Captain Pike ran his hands over his face wearily; trying to wake himself up long enough to find the energy to leave the dining room and make his way back to quarters. He'd actually decided to dine away from quarters to try and be sociable and not get buried in work, but unfortunately his data pad hadn't stopped pinging so that plan had fallen through miserably.

He had recently come off of a 12 hour shift which had been eventful enough to tire him out completely; that topped with another hour of work in the dining room had made this a very long day. Chris felt exhausted and was in serious trouble of falling asleep in the remains of his dinner so he turned off the data pad and willed his body to get up and leave the hall.

The Captain made his way back to his quarters and groaned when he remembered he was meant to be filling in paperwork this evening; at this rate he was going to hit the sack as soon as he dragged himself across the doorway paperwork be damned. There was nothing so pressing that it couldn't wait until the morning.

He was halfway from the mess hall to the turbo lift when he heard someone shouting, towards an area of the ship that he was pretty sure housed engineering and science labs. Then again his internal map of Discovery was still being built. Even after living aboard the ship for weeks he sometimes got lost or tried to take a route to the bridge that mirrored the Enterprise.

Chris stopped abruptly and frowned, glancing around the empty corridors that still held the echoed shout. Curiosity more than anything moved his feet forwards towards the distant sounds, and the closer he got the more he realised that it was an argument he was hearing.

"This isn't like you, what the hell has gotten into you?" He heard the muffled voices again, and they were becoming clear enough to make out. Pike continued following the corridor round, amazed that it was empty thus far.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

He nearly stopped and questioned why he was doing this when he was meant to be dead on his feet and heading to bed, but something about the tone of voices was off and his instincts were telling him to intervene.

"I can't ignore this any longer." Alarmingly Pike heard what sounded like a faint scuffle. "Wait you can't just-"

Annoyingly an announcement echoed throughout the corridors just at the moment when Pike really needed to hear what was going on in the secret conversation. By the time the voice died down he only caught the tail end of several loud clangs, then only silence. Pike rounded the corner and came face to face with several closed doors leading to various labs; he had no idea where the voices had originated from and now it was deadly quiet.

"Yes I can."

Chris spun towards the quiet voice and stared at the closest science lab with suspicion. He hadn't heard the other voice talk in quite some time so perhaps the argument was over, then again it hadn't sounded friendly so who knew what had happened behind closed doors. Whatever the case Pike had come this far and thought it best to make sure no harm had come to anyone, one was never really off duty especially as Captain.

The Captain palmed open the door controls and walked into the lab space, eyes scanning every inch of the room for signs of conflict. He soon spotted an unfamiliar figure working away studiously at one of the computer consoles. Said crewman glanced up at him surprised by the interruption and then looking even more shocked as he clocked exactly who was interrupting him.

Pike studied the crewman carefully for any odd behaviour, but so far he had acted like any other crew member meeting the Captain for the first time: a little jumpy, hesitant and surprised. Chris glanced round the room taking in every detail of the space, and more importantly secretly examined the area for any signs of disturbance. He was also at a loss to explain why there were no other crewman in sight. He was sure that this had been the room the voices had come from, but nothing looked out of place and there were no signs to suggest anyone else had been here. Was it possible he had misheard?

"Can I do something for you Captain?" The crewman asked nervously, having stopped work his hands were hovering over the keyboard.

Chris catalogued the level of anxiety and thought the crewman was perhaps a little too nervous for a first meeting, then again he wouldn't be the most nervous crewman Pike had met over his career. Still Pike decided to follow his gut to investigate further so he waltzed into the room and held out his hand to greet the crewman. "We haven't met what's your name Lieutenant?"

The Lieutenant spluttered like a fish out of water and was far too slow reacting to the question and his Captain's proffered hand. In a flash the crewman pulled himself away from the terminal and plastered a smile over his face. "Lieutenant Jenkins Sir, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Pike shook the kid's hand firmly and was thrown by the strength in the crewman's grip; gone was the nervous crewman from before. The Lieutenant was now suddenly confident and held himself in a strong stance and beamed from ear to ear. It was almost like talking to a different man.

