It was dark, cold. He shivered, causing a sharp jolt of pain to travel down his leg. Where was he? Why did he hurt so much? He opened his mouth to speak and stopped as he pain shot through his face travelling up from the line of his jaw. He tasted blood in his mouth. He groped out with a hand and his fingers brushed something, cold and soft. It felt like a hand, the fingers dangling limply.
He faded back into darkness.
He awoke, with a cough. It was hot, uncomfortably hot. He smelled smoke, the acrid smell making his eyes water. Where was he? He could see jagged piece of metal, plastic and fabric surrounding him; he was in an air skimmer. He looked around and saw the cause of the smoke, a fire burned to his left hungrily consuming fabric and plastic, and causing's gouts of smoke to fill the interior of the vehicle. He desperately searched for an opening, the thick smoke making it almost impossible to see. His lungs burned with the hot smoke, then he felt a gust of cold air move across his face momentarily and he realized that directly ahead of him was a window. The glass in it had been shattered leaving shards still clinging to the window frame.
He tried to crawl to the window and was stopped as a sharp pain shot through his leg; he tried to move it and realized it was caught wedged between a seat and something else. He jerked trying to free his leg as the interior of the vehicle filled with more and more smoke. He reached back blindly his hands trying to free his leg, his hands pushed against something it was stiff, cold; inwardly he shuddered when he touched it. Then with one last jerk his leg was free, a cry tore free as pain unlike any he had felt before rippled through him, and his vision dimmed momentarily. He took a breath his ribs protesting sharply at the movement, and then crawled forward, slowly…painfully, towards the open window, and tumbled through glass shards cutting his face and arms, he landed face down in snow. He tried to stand and fell back as his leg refused to hold him, in the moonlight he could see that it was covered in blood, the cloth of his pants torn in places and sticking to his legs in others. He edged forwards away from the uncomfortable heat of the burning vehicle and as he crawled, tried to remember what had happened. It came back to him in brief flashes then, a flood.
His mother. She was in the air skimmer.
He staggered back to the air skimmer half crawling, half walking ignoring the agony in his leg. flames and smoke rose from the air skimmer, lighting the night. He knew now what he had brushed past when he was crawling out it was a person. He reached the air skimmer and could see a hand lying through a window on the drivers side, he grabbed her arm trying to pull her out, but she was wedged tightly her body pinned beneath the crushed metal of the air skimmer, he thought he felt her fingers grip his momentarily as he struggled to move her . He didn't know how long he spent trying to pull her out, the heat from the car growing more intense by the second, his eyes watering, the smoke causing him to choke. Then, arms encircled him, pulling him back; he fought them trying to get back to the air skimmer. The arms pulled him back, saying words he couldn't understand. When he was several feet away there was a roar, then the flames lept higher illuminating the night sky and the entire air skimmer was consumed ,Flames burned everything, a wordless scream came from him; he collapsed to his knees, somebody's hand restraining him from going back to the vehicle. He had no idea how long he kneeled there in the cold snow, watching as the vehicle burned, as the medics tried fruitlessly to get close enough to the flames to free the person trapped inside… as the harsh odour of burning flesh grew stronger by the second.
"Pavel...Pavel...Pavel?"
Chekov awoke to somebody shaking him, he realized he was screaming, but a hand was clamped over his mouth muffling the noise.
"Pavel, wake up" a voice said softly from the gloom.
Chekov squinted and could just make out ensign' Kelly's face in the dim glow provided by the emergency lights. As awareness came to him he stopped screaming. Kelly removed her hand from his mouth, her face worried, and he sat up.
"You were having a nightmare or something, you started moving around then you started screaming"
He sat there breathing heavily, his entire body trembling, he was covered in a cold sweat, his stomach twisted and turned with the aftermath of his nightmare. Kelly sat next to him; he wished she would go away
He closed his eyes, fighting to avoid the images that plagued him. And another memory rushed back.
He had awakened in a hospital room; the beeping of monitors surrounded him, dimly he could hear voices out in the corridor outside his room. He listened and could just make out what they said.
"Is he still asleep?"
"He was when I last checked"
"Good...For his sake I hope he sleeps a long time, I certainly don't want to be the one to tell him"
"Tell him what?"
"You didn't hear? ….He's that boy from the air skimmer accident, his mother, sister and brother were all killed, he's the only one that survived"
The rest of the conversation was unheard all that he heard over and over in his mind was: the only one that survived. He was alone.
