The Jade Emperor Chooses the New Zodiac Members
Q sighed. He was bored. He was always bored. This was boring.
Where was the drama? The panache? The style?! What was the point of the mortal flame being so short if it wasn't doubly exciting, anyways?
Honestly, choosing the new Zodiac members was just routine now. The curse had been lifted for hundreds of years and the whole process was more symbolic than requisite. It made his position of Jade Emperor honorary. If there was anything Q hated more than anything in the eight dimensions, it was his great and awesome powers being considered unnecessary.
Q glanced around the Continuum, but of course, no one was watching. He wasn't really glancing either. Qs did not watch nor glance, nor do much of anything unexpected. So Q figured that if he mixed the pot a bit he wouldn't exactly be out of order since the ingredients of the pot were already destined to be pretty mixed and him mixing it just a bit more wouldn't be totally crazy.
It would just be a smidgen more interesting.
The Jade Emperor Gives the Oldest Zodiac Members Some Guidance
To the noble Ox, he sends a comic book…
Chris Pike was sad that his grand uncle was dead. He just couldn't believe that in this day and age people couldn't be saved, the way his arm was repaired when he tried his cousin's hoverboard.
At the tender age of seven, he was coming to realize that not everything was fixable through mortal means. The universe took things and gave only a little back. He got his grand uncle's prized antique: a real, paper comic book, which was nice, though he'd rather have his uncle. It was so old that each page had to be laminated and rebound to preserve it, but the bright colors on the front proclaiming it Amazing Fantasy #15, introducing Spider Man, was still as clear as it must have been when his grand uncle got it.
Chris flipped through the colorful sheets, not really reading, but taking in the pictures until he reached a page that was hauntingly familiar. Peter Parker's uncle died. He excitedly flipped through the next pages, wondering, hoping to see how Peter dealt with it. On the very last page there's a caption that catches his eye, the black of the text standing out on the contrasting white background.
"With great power must also come—great responsibility!"
To the mercurial Dragon, he sends a fortune cookie...
Anthony Kodos ignores the fact the missive is addressed to his parents. It is about him, isn't it? His assessment scores, his property. He inputs his father's access code and scrolls down the text. The graphs comparing his scores in different areas—mathematics, reasoning, etc.—don't interest him much. But the phrasing in the assessment's conclusion does.
"Anthony Kodos is special."
He knows this is something big. He's seen test scores like this from his friends and peers, other sixteen year olds just like him. Talented, gifted, they say. Not special. Not like him.
He's special. He's unique.
Anthony feels like he's been told exactly what he needed to know.
Q surveys his work, frowning.
Metaphors and foreshadowing were always quite tricky to get right. Maybe he should have just came to them in a dream and told them who they were? That used to work back in the day.
He'd have to give it a go. Maybe he should get some kind of costume prepared. His usual Jade Emperor shape wouldn't do. Too old fashioned. Then again, maybe it was retro.
He'd have to think on it. He did have all the time in the world.
Ox meets Sheep
Pike put on a careful smile while his mind whirred, trying to come up with a way not to sound like a complete idiot in front of his best friend and his wife, Winona. He stalled as best he could, giving George a firm hug and Winona a quick peck on each cheek, conscious of the day old baby nestled against her chest.
"Congratulations are in order," he said finally.
George grinned. "Thanks, Chris. There's no need to be so serious though."
"Well…" Pike was beginning to resign himself to the fact that there was no escaping the ridiculousness of it all.
"What?" Winona asked, an edge of worry creeping into her voice.
"I wasn't just congratulating on the birth, though you did do a stellar job on that front, Win."
Winona's expression went from worried to full blown concern for Pike's sanity.
"...okay."
"I'm also congratulating you two bringing another Zodiac member to the world." For the first time since entering the room he really looked at George and Winona's son and he couldn't help but smile affectionately at the little tike. "Hi, Yang."
George opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it and finally just blinked a few times.
"The sheep," Pike explained hurriedly. "He's the sheep, or the ram, I guess. I recognize him because I'm the ox."
George let out a nervous laugh. "I didn't think you believed in that astrology crap. You are in Starfleet, after all."
