Brystal awoke with a start at the sound of a communication device beeping. She blinked groggily, finding herself wrapped in Jim's arms. She hadn't remembered when she'd gotten on her bed in the first place. She couldn't remember much of what happened after her parents death. All she knew was that she cried and wept over her parents death.

Images of the shards of glass and blood shrouded her mind.

The shattering glass.

John Harrison's eye, piercing his gaze at them.

How vulnerable she'd looked. Her emotions not kept well, and showed every inch of what she was feeling. She liked it better when she was neutral or had a smile, always kept people guessing.

The certain sense of dread that filled her from her parents deaths. How she had barely dragged herself away from the bodies before she broke down into tears. They were both dead, it was almost to unreal.

The communicator began to beep demanding them both to wake up. Jim woke up, and Brystal moved her weight off him, allowing him to reach the communicator. Jim took the communicator off from the nightstand, groggily opening it.

"Yeah?" Jim asked through the communicator, rubbing his eyes.

"Jim!" Scotty's voice erupted from the small communicator, "I found something in the wreckage. You are not going to believe what I found!"

The day was crisp, brushed with a pale blue sky and lazy sunlight in a golden hue. Workers were extracting metal, and clearing significantly big pieces of rubble from the other night out of the away. Brystal shielded her eyes with her hand from the sun as Jim held her hand tightly, guiding her through the rubble.

Jim stopped as soon as he saw Scotty, who was holding a large piece of metal. Spock halted behind them, but his look when he saw Brystal seemed to change. Almost like he actually felt sorry for her. Brystal turned her attention back to Scotty, puzzling over Spock's look on his face.

"Mr. Scott, please tell me you have a good lead on what the hell happened last night," Jim said to Scotty.

"Captain! I found this in the crash jumpship, sir. This is how the bastard got away!" Scotty said, handing Jim the large device. Brystal examined the device, carefully. The piece of metal was damaged and mangaled, slightly scorched by flames, but it was easy to see parts of the metal were still intact.

"What do you mean?" Jim asked, confused to what he was even holding, cocking his head to one side.

"It's a portable transwarp beaming device," Scotty explained. Brystal looked at the piece of machinery again, realizing that Scotty was correct.

"Are you certain?" Spock asked Scotty.

"Aye," Scotty nodded.

"Well can you figure out where he's going?" Jim asked.

"I already did, sir. And you're not going to like it," Scotty sighed. Brystal looked at the numbers as well as Jim did. The numbers were: 43 89 26 09.

"That's not good," Brystal shook her head, "He's in Klingon territory." Jim handed the device back to Scotty in a rush, Brystal looked at him concerned and half-confused.

"What are you doing?" Brystal asked.

"I'm going to talk to Marcus." Jim explained, sending Brystals eyes to widen, "I'm going to need my ship back."

"Jim! We both know Marcus doesn't always agree to many things."

"We're going to have to try." Jim said.

"Great." Brystal muttered.

The three walked into the bottom of a sheltered Starfleet building. Admirals seated around a circular silver table, their eyes showed no relaxation. They were on the edge of their seats listening to each other talk about the criminal and what was to be done.

Admiral Marcus listened, intently to the concerns of the other admirals. He paid no attention to the three who were walking towards him. His expression was grim, and looked as if he was still just as much as contemplating what had happened last night.

Brystal halted for a minute, seeing her godfather, Callius was alive and well. She tried to remember if she had checked to see if he was there that night, but the only thing that played back was the shattering glass, blue eyes, and her parents bodies. She returned her attention back to Spock and Jim.

"Admiral, Sir." Jim said, causing Marcus to jolt his head around to Jim's voice. He held up a hand to the Admirals, who quietly looked away from them. Callius gave Marcus a careful glance, knowing something was going down. Marcus's eyes were now fully directed to the three of them.

"He's on Kronos, sir. I request my command be reinstated nd your permission to go after him." Jim said breathing heavily until he was at a still stand.

Brsytal fought the urge to facepalm herself at his words. Of course the words had to be thought out quickly because he was talking to Marcus, but this was the worst she'd ever heard him try to convince someone. Even her father would've facepalmed.....if he was still alive.

The other admirals made their exit as Marcus sighed, "Kronos?"

"Yes, sir."

