So sorry for the extended wait, yet again. Had some trouble at home, though hopefully it's all worked out now. Just in time for exam week, bleh. Though, one semester away from graduating, so that's a plus.
This chapter has not been beta'd so I apologize for any grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. I am in the process of finding a new beta, if anyone is interested please PM me.
Read and enjoy!
As it turned out, the combined off efforts of Chekov and Spock were needed to find the shuttle. Despite already moving in the right direction, it still took the Enterprise precious time to actually come upon the small craft.
They arrived just in time to watch the shuttle take a glancing hit from none other than a Federation ship.
Kirk swore and without hesitating gave the order to fire at the other starship.
As expected, heir shields were up, and so the shot only served as a warning and a distraction as the little shuttle gimped out of range.
Phaser fire was returned and continued between the two ships even as Uhura valiantly attempted to hail the pilot of the shuttle. She kept trying, but eventually was forced to stop when the USS Excalibur hailed the Enterprise.
Captain Meyers appeared on the screen, near frothing at the mouth in fury. "How dare you fire upon another Federation ship? I don't care who you are, Starfleet Command will have your head!"
Kirk stared at him for a moment. "As I'm sure you already know, I am Captain James T. Kirk. You fired on a shuttlecraft belonging to this ship."
Meyers glared at the young man on the screen in front of him. Pike's boy. He thought with derision. The recent Admiral never did know what was good for him, and now he was training up another one to be just like him.
"That shuttle was harboring an enemy to the Federation." Meyers finally snapped, trying to regain his cool. He was marginally successful.
Silent for a beat, Kirk asked "What is the name of this enemy?"
Meyers went equally silent. "Nikolai Morozov." He finally responded.
"And what of Doctor Niniane Sargent, his hostage?" The tension on the bridge was very tight and the prospect of further engaging a Starfleet vessel was disheartening.
In response, Meyers merely shrugged. "I was unaware she was onboard the shuttle. I assumed his copilot was another member of his team. I'm not certain of your familiarity with the mercenary tendencies of Morozov and his crew."
"Had a recent crash course in the subject. It should please you to know that I have prior orders from Starfleet Command to bring Morozov in for questioning and sentencing. With those orders in mind, we will handle the recovery of the stolen shuttlecraft, and the retrieval of both Morozov and his civilian hostage." Kirk paused for effect. "There is no need for your assistance."
Anger continued to burn in Meyers' eyes as he courteously asked "Are you certain? That is a large planet they've landed on."
Just as respectfully, Kirk responded "I have no reason to believe this task should require two starships. Even my Science Officer agrees." He gave a pointed look at Spock.
Catching the look, Spock stepped forward and said "Indeed. The Enterprise will be more than sufficient. A second starship will be a waste of resources."
Kirk pointedly added. "Besides that, I'm sure you have prior orders that take precedence."
When Meyers remained quiet for several long seconds, the bridge crew of the Enterprise waited on baited breath for his response. They were already in a very sticky situation, after firing upon a Starfleet ship. It was a situation that Kirk, with the help of Pike, was going to have to do some very fast and very fancy talking to get out of.
Finally, Meyers said "I can see your point. And," he grudgingly admitted "I do have prior orders. Happy hunting." The man sighed and the transmission ended.
"Sir?" Uhura breathed.
Misinterpreting the tone of her voice as a question instead of an attempt to gain his attention, Kirk responded with an explanation "He left because he knows where Nikolai is going to next be and –"
Uhura interrupted him. "Sir, I'm receiving transmission from the shuttle."
"Morozov?" He asked.
"No sir, I'm hearing Dr. Sargent. She has not identified herself, but I recognize her voice." Uhura paused and winced. "She's very upset and yelling. I've attempted to gain her attention, but I'm not sure she can hear me."
Frowning, Kirk ordered "What is she saying?"
Uhura sighed. "She's speaking in Paladian and there is too much for me translate, sir."
Both of Kirk's eyebrows shot up. "Oh?"
She shrugged. "She has a lot of dirt on Morozov, it seems. There were sounds of movement earlier, but now she's just dressing him down."
"Can we beam them up?" Kirk asked.
"Yes, sir."
When Uhura had heard movement, what she had been hearing was an elaborate and desperate dance of musical chairs and 'phaser keep-away' occurring in the cockpit of the shuttle.
