When the two days of storm were over, Jim and the others were ready to get out of that cave. Jerah had not been very social. He kept to himself most of the time except when it was time to eat. They had not learned much about him at all, but that he had come from Nervala IV, but he had listened to their talk and learned what they did on their ship. He seemed to be especially interested in Solan's engineering skills. Right now, they were waiting for Jerah to open the cave door so they could get out…

"What if there's sand piled up at this door and when we open it, it all comes pouring in and buries us all," Bones asked.

"Bones, Jerah has been here for five years, so I don't think anyone's going to get buried," Jim replied.

Jerah went over to the door where Bones, who was claustrophobic, was waiting anxiously, and looking at the way it was mounted. Jerah pretended that he would open the door, but instead, he grabbed Bones and shoved him against the wall, disarming him all in the same instance. Bones struggled, but Jerah grabbed him by the throat and held him against the rock wall.

"Hey!" Jim yelled. "What are you doing?"

"You will help me get off this planet," Jerah said.

"You let go of him!"

Jerah choked Bones even tighter, and he gagged. "Stop!" Jim yelled.

The others stood back, not wanting Jerah to hurt Bones any worse than he already was. Suddenly, Jerah shocked Bones with an electrical charge from his own hand that was still around his neck. Bones shook with the flow of electricity that went through him. Jerah stopped the charge and Bones almost collapsed and gasped for air.

Korax glared at Jerah. "If you hurt my friend, I will kill you," Korax said. "And an electrical charge will not be enough to stop me."

Jerah glared at him, which seemed to make his yellow eyes glow more. He pointed his finger at Korax, and an electrical shock that looked like lightning shot out his fingertip and hit Korax, knocking him backward.

Jim was standing there watching the whole thing, although it happened fast. Jerah had both his hands around Bones' neck now, and Bones was addled from the previous shock. "Do you want him to receive another shock?" Jerah asked. "You will help me fix my ship so that I can take vengeance on those who made me what I am today, and marooned me here."

"We will not!" Jim replied. "We're not helping anyone to kill people."

Bones yelled as he was shaken by another electrical charge. "Stop!" Jim yelled.

Bones groaned as he was no longer feeling the electricity going through him. "If you do not cooperate, Captain, I will kill your people one by one, starting with this one," Jerah said.

Spock had his own phaser aimed at Jerah, and Solan had his blaster. "Drop them," Jerah said. "If you do not think I will kill him, you are mistaken."

"Let him go," Spock demanded. "We will help you but not if you threaten us."

"You do not have a choice."

Suddenly, electrical charges came from the tips of Jerah's fingers and hit Spock and Solan at the same time, causing their weapons to malfunction and become too hot to hold. They had no choice but to drop them. Jim was getting angrier by the minute, but he looked at Bones who was not looking well at the moment. He knew now why this being had not told them how he got stranded there. And what had he been doing when he disappeared into the caverns during the two days?

Spock, Solan, and Carol looked at Jim to see what he would do. "Alright," Jim said. "But you have to let Bones go."

"I will not let him go," Jerah replied.

"Then there's no deal!"

"You do not seem to understand that you are not in control here. Come with me."

Jerah roughly shoved Bones out of the cave, not letting go of him. Once outside, they went over to the area where the ship was, which remarkably did not have that much sand on or around it. Spock immediately tried to contact the Enterprise, but all he got was static.

"You will find your communication equipment is useless here," Jerah said.

He took Bones over to what looked like a crude work station, and pressed a button on it. A compartment opened and he took out what looked like a silver metal choker, and four bracelets that were the same color.

Bones realized he was about to put those on him. "NO!" he yelled and tried to get away, but Jerah kicked both his feet from under him, causing Bones to land almost on his face.

Jim and the others started toward him, but Jerah grabbed Bones around the neck again. "You are making this more difficult than it has to be," he said. "Now, three of you will leave here." He pointed to Solan. "You will stay, as well as the captain. The other three will go back to your ship. If you try anything, you will remember that your doctor here will suffer for it."

