Enterprise Ready Room
5:45 PM

"How's the crew?" Admiral Pike's voice was whispered and he looked years older.

"The Saratoga took a heavy beating before they evacuated," Morrick answered quietly. "Several were injured,
some critically, but they've been stabilized. There was only one casualty…Captain Kirk."

Pike took a shuddered breath. "That's the way he would have wanted it."

"Commander Scout nearly burned the engines out getting us here so we had to cool them for awhile. We'll be ready
to get underway again in about twenty minutes. We're going to head for Deep Space Station K-11, we'll be there
in seventy-two hours. From there they'll be able to arrange passage back home."

"That won't be necessary, Jason," Pike said firmly. "I've spoken to the Captains of both the USS Andaman and
the Ptolemy and they're en-route to you now. They were both good friends of Jim's and the Andaman is a member
of the Delphis Pod, which Jim put together. They're both between assignments and they've offered to transport
the Saratoga crew all the way back to Earth. You're to leave immediately and head for these coordinates.
You'll be able to rendezvous with the Ptolemy in twenty four hours and the Andaman in thirty five. They should
have them home in about a week."

"Starfleet doesn't want us near Kirk's crew one second longer than necessary do they, Chris?" Morrick said quietly.

Pike didn't answer. He didn't need too.

"They're not alone. I've seen the interaction between the Saratoga's crew and mine. They've all been professional
and given their full cooperation, but I can see the look in their eyes. They were all fiercely loyal to Kirk and they've
never forgotten what his former crew did to him. And while they may have been willing to tolerate an Enterprise
from a parallel reality, this time it's different. This time it's not doubles of the crew that betrayed their Captain,
this is the crew that betrayed their Captain. And our being here now, at the scene of his death, is salt in the wounds.
As far as they're concerned seventy-two hours with us may as well be seventy-two years."