"There's been a few... complications," Kirk could hear Luna's voice as he tried to blink the bright light out of his eyes. As she came into view, Kirk noticed her sparse clothing had become covered in soot and grime, and that she was talking into a small communicator. He took a small step forward, not daring to come too close and disturb her. "I have fallen out of the Captain's graces," She said and quickly stopped. "No, I cannot seem to regain control of his mind. I can feel the connection between us, but I can't reach out to him. He has locked me out." She explained and Kirk's heart started to beat faster. "I will have to induce heavy meditation to regain it," She paused, listening in on the communicator. "I thought that you said it was a priority- yes, I see. They have no idea that I am consulting with the Klingons, no."

Shit. Kirk thought, forcing himself to keep his mouth shut. They must be the outsiders that she was talking about.

"It will be done." She nodded and closed the communicator, then slipped it back into her pocket. She heaved a heavy sigh and looked up towards the sky. Kirk turned his head curiously as he watched her reach out and begin to scale something. He watched her movements as she shimmed up and stretched out across what he could only assume to be a tree branch. She sucked in a deep breath, and suddenly turned her head to face Kirk. Kirk froze on his feet as their eyes connected. She narrowed her eyes at him and her mouth began to curl into a smile, and he quickly shut his eyes and yanked himself out of the trance.

/

He awoke again with a start, sucking in a deep breath as he tried to take in his surroundings again. McCoy placed a comforting hand on his back and one on his shoulder as he tried to steady his friend.

"Jim?" McCoy asked quietly as he retained his steady grip on his back. "Jim what did you see?" McCoy pressed as Kirk rested his head in his hands.

"She was there," Kirk said in a rushed voice, his body still gasping for breath. "She was in the woods somewhere. Probably just outside of the city," He dragged his hand down his face and sat up straight. "She's working with the Klingons, Bones." Kirk said and McCoy's blood ran cold, all the color draining from his face. "Those are the outsiders on her planet that she was talking about."

"Dammit," McCoy huffed as he pulled his hands off Kirk's steadying chest. "Do you think they were behind the bombing?"

"No," Kirk said, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration. "Besides, Spock didn't even bring her here until after the bombing. She had every opportunity to kill me. I mean, she came close, but she didn't do it. I think that they're just looking for information. And what better way to get it than to use me?" He rubbed his temples and took another deep breath.

"So we still have no idea who planted the bomb?" McCoy asked.

"No, but I think that it's all gotta be connected somehow. I mean, none of this could be coincidental, right?" Kirk asked, looking to McCoy for validation, but McCoy simply shrugged. "We've got to run this by Spock and see what he thinks." He stood up and started for the door.

"Wait," McCoy said and Kirk's pace faltered. "I don't want you going back out there if she's still wandering around, waiting to snatch your brain back up."

"She's not looking for me anymore, Bones," Kirk insisted, reaching for the door button. "She's got some other mission. I didn't catch what it was, though. But I know that she's letting me go."

"That's not enough, Jim," McCoy said firmly. "I'm not letting you go back out there until everything is settled and figured out. We'll call Spock here, do you understand me?" McCoy puffed out his chest and narrowed his eyes at his friend.

"Fine," Kirk grumbled and gave in. "But he'd better get here soon."

/

"Klingons," Spock mused as he pressed his fingers to his chin. "It is unlikely that they are behind the bombing, but it is quite possible that they are now undergoing another plot to take out Starfleet, with the Kahn-ut-tu woman on the loose."

"That's exactly what I said," Kirk called from the kitchen, carrying a tray with glasses, a bottle of whiskey, and a cup of tea. "They were looking for information. Do you think they've got what they need and are going to take us out?" He set the tray down on the coffee table in front of the two men lounging on the couch.

"That is a possibility," Spock nodded and graciously accepted the cup of tea while Kirk poured a generous amount of alcohol into each of the glasses, then took a seat on the couch next to McCoy. "And if that is so, we need to figure out who they could be targeting."