"Pavel are you okay?" ensign Kelly's voice brought him back to reality.
Chekov nodded. He took several deep breaths, he could feel himself trembling. Kelly placed an arm around him. His stomach turned uncomfortably again. He placed a hand over his mouth as he retched, hoping he wouldn't throw up on Ensign Kelly. He gulped down the acid that had come up, trying to forget. Please just go away.
"Do you want some water?" she said looking at him concernedly.
He shook his head not trusting himself to speak.
She moved the light closer staring at his pale face; his hair was damp with sweat, the light flashed in his eyes painfully bright. The orange-white glow reminded him of flames.
Flames- Fragments of memories flashed through his mind. Flames…leaping up burning everything…everyone …. The odour of burning flesh filling the air…
He turned away from Kelly at just the right moment, and he threw up.
I'm okay" he mumbled embarrassed, as she pressed a cold wet cloth to the back of his neck. He wished she would just go away; it was embarrassing enough without her here.
They sat there together for several minutes before she broke the silence. "How did they die?"
"Who?" He asked, a cold pit forming in him, as he realized who she was asking about.
"Your family"
"How do you know about that? He said not looking at her.
"You talk in your sleep Pavel…." Kelly said quietly. "You talk a lot"
He probably didn't realize it, but lately he tended to fall asleep all of a sudden. The time on the shuttle had been just one of many. Several times they had been watching a holovid or even sitting on the observation deck and she had turned to say something and found him fast asleep. At first she had been offended and annoyed, and had awoken him, and he had apologized profusely. But as it happened more often she realized , that it wasn't because she was boring or he was ignoring her, he was just tired. He wasn't sleeping much, his face was fatigued and his mood had changed somewhat. After the first few times she hadn't bothered to wake him up, she would let him sleep. She would sit next to him for sometimes an hour or more, his head nodded off on her shoulder, his face peaceful, eventually he would start talking. Soon after moans and whimpers would start, a few times he even started crying in his sleep. She had usually managed to awaken him before he began screaming and most of the time he hadn't realized he had been asleep for more than a few minutes.
"Oh" Chekov said avoiding her gaze. "It was an air skimmer accident, I was eight" he said his voice muffled. She reached out and grasped his cold, sweaty hand in her's. They sat like that for several minutes; Kelly pretended she didn't see him surreptitiously wipe his eyes on his sleeve.
"Eet's stupid I should be over eet, eet vas years ago" he said after several moments of silence almost like he was convincing himself.
There was a silent pause for a moment, then Kelly spoke, something about his confession had brought the events of the past few hours into sharp focus it felt like death was looming over her. "My mom died when I was eleven" Kelly said "it was cancer, one of the few they don't have a cure for-"
She paused her voice breaking, then continued, "She was dying . My father left the room and he me leave. He said we would leave the hospital for ony a little while , but we didn't come back for hours , by that time she was dead." Kelly looked at him "she was alone Pavel, I don't want to die alone"
"Nobody is going to die "Chekov said looking at her intensely disturbed by the conversation. "Ve are all going to get avay from here."
"You don't understand, when that disruptor was pointed at my head I thought I was going to die- and a year ago somebody told me -, and then today when that phaser blast hit me I—and then that man had me and you killed him -"she said her voice rising higher with each word.
"Leah" he said using her first name. He grasped her hands in his., she looked up at him her eyes shining with tears "You're going to be fine ve all vill". He tried not to think about how he had killed the Vulcans.
She was silent for several minutes before she said tearfully" Pavel, How can you be so sure"
"Because I von't let anything happen to you" He said brushing the tears off her face, with his fingertips. His words were the most sincere he had ever spoke. He would do anything for wouldn't let anything happen to her, because she was the only thing he had left. If she died, he would to.
Kelly, gave a small smile through a wall of fresh tears "my mom always said that one day I would find somebody, she would've liked you" Kelly said as tears ran down her cheeks in rivulets, Chekov draped an arm around her , and pulled her closer, she cried quietly for several minutes before, he felt her start to relax. She sighed sleepily; her head resting against his chest, the last thing she murmured before she fell asleep was "I love you Pavel".
Chekov said nothing, he had heard her quiet words, but was unsure what to say. It had been years since anybody had said that to him. He didn't want to say it back. He didn't want to love her. He didn't want to care.
