Out of This World
by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei
Chapter 14: Irrational Vulcans
"Mr. Scott!" Joni heard Kirk shout, and relief flooded her thoughts. Scotty was expectedly stuck in the water-turbine works.
This was the moment Joni had been anticipating for the past half an hour, but the relief was because it was good to know that events were still moving according to the movie's timeline. She had not been a hundred percent sure that Kirk and Scotty would make it onto the Enterprise.
And Emily, of course. Hopefully Emily came with them.
"Mr. Scott!" Kirk shouted again. "We have to get Emily out of there!"
"Aye-aye, Sir!" Joni heard Scotty respond.
"Hold on a second, Emily!" Kirk's voice travelled to where Joni was waiting at the release valve console. She perked up and tossed her head towards the direction of his voice.
Oh, no! It had not been Scotty, but Emily that had gotten transported into the works. Joni really had to stop assuming everything was going to happen a certain way. Vulcans didn't assume; they used logic. If Emily had gone down to Delta Vega with Kirk and then was to come back with him, logically, Scotty would have changed his transport layout. Logically, it could have been any three of them, or none at all that would have—
"No, no!" Kirk was getting closer to where Joni was.
She heard running footsteps behind her. "You there!" Scotty said in his Scottish accent as his steps got closer. She paid no attention to him as she saw Emily in the tubes, approaching the release valve.
"Mr. Scott, we have to do something!" Kirk was behind Scotty.
"I know, Sir! The valve—" Scotty was next to Joni now, and Kirk, who was probably keeping his focus on Emily, probably hadn't noticed Joni already putting in the authorization code into the control board.
"Turbine release valve, activated."
Emily screamed before she landed onto the floor with a splash. Kirk was on his knees helping her at once. "Em? Em? Are you all right?" He pulled her up and water spurted from her mouth. She coughed more out before she started taking shaky breaths.
"Jim," she said when she could. It was the tone of someone who had just gone through something traumatic, but was relieved to be alive.
"It's all right," Jim pulled her into his arms. "Hey Em, you're all right." He rocked back and forth running a hand over her wet hair.
"Uh, sorry about that," Scotty looked from Kirk to Joni, back to Kirk. "My calculations weren't going to be perfect, you know. We are moving at warp." He turned back to Joni with a half-smile. "Hello there, lass." He put his hands out like he was pleading. "Uh, please don't report us."
Joni gave him a plain look as the comm on the console went off with, "Lieutenant Joan," she heard Spock's voice. "Is there a problem on the Engineering Deck? I have just received a report that you authorized the release of the water turbine valve in Section 3."
"Captain, I have intruders," she calmly replied after she tapped the console. "Send security. But you may also want to see who it is." She ended the comm with another tap and moved towards Kirk who was helping Emily get up.
Emily looked outraged, but before Emily could say anything, Joni held out a towel to her that had been hanging from Joni's arm the entire time. Emily took the towel, but continued to harshly glower. There was no time to ask Emily why she was mad, but Joni had her guesses.
"We don't have much time," she spoke specifically to Kirk. "You need to listen to me carefully. In order to emotionally compromise Spock—" Kirk was shocked at what he was hearing, but did not interrupt. "You need to accuse him of not caring at all that he almost lost his mother. That I, his sister, have always cared more about our mother than he has, and that he was helpless and useless in saving her. I was the one who saved her from falling off the ledge while he stood helpless."
"Ouch," Emily commented as she dried herself. "That might work. It's harsh."
"Wait," Kirk was bewildered. "How did you know—?"
"Umm," Emily started. She looked at Joni, and Joni looked at her, and then they both looked at Kirk and at the same time said, "ESP!"
There was a second of silence before Joni clarified with, "I have precognition."
She was going to have to thank Emily later for backing her up, but it was a relief, again, to know that she and Emily were on the same page. Maybe Emily wasn't mad at her after all.
"People from the future, and now someone who can tell the future," Scotty sounded unimpressed. "Well that's just brilliant, now isn't it?" He looked at Kirk. "Shouldn't we be trying to get away from Security, Jim?" He glanced at Emily. "Emily?"
"It's better to just have Security take you to Spock," Joni answered for either of them. "But no worries, Mr. Scott," she smiled her un-Vulcan smile at him. "Events are about to unfold in a logical fashion. Follow me."
