Sunil lead the three Enterprise crewmembers through the tunnels taking a route that was ill-used and indeed quite dangerous. The walls and shook and threatened to collapse and at one point, a large section gave way behind them, barely missing Havarii. As they walked they heard sounds of fighting, but the noise grew fainter with distance. Minutes later they arrived at the shuttle. Standing near it were four Vulcans holding weapons at a gesture from Sunil the Vulcans lowered there weapons. Sunil hurried forward, the humans followed. The shuttle was old and obviously rebuilt, but hopefully space worthy.
Sunil spoke "your own shuttle is too heavily surrounded to be used. This is one of the ones we sequestered for own use, in case we have to escape quickly. Nobody knows about it"
Sunil gestured for them to enter the shuttle and Havarii started to go in , but Kelly's voice stopped him. "Orders or not, we can't leave commander Spock behind" she continued insistently "and what about Uhura he say's she's here too."
Chekov agreed "Ve must vait for them."
Havarii turned to them both and said "We have orders and I don't know about you but I'm leaving here. I'm not staying and letting some psychopath point ears kill me!" Sunil and the other Vulcans shifted at Havarii's remark. Havarii continued "I'm supposed to be married in a few days! Not breathing my last breaths on planet hellhole!" He slashed an arm out encompassing all the Vulcans in the room. "And look who you're talking about waiting for. Spock's one of the same damn one's who's got us in this mess, for god sakes he's not even human. He's probably gone back to be with his own people and Uhura's with him. she's a traitor as far as I'm concerned."
Havarii stood there breathing heavily. Chekov and Kelly were silent as they stared at the man. Sunil broke the silence; he spoke not looking at Havarii "He is right, you must leave now you won't get another chance"
Chekov was about to speak, when Sunil interrupted his unspoken protest "go, we will help Spock."
After one last look at the Vulcan male Chekov and Kelly followed Havarii into the shuttle and the door was sealed behind them. They looked around the shuttle; it was small with only 4 seats in the back and a cockpit that sat two. Havarii walked to the front followed by the tow ensigns. They entered the cramped cockpit. Kelly looked inquiringly at the controls which were the originals and definitely not comparable to Starfleet shuttles.
She asked "does anybody know how to fly this thing?"
Chekov had flown or been in the cockpit of numerous alien shuttles during his short life. As long as you weren't intimidated by the foreign controls and different layout every vessel was quite similar. Chekov answered "I can fly eet, I've flown a lot of different crafts"
"You're not flying anything" Havarii said as he sat down in the pilot's seat and starting activating various panels. He continued talking to Chekov "this isn't an opportunity for genius boy to save the day, so sit down, shut up, and do as you're told.
Chekov turned red.
Kelly was furious "How dare you say that!—" Havarii glanced back at her and said "you shut up too!"
Chekov was furious now and Kelly was almost beyond words, they were both about to speak when the shuttle gave a sudden lurch as it went airborne, that nearly toppled them both over.
Havarii snickered and without looking away from the controls said "I told you two to sit down didn't I?"
Kelly sat down still fuming. Chekov angrily strapped himself in. The shuttle rose higher and flew through the shuttle bay's opening doors. It was quiet as Havarii carefully piloted the vessel onwards, fighting the effects of the anomaly. The only sounds were Havarii occasionally questions about readings and Chekov terse answers.
They had been flying a little more than 5 minutes when Havarii and Chekov both noticed a difference in the controls. Havarii punched in a command and "ERROR" appeared on the screen. He typed in another command and "ACCESS DENIED" scrolled across. Chekov was having similar difficulties. Helm and Navigation refused to respond to input. Havarii swore loudly and turned to Chekov saying "what did you do?" Havarii continued irately "and don't you give me that crap about how you didn't do anything or say 'Vhat do you mean'. I know you did one of your little programming numbers; if you wanted to fly the shuttle you could have just said so. "
Chekov denied having any involvement in the malfunctions and pointed out that his console was disabled also and why would he have done that?
