Chapter 29 - Debris, Part 1
The next day, halfway through second shift, Spock was again escorted back to Kirk's quarters.
"You might be working too hard," Kirk said to Spock. "Making my crew lazy."
"Your engineering department should be twice the size it currently is. I do not believe there is a risk."
"That would make the entire crew engineering."
"Indeed. This class of ship is untenable."
Kirk nodded. "Too complicated for the crew it can hold. It should be larger, or simpler."
"That is my conclusion. It is possible for smaller to equal simpler. But the wrong design decisions were made in this ship."
"You want to write that up with specifics. I'll submit it to 'Fleet. They are supposed to retrofit the rest of the class."
"I am not qualified to offer an opinion."
"Yes. You are."
Spock appeared touched. Nodded.
Kirk returned to reading reports. A new line popped up on the encoded inter-ship feed. Potemkin was currently at top warp speed, on their way to investigate a star system five days away from Ranger's current location that they estimated was the colonist's base of operations. Kirk pulled up a star chart and found nothing remarkable about the system. He asked Comm to ask Potemkin why they thought that star system was suspicious.
Kirk felt better knowing there was a constitution class starship coming to the neighborhood.
Comm chimed half an hour later, informing Kirk that the private relay had responded.
Kirk got up and sat beside Spock, who was already scrolling through screens of Vulcan text. Kirk could only catch a common word or two per screen. Diagrams flashed by, some old style images with extra diagrams drawn over them to make them clearer. All kinds of ship configurations went by in variations on round. Spock apparently had run a very broad query to avoid having to re-query.
Spock slowed. Read for a bit.
"You have no record in your Federation databanks for the First Federation?" Spock looked up at Kirk in question.
"First Federation? I haven't heard of that."
Kirk asked the computer. It responded in negative.
Spock said, "They are led by an ancient spacefaring race called the Fesarians that defends territory on the far side of the Perseus Arm. The engine design in your scans is identical to theirs."
Spock held up an old 3D scanner photo of a spherical ship made up of spherical modules.
Kirk said, "I've never seen the like of that. How big is it?"
Spock said, "This mothership was measured at over two thousand meters in diameter. And it wasn't the largest encountered."
Kirk made a noise of surprise. "And they are apparently selling technology to the Colonist Rebels. That would explain why the rebels are in this part of space. It's the shortest distance back to the Federation. Our Federation, that is."
Kirk handed the padd back to Spock and sat back. "That's one mystery solved. Tell me the capabilities of those engines."
"The last recorded, or projected assuming ongoing development?"
"It says they've been in space at least fifty thousand years. I'm going to assume they fine tuned their engine technology long ago. Give me last recorded."
Kirk closed his eyes and listened as Spock read off warp field potentials, thrust vectors, rebound rates, cold start estimates, and degradation rates.
"So, super high thrust with very little warp degradation at low vectors. Have I got that right? Summarize all of that and I'll give it to Comm to put in the local encoded feed along with our observations and guesses."
Kirk pushed up and went back to his monitor, pulled up the local star charts and studied them. "Give me the coordinates for the First Federation."
Kirk mapped those and rotated the view side to side, up and down along with their current and past encounters with both the Colonist Rebels and the Vulcan Militants. He pressed the communications switch and asked Nav to get him likely courses between those coordinates and where they had encountered the Colonist Rebels.
To Spock, Kirk asked, "The Militants have anything to do with the First Federation?"
"I observed nothing and it is highly unlikely."
Kirk wryly said, "Their engines are probably too slow."
"Records indicate that the Fesarians tend to behave unpredictably. Vulcan long ago classed them as a final stage society focused entirely on amusement. I believe that is at least part of the explanation for low contact."
Kirk looked at the star maps with a different eye now, assuming Ranger and her sister ships had not been positioned to attack Vulcan, but to defend it. Admiral Coyran could have assumed Kirk was friendly to Vulcan having just been rescued by a Vulcan ship and given hospitality by one of its leading citizens. Or maybe Kirk had grown fatigued by paranoia and just had to believe that.
Kirk signaled for Rand to bring two meals.
Rand brought a tray with a single plate heaped with colorful vegetarian cubes.
"Anything else, sir?"
Kirk smiled at her seemingly irked attitude.
"Call a meeting of department heads for end of second shift, on the bridge. And put that local ship feed through to my monitor as it gets decoded."
