Who missed me? *crickets* Yeah, love you guys too XD Sorry, I had some writer's block, but I am still updating.

Rated M, I own nothing, sorry for the long absence, hope you enjoy!

OoOoOo

Spock tried to will his control back into existence. The minutes since her departure had chipped away at any semblance of calm he had mustered. It had been thoroughly shattered at the understanding that James, his intended, had been abducted! A primal part of him seethed and mourned simultaneously. He had not gotten to her in time. If he had only been there to protect her! She would not be at the lecherous clutches of that degenerate Romulan swine.

A swine he wished to garrote.

Spock had tactfully left the bridge to his second in command, while he attempted to deal with the most urgent situations. Once his crew, the damage, and courses of action were assessed he retreated into his personal quarters. His nimble fingers traced over his private terminal as he surveyed the continuous updates of the ships damage. It was extensive, which only barred him from doing something exceedingly un-Vulcan. Something like smashing every bone in the Romulan's face until a fine paste could be used from the pulverized flesh. Spock squashed a vicious sense of satisfaction that the mental image brought him.

He also fought against the rising tide of desperation that threatened to engulf him. There was no other term more accurate than that. He was truly desperate for her safe return. Spock flicked his dark eyes to the latest estimations on repair time with a deep-seeded misgiving. It would take far too long, and they were crippled beyond capability, for him to have a noteworthy chance of success at rescuing the terran.

Duty warred hotly with a heavy emotion of concern. He understood the risks that were posed to her on such a craft, and he calculated the likelihood of harm befalling her. With a note of fierce determination he sent back ways to increase his crew's efficiency so that the length of time Jim was exposed to such an abhorrent situation was minimalized. Spock could feel the pulse of worry that crept around his heart. Jim was in danger. He could very nearly feel it with the same palatable certainty of the console beneath his fingers.

OoOoOo

"Hm. The green wire or the gold wire?" Jim mused faintly in the dim low of the Romulan warp core. A small sense of incredulity stole over her senses as she realized, that just maybe, her superior knowledge of warp cores might have failed.

Might…

She had been cautious coming to this point. The stunned figures of five Romulans lay scattered about. Jim took another steeling breath and nudged a fallen foe with her boot. 'Yep, still stunned,' she confirmed to herself victoriously. Jim's hands still shook from the loss of adrenaline as the remnants coursed through her system. She blinked her eyes one more time to focus back at her task at hand.

She had yet to figure out which wire to cut. Her blonde hair fell in disarray around her shoulders as she scowled menacingly at the green and gold that mocked her view. After her long trek to find this place, which had been even more confusing that the damn Vulcan craft, she had immediately been beset by the ugly mugs of five very unfriendly faces. The engineer had given a wide smile at the confused, but still hostile, looks of the Romulans. Then she had opened fire. Stunning the first, and rolling out of the way by springing forward as she shot.

The Federation had trained her well, but Jim had been unable to get the ludicrous smile off her face as unknown curses filled the air. She had played an entertaining game of cat and mouse as they intended to overwhelm her with brute strength and numbers. Jim had been blessed with enough common sense to short the access doors with her first few shots. The Romulans had laughed in mockery at her terrible aim.

Blue eyes narrowed harshly as they jeered at her from across the room. Her next shot hit it's intended target of a Romulan male, who fell forward without a sound. The others had still dismissed her seriousness. Jim was starting to get more than just a little pissed off. A stray shot glanced across her elbow, and Jim cursed as she yelped at the pulsing pain that radiated from the nick.

'Of course… they already injured one. Great. This is just not my day today,' she quipped to herself tightly. Well, if it hadn't already hurt like something she couldn't say in polite company, it certainly did now.

The Romulans renewed their laughter up until Jim's own sounds of amusement overtook theirs.

"Funny, Human?" The Romulan's standard was choppy, and broken.

Jim grinned behind the small bit of cover she had hidden behind. The support structure of the room could withstand more than just a simple phazer blast.

"A little, Romulan," she called back cheekily, "I'm waiting for you to notice all the exits are blocked."