Havarii snorted "How am I supposed to know how your damn mind works, I have my suspicions about you!"
Chekov said something in Russian to Havarii about where he could stick his suspicions. Havarii didn't understand the words but got the general feeling and turned a dark shade of red. Then a short but furious argument started between them both , the shuttle continued flying steadily upwards.
Kelly came to see what the commotion was about and after taking in the situation reached past the two arguing males, and typed a series of commands in. She tapped the console and said "that's why."
Havarii and Chekov glanced at the screen and saw the message "REMOTE CONTROL ACTIVATED" somebody else was controlling the vessel. Chekov turned back to his console and his fingers flew as he tried to circumvent the programming that had locked the shuttles circuits. Havarii was silent, watching Chekov. Suddenly the shuttle took a sharp dive. The course had changed drastically; they were now angling towards a cliff side that at an alarming rate.
With a final tap, Chekov managed to get helm and navigation back. Havarii began to pull the shuttle out of it's nose dive and at that moment the shuttle's engines cut out.
"Sh—" Havarii said. Kelly stared at the words "ENGINE FAILURE" in horror before racing towards the back of the shuttle where the engine compartment was.
"Kelly get avay from there !" Chekov shouted moving quickly to undo his safety harness.
Havarii slapped his hand away from the harness's opening mechanism, the other hand still clutched tightly around the control. "There's no time for that, we have to—" Havarii stopped in horror staring ahead. Chekov turned to see what he was staring at and saw one of the anomaly's aurora borealis like waves hurtling toward the ship, Before they could react it overtook them. Metal screamed, and groaned. Chekov heard Kelly cry out. The shuttle was tossed around then the ground rose up to meet them and as it impacted everything turned to chaos. Shouts, ripping metal, sparks and smoke filled the air. Chekov was yelling Kelly's name then something hit his head and he blacked out.
XXXX XXXX
The ride to the planet was worse than it had been, the effect of the anomaly had intensified and navigation and sensor output were sketchy at best. The ship was rocked by waves of force as the anomaly roiled chaotically outside the shuttle. When they finally managed to enter T'karis' atmosphere gusts of wind buffeted the shuttle tumbling it around and threatening to send it careening into the planet's surface.
After several tense moments of fighting to maintain control over the ship, they were finally able to find the colony. The shuttle was directed to a small shuttle bay and as they disembarked the Enterprise crew was met by a small group of Vulcans of which Solkar was in the lead.
After a brief exchange of greetings Solkar said "Captain Kirk, our search has yielded no results, however we are willing to give you the coordinates to where the shuttle was last, to aid in your search."
"That will be fine, but we'd also like to search the colony" Kirk said.
Solkar looked faintly surprised, and then his face hardened. "You want to search our colony? I can assure you that your people are not here." There was something dangerous' about the middle-aged Vulcan's tone, that dared Kirk to challenge him. Behind Solkar the group of Vulcans moved slightly as they watched the Enterprise crew closely.
Kirk wanted to avoid a confrontation for as long as possible, not only because his crew was seriously outnumbered , but also because it would be easier to search for the missing crew and possibly retrieve them alive , if Solkar and the other colonists still believed the Enterprise crew didn't have any suspicions of them."I don't believe your people have anything to do with my crew's disappearance, but it's possible that your daughter T'kas or one of her faction have them as hostages." Kirk said diplomatically, not believing his own words for a moment.
Solkar looked at the captain closely, like he was gazing through him, then seemed to relax somewhat. "Very well Captain, I suppose it is logical to theorize that my daughter would stoop so low as to hold your crew hostage."
Solkar moved toward a door leading off from the shuttle bay. "If you'll follow me"
Solkar led the group through the colony, following him were the group of Vulcans who Solkar introduced as security saying that while he didn't believe any of T'kas's group would resort to violence, it was best he remained careful. Kirk wasn't deceived for a second, he knew that Solkar didn't believe them fully and the guards were for Kirk and his crew. They briefly passed through the living quarters; around them they could feel the cold stares of the other colonists. At McCoy's insistence they made a brief stop at the infirmary, there Solkar showed them Lieutenant Smith's body. McCoy's quick scan showed that the man had had a stroke, but the lieutenant also appeared to have been in a cave in. McCoy was unable to determine whether he had died due to the trauma from the cave-in and that had caused a stroke, or he had a stroke then had been in a cave-in. The startling thing about the body though was Smith's face. His expression was frozen in a look of terror.