Chris kept his face neutral and smiled at the crewman, withdrawing his hand first. "Nice to meet you too Jenkins."

He glanced round the space making it obvious he was examining every inch of it for something. "I was passing and thought I heard an argument; wanted to make sure everything was alright." Chris explained and watched Jenkins' face carefully for any tells.

The Captain thought he caught a flash of panic cross Jenkins' face before it was expertly eradicated, but it was gone so fast that Pike had to tell himself he hadn't imagined it. The Lieutenant was definitely worried about something so Pike had been right to trust his gut, something was off in here. Luckily having served with someone who masked emotions all the time, Chris had gained a certain knack to notice the slightest of changes in someone's behaviour. If he could read Spock he could read Jenkins.

"I haven't heard anything." Jenkins sounded puzzled and gestured round the empty room.

Pike managed a strained smile and began to walk round the areas he hadn't seen, frustratingly he didn't spot anything even remotely out of place. He turned his attention to the Lieutenant's screen and frowned when he saw ship schematics up on his screen, specifically the ventilation system.

He walked up to the console and studied it in detail, noticing Jenkins stiffen and logging that reaction as suspicious. "What are you assigned to Lieutenant?" Pike asked innocently enough, an interested gleam in his eye.

Jenkins visibly forced himself to calm down and plastered on a fake smile. "Im looking into some sensor problems, I work for the engineering department." He clarified.

Pike nodded and on the surface at least accepted the answer. It could be the truth but he had no way of knowing that and Jenkins was acting a little shifty for someone who was just carrying out duties innocently. Every fibre of the crewman was screaming wrongness.

"I see, very good Lieutenant." Pike wandered away from the terminal keen eyes scouring the room once more. Just when he was about to give up something caught his eye; he stiffened as he spotted blood over in the corner.

His eyes followed the trail and he nearly keeled over in shock as he noticed a man's hand that looked like it was attached to a very dead body. Chris realised the reason he hadn't seen it before was because the body had been covered with cloth and equipment, however now the blood was morbidly trickling out into view.

Pike closed his eyes and forced his reactions to still and his limbs to loosen up naturally. Whoever that poor crewman was had been murdered and the most likely suspect was Jenkins. He needed to get help here now. The Captain plastered a fake smile on his face and turned back round to address Lieutenant Jenkins, wary that he was most likely talking to a cold blooded murderer.

Chris wandered back over to the console as casually as he dared and discretely scanned Jenkins for weapons; he didn't see anything but that didn't mean he didn't have a concealed weapon on him or had hidden it in his work area. The Lieutenant for his part hadn't moved and was watching Pike carefully.

Pike thought about rushing the Lieutenant for all of 2 seconds. There were any number of ways that could and probably would go wrong. Pike needed a security team or at least a phaser, he was not prepared to deal with a dangerous killer who was most probably armed.

"Well I will leave you to it then." Chris smiled tightly and turned to leave, trying not to make it too obvious how desperate he was to get out of the room.

Sadly the Captain only made it half way towards the door when the chilling command came and he heard the familiar sound of a phaser whirring up. "Don't take another step Captain."

Chris stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes with resignation, he had almost made it out but something he had said or done had clearly tipped Jenkins off. Dammit.

"Turn around." Jenkins ordered firmly, coldly. Gone was the fake warmth of earlier.

The order sent a chill down the Captains spine. He slowly turned on the spot and was exceedingly careful not to make any sudden moves. Chris wasn't surprised to find a phaser pointing at his chest although he did feel a stab of fear in his chest when he saw it was set to kill.

Pike watched Jenkins carefully who was scrutinising his latest problem. "You saw him didn't you?" Jenkins asked.

So it had been his reactions that had tipped Jenkins off, Chris had probably been staring at the location of the body for too long. Still there was no use lying now the cat was out of the bag, or rather the phaser. Pike had heard an argument earlier he had just never expected it to escalate to this level of violence.

