Hello everyone, sorry for the long break, this summer has been a little nuts and I haven't been in the mood for writing.
Thank you to all who have read, alerted, favored, and reviewed. It means a lot that you are interested in this story and want to see where Charlie and the crew of the Enterprise are headed.
As always the characters and worlds belong to the creators and owners. I just own Charlie.
The descent down to the planet seemed to go past in the blink of an eye. Charlie caught of glimpse of the dark surface from her seat, and got the distinct impression that they were descending into Hell. A fitting description since they were about to hunt down and capture a Devil.
Charlie snorted at her own thoughts drawing the attention of her seat mates. She ignored them and began to calculate the number of ways that Kirk's plan could fail; she reached 16 before the shuttle shuttered at its reentry into the atmosphere of Qo'nos.
Kirk ordered Spock to scan the surface of the planet and surrounding air space to confirm they had arrived undetected. After five minutes of nothing on the scanners but the old ruins of an ancient city far below on the planet, Charlie let herself relax slightly. So far so good, no one is shooting at them yet, Charlie thought, maybe they would actually make it off this rock in one piece.
Charlie heard Kirk order Sulu to begin transmitting their message to Khan.
"Attention John Harrison, this is Captain Hikaru Sulu…"
It came in loud and clear over the communication system, Charlie had little doubt that Khan would take the challenge, this was after all what he wanted. It was no fluke that he had chosen Qo'nos as his bolt hole, there was little Starfleet could do, they couldn't demand the Klingons to hand him over, that would force them to admit his escape, showing their weakness to a possible enemy. All they could do was send a starship after him, and hope that the Captain and crew wouldn't spark an interplanetary conflict.
Charlie just couldn't figure out why Khan would leave Earth and his enemy, Marcus. Charlie knew Khan's very nature would force him to plan for every contingent before he made his first move. So why flee half way across a galaxy, when you had the advantage and your enemy was reeling from two major attacks. Khan wasn't stupid; he knew Marcus wouldn't come after him himself, so why did he want to draw a starship so far way from Earth, what could he possibly want?
Charlie mulled over the mystery that was Khan's mind, trying to figure out what she could have missed that could clue her into this complex and deadly game Khan and Marcus seemed to be playing, using her and the Enterprise as pawns.
"…if you test me, you will fail."
Charlie couldn't help but be impressed at the conviction and authority Sulu managed to convey. He would make a good leader one day; she just hoped that they all lived to see it.
The two minutes Sulu had given Khan to respond quickly ran out and still nothing indicating Khan's position. Charlie knew they would have to be patient, they had set the bait now they would have to wait, Khan wouldn't reveal himself if he thought he had the advantage.
Charlie could hear Uhura getting worked up about something; she wondered which one of the men had managed to piss the language expert off.
"You didn't seem to care."
Could have been either one of them with that kind of comment but as Charlie listened to the conversation it became clear that Spock was the target. Charlie didn't know what had prompted the Lieutenant to unleash her emotional tirade on the half-Vulcan, but they didn't have time for this. Personal stuff needed to be dealt with, she would never deny that but not when you are on a mission on a hostile world, trying to capture a man more intelligent and skilled then you were. Charlie wasn't arrogant or stupid enough to underestimate Khan's skills and genius or her own short comings, but once you acknowledge them you can you use them to your advantage. And Charlie would use hers to her full advantage.
Charlie released the straps holding her in the seat, gaining a weird look from her seat mates, and made her way to the front of the shuttle, she managed two steps before she was thrown off her feet and into the wall.
"What the hell was that?"
Charlie struggled to her feet and pausing a few seconds as the inside of the shuttle seemed to spin around her. She groaned as she raised a hand to her head, feeling a large knot beginning to form at her temple.
"Klingons!" Kirk yelled back, making Charlie's head ache more.
"This ship has no offensive capabilities."
"It's got us; give me all six fuel cells."
"Aye, Captain."
Charlie had finally managed to get into the cockpit and had braced herself between Uhura's and Spock's chairs. She clung tightly to the back of Kirk's chair as he maneuvered the ship in between the Klingon's ships avoiding their continual weapons fire and the structures of the planet. Had Charlie not been focusing on trying to stay up right she would have been impressed by Kirk's piloting skills.
"Commander Archer it is unwise and unsafe for you to be out of your seat, please return at this time."
Charlie quickly glanced back at Spock, "Is that an order Commander?"
Spock must have heard something in her tone because he was smart enough not respond.
"Yeah, didn't think so."
There was a near miss almost sending Charlie off her feet again.
"Commander."
Charlie and Spock both looked back to the two men looking at little green at the back of the shuttle, one was holding something in his hand.
"Here, this might help."
He tossed the object to Charlie, it was a harness with a portable rigging system attached, she quickly attached the rigging to the back of Kirk's chair and looped the harness around her waist, probably not the safest but it would keep her from been thrown around and still allow her to move.
Charlie knew she was being a backseat driver but Kirk didn't seem to mind, as he followed her suggestions and managed to keep them from being blown out of the sky.
"Kirk, double back see if you can't lose them."
Charlie clung to the back of Kirk's chair as he did a complete 180 without slowing down and flew head on into the enemy. The Klingons hadn't been expecting their prey to turn on them so the ship barely managed to get out of the way to avoid the income ship.
"Two more head this way, Kirk you have to get us out of here," Uhura was manning the sensors as Spock tried to manipulate the engines into giving up more power.
Kirk swung them back around, they hadn't managed to get rid of any of their pursuers but the maneuver had managed to give them more distant between them.
Charlie was leaning over Spock's shoulder trying to help him boost the engines, when the shuttle shook violently.
"Damnit."
The shuttle continued to weave in and out of the ancient structures, just barely avoiding the Klingon's weapons fire.
"They're closing fast, bearing 2.85."
"There… right there… we can lose them there."
Charlie and Spock whipped their heads up to see what Kirk was talking about, only to see a vertical passage between to massive structures, a very, very narrow vertical passage.
Spock was the first one to respond, "If you are suggesting we utilize the passage between the two approaching structures, this ship will not fit."
"Will fit."
"Captain, we will not fit."
The two structures and passage got closer and closer.
"Shit," Charlie threw herself the floor wedging herself between Kirk's chair and the console and braced her feet against the back of Spock's, hoping against hope that it would be enough that when Kirk ignored Spock's warnings and continued his suicidal maneuver, she would be thrown across the ship.
"Will fit… will fit."
It seemed to be in slow motion, as they seemed to speed up as Kirk flipped the shuttle on its side and piloted it into the gap. They were thrown around as the shuttle bounced off the walls.
Uhura let out a small scream as the grinding and sparks increased every time the shuttle made contact. Charlie too focused on not throwing up or losing her position and falling on Spock to make any comments.
What seemed to last forever, was really only seconds and they were finally free of the passage. They all breathed a sigh of relief that they weren't dead, and Charlie slowly started to pull herself up off the floor.
"I told you we'd fit."
Charlie couldn't help but roll her eyes, at Kirk's comment, as she struggled to remain up right.
"I am not sure that qualifies."
Charlie couldn't stop herself from snorting at Spock's retort. She reached over and patted Kirk on the head.
"Good job, just don't do that again."
Kirk let out a chuckle in agreement, "Let's get out of here and see if we can't find Khan."
The last word hadn't let Kirk's mouth when a bright light blinded them and the sensors began shrilling proximity alerts. They were surrounded by four Klingon ship and there was no way out. Charlie sighed, so much for leaving in one piece.
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