"Yeah well, I got this weird dream and it's really hard to explain, but it's nothing really to worry about. Despite guardian status, Zodiac members are no longer possessed by their animal spirits even if we do all recognize each other. It's just...a thing. So congrats."
George and Winona continued to look at him like he'd told them that George Junior and him were really hortas, which was pretty irritating considering the drug-trip Pike had gotten as an explanation when he was told.
Piked sighed and dug around his bag, coming up with a children's storybook he'd stuck a bow to. "Here, this will explain some stuff. It tells the story of how the chinese zodiac was started and has guides in the back about the personalities of each animal, which animals they're compatible with, etcetera. It's written by a guy called Kodos. He's the dragon, by the way. I've only met him once, seems pretty well adjusted to the whole thing."
George looked thoughtful as he took the book, absently passing it on to Winona to look at.
"Kodos, huh? That politician whose proposing that advanced farming colony? He's pretty well-to-do. Not that you aren't, Chris."
"Thanks," Pike responded dryly.
"I guess it's to be expected, him being the dragon and you the ox," Winona quipped, looking at the chart on the last page of the book.
Pike felt relieved. It seemed like she was getting used to the idea, at least. Maybe he should make the two of them watch that silly anime show as well.
Sheep meets Rat
Shell-shock.
That's what they used to call it back when medicine and science had very little to do with the dead look soldiers got when they returned home. Winona couldn't think of a better way to describe it. She felt hollowed out in a way that made everything around her seem grey.
Even when she looked at her baby, she couldn't see the brightness in his hair or the blueness in his eyes. She just saw the empty place where his father should have been, where her husband should be.
She opened the front door of their—her apartment, her throat already constricting with the thought of explaining things to George Junior.
George comes racing down the stairs to greet her, but freezes at the last step just like she's frozen at the threshold of the door.
His eyes widen. Kids are perceptive, maybe he sees the empty space where his father should have been too. Winona's about to cry, about to explain when George Junior's face splits into a grin larger than his four year old face can contain.
"He's like me!"
George Junior crowds her, arms stretching for the burden in her arms.
"Shu! My baby brother's the rat! But maybe he's a mouse, since he's justa baby."
Marianne, his nanny, comes from the kitchen, expertly shifting George Junior to one side and easing James from her arms.
"Come on, baby-boy, I'll teach you how to hold your little brother on the couch. His name's Jimmy, by the way." She spares a sympathetic look for Winona, communicating for her to take all the time she needs, before taking both children into the family room.
Winona sits on the bottom of the stairs where her son just left, pulling her knees to her chest, listening to the all too familiar words of her son's favorite story being read by Marianne with George Junior interrupting at his favorite parts. She tries in vain not to remember how it sounded when George read it.
"Once upon a time, the Jade Emperor had a magnificent feast prepared and he invited all the animals to attend. The feast would mark a special day, the New Year, and each animal would be picked to represent every year that followed.
"To get to the Emperor's palace, the animals would have to cross a river. Cat and Rat had the clever idea to ask Ox to carry them across the river."
"That's Uncle Pike and Jimmy!" George Junior interjects excitedly.
"Rat is eager to get to the feast first, so he pushes Cat into the river and jumps from the very tip of Ox's nose so he can reach the shore before either of them. This earned Rat the first place in the competition of the Zodiac and Ox the second. But the cat was carried off far, far away down the river."
"That wasn't nice Jimmy! Tricking the cat and Uncle Ox!"
"Tiger, panting, was the next to arrive. The Jade Emperor named him third in the zodiac and Tiger explained how the river's current was difficult to cross, but he used powerful strokes to swim across. The Emperor agreed that anyone would be lucky to have Tiger's strength.
"With the sounds of a thump and a spring, Rabbit came and attempted to hop across the river in a single bound. Rabbit nearly missed, but a piece of driftwood just happened to float past and Rabbit used it to land one last hop before he reached the shore. The Jade Emperor gave Rabbit fourth place and proclaimed him the luckiest animal in the zodiac.
"In fifth place came the Flying Dragon. The Jade Emperor couldn't understand why such a mighty creature was not first to arrive. Dragon replied that he had stopped to make rain for the good of all the people and animals on Earth, including the Emperor, who needed the water for his river to hold his race. The Jade Emperor conceded that this was true and thanked the Dragon for his service.
