A/N: Well, that was a chapter four years in the making. So much has changed in my life but I could never quite shake these characters from my thoughts, and now they can finally rest.
Hey, at least I wrote more than one word per day... on average. :-)
Chapter 9: Ad Finem Ultimum
"They are hanging back, still cloaked, sir."
Kirk watched the young ensign's fingers fly across the panel. With data from those few seconds of testing, Chekhov had managed to crack the code and detect a cloaked Romulan vessel. Alongside him sat Uhura, who had already returned to her post after her injuries. No one dared tell her otherwise, except the doctor, who slunk back to sickbay grumbling something about stubborn bridge crew. Somewhere on the Palmer, Spock was executing an away mission to save the race who would destroy his home. If any crew in Starfleet could pull this off, Kirk knew it was his.
The surviving Romulan ship was now drifting a short distance away, unseen by the station or the Klingons. Unfortunately, the Klingons remained cloaked as well.
"Can you detect the Klingon ships?" Kirk asked.
"Unfortunately no," Chekhov replied. "The cloaking signals are different enough that it would take some time."
"Are Spock and Camilla safely aboard the Palmer?"
"Aye, sir. I don't believe the station has detected them."
"We'll just have to do our part from out here, then. Hail the station, and make sure the Klingons can see our broadcast." Kirk took a moment to compose himself, then thought better of it. He worked better under pressure.
"This is Captain Kirk. Admiral Grobi is dead and left me in charge of his mission."
"Station to Enterprise..." a trim Starfleet officer appeared the screen. "That is distressing news. We'll initiate the transwarp sequence immediately."
"No," Kirk said a little more urgently than he meant to. "The Admiral sent me to delay the attack."
The officer considered Kirk a moment. "If he transferred command to you then I'm sure you're familiar with our standing orders." His hands moved carefully over his console as he spoke.
"I am. That's why I'm here to prevent the launch."
"Sir," Uhura said as the screen crackled. "We're picking up some interference."
"There is an immense energy spike in the station," Chekhov added.
"Intruder alert," the station officer called to his crew. "We're detecting two life signs aboard the Palmer. One Vulcan, the other… Romulan?"
"Damn," Kirk muttered. Just then, the bridge doors slid open and Admiral Mercer limped onto the bridge, followed closely by a young blond reporter. The effect on the station officer was immediate, and the Klingon ships de-cloaked at once.
"The Klingons are hailing us," Uhura broke in. "They're speaking too quickly for me to catch it all, but I believe they're using some very… colorful words to describe Admiral Mercer. And they keep saying 'traitor'."
"Well, that's done," Kirk breathed.
"Captain Kirk, do you know anything about this?" the station officer demanded. Then his eyes settled on Admiral Mercer. "Shields up! Captain Kirk, do not interfere with this sequence or your ship will be fired upon. End transmission."
The station's command center was immediately replaced by the Palmer, floating in the void with two Klingon ships charging their weapons. It was all they could do to hang uselessly in stalemate and wait. It was up to Spock and Camilla now.
Spock lay unconscious on the engineering floor. Camilla took one final look at him before tapping his armband, sending him back to the safety of his ship.
"Warning: One minute remaining to transwarp sequence."
Camilla already knew the cables to pull, but she had to wait. She had always hated waiting. She gazed at the core of the ship, thinking of the intelligence report she would never make. But she took mental notes anyway, admiring the parallels to her own people's design and pausing to study the differences.
"Warning: Thirty seconds remaining to transwarp sequence."
She closed her eyes, returning to the image of Romulus made so fresh by the mind meld. The cliffs were illuminated by the magmatic lifeblood of the planet, pulsing in veins running the length of the great valley. Her mind soared over the chaotic landscape to the cities, gleaming from within like an ember. She turned her eyes to the stars, seeing of the thousands of colonies out there, where her people kindled order in the universe.
"-four, three, two, one. Initiating transwarp sequence."
It was worth it.
She felt a lurching without motion, wind without air, and knew she was inside the star. A thousand warning indicators and sounds went off around her as the gravity and heat began to crush the ship. Somewhere inside it all, the computer announced it was initiating a warp bubble to rob her sun of its few precious remaining centuries. Taking the right cables in hand, she pulled. The computer began its secondary approach, rerouting power, but it was too late. The walls of the ship were white-hot, folding inward, returning to the entropy from which they came.
And so was she.
In the days that followed, Starfleet remained silent on the matter. They had sent Kirk and his crew on a remote surveying mission – to keep them out of the way, he assumed. It would be years before the light from the sun of Romulus reached Earth, and perhaps longer for an official intelligence to be released to the public. But it was a scant few weeks before Mercer put in the call to Kirk.
"She did it, Jim," was all he said.
Kirk nodded, absorbing the news with a deep sigh of relief. "And Starfleet?"
"The faction that tried to destroy Romulus has gone back into hiding, but we were damn close to a coup. Destroying Romulus was going to be the backdrop they announced their victory by. Since the mission was unsuccessful, the party lines remain hidden. My official report on the weaponization of transwarp technology has been classified at the highest level, and as far as I can tell, is going to stay that way for a long time. I don't like it, Starfleet was never meant to play politics like this."
"And what about the Enterprise? Her crew?"
Mercer chuckled in spite of himself. "Getting tired of studying minerals?"
Kirk waited for an answer. Mercer sighed.
"You were smart to tell your crew about the mission. At first, Starfleet didn't know what to do with you. According to the information Grobi sent home, you betrayed us to the Romulans right before he died under suspicious circumstances. And your entire crew knows the whole story. The higher-ups at Starfleet can't bring you home, and they can't discipline you through an official court martial for fear of information getting out."
"So we're going to be surveying for a while?"
"Not exactly," Mercer leaned back in his chair. "Public opinion is still very much for protecting Earth, but thank God we're still explorers at heart. There's been a compromise. The majority of our ships will pull back to guard Earth's solar system-"
"They can't do that!" Kirk interrupted.
"-except for a few, which will explore the uncharted regions of the galaxy. Your ship is one of these. You're being sent on a five-year mission. To explore, to make new friends, and to see what's out there."
"To put as much distance between us and home as we can," Kirk said, trying to mask his sudden rising excitement. "We're being exiled."
"Yes. But there will be no admirals telling you what to do," Mercer went on. "Except for the Prime Directive. And Starfleet regulations. I know you like to bend them, but try not to break too many. We need you to make a good impression on the universe for us."
Kirk swallowed. "And you?"
"I'll be watchful. We have a new ally. Estelle tried to run the story and was refused by her station. She works for the tabloids now and needs an occasional anonymous leak to keep our friends in Starfleet on their toes. They need to feel like they're being watched."
"Good luck to you, Admiral. We'll do our part from out here."
"I know you will. Good luck to you, Captain, and go boldly."
Uhura sat cross-legged in her quarters, eyes shut in relaxed concentration. The door chime interrupted the meditation. She opened here eyes but she stayed in position, keeping her focus.
"Enter," she said.
The door opened to reveal Spock, standing just outside with his hands behind his back. It was a nervous, submissive posture that only she recognized.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I can come back later."
"No, it's alright," she stretched her limbs and pulled an audio receiver from her ear.
"You were meditating?" he asked, entering at last.
"In a manner of speaking."
She passed him the small piece of electronics, which he held to his ear. A series of what could only be Klingon curses spat from the device in a slow, methodical manner, followed by pronunciation recommendations from a human voice.
"Studying?" he asked.
"It's as close to meditation as I can get," she said, a twitch of her lips betraying a smile.
He nodded, handing back to receiver and shuffling his feet on the carpet.
"I'm here to apologize."
The words hung in the air a moment before Uhura nodded. She waited for him to go on because she knew he had more to say.
"And I'm here to thank you. For being patient when I was not."
Uhura stood, turning to the window and gazing at the stars.
"We're going to have a lot of time to be patient with each other," she said. "Five years, at least. But I hope we can be more than just patient-"
She turned to face him, but he was near her now, brushing a stray hair from her face. She took his hand in hers and he drew her into a desperate embrace.
"I love you, Nyota," he whispered. "And I will stand by you even when logic fails me."
"Except when you take a leave of absence to meditate on an alien planet for three weeks?" she teased.
"My thoughts were always by your side."
She nodded. She knew this. She had seen it in the elder Spock's eyes, too.
"I am willing to surrender my mind to yours if-" he held out a tentative hand to her face, but she pushed it away.
"No. No mind melds. That would take all the fun out of it."
He quirked an eyebrow. "Out of?"
"Exploring each other," she said. "Starfleet might think space is the final frontier, but the mind is more alien than anything we've encountered. Yours, mine, Kirk's, the Romulans'… we're like parallel universes that somehow, under the right conditions, can work together. But not without understanding. And I fully intend to see what's out there."
