Chapter Forty-six
"Ow..."
Razor had transported directly onto the bridge of the Enterprise. This time Kirk was able to land a solid punch before Razor could get oriented. Backing away with his hands held up in a pacifying manner Razor tried not of offer the infuriated Captain another chance to strike him. To both Razor's and Kirk's surprise Beckett arrived on the bridge in a swirl of light. Kirk glanced over at Beckett, but instantly turned his ire back on Razor.
"I'm going to kill you." Kirk growled at Razor.
"Wait, Captain, please give me a chance to explain..."
"Explain? You fired on us, kidnapped my First Officer, and then when I finally get him back I also end up with psychopathic alien running amuck on my ship!"
"He's not a psychopathic alien...well, I guess technically he is..."
"Captain, the uninvited guest on your ship is the Vulcan Salen." Beckett supplied.
"Salen? Salen Pike? As in the Admiral's son?" Kirk asked in shock. "He's dead."
"No, he's alive." Razor insisted. "That's why we came here. Only Spock could save him from the Pan'nar Syndrome, but we weren't supposed to let Spock see what's in Salen's mind. So we went a touch rouge and attacked you so that we could borrow Spock."
"'Borrow'?" Kirk repeated skeptically. "You don't really expect me to believe any of this do you?"
"Don't you have security cameras around here?" Beckett asked. "You can see for yourself."
"He moved too quickly to get a good look at, there was a lot of chaos and fists flying in the transport room. However...he was described as white haired with green tattoos."
"Not tattoos, scars." Razor corrected. "I promise you, Captain, it is Salen."
"Why is he attacking everyone?"
"He's had a rough time lately. Has he killed anyone?"
"No, no deaths, just injuries, lots and lots of injuries."
"Where is he now?" Razor asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Kirk sighed. "We tried to seal him off in a corridor..."
"But he knows all of the door codes from his meld with Spock." Razor finished.
"At least now Scotty will feel better, he thought it was poor engineering that was letting our 'guest' hack our system."
"I have to get to him before he kills someone," Razor said "he's very dangerous even if he doesn't mean to be. Please announce to the crew to just stay away from him."
"The general crew already has that order, and I have five of my best security teams out to capture him."
"Captain, please..."
"All phasers are locked on stun." Kirk assured.
"Captain," Beckett said solemnly "a phaser on stun is not going to be powerful enough to bring Salen down. Let us take care of this."
Razor wasn't sure if Beckett was bluffing or not about Salen and the phaser. Salen wasn't wearing his uniform so there was no reason that a phaser shouldn't affect him. Kirk looked like he was still undecided about letting two more strangers roam his ship. Kirk took a breath to say 'no' when the intercom urgently hailed him.
"Captain, we cornered him, but the phaser barely slowed him down. Hanson, Demark, and Nickels are all critically injured."
"Did you get a good look at him?"
"Yes, Sir, he looks like a Vulcan, but he certainly doesn't act like one. Captain, this thing is crazy, permission to use killing force."
"Permission denied. Where did you last see him?"
"He was trying to get to sick bay, but we managed to chase him off down into the lower levels."
"Medical?" Razor asked in surprise. "Is Joanna McCoy on board?"
"No, she's on Earth." Kirk answered before turning back to the intercom. "Harlow, I want you and the other teams to stand down."
"Sir?" The security officer asked in shock.
"Pull your men back, that's an order."
"Aye, Sir."
Kirk closed his eyes and dragged his hands through his gray tickled blonde hair. Razor was start to get anxious about finding Salen before the Vulcan found someone else, however he knew that he wouldn't get very far on the ship without Kirk permission. Kirk looked up at Razor and stepped up to him.
"Can you save the Admiral's son?"
"I am certainly going to try."
"Okay, do what you must." Kirk nodded. "What do you need from me?"
"Access codes to everything that might stand in our way."
"I will come with you, I can open any door."
"Captain, we are about to try and capture a very dangerous Vulcan. If we fail we need you alive to hunt him down and kill him. I need you to stay here, and I need those codes."
"Starfleet Command will kill me when they hear about this." Kirk sighed. "A Captain is supposed to guard those codes with their life."
"Sir, we are Starfleet...we are on the same side."
"You'd better be."
Although clearly unhappy about it Kirk gave Razor and Beckett the main code that would override any lock that might come between them and Salen. As soon as Kirk completed the sequence he suddenly arched back and fell to the floor from a phaser stun. Razor looked at Beckett in shock as the Colonel quickly incapacitated the five others on the bridge.
"Was that necessary?" Razor asked.
"Trust me, Kirk was going to follow us. He'll be safer on the bridge. Let's go."
"Sir...why do I get the feeling that you're not telling me something about Salen?"
"Because I trained you well?"
Razor took a breath to ask more questions, but it was too late, Beckett was already heading for the turbo lift. Shaking his head in frustration Razor rushed over to get on the lift before the doors shut. On the way down Beckett took Razor's phaser away from him and set it to kill before handing it back.
"I'm not going to kill Salen." Razor growled.
"You promised Spock that you would."
"Salen just needs some more time, he needs help."