It was all the distraction Jim needed. When a few whipped their heads to check around the room, an instinctual need to verify her words, Jim shot in rapid succession. Two more thuds accompanied the echo of her fire.

'Four down, one to go,' Jim thought grimly.

"I will pay, make you, Human," the thunderous voice shouted across the way.

Really, it was hard to take anyone seriously when they butchered a language like that. Precisely, the reason she had never even attempted to speak anything past Klingon. She fervently hoped she hadn't sounded anything like that when she had fought…

Better not go there.

Jim counted to four and sprang up, her fire going wild for a moment. Similar to a scatter shot, in hopes to pin the Romulan down. A snarl erupted from her left and Jim advanced. The Romulan clutched his knee and coiled to strike. A word tumbled from his lips as he reached for his fallen weapon that Jim couldn't place but the meaning crossed the language barrier.

She supposed 'Fuck you' was universal, really.

Jim glanced around for her prize. An undamaged console that glistened at her more temptingly than any jewel in the galaxy; a jewel that almost made her want to croon. Granted, the technology was nowhere near on par with half the images she had thought of over the years, but it was still a gem.

Without its crew, however, Jim could make sure her power outage was the stuff of a technician's worst nightmares. And, she intended to do just that, after she got her plans in motion. First she needed to short out the escape pods, except for one. Then she would need to dismantle the long range scanners, but leave their communications device. Jim wasn't a monster; she would let them call for help.

Just like how Jim had called for help floating in a tin can for days on end. A slow and nearly sinister smile graced her features. It was good to be the engineer in cases like these. She also needed to drop their shields, but fire them back up so they wouldn't be too easy a target out here. However, if she had kept track correctly, they weren't that far from Vulcan borders. And, she couldn't see Vulcan's just blowing them to smithereens.

Vulcans… Spock… hm, Spock. Jim shook her head violently to clear the lust filled thoughts from her brain. Her blue eyes focused once more on the task at hand before she gave an indignant huff.

"So," she started, turning toward the closest prone body, "The green one? Or the gold one?"

She smirked amused when the blank unseeing eyes told her nothing. Jim blew out a slow breath and gave a glare down at her feet. "You guys are no help."

Her lip was caught between her teeth in concentration as she stared, unsure of how to continue. The crackling hiss of a communication communicator buzzed to life in the confines of her sealed area. It was, of course, all in Romulan. Jim held a breath and tilted her head as she tapped one slim finger to her chin.

"Green or gold? Green or gold?"

"Jim?" The deep voice called out over the communication line. "How did you get into the engineering bay?"

His suspicion and alarm acted as a balm on her frazzled nerves. Jim smiled in the dimness as she grasped the gold wire in her fingers. She really needed an old earth coin to flip. Sometimes decisions were so… hard.

The engineer peered over at the glow coming from the console. She could go over there and argue with him, which would only waste precious time… Or…she could just mess with him from afar. Which was sounded rather appealing at the moment.

Ah-ha! It was the gold one. She hummed contentedly to herself.

"Do do do. We're sorry the person you are trying to contact right now is unavailable. Please try your communication again later, and remember, have a pleasant day," she mocked with her voice pitched to seem serene and too cheerful.

"Jim, you are the only one on this ship, besides myself and my first officer that speaks standard," a faintly insulted tone laced his words.

Oh yeah…

Well, crap. Jim rolled her eyes as she worked the severed golden wire into a new port. The lights flickered for a moment, before she pulled it out once more. 'Wrong port,' she thought absently.

"What are you doing in there," it had been a demand, not a question.

She didn't feel inclined to answer. This should have been something that her so wonderful consort had considered when he made his blatant interest known. Human females really should not be trifled with.

"You made me a vow, little terran," Maelrok reminded her promptly.

"I lied," Jim shot back without looking at him.

"There is no escape. Where do you think you will go? That Vulcan craft?"

"Maybe, there," she agreed quickly, "Or, maybe I'll look up my Klingon contacts."

"Contacts?" He scoffed lightly.

