11.

Scott was already waiting outside Kirk's door when the captain got down there from the bridge. The Enterprise's Chief Engineer had been reading a technical journal in his off-duty time, and only had to come the short distance from his own quarters. He was holding a small red disc in his palm. He looked up as Kirk approached.

'Captain,' he said. 'Ye wanted to see me?'

'Come in, Scotty,' Kirk invited him, opening the door. 'Sit down by my desk.'

He poured some light Romulan ale into two glasses, and was suddenly struck with the absurd thought that maybe Spock could bring some back with him, duty-free. He pushed that out of his mind angrily. This was supposed to be serious. He put the glasses down on the table, and sat down.

'Drink that, Scotty,' he ordered. 'You'll need it.'

'Aye, Captain,' he smiled, taking a sip of the strong ale. 'Are ye about to give me a shock?' he asked, suddenly looking apprehensive. 'Command doesn't want to reorganise my engine room again, sir?'

'Nothing quite so drastic, Scotty,' Kirk smiled. 'I take it you've been holed up in your quarters, reading?'

'Aye, sir,' he nodded.

'Then you won't have heard.' He downed a sip of the ale, took in a deep breath, and looked directly at his chief engineer. 'Mr Spock and Dr McCoy have just taken their ship into the Romulan Neutral Zone.'

Scott spluttered a mouthful of drink back into the glass, and looked up in absolute amazement.

'What? Have they gone mad, Captain?'

'I don't know,' Kirk said, shaking his head. 'I hope not. Although maybe that'd be better. They could at least claim insanity at their trial. But that's why I wanted that communication you were keeping for me.'

Scotty silently handed Kirk the thin disc.

'I thought these orders weren't to be read until next week, if ye don't mind me saying, sir?' he asked worriedly.

'Yes, well, I don't think they're from Command, Scotty,' Kirk said meaningfully.

'Ye think it's from Mr Spock, and the doctor?' he asked curiously.

'That's what I'm hoping,' he nodded. 'There's one way to find out.'

Kirk stared at the disc, as if he could read what was on it by staring at the red casing, then, with an air of determination, he slipped it into the slot in his computer. The grey screen was replaced by the picture of a Vulcan in civilian clothes. The background was filled with the flashing lights and screens of a small ship's bridge.

'Mr Spock!' Scotty said, half in surprise. 'Where is he, sir? That looks like a fine ship.'

'I assume that's Mr Spock's craft,' Kirk said. He pointed to a figure sitting at a console in the background. 'And that looks like Bones.'

Scott was looking at another figure. 'Who's the girl? And is that a cat on the floor, sir?'

Kirk put his finger on a button to take the tape off pause, and the slightly blurred picture began to move. Spock's voice came out of the speaker, loud and clear.

'Captain Kirk. This is a prerecorded message. I gave the order for it not to be viewed until a week after receipt, but I assume you are viewing it shortly after you watched us leave Federation territory. I hope it will explain some of the reason why we are travelling to Romulus.

'You recall Suaniak of Vulcan, whose consciousness we discovered in Pnauh'Kmaghe some weeks ago. He has made a decision that the races that left Vulcan after his reign have the right to know of his existence, and of their own shared past. The foremost of these races is, of course, the Romulan one. Luckily, most of the other off-shoots of my race are either in Federation territory, or in non-hostile territory. Suaniak's problem explains why I was experiencing a considerable – mental disturbance. Suaniak was calling to me. It is also why Dr McCoy, my niece, Ms Alison Grayson, and I, have just travelled into the Romulan Neutral Zone.

'Suaniak has developed a way to split his consciousness,' Spock continued. 'He has managed to divide himself, and yet not divide. He is on Vulcan, but his consciousness is also with us, contained in a crystal receptacle.'

There was a sudden tearing noise, like a cat sharpening its claws on upholstery, and the Vulcan exclaimed. 'Cikita!' Spock looked down towards his feet, and pushed something away that was below the edge of the screen.

'I apologise, Jim,' the message resumed in a less formal tone. 'I have a Rigilian tundra cat living upon my craft. She can be unruly.'

