I apologize for the wait. My Original plan was for this story to be only 3 chapters but it doesn't look like that will be happening. It seems as if this story has taken on a mind of it's own. Anyway, I'm nowhere near happy with this chapter but really I just got tired of looking at it. Maybe you guys will find some sort of hidden charm? I doubt it. Hopefully I'll be able to update faster and the next chapter will be much better...I just have to re-storyboard it. haha
The next ten years went by in a blur. Timothy was now 10 years old and becoming more like me every day. But not the mature captain of a ship side of me. Oh no no no Timmy was more like 11 year old Jim. You know the one that drove an antique car off a cliff. But luckily he wasn't too out of control. Unlike 11 year old Jim, he knew when to quit. And he was brilliant. Destined to be an engineer for the federation I could tell. He'd spend hours upon hours hanging out with Scotty talking about the ship and lending him a hand every now and then. Timmy even started to pick up a Scottish accent he hung out with the man so much.
Our second child, our daughter Jayla Teresa Kirk was 7. The third love of my life she was an amazing child. Smart and beautiful just like her mother. She even had an incredible natural talent when it came to languages. She was like her mother's clone with slightly upturned eyes and long dark hair, though she never wore it up. She had the same skin complexion as her brother and she had my eyes as well. Nyota had always talked about how much she loved my eyes, maybe she'd secretly wished for our children to have them too.
We were nearing the end of our 3rd five year mission aboard the Enterprise, the last mission being the most exciting by far. But of course having too young children along for the ride didn't make it any less…well awesome. Over the years since that very first voyage we'd discovered 5 new planets, 9 new species and many more things. Bones even found a new disease and a cure for it in little over two years. So needless to say the Enterprise was on a roll and her crew was just as excellent as she was.
So many things were different from the way they had been fifteen years ago. Of course Nyota and I had gotten married and started a family. McCoy had gotten custody of his daughter Joanna and the little girl had been living with us for the past eight years. She was gorgeous with blonde hair and her father's brown eyes. Her and Timmy were close friends even with the four year age difference as Joanna was now 14. I was pretty sure my son had a crush on the girl too…his first of many. It was certainly a milestone.
Spock had married his betrothed T'Pring during our second mission. The two had one child, a daughter whom they named for Spock's mother Amanda. Very untraditional of course but us humans had rubbed off on Spock and T'Pring as well. Little Amanda was just like her father too. Cool, calm and collected at all times she rarely showed emotion even though she was at the age when emotion was all you got from a child. Usually it was in the form of some sort of tantrum.
Chekov had grown into a fine young man. No longer was he the doe-eyed 17 year old he'd once been. Pavel had grown to be a strong and smart 32 year old man. Boy did the years fly by. He was like a second son to me and I'm sure the rest of the bridge crew felt the same. We had all watched him grow and had had a huge part in his development. One day on the bridge McCoy came up to me and pointed at Chekov while saying, "We did a good job with that one huh?" I just laughed and told him to go back to sick bay but I knew he was right.
So if you haven't guessed by now it's been a long time. Nyota and I are no longer in our late 20's but are now in our late 30's. But I don't feel old, not yet, and Nyota hasn't lost it. Even though her hair is shorter now, it's still long and she still wears it up when she's on duty. But off duty it's down and flowing. She's still just as vivacious and beautiful as she was the day I met her. Her wit is still biting and her tongue is still oh so talented…but enough about that. I should tell you about how wonderful she is at being a mother and she is very wonderful at it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone handle two small children with the grace that she manages to do it with. But Nyota has always been graceful. Another thing I love about her.
And I've aged too you know. My hair has lightened a shade or two and I've been told that my eyes seem to be "graying with stress" from certain people…but my wife tells me that I'm still as strikingly handsome as I used to be. To her not a thing has changed. See how remarkable she is?
But everything wasn't always hunky dory. We lost a lot of good people over the years…I guess it was to be expected. Starfleet is definitely not the safest profession but it doesn't make the loss of some good people any easier to deal with. My mom died too. And to this day I can't tell you how I feel about it. We'd reconciled about two years after Timothy was born and she'd turned out to be a good grandmother. I used to sit in while she would tell the children stories of Grandpa George…it was great to see the way there eyes lit up when she told them of their bravery. But it felt even better to see their proud smiles when people told them about me.
One day in particular will stay with me forever…but not for the best reasons. The night before had been electric to say the least. Nyota and I had gone to bed completely drained of energy for the 5th time that week. But we weren't complaining. I remember her turning towards me and curling into the side of my body. She looked radiant. Her hair was matted down from sweat and her cheeks were rosy in color. But her eyes were breathtaking. There was so much emotion in them that night that it was overwhelming.
I remember her placing her head on my shoulder as she lazily traced circles on my bare chest. I groaned and shifted, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her forehead. She laughed quietly before placing her hand flat on my stomach and looking at me. "I love you." She'd said. And I don't know why but it alarmed me. Something about it felt different and I was suddenly taken over by this need to protect her. From what I didn't know, but I was on alert.
I pulled her closer to me and she buried her face in my neck. I told her I loved her too, more than she'd ever realize. I could feel her smile against me and I calmed down a little. But I was still worried.
The next morning started like any other. We got the kids ready for their day and Nyota and I headed to the bridge. It was quiet that day. Nothing major. But my crew had grown to appreciate the calm so there were no groans or complaints like there would've been 15 years earlier.
Then Nyota informed me of a message from Pike. We were given a mission to beam down to an uncharted planet. Ramun IV. We were to search the planet and record any information we could. As far as Starfleet knew the planet was uninhabited but we were to be ready for anything.
So Spock, Bones and I beamed down. It was to be a routine mission and it started as such. Bones took readings on plant life while Spock checked out the atmosphere among other…sciency things.
That's when I noticed a strange beam of light coming from a mountainous region east of us. After taking a few readings we were able to establish that the beam was not atmospheric. Someone was causing it. But why? What was its purpose?
After a quick talk with Spock I had Scotty beam us aboard. We had no idea what we were dealing with but there was an agreement amongst the crew that whatever it was had to be investigated.