Eventually, after Nikolai had once again kicked the discarded phaser out of Nia's reach, the Paladian resorted to putting him in a headlock. He had greater training and experience than she did, but the close quarters of the shuttle and Nia's superior strength worked greatly to her advantage.
Contrary to her mantra as the shuttle was coming down, Nia didn't try to kill Nikolai. Instead, once he was locked under her arm and unable to flee, she began to berate him on everything he had done wrong or done that had ticked her off. She didn't stop with the most recent things either, no, she continued on until she was listing each thing he had done since she'd first met Nikolai.
All Nikolai knew was that he was stuck in a compromising position and possibly being lectured to. The human male had never taken the time to learn the Paladian language, but the tone with which Nia was speaking was unmistakable. Every once in a while, the scientist even threw in a little shake when she got to a subject that particularly irked her.
Nia was so caught up in her rant, that she didn't notice until too late that she and Nikolai were being transported.
Once materialized on the pad, Nia found herself surrounding by unfamiliar security officers. With a squeak, Nia shifted her weight so that Nikolai was no longer hunched, but upright and directly in front of her as a makeshift shield.
Her eyes darted from face to face, not understanding when confusion crossed several of them.
The leader of the group lowered his phaser with a carefully murmured, "Ma'am, it's ok, you're-"
The doors to the transporter room opened and cut him off.
A very familiar blond captain stepped through and Nia shoved Nikolai away from her in relief.
Two security officers frog marched Nikolai out of the room and presumably to the brig. As they left, three more individuals stepped into the transporter room.
Nia grinned at Spock as he came to stand next to Kirk; McCoy completed the trio as he stood at Kirk's other side.
The final person to step into the room came to a stop with a foot of distance between her and Spock.
The smile on Nia's face dropped as she stared.
Blinking back the tears in her eyes, Nia's breath hitched as she began to step off the platform. "Wena," she whispered, reaching out a hand. Her foot caught on the edge of the platform, and instead of embracing her thought-to-be-dead best friend, the Paladian ended up sprawling at the half-Paladian's feet.
For a couple moments, the group was silent as a baffled Nia stared up at Wena's feet.
"I know you missed me," the smirk was evident in Wena's voice, "but kissing my feet is a bit much, don't you think?"
Looking up at Wena's mischievous expression, Nia couldn't hold back the giggle that bubbled up. In a short period of time, she was laughing so hard that the most she could do was sit up. Even as she was laughing, tears began to flow in earnest.
Wena uttered a soft, low "Oh," and settled down next to her friend. She wrapped her arms around her, taking care not to aggravate the injuries from the fire.
And so, the two sat there for several minutes, laughing and crying in the middle of the transporter room as the two of the three highest-ranking males on the ship watching with a mixture of amusement, wonder, and confusion. The third knelt down next to the pair, tricorder in hand to evaluate the health of the weeping scientist.
"Surely, this is not an occasion for tears?" Spock quietly inquired of Kirk.
"I don't know how it is with Vulcan females, but sometimes women just get so happy that instead of laughing…" He waved his hand at the two women on the floor.
"It is not logical." Spock muttered, near frowning.
Kirk almost rolled his eyes. "Get used to it, Mr. Spock. This is the better end of it. Do you know what the most common lie illogical women tell is?"
Spock merely stated "I do not."
"'I'm fine'."
Spock's eyebrow quirked, but he gave no verbal response.
McCoy snorted softly in response to his findings. His reading showed a mild concussion, bruising, and exhaustion. All things that fit with the series of events and with the emotional conditions of the woman sitting before him.
With a sight he surgeon laid his hand on Nia's shoulder. "Alright, time to get up. We need to get you fixed up in the med bay."
Nia nodded and remembered the cut underneath her lower lip. The blood had gotten smeared during the scuffle with Nikolai and was partially dry. When she touched it, her finger came away wet and with dark magenta flakes.
Suddenly, Nia found herself standing up as McCoy lifted her by the elbow. As she stood, Nia could feel her adrenaline high starting to ebb and the exhaustion setting in. Some of her aches and pains began to make themselves known. Her neck was the worst after being rattled around by the uncouth landing of the shuttle.