"So, Harrison's going to the Klingon home world. Is he defecting?"

"...we aren't sure, sir," Jim urged the words out of him.

"He's taken refuge in the Ketha Province," Spock provided, rambling on about facts, "A region uninhabited for over decade..."

"He's trying to say he's 90% on that planet," Brystal cut him off.

"He knows this can start an all out war," Jim continued on, "Starfleet can't go after him, but I  can."

Marcus turned to his desk, deep in thought as his eyes looked over starfleet ship designs, "All out-war is inevitable, Mister Kirk. If you ask me, it's already begun." 

Brystal felt her stomach clench as Marcus continued, "Since we first learned of their existence, the Klingon Emoire had conquered and occupied two planets that we know of and fired on our ships half a dozen times...They are coming our way."

Marcus took a deep breath and turned to face them again, "London was not an archive. It was a top-secret branch of Starfleet designated Section Thirty-One. They were developing defensive technology and training our officers to gather intelligence on the Klingons and any other potential enemy who means to do us harm. Harrison was one of our top agents."

Brystal's eyes widened at the mention of Harrison. A rage wrapped around her mind, she concealed it through a calmed face.  She had taught her well on keeping her expression neutral. The dark haired bit her lip and thought about the possibilities with a man like this.

"Well now he's a fugitive and I wanna take him out," Jim spoke, sounding adamant.

A smile seemed to flicker across Marcus's face. "Pike always said you were one of our best and brightest. You should have heard how he defended you and Captain Puke here. He was the one who talked you into joining Starfleet, wasn't he?"

The sound of the name made Brystal and Jim both drop their gaze. The mention of it would've sent Brystal into tears. Was it still just hours ago she had lost her parents?

"Yes, sir," He answered, barely audible.

"Did he ever tell you who talked him into joining?" Marcus asked, looking at Brystal, "His death is on me......and yours and Ms. Pike's can't be."

Brystal felt a twinge in her  heart at this show of heart from Marcus. She'd always seen him was quite cold hearted to others. He seemed to care about losing his friend to the attack.

"Sir, please, all we-" Brystal started to speak.

"Mister Spock, you said province where Harrison is hiding is uninhabited?"

"Affirmative, Sir." 

Marcus nodded, pressing various buttons on his desk as a hologram appeared.  "As part of our defensive strategy, Thirty-One developed a new photon torpedo. 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 thedge of the Neutral zone, you lock onto Harrison postion, fire, you kill him and you haul ass."

Execute him? Brystal's eyebrow shot up in surprise.

"Permission to reinstate Mister Spock as my first officer and Commander Pike as my Second officer?" Jim made a final request.

"Granted."

Brystal had never seen this side of Jim or Marcus, it made her uneasy again with the situation. She followed Spock and Jim back out before Callius halted her.

His look was grim, he seemed to still be wrapping his mind around with what had happened last night. He clutched a vial filled with a neon liquid. Looking over her shoulder to see if Marcus was watching.

"Take this," Callius urged the vial into her hand, "Keep it on you at all times. Only use it for what the instructions say."

"Callius-" Brystal began only to be cut off by her godfather.

"Just take it. I'm going to need you trust me."

Adeline Merlin sat at her desk scanning her computer screens of anything she could find. Cauis, her old engineering teacher, was sat across from her and looking at the video that was taken from last night. Both of them trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

Adeline was still quite young, in her mid 40s and hadn't had a gray hair sprout. She looked almost like twenty year old. She always got the comment of being  younger than her younger brother, though she was his older sister.

"Well.....we already have concluded that Harrison couldn't have stolen any archives information," Cauis began running his fingers through the gray streak in his black hair. The 50 year old man was still contemplating over the losses that had occurred just last night.

"That's something we can already cancel out," Adeline agreed just as Admiral Callius entered. The two turned at the sound of his thundering footsteps as he entered the room. The Admiral was dressed in his crisp gray Starfleet uniform as he reached the two.

This man had lead the two with many others into saving the universe. This seemed like another time they had to figure out how the universe turned upside down in one day. Now only this had to happen with a one man attack and not a full on army like the S'Keeran's. 

"Updates?" Callius asked them.

"Nothing yet. But, we can already indicate that he indeed did not do this alone," Cauis began.

