Interlude: Memories
A STXI micro-fic by Sunfell
Once Captain Pike was back on board the ship and his condition stabilized, and a repair mission dispatched to locate and return the Enterprise back to the shipyard under an impulse tow, the energy in the ship dropped noticeably. It was as if a collective sigh had been breathed, and the adrenaline levels- sustained at a fever pitch for more than a few days- had dropped over a cliff.
Spock noted the empty halls and skeleton crew as he signed off the Bridge himself. He'd sent the primary crew off-duty, and had made sure that the second watch crew were secure at their stations before he handed over the conn. Even Cadet Kirk was bunked up somewhere on the ship. He'd seen Nyota to her quarters personally, noting that even she was drooping with exhaustion. He held her hands for a moment, a gesture brimming with promise, then felt the edges of exhaustion eating at his own mind.
He made his way to his own quarters. It was only the second time he'd been in them- the first was to quickly change clothes after he'd returned from Vulcan. Transport crates holding his personal effects stood along one wall, unopened. The room was in its pristine state, lights and environment at 'nominal'. The shelves held nothing, and only his grooming kit was visible on the counter next to the sink in the bathroom.
There was no sign that anyone actually lived here- except one- a crumbled blue tunic on the bed. It had been hastily tossed there by Spock when he'd changed out of it during his first visit. Now he regarded it silently- and noted the dust and dirt caked on it, dust from his lost homeworld, Vulcan.
Tenderly, he picked it up, the ozone and dust and incense from the Katric Ark wafting into his sensitive nose. This was the tunic he'd worn during his attempt to rescue the Elders- and his parents. His mind played back the feel of his mother's hand squeezing his arm tightly as he hurried her, Sarek, and the Elders from the crumbling Ark. He remembered dust stinging his eyes, and her alarmed impressions as they rushed through the passages, dodging falling rocks. She'd stood close to him as they emerged from the Ark, and let go of him as he hailed the ship. Then, she stepped away just as the beam took them and the ground dropped away beneath her feet. His last memory of her as the beam disassembled him was the shocked look in her dark eyes... and she was gone.
He found the place on his sleeve where she'd clung to him. He took a delicate sniff- and there it was- the fragrance of the lotion she always wore when she was outside their house- the lotion that kept her skin from getting dried out in the desert environment. The scent brought back memories of his infancy, his youth, his home- and her. He reached for their connection, and encountered the shrieking void where she once was.
He breathed in her essence again, and at last, permitted his tears to come.