Timelines : The Wanderer

Chapter 1 : 11

During the next few days Kiera had even surpassed the expectations of the Vulcan that was supervising her. She had added to their astrological maps at least a dozen times and her reports have been almost flawless. There are few things she could improve, and Spock admitted to that. During this time Kirk had received another diplomatic mission. Kiera was surprised as she had already heard of his success last time. Why would they let him try again? Hopefully his skills have improved since then or they are certain of another failure. Kiera had teased Kirk many times about this while they were heading for the planet, she also tried to give him tips but she was unsure how many of them were received.

Kiera is standing on the bridge waiting for the outcome of Kirk's endeavour. Spock had placed himself in the captain's chair and she was standing just behind watching the screen monitoring what was happening below.

"Good luck Captain." Spock says in the hope of encouraging Kirk to try to be better this time. He sits in the chair. To most he just sat there like a robot fulfilling all the criteria of the mission, but to Kiera she could see the tiny little flitches and gestures made by his subconscious mind. Spock was nervous. She smiled, the human in him wasn't completely lost. She watches the screen monitoring his position. The signal begins to weaken until the blip on the screen completely disappears. "Captain you have reached the edge of the signal range, we cannot communicate or beam you out until you reach this area again."

Spock's voice barely crackled through the communicator. "Received and understood, Kirk out." He walks along the dark corridor being careful not to trip up on the floor. He stops to observe the carvings on the wall. Flowing lines swirl around depictions of victorious battles, he follows the lines with his eyes until he reaches the centre where the lines widen to create the house crest. A burning fire licking the hilt of a sword. He walks along with his torch to light his path. He comes to the main ceremonial chamber lit with traditional flame torches. None of the technology that Kirk had seen previously on this planet featured at all in this room. They must want to keep the technology separate from their cultural history. He walks into the centre of the room with all the people looking at him. Kirk opens his mouth and begins to speak his premade speech.

Silence fills the bridge, apart from the occasional bleep of the instruments, for several minutes. Suddenly ahead of schedule Kirk's signal bursts onto the screen along with his voice speaking out over the sounds of disrupter fire. "Enterprise! Enterprise! Spock, emergency beam out now!"

"Ensign, do you have a lock on the Captain?" Chekov is frantically tapping at his station in the hope he could say yes.

"Captain, you are moving too quickly. The transporters can't get a lock on you." He keeps trying, but is unsuccessful.

"Oh great." Kirk turns and fires his phaser at his pursuers, he then runs to lengthen his lead.

Kiera watches the event unfold from her position on the bridge just as she expected. She began to wonder when Starfleet will give up with assigning him diplomatic missions.

Kirk runs into a corridor and hides behind a wall. "Now!"

"Gotchya." Chekov locks onto Kirk signal and beams him onto the Enterprise just before a disrupter blast tears through his torso.

Spock looks at Kiera and she at once knew what he meant. She runs into a turbo lift just as a lieutenant exits. She burst through the doors of transporter room 3 to see Kirk in a dishevelled state. She hands him another golden yellow shirt that she picked up on the way down. She knew that the one he was wearing would be ripped to pieces and true to form it practically was. There was a large gash on his right shoulder were a disrupter blast must of narrowly missed. The heat from it though had caused a burn there instead. There were a few other rips and tears on the shirt but they weren't as substantial.