"I agree, but this is a precaution. If Salen can't be captured he needs to be stopped. His aggression is gong to escalate and the lives of everyone on this ship might be at stake."
"You can't know that he's going to get more violent."
"Razor, we are going to do everything we can, but you need to accept the fact that you may need to defend yourself with lethal force."
"Then why don't you set your own phaser to kill?"
"Because that's what I've got you for."
Razor gave Beckett a look of disgust, but he nodded in agreement. Beckett smiled sadly as the turbo lift doors opened on the last level that Salen was spotted on. Razor went to step out but Beckett reached out and stopped him.
"For what it's worth: I'm sorry." Beckett said sincerely.
"You keep trying to apologize to the wrong people."
Not interested in anything further that Beckett had to say Razor stepped out into the empty corridor. The crew had all been ordered to clear the halls until the danger was over. As they stalked the halls of the Enterprise Razor started to realize just how hard a job finding Salen was going to be.
"If I was out of my Vulcan mind where would I go?" Razor muttered to himself.
As if in answer the pair heard the sound of violently breaking glass. Rushing to the sound they came to a locked door outside navigational control. Razor used the code that Kirk had given him to slide it open. He and Beckett took positions on opposite sides of the door before Beckett gave the order to charge in.
With his phaser held high Razor took the lead and stormed into the room. He expected Salen to jump out at him, but the room seemed vacant. The large room held several large vertical clear glass panel computer screens suspended from the ceiling as well as the various machines and workstations needed for the complicated navigation through the stars.
Razor found that the source of the sound had been someone shattering one of the suspended glass panels. Still keeping a sharp eye out Razor knelt down and picked up one of the shards of glass. He held it up for Beckett so that he could see the green blood stain that was splattered across it.
The pair both nearly jumped out of their own skins when a sharp wail of pain cut through the silence. With his phaser at the ready once more Razor closed in on the source of the cry. There was a smaller connecting room that was dimly lit off to the right. Razor approached cautiously with Beckett right behind him.
The room was dominated by a circular holograph generator that produced three dimensional pictures of the stars. The lights had been dimmed automatically when the generator had been activated. Razor looked at the glowing map that hung in the air like a small piece of space within the ship. Each star had a label that hovered next to it. At the moment it seemed like there was just a random star map up.
"There's blood on the console." Beckett whispered.
Razor turned his attention to the green streak of blood marred the console. The blood had dripped to the floor and left a trail to a door in the far back corner of the room. The door itself had a green hand print smeared on it. Razor opened the door and stepped through. The lights had been turned down to near darkness. The rows of computers gave off blinking lights of various colors.
Carefully making his way around the consoles Razor came to a dead stop when he found Salen. Sitting on the floor in the corner he was staring blankly down at his heavily bleeding forearm that held three long gashes. The green gem behind his ear was glowing radiantly in the dim room. He didn't seem to notice that he had company. Having torn off his shirt he had exposed all of his scars as well as a few new cuts in his abdomen that dripped blood. Clutched in his hand was a large shard of bloodied glass.
"When he couldn't find anyone else to hurt he turned on himself." Beckett whispered sadly.
"What?"
"If what Spock said is true, then pain would be just as gratifying as violence."
Razor watched in horror as Salen brought the broken glass up to his chest. Salen sunk the point into his chest over the large existing scar and slowly drew it across his flesh. With the wound reopened blood ran down his chest. Salen closed his eyes and took a deep breath followed by a deep moan. Fighting the sting of tears Razor raised his phaser so that it was level with Salen's heart. Beckett reached up and lowered Razor's aim.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm putting my friend out of his misery." Razor hissed.
"Don't give up on him just yet."
Beckett took a small device out of his pocket and looked it over. He went to step closer to Salen but he stopped when Salen snapped his head up. Springing to his feet Salen gripped the makeshift glass knife tight enough to cause blood to drip from his palm. Slashing the weapon at the air Salen roared in rage.
"Razor, I need you to draw him out of that corner and distract him."
"Without getting myself killed?"
"Preferable."
Razor didn't have to draw Salen out of the corner the craze Vulcan launched himself at them. Beckett jumped to the side to get out of the way. Holstering his phaser Razor lashed out at Salen and punched him in the face to defend himself. Salen staggered back and then lurched forward and grabbed the front of Razor's uniform with one hand. Razor was shocked to see how easily Salen lifted him up off the floor.
"Salen, wait!"
Uninterested in what Razor had to say Salen tossed him over the console. Landing hard on his back Razor looked up just in time to see Salen jumping over the console with the glass shard held high over his head. Razor scrambled to his feet, and tried to get away, but Salen was too quick. Salen tried to sink the glass into Razor's chest, but the material of his black uniform protected him. Angered that he hadn't injured his target Salen slashed at Razor's eyes.
Jerking back Razor ended up with a cut across the bridge of his nose as Salen tried to blind him. Razor noticed that Beckett was trying to get behind Salen so he grabbed Salen's wrist in an attempt to hold him still. The speed with which Salen twisted out of Razor's grip was almost as surprising as the Vulcan's next move. Snatching a hold of Razor's wrist he forced Razor to turn around and then with one quick motion he dislocated his shoulder.
