Spock hurried through the corridors, allowing nothing to stop him. Most Vulcans in the compound moved out of his way. Either the expression on his face warned them that he wasn't to be bothered or they sensed something about him that brooked no resistance, but either way he faced little opposition. The few that disturbed him were quickly dispatched with either a stun or a neck pinch if he was close enough. He finally arrived at the cell blocks, the emotions in his head had reached a crescendo minutes earlier before dying down into a chaotic, barely palpable mass that washed in and out of his mind like a tide. Spoke didn't know what the change meant, but he knew that whatever Silkar had done or was still doing to Uhura, he would pay for.

Two guards stood in front of a cell door, they turned as they saw him approach. One opened his mouth about to say something, when he dropped to the floor as a phaser blast hit him squarely in the chest. The other tried to reach for his disruptor, and was bringing it around to fire when he collapsed; the disruptor fell from his hand and skittered across the ground. In the distance Spoke could hear the sound of weapon fire, but he didn't care his mind was solely focused on Uhura. His fingers race across the key pad, disarming the door and the cell door slid open.

Uhura was on the floor, sprawled ou,t her clothes were dishevelled, her form still.

Spock kneeled next to her and scooped her up gently in his arms. "Nyota" he whispered brushing her hair back from her face, at his voice, her eyes fluttered open.

She stared at him blankly for a moment, confusion racing across her face "Spock?" She gazed at him her eyes questioning , like she couldn't believe he was real "Spock" she said again then she crumpled in his arms tears running down her face in rivulets. Spoke pressed her to him, holding her tightly. Through the link they had , he could feel her emotions and thoughts. Where they had been once so crisp and clean, neatly ordered and almost logical for a human. They were now a chaotic jumble, of images, thoughts and emotions that he could barely begin to decipher.

What had Silkar done to her?

Spoke held her as she cried not wanting to let her go; as her sobs intensified he stroked her hair, and then ran a hand down the side of her face and let his fingers trail down to caress her neck that small motion caused something to change. She shuddered and he felt her body stiffen. Through the link in their minds he felt a bright spark of fear push its way through her disorganized consciousness, forcing its way up like a drowning man breaking the surface in desperate search of air. Then she started to struggle against him.

"Spock, Let me go" her voice was quiet, but intense "let me go."

"Nyota, what's wrong?" he said

"Let me go Spock!" she said pushing at him, hitting him, trying to pull away, struggling like a wild animal.

"Let me go, Let me go, LET ME GO!" she screamed pulling away as he released her. She backed up until she was against the wall of the cell her breath coming in terrified jerks.

Spoke moved toward her, his hand outstretched

"Nyota, Please?"

She gazed at him clearly frightened and screamed "don't touch me! don't touch me," the last word was almost a whimper.

He stopped moving closer, his face confused. "Uhura we have to leave here, come on." She didn't move. Her entire body trembled, tears ran down her face. She stared at him like he was a monster.

"Please Nyota; Silkar could be back any minute, we must leave"

"To late for that "a voice said from behind them. Spoke turned around Silkar was framed in the door; in his hand was a disruptor but he had it pointed at Uhura not Spock.

"Give me your weapon" Silkar said coming closer the disruptor still trained unerringly on Uhura. Spock handed over the phaser, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Silkar wouldn't hesitate to kill Uhura if he got the slightest reason to.

Silkar took the phaser and tossed it to the side, then did the same with his own disruptor.

He saw the faint expression of surprise on Spock's face and said "To kill you with weapons would be too easy, too impersonal; I want to feel it when you die… I want you to feel it"

Silkar walked the few paces till he was standing in front of Spock. They both stood staring at each other. Silkar looked at Spoke's face, and then a cruel amused smile crossed his face as he saw the fury in the Vulcan's gaze. "You truly do love her; perhaps you're not as Vulcan as you say you are."

The only sound that broke the silence that followed was Uhura's sobs. Then without warning, but simultaneously Silkar and Spoke both raised a hand and made contact with the other's temple.

Instantly the cell was obliterated from view, Silkar's mind invaded with astonishing swiftness. It was a dark and slippery thing, filled with sick malevolent hatred and utterly sure of its victory. He ruthlessly pushed through Spock's mind leaving destruction in his wake. Then Silkar felt an obstacle, he pushed at it, but it refused to move then it grew larger, pushing him back like the shockwave from an explosion, the wave continued advancing. Spoke was now in Silkar's mind, and he ran through causing more damage then Silkar ever had. His fury and anger was more powerful, than any force Silkar had ever encountered. Spock reached out and began cutting off Silkar's life force, blotting out the consciousness of the man. As Spock felt the other Vulcan start to fade he realized he didn't want Silkar to die this way, in a clean sanitized manner, on his own terms.

Spock wanted to watch him die slowly, painfully; he wanted him to feel the pain he had caused so many others...especially Uhura.

Spock withdrew from Silkar's mind, and the Vulcan stumbled dazed, then collapsed. Silkar tried to move, but Spock was already there. He hit the Vulcan over and over again, letting go of all restraint that his training had imposed on him and allowed the millennium's old ancestral heritage of fury and violence that all Vulcans had possessed before it was covered by a veneer of logic to flow through his veins.

Somebody was shouting in the background but he ignored them. As Silkar gasped weakly, green blood running down his face, Spock reached down and grabbed the man's throat and began to slowly squeeze. He heard somebody say "enough Spock, enough" and try to pull his arm away, and he swung out with his other hand catching the other person across the face. He heard the person swear and felt other hands trying to pull him away. He didn't care who it was. He didn't care what he did. He just wanted Silkar to die. Silkar's eyes bulged out; his face was turning a sickly shade of green. He had raised his arms up and was futilely trying to loosen Spock's grip, before he weakened and his arms fell down, but still he clung to life.

