never have. I left, for if I had stayed, he would be lying in pieces on the floor."