To Save Today: Act II

Author's Note: Fun bit of trivia for those who are interested: This episode is roughly based on the Enterprise Incident! I say roughly because this is where the similarities end, but the character of Commander Linvah is named after the woman who played the Romulan commander in the episode, Joanne Linville. The character's had many names in Trek books, but I went with something a bit more simple than the other ones. In addition, the quote on Diana's sword is canon, based on the sword seen in BvS and Justice League. It's from Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey, which is not coincidence... And there is your dose of trivia! Also, you may have guessed that this is much like Personal Logs of an Above Average Man, in that this entire episode is from Diana's POV.

Diana had been forced to do nothing but wait.

She waited for an ensign to bring up a satellite feed of the viewscreen on the bridge. She then waited for Scotty to mirror that visual feed to a console in the transporter room. Then, she waited for two of the warbirds to disappear in their cloak, presumably leaving as Spock would have requested by now.

Worst of all, she waited for Jim to survive.

Once the ships were gone, the transporter pad dark, and no further distractions, Diana realized that she could not return to the bridge. She would have to wait elsewhere. If she returned to the bridge, Jaylah or Nyota would most certainly corner her. They would demand an explanation, or worse, they would ask her how she was handling Jim's "death."

She was not overly fond of reliving those moments after she had lost Steve, nor did she have any desire to write a eulogy for Jim, even if it was a fictitious one.

Humans were so fond of courting the Fates, begging them to cut their Thread before its time. Steve Trevor, Jim Kirk, Kal-El, Bruce Wayne, they were all the same in that regard.

Jim could die at any moment. They had taken the leap, she had shared that which was most precious to her - the cherished memories of her last true family. And no sooner than she had done so, his duty, their mutual calling for justice and compassion, made her realize that he might find himself making good on his promise to crawl his way out of Hades and to the next life sooner rather than later.

Their mornings in bed together seemed to be lifetimes ago instead of simply days.

Returning to her quarters, Diana found herself surrounded now by the stark reminder that without Jim around, very little gave her comfort.

She had kept her walls bare. On Themyscira, she had been careful to keep her adornments appropriately majestic, to rival the chambers she had been reared in by her mother. She kept the same furs and golden plate tablets detailing the history of her people in the queen's chambers, but such comforts were now light years away, protected by the very technology Jim hoped to keep from the Romulans.

Without Themyscira herself, Diana's quarters were the textbook example of Starfleet efficiency. Even ambassadorial quarters such as hers were spartan and driven around the utility of deep space exploration.

Only now, as she found herself drawn to the simple desk where she kept her few keepsakes, did she wish for more of her precious photographs and ancient treasures from Man's World. One of Lois's many pens, left at Diana's apartment because she was called to another story, or the lightning bolt that had chipped off of Barry's helmet in their fight against Darkseid when he had taken a blow to save her from a more critical strike.

As it stood, her only reminders of the Justice League, of her family, were the holograms that were dormant in the consoles of Cargo Bay 1. And they could not help her here. The halls of justice had once been filled with joy and comfort. Now... was there even anything left of Wayne Manor? Or had Bruce's legacy truly turned to ash in the days after the Eugenics War?

Strangely, it was thinking of her most complicated friendship that brought her peace. She would never be like Bruce. And if his legacy had burned, then she would build a better one in the coming days. Even when she had stopped him from martyring himself before the Great Cause, he had slipped into those old habits and let his son pay the price.

Diana did not need homely comforts to remind her why she and Jim fought for the fate of humanity. She only needed to remind herself that she did not believe in just getting the job done.

She had a team, a family now. The crew of the Enterprise all worked together.

Jim and Spock would work together. And if they called, she would certainly answer.

Her communicator chirped in her pocket. Her stomach swirled unpleasantly as she steeled herself for one of her friends asking if it was true, if the captain was dead. She believed in the truth… and Jim believed that they would be better with the lie.

She couldn't ignore them. Taking a deep breath, she flipped open the device and kept her voice soft, but didn't bother to conceal her real worry. It lent an edge of sorrow to her voice. "Diana here."

"It's Nyota. Is he…" Diana closed her eyes for a moment, stomach swirling at the barely contained grief from her Sister. "You didn't come back up to the bridge, so I hoped…"

She pressed the communicator to her chest, as if to give her the embrace she couldn't. Jim, I trust you. I trust that you trust them. But, by the gods, this is difficult. She couldn't avoid it. But, she didn't have to draw it out.

