Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Omal entered his rooms and could not believe how the first day of talks had gone. It was going quicker than he had thought it would with how little each side was asking of the other. He shook his head at the stunt they pulled towards the end of the meeting. All because the daughter was obsessed with Spock. Evening knowing that he was married and would not leave his spouse, they still tried. He had seen his continued rebuffs of her advancements and they had not been here a full day! He needed a distraction from what had happened and he had promised dinner to the lovely Nyota. He smiled as he left his quarters and walked down the hall to hers. He pressed the chime on her door and waited for her to answer. When she opened her door and saw who it was, she smiled.

“Omal, what can I do for you?”

“I believe I owe you a dinner.” He smiled at her.

“Why yes you do.”

“Then I will leave you to dress and I will meet you at your door in one hour.”

“Then I await your return.” She smiled and shut the door. He turned and headed back to his rooms. She was just what he needed, she always made him smile and feel better. He knew that he had found the one. Now how to keep her and not cause anymore drama.

He quickly washed himself and found a nice set of dress clothes to wear. He let his aides know that he was going out to eat and that they were free to do as they pleased within reason. They nodded to him and went back to their conversation. He looked at the chronometer and noticed that it was time for him to pick up his date. He smiled at the thought, his date. He left his rooms and headed down to get Nyota.

He pressed the chimes and nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw the dress she was wearing. She had on a deep blue knee length dress with a pale blue sheer over piece. Her gold jewelry matched the dress nicely and brought out the deep color of her eyes. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you. So where are we eating?”

“We will be dining on the terrace.” He held out his arm to her and they headed down the hall to one of the doors that lead to the terrace. They both stopped and looked at the wonderful view of the gardens from the terrace. He would give Droxine credit on this, she was not lying when she said it was a lovely view. They headed over to an empty table and saw Commander Spock and his parents along the way. They both noticed that Jim was not with them.

“Good evening Commander, Ambassadors Sarek and Selek and Lady Amanda. How are you this evening?” He asked.

“We are well. Thank you for asking.” Lady Amanda said.

“I see that the Captain is not with you.” The concern evident in his voice.

“He is resting now. It was a long day for him and he already eat in our rooms,” Spock said.

“I see. I hope that he is okay.”

“He is just tired. We were to eat with my parents but he did not want me to miss doing so.”

“When you see him, give…” he gasped at the sudden and overwhelming terror that washed over him. He heard a mental scream for Spock and heard the Commander gasp as well.

“Jim,” he cried and got up from his seat.

They all followed after him as he headed to their rooms. When they arrived, the door was open and there was glass all over the floor.

“Jim,” he called but there was no answer. He ran to their bedroom and it was in disarray as well. Bedding and glass everywhere but no Captain. Spock collapsed on the floor with another cry and started keening. His mother rushed over to him to calm him down.

“Spock you must pull yourself together. We will find Jim, but I need you for this. We can find him with your bond. Remember you have the gifts of the Vulcan and now of a Betazoid. We will find him.”

Spock seemed to calm and quietly said, “thank you mother.” He closed his eyes and seemed to turn inwards. Suddenly his eyes opened and he said, “I know where he is.” They followed him from the room.

**********

Jim came to and knew he was in trouble. He knew he should have forced himself to go to the dinner with Spock and his parents. But he had felt so tired and it was even worse after he had eaten dinner in their rooms. He had fallen asleep to wake up feeling as if someone was in the room with him but unable to sense anyone. Then he was grabbed and pulled from his bed. He remembered hitting them and they let go and he ran from the room. He had almost made it to the door but due to his weight gain, wasn't fast enough before they were upon him. He remembered trying to fight them off in the dark and then the sting of a hypo. He hoped his call for Spock was heard before he went unconscious. He could feel them moving and there was talking. It wasn’t standard. He listened harder and finally knew who had him, Ferengi. But why? He called out to Spock again and got a response. ‘T’hy’la!’ Jim almost sobbed in relief, but kept quiet so his captors would not know he was awake.

‘Spock. I was kidnapped by Ferengi.’

‘Can you tell where you are?’

‘Hold on,’ he pushed out his senses to see if he could pick up anything that would give him an idea of where he was. He heard the crunch of feet on stone and then he heard them talking.

“We are almost there, brother.”

“I know that you, you idiot.” Growled another voice.

“Too bad we only go the one. Are we going back for the other?”

“No, no profit in it right now. Hopefully the others had more luck on New Vulcan getting the others they wanted.”

“Good thing we found that abandoned mine shaft by First City.”

“Shut it, you talk too much.”

“But Belogg, what are we going to do about the other one?”

“Once we load this one on the shuttle, we will have Abas watch him. We will contact our inside person for more assistance.”

“Wow, Belogg, you are so smart.”

The one called Belogg snorted at this comment. “That’s why mother pays me to watch over you. No profit in doing it for free.”

Jim almost snorted. Leave it to a Ferengi to even make a profit off their family. He reached out to Spock. ‘They are taking me to a shuttle they have hidden in a abandoned mine shaft near first city. Apparently I was taken by Ferengi and they mentioned kidnapping the others on New Vulcan and an inside helper. Does this help?’

Yes, my mate. We are talking to Plasus and he knows where that is. He is having the Sentinels take us know and to help apprehend them.’

‘Hurry, they said they were almost to the shuttle.’

‘We are coming. You should be able to hear the engines of the flitter soon.’  And he was correct, he heard the engines and so did his captors. He heard them arguing as they picked up the pace and tried to reach the shuttle. But they weren’t fast enough with having to haul an unconscious captive as well. He heard the Sentinels call out to halt and put up their hands. The Ferengi did which meant he hit the ground with a pained grunt.