Chapter One
Jo-Ann Kirk was in the middle of her latest set of calculations, courtesy of one old vulcan when a red alert sounded. Dropping her stylus and PADD, she ran out of her small quarters. The Enterprise was a barely serviceable cargo ship but it was her home and her hope.
Since her birth, it had been an end goal to rid the universe of Nero. The radiation from his entry into her universe had altered her DNA, making her into who she was today. His attack on her parent's ship had resulted in the death of her father, brother and, subsequently due to her difficult birth, her mother, leaving her alone in the world until she had been picked up by a crazy old Vulcan that had also been from Nero's universe.
He hadn't been in time to stop the loss of the Kelvin but he had been able to force the Romulan ship into retreat. He had quickly adopted baby girl Kirk, born on escape shuttle 37, and hid her away to teach her everything he knew to keep her safe and to eventually take down her parents' killer.
It had been two years since he'd left her, too. He had died after their raid on the Klingon prison planet. They had destroyed the futuristic ship and Selek had successfully wiped all of the Klingon's intelligence on it and it's technology. While the prison burned around them, she had held him as he lay dying. Her provider, her protector, her father from another universe. He had gifted her with the knowledge of his lifetime and his achievements through a meld. His parting gift to help her stay safe and finish his work of protecting this universe from the havoc that Nero could bring.
Selek's world was vastly different. Earth was a part of a United Federation of Planets, as was his home planet of Vulcan. Here...Earth had a type of Federation but Vulcan remained an independent, neutral system. The outlying colonies had joined with Earth but the main system preferred their neutrality. They were a mysterious super power in the alpha quadrant. Outworlders were not welcomed often, trade even more rare. Some people said they were barbaric savages while others maintained the belief that they had no emotions. The colonies were a logic based vulcanoid species, calm and intelligent. They did not speak of their home world simply to explain the reason for their leaving was that the majority of their species did not wish to adhere to the emotional control Surak stipulated.
It wasn't long after Selek's death (as she later learned, Ambassador Spock) that Jo had discovered that Nero and some of his crew had survived their attack and had soon became the hunter rather than prey. His resources became greater when he joined the Romulan empire. He soon found out that Selek had passed down his knowledge of the dangerous substance known as red matter to Jo-Anne and got full dispensation from the Romulan Star Empire to hunt her down to obtain that information.
Since then, it had been a continuous strategic retreat by Kirk until she could find a way to take him down. Selek's knowledge had helped her build up a small side business of cargo trading with the primary mission being her determining a way to destroy Nero. Her crew was small and so was her ship but it was home.
Chekov was her navigator and best hope to figure out the mess Selek left in her mind. Sulu was her pilot while Nyota was her second in command and best negotiator. She was the other half of her business and Jo couldn't run it without her. Scotty kept their ship together and provided the best moonshine this side of the alpha quadrant. They were a motley group but they were loyal and the best at what they did.
Stepping onto the small bridge, Jo saw that the lights were dimmed to the emergency reds. Sulu and Chekov were sitting rigidly in their seats, the lights on their panels showing a weapons lock on their ship clearly making them nervous. Jo turned to Uhura who was typing on the comm panel frantically trying to reach someone.
"Uhura, what's going on? You sent our ident in? We're expected. Late as hell but expected."
Uhura ignored her and continued typing. The view screen showed they were surrounded by automated weapons platforms, the heads of their phaser cannons glowing an ominous red.
"Unidentified ship, you are in violation of Vulcan airspace. Our borders are closed at this time."
"Chekov? Back us off real slow." Kirk told the young russian.
"Keptin, I can't. They have us locked in a helix formation. We're trapped." His shoulders were tense and fingers white as he gripped the board.
Dammit! She knew she shouldn't have accepted the trade agreement with the Vulcans. Her hold was full of useless Fav'init seeds that the P'Jem colony had contracted her to transport and now she was about to be blown up for a bunch of damn flowers.
"Captain! They're hailing us!" Uhura shouted.
"On screen." Now they were gonna get some damn answers. Jo straightened her jacket and moved forward so that she would be the focal point of attention.
The screen lit up, a young vulcan woman sat at a desk frowned at them, her sharp angular features showing her displeasure at doing a task he probably considered beneath her.
"I am Councilor Tyno of the Vulcan Empire. We do not detect any-" Her eyes fastened on Jo and darted to Uhura, an interested gleam lit up on her features before it was quickly schooled back to the bored visage of earlier. "-significant level of advanced weaponry or technology on your vessel. Our borders are closed to outsiders at this time. State your business." Jo was glad Scotty was down with his engines and didn't hear the slur against his baby.
Jo stiffened under her gaze, brushing a long strand of blond hair behind her ear. "We are transmitting our trade contract now. We were requested by the P'Jem colony to bring supplies to our contact in the Shi'Kar province."
Kirk glanced back at Uhura who nodded, signaling that she sent their documentation. The vulcan on screen glanced over the paperwork with one eye still fixed on the two women. It was starting to make her nervous.
"I can see that. In that case, we welcome you to Vulcan. As it is during our coronation time, security has been elevated. No weaponry is permitted on the planet." She smiled and Jo felt uneasy. "To apologize for our inhospitable welcome even though you were invited to Vulcan, feel free to take advantage of our hospitality free of charge for the duration of your stay with us and we will assist with the unloading of your cargo."
Jo threw up a hand. "That's not-"
"We insist."
Before she could argue the vulcan terminated the connection.
"What on earth was that?" Sulu spun around and Jo honestly didn't know.
She turned to Chekov. "They still got us in a lock?"
Chekov scanned over his console, eyebrows drawn together. "Yes, Keptin but they have modified it to allow us passage to the planet. I am receiving coordinates now."
