Kirk, Spock, Veelia and Uhura darted out of Spock and Uhura's quarters. Spock had protested at first, as Kirk was still technically under arrest, but had been presented with the excellent argument that Kirk was one of the few on the ship skilled enough to handle a hand to hand combat situation. Reluctantly he had given Kirk an extra weapon he kept stored in his quarters. They foursome ran into the turbo-lift - no small feat considering Veelia's wings.

"Computer!" Kirk shouted into the com, "Locate Zezian landing party"

"Zezians are in the cargo bay" the calm voice rang out.

"FUCK!" Veelia screamed.

She pulled up her forearm. It was covered in what looked like armor, but, upon closer inspection was really a con-sol. She quickly typed something into in and shouted, "Order confirmed!"

Suddenly the shock rocked the ship again.

"What the fuck was that?" Kirk asked her.

"I just blew up my shuttle. Our technology - or at least the technology I used for the shuttle is waaaaay more advanced than Zezians. It allowed me to sneak past your shields. There is NO WAY I am letting them get their hands on it. UGH- I FINALLY crack warp 7 and then poof! All gone. You really fucked up this rescue mission, Captain!

"That is a highly hypocritical position to take considering most of your technology is gleaned from our own." Spock cut in.

"Not now, Spock! Warp 7- does that even exist?"

Veelia smiled, "It does now. How do you think I caught up with you?"

The turbo-lift jerked, knocking all of them to the ground. It was stuck. The ship started to tremble again - it was clear they were being fired on.

"Captain to the bridge - what is happening?" Spock hailed.

"Sulu to Captain Spock - The Zezian landing party is dead - something blew up in the cargo bay. The Zezians are firing on us-our shields aren't holding."

"What about our weapons?" Kirk grabbed Spock's com.

"Captain? How?"

"Mr. Sulu?!"

"Not great - their ship significantly better equipped for combat. Can you get to the bridge?"

Spock grabbed him com back. "Negative, Mr. Sulu - we are trapped in the turbo-lift."

Veelia wasn't a huge fan of enclosed spaces. She closed her eyes and tried to recall what she had read about Enterprises turbo-lifts from the Captain's download. She had a perfect memory, but she had sort of glazed over that part. Suddenly it came to her. She cracked open a panel in the wall and tugged out two cords. She pulled a knife from her wings, eliciting a surprised gasp from Uhura, cut them and fused the two together.

"There!" she said, "That will unlock the doors… now we just have to pry them open!"

"How many weapons do you have in your wings?" Uhura asked.

"All of them - duh."

Kirk and Spock pulled open the lift together. They were right outside the transporter room, but still two levels down from the bridge. They were stuck. The ship continued to rock. The Zezians had caught the Enterprise off guard.

"What do we do?" Uhura asked Spock.

"Board the Zezian ship and knock out their weapons!" Kirk said darting off to the transporter room.

Veelia followed eagerly. She was starting to see why Lena was so obsessed with the Captain. They were almost the so similar - Lena would have done the exact same thing.

They reached the transporter room to find Marcus and Scotty inside.

"Jim, what are yer doing here?"

Kirk sighed.. this was getting annoying. "Leading an away team onto the Zezian ship to knock out their weapons!"

"Wha's a bloody winged daughter doin' on the ship?"

"Scotty!"

Spock walked over the transporter, "Jim", he said, "It appears the transporters have been knocked out."

"Oh I can beam you aboard!" Veelia jumped in. She pointed to the con-sol on her wrist. Apparently she had read Scotty's formula for a portable transwarp beaming device.

"Then why did you not beam us out of the turbo-lift?" Spock asked.

Veelia froze, "Oops."

Kirk rolled his eyes, "Let's go then!"

"I can't send us back though...I'll be out of power - I'll only have enough for one transport left!"

Kirk turned to Scotty, "Can you get our transporters up and running?"

"I - I think so!"

"Good - let's go. Veelia you stay here…"

"Yeah right!"

"Veelia I'm not kidding, it's too-"

"I am third in command of Lena's army! I have been in more battles that even you, I bet! This is my war - I'm coming!"

Kirk sighed. Veelia was incredibly different from the shy girl he met on Ya-Mo. She sort of reminded him of Lena a bit - minus the fear of getting in trouble.

"Fine."

"I'm coming too", Carol said, "You need to disarm their weapons - I am familiar with their ship's systems from when we visited them - Uhura can translate for me."

"Veelia can do that...right?" Kirk looked at her.

"Yeah, I'm sure I can figure it out…" she said dismissively.

Kirk made eye contact with Spock - they didn't have time for Veelia to "figure it out."

