Chapter Nine: An Innocent Warrior

The day started off with tears and goodbyes. Rachel and Charlie's mother contacted them that morning, ordering Rachel to return home. The Academy resumed classes that next week, and there was nothing more the youngest Noland could do for the crew and her sister. Their mother remained mum on the condition of their father, however, a fact that worried both girls.

In front of the inconspicuous row of houses, where a line of imposing black SUVs sat idling, the crew of the Enterprise each said farewell to Charlie's sister, brushing away the wetness on their cheeks and blaming it on the pollution, or the pollen, or whatever excuse they could think of. Sulu and Scotty enveloped her in a giant bear hug, Uhura promised to overnight her clothes back to her once they had a chance to go shopping, and McCoy promised he'd keep an eye on the two terrors. Finally, it was just the two sisters and the captain standing in the cloudy, cold air.

"Will I ever see you again?" Rachel asked, her green eyes misty as they jumped between the couple. Charlie glanced up to Jim, worrying her lip between her teeth.

"I don't know," she sighed, her attention moving back to her little sister. "I don't know what's going to happen."

Rachel nodded, as if expecting that answer. "I let you know what's going on at . . .home. Once I know."

"And I'll keep you up-to-date here."

Rachel shuffled her feet, making no move toward the cars. "Will you let me know if—"

"Yes." Charlie didn't need to say it; her sister already knew. The first chance to go back, they were going to take it.

Again, Rachel nodded. Without a word, she launched herself into Charlie's arms, her sister's reflexes the only thing stopping them from crashing to the ground.

"I love you," Rachel breathed into her sister's hair, hugging her for all she was worth. "And kick those dicks ass, if you ever find them."

Charlie smiled morosely, squeezing back. "I'll do my best. Be safe going back. I'm so proud of you."

The sisters released each other, Rachel running a hand under her nose as she turned to Jim. "I know she can do it herself, but take of my sister, Captain. I'm trusting you."

Jim smiled, the skin around his eyes crinkling, warmed by the faith of Charlie's sister. "I promise."

They hugged quickly, Rachel sniffling as she took a few hesitant steps backwards to the cars before she turned down the sidewalk. Without looking back, Rachel hopped into the back of the middle one, the cars taking off just as a light rain began to fall. Charlie didn't know if she could see her, the windows tinted black, but she waved anyway, watching as they turned the corner and disappeared.

Charlie's arm dropped slowly, surprised by the emptiness worming its way into her heart. The cold was kept at bay as an arm draped around her shoulders, pulling her against a strong chest.

"You alright?" Jim asked understandingly.

Charlie took a deep breath, the cold air filling her lungs and clearing the tears.

"Yeah." She turned to him, rising to her toes her lips brushing his. "Eventually. Let's get to work."

Closing the heavy door behind them, Charlie found the crew lounging around the front sitting room, a warm fire casting its glow on that dreary day. Uhura and Sulu were reading magazines sprawled on the couch, McCoy had an old medical book open, thumbing through and muttering to himself while Scotty was programming something on Kate's tablet for her dog, Otto. The only ones missing were Spock and the redhead herself. Moments later, Kate nudged the kitchen door open, a platter in her hands with different sandwiches and a pot of tea, Spock trailing behind with his own platter. Shaking her head, Charlie didn't realize how much she needed the scene before her.

Once deposited, Kate dusted her hands, her face alight with joy with having the crew in her house.

"You know I just asked for a glass of water," Sulu said, his eyes huge taking in the spread.

Charlie laughed as she and Jim took the open spaces on the love seat. "Sulu, something you need to understand about Kate is her impeccable manners. Part of it is being British, the rest is just her."

Kate just sent her a wink. "Missed you too, you silly American."

"Alright, let's start figuring this out," Kirk began, taking one of the scones. "Kate, why are we here? Why did Charlie's mom send us to you, besides the whole CIA thing?"

A switch seemed to go off, Kate nodding as she wound around the front two arm chairs and switched on the large TV that hung over the fireplace. Displayed was the screen of her computer, the wireless hook up already activated.