She realized this after she turned her head too quickly when she tried to look at the Vulcan that appeared at McCoy's side. Nia winced.
"Nikolai lands a shuttle worse than Jacek parks a hovercraft," the scientist grumbled as she rubbed her neck.
Wena smirked. "And that's saying something."
Kirk, satisfied that Nia was in safe hands, left the transporter room to head to the brig. He needed to get some answers from Nikolai, a considerably more reliable source of information that would be much easier to manipulate than the Paladian… spy. Spock followed him, something that only mildly surprised the young captain.
As Kirk expected, Nikolai Morozov was more than happy to give Kirk all the information he had due to his most recent near death experience.
Nikolai was seated in his cell, with Kirk and Spock looking through the horizontal bars at him, listening.
"We already have quite a few pieces of the story, and some assumptions that tie everything together," Kirk informed the man. "However, I would like to hear your perspective on this situation." It wasn't a request. Not really.
The mercenary stared at him, weighed his options. Saying nothing looked great at face value, but apparently his preferred status was dead. As Nikolai could see it, his best bet at getting out of this alive was to trust the famous, young Starfleet captain.
"As I'm sure you know," Nikolai started, "I'm a mercenary. I have a team. My team and I took a job for Narsow and it was a bust. Might be our fault, might not be. Either way, we were forced to do another job for Narsow as recompense."
"Crash the colony ship?" Kirk guessed.
Nikolai shook his head. "No, we were to eliminate a threat to Narsow and return stolen information."
"This is how Dr. Verde was apprehended." Spock stated.
This time the mercenary nodded. "Narsow already knew who had the stolen data and we were able to use his authority to 'officially' apprehend Wena and Nia's engineering cousins."
"See that's one thing that didn't make sense. Why were Jacek and Grego apprehended?"
"Mig had reason to believe they had gotten involved and discussed the stolen data with Wena." Nikolai told him.
Spock asked a question. "According to Mig's earlier report, the colony ship's shields failed and allowed for transport of the three individuals. Is this accurate?"
"For the most part." Nikolai snorted unceremoniously. "Mig hacked the shields to get them to shut down. Once the wonder twins got all three of them back on the colony ship, Mig most likely would have let them undo his hacking in order to maintain his cover." The man sighed. "I didn't know Wena was the traitor that Narsow was gunning for, and I don't know if Narsow knew of my history with her. I saw her and I was taken aback. A traitor? That's not Wena. Never was, never could be." Shaking his head ruefully, Nikolai added, "It was how the two engineers got the drop on my men. I didn't react accordingly and they escaped. Managed to make my ship self destruct, though how I'll never know. The three of them transported off and my crew abandoned ship. The blast caught the colony ship and forced her into an emergency landing on the nearest M class planet."
Kirk nodded as he listened. So far, everything Nikolai was giving them was making just enough sense to be true. "What happened after you had been apprehended here on the Enterprise?" Kirk asked.
"Mig received additional orders. I don't know how, so don't ask," Nikolai looked at Spock's opening mouth, "but he broke us out and was going to go after Nia. He said Wena and Nethi had already been taken care of. He also said he'd had the opportunity to reprogram one of the shuttles and had everything set up for our escape."
"What did he want with Doctor Sargent?" Spock asked.
Nikolai just shrugged again. "All I know is that she was considered a threat."
"Is that why her data was cleared from the ship's database?"
"Probably."
"What was Captain Meyers' involvement?"
"There is an Admiral working with Narsow in Starfleet. Whoever it is, Meyers is loyal to him." Nikolai answered.
"Can you give me a name?"
Nikolai shook his head.
Frustrated, Kirk realized that while the information Nikolai was giving them was clearing up a fair amount of questions, the most important questions were still being left unanswered.
"Can you tell us anything else?"
"Only that someone in Starfleet is looking to profit from the evacuation of Palad and that the stolen data was key to it." Nikolai told him.
Another dead end, Kirk thought to himself. Turning to Spock, the captain said, "We need to recover Sargent's data as soon as possible. Obviously, she found something they didn't want her to find."
Leaving the brig, Kirk was silent and he contemplated all Nikolai had told them.
Wena's story was corroborated. No surprise there, not when she finally gave them the real deal.
Someone high up in Starfleet was involved. Again, no surprise. It might even be someone that Pike personally knows.
