Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek.

Author's Note: Couldn't help but update twice in one day. :) Thank you DLB48 for the beta reading!

Chapter 17

"Commander, you will walk with us to the Green Gate. If you show the slightest hesitation, I will put you down." Jim hissed the words. "Move."

Memphis set keen eyes on Jim and Spock's interaction. Memphis wasn't stupid, but Memphis kept some trust in that the drug affected Jim enough to turn on his own crew.

This was Memphis' mistake, and the very one Jim's plan required. That, and Spock's sense of logic.

So now that the commander was, well, probably colder than he ever wanted to be, Spock's survival was dependent upon a trance.

Which, he should be doing now, but for some reason was delaying it.

Spock, c'mon.

Spock looked warily at him, as he had been almost the entire time they'd been standing outside the shuttlecraft.

Jim would have to continue acting as a "distressed captain" so he moved behind his first officer and pressed the phaser into Spock's back. "Move!"

He cursed his shaking hand and his pounding chest. Jim was extremely grateful to Spock for setting the drug's effects back enough for him to at least be on the same side as his crew. The way his emotions were playing him, though, was distracting.

And Jim hated it.

He hated the fact that his emotions had been compromised since the beginning of the day. More than being drugged. More than revealing his secrets.

It was dealing with the repercussions of it all. Like now, Memphis' betrayal cut him to the quick and set a heaviness on his soul.

Bones would order him to stop being so melodramatic.

Jim would reply with some smart-ass comment, and they'd move on.

In truth, Jim would have to do something drastic to get his mind off everything when they got back to the Enterprise.

Jim rephrased his thought. He wanted to do something drastic, as he used to. But now, he couldn't do what he usually did without distancing himself from Carol or sacrificing his reputation as captain.

The woman with the strawberry scent would not put up with any sort of one night stand.

"Captain?" His rank was spoken with sarcasm.

Memphis.

It irked Jim that he still drifted off so much. He better up his game.

"Do you still want Lenore aboard the Enterprise?"

It was a brooding look which Memphis gave Jim, as if he did not believe Kirk could no longer follow through with his promise.

"Yes." It was spoken with half-hidden passion. The glimpse into Memphis' feelings for this female was gone in an instant, but Jim saw it.

"If you dare cross me again, she won't have a chance," Jim said. "And if I allow Lenore to beam up to the Enterprise, Kevin goes with her. Understood?"

"You're in no position to change the plan to that."

"You have no other plan, do you Memphis? This is it." Jim continued holding his phaser against Spock as the walked towards the facility.

"You can't if you're dead."

"No, but Spock can."

"Is that why you cuffed him? I have to pretend you kidnapped your first officer?"

"You don't have to pretend anything." Jim chuckled. "He is kidnapped."

Spock chose that moment to fall to the ice and begin his trance. At least we're halfway there.

"Great, Captain." Memphis retorted. "Your plan just backfired."

"No, time for plan B."

Which is your plan, Memphis. Jim was prepared to be taken in by Memphis. It was part of Jim's own strategy, after all. Spock would be in good hands once Ayhan or another child sensed the Vulcan was out here.

Jim knelt beside Spock to investigate his heart rate. Slower. His face looked peaceful. The first officer was down enough to look unconscious.

Good.

"He looks dead." Memphis inspected Spock, kneeling beside him as well. Memphis snatched his hand from Spock's skin. "He's freezing."

"The cold can kill a Vulcan, you know."

"Pity, since we have to leave him."

"Yes, a pity," Jim responded in kind.

Memphis cocked an eye at him. Jim wondered what training Memphis had. Definitely more than just Kodos and the Academy.

"You do understand I have to take you in, Lenore in the picture or not. I think you'll save her anyways."

"Yes, I know." Jim couldn't look at Memphis without seeing the thirteen-year old he knew on Tarsus IV. It was in his eyes still. Just like it was in Jim's. Who was he kidding...he'd save Memphis, too, if at all possible. Forgiveness might take awhile, but maybe Memphis' brainwashing, or whatever this was, had a chance of being overhauled.

"You put on a decent show," Memphis said. "But we both know what will happen."

Memphis pulled a phaser from under his shirt. The tremor of Jim's hands was too great now for Jim to pull his own.

This was it.

Memphis fired. Jim fell to the ice, hitting it hard on his side. His head slammed into the cold sheet right beside Spock. Jim tried to catch his breath as darkness waved in and out. Pain coursed through him again as Memphis fired a second time.

