In the Shadow of Ares: Act II

Author's Note: I don't normally do these, but I feel it's important to say for this next chapter. I know that this next chapter could be construed as politically charged, and to some extent it should be, but I wrote this back in early July long before the events in Charlottesville. The views of the characters debating certain aspects of how to deal with the episode's bad guys are not necessarily mine, and should be viewed in the universe they're written in. Believe me, I have personal opinions about the Charlottesville events and this is not my particular platform for my activism.

This had easily been the single most awkward day of Jim's year. He couldn't give it as much credit as the most awkward day of his life, but it was definitely close.

Initially, he'd wanted to hear what Diana had to say to Admiral Kent, but when it had turned into an incredibly personal conversation about a revered admiral spilling to his… aunt? Maybe?... That his dad had abandoned him two centuries ago… he'd been wishing for any distraction. Then, to top it all off, he'd lost Chekov due to political maneuvering he still didn't trust. And who was Bruce? Every database search he'd done in regards to Diana had turned up nothing regarding a Bruce. Then again, it hadn't told him that Kal-El had the last name Kent, so it was clear there'd been a lot lost between the 2040s and now.

The only thing that Jim wanted to be was the captain of mint chocolate chip ice cream and to shamelessly regale Diana with tales of tribbles and Harry Mudd and anything else that he could bring to mind.

This was not the distraction he had in mind.

One minute, he'd been trying to pull Diana away from the Augmenters. They'd popped up a year or two after Khan had been put into Federation custody and cryo, but they'd mostly stayed planetside. The next, she had literally flashed away from him and was across the courtyard.

He'd seen her move quickly, but that was far faster than he'd thought she could move. Her expression was the embodiment of righteous fury, and she could tell the jerk in her grip couldn't breathe. And she wasn't going to release him any time soon.

"Diana!" Jim shouted, sprinting across the courtyard to catch up with her. "Diana, let him go!"

Diana was ignoring him, or at least ignoring his request. Instead, she hauled the man higher. "What. War?!" She repeated, more enraged than before.

Jim had hoped that she had already learned about it. Part of him hoped that Kent would have told her. But, that had been wishful thinking. Instead, he shifted and grabbed her arm tightly. He couldn't bring it back down, but he could at least force her attention. "The Eugenics War, Diana!" Her gaze didn't waver, but he could tell she was listening. Her eyes went a bit wider, her expression a bit more vulnerable. Under the anger, there was such pain. And he hated that he had to be the one to amplify it even more. "He's talking about the Eugenics War. Back in the 2040s, after your island disappeared. Look, I'll tell you everything, but you have to put him down. No matter what stupid shit comes out of his mouth, he has a right to say it if he's not hurting anyone else." It was working, but not fast enough. The rest of the Augmenters were approaching them now. "Diana, please, this is not how we handle this. I know it's terrible, but they have the right to assemble unless it escalates to violence. If you hurt them, then you're giving them fuel. Exactly what they want."

Diana's grip finally buckled. In a huff, she dropped the man, staring down at him with rageful, pained eyes. "You are everything I fought to protect humanity from. You're just spreading the hatred Ares set into motion! You are his shadow on the walls, and you worship violence, don't you see that?"

Jim knew it was probably going to end poorly for him, but he stepped between her and the protester, never removing his grip on her arm. He pulled her close, forcing her to look at him and only him. "Diana, you cannot do this right now. You are not going to change their minds today, they've had two generations of people telling them how to think and who to hate. Khan just gave them something to stand behind."

"You will let go of me now, Kirk." Diana hissed. He felt his entire body shudder at the sheer power behind her voice, but he held fast.

"No. I completely understand why you're angry, but I'd like to think you know I'm right." When she leveled her gaze at him, it took everything in him not to back down. "If you don't trust them, at least trust that I'd tell you the truth. Khan can't hurt anyone now."

Diana's angry haze finally lifted. Her body went just slack enough that he felt he could let go. He didn't have a chance to say anything else before the protesters had surrounded them. He turned to face them, placing Diana at his back out of instinct more than anything else.

