I apologize for the long wait. My inspiration abandoned me after a rather long and detailed review about how much and why my story sucks. Next time anyone wishes to do so please log in. That way I can return the favor.
But it helped going through all the wonderful reviews and reading how many people actually liked what I wrote and what I did with the characters. And for that I'm sending you all one huge THANK YOU!
The disclaimer still stands: I didn't miraculously came in the possession of Star Trek since the last time I updated the story.
Epilog: Spock Prime's POV
It's been years since we talked about past, about the events that made us into the men we became. Back then, in my own time, I couldn't even imagine life being different. Everything that happened had to happen. It was right the way it was and any other way would have been wrong.
But I see now I was wrong.
Back then Jim used to talk about his father with pride. George Kirk was a good man and a great father. He was a role model for many young cadets as well as officers. He was also the reason Jim joined Starfleet and set a goal of becoming a captain of a starship someday. And he accomplished all he wanted and more. He because just as great as his father did.
And yet… my old friend's accomplishment looks dull now… now that I have seen another version of life.
As I look around the room I see changes all around me. Enterprise isn't what I remember it; the crew, as familiar as they are, are no longer the same men and women I used to know. Things changed in this timeline, some were subtle and I barely recognized the difference. Some were obvious and I enjoyed spending time comparing them.
And some… left me in awe.
Five years have passed since my arrival through the black hole… since Nero destroyed my home and with it ended the lives of millions of Vulcans. A loss some doubted we could recover from. But our race is strong. Tough, as Jim would say.
I helped in finding a new home for us, a place where we could start anew. Rebuild our homes; remember our traditions… raise our children.
So few of them were saved it would take decades, perhaps even centuries until our race is back on its feet. Until we are no longer considered endangered. But we are patient, we will prevail this hardship. I do not believe I will live to see that day but I know another who might.
Enterprise finished it's five-year mission. First among many that would come. And the crew, as well as guests from the different Federation planets were enjoying a small party.
My eyes focus on two men standing calmly next to each other and speaking politely for few minutes before a beautiful young woman joins them. She is now a part of the family and I can't help it but remember the ones I left behind. The family I used to have.
Laughter reaches me and my mind abandons those dark thoughts and instead rejoices.
Before I believed there was only one path for me, now I see another one.
Nyota brought my younger self from a shell that he wore for so long, protecting himself from others and preventing them from seeing the true him. He had seized trying to be a full-blooded Vulcan and accepted the blessings his mother has left for him. He accepted that there are some emotions it is not wrong to show. Affection was one of them.
A mention of Russia somewhere behind me causes a small smile to appear on my face and I don't even have the desire to make it disappear.
Pavel Chekov, the best navigator I had met in my career… now no longer but a legend in my own time. But here…
A twenty-two-year-old young man with a childlike face and a genius mind is not the same person I used to know. Maybe it was because I had met him when he was older and more experienced, maybe because back in that time he didn't see things he had seen here, maybe a combination of those things… maybe none of those things…
There were still similarities, yes, but the differences were hard to oversee.
And then another old friend joined him.
Jim was right when he said it wasn't a Enterprise unless Sulu was at the helm and he was right. Even if he was a replacement.
I learned awhile ago that another helmsman was meant for the position but became ill right before the first flight. I don't know if it was fate or a coincidence but I am glad the path is the same in both timelines. No other could fly the Enterprise so skillfully as Hikaru Sulu; no other could pull those maneuvers and save the ship from destruction first by Nero's hand and then from all the others who wished to damage the Federation by destroying its flagship.
Its beacon in the darkest of times.
And as I stand surrounded by the living ghosts from my past another friend I lost enters my line of sight. And once more a smile appears on my face.
She was as lovely as I remember. But I never told her that.
Nurse Christine Chapel, the support beam of the medbay, and according to doctor McCoy the best head nurse he could wish for. I wonder if that remained the same because I can't imagine her being anything else then dedicated to her calling and her patients.
I was there on her promotion when she became a doctor so many years ago. I wanted to be therefore her as a fellow crew member, as a friend, since I didn't know how to be anything more to her. Something I regretted in the years that came, in the years since she passed away.
