Chapter 33- Vote Petrelli
Inside the Klingon ship, Jim and Spock listened to the groaning of the weak hull as it strained against the pull of the tractor beams with a sense of dread. "How long do we have, Scotty?" Jim quietly asked.
Scotty ceased his pacing to better hear the death knell of the metal and sighed, "I'd guess 10 maybe 20 minutes at best before she gives way."
"What's happening?" Peter asked in a daze as he rolled his head in Jim's direction. He was feeling every bit like hell and probably looked it as well judging by McCoy's expression, but he had to pull himself together; Jim asked him to come for a reason and he simply couldn't allow himself to become a liability, so he chose to ignore his own discomfort and focus on the task at hand. It didn't help that Sylar and Spock were both staring at him as if they knew he was hiding something.
"That's the sound of trouble." McCoy grumbled. "Romulan trouble."
"They came to get their guy back." Sylar smirked. "How touching. No man left behind."
"Wait!" Jim exclaimed bolting upright, his blue eyes wide. "What? Came to get who?"
"The guy the Klingons have been holding captive in a cage for a week down there." Peter sighed pointing at the floor. "Mendak I think his name was."
Jim shot Spock a smug look that clearly screamed 'I told you so!' but he didn't have time to gloat, the Romulans were no doubt pissed and probably didn't give a damn about killing members of Starfleet or civilians in the process because there clearly was no love lost between them. Relations were still a little touch and go since the whole Narada thing. He had to come up with a plan and fast if any of them were going to live long enough to see dinner time. He pulled his communicator from his belt and almost threw it against the wall when all he got was the thick hiss of static that he knew was impenetrable.
"Too bad Ando wasn't here." Peter shrugged. "He might have been able to boost the signal."
"Will any of your respective abilities be of assistance in this matter?" Spock asked casually as if their impending deaths were not at stake.
Sylar had to admire him for that even though his own death was not imminent. He could afford to be cool when he knew he couldn't die, he wasn't sure how Spock could though since he was very much mortal. In some ways that made him the better man he had to admit. "The only option we have is for Peter to reach Matt telepathically, but I am guessing the crew already know about the situation." He reasoned.
"A logical conclusion." Spock nodded. McCoy rolled his eyes at the sudden love fest between the hobgoblin and the cold blooded killer. How was it that the two biggest misfits of the group would get along so well?
Below them they heard Koth growling and what sounded like a fight. Jim scrambled to his feet with Spock, Scotty and McCoy on his heels as he ran back to the ladders. Peter and Sylar glanced at each other and shrugged. "They wanted us for a reason." Peter declared as he stood on wobbly legs until his head cleared.
Sylar took in his pale complexion knowingly as he slowly but purposefully walked past to take the lead. He could have rationalized it a million ways, but in the end he did it because the damn empathy told him to and he couldn't stop himself. As he approached the ladder he couldn't help but feel like one of Doyle's puppets pulled by empathetic strings, but he was reasonably sure that Peter wasn't the master of this indignity. Petrelli didn't seem to know about the internal struggle that was going on within him so it was unlikely that he was his personal marionette. The very thought sickened him.
"Sir, the Romulans have boarded the ship." Chekov called in an urgent voice.
"How many?" Sulu asked as he stared at the screen in front of him. There were probably enough Romulans out there to populate a city which made him wonder exactly what the Klingons were up to.
"7." He replied and then he paused. "Make that 6, Sir. One has just died."
"Sir, we have an incoming hail from the Romulans." Uhura reported. "I'm putting it onscreen."
Sulu sat solidly in the Captain's chair as a female Romulan glared down at him. "You are not Captain Kirk." She sneered as she squinted.
"You seem disappointed." Sulu smiled. "But I am the acting captain, so what can I do for you?"
The whole affair did seem a bit of a letdown for her, but she pressed forward with her business. "We have no quarrel with you," she stated holding her head high, "our war is with the Klingons who captured one of our top scientists. We came only to get him back, but if you intervene we will not hesitate to attack."
"And we have no quarrel with either of you." Sulu smiled gracefully. "We are here to escort the Klingons back to their home world. If your scientist is aboard that vessel, we will not prevent him from being returned to you. But we also have our crew onboard. If any of them are harmed, we will of course come to their defense."
"And so we have a standoff." She nodded grimly.
"It isn't that complicated." Nathan blurted out. "We won't kill your men if ours are returned safely. Look, we all want the same thing here and to be perfectly honest, the Klingons don't really matter to either of us, so why don't we just smile and shake hands so we can all walk away winners instead of engaging in a pointless pissing contest?" The politician in him was in full force and he flashed a congenial smile that made the Romulan smirk with amusement.
"Well spoken," she cooed with a glint in her eye, "for a human." Despite the insult, Nathan never let his smile waver because she could think whatever she wanted so long as he was able to use his charms to save his brother and Jim- of whom he held a higher opinion of than Sulu. It wasn't personal, he just thought Jim was a better commander and he wanted the best possible person doing the job. "I will confer with the other captains."
