AN: Okay, so I watched Star Trek Into Darkness and I LOVED IT! I can't wait to see it again but because I can't I have to delude myself with the stories I write. So here we go, my newest story. I took M'Ress from the show and put her in she will be completely OC in her personality but her species and name have been borrowed. Be warned there are going to be MAJOR SPOILERS in this story, so if you don't want the movie ruined I recommend TURNING BACK but if you don't, don't blame me :) Anyway on with it!

Chapter One

No one aboard the Starfleet Enterprise ever seemed to sleep, that is apart from M'Ress, she had just finished a twelve hour shift in the engineering room. She wasn't the best with anything technological but for some reason Scotty had chosen her out of his class to be his apprentice. Something she wasn't sure that she was happy about.

It had gotten her out of her mother's house though, so there was some benefits that came with being an engineering tech. M'Ress was currently lying on her bed trying her best to fall into the realms of unconsciousness, but it just wasn't happening for her. She sighed before she sat up, pushing her hair out of her face before she got out of bed, stripped off her pyjamas and went for a shower. Luckily the male and female bathrooms were separate or it would have been very uncomfortable if anyone had been in there.

She washed quickly, everything done aboard the Starfleet Enterprise had to be done quickly and efficiently and this had been worked into everyone aboard during the academy. Everything they did was slightly robotic in nature but no one questioned the rules. What if something had happened? The person who was taking too long would suffer for it because they were not in their designated spot and god forbid they weren't.

Things weren't so bad with Captain Kirk who was now in charge, he wasn't one who was overly fond of the rules, usually disregarding the rule book all together and she knew that one day he would be in serious trouble for trying to make his own way in the world. Starfleet command would never let someone like Kirk be Captain for long, he was just too unpredictable and he had too many human emotions that clouded his judgement sometime.

Like with his saving Spock and letting the indigenous species see the spaceship, that was a bad move on his part. Not the saving of his friend and first in command but those people had hardly invented the wheel, who knew what letting them see something so technologically advanced would do for their species.

She hoped nothing bad would happen because of it. Getting out of the shower she quickly dressed in her red uniform dress, standard regulation of course. Her tail flew out from behind her, she shoved it through the hole that was specially made for any of her species that came aboard and the dress actually covered her bum this time. She wandered out of her quarters and made her way to the deck, her species didn't really need to sleep as often as the humans on board. She wasn't the only non-human either, Spock was half Vulcan, made apparent by his rather large ears and ability to never lie which resulted in his and Captain Kirk's constant arguments.

M'Ress usually laughed at the two of them; she wasn't as close to the them as others were but she was afforded certain leeway due to her nature as a Caitian. She found it hard to disguise her emotions, he tail, ears and eyes usually gave her away. She looked remarkably human for a Caitian, she didn't have fur covering her entire body, only her tail and ears had pale fine hair on and the rest was just skin. She was thankful for it at this point, sometimes when she was around people would stare, she was one of the few that had ever left their home planet, her mother had re-married after her father died, to a human. It was strange but she had gotten used to it and now recalled her step-father with fondness.

Once she had made her way to the deck she observed the rest of the crew. Everyone seemed unusually happy and she remembered that they were making their way back to Earth. Their home planet.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" She jumped, being pulled out of her musings by the Captain.

She turned to look at him, smiling slightly when she saw the glint of amusement in his eyes which overshadowed the feeling of awe he felt when he looked at her. No matter how many times he saw her, he would never stop wondering what it felt like to have a tail.

"I was Captain. I woke up for some reason and you know how hard it is to get back to sleep once you're awake." Kirk nodded and gently placed his hand on the small of her back and led her to the captain's chair. He removed his hand and sat down.

She remained standing where he had placed her wondering what he wanted.

"Activate all radio." Kirk commanded.

"Yes Captain." Came the immediate reply as the crew set about making sure their captain was heard by everyone on the ship. "You're ready to go Captain."

Kirk nodded before typing in a code on the arm of his chair. "Good morning crew. This is your captain speaking; we will be landing on Earth in approximately eight hours. You will be contacted once the Enterprise is given another mission but until that time you are all grounded no other flights or journey's please, just in case of immediate re-launch. Kirk out." He nodded to Sulu who cut the connection and stood back up again. He motioned for M'Ress to follow him as he walked out of the deck.

She walked by his side as he started chatting casually. "So Scotty tells me you're his favourite apprentice." Her eyebrows raised in surprise, she had thought that she was annoying with her constant questions. Kirk must have seen her surprise as he smiled. "He said it's nice to find someone who's genuinely interested in what he says."

She hoped they'd never find out it was because she was so afraid of screwing something up that she paid as much attention as she did. "Is that why he chose me to come aboard?" She asked, her tail swishing behind her in the air rising and falling with the sway of her hips. Kirk's eyes were immediately drawn to it.

