I ran behind Spock and James, when we ran in when he was talking to other Admirals, James called to him and began explaining.

"Admiral, sir, he's not on Earth. He's on Kronos, sir. I request my command be reinstated and your permission to go after him."

I was shocked, is he insane?! I was Admiral Pike's First Officer, I was only there to make sure James didn't mess up! But since he's gone, Spock has more authority than me.

The Admirals looked at Marcus and he nodded his head. "Give us a minute." The officers leave and leaves us to talk to Marcus. "Kronos?"

"Yes, sir." I reply to him.

"So Harrison has gone to the Klingon home world?" Marcus wonders and looks back at us, I blink. "Is he defecting?"

"Uh. . ." I began in question. "We're not sure, sir."

"He is taking refuge in the Ketha Province, a region uninhabited for decades." Spock adds and helping me out.

"He's gotta be hiding there, sir. He knows if we even go near Klingon space, it'll be all out war. Starfleet can't go after him, but I can. Please, sir." James begs and I was in shock. I have never seen James beg.

"All out war with the Klingons is inevitable, Mr. Kirk. If you ask me, it's already begun. Since we first learned of their existence, the Klingon Empire has conquered and occupied two planets that we know of, fired on our ships half a dozen times." Marcus explains making me shocked, why didn't Pike tell me about this? Something wasn't adding up. "They are coming our way. London was not an archive, it was a top secret branch of Starfleet designated to Section 31. They were developing defense technologies and training our officers to gather intelligence on the Klingons, and any other potential enemy that means to do us harm. Harrison was one of our top agents."

'Then why was he attacking us?' I thought in anger.

"Well," James began. "Now he's a fugitive and I wanna take him out."

Marcus smirks. "Pike always said you were one of our best and brightest. You should have heard him defend you. He's the one who talked you into joining Starfleet, wasn't he?"

James depressingly nods and Marcus continues speaking. "Did he ever tell you who talked to him about joining?"

James realized it was him, Marcus was the one who talked to Pike into joining Starfleet, but why was he telling him this now? I shake my head and continue standing there.

"His death is on me," Marcus said to James. "And yours can't be."

"Sir, please, all I. . ." James stuttered out and Marcus turned to Spock.

"Mr. Spock, you said that the Province where Harrison is hiding uninhabited?"

"Affirmative, sir."

"As part of our defensive strategy, 31 developed a new photon torpedo." Marcus said showing us a 3D version of the torpedo, making me question it. Those, to me, didn't look like what they say they are. "Long range and untraceable, it would be invisible to Klingon sensors. I don't want you hurt, but I want to take him out. You park on the edge of the Neutral Zone, your lock on to Harrison's position, you fire, you kill him and hall ass."

James nods and asks. "Permission to reinstate Spock and Aria both as my First Officers?"

Both Spock and I look at one another and then at James in shock, what the hell was he thinking?

"Granted."

~*Edge of Glory*~

I walk onto the shuttle that would take us to the Starship in my actual uniform, I was still depressed about the whole Pike thing, I sat down and looked outside to the stillness, seeing nothing but pavement. I heard McCoy and James talking.

"Jim, where were you?"

"For what?"

"Your medical exam. Ten hours ago, you were in a damn fire-fight. Now, it's my duty to ex. . ."

"I'm fine Bones."

McCoy sighs in frustration as James sits down beside me. "A status report, Mr. Spock?"

"The Enterprise should be ready to launch by the time we arrive."

McCoy takes out a device and begins to examine James making sure nothing was wrong. I begin to think back when McCoy examined me out.

"That wound really needs to be treated Aria, we need to prep you for surgery to get this stuff out."

"What stuff? What's in there?"

After that thought, I shake my head and touch my side, feeling it very tender is the place where McCoy operated on, I wanted to check it and make sure everything was okay, but – I didn't want to at the same time. Did John Harrison want to intentionally kill me slowly with the wound or what. Sighing, I look outside again and feel a hand on mine, I turn my head quickly seeing James' hand on mine, but I don't think he realized it.

