It was a quiet shift on the bridge, except for the Captain's absence, who was on leave, and it was uneventful. A white planet with swirls on its surface filled the view screen as the ship calmly orbited above it, while copious scans of the planet's surface were being made. While the planet, with its swirls, might have been confused with a gas giant if observed with the naked eye, it was nothing of the sort.
The entire Vega system had long been considered off limits to exploration because of the intense radiation it emanated, however the newest ships in the fleet could now safely enter its borders, their powerful shields protected the vessels and its occupants from the deadly radiation that emanated from the planets below. There were also legends of strange and hostile aliens who made the system their home, but no one had ever encountered any of them.
The first officer, who was the acting commander, paced around the bridge, checking out readings from the planet below from various stations. Other than intense radiation, there wasn't much to see, except for what appeared to be some nearly destroyed ruins.
"Mr. Spock?"
The half Vulcan turned towards the young ensign.
"Yes, Mr. Chekov?"
"I have been able to establish a link with a computer on the surface."
"Are there any security protocols in the alien computer?"
"Yes sir, but I have been able to bypass them. Beginning to upload data stream."
"Good work, Mr. Chekov. Forward the data to my science station. And record the data."
"Aye, sir."
While he didn't exteriorize it, Spock was feeling pleased, as this was their first lead in deciphering just what had happened to the Vega system. The star system was highly unusual in that it appeared to have several worlds that at one time had life. There were, unfortunately, no clues as to what had happened. Was a war fought? Was a natural disaster the culprit?
The other worlds yielded no clues as they appeared to be completely obliterated. This marble colored world seemed to be no better, that is until Chekov was able to locate a computer on the surface that had miraculously survived whatever it was that destroyed all life on the planet.
Spock took his place at his science station and peered into the viewer that was built into the console.
"Fascinating." He muttered as he adjusted the knobs. After several minutes he stood up. Chekov and Sulu were watching him, looking curious the way humans often did.
"The planet below was called Tamaran, it's people were a warrior race who called themselves the Tamaranians. They fought an all out war with their planetary neighbors, in particular the ones known as the Gordanians and the Citadel. The outcome of the war was the complete and total destruction of all Vegan civilizations."
"Mr. Spock, have you ever heard of any of these people?" Sulu asked.
"Only in legend, from Vulcan first contact encounters with other species, but there has never before been any hard evidence as to their existence, that is until now." Spock replied as he stepped away from his station. "Mr. Sulu, you have the bridge. I will be in my quarters, further studying the data we have recovered."
Spock was about to step into the turbo lift when Lt. Uhura called out.
"Mr. Spock, a message from Earth just arrived. For you It's from your mother, Amanda Grayson."
Spock arched an eyebrow. "My mother is on Earth? I did not know that she was not on Vulcan. Lieutenant, please forward the message to my quarters."
"Yes, sir."
The turbo lift's doors closed and the lift lurched until it stopped at the habitat lever. With his face as expressionless as ever he made his way to his quarters, which were sparsely decorated in the typical Vulcan fashion. He entered and took a seat in front of a data console, which he activated. The screen came to life, displaying Amanda Grayson's middle aged face.
"Spock, you are well, my son."
"And you are well too, mother. I was not expecting you to be on Earth at this time. Has something happened?"
She scratched her chin before answering. "Some ancient family records from the 20th century were found, records that survived the third world war."
"I see. That you are calling me would indicate that you found something rather unusual."
"I did. It is said that the Patriarch of the Grayson family was a Richard John Grayson and his wife was a Kori Anders."
"I am familiar with the legend, mother. You have shared it with me since my childhood."
"It's more than just a legend, Spock. We have found records, terabytes worth of data, buried deep on a small island in Jump Bay. We have sound and images, Spock."
"Have you learned anything else?"
"I'll transfer the data to you, but there was something unexpected. Grandma Kori, she was an alien."
"Fascinating … a distant ancestor who was neither human nor Vulcan."
"Spock, you realize what this means, correct?"
"It possibly means many things, mother."
"Of course it does, but before you get started with that, I want you to look at this picture."
Spock frowned when the image appeared on his screen.
There were five teenagers, two females, three males. One male was African, with primitive electromechanical implants all over his body, he obviously wasn't grandfather Richard, and neither was the green one. That left a normal looking male who wore a mask and a cape. He then looked at the two girls, who appeared to float in the air.
"Mother, you are aware that back then Earth did not possess any form or type of anti-gravity devices?"
