I do not own Star Trek or anything to do with said franchise. However, I own Alianna Lordeck and co-own Sindari Lordeck and this plot. This fic is based on the new movie, and thus, takes place in the alternate universe of the movie. It's rated for lots of bad language and some sexual scenes (let's face it, it is Captain Kirk we're talking about), and violence and some drinking. You know, standard stuff. Should be lots of fun and I apologize in advance if any of the information about Star Trek is wrong. I've tried to do research, but hey, with eleven movies, five live-action shows and one animated show, along with multiple books and such, getting all the facts straight is kind of hard. Anyways, enjoy.

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked
Chapter Five: Starfleet Again.

Unsurprising to anyone, Alianna wanted to beam back to the Enterprise as soon as she was allowed and physically able. Being around remnants of the ship she'd all but been born on did not serve to keep her mind stable, however, and she spent the few hours she was forced to remain on the science station locked in her quarters and huddled in one of the chairs. Doctor Peters came to speak to her only once, her words riddled with apologies, but also with the desire to have her questions answered. Understanding the need for the answers, Alianna did her best, but she broke into tears half way through the interview and screamed at the doctor until she left. Sindari, Bones and Kirk had come to check on her afterwards, joined by Spock who expressed an offer to help teach Alianna emotional control. In her rage, she had vehemently refused something she had always wanted, and the Vulcan commander had left with the offer still standing. Bones had to administer a hypospray with a mild sedative to calm her down after that.

Sindari had gone with Spock as the pair had been discussing possible perpetrators of the attack on the Marissa quite adamantly, and Bones had gone as soon as he was sure the Captain would alert him if Alianna needed anymore medical attention. When Kirk and Alianna were the only two left in the room, he turned and looked at her, curled into the chair beside him. She was staring straight ahead, unblinking and, evidently, unthinking. Some of her hair had fallen out of the careful bun and she had her arms wrapped around herself, like she was holding and comforting herself. He had to say something. He had to give her a line, something to pull her back into herself. "What I said before, that I didn't remember you from the Academy… well, I thought of something."

There was a moment where Kirk thought she might not know what he was talking about, thanks to the drugs in her system, but it passed and she nodded. "What did you remember?" There was no sarcasm or anything in her voice, not even curiosity. It was just a question. It was just was she was expected to say.

"The night before the shuttle left, at the bar."

Something passed through her eyes. "After you started that fight…"

Kirk half-smiled, half-grimaced. "I don't remember it that way, but after the fight and after I spoke to Admiral Pike, I walked outside and you were standing there with blood all over your face and neck. Someone was holding your wrist and yelling at you. You glared at me and then asked me what the hell I was looking at."

Alianna blinked and unfolded herself from the chair. She leaned her head back and rolled it sideways to look at him, a small grin on her face. "I do remember that."

"Why did you have blood on your face?"

Her brow furrowed as she fought the sedative-induced haze. "I tried to interfere in the fight and got punched in the mouth by that big guy. The one you called Cupcake." She bit off a harsh laugh and fixed an intense gaze on the young captain. "I think I wanted to help you."

"You didn't even know who I was."

"Yeah, but you were so outnumbered."

Kirk laughed. "Are you okay, Ali?"

He'd used her nickname without thinking. She gave him a startled look, but glossed over it; Kirk breathed a mental sigh of relief. "No. But I will be. Eventually."

"Of that I have no doubt."

She smiled at him and then resumed staring intently at the wall. Alianna had slumped down so far in the chair that her uniform shirt was bunching up behind her and her neck was pressed against the back of the chair. The remnant of her smile hung around her mouth. Kirk realized how tired she looked, how worn out. It occurred to him that she probably hadn't had any real rest since being brought aboard the Enterprise.

"Are you ready to go back then?" Kirk asked. "Mister Scott is standing by to beam you back to the Enterprise with those finishing their shore leave." The Captain extended his hand to her and, after a brief hesitation, she took it and pulled herself out of the chair she had settled in. "Do you have everything?"