He already did….and it scared him.
XXXX XXXX
Uhura could feel Silkar's gaze on her, his eyes ran over her. A small smile played on his lips, his dark eyes glinted maliciously.
"I'm willing to bet that while Spock has an allegiance to Starfleet, he has more of an allegiance to you" the man said enjoying the fear on her face. "I may not be able to find him but when he senses this he will come to me"
Uhura pulled back trembling, as the man advanced on her, signalling the guards to take off her restraints, he waited until they had finished then dismissed the guards.
They were alone now but rather than feeling that she had a better chance of escape, she felt more trapped.
"Now it's just the two of us" he said
"What are you going to do?" Uhura said her voice breaking
"Nothing that you and Spock haven't already experienced" was Silkar's reply.
Uhura started to back away, before she could take more than a few steps, he had grabbed her roughly dragging her back , as he did so Uhura became aware that all the time Spock had touched her, held her, caressed her, he had been holding back a large part of his strength, so as not to hurt her. Silkar had no such qualms. He grabbed her hands in one of his and with the other he sought her temples. Uhura struggled wildly, but his strength was too much and slowly, inexorably his fingers reached their destination.
As his fingers touched her temples, Uhura felt a presence. It was like an itch at the corner of her mind, and then the cell started to fade away; the room slowly grew blurry. Silkar penetrated her mind, cutting his way through the flimsy barriers she tried to erect. She gasped in pain, as he forced his way in, enjoying her distress.
The link they had was a sick a parody of the links her and Spock had shared. Whereas Spock had been gentle, cautious, slowly acclimating her to the link, allowing her mind toopen on its own before going further and the tendrils of their mind twining together. Silkar did none of these things. He forced his way in going deeper and deeper, gouging at her mind as he went, the agony he caused giving him pleasure. Then he was in, she could feel his mind running through her memories, glimpses flashed through her consciousness as he looked through them.
-Her graduation from the academy-
-The Narada incident-
-Times with Spock-
As he finished with her memories, she could feel him turn his attention to her. She recoiled in hatred and disgust as she felt his malevolent conscious run over her. She could feel the equivalent of a mental smile starting in his mind.
"Why so scared? The real fun hasn't even begun"
With that he went deeper into her mind, then she would have ever thought level of the link was so great that every facet of her being, mind, and body was at his control.
Enjoying the agony he caused and the power he had, He began to form an image, a thought, Uhura tried to pull away her entire mind filled with horror, but her consciousness was firmly bound in his.
Silkar deepened the image and the line between what was thought and what was reality began to blur. The projection became more real. No this can't be true. The image became more real until it wasn't an image it was reality, her reality. This can't be true. But it felt real. As Silkar ran his hands along her and his hot breath brushed across her face and neck, and she felt his intent, her mind screamed "Spock!"
XXXX XXXX
Chekov and Kelly were fast asleep, their arms wrapped around each other, and a blanket draped across their shoulders. Havarii paced nervously back and forth, but other than the quiet sound of breathing and Havarii's soft tread, it was silent. Spock like Havarii couldn't sleep, unlike humans he could go without sleep for several days, with only one or two sessions of meditation in between. He had also found that mediation was in a lot of cases more relaxing and restorative than several hours of sleep.
Spock settled down on one of the rock ledges that lined the room .He closed his eyes and calmed himself, allowing his mind to sink inward as he examined the events of the last few hours. Gradually, his breathing slowed, and his scattered thoughts coalesced into an order; he began to feel peaceful.
Abruptly, he gasped as a pain shot through him, a torrent of emotions followed immediately after, flooding his mind with, anger, fear, horror. Uhura? he thought as he felt the familiarity of the consciousness. Flashes of what she saw flickered through his mind, stone walls, Silkar's face. Spock opened his mind slightly and felt another consciousnesses, it was filled with a sick malicious intent. He closed his mind off before he could be sensed. Another flood of emotions swept trough his mind threatening to overwhelm him with their intensity. He felt almost physically ill at the emotions he felt. They came in wave after wave, increasing in frequency and intensity. He could feel that Uhura was in trouble and that Silkar had her. He gasped again as the force of her distress coursed through him stronger and this time he heard her voice scream in his mind. "Spock!".