"Did it escape your memory that your ally also knew me, by name?"

The Romulan sub-commander grew quiet and his eyes narrowed shrewdly at her. Jim spared him a glance of defiance.

"You wouldn't," he stated at last.

"I would," she challenged casually.

"How? You cannot leave this vessel," Maelrok pointed out snidely.

"Now, if I told you that, where would the fun be?"

"You would condemn me to death, Jim?"

The note of quiet hurt actually struck a chord in her heart. Her sapphire eyes traced his unreadable expression. "No Maelrok, I'm not going to condemn you. I'm not going to 'defeat' you, because we both know what that would mean," she drew a shaky breath, "I'm just going back where I belong, to the Enterprise."

"You do not intend to destroy this vessel?" He asked genuinely curious.

Jim snorted in dry amusement. "No. I'm going to repay you for your kindness. You know, the way you did me."

There!

She tapped away at the new port, and skimmed over the codes. Her eyes did their dead level best to ignore the Romulan speaking to her in an angry fashion. God, did he really think she was going to suffer from a guilt trip and go off and play… whatever it was he wanted her to play.

"Enough!" She snarled after suffering through a few lines of what he considered 'honorable' and 'keeping her word'. She had kept it… for like fifteen minutes. Her face twisted into a nearly predatory mask of near-violence. "I'm going to give you the best advice you have ever had, Maelrok darling," she hissed, "Rule number one of space travel… don't piss off the engineer."

Her fingers tapped down on the last command. The pods were sealed except for one. Their main system crashed and the other doors would be condemned to a timed lock down. She could hear the banging of more Romulans coming from her left, and Jim disconnected the feed with Maelrok with a mocking salute. Her fingers trembled as she picked up the discarded phazer and glanced around one last time at the door holding back the massive flow of Romulan that was sure to follow.

"Well," she murmured softly to the still figures on the floor, "This is either going to work, or get me killed. Wish me luck."

Come on work!

She pried open the opposite door, a light jam, nothing more than forcing it into auxiliary power. Maelrok's ship was nothing more than a sitting duck. She would not need to worry about the repercussions just yet. Provided the Federation didn't suddenly welcome in the Romulans after this. Now that would be a nightmare she just wasn't prepared for. Diplomatic dinners made her shudder. Even the thought of diplomatic dinners caused her shoulders to itch.

Gah! Now she needed antihistamines and to get out of here. Jim shoved at the door with her shoulder to widen it just enough to slip though. The warp core room was a accessible through both sides of the ship, but from the layout she could tell any pursuers had to be able to pass through the warp room first. Her blue eyes gazed the length of the hallway in both directions. She took the lack of phazer fire as a good sign.

Jim crept toward the escape pods, thanks to the handy little diagrams she had managed to access by sheer dumb luck. Not, that she would retell the tale that way. Oh no, she had her pride after all! She licked her dry lips and felt the blood coursing in her ears. This was going to be a close call.

Jim overrode the second door on her right. Her fingers trembled slightly, and she kept her ears trained for the slightest sound. The door opened with a soft hiss, and Jim was greeted with the sight of a very naked Romulan.

Oh… my… that left nothing to the imagination. She blinked once before stunning him. Her blonde hair cascaded over her shoulder as she tilted her head for a better look. 'Huh,' she thought mildly. Well, at least a few of her silent questions had been answered. It took her only a moment to realize that she had accidentally let herself into the men's restroom. Her unsuspecting victim must have been in the middle of a shower. A high blush rose on her cheeks and she looked back down the hallway.

'Oops, one door too many,' she chided. Jim turned her gaze down at the prone and very naked male. Jim awkwardly shifted from one foot to the next. "Uh, for what it's worth… I really didn't mean to walk in on you," she waved a hand at his form while turning away, "Um… like that."

Jim beat a hasty retreat for the door she had missed due to the dimness. Her face still felt hot. And she was a little ashamed that she snuck a better glance before her morals got the better of her. There was a small miserable feeling for the Romulan she had stunned. Sure her day was not going very well, but that poor bastard was having a worse one now.