Alianna nodded. "I didn't bring anything down with me," she said as she squeezed Kirk's hand. After a moment, she dropped his hand and looked towards the door.

Kirk chalked the total of her odd behaviour up to the drugs in her system. "All right then. They're waiting on you in transporter room three."

Again, Alianna nodded. "How much longer with the Enterprise be in orbit of the station?"

"Three days at the most. We have to replenish some supplies and Mister Scott wanted to do a check on some of the systems before we leave."

Alianna pulled her ponytail over her shoulder and ran her fingers through the end of her hair, her expression taking on that empty quality again. She seemed to be thinking thoroughly over what the Captain had said. Her strange green eyes didn't leave his face, and the pacified state of existence unsettled Kirk, who had become used to dealing with her fire. He returned her steady gaze for several long minutes, searching for something else to say, before he gestured to the door and followed the woman into the hall. He found himself unable to think of anything. Kirk remained beside her as they walked, close enough that their shoulders remained touching. He was ready to keep her out of the line of fire from anything related to her old ship. When they reached the transporter room, Alianna turned around and looked at the Captain, and because he had been walking so close, she ended up standing so close they were nearly touching. She took a step back and looked up at him.

"Starfleet put the transfer for you and your sister through, Alianna. When I get back to the ship, you'll start your first shift as official members of my crew," Kirk said. It was the only thing he could think of at that moment.

The corner of Alianna's mouth twitched slightly and then it spread in a familiar grin. She nodded once, expressing her thanks, and stepped farther into the room so the doors would close. Before they could lock however, Kirk grabbed Alianna's hand and pulled her back out into the hall. She didn't protest, just kept her gaze locked on that of her captain. The sudden action surprised even Kirk, causing him to quickly drop the younger woman's arm and clasp his hands behind his back.

"Are you sure you're okay, Commander Lordeck?"

Apparently taken aback by the jump to formality, she resumed running her fingers through the end of her long ponytail. "No," she said again. "Why are you so concerned?" Since Bones had administered the sedative, it was the first thing she'd said that sounded exactly like her normal self.

Deciding to respond in kind, Kirk said, "I just don't want you rampaging around my ship, that's all."

Alianna's smile remained plastered across her face, even if it looked a little… loopy. They lapsed into the same comfortable silence they'd shared when she'd been explaining her attachment to the Marissa, and they remained locked in each other's gaze.

"What's the hold up Captain? Are you sending up the crew or not?"

Kirk nearly jumped, caught off guard by the sudden beeping of his communicator and the crackling voice of his Chief Engineer. "Just a minute longer Mister Scott."

"Aye sir."

Kirk didn't think Mister Scott sounded agreeable, but he let it go. After all, he had said the crewmen who had been on shore leave would be beaming up as soon as Alianna was ready. As Mister Scott hadn't been witness to her odd behaviour, it wasn't surprising the Scottish engineer thought it was taking longer than it should have. The young captain never took his eyes away from Alianna, but she had turned her face towards the floor at some point. "Alianna?"

Her head snapped up. Her eyes were vacant again. "Yes sir?"

"Take the next couple days and rest, all right?"

She blinked, as if processing his words. It was a strange look on her severe face. "Is that an order?"

"If it has to be."

Alianna nodded and stepped back into the sensor range of the doors, that small grin appearing on her face again. They hissed open, exposing the transporter room and a bevy of confused faces. Kirk watched as she climbed onto the pad and turned to face the operator. As the doors slid shut, Kirk sighed and turned on his heel, heading back down the hall, towards the conference room where Spock, Bones and Sindari had gone to discuss the case with Doctor Peters and a few members of her team. Although the discussion was really secondary on his priority list, he was looking forward to it. Kirk was eagerly waiting on Starfleet's orders to see whether he and the Enterprise would continue with this case or if they would assign another vessel, so there was nothing like a good discussion to keep his mind of the anticipation. Kirk hoped Starfleet command would leave his crew on the mission; it would drive him up the wall if the Enterprise was reassigned and he had to go off into some other corner of space knowing someone else was heading up the case he had started investigating. As far as Kirk was concerned, this was his case. It was his job to stop whoever or whatever had killed the crew of the Marissa. Besides, even if he somehow found the willpower to sit on the sidelines, he was more than sure that Alianna would beat him around the head until he changed his mind. Once she was back to normal, that is.