Kirk thought he heard a mutter from McCoy in the background, but couldn't make out what he had said.

'We have the permission from certain agencies to undertake this trip,' Spock carried on, 'as long as it is performed under the utmost secrecy. I should not be leaving you this message, but I feel it wise for you to know what is happening. Suaniak is protecting our ship with an invisibility shield, and has made every possible guarantee for our safety. We shall make every attempt to complete our mission, and return unharmed, but – '

'You bet we will,' McCoy broke in, coming down to Spock's chair to stand at his elbow. Scotty was suddenly reminded of the way Spock and McCoy would stand either side of Kirk on the Enterprise bridge, and he smiled.

'But,' Spock repeated, a little more loudly. 'In case we do not, I would appreciate your sorting out my affairs, and informing my parents of what I have done.' He turned to look over his shoulder. 'Now, Doctor. You may speak.'

'Thanks,' McCoy said gruffly. 'Hi, Jim.' His expression looked sheepish. 'I guess you think I've gone crazy too, now, but someone has to follow this Vulcan and set his broken bones for him when he gets them. And he's still recovering from the soup that Suaniak made of his mind, no matter what he says to the contrary.'

'That is true,' the Vulcan nodded unexpectedly, glancing briefly at the doctor.

'So I'm going because Spock needs me to make sure he eats, and goes to bed at the right time,' the doctor resumed. 'And if we don't get back whole, I'm suing him for every penny he has. So - ' He seemed to be lost for words, then an optimistic grin lit his face. 'You better start programming the replicators for a slap-up meal, 'cause I'll be hungry when I get back.'

The screen went black and silent for a moment, then when it came back, Kirk saw the bridge was clear, with only Spock on it. The Vulcan leaned a little closer to the screen.

'Captain Kirk,' he said with the utmost seriousness. 'Jim, if we do not return, I wish you to know that you have been a good friend to me, and to Dr McCoy, and that we value and appreciate that friendship most deeply. Also, you must know that I am the captain on this mission, and I take full responsibility for any of the consequences. I can only say, live long, and prosper – and I can only hope you are wishing us luck. Farewell.'

The screen faded out to black again, and the computer ejected the tape.

'Good luck, Spock,' Kirk said quietly.

'Aye,' Scotty agreed. 'Captain, what do you say to requesting we be assigned to border patrols for a wee while?'

'I think that sounds like a good idea, Scotty,' Kirk grinned. 'I'll speak to command. I'm sure they won't mind letting us patrol our side of the Neutral Zone. It's not something most ships jump at.'

******

'Spock, can we go home now?'

Spock turned at McCoy's plaintive request. The doctor's eyes were fixed on the crescent planet on the viewscreen. They had approached Romulus at an angle to the sun, and two thirds of the planet was shrouded in a darkness that was pricked with clusters of light where the population intensified. The day-lit sliver of the planet was Earth-like, but perhaps somewhat greyer, giving it a rather haunting appearing. The planet sat placidly among a sprinkling of bright white stars, looking extraordinarily calm and quiet for the home planet of the Romulans, the war-like Vulcan off-shoots who expanded their territory by force and ruthless conquering.

'Doctor, do you really wish us to have undertaken this entire journey for nothing?' Spock asked with well-practised patience.

'I could make him quiet,' Suaniak said from his crystal, the god-like voice almost pleading. 'I could take the sound from his throat.'

'Or I could lock him in his cabin,' Alison suggested quietly from her console. 'Spock, I believe I am beginning to understand the emotion of irritation in an entirely new light. How do you cope with living with this person for months and years aboard a starship?'

'Meditation,' Spock answered. 'And long experience. He is really quite intelligent when he wishes to be.'

'Thanks,' McCoy said sarcastically, feeling as he had just been described like a disobedient dog whose only saving grace was that he could do tricks occasionally. 'But at least I don't just sit at a science console all the time, looking about as interesting as a block of wood. Maybe you should try using a double negative sometimes.'

'Doctor, you are being unusually trying,' Spock told him. 'You are far exceeding your normal capability for irritation.'