He didn't know he had collapsed to the ground, until he heard "Commander Spock?" and opened his eyes to find Havarii standing over him. The lieutenant gazed down at him with worried eyes "are you okay? You were just sitting there then you slumped over."
Spock sat up still out of breath from the flood of emotions he had felt. "Uhura" he gasped.
"Uhura?" Havarii repeated puzzled "what about her? She's on the ship—"
"Uhura's here"
"What are you talking about? How would you know anyway?"
"She's here I know" Spock fell silent. He fought to maintain control, as another wave of emotion flowed through the link he and Uhura shared. Spock unsteadily pulled himself up.
"I'm leaving."
"Mr. Spock you can't leave here . You vill be seen" Chekov said looking alarmed, both he and Kelly had woken up and come over to where Spock and Havarii were talking.
Another wave of emotion surged through Spock's mind, He heard Uhura yell his name again.
"How can Uhura be here?" Kelly asked.
"She's here" Spock said fighting to keep his voice steady, as the emotions became almost unbearable. His mind was blocked off, but through the link that had been formed from the many times their minds had linked, he felt her emotions even if he couldn't see or know exactly what was going on.
"Silkar has her. " Spock said.
"Silkar-?" Kelly gasped.
Behind them they heard a movement. They turned around and saw Sunil. He said "you must leave here now. There is a shuttle you can get to and you can go back to your ship, but if you stay here much longer you will be captured. T'kas sent a message and they know about us . They are looking for her, if they catch her they'll torture her for your location."
"I'm not leaving" Spock said.
"What?" Sunil asked confused.
"Commander Spock says Uhura's here and Silkar has her" Kelly said
For a moment Sunil looked at Spock confusedly, then as he watched Spock's face he noticed the subtle changes in his expression as the flood of emotions poured into his mind. . Sunil's face straightened with understanding. "You can feel her"
Sunil continue "Before I left they had said Silkar was about to interrogate someone, I knew that it wasn't T'Kas , But I thought they had caught one of us. When I last saw Silkar I should have known from the expression on his face that it wasn't one of us. We wouldn't allow ourselves to be taken alive and if we were we wouldn't provide him much sport." Sunil paused then said "He has her."
Spock moved towards the tunnel which lead from the cave, "I'm going" . Now his mind was almost entirely clouded, he had trouble concentrating on anything but Uhura.
"Take the rest of them to the shuttle and I'll—" Spock said as he moved.
"Mr. Spock ve are coming vith you" Chekov's voice said from behind him
"While I appreciate the offer ensign, I cannot allow it" he paused his control faltering and all but gone as the feelings intensified to a level that threatened to engulf his mind completely. He struggled to regain enough to say steadily "I look Vulcan like they do, if I wear similar clothes I can blend in, you would be noticed almost immediately."
Chekov fell silent, quieted by the logic of Spock's words.
Spock continued "when you get to the shuttle leave, don't wait for me to come."
"Mr. Spock—" Chekov began.
"Commander I really—" Havarii started.
"We're not—" Kelly replied.
Spock cut them off turning around to look at the three humans. His voice had an edge of iron, that brooked no argument and he said "That's an order."
He waited for a few seconds before they said "aye sir."
Spock turned away, he knew that going after Uhura was suicide and quite possibly what Silkar wanted, but he couldn't leave her. However, he didn't want the rest of the crew waiting for him or Uhura to come back, because he knew it was likely neither of them would be coming.
Sunil came over to Spock and opened a container. He reached in pulling out an outfit similar to the one the other Vulcans wore. "Here" he said passing the garment to Spock. "Do you know the way to the cell's from here?"
Spock nodded, tugging off his uniform and pulling on the proffered clothes. Sunil passed him a phaser. Then gave Spock the Vulcan greeting before stepping away, Spock returned it, he turned away and began crawling into the dark tunnel. All control was gone now. He moved as fast as he could fuelled by the emotions which filled his mind and yet weren't his own and by his own anger which blazed brightly beneath it all. He would kill Silkar when he found him for what he was doing to Uhura, of that he promised himself.
Next Update will be February 28th. Thanks to all my favouriters and followers, but most especially reviewers. Hope you enjoyed the update. I hope the scene with Chekov and Kelly wasn't too sappy. Silkar is awful isn't he? And Spock is about to get seriously angry. So if you feel inclined drop a review. Oh , and the next chapter update will be over 5,000 words;)