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 Ten: Ships On Top of Ships.

After the meeting with the shady merchant, Kirk once again settled himself in his command chair on the bridge and the crew, suddenly on edge, started scanning for any sign of the Klingon ship. For the first time since this had all begun, they had a good lead, a strong lead, and somewhere to go. It was a thin ray of hope, but that's what it was and they were all clinging to it. Eventually, Spock found a faint ion trail and the Enterprise took off at maximum warp, hoping to close the distance to the Klingons as quickly as possible. The bridge remained eerily silent as they moved through space, and Kirk would have bet anything everyone was worried about what meeting up with that ship would mean; Kirk's thoughts drifted in that direction as well, so it wasn't like he could blame them for thinking that.

What could they do to stand up to a weapon they knew almost nothing about?

How could they quell this uprising without bringing the entire Klingon Empire down on their heads?

At the end of the current shift, Kirk was still sitting in his chair, and he remained there as the usual shift, Spock, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and the rest, filed off to get some rest and the so-called night shift—there wasn't an actually day or night in space but since most, if not all, of the crew was familiar with the human ideals of day and night, that's what they went with—appeared at their stations, ready to take over. Kirk felt someone standing at his shoulder and turned around to find Sindari Lordeck, looking more contemplative than he remembered seeing her in the short time he'd known her. Her brow was furrowed and her green eyes were narrowed as she stared at the floor, seemingly seeing something no one else could.

"Lieutenant?"

Her head snapped up and, upon realizing her captain wasn't standing in front of her, looked down into his blue eyes. "Uh, yes Captain?"

"Did you need something?" Kirk asked with a raised eyebrow.

She huffed and looked around, searching for the right words to express whatever she was thinking. "Uh, no, sorry. It's... not important, Captain, sorry." With a shaky smile, Sindari turned and left the bridge, far behind the others from her shift.

Several decks below the bridge, Sindari stepped off the turbolift and headed down the hall, her hands clasped behind her back and her face mirroring the expression she'd had on the bridge. She was heading for her quarters to try and get some rest, when something appeared in her path, stopping her from heading forward. Ready to give the obstruction what for, Sindari looked up, but the bravado died as she took in Commander Spock, standing straight and still before her.

"It might prove more effective to watch where you are going, Lieutenant," he said calmly. Sindari stammered for a moment before muttering an apology and attempting to move around the Vulcan. She didn't get very far however, as Spock placed a hand lightly on her arm, stopping her advance. "Is there something bothering you, Lieutenant? You seem uncharacteristically distracted."

Startled by the question, Sindari raised her eyebrow, not unlike the Vulcan commander in front of her, and answered honestly, expressing the fear she hadn't been able to bring up to the Captain as he didn't need anything else to worry about. "I'm just worried."

"That is logical. Most of the crew is worried about the upcoming confrontation."

Sindari almost laughed. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Spock paused and tilted his head slightly to one side. Before Sindari could apologize for dropping into informal speech like she had, he said, "No. I suppose it would not make you feel any better. I only meant to inform you that you are not the only one with doubts in this situation."

Sindari's face split in a wide grin and she was thoroughly amused at the Vulcan's words. "I know I'm not the only one with doubts, but thank you for the words Commander Spock."

He nodded, once. "You are welcome, Lieutenant."

The young woman smiled and continued her trek down the hall, feeling a little better than she had before. She knew Vulcans experienced emotion as much or more than humans and just learned to control them. But, not for the first time, Sindari wondered if in learning that control, they lost the knowledge of how to deal with the emotions of others. It wasn't that Spock couldn't perceive how others were feeling, but he seemed to be lacking the... well, for lack of a better word, human touch.

As she changed out of her yellow uniform and into the large purple nightshirt and settled into her bed, Sindari's thoughts shifted to the Klingons and their super weapon. She'd spent many of her spare moments trying to figure how exactly the Klingons could have either developed or gotten their hands on such a thing, and, as had always been the case before, she couldn't come up with anything beyond kidnapping some scientists from the race who originally developed the weapon or stealing the weapon itself. It was doubtful they'd made an alliance with someone and obtained the technology that way, as the Klingons didn't exactly have a history of working well with others, and the weapon didn't seem like something to be willingly given to a war-minded race.

