Chapter Thirty-seven

"Wow...this sure is a pretty boat."

"Forget it, Scotty, she's going into the Vulcan sun."

"But, Sir..." Scotty moaned.

"That's an order, Mister. Now then, do you think you can follow the Enterprise to Vulcan without straying?"

"Maybe."

"I'll take that as a 'Aye, Sir'." Kirk said sternly.

"Aye, Sir." Scotty sighed.

"Better."

Kirk left Scotty at the helm. The Engineer looked like a kid in a candy store. He kept touching various component on the control panel and giggling in sheer delight. Kirk rolled his eyes, at least some one was enjoying all of this. They had met up with the Enterprise out in space just in case anyone at the Starbase was still irate about the stolen ship.

Kirk walked into the lounge room where Spock and Bones were staring at the trilithum. Actually Spock was inspecting the synthetic compound while McCoy was stealing a quick clinical look at his unwilling patient. Spock was on his feet, but it looked like only sheer force of will was keeping him there. Kirk's fears where confirmed when Bones looked his way and shook his head sadly.

"I am fine, Doctor." Spock said.

"I didn't saying anything."

"Bones, you were thinking it so hard that even I heard it." Kirk forced a smile. "Spock, how long is it going to take to get to Vulcan from here?"

"Approximately eleven hours and seventeen minutes."

"Alright, report to the Enterprise and take the next eleven hours and ten minutes off."

"Captain, during a mission of such importance it is not logical for the First Officer to be off duty."

"If my First Officer was healthy I'd agree with him."

"Captain, I do not require any special treatment." Spock insisted.

"The fact that you're not confined to medical is all the special treatment you're getting." Kirk replied seriously. "No more arguing. Scotty's got this helm, the rest of us are going back to the Enterprise."

Kirk contacted the transporter room and ordered them all beamed over. Uhura was waiting for them in the transporter room. She had barely waited for them to fully materialize before she was up on the transporter pad. Uhura gently wrapped her arms around Spock, being careful not to lean on him too heavily. Kirk smiled as Spock returned the embrace and gave her a soft kiss. Under any other circumstance he knew that Spock would never have accepted this public display. Uhura looked over at Kirk and smiled sadly.

"Thank you, Captain. I knew you'd bring him back safe."

"Just doing my job, Ma'am."

A more genuine smile slipped across Uhura's features. She took Spock's hand and started to lead him away. Stepping down off the transporter pad he hesitated to leave. Uhura paused and allowed him to turn back.

"Captain, if I am needed..."

"I know where to find you."

Spock paused before nodding and peacefully allowing Uhura to lead him away. Kirk watched them leave before ordering the Enterprise into maximum Warp towards the Vulcan sun. With everything done that could be done at the moment Kirk stepped over to McCoy and slung his arm over his friend's shoulders.

"Bones, I don't know about you, but I could use a drink."

"I keep the best stuff down in medical."

"Right where it belongs."

Trotting down of the transporter pad the pair made their way down to medical. Bones snagged a bottle of brandy and a couple of glasses which they took up to the main observation deck. Kirk walked over to the large old fashioned helm that decorated the middle of the room. Leaning against the wooden wheel he accepted the glass of brandy that Bones handed him.

"Sometimes I wish we were at sea rather than out in the cold of space." Kirk sighed heavily.

"Oh yeah, those old time mariners had the life: scurvy, infection, starvation, dysentery..."

"At least they were living in simpler times." Kirk took a pull at the amber colored alcohol. "Captains didn't have to worry about the entire galaxy."

"The galaxy isn't what's weighing on your mind right now, is it?"

"No." Kirk admitted.

"Me neither."

"Spock's supposed to outlive us both, Bones. That's how it's suppose to be."

"Maybe in another Universe." McCoy knocked back his own drink. "However, in our reality there are no guarantees for the future."

"I just can't imagine a future where Vulcans are little more than a display in a museum next to the ivory billed woodpecker, and the humpback whale."

"Hopefully it won't come to that."