"Look," Jim began, his voice as steady as if he was staring down a Romulan or Klingon in the middle of battle. "I can't legally have security arrest any of you for this, but what you're preaching is the antithesis of what the Federation hopes to accomplish. And she's right. You're worshipping violence and something you don't even fully understand. The Eugenics War devastated Earth, and if you think you have allies here - "

"You're him!" One of the protesters growled, urgently pointing to their padd. "You're James Kirk! Your ship took Khan!"

"Where is he?" Another one of them cried. Jim felt his stomach turn unpleasantly. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.

"Give Khan back to us! He saved us! He knows the way!" The group shouted at them from all directions, advancing quickly. They tightened their circle around the captain and ambassador, ignorant or simply didn't care that they were dangerously close to crossing the line from legal protest to mob. He felt Diana shift behind him and he could feel the line of her back against his. "Traitor! You hate Earth! Give us Khan! Tell us where he is!"

"Leave us alone!" Diana demanded, but it barely made a dent over their fervent shouting. "You're idolizing an evil man! I do not wish to hurt you."

"Yeah, I'm not sure they care…" Jim muttered. "They're not interested in you, they are definitely mad at me."

He had just enough time to get his hands up to block before a holo-board went hurtling towards his head. He knocked it aside, ignoring how much ten pounds of rounded metal could still rattle his bones and hoped for the best.

Unfortunately, there wasn't just the one board. The crowd swarmed upon them, screaming for the return of their perceived leader. Jim blocked the first few blows, but before he knew it, he'd been pulled away from Diana and was in the middle of a dogpile. He reached for his phaser - as a last precaution - but heard, rather than saw, it get kicked away and go skittering across the courtyard.

He managed to grab at one of his attackers by the ankle and yank him down, but before he could get up enough to land enough of a blow to escape, something clocked him in the back of his head and his world pitched sideways. He grunted in pain, but nevertheless turned to face that new attacker. He swung, a wild haymaker that didn't go nearly as well or as accurately as Starfleet had trained him. He missed the broad-shouldered guy who still held his weapon - the datapadd - and instead left himself open to get gut-checked by someone else. Jim went down again, hands back up to fend off unskilled but painful punches and kicks.

"Get away from him!" Diana's voice cut through the crowd, accompanied by a rush of air above him.

And then Jim was flying.

More appropriately, Diana had one arm locked around his waist in a vice grip and they - no, she was flying. He was along for the ride.

As the crowd went still, equally as stunned at the sight, Jim struggled to shift in her grip enough to look up at her. "You can fly, too?" He shouted over the rush of air. "When were you gonna tell me this?"

Diana looked down at him, her expression surprisingly neutral. "It hadn't come up."

Jim's stomach flipped unpleasantly as the two of them went higher up. "Watch out, we're getting closer to the center of the station. Gravity gets screwy there." When she didn't answer, he grabbed at her arm, forcing her to look at him. "Diana, I appreciate the rescue, but I'm serious!"

"We're almost there. I promise I'll stay low." She replied, her expression solemn. He couldn't imagine what was going through her mind at the time, either. And he had a bad feeling that he knew where they were going.

After being hauled around into the air like a kitten, Jim was more than a little relieved that Diana at least touched down in a way that he could stand up on his own. They were back in the neighborhood where the admiral's office was located. This was going to be rough.

Clearing his throat, he tugged down his uniform shirt back into place and looked her over in awe yet again. "I'm starting to think you're actually my guardian angel…" He quipped, hoping to catch her eye for just a moment.

It didn't work.

Diana strode past him towards the building, hands balled into fists.

"Diana…" Jim tried to catch her attention again, already resigned to what he knew was coming. He followed after her through the doors and down the hall before he finally managed to take a step or two ahead of her. "Diana, come on, talk to me. Don't go in there and do something you'll regret."

She stopped and looked him over for a moment before finally replying. "Believe me, I won't regret anything I have to say to him."

"You say that, but - "

"Besides, he's not the only one who knew about this war." She narrowed her eyes, lips pursed and jaw clenched. "You did." With a smooth motion, she pushed him aside and continued on.

Jim was pretty sure any trust he'd had with Diana was gone.