She started a hurried walk towards the other side of Engineering deck, expecting everyone to follow. She wanted to be at the front of the group in case Security Officer "Cupcake" decided they needed to be a little rough on Kirk. Probably not, but it was better safe than sorry. Spock was already going to beat the crap out of Kirk; no need for more.
"So wait," Kirk said behind her. She heard all three of them following. "I don't understand. Are you on our side? What about your brother?"
Joni took the questions quite seriously. "I have always been on your side, Mr. Kirk." It did feel a bit strange to call him Mr. Kirk, but she felt it was appropriate. "You are the rightful Captain of the Enterprise," she also took the initiative to declare. "We cannot stop Nero without you in that chair."
"Does this have something to do with that crush you have on me?"
Joni stopped and turned around to see Kirk smiling an excellent, dazzling smile before Emily punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" He rubbed his arm while frowning at Emily. "It's true. Joan has dreams about me."
Emily looked up at Joni with an expression she couldn't quite place. It was some kind of apprehensive glower, but Joni's attention was pulled away by a, "Halt!"
Security had finally shown up, the familiar "Cupcake" at the lead, whose actual name was Hendorff, G.P. Hendorff. Joni had not known this for very long. It was only quite recently that she had taken the liberty of going through the Enterprise's crew manifest.
"Lieutenant Joan, are you all right?" he asked, but kept his phaser up and pointed past Joni. She knew the phaser would only be set to stun.
"I am unharmed, Officer Hendorff. As you can see, they have no intention of putting up a fight. I will help you escort them to the Bridge."
He nodded and each of the Security officers that had surrounded them grabbed a hold of one of the three. Hendorff aggressively grabbed Kirk as Kirk said, "Hi, Cupcake." Emily looked annoyed, but said nothing as another officer forcefully took her arm. Scotty mockingly grinned at the officer that chose him.
"How the hell did they get aboard the Enterprise," Hendorff said to Joni as they progressed through the deck. "We are moving at warp."
"Wow, Cupcake. I'm surprised you know that much," Kirk pretended to say innocently.
Hendorff's controlled temper was actually impressive; he merely squeezed Kirk's arm tighter and hid a scowl behind his mouth. He was respecting his uniform like a good Starfleet Officer, or maybe it was only because Joni was there. The mistreatment of prisoners would not look good on a Starfleet record, but only if caught in the act. Doing it in front of the acting Captain's sister was plausible career suicide.
"The feat is not impossible," Joni decided to distract Hendorff. There's honestly nothing she could do if Hendorff decided to knock Kirk around. Stopping him could be seen as her assisting the captured "intruders". And Kirk was being a smart-ass; he deserved to be punched if he was asking for it. "If I'm allowed a guess, I would say Montgomery Scott, the fellow in the coat, cracked the equation for transwarp beaming."
"You know him?" Hendorff was confused.
"Montgomery Scott is infamous at the academy in the Physics department for his experiments with the transporters," Joni said quite naturally. She wasn't even sure if it was true, but she heard Scotty laugh behind her.
"Aye, she's right about that," he said proudly to the security officer holding him.
"What is he doing here?" Hendorff seemed disturbed by the idea.
"A coincidental convenience and a convenient coincidence, Mr. Hendorff," Joni said expressionlessly, knowing it would confuse the poor man even more. He would never have the slightest clue of what Joni meant. In her mind, Scotty being on Delta Vega was a plot device, too convenient to be realistic; but now that it was all too real, not just a movie throw-in, having Scotty on Delta Vega was much more of a coincidence that conveniently put the best engineer in Starfleet on the Enterprise.
The Enterprise is nothing without Montgomery Scott, Joni thought. Hiding a smile, she went ahead of everyone and opened the Turbolift.
Joni knew that the turbolift was not going to fit seven people, so she planned to allow Kirk and Hendorff and Scotty and his security crewman, go first. Then she would take Emily. It would give Emily and her a moment to speak; something that had not happened since—Well, since being in this universe, Joni realized.
It went accordingly, and when the turbolift came back from the first trip, Joni said to the man holding Emily, "I'll take Lieutenant Conner up, Crewman." It was basically an order, because she did outrank him, and the redshirt had no room to argue.