"Jim is gone, sister…" She finally answered, using the vagueness of her exact words to her advantage. It hurt less. But, she also knew that if she kept the line open, Nyota would pull at her greater conscience and she would confess. "I will be… in my quarters for the time being. I am sorry, I just… need to think. Prince out." She quickly finished in a jumble of words before clapping the communicator shut.

She had to hope it was convincing.

The truth was, she wasn't sure how Jim was doing. She only had her belief that she would know if he was gone to keep her from losing control.

Diana turned her attention to the drawer of trinkets at her desk. After a moment of consideration, she pulled free the watch that Steve had given her all those years ago. Jim deserved to see it with fresh perspective. The promise of such an occasion would have to fuel her through the painful hours of waiting before his first check-in.

Of course, she realized with a sigh, that would not occupy her idle hands. Nor her idle mind. While she could replay those two days and nights of bliss with Jim, it would not help her remain prepared for battle. And even though she knew she needed to trust the captain and his first officer... she couldn't help but think that they would inevitably get themselves into trouble. She had no evidence to suggest otherwise.

Diana's armor didn't seem to be as much of a comforting hug so much as inviting bad fortune, but she wasn't about to concede that point to the gods yet. If she could not bring herself to mourn like an ingenue in an opera, then she would fill the hours with time in her quarters preparing for the very real possibility that the Romulans might catch Jim.

No matter what, she would ensure their safety, and she would help him find the evidence regarding the possible Starfleet spy.

The first step in preparing for battle was to care for her equipment, then. The thought was another brief comfort, one that she would indulge. When she wasn't wearing her armor, the worn and battle-scarred material remained hung in a wardrobe in the corner. As she strode over to it and opened it up, she spotted her small pouch that she had chosen not to loop her belt through today, as well as her sword and shield.

Diana pulled the weapons free easily, bringing them over to the couch and setting them down. She rifled through the pouch for a moment, freeing the sharpening stone she had used since the old days. A coarse rag fell free afterwards before she set the pouch down on the coffee table with care.

Gripping the shield in one hand, she hoisted it aloft and looked it over in the light. The metal had begun to grow dull, its luster dulled by the disruptor scorching on Verex III. She had meant to care for it sooner, but had no time to do so on Khitomer, either.

She ran the rag along the rim, then worked her way inwards to clean each of the ancient symbols, the most primordial of Koine Greek letters. It would be through these words that the Amazons would teach men to write and communicate as part of their great mission. It would later be those same letters that would be used to bind women in Athens to chains of a system that perpetuated throughout Greece.

The inscription became more and more clear as Diana polished. As it did so, the words tumbled around in her mind as she lost herself in the simple, menial task. Blessings of the gods that were meant to comfort the warrior who wielded the weapon. Diana found little comfort in the gods, only more questions.

But, perhaps, if she prayed enough, Athena would one day grace her with her presence and finally explain why she had abandoned Diana and her people for nearly two centuries, scattering the gods across the cosmos like leaves on the wind.

Diana turned her attention to the eagle relief in the center of her shield and furrowed her brow. Thoughts of the gods were replaced with thoughts of the Tal Shiar, of the Romulan Empire. They, too, utilized the eagle as a symbol of their superiority, their righteousness.

The Romans had also thought themselves superior and righteous conquerors of Man's World. Perhaps... perhaps someone else would have recognized the similarities between the cultures. The Nazis had co-opted Roman superiority as part of the Aryan myth. The Augments had co-opted the Nazis as part of their perfection through genetics narrative. They knew that the communications had gone back as far as prior to the Federation's existence. For all they knew, it was someone whose goals predated the Eugenics War...

The rag slipped from Diana's hand as her heart threatened to stop beating.

Truth.

It had been as if someone had walked across her grave, or gripped her heart in their hand and squeezed. Her breath left her, her mind went blank save for the impossible.

She was somehow... some way... speaking - thinking - Truth. Divine truth.