Diana's mind was racing. Another war. Another war, and one so close to when they'd left. It cannot be, she kept repeating to herself. But, even Jim had known, and what was worse, she could sense his guilt rolling off of him in waves. He knew, and he'd chosen not to tell her. Just as Conner had.

You should have started at the beginning, and then you never would have let it go so far….

Diana shook her head as she tried to clear her mind free of persistent memories. Every step away from Jim, even as he'd remained frozen in the hallway behind her, felt too much like those moments when Steve had left her to stop the Germans and their weapons. She had been shaken, she had let him go. But, she would have followed him. If not for Ares…

Raising a fist to the door, she pounded for entrance to Conner's office.

Before she could lose patience and knock the door down, it slid open. She charged inside, expecting to lay right into Conner, but the sight of him made her pause. One of the chairs in the office where she had sat not an hour previous was missing. Conner had his back to her, looking out a window and into the central atrium of Yorktown. He had a glass in his hand of some sort of amber liquid, and his posture was rounded, slumped. Aged. It was surprising. When Diana last saw Conner, he was 24, strong, straight backed, square shouldered, with a boyish grin permanently fixed on his face. Even on his worst days he always had a buoyant optimism. Now he looked ancient, every bit his 244 years.

He had just become a hero when they left, ready to face the world's darkness.

The darkness had given him just as much as it had given Diana in half that time, if not more.

She resumed her slow march towards him, but with each step, the anger subsided to what she knew had truly fueled her. She had only just learned of this war. He had lived it.

"What happened when I left Man's World, Conner?" She asked. Her voice was soft, the raw anger had melted out of her at the stark realization that yet again, the world moved around her and Diana stood, never changing, never wavering. She had the benefit of eternity. So many others did not. "Why do those people preach to honor Khan Noonian Singh?" She swallowed, choosing her words carefully as she came to a halt behind him. "What was this Eugenics War they speak of?" What was so devastating that you could not tell me yourself?

Conner's shoulders tensed for just a moment, long enough for him to sit up and knock back the last of the drink in his hand. It was only then that she could see he had tucked the remainder of the bottle between his legs. There was far less remaining than she would have hoped. Much like his father, there had been a time when Conner could not get drunk. To see him this way… "It was… two hundred years ago. And I can still remember the names of every single person we lost in the fight."

"It was two hundred years ago for you." She crouched down beside him, a hand on his knee. "But, when I left this world, it was on the brink of peace. I don't understand."

He turned to her, bleary-eyed. The lines of his face were deeply set. "I know you were against Damian's Augment project when he started it. You didn't like the idea of purposely giving humans powers that they couldn't understand or control. And I warned him against working with Khan. I told him he couldn't be trusted." Conner poured another glass of liquor, the scent practically hitting her in the face. "Eventually, he came around, but not until after you'd disappeared. When you and dad left, the Augment movement took that as a sign that you'd given up on us. That it was time for them to take control. Even when Khan in cryo-stasis, it wasn't enough to stop the war from happening." As he went to take a drink, her hand went up to rest on his wrist, urging the glass away. He sighed over at her. "Diana, please. I'm old. If you want to know, then let me have the damn drink."

Diana swallowed, then released his hand. She stood, taking stock of the room once more. She found the chair that had been missing, along with what had once been the coffee table. Pulling it free, she brushed glass from the cushion and righted it before taking a seat.

Conner watched her. If he had an opinion about her attempts to right the small part of the world she could see, he kept it to himself. "Others like Khan started to take over their local governments. One by one, countries fell to this… Augmentation virus. Damian couldn't keep a handle on the technology he'd built to supplement the League, and we were losing supporters fast. Too fast."

Damian Wayne had always been too much like his father. He had wanted to change the world and thought that his money and intellect could do so. She and others had tried to reason with him, but none more so than Conner. They had grown up together. "What about Tim?" She didn't want the answer… but she needed it, all the same.

"Tim was against the project. He left the League and went into public office. He had hoped he could beat the Augments at their own game." Conner's eyes slid shut. Diana didn't need to know the details to know that ghosts haunted his mind. "He failed."

Diana closed her eyes, hoping to stem back the tide of horror and sorrow that threatened to swallow her. Bruce's adopted sons… both gone, both failed.