But seeing her like this; so young and full of life, it is the best medicine for an old man who didn't know how to love; and didn't wish to learn.
A young girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I looked at her in awe. Yet another life whose path was changed when I failed in my mission. She took Christine's hand and pointed towards the man that was walking towards them.
I remember Leonard Horatio McCoy very good. Despite our disagreements, that were often rather childish, I considered him one of my closest friends. And I truly regret his path changed the way it did in this timeline.
I have learned from my younger self about the custody battle, about the good doctor losing everything that was his to the woman he was once married to and that it was that what got him to enlist in Starfleet. Because they were his only option, because they weren't biased or could be persuaded by personal connections not to let him among their ranks.
But then again… Looking back at that; at action and reaction; I can see the results of him enlisting all around me. And what's more important I can see it through the large window on my right. Earth, still existing. Still whole and beautiful.
What if? It is one of the questions humans ask themselves often. What if the doctor didn't went through such a harsh time? What if he didn't enlist in Starfleet when he did? What if because of that he didn't become friends with Jim?
And most important… what if he didn't get Jim onboard of the Enterprise the way he did?
Oh, I have no doubt Jim would find a way. He is resourceful after all.
But what if…?
The possible scenario frightens me, I admit it. Earth destroyed like Vulcan… it would be the end of the Federation.
So maybe it was meant to be like this in this timeline, just as his life was different in the one I came from. But I am glad in the end he got back what he lost… mostly her.
Joanna McCoy, the future Starfleet cadet, I have no doubt. I have spoken only briefly with my younger self about the girl and yet I received the impression she left him in awe. A bright child she was, no doubt about it. Her father's daughter.
"Sam!" the young child's voice called and I looked at the woman that approached them. A drastic change.
Samuelle Georgie Kirk, Jim Kirk's older sibling and a lifetime long best friend. Only… I remember Samuel, the older son of Winona and George Kirk, not a daughter.
Strange how one small change can matter so much.
But it is fascination that the change didn't happen because of me... because of Nero. Samuelle was born before Narada destroyed Kelvin.
Was it all destined to happen before my failed mission changed the course of time for all this men and women? That is a question that will never be answered.
"Perhaps you should join them." A voice made me turn around and move my eyes from the small group of friends.
"I do not wish to interfere in their conversation." I stated simply but Jim obviously didn't accept that as a valid excuse.
"Bones knows who you are, I cold never keep something like that from him. He reads me like an open book. Chapel probably too, she jut knows things; must be a treat among nurses. Joanna will see you as a friend of her dad and that's all she needs. And Sam…"
"You are not certain how your sister would react?"
"We haven't had the greatest relationship but we are working on it. She was the one who helped Bones get custody over Jo. And helped me numerous times during negotiations. Apparently people talked to her when they refused to talk to me. Even though I was right there and she was comm. linked to whichever planet we were on cause she can't leave Paris."
"You must understand that you first and foremost represent Starfleet. While she spoke for the Federation. There is a difference."
"So we should have someone onboard who isn't a member of Starfleet to run the negotiations?"
"Perhaps not." I tried to clarify "Not all will have something against talking to you. But some fear that joining Federation means having to send a certain number of people to join Starfleet every year."
"But that is not mandatory." Jim pointed out "Don't they understand that? Don't they understand that it's a privilege?"
"That is on you to explain to them Jim." I told him calmly and he just nodded "Now, why don't you introduce me to your sister. I heard some things about her but not much."
As we began walking towards the group Jim began to share some things about his sibling "Jo hoped Sam would join us on the Enterprise but my sister has find her calling planetside at Supreme Federation Court. I'm actually waiting at the day she would inform me she became a main prosecutor. But since that didn't happen yet her greatest accomplishment is…"
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
THE END
The next ST story is planed but will be postponed because I decided to reuse the idea I had for Twilight. Since Star Trek characters are WAY better fitting for this type of humor (and I like them) I'll be placing them in a rather unusual situation.
It will probably be rated M because of language but the content won't actually be mature. Just Jim saying funny things. And answering funny questions. And annoying Bones. And Uhura. And Spock. And Pike. Should I go on?