"This grudge is old..." She breathed the assumption aloud, freeing it from her mind and letting it fill the air. She furrowed her brow as her blood pumped with the thrum of truth.. truth... truth. "This is about more than an arms race, someone has been orchestrating this for decades..." She continued, not entirely sure how she could have known such a thing. Even on Khitomer, she had not sensed the truth in the Romulan spy until it was nearly too late. But, with the Orion madam she had recognized it instantly.

She was growing more powerful. She had never asked for her divine gifts... but now, they were determined to shine light into the darkness.

"The person orchestrating this has been around since my days on Earth," She muttered, shaking her head at the impossibility of it. Barbara Ann was assuredly dead or had lost her humanity to Urzkartaga years ago. Circe was banished before the war...

But, Conner would never give over his home to the Romulans. Never.

The shield slipped from her hand, just enough to startle her, and she quickly caught it. Snapping out of her reverie, she set the weapon aside as the metal gleamed proudly back at her.

She reached forward for her sword in its sheath and pulled it free, holding it aloft to examine it as well. She caught the inscription as she turned the blade over in her hand, knowing the words by heart: the duality of Artemis. Both virgin deer and the hunter of the mighty deer herself, she was the image of self-creation through self-destruction. Life kills life all the time. So, the goddess kills herself in the sacrifice of her own animal.

Diana had found the sword long after Ares had destroyed the God-killer, but even she did not know the true meaning of the blade's inscription. It was certainly a tale of sacrifice and rebirth. By sacrificing her own essence, Artemis fulfilled her true purpose as the great goddess of the hunt.

Yet, if it was meant to lead Diana down a particular path, she had never found what.

Leaning forward to grab her sharpening stone, Diana paused as she heard an insistent chirping noise. It wasn't the Federation communicator in her pocket, it was something else.

Reaching into her pocket, she realized that she had the last of the communicators that Scotty had provided the team. Glancing over at her chronometer, she realized that time had passed faster than she realized. It was time for Jim's check-in. In fact, he was a few minutes late.

Diana opened the device and depressed the button to accept the covert hail. She could only hope that Jim was on the other end. "Yes?"

"I am unspeakably happy that you decided not to ignore this communicator. Do I need to tell Bones the next time he wants to see you to just use this obnoxious little thing?" Jim's voice was low, clearly intended not to carry further than the device probably in his hand, but his full bravado and humor were certainly not muted.

She smiled, far more relieved than she necessarily wanted to let on. "Nice try. But, I have been told I'm as adept at avoiding him as you are."

"I'm sure he loves that," Jim remarked with a chuckle.

Diana stood and made her way over to the console at her desk. There had been a way to transfer open channels to her internal room comm. She just needed to remember how. "Have you found anything? I take it no one noticed that you were not the fellow in the brig?"

"I think one of the centurions working the transporter room wasn't entirely convinced, but I gave him the pompous Romulan act and that seemed to shut him up." As Jim spoke, his voice stopped emitting from the tiny communicator in her hand to fill the room as she figured out how to switch the channel over. Once that was done, she returned to her spot on the couch. Instead of sitting down, she simply remained standing and took hold of her sword and sharpening stone. No matter what Jim told her next, she would be glad for the slight distraction to keep herself less on edge.

"I'm surprised it took you so long to check in," She offered, hoping he'd explain the slight delay.

"Remind me never to be late to dinner," He said sardonically before continuing on. "I had to find an empty room. For what I know is a skeleton crew, this place always seems to have someone wandering aimlessly. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they just have Centurions going in and out of rooms all day for the sake of throwing people off. The good news is that I managed to gain access to one of the computer terminals."

"And?" Diana arched an eyebrow as she ran her stone over the edge of her blade, watching a shower of sparks burst forth, then disappear in mid-air.

"I feel like you're not nearly as into this as you should be," He replied, teasing.

"Not that I don't want to talk to you, but I'd prefer to not give away your cover." She said with another swipe of her stone across the blade. "Since you didn't let me go over there with you, it's not an adventure, it's torture."

"Look, angel, you don't need to remind me that I'd be much happier if I had you here to divinely kick ass. But, I am a fully trained Starfleet officer, and I'm definitely still a spy. This is my wheelhouse."

She smiled a bit, then ran the stone one more time before flipping the blade so she could sharpen the other side. "You won't think I'm such an angel if I have to pull you free from that snake's nest. I will make sure you never hear the end of it."

Jim chuckled on the other end. "Noted."