"The conflict officially started in 2050. When it ended, the Augments had been soundly beaten by their own governments, but any hope or trust in superpowered people that humans had was gone." She forced her eyes open so she could check on Conner. He sounded so distant, she was worried he was leaving her altogether. "In 2053, the Eastern Coalition led a series of attacks against the rest of the United States of America. It drew the entire world into conflict. That… came to a head with a mass release of nuclear warheads from all sides." He drew a long breath. Diana could feel her hands shaking.

"How many?" She whispered, her eyes filled with tears.

"600 million people. It would have been more, but…" His voice caught, heavy with emotions she could tell he'd spent a long time burying. "Kara led the last of us. We all took as many of the warheads out as we could." He cleared his throat, looking up at her, glassy-eyed. "That's why I was so happy to hear that you'd survived, Diana. Because, you see…. There are none of us left. World War Three ended… because the League was gone. And after the governments of the world realized they'd destroyed their best, last defense against themselves, they ended it. I left society and remained in the Fortress because I was too ashamed of what happened. How things had gone so wrong." He laughed a bit. "I'm not here because I want to be. I'm here because this is my penance. I have to make Starfleet better, because if I don't…" He went to take a drink, then stopped. He laughed without mirth, as if the world itself was a joke. "Then what the hell did they all die for?"

The Yorktown's artificial day-night cycle gave Diana no real sense with which to ground herself, and the Enterprise had not been any better. Therefore, she had no idea what time it was and there was no sun in sight she could bathe in. She felt rudderless, utterly drained, and profoundly sorrowful. Conner was too much like his father, and could not be consoled. Once he had assured her that he was no danger to himself, she'd spent a few moments to embrace him before wandering the station aimlessly.

The closest she could come to a brief respite was a lush garden on one of the inner rings. The plant life was bioluminescent, casting the entire glade in a soothing, blue hue that brought her just the barest comforts of Atlantis. She had brought with her a datapadd that Conner had apparently already queued up for when she inevitably confronted him about the truth.

He truly did know the names of all of the those in his Justice League. And she read them all. She committed each of them to her memory and wished that they were all granted places in Elysium - if such a place ever existed.

She also took note of the names of those who had somehow survived through it. The Allen and West families had forged a dynasty of great individuals whose accomplishments brought humanity closer to peace. Arthur and Mera had retreated to Atlantis, but were still the protectors of Earth's seas.

But, so many never survived. So many of them suffered because humanity was manipulated and turned upon those who wished only to protect them.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." He had come up so quietly, and she had been so distracted, she didn't see Jim Kirk until he was standing beside her. He had changed out of his uniform. For the first time since they'd met, she finally saw him in what she considered civilian garb. Jeans, a shirt and leather jacket. He looked remarkably down to earth in that moment. He looked remarkably like…

"You don't have anything to apologize for." She breathed, smiling sadly up at him before she turned her attention back to the glowing plant life. It was best if she did not look at him. She had spent the last few hours slipping into the past. It would be so easy to think of him as Steve, to ask him to tell her about snow and marriage and breakfast… "I could have found out about this at any time. I had no right to be upset with you or Conner. For both of you, it was history." She set the padd in her hand down on the bench beside her. "I found many excuses not to seek this out, but the signs were there."

Jim shifted before he moved to stand in front of her, hands in his pockets. His eyes were scanning her, as if he could divine how she felt. Diana almost laughed. She had no idea how she was feeling herself. "Nevertheless, I offered this life to you. I pulled you off your planet, away from your people, and I did have an opportunity to tell you. I just… " Sighing, he leaned back and stared at the ceiling, struggling with whatever he was thinking. "I didn't want to have to be the one to show you how much of a mess we'd made of the world."

The anger she had felt, the pure rage at humanity's folly, had been far too reminiscent of the same rage she'd once felt for Ares. No other god or mortal had ever brought that out in her. But, Jim would have no way of knowing that. "Why? Did you think I would be angry with you?" She rose an eyebrow at him, skeptical. "Unless you, too, are older than you look, then you are certainly not responsible."

