A/N: I'm BACK! It is 1:30 AM, but I finally finished some writing and it doesn't present itself as straight garbage. If explanations are needed for medical jargon used see A/N at the bottom. DISCLAIMER: Any Thing, one, or place, is clearly not mine or else I'd more free time on my hands. All recognizable elements belong to their respective parties.

McCoy thought the ship's doc, Piran Dem, might have started cyring when the Enterprise crew showed up in the sick bay. It was clear he was overwhelmed by the number of injured crew in his four bed bay. Brief introductions were made before they set to work.

"Right." He gathered his medical team together. "Here's what I want to do. We're going to start with triage. I'll send any red tags to the Enterprise where I'll treat them with Dr. Morgenstern. Jameson, you'll be in charge here with Dr. Dem. Any severe yellow tags we'll also send over to the Enterprise for treatment. Once they've been stabilized, we'll transfer anyone else who needs extra treatment. All the others we'll treat here. That should distribute everyone evenly enough to manage."

His team nodded and set to work. They split the patients between themselves and the Avis medical crew. It quickly became clear that his assumption about the the captain had been correct. She did appear to be the only human on board the Avis. He needed the Starlfeet databases on the Enterprise to treat most, if not all of the patients. He might need to see if Dr. Dem would be willing to either go to the Enterprise with him or be willing to conference with him.

Leonard ran his tricorder over a tall man with deep brown skin and thick violet lines that ran down both side of his face and down his neck disappearing into his shirt. The scan recorded his vitals and catalogued his injuries. He placed a holopatch on the man's shirt that turned yellow and displayed the relevant information for the transportation group. He was about to move on to the next patient when the doors to the sick bay were bodily shoved open and a burly man covered in scrolling green markings entered. What caught Leonard's attention though was the figure slumped in the man's arms.

"Dammit," he exclaimed as he walked over and cleared a space for the man to lay Captain Dunia down. "I told her she needed medical help."

"Amaya's not one to take advice she doesn't ask for," the man who brought her in commented.

"Yeah, something I'm becoming familiar with," Leonard grumbled to himself as he checked her pupillary reactions. They were dilated and slow to react, not a good sign. The rest of his primary assessment did nothing to assuage his worries. While her pulse was normal if a bit on the weak side, her slow respiratory rate, and elevated blood pressure told him she was starting to go into shock.

"Dammit woman," he cursed opening his communicator. She needed medical attention immediately. "McCoy to transporter, two to beam over." He didn't wait for a response before he lifted the captain in his arms. A second later he felt the familiar pull of the transporter. Ten seconds after that he was marching off the transporter platform where he laid Captain Dunia on a waiting hover stretcher and followed it to the sick bay, barely taking notice of the curious glances he drew. Upon arriving in the sick bay he directed the stretcher into the nearest empty code room.

" Chapel, I need a CT scanner and anti-inflammatory hypos," he barked reassessing the captain's condition. Dr. Morgenstern appeared at his elbow and began hooking Captain Dunia up to the monitors.

"Head injury?" she queried making sure the biobed was communicating with the computers.

"Yes, that's the most immediate life threat I've found so far. Fix that and most of the other problems should Chapel!" He was about to go look for his chief nurse when she came barreling into the room. She slapped the hypos into his hand and then stepped around to place the narrow CT band around the captain's head.

"Scanner ready."

"Go ahead, let's see how bad it is."

The scanner closed around her head and started rotating. Pictures of cross-sections began showing up on the screen on the wall. Leonard scanned the images until he spoted what he was looking for.

"There." He pointed to a large spot of discoloration on the frontal lobe. "Looks like a subdural hematoma, probable concussion injury. Need to reduce the bleeding and swelling. Let's get some anti-convulsants in her too just to be safe." Chapel and the other nurse moved into action, administering the indicated hypos. He eyeballed her vital signs, particularly her blood pressure. It was towards the higher end of what he'd like, but still within normal ranges. "Let's get some anti-hypertensive hypos on standby just in case. I don't want her pressure going up and causing more damage."

" Yes doctor."

He finished his evaluation and took a long look at the woman lying in the bed. She was currently as stable as they were going to get her. All that was left now was to monitor and see what happened.