When she realized he had fallen silent, apparently ready to keep flirting, she instead cleared her throat. "Jim." She paused. No response. "The intel?"

"Right." He breathed, finally getting on track. "Not much yet, but from what I can get to, this ship's been getting communication from the Federation for decades, but it ramped up dramatically when we found you. I'm trying to access the subspace relays that were used to send the communiques, see if they have a transponder signal. I don't expect the signature to match anyone in Starfleet, I don't think we're that..." He trailed off. "Well, that doesn't make any sense."

Diana quirked an eyebrow. "What doesn't?"

Jim was silent for a long moment. Too long. Whatever it was, he didn't want to say it. When he finally did, the confusion was palpable. "Does the term She-Wolf mean anything to you? It's coming up alongside the transponder signals, but I can't get to any of the details."

She shook her head and glanced down at the inscription on her sword for a moment. It didn't mean anything to her now... but in history... "The twins Romulus and Remus were nursed by a She-Wolf. Wolves were considered sacred animals for that reason."

"I can't tell if it's the codename for someone in Starfleet or someone here. Might be Commander Linvah, but that doesn't play right. The Romulans don't share the same mythology, so - "

"So, you're looking for someone human, Jim." Diana said, faced with the Truth once more. The sensation was a little less gripping than before, but nevertheless, chilled her. "You need to find out what this She-Wolf has sent to them."

"There's more, Diana." He cut in. "The subspace relays? They share the same transponder signal. I'm sending them to you now. I think we need to investigate the connection."

Diana sheathed her sword and set it down on the coffee table. "I'll get it to Mister Scott." She could see her console light up as the data transfer on the communicator commenced. With nothing to do but wait, she couldn't help but think more help would be better than less. "Jim, Nyota would be able to determine anything regarding communications much faster than Mister Scott - "

"There's someone coming. I have to go."

"Jim - "

"I'll call you back."

A quick chirp on her comm system told her that he had cut the line. Unlike Federation communications, she didn't even get the benefit of a 'Kirk out' before she was left to worry again.

Sighing, she made her way over to her console to scan through what he had sent. To her, the numbers meant nothing. He wanted to keep all of this off the record. She wouldn't be able to send this over to Engineering, so she'd have to go herself.

Grabbing of the datapadds in her desk, she quickly transferred over the transponder signals and made her way out of her quarters. She glanced back once more at her shield and sword before the doors closed behind her. Jim was looking for answers in technology.

Diana was now certain she had to seek her answers in the great tome of humanity. Their spy knew Roman mythology and used it to their advantage.

She and Jim were being outmaneuvered by one of their own.

Unfortunately, getting to Engineering would prove more difficult than it should have been. Since the ambassador's quarters were so close to Deck 1, she had been in the turbolift no more than a few moments before the doors opened to the bridge. Someone had called the lift there.

Glancing up from her datapadd, looking serene and thoughtful, not mournful, she found herself staring at Jaylah and Nyota.

"Diana…" Nyota said her name with a mixture of sadness and confusion that was impossible to ignore.

Jaylah was simply staring at Diana as if she wasn't sure whether she would scream or just shut down.

After a moment of tense silence, she simply stepped aside and motioned for the two women to enter the turbolift with her. The datapadd felt like it burned in her hands, a stark reminder that she was lying to two of her close friends on the vessel. "I… was headed to Engineering." She offered dumbly, hoping that it sounded appropriately distracted.

For a long moment, she tried to remember those moments after Steve's death, after Ares was gone. As she stared at the great crater where the god had once stood, while all others took relief in their survival… she felt the great hole in her heart where he had once been.

Even though she knew Jim was alive and that through him Steve was alive… it was surprisingly easy to conjure the real fear and sorrow again.

The doors to the lift closed and Nyota reached out to touch the lift control. A quick glance at the console reflected that they were headed to sickbay. She furrowed her brow, sparing a look between them.

"Sickbay?" She asked softly. "Why would you…"

Jaylah turned her attention to Diana, furrowing her brow in such a way to make her facial markings even more severe. "To see James T. We thought you would be with him."

"To be honest, I didn't expect to see you out of sickbay until Bones had to pry you away. I can't believe you even answered my hail." There was an edge in Nyota's voice, one that Diana recognized all too well.

She could tell Diana was hiding something.