Amanda smiled at him on the screen.
"They were super heroes, Spock."
Had Spock not been so disciplined, he would have rolled his eyes.
"Super heroes are a 20th century legend, mother. Much like King Arthur, they never existed."
"I'm not going to argue with you, Spock. Anyway, grandmother Kori, she was said to be a Tamaranian, from a world called Tamaran."
Once again, one of Spock's eyebrows rose, signaling that he was surprised.
"You are certain of this?"
"Well, that's what the records we found say, though I will admit that there is no record of Tamaran in an Federation database anywhere."
"Spock leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms."
"Actually, mother, the Enterprise is orbiting Tamaran as we speak. It is unfortunately a dead world, ravaged by a cataclysmic war with its neighbors. As for "grandmother Kori" being real, I'm afraid that she is the work of Earthly fiction. No one has superpowers, that is the stuff of legend, like Merlin the wizard."
Amanda suddenly looked cross. "Spock, with all the strange things you have seen in the galaxy, how can you be so closed minded?"
"Mother, there are no superheroes on present day Earth. No metahumans or any super powered aliens who can levitate with nothing more than their will power. I presume the gray skinned girl and the the green boy are also allegedly non human."
"The boy was a metahuman, and the girl … we haven't found any information regarding her species."
The comm system whistled, followed by Uhura's voice: "Bridge to Commander Spock."
"If you'll excuse me mother, duty calls."
Spock ended the call and pressed another button on his desk.
"Spock here."
"Commander, Admiral Gomez on the Lexington requests your presence. The Lexington is orbiting Vega 2. Mr. Scott says he can't transport you there, given the high levels of radiation. Shall I have Mr. Sulu plot a course to Vega 2?"
"That won't be necessary, Lieutenant. Have the Galileo prepared and inform the Admiral I am on my way. Until I return Mr. Scott is in command and the Enterprise will remain in orbit until it has completed surveying Tamaran, or what is left of it."
-(-)-
Spock arrived at the shuttle bay. As he requested, the Galileo was prepped and ready for space flight. The shuttle bay duty officer handed Spock a data pad with a map of the Vega system. Spock nodded to the Ensign and climbed aboard the shuttle, closing the hatch behind him. The bay doors opened and the shuttle glided out of the bay into the black void of space. It would be a 20 minute sublight flight to rendezvous with the Lexington.
The Vega system was like an obstacle course. Most of it was too radioactive for the Galileo's shields to repel, and there was plenty of space debris that also needed to be avoided. Spock had carefully plotted a course that would avoid any problems. He programmed the computer to fly the shuttle while he reviewed that day's status reports from the senior officers. Once that task was completed he began to compile his own report for Starfleet. His concentration was interrupted by a hail:
"Enterprise to Galileo! Answer, Galileo." Mr. Scott shouted over the link.
"Galileo here, Spock speaking."
"Mr. Spock, you need to alter your course, immediately!"
Spock checked the shuttle console.
"Is there a reason for this request? I'm not seeing anything dangerous on sensors in the flight path."
"Bloody Hell, lad, change course now! There's a wormhole ahead of you! We found it in the Tamaranian database!"
Spock scanned for an alternate route he could take, but it was too late. A massive wormhole opened directly in front of him. He enabled manual control and grabbed the yoke, but it was too late, as the Galileo was sucked into its maw. As soon as the shuttle was swallowed the wormhole collapsed and it was gone.
-(-)-
No Federation vessel had ever successfully traveled trough a wormhole before. Probes had been sent into them; but none ever returned.
The view inside was spectacular, very surreal. The Galileo's sensors were recording everything that they could while Spock struggled with the manual controls, doing everything he could to keep the ship from tumbling inside the strange Kaleidoscope like tunnel. The ship's systems mysteriously shut down and the Galileo tumbled uncontrollably.
The journey proved to be a short one, lasting about 15 seconds. The wormhole vomited the shuttle back into real space and within seconds oit powered back on. Spock regained control and stabilized it, bringing it to a full stop. The star field outside looked familiar and within moments the nav computer announced that the ship was still in the Vega system. He keyed up the comm.
"Spock to Enterprise, come in Enterprise."
There was no response. He repeated the hail several times before trying to hail the Lexington, also with negative results. He then tried to hail any Starfleet ship. Finally, there was a response.
"Attention intruder. You have invaded Gordanian space. Surrender your vessel and you will not be destroyed." A reptile sounding voice hissed.