Kirk nodded and accepted the offer to have his glass refilled. He stared out at the aurora of Warp speed silently. It did not escape his notice that his Chief Medical Officer kept insuring that his brandy glass never got too dry. Eventually the alcohol began to get the better of him. Bones reached over and took his glass away.

"So are you going to go pace the bridge pointlessly or are you going to try and get some rest?"

"Some rest actually sounds good about now."

"I was hoping the brandy would talk you into that." Bone nodded. "Come on, to your quarters."

"I have to admit I like this form of persuasion better than your usual hypospray jab to the neck."

"I considered using that method."

Kirk chuckled. Bones lead him to his quarters and then sought out some respite of his own. Kirk decided that a shower before bed was in order. The hot water slipping down his back did little to relieve the tension across his shoulders. After a long shower Kirk laid down on top of the sheets on his bed. When his right palm started itching he looked at it and found that there was a smattering of blood under his skin where he'd had his hand on the Romulan blood oath orb.

"That's going to bite me in the ass one of these days."

Spock had reluctantly agreed to keep what the Romulans had done a secret. Kirk feared that Starfleet might force him into an early retirement if they thought for one second that he was compromised by Romulans. Although no one was admitting to anything Kirk got the feeling that it wouldn't take much to start a war with the distant cousins of the Vulcans. Ever since the destruction of Vulcan the Romulans had been growing noticeably restless.

"One problem at a time." Kirk muttered to himself.

Submitting to sleep Kirk fell into a dreamless slumber. It was the high pitched whistle of the communications system that woke him some time later. Pulling on a clean uniform Kirk wandered over to the view screen and tapped on it. Scotty appeared looking considerably alarmed.

"Scotty, what's wrong? You break that ship by tinkering with it?"

"No, Sir. It's the trilithum."

"What about it?"

"I think there's something wrong with it."

"Wrong how?"

"I can't be sure, that's why I called you on visual, I think it's sinking."

"Sinking?" Kirk repeated confused.

"Take a look."

Scotty turned the camera onto the container that held the trilithum. Kirk leaned in closer to the screen and stared at the blue blob that hovered in the glass cylinder. The substance didn't look to be actively moving, but it certainly appeared to be lower in the container than he remembered it.

"Captain?" Spock's voice suddenly came over the intercom. "Engineer Scott is correct, the trilithum containment is failing."

"Spock? What are you doing on the line?"

"Mr. Scott did not contact you on a private line. I apologize for listening in."

"Not a problem. What are this implications of this failure?"

"When the trilithum reaches the bottom of the container and comes in contact with matter it will ignite." Spock replied.

"Ignite?"

"Big boom, Captain." Scotty clarified.

"Great. How much time do we have?"

"Impossible to calculate. We do not know why or how the container is failing. It is possible the trilithum itself is draining the container of energy and thus making the substance even less stable."

"How long until we reach the sun?"

"One hour and thirty-seven minutes." Spock replied instantly.

"Scotty, any way to goose a little more speed out of these two birds?"

"Not with any guarantee of arriving in one piece, Captain."

"Spock, suggestions?"

"Since any disruption of the smooth flight of the craft with the trilithum would no doubt lead to destruction I suggest we continue as we are, particularly since we do not know what time frame we are dealing with."

"Okay, steady as she goes, Mr. Scott." Kirk ordered. "Keep us posted. I'll be on the bridge."

"I will meet you there, Captain."

"No, Spock. Stay with Uhura. I will call for you when we are nearing Vulcan's sun."

"Very well."

Kirk was a little surprised by how easily Spock agreed to stay off the bridge. He feared that it was a testament to how ill the Vulcan truly was. Before heading off the bridge himself Kirk called down to McCoy to meet him. On the bridge everything seemed to be running smoothly. Kirk took his place in the Captain's chair as Bones arrived.

"Jim, what's going on?"

"The trilithum is threatening to detonate before we reach Vulcan."

"Of course it is." Bones sighed.

"Our luck has held somewhat until now, hopefully it will last a little while longer."

"That would be nice."