"Horse came swiftly after, poised and sure, but unknowingly bringing along Snake who hid, coiled around one of its hooves. Surprised by Snake's craftiness, Horse bucked indignantly, allowing the Snake enough time to slither into the palace before it, making Snake sixth and Horse seventh.
"Next came Ram, Monkey, and Rooster, who worked together to build a raft to cross the river on."
"That's meeeeeeeeee! I'm smart and I chomped the reeds that Rooster spotted."
"Mmhmm, that's right. Monkey was wise and had watched human sailors with their boats and thus, knew how to lash the weeds together to make a raft. When the three made it ashore, the Jade Emperor, pleased by their teamwork, promptly named Ram, eighth; Monkey, ninth; and Rooster, tenth.
"Dog came in almost last because even though he was a competent swimmer, he couldn't resist the urge to play along the river and then take a bath after. The Emperor made him eleventh in the zodiac and Pig got twelfth because it took a nap after smelling the flowers on the way to the palace.
"Cat drowned and never arrived to the feast. That's why all cats chase mice, because the rat cheated the cat from his place in the zodiac."
"That's sad," George Junior said. He always said it because it was always sad.
Winona never sympathized with the cat before because she thought it was its own fault for being fooled. But now, she sort of wished the cat had pushed the rat into the river instead...
Amanda and Sarek Take in a Lost Kitten
"It is strange, his katra feels…"
"Feline," the other Vulcan healer finished bluntly.
"Well, his ears definitely makes him fit the part," Amanda said, stroking the tiny pointed ears, her cheer not at all dampened by the healers' attitude.
"I hope that will not encourage you to see if our son purrs with sufficient petting," Sarek replied, dry as the desert that surrounds them, but not without affection.
"He's so different," the human doctor said, probably referring to the early scans that showed rounded ears and the way the baby's porcelain skin was faintly green, despite the smears of red that coated it.
"He is a child of both worlds," Sarek agreed.
That he would never be fully accepted into either was left unspoken.
But that didn't matter to either Amanda or Sarek.
Spock was theirs. He had a place in their family. Even if he didn't have a place in anyone else's.
Rat and Dragon Meet
"Don't you see, Shu? Those zodiac members of the first trine are the most capable to great things. We belong together. We're special."
Jim bares his teeth. "My name is James Tiberius Kirk."
Kodos smiles, but his eyes light with malice, like the expression was merely a tick in his face. "Aren't you eager to get to the feast, Shu?"
Jim's stomach turns at the familiar phrasing. It's all wrong. It wasn't meant to be like this. This can't be what destiny feels like.
So Jim rewrites everything…
And blows it all to shit.
Ox Feels the Curse's First Touch
Lieutenant Pike feels the change, the sudden foreboding. He unconsciously claws his hand into the fabric of his uniform, right above his heart as if he could steady its stuttering beat.
At the same time the helmsman announced, "ETA Tarsus IV at 0300, Captain."
"Acknowledged. Something wrong, Lieutenant?"
Pike nodded. "Excuse me, sir. I just need a moment."
"Report to Sickbay if you need to. I'll need you down on the colony when the time comes."
"Right sir."
He wasn't surprised when Major Robbins—whom he mentally referred to as his Number One—volunteered to escort him, following close behind him as they entered the lift.
"Pike? What's up? You look...wrong. Chris?"
Pike was so wrapped up in his own head that he didn't notice that she reached to place a hand tenderly upon his cheek until it was too late.
A pop and a puff of smoke later and Pike found himself pushing Robbins into the corner of the turbolift as he occupied nearly all of it with his new shape.
"What the hell?!"
"You know, if you serve as my first officer someday, you should know that I'm an incarnation from the chinese zodiac."
"A COW?!"
"I'm an ox, actually." Pike shook his horns and rolled his broad shoulders for emphasis.
Sure it was awkward, but who could blame him? He'd never had to explain himself before now.