He responded. "This is Commander Spock of the United Federation of Planets. My intrusion was unintentional. Surely you saw that my ship emerged from a wormhole. I will now leave your space."
The subspace radio remained silent for a moment, before crackling back to life.
"We are not interested in your excuses. Surrender your vessel immediately and prepare to be boarded.
Spock quickly scanned the alien vessel, a dreadnought that was approaching. While it was big it was primitive. It's main weapon array consisted of a crude particle beam emitter. It would have been no match for the Enterprise's shields, but the Galileo was just a shuttle.
"This is your final warning, intruder. Surrender or be destroyed."
"As I was trying to explain, I am not a hostile ..."
Spock's reply was interrupted by the red alert system that began to blare.
"Warning, alien vessel is charging its particle beam weapon. Evasive maneuvers are recommend." The computer recommended in a calm, deadpan voice.
Spock fired up the impulse engines as the beam fired. He banked hard to the left. The beam grazed the shuttle's shields, which collapsed like a house of cards. Sparks flew inside the cabin and more alarms sounded.
The Galileo had no weaponry and Spock knew he had to flee. Based on what the scans reported earlier, the Gordanian vessel's propulsion system was also primitive, with a top speed of Warp 3 at best. The Galileo could achieve Warp 5. The next question was where to run. Should he lay in a course to Vulcan? He immediately discarded that idea, as Vulcan had no Starbase. Also, the shuttle's diagnostics showed some damage to the left nacelle. Earth was closer and Starbase 1 was in Earth orbit. Should the hostile vessel give pursuit, Starfleet would be able to easily handle it.
He plotted a course for Earth and engaged maximum Warp. The alien vessel did not pursue him. He would be in Earth orbit in 3 hours 17 minutes and 25 seconds. He resumed his attempts to contact Starfleet.
About two hours into the journey the left warp nacelle shut itself down. He had spent the time troubleshooting the subspace radio, in case the alien particle beam damaged it, but he made no progress. He turned his focus to piloting the now partially crippled ship. The right Warp nacelle was working within parameters and he monitored it closely.
He was troubled. The database on Tamaran briefly mentioned the Gordanians, who apparently had survived the interplanetary war, even though their world had been destroyed. But there was no record of them in any Federation database. And where had the ship been hiding? There were six Starfleet vessels surveying the Vega system. Surely one of them would have detected the crude and large spaceship. And what had happened to the Enterprise and the Lexington?
Time passed as Spock pondered these questions. Without more data he all could come up with were conjectures, which displeased him to no end. He wanted facts, and at this point he was short on them.
As the Galileo entered the Sol system an explosion rocked the shuttle. An undetected feedback loop from the disabled left engine had worked its way in to the plasma conduits, and the right nacelle shut itself down. The shuttle came out of Warp, just beyond the Earth's lunar orbit. The shuttle was tumbling in space as it hurled towards Earth. Subsystem after subsystem began to fail and alarms rang. Spock calmly worked on rerouting power. Earth's blue orb grew bigger and bigger, and the shuttle was headed towards the west coast of North America, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Spock was able to stabilize the ship and regained partial control of the impulse engines, but not enough to change course or even enter into orbit. He made preparations for a crash landing.
-(-)-
The Titans were playing two on two basketball on the Tower's roof. Robin and Starfire vs. Cyborg and Beast Boy. Raven was resting in a lounge chair, reading a book and sipping iced tea on the warm summer afternoon. Beast Boy was about to shoot a basket when he dropped the ball and pointed at the sky.
"Dude!"
The others looked up and saw a smoke trail following what looked like a falling object, which was headed for the badlands, the place where they met Terra.
"Yo, Rob. I think we need to check that out." Cyborg boomed.
Robin nodded his agreement. "Titans, Go!"
-(-)-
Spock, still strapped in his seat, groaned in pain. He wiped some green blood from his mouth with his sleeve before examining himself. Nothing was broken, but his left ankle was severely sprained, which made it very difficult to move around the Galileo, which had crash landed and was resting at a steep angle. He found a med kit and administered an anti inflammatory drug and pain killer. It helped somewhat but he was still impaired. He knew that he could replicate an ankle brace, assuming the replicator still worked and that he could reach it.
As he slowly crawled to the rear of the shuttle, he heard voices outside.
"There's a hatch on the back, but it looks like its jammed." A booming male voice announced.