'So you admit to being irritated, under that thick Vulcan hide, do you?' McCoy asked.

'I did no such thing. I stated that you are exceeding your normal capability for irritation. I made no mention of the impact of that capability upon my own condition.'

'I have completed the plotting of our course, and have sent co-ordinates into the navigational computer for our landing position,' Suaniak broke in. Even a crystal-bound, bodiless Katra had the sense to break up an argument between people who had been jammed together on a small ship for a week. 'There is a small depression in a forest of roughly 200 square kilometres. It lies upon one of the smaller land masses in the northern hemisphere of the planet.'

Spock bent over his computer for a few moments, then straightened again.

'I have superimposed our target on the picture on the viewscreen. We may now begin our descent.'

'Are you sure they won't see us?' McCoy asked. 'I'm not moaning,' he added quickly, glancing warily at the crystal. 'I just don't want to be fried by the Romulan defences.'

'A quite logical concern,' Spock nodded. 'But our shields are completely effective, Doctor. If they were not, we would not have remained in orbit for so long.'

The scene on the viewscreen shifted as the nose of the ship tilted downward towards the planet surface. At that moment, a sinister looking Romulan bird of prey appeared in the corner of the screen, heading straight for them.

'Spock!' the doctor croaked soundlessly.

'Do not be concerned, Doctor,' Spock said calmly.

'Don't be - !' he began incredulously.

An alarm suddenly sounded, reverberating throughout the ship, and the lights in the cabin began to flash red. The Alcyone lurched sideways, flinging the doctor out of his seat and onto the floor. McCoy lost his stomach as the ship twisted over and over too fast for the artificial gravity to compensate – then the gravity kicked out altogether, and the doctor had to claw his fingers into the carpet to keep from being flung up onto the ceiling by the movement. The computer was quietly talking to itself, calmly repeating, 'Collision, collision, collision,' as if it was announcing the weather forecast.

One flailing arm found the edge of a seat that was firmly fixed to its rail on the floor, and the doctor hung on for dear life. His body thudded to the floor as the gravity abruptly came back on line, making the side of his rib-cage throb. McCoy closed his eyes, gripping the edge of the seat, and waited for a burst of weapons fire to blast them out of existence.

Nothing happened. The tossing and turning gradually stopped, and the alarm siren faded out. A moment later, the computer's calm warning broke off, and the doctor dared to open his eyes.

'We're not dead,' he realised, honestly surprised.

He looked around the bridge. Alison was sprawled on the floor, her hands still firmly around the trunk-like support of a chair. He couldn't see Spock.

'I am not injured,' Spock's niece said softly, seeing McCoy's anxious look.

Then Spock clambered up off the floor from behind his command chair, looking around with a dazed expression.

'Spock, are you okay?' McCoy asked quickly.

'Suaniak?' Spock snapped, ignoring McCoy's question. His concern was not simply personal. If Suaniak was damaged, it was likely that the ship's perfect shielding would also be damaged. 'Is the crystal undamaged?' he asked.

'I am uninjured,' Suaniak announced. 'The anchoring of the crystal was well done. I was protected from the turbulence.'

'Well, it's a pity we weren't,' McCoy growled. 'So much for *do not be concerned*! Spock, you're cut,' he realised. 'You've hit your head.'

Spock touched a hand to his forehead, and examined the small amount of green blood on his fingers.

'Not seriously, Doctor. You may see to it later.'

'It's serious enough for me to treat it for you now,' McCoy said firmly. 'What in hell happened? I thought you said the Romulans wouldn't detect us?'

'They did not detect us.'

'Then what the hell was that bird of prey doing?'

'It was simply leaving orbit,' Spock told him calmly. 'The shields were almost too effective, Doctor. The line of their course was obviously plotted straight through our position. I – failed to take account of that factor,' he said rather reluctantly.

'You – failed – to think of that?' McCoy gibed, an astonished expression on his face.

'I failed,' Spock nodded. 'So I was forced to take rather abrupt evasive action.'

'So it didn't hit us?'

'No, Doctor,' Spock said with a raised eyebrow. 'We would not be having this conversation if it had. Everyone – including the crew of the Romulan ship – would undoubtedly be dead if that had happened.'