They could all see the fear on Bones' face, but anger as well. Jerah put the hardware on Bones: the choker around the neck and a bracelet around each wrist and each ankle, and then put a small device under his shirt in the back which was a very unpleasant experience to Bones as it felt like the thing was boring into his back. Suddenly, the bracelets on his wrists were magnetized and stuck together.

Jerah shoved Bones over to the entrance of the rock formation, which now was closed. He opened the door. "The three of you, out," he said.

Korax did not want to cooperate. Jim stood there looking just as angry as he felt. Carol held onto his arm. "Go on," he said.

"Jim…"

"Don't argue. You need to go back to Alex. This is your chance."

They kissed, and then Carol walked on out of the formation. Spock and Korax looked at Jim, not wanting to cooperate with this idea, but at the moment they did not have a choice. "We will find a way, Jim," Spock said.

Jim knew they would try. "Remember, everything you do causes your friend pain," Jerah said. He closed the door of the formation as Spock and the others were now outside it.

Korax did not like giving up like that. "We should have rushed him!" he declared. "We could have taken him all together!"

"Or we could have watched Doctor McCoy die," Spock replied. "Sometimes, the best plan is to wait for a better chance. We will return to the Enterprise and use its scanners to learn more about this formation."

Spock touched the wall which looked like rock, but he was not sure it was rock, and the scanners on his tricorder could not penetrate it. "This formation may be made of tritanium," he said.

"That may be why this place did not show up on the scanners," Carol replied. "It is blocking out the electronic signals."

They walked away from the wall and Spock took out his communicator. "Enterprise," he said.

"Mister Spock, it's good to hear your voice, Sir," Scotty replied.

"We have three to beam out, Mister Scott."

"Three?"

"I will explain once we are aboard."

Spock, Carol, and Korax were soon appearing on the transporter pad. Scotty stood up from his station as Spock came over to him. "What happened?" Scotty asked.

"We encountered a being on the planet," Spock said. "He is unlike anyone we ever met. He has powers to shoot electricity, or he appears to. I am not certain that he does not wear some sort of device that enables him to manipulate electricity in such a manner. However, his eyes are yellow and glow as though they were electrified as well, and his voice does not sound normal."

"And he has the captain, Solan, and the doctor?"

"Yes. He has fitted Doctor McCoy with devices so that he can shock him if we or any of the others on the planet try anything to rescue them. He intends to force them to work on his ship so that he can escape the planet."

"He must have been put there to get rid of him," Carol said. "He's dangerous. Who knows where he got the ship?"

"Some poor unsuspecting soul who wandered into this place," Scotty said.

"That is possible," Spock agreed. "However, it is puzzling why the ship does not function."

"Maybe they realized they were going to die and crippled the ship," Carol suggested. "Just so he could not escape."

Korax paced back and forth. "This being is not normal for his kind," he said. "He said he had tried to fix the ship. Perhaps he is a scientist of some sort."

"Have you encountered a being of this kind before?" Spock asked.

"No, but I have heard of one. It was years ago. There was talk of an experiment on Nervala Four. Have you heard of this station?"

Spock scowled slightly. "I have briefly."

"It only has a window of escape or entrance every eight years. There was talk of one who escaped about eight years ago, but was pursued and killed. No one ever said where. This could be him."

"An experiment gone wrong?" Carol asked. "No wonder he's angry."

"Why would he attack us?" Scotty asked.

"He has most likely learned not to trust anyone, and I believe his primary goal was to get his ship fixed so that he can escape that planet," Spock said.

"And do what?"

"That is something we must deal with. We cannot allow this being to take vengeance on the galaxy for something like this. We must find a way to stop him."

Jim glared at Jerah as the door of the rock formation closed again. "You can't force us to fix that ship for you," Jim declared.

"I think I can, Captain," Jerah replied. "If you continue to be defiant, I will kill your friend here, and I will replace him with you."

"If you kill us all, you won't have anything to help you."

"You would force me to kill him?"

Jerah shoved Bones down onto the ground and then simply flexed his wrist. Bones was trembling with an electrical shock again. "He is in so much pain, Captain," Jerah said.

