2.15 - Not A Soul In Sight

~~*~~

Cali and Spock arrived back on the bridge to the sound of Chekov explaining a plan to warp right to one of Saturn's moons in order to get the jump on Nero and his ship's sensors to the rest of the main bridge crew.

"Aye, that might work." Scotty replied instantly, nodding to the Russian whiz kid.

"Wait a minute, kid, how old are you?" Bones questioned patronisingly making Cali roll his eyes at his friend.

"Seventeen, sir." Chekov replied confidently.

"Oh, oh good, he's seventeen." Bones sighed in exasperation making Cali step forward, unfortunately having to let go of Spock's hand as he did, to intervene.

"Leave him alone Bones." Cali scolded, making the group turn to face him, and Spock, as they approached. Jim looked from the Vulcan to Cali making Cali smile reassuringly at him.

"Doctor, Mister Chekov is correct. I can confirm his telemetry." Cali didn't fail to notice how everyone gave Spock a look of apprehension as he spoke and wasn't afraid to give little glares to a few of the nastier onlookers, which didn't go unnoticed by a slightly amused Jim. "If Mister Sulu is able to manoeuvre us into position, I can beam aboard Nero's ship, steal back the black hole device, and if possible, bring back Captain Pike."

Cali turned to Spock with slightly widened eyes. The Vulcan hadn't discussed that plan with him. "I won't allow you to do that, Mister Spock." Jim denied, not wanting him to put himself in danger on behalf of the ship because he was guilty about what he did or wanted to go off on some half-cocked revenge plan.

Looking from Spock to Jim, Cali sighed. "I hate to admit it Jim, but Spock going makes sense. Romulans and Vulcans share a common ancestry."

Spock looked from Cali to Jim, not aware that he had a small smug smirk from Cali agreeing with him. "Indeed. Our cultural similarities will make it easier for me to access the ship's computer to locate the device. Also, my mother was Human, which makes Earth the only home I have left."

There was a brief silence as Jim thought about the plan before he flashed Cali the briefest of apologetic looks and stepped up to Spock. "I'm coming with you." Jim announced, making eye contact with Spock, almost daring him to say no.

Spock could see the dare in his eyes and as much as he knew they both gained some amount of pleasure from being able to argue with each other so well, he knew it wasn't the time. "I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it."

Jim chuckled softly. "See? We are getting to know each other." He stated with a smirk. As he walked past Spock, he slapped him on the arm, making the Vulcan sway. Spock stared off in front of him for a moment before turning to look at Cali briefly and following the captain out.

"Oh gods." Cali mumbled to himself, watching the two leave the bridge. "What have I gotten myself into?"

~~*~~

In the corridor, Spock had managed to Catch up with Jim, and Cali had caught up with them both shortly after. Once again, nothing was said as they quickly made their way to the transporter room.

Jim led the way inside, spotting Scotty already at the controls. "How are we, Scotty?"

"Unbelievably, sir, the ship is in position." Scotty replied, looking up at him as he approached. Although Spock continued on to his position on the pad, Jim stopped at the controls to open a commlink to the bridge and Cali stalled there with him.

"Whatever happens, Mister Sulu, if you think you have the tactical advantage, you fire on that ship, even if we're still onboard. That's an order." Though Jim spoke with confidence, his eyes flickered to look at Cali next to him as he gave the order. He didn't want to leave him, but there was always going to be that risk for both of them working with Starfleet. Jim had known that since birth.

"Yes, sir."

"Otherwise, we'll contact the Enterprise when we're ready to be beamed back."

"Good luck." Sulu wished as the commlink closed and Jim made his way to his place on the pad.

Cali followed Jim onto the pad, coming to stand in front of him as he reached up to hold Jim's cheek and kissed Jim on the lips. They could both feel the beg for him to come back, the fear that he wouldn't. It didn't need to be said. Then, after Cali pulled away, Jim was pleased to see him move in front of Spock and repeat the action. Though he only kissed him on the opposite cheek to the one he held, he did link their fingers before he pulled away.