He snapped out of it and he smiled at her. "Yup. He likes having people around who actually like what they are doing, makes them not screw up as many times as other people."

"That's good to know." It was then that M'Ress noticed that he had walked her back to her quarters. He leaned against the wall in front of her door and smiled at her again.

"You should really get some more sleep. I don't think you've had more than two hours since we took off." She hadn't known he was paying that much attention to her but he was right. She just didn't feel comfortable enough in the bed that had been provided for her.

She sighed. "Okay, I'll try."

She watched the Captain walk away and opened the door to her quarters. She didn't feel tired at all but she knew that she should get some sleep. He was right after all she hadn't slept well at all since boarding, she wasn't used to being in space and it felt weird for her. However she stripped of her dress, climbed into some fresh pyjamas and lay there, counting sheep until finally, she fell asleep.

She woke up lying diagonally on her bed, she blinked to remove the sleep from her eyes and sat up stretching happily. That was the first sleep that had lasted more than an hour that she'd managed to have on this spaceship. She felt better than she had in a long time. She crawled out and landed on the floor, she rolled her ankles and sighed happily.

This was going to be a good day, she could tell.

She opened the door to the hallway and slipped out, dodging various people who were going about their day. She made her way down to the engineering room and was immediately spoken to by Scotty.

"There you are lass!" He gently grabbed her arm and walked her closer to the warp engine that was humming happily. "I need you to keep an eye on these settings and call me if anything starts to rise." She nodded and turned her attention closer to the control panel. There were various levels that had to be focused on like temperature or pressure. If any of them started to rise it would be essential to make sure that they were lowered to safe levels once more.

Thankfully nothing went wrong and Scotty was soon back. "Everything alright lass?"

"Yes sir, levels are at normal range." He nodded and smiled, he loved it went everything was running smoothly on his ship.

He was about to say something else but was interrupted when the Captains voice flowed through the ship. "Good evening crew. Be prepared to land in thirty minutes. Kirk out."

"Wow, I didn't think I was asleep for that long." M'Ress turned to look at Scotty. "Sorry for not being down here." She said shamefully, lowering her head.

Scotty smiled at the poor cat. "Don't worry lass, it was me that sent you to get sleep in the first place." He ruffled her hair teasingly. "Anyway prepare for landing!" He shouted at the rest of the crew. Everyone immediately started pressing various dials including M'Ress who's job it was to ensure engine stability as they landed.

She was glad that everything went right because she wasn't sure she was able to handle a malfunction as this early stage of her career. She sincerely hoped she would never have to deal with one but she knew that was just wishful thinking. She moved to the next station to check everything was okay and smiled when everything was going fine.

And sure enough the Starfleet Enterprise landed perfectly. M'Ress waited to be dismissed along with the rest of the crew and hurried to her quarters to pack before getting off the ship. She breathed in the fresh oxygen and smiled, Earth was always nice to come back to. She decided the best thing for her to do while she waited for the new mission was to go and see her mother. So that's where she went.

She walked out of Starfleet's headquarters, saying her goodbyes to the crew, not noticing Captains Kirk's eyes on her as she went. She hurried down the streets of London and chuckled silently to herself at the familiar sights and sounds. She had to hail a cab because although she did want to walk it was too far and she hadn't quite gotten her Earth legs back yet. She paid the cabbie and hopped down from the floating vehicle. She grabbed her suitcase and walked up the path to her mother's house and knocked on the door. She gave it a second before opening the door, and smiled at the smell and feel of home. "Mom? You here? I'm home!" She shouted, frowning at the silence.

Usually when she came home her mother was immediately all over her, checking for various injuries and tutting at her career. The silence was strange. "Mom?" She shrugged and walked in further.

It was odd but her mom was probably just out. But something didn't feel right.

She walked further in. Peering around every corner for a sign of her mother, or even her step-father. Where were they? M'Ress turned into the kitchen and grabbed the calendar, sliding her finger across the touchscreen to find out if they had any appointments for today. She furrowed her eyebrows as she saw there was nothing.

Humming to herself she shrugged it off, opening the fridge door and taking out a carton of milk. She poured herself a glass before putting the milk back. Sipping at it she wandered up the stairs to her bedroom, taking her suitcase with her and wanting to unpack. She threw the suitcase on her bed before checking her mothers bedroom.

She knocked on the door before gently opening it. "Hey Mom, are you in here?" Once the door was fully opening M'Ress gasped, dropped her glass of milk which smashed on the floor, the white liquid spilling onto the wooden floor and spreading quickly. It soon merged with the red liquid that was already on the floor. The blood.

"Mom?" Her voice cracked as she whimpered.