After a short discussion Solkar agreed to have Smith's body transported to the shuttle bay so they could take it back with them. Solkar then led them deeper into the facility; the corridors now had more stone and less metal and plastic panelling. The number of people they passed also thinned. The crew had their tricorders out and were searching for human life-signs, but the interference of the anomaly skewed the scans causing false positives and numerous ambiguous readings.
Solkar was leading them through a cavern filled with various chemicals and fertilizers that the colonists used in there agricultural domes, when one of the guards stopped. He pressed a button on his tricorder and without looking up said "captain, I've got a...no it's gone again." The man turned pointing the device down a passageway to his left, paused for a moment studying his screen, then said "okay, I've got it again, it might be human"
"Where does this lead to?" Kirk asked Solkar, already moving toward the opening.
"It doesn't matter. You and your crew are not allowed there. " Solkar said flatly
Thus far the man had been obliging allowing the Enterprise crew to go after the faint signals and had even lead them down passageways that Kirk wasn't sure everybody knew about. Kirk sensed that Solkar had decided to drop all pretence.
"One or more of my crew is down there possibly and you're refusing to let me search" Kirk said. Behind him, the security guards tensed watching their Vulcan counterparts closely.
"I believe that is what I said. Captain Kirk you made a mistake coming down here a mistake you will live to regret." Before Solkar had finished speaking, the Vulcans behind him had pulled out disruptors, but the Enterprise crew was prepared for them. At the same moment they had drawn their phasers. Now both groups faced each other, each with weapons trained on the other.
Solkar didn't even look mildly intimidated. "it appears, we have a standoff, although one in which your crew stand little chance of winning. As you can obviously see we outnumber you two to one, the logical thing would be to lay down your weapons."
Kirk had also pulled out his phaser and stared at the man unflinchingly. "I think I'd like to take a few of you bastards with me if I'm going to die"
Solkar moved a half-step closer, behind Kirk the security guards shifted, uneasily. Solkar ignored the movement speaking to Kirk only. The Vulcan had the air of one who was utterly confident. "I'm not going to kill you; I think if there were any more deaths your ship would be rather suspicious. I'm going to remove you and your crew's memories, then you all will go back and tell your ship of how the others died in a shuttle craft accident and you will put any suspicions about this colony to rest. Then our plan will proceed." Solkar finished his voice icy.
"Like hell it will" McCoy said angrily to Solkar "if you think I'm just going to stand there and let you and your pointed eared henchmen, mess around in my head, you've got another thing coming! I'd rather die!'
"That can be arranged" Solkar said coolly tithe doctor.
Solkar nodded and the Vulcans fired, but the security had been prepared. They put up a valiant effort against the Vulcans, but within seconds, sheer numbers overwhelmed them. The Enterprise crew was hit by a disruptor beam, set to wide dispersal. Kirk felt himself falling. He was still conscious, but he couldn't move. He couldn't speak. As he collapsed to the ground, he realized the disruptor had been set on light stun. Light stun only temporarily paralyzed its victims leaving them fully conscious. Kirk would regain control of his body within the short time of 1-2 minutes, but by then Solkar would have accomplished what he intended to do.
Solkar loomed over Kirk. Then the Vulcan knelt down, bringing his fingers towards Kirk's temples. From the corner of his eye Kirk could see other Vulcans kneeling next to the other crew. Some of the crew had maintained more muscle control then others and were trying to weakly move away from the Vulcans reaching hands, others mumbled words of defiance. Kirk struggled to move putting all of his willpower into the effort, but his body refused to respond. Nearby he heard one of the security guards began scream, a bloodcurdling yell of agony, then abruptly the man fell silent.