"We know the witch has some sort of mind control healing remedy," McCoy snatched both the glasses of whiskey off the tray and poured one back into the bottle, then brought the tray back into the kitchen.

"She's probably targeting someone in authority, if she's going to take us out." Kirk crossed his arms against his chest as McCoy returned with a glass of water and set it in front of him.

"But my question is why? I thought the Klingons were all about honor. It seems a little backhanded to attack us with a spy during a time of treaty between us." McCoy sipped on his whiskey and nudged Kirk with his elbow, urging him to drink the water.

"Perhaps we are missing a variable from the equation," Spock folded his hands around the cup. "The Klingons do not wish to make a spectacle of taking out Starfleet, or perhaps not yet. That could be in return for something that Starfleet has done to them."

"You suggesting that Starfleet did something backhanded to the Klingons?" Kirk asked, the wheels in his head turning quickly.

"That is the most likely cause." Spock offered the Vulcan equivalent of a shrug.

"Someone high up could easily sweep something like that under the rug," Kirk mumbled. "The question is, who? And why? Did they mean to start a war with the Klingons, or did they have some other reason? And what the hell do we have to gain from starting a war with the Klingons?" Everyone fell silent as they thought about all of the possibilities.

"So," McCoy interrupted the silence. "Do you think this has anything to do with the bombing?"

"I think that if someone high up wanted me dead, I'd be dead. They wouldn't have let the delay on the bomb stop them. Hell, they wouldn't have let the delay on the bomb happen." Kirk shrugged.

"And they would have no reason to pin the bombing on the Klingons, if they were indeed so successful covering their tracks with wronging the Klingons." Spock added.

"There has to be a third party. But why would they want to get involved with something like this? Did they know about what Starfleet was doing to the Klingons?" Kirk questioned.

"This is all based off a few theories, nothing that has been proven," Spock warned, trying to let them know how dangerous it could be to go off on tangents the way that they were.

"Well, theories are all we've got," Kirk sighed. "And I think that I need to poke around high command. See what I can dig up about the Klingons and any dealings we've got with them, good, bad, or shady."

"And the bomber?" McCoy asked.

"We've got to see who, on the lower tier of Starfleet, has access to any intel about the Klingons." Kirk said firmly and stood up from his seat on the couch. "I'm off to command. Spock, keep me posted on what you find out. Bones, let me know if the search party finds Luna."

"As you wish, Captain." Spock nodded and set down his tea on the table.

"Jim," McCoy warned. Kirk turned to face him, his eyes filled with strength and determination. "Be careful." McCoy said, a little defeated, and Kirk marched out the door. "It's good to have him back. The real him." McCoy sighed and sat back in the couch.

"Do you believe that the therapy sessions will help him?" Spock asked, standing up and brushing the wrinkles off his uniform.

"I think that they can, once he opens up. Until then, I think that the best thing for him is to get back into action for now. Then he'll pull himself out of his funk, like he always does. Then we'll be able to connect better with him. When he's in that sorry state, no one can reach him," McCoy sighed. "Not even an expert."

"We are doing all that we can to protect the Captain, Doctor." Spock reassured him. "Both mentally and physically."

"I sure hope so," McCoy grumbled and took another sip of his whiskey. "I can't lose him like that ever again."

/

"Captain Kirk," Admiral Henyar remarked, slightly disconcerted as Kirk opened up the door to his office. "I have to admit, I was a little surprised to see that you had made an appointment so soon after beginning therapy," He motioned to the chair in front of his desk, then folded his hands neatly on the desk. "But it's good to see you, nevertheless. Please, have a seat."

"Thank you, Admiral," Kirk sat down and reclined confidently in the comfortable chair.

"Is there something that I can do for you, Captain?" The Admiral asked, probing Kirk's eyes for answers.

"Actually, you can," Kirk sat forward in his chair. "I've been looking into a little...situation, and I was hoping that you might have some information for me."