"No, but I know how much you thought of humanity. You made that very clear." He shrugged, then blew air through his lips in resignation. "I dunno, I guess I just didn't want you to… be disappointed in us. We're not perfect, but… we did come out of that war and built something better."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Disappointed?" She echoed, as if the very concept was foreign to her. "No, that's…" Diana sighed, then stood to face him equally. "When I left Themyscira, I knew about the Augmentation virus. I had asked Damian to stop the project, but I thought he had it under control. I left. If I am disappointed in anyone, I'm disappointed in myself."

"You?" He balked at her. "Diana, you left because you thought you'd trained up the next generation. You can't be humanity's conscience. At some point, you had to expect we'd do the right thing."

"So, then why am I here?" She motioned to the garden around them and the station beyond. "It's not about whether or not I trust expect humanity to do the right thing. I know there is a darkness within each man. I have seen it myself. Even now, those Augment supporters. They are in the shadow of Ares. He has been dead these three hundred years and they still feed his ghost."

"Because sometimes, it's easy to get lost when you're keeping everything to yourself." He tossed his hands up in the air, both to mirror her and to express that he was at a loss as well. He pointed to his chest. "Take it from me, I should know."

"What do you mean?"

"I told you that I joined Starfleet on a dare. And that was true." Diana found that he wouldn't look her in the eye. Instead, he started to aimlessly pace the garden as he spoke. "I joined to see if I could make something of myself like my dad. And for a while, I loved it. And then… And then last year…" He sighed. "I turned one year older than my dad ever got to be. And I realized… I didn't know why I was doing any of it."

Diana tracked him as he kept pacing. "Clearly, you found a reason. You're still the captain."

"I almost wasn't. I thought I was ready to… move on. Into a senior leadership role. To give up the chair."

Diana's heart clenched in sympathy. For a moment, she found herself back on Themyscira, wondering if mankind needed Wonder Woman. She realized she had returned to that precipice. Why was she here now? If she had been unable to prevent another war, what could she possibly do? "But, you didn't. What changed?"

"I lost the Enterprise. We were attacked and marooned on a planet. There's a reason there's an A at the end of her name. She's the second Enterprise." Jim turned to face her. Again, she was struck by how open he was. She could tell that somewhere, in the back of his mind, he was reliving the experience. He was remembering the letters he had to write to families… "It wasn't until I lost people and my crew was held hostage that it all came together." He chuckled a bit, but she could tell he almost didn't believe what he was about to say. "In fact, the guy who marooned us was trying to destroy the Federation. He was from earth, but he'd… he was a soldier. He didn't know peace. He only knew war."

Diana stepped closer to him, both fascinated and worried. "One of your own kidnapped your crew?"

"He was like those protesters. He had been thinking one way for so long, he couldn't see the way out of the problem. He thought that conflict made humanity strong, that the Federation was weak."

"Man always finds ways to fight…" She whispered.

He shook his head. "But, see, that's what was different. Why we were different. I remember saying to him… 'Better to die saving lives, than to live with taking them.' I told him that was the world I was born into, and it was the world I was going to defend."

Diana felt the air get knocked out of her as she realized how badly she'd judged herself, Conner, all of humanity. And even Jim. "You are an exceptional man."

"It's not just me, Diana." Jim managed to meet her gaze again, and for a moment, she felt flushed. He closed the last of the distance between them. "That's what we do. Starfleet's not a military organization. And part of that is because we saw the devastation of the war. We changed. We wanted to be better."

Diana had always been a woman of conviction and belief. She had held both naive and deeply profound beliefs on everything from truth to the gods to humanity. And Jim Kirk had reminded her that no matter how deeply she was shaken, her desire to love and to protect humanity, to nurture them, had never wavered. "You care a great deal, more than you want people to know."

Jim smiled. A real smile. For a moment, the weight that had been on his shoulders seemed to have lifted. "I didn't always. I thought I had everything to prove and then I got out here."

"So, you plan to wander the stars forever?" Diana could certainly see the appeal, but she'd learned that about him within their first hours. She found herself caught in his orbit as he shifted from one foot to the other while he considered her question.

