Pike clambered over debris, nimbly following Michael along the darkened corridor on the lookout for any sign of habitation. The Discovery was responding to a distress signal originating from an asteroid which had been narrowed down to this crashed ship. When they had scanned for life signs and attempted communication Discovery found that the signals were all shielded; they were getting something though which was enough to investigate further.

Of course the only real option to see if there was anyone in trouble that needed help was to come down in person, Pike had jumped at the chance to have some away mission time. He had also had an ulterior motive asking for Michael to come along. Down here on this crashed ship amongst bent metal and sparking electrics Michael Burnham couldn't run away; she had been avoiding him for days and he needed to know why.

Now he understood and recognised that Michael had been carrying out her duty sufficiently but that was all; it was like she wasn't really there when she was on the bridge, like she was functioning purely on automatic and it was starting to worry him. He had thought back to when he started noticing her become withdrawn not just around him but with the whole crew; he had narrowed it down to when they had heard the unbelievable news about Spock's murderous escape from Starbase 5.

They both had a hard time believing that Spock was capable of murder and ever since that day Michael had grown distant with everyone around her, lost in her own thoughts most likely. Pike had seen the behaviour before and saw where it could lead, distraction in the field could be deadly. He wanted to help Burnham without putting a black mark on her record; she was a good officer and had been going through a lot recently.

"There's a faint signal from up ahead." Michael interrupted his thought process.

He watched her carefully and sighed when she kept her nose in the data pad, even now she was doing her level best to avoid all but necessary conversation and eye contact. It just wasn't like her.

After a long spell of silence he decided enough was enough. "Michael?"

She didn't even stop walking or look at him. "Yes Sir?"

Pike reached out to her and frowned as she flinched away; he had not been expecting that reaction. She was clearly more highly strung and on edge than he had observed. "Sorry." He apologised automatically and backed away a few steps.

She relaxed instantly as soon as he was out of her personal zone which only made his frown deepen, his concern was only growing the more time he spent with her. Michael finally averted her eyes away from the data pad and met his but he could see wasn't happy with the interruption.

Well time to just dive into the problem head first. "I couldn't help but notice you being quiet the past few days. Is something wrong? I'm worried about you."

Michael cast her eyes downward. "I'm fine Sir."

He doubted that had even convinced her own mind and it certainly hadn't swayed him in the slightest. "Look, I'm not saying you have to talk to me but you need to talk to someone Michael." It had crossed his mind that perhaps he was the problem or maybe he wasn't as approachable as he thought. "Whatever's wrong it's affecting you."

The Captain implored her to see that he was only trying to help; he frankly didn't care if she decided to keep him out of this as long as she returned to her old self again. Much more of this and who knew what damage would be done.

Michael met his eye properly for the first time in days. Pike almost stumbled back at the emotion he saw brewing in her gaze, so he had been on the money and she had been bottling it all up. "I don't know what to do." She whispered.

Pike could scarcely believe she was opening up so followed his instincts. "Is this to do with Spock?"

She looked away miserably which only confirmed his suspicions. This distressing behaviour had all started when they had found out about her brother; the main problem was Pike really didn't know what to do to help. They had no further leads on Spock's location or motives and they weren't likely to get any information anytime soon.

"I don't know how I can help him, or if he would even accept my help." She looked at him pleadingly.

Pike sighed heavily; he was treading on dangerous ground with their history but he knew enough about Spock to know he would never refuse help from family. "I don't know what happened between the two of you but Spock is your brother, nothing's going to change that."

Michael stared up at him with a familiar half-smile one that Pike hadn't seen in far too long. He figured perhaps she needed to hear this from someone else, someone else who knew Spock.

They both jumped as they heard a loud clang echo along the corridor and Michael's pad started beeping louder. "This way." Michael shot off like a rocket making Pike jog to keep up. The Captain knew they needed a longer talk but he could already see glimpses of the real Michael appear as she raced away.

Burnham ran along the corridor leaping over debris like an accomplished athlete, Pike was actually breaking out a sweat keeping up with her relentless pace but didn't complain. If someone was in trouble then it was paramount they get to them quickly. Suddenly Michael skidded to a halt just outside a door, and Pike noticed the beeping had stopped.

"Something wrong?" He asked cautiously. The hairs were standing up on the back of his neck unpleasantly; he couldn't put his finger on it but this place felt wrong.

"The signal's gone." Michael muttered and tapped at the data pad in confusion.

Pike glanced all around them and saw no other way they could go from here except forwards through the door or back the way they came. "It died?"

Michael shook her head bewildered. "I don't think so, it's strange I haven't seen anything like this before."

The Captain sighed and realised enough was enough he had to make the decision. "I say we go in, this was the last direction of the signal."

