Amelia stood alone in the room. She knew she would not be this way for long. Her mind raced with all of the events that had taken place thus far, the death of Leighland completely fresh. It was hard to believe what had happened exactly. It was even harder to believe that she was apart from her Starfleet comrade.

Amelia caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror that sat upon a tall wooden chest against the wall. The room itself was considerably better than the cell she, Skylar, Havara and Leighland had shared, but there was still plenty to show that the room was not to be mistaken as a significant change in status. It was a small space containing only a bed, the chest and a round throw rug about three feet wide in diameter. There were bars on the only two small windows and Amelia was well aware that the doors locked from the outside. A pile of chains collected dust under the bed.

All in all, this room was mainly around to house the mother of the heir for the throne of Armaga Set-ta; that is, if Amelia was even allowed to dwell in there at all except for the physical process. She wouldn't put it past any of the royal men to throw her back into a cell.

The idea of having a child with Corvallis sent chills down Amelia's spine. As much as she intended on being a mother some day, Corvallis was the last man, aside from his father, that she wanted to procreate with. And she definitely had no intentions of having a child specifically to accommodate the need for another dictator. Eying herself in the mirror, she noticed how quickly she was being to look like every other Armagean woman; her eyes were red from her most recent outburst, her face was scarred with traces of lack of rest, and she was clad in the clothing that exemplified her status on the planet: a woman. She had been robbed of her Starfleet uniform and rank after her abduction the day before Leighland's death; the day that she had been told of her new purpose as she would begin her life in the kingdom of Armaga Set-ta:

"You aren't simply here to wed my son," Cobia had told her as handmaidens stealthily took her measurements while she stood in the center of a band of guards in only her Federation issued undergarments.

"I have no intention of marrying your son at all."

Cobia had laughed. "You're a bit cheeky as well, Lieutenant."

"I think we're well past formalities now, Cobia."

"I have come to understand that your role on your Starship was quite necessary to the operation of it. Even more so than Skylar's."

"I will not assist you."

Cobia smirked at her. "You are a programmer. You know computers and code. Despite what you may gather around you from our woodsy décor and medieval weaponry, we are significantly advanced. After all, we brought your ship down."

"Touché. I don't underestimate that someone around here knows how to turn on a computer." Amelia had been released from the clutches of the handmaidens, left standing amongst the guards.

"More so than that. Someone here knows how to make an entire planet disappear."

"Your point, exactly?"

"Knowing code and such, you have a valuable insight that could better improve our current advancements. Our engineers and technicians could use your knowledge to make it so no one would ever have to find us again."

Amelia had crossed her arms over her chest, unimpressed. "What makes you so desperate to be invisible? Are you ashamed of what you do here? Are you afraid of what the Federation will do when they find out?"

Cobia waved her questions away with his hand. "Quite the contrary. I do not want to have any further interferences from the likes of those who cannot understand what a balance we have here. It is our own, hard-earned paradise we have going for us. The energy from this planet allowed it to be exempt from the outburst of energy from the supernovae that consumed the other planets in this quadrant. I spent a long time trying to harness this energy so that I would be ensured my rightful home and kingdom, and for the preservation of my people. I saved thousands of lives."

Amelia had narrowed her eyes at him. "You brought people here – women – and enslaved them."

"I am their deliverer, Amelia. You cannot see this because you are an outsider."

"I see it perfectly because I am a woman." Her tone had been firm in its point as her fists had fallen to her sides. "Why? Why them?"

"A woman cannot rule a nation. A woman does not have the strength to do what a man can do, especially in such delicate times."

"Women are necessary in the advancement of any civilization."

"For procreation, nothing more. You should have seen how these beings reacted when their homes were to be destroyed, how they clung desperately and came so willingly to me for help, with no direction or the capacity to survive without me."

"And that allows for their enslavement?" Amelia had argued heatedly.

"That gives me the authority to do whatever I see fit for them! They wanted my help and I helped them. They are indebted to me and the men who aided them. They belong to me now, and to my kingdom." Cobia boomed as he had approached Amelia in a slow stride. He had then continued in a quieter, icier tone, "You are from a different place, a different breed of human. Your abilities are far more developed than that of a typical Armagean woman, and that is why you have been chosen for what you must do. Your intellect could advance our nation even further."

