Chapter Five

Spock appeared just in time, coming out of the elevator and standing at his usual place by the Captain's side. " I am here Captain" he replied as he walked.

"You're coming with me to Qo'noS. Change of plans. We're gonna go down there and get him ourselves." Kirk said confidently, as usual not aware or more likely, not bothered by the level of danger to himself. He was much more likely to put himself in danger than anyone M'Ress had ever known before. It was something she found brave and truly foolish.

"Captain, requesting permission to join the mission." M'Ress stated, standing up from her station, startling Sulu who had been about to say something. "My background in martial arts and abilities as a Caitian would be beneficial should there any issues arise with the Klingons."

Kirk nodded, having already been planning on asking her to come along. "Get changed." He ordered, she went to her quarters and stared in the mirror. Was she really asking to do this? She remembered her stepfather's words through the phone. The man who killed her mother was named John Harrison, and he was so close. She was resolved. She was going to Qo'noS.

She stepped out of her quarters to be met with Spock. "Are you ready to disembark Lieutenant?" He asked, watching her as she stepped through the door, which shut behind her. She nodded, her ears going back in slight nervousness from being around the Vulcan.

"I am." Together they walked through the hallways towards where the smaller ship was kept. "Are you alright?" She asked, feeling as though something was different about him today. Other than the obvious that is.

He didn't seem to understand her question. "I am physically fit for this endeavour, yes."

She shook her head, having forgotten the Vulcans need to be unemotional for a second and kicking herself for asking a stupid question. "Never mind." She muttered, feeling her tail wrap around her waist in insecurity. Spock watched the limb with fascination, having not been around the Caitian species for a decent amount of time it was interesting to the Vulcan, having read about them in his youth.

Having reached the ship where the Captain was standing, Spock and M'Ress approaching, neither feeling any excitement or angst about the upcoming journey, although both could see the Captain was looking forward to picking up the prisoner, perhaps for unprofessional reasons but neither commented on it.

"Ready?" Kirk asked, dressed in his casual black top and jacket and dark jeans.

They both nodded and boarded the ship. M'Ress took her seat beside Lieutenant Uhura, who nodded her head at the Caitian. M'Ress strapped herself in and checked to make sure she was in securely before taking stock of her station and checking everything was in order before they took off. It would be disastrous to come across a mistake in the middle of the mission that would jeopardise the Captain and the crew.

She was satisfied everything was alright and with a nod to the Captain along with the other four crew members, Spock and Uhura, and the two security guards, Kirk set off. M'Ress gripped her console, she always hated the feeling of taking off, it gave her stomach a rush that she didn't particularly enjoy.

When the feeling subsided she resumed her navigational duties, sending the directions to the screen in front of Kirk who was relying on them to find where Harrison was hiding. She was so focused on her task that when Spock and Uhura started squabbling with one another she didn't pay it very much attention, only noticing a slight change in atmosphere when she glanced up and saw Spock's face, looking more uncomfortable than she'd ever seen him look before.

"I assure you, the opposite is true." M'Ress didn't know what he was talking about but the pure emotion that was coming through his voice in itself startled her enough that she took her eyes off the navigation. This proved to be a mistake.

"It's the Klingon's!" Uhura pointed out the obvious when a bigger ship appeared in front of them. M'Ress cursed and checked the screen.

"Only the one ship currently, sir."

Kirk grimaced and there was a stare off for a few seconds before he put the ship into action and they were off, diving and twirling to avoid any and all collisions whether it be from the rocky walls that they had found themselves in or the enemies fire which would send them spiralling down into the ground.

M'Ress kept her eyes on her station, ignoring the overwhelming need to watch the window in front to see what was happening, she'd already let one ship through her watchful eyes, there was no way she was going to let a second one through. Her claws shot out and kept her in place as Kirk made a sharp turn.

"We need to find somewhere where we can lose them." He said. "There!" M'Ress glanced up for a second and wished she didn't. He had turned the ship towards a narrow passage, one that she was sure they were not small enough to fit into.

Spock shared these sentiments. "Captain we will not fit."

"We'll fit." Kirk said determinedly.

"We will not fit." Spock repeated, this time more forcefully.

Kirk didn't turn the ship, continuing on the path and shouted, "We'll fit!" as he tilted the entire ship sideways. It seemed to take a long time for them to come out of the other side, the ship had hit both sides of the passage lightly but hard enough for M'Ress' claws to grip on tighter than they had been. She was breathing heavily and could practically feel the adrenaline pumping around her body.

She carefully took her claws out of the console and assessed the damage, not feeling guilty at all that there were several claw marks, nothing had been broken so she wasn't bothered in the slightest.

"I told you we'd fit." Kirk spoke breathlessly, seemingly amazed they were alive.

Spock grimaced and righted himself. "I do not believe that qualifies."

Kirk grinned at his second in command. "I think we lost them."