Burnham straightened and nodded in agreement. She activated the door controls and they both entered through the new room cautiously. Pike swept a careful gaze round the new surroundings and noted that the space seemed more lived in and a great deal brighter, and there was even stable power throughout the room. He spotted computers, electronics and tools which all were in different states of being broken apart. The space almost looked like an engineer's workshop. There were even screens that were still powered up, whoever had been here hadn't been gone long.

"Someone's been here." He continued to sweep the surroundings cautiously; creepily it was eerily quiet. "Can you tell if the distress call came from one of those machines?" He asked Michael and smiled when he realised he needn't have asked, she was already on a computer way ahead of him as usual.

She smirked. "Already on it."

Pike chuckled and carried on investigating the large room careful to look for any other recent signs of life. He mostly saw more broken and stripped down tech, and more disturbingly large amounts of dried blood splattered over the whole place. It looked really really old though which was puzzling.

"Hello can anyone hear me?" He shouted and clocked a couple of doors heading off out of the room; who knew how deep this place went?

Pike heard clattering in the distance and was about to suggest to Michael they follow the noise to see if there were any survivors who needed their help, when one of the doors slid open and a man walked through carrying a huge bundle of electronics in his arms.

The man stopped in his tracks mid-step and stared at the newcomers in shock. Pike didn't recognise the man but his senses were on alert in an instant and his fight or flight responses kicked in. His instincts were telling him this guy was dangerous and his instincts were rarely wrong.

Still their primary objective was to help. "We're here to help, I'm Captain Pike of the USS Discovery."

He watched anxiously as the man warily glanced over the Captain's shoulder; he reminded Pike of a deer caught in the head lights with how jumpy he was acting and the way his eye's widened. Chris followed his gaze cautiously and looked over his shoulder to see Michael aiming a phaser at the newcomer.

What the hell was Michael doing?

Chris' own eyes widened in surprise at the sudden turn of events. He backed slowly out of the line of fire and watched the newcomer and Michael carefully. Burnham looked seriously peeved off and the new comer looked damn right terrified, and he now noticed the mystery guy was wearing a holster with a blaster tucked into it. He guessed he had been right when he classed the newcomer as dangerous.

"Umm Michael, care to fill me in here." He took his own phaser out but kept it pointed at the ground unsure as to who exactly he should be pointing it at. This had all got very weird very quickly. Burnham didn't take her eyes off of the newcomer who suddenly dropped all of the equipment in his arms, which landed with a resounding clang.

Michael narrowed her eyes at the newcomer suspiciously. "This is the fugitive Harry Mudd."

Pike looked between Michael and Mudd and realised exactly why Burnham was acting the way she was. This fugitive was dangerous, manipulative and had a long violent history with Starfleet. He raised his phaser to join Michael's and aimed it at the fugitive.

"Nice to see you again Michael." Harry smiled nervously and surrendered with his hands in the air.

Pike didn't trust that smile or the way the Mudd was fidgeting on the balls of his feet; he had the look of a guy that was about to go for his gun any minute. "Put the weapon on the ground Mudd."

The Captain observed Mudd flinch and his finger tightened on his own phaser in response. They hadn't come here to get in a firefight but he would stun the hell out of the fugitive if he needed to. The tension rose in the room to unspeakable levels until the idiot did something stupid.

Mudd reached for his gun but was far too slow to outmanoeuvre the resulting stun blasts heading his way. Two energy bolts slammed into him within micro-seconds of each other, one courtesy of Burnham and one from Pike. Harry groaned loudly and fell to the floor, his blaster clattering uselessly to the ground. Chris belatedly noticed that Mudd was holding something in his other hand and was about to press a button or switch of some kind.

"Put your hands where we can see them Mudd." Pike ordered wary of the new device.

Harry just smiled at them and looked at Michael pointedly. "I'll catch you next time round."

Chris was seriously confused but Michael seemed to understand what Mudd was talking about. She raced forwards with a horrified expression etched on her face. "No! Don't let him press…"

Burnham clambered through shattered and crumbling walls with Pike hot on her heels. They followed the beeping distress signal until suddenly it stopped. Michael skidded to a halt and frowned at the data pad in her hands; Pike glanced round their surroundings and watched as Michael's frown grew.

"Something wrong?" He asked cautiously. There was something in the air he couldn't quite place but it had a sense of wrongness that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.

Michael looked seriously confused. "The signal's gone." Her frown deepened into something more serious which only made Pike more concerned about her behaviour, he thought she had re-focussed but she now looked distracted again.

"What's wrong?" He scanned the corridor annoyed that he couldn't seem to place this off feeling and work out how wrong this place was; Michael's reaction really wasn't helping.

Burnham glanced at him and blinked; she was giving him the strangest look almost as though he wasn't really there and she was looking straight through him. As soon as it appeared it vanished and then she shook hear head clear of the fuzziness and smiled at him. "Sorry Captain, it's nothing. I just had a weird sense of deja vu."