"Captain? Are you feeling all right? You look a little… lost."

Kirk looked up at Sindari and shrugged before he'd actually thought of what he was going to say or do. The young officer took the shrug for an answer and turned back to the discussion. The talk turned quickly from who the possible perpetrators could be to what the crew of the Enterprise would do if they ever found out. If they caught the attackers. It quickly turned to complete speculation and Kirk wasn't interested in that. Neither was Spock. The Captain and Science Officer turned away from Sindari, Bones and Doctor Peters and stood in front of the window, where they could see the magnificent shapes on the Enterprise and the Marissa in orbit beside the station. For a long time, they stood in silence, watching the stars go by and the planet turn beneath them. There was nothing to be done, nothing to be analysed, no one who needed ordering around. It was peaceful. Even with the debate going on less than ten feet away.

"How was Ms. Lordeck when you sent her back to the Enterprise, Captain?"

Kirk turned to look at Spock. "She wasn't herself, but she was sedated."

"You seemed worried about her."

Kirk raised an eyebrow at his first officer and crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you implying something Mister Spock?"

It was the Vulcan's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Not at all Captain."

The corner of Kirk's mouth turned up in a smirk, and he laughed to himself. Before anything else, could be said however, Spock was pulled away to help the scientists on the station access the computers on the ghost ship, and Sindari and Bones appeared at the window. Evidently Doctor Peters had gone with the Vulcan Starfleet officer, as she didn't appear at the window.

"Ali's back on the Enterprise, then, sir?" Sindari asked. She stood closer to Bones than to Kirk, her arms behind her back, hands gripping opposite elbows. When he nodded, the redhead's shoulder visibly sank, as if a great weight had been lifted. "Maybe now she will get some rest and return to herself. It's not like her to remain so apathetic for so long."

"That was probably due to the sedative I gave her."

"Just how strong was it Bones?" Kirk asked. He tightened his arms across his chest. "She seemed barely conscious of what she was saying or doing some of the time."

"It was strong enough."

Knowing that Bones wouldn't have given Alianna something that could harm her, Kirk changed the subject. "Lieutenant Lordeck, did you manage to come up with any plausible perpetrators of the attack?"

The young woman shrugged with one shoulder, and then, remembering who she was talking to said, "It still seems that the Klingons have the strongest motive, but there is nothing about this attack that says Klingon. The technology is more likely to be Romulan, but it's hard to be sure as we haven't have enough contact with them to know if they're actually capable of something like this. It's possible the Federation hasn't even made first contact with whoever is doing this. Bones," she gestured vaguely to the doctor with a nod of her head in his direction and then winced and corrected herself, "I mean, Commander McCoy, theorized it was a wide-range weapon of some kind that did this. That is the only logical conclusion since whatever it was took out the entire crew of almost a thousand people at once. So, in short, we're still at a loss."

"Then I guess we'd better hope Doctor Peters and her research team uncover something that gives us a better idea of what or who we're looking for." Kirk scratched his cheek absently, thinking Sindari's words and the possibilities of what she'd theorized. "If either of you think of something else, report to me immediately."

Sindari and Bones turned and walked into the hall in tandem. "Is there any reason for me to stay here, Commander?" Sindari asked once they had entered the corridor. Her hands were still clasped behind her back, but she was looking at the doctor, a small smile on her face.

"Not that I can think of. We're not going to reach any mystery-solving conclusions with more speculation, and it might be a good idea to have you check on Alianna anyway."

"That's what I was thinking of doing. I know you wouldn't hurt her, but I'm worried about her."