Kirk and Bones spent a tense hour and a half on the bridge. The vastness of space was frustrating at times like these, but there was nothing to be done about it. Kirk was waiting for the last minute to call Spock up to the bridge, however he never got the chance. With seven minutes till arrival Spock and Uhura both appeared. Spock's calm did not surprise Kirk, but Uhura's did. He decided that she must have either accepted Spock's probably fate or she truly believed that stopping the Vulcan sun was going to prevent it.

Spock walked up to stand by Kirk's side with his hands held behind his back. He stared at the forward screen looking for all the world like this was just a routine mission. Kirk looked over his shoulder and found that Uhura had taken her position at the communications board as well. She tapped on the screen and looked up at him.

"Captain, Mr. Scott is hailing."

"On screen."

"Captain," Scotty greeted with a forced smile "not to alarm anyone, but this trilithum stuff is starting to sink fast."

"The power loss to the container is most likely exponential." Spock announced. "If the trilithum is allowed to detonate at Warp speed the toxic debris could potentially be spread across the galaxy."

"Scotty, the instant we all drop out of Warp I want the autopilot on that thing set and then you beam your ass back over here."

"Aye, Sir. I've already got her all set to go. I'll just need to get my bearings when we get there and point her in the right direction."

"Spock, how close can we be to the sun when the trilithum hits?"

"It would be best to be as far as possible, however, under the circumstances I believe that we will be safe if we stay just within visual range."

"Good. Sulu, how much longer?"

"Two minutes, Captain."

Kirk nodded and everyone fell back into silence. When they dropped out of Warp the Vulcan sun was visible as a blue disk on the screen no larger than a quarter. Kirk ordered maximum magnification and the sun jumped into a larger view. The blue corona of the mid-sized star danced and flared around the star's nuclear heart.

"It seems a shame to destroy something so beautiful." Bones pointed out.

"It is far more dangerous than it is beautiful, Doctor."

"Scotty?" Kirk asked. "How's it going?"

"Almost got it, Sir. The trilithum is just a few inches from the bottom of the barrel."

"Spock, how close does the trilithum have to be to the sun?"

"It must reach the chromosphere to be effective."

"Scotty?"

"All set here, Captain."

"Good, execute."

"Aye, Sir."

Scotty set everything in motion and had the Enterprise beam him aboard. Everyone held their breath as they watched the elegant ship move away under impulse power. Scotty joined everyone on the bridge, panting heavily from running. With all eyes on the screen there was a collective gasp as the tiny ship on the screen veered sharply away from its gigantic target. Kirk turned to look at Scotty who had a look of horror on his face.

"Oops." Scotty whispered.

"'Oops'? 'Oops'?! Scotty, what do you mean 'oops'?!" Kirk demanded as he jumped to his feet. "What happened?!"

"She...uh...she must be equipped with an automatic collision avoidance system." Scotty said sheepishly. "I never even thought to check for it, it's a really rare and expensive system...that's a really nice boat."

"Scotty!" Kirk roared. "What the hell does Starfleet pay you for?!"

"My charm?"

"Captain," Spock interrupted "I must beam aboard the craft, disable the collision system, and reset her course."

"We'll both go."

"No, Captain. It may be necessary for the craft to piloted into the sun manually."

"Spo..."

"I am the logical choice for this mission."

"I am not letting you go alo..."

"Captain," Scotty piped in "we're running out of time before that trilithum makes a big pointless boom."

"Jim, please." Spock said calmly.

"Sulu," Kirk barked "get us close enough that ship to board her."

"Aye, Sir."

"Alright, Gentlemen, let's go."

Bones, Scotty, and Uhura followed Kirk, and Spock as they made their way hurriedly to the transport room. Scotty instantly got on the transporter controls and starting setting them up for a ship to ship transfer. Spock walked up onto the transporter pad and turned around. The run to the transporter room had left him breathless with a streak of green blood tracing from the corner of his mouth. Uhura joined him, planing to step away only at the last minute.

"Spock, we'll keep a lock on you." Kirk announced. "The instant you have the ship set for collision contact us, we'll bring you back."

"Yes, Captain."

Spock carded his hand into Uhura's hair and engaged her in a brief but passionate kiss before pushing her away.

"Energize, Mr. Scott." Spock ordered.