Marcus turned to Scotty who looked terrified that she was going aboard. "Don't worry", she said, "I'll be right back." He kissed her, and handed her his phaser.

"OK five then?" Veelia asked. "LET'S GO!"

Suddenly Kirk found himself aboard the Zezian starship. Veelia's transporter worked much faster than their own. She had clearly made some improvements. They dashed down the hall and broke into the engineering room- which was being staffed by 10 Zezian males. They pulled out their phasers. Acting on instinct Kirk pulled Uhura down and shot two in rapid succession.

Carol screamed, but Veelia dropped and rolled her to safety - taking out the Zezian who had been advancing on her. She abruptly got up and used her enormous wings to jump 30 feet in the air to the upper level, from where 2 Zezians were shooting down at them. Kirk heard her blades slice the air. Now they were five on five.

One Zezian launched himself at Kirk, who easily flipped him and slammed him to the ground - he saw Spock do the same. Zezians were not very strong as a species. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Uhura take down another one, and Spock and Veelia finish off the remaining two. The fight had barely lasted a minute, but Kirk could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Carol got out from her hiding place - she wasn't a fighter. "Nyota, come help me!" she said.

Kirk watched as Uhura went over to Carol together they hacked into the weapons, Veelia looking with interest over Carol shoulder. Kirk had to admit - bringing her was a not a bad idea. He was concerned that she wouldn't be able to fight in such close quarters because of her wings, but it was clear she had been doing his for a while, and often. Her hand to hand skills rivaled his own, but were heavily supplemented by her superior strength. He remembered what Lena had told him about her - how she was a first generation Winged Daughter, and lacked the self-confidence to even attempt to spar. That girl was gone now - replaced by a brilliant, deadly warrior. Lena had trained her well.

"Got it!" Carol cried. "Weapons down -warp drive disabled - shields offline. They're sitting ducks."

"Great work!" Kirk said, and turned to Spock – "Tell Mr. Sulu to cease fire, and Scotty to get us the hell out of here."

"Capt'an" Scotty's voice rang out from the com.

"Yes" both Spock and Kirk answered simultaneously.

"I need more time! The transporter was badly damaged!"

"Shit…" Kirk sighed. "Okay, let's get out of here before someone…"

The heard the door open, and shouting ring through the engineering room. Wordlessly Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Marcus and Veelia darted up and flight of stairs and down a hall. They needed to hide until Scotty could fix the transporter. Kirk could tell Marcus was nervous - it was so odd. He'd seen her fearlessly disable an armed torpedo with seconds to spare, but THIS freaked her out. Uhura was on guard, Spock looked how he always did, and Veelia seemed slightly bored. He could tell she had wanted to stay in the engineering room and take out the Zezians who had come to see what was going on - but Kirk wasn't going to be responsible for Veelia committing a massacre.

The door opened to an abandoned floor. "I think we should be able to hide out here for a while", Kirk said. He remembered the ships' design. When he had encountered the Zezians, he had gone aboard one of their ships for a drink with the First Officer. They had gone to his quarters. Since most Zezian ships were identical, he could safely assume that's where he was. The First Officer would have other things to worry about at the moment.

He turned to Veelia, "Will you do the honors?" She grinned and punched the keypad - opening the door, and they all stepped inside.

He heard Uhura gasp first, but then felt hot vomit well up in his throat. Chained to the wall, like an animal, and clearly heavily sedated, was a bruised, bleeding Winged Daughter. She looked vaguely familiar, and in an instant he knew why.

"Vexel!" Veelia cried out and rushed over to her.

He heard her murmur in response. The night Lena told him about the atrocities Zezians committed against the Winged Daughters sprang to his mind, but this was worse than he could have imagined. Vexel was practically dead. Her beautiful wings had atrophied - one of them even looked broken, and she was struggling to even keep her eyes open. She was covered in bruises - specifically on her wrists where she was bound, as though she had spent months pulling at her restraints. He noticed her neck was covered in hickeys. She wore a simple dress, and her hair was down, and tangled. Worst of all though, was the dark purple blood stains on her dress between her thighs. It was all too clear what had happened.

"Vexel! Vexel! It's me! Can you hear me? Oh my God, Vexel." Veelia was shaking, holding Vexel in her arms.

Spock's com rang out, "I got it, I can beam yer back!"

"Mr. Scott - we will be taking one more. Please summon Dr. McCoy to the transporter room. Immediately"

The six of them beamed out, Veelia still cradling Vexel. Once aboard the Enterprise, Veelia sat on the ground, sobbing.

"Vexel, please say something", she whispered.

"Veelia?" Vexel drugged out eyes came into focus.