As soon as she disappeared from the screen, Sulu spun in his chair and almost howled, "A pissing contest? What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that somebody on this ship had to grow some balls to end this!" He retorted with fire in his eyes. "I know that a lot of time has passed and a lot of things have probably changed, but war and the basest of human nature hasn't- two things I have had more experience with than I care to admit to. If kissing her ass with a smile on my face is what it takes to get everyone back on this ship unharmed, then by god that's what I'll do and I suggest you start thinking of ways to placate them too because we are way outnumbered right now and it will take every bit of skill and deception we can muster to win this."
Noah cocked his head and sighed, "As much as it pains me to say this, he's right you know. You have to know when to fight and when to live to fight another day."
Sulu had to fight to keep his composure. "I really do appreciate your input, but that is exactly what I am trying to do here. With all due respect, you know nothing about the Romulans or how they operate. We have to be careful with making pacts with them because in the blink of an eye it can all go sideways and our hands could be tied. Do you think for a second that I want my crewmates to die out there? Because they might- just because the Romulans have a particular dislike for Jim and Spock that is exactly what may happen and Scotty and the others might be taken down along with them. The Romulans are cruel and god knows what they will do to them before they actually die."
"Peter wouldn't let that happen." Ando stated emphatically. "He would find a way and Sylar too, but only because he is selfish."
"Are you seriously trusting Sylar to save them?" Claire asked incredulously. "He would be the first to jump ship to save his own hide- to hell with everyone else."
"He agreed to go in the first place, didn't he?" Mohinder asked. He hated having to defend him, but the memory of him in the lab when he told him about his mother was strong and he knew that there was more to him than met the eye. "He didn't have to and there was nothing in it for him."
"That we know of." Matt grumbled. "There had to be something for him to get on that pad. You know he never does anything unless there is something in it for him. You saw what he did to Peter."
"Yeah," Noah nodded, "he fixed him just like he said he would. I know him better than anyone and I know that he is a sick son of a bitch, but I also knew him when he was Gabriel Gray- a man who wasn't motivated by greed, a man who was good, who wasn't twisted and maniacal. I think that was the man that went down there with them. I'm not saying he is 100% the watchmaker, but it wasn't all Sylar either."
"Either way," Sulu agreed, "I hope we won't have to find out."
Jim tried not to look too annoyed as he held his hands in the air in surrender along with the others. Admiral Pike's words rang in his ears, 'Don't go getting into a fight out there' and he wished he hadn't heard him because he wanted nothing more than to deck the Romulan that spit on him in the face, but he knew he was outnumbered. If it was just him, he would have taken those odds, but he had others to think of and although it pained him, he had to use his head instead of his fist to solve this.
"Captain Kirk," the Romulan sneered, "what a pleasant surprise to see you all the way out here with the Vulcan bastard child."
Spock's eyebrow twitched slightly as he calmly refuted, "My parents were bonded at the time of my conception, so it is improper to imply that I was born out of wedlock. Additionally I have reached the age of adulthood and have not been a child for many years. These obvious errors on your part indicate a statistically improbable low level of intelligence."
When the Romulan did not reply, McCoy jumped in with a mean glint in his eyes, "Let me translate for you: that's Vulcan for 'you're a fucking moron.'" Sylar smirked at the doctor's inability to keep his mouth shut at the most inopportune times, but it was funny.
"I will most enjoy returning with your tongue nailed to the wall of my ship." The Romulan replied with a cruel smile. "As well as with the head of your captain and his first officer."
"It is not them you want." Mendak called from the box, "It is the others, the ones in red and blue. They have magic that we could use. I have seen it with my own eyes."
"Magic?" The Romulan asked amused. "What use do we have for tricks?"
"They are powerful, and we can use them." Mendak insisted as he rattled the door of his cage. "The one in red can move objects from far away and the one in blue can read the thoughts of another as if they had spoken it aloud."
The Romulan turned to Peter and Sylar and smirked. "Is this so?"
"It is." Peter confirmed stepping forward with his hands still in the air. Apparently, Matt's ability didn't work on him either and that irritated him. "And if you let the others go, I will go with you."
"I can't let you do that." Jim insisted. "I can't let you go with them, do you know what they will do to you?"
"It doesn't matter." Peter shrugged. "All I care about is that they keep their word that you will be returned to your ship safely along with Spock, Scotty, and Dr. McCoy. We aren't your concern anymore. Right Sylar?"
Sylar wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, every fiber in his being screamed for self preservation and this didn't seem a likely way of achieving that goal. But there was something in Peter's hazel eyes that begged him to trust him, something that said he had a plan and it would all work out. It was amazing to think that some of that smarmy political suave that Nathan wielded so deftly might flow through Peter's veins as well, but he might be onto something. He didn't know what that plan was, but he had one of his own: if Petrelli didn't follow through, he would kill every last Romulan on the ship and then try his best to kill Peter for dragging him into this whole mess. He warily took a step forward to stand next to Peter in agreement.
"It is a bargain." The Romulan nodded. "But before I return them, you must first prove to me that what Mendak claims is true."
Peter cocked his head and read the thoughts of the leader before turning to Sylar and saying, "He wants to get Mendak out, but doesn't know how. They don't have the tools." Sylar almost sighed with boredom as he stretched out his hand and ripped the door from the box. It fell with such a loud clatter that everyone jumped and reflexively covered their ears.
The Romulan tried not to look impressed although he very much was. He might have a use for them after all. "Very well." He grudgingly complimented. "Return Starfleet to their ship, take these two, and kill everyone else."