He had stopped directly before Amelia, who had lifted her chin to meet his stern stare. "And you honestly think I am going to help you?" she'd asked, almost humored.

Cobia's lips had curved up into a smirk. "You haven't a choice. I've been patient with you, delivered you from an untimely and unnecessary death."

"But you've condemned my friend to death."

Cobia turned away from her, placing his hands behind his back. "Your friend has nothing to offer us. Her talents are unmatched; she is irrelevant. I've been merciful in the fate which I have dealt her."

Amelia had come up behind him and stepped in front of him, glaring into his eyes. "You sent her to war against your entire army – how is that fair?"

Cobia had then bent closer to her, his words even icier as they slipped off of his tongue. "Amelia, you will help me in making my planet exist in its own private universe or so help me I will see to it that your friend is killed immediately and very publicly."

"That's not a fair trade-off."

Cobia then stood upright. "You haven't a choice, now do you? It's not as though you are going to be found anyway. You might as well accept what has and will happen. There is a chance Skylar may survive this war, considering what kind of warrior she is." He had then turned and began to walk towards the door. After making it to the door, his hand has clasped the doorknob before he'd turned to face her again. "But then again, this is a war."

The conversation had kept Amelia's head swimming with thoughts up until the unfortunate death of Leighland. Now, her mind was constantly interrupted with the horror of that day. Amelia could see it as clearly as she had when she stood there on the platform. As she stared at herself in the mirror, she came to the notion that that could easily be Skylar next … or even her. Her hands fell to the folds of the dress the handmaidens had made especially for her as she took in how much she resembled Leighland in essence. No, Amelia was not a mother but she had found herself in the palace. She had found herself in the slave status, and she had found herself even closer to horrible death with an mpal. But she also had an advantage in the situation – her trade. Even with a jaded demeanor and the outerwear of a slave, Amelia was trained and a specific part of Starfleet. Uniform or not, Amelia was still a chief computer programmer.

She was still a badass chief computer programmer. And in realizing that, it became exceedingly clear to Amelia that while she wasn't in the war beyond the palace walls, she was still a very active participant.

Amelia took a deep breath as she stared at herself for one final moment before turning, her skirt swooshing across her ankles, and dropping to the floor. She pressed her cheek to the floor as her eyes came to rest on the chains in a pile on the floorboards. Reaching out, she pulled them out from under the bed and carefully placed them under her pillow making sure not to leave a rust trail on the white sheets and pillow case. Then, she sat on the bed and waited for the next part of the plan to unfold.

:::::

Jim's lips were chapped. His body ached and his head pounded from the migraine that pulsed under his scalp. His mind was tormented with arguments that came to him from different sources. He heard many of his men demanding of him what he was doing and where he was leading them.

You're leading us to die, they said.

I'm trying to save you.

They were red in the face with anger and judgment. You're irrational and illogical.

They've got my ship.

They? Who is they? There is no they.

Yes, yes there is!

Wild goose chase. For them.

It's not just them.

Some captain … some stupid, illogical hick captain.

"Captain."

Jim's eyes popped open at the sound of Bones' voice and the pressure of his hand on Jim's shoulder. Sweat dotted his head. He saw it on Bones as well. Bones' blue eyes were now red.

"I'm sorry, Bones."

Bones cocked an eyebrow in concern. He said quietly, "Fatigue, Jim. I know you couldn't hear me."

Jim was out of breath. He tilted his head slightly. "Hear you?"

Bones turned them both away from the only four red-shirted men that had gone along with Sulu, Bones, Spock and Jim. Quietly, he responded, "You were up ahead of us, jogging. When I finally caught up, you were in a trance."

Jim eyed him wearily. "I'm tired," was all he said.

"Jim, it is imperative that we actually rest. According to Spock we'll make it there in a day and a half or so. We've pushed ourselves enough for now."

"But the ship." Jim could not finish his sentence.

"We're going to make it, Jim," Bones said encouragingly as he assisted Jim into a sitting position near a tree. "We'll find Amelia and Skylar."

Jim looked at him as he allowed Bones to help him lay back against a tree. "But you – you said this was a wild goose chase." Jim took Bones' wrist and looked around before he quietly confessed, "Bones, what if I was wrong?"

Bones took Jim's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Jim, you're a very damned good captain. I know you're doing what's best for your crew. And I'll follow you right through the fog until we get to where we're going."