The stun provoked a few of the effects Jim and Spock had fought hard to suppress- adrenaline and strength. Jim groaned and set himself on his back, gravity doing more of the work than anything. He was in a vacuum- the warbling of Memphis' voice in the background as his body worked feebly to get up when another stun hit him. The shaking of his wrist distracted him until Jim saw the bones distorted once again from his fall. Did shards of ice slice their way into his shoulder?

Another fire and this time Jim felt nothing.

A man other than her father placed Lenore on a backless chair touching Kevin's. Bile entered her throat when she got closer to Kevin and saw his hellish wounds. Without a second glance at Kevin, Anton Karidian proceeded to curl and uncurl the rope in his hands. Lenore braced herself for whatever was to come.

Being tied up by your own father had its benefits.

For one, Anton Karidian made the knots looser than Kevin's. The rope didn't cut her circulation nor did it cut and bleed her wrists.

Secondly, he showed remorse, at least at first. That look of sadness in his eyes- it worked its way into her heart for a moment. He wrenched it away when he slapped her and cursed her for sneaking up on him.

Lastly, it initiated sympathy from the other prisoner. Hearing Kevin utter his own words of encouragement to her tore her soul. That he did not hate her was amazing.

For all three reasons Lenore decided she was a bit touched in the head now for making up such ridiculous notions.

Yes, her mind began to race with craziness and loneliness but mostly craziness.

The crazy part told her not to give up. Not just yet. Kevin was in no position to do anything for either of them. The weight of his body was a definite clue to that. Not to mention his physical state. That was when her father had slapped her. Talk about a return to reality.

Lenore pitied Kevin's poor posture which would worsen his wounds.

"Kevin," she whispered as she turned her head sideways. "Lean against me."

He shook his head. It was subtle, but she saw the effort. He responded...good.

"Please, maybe it will help you get some strength back." Her father paced back and forth and Lenore spoke again, relieved he was some distance from his prisoners. "I won't break. I promise."

Per her last request, Kevin leaned against her. It was quite the different posture than she'd seen him with since she sneaked through the corridor. Head forward, slouched. He was heavy, almost floundering in his backless chair until she told him to relax.

Now at least Kevin could look around, maybe help her plan an escape.

Only two other men were in the basement with her father. They stood on opposite sides of the only door. In Lenore's peripheral vision, she saw various instruments on a steel table.

Torture devices. A few hypos. Not all were sterile. Lenore gagged.

She continued to peer into every darkened corner from her seat. Her father seemed to be in his own place, muttering and pacing. Once he put his hands on his face and she thought for sure he was going to break down.

A few minutes and he started his cycle of muttering and pacing again.

"He's coming," Kevin rasped to her.

"What?"

"Kirk." His mouth almost touched her face as they both tried to move their heads towards each other. Now she could see his swollen eyes and the small glint in them.

"To save us?"

"Yes. Kirk...will come." Kevin swallowed. It was a painful task, Lenore pondered, as the scientist winced and coughed up blood.

Minutes passed. Probably hours. Lenore lost track of time but she did not lose track of her father's presence. He had not come close to her since he'd tied her. She was thankful for that because it meant Kevin's torture was paused.

Oh, Kevin.

He'd fallen asleep just seconds ago. His head tilted then pressed against her shoulder. Lenore shifted her own weight to care for Kevin's bloodied face. She would help him be as comfortable as possible.

The time given to her as they sat there waiting allowed her imagination to stir. She wished, oh how she wished, that she and Kevin had not met like this. She wished that Anton Karidian had never been born.

That meant Lenore Karidian would not have been born and at this moment, that part of her imagination accepted that thought.

All to make this young man's life better.

And erase thousands of other deaths.

Captain Kirk, please come.

She pleaded, she cried, she begged as silently and quietly as she could.

When she could not stand watching her father pace any longer and Kevin's weight became a permanent fixture to her shoulder and back, Lenore's plea was answered.

Captain Kirk's half nakedness as Memphis dragged him into the basement dropped Lenore's heart to her feet. She saw Kirk's scars, his wounds more hellish than Kevin's.

And Memphis. She'd always known he was a scoundrel, but someone capable of doing such an atrocity? He did not look at Lenore as he settled into obeying orders given by her father.

She began to know dread as it clawed its way from her toes to her fingers.

"Kevin," she cried. She literally cried, not caring if her father, or Memphis, heard her. He'd jerked up and eyes went wide as he saw the proceedings. Lenore had not looked over since she heard clangs but now she felt compelled to watch after seeing Kevin's reaction.

Lenore's tears continued to fall as her own eyes followed the movement in the only lit area of the basement.

Then she wished her father would go to hell.

Their chance of rescue was stretched out in chains.