They had already encountered several ships completely wiped out by these Klingons, and having just left the crew of the U.S.S. Castiel with the staff on the space station, the impact was still resonating. It seemed since Kirk, Bones and the rest had rescued them from the Orion slave ship, everything had started to move at warp speed and it was hard for Sindari to wrap her head around everything. She and Alianna had quickly become a part of the Enterprise's crew, and even though the bonds they shared weren't as strong as the ones they had had on the Marissa, they were becoming part of a new family. At the same time, so many Federation officers were dying, being murdered by Klingons and this incident would eventually cause the tensions between the Federation and Klingon Empire to rise. The future consequences were starting to become readily apparent and amidst all the changes going on in her personal life, it was almost too much to handle.

Just as Sindari was falling asleep, the PA system kicked in, summoning all senior officers to the bridge. Cursing loudly to the empty air of her room, the younger Lordeck pulled herself out from the warmth of the blankets and dressed herself in a clean uniform. She brushed her short red hair into order and then re-entered the hallway. She had a feeling her next shift was going to start very early.

Up on the bridge, Sindari encountered her crewmates, blurry-eyed and looking none too happy about being pulled out of bed after virtually no sleep. Of course, they had to be there and they were all anxious to catch the Klingons, but no one liked be woken up. The night shift were still sitting at their consoles and the senior officers were standing almost in a line behind the command chair with the exception of Spock and McCoy who were standing to one side of the chair and Alianna, who was directly behind it, her arms crossed over her chest and her hair pulled back in a quick ponytail instead of its usual bun. Sindari moved to stand beside her dishevelled-looking sister, hoping that she looked better after being pulled out of bed. The younger sister opened her mouth to ask what was up when her eyes found the viewer and she didn't have to ask.

They had found another ship, but this one was still functioning. There were lights on and, over the hole the Klingons had blown in the side of the ship, the containment shield flickered, showing that the systems, or most of them, were still intact. It was a good sign for more than one reason. People might still be alive on the ship and there was something definitely wrong with the Klingon ship they were chasing.

"I'm getting life signs," one of the ensigns on the bridge said. "None of them are Klingon."

The crew had arrived in the middle of a scan. Kirk shot out of his chair at the report and started issuing orders, throwing together a plan on the fly. "Bones and Alianna with me. Scotty, take a team over and see what shape the Intrepid is in, anyone with medical training get down to the medical bay and prepare to receive the wounded."

Alianna shared a brief glance with her sister before following the young Captain and the doctor into the main turbolift. Scotty headed back to Engineering to gather up his team and Sindari joined the few other bridge officers who had medical training. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to swallow the building panic and anticipating building in her gut. Sindari wasn't exactly sure why she was nervous or what she was afraid would happen, but the nagging feeling was there and she didn't want to know what it was preceding.

As the last lines of light disappeared from her vision as she felt stable enough to move under her own power, Alianna took point and headed down the hall, phaser out in front and eyes alert. There hadn't been any Klingon life signs in the scan, but that didn't mean they weren't there. The crew of the Enterprise had learned not to put anything past these Klingons, and since Alianna was the head of security, she put herself in the line of fire before her Captain and before the chief medical officer. It only made sense. Once she had deemed the immediate area was safe, however, she rose out of her combat position and stood more at ease with her phaser still out of its holster.

They had rematerialized in the corridor just outside the bridge. There was a thin haze of smoke hanging around and the faint fizzles and pops of damaged wiring and technology filled the air. The only other noise—faint yells, moans and voices—was hopeful. Several people at least had survived this attack.

The small away team moved towards the bridge, Alianna in front of Bones and Kirk. As they reached the door however, it did not open, and the three officers spent the better part of five minutes prying it open. Grateful cries greeted them as did the smiling faces of the crew which had been stuck on the bridge. A tall, thin man with silver hair pulled back in a low ponytail that fell to the middle of his back, and flat gray eyes approached them first, a smile on his pale face, but it was an expression that didn't reach his eyes; the Captain looked tired so Alianna deduced the lack of light in his expression was from that and not for lack of caring.

"I can't tell you how glad I am to see you," the man said, his voice rough, like there was sandpaper scraping his throat as he talked.

Kirk offered the older captain a smile which lasted all of about a second. "What exactly happened?"