Ox meets Rat
Pike's search in a forest ten kilometers from the main body of the Tarsus colony ends at the business end of twin phasers being pointed at his head. Pike wants to think the kid wouldn't have been able to sneak up on him if his mind wasn't so preoccupied by Number One's surprised, but admiring expression when he transformed back into a human...naked.
The kid's obviously emaciated, covered head to toe with enough soot, dirt, and gore that his face was rendered unrecognizable. But Pike would have known him anywhere.
That same recognition was the only thing that kept the kid from firing.
"Niu?"
"Officially I'm Lieutenant Christopher Pike of the USS Yorktown. Rescue's finally come, kid."
The kid spat gracelessly. "A day late and a four thousand people short. More, if you count the ones who starved to death."
"Put the guns down."
"No."
"I'm like you, kid."
"Kodos said the same thing and I killed him."
Pike suddenly understood. "You nuked another Zodiac member?"
"And feasted on his flesh."
"You did not."
"How do you know? I am the rat."
Pike nodded. "And rats survive. But the rat was more than just a survivor. He was intelligent and cunning. A planner. He would have found a way to save himself and others."
The kid dropped the guns, probably because his emaciated arms didn't have the strength to hold them any longer. Pike could see the kid was slowly losing his will to fight now that a possible end was near.
"Show me to them?"
The kid's chin jerked once. "They're far."
That he couldn't walk there under his own power was implied. Pike handed him a strip of dried beef and a nutribar before crouching down.
"Hop on, kid."
Despite all the horrible shit that must have happened to the kid, he still found a grin somewhere before he clambered onto Pike's back. When they start moving, the kid giggles. Of course he does.
"Quiet, mouse."
"Thanks Uncle Ox."
Pike almost drops the kid. The only other person to call him that was Sam Kirk.
He starts walking and says, gruffly, "Good job."
He doesn't need to say what for. It wasn't like the kid would apologize for it, curse or no.
They would just have to keep moving.
The Curse Comes to Vulcan
Practicing melding techniques with one's intended was common on Vulcan, given that the betrothal bonds made easing into the meld less uncomfortable and naturally, less invasive.
T'Pring held out her two fingers as a way of beckoning Spock to join her.
Spock was somewhat surprised. It was a possessive move by the girl who often did not acknowledge his presence, much less their bond. But he was pleased. How could he not be? He had not known that Stonn was watching from across the room.
He extended his fingers and lightly placed them against those of his intended, expecting to feel the spark of mental connection, the warmth of their bond being acknowledged…
Instead he heard a pop and the feeling of being lifted before being plunged to the floor amongst a cloud of smoke.
T'Pring surveyed him with eyes as unyieldingly militant and cold as any native Andorian.
"To think you were considered a freak for only being half-human."
When a medium sized tan cat appeared on Amanda's back porch, she was at first alarmed and then puzzled. The only feline-esque creature on Vulcan was the le-matya and if one of its kits had found its way to her home, a fully grown one was not far, but this cat was more handsome than fearsome and not at all the right color. It had fur, for one, and this specimen in particular had a sleek coat, broken by black stripes that ringed around its limbs and tail. The face also had a thin line of black that followed along the slant of the eyes, giving it the appearance of the kohl which once adorned the ancient Egyptians.
"You seem far from home, little one," Amanda said, bending down to better reach the feline.
"I am home."
Amanda's shock at hearing her son's voice emanating from a sand cat was encompassed by the shock at seeing him suddenly transform back into his natural Vulcan-hybrid shape...and as bare as the day he was born.
"Oh, Spock!" She quickly shrugged off her outer shawl and draped it delicately over her naked son.
Dazed, Spock leaned forward into his mother's arms and once again transformed into a cat, this time a short-haired black cat with lamp yellow eyes.
Amanda stared at the cat caught awkwardly between her hands and her shawl.
"Maybe...I should get your father."
A/N: Coming in part two, Most of the Zodiac Members Gather in One Place and Shit Hits the Fan
Characters Thus Far:
Pike- Ox
Kodos- Dragon (diseased)
George S. Kirk- Ram
James T. Kirk- Rat
Spock- Cat
Extra info on the Chinese Zodiac: wiki/Chinese_zodiac
Mandarin and Cantonese Pronunciations: