In his quarters Kirk had fallen asleep, fallen into a very restless and dreamless sleep. Dreamless in that nightmares are not always dreams. His was a nightmare that was like the reality of seeing over and over his friend being swept away by the tsunami. Seeing his friend swallowed by a wall of water and carried away to his death like jus another piece of debris while he stood helpless. Stood watching the wave grow in intensity, fury, and height while all he could do was stand and ask why. Why?

He bolted upright and frantically looked around his quarters as his heart raced. Nobody would have believed him but he was sure he had heard Spock call out to him. He knew beyond any doubt that Spock had called out to him as the wave swept him away and he had been unable to help him as the transporter beam held him. Once he had calmed, had accepted it was most likely an echo from the nightmare, he went to the computer and got the latest reports on the planet from the computer. He listened as it relayed the seismic activity, the height and speed of the tsunami waves that had been recorded. He heard how eighty-seven point seven one percent of the planet was now water and how the water would cover the entire planet within three hours. It would be at that time that Kirk could declare the island uninhabited and uninhabitable. The planet would be covered with ice and with the seismic activity intensifying and its orbit was decaying it would cease to exist within a matter of weeks.

Briefly he looked at Angus Walker's record. As he read about the man he felt a twinge of regret that he had not really taken the time to know the man. From time to time he had heard about him from Scotty or Spock and there were the times Bones had complained about him being as equally a bad patient as the Captain. The man clearly liked space, exploring, trying new things, but had on many occasions turned down promotion just so he could be more hands-on. A sister on Earth. They had been raised mainly on outposts as their parents had been First Settlers, one of the select group of families Starfleet sent to planets that showed capabilities of possibly sustaining advanced life forms. He had the file open and there before him, he knew he had to file the events that had taken place but he closed the file. Later, later he would finish it and contact the sister.

For a moment he buried his head in his hands as he wondered how he would tell Amanda and Sarek. To tell them what had happened he would have to tell them about seeing the wave take their son. To tell them this news he wanted to be there in person. Their son and the better part of him. Amanda was bound to have many questions about what he thought Spock would have been thinking, about what their last conversation had been about, so many things he would have to tell her, things that brought back too many memories to deal with. How would he tell her that the last thing Spock had said to him was, "I will not be long, Captain."

He took a deep breath and started to look at Officer Dint's file. It was,

"Captain Kirk to the Bridge. Captain Kirk to the Bridge."

Even before he had time to wonder what the emergency could be Kirk found himself in the turbolift. If it had been a real emergency he knew Sulu would have the ship on code red. But to hear it was McCoy's voice made him wonder what was wrong as he knew something was very wrong.

When he entered the bridge he saw most of the crew nod but they then turned their attention back to the two men in the centre of the bridge. From the way McCoy had his arms firmly crossed over his chest Kirk knew the two had been as they were for some time.

"And you must know that procedurally we should have left the planet. We know that it is uninhabited, that it is uninhabitable, and that orbiting it is just a waste of time. You have to know that you have absolutely no hope whatsoever of ever making Captain if you cannot see that, if you cannot see that it is pointless to waste this time watching another planet cease to exist you have no right to be in that chair." Officer Ganner was standing by the command seat glowering at Sulu who was largely ignoring him. "It is rough that those officers died but that is part of being out on the front line. They are dead and there is nothing we can do about it. Death is always a risk on any mission. Orbiting the planet is not going to change the fact they are dead, nor the fact that the planet is no longer worth our time and energy. Starfleet has the recorded demise of many other planets."

Calmly Sulu had finally turned his head and looked at Ganner and very calmly said, "I follow my orders, Officer Ganner. My orders were to orbit the planet until I am relieved by my commanding officer, the commanding officer of this ship, who is Captain Kirk and not you. I will maintain this orbit until relieved by Captain Kirk."