This is why I do not like subterfuge. Not like this. It was one thing to lead a costumed double life. This… this was destroying her friends' trust for the sake of this mission.

Diana had spent time with both of them. Nyota trusted her to be honest, even regarding her fears over their relationship. It made perfect sense that for Diana to seem so composed would have been radically off-putting.

And Jaylah had heard Diana describe each member of her team at great length, all the while explaining how difficult it would be to open up to him.

As the doors to the medical deck opened, Nyota didn't move. Nor did Jaylah. It became very clear to Diana that they were waiting for her to stop them. If she tried to stop them, then it would be clear she was hiding something. If she didn't… then they would be very hurt that she could lose someone quite so callously.

Sighing, she reached over to the lift control and closed the door. "He is not in Sickbay." She finally admitted. "Because he is still on the Romulan ship."

No sooner than the words left her mouth, Nyota clapped her hands together, although whether it was in anger or self-satisfaction and relief, she couldn't tell. "I knew it! I knew you weren't telling us the truth!" No sooner than she finished speaking, however, Nyota leaned back against the lift and covered her mouth with her hand. The sudden realization that the captain was not dead had confirmed her suspicions, but was more of an emotional impact than the lieutenant wanted to let on. "You said he was 'gone', and… I just… knew…"

Jaylah scowled, clearly disappointed. And her anger was very easy to see. "I noticed that signals I used on Atlamid were in the comm channels. Why did you not say anything?"

Diana held her hands up, trying to placate them both. "Please, I need to get this information to Engineering. I promise we'll talk once we get there. Mister Scott can explain why we used your communicator technology."

"Scotty knows, too?" Uhura asked, annoyed. "Let me guess, Bones and Sulu know, too?"

She shook her head. "Hikaru does not. Jim wanted everyone to be as genuine when they learned of his 'death' as possible. As the three of you were the bridge crew, he felt each of you would continue to resist the Romulans without my assistance." She couldn't help but think Barry would have found her unwillingness to keep up the deception highly amusing. He was the only one worse at keeping secrets from friends than she was. "I did not wish for this, but he would not listen." The doors to the turbolift opened again, this time on Main Engineering, and she motioned for them to follow her. "But, since you clearly had suspicions, I can now tell you without having to get into a debate with him about it later."

Jaylah continued prying for more details as Diana tried to focus on reaching engineering. "That is why you did not argue when James T and the Commander went over to their ship."

"Yes. All of this has been planned so that Jim could get back aboard the warbird."

The trio strode across the bridge to the main engineering room, where Scotty was busy at his console. A quick glance at the chief engineer showed him heads down on something. Given that all of the crew of the Enterprise seemed to handle waiting fairly the same, he'd probably thrown himself into a new formula or theory to test.

"Mister Scott," Diana called, holding the datapadd up as he turned to face her.

"That from the cap'n? I thought it'd take him longer…" Unfortunately, all the color drained from the poor man's face when he realized that she wasn't alone. Even if Diana had not already told them, he certainly would have been staring down two of the most passionate people on the ship. "Ah…"

"We already know, Mister Scott." Jaylah said, crossing her arms over her chest. The way she clipped Scotty's more formal title with no hint of playfulness indicated that she would be holding this against him for some time. "We know the captain is not dead. He was wrong to lie to us, but you were more wrong!"

"Ah, lassie, it's not that simple - " Scotty began, but Jaylah turned pointedly away from him, facing Diana instead.

"We did not come to the decision lightly, Jaylah." Diana offered, hoping to soothe the blow.

"Then how did you come to it?" Nyota might have framed the words as a question, but it was definitely much more of a demand. "You just told us that not only is Jim not dead, but he and Spock apparently planned this. My fiancee is on a Romulan warbird and I want to know the name of the admiral who ordered this so I can rip his ears off."

Diana crossed her arms, not exactly hiding her guilt. This was not how she wanted to tell them. "Jim has reason to believe - and we agree with the evidence we've seen - that someone within Starfleet is working with the Romulans." She motioned to Jaylah with a nod of her head. "It's possible they're responsible for your kidnapping."

"Why? I was a student." Jaylah said the word as if perhaps she'd misunderstood its meaning.