With her hand on Emily's arm, they silently waited for the turbolift door to hiss shut. Once in the clear, Joni released Emily.
Joni wanted to say thank you for the ESP stunt they amazingly pulled-off, but Emily got to speaking first with, "Did you knock me out with that nerve pinch thing, earlier?" Her tone of voice was antagonized, and she wasn't looking at Joni.
"Yes," Joni straightforwardly answered. Her tone was unthinkingly flat.
"Don't do it ever again," Emily responded with severity. "I understand why you had to do it," her voice softened, "but never do it to me again."
"I understand," Joni affirmed the request. "I'm sorry," she quickly added.
The turbolift door opened and Emily rushed out. Joni came out behind her, hearing Spock ask, "Are you a member of Starfleet?"
"I, umm, yes," Scotty answered, but his towel comment did not exist. Emily was now standing next to Kirk, still a little soggy. Her towel had been left on a railing back in Section 3.
Joni moved to stand near her brother. Thankfully, Emily's and Joni's appearance did not disrupt the tension that was already building on the Bridge.
"Under penalty of court martial," Spock went authoritative. "I order you to explain to me how you were able to beam aboard this ship while moving at warp."
"Well—" Scotty was preparing to explain.
"Don't answer him," Kirk casually interjected.
"You will, answer me," Spock purposefully inflicted the last two words to sound threatening.
Scotty stared at Spock, quirked his brow and smiled, before answering, "I'd rather not take sides."
"What is it with you, Spock?" Kirk whispered as he took a step forward, settling right in front of Spock's face. "Hmm? Your mother almost died because your planet was just destroyed. And you're not even upset."
"If you are presuming that these experiences in any way impede my ability to command this ship," Spock remained unaffected, "you are mistaken."
"You don't even care that your mother almost died," Kirk slightly raised his voice. "I mean, did you see the ledge? Did you see how she almost fell off the ledge?"
"Yes, of course I did."
"And yet you did nothing! You feel nothing for her. No fear of losing her. Not even love for an attempt to save her. Joan here," he tactfully motioned his head and glanced at Joni. "She had to make up for your uselessness for being so unfeeling, because you were going to let your mother plummet to her death!"
"Step away from me, Mr. Kir—"
"What is it like not to feel anger, or heartbreak, or love for the woman who gave birth to you? While your sister, she outshines you. She gets all the attention because she actually does care. She's the hero, Spock. You're an unfeeling monster."
Spock said nothing. Instead, he looked back and gave Joni an icy glare; one that actually made Joni's mouth drop and bottom lip tremble with terror. She could not only see the raw hatred in Spock's eyes, she could feel the loathing radiating from him. Was he going to take his anger out on her?
No. Spock turned back to Kirk and said, "Back away from me," as a direct threat.
"It must not even compute for you," Kirk did not listen. "You never loved her!"
Now Spock exploded on cue, knocking Kirk into Hendorff with a hard punch to the jaw.
"Jim!" Emily shrieked.
Hendorff pushed Kirk back towards Spock as Scotty put his hands up and tried to get out of the way. Spock then grabbed Kirk by his shirt, thrusting him around against a console which Kirk used push himself up and try to come back at Spock with several hits that Spock immediately blocked, before jabbing Kirk in the arm and chest. The jabs hurt enough for Kirk to make a, "Ooomph," and fall to the floor.
"You monster!" Emily shouted as she leapt after Spock with a fist raised. It was only with the help of Hendorff, that Joni was able to stop her. Emily would not stop struggling, and Hendorff and Joni had to keep a hold of her arms to prevent her from swinging.
As Kirk scrambled up, Spock came down on him like an angry ape pounding his fist on the ground. Kirk managed to cover his head from the hit by putting his arms over himself, but then his arms suffered the damage and he almost fell to the ground again, Spock catching Kirk by the shirt.
Putting Kirk on his feet, Spock released him and full-force hit him in the upper chest near his throat, launching Kirk backwards. Kirk landed on and broke the console behind, while trying to get up. Once he was, Spock was ready to deliver several more blows and one final one to the head before Kirk landed back onto the console.
Spock held Kirk down by the throat, choking the life out of the man. Everyone watched with uncertainty and horror.
