Authors Note:

Just a small update, I promise this will all start making sense soon. Enjoy this - I cant promise when my next update will be as I am moving house on the 21st May so I have a busy few weeks ahead of me! But when I get a spare few minutes I dare say I'll continue to write. I hope you enjoy it and I promise - things will start to make more sense soon!

Chapter Ten

Spock… help me…

Mind…

Help… Me….

GATEWAY.

Spock… rescue…

Hospital…

HELP.

Spocks eyes burst open as he moved his hand away from his head to stop his own mind meld. Jim's mind was still reaching out to his own and finally he had found a lead to search on. If the Klingons had taken Jim to Gateway then they were not searching for him in the right place.

Spock picked up one of the many cartridges on his desk and flicked one of them into his computer. He turned it on and watched as clippings from Earth's newspapers flicked up onto the screen quickly before being interrupted by a buzz at his door.

"Come." He spoke, without looking away from his computer, scanning the photographs one by one at great speed.

"You wanted to see me, Captain." McCoy said, stepping into the Captain's office. Everything about it felt wrong but the past few weeks seemed to have just blurred into the one day. He was still mourning his friend but this feeling was something he was going to have to get used to.

"Yes, Doctor. Thank you for coming. Please, have a seat." Spock said, finally looking away from his screen. "May I offer you a beverage?" he asked, gesturing at the bottle of Vulcan drink on his desk.

"A Vulcan beverage? No thanks" McCoy said, he had heard far too many horror stories from Scotty involving Vulcan drinks.

"I wanted to thank you for what you said at the memorial service." Spock started, he had listened to what the doctor had said while on the bridge.

"Spock… I… I owe you an apology." The words left a bitter taste in McCoy's mouth, he hated to be wrong. "It was wrong the way I treated you. I'm supposed to be the captain doctor too. You were closer to Jim than anyone. You have to be feeling it worse than anyone. I can be a good listener… for your human half."

"But can you listen in Vulcan too?" Spock asked.

"You know I can't." McCoy said, wondering why he had asked the question in the first place.

"Let me help you." Spock requested, raising his hand in the air to convince the doctor to mind meld with him.

"Uh, I don't think so. Thanks but… I need to keep a human perspective." McCoy thought before answering of a valid reason to keep Spock out of his head.

"Of course" Spock lowered his hand. He didn't expect the doctor to accept his offer anyway.

"I'm going to regret this later." McCoy said as he poured himself a drink for the Vulcan liquid in front of him. "Different than I expected." He whispered after swallowing the strong drink. It was practically tasteless, but left a nasty burning aftertaste down his throat.

"Doctor, we've known each other a long time. We have argued a great deal. This time, I need you to trust me." Spock said seriously, changing the tone of the conversation without realising.

"Well, I've always trusted you logic. If I have disagreed with your choices it's because sometimes logic isn't enough." McCoy explained.

"There is a logic to emotion as well. You have always been an example of that." Spock continued.

"I assume that's a compliment." McCoy smirked, not being sure if it was compliment or not.

"What I am saying is that; I understand, deeply, how your sense of compassion compels you." Silence swept over the room apart from the computers occasional beeping. "I am considering a course of action that will require us to have complete trust in each other. To be blunt, Doctor. I will need you. We will need each other.

"I do trust you, Spock. Because I know you. And I know you wouldn't ask… unless it was important." "And because… well… I'm actually starting to like you."

Spock raised both eyebrows, McCoy would say it was because he was more shocked than anything else.

"Just wanted to see the look on your face." McCoy held back his chuckle. "Now let me ask you, if you were to express a moment of honest affection… what you would say?"

"Vulcan's do not indulge in affection. But, I would say, I respect you." Spock said, keeping his Vulcan stance.

"I respect you, captain." McCoy said back, finally accepting that this was how things were going to be from now on.

Working... Computer search complete. Search found.

The computers voice filled the room to break the awkward silence that fell between them. Spocks eyes hit the screen immediately, he almost had trouble believing that his search had worked, but there infront of him was a newspaper clipping from 1958 containing a photograph of what looked like a man being held down on a desk. Spock squinted his eyes a little and from what he could work out… it was… it had to be…

"Something wrong?" McCoy asked not being able to see the screen Spock was staring at, he could have sworn that the Vulcan had turned a little more pale than usual.

"Doctor, Come with me." Spock rose to his feet and almost ran out of the room towards the bridge.

"Lieutenant Sulu, Lock down the bridge. What I am about to do is a direct violation of Starfleet orders, I cannot give the reason why as of yet, anyone who objects may leave the bridge now. It will not be held against you." Spock ordered as he stepped out of the turbo lift with McCoy following him.

The bridge crew all looked around at each other, not quite understanding what was going on, but they all stayed at their stations. After all they had stranger orders from Captain Kirk and had all come out ok.

Finally Ensign Zou broke the silence. "If I may, Captain. I believe there is an old earths saying. We will all hang together, or surely we will all hang separately." Zou had attended the Starfleet academy with Kirk and had learnt many things about Earth from him. There was no chance that he would leave the bridge, for Kirk's memory.

"Very well. Ensign, plot a course… to Gateway." Spock ordered, sitting down in the captains chair.

"Course plotted sir, estimated time of arrival in 7 hours, 13 minutes at present speed." Ensign Zou informed Spock.

"Lt. Uhura, send an encoded message to Starfleet command notify them of our destination but send no replies." Spock continued to order the rest of the bridge.

"Sir…" Uhura started.

"You heard the order Lieutenant" Spock interrupted.

"Sir if you do that, every ship in the area is bound to try and stop us." Sulu turned in his chair to face Spock, he managed to speak up without being interrupted and rapidly asked what they were all thinking.

"Indeed. As with Captain Kirk, I expect you to trust my orders." Spock continued, giving no hints about his plan.

"Aye-Aye Sir." Sulu said, swinging his chair back round to face the front screen.

"Proceed with warp 7." Spock ordered, as the stars zoomed past them with a flash of white light.

It didn't take long before planet Gateway approached on the screen in front of them. In fact, less than the 7 hours originally suggested by Ensign Zou, not that anyone had really noticed. They were all growing weary and as the Bridge was on lock down, they weren't permitted off of it for any reason.

"Report." Spock asked, the atmosphere on the bridge was tense and everyone could feel it.

"Sir, Starfleet command has ordered that you return to base and surrender this ship. USS Lexington, Livington and Lakota on intercept course." Uhura repeated the order back to him, it didn't take long for Starfleet to receive the message and work out they were no longer going on patrol.

"As expected." Spock said, remaining calm.

"Sir, picking up ground disturbances on the planet surface." Ensign Zou told Spock as he completed a quick scan of the planet surface. He hadn't been to Gateway before, only a handful of the crew had. Nobody knew why they were going there or what to expect.

"That will be the Guardian of forever." Spock informed him. "Those readings are normal for the planet Ensign. Lt. Sulu, bring us to orbit." He continued with more orders.

Sulu nodded, watching the planet Gateway moving closer and closer onto the screen. The tension grew thicker and he could feel every pair of eyes on him as he slowly came into orbit. Finally they hit orbit and nearly everyone let out a gasp when they saw another ship was already here.

"What the devil are they doing here?" McCoy asked, in utter disbelief at the sight of a Klingon ship being here. "Wasn't this place a Starfleet secret?"

"Precisely Doctor." Spock said, rising to his feet.