"Father wait!" Amata pleaded. "What ever parts you want from Pash- Ensign Chekov, I will more than gladly give you!" She looked accidentally into the huge disbelieving eyes of Scotty beneath her. She clutched the communicator a little more tightly.

"Amata, listen to me…"

"No. You listen this time. You already tried to take my tongue, so obviously I am disposable to you. Take what you want from them from me." She said firmly. She believed her statement fully. She walked forward, past the glass and onto the transporter pad. Scotty shook his head 'no' and Amata countered with a 'yes' nod.

"Amata… my dear. You don't need to die for my cause. I want to show you what this Universe can be."

"That wasn't the case yesterday."

"Amata…"

"Scotty beam me out." Amata said.

"No." He firmly responded crossing his arms over his chest.

"Scotty the lives of those three officers are at stake! Beam. Me. Out." She said.

Scotty hesitated for a moment.

***

Kirk had been picking at his bonds for the last section of the disturbing conversation to no avail. His eyes never left poor Chekov who was still shaking under the looming knife. Lassim had thankfully waited with the scalpel for orders after the negotiations.

"Amata, this conversation is over." The man said he signalled the other large man to turn off the communicator and to Lassim to resume his murder.

As the second man was leaning over to shut off the communicator the Doctor reached towards the pile of phasers on the floor, drew one, and shot the man. He quickly turned to Lassim and shot him, subsequently sending the scalpel into the wall just inches from Chekov's face.

"Doctor! What are you doing?" the man did his best to holler at the hooded Doctor.

"Sorry." The Doctor removed his hood. "The Doctor isn't in right now."

Kirk marveled up at the figure before him. The Ambassador smiled down at the Captain and undid the bonds. Kirk jumped up and leaped over Spock's unconscious figure to Ensign Chekov.

Chekov looked up at the Ambassador past Kirk and gave the tall man a half-hearted thumbs up.

"You will not get out of here alive!" The man yelled holding a phial in the air. "This is an airborne poison, as soon as it is released you will die imminently." He dropped the phial to break it on the floor.

The Ambassador jumped over the bed and caught it before it hit the floor. There was a sickening crunch and the phial broke in the Ambassador's hand.

"Captain, get your men out of here!" the Ambassador shouted staying at the far end of the room so as to contain the poison.

Kirk grabbed his communicator, which was still on and yelled: "Kirk to Enterprise get us out of her now!"

"You bet your ass, Cap'n!" Scotty yelled back frantically. "Transport in 3… 2… 1…"

The three men dematerialized from the hospital room, leaving behind the two dead men walking.

***

The second the men materialized in the transporter room, Bones burst in the door and both he and Amata rushed to the group.

Amata dropped to her knees by Chekov who was still in Kirk's arms. She took him from the Captain and did a visual analysis of the young man's head. He opened his eyes.

He could see her through the blood that had slipped between his eyelids and clouded his vision. She was still beautiful, even when she looked frazzled.

"Pasha?" She whispered, using the pet name he had never heard used on the Starship as of yet. "Please, say something to me…"

"I… I came… back…" he croaked, trying to contain the screaming he wanted to do.

After Bones had successfully revived Spock he turned to scan Chekov. Amata tried to put him on the floor but he protested.

"Don't… let… go…" he croaked emitting a small exclamation of pain.

"Amata? Amata?" A mechanized voice came from Kirk's hip. He pulled the communicator from his belt and handed it to her.

"Father…" she whispered.

"Amata." The Ambassador's voice floated through. "I need you to be strong. I will not be coming back, do you understand?" He gasped. The poison was taking effect so quickly…

"Yes, father. Thank you for saving them…" she said, trying to fit everything she wanted to say into the small amount of time they had left.

"Amata… I want you to know…" he gasped. "Kirk, take her with you, keep her safe…" he was dying fast.

The voice of Amata's real father came from the back. "You and I will die together old man…"

"Amata, I am so proud of you, I love you so much…" the Ambassador faded.

"I love you, too, Dad… Dad…" There was no reply.

***

Only twenty minutes had passed and everyone was in sick bay. Kirk, Spock, Chekov, Amata, Bones, even Scotty had joined to view the aftermath.

Kirk and Spock sat on two beds facing each other. They had been checked, and were found to be fine.

Bones was using a laser to stitch Chekov's face back to his scalp.

Amata sat on a bed at the far end of the room. Her face hadn't changed from it's devastated expression. Not a tear shed from her eye, not a sob racked her strong body.

"She has lost much, Jim." Spock said as sympathetically as a Vulcan could. His back faced Amata but he knew that her face hadn't changed.

"I know. I think I need to ask you a personal query, Spock." Kirk was still mildly sarcastic, even when he didn't try to be.

"Go on, Captain." Spock said, his expression not changing.

"There is no position on this ship that I can justify filling with her skills. The Ambassador wanted me to take her on the ship, but… I guess what I'm asking is: is there any way we can bring her with us?" Kirk was pained in his conflict. Starfleet would not smile on the situation.

"No, Captain." Spock turned to look at Doctor Amata Gerald. "No there is not."