"Stop it! You're killing him!" Emily screamed from between Joni and Hendorff. She desperately tried to pull away. Joni knew that holding Emily back now was probably worse than the Vulcan nerve pinch—Emily would never forgive her for this. "You're killing him!" she screamed louder. But besides some antsy glances and horrified stares, no one did anything to stop Spock.
No one, Joni said again to herself. Why wasn't Sarek stopping Spock? Looking around, Joni realized Sarek was not even on the Bridge. Of course, Joni understood. Sarek had Amanda to tend to this time around.
Oh shit, Joni came to her senses. Spock will kill Kirk unless someone brings him to his senses…
"Spock!" Joni said his name like a commandment as she dropped Emily's arm and took a step forward. It was questionable if Spock would respond to Joni's authority. In fact, Spock's heavy breathing and Kirk's rasping went on for another few seconds.
Finally, Spock pulled away looking outright confused—a very un-Vulcan expression. He turned and looked at Joni with nothing less of humiliation, before he turned away in a disconcerting daze.
Emily, because Joni was no longer there to help Hendorff, managed to escape his hold and rush to Kirk's side as Kirk tried to catch his breath. Everyone else continued to watch Spock as he shakily walked towards McCoy and said, in short breaths, "Doctor I am no longer… fit for duty. I hereby relinquish my command, based on the fact that I have been… emotionally compromised. …Please note the time and date in the ship's log."
He nodded to himself before walking towards the door that led out to the rest of Deck 1. Uhura stepped up to him at the door, hesitating to offer some kind of comfort; but Spock merely returned a blank stare before he walked off the Bridge. Uhura did not follow.
Joni, on the other hand, knew that she had to go after him.
She had no idea where he was going, because Spock was not heading for the transporter room where he had gone in the movie. He was still moving in an estranged daze, even when Kirk went over the comm to announce the change of command and new orders to go after Nero.
Silently, Joni followed Spock, but not too close. He eventually stopped at a door in an empty corridor. His quarters, Joni quickly gathered. Where else? The transporter room would not have made sense because his mother had not died, and he need not contemplate the moment of her not beaming back with him.
Joni approached his quarters and hit the button on the side panel that acted as a doorbell. There was no answer. Rather than trying again, she overrode the lock with an instinctual movement of her fingers on the panel. The door hissed open and Joni stepped inside.
The lights were off, which was no surprise. She did not ask the computer to switch them on. She used the light of the corridor to look around. It was the typical layout of any officer quarters—the layout of Joni's was pretty much the same. A screened wall separated the bed area from the living area where there was a desk in one corner and some armchairs and a table between them in the center.
There was very little in the matter of decoration in Spock's quarters. Some interesting things hung on the walls and there were several statuettes on the shelves, but it mostly looked so untouched and pristine that it also looked uninhabited; except for Spock, who was sitting upright in one of the armchairs, staring vacantly at a sculpture with a modern art appeal to it on the table before him. Or at least, at first, it looked like a sculpture. Joni soon recognized it as a 3D chess board.
She stepped into his quarters, the door closing behind her, and plopped herself into the chair across from him, like a child. "I never did understand Space Chess," she humorously said, calling it by its informal name. It was more to get Spock's attention than anything else; and it worked.
He looked up like she had squawked, and his eyes focused in on her for several seconds. "You never had the patience to learn," he finally responded with an underlying tone of admonishment.
"No," Joni agreed. "I suppose it's one of the many differences between us. I am spontaneous and restless. You are logical and patient."
Spock said nothing. He was either analyzing her, or he was actually irritated with her. She couldn't tell, but it was making her feel… restless.
And in that instant, Joni didn't want to pretend. She wanted to understand. "What was it like to grow up with me?" she broke character.
She wanted to truly understand. Joni wanted her sympathy for the individual sitting before her to be real, not some façade that would keep her out of trouble. She had to see Spock as real—not some made-up character that had become real. Ultimately, this was his reality. And Joni was the one who needed to stop being the character, in his reality.
No more role-playing Spock's sister. If Joni was going to understand what Spock was going through, if she was going to help him… Her thoughts and feelings had to be real. She had to be who she really was. And Spock…
He needed to know the truth.