She sat down in the white, high backed armchair in front of her, her silver computer coming to rest on her lap. With deft fingers, a dark map was displayed on the screen, various points across Europe highlighted with different size and colored circles. Some were green, some were yellow, and others red. They were as small as pinpricks to covering several hundred square miles. Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Northern France, and parts of the Italian alps had the largest concentration of circles.

"Ever since we went into your time, I've become fascinated with the idea of temporal activity," she began, her attention roaming over the crew. "As I said yesterday, through working with my uncle, as well as the British and American governments, I began researching this idea of anomalies within our continuum and beyond. We couldn't have been the only ones to have ever disappeared like we did. And I was right."

Kate highlighted the moors of Ireland, zooming into the hills around Galway Bay. "I'm going to use Ireland as an example. There have been folktales going back centuries of people disappearing into fairy hills, stone circles, or vanishing in thin air. Some came back, but many didn't. So, I started plotting where they happened. Turns out, there are places on this planet where what I like to call 'temporal hotspots' seem to be active; think of it like the ring of fire in the Pacific. Where these latitude and longitude lines cross is where we find the largest insurgence of disappearances and reappearances.

"And here." She moved to the English Channel, switching the map to a terrain base, eliminating the water present. "10,000 years ago, the English Channel was a land bridge. Following this line of longitude here, you can clearly mark stone rings and burial mounds, even under the sea."

Charlie did see the correlation, the way the lines converged with the different points where they should be. There were a few outliers, such as their disappearance in Bristol where there were no lines of latitude or longitude crossing through their points, but the majority of the data Kate had followed her theory.

"Do you believe that the planet's magnetic structure to be the cause?" Spock asked, his focus on the screen.

"It's possible," Kate agreed. "Granted, correlation doesn't mean causation, but there's too much of a coincidence. I've been working recently on what's be causing these occurrences. Like with us, I wonder if the ability to create a nanowormhole could be a time tunnel. Until recently, it had only been a theory."

"What changed?" Uhura asked.

"You all." Kate pointedly caught Charlie's attention. "I got a call the other day from Dr. Noland, and she explained that you had reappeared, claiming to have been in the future, exactly like Philippa and I said years ago. She had done a sweep of the land and got some interesting data that she sent to me. She was able to document the magnetic structure change in the woods behind your house. It matched several other recordings I've gathered. Including one around the same time you appeared, but here in London."

Charlie sat up. "The same time?"

Kate shrugged. "Close. Maybe a thirty-minute difference."

Charlie caught the rest of the group's attention, they all flashing back to the ceremony and the masked intruders.

"Those damn fools," McCoy growled. "Taking that little girl."

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked.

"Kate," Charlie said to gain her attention, needing her to understand. "We came here using almost the same process when we fell through in Bristol."

"But I thought there wasn't any Red Matter left?" she questioned. "And didn't you destroy the Boradis Station so that the research couldn't be found?"

"We did," Jim agreed. "And to our knowledge after you and Philippa were sent through the transporter that was the last of it. But we also didn't know about Section 31, or the Vengeance project either," he added dryly.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, except Kate with her perplexed expression.

"I'll tell you later," Charlie commented with a wave of her hand. "What I was getting at before is we came here using the same processes. But we weren't dropped in like you and I were. We jumped."

"Speak for yerself, lass," Scotty grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"OK, at least I did," Charlie rolled her eyes. "Anyway, there was group that attacked us at a reception. They targeted Jim and a child – a little girl. They took her and jumped into the vortex before the rest of us followed. We landed in Colorado and I didn't see any indication of them anywhere."

"You think they landed here?"

"It is a possibility," Spock agreed slowly. "Although the Narada entered our universe before Ambassador Spock, the ships appeared in two different parts of the quadrant and twenty-five years apart. Theoretically, the attackers with the child may have landed somewhere else on the surface of Earth."

"But by what, half an hour?" Jim remarked.

"You said yourself that it was decades," Sulu added. "They could be weeks behind us, or years ahead."

Spock acknowledged their argument, injecting, "Unless they were able to replicate the same process as Cadet Noland's predecessor."

"Sagan did say Edward stabilized the matter," Charlie remarked, thinking. "He was able to pick a landing point. It just had to be over a hundred years, local travel was way harder."

"And we came back within a few weeks of our disappearance," Kate supplied. "When you're talking about going through time, that's on target."