"Is he alive?" He too dropped the friendly act, treating the crewman in front of him the way he would any armed man.

Jenkins' face hardened and he glanced half heartedly over to the body. "No, but I think you already expected that."

He had been expecting the answer but it didn't make it any easier to swallow. Chris gulped and felt his body get fidgety. His fight or flight instincts were kicking in and his system was flooded with adrenaline; his body was screaming at him to move but his mind was holding him in place knowing he had no chance of outrunning a phaser.

"What now?"

Jenkins seemed to consider that question for some time and Pike could see he was trying to figure everything out in real time; this situation was running away from him and that was something Pike could potentially work with.

Jenkins eventually came to a decision. "Hands up and get over here." He indicated away from the door with the phaser.

It wasn't exactly the plan Pike had been asking about but it was at least letting him know Jenkins didn't have his shit together, and hopefully he would remain distracted. Pike held both his hands up in surrender and moved to the indicated position already eyeing up weaknesses in Jenkins stance and thinking of how he could cross the distance without getting shot.

When Chris reached the indicated position he was going to try and distract Jenkins, the problem was he didn't get that far. Horrifyingly the door swished open and Ensign Tilly strolled into the room head lost in a data pad.

"Sorry to int-" Her voice trailed off weakly as she glanced up and saw what she had walked into, specifically her Captain with a phaser pointed at his chest.

Pike's heart pounded madly, going from zero to a hundred in seconds; reaching a crescendo when Jenkins' phaser switched targets. The Captain was mortified to see the weapon swing round to the Ensign and the trigger started to depress. Chris didn't think about what he was doing he just acted. He jumped the short distance to Jenkins and knocked the Lieutenant's hand away, hopefully just enough for the shot to go wide.

The Captain put aside Tilly's scream of terror and hoped to god she hadn't been hit by the lethal blast. Pike's body reacted on instinct and his training kicked in when he grabbed the Lieutenant's gun arm and twisted, wanting to get control of the weapon before Jenkins could fire wildly again. Sadly he hadn't counted on the gunman reacting so quickly.

Jenkins sucker punched him in the gut with his free fist, effectively stealing all of the Captain's breath with the force of the blow. He followed up the powerful strike by pushing Pike away from him bodily, tripping the Captain's foot perfectly in sync with the shove. Chris lost his footing entirely and collided with the ground hard, sprawling out with a groan: winded and ribs aching. The adrenaline helped mask the rough treatment so he shook away the dazed feeling and started to push himself to his feet; that was until a command from Jenkins stopped him in his tracks.

"Stop! Or I'll kill her."

Pike remained half kneeling and half crouched, allowing his body come down from the sudden adrenaline surge. He glanced up and saw the phaser was yet again pointing at Tilly who was gaping from Jenkins, the gun and her Captain in shock. Jenkins' patience evaporated and he took a threatening step forwards towards Tilly.

"Alright, alright!" Chris placated the gunman urgently, holding his hands up in surrender to show he wasn't a threat any longer. The last thing he wanted was another crewman needlessly dead; this situation had already gone from bad to worse to a complete shit show.

Tilly managed to snap her jaw closed and started to recover from the shock, fear turning to anger in an instant. "Evan what the hell are you doing?" She hissed fiercely taking a minute step towards the gunman.

Evan, as Tilly called him, shot at her feet in warning. Pike flinched and so did Tilly, her fear coming back and survival instinct taking over. "If you move again, I'll kill you." He threatened coldly.

Tilly's face screwed up with immense anguish and Pike finally clocked on that Tilly had called him Evan, meaning she knew the gunman personally. Christ this must be hard to swallow. "What happened to you?" She asked sadly.

Chris was very interested in the answer too but regrettably Jenkins was not in a sharing mood. "We're not talking about me. All we're going to discuss is how you two remain alive." He snarled dangerously, pointing the gun between Tilly and Pike.