"Are ye daft, lass?" Scotty stood, trying to move back into her field of vision. Sensing he was trying to get back on her good side, Jaylah turned her head, refusing to acknowledge him. "Jaylah… ye just built a deck of holograms and ye're asking why the most secretive civilization in the Alpha Quadrant might want that."

"You still haven't answered my question." Nyota said, ignoring the growing tension between the two engineers. She was squarely focused on Diana, and with good reason.

"I know." Diana pursed her lips, choosing her words carefully. "We have nothing but circumstantial evidence at this point, but there is a possibility that the spy feeding information from Starfleet Intelligence to the Romulan Tal Shiar is an admiral."

The realization that this was a completely clandestine mission, not authorized by anyone in Starfleet, did not need to be said. Nyota's face reflected her full understanding just before she turned away so she could pace the length of the room.

She glanced down at the datapadd in her hand, then back up at the communications officer who now had answers that would do nothing to soothe her worry.

Diana needed to make it right. She stepped past Jaylah and Scotty - who was still trying to apologize - and pursued Nyota as she made it to the end of the room.

"Nyota." When she seemingly ignored her, bracing her hands on a railing, Diana closed the distance between them and reached out to tentatively touch her shoulder. "Sister."

Uhura's voice was thick with worry… and tears. "We just went through this over the Delphi incident." Her hands worked to squeeze the railing to steady herself. "I know that there are times when he'll make these kinds of decisions, but…" She took a deep breath, clearly trying to keep collected. "Dammit, I thought this was Khan all over again. And you… you knew."

"I am sorry." Diana offered, squeezing her shoulder gently. "I should have told you as soon as we ended communications, but - "

"But, you were doing what he asked." She said with a sigh, straightening up before wiping her eyes free of tears. "You know what, I should be glad he told you at all. A few years ago, he never would have trusted anyone with this."

She smiled softly. "I've been told I'm impossible to lie to."

After a long moment to steady herself, Nyota turned back to face her. "How much danger are they in?"

"Enough that I do not want them there any longer than necessary." Diana said darkly. She pursed her lips, then held out the data padd. "The vessel belongs to the Tal Shiar. Jim found evidence of a codename: She-Wolf. In Roman mythology, a She-Wolf raised Romulus and Remus. I believe this individual sees themselves as fostering the Empire, raising them to greatness even though he or she is not of their race."

Uhura's ability to compartmentalize was always breathtaking. In moments, she had been able to set aside her deep concern for her lover and her best friend so that she could focus on helping them. She took the datapadd and scanned the information. "These are… transponder signals. Starfleet uses them to identify communiques and point them to a particular set of subspace relays for transmission."

"Do you think we can use those signals to determine who the She-Wolf is?"

Uhura fell silent for a moment, flipping through the data before she finally offered. "I can certainly tell you what relays they're using. From there… we'll see." She paused. She must have seen the concern on Diana's face. "Does Jim have a suspect?"

Sighing, Diana spoke, even though the words did not ring true. "He thinks it's Conner Kent."

Uhura clearly didn't believe it, either. "He was a founder of Starfleet. I can't believe he would ever do that. How could Jim? Didn't he meet Superman?"

A slight smile tugged at Diana's lips in response. Nyota had spent just as much time examining Kent's career after they'd met him formally as Diana had. "He did. And I don't believe Kal or Conner would ever do such a thing. But, Jim doesn't know them as I do, and he did vote to demote him. There is something wrong."

Nyota shook her head. "I don't know… let's hope Jim finds something more."

Diana nodded in agreement, but before she could say more, her communicator chirped in her pocket. She pulled it free and flipped it open. "Ambassador Prince here."

"It's McCoy. Darlin', tell me Jim's contacted you."

Diana glanced down at the data padd in Nyota's hand, noting the time. "He did about a half hour ago. He doesn't need to check back in for another thirty minutes."

"Then we got a problem. He just tried to hail me on that communicator thing Scotty gave me and it went dead mid-sentence."

Diana paused, instantly knowing that what Bones had said was true. Her intuition didn't seem to be driven by her godly abilities, but rather the profound sense that Jim was in danger. Very present danger. "I'm on my way to the bridge. We need to tell Lieutenant Sulu. Prince out." Diana clapped her communicator shut.

As she did so, the lights suddenly changed in engineering to a more amber hue. Sulu's voice echoed in the cavernous great room.

"All hands to your stations. Yellow alert!"