"Mind if I join you? The sedative I gave her wasn't anything special, but something in the Captain's tone worries me. He sounded worried about her."

Sindari frowned. "When we were on the Marissa and the Captain, Ali and I went down to our quarters to get our things… I think something happened. I think Alianna might have tried to hurt or even kill herself. When they came to get me, Alianna had been crying and there was a haunted look in her eyes. Captain Kirk was watching her like he was afraid she was going to try something, and he had her phaser." Sindari tried to force herself to smile, but the expression wouldn't come. "I think he's worried about her trying to hurt herself more than he's worried that whatever you gave her is hurting her."

The doctor's eyes went wide and he looked ahead down the corridor. "I didn't know she was that unstable."

This time, Sindari did smile, but it was bitter, as was the laughter that spilled from her mouth. "Alianna has always been kind of unstable. Sure, she can control herself when the need arises, but she's never been able to do so for very long. Starfleet and the discipline that comes with being an officer was the best thing that ever happened to her, Commander. The Marissa is the only ship she's ever served on—"

"So it's more than losing her family."

Sindari nodded. "Being reinstated under Captain Kirk's command will be good for her. It will bring her back to normal."

"And you, Sindari? What will this new assignment do for you?"

The young weapons officer's answering smile was happier, a real smile; it brought a rare grin to Bones' face. "Serving under the famous Captain Kirk on the famous starship Enterprise? This is a career-making assignment, Commander." They reached their destination, a transporter room, and ascended onto the pad. "I am upset about the loss of Captain DeFalco and my family aboard the Marissa, but I have always been better than my sister at controlling my emotions and…" The spinning lines of light appeared in front of her face, and they rematerialized in the main transporter room onboard the Enterprise. Without skipping a beat, the doctor and Sindari entered the white corridors and continued the conversation. "In short, Commander, this new assignment is just exactly what I need."

The officers laughed as they headed towards the turbolift.

The next day and a half passed quickly. True to her word, Alianna had spent the time resting, which didn't include as much sleep as one might have thought, but did include a lot of sitting around her quarters, reading through a complied list of all mysterious deaths and disappearances within Starfleet's histories. The sedative hadn't been hurting her at all, just amplifying the lethargic thoughts in her head. It was giving her an excuse to just let go for a while, and she took it. As soon as it wore off though—within the normal time frame—she was more or less back to her old self, just her old self spending much of her time in her quarters aboard the Enterprise. On the third day since they'd arrived at the starbase, she dressed in black pants and a white t-shirt, pulled her long hair back into a low ponytail and began a long and cathartic run through the corridors of the ship. She wasn't going anywhere in particular, just running to do something other than sit around.

As she neared sick bay, several decks away from where she had started, familiar voices drifted down the hallway. A few seconds later, Bones and Sindari appeared around the corner. They were laughing about something, large smiles on both their faces.

"Ali!" Sindari exclaimed when her green eyes found her sister's. "How are you feeling?"

The older sister slowed to a stop in front of her friends and propped herself up with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. "Fine. Bones, do you know if the Captain is on board yet?"

The doctor shook his head. "He's still on the station. He's due back at eighteen hundred hours as far as I know, which is in just under thirty minutes. He might be delayed though, depending on how everything is going on the station."

The young woman nodded as she hung her head and took a few, slow breaths. When she looked up, her face was flushed and there was sweat beading on her forehead, cheeks and neck. A few drops slid down under the collar of her shirt and she rubbed her hands over her face to stop more from doing the same. "We are still leaving today though?" she asked between gasps.

"As far as I know, that is the plan."

Sindari placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "You'd better get cleaned up Ali. Our first duty shift starts in a few hours and you look like you need some rest."

"I know." Alianna straightened herself and stuck her braced finger towards the doctor. "Can you check on my finger? I'm sick of having to wear this thing. Tell me it can come off soon."

Bones grabbed Alianna's wrist and looked at the finger and then up at Alianna. He dropped her hand. "It will still be a while, Alianna. You know that."