"All we're doing is guessing," Uhura pointed out. "Is there a way we can see where they landed? See if we can find evidence of them. Could be it was something else entirely."

"Uhura's right," McCoy said. "How do we even know it was those bastards who landed and not some blip in your equipment? No offense."

Kate's eyes narrowed threateningly, but she replied cordially, "None taken. I suppose I could request access into London's surveillance system. Look and see if it was an appearance or a . . . blip."

McCoy shrugged innocently when Uhura nudged him. "What? It's bad enough we're stuck in this plague-ridden Petri dish, I don't trust that this dark age technology can do what we need it to do."

Jim rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation while Charlie shook her head. Lucky for them, Kate was already familiar with the doctor's surly behavior.

"It may take time," Kate continued, ignoring McCoy. "I'll have to go through the appropriate channels before I get authorization."

Bones rolled his eyes. "The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe."

"Do what you can, Kate," Charlie said. "If we can find them, it's our obligation to get that little girl back. Whatever it takes."

It took two weeks before Kate received the necessary permissions to access the city's surveillance systems. For two weeks, the crew tried to keep themselves occupied, touring London, shopping for clothing since they only had those on their backs (curtesy of the American government), and overall getting into Kate's hair.

Scotty had already torn apart the vacuum, an old rotary dial phone that belonged to Kate's grandfather, and her desktop computer. Sulu and Charlie decided to practice fencing using sticks from the garden, attempting to keep up with their training until the neighbors called police complaining. McCoy's irritability was increasing each passing day, finding fault with everything, including the weather till Kate finally unleashed on him, her temper matching her hair while Uhura and Charlie sat back with some popcorn, enjoying the chastised doctor cower from her rage.

With eight people crammed into a three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhome, tempers were sure to fly. Kate, Charlie and Uhura had to fit into one bedroom, Jim and Bones another, and Scotty and Sulu the last while Spock, claiming all he needed was time to mediate, slept on the couch downstairs. They bickered like siblings, their cohabitation straining their already fried nerves. They took turns going out into the world, groups of two wandering to do the grocery shopping, or visit the museums and cinemas. Poor McCoy was recognized once while he and Jim were out getting the next three days' groceries. The already prickly doctor had to try to play the actor that the girls claimed him to be until he was able to scurry away, Jim trying hard not to laugh at his misfortune.

Charlie meanwhile received updates from her mother almost daily. The crew's infiltration of Cheyenne Mountain went unnoticed thanks to the arrival of the Black Sun. They're attempted heist of the augment research swept away any evidence of Charlie being there, all off it attributed to the rogue group. Most of them were either captured or killed, but a couple individuals managed to make it out before being caught, much to her mother's chagrin.

The biggest frustration Charlie had was finding out about her father. Anytime she begged her mother for more information the line suddenly went dead, or she changed the subject. Rachel was no help either, her sister having gone dark since going back. It was as if Charlie was suddenly cut off from all communication except through her mother, raising her suspicions for why she sent her and the crew to London. A lot could have changed in three years, and with Kate now on the payroll, could she trust her?

Charlie spoke to Jim about her concerns. He agreed there were red flags about her mother's behavior, and that although they have no choice but to trust Kate at the moment, certain details they'd keep to themselves until they knew for sure.

When it came to getting the surveillance, however, Kate could be described as persistent. The minute she knew about a little girl being taken, she practically lived on her phone until she could get the clearance needed to track the individuals. She narrowed down the area to only four city blocks, requesting all street, store, and personal camera footage she could find. Once she received it, the crew all sat down to review it, believing eight set of eyes were better than one.

They sat for three hours, four of the best videos displayed on the giant TV screen before one of the cameras flickered like caught by a gust of wind. Then the next. Then the next. From an alleyway, a group appeared, the first couple sticking their heads out, looking for traffic or passersbys. Then in twos and threes, some holding individuals strung between them, they began exiting like commuters from the subways. First they scattered left, then right, running across the street, or scurrying around the next corner. They all had backpacks that appeared stuffed, and it wasn't until one ran through, a black corner of fabric catching the wind that they knew for certain who they were.