"Yes - Vexel! It's me!"

"Where am I?"

"You are aboard the Enterprise… you are safe now."

Vexel inhaled deeply, "I'm sorry", she said, "That I...gave you such a hard time...I was just jealous…"

"Shhhh shhhh, it's OK, I …I could be really stupid sometimes… really annoying…"

"You are wonderful, Veelia."

Veelia started to shudder, "Don't talk like that… don't… you're safe now… I am going to take you home."

Vexel smiled faintly, and reach out to touch Veelia's face, "I am home."

Vexel's eyes started to slide out of focus, "Vexel Vexel, NO, Vexel" Veelia cried, just as Bones ran in.

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

"Please…" Veelia's eyes turned to the doctor, who took out his scanner.

"I'm… I'm sorry…", he said, "Her nervous and circulatory systems have collapsed… she's gone.."

"NO NO NO NO NO!" Veelia shrieked crying hysterically, "Please NO, VEXEL!"

The Winged Daughter was gone - dead - in the most horrific way Kirk could imagine. Impulsively he pulled Veelia off the floor, and into his arms. She was so much slightly than Lena-still a child - so young. Vexel, Kirk remember wasn't much older… two years… she was barely 20. He wrapped his arms around her, and let her sob freely into his shoulder. Over her blonde head, he saw Spock.

"Were you aware?" he whispered.

Kirk nodded. "The Zezian elite traffics them," he said lifelessly. "This whole thing started because some Vaa's son was murdered by a Winged Daughter he raped...it sort of spiraled out of control from there. This is what they do to the Winged Daughters they capture...and they all die from being locked up within a year. They also want to colonize the Virosa solar system… their own home-world is dying…"

"I am so sorry… I didn't want the Enterprise dragged into this… Lena didn't either. I gave her the files because it was the only way I could think of to help her but keep us out of it. They weren't supposed to come for years… we should have all been safely back on Earth. If Starfleet figured it out from there, I would have taken the blame - that's why I didn't tell you, Spock - I didn't want them to be able to implicate you. But knowing what they were up against, I...I couldn't just do nothing.

The silence was palpable.

"Spock", Carol said. "I think you need to arrest me, too. If I had known, I...I would have given my files to Lena myself."

Spock exhaled, not knowing what to say.

"That goes for me too", Bones piped in.

"And me", Uhura added.

Spock looked at her, "I as well. Jim - it seems there is no one to actually press charges against you… unless someone from the crew wishes too. Though I think it is safe to say the likelihood of such and occurrence is negligible until we return to Earth. I cannot say what will happen there. You are free."

"Thanks", Kirk said, still holding a distraught Veelia.

"I cannot yet reinstate you as Captain, however, not until this is seen through…."

"I understand."

"Bridge to Captain Spock", Spock's com rang out. "The Zezians are hailing us." Spock looked to Kirk, "We should go. I will release Ensign Chekov - he can meet Veelia here and look after her."

"I'm coming", Veelia said suddenly. "To the bridge - I am coming." She wiped her face clean and regained her composure. "They will not see me cry…. Please burn her body, but keep a handful for the ash from her wings...it is our way."

They all went up to the bridge. Chekov was seated in his customary chair. He whirled around and shouted, "Vee-ya" in suprised, "Vat? Vat are you doing here?"

"Hi Pavel", she said quietly and gave him a small smile.

"On screen", Spock said.

The hail screen lit up to show and exceptionally angry Captain and First Officer. "You disabled our ship!" he screamed, spit flying from his mouth.

"You disabled ours, and attempted to board us. We were merely acting in self-defense. Had we wanted to destroy you, we would have already done so."

"Wait? You're not going to kill them?" Veelis asked.

Spock turned to her, "I cannot - we cannot enter your war Veelia."

"I see you have one on - board," the Captain said, gesturing to Veelia. "I noticed took off with ours...Oh well, she was dead anyways…"

The First Officer sneered, "Good thing I enjoyed her one last time."

Veelia walked quietly in front of the Captain's chair. "You are the First Officer?" she asked.

The First Officer nodded. "You're a pretty one, aren't you."

Veelia said nothing. She calmly started typing on the con-col attached to her forearm. Through the hail screen Kirk saw him start to disintegrate -she was transporting him somewhere! He watched in horror as he materialized in front of Veelia. Before the First Officer could even move, she stepped forward, reached up to put her hands on his head, and swiftly snapped his neck. Marcus screamed as he dropped to the floor, obviously dead.

The Zezian Captain gasped in shock. Veelia's beautiful violet eyes hardened and she spat out poisonously, "Tell the Vaa - he is next."