𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐑 ➪ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐤²

|| 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬 ||

Hello, readers! This chapter has been in the works since August so I'm very sorry I'm only just getting it to you now! It's an extra long one to make up for all the time it's taken to get it published aha. I hope it doesn't drag at any point. As always, lots of love to you all and enjoy ❤️

Jim Kirk couldn't look away from the blood. The blood spattered on the walls. The blood dotting the floor. The blood that drenched Carol's uniform. It was everywhere. Sinking into the carpet beneath her body. Running from the corners of her mouth. Even tainting the blonde of her hair. 

As soon as Nichols had arrived, it was over for them. Luna went down. More guards appeared. Fighting was no longer an option. All that hope...gone in an instant. 

"I thought I told you not to make things worse," the Vice Admiral barked.

Balor grimaced, nursing his broken nose and wiping away the blood caking his skin. "I got the answers we needed."

Nichols gritted her teeth. "By killing a weapons specialist. You could have at least chosen someone less useful to get your threat across."

Someone less useful. Jim felt sick. And so incredibly angry, which was the most dangerous part. He had to stay in control for the sake of the away team. Morale was already low before losing one of their own. He couldn't let the damage worsen beyond repair.

"Luna was right," he said, his voice coarse from the tears. "There's still time to save her. You have the facilities and resources to easily do so."

Nichols twitched and looked at him as if she had forgotten the rest of the away team was in the room. "Indeed we do, Captain. But these facilities have more important duties at present." She turned when two of the workers from the lab came through the door wheeling a gurney between them. "Take Miss Gillian to the theatre and prep her. Keep her on hyper anaesthesia but watch the dosages. Too much will cause problems." 

Walter jolted upright and the closest guard grabbed him, forcing him back to the floor. "Wait!" He shouted, fighting against the restraint. "Surgery?! What are you gonna do to her?" 

Balor turned and picked Luna up, setting her on the gurney with little care, her mangled wrist dangling over the side. She was covered in blood - a mix of Carol's and her own. With her eyes shut, Jim thought she looked peaceful. He found himself thanking the powers at be that she was not conscious to witness what was happening.

"Mister Chaudhry, I know this will be difficult to understand but Miss Gillian will be doing Earth a great service." Nichols scoffed and corrected herself. "Hell, she'll be doing the whole damn universe a service. I don't want to hurt her. I'll only do so if it's absolutely necessary." 

"Laverna..." Admiral Selwood was on his knees, gazing at his colleague with wide, teary eyes. "This is not the way. Please, I..." He trailed into a sob. "I know you can do the right thing."

Something flashed across Nichols' expression. Jim guessed guilt but soon realised how foolish that assumption was. No. She looked down at Selwood with pity. Then her eyes shifted to land on his own, making the young Captain flinch.

"I think your First Officer put it best in his mission report for your survey of Nibiru. 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'." 

Those words took Jim back to the bridge of the Enterprise and the harrowing minutes leading up to the decision to beam Spock aboard before he was burned alive. What if he had chosen to play by the rules that day? Thinking about it made his nausea worse.

"The possibility of war with the Klingons grows more every day-"

"It's been like that for years!" Selwood cried.