Jim materialised on the transporter pad on the base on Delta Vega. He glanced around, the room looked as white and clinical as he remembered it. There were several piles of wires and scrap parts lying around that were undoubtably part of some mad project Scotty was working on. However, despite the all the unfinished pieces of work lying around, there was nobody in sight.

"Scotty?" Jim called out as he stepped down off the transporter pad, "Is anybody here?" He wandered out of the room and down the corridor.

As soon as he had left the transporter room he could hear voices coming from one of the nearby rooms. "-Wait, so if we add in the dummy variable then solve for the integrating factor…"

Jim smiled slightly to himself as he walked towards the voices. He reached out and pushed a door open to reveal Scotty and Spock standing in front of a wall covered in equations. Scotty was standing on a chair in front of it, scribbling down a new addition, while Spock stood slightly further back, trying to take everything in.

They had obviously started writing on the whiteboard that was mounted in the middle of the wall. However, it seemed that they had quickly run out of room on the whiteboard and then, instead of rubbing out what they'd already written, they'd decided to write on the wall.

"Hey," Jim said slowly as he took in the wall.

Scotty and Spock spun around, "Hey!" Scotty replied cheerfully, "You must be-"

"James T. Kirk," Spock said in amazement.

Jim grinned, "Hey," Spock didn't say anything he just stared at Jim for a moment.

Scotty looked between the two of them as he jumped down from his chair, "Am I missing something?" he asked with a frown,

Jim nodded, "Yeah but I don't have time to explain it to you," he said before turning to Spock,

"Hey," he said again, "Look this is probably going to sound weird and sudden, but I need you to mind meld with me, otherwise I highly doubt you'll believe anything I'm about to say,"

Spock raised his eyebrow, "I will always believe you," he said, "And I doubt your story will be more far-fetched than mine,"

Jim smiled slightly, "I wouldn't bet on that," he said, "And anyway, a mind meld will definitely be quicker than me just trying to explain everything,"

"A mind meld is a highly intimate thing," Spock said wearily,

But Jim just nodded, "Yeah, well, it won't be the first time you've mind melded with me," he said, taking hold of Spock's wrist and dragging it over to his face. Spock's eyes widened but when Jim let go of his wrist he didn't pull away, he arranged his fingers over the meld points.

"My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts," Spock muttered and then the two of them fell into Jim's mind.

Jim instantly recognised the feeling of Spock's presence swirling around him. In many ways in felt very similar to when he melded with his Spock, when it was his Spock's presence swirling around his head, but, in other ways, there were several distinct differences between the two Spocks. The main difference being that this Spock felt much more elegant, which shouldn't really be that surprising given that he had been doing this for decades longer than his Spock.

The other big difference was that Jim could feel the sheer wonder coming off this Spock, the kind that came with being in the presence of something thought lost forever. That feeling had been there the first time they had melded on Delta Vega, but Jim had failed to recognise the feeling for what it was that time.

"Jim?" came what could only be Spock's voice,

"Right, yes," Jim gathered up all the thoughts he had about the first time on Delta Vega, about everything Spock had shown him. He pushed them towards the Vulcan and as they flashed through his mind Jim could feel confusion coming off Spock.

Jim then projected his memories of what happened with the Tralurian and everything since then. He could feel Spock's bewilderment ebb away, but it was replaced by a barrage of other emotions. However, before Jim could decipher what all those emotions were Spock withdrew from Jim's mind.

Jim gasped while Spock stared at him,

"What was that?" Scotty asked,

"That was a Vulcan mind meld," Jim said as he regained his composure,

"…Looked intense," Scotty commented. Jim nodded.

"Thank you," Spock said causing Jim to turn back to him, "thank you for saving my planet,"

"It wasn't me,"

Spock smiled slightly, "It was,"

Scotty shook his head with wide eyes, "What's happening?" he asked,

"It's a long story," Jim sighed, "I'll explain it to you later but for now, do you want to get off this planet?"

"More than anything," Scotty replied.

Jim grinned and flipped open his communicator, "Three to beam up." A gold light surrounded the three of them and they dematerialised.

A second later the three of them reappeared on the transporter pad of the science vessel. Spock, Uhura and Bones were standing by the transporter controls. Scotty stepped off the transporter pad and gazed around the room,

"What type of ship is this?" he asked,

"It's a QXWV-science ship," Spock replied as Scotty spun around, looking slightly like a kid in a candy shop.

Jim smiled and also stepped off the transporter pad. "Scotty, this is Spock, Uhura and Bones-"

"McCoy,"

"Bones," Jim smirked.

Scotty smiled at everyone and waved slightly at all of them, "Montgomery Scott," he said, "But Scotty will do just fine,"

Jim turned back to the Spock on the transporter platform. "And this is…" Jim paused. He couldn't introduce the Vulcan as Spock, that would mean explaining everything and he really didn't have time to do that right now,

"I am Selek," Spock said as if sensing Jim's struggle.

Jim nodded, "Yeah, this is Selek,"

Spock nodded at Selek and raised his hand in the live long and prosper sign. Selek returned the sign and finally stepped off the transporter pad.

Jim walked over to the door and turned to his Spock, "Shall we go face the music?" he asked.

Spock raised his eyebrow, "Face the music?" he questioned.

Jim rolled his eyes, "I know you know what it means," he said, "Let's go back to Earth and face Starfleet."