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༄ chapter seventeen
-ˋˏ WHERE PROMISES LIE ˎˊ-
"VERA," Kirk began solemnly, his tone serious as his hands stayed wrapped around hers. When she looked up expectantly, he spoke again, "I know you and Pike's son are planning on abandoning again."
The engineer's eyes widened, and she found herself jumping from her seat, skittish. Her stance was defensive as Kirk also jumped up, looking to the eyes of those that had noticed the sudden motion and turning their gaze elsewhere in value of their privacy.
Vera, over time, had become no one to mess with, especially when it concerned her own wellbeing and the wellbeing of her best friend. She stood on her tip toes, getting as close to Kirk's face as she could, before grabbing him by his collar, lowering the new acting Captain to her height, her eyes full of fire and a flickering worry that, should Kirk reveal this, she and Kit would be given a much worse punishment than they had been given before, which was simply a slap on the wrist, and even came with a free promotion.
"How exactly do you know that, James Kirk?" She asked fiercely, her voice barely above silent, and yet filled with so much menace that it sent a shiver down Kirk's spine. She may have been relatively small and seemed harmless, but it was evident that Vera Crynn wasn't someone the Captain wanted to cross paths with under the wrong circumstances.
Kirk struggled for an appropriate answer, stammering over his words. He wasn't exactly certain of the reason why, as he had learned it from a supposed 'old friend' on Delta Vega, but his fear of the small Chief Engineer was enough to make his tongue trip in his mouth and his blood run cold. "I...I...look, Vera, I can't tell you, all I can tell you is that there's someone in this galaxy that knows everything that's going to happen to you, and they told me so that I could know ahead of time."
"Who, Kirk? Who?" Vera questioned, her tone almost demonic in nature as she tried to shake the answer from the nervous young man, not liking that there was someone out there that supposedly knew her, but she didn't have a clue of.
Shaking his head, "I can't tell you, Vera, but I can say this: I'm not going to force you to stay."
With his words, Vera furrowed her brows, stumbling back as she let go of a very frightened Kirk. He had said the exact opposite of what she was expecting, but then again, this was James Kirk - the man who cheated the Kobayashi Maru. Though Vera had, in her short time of knowing him, figured Kirk to be different than many of Starfleet's members, she had never imagined he would go so far as to support what was, essentially, mutiny. "You're not?" She repeated, puzzlement laced in her voice, her previous anger gone.
"No, Vera," Kirk began, almost sympathetically, going closer to the mechanic and pushing her into a more remote area of the bridge, "I'm not going to force you to stay. I know what could happen when a person is placed in a position they're not willing to take, and I'll support the both of you, even if you do get caught - I'll vouch for you the best I can. But, before you go, I do have one request."