The transporter flashed to life and Spock was gone. Uhura turned and stared at Kirk with Spock's blood still on her lips. He stepped up to her, seeing that she was frozen to the spot. He brushed the blood away from her lips, and put his arm over her shoulders in a comforting embrace. Kirk glanced at the others before leading Uhura back up to the bridge with Bones close on their heels.

Back on the bridge they watched the craft helplessly. They had been forced to move dangerously close to the sun in order to transport Spock over to the other ship. The view screen automatically dulled the bright light of the Vulcan sun to keep from blinding everyone on the bridge. Even without being at full strength the Vulcan sun looked violent and indestructible. Few things made Kirk realize how small humans were than to be in close view of a star.

As the sleek ship turned and reversed her course the Vulcan sun seemed to react with a life and intelligence of its own. The blue tongue of a solar flare lashed out, and rocked the Enterprise violently. The smaller ship had been rolled by the flare as well, but remained on course towards the sun. She was far closer now than when she'd veered away before.

"Spock?" Kirk called. "Spock, what's happening? Damn it, Bones, why isn't he answering?"

"He might not be able to." Bones replied. "That ship took a hard rock."

"Captain," Sulu spoke up "we can only follow the ship to keep within beaming distance for another minute or so before we'll be trapped in the sun's gravity."

"Not to mention zee fact dat wee need some deestance between us and zee star's collapse." Chekov added.

Kirk looked to Bones for help with the decision. If Spock was flying the ship manually bringing him back onboard might ruin their last shot at the sun. If he was simply unconscious on the floor he was being left to die needlessly. Kirk knew what the logical decision was. Uhura was still pressed against him and she buried her face in his shirt, unable to watch.

"Scotty," Kirk called sternly "beam Spock back aboard, directly to the bridge."

"But, Sir..."

"Do it now!"

Scotty didn't even bother with the usual 'Aye, Sir'. After a few seconds that lasted an eternity Spock materialized on the bridge in front of the helm. Sulu threw the Enterprise into full reverse the moment Spock was onboard. Although he had arrived on his hands and knees, Spock was back on his feet before anyone had time to reach him to help him up. Spock's uniform visibly steamed as it came in contact with the relatively cold air of the Enterprise. Uhura hurried over to him. He collected her into a loose embrace, and brought his eyes up to meet the Captains.

"Spock?"

"I was successful."

"Why didn't you call us? Weren't you the one who told me that suicide is illogical?" Kirk teased with obvious relief.

"It was not a suicide attempt, Captain. I was forced to destroy the communications board in order to reach the collision avoidance device. I had insufficient time to notify you of the situation. However, since you had no way of knowing my status it was illogical of you to remove me from the ship."

"I wasn't using logic, Spock, I was using intuition."

"Intuition seems to work to your advantage more often than it should, Captain."

"Just be glad that it does."

Spock nodded and turned his attention to Uhura for a moment. He reached up and touched her cheek with a trembling hand. Sulu informed the bridge that the ship was about to impact the sun. Everyone's eyes snapped back to the view screen once again.

The ship could no longer be seen against the giant disk of the Vulcan sun. However the instant the ship came in contact with the star it reacted. The sun released another ship shaking volley of solar flares as it twisted in its death throws. The surface of the star looked as though it had crystalized before it began to shrink in on itself. In that moment the star had become a glittering blue diamond as the elements were crushed together.

It only took seconds for the collapsing star to hit a critical point and rush in on itself like a hole in the ocean refilling violently. The implosion left a mere speck left as the white dwarf was born from the cataclysm. Every panel on the bridge lit up red as they sang out a warning about the fast approaching shock wave.

"Warp us out of here now!"

"Aye, Sir!"

Sulu tilted the Enterprise away from the bright white dwarf and snapped the ship into Warp. Kirk took a deep breath as he realized that to whatever end the job was done. The Vulcan sun had been successfully reduced to an object that the black hole that circled it could manage should they collide. He looked over at Bones, who still looked to be in shock.

"Captain!" Uhura cried in distress.