"I have… no idea." Jim breathed. The exact intonation, the pacing, the sense of casual ease by which he spoke, it was the exact same way that Steve had said those words to her. And yet, her heart was pounding for an entirely different reason. He was lying. The same phrase had been completely turned on its head. She could read Jim Kirk, and he was actually trying to lie to her.

She rose her eyebrows at him, goading him on. "Be honest. You know exactly what you want to do. You can't stand the idea of someone dragging you from that chair."

He chuckled a bit, then looked down at his hands. "You didn't slip that lasso on me or anything, did you?"

"I didn't need to." Diana reached out, resting her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart beating. "You make it very easy to know what's here. In your heart."

He had to know how close they were. She could feel his breath on her cheek as neither of them backed away. "I guess you're right. I don't want to leave my ship." She felt his fingers brush against the back of her hand rather than tear her eyes away from his. Those ocean-blue eyes of his kept pulling her towards him. "And I don't think you want to leave the Enterprise, either. I think you had a taste of what being planetside was like, and you didn't like it."

"So, you think I'm best as an ambassador." She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I think we'd be blessed to have you." Jim quickly replied, his fingers tracing up hers to gently massage here or there. "That might make me a little selfish, but I don't think any ship is going to treat you any better than the Enterprise."

Diana's heart was thudding in her chest, fueled by a passion she hadn't felt in years. There was no thought of the past now. Only the present, and the future that she saw before her. The potential there. She reached up to run her fingers along his jaw, tracing them over eerily familiar but still unknown lips. "What of her captain?"

"Oh, he'd treat you like an angel." His hand had slipped up to the back of her neck, cradling gently as the two of them inched ever closer. She couldn't breathe. For the first time in centuries, Diana wanted desperately to give in to that which she'd denied herself.

You do not allow yourself to love… Menalippe had told her.

Perhaps…. In this time…

A communicator beeped once. Then again.

The spell, such as it was, had been broken. Diana stepped away as Jim reached for his communicator, and she spent the next thirty seconds staring at one of the blue, whirling plants in the garden, trying to cool the flush in her cheeks.

What had she been thinking?

It must have been Steve. She always saw Steve, and perhaps, in that moment, it had been easy to forget…

"Kirk here." Jim sounded as if nothing had even remotely distracted him. By the time she turned to face him, if he had any lingering thoughts regarding what had nearly happened, he kept them completely hidden.

"Captain, we have a problem." Sulu, presumably from the bridge. "Admiral Hackett just came aboard with a security detail. He's taking Vanessa."

Jim's expression went stony, and he met Diana's eye, motioning for her to follow him. "We're on our way. Do not let him leave the ship until I get there, Sulu. I don't care how you have to do it!"

"Aye, sir."

As he flipped his communicator shut, Jim motioned to the garden exit. "Go. I'll catch up."

Diana turned and sped with the fury of the gods back to the ship.

Diana sped through the Yorktown, then through the corridors of the Enterprise with the ease of Hermes. She wasted no time reaching Sickbay, and only paused long enough to steel herself for whatever was occurring on the other side of the doors. She had been promised an opportunity to speak with the admirals, and instead, they had come like thieves to take her sister.

She stepped into sickbay with grace and poise, but with steel in her eyes.

"Which of you is Admiral Hackett?" She demanded, scanning the room. The area of sickbay that Vanessa had destroyed earlier was all but repaired, but still blocked off by force fields. Near her biobed, there were several men in red uniforms and one distinctly gray-suited admiral. The red bars on his shoulders told her most likely was part of the security division. It was the first time she realized that the admiral ordering Jim had most likely been the one in charge of Starfleet Intelligence.

"Well, I hope you gentlemen brought your dance card," McCoy drawled from a doorway near his office. It was clear he had been told to give them a wide berth. "Cause she might just punch it."

"Ambassador Prince." Hackett turned, his arms clasped behind his back. For a brief moment, she thought of another military official, centuries away. That, Captain Trevor, is what soldiers do. They fight and they die. "A pleasure to meet you, although I had hoped it would be under better circumstances."

"So did I." She replied, even-toned to a fault. She motioned to the security detail behind him. "I thought I understood how Starfleet treated victims in need of assistance, but clearly, I am mistaken."