The only problem is they hadn't yet seen the child. Was this the same group that attacked them? The only evidence they had was black fabric. None of the white masks, or weapons, or any other identifying feature could be seen.

A black van pulled up to the curb and stopped, its hazards on. Three of the cameras were blocked save one that looked up the street. A man nonchalantly walked out from the shadows and opened the back, looking left and right around the vehicle then behind. With a wave, several others followed, a mix of men and women who jumped into the back. One of them held a large laundry bag slung over his shoulder. The picture was fuzzy from so far away, but it appeared as if the bag was moving, like whatever was inside was trying to fight their way out.

He closed the doors, jogged to the front and jumped in the passenger side, the van taking off before anyone even realized it was there.

"Well that's not suspicious," McCoy announced as the van drove away.

"Can we track it?" Uhura asked.

Kate hit a few strokes on her computer. "I can try."

They watched the van weave through the city, the camera flashing back and forth as they watched the van enter the view and then leave again. Finally, after thirty minutes of tracking its progress, it went under a bridge but didn't come out again.

"Where'd it go?" Sulu questioned.

"Trying to locate." Kates fingers were a blur across the keyboard. With a deep growl she slumped back against the chair. "It's no use, there aren't any cameras on that side that I can locate."

Charlie caught Jim's eye, her hand instinctively finding his when the van appeared.

"Looks like we have to do it the old fashion way," she said.

Jim nodded in understanding. "Charlie and I will head over that way tomorrow, see what we can find. Maybe figure out the route they could have taken. Scotty, you and Spock help Kate find some alternative ways to locate where that van went."

"Aye, sir."

"Bones, it's you and Sulu for grocery duty tomorrow."

The doctor rolled his eyes as Sulu grinned.

"Uhura, try to get on the comm system here. Hamm radio? See if you can't find some of that same chatter we had back in Colorado. Maybe they're holding out somewhere in London like we are."

"Got it."

"Alright, we're closer than we were. Let's see if we can find these bastards."

The next day, Charlie and Jim set out. They found the bridge from the video, but after following the same road for another kilometer, it branched into two forks, both of which seemed long, dark, and headed out of London. There was also a weird dead zone of surveillance for London, not even the private doorbell cameras could point them in the right direction.

Dejectedly they turned around, knowing they wouldn't be able to find the child just on foot. As they headed toward the subway station, the hair on the back of Charlie's neck rose, glancing around at the small groups of people at the cafes and shops, her training kicked in to notice some disturbing patterns. Gabbing Jim's arm, she had him slow down, glancing into shops and pretending to look at café menus, using their windows as mirrors as she pretended to enjoy the sunny day in London. Jim picked up on it too, his own instincts kicking in.

"Charlie."

"I know. They've been following us for the last half mile."

"How many? I count two to the left. One by the dumpster, one in the shops."

"I have another three. Two at the café. Last one took an alley to try to cut us off."

"We can't fight five." She knew that. Even at their best, Charlie and Jim could maybe take on four. Maybe. Charlie's gaze roamed across the block.

"Over there," she jutted her chin to the right. "We can lose them in that market."

Jim nodded, reaching down to grab her hand as they veered across the street. "Stay behind me."

"I'll protect your six if that's what you mean." Charlie sent a glare at him from under her lashes, trying to keep her voice low as she noticed one leave the shop and the other two at the café stand. "I won't hide behind you."

"Charlie—"

"We're a team, Jim. For better or worse."

The little alley was lined with street vendors, their booths showcasing an assortment of items. From the Union Jack bedazzling every surface, to spices and teas, the crowded space made it difficult to move quickly, but hid them in plain sight. They wandered around, trying not to be obvious in their haste to lose their pursuers, but also avoiding dallying in one place for too long.

Charlie tried to act nonchalant, but her gaze traveled the crowd constantly in a vain attempt to keep them in her sight. She ignored the attempts to sell her a beautiful scarf, or the emerald like earrings that complimented her eyes, or even the wicked dagger that could easily be concealed in her boot. She perused with no intention of purchasing, and like driven by a sixth sense, the sellers began ignoring her and Jim, knowing no sale would come from them.

