"Midnight in Heliopolis"

Chapter One

This story is set after the events of Star Trek: Into Darkness and may contain mild spoilers. Please keep this in mind when reading.
It is also worthwhile to note that Betazed was admitted into the United Federation of Planets in 2273. As the Alternate Reality Star Trek is set in 2259, the Betazoid species would not yet have been widely known.

He staggered, fighting to maintain his balance. The deck under his feet pitched wildly, sending him down, hard enough to shatter his kneecap. He managed to make progress only thanks to lucky falls and dogged determination. The hand rails helped a little.

"Scotty!" The communicator chirped and received no response. "Spock! Bones!"

The deck bucked again, tossing him into a wall. He cried out in frustration more than pain. Pain wasn't a problem now, he'd found numb two decks ago.

"Someone, anyone, respond!"

Nothing. He growled and grabbed at the Jeffries tube manual door release. Not far now.

"Captain."

"Spock! God, where have you been?!" He pulled the access panel open.

"Captain." The ship rocked again, and the banshee wail of collapsing construction vibrates through the bulkheads. "The time is oh-three-thirty."

"What?" Kirk sputtered in confusion and froze. He started down the Jeffries tube. The crawlspace was completely dark, lit only by the sparks showering from an exploded flashes of light illuminated faces. Dead faces. Men and women. His mother. Father. Admiral Pike. Spock.

The colorless lips moved, though the glazed eyes simply stared at him. "Captain, can you hear me?"

Kirk jolted awake, tangled in sweat-drenched sheets. His blanket hung off the bed where it had been flung. He fought to extricate himself in a panic, leaping to his feet.

Spock stood near the door, hands hanging at his sides and one eyebrow arched straight up.

"Would I be correct in believing that you were experiencing a nightmare?"

Kirk panted, starting at his bed like it was a war zone that threatened a reenactment. "Yeah...Yeah, you could say that."

"You asked that I wake you when we were close to the rendezvous point. We are approximately two hours out from contact."

"Contact." Kirk's addled mind grasped at crumbs of memory. "Rendezvous?"

Spock's eyebrow remained arched. "Should I have waited?"

"What? No. No, this is fine, good timing, actually." More that his heart rate was finally slowing down, he could think. "Right. I'll be on the bridge in ten."

Spock nodded and turned to leave. Kirk took one more look at the chaos that was his bed, then stopped towards the refresher.

"Gah! Dammit!" He almost dropped.

"Captain, what is wrong?" Spock returned and knelt in front of his friend. Without requesting permission, he pulled up the loose pant leg. He exposed an ugly black, purple, and blue bruise covering the entire joint. "You appear to have injured yourself in your sleep."

"In my dream, Spock, I did that in my dream." Kirk grit his teeth and groaned. "Dammit, that hurts."

Spock stood. "Shall I arrange a transport to sickbay?"

"Bones is going to enjoy figuring this one out. No, I'll-" He paused, testing the joint. "Yeah, I can make it."

"I will accompany you." Typical Spock wasn't about to give him a choice.

Kirk retrieved a shirt, intending to return later for a shower and his uniform. Wouldn't do much good to put anything on while his skin beaded with drying sweat.

Spock called ahead, appraising Sickbay of their arrival. McCoy didn't answer, though the night-shift duty doctor confirmed that they would be ready. The corridors were deserted, so Kirk didn't have to worry about running into anyone he'd have to explain a bad dream to.

He hobbled past a very familiar access hatch. Spock noticed his recognition, but did not inquire. It took every ounce of Kirk's self-control to not stop an pop it open, just for a look-see. In the end, he just kept going.

McCoy was waiting for them, a smug smirk on his face. He looked fresh as a cottontail bunny, as if his state of early wakefulness was completely intentional. "Well, what exactly did you do to yourself? Get a little anxious with the food replicator?"

"I won't kick something that feeds me. Isn't that some rule somewhere?" He made his way to a bed.

"Hop up and let me get a look at it. The night-shift woke me up as soon as he heard a member of the senior command staff had been injured." McCoy grabbed a tricorder and diagnostic wand, waving it over the joint Kirk gestured to. "My God, man, what did you do?"

He set the equipment aside and pulled the point leg up. Now he was the one quirking an eyebrow.

"Congratulations, you've got a shattered patella. Calisthenics get a little heated?"

"I skipped calisthenics last night." Kirk admitted. "I've been exhausted lately."