At that moment Solkar made contact. The room blurred around Kirk, noise dimmed and he felt a powerful excruciating sensation in his mind. It was like somebody was driving a spike through his head. He wanted to scream but his mouth wouldn't work. The pain he felt was blinding, waves of agony rolled through him. He felt an unfamiliar force pushing against his mind trying to force his way in, desperately he tried to hold it back. The force increased ripping aside the barriers he tried to erect causing intense pain in the process, then suddenly the sensation ceased.
Sound came back so abruptly it was like somebody had turned the volume up full blast. Kirk, struggling for breath, opened his eyes, and for a moment he thought he was blind. Then he saw a faint glow ahead, that quickly winked out and he realized the room was pitch black. Around him he heard the sounds of disruptors firing and saw flashes of light fly overhead. He barely had time to register what was going on before he felt strong hands dragging him to his feet. The person gave him no time to get his bearings and instead pulled him along. Kirk was pleasantly surprised to find he could move albeit unsteadily. Blindly he followed the person for several steps, before the lights came on. He blinked in surprise staring at the person in front of him. It was a Vulcan woman. The woman glanced up at the lights and muttered in a language that sounded like Vulcan. Kirk couldn't speak much Vulcan, but to him it sounded like a curse. He was faintly surprised. Vulcans had curse words? He'd have to ask Spock.
"Here" the woman said passing him a phaser. It was his; she must have snatched it off the floor when she had gotten Kirk. Kirk glanced around quickly, taking in his surroundings. They were in a large cavern lined with crates. He was gratified to see that as far as he could tell his crew had also been rescued, although one of them, an ensign Stehl appeared to be unconscious and was being half-carried half-dragged by two guards. Several Vulcans were there also, he realized they were apparently on the Enterprise crew's side as they weren't firingand a few were helping support some of the guards who were still dazed.
Before he could say anything, Kirk heard the sound of disruptor fire close by, then a Vulcan entered the room. If Kirk had, any doubts about which side this man was on they were put to rest as the Vulcan spotted Kirk and fired. Kirk and the other crew barely had enough time to seek shelter behind the crates that lined the room, before Vulcans spilled into the room and disruptor fire filled the air. Blast scorched the walls leaving blackened streaks behind. Kirk leaned around the crate he was sheltering behind, and squeezed off a blast catching a Vulcan in the chest. The man fell, but he was just one of at least twenty Vulcans that were still firing on them. "Any ideas?" Kirk said to the Vulcan woman crouched beside him, as he fired again and the shot went wide. He was forced to quickly duck around the crate to avoid a blast which had been aimed for his head and instead passed uncomfortably close to his ear. The beam hit a nearby container causing it to explode.
The woman fired her disruptor, and Kirk heard a yell, then she replied "we have to get to that door it has a keypad that I can temporarily jam. And the door is strong enough that it should take then several minutes to cut through, which should allow us to put some distance between them and us."
Kirk said "I take it you're a part of T'kas' group."
The woman nodded as she fired the said "we are, one of Solkar's guards alerted us to what was happening and we came to assist you"
"You came just in time" Kirk said shuddering slightly as he remembered what Solkar had intended to do.
The woman nodded and said "be prepared to move" She made a gesture to a Vulcan that was crouched nearby and Kirk watched as the man spread the signal. The weapon fire intensified, the woman remained crouched where she was still firing. Kirk shot a man hitting him in the chest and then ducked back to avoid a return shot. "When are we—" he began.
"Now—" the woman said grabbing his arm. he followed her at a run towards the door . The others were following, two guards hung back slowed down by the weight of their unconscious friend. The others laid down cover fire. Then they were at the door, it slid open and they hurried in. Kirk was the last person, as the door closed he felt a beam pass above his head searing the tips of his hair, then something hot and wet splash across his face.