Pike gulped hard and locked eyes with Tilly, his fear and confusion was mirrored in her eyes. Chris had no doubts now that Jenkins would kill them both without a moment's hesitation, the million dollar question was why?

The room fell into a chilling silence whilst Jenkins thought through his next move. Eventually he ordered. "Both of you I want you kneeling on the floor, facing the door with your hands on your heads."

Pike and Tilly were still struggling to keep up with the change of pace so stared dumbly at him, which did not go down well. "Now!" He yelled pointing the weapon at Pike's head.

Chris dragged himself to his knees and faced the door, bringing his hands up to rest on his head just as Jenkins had ordered. This was tactically a bad position to be in, they wouldn't see what Jenkins was doing behind them and couldn't react quickly kneeling like this. He supposed that was exactly why Jenkins was forcing his hostages into this position.

Jenkins indicated for Tilly to join the Captain so she nervously made her way over and copied Pike's submissive position. Chris tried to catch her eye and throw her a reassuring smile but she was completely distant; mind obviously whirring and processing that someone she knew was capable of this.

Pike felt the phaser rest against the back of his head and resisted the urge to tense up. "Lock this room down." Jenkins ordered.

Pike glanced over his shoulder at the gunman in surprise. "Unless you want more unexpected guests. I'm shooting the next person I see walk through that door." Jenkins promised.

That made Pike's decision for him, as much as he didn't want to be locked in here at least this would keep others out. "Computer lock down engineering lab 2 Alpha. Security override Pike Gamma 3."

They all heard the locking sound echo throughout the lab and the computer acknowledged the request had been carried out. Jenkins backed away from his hostages and relaxed a little when the door was locked completely. The gunman moved to the side of the kneeling officers and pointed his phaser between them.

"If either of you move I'm going to kill you. Do you believe me?"

Pike could feel Tilly tense beside him. He stared into Jenkins cold dark eyes and saw only determination there; no remorse or hesitancy. Hell yeah. Chris definitely believed him; he was looking into the eyes of a killer.

"Yes." they both answered in a quiet voice.

Jenkins nodded happily then walked behind them out of their view. Pike only relaxed when he heard the footsteps walk back towards the work station and heard Jenkins get back on the computer. Pike turned his attention to Tilly and studied her carefully for signs of injuries; she seemed to be more aware of her surroundings but still looked incredibly pale.

"Ensign are you alright?" He whispered.

She almost jumped out of her skin when she felt his arm brush hers. Tilly looked at him anxiously and nodded nervously. "I'm not hurt Captain, it's just…"

Pike could see it in her eyes. "You know him." He finished for her.

She glanced up surprised then nodded mutely. "Evan's one of my friends..." she sniffed. "And he almost killed me."

Pike felt sorry for Tilly he really did, what could you tell someone in a situation like that? "I'm sorry." He offered sincerely, knowing words weren't ever going to be enough.

She smiled sadly then looked over her shoulder timidly, gazing at Evan forlornly. "Its like he doesn't even recognise me." She whispered. "Honestly I barely recognise him."

Pike looked at Evan too and got thinking; he remembered what he'd overheard in the argument earlier with someone saying Evan hadn't been himself. People didn't just wake up one day and become someone else. What had happened to Jenkins to change him so much?

"Are you saying he's different?" Pike asked Tilly, aware that having someone who knew the real Evan Jenkins was invaluable now.

Tilly scoffed. "Sir, Evan Jenkins is one of the most caring people I know. He's kind, gentle, shy and would never hurt anyone." She argued fiercely.

Pike nodded grimly, that was the exact opposite of what Jenkins had displayed with Pike. "So it's like he's a different person then." He surmised.

Tilly nodded fervently, getting where he was going with his line of thinking. "Exactly like that yes."

Pike observed Evan out of the corner of his eye carefully. "So we just need to figure out what could have changed him like this."

A/N - So I decided to start with the Tilly story, after the latest episode I definitely needed to lose myself in fiction where shit hasn't hit the fan. Although I have to admit the Enterprise bridge was amazing and gave me chills :D