"Captain Kirk, Science officer Wallace." A woman said on the side of James and we look up seeing a woman with short blond hair with a blue uniform. "I've been assigned to Enterprise by Admiral Marcus. These are my transfer orders." She hands James her documents, I look at them too which James didn't mind.

"You requested another officer, Captain?" questioned Spock in a curious tone. I was curious too

"I wish I had." James admitted to Spock quickly looking at him. "Lieutenant Carol Wallace. Doctorate in Applied Physics, specializing in advanced weaponry."

'Oh good, we need someone like that!' I thought with an amused voice.

"Impressive credentials." Spock commented to Carol, making me smile. Carol replies with a quick "Thank you" to Spock as he continues. "But redundant now that I'm back aboard the Enterprise."

"Yes, and yet," James began and smiles Carol's way. "The more the merrier. Have a seat Doctor."

Carol smiles and sits in between Spock and James while quickly, James moves his hand from mine, and I missed it's warmth, but we needed to be professional, I couldn't let my personal problems get in the way of what's going on. I feel the shuttle move and we begin heading to the Enterprise.

"Before I forget James." James looks at me quickly while I whispered to him. "Thank you for reinstating me as a First Officer, especially after – you know. . .?"

James nods, and quickly pats my hand and goes back to talking to Carol. I sigh and look outside, seeing the Daycare becoming farther and farther away. I'm gonna miss my baby girl, but I couldn't think like that, but what if something happened to me or James? I don't know how anyone would be able to tell her what happened. . .

How would she grow up? Would she be like James? Would she be like me? I look down at the possibilities of anything happening.

~*Edge of Glory*~

I hear Scott yelling at someone I blink as James, Spock, McCoy and Carol and I head that way.

"No, I'm not signing anything! Now, get these bloody things off of my ship!" Scott shouts at the man, I understood what Scott was so upset about. Scott turns to me, Spock and James quickly calls to James. "Captain,"

"Is there a problem, Mr. Scott?"

"Aye, sir." Scott nods. "I was just explaining to this gentlemen, that I cannot authorize any weapons on board this ship without knowing what's inside them."

"Mr. Scott raises yet another point, that. . ." Spock begins talking but James quickly interrupts him.

"Report to the bridge." James hands him a document making Spock sigh in annoyance.

"Yes, sir." And with that, he walks off.

"Mr. Scott, I understand your concerns, but we need these torpedoes on board" James explains to Scott.

"Due respect, sir, but photon torpedoes run on fuel. Now I cannot detect the type of fuel that's in the compartments on these torpedoes, because it's shielded. Now I asked for the specifications, but he said. . ." Scott points behind him and the Security guard and he said "It's classified." And Scott repeats him. "It's classified. So I said, no specs, no signature!"

"Captain!" Sulu calls out to James and we look up at Sulu. "Flight checks complete. We're good to go, sir."

"Thank you, Mr. Sulu." James smiles at him.

"Yes, sir." Sulu nods and heads off and Scott speaks once more.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, sir, I have a warp core to prime." Scott said and salutes James and turns to walk away seeing Keenser sitting on a tube and he yells at him to "Get down!"

"Jim, your vitals are off!"

"Report to medbay. . ." James says and chases after Scott and I sigh rubbing my head.

"He is seriously going to be the death of us, McCoy. . ." as he nods to my statement. He turns to me and brings up my file.

"Have you had any problems since the operation, Aria?" I shake my head and touch my side lightly ignoring the stare of Carol, "Let's get it checked out while we're here."

I nod and follow him quietly.

~*Edge of Glory*~

I stood beside James as he made the shipwide announcement; "Attention, crew of the Enterprise. As most of you know, Christopher Pike, former captain of this ship, and our friend, is dead. The man who killed him has fled our system and is hiding on the Klingon homeworld, somewhere he believes we are unwilling to go. We are on our way there now. Per Admiral Marcus, it is essential that our presence go undetected. Tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been high, any provocation could lead to an all out war." I stare at him in shock. "I will personally lead a landing party to an abandoned city on the surface of Kronos, where we will capture the fugitive John Harrison, and return him to Earth so he can face judgment for his actions. Alright, lets go get this son of a bitch, Kirk out."