One of the guards, who had been carrying the unconscious man, had been hit by a disruptor blast, full on in the face. It had taken his head off. The guard stood there for a moment, and then his hands loosened dropping the unconscious ensign to the floor. His body slowly toppled forward onto the other guard who had helping carry the unconscious guard. The headless corpse twitched and jerked, gouts of hot blood jetted out his neck spraying them all. The guard the body had fallen on turned pure white. He was completely still for a moment then pushed the guard's corpse away from him. It fell to the ground with a dull thud still twitching. The guard backed up muttering "oh, sh-! Oh sh-!" repeatedly.
His entire shirt front was splattered with blood, his face was dripping with it, and his hands shook. The others turned to look and Kirk saw the colour drain out of all their faces, even some of the Vulcans looked shocked. One guard, who Kirk recognized as Lieutenant Roth, said "what the f-! is that Nelson?!"
Behind them a grating sound started, they were starting to cut through the door. . The Vulcan women who had finished jamming the lock turned away from the key pad and stood up saying "we should go. The door will only hold for a few minutes more"
"will you give me a minute" McCoy growled at the women, he was kneeling next to the unconscious guard doing his best to avoid looking at the still twitching corpse of Nelson, or the pieces of his head which had scattered across the corridor.
"What's wrong with him Bones?" Kirk asked wanting to have something to focus on other than what had just happened.
"I don't exactly know, I think it's a type off neural shock" McCoy said giving the guard a hypo. He checked his readings on his tricorder and frowned.
"Can you get him awake?" Kirk said wiping the blood off his face with a sleeve.
"That's what I'm trying to do, Jim!" McCoy said angrily giving the guard another hypo.
A few seconds later the man's eyes fluttered open. Ensign Stehl blinked confusedly for several moments then said "where am I? What's going on?"
McCoy looked up at Kirk and said "I told you I'd wake him up; I didn't say he'd be any help if he woke up."
McCoy looked back at the guard and said irritability "You're a security guard in a compound where people are trying to shoot and kill us, I suggest you get up". Without giving the man a chance to move on his own McCoy dragged him to his feet.
Stehl looked at McCoy confusedly his voice slow "what am I supposed to do?"
McCoy glanced back at Jim and said "he's going to be like this for a while" Then he turned back toward the guard and said slowly as if speaking to an idiot child "you follow him" he pointed at another guard then continued "and do as you're told" .
"I still don't understand." Stehl said. He was silent for a moment and he looked down at his shirt which was soaked with blood. Then said "why am I wet, what is this?—Oh, god is that somebody" he had spotted the headless corpse on the floor. "Is this blood? I've got blood on me!" The guard stopped talking he looked sick. his face turned pale and he swayed on his feet looking like he would faint.
McCoy reached out and with one hand steadied Stehl, with the other he searched his medical bag, and triumphantly pulled out a hypo and pressed it to the side of the guard's neck saying as he pressured it in "I did not just wake you up for you to pass out again." The guard grew steady as the shot took effect, but his face was still extremely pale. After a moment of thought McCoy let go of the guard and walked over to the one who was still standing there looking at the body of his friend. He had stopped swearing and now looked like he too was about to pass out. McCoy gave him a shot also.
Around them the grating sound intensified and a fine wisp of smoke began to filter through the door seam. Kirk glanced at it and said "let's go" the others moved forward.
Nelson's friend took one last look at the corpse then, shouldered his weapon and walked on. As Stehl passed he stopped and said "we're going to leave him behind?"
"Yeah, you idiot. He's dead. We can't take him with us, unless you want to wind up like him" Lieutenant Roth said angrily pushing past Stehl.
McCoy replied in a more conciliatory tone pulling the guard along "We'll have to leave him. He'd slow us down too much."
As McCoy passed the Vulcan woman he glared at her and said "your people have a lot to answer for!" Then he moved on.
The group of people moved through the corridors trying to put as much distance as possible between them and their pursers. In the distance they could hear the sound of weapon fire and occasional shots. "There are other's that do not agree with the plan. We have did not want to resort to violence, but the others have given us no choice. They are determined to take over your federation at all costs. Still we are outnumbered here, it is probable that our efforts are in vain." As they turned a corner the women continues. "My name is T'Suna I'm a cousin of T'Kas, I heard that Silkar was holding someone in the cellblocks, it's quite possible that they are your people."