"Star, can you open it?" Another voice interjected,
"I will do the trying."
Spock heard a creaking sound of metal bending. To his amazement, orange fingers pushed their way in thru the hatch's seams and gripped the titanium alloy door. The door creaked more and there were popping sounds.
"Hurrrr-rahhhhh!" A female voice shouted as the rear hatch was torn from the ship and was tossed aside.
It was said on the Enterprise that few things could shock or surprise Spock, who was notorious for his unflappable nature, as nothing ever seemed to perturb him. This turned out to be one of those moments. For outside the hatch were the five teenagers in the picture his mother showed him. His sight was drawn to the ones his mother had identified as his distant ancestors.
"Are you OK? Your ship crashed pretty badly." The male ancestor, who wore a mask, asked him.
Spock quickly recovered from his shock and regained his composure.
"I am fine."
"Dude, who are you … and why are you bleeding green?" The green boy asked.
"Tell you what, how about we get you out of there and I'll check you out for injuries" The cyborg interjected before turning to the green boy. "B, his blood is green because it's copper based."
The tall orange girl literally flew into the cabin and picked Spock up with no effort whatsoever, and carrying him bridal style she flew out of the shuttle. She handed him over to Cyborg and remained hovering. Spock looked back at the orange alien.
Is that really grandmother Kori?
The one his mother told him was the ancient patriarch of the Grayson family approached him while Cyborg began to examine him.
"Hi, I'm Robin and we're the Teen Titans? Who are you?"
Spock blinked a few times before answering. It was now obvious that wormhole had sent him back in time. Which meant that the these people, two of which were distant ancestors, had never heard of the Federation as it wouldn't exist for more than 100 years.
"My name is Spock." He answered, volunteering no more information.
"Well, glad to meet you Spock. Looks like you have a sprained ankle. I gotta say, you must be one tough dude if that's all that happened to you when you crashed, I mean your ship is a total wreck." Cyborg enthused in his boisterous voice. "Hey Raven, can you help him out with the ankle?"
The gray girl answered in her monotone. "I believe that I can."
She glided over and knelt next to Spock. Her blue healing light appeared and Spock could literally feel his ankle healing.
"Fascinating." The Vulcan murmured to himself.
"So where are you from … Spock? I can't say I've ever seen someone like you before." Robin asked.
Starfire stepped forward. "I believe he is from the Eridani system, a Vulcan." She turned to Spock.
Friend Spock, how did you come to Earth? It is my understanding that Vulcans do not make first contact with pre Warp civilizations. And your vessel, it does not appear to be Vulcan in its design."
"You know of Vulcan?" Spock asked.
"Only a little. My home world of Tamaran has chosen to not make first contact with your people, on account that you are … the strange. In fact, we have chosen to remain hidden from you."
Robin stepped in, to defuse Star's faux pas.
"What Star means is ..."
"There is no need to apologize. Many species regard Vulcans as your friend was saying … strange. I take no offense at her remark."
"OK then. So, uh, Mr. Spock, I would like to invite you to come back with us to our home. Cyborg can bring your ship back and we'll try to help you fix it."
Raven stood up. "OK, his ankle should be as good as new."
Spook stood up. Again he looked surprised.
"Extraordinary. How did you heal me?
"Raven has powers. She can do magic and stuff." Beast Boy remarked with a smirk
Spock looked at the green lad with a mildly condescending look and said in a dead pan:"There is no such thing as magic."
"Hello! Your ankle is healed. I'd call that magic."
Spock shook his head. "There is a logical explanation for how I was healed. Not knowing that explanation does not prove the existence of magic."
Beast Boy leaned over to Raven and whispered. "Oh boy, he's one of those." Raven nodded in reply.
Spock turned back to Robin. "I accept your offer of help and hospitality. Before we go there are a few objects I wish to retrieve from the shuttle."
"By all means."
Spock climbed back into the wreckage. He found his tricorder first. He checked out the replicator, but found that it was non functional. He then rummaged through a locker, from where he grabbed a change of clothes and type 1 phaser, which he hid under his shirt. The last item he retrieved was a Starfleet communicator. He came back out.
"I am ready."
-(-)-
The idea for this story came from my good friend TitanFan45. I decided to give it a shot.
So let me know what you think. Do you like the idea, or is it a dumpster fire that needs to be put out of it's misery right away? I should be a short story, just a few chapters long.
So what do you think of the idea that Robin and Starfire are Spock's ancestors?