James looks at Spock who speaks to him. "Captain, I believe you made the right decision. If I can be of assistance, I would be happy to accompany you on the away team."

"Me too, Captain. I'm not letting you go alone, and besides, what will Chasity say about this?" James shakes his head ignoring me, but he knew I was right. But he asks Spock.

"You? Happy?"

"I was simply attempting to use your vernacular to convey an idea." Spock replies to James' question.

"Thank you, Mr. Spock, Ms. Hale."

I walk off doing something before we stop at our destination, and I begin thinking about what McCoy told me about the wound.

"What was in it, McCoy?"

"Some kind of acid, the first shot was intended at you, but why, I don't know."

I sigh and feel the ship shake and I laugh a bit and hit the comm before James could.

"Chekov, did you break James' ship?"

I heard shuffling around the engine room and I giggle lightly when he replies to me. "Sorry, ma'am!" I laugh a bit. "I don't know what happened! The core overheated, I had to activate the emergency stop! It must been a coolant leak, I need some time to find it. Sorry!"

"Dammit." I heard James curse under his breath and I laugh more. I felt so sorry for Chekov, no kid like him needs to be down there, he needs to be up here with us. We need Scott.

"Mr. Sulu, time to our destination?" James asks Sulu.

Sulu sighs looking at the estimate time. "Twenty minutes, sir. So that's twenty minutes in enemy space that we weren't counting on."

"Alright, we better up to it." James said walking off. He turns to me quick. "You're coming with me, Ms. Hale, how is your Klingon?"

"Um. . ." I began thinking. "Rusty."

"Lieutenant, how is your Klingon?" James asks Uhura, making sure she was coming too.

"It's rusty, but it's good." Uhura replies with a nod. I smile, glad she was coming, I didn't wanna face Klingon's alone.

"Good, you're coming too." He already knew Spock was coming too, and we begin heading to the shuttle.

~*Edge of Glory*~

"Jim, you're not actually going down there, are you? You don't rob a bank when the getaway car has a flat tire." McCoy calls out to James.

"I'm sure Engineering will have us all patched up by the time we get back. Isn't that right, Mr. Chekov?"

"Yes, Captain, I'll do my best." Chekov said signing out of the comm and I giggle a bit and James looks at Sulu.

"Mr. Sulu, you have the comm. Once we're on route, I want you to transmit a targeted comm-burst to Harrison's location. You tell him you have bunch of real big torpedoes pointed at his head. If he doesn't play nice, you're not afraid to use 'em." James explains to Sulu making him feel nervous.

I even felt nervous for him, I wonder if he knew what to do, it should come to him, I wouldn't wanna see him mad. I head off with Uhura and change into our outfits quickly to meet the boys on the shuttle, and when we got in, I sat in a different places and when the ship and she sat up front, and when we started to head off, I stare at James while he stared at me.

I could hear the comms and Sulu speaking through it. Which reminded me, don't piss him off, it was the way he was speaking.

"Attention, John Harrison. This is Captain Hikaru Sulu of the USS Enterprise. A shuttle of highly trained officers is on its way to your location. If you do not surrender to them immediately, I will launch entire payload of advanced long range torpedoes, currently locked on to your location." Sulu ordered. "You have two minutes to confirm your compliance. Refusal do so will result in your obliteration. If you test me, you will fail."

I sigh and look at the sight outside, seeing stars just fly by, but I notice Spock and Uhura having a fight. Good thing I knew what was going to happen, because Uhura and I did have a talk about what was going on with her and Spock.

"We arrive at Harrison's location in three minutes, Captain. It is unlikely that he will come willingly. I calculate the odds of him attempting to kill us 91.6%." Spock reminded James, making me frown.

"Fantastic." James smiles piloting the ship.

"Good thing you don't care about dying." Uhura snidely says to Spock in a rude tone. Yep, she's pissed.

"I'm sorry Lieutenant, I could not hear what you said. . ." Spock replies to Uhura. I roll my eyes and close them.

Uhura scoffs to herself. "Oh, I didn't say anything." She says. "Actually, I'll be happy to speak if you're willing to listen to me."