"This isn't what you think," Hackett countered. "The security detail is actually to protect Miss Katalepis. If anyone were to see us making the transfer, the last thing we need is for the Augmenters to see her and assume the worst."

"And I wonder what exactly you think they'd assume, Admiral." McCoy made his way over to Diana, arms crossed and with a scowl on his face. "That you're kidnapping young women off of Federation starships to punch full of needles?"

Hackett's cool exterior seemed momentarily shaken as he took a step closer to the doctor. "We don't plan on hurting her, Doctor. We want to help her. And part of that means understanding the enemy."

"If your motives are so pure," Diana stormed forward, hands on her hips as she took measure of the man. "Then why the subterfuge? I requested a meeting with the Admirals. You could have explained all of this then."

"We had a breakthrough in our research." Hackett said, resolved again. She had a terrible feeling that being antagonized only made him feel more superior. "And as such, you don't have to give consent, Ambassador. Miss Katalepis does."

Diana faltered. "Excuse me?"

Hackett stepped aside, motioning to the biobed behind him. "We have what we believe to be a temporary solution for her compulsion to reach the Borg hivemind… I believe they call it a Collective."

"I'm not lettin' you stick my patient with some sort of medieval nano-cocktail." McCoy growled. Diana was inclined to agree with him. "Not until I can look at it - "

"I'm afraid you don't have the security clearance, Doctor McCoy. And at this point," Hackett motioned for one of his security detail to walk over, handing him a small medical case. Hackett opened long enough to pull a hypospray from it. "You wouldn't know what you were looking at, anyway. If it works, then Vanessa will have the freedom to accept or reject our help. If it doesn't, you can certainly still have your meeting with the Admiralty board." Hackett smiled thinly at Diana. "The last thing I want to do is hurt her. We genuinely want to assess the Borg threat and determine how we can help individuals that may fall prey to this technology. Unless,of course, Ambassador, you think you can single-handedly take down this nebulous threat that we've not seen and have no idea how to fight when it's not just an isolated individual." Diana set her jaw, seething. She could not say that if this Borg collective arrived tomorrow that she could do the same for them as she did for Vanessa. This was more than simple mother boxes and Parademons.

The doors to sickbay opened again. She turned back to see a more winded, but still fairly composed Captain Kirk.

"Admiral Hackett... " Jim said before sucking in another breath. He took a step forward, pointing to the hypo in his hand. "I hope you're not planning on dispensing unknown medication to a patient on my ship against the advice of my chief medical officer."

Hackett seemed prepared for that. It unsettled Diana even more. Even if his motives were as pure as he claimed, he had been too quick to act. "Your objections are noted and overruled." He moved to press the hypo to Vanessa's neck, and Diana sped forward. In a breath, the lasso was looped around his hand and she was blocking him from the biobed.

Both Jim and McCoy called for her, but she ignored them both.

Immediately, phasers went up around her from the security detail, but Hackett's free hand moved to stop them. "Ambassador…" He warned.

Diana shook her head, her gaze locked to his. "You must tell me the truth. Will this harm her?"

Hackett opened his mouth to reply, then paused as he glanced over at the lasso. She could feel the heat radiating from it as he tried to fight the urge to simply divulge information. "What…"

"Surely, you know of my history on earth as Wonder Woman. I have been told there is little that remains, but I would like to think it is well known that you shouldn't lie to me."

From behind her, she heard McCoy mutter, "Ain't that the truth…"

Hackett huffed, nostrils flaring as he realized he'd been bested. "If it works, then she'll be able to communicate with us without the Borg programming. "

"But, will it harm her?"

After another pause, he finally nodded. The truth flowed from his lips. "It could kill her. But, it's the best chance she's got."

That was all she needed. Diana took the hypospray from him, then released his hand. The lasso slipped back beneath her jacket as she looked over the device. She heard the phaser rifles lower, presumably at Hackett's order. "Doctor McCoy, please assist me in administering this."

The doctor stepped up beside her, but when he rested his hand on her arm, she could tell he wanted to dissuade her. "Sweetheart, I can do it - "

"But, you will not." Diana looked over at him. "She is my responsibility. Always."