Bones took the opportunity to move away from Kirk and Alianna, his blue-clad form drifting from crew member to crew member, making sure no one was seriously injured. Alianna remained at Kirk's side, her phaser holstered for the time being, and her arms, as they so often were, crossed under her chest. She kept her peripheral vision on the captain of the Intrepid as her green eyes swivelled around the bridge, keeping an eye on everything. Or trying to, at least.

"We were heading back to Earth," the silver-haired man said. "And this... thing came out of nowhere. We didn't realize it was a ship—let along a Klingon ship—until it was too late. They fired a few shots before they disappeared, taking out our vital systems." He paused, his thin mouth dipping into a frown. "I don't think they wanted to be followed, but this," he said, gesturing to the bridge around him, which was a mess, "was unnecessary. We didn't even see them. They were cloaked until they started firing on us. If they had stayed cloaked, we wouldn't have been able to see them, let alone follow them."

Kirk nodded thoughtfully and shot a quick gaze in Alianna's direction. She just returned the gaze, unsure of what to say, if anything. "Don't waste energy trying to figure these Klingons out," the young Captain said finally. "They're not working with or for the Empire. They've got their own agenda."

"What? We haven't had any reports—"

"You won't have had any." Kirk ran one hand back through his hair before turning his blue eyes back to Alianna. "Take Bones and head through the rest of the ship. Transport anyone who needs immediate medical attention to the Enterprise."

"Yes sir."

The U.S.S. Intrepid was a small vessel so the orders wouldn't take long to fulfill. Alianna retrieved Bones from where he was having a conversation with one of the crew about the medical facilities on board and they headed to the turbolift. The first three decks were clear of serious injuries and everyone who was scraped or bruised or had a gash or broken finger was taken care of; the ship's own medical personnel were also moving about the decks, treating the wounded. The Intrepid's medical bay was full to capacity with those needing serious attention. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be many more of those.

As Alianna and Bones were preparing to leave their fifth deck of inspection however, a low, pained cry for help reached their ears.

"Could you tell where that came from?" Alianna asked.

Bones was already scanning the area with his tricorder, his eyes narrowed under a brow furrowed in concentration as he poured over the readings. "That way," he said after a moment, using his free hand to gesture.

Once again, Alianna took point, but this time her position had nothing to do with protecting her companion. This time it was all about finding whoever needed help. She had to turn sideways to enter the partially open doors of the room, as well as duck beneath a fallen panel of the ceiling; her ponytail caught on something and pulled painfully at her scalp, but regardless, she was already halfway into the rubble-strewn room by the time the more muscular doctor had made it through the door behind her.

"Where are you?" she yelled into the seemingly empty quarters.

"Here..."

She turned her head in the direction of the faint voice. It was coming from the bathroom area of the quarters, the entrance to which was blocked by another section of the ceiling; after a brief second of deliberation as she moved, Alianna determined this area of the ship was just above the hole she'd seen from the Enterprise and that was why it was nearly destroyed. Alianna dropped to her stomach and army-crawled forward, underneath the debris. She nearly stopped breathing as her green eyes found a tiny hand. Tears burned the back of her eyes, tears of anger, and she clawed her way forward, wedging herself in as far as she could go so she could grab the little hand. A muted triumph passed through as the hand wrapped around as much of hers as it could, even though the grip was weak.

"It's okay," she said. "We'll get you out of here..."

Alianna pulled herself even farther in, ignoring the rubble as it pressed tighter from all sides. She could be beamed out, she wasn't worried about getting stuck. Keeping one hand in the child's, she manoeuvred a chunk of metal until she could see a face.

He was young, probably only six or seven, with pale brown hair and deep chocolate eyes. There was a deep gash on his cheek, but that wasn't the worst of his injuries, not by a long shot. His left leg was bent at an awkward angle, probably broken in more than one place, and there were three shards of the plastic that usually surrounded the sonic shower stalls sticking out of his chest and abdomen. His skin was ashen and his hand was growing clammy under Alianna's grasp.

He was dying.

"Bones!" she yelled, never taking her eyes from the little boy's. "We've got a little boy back here. He's severely injured!"

"I'll get the Enterprise to beam us to sick bay. Hold on."