"What was I like?" she was asking without a care as to how Spock would react. Maybe, once Spock realized she wasn't really his sister, she would get thrown into the Brig as an intruder.
"Directive questions are ill-advised," he delayed in answering. "Your counseling is unnecessary."
"Answer the questions, Spock," she said gratingly. She had momentarily forgotten how stubborn he was. "Besides, I'm not asking for your sake. I'm asking for mine. I have no memory of our childhood."
"You are having more lapses in memory," he stated what he thought he understood.
"It's more than that," Joni was hurt to confess. How was she going to tell him? She didn't know where to begin. "I… I don't know how to get you to understand." She shifted in her seat, sitting up like she was going to run away and ditch the whole idea of telling him anything if she couldn't figure out how to do it. She was being restless again, and her thoughts were running amok.
"A mind meld," Spock suddenly concluded for her.
Joni's thoughts immediately fixed to the idea. "That's brilliant," she smiled at him feeling ever thankful that Spock was so logical. She reminded herself that she could never compete with him, no matter how logical she tried to be. "That will get you to see and understand everything," she sighed. She wouldn't have to explain if Spock just took everything directly from her head.
"Your lapse in memory may prevent you from remembering, so I will inform you," he said firmly. "We have always avoided a mind meld between us in the past. Vulcan twins are uncommon and believed to share a stronger telepathic link than most Vulcans. Mother believed a mind meld would trigger a permanent link and consequently damage our individuality. She wanted us to remain unique."
He shared this openly, but maybe even somewhat embarrassedly. Joni stared at him until she digested it all; her mouth slightly agape. A mind meld with Spock could be dangerous, is mostly what she took from it. "Do you think it's a good idea to go through with it?"
"The concussion you received from the torpedo attack may be the origin of your amnesia. However, you were showing signs of memory lapse before we were assigned to the Enterprise. This may—"
"Spock, it's not a memory lapse." Getting him to understand anything seemed to be the hardest thing in the universe. The explanation had to come directly out of Joni's head, or else she would never be able to explain. "This is not amnesia I am dealing with. The memories just aren't there... I don't know if they ever were."
Even in the somewhat pitch-darkness, Joni could see the glare Spock gave her. "A mind meld, then," he said with finality.
"A mind meld," she agreed with a slow nod.
In one fluid movement, Spock got up from his chair and kneeled at the foot of Joni's chair. Their bodies were somewhat touching and Joni felt herself blush. She couldn't help it. Spock did look like Zachary Quinto, after all. Yet at the same time, it wasn't that kind of feeling. She felt attached to Spock in a way that she couldn't explain. Like the feeling a little girl has when she hugs her teddy bear—protective and loving.
Spock lifted his right hand with his fingers stretched out to her cheek, but Joni halted it. She found herself trembling. "Before we do this, I need to know you won't hold anything against me. Once you see… who I am."
"You are afraid," he was surprised. "Are you afraid of me?"
She felt her mouth go dry. "I've always been keen to familiarity. But… for the first time… I'm afraid of being more familiar with something. I'm afraid of being close to you, Spock. I don't know how to be your sister."
"Joni," he said with awkwardness, like it was his first time saying it. "You are the perfect sister. If either of us is more afraid, it is I. From this," he meant the mind meld. "You will see how angry I have been, only because of how much I looked up to you. Because… despite your emotions, you were strong. You have found a way to fit in with your differences.
"I am afraid," he gruffly said. "That once you see the anger I have held towards you for all these years—an anger that I have tried to replace with Vulcan philosophy and control—you will choose to never speak to me again."
Joni was stunned and could not retrieve her voice.
"We must proceed," Spock stated with heartache. "For both our sakes."
He placed his fingers in their appropriate places for the mind meld.
"Your turn," he said.
It took Joni a second to understand that he wanted her to put her hand on his cheek in the same way he had on hers. She hesitated, but after a deep breath she lifted her trembling hand, settling her fingers in the equivalent positioning on his face. She closed her eyes.
"Ready," she breathed.
AN: Hey, guys, we're back! Sorry about the long update, but no worries, next chapter is already started and I think you guys are gonna be excited about what's to come. So . . . well, you know the drill by now. Review please? And remember, the more reviews we get, the more we'll be inspired to update! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
Lady Dawson