He walked her through the steps. The right buttons to press, the way to lock the device with the right dosage, then pointed to the exposed part on her neck.

Diana couldn't bear to breathe as she rested the hypospray against Vanessa's neck. She depressed the button. The tool hissed, and then it was over.

Vanessa's eyes fluttered open after a moment. They were searching once more, but this time, when they reached Diana's face…. She smiled.

"Your highness…" She breathed. There was no tick, no compulsion to hunt and seek out technology. Just… Vanessa.

Diana was in awe. She had seen many miracles over the years, but this was different. There was no magic here. "Hello, Sister."

The woman slowly sat up, but kept her gaze firmly on Diana's face. "The voices… they're gone. But… I can still feel… this…" She held her arm up. The Borg implant was still trying to click and enable various servos, but couldn't from the extensive damage. She seemed coherent, but rather like someone drugged. Nothing seemed quite real to her. "I want to go home. Can we go home?"

"I wish to take you back, sister. Desperately." Diana's hand went to her face, cradling it gently as she caressed mottled skin. The color had only barely begun to come back as McCoy and Scotty had tried some treatment with what they had. "But, you are still very injured. These Borg have done much to you."

"We'd like to help you, ma'am." Hackett's voice was an unwelcome distraction for Diana, but Vanessa turned to face him regardless. "If you'll let us."

Vanessa looked him over, then glanced over at Kirk and McCoy. She seemed so at peace. "You're from Earth." She returned her gaze, unfocused as it was, to Hackett. "NASA?"

"Something like that. We're called Starfleet now." Hackett's smile was a bit more plain. Genuine. "And I believe you've been missing for quite some time. We'd like to take care of you. We'll take you back to Earth, help undo what the Borg did." He glanced over at Diana. "But, it means leaving Ambassador Prince."

When Vanessa looked back at her sister, Diana's heart nearly broke. Her smile had completely faded, replaced by trepidation. "You don't have to go with them. You can stay here on the Enterprise. We have many missions, but you can come with us."

Vanessa's brow furrowed. "To space…. You're in space…" She shook her head. "No. No, I don't want to go back to space. I want to go home. I want to go to Earth." She began to shudder, more and more agitated. "Please, Diana, just let me go back to Earth. I want to see the sun, I don't want to go to space."

Diana stood straight, slowly pulling away from her sister. She was stunned. It wasn't what she thought Vanessa would want. Had she misjudged the situation? She would not be the reason her sister suffered. No matter how much she wanted to be there for her.

Clearing her throat, Diana nodded and brushed warmth from her eyes before turning to the admiral. "Then, I believe you have her permission, Admiral. But, guard her with your life. She will be vulnerable."

Jim took a step towards them. "Diana, are you sure - "

"I am." She looked over at Vanessa once more, who was beginning to look less and less aware of her surroundings. "She will be in constant fear on the Enterprise."

"Then, Doctor McCoy, if you could sedate her for transport, we will escort her discreetly to my ship and have her back on medical transport to Sector 001 immediately." Hackett motioned to the doctor to oblige, which he did. It was just as well. Vanessa slipped away to unconsciousness in no time.

"Take care of her." She breathed. "Guard her with your life."

As the security detail pulled their mag bed for the woman, Hackett held his hand out to Diana. It was so abrupt, she almost knocked it away. "We will. Thank you for your cooperation, Ambassador. I know it's difficult working with limited information." When Diana took his hand in return, he shook it with a firm grasp. "I promise you, I'll look out for her." Hackett turned to follow his security team, then nodded to Jim. "Captain Kirk."

When the sickbay doors closed again, Diana let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. A nervous weight settled in the top of her chest, threatening to sit there for all eternity.

"You could have told him no." Jim finally said. She noticed he'd remained over on the other side of the room. "I would have backed you."

Diana nodded, but her mind drifted back to the way Vanessa had tensed up at the very notion of remaining spacebound. "I know, Jim." She pulled herself to her full height. "But, if I do not trust Starfleet to be better, then I cannot trust them with anything or anyone at all."

She gave one last lingering look at the empty biobed.

Vanessa would find what she needed on Earth.

She had to trust them.