Alianna forced herself to smile for the boy. "We're going to get you out of here. What's your name?"

"Sage..." he croaked.

"Okay Sage. Hold on. You're going to be fine."

She kept smiling as the familiar bands of light whipped around her and the boy and a few second later, they were lying on the floor in sick bay and the staff was converging on them. Hands lifted Sage onto a nearby table. He was bleeding. A lot. Too much. The shards in his gut should have stopped him from bleeding out. Alianna pushed herself to her feet and then it came to her.

She hadn't told Bones there were foreign objects to transport with the boy.

He was going to bleed out and it was her fault.

The surly doctor was already working on Sage, trying to get the bleeding under control. There seemed to be too much of it for his little body and there was definitely too much for Bones to control.

But that didn't stop him from trying.

Alianna looked down at Sage—they had sedated him immediately upon his arrival, so he was out—and whispered, "I'm sorry." Then she turned and left the medical bay, unwilling to watch the little boy she'd tried to save die.

The Green-Eyed Man was appalled with the lack on self-control on display in front of him. Krang, who had originally appeared calm and collected—for a Klingon—was raving and screaming at the top of his voice in the guttural language native to him about how the Green-Eyed Man had failed to hold up his end of their bargain and how he should rip his head from his shoulders as revenge for this betrayal. Since the burly Klingon captain had started on his tirade about ten minutes ago, the Green-Eyed Man had remained, standing stoically in front of the command chair and not saying a word.

"We should have just taken out those ships! Regardless of the consequence!"

That statement pulled words from his lips however. "If we had used the weapon on either of the last two Federation vessels, Krang, your ship would have exploded. Everyone on board would have died."

"It is honourable for Klingons to die in battle."

"This isn't a battle, Krang. We are waging a stealth war here. Trying to take the Federation down without them knowing who is behind their destruction."

"This was all a mistake! Klingons do not fight stealth battles!"

"It's too late now to turn back, Krang, so you're going to have to trust me. I will get us through this and I will get us through this alive."

"We should attack the Federation's headquarters now! End this as soon as possible!"

The Green-Eyed Man balled his hands into fists and tried vainly to stare down the Klingon captain. With the warrior being close to two feet taller than him and a lot wider, that was difficult. However, the human managed to hold his ground. He wasn't afraid of the Klingons. If they killed him, it wouldn't be the end of the anger with the Federation. There were lots of people displeased with how things were going. Yes, he would hate to leave his wife behind and he supposed he would miss his children, but there were more important things to him than family.

"Krang, we will find someone who can repair the weapon—"

"We will not! We will attack the Federation now!"

"You will die!"

"Then it will be an honourable death!"

Alianna stood outside the sick bay, leaning on the wall with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Things were moving so fast and everything was hitting her so hard.

First the loss of the Marissa, of the only man she'd ever considered a father and all her friends. It still stung like a wound that was rubbed raw again as soon as it had healed. Every ghost ship they'd stumbled upon had made her infuriated, devastated and thirst for revenge, but those were all emotions she'd learned—for the most part—to keep hidden.

But Sage...

Seeing a child nearly killed because of those damn Klingons...

Alianna sobbed and cried harder, sinking to her butt on the floor of the hallway.

The little boy was still in sick bay and no one had come out to tell her how he was doing. Not that anyone would know she cared to find out, but still... She covered her mouth with her hand as she sobbed again and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Ali?"

Her head snapped up and she looked at Bones. Instantly, she tried to force herself to stop crying. Kirk had seen her cry. That was enough. Bones didn't need to see it too. But, try as she might, the tears wouldn't stop. The sobs turned to savage hiccups and she started to hyperventilate.

"Ali..." Bones squatted in front of her and propped himself up with elbows on his knees. He smiled when she looked at him again. "Ali, it's okay. Sage is going to live."

Her only response was to cry harder, but this time, in happiness, which wasn't something she could ever remember doing.

Author's Note.

So, if you follow me as an author and don't just watch this story, you know that I've started more fanfiction when I said I wasn't going to... I'm not sure what that means for this fic, but I'll try to keep updating at a semi-regular pace anyways. This one is about halfway done, so it hopefully won't take too much longer. I guess we'll see won't we?

Enjoy this chapter!

Next Chapter: The Breaking Point.