Amaya opened her eyes and knew she had to be dreaming. She hadn't seen the west Texas mining camp where she had grown up in over eight years. She also hadn't seen the man standing before her giving her a predatory grin in as many years. she had hoped to never see him again.

"What the hell are you doing here Nova?" she demanded. The relentless Texas heat beat down on them. They stood on the edge of the camp. Amaya could see the mining pits in the distance.

"I live here remember. The better question is what are you doing here? I mean, not that I mind in the least getting to see your lovely face, but last I heard you were off cowering on some distant star."

She felt her anger spike as it always did whenever she heard the drivel that came out of Nova Flint's mouth. She didn't give in to the urge to sling it back at him as she might have once.

"Although I've been finding quite the comfort from your young sister here." Amaya's blood ran cold as her younger sister, Nani, sidled up next to Nova and tried to put on a brave face for her, but she wasn't able to fool her.

"Nani?"

"Oh yes, Nani has been a great boon to me these last few years. So much so that I've decided to make her my wife and she's agreed."

Amaya physically felt his words. She had never in a million years expected this. Her feet became rocks bound in the Texas soil as disbelief turned to a white-hot, blinding anger at the sight of the slim gold ring on her sister's left hand.

She flew at Nova ready to claw his eyes out or knock his rotten teeth in or both, anything to get his hands off her baby sister. "She's sixteen you fucking scumbag! Sixteen!" He caught her hands in his before she could even touch him.

"The same age as you when I proposed to you," he whispered in her ear pulling her close. Amaya shoved down the urge to hurl at his proximity and the feel of his hands on her. At least he had taken his hands off Nani who had used the opportunity to move away.

"You sick sack of dust! You're nearly three decades older!" She aimed a kick at his shins that he side stepped easily. It was one of the things that always infuriated Amaya about him. No matter how hard she fought she could never touch him. So she spit in his face instead. He dropped her and she stumbled back.

Nova swiped a hand over his face and wiped it off on his stained jeans. "Now really, is that any way for a lady to act?"

Amaya scoffed, "As we both know, I'm not a lady."

Nani continued to edge further away from Nova while he was focused on Amaya. She hoped her sister would have the sense to run and never look back. She should've known Nova would fixate on her sister when he couldn't have her, especially with the extra money she was sending back from her work on the Avis. She should have known he would have guessed that Nani would make a good target for his disgusting schemes with only their world-weary mother there to do anything. Amaya loved her mother, but ever since their father had been killed in a mining accident she had been a shell of herself. She wouldn't be much protection against Nova Flint.

"What game are you playing at Nova? Just because you can't have me you'll settle for my sister?" Amaya fought to keep control of her temper. Her whole body was trembling with rage. "There are plenty of other women in this camp. Easier targets. Go pick one of them."

Nova stepped closer to her until they were almost nose to nose. She held herself perfectly still, refusing to back down even though every fiber of her body was screaming at her to run.

"Don't flatter yourself sweetheart. Your sister is a beautiful woman in her own right." He gave her a sly, oily grin. "It will give me great pleasure to break her."

Amaya reached up a hand to smack that ugly leer off his face. He caught her wrist in a vice-like grip and bent it back. She fell to her knees. Nani turned back to her.

"Maya!"

"Go, Nani! Get out of here!" She waved her sister off with her free arm. Amaya felt Nova change his grip on her arm and she knew what was coming. She screamed as Nova snapped her arm.

Amaya bolted upright in a world of white. Her heart was racing and she was having trouble getting the neccesary oxygen into her lungs making her light-headed. She took stock of herself expecting to find her right arm at odd angles, but it was still intact with no sign of Nova having ever grabbed it. She finally managed to suck in a breath of air.

"A dream," she gasped. "Just an awful dream."

A commotion brought her attention back to where she was. This was not the Avis. She was on a bed in a bluish-white room with curtains for walls. Curtains that were being shoved aside by man whose face brought back bits and pieces of what had happened. There had been an attack on the Avis. She had been injured. A Federation ship had shown up to assist. That must be where she was now. She also remembered that this man had simply rubbed her the wrong way though her foggy mind couldn't remember who he was or why.