"Now, when we're you going to tell me?" Out came the wand and tricorder again.

"Just haven't been getting a lot of sleep."

"Doctor, I would recommend examining his back as well." Spock spoke up, hands clasped behind him.

Kirk shot him a confused look and threw his arms up as McCoy circled the bed. His shirt was still wrapped around his head when Bones let out a whistle.

"What kind of dreams are you having?"

"What?"

Three large bruises spanned from his shoulder to his waistband. Rather than a deep, angry purple, the edges were starting to turn green.

"You've had these for a while. They're starting to heal."

"I had a dream a couple of nights ago, that I was trying to get to a Jeffries tube, but a beam feel on me. I woke up when the bulkhead exploded."

"Talk about apocalyptic." McCoy circled back around.

"Doctor, are we entertaining the possibility that-"

The doctor cut him off with a swipe. "Hold on, Spock, I haven't even finished scanning the captain for other injuries. Let's hold off on the entertainment for now."

Kirk glanced at Spock strangely. It was rare that the first officer would jump ahead like that. "Spock, what is it?"

"Have any other crewmembers reported strange injuries?"

McCoy shook his head. "Some sleeplessness, but nothing like this."

"Why, do you know something?" Kirk watched his friend's face as McCoy affixed a white alloy brace around his knee. Blue lights flashed on the interface.

"Nyota, too, has awoken with strange bruises that she cannot explain." Apparently, the domestic implications of his revelation were not lost on either of the others. Kirk grinned while McCoy just smirked. "Please refrain from any childish humor."

"No promises." The doctor pressed a hypospray against Kirk's though and released the contents with a hiss. "Leave the regenerator on for the day. Come back after duty shift today and we'll take another look at it. And yes, you can take it into the refresher. Make that your next stop. Doctor's orders."

The hypospray did its work quickly. Kirk was able to stand and pull his shirt back on.

"We have an hour and a half before the rendezvous, right?" He hobbled a bit at first.

Spock tipped his head at him. "Captain, the rendezvous is in twenty minutes."

"What? I had two hours just a few minutes ago."

"You insisted on stopping and staring at a manual access panel on the way here. Despite my urging, you remained in the corridor for a good hour."

Kirk blinked at him. "You're joking."

"Vulcans do not make idle jokes."

"Did you black out, Jim?" Now McCoy was more than simply curious.

"I swear, we came right here."

"Jim, I was able to get clean, dressed, and have a cup of coffee before you two finally showed up." He looked at Spock. "I was about to do a ship-wide scan to see if you'd gotten lost."

"I need to get a shower. The Bradbury is going to be waiting for us." Kirk groused, heading for the door. "We can figure this out later."

"Captain, if your cognitive functions are impaired-"

"I'll try to avoid eye contact with any Jeffries tubes."

Spock had to trot to catch up with him. Even with the bone-knitting regenerator, Kirk made long strides. The painkillers helped him walk off his frustration.

"Captain."

"I don't get it." He stopped suddenly in the middle of the hall, whirling around. "Do you think I'd get locked into this hypnosis every time I look at the thing?"

"I cannot answer that without first knowing what made it so captivating in the first place."

"In every dream, I'm trying to get there. And I never know what I need to do until I get there, but I always go the same way." They began to walk again, Kirk speaking in low tones. "Last night, I made it to the tube, finally, and-"

"And?"

"And it was stuffed full of bodies. My parents. Pike. You."

"I was present in your dream?"

"You were dead, but you were talking. Waking me up."

"Integration of external stimuli would imply that, while you are in this state of dreaming, you may be highly suggestible. Perhaps you are recalling a waking apprehension and it is causing you to sleepwalk or some other activity that results in these injuries."

"Does Uhura usually sleepwalk?"

He paused. "No."

"Has she been sleepwalking lately? More than usual?"

"As 'usual' is 'never,' then I must repeat myself."

"By the looks of my sheets, I may have been moving around, but I was tied up pretty good. I don't think I was exactly wandering around either."

"Would you like me to handle the transfer of resources to and from the Bradbury? It would give you time to assess this situation."

"No, I'll be there. Spock."

"Yes?"

"Are you going to follow me all the way into the refresher?"

Spock was so engrossed in the mystery at hand that he didn't register their return to Kirk's quarters. "It was not my intention."

"I'll see you on the bridge."

The Vulcan nodded and spun on one heel.