"Stop!" Jim demanded. "Stop!"

The electricity stopped and Bones gasped for air as his muscles were still trembling. Jerah stared at them with his glowing eyes. "Your friend there is an engineer," he said. "He will fix my ship, and you will get the parts I need from your ship."

Jim did not like it but he could do nothing about it while Bones was in this predicament. "Fine," he said. He looked at Solan. "See what you can do."

Solan certainly did not like it but he would cooperate as long as Jim told him to. Jerah got Bones up from the ground. "Lead the way, Captain," he said.

Bones was looking very sick at the moment. Jim and Solan went ahead of them to the ship, and Jerah opened the boarding ramp. As they went inside, they could see where Jerah had been working, and they could also see that there were parts missing. Solan paused a moment and then sat down to look through the mess. He had worked on ships for years, but he had never seen such a mess as what he was looking at now. "You did a pretty thorough job of tearing everything out," he said.

"It was necessary," Jerah replied. He shoved Bones down into a seat roughly, and strapped him in, and put a lock on the harness. "Make yourself comfortable."

Bones glared at him as much as he could, but he was in pain that seemed to emanate all over him. He leaned back on the seat and just watched what Solan was doing. Jerah simply sat on another seat not far from them. Jim was not sure what he was supposed to do. He did not work on ships. He started toward Bones.

"That's close enough," Jerah said.

"I just want to talk to him a moment," Jim replied angrily.

"You can talk to him from there."

"He's my friend! He's never done anything to you!"

"Would you like him to have another shock?"

"No," Bones said, almost begging. "I'm alright, Jim."

Jim could hear the anguish in Bones' voice. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Bones nodded. "I'm fine."

Jim did not think Bones looked alright, and he was sure he was not alright after that torture. That's what it was: just plain old torture. He went over to Solan instead. "You think you can do anything?" Jim asked.

Solan looked at him. "Well, I probably can if we have all these spare parts lying around the Enterprise," he replied. "The warp motivator is completely shot, plus the atmospheric generator looks like it's burned out, and that means the life support systems are most likely worthless."

"Which means this ship isn't going anywhere."

"Not without major repairs. The engines may be okay, but without the rest, they might as well be on the blink."

Jim looked at Jerah. "We probably can't fix this ship," he said.

"You have other vessels aboard your ship. You can salvage parts for this one," Jerah replied without seeming one bit discouraged. "Or perhaps I will just take one of your ships."

Jim knew it would be going against protocol and the Prime Directive to give a ship to this being just because he was holding a hostage, but he could not ignore the anguish on Bones' face. His friend was in deep trouble.

"If this ship cannot be fixed, then you will have one of your crew bring a ship down for me," Jerah said. "You have no choice unless you want to see your friend die, and see your ship destroyed. If I must be stranded here, I will strand you here as well. Your ship is too large for my purpose. I want one of the small vessels that you have onboard. And do not assume that I cannot cause harm to your vessel."

"Well, I can't contact my ship, so what do you want me to do?" Jim asked.

"I will allow you to contact them. We should get moving."

With that, Jerah stood up and got Bones up. "Move," he said.

Jim did not know how they could stop this being, but they had to figure out something. He and Solan moved down the boarding ramp, and out into the sun which seemed quite large in the sky according to Earth standards. They moved over to the entrance of the rock formation again. Jerah opened the door. "Move outside the structure, Captain," he said. "But remember that I have your friend. You inform your crew to have a ship ready for you. Once you are aboard, you will bring the ship back and land here. If you try anything, I will kill your friend."

"You can't give him a ship, Jim," Bones said. "Not because of me."

"That's very brave, Doctor, but your captain will do exactly that."

"How did you get like this?" Bones asked. "You can't be normal."

"Do not ask questions which you do not really want the answers to."

"I do want to know the answer! You're throwing electricity at people, and wanting to escape this planet! What happened to you?"

"You talk too much, Doctor."

"I'm going back to the Enterprise," Jim said. "Just don't hurt him."

Solan did not say anything but he wanted to try to turn the situation into their favor. He looked at Jim and just followed him as they walked out of the structure.