***

Amata had been right. Her father had fixed the lab for her return. Every surface was polished and clean, ready to be used. All the destroyed shelves had been reassembled and restocked with fresh, un-contaminated equipment, a new computer waited at the desk.

It was just as beautiful and solitary as the old one, only it was new. A wonderful final gesture from the man she had lost.

She had spoken to Kirk that morning, back on the Enterprise where she had stayed overnight to look after Ensign Chekov. He had told her that, as much as he wanted to honour her father's final wish, he could not, due to Starfleet regulations.

So, she thought, what did she have to lose? Doctor McCoy and Scotty: her fast friends. Spock: her last link to Solin. Captain Kirk: the only sensible human she had ever met. And Pavel. Pasha. She would lose the young man who was easily her intellectual equal… the only man she ever knew who kept his promises… her link to her mother's Russian heritage… the man she was, as much as she wished she could deny it for the memory of Solin, the man she was falling swiftly and undeniably in love with.

She was sad about not being able to go with the Enterprise back to Earth, but she was glad as well. She preferred to live a private life. One with no emotional attachments. It was easier that way. Nothing to lose, which was certain.

She heard the door behind her open. Soft footsteps approached her and stopped maybe three feet back.

"Why did you come here?" She asked quietly.

"Because I vanted to see you before I left." The smooth Russian accent cut the silence.

She carefully turned around; deathly afraid to look into his eyes and never be able to let go.

Sure enough, when she looked into his blue eyes, she didn't want to let go.

"You cannot say you did not vant to see me as vell." He said looking at her like he knew it was true.

"I did."

He approached her and carefully wrapped his arms around her. She leaned her head against his skinny but strong chest. He put his chin on her hair and held her tightly.

"You know that I cannot come with you?" she asked quietly, placing her hand on the silver Starfleet patch on his uniform. She stroked it gently.

"Da. I know. I vish I didn't zough." He said. She felt his face convulse with the pain of the knowledge that this would be the last time they saw each other. Subconsciously she mimicked the motion.

In the heat of the moment he pulled back slightly and leaned down to kiss her. She closed her eyes and leaned back. He looked at her confused, although she could not see the look.

"This only makes the separation more difficult on both of us." She said, firmly planting both hands on his chest to cease his gentle advances.

He sighed, knowing it to be true. "But ve can't deny…"

"No, we can't." She opened her eyes and stepped back. He lowered his hands to her forearms and she did the same. "But we also can't deny that we will never see each other again. And that, should we choose to express our immediate affection; the separation will only be harder."

He looked at the ground and licked his lips. "Fine." He pulled her back into a hug. "But I get a hug."

"That, I will not deny you." She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed, afraid to let go.

He looked down at her and kissed her forehead leaving his lips there.

She inhaled deeply through her nose and found the scent; musky, with a hint of diluted vodka. She smiled, but she felt like crying.

He pulled away and held her face in his hands. She looked at every part of him her eyes could reach, memorizing everything, although she knew she shouldn't. The door opened behind them and they separated, far too quickly for either of them.

Kirk, Spock and Bones all three entered.

"Doctor." Kirk nodded to her. "Ensign, we're all ready to leave."

The Enterprise had landed last night to follow up on the incident of the previous evening. Everything had been cleared with Salthasian officials and all was ready for filing. The final culprits would be tracked down now that the Law Enforcement Units had the lair of the Scavengers. Starfleet would leave now, and they would have no reason to meet ever again.

"It was good to meet you, Amata." Bones shook her hand.

"The same to you, Doctor." Amata smiled at her friend.

"Thank you for all your work on the case, Amata, Starfleet and I are both eternally grateful." Kirk said in his most diplomatically affectionate tone.

"I am proud to have helped, Captain." Amata shook his hand as well.

"I will express my gratitude as well. You are an asset to your profession, and I wish you luck in your future endeavors." Spock said raising the Vulcan salute.

"The same to you commander." The young woman returned the gesture.

"It vas a pleasure vorking vith you, Amata." Chekov gave her another hug.

"The same to you, Pasha." She whispered in his ear.

The four men waved and left.

***

Amata ran as fast as her legs could carry her up the stairs to the roof of her father's building. She was only a floor away, she could hear the Enterprise power up.

She burst through the door and ran to within four feet of the edge. She watched the giant ship leave the ground and float into the air. It was so loud.

She outstretched her arms and felt the wind as the massive vessel pulled away carrying her new friends with it.

As the ship disappeared into the atmosphere she caught in her nose the smell of musk, and a the light taste of diluted vodka that permeated her lips.

"Don't let go." She whispered into the wind.

***

Author's Note

*Sniff sniff* Wow, that was amazingly fun to write! It began and ended so quickly… *sobs*

Alright. Next order of business: I am thinking of writing a sequel, but before I do I want to know whether anyone would actually read it or not… lend me your mind one way or the other, through a personal message or a review or something to let me know (I do accept anonymous reviews, by the way) whether you would read a sequel, because if you don't I probably won't write it and I'll just get on with other stuff I've got gestating.

Thank you to all the people who followed this story, your positive feedback really pushed the story ahead for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You guys are amazing!

Until next time!

Yours,

BlackMasquerade