"Yes, sir. I'm uncertain how to log it, since much of it is not intended for us."
"Log it normally. Might as well keep things simple."
"Yes, sir."
The door closed.
"She doesn't like you," Kirk said.
"I have noticed."
"Yes, I suppose you have."
"I am not skilled at recognizing human motivations. It is jealousy?"
Kirk choked on the bite in his mouth. Coughed.
"I don't think so. If she were, that would be more interesting than simply not believing you are who you say you are."
"You mean in the sense of where my loyalties lie, not in the sense of my not being Sarek's son."
"Correct."
"I see. I have found the level of trust unexpectedly high."
"In Starfleet if you've been assigned by someone higher up and demonstrate that you are levelheaded, reliable, and intelligent, people will grow to trust you. That's how we work as a team."
They ate in silence for a time.
Kirk said, "I'm curious about something."
Spock leaned forward and took another cube off the plate. "Is it related to the issue of loyalty?"
"Not at all. But it is a personal question. I'm curious about your dislike of melds."
Spock's face became more angular and his eyes hard. He swallowed what he was chewing and held the other half of the cube between two fingers.
Kirk went on as if Spock hadn't reacted. "From what I read about Vulcans it's not generally considered a sensitive topic. Unlike some other topics."
Spock continued to stare at the half cube of blue food. "Am I required to discuss this?"
Kirk sighed. "We've crossed a line, Spock. You are more crew now than guest. You've never been psych profiled or, if you have, not under Starfleet's regime."
"I see."
"Finish that bite," Kirk said of the cube Spock was slowly crushing.
Spock did so, chewing distractedly.
Kirk said, "Remember how you said it felt like you hadn't gone through experiences alone after you told me about them? That can work for a lot of issues." Kirk exhaled slowly so he would sound unemotional when he spoke. "You're important to me, and I don't want you having difficulties."
Spock sat quietly, eyes distant.
Kirk said, "I can see we've hit a exceptionally sensitive topic. Unfortunately, that means I really can't let it go."
"It is not something I wish to remember in order to explain it."
"Is this something that happened with the Militants?"
"No."
Spock swallowed. "If I refuse to explain, I assume I will lose my privileges?"
Kirk pushed to his feet and resumed his seat beside Spock, sitting so their legs touched. "I'm not holding that over you. You can do a shift tomorrow whether you answer right now or not. I got the sense you enjoyed working the last two days."
"I am not accustomed to being useful. It is unexpectedly rewarding."
Kirk held the plate out between them. "Eat a bit more. You are so thin it alarms me."
"I am well within half a standard deviation of the median for my race."
Kirk took the plate back and rested it in his own lap. Then he held it out again. "You are half human. Eat more."
Spock accepted a cube. "My metabolism is almost entirely Vulcan."
Kirk took a cube and put the half-full plate on the desk. "My metabolism always wants to eat more."
"I have not observed any downside for you."
"That's because you've only ever seen me starving, or too busy to eat." Kirk held up a cube. "Or only with access to this substance."
Kirk nibbled at the corner of the green cube he held. It had the consistency of crumbly wax and tasted the way silage smelled. "So, in another thirty hours or so the engineering board will be green-lighted. I'd like to hunt down the Colonist ships who might be passing through on the way back from an alien engine upgrade, but we're alone out here and we know for certain we can only take on one of them at a time. The Potemkin will be in the neighborhood, maybe we can get her or another ship interested in a hunt."
Kirk waited. The side of his leg was hot where it rested against Spock's. It was making him overheat.
"You are uncomfortable," Spock said.
"I'm fine."
Spock picked up the padd again and scrolled through the Vulcan Archive entry about the First Federation.
"Strange. They are not heavily into trade. Or historically they have not been."
Kirk took the padd away from him and shut it off before setting it aside.
"A meld sounds so intriguing to me that I'm having trouble not knowing what your difficulty is." Kirk stared at the side of the monitor hanging over the desk. "Forget I mentioned you being akin to crew, or psych profiles. As your friend I need to know."
Kirk waited, finally said, "Is it your dual nature that makes you not like it?"
"Indirectly." Spock sounded older.
Spock steepled his fingers in his lap, inhaled, and sighed. Kirk smiled sadly at the sound of it.