"Spock stop! No!" the voice cut through his consciousness, bringing him back. Uhura?

"Spock don't do it" He felt his grip loosen at her words, he turned toward her.

"What he did to yo—" Spock began angrily

"Just leave him, Okay Spock, you're better than that, you're not like him, just leave him" Spock stared at her for a moment then he slowly released Silkar.

He felt somebody's hands on him and looked up into the face of an apprehensive security guard "I'm perfectly in control of myself" he said to the man "you may let go" The guard said "uh, yes sir" and loosened his grip on Spock, then took a few steps back looking nervous. Silkar lay on the ground, his breathing harsh and coming in spurts as he struggled for air.

Spock stood up aware of the people gathered watching him. "Finally somebody got through to you" He heard McCoy say, beside the doctor stood Kirk, who was pinching a bloody nose. Kirk stared at Spock and raised an eyebrow in an almost Vulcan way "was that what you were going to do to me on the bridge?" Kirk said looking from Spock to Silkar and back. "Thank god your father was there"

Spock looked at Kirk and noting his injured nose and a bruise on his face said "are you okay captain"

"I'm fine, although it's not every captain who gets belted across the face by his first officer, even though I'm sure a lot of first officers have wanted to." Kirk said letting go of his nose tentatively and checking to see if it had stopped bleeding.

Spock felt a flash of guilt as he remembered striking somebody is his fervour to strangle Silkar and realized the person had been Kirk.

"I'm sorry captain, I didn't intend to cause you-"

"That's what everyone says" Kirk quipped looking somewhat amused, as he gingerly moved his nose deciding the bleeding had stopped "anyway my nose has been broken many times before, you never know that blow might have actually put it back into alignment". Spock stared at Kirk for a moment wondering was this an incident of human humour. Outside the sound of weapon fire grew closer.

"Can we get a move on here before we get blown to bloody bits" McCoy said crossly glancing out the cell door.

Kirk irritably glanced at McCoy and then said to Spock "where are the others? We found Ensign O'Connor's body a few cells back but where's everybody else?"

Spock quickly summarized what had happened.

"So they should be back at the ship by now. Great we can leave this godforsaken planet" McCoy said gratefully. From behind them they heard a weak laugh.

Silkar spoke his voice rasping "the others are not back on your ship, they are dead." The man coughed then continued. " We detected a shuttle leaving, the compound and all out shuttles have a tracker in them , T'Kas thought she had deactivated it, but I never trusted her so she didn't have all the codes. We waited until the ship left then I disabled the helm and Navigation and the shuttle crashed into a cliff." The Vulcan stopped speaking still smiling as he gasped for breath. He tremulously propped himself against a cell wall.

Uhura gasped "they're all dead?"

"They're all dead, as you all will soon be and—" he turned to Uhura his face cruel "even if you do not die you will think about me every day of your life and remember our ...time together."

Spock moved towards Silkar, his face a mask of fury, when several hands caught the back of his shirt holding him back. "Spock leave him!"

Kirk's tone was cool as he asked Silkar "where did they crash?"

Silkar coughed "it doesn't matter, you won't find them in time anyway, this planet is breaking apart and you all will die soon." The man dissolved into mirthless laughter

Kirk turned away in disgust.

"Spock you did the geological survey what's the nearest—" Kirk suddenly broke off as he saw a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye "Uhura!"

All the others quickly turned, while they had been talking Uhura had moved toward one of the fallen weapons; she now held a disruptor in her hands and stood in front of Silkar. Before they could move or do anything Uhura fired. Silkar gasped once, then slumped over a gaping hole in his chest, a fine wisp of smoke rising from the wound.

Everybody stared at Uhura; Their faces were openly shocked. Uhura stood with the weapon still pointed at Silkar, her hands trembling. Spock moved to take it away "Nyota " he began. She turned at the sound of his voice and now the weapon was pointed at him . Her hands trembled, but she held the weapon firmly. Her eyes were wild, distant; as she stared at him it was like she was seeing someone else.

Spock froze staring at her, Uhura's finger shook on the firing switch.

"Give it here Uhura, give it here" McCoy said gently coming behind her and taking the weapon from her hands. As he did so he glanced at Spock and saw that the Vulcan's face was hurt and stunned, pain clearly etched his features and McCoy saw a glimpse of something that startled and disturbed him. He preferred to think of Vulcans as cold and emotionless it made it easy for him to hate them, but the look on Spock's face was definitely not cold or emotionless. it was filled with more emotion than McCoy would have ever thought possible for anyone to feel.

Spock stared at Uhura for a moment longer, then his face blanked , going colder and more Vulcan than McCoy had ever saw him.

Outside the sound of weapon fire was perilously close

"I believe now would be a good time to leave captain" Spock said breaking the silence and turning away from Uhura, At the sound of his voice the others turned away also, their faces still shocked.

"Uh- Yeah, -yeah let's go" Kirk said still dazed by what he had just witnessed. The security moved toward the door, Uhura followed walking beside McCoy, she stared ahead looking numb, her expression blank. She didn't look at Spock as she passed him. Kirk glanced at his friend. "Spock-?" he began then stopped. He didn't know what to say.

Spock replied to Kirk's unsaid query. "I'm fine Captain" then he walked past Kirk and out into the corridor, his walk was controlled and steady, his body was relaxed, but his voice betrayed him. He sounded anything but fine.

Next Chapter update will be March 12th with a two day margin of error either way. Thanks for the review , follows, and favourites. enjoy!