Chapter Four:

"Captain's Log Supplemental: The Enterprise has stood guard over the now two crippled Federation cruisers for almost 48 hours; two starships and a medical ship have arrived to assist with the clean up of the two stricken ships. Scott has taken charge of the recovery of the USS Federation while Mr Spock continues his investigation, which I have high hopes will conclude soon. His last report too me suggests a huge power surge contributed to the crippling of both ships. It is however my unpleasant duty to inform the Federation of the death of the President as a result of his injuries sustained during the surge onboard the USS Federation. Also as of yet, the bodies of my old friend Captain Sean Finnegan and his escort Chief Engineer Francis Williams have yet to be recovered"

After recording his personal log Captain James T. Kirk left his quarters and made his way to the briefing room, he had yet to inform starfleet command of the death of the president, as he entered most of the senior staff had already been waiting along with the commanders of the three ships assisting the Enterprise, all officers as requested where in full starfleet dress uniform.

"Lieutenant Uhura, open a channel to Starfleet HQ"

A face appeared on screen, at first appearance, the officer was clearly shocked too see the officers in dress uniform, the distressed look on their faces told him more then words could. With a slight nod he looked up at the screen.

"Hello Jim, I take it that you have bad news?"

"Yes sir, At 2315 hrs last night the President of the Federation died as a result of complications due to his injuries sustained in the accident aboard the USS Federation, our medical staff lead by Dr. Leonard H. McCoy did everything possible to save him, his last request was to brought back to Earth where his body would be cremated in a private ceremony witnessed by myself, Dr. McCoy and nurse Chapel"

"I understand Jim, I must say we all had hopes he would survive his injuries, he was working on a cease fire between Starfleet and Klingon Empire and hopefully put an end to decades of cold war between us, I must say, these events will set back this goal years"

"Heihachiro, I don't think you understand what I am telling you here"

At the mention of a starship captain calling an Admiral by his first name created shock in the faces of the two starship commanders, those who knew Kirk remained motionless.

"Jim, I understand exactly what you are telling me however the relationship between the president and chancellor T'sruH is a delicate one, do you have any idea what a cease fire could do for the Federation? It could take decades to get back too this point"

"That would be amazingly beneficial too starfleet however we have more pressing matters right here, right now. Mr Scott's repair efforts on board the Federation where less then successful since the Washington was added to the casualty list, requesting permission to take both ships too the nearest planet, Holberg 917 Gamma is the nearest port; I've had dealings in the past with that planet's inhabitants. I believe I could negotiate a safe harbour until we can transport the ships back too Earth"

The Admiral considered all options for a moment before his nod became apparent.

"Do what you can Jim, Admiral Nogura out!"

"Set course for Holberg 917 Gamma , warp factor three, Uhura contact the fleet and instruct them to lay in the course, And contact Scotty, let him know what is happening, we'll proceed when he deems it safe too move those vessels. And some one find Miss W'ters; I have a few questions for her. Spock judging from our last encounter with Mr Flint, what kind of a welcome should we expect?"

"Uncertain, Mr Flint is most… unpredictable"

"The first time we encountered him was a most… unusual one. He claimed his privacy was paramount to him, I am not sure how he will react too five starships suddenly appearing over his planet"

"Uhura, once we are with in range break radio silence and let him know of our intentions, dismissed"

For over twelve hours the small fleet lead by the USS Enterprise pulled into orbit above Flint's planet, the two stricken ships dragged into orbit by the remaining ships while the medical vessel took care of the wounded. It wasn't long before a haunting image appeared on the Enterprise's view screen.

"Enterprise, permission to enter orbit approved, Captain Kirk, you and Mr Spock may beam down, there are a few questions I have for you, and I assume you have the co-ordinates to beam down"

"We will be with you in ten minutes, I do have one request, we have sustained damage two of our ships and our medical facilities are at capacity, request permission to beam down some of the wounded for urgent medical attention, you appear to have the room available"

"Captain, I will grant your request for an emergency triage centre in my home, I will contact Dr McCoy and his staff with the details. I will look forward to your presence"

After beam down Kirk and Spock made their way into the large home of the mystery man named Flint, rumoured to be over six thousand years old. Kirk's last encounter with Flint left several unanswered questions, why would a man of his obvious wealth and condition live on a planet with just a service robot as his only companion? And why has Starfleet or the Federation not heard of this immortal man before? Although several record prior to the third world war had been destroyed, some trace of this man had to be discovered, also if one man could be immortal, and could more be out their waiting to be discovered?

Upon entering the large home, Flint walked towards them his hand extended to shake the hand of Kirk and give Spock the traditional Vulcan salute.

"Captain Kirk I knew our paths would cross again some time, although I did not think it would be this soon"

"Unfortunate circumstances brought us together"

"I see, a temporary triage centre has been set up in the main room, your people are welcome to transport down when they are ready. Mr Spock, may I have a word with you in private?"