Jo ground her teeth in irritation. "Well, looks like they rolled out the red carpet for us. Who are we to refuse their...hospitality." Her experience with Selek had compelled her to trust Vulcans as a race but now, she was kicking herself and she hoped like hell her naïveté didn't end up getting them killed.
"Take us in."
Jo shook herself roughly as the ship powered down in the shipping yard. She hated having to land her ship on planets. Every time she was surprised that it held together. Probably due to luck and a certain Scottish engineer.
"And we are down." Sulu turned back smirking, knowing how much Kirk hated landings.
"Smart ass." She grumbled and he laughed harder at her.
"Kirk?"
Jo turned, catching Uhura who was waiting at her elbow.
"The Vulcans are waiting to board and..." She glared at the wall as if she could see them through the metal. "...I don't trust them with the cargo. Something's not right. They've already issued payment even though they haven't inspected the cargo. I think I'm going to stay aboard with Scotty and co-ordinate the transfer."
Kirk frowned at Uhura, agreeing with what she was saying but a good customer wasn't necessarily a bad one just...unusual.
"You just want to have some alone time with that husband of yours, don't you?" Jo smiled at the darkening of Uhura's cheeks.
"Guilty but not until the job is done." She handed over the small handheld PADD she was carrying. "But another thing is that we have been invited to a small celebration. The key word being 'we'. It could be loosely interpreted as the entire crew but they mostly want 'the captain and first officer' who handle the transactions."
Jo scrutinized the form and sighed. It was worded politely as a request but it was anything but. Selek had warned her about the social obligations with Vulcans. You could easily offend and considering a trade contract with them was rare and valuable, she didn't want to push it.
"Coward. You're abandoning me." Jo muttered.
"You know it. Councilor Tyno creeped me out and it's been too long since Scotty and I have had a minute alone." Uhura smiled and spun on her heel, ponytail flipping behind her almost mocking Jo.
Jo huffed, turning to her helmsman and navigator. "I can depend on you two as my wingmen, right?"
Both men eyed each other, unsure. "Well-" Sulu started but was interrupted by an elbow in the ribs by Chekov.
"Of course, Keptin! You can count on us."
The PADD directed them across the city square to a large structure. It looked as if it had risen out of the ground rather than be built from it. It's tall spires stretched high in the sky, almost looking like it could reach T'Kuht, Vulcan's sister planet which hung low in the night sky.
Even though it was late evening, the heat had yet to tone down into a true desert night. Jo pulled a tie from her pocket and pulled her long hair back from her face now covered in a slight sheen of sweat. Her traveling companions huffed next to her, pulling at their collars to try a and compensate for the thinner air.
A rhythmic thumping was her first impression as they entered the building and Jo was taken aback, her original beliefs of the vulcan people shaken. Selek's memories were nothing like this.
The large room had music playing, couples tucked off in corners and drinks exchanged. Jo even saw a few kissing in the human was but it seemed to be a strange ritual of sorts. The walls were draped in deep red fabrics, giving everything a sort of secretive haze. The vulcan men wore various designs of clothing, most accentuating extremely muscular chests. Black tunic-like pants hugged their legs while a sash held them up. The men's hair was typically short, tucked behind delicately pointed ears that was at odds with the whole rugged appearance. They almost seemed on the prowl.
The women on the other hand were very different. They were dressed in very form fitting red dresses, some with their midriffs showing, their hair tied in intricate designs on their heads, gold accents throughout the delicate knots. Some women wore jewelry, a large orb in the hollow of their throat, black or a glittery red and all had make-up artfully done. Jo felt rather underdressed in her black slacks, work boots and white shirt.
"So this is the fabled home world of the vulcans." Sulu's eyes tracking a female who was watching him back with slight interest.
Chekov nodded excitedly. "Yes. They declared their intentions to stay neutral and independent over 1900 years ago, the break away colonies leaving then. No one ever thought they'd survive but they have and thrived. The Federation and the colonies have failed at every attempt to get them to forge a coalition. Their knowledge and skills at science, the arts and even war is revered."
The trio made their way to the bar, each taking a seat either side of Kirk. Jo signaled for the bartender when a woman with a round face sidled up to Sulu holding a small tear-shaped bottle in one hand. She opened it and used the lid that had a dropper to place a drop on her tongue, offering the other end to Sulu with a smile.
Kirk threw out an arm. "Oh no. He doesn't rave anymore."
The woman smiled brighter, her eyes fixed on Sulu. "It won't hurt him. It's just for the kiss."
Sulu shrugged and threw a smirk at Chekov before accepting a drop on his tongue. Both her and Chekov watched in curiosity as they touched the tips together before pulling away. "Tastes like an old-"
The woman surged forward, wrapping a possessive arm around the helmsman's neck pulling him into a passionate kiss. Sulu's hand jerked in surprise before stilling as she pulled away with a disappointed expression and left.
He had maybe a minute before another woman walked up and performed the strange ritual. She left disappointed for some reason and Sulu had a lazy smile on his face.
"Perfect. An entire planet designed for your rutting instincts." Kirk snapped.
"I am never leaving this planet." Sulu pumped a fist into the air and wandered off leaving her and Chekov who had turned a bright shade of red matching the hanging fabrics.
Kirk turned to her companion but was met with a large, handsome vulcan male, his hand holding the tiny bottle and a predatory glint in his eye that made her flush to the roots of her hair. "Uh...no, thanks. Try him." She threw a thumb pointing at Sulu who had started the ritual with a third woman. "He seems to love kissing."
She scooted under the beefy arm of a very disappointed man and moved to a more secluded area, catching sight of Chekov stuttering at a vulcan female of his own. She decided to keep an eye on her crew. It seemed like it was going to be a long night.