"I am sure that Captain Kirk would say the same as I did, that it is pointless to just watch the planet do what is inevitably going to happen. We already know what is going to happen as we have seen it with other planets." Ganner took a step closer to the command chair, "You must know that Starfleet command would see this as a total waste of time and manpower. They know the importance of utilizing this ship for exploration rather than just watching the death of a planet as we have so many reports already on them. I am sure Captain Kirk knows that. He also knows the importance of having a First Officer to point the facts out to him. Just look how fast he had Mister Spock as First Officer after Mitchell's death. You do not get to be a starship captain without knowing what is and is not a total waste use of time, manpower, and equipment and that without a highly competent First."

"Captain Kirk does know that," finally Kirk spoke and saw the startled look on Ganner's face, "Starship captains also know when another person comes onto their bridge. You did not even look to see who it was."

"I, I, I heard them page you, Sir. I," Ganner looked at him and Kirk saw a flash or almost panic.

"I could have been anybody or anything."

"The others did not,"

"We are not talking of the others, we are talking about your failure to verify who was on the bridge. Doctor McCoy saw me enter as did Uhura and Chekov. All three of them nodded in acknowledgement. You, however, did not."

"Neither did Sulu, Sir." Ganner very defensively replied.

"Because he knew his crew would have alerted him had they not known who had come in or if whoever had come in did not belong on the bridge. But you did not look away from Sulu."

"I, I was just pointing out to him how the Enterprise's mission here is done."

"And how do you define done?"

"We were sent to evacuate the people and to confirm that the planet was uninhabited and worthless. We have done that."

"I do not remember worthless being in the orders. Did I misunderstand or misread them, Officer Ganner?"

"No, the word used was uninhabitable which implies worthless, Sir."

McCoy was heard to mutter, "I am sure a certain First Officer would have said your statement was highly illogical as the likes of the Earth's sun is uninhabitable yet it is decidedly not worthless."

Despite the pain of hearing McCoy sounding so like Spock at a time like this Kirk looked at him and smiled knowing that was exactly what Spock would have said. He then turned back and looked at Ganner, "Starfleet officers follow the specific order. An officer cannot construe or interpret the wording to suit themselves. Mister Sulu is correct and you, Sir, are out of line. If you wish to remain on this ship you will not question your senior officers and will definitely not misread orders to suit yourself in future, am I clear?"

"Yes, Sir. I meant no disrespect. I was only doing what a First Officer would have done. I am aware of how important having a First Officer is. I know how quickly Mister Spock became your First Officer after the death of Gary Mitchell. I was only doing what I believed Mister Spock would have done as your First Officer."

An unusual stillness filled the bridge. Those who knew Kirk could tell he was only just holding his emotions in check as he looked at Ganner. They knew how raw and deep the wound of losing Spock was to Kirk. Also the way Ganner was talking about Spock was grating.

Slowly Chekov turned and looked at Ganner with so much loathing that McCoy took a step forward ready to grab the young man should he rush at Ganner. "You vill not speak of Mister Spock like you knew him! He vould never, never question an order from the Keptin. He vould never speak to any of us as you spoke to Sulu. You vill never be even a billionth as good as him. You are lower than a drunken Cossack!"

"Report, Mister Chekov." Kirk tried to keep his voice from showing agreement with the navigator.

"Yes, Keptin." the fury was gone from his voice as he turned and looked at Kirk and Kirk saw the understanding on the navigator's face. "Scans confirm that the entire planet vill be uninhabitable in eleven hours as it vill be under vater in one hundred and eighty-five minutes and vill then start to freeze. There is still a small area of land above the vater. The evacuees vere all on the only inhabited land and it is that space that is still above the vater."

"Thank you, Chekov."

Sulu started to stand but Kirk raised his hand, "No, Sulu. You stay there. I have to go see to our guests and see if they want to see their home go under water. I want a few words with Officer Ganner now. When he returns Chekov will keep an eye on him to ensure he just silently stands in one place, hands behind his back, observing. With me, Ganner."