"Indeed"

With a slight nod to Kirk Spock followed Flint into the lavishly decorated room on the far side of the corridor as Kirk turned back to leave the hallway as Dr McCoy beamed down with his medical staff.

"Jim, we have 60 patients ready to beam down, where can we set up?"

"Flint has set up temporary medical quarters, it's just threw the hallway third on the left"

With a smile McCoy lead his medical team into the large room, beds lined the walls each with it's own computer read out next to the bed with an isolation curtain surrounding each bed, the walls scrubbed in surgical white with clean grey floor and a technical supply station holding what appeared to be medical instruments, although they appeared to be far superior to what the medical staff where used to, on the far wall was a large desk with a computer console built into the desk.

As McCoy entered he was shocked at how sophisticated the room appeared, his jaw almost hit the floor as he looked around.

"What the hell? I haven't seen anything like this even on a Starbase… Umm Nurse Chapel contact the fleet and instruct them to beam down the wounded on a severity basis"

McCoy turned as he felt a hand on his shoulder his face still showing shock as he saw Kirk stood behind him.

"I take it these facilities will do?"

"Jim I've never seen anything like this! It makes Enterprise sickbay look like a field MASH unit"

"So I see"

With a slight bounce in his step he walked to the desk at the far side of the room and placed his back down. Still taking in the marvel of the room he looked at the computer on his desk, a large screen with a slave attachment to every bio-bed in the room appeared on screen, with a touch sensitive controller built into the desk top light up as he sat in the chair. With a slight smile on his face Kirk turned to Nurse Chapel and spoke softly.

"Looks like Bones is in love. Let me know the instant the wounded begin to beam down"

"Aye sir!"

"I'll be on the Washington if I'm needed"

After one hour of climbing over broken bulkheads and conduits James Kirk finally found life signatures, with a yell to his team mates he began to pull as much of the debris away from the life signs he could by himself until he was joined by the rest of his team.

"Captain two life signs, one appears to be in critical condition"

As they pulled away a bulk head a command gold shirt could be seen with captain stripes.

"Sean, Finnegan it's Jim Kirk, hold on we're almost with you Stay focused on my voice"

Slowly they all lifted off the last piece of debris Kirk grabbed the arm of his old Academy nemesis and pulled him up into a sitting position.

"Sean! Sean what happened?"

With dried blood on his tunic and face, bruises on his face, neck and arms the Captain opened his eyes and laughed slightly at the sight of Kirk couching next to him.

"I… suppose you think we are even Jimmy boy?"

"You arrogant bastard, I've crawled threw half the ship to get here…"

"My ship?"

"In pieces, sustained heavy casualties, we have two starships and a medical vessel assisting, we've found a safe harbour, medical teams are dealing with the wounded, Can you walk?"

"I think so. Williams?"

Kirk looked at the field medic as he pulled Williams from the rubble.

"Sir we'll have to get him to medical quarters immediately, he has massive internal injuries, Captain Finnegan appears to be in better shape, however I would feel better if Dr McCoy could look over him"

"Contact McCoy, and tell him too expect two more patients, Beam them down as soon as it is safe"

"No, my place is here on my ship!"

"Sean you're going to get medical treatment, Let me worry about your ship, Command has placed me in charge of the fleet, and that includes your ship… No arguments Sean, your going!"

"What about the Washington?"

"She's salvageable, what happened?"

The medic pulled Finnegan too his feet as Kirk helped up Williams.

"We where inspecting the forward observation room, checking for damage when we heard… something that sounded like metal crashing together, we went to investigate; the sound stopped as we got closer then things went to hell, everything exploded I managed to push Williams out of the way that's when a bulk head fell on us"

"Alright, let Spock know what happened, he's compiling a report about what is happening around here, but before that you WILL get medical attention"

"Captain I've just contacted Dr McCoy he says we can beam them down any time"

"Thank you Lieutenant, Alright, where did you hear the sound coming from?"

With a quick in the direction Kirk and his escort climbed threw the rubble as Captain Finnegan and Chief William where beamed down to the planet.

It did not take long for the Captain to reach the flash point, with a few isolated fires still burning on deck Kirk pushed past the debris until he reached the centre of the room, slowly his eyes scanned the room until they locked on a small object under a bulkhead.

"Lieutenant, What is that?"

Slowly the young man bent down and pulled on the object, shock and awe came across his face as he turned to Kirk holding the object.

"A sword?"

"No. A Gladius"

"A Gladius, a short sword used in the arena by Roman Gladiators, what the hell is it doing here?"

"I wasn't aware that you knew so much about ancient weapons"

"It's an old hobby"

With a slight smile he took the sword and examined it with careful eyes.

"This is original, almost 3'000 years old, what the hell is going on around here?"

As he looked up he noticed something else in the far corner, his jaw almost dropped as he walked over and pulled yet another piece of debris away.

"Lieutenant, seal this room, post guards around the ship, and get Dr McCoy up here now, looks like we have a body for him… tell him it's been decapitated"