Narsow was directly involved with events occurring on Palad, including the parasite detrimentally affecting Palad's crops. This was a more interesting connection, one that told Kirk that the data on the 'rolium' was just as important to the solution as Sargent's work was. It also meant that Henry Sargent's death was a little less of an unfortunate accident and a little too convenient in timing.
Once inside his Ready Room, the captain rubbed his face and scratch the top of his head. Spock had followed him from the brig and watched the blond man think.
"This is a mess." Kirk muttered. "So much for a simple rescue mission." He paused and swore. "We can assume our transmissions are being monitored, so contacting Pike, even in code, before we are closer to Starfleet Command is a bad idea." The young man blew out an aggravated puff of air before turning to Spock to ask, "How's Sargent?"
"Dr. McCoy sent a message that she fell asleep during treatment and is still resting in Sickbay." Spock informed him.
Kirk nodded his head slowly. The woman deserved to sleep a little while after the day she's had. Both her and the half-Paladian doctor deserved to rest for just a little while.
Spock then added, "Doctor McCoy also stated that he would inform us when she woke."
Looking up, Kirk gave the Vulcan a false smile. "Good, good." He fell quiet for about thirty seconds longer, until stating "Spock I need to attempt to retrieve Sargent's files. We are missing something, something big."
His First Officer jerked his chin in a nod, "Yes, Captain."
When he was alone, Kirk stood and began to pace. There was something missing and his instincts were going haywire as a result.
He rubbed his hands over his forehead. The trip back to Earth was going to be a long one.
STSTST
Nia's return to consciousness was a slow one. Her mind was relaxed and she felt no need to open her eyes until the noises around her signaled that she was not in her own room. Even after inspecting her surroundings, Nia was still drowsy and decided not to move. Not until McCoy decided it was time for her to get up.
She lay there for several minutes, light blanket covering her shoulders, and the quiet sounds around her acted as a sort of reassurance. There was no alarm in the murmuring voices, no anger or loud klaxons blaring through the medbay. There were no emergencies being rushed to and so Nia felt very comfortable with staying where she was. Nia simply wanted to avoid facing reality for as long as possible and even when her mind grew more and more alert, she kept her eyes closed.
At some point in time, Spock and the captain appeared in the medbay.
McCoy quickly ushered them over to her bed saying, "Over here, Jim. She's been awake for a little while now."
The other two stopped at the foot of her bed, but McCoy stopped nearer her shoulder. He gently shook her shoulder, muttering "Come on, Ms. Lazybones. You've been taking up one of my beds long enough."
Nia sighed and rolled onto her back. She looked around. "Where's Wena?" she asked.
McCoy shrugged as he stepped away, "Sent her to her own bed."
"Ah." Nia nodded.
"How are you feeling?" Kirk asked. He patted her foot gruffly.
Toes twitching Nia rolled her eyes and sat up to properly cross her legs and tuck her feet away from the captain's reach. Before she could give him a verbal response though, Nia yawned. "Sleepy," she grumbled.
He chuckled. "I can see that."
She lifted her shoulders in a 'What can you do?' form. "It's better than a 'shot by Federation starship' feeling," Nia quipped.
Grimacing, Kirk copied her shoulder movement with his own. "Yes, I suppose there is that."
Nia sighed. "Actually, if I'm to be honest, I feel as if I got stuck in the middle of a 22nd century Madonna revival."
Kirk tried to keep from laughing, but still ended up chuckling. Spock just raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not familiar with such an event," the commander stated.
Trying to explain, Kirk said, "During the 22nd century there was an uprising of Madonna impersonators."
"Including that one boy band where all the members dressed up as Madonna," Nia added.
Spock seemed to sigh, shoulders slumping, before he stated "I have found that Earth music proceeding the 19th century has exponentially decreased in quality as time increased."
Sputtering, Kirk stared at him in shock and attempted to come up with a suitable come back as Nia leaned back on her bed and shook with laughter.
"That's-that's unfair. And not true. I mean, ok so the 22nd century was a bust overall, but come on! What about the 23nd century? They've had some pretty good stuff, I think." Kirk defended, fumbling as he valiantly attempted to refute the commander's statement.
