Across the Stars for You

Three Months and Sixteen Days

"We've got a pulse!"

Abigail teetered  on the edge of consciousness, watching dizzily as a blurry Dr. McCoy shown a light in each of her eyes.  Clamping her eyes shut against the bright assault, she shook her head slowly, taking a deep breath in through her nose.  Her brow furrowed as she slowly rolled her head from side to side.  Where was she?  Someone was calling her name, but it sounded far away.  A large hand was squeezing her own and it sounded as if someone was yelling at her.  All she wanted was to fall back to where she had been.  It was quiet and dark there and no one was yelling at her.  She took another deep breath in through her nose and suddenly snapped back into the present.

Starfleet medical personnel were scurrying around what seemed to be the Med Bay.  People groaned in pain all around her, but she seemed to be the one closest to death.  Why had McCoy let her live?  I.v.'s hung from her right arm which was restrained to the bed, her left hand was being painfully squeezed by a dark figure that loomed over her.  Everything was too bright and a fog hung over her mind, making it hard to think.

"Abigail, come back to me," a thick voice begged, causing her to roll her head in its direction.  Khan stood over her, eyes uncharacteristically watery, but a tiny smile curling the corner of his lips with relief.

"Khan," she whispered, her voice scratchy to the point of unrecognition.  Closing her eyes for a moment, she took another deep breath in to clear her foggy thoughts.  "Wha-what's going on?"

"I, uh-" he shook his head, appearing to fight for alertness.  "They're putting us back."  His voice was too thick with grogginess to sound as angry as it had the last time she heard him speak.

Abigail frowned, trying to decipher what Khan was attempting to get across.  Her breathing was heavy and broke up her speech as she began.  "Put...putting us back...where?"  Why were the two of them in such a foggy state of mind?

"In the tubes," Khan clarified slowly, his face determined to fight what seemed to be pulling him under.  "They're putting us back in the cryotubes."

Reality hit Abigail like a ton of bricks and her eyelids flew open.  Hurriedly she sat up, pulling the i.v.'s from her right arm and loosening the restraint enough to pull her arm free.  She turned to Khan, hearing McCoy yelling for people to hold her down as her fellow Augment, sank onto the bed to her left.  Before she could pull the i.v. from his arm, her own arms were quickly pinned to the bed by four or five men that had come out of nowhere.  She struggled, eyes locked on McCoy who seemed to be more sad than frightened.  Another blue uniformed figure walked up and stood beside the doctor, his hands clasped behind his back.  Spock.  He seemed angrily satisfied, watching as Khan finally lost consciousness next to her.  His dark eyes flicked over to her as she struggled against the men surrounding her.

McCoy and Spock walked over to her right side, the doctor filling a large syringe with a clear liquid.  Abigail began fighting harder, suddenly realizing the men had her pinned to the bed.  Tears stung her eyes as she recalled the enclosing fear of the icy cryotube and she locked her eyes on McCoy.

"Please!  Please for the love of God, don't shove me back in one of those bloody things!'  Genuine tears streamed down her face, the fear in her eyes palpable as McCoy finished filling the syringe.  "Spock," she changed her tactic, zeroing in on the Vulcan, "think about this, it isn't logical!  When the Klingons attack, they will consume Earth!  They will wipe all of you off the face of the planet, unless you keep me awake!  Khan and I can lead you to-"  She gasped as the doctor injected her with what she assumed to be an anesthetic.  "No, no, no..." she whispered, her vision quickly going out of focus.

"Don't worry, Ms. Soong," Spock assured her, watching as the woman slowly stopped fighting.  "We won't be putting you back in your cryogenic sleep.  You'll be staying with us for quite a bit longer."