Spock looked slightly wide eyed at Cali as he pulled away. Spock was shocked that Cali would show such affection in front of his partner. But then, his confusion was magnified when he turned to Jim only to see him looking at him with a knowing smirk.

"Good luck, both of you." Cali wished, stepping off the pad to stand a few feet away between the two. "And please, for my sanity, look after each other." He joked, giving them both a crooked smile.

"Of course, angel." Jim promised, giving him a small jokey but genuine smile, "We'll be good."

Ignoring Jim, Spock looked directly into Cali's eyes and promised. "We will be back."

Giving his two... his two loves one last look, Cali nodded and made his way out of the transporter room quickly to make his way back to the bridge so that he could monitor their frequencies.

Looking between the men in confusion and shock, Scotty just nodded his head and accepted whatever that was. "Okey-dokey then. If there's any common sense in the design of the enemy ship, I should be putting you somewhere in the cargo bay. There shouldn't be a soul in sight."

"Energize." Kirk ordered and soon they were covered by a white light.

~~*~~

As soon as the transporter light faded, Jim and Spock looked around as shouts in the Romulan language were heard around them. Jim cursed Scotty's words of 'shouldn't be a soul in sight' as he and Spock pulled their phasers, running to cover and quickly worked on defending themselves against the many Romulans they had landed in the middle of.

The two run as quick as they could, weaving through the dark workings of the ship as they were fired upon from multiple directions. As they avoided the shots and debris from where the phasers hit the ship around them, they managed to get off a few shots of their own, hitting several of their Romulan attackers.

Jim and Spock worked surprisingly well together, Jim would have thought if he had any time with the constant onslaught. They were very in sync as they duck behind a large piece of cover and pop up to fire on the Romulans together.

As Spock continued to fire from the cover, Jim spotted a lone Romulan to the left and snuck over, swapping his gun to stun and hitting him, making the Romulan stumble and fall to the ground unconscious. Spock spotted what Jim had done and ran over.

"I'll cover ya." Jim whispered to Spock, slightly out of breath, both of them looking at the unconscious Romulan thinking the same thing.

"Are you certain?" Spock questioned, looking from the Romulan to the side of Jim's head from his position just behind him.

"Yeah, I got ya." Jim confirmed, keeping his eyes focused ahead.

Spock nodded and quickly moved towards the Romulan, keeping his gun raised and ready. Jim stayed paused for a moment before swapping his gun back to kill and making his way to follow.

As soon as Spock reached the Romulan, he wasted no time as he kneeled and roughly grabbed his face so that he is facing the sky and positions his hands on his face in order to meld their minds.

While Spock was in the Romulan's mind looking for the information they need, a different Romulan ran up behind him and raised his gun but is quickly shot in defence as Jim made his way over. Once at Spock, Jim took a defensive position, crouched down so that they are less noticeable but constantly vigilant so that no one could get the jump on them while Spock was defenceless.

"Do you know where it is? The black hole device?" Jim questioned, briefly looking at the motionless Vulcan before looking around again.

Spock suddenly opened his eyes and looked up slowly, new realisations obviously having been found. "And Captain Pike." He confirmed, standing quickly and moving away from the Romulan in a direction unknown to Jim but seemingly with purpose.

~~*~~

Cali was still running through the halls of the Enterprise when the alarms started going off. He knew exactly what they meant and sprinted as fast as he can, dodging crewmates as he went.

"They have actiwated the drill." He heard Chekov announce just as he arrived, breathlessly, back on the bridge.

"Communication and transport are inoperative." Uhura called, turning in her seat to look at Cali.

Cali's eyes widened and he looked to Sulu desperately, his fear evident in his tone. "Sulu, please tell me you have them. Otherwise, we won't be able to beam them back."

"Kirk and Spock are on their own now."

~~*~~

Two chapters left of Part 2, we're so close. I hope you've enjoyed it all so far! As always, feedback is always appreciated!