She groaned and slumped against the wall. "I know, I know. All right then, I'll see you later Bones. Sindari."

She pushed herself off the wall and headed for the turbolift at the end of the corridor. Sindari yelled something after her, but she didn't hear what it was, just climbed into the turbolift and headed back up to where her quarters were. Inside her room, Alianna stripped down and climbed into the sonic shower, wrapping a towel around herself when she was clean. In the main room, she dug out a fresh uniform and dressed as far as the pants and undershirt before she flopped down on the bed, her dark hair fanning out beneath her. Alianna closed her eyes and concentrated on relaxing every muscle in her body, looking for a few moments of rest before she started her first official duty shift. She wanted to make a good impression, not that she thought her performance on the bridge before now hadn't been exemplary or anything, but she still wanted her first shift as an official member of the Enterprise a good one.

Alianna remained still for five full minutes before she sat up, pulled her socks and boots on and vacated her quarters. As she traversed the hallway yet again, she pulled her red tunic over her head and fastened her phaser belt around her hips and climbed into the turbolift; as security officer she got to wear her phaser at all times, just like all her subordinate officers. She was on the bridge in a matter of seconds. Commander Spock had control of the bridge, and was sitting straight-backed in the command chair, staring straight ahead. Alianna wasn't fooled by his look of detachment, as she knew the Vulcan would be paying attention to whatever was being said on the bridge. Sindari was already there as well, attentively working at her console. Uhura, Sulu and Chekov were also on the bridge, but Alianna didn't know the names of any of the other officers. No one looked up when Alianna entered, but she wasn't bothered by that.

Alianna placed a hand on the console as she approached it. "You're relieved," she commanded.

The ensign looked up at her, something like apprehension in his wide brown eyes. "Yes sir."

Alianna nodded once and took her place behind the console as the spot was vacated and keyed in her security clearance. The console chimed and lit up under her fingers, expressing many more controls than had been accessible to the ensign. Alianna found herself smiling once she was in place and, when she looked up at the bridge in front of her, found Sindari smiling the sisterly grin they'd come to share. Alianna almost laughed.

"Commander Lordeck."

Alianna turned her face to the right so she could face the Vulcan officer. "Yes Commander Spock?"

"You are well enough to attend to your responsibilities as security officer, I trust."

She forced her anger down. It was within the commanding officer's right to doubt an officer, especially one who had behaved as erratically as Alianna had. She knew that, so she choked back her scream. She couldn't keep her voice from sounding tense and tight however. "Yes sir. If you do not trust my assessment, you can ask Doctor McCoy."

"That is not necessary, Commander. I trust that you got the doctor's clearance for duty."

"I did, sir."

"Captain on the bridge," Uhura said from her positions at the communications console.

Her voice was strong and commanding, but it had to be to get attention and orders across the entire bridge. Lieutenant Uhura was one of the only officers who could carry if off without seeming arrogant or like she was issuing orders to those who were above her. Alianna met the woman's gaze briefly before she pulled herself to attention and watched as the door slid open and the yellow-shirted Captain crossed the bridge and stood in front of the newly empty command chair. As he sat, the bridge returned to its state of action, not attention, and Alianna turned to face out the main viewer.

"Captain, we're getting reports of another ghost ship," Uhura informed the bridge suddenly. The air on the bridge went from normal to intensely high tension in the blink of an eye. The level-headed young woman continued relaying the necessary information. "The U.S.S. Lithgow. Last known location is near where the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Neutral Zone meet."

True to form, Kirk took charge. "Transfer coordinates to the helm. Mister Sulu, get us there as soon as you can. Mister Scott."

"Aye sir?"

"Give us as much power as you can. We've got another ghost ship and if there's any chance of catching the murderers as they leave, I want to take it."

"Of course Captain."

"Commander Lordeck, take the ship to red alert. Lieutenant Lordeck, ready weapons. I don't want to be caught off guard."