"What kind of situation?" The Admiral asked warily.

"Well, I was in he library today, looking up some things about the Kahn-ut-tus, and I found something interesting. I wasn't really expecting to find anything, since it's an unmapped system, but that's when I stumbled on an article about a special root found on Neural's moon. It took a lot of digging, but I found out that someone had written the report, based on the value of the plant on the market, and the possible demand. This was fifteen years ago," Kirk paused and examined the expression on the Admiral's face. It was unwavering, but Kirk knew that there was something behind his eyes. "Someone tried to wipe this report off the system. Luckily, I have one of the most brilliant minds on my crew, and he was able to find it for me."

"This is an interesting development," The Admiral raised his eyebrows. "I'll have someone look into it right away. If you'll excuse me, Captain, I have other meetings that I shuffled around so that you could come in."

"Right, of course. Thank you for your time," Kirk stood up and nodded to the Admiral, then stopped and turned on his heel. "One more thing though. I kept trying to figure out why someone would try and erase it from the record. Maybe it was a money grab? I don't know. But then I found something else out," Kirk continued and the Admrial froze. "The Klingons had reportedly started making steps towards coming to Neural, according to other records. They neared the planet, and I figured that maybe whoever was in charge of this report felt threatened by the Klingons encroaching on their territory and tried to erase all evidence of the planet from the records so that they could carry out whatever actions they had to to keep the money flowing," The color from the Admiral's face began to drain. "But then I wondered who had the authority to destroy something from the records. And I realized that it had to be an Admiral," Kirk was cut off by Henyar snatching a phaser from beneath his desk and pointing it at the Captain's chest.

"You shouldn't have dug this deep, Kirk." The Admiral snarled.

"Thank God," Kirk let out a sigh of relief. "You're like, the fifth Admiral I've talked to today. I was starting to think I was way off base. Especially with the way they reacted to the accusation. Got thrown out twice by security, can you believe that?"

"You know I can't let you leave now that you know this," The Admiral said coldly.

"Ah, right. I expect nothing less," Kirk shrugged, his arms raised defensively. "But I do have one question. What the hell'd you do to the Klingons to piss them off that badly?"

"If you're referring to the bombing, I had nothing to do with that. As far as things are concerned with the Klingons, I made sure that their supply lines were crippled." The Admiral stood up and began walking towards Kirk slowly, the weapon still trained on Kirk's chest.

"And what does that mean, exactly?" Kirk asked, taking a half-step backwards.

"I had to destroy their supply ships." The Admiral stepped closer, pushing Kirk in the chest with his phaser.

"Wait, so you killed their people in a time of peace? What the hell, man?" Kirk asked in disbelief as he backed into the wall.

"You saw how much those roots are worth. I couldn't afford to let the Klingons ruin that opportunity. Do you know how much money Starfleet burns through? You know how much your fancy new Starship that you keep bringing back in pieces costs?" The Admiral raised his voice and continued to hit Kirk with the front of his phaser.

"More than your morals are worth, I guess." Kirk scoffed.

"Yeah, this is the time to be smart," The Admiral snarled.

"With the decisions you're making, I'll always be smarter than you anyways." Kirk shrugged with a smug smile on his face. The Admiral's finger squeezed the trigger tighter. "Oh please, don't act like you're going to shoot me," Kirk shook his head. "What do you think they'll do to you when they find out that you killed me?"

"They would think that I've done it in self-defense," The Admiral gave Kirk a stone-cold smile. "After all, I've got witness that can attest to your quickly deteriorating mental state. You're done, Captain."

/

Hey, long time no update! Sorry this chapter took so long, and I wish that it was better, but hey, it's the best I've got. This 'mental warfare' think is haaaard. I promise that everything's going to be resolved very soon... Anyway, I hope you consider sticking around for more, and maybe leaving some constructive criticism or feedback? Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story so far!

-buckminsterbarnes