They made it to the other side, the only way out a thin alley lined with a couple of dumpsters. Realizing they're escape was more of a trap and needing speed on their side, both Jim and Charlie jogged through the alley, popping out into a small square walled by 19th century brick buildings. Scurrying to the small exit in the corner, a man materialized in front of them blocking their exit.

Charlie and Jim skidded to a stop as he withdrew a pistol, aiming it at their hearts. He was flanked by two others, all of them wearing varying shades of black and grey, a symbol of an eclipse tattooed next to their thumbs. From behind, a man and a woman blocked their chance to escape into the market, the woman pulling out a lethal looking knife as her partner picked up a metal bar propped against the brick.

"Can we help you gentlemen? And lady. My apologies," Jim said, his hands raised. Charlie's back connected with his, echoing his stance as she glared at the woman silently.

"We've been lookin' fer you," the one with gun spat, his accent thick and heavy.

"Well, you've found me," Jim replied. "But just so you know, I'm already taken and you're not my type."

"Oh, he thinks he's a funny man," the beastly man to his right barked, flexing his engorged knuckles threateningly. "Let's see how funny you are once they get ahold of you."

"Who's 'they'," Charlie growled, unable to stop herself. "Actually, who the hell are you?"

"Ain't none of yer business," gun man answered. "Yer not got nothing ta do wif this."

"You bet your ass I do," she snapped back.

"Charlie," Jim growled out the side of his mouth.

"It's her!" the woman exclaimed, her hand closing around a gold pendant shaped in a circle with geometric like rays flaring off from the center hole . "She's one of them."

One would have thought Charlie threw holy water on a vampire the way they seemed to recoil and eerily hiss in her direction.

"Ummm, sure, yeah I'll go with that," Charlie acknowledged confusedly. "And if you don't want any problems, I would step aside."

"If we can kill one of them, we'd be kings," another said, his greedy eyes taking in Charlie's body till she shivered in disgust.

"Stay away from her." The voice was feral coming out of Jim's mouth, his body tensing in an instant.

"We take him alive," the woman ordered, smirking at Charlie. "Kill her."

The group rushed the pair. Charlie only had enough time duck before the metal bar went sailing above her head, missing her by millimeters. As she came up, she sent a right uppercut into the man's stomach, the air forced from his lungs in a gasp. He dropped to the ground, replaced by the woman who came flying over his back, the knife aiming for her neck. Charlie dodged to the side, her hand connecting with the woman's wrist, forcing the weapon away. It became an art of weaving and bobbing as Charlie tried to evade the knife, shuffling back and away. She didn't know where Jim was, could only hear grunts of pain and the soft drumming of fists connecting with flesh.

The woman continued to smirk, like a cat with a mouse she was enjoying the fear on Charlie's face. Something about her seemed almost inhuman. Maybe it was the red rims around her hazel irises, or the thick veins bulging out of the translucent skin on her arms, but she was like a demon possessed. Charlie's back connected with the wall, her sense of her space lacking. The woman lunged, Charlie sidestepping at the last minute as the blade connected with mortar and lodging itself between bricks. Charlie didn't even stop to think, her fist connecting with the woman's jaw and sending her reeling back.

Charlie didn't let her regroup, coming at her again and throwing punches until she got close enough to grab the woman's hair, sending her head into the wall next to the blade. Her forehead connected with a thump, stunning her enough that Charlie was finally able to get her arms around the woman's neck, locking her in a hold as she squeezed against the woman's external carotid artery with her bicep and forearm. Within seconds, the woman collapsed, the gold pendent Charlie noticed earlier catching and tearing off in her hand.

Charlie didn't have time to breathe as the man was in front of her again, his eyes bulging, and a scream tore through his throat. Charlie dodged the first fist but missed the second as it collided with her cheek, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. Stars exploded in front of her eyes as she fell onto the concrete, rolling out of the way as a boot came down where her head had been.

Scrambling to her feet, Charlie barely had time to prepare before the man launched himself into her sternum, sending them both back down to the ground. They rolled and grappled, fists flying as they brawled across the pavement. He managed to pin her, his hands wrapping around her throat in a panic inducing reminder of battles previous fought. Charlie flared around for a minute, her animalistic instinct taking over.