At that moment one of the guards who had managed to retain his tricorder in the commotion of the past hour halted in front of a passage way, they were at a crossroads with tunnels leading off to three passageways. "Sir, I'm picking up a life sign-reading, it's human , and somewhere this way" the man said pointing with his tricorder.
"Can you pinpoint it?" Kirk asked
The guard shook his head "it's too faint"
Kirk was about to reply when a disruptor sizzled past. They ducked into the passageway the guard had been standing in front off, narrowly avoiding the beams of disruptor fire that flew by.
The vulcans and Enterprise crew fired who had taken the tricorder said "they must be down here I'm definitely getting a human reading, but I can't tell how many"
Kirk grunted in acknowledgement as he fired and struck a Vulcan. As he ducked back into the passageway, somebody cried out to his left and he glanced back and saw a Vulcan lying sprawled on the floor , her eyes were wide and staring, a gaping hole was in her chest. Green blood pooled around her. T'Suna looked at the woman for a moment, her face, fighting to avoid showing some emotion. Then, she turned to look at Kirk,. He saw her expression and said "you knew her".
T'Suna looked at him and swallowed before saying "that was my sister." She paused before continuing in a determined voice "This is our fight, our responsibility, enough of your people have died. Go find the others and get away from here."
Kirk hesitated. It wasn't in his nature to walk away from a fight, however bad the odds and he didn't trust these people. But the current circumstances didn't give him much choice. He nodded at the women, then at a signal from Kirk his crew set off moving at a run. As they ran the sound of weapon fire grew fainter. The passed more doors some open as they walked by they quickly checked for life signs. They had been walking for several minutes when McCoy at his tricorder intently. "I can finally make out the reading, it's only one person but they're really close, I thi—"
He was interrupted by a slow confused voice. Stehl was slightly ahead of them staring into a room , he spoke his voice slow , and confused. "I think.-I see something" he paused then said "somebody's asleep" He stared through the door. The others moved forward to look into the room, weapons at the ready. On the ground was a girl, her reddish-brown fanned around her, her face was pale. She was sprawled on the ground her limbs stiff around her. Her chest was badly burned, by what appeared to be disruptor blast. The others stared at her in horror. Stehl looked at her and said thoughtfully "she's pretty". Roth looked at him askance and snorted.
McCoy walked over to the girl and bent down checking for a pulse then stood up saying quietly as he walked away "She's dead; it was ensign O'Connor." The others started to walk away, but Stehl stopped refusing to move. He looked at the others and asked "why are we leaving her? We should—"
Roth turned around losing any patience he had with the dazed guard and shouted angrily "because she's dead you damn moron! D-E-A-D dead!" In the distance disruptor fire which had been faint moments ago , now could be heard very close, screams were interspersed.
The guard's face looked like a frightened little boy's. He stared at Roth , then around at everybody else and said "why is everybody fighting? Why are they angry and shouting?" Then he started to cry.
"Oh this is just great" Roth said angrily, looking at Stehl in disgust. "Can somebody shut him up or I swear I'm going to shoot him, at the rate he's going next he's going to be sucking his thumbs and singing nursery rhymes." Roth glared at the guard who was now sobbing loudly and said "it's embarrassing he's acting like a freaking three-year –old!"
McCoy turned away from where he was quieting the sobbing guard and said "Will you shut the f— up. He's got neural shock you should be happy it isn't you or who knows what you'd be doing!"
Roth turned red and was about to say something when a piercing scream rent the air. It sounded like a women. McCoy pointed his tricorder toward the direction of the noise and looked at it intently for a moment, then said "it's definitely this way. As the woman screamed again they set off at a run, Kirk had no idea what was happening. He just hoped they would get there in time to save whoever it was. He had no desire to see another dead body.
Next update will be March 5th. Sorry for the late update, I had a few internet issues. Hope you like the update and as always thanks to favouriters, followers, and reviewers.