"Vulcan children begin disciplines in earnest at the age of five. I did not have the mind for it. Or not in the way it was taught. I have much less difficulty with it now, so perhaps I was simply not developed enough at that time."
Kirk waited. If Spock gave up, he'd let it go this time.
Spock started to speak, then stopped. His lips closed.
Kirk patted Spock's leg and stood up. "I can guess the rest. Melds to make you more Vulcan."
Spock looked away.
Kirk pulled on his command demeanor. "Events you had no control over aren't shameful, Spock."
"Logically. No." Spock's voice was raspy. "And logically, my parents wanted me to think like a Vulcan."
Kirk's gut felt hot. But Spock didn't need his anger. Spock still stared off to the side, head positioned like someone who'd just been struck and was still too stunned by it to move. Kirk forced his anger down, put compassion in the front of his mind, and put his hand on Spock's cheek to turn his face toward him.
Kirk said, "I think I see better why you were capable of running away. And I bet your parents are utterly incapable of seeing it."
Spock's shoulders relaxed.
"Your understanding is more significant than is logical."
"You may spend your days in pursuit of inner disciplines, but you are still a social animal, Spock."
Kirk withdrew his hand, letting his thumb drift over Spock's cheek.
Kirk said, "I'm going to chase down my first and prep for the all heads meeting. Now that things are quiet, I should pretend we have a command hierarchy instead of a dictatorship."
Spock's face shifted. Kirk hoped it was the hint of a smile.
The ship was at a full halt relative to the relay, so Kirk didn't mind drawing away the full attention of the bridge crew, with the exception of Gunner, who would monitor for anything incoming.
Kirk reviewed the evidence for the strange engines on the Rebel Colonist ships. He let his officers toss the information around even though he'd already decided why the ships were passing through this sector.
Kirk said, "Can we reasonably hunt for more Rebel ships and avoid engaging if we're outnumbered?"
"No," Fairfeather said. "We're slower than they are by a third to half of a warp. We can't get close enough to ID without getting chased down in turn."
Kirk hated giving up. His jaw hurt to imagine doing so. "We have a probe we could put to better use."
"But only one," Gall said.
Kirk said, "If we have to abandon it to avoid a losing fight that would be acceptable."
Kirk pushed off the rail and paced to the viewscreen, which showed a still night sky with the haze of an arm of the galaxy diagonally across the upper right corner.
Riley said, "Will the Spitfire return when they've finished their errand?"
Kirk didn't turn around. "They might." He couldn't bear to imagine his ship was useless out here. He turned around. "We are on patrol. That was the last official order we got. We're going to continue to do that."
There were nods and one worrisome stare from Riley.
Comm put his hand to his ear and said, "Potemkin's science officer is hailing you, sir."
Kirk went over to the communications console and leaned over it, nodded to have the connection made.
After greetings the voice on the other end said, "This is Lt. Commander Gert of the Potemkin. I was informed that you had asked about our modeling."
"I had asked why you suspected the star system you are heading for is home to a Rebel Colonist base."
Riley stepped over. Kirk stared at him as he talked.
Gert said, "I had my computing staff design a model of the ongoing computer virus spread. Turns out you can plot a relationship network for past ship and port interactions based on the ongoing movement of that computer virus."
Kirk raised his head. "That's brilliant, Commander. Can you send us the model?"
"You want the model itself?"
"Yes."
"I can send it in a longer transmission. If you really want. It's pretty sophisticated, and I know you don't have much computing power or expertise on a ship like yours."
Kirk gave Riley a look, composed his voice to sound pleasant. "We'll manage, Commander. I'll turn you back over to my communications officer to arrange the transmission."
Kirk dismissed the department heads and the first split shift took over the bridge. The transmission completed and Comm handed Kirk a tape. Kirk handed it to Rand and told her to take it to his quarters to have Spock work on it.
Riley started to protest. Kirk waved Rand on and pulled Riley aside.
Kirk whispered to him, "Lieutenant, he wrote the damn virus. We have on this ship the foremost expert in how it will spread. Of course I gave him the model."
Riley stood straight. "I didn't realize that, sir."
Kirk let his voice return to normal, not liking to seem secretive in front of the bridge crew. "Realize that, officially, it was my doing. Just so that's straight."
Riley's brow grew confused. "Really, Commander?"
"Yes, really." Kirk feigned insult.