Razor cried out against the sickening wash of pain as the joint gave way. Managing to tear himself out of Salen's grip Razor stumbled forward into the holograph room. Razor was able to put the circular holograph table between himself and Salen and used it to play a round about game of cat and mouse.
For the moment Salen was simply trying to chase Razor around the holograph table, but Razor knew it was only a matter of time before Salen realized that he could just vault over the device. Beckett simply wasn't quick enough to get behind Salen to do whatever it was that he had planed. Razor had one last idea and if that failed he feared that he was going to have to use his phaser.
Using his good hand Razor desperately typed into the holograph machine. He had to run around the table three times in avoiding Salen before he was able to finish the program he was trying to run. The stars that hung in the air suddenly vanished and were replaced by a single star with a deep orange planet with no moon circling it. Razor's trick worked and for a fatal moment Salen full attention was fixated on the image of his destroyed homeworld.
Beckett jumped on the chance and ran up behind Salen. He pressed the device he had taken out of his pocket against Salen's neck behind his ear. Salen's body stiffened for a moment before he whipped around.
"Colonel!"
Razor's cry of warning was far too late. When Salen had turned he had brought the glass shard up in a powerful arc and sunk it into Beckett's chest. When Beckett collapsed to the floor Razor pulled out his phaser and aimed it at Salen's back.
"Damn it, Salen! Don't make me do this!"
Salen turned around slowly to face Razor. If he took one step closer Razor was prepared to kill him. However, Salen had lost the murderous look in his dark eyes. He stared at Razor balefully before he reached up and pressed his hand against his injured chest and winced in pain. Salen reached out and tried to touch the image of Vulcan. When his hand passed through the hologram he wandered off into the corner like he was sleepwalking.
Razor kept his phaser trained on Salen even as he sunk to the floor and pulled his knees up to his chest. Curled up in the corner Salen hid his face in his crossed arms and began shaking with a bitter weeping. Unsure of what to do Razor decided the first step was to lower his weapon, Salen was no longer a threat.
Holstering his weapon Razor rushed around the holograph and fell to his knees next to Beckett. With his hand on the glass embedded in his chest Beckett was gasping for shallow breaths. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as the blood seeped into his lungs and jumped to the back of his throat. In his hurry to board the Enterprise he had not changed into his mission uniform, the glass had no trouble tearing through his casual uniform.
"I...I never meant for this to happen... I just wanted...I wanted Salen to be the best..."
"Take it easy. It's going to be okay, Sir. The Enterprise has the best doctor in the fleet."
"McCoy can't help me...my heart is just a machine..."
"Then Mr. Scott..."
"It's over, just make sure that Salen gets back to his father...that's an order."
Razor panicked as Beckett's eyes rolled back to white. There was nothing he could do to keep the Colonel from slipping into death. Razor bowed his head as Beckett's last breath hissed across his teeth. Reaching down Razor closed Beckett's sightless eyes.
"Thank you for everything you did for me..." Razor sighed pointlessly.
With the action over Razor's shoulder painfully reminded him that he needed medical attention as well. He looked over at Salen, who was still cowering in the corner. The gem behind his ear had gone dark and Razor suddenly understood what the device in Beckett's hand had done. To keep Salen alive the device had been turned up to its highest level, Salen had recovered after his mind meld with Spock so quickly that there had been no time to turn it off.
"Salen? Salen, are you with me?"
Salen didn't react to his name in any way. Sighing heavily Razor grit his teeth together and got to his feet. Walking over to Salen he tried once more to get his partner to look up at him. When Salen continued to ignore him Razor stumbled over to the intercom.
"Captain Kirk...are you awake yet?"
"Yes, no thanks to your friend." Kirk growled.
"I have Salen, he needs medical attention right away."
Razor told Kirk where he was and walked back over to Salen. Sitting on the floor next to him Razor waited for medical to arrive. Kirk and Spock were on the scene in minutes with a security team. Salen peacefully allowed Razor to guide him to his feet and together they walked to sick bay.
"That looks like a badly dislocated shoulder." McCoy noted clinically.
"It is, but help Salen first."
McCoy looked Salen over and nodded. Bones held his hand out for Salen to take, but Salen made no move to take it. Razor guided Salen over to a biobed. Kirk and Spock took over in helping Salen lay down. Uninterested in his fate Salen laid on the bed and peacefully allowed McCoy to close the wounds that he had inflicted on himself.
"Salen," McCoy said softly when he was done "my daughter took your last name...she loves you."
Salen looked up at McCoy briefly, but then turned his face away. Razor waved his hand in front of Salen's blank gaze, but he got no reaction. McCoy took a hold of Razor's arm and with a swift motion set his shoulder back into place. Razor growled in pain, but kept his eyes on Salen.
"What's wrong with him?" Razor asked.
"His mind has turned in on itself." Spock said quietly.
"Can you help him?"
"No. He must make the decision to come back on his own."
"We'll take good care of him." Kirk said. "You should get back to your own ship with your fallen Commander."
"I'm taking Salen with me."
"I can't let..."
"Captain, I have orders to return Salen to his father...and I intend to follow them."