Pike wanted to push the matter further but he was also very aware that they were in danger here and so possibly were others. He had to trust Michael would open up when she was ready but for now they had a mission to complete. Both their eyes landed on the door causing Pike to make a decision.

"I say we go in, this was the last direction of the signal."

Chris caught Michael glancing around the space looking for something and on alert, when he caught her eye though she just nodded pulled her mind into the present and took the lead through the door. Pike followed carefully and kept one eye on Burnham and one on their new surroundings.

The whole space reminded him of an engineer's workshop, it was littered with hardware, equipment and energy tools. His eyes landed on several screens that still had diagnostics and various programs running on them' whoever had been here hadn't been gone long.

"Someone's been here." He checked one of the screens and watched figures fly by at incredible speeds.

"Can you tell if the distress call came from one of these machines?" He glanced over his shoulder to Michael.

She was already logged onto one of the computers and threw him a smile. "Already on it."

Pike chuckled and carried on investigating the large room, careful to keep an eye out for any recent signs of life. The one thing that really caught his eye was the sight of dried blood. He examined it and frowned at how old it looked and more importantly how much of it there was. What had happened here?

"Hello can anyone here me?" He shouted out and looked around in all directions for any sign of anything.

In his surveying sweep he clocked several doors leading off to god know's where, who knew how deep this place went. Sadly only silence followed his question; if there was anyone here they couldn't hear him.

"The distress call definitely came from in here." Michael called out.

"Right, well they can't have gone far." Pike concluded and started heading towards the far door, hearing Burnham in his wake.

He had barely started walking when the door whooshed open and Pike felt his stomach drop nervously; a man holding a very large gun stepped out confidently pointing his weapon directly at the Captain's head.

"Don't move." The newcomer harshly commanded and Chris had to fight against pulling out his phaser completely against all his training and instincts.

Pike took a moment and forced himself to calm down, the adrenaline wasn't making the task easy but he had to focus and knock the shock away. Clearly this guy was terrified and needed reassurance that they were here to help, and here to answer their distress call. Before Chris got a word in edge ways though he heard Michael exclaim behind him.

"You…"

What the hell?

All thoughts of delivering a reassuring plea flew out the window. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Michael too had her hand on her holstered phaser, more worryingly though she was sending the mystery gunman death glares and Pike hadn't seen Burnham look quite this angry before. He didn't miss the recognition on her face either.

"Michael." The new comer greeted with a clipped voice. He stalked forwards closer to Pike, careful to keep the both of them covered with his gun which indicated training. One odd thing was that he did keep looking over to the other side of the room as if he was waiting on something.

Pike's tactical mind started calculating the odds of him or Michael being able to draw and stun the newcomer before he fired on them. There was one big unknown in the whole equation though; for all they knew one shot from this guy's weapon could be fatal. The Captain tensed as the gunman reached into his pocket and withdrew a device. Michael gasped causing Pike to worry that the gunman may have got his hands on some sort of explosive.

"How many loops have we been through?"

The Captain frowned deeply; he hated not knowing what was going on and it seemed Michael knew more than he did. Not only that but Burnham sounded even more furious and what the hell was that about loops?

The newcomer smiled nastily. "Oh, just the one so far."

Michael actually growled, Pike looked between the two of them blinking rapidly unsure what on earth he had just walked into. "Sorry to interrupt but what the hell is going on?"

Before they could answer a side door opened, the same side door that the gunman had been watching closely. A robot walked through the doorway holding yet another bloody gun. She covered Michael from the side causing any thoughts of shooting their way out of this to fall apart; when it was just the first gunman they might have stood a chance.

Pike sighed inwardly, you'd think just once they could get lucky and not stumble into danger responding to every distress call. The universe must have been listening because suddenly the robot lost her footing on the stairs and tumbled over into a heap. The gunman turned to the distraction giving Michael and Pike the chance to take out their phaser's and turn them on the threat.

The gunman readjusted his aim but he could see it was too late and the element of surprise was lost. "Dammit! Stupid robot."

Pike wanted to retake control of this weird situation before anyone got truly hurt. "I'm going to have to ask you to lower your weapon, we're here to help."

Michael scoffed and the gunman sneered. "The federation doesn't help, it never has."

The Captain hadn't mentioned who they were so the gunman clearly recognised their uniforms and had taken this action anyway; pulling a gun on them hadn't been a mistake or a simple act of fear. For some reason, that Michael seemed to know more about, this guy had a real problem with the federation and a deep set hatred.

He ignored Pike's question completely and stared at Michael knowingly. "Are you really going to make me loop us again or will you put your guns down?"

Michael's uncharacteristic response was firing her phaser which actually surprised Chris, he hadn't pegged her for the trigger happy type.

"Mich-"

A/N - So as you can see this story involves a little bit of time manipulation, hopefully it doesn't get too confusing in future chapters! The next chapter should be up in a few days or so.