After shift Kirk returned to his quarters to find Spock at the monitor, padd in hand.
Spock said, "I hope it is acceptable that I asked engineering for computing assistance?"
Kirk smiled. "Yes, of course." He sat on Spock's bunk and waited patiently for a report rather than sleep.
"They have made some miscalculations. The virus will outrun itself under certain circumstances, resulting in a lull in additional transmission. This cycle will recover and repeat as installations recover and interact again."
"Or partially recover," Kirk said. "And then they will pass on a mutated version, with different behavior."
"Indeed. That is also not accommodated well by the model."
"Can you alter the model?"
"I am doing so now. But you must rest. You are leaving yourself barely three hours of sleep for a twenty-four hour period, which is insufficient."
Kirk grinned and kicked off his boots. "I'm taking your bunk in that case.."
Kirk lay back in his uniform with his hands interlocked over his abdomen and Spock lowered the lights.
Kirk woke to darkness punctuated by the glow from the monitor. Spock appeared as a cold statue in the low bluish light. Kirk rolled over and hugged the pillow. It smelled intimately of Spock. He felt a rush of affection and arousal and hugged the pillow tighter. He felt silly and made a scoffing noise. The object of his desire was right there at the desk.
"Are you all right, James?"
Kirk's voice was muffled and dismissive. "Yes."
"Are you unaware that I can sense your emotions?"
Kirk turned his head so he wasn't speaking into the pillow. "This cabin is too small."
Spock moved the monitor aside and stood up.
Kirk said, "Keep working. Don't bother with me."
Spock stood beside the bunk, making Kirk's gut flutter. Lack of sleep was stealing his control. He shouldn't let himself get to this state.
Spock's voice was low. "I do not comprehend your desire."
"It just is, Spock. Go back to work." Kirk turned his head again, frowned. "What about your own?"
"I do not comprehend it, either." His voice became dismayed. In the darkness the subtleties of his speech were easier to pick out.
Kirk twisted just his upper body, put his head on his bent arm. He wondered at himself, lying here with his arousal pressed into the thin mattress instead of satisfying it. This was the only quiet the ship was guaranteed to have for a while.
"How's the model coming?" Kirk asked.
"I have two possible solutions and am determining if there are other factors I can use to distinguish between them. So far with no success."
Talking shop drained Kirk's desire. He sat up.
Spock stood over him, limned by the light of the monitor. "I do not wish to interrupt your sleep period."
"I'm either going seduce you or talk about the model. Your choice."
"One of those is considerably more productive than the other."
The darkness felt protective. "I don't agree. One of them would get my mind off you for a while. That's productive too. But show me the model."
Kirk had a gut aching premonition that he was going to regret not pulling Spock down onto the bunk right then and there. But he was a man of duty first, and couldn't be otherwise.
Spock returned to the desk, turned the monitor, and began explaining his changes.
"I didn't look at the original," Kirk said, interrupting. "It's twenty minutes to shift. Show me the two solutions."
Kirk yawned as the star charts came up, side by side. Kirk didn't even know his monitor would produce that kind of display.
Spock said, "I am going to force you to use some of second shift for sleep, James."
"Good. I won't argue. Or I won't argue right now."
Kirk said, "Both solutions are poorly charted I see. You and Potemkin are pulling the solution toward a star system. What if they aren't at a star system but hanging out in poorly explored space?"
"Star systems provide much needed energy, as well as navigational reference, critical in a loosely organized group."
"I'll trust you on that."
"The second solution is similar to open space in that the star is dead and cold and provides no energy."
Kirk rubbed his tired eyes. "Damn." Then after a pause. "Sorry. Not your fault the model resolves two ways. But it makes it harder to convince the Potemkin to follow our lead."
Kirk brought the lights up and blinked painfully. "Package the revised model up and have Comm send it back to the Potemkin's science officer as well as the other ships in the vicinity. And send the coordinates of both resolutions to Nav." Kirk gave Spock a proud look. "I wish I could see Lt. Commander Gert's face when he receives that model."
"Do you wish me to continue working on it?"
Kirk went to the head and washed his face in cold water. "No. I want you in engineering. We need to get the board green lighted as much as possible. Chief Long isn't going to get her warp core shutdown." He dried his face, feeling refreshed. "And thanks, Spock. I don't know what I'd do without you here."