Sulu, who had been watching Jim and Bones in their interaction as he had been fiddling tiredly with the handle of his fencing sword, crawled over to them from a nearby tree and plopped himself down at Jim's side. Jim looked at Sulu, who returned the gaze with his own bloodshot eyes. Then Jim looked to Spock who, had been standing near one of the crewmen who was already passed out in the small huddle, staring out into the fog. Somehow, Spock had felt the stare and turned to see the small group and made his way to Jim, Sulu and Bones. He crouched down on Jim's other side.

"Spock," Jim said, turning his head to the Vulcan and trying very hard to keep his eyes open. "You keep looking out there. What do you see?"

"I do not see anything, Captain," replied Spock quietly.

"Then why are you here?"

"I … feel something, Captain."

Jim nodded.

"The coordinates will lead us to a colony of humanoids, Captain," Spock assured him. "You are not leading us in vain."

"I don't think I've ever gone this long without sleep," Jim admitted. "Not even at the Academy."

"From what I hear, that's a surprise," Sulu remarked and received a few painfully exhausted chuckles from them except Spock, who merely lifted his eyebrows.

Jim shifted himself to find a suitable position. "I'm glad the crew isn't here to see me like this."

"Like this?" Bones repeated in mock ridicule. "Like a sleep deprived zombie? What kind of captain are you?"

"A human one," Spock answered the rhetorical question. "that has long surpassed the required number of hours of rest to run through thick fog and forestry in search of a means to free his ship from an unknown source; in an effort to save the lives that remain, sacrificing his own physical and mental health in doing so."

A small smile spread across Jim's face. "Thank you, Mr. Spock. Assuming that was a compliment and I am not dreaming."

"You are not dreaming, Captain. And as a Vulcan, I am compelled to tell the truth, and the truth is that you are making a very logical decision."

"Then you're happy to be suffering with us?" Bones asked of Spock casually.

"Happy is an emotion that I do not possess, doctor."

Bones rolled his eyes. "As the doctor, I say we are all to rest tonight. All of us." He laid out at Jim and Sulu's feet, resting his head on a clump of grass. Placing his hands behind his head and closing his eyes, he added, "I was referring to you as well, Spock."

Spock stood. "It was implied in your inflection, doctor. I am well aware. I bid you all a goodnight." He began to walk toward the edge of their small camp when Sulu called out to him.

"Where are you going, commander?"

Bones immediately sat up, eying Spock while Jim was already beginning to snore at Sulu's side. Spock sat cross-legged in a small patch of grass and lowered his head, his elbows resting on his knees.

"I … I would like to meditate for now. I will be able to sleep thereafter."

Bones and Sulu looked at each other, Bones rolling his eyes. "If you don't wake up when the alarm clock goes off, you might be left behind," Bones muttered as he laid back down. "But then again, you'd probably find us with your Vulcan finding ways."

"I can assure you, doctor, that I will be the one waking all of you up," Spock stated with his eyes closed. "And yes, I am an excellent finder. You cannot so soon be rid of me because I, too, would follow the captain through the fog to wherever we are going."

Though no one else saw it, a smile crossed Bones' face.

After a few moments of hearing each of his human companions fall into the same melodic rhythm of breathing, Spock opened his hands and placed his index and middle fingers onto each of his temples, his thumbs just above his jawbone on either side. He allowed himself to breath in the same pattern.

"Find …" he murmured.

Suddenly, his mind left his fatigued body and was elsewhere.

:::::

Skylar was sure she hadn't left the hut that housed her, Havara and the children of Leighland. Despite the logic her mind was reciting in assuring her she still was very much captured and in shock, her body was telling her another thing. She could feel a cold embrace that vellicated the nerves in her epidermis. Her eyes wandered, searching a white void for any physical proof that she wasn't in Leighland's home on Armaga Set-ta. Her heart fluttered within her chest at the far-fetched delusion. She hated knowing that none of it could be real; that she had to still be awaiting the morning that would bring forth the reminder of the most significant and unfortunate circumstance of her life, which was now only a day away. She wished she had the ability to have faith the way Amelia did ... the way Leighland had. Somehow, her mind wouldn't have it.

Her mind ... what was it about her mind currently, telling her that she was one place when her eyes were seeing something completely different? Even her body was sure it could not still be in Leighland's hut, upon Leighland's cot.