'So what was all that rolling about? The computer was waffling about a collision. It wasn't just your evasive action. The damn gravity cut off.'

'As I said,' Spock said with an air of infinite patience. 'The ship was leaving orbit – probably embarking on a patrol mission. We were too close to it when it went into warp speed. We were caught in the turbulence – as a small sailing dingy would be beside an ocean steamer on old Earth. Our craft must have been comparable to a matchbox next to the Romulan warship.'

'Why don't you just get this bucket of rust down on the ground, then?' the doctor asked, 'while I get my things to treat that cut.'

'The Alcyone is not rusty,' Spock countered. 'I recall that you quite admired the ship before this incident. But I thought you were reluctant to land a moment ago, Doctor?'

'Right now, I just want to get my feet on solid ground,' McCoy said with feeling, 'whether it's hostile solid ground or not.'

'I have the course plotted,' Spock told him soothingly. 'I shall implement it.'

'Without crashing, I hope?'

'Maybe it would be best, Alison, if you were to adjust your scanners to pick up any Romulan vessels in our vicinity, or travelling towards us?' Spock suggested with a hint of pique.

'I shall do so,' the woman nodded, running her fingers over the controls on her console.

'Would've been nice if someone had though of that before,' McCoy muttered to no one in particular. He got unsteadily to his feet, pressing a hand to his bruised side, and made his way though to his small cabin in the aft of the ship.

******

As soon as they were a mile above the surface, Spock took over with manual controls, carefully and expertly easing the ship into the small pocket in the forest, breaking almost none of the branches of the overhanging trees around it. He never would have voiced the thought, but McCoy could not help but admire Spock's piloting skill, considering how little he had opportunity to perform such feats.

Alison looked up from her scanners.

'I read no significant congregations of life forms for an approximate six kilometre radius,' she announced. 'And there are no overhead satellites capable of seeing our ship from above. However – I am now getting readings of two Vulcanoid life forms, nearby. Putting it on screen.'

The viewscreen shimmered, and everyone saw the two young Romulans, both of them looking surprisingly unwarlike, standing near a fallen tree at the edge of the clearing with expressions of confused surprise on their faces.

'Well, there they are,' McCoy shrugged.

'That is correct,' Suaniak agreed, the crystal pulsing with soft light. 'Their names are Haian and Tijanas Ztaran. They are brother and sister. Haian Ztaran will be the one to learn of my knowledge, and his people's history.'

Alison raised a Vulcan-like eyebrow. 'And the female?'

'I cannot tell you of her future.'

'Okay, Spock.' McCoy had been standing in the doorway, waving his scanner at Alison. Now he came forward, holding his instruments before him. 'Your niece is fine, but I'd better patch you up.'

He came round in front of the Vulcan, and scanned the cut with irritating slowness and care.

'At least there's no concussion,' he murmured.

'Doctor, I do not have time for this now,' Spock said firmly.

McCoy went ahead with his repairs, ignoring the Vulcan. He finished with the portable wound sealer, and rubbed a plaster over the cut on Spock's forehead.

'There. We can't have those poor people's first glimpse of a Vulcan being one of a Vulcan with blood all down his face,' McCoy told him. 'You're all ready to meet our friends now.'

'I have partly lowered the shields,' Suaniak announced. 'They can see our ship, but sensors will not detect it. No one else can see us.'

'Fascinating,' Spock murmured. 'I see no scientific means by which you could so this.'

'It is not scientific, Spock,' Suaniak chided him. 'It is simply a manifestation of my power.'

'Fancy that,' McCoy grinned, looking sideways at Spock to gauge his reaction. 'A Vulcan magician.'

'Nor is it magic,' Suaniak disagreed. 'Spock, I suggest that you go to meet the chosen ones.'

Spock nodded, getting to his feet.

'That seems wise.' He started for the bridge door, then turned. 'You will all stay here and watch the viewscreen. There is no point in exposing us all to unnecessary danger.'

And with those words he went to the main hatch of the ship, and with an appropriate degree of anticipation, released the catches.