"Guys. . ." James says to them.

"Don't get into it, James, it's between them!" I call to him with a small laugh, but I knew James was going to ignore me.

"Lieutenant, I would prefer if we could discuss this in private." Spock tells her, Uhura scoffs again.

"You prefer not to discuss this at all!" Uhura tells him not looking at him. "That's what you prefer."

"Our current. . ." begins Spock but James questions them.

"Guys, are you. . ." I sigh and slap my head. I warned him. "Are you really gonna do this right now?"

'I told you, James!' I thought in my head. I was actually amused by this and I had no idea why.

Uhura begins speaking to Spock. "What never seems to require your undivided focus. . ." James looks at her and says "Guys." but she stops him. "I'm sorry, Captain. Just two seconds." He nods and is very uncomfortable with this conversation. ". . .is us. At that volcano, you didn't give a thought to us, what it would do to me if you died, Spock. You didn't feel anything. you didn't care. And I'm not the only one whose upset with you, the captain is too."

I laughed hard at this. "Wha. . .no!" James cried out. "No. No! Don't drag me into this!" James then turned to Spock and agreed with her. "She is right."

"Your suggestion that I do not care about dying is incorrect. A sentient beings optimal chance at maximizing their utility is a long and prosperous life."

"Great. . ." Uhura sighs.

"Not a great love song, Spock!" I call out. "Feel free to re-word that!"

"You misunderstand. It is true I chose not to feel anything upon realizing that my own life was ending." Spock explains again. "As Admiral Pike was dying, I joined with his consciousness and experienced what he felt at the moment of his passing. Anger, confusion, loneliness, fear. I have experienced those feelings before, multiplied exponentially on the day my planet was destroyed. Such a feeling is something I choose never to experience again. Nyota, you mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring. Well, I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite."

At finally realizing this, Uhura looks at me, and I smile to her. She realizes his feelings and smiles to herself and to me, whispering a 'thank you' to me, and I nod to her. I knew how she felt, but she wanted it to get it out in the open. Before I knew it, the ship has been hit I felt myself jerk and slam my head against the metal, causing a small gash, but I ignored the pain and blood dripping from my head. I look at James, Uhura and Spock.

"What the hell was that?!" I yell in question trying to buckle myself in.

Spock looks at the monitor and replies. "We are being pursued by a D4 Class Klingon vessel."

"I thought this sector was abandoned?" James asks him and tries to maneuver the ship away from them.

"It must be random patrol!" Uhura answered him.

"Hold on!" James calls out and maneuvers the shuttle to get away from the attackers.

Spock reminds James. "This ship has no offensive capabilities."

"She's got us!" James said to him. "Give me all six fuel cells!"

"Aye, Captain." Spock nods and does so.

'Why the hell are their Klingon's in an abandoned sector? There must be more to the story than this. . . Could it be Harrison? Could he have told them we were coming?' I thought hanging on.

I yelp when Spock says to the Captain. "If you are suggesting that we utilize the passage between the approaching structures, this ship will not fit."

"We'll fit."

"Captain, we will not fit."

"We'll fit! We'll fit!" James argues back and turns the ship at a ninety-degree angle and I look back to see the Klingon ship explode behind us.

"See, he told you we'd fit." I grin at Spock turning back to him as he looks back at me with a snide reply.

"I'm not sure that qualifies, Ms. Hale."

I chuckle with a grin still plastered on my face and ask them. "Any sign of them?"

"No," Uhura shakes her head. "Which worries me."

"We lost them." James says to us in a blunt voice.

"Or they're jamming our scanners." Uhura tells him.

I sigh when James replies again with; "Or we lost them."

Sighing once more, they kept at it for a little while when I felt something amiss, I heard the comms go off, as well as Uhura, I push my hair back as I walk up and heard the order and looked at Uhura who nodded.

"They are ordering us to land, Captain." I confirmed the comm, Uhura nodded in agreement and continued speaking.

"They're gonna wanna know why we're here. And they're gonna torture us, question us, and they're gonna kill us."

"So, we come out shooting?" James asked in question making me shake my head.