She scrambled into the room, and peaked at the row of open pods with some relief. Now it was all a question of who found her first. Jim prayed that her captain would not simply let the Vulcans continue on without her. She was reasonably assured that Montgomery Scott would never leave her behind. And, the Vulcan Captain had seemed… fond of her. Still, it was an exceedingly large gamble.

As she entered the only functioning escape pod, and closed the latch, Jim gave herself over to the one emotion that had been coursing through her veins since she had beamed aboard this forsaken vessel.

Hope.

OoOoOo

The Vulcan craft had limped through space with only the bare minimal functions until repairs could be completed. Spock had been unusually tense in the hours since James' abduction. The Human Captain had refused to leave the bridge upon Spock's return from his personal quarters. Neither of them had chosen to speak about James' loss, or the potential ramifications it would have on the known structure of the Federation.

It was then, during that compatible silence born of worry and fear, that a neutral voice broke through the unspoken truce.

"Captain, we are receiving an unknown signal. It appears to be a Romulan escape pod upon initial scanning," the helmsman stated.

Spock smothered the rush of fury that the word 'Romulan' brought him. "Fascinating." He commented, for it was indeed perplexing.

"It would also appear that whoever resides in the emergency evacuation pod is attempting to hail us. However, the language is unknown as well as the frequency."

Spock arched a single brow; his face betrayed nothing of the storm of emotions breaking over his thoughts. "Commander S'Stelendos," he stated as he turned to face him, "Are you able to make out the language?"

"Negative Captain. It would seem the language is comprised of several short and long static bursts," the shorter Vulcan proceeded to place the signal on the speaker. And, as he had stated, there was a series of long and short static bursts. The meaning was useless to the members aboard the bridge.

Spock saw the Terran Captain shift slightly. His face colored in confusion and wary. "Perhaps, if'm it bae alrigh' with yue Cap'ain, I can call Miss Uhura up har."

Spock nodded his agreement and bade the Human Captain to gather the darker terran female that he had often seen James conversing with. It took precisely 5.672 minutes for their return. He noted the female looked strained and her usually curious expression was missing.

"Uhura, kina yue make this out?" Captain Scott asked urgently, his body slightly tense in distress for if this was a trap, they all understood the ship could not take another hit.

The darker terran female stopped for a moment. Her brows furrowed in concentration as listened intently.

"It's-its Morse code." The lieutenant called out in surprise, and awe.

"Explain," The Vulcan stated stoically while his mind reeled with loss, and near devastation at the prospect that this pod could be meaningless to procuring James.

"Morse Code!," She shouted happily, "It is an ancient form of Terran communication using sound or light."

The darker terran female rushed to the console of his First Commander before nudging him, rather harshly, out of the way. Spock watched her features contort to show unabashed delight. Her eyes glazed over as she listened, hardly drawing breath. A few tense moments passed on the bridge as the Vulcans watched in undisturbed silence, the workings of the human communications officer.

A sudden whoop of laughter broke the eerie stillness, and Spock could see tears gathering at the corners of the woman's eyes. "It's Jim! She's alive!"

A flare of hope burned brightly before Spock squashed it down in order to keep a tight control over the emotions warring within him.

"You are certain in your hypothesis?" He inquired softly.

"Oh yes," the woman beamed at him in reply. A smile decorated her face quite brightly as she glanced up at him with understanding eyes. "Who else would take the time to transmit 'Uhura, get me the fuck out of here!'?"

"Indeed. It would appear that Chief Engineer Kirk is alive." Spock stated with a slight twist of his lips, the closest anyone had ever seen to a Vulcan smile. Happiness coupled with stark relief shone in his eyes. "First Commander?"

"Captain?"

"Scan the surrounding area for signs of life."

"Affirmative Captain."

Spock cataloged precisely what he was going to do when the most illogical female that had ever graced the known galaxies was back on board his vessel. He decided that it would be in his best interest to upgrade his security codes. He would need to have a lengthy discussion with James, alone, in his quarters.