Alianna nodded and her fingers danced across the screen, keying in the code to turn the auxiliary lights around the ship to red and set off the alarm. Across the bridge, Sindari's fingers mimicked her sister's as she brought the phaser banks into ready mode and sent down the command to ready photon torpedoes in case phasers weren't enough. The knot that always appeared in red alert situations blossomed between Alianna's shoulder blades, but she took that discomfort and used it to focus.

"Docking clamps are disengaged, sir. We are cleared for warp," Sulu said.

"Give me the highest warp factor we've got, Mister Sulu."

The young Asian nodded and, after a brief flutter of fast-moving fingers in tandem with Chekov's as the young Russian checked that the course was laid in correctly. As the warp drive engaged, there was an audible punch through the air and the stars on the main viewer blurred into lines. Alianna took her hands off the edges of her console where she had placed them to brace herself. There was no verbal exchange for the entire journey, which lasted all of fifteen minutes. Alianna hoped that since they had been close to the attacked ship that they might have a chance of catching, or at least finding out, whoever was behind these attacks. As the ship dropped out of warp, the silent ship came into view, huge, dark and empty. Captain Kirk contacted Bones and told him to meet in transporter room one. Then, he rose from his chair, pointed at Sindari, Alianna, and Sulu and assigned Mister Spock the bridge.

Alianna fell in at Kirk's right, matching his stride. "Do you think we're going to catch them?"

"There were no signs of other ships in the area," he said. "But that doesn't really mean anything." He sighed. "I don't know."

"The ship or whatever it is must have a cloaking device more sophisticated than the Klingons or Romulans," Sindari said in a voice that sounded more like she was thinking out loud than actually talking to anyone. "That's the only way it could close to a Federation ship and not be detected by any of the sensors or anything…"

"Or what if they've developed the technology to fire while they're cloaked?" Sulu suggested. "Romulan and Klingon cloaking devices are nearly complete anyway."

The away team reached the transporter room and the doors hissed open, revealing Bones already standing on the pad and Montgomery Scott waiting. The rest of the officers ascended to the pad and took their places on the raised platforms.

"Put us on the bridge of the Lithgow, Mister Scott. Energize," Kirk said.

Light whipped around Alianna and the four other members of the away team, all outfitted with phasers and communicators on a belt around their hips, and they dematerialized in unison, reappearing on the bridge of the ghost ship. Alianna stepped ahead, before the Captain, phaser out and scanning the area for any potential danger. When she'd convinced herself there was nothing to fear, she dropped her phaser. The others followed suit and spread out through the bridge. Unlike on the Marissa, there was no smell of death. The crewmembers could have just been asleep at their posts. Bones and Sulu began scanning the bodies and the ship, and Sindari and Alianna walked a perimeter of the bridge, double-checking that there was no threat in the immediate area. Kirk stood in front of the captain's chair, which was empty.

"Captain, my scans are showing that they were killed the same way as the Marissa's crew," Bones said. "They all died at the same moment."

"It's the same with all the ship's systems. They were all shut down except for life support, suggesting that the perpetrators came on board." Sulu turned off his tricorder and let it hang on the strap cutting across his chest.

Kirk sighed. "So there's no new information?" he asked, his voice frustrated.

"Actually, I think I may have found something," Sindari chimed from the science station.

The away team converged around the redhead and looked where she was pointing. Across the material of the console was a long cut, cutting right down to the wiring beneath, and on the floor was a small, triangular piece of metal. Bones immediately scanned it with his tricorder.

"No unusual materials, no fingerprints, no… nothing," he said. "Does anyone have any idea what it is?"

There was a chorus of no.

"Bring it back to the ship," Kirk ordered.

"Captain, someone's shooting at us!" came Uhura's panicked voice over the communicator.

Author's Note… Ugh, sorry it took forever. I've been working on my original story more and my fanfiction muse has been taking a vacation somewhere out of contact. Only recently has the Star Trek incarnation returned, so maybe I'll do some more updating… Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter. And the uber cliff-hanger.

Next Chapter: Attacked.