"We are outnumbered, outgunned." Uhura explained to him. "There's no way we survive if we attack first. You brought Aria and I here because we speak Klingon, then let us speak Klingon."

James was reluctant, but he landed the shuttle and Uhura and I walk out of the shuttle slowly, I was nervous and I'm sure Uhura was too, I took a silent, deep breath, following after Uhura. When we stopped, I swallowed hard and Uhura started the conversation. I could feel James watching us both, worried we would get hurt.

"We're here to help." She spoke in Klingon. The Klingon group watched us closely, making sure there was no fault, one of them begins approaching us. I could feel my heartbeat pound against my whole body, my adrenaline was rushing through my skin. I was shaking and I knew Uhura could guess that I was.

"With respect, a terrorist is hiding here in these ruins. He has killed many of our people." She continued to speak Klingon, almost calmly.

The leader Klingon walked up us, taking off his helmet staring us down. My heart pounded harder, I got more scared, but I couldn't let him sense it.

"Why should I care about a human killing humans?" He questioned us in a gruff voice.

I reply to him, almost instigating him. "Because you care about honor, and this man has none. You and your people are in danger."

He stares at me, and then Uhura, I watched him closely, wondering what his move would be. Would he kill us? Would they kill all of us? I then gasp when he grabs Uhura's face and lifts her up and I call her name. I stood back and watched him grab out a knife, ready to kill my best friend.

"No!" I call out but I heard shots behind me, I duck away before one hits me, and I look back hearing a grunt behind me, I knew Uhura stabbed him first. I saw James come out shooting heading our way, making me kind of smile. He tosses me a gun and I begin shooting the Klingons quickly, making sure I don't get shot again. One Klingon knocked me over, I skid against the ground while he punches me in the face a couple times, I did land on my bad side too, which made it hurt a lot worse! "Son of a-" I call out kicking him off me, and I back-flipped away from him.

He then begins trying to cut me, and I dodge every one of them, I round-house the Klingon in the face, and then shoot him in the chest a couple times, killing him and then turn around seeing another Klingon heading my way making me yell in anger, shooting him too. I have no patience today with these guys! I was after one person and one person only! I look around for him and spotting him and then I look over hearing some grunts and I see James getting hit and I gasp.

"James!" I call out in worry, heading towards him and before I could reach him, I cover my face quickly when the Klingon is shot, uncovering myself, I see the Klingon dead along with a few others, and taking a deep breath, I continue heading towards James and pick him up, he leans against me and we go against a wall gaining cover from the cross-fire. "Are you okay?" I question him in worry, he nods seeing some blood drip from my face. James puts his hand on my head seeing the gash; I smiled at him and looked over seeing John Harrison coming our way. I didn't even notice Uhura and Spock there.

"Stand down!" Spock orders holding up a gun towards John and John glared at him and yelled in question.

"How many torpedoes?!"

"Stand down!" John shoots Spock's weapon out of his hand startling me and James.

John asks again. "Your torpedoes! The Weapons you threaten me within your message. How many are there?"

I gulp and answer as calm as I can. "Seventy-two."

Skeptical, John looks at us, quickly back to me and sees I'm telling the truth, and he drops his weapon. "I surrender."

James gets up, and gets right into John's face and begins speaking to him. "On the behalf of Christopher Pike, my friend, Aria's father, I accept your surrender." He turns to leave but quickly begins to hitting John repeatedly, making me gasp. I see the look on John's face and see no reaction to this. I look at Spock and Uhura and they were just as shocked as I was.

"Captain!" Both Uhura and I yell out to James in shock and worry, wanting to stop as he stumbles and I catch him before he falls putting his arm around my neck.

John looks at James in shock and speaks quietly. "Captain. . ."

James looks at him and sneers out as we walk off to Uhura and Spock. "Cuff him."

As we walk back to the shuttle, James lets go of me and walks off himself, mad at something making me feel sad. I miss his warmth. I wasn't afraid to admit it, but – I think I fell in love with him, but I had to keep it professional, I couldn't let my feelings get in the way of what's going on.

At least, I hope I could stay in control, for my own sake.