"Steady Captain Dunia," the man said as he came over and used a hand on her shoulder to gently press her back onto the mattress. That drawl that reminded her of home tipped her memory off on who he was. Dr. McCoy, the CMO of the Federation ship.

Her heartrate was slowly coming back down to its normal limits and she could take deeper breaths as she started piecing reality back together. "Sorry, bad dream."

Dr. McCoy nodded. "Yeah, taking a severe blow to the head and letting it go untreated until you pass out will do that to you," he commented drily as he checked the various monitors she was attached to. Now she remembered why she didn't like him.

"I had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment," she retorted. Amaya watched in mild fascination as a vein suddenly popped out on his temple and a muscle started twitching in his jaw. He rounded on her, a scowl firmly planted on his face.

"More pressing matters than your life, which you apparently have no regard for," he spat. "Do you know how long you've been lying in this bed in a damn coma for because of your 'unimportant' head injuries? Three days!"

She started. She had been laid up here for three days? She tried to push herself upright, but the ever charming doctor pushed her back down with more force and held her there.

"The hell do you think you're going?"

"It's been three days. I need to see to my crew and the ship."

"It's being taken care of. Your engineer-who carried you here by the way- Us-something has been leaving you regular updates on the ship and an alarmingly tall woman with purple stripes on her face has been doing the same with the crew."

"Usuro and Kalara," she informed him. Well, that settled the matter of who would be the next first mate on the Avis.

"Yes, those two. They left it all on a PADD, which is over there," he said indicating a device on the bedside shelf. Amaya tried to move to reach it, but McCoy hadn't let go of her yet.

"Now, I'll get it for you so long as you give me your word that you won't try to bolt from this bed as soon as I let you go. I am not above using restraints when necessary on unruly patients."

Amaya gaped at the man. She had been thinking of doing just that.

"I know a captain much like you who has taught me most of the tricks by now and my daughter taught me the rest," he explained. She would hate to be this man's daughter.

"Your captain I take it?" It was strange having a conversation at this angle.

"Yes, the kid is the bane of my existence. Now, do I have your word that you'l stay here or are you going to be more difficult than you already are?"

She had so many things on the tip of her tongue to say to that, but she grudgingly nodded and he let go of her. She tried again to push herself upright, but he beat her to it pressing a button on the side that lifted the back of the bed so that she could be propped up.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He handed her the PADD. "I'll let you go through that. If you try to leave I will strap you to the bed and post a guard."

Amaya scowled at him. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a bastard?"

He huffed a laugh. "Frequently." With that he left.

Amaya stared at where he had been standing for a moment longer before she turned her attention to the tablet in her hands. She tapped the screen and was grateful to see that her two officers had organized everything into folders. One for the ship and one for the crew with sub folders dividing things further. She decided to look at the crew first and settled in to find out what notifications and promotions she would be doing in the next few days and weeks.

Leonard moved back to his desk and picked up his PADD. Most of the Avis's injured crew had been treated and released over the last few days, taking up residence in the numerous guest quarters the Enterprise boasted. Only a handful of the crew remained in the med bay, including Captain Dunia. They had taken the Avis under tow and were headed back to the nearest starbase. Scotty and the Avis's engineer, whose name he still couldn't remember, were working on what repairs they could. He had seen a fair number of engineering crew members from both ships come through the med bay over the last three days.

The Starfleet databases were getting quite the update as they uploaded whatever information they could garner from the Avis's crew. Only a small percent were from planets or races the Fleet had encountered before. A majority of them were completely new to them. Uhura and Spock were like two kids given free rein in a candy store.

Leonard had certainly had his work cut out for him patching everyone up. Between Dr. Dem and a lot of nerve-wracking guesswork they had succeeded fairly well in getting everyone back on the feet. He opened a file on his PADD that contained all his notes on the Avis's crew members he had examined. The academy was eagerly waiting for the reports so they could start including them in classes. He had been halfway through his review of an abnormally tall brown-skinned male with purprle facial stripes much like the captain's friend when the captain had woken up. Scans had shown some interesting bone arrangements and constructions that he wanted to take a look at. A glance at the clock told him that he had another couple of hours until he was expected to be anywhere. He pulled his coffee mug closer and settled back in his chair.