"It's more of a theory," Adeline corrected.

"Just tell me what you've got," Callius spoke up, so that the two wouldn't bicker over science. 

"Well........the theory is that he had planned this attack out weeks ago. He had the help of someone inside Starfleet to know when the right time was to attack London and when to attack the Admiral's meeting," Cauis explained, "I'm sorry about Chris and Ava."

"Is Brystal okay?" Adeline ventured off topic.

"Focus please. We need to figure out if our suspicions on Marcus are right," Callius urged them.

"You still think Marcus has been hiding something?" Cauis asked him.

"Ever since the Recreations outbreak, he's been building something. It's classified nobody knows about it........but Harrison does. He worked on whatever it was Marcus was building in space."

"I can agree that it's suspicious, but we can't immediately blame this all on him," Adeline agreed.

"We can," Cauis replied, nonchalantly.

"Focus," Callius interrupted them.

"Yes, sir," Both of them responded.

"Did you give Brystal the invention prototype?" Adeline asked Callius.

"I did."

"She knows that she with one pinch of theta fluid into her communicator she can listen in on any conversation?"

"Not exactly. But she's a smart woman. I'm sure she'll figure it out."

Brystal walked out onto the docking bay, carrying her datapad at her side. Her face was toned to calm and neutral, hiding the hurting she was feeling. Smoke curled and ascended from shuttles.

She made her way through the mostly, empty blue-lighted room. She watched as someone walked, quickly towards another shuttle, almost bumping into her. Brystal slid to the right as the woman looked up, embarrassed to see she had almost ran into someone.

The blonde haired woman started speaking, "I'm so sorry! I'm in such a rush...." But as they voice continued and Brystal examined her face more. She couldn't believe who she was looking at.

The short bobbed blonde hair. The one green and blue eye. That charming smile, she'd recognize anywhere.

"Carol?" Brystal said, stopping the woman from speaking, "What are you doing here?"

"I was assigned as a torpedo technician to the Enterprise," The woman named Carol spoke up. Brystal narrowed her eyebrows, confused by the statement Carol had just made. Why would Admiral Marcus send his son daughter onto the ship that was chasing John Harrison, when he didn't even want Brystal or Jim to get hurt?

"Really?" Brystal inquired, "Does the Captain know of this?"

"He already knows," Carol smiled, something about this made Brystal feel uncomfortable, "My shuttle's 2061..."

"It's that way," Brystal pointed to the left.

"Thank you," Carol smiled to her.

"Anytime," Brystal muttered. She continued her walk to shuttle, 2064, reaching its metal ramp. Marcus had wanted her to be in a separate shuttle from Jim because he wanted her to keep an eye on Olivia. Marcus didn't fully trust Olivia, even after she brought Mudd into jail.

Marcus had always hated Mudd, and it made since he didn't trust Olivia. Though it did bother Brystal that he was the only Admiral to have given a half vote on Olivia's case. It showed he only trusted by an inch and couldn't do more than that.

Brystal walked into the shuttle, walking up to the front seat. She sat down, instinctively pulling the small seatbelt over her lap. She scrolled through her datapad, reading through instructions Marcus had given the crew of the Enterprise.

Olivia and Callum entered the shuttle after a few other passengers. They spotted Brystal's short hair in the front and made their way towards her. The scooted away from the others, squeezing past a few people until they were hovering over her.

"Sit please, Lieutenant Hale and Lieutenant Commander Stewart," Brystal said, not looking up from her datapad of instructions. Olivia and Callum gave each other a glance before sitting down. Callum took the seat on the outside, while Olivia took the middle.

"So.........how are you?" Olivia asked. Brystal looked up from her datapad, meeting their eyes.

"I'm.........." Brystal started her eyes tickled with the sensation of tears. The words were clogged in the back of her throat. "I hope your  mother is well."

Olivia stared at Brystal, a bit perplexed by her change of the subject. Usually they could talk about anything that upset them or hurt them. She knew that Brystal was going through a lot, even the look of dried tears on her cheeks was all she could make out.

When Mudd left Olivia, the pikes had become like a second family to her. Brystal had become like a sister she never had after those years of loneliness. They both grew up with one parents missing, both trying to give each other a better life.