"Remember, Captain, I have your friend," Jerah said. "You have thirty minutes."

"I won't forget," Jim replied. "How can we contact you?"

"You cannot. Do what I say and we will not have a problem."

Bones watched Jim and Solan walk out…the last two besides him, and he suddenly felt very alone. The door closed, and he was locked in with a maniac.

Jim got his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise," he said.

Spock was surprised to hear Jim. "Captain," he answered.

"Transport Solan and me to the Enterprise. I'll explain when we get there."

Spock wanted to ask about Doctor McCoy, but he would wait. Jim and Solan were soon on the transporter pad, and Spock was waiting for them. "Captain, where is Doctor McCoy?" Spock asked.

"He's being held hostage," Jim said. "Jerah's demanding that we provide him a ship, or he's going to kill Bones."

Spock frowned. "Captain, it is against protocol…"

"I know that, but we can't stand here and let him kill Bones."

"Do you have a plan?"

"I can only think of one."

"Please share."

"We have thirty minutes to get this ready."

"We will work fast, Captain."

Within thirty minutes, Jim had a ship ready which they had collected in the last month. It was a space arrow that they had confiscated from a Ferengi who was, as usual, trying to sell something, and had stolen the ship anyway. However, the owner was deceased, so they kept the ship. Jim had a habit of keeping ships "just in case".

Jim piloted the ship down to the planet and landed right outside the opening of the rock formation. He exited the ship and stood outside the door. "Jerah!" he yelled. "Your ship is here!"

Jim heard an electronic beep, and the door opened. Jerah was standing there with Bones still wearing the accessories. "There's your ship," Jim said. "Now take those off him."

"We get to the ship first," Jerah replied. "Move aside, Captain. Stand there beside the wall."

Jim reluctantly moved and stood beside the wall. Bones looked at him as he passed by him. Jerah came out behind Bones and they moved toward the ship at Jerah's usual pace as he shoved Bones to make him walk faster. They stopped at the ship's boarding ramp, and Jerah grabbed Bones by the back of his neck. "In case you have any ideas about trying to stop me, I'm taking my insurance with me!" he said.

Jim took two steps toward them. "That wasn't the deal!" he yelled. "Let him go!"

"No way. As long as I have him…I have you."

"Take me instead!"

"Oh no, Captain. I want you to know what it's like to want to help someone and can't."

"Let him go!"

Jerah shoved Bones up the boarding ramp. Bones could do nothing but go because his hands were still clasped together in front of him. However, as he got to the top of the ramp, Bones suddenly whirled around with both his fists balled together and whammed Jerah in the side of the head. His effort was futile because Jerah grabbed his clasped hands before he could even put them down and Bones was once again trembling with an electric shock, only this time, it was stronger than the previous ones.

Jim ran toward the ship. "Stop!" he yelled.

"If you want him to live, you best stop, Captain!" Jerah said.

Jim stopped where he was, and Jerah ended the electric shock. Bones was unconscious now so Jerah dragged him into the ship and dropped him near the door and closed the boarding ramp. Jim stood there watching as the ship lifted off. He grabbed his communicator. "Scotty, beam me up," he said.

Jim appeared on the transporter pad, where Carol was waiting. "He's leaving the atmosphere," she said.

Jim nodded. "Let's get to the Bridge," he replied.

As Jim came onto the Bridge, Uhura was waiting for him. "Captain, we're being hailed," she said.

"On screen."

Jerah appeared on the screen, which was most of the crew's first time to see him. "Do not follow me, Captain," he said. "I will leave your doctor where you can find him. Do not tempt me."

"You were supposed to let him go!" Jim declared.

"If I did that, you would have no reason not to destroy me."

The transmission ended, and Jim watched as the ship went to warp. Spock walked over to Jim. "The plan is in place, Captain," he said.

"And highly dangerous," Jim replied.

"Yes, but it was the only way."

"We have to face the fact that Bones…" Jim could not even bring himself to say the words that Bones might not make it.

Spock did not like that thought either. He hoped the plan would work…