M'Ress' attention was drawn back to her console where several red dots popped up. "No sir. We didn't." She spoke, drawing attention to her. She gulped as the red dots surrounded them. "The Klingons are behind us." Kirk maneuvered the ship and what she said turned out to be true. Hovering in front and to the sides of them were the Klingon's ships, M'Ress could feel her heart drop and knew that there was nothing else they could do now.

But she had forgotten whose company she was in, Lieutenant Uhura managed to convince the Captain to let her talk to the Klingons. Something she couldn't believe because she knew that they stood little to no chance of this working. The Klingons just a race that you could bargain with, they were violence personified and nothing, nothing worked with them.

It was kill or be killed.

Kirk must have felt the same because he searched around for some phasers, passing them around to the remaining crew as they watched in tense silence as Uhura tried to talk to the leader.

"It's not working." Kirk groaned, clearly feeling intensely anxious as he watched one of his friends out there in the field, he was tiptoeing around, looking for something to do. And finally he couldn't take it anymore, as the Klingon general placed his hands around Uhura's throat, Kirk shot out of the ship and shot the general dead.

M'Ress and Spock were the next two out of the ship, both determined to protect the Captain. M'Ress saw that Uhura had picked up the Klingon's weapon but still threw her a Starfleet weapon just in case she had difficulty maneuvering it. M'Ress shot at the nearest Klingon who was coming towards her, his weapon not even managing to aim at her before he went down.

She jumped out of the way of another, managing to climb onto one of the rocks. This was both a strength as she could see her enemies better and a weakness, as they could see her better as well.

She shot down a couple of Klingons who were going after Spock, and a few more that were going after Kirk before she saw him. Standing on the furthest flat rock was the man they were searching for.

John Harrison.

She saw red and blasted one of the Klingons who was trying to climb onto the rock she was currently standing on to try and surprise her. She kicked another in the head who tried the same. One thing about these Klingons is that they never learned from their mistakes. Stretching her legs, she pounced on a Klingon and managed to propel herself off of his body and onto another rock, she continued in this fashion until she made it to where Harrison was standing.

There was a red film over her eyes that prevented any other thought than 'Take him out'. She extended her claws, ears back and tail swishing from side to side, she was ready for him. He was busy killing a lot of Klingons, his gaze currently on both of the ships he'd managed to single-handedly shoot down. She didn't let this phase her.

She growled, an unearthly sound that made Harrison spin around with his phaser ready. When he saw the Caitian he took a moment to size her up, he clearly wasn't expecting one of her race to be apart of Starfleet. She used this confusion to her advantage and was about to shoot him with her phaser when she was hit by some debris, throwing the phaser out of her hand. 'Screw this.' She thought and pounced on him instead, taking him by complete surprise but he managed to fend off her attacks.

He threw her away from him, M'Ress growled as she landed on all fours and sprinted back towards him, throwing a punch to his face. He blocked it and managed to punch her in the stomach, she felt the air rush out of her stomach but didn't let this stop her, she kneed him right where a man doesn't like to be hit and this sent him to the ground. She crashed her fist into his back and but this didn't seem to make much of a difference, he appeared to be made of harder stuff.

So her claws came into play, however, Harrison had recovered from the blow and was fighting back, any attempt she made to hit him were thwarted and she was getting angrier and angrier as their fight continued. He managed to hit her once or twice, his hits sent her reeling but she got the feeling he wasn't trying as hard as she was. Her anger was getting the better of her.

He backhanded her across the face which sent her to the ground. She lay there stunned as he picked her up and threw her over the side of the rock they were standing on, she hit the floor with a loud thump. Harrison didn't pay her any mind as he shot the remaining Klingons, something the Starfleet crew were struggling to do. Once they were all eliminated her picked M'Ress up by the scruff of her neck and dragged her behind him.

They came to a stop in front of Captain Kirk who was on the floor, staring at Harrison with such hate but knew the Klingons he'd been fighting would have harmed him a lot more if Harrison didn't step in. A fact he loathed to admit.

"I order you to put down your weapon." Spock spoke, eyes and weapon trained on Harrison who was pointing his own at Kirk.

"How many torpedoes?" He asked, M'Ress was still a bit stunned from the blow she'd taken so didn't understand what he was talking about, she could feel her cheekbone had shattered.

"Put down your weapon." Spock repeated in a level voice.

Harrison lost his patience with him and threw M'Ress at him to make him drop his weapon as he hastened to catch her. When he had done and refocused his weapon, Harrison simply shot it out of his hand.

"In your message, the one you used to threaten me with, how many torpedoes?" He asked through gritted teeth, his weapon still trained on the Captain.

"Six dozen." Kirk replied, his voice a lot stronger than how his body appeared at that moment.

Harrison immediately dropped his weapon and his deep voice carried in the wind as he said, "I surrender."