"Charlie! Charlie!" Jim screamed, her eyes desperately searching for his, the Starfleet Captain restrained by the two burly men, his lip cut and a dark bruise forming around his eye.

Black spots started popping as she tried to gasp for the air she needed. Glancing down, she noticed the metal bar the man tried to use before. Stretching her fingers out, she managed to grasp it and swing at his head, the metal and bone colliding in a gut retching crunch as he collapsed on top of her. She wheezed as his fingers went slack, the cold air burning and beautiful all at once.

As she shoved the body off her, Charlie could only watch horror stricken from the ground as the man with the gun pointed the barrel between her eyes. A mighty roar filled the square, the pain of it vibrating into her veins. Jim went ballistic. With a strength she had never seen before, Jim shredded limps from bodies, crushing skulls with his fists as he tore through his restraints like they were wet tissue paper.

The man with the gun didn't even have a chance to pull the trigger when his wrist was cleanly snapped like a twig, his scream sending chills along her skin. Fists connected with his skull, sending him flying into the wall. Jim didn't stop there, picking him up and slamming his head against the bricks again and again until a bloody circle was imprinted into the stone.

Only then did Jim drop the lifeless body to his feet, turning toward Charlie his harden face unrecognizable. She scrambled to her feet, her wide eyes taking in the scene surrounding them. She was shaking from head to toe, watching as whatever possessed Jim flee as fast as it came, leaving him with the same expression as he glanced around, raising his own shaking hands.

"Ok, what the fuck was that?"

"I-I don't know," Jim panted, staring at his hands as if he didn't know how they worked. "I don't know what that was."

"I've never seen you, or anyone, do . . . that."

He shook. "I have. On Qo'nos."

Charlie blinked. "What are you talking about? What's going on, this isn't like you?"

"I don't know," he wheezed. "I don't know how to explain it. I've been feeling it, more each day."

"Feeling what?"

"Like I want to punch something. No, that's not right. Like I want to kill something, or someone. I see these groups of people and I- I want to go berserk on them. No reason. Absolutely no reason. It's like I become so angry I just want to—" He turned, smashing his closed fist against the brick, causing the wall to shudder as dust rained down. Charlie took a hesitant step back, terrified of Jim for the first time.

He turned to her, his blue eyes glowing as if lined with red. He blinked once and it was gone, but they were forever burned into Charlie's memory. Jim saw her fear, her body tense and posed to run away. He'd never felt the shame that he did then, heat creeping up his neck. That alone is what drove whatever it was trying to claw its way out back into its cage.

"Charlie," he reached a hand out, Charlie stepping back further, her wide eyes jumping from his fingers to him. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on. Please, I – I need you."

For one terrible moment, Charlie considered running. This went beyond anything she knew or felt capable of dealing with. But it lasted only milliseconds before she remembered what she said moments before the devil came out of Jim's finger tips: for better or worse.

She took a deep breath, reaching out to wrap her warm fingers around his cold ones, the roughness of his callouses and scrapped knuckles scratching against her palm. Just like at Cheyenne mountain, Charlie felt her warmth seeping into Jim's flesh. She could almost see a gold glow flow up his veins and encase him in a protective shield. Jim breathed a sigh of relief, his shoulders sinking.

"Not to sound ridiculous, but when you touch me, that's when I feel like I can actually control whatever this is."

"I do what I can." She tried to smile, but it felt tight and forced.

"It feels like something is drawing me closer. Something is pulling at me to go."

"Where?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, somewhere else. Somewhere . . . north."

"North?" Charlie questions before her phone rang, both of them jumping in surprise. Reaching into her back pocket she saw Kate's face starring back at her.

"Hey, what's up?" She was impressed her voice didn't crack. Charlie didn't move her gaze from Jim's confused one as she listened.

"You and the Captain should come back. We've got something."

Charlie bent down and picked up the pendant she tore from the woman. "Same. See you in twenty."

"C'mon," Charlie said, ending the call and pulling Jim into her arms. "Let's head back. Kate says they have something, and maybe we should talk to McCoy."

Jim's arms wrapped around her as if terrified he'd never hug her again. Tears wanted to build, but she pushed them away as she felt him nod against her neck. The fish to fry were starting to get a lot bigger.

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