Olivia without a father, and Brystal without a mother, it always seemed they knew how one another felt. Now both of Brystal's parents were dead, while Olivia's survived the attack. She felt guilty that they hadn't lived, and grateful her mother was alive.

"Brystal.....she's fine, but I asked you if you were fine," Olivia said again.

"Especially after your night with Kirk," Callum interjected. Olivia and Brystal turned to him, giving him a look that meant why now? Callum looked at Brystal, knowing she was defined to be in a stressed mood.

"He's right though. Spock told us you were in a vulnerable state of emotions and had run off. Kirk went to check on you," Olivia nodded her head, looking at Brystal with a skeptical look. Brystal caught on to what the were saying and rolled her eyes. 

"Seriously?" Brsytal asked them. She fought the urge to roll her eyes and show her annoyance towards them, but kept that inside. She should've known this was that they had been aiming to talk about that whole time.

The ship started hovering off the ground, the ramp lifting up and closing the doorway. The squeaking and rumbling of metal quieted the sounds of the three starting to argue. The shuttle launched into the darkness of space and beyond.

"Why now?" Brystal asked.

"Oh sorry if we just want to point out your relationship status with Captain James Tiberius Kirk!" Olivia said, sarcastically exaggerating her annoyed tone.

She was completely done with what ever was going on between the two. She'd sat there and watched their relationship, wondering what the hell was wrong with the two. If she could, she would've yelled at the both of them and talked some sense into them.

"Because of your relationship being like, oh your third incommand I respect you as well as you are an admiral's daughter...."

"Was." Brystal said, bitterly.

"Or, Oh I think your a really great person and friend, and then theirs where your the one nightstand," Callum finished.

"It's not the big of a deal!" Brystal said, "I find it odd to becoming from you two because you guys dated once. Then, you broke it off and acted like friends again. And you dated for four months!"

"Five!" Callum and Olivia corrected her both, simultaneously.

"Whatever," Brystal muttered.

"And also the fact he was there to comfort you instead of us. Isn't that some sort of signal to you!" Olivia pointed out.

"Or you're just upset you weren't there for me!" Brsytal retorted. Callum almost gave Brystal a look of surprise, but hid it quickly. He didn't like it when either of them were fighting, but he didn't have much choice.

"I'm not upset!"

"Well, your tone does makes it sound like it," Callum pointed out. Olivia gave him an angry glare and he quickly zipped his lips. The shuttle shuddered underneath them like a chill had run up a spine. 

Brystal unbuckled herself, quickly, standing up before Callum and Olivia. She clamored her way through the other people, getting to the opening ramp. Olivia gave Callum a surprised gaze before unbuckling herself. 

"Can't you two just leave it?" Brystal sked.

"Brystal just because I see a smile or even a calm face doesn't mean I know what's going on underneath. A smile is a very useful thing we all use. It inspires others, keeps our enemies guessing, ensuring that anything that comes your way.....like you're in control," Callum said, unbuckling his seatbelt, "Like not showing anything."

"Brystal! Are you fucking serious?" Olivia ventured, her expression hardened. The three clamored their way through the crowd on the ship. Brystal tried to lose the two in the crowd, who were closing following her like geese trotting after the other.

Olivia grasped her hands around Callum's right wrist, pulling him along after her. Brystal tried quickening up her pace, allowing Callum to trip up following after them both. He had a bit of annoyance for Olivia grabbing him, but he worried more about Brystal than his reddening wrist.

As they entered engineering, Brystal turned back to them. Crossing her arms over her body, looking at them both in the eyes. Beyond them was Scotty and Jim fighting over something.

"It's best if I stay focused and didn't let my emotions get in the way," Brystal said.

"Oh, so you're a Vulcan now?" Callum asked, annoyed even at her tone. He'd clearly had been annoyed by Spock's reactions and behavior for his weeks on the ship. He even slightly wondered what Uhara saw in that guy.

"Look! Not that you give a shit!" Brystal said turning to them, fury ignited in her tone, "I just want to get this mission over with and kill that Harrison bitch! He killed my parents and thousands of others...........I can't lose you too........what more could I lose if I lost you?

What do I have left to lose? I lost the people who raised me in the blink of an eye! I couldn't handle if I lost you too!"