Skylar knew she was lying down. Her hands grasped for the edges of the cot but there weren't any. She touched a cold, smooth and unfamiliar ground. The thick haze around her suggested that she could have been out near the gorge where the Enterprise had crashed. But how ... how did she get there? And where were the trees and the foreign melodies of the night creatures that resided amongst them?

Unarmed and uncertain, Skylar could not find a way to be anxious; how this was accomplished was beyond her.

Suddenly, her heart pace quickened and her skin began to warm as the blood flowed rapidly through her veins; a familiar yet distant voice whispered to her through the void.

"Skylar ..."

Skylar's breathing became shallower.

"Skylar ..."

She tried desperately to find her voice. Oh no, she thought in despair. I'm having one of those dreams ... the impossible 'can't run, can't call out, can't do anything but watch' kind of dreams.

A shape began to form in the mist. It became apparent as the mist started to come together that this form was moving fluidly to her and did not become completely visible until it was crouching down next to her. Skylar felt tears forming and she inhaled sharply as a hand swept across her forehead, down the outside of her face and fingertips trailed down her neck and one of her arms until two fingers aligned with hers.

"Spock." Her voice was low and meek and nearly impossible to find.

Spock's lengthy fingers intertwined with hers.

"Spock ... this can't be real. You aren't here."

Spock said nothing. Instead, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Even though the evidence that Spock had practically formed from the mist before her was completely impossible to wrap her mind around, Skylar felt the soft, warm kiss against her mouth completely. She felt both of his hands squeeze hers at her sides and then release as her hands made their way from his grasp, up his bare sides and around his neck. She pulled at him, praying intensely that he would not dissipate in a firm grasp. Debunking all syllogism of the present, she allowed him to explore her freely. His fingertips traced up her sides over her uniform top ... at least she assumed that she was still wearing her uniform top. Somehow Spock was topless but she did not want to investigate that matter; that would mean pulling away from him and she did not have the emotional capacity to do so. Instead, she focused on his fingers as they opened and took her around the outside of her chest under her arms. His thumbs grazed the sides of her breasts before he continued over her shoulders, up the sides of her neck and came to rest both of his index fingers and middles on each of her temples, his thumbs just above her jaw line.

A foudroyant rush seized her as this contact was made.

"Skylar ... there is still time."

It was Spock's words yet he could not have spoken them; his lips were busy against hers. As much as Skylar wanted to reply she did not want to interrupt their union. She was surprised at all that Spock wanted her in this way again.

"Do not give up, Skylar."

"Spock ..." Tears poured from eyes as she replied to his voice with her mind. "I am so tired ..."

Spock was completely on top of her now. He held her head tightly as he kissed her under her bottom lip, down her chin to her neck where he remained for a moment. Skylar tipped her head back and a small moan escaped her lips.

"I am giving you rest now," came Spock's disembodied voice in its low, silky register. "There is still time, Skylar. Now that I have found you … there is still time."

Skylar kissed him hard. Tears streamed down her face as she wrapped herself around him, not willing to let him go. Much to her dismay, Spock pulled his head away and stared down at her. Her tears collided with his fingers and he caught them.

"Please don't leave me," Skylar whispered, trying to stifle a whimper. She had never cried in front of Spock. Real or in a dream, she did not care. She released it all.

"I won't leave you."

"When I wake up, you'll be gone."

Spock said nothing. Instead, he leaned in and he kissed her eyes, and then pulled her to him as he shifted his side. Skylar buried her face in his chest and inhaled deeply.

"Skylar."

This was not Spock's voice.

"Skylar."

Skylar's eyes popped open as she sat up in the cot. The sun was coming in from between the curtains on the door where Oriah sat with her brother as they gazed at the world beyond the hut … the real world. She turned to see Havara next to the cot with a bowl of steaming soup.

"Skylar." It was the voice from her dream. "How are you this morning?"

Skylar could not find the words for a moment as she stared at Havara. "Surprisingly well-rested." She went to take the bowl and then stopped. "Havara, did it all happen?"

Havara nodded solemnly. "Leighland is dead. And tomorrow you will lead us into battle against King Cobia and the Armaga Set-ta nation." She handed the bowl to Skylar. "Eat this. You will need your strength."

Skylar took the bowl and began to eat. She stared that the backs of Leighland's children. For the first time since her capture, she felt more ready to fight than ever.