Scotty eyed the mess of wiring in front of him. It was a miracle the ship hadn't caught itself on fire a long time ago. Whoever had been responsible for laying out the Avis's electrical system had nary a clue as to what they had been about. He could feel his blood pressure going up the longer he looked at it.

He and Jaylah were in a small control room for one of the lower level corridors that had been badly damaged in the attack. Now that all the important things such as the engines and superstructures had been mostly repaired they were able to move onto the smaller tasks. Like doors and lights. Assuming he could figure out what he was looking at.

"Jaylah, can I see those schematics again?" he called, stretching a hand out from the contol panel he was half inside of.

"Jaylah?" he prompted again after the PADD failed to be placed in his hand after a moment. "The schematics if you please?"

Concerned when there was still no response, Scotty slid out of the control panel and looked around for his girlfriend and assistant. A portable lamp gave off enough light to ward off the dark and illuminate a small circle of the room about three feet in diameter. Jaylah was nowhere to be seen, which made Scotty even more concerned. Jaylah wouldn't just walk off in the middle of a task like that.

Scotty got to his feet and dusted off his pants. He grabbed the lamp from the ledge it was on and carried it out into the corridor. The pale light cast everything into eerie shadows.

"Jaylah? Are you out here lass?" Scotty called into the darkness. Silence was his only answer as he took a few more steps trying to make out any familiar shapes in the pitch black.

The further he went down the corridor the more he felt like he was being watched. While he wasn't an overly superstitious person, his Scottish ancestry and his own imagination made him superstitious enough to swear that there was almost a sentience to the darkness. Something lurking out there that made his hair stand on end.

"If this is some kind of a prank Jaylah, I'm just letting you know now that it's not very funny."

There were a few more tense moments of silence until he finally heard her voice call faintly from up ahead of him.

"I am here Montgomery Scotty." The tone of her voice sounded off, but Scotty didn't spare it much thought as he gratefully made his way torwards where he had heard her voice. A minute later she suddenly stepped out of the darkness. Before he could even think about opening his mouth to say something she strode over to him and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. Surprised at the very un-Jaylah like action it took a moment for Scotty to respond and wrap his free arm around her. They stayed that way for a few breaths until he pulled away to look at her.

"Are you alright lass? You had me a wee bit worried back there when you up and disappeared on me." Jaylah didn't answer immediately. She was still watching the toes of her boots with one hand still resting on his shoulder. Scotty had never seen her this rattled, not since she joined Starfleet at least. He hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her face up so she would look at him. His heart dropped when he saw her face. She had a hunted, haunted expression on her face. The last time he had seen anything like that look was when they were still on Altamid and dealing with Krall.

"Jaylah?"

"There is something terrible out there Montgomery Scotty. Something horrible and it watches us." Scotty became aware of every hair and nerve fiber in his body at her words. Hadn't he just been thinking the same things? However, Jaylah was giving him a rare moment of her turning to him for strength and he didn't want her to see that he was as rattled as she was.

"Aye, these halls are a bit on the sinister side. Come back with me and help get this control panel sorted out. The sooner we fix things, the sooner we're off this ship. And I for one think that's a very good thing."

Jaylah nodded as they made their way back to the control room. If their hands shook a bit when they slid together, neither said a word as they walked through the gloom.

Medical Terminology explained:

Subdural Hematoma: Bleed underneath the dura mater, the first protective layer of the brain after the bone of the skull.

Anti-convulsants: Anti-seizure meds. Too much pressure on the brain can cause seizures.

Anti-hypertensives: Meds for high blood pressure. High blood pressure can make the bleeding and swelling worse.

Anti-inflammatory: Reduces body's natural inflammatory response to an injury helping to keep the swelling and pain manageable.

Frontal Lobe: the very front part of the brain behind your forehead which is also known as the frontal bone. Controls personality and things that make you you.

A/N: So, what did you think? As always leave me a message after this note. ~Naomi