James T Kirk: The Next Generation
Mustache Twirler
The instant Kirk and Spock were beamed off of the USS Diamond, and aboard the shuttlecraft, the shuttlecraft streaked away at warp speed. The moment the shuttle was gone, the Diamond simply cloaked, and did not move; and how could it? No one who remained aboard knew how to telepathically operate the ship, other than Maxwell, who was now a prisoner.
On the bridge of the Diamond, everyone else was quite surprised as to what had just happened.
"Umm," O'Brien finally began to say, "Were we just bamboozled?"
"I am uncertain of that term," S'vath replied.
"It means, my husband; we've been tricked. But how could they do that to us?" Rhonda asked. "Are we supposed to stay here, next to that Planet Killer thing?"
"Or," Bashir said, "Kirk was abducted by his friends. We cannot be sure. But, then again, it does have the classic look of bamboozlement."
"Again with that word," S'vath said. "I will indeed double my efforts to learn more of my heritage," but as S'vath spoke, the sarcasm in his voice was unmistakable.
"The question is," Nog said, as he walked over to the Diamond's command chair, where Spock had left the device that, when worn, that could telepathically control the ship. "Can anyone of us use this and control the ship? Ambassador Spock was able to release control of the stations on this bridge so we could control the ship, but something tells me I bet he locked out the manual controls so we couldn't regain control of the ship too quickly?"
Everyone looked over at S'vath. He was Vulcan, and Spock's son, so he was, to them, the first choice to try and control the advanced ship.
"I must point out," S'vath said to the others, "that I have not spent my life trying to strengthen my mind."
"What about you Julian?" O'Brien asked Bashir. "Perhaps you're," O'Brien said, speaking in a general tone, not wanting to reveal the genetic history of his good friend, "best suited for this."
"That's right," Nog said enthusiastically, "your advanced genetics may give you the ability to communicate with the ship."
Nog had just given up the secret that O'Brien was trying to circumvent.
"What does he mean by that?" Rhonda asked Bashir, "What is so special about your genetics?"
"Well, as my good friend here Nog has revealed," Bashir said with look over at Nog, "I am the product of illegal genetics. And while I thank him for his confidence, I am not too sure my enhanced abilities will help in this situation."
"Well," O'Brien said, "the way I see it, we have two choices. We can either use the mind of an untrained Vulcan, or the slightly advanced mind of a human."
S'vath thought for a moment, and then he spoke to the others, as they were speaking among themselves. Everyone listened as he spoke.
"Everyone, listen," S'vath said, "I may not know much about my Vulcan heritage," S'vath told them all, "however, I do know about my father and Captain James Kirk.
When I was much younger, and my father (Spock) would speak of their missions, there was one thing I came away with more than anything else. When they were together, as they are now, and teamed with their shipmates, and we just saw two of them on that shuttle, they would solve problems as a team with very little outside help. I believe the reason we were left behind was because they no longer wanted to risk our lives and careers with this endeavor of theirs."
"What are you saying?" O'Brien asked. "They no longer need our help?"
"Think about it," S'vath continued. "Up to now our involvement could be attributed to being abducted, or, in my case, family devotion. Jim did seem genuinely worried as to how this could affect my career in Starfleet."
"He mentioned that to me as well," Nog said. "And he certainly didn't want you," Nog said to O'Brien, "to risk your family even more than you have already."
"So," O'Brien said to Nog, and the others, "we're supposed to just sit here and do nothing?"
S'vath walked down to the Diamond's command chair. Nog handed him the device, that when worn upon one's head, could control the ship.
"If my father was able to use this device, then I am quite sure, in time, so can we," S'vath said. "We have a choice; take this ship we're on and hand it over to Starfleet, or, try to pursue my father and Jim Kirk, and try to help them."
Suddenly, and without warning, a strange effect, which resembled a small, door sized atmospheric disruption, appeared near the Turbo-lift. And then, quite unexpectedly, a man stepped out of the whirling affect, with a Siamese cat sitting on his shoulder.
"Okaaaay," O'Brien said to the others, "this situation just got even stranger."
Scotty's Shuttle
Scotty sat at the controls of the shuttle, which had originally been given to him by Captain Jean-Luc Picard years earlier. Scotty, with so much time on his hand, had refitted the shuttle with all kinds of new equipment, including new structural integrity buffers, engines, and even a bank of Romulan disrupters, all of which he had obtained on the black market with help from Spock (via Quark), over the years.
Kirk, Sulu, and Spock, all sat in the passenger cabin.
"Okay," Kirk said to Spock, "now that we're all together, would you mind telling me why we ditched the others back on the Defiant?"
"Jim," Spock said, "I think you know the answer to that part of the question."
"Aright, it was a softball," Kirk replied, "I can understand not involving them in this any further. And while I don't mean this as an offense to you, Sulu, or even Scotty, but what the hell can three old codgers and a man from another century do in this time?"
"James," Sulu said, with the voice of an old Japanese Wiseman in full force, "in life it isn't always the speed of the eagle that can snare the worm; sometimes it can be the fingernail size of the worm's brain."
Both Kirk and Spock looked at Sulu with looks of subtle bewilderment.
"I have brought us all together," Spock said, "because I believe only those who are archaic as the four of us can bring this situation to a close. During my mind-meld with Captain Maxwell, I learned much about those who he mentioned were behind this plot to supplant Starfleet commanders with men under their telepathic control, and eventually, the control of entire fleets to maintain not only galactic order, but the internal order Federation worlds. The Betazoid, Toran, could have provided more answers; however, as you know, he was killed by Maxwell."
"What did you find out, Spock?" Kirk asked, "Because, if I heard correctly, Maxwell did insinuate that he, and others in Starfleet, let Toran implement his plan of telepathic domination of Starfleet with the intent of eventually taking that control away from Toran, and then using it to further the plans of those whom Maxwell was really aligned with."
"And that is why I have brought us together," Spock answered. "The ultimate threat, I believe, is not coming from any faction of Starfleet, it is coming from outside; and outside influence, if you will. Maxwell's answers were not entirely forthright, due to the fact he was trying to feed us what you would refer to as red herrings."
Kirk didn't like the sound of that at all.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying old friend?" Kirk asked. "That Maxwell was purposely incriminating Starfleet?"
Spock nodded his head.
"Jim, Maxwell truly believes that his mind was splintered by Federation doctors, with help from the gifted Betaziod Toran. However, throughout the mind-meld, I sensed aspects of his memories that did not seem authentic. Call it intuition, if you will. Some aspects of his memories seemed artificial, planted there to provide answers should his mind ever be probed."
"How can you be sure?" Sulu asked Spock.
"As I said," Spock said to Sulu, "it is my intuition. Maxwell was trained by Toran, and Starfleet may even beware of Toran's aims; but circumventing that training to the degree Maxwell claims to have been doing was not ordered by Starfleet. I admit, my proof is far from certain."
"Could it be the Romulans?" Kirk asked. "They would be my first choice."
"They would be my first choice too," Sulu said, in agreement with Kirk. "That entire ordeal with the Romulan Senate being eliminated while in session (Nemesis) only happened a few short years ago. Perhaps this is another one of their efforts to subvert the Federation."
"And if not them," Kirk added, "then who else...?"
On the USS DIAMOND; adrift in space…
"Hello," the man said to Nog and the others, as he lifted the cat from his shoulders and placed it on the control panel next to him. "My name is Gary-7, and unless you do as I tell you; we could all be witnesses to the end of the United Federation of Planets."
-continued….