Eyebrow raised, Spock asked, "Have you listened to any Terran 23nd century music? In an attempt to improve quality, humans have adopted alien forms of music with limited success." He paused and then asked "Do you not listen to a band called Beastie Boys on occasion?" The music had been blasted out of the captain's quarters more than once.
Nia crooned, "Oh Kirk! That's 20th century!"
Fuming, Kirk muttered, "Like anyone doesn't appreciate Intergalactic." He rounded on Nia. "And Palad hasn't experienced any of the same musical mishaps that Earth has?"
She scoffed. "Ah, no. I think we have three music genres, total. And they've only gotten better as time passed and technological improvements allowed our musicians to produce better quality works."
Giving up, Kirk snapped, "Can we get back on topic please? Preferably before you two completely pick apart my taste in music?"
"Sure, sweetheart," Nia said as she patted the captain's hand condescendingly.
He glared at her in response.
"Speaking on getting back on topic," Nia piped up, "Do you know which ship it was that fired on me? I think the captain's name was Meyers?"
Kirk, sobering up, said, "Yes, he's captain of the U.S.S. Excalibur."
Nia stared at him for a moment, then pulled the thin blanket she had snuggled with up to cover her face. "You have got to be fooling me," she muttered, words muffled by the soft cloth.
"Does that name mean something to you?" Kirk asked, glancing at Spock in surprise.
Instead of Nia responding, Spock did. "I believe she is referring to her namesake. Niniane was one of the many names for the Lady of the Lake."
Kirk blinked once, twice, and then grunted. "So the Excalibur opened fire on the Lady of the Lake?" He shook his head. "I'm no longer capable of being surprised," he said.
"Don't. You'll spell yourself." Nia warned him.
"Jinx." Kirk automatically corrected.
"What?"
"The word to use is jinx, not spell."
"Oh." Nia shrugged. "Same differences." She sighed and stretched her arms out. "So I suppose you need my side of what happened?"
"It would be optimal," Spock replied.
"Alright, well I'll give you the short version." She leaned back against the mattress again. "I was thinking about Wena, upset myself and got a feeling that things were connected. I checked the shuttle bay first, only to find that I was right and Nikolai had escaped. I went after him, Mig knocked me out, I woke up on the shuttle, Nikolai rendezvoused with Meyers, Meyers fired at us, and Nikolai crash landed on the planet. Shortly after that, we were beamed aboard." The scientist looked at the Science Officer. "Does that suffice?"
He nodded. "For now." Abruptly, Spock asked, "Did you make any significant discoveries pertaining to the Paladian crop disaster?"
"Maybe," she responded. "Why?"
"Did you backup this data on any device beyond the Enterprise mainframe?" Spock asked, again speaking abruptly.
"Just with Starfleet's system, like I did before. Why, did some-," Nia's eyes grew impossibly wide. "Please tell me that Mig didn't go to my lab before punching me in the shuttle bay."
Kirk sighed. "I would if I could."
Nia swore. "All the data is gone, isn't it? All my recent research?"
"I'm afraid it is," Kirk told her sympathetically.
"Noose fungus." She blurted out.
"Pardon?"
"I was working with noose fungus. I found a species that could possibly be genetically modified to survive Paladian environments. It's not ideal, but would work as an immediate solution." Nia said quickly.
Kirk nodded. "It's a starting point."
"Darn right, it is." Nia sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"Where are you going?"
"There's work to be done." She looked at him, determination etched across her face. "I assume we'll be heading straight for Earth?"
"You assume correctly." Spock informed her. "All vital personnel were beamed aboard before we gave chase to the stolen shuttle."
Nia nodded. "Good. That means we'll get answers that much sooner." And with that, she headed for her lab without delay.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who is still following and reading this. I am glad to have captivated your interest. Please, please review! I'll admit, it's a dream to have a story gain over 100 reviews.
And considering that, I should inform you all that this story is nearing it's end. Now, don't worry I will do Spock and Nia's relationship justice... and I will have a sequel. Possibly a third, short story after that too. Don't worry, there's still a few more chapters left for "Reach For The Stars" before "Walking On The Sun" comes out.
I have a poll posted on my page. Yes, I will be posting a sequel, but I have dozens of other plot bunnies bouncing around and can't decide what to focus on. So please, take the time to vote your choices, or let me know what you want in a review or PM.