Kirk's blood flashed to ice at the fear in Uhura's tone. He looked towards the helm and didn't see either one of them. It took him a second to realize that Spock must have finally collapsed. He and McCoy both rushed around the helm. Uhura had gathered Spock into her lap as best she could. Spock's eyes wandered without focus as he forced them to remain open. He swallowed convulsively as he fought for each breath. Managing to regain his focus he stared into Uhura's eyes.

"Nyota, I love you."

"I love you, Spock."

A faint smile touched Spock's rust colored lips. He looked up at Kirk and his expression turned serious once more.

"It has been an honor serving with you, Captain."

"Spock..."

Kirk didn't bother to finish. Spock had held on to consciousness as long as he could manage. Once Spock had passed out McCoy knelt down and pressed his fingertips against his throat. With his brow knit together Bones peeled back one of Spock's eyelids. Although his stare was out of focus Spock's pupil still reacted to the intrusion of light.

"Doctor?" Uhura asked anxiously.

"He over exerted himself. His pulse is strong, but slow."

"Let's get him down to medical." Kirk said softly.

"No." Bones shook his head. "Take him to his quarters, I can bring any medical equipment I need there."

"We'll meet you there." Kirk agreed.

Kirk reached down and gathered Spock up in his arm, and lifted him easily. The bridge crew watched mournfully as their Captain carried their First Officer off the bridge. Even though rumors had spread for the most part they had been kept in the dark on how serious his condition had become.

Uhura followed Kirk onto the turbo lift. She rubbed at her stomach over her unborn child without even realizing it. Kirk was unsure how to best break the silence of her misery so he just kept quiet. Any words of reassurance from him would sound hollow right now.

Spock started coughing, a sickly wet sound that left Kirk's golden uniform spattered in green. Uhura stared vacantly at the blood on his shirt. It was painfully clear to Kirk that she had lost what little hope she'd had left. Although each breath could easily be his last Spock continued to draw a new one.

Getting to Spock and Uhura's shared quarters Kirk laid his friend down with all the care of a mother putting down her newborn. Kirk took a few steps back to allow Uhura to sit down on the bed next to Spock. Anubis instantly jumped up on the bed and started rubbing against Uhura. She absent mindedly stroked his fur and he quickly settled down in her lap.

It wasn't long before McCoy arrived with a portable cart with various medical devices. He went to the far side of the bed from Uhura. He secured Spock forearm into a small machine that was shaped like a half cylinder. While the device flashed an irregular pattern to itself Bones injected his patient with a few hyposprays. After a few moments Spock's color improved somewhat. Satisfied Bones looked up at Uhura.

"The equipment will call me if anything changes." McCoy said softly.

"Thank you, Doctor." Uhura said sadly. "You two don't have to leave. He's your friend, you have just as much right to be here."

"We'll be right across the hall." Kirk assured. "When he wakes up we'll be here."

Uhura nodded and turned her full attention back to Spock. Kirk put his hand on Uhura's shoulder and gave her a supportive squeeze before following McCoy's lead to leave. They stepped out into the hall together. The door had closed behind them, but Bones still lead Kirk down the hall a ways before stopping. McCoy was looking like he was debating whether to break the news as a medical doctor or as a friend.

"Well, Bones?"

"You want my official medical opinion?"

"I might as well hear it."

"Forty-eight hours. Twenty-four if he sustained any radiation damage from the solar flaring. I didn't bother to check."

"We can take him off the Vulandin now, right?"

"We can certainly try, but, Jim...I'm not so sure that is going to help much at this point."

Kirk nodded vacantly. The relief of having collapsing the Vulcan sun successfully had been far too short lived. McCoy went to put his hand on Kirk's shoulder in a sign of sympathy and support, but Kirk backed away from him. He went to the nearest intercom, and snapped it on.

"Sulu?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"How far are we from Natala?"

"Three days under normal conditions."

"Scotty?"

"Aye, Sir?"

"Can you get us to Natala in twenty-four hours?"

"I may burn out a few dozen circuits, and ruin a coolant system or two along the way, Captain, but I believe I can."

"Do it."

"Jim, do you really think the Vulcans can help him any more than we can?"

"I don't know, but my intuition tells me to take him to them."