Star Trek - Devil's Advocate
Chapter 1 - Tawny Ashes
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The dead and dying terrain reaches for miles. One little fungus has caused this. Caused people to turn on each other. This desperation. The slaughter of nearly half the population in Tarsus IV. If the fungus wasn't killing the plants, the blood soaked soil soon would.
This was the end.
I tried. I really, truly tried to protect my kids. But I was too late. Everyday Tom and myself would search for food. We gave everything we had - it hadn't been enough. Kodos got to them first. Their blood spattered across the walls of what once was our cave, our home, our sanctuary. Now, their bodies lie lifeless before me; as helpless as they were the second the guards closed in. All of them.
I'm the only one left.
Blood pooling all over the floor, nameless corkscrews of DNA. I couldn't bring myself to stay in there and count their still corpses. I could just tell. My kids were dead. Even Tom and Riley. They were all dead. I didn't have to check - left where they fell, their hollow eyes, imploring, questioning. Why hadn't I been here to save them? Shaking with self loathing, I backed away and ran. I really, truly tried. But I was too late.
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I clung to each slow but heavy breath of mine, I shivered as the world seemed to grow colder and I grew emptier. Without fail, the pain inside would rise and fall with every breath. The dying forest around me began to blur and twist, fading out.
Misjudging a step, I tripped and landed hard. I lay motionlessly - why? How could someone be so cruel? They were just kids. My kids. Surely the guards are still around, or I am not worth the time to chase? I am truly that worthless? I can't do anything right.
I stopped, and slowly forced myself to look over the forest, our sanctuary looked so far away. Like a distant memory.
My father's watch, I left it there. Inhaling carefully, I tread forward. I have to go back; I can't leave it there, I can't leave them there. Alone and scared. I have to go back and bury them. They deserve redemption, to rest in peace - I can at least give them that.
Walking back in a trance, James Tiberius Kirk didn't notice the sniper aimed at his chest or the guards cautiously following him from a distance.
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Reaching the mouth of the cave, I forced myself to look once again. This was too much. Sam left me. My mother left me here. My Aunt and Uncle left me. Now my kids.
There was no one.
The reality of my situation came crashing down.
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James lost himself so deep in his own personal torment, he didn't hear to crumbling of dry rocks underfoot or the charging of guns.
Turning around he barely registered when a gun was pointed to his head; or the fury in his attackers face, as a warm glue light began to energise around his body.
He gazed absentminded at his arm which was now fully encased in the hypnotising glow. Wishing it would never leave him, he let the last will to form coherent thoughts slip away. But as quickly as the strange light came, it disappeared. Faces blurred in front of him, as he swayed on his feet. There were men clad in black. Kronos soldiers?
James raised his arms in defence, tried to get away on shaky legs but only managed to land on his back with a THUD. He lay there terrified and unmoving - ready to excepting his fate.
He was going to die. Just like his kids.
The faces moved to look down at him, they focused in and out. Tattoos. Kodo's men didn't have tattoos like that. 'Who..?' He began to wonder but one of the men slid down onto one knee. James felt himself unable to take anymore. Guilt, shame, and the thorn like pain of loss, weighed his body down like stone. Then he saw no more.
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To be perfectly honest, Nero had never felt pity for anyone else but those of his own race. By nature, he was not cruel. But looking down at the fragile, little human before him with the appearance of the half buried; noticing the far too distant look in his eyes, his unresponsiveness. Nero would have been moved to pity if this human child wasn't James Tiberius Kirk.
However, this version of Jim Kirk wasn't going to be the same as the other. He wasn't going to be the Federation's golden boy. He was never going to meet Spock, or any members of his would have been future crew, for that matter. He would be raised away from Starfleets influence. He would be raised to be Romulan, to stand for their values and no one else's. To fight for them, to be their soldier.
Nero smiled to himself, following as the limp child was carried to medical. So, it begins.
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