What omnipotent entity had Jim pissed off?
There had to be one. Nothing else explained the past two months of pure bullcrap he and his crew had been put through. There had to be some bored "god" eking entertainment out of Jim's pitiful attempts to save his best friend.
Jim snorted; slammed his fist into the punching bag hanging in front of him.
...Maybe that fertility statue was upset its sacrifice escaped. The timing was a few months off, but it could've been taking its time; plotting out its revenge meticulously before screwing him over.
The captain pummeled the heavy bag.
Pissed off fertility god. That was definitely it.
He hadn't made any bad calls, no. Of course not! It's wasn't like he'd given his navigator permission to try and cut out four days of travel by plotting a course straight through an ionized nebula without knowing what caused the ionization in the first place.
He gave the bag a kick; gave it another it as the bag swang back on its chain.
Was it too much to ask for things to go right just once on this mission? Why did they keep getting waylaid by serendipitous bullcrap? Why did every deal he made turn to ash? Why did someone sabotage the Augments' re––
"Is everything alright, Captain?"
Jim jumped; spun to find his First Officer standing in the gym's door.
"Spock!" He took a deep breath; tried to bring himself back into the room. "Didn't hear you come in."
His friend raised an eyebrow. "My apologies. You did not respond to my hail. Is this a bad time?"
...He hadn't even heard the comm system go off.
"No, you're fine," Jim gestured to the punching bag. "Just blowing off some steam. Not a lot else to do while we're stuck here...Any word on how much longer it's gonna be?"
"Another twelve hours, according to Mister Scott," Spock said. "Although given his light tone, and the typical accuracy of his estimates, I am willing to speculate that we may be at warp in a fraction of that time."
...Well, there was some good news, at least...
"Still no sign of Klingons?"
"The same ion burst that disrupted our warp engines still appears to be masking our energy signature," Spock confirmed. "Once we are completely clear of the nebula, we will need to return to warp as quickly as possible to avoid detection."
"That's...great," Jim rested a hand against the punching bag; gave it a little push."You know, with all the meticulous mapping projects Starfleet runs, it seems like someone would've bothered to jot down that there's a freak cluster of pulsars along this chunk of the Klingon–Federation Neutral Zone. But maybe that's just me."
"It appears Khan may be to blame for this gap in our database," Spock said. "One of the facilities he attacked was a center for deep space telemetry; given its proximity to the Neutral Zone, it was likely analyzing information on this sector. Khan either stole or destroyed the base's logs when he attacked."
"And robbed us of critical information on a dangerous region of space," Jim muttered. "Definitely sounds like something Khan would do."
Spock nodded. "Unfortunately, it appears there is little that does not fit that description."
The captain huffed in agreement; gave the punching bag another jab.
"They found the bomb in Atlanta. It was the size of a tooth; buried under a swing. The admirals say it had enough stored potential energy to take out a city block. "
He knew Khan was willing to set off bombs in public places, but to deliberately target children was a step beyond what he'd thought that asshole was capable of.
"Then even if the worst should come to pass, Doctor McCoy's distress signal has already saved hundreds of lives," Spock noted. "I am certain that is something he would be relieved to know."
"...That's one way to think about it," Jim moved away from the punching bag; leaned against the rear wall. "We should've been there yesterday, Spock. B...Leonard should already be recovering in the medbay; Khan should be an Augment–sicle...and we should be combing over every scrap of technology that bastard stole to find the locations of the rest of the bombs."
"If we had gone around the nebula, then it would have taken us longer to reach the source of the distress signal than it appears it will now," Spock said. "This was still the most logical route we could have taken."
"I know," Jim sighed; shook his head. "And it keeps us away from Klingon space...at least as long as possible. The distress signal came from pretty deep into the Neutral Zone."
"I am aware...although according to my sister, that solar system is not one the Klingons normally monitor closely. Its lack of rare elements, along with the fact that the only habitable moon in the system cannot be accessed through transporter technology, led the Klingons to name the system 'Quel–Nok.' Roughly translated, it means: 'a waste of time.'"
"Glad you were able to get through to your sister." Though Jim still couldn't believe Spock hadn't told him about her. Seriously, was his reputation that bad or something? "Did she have any advice on trying to convince the Klingons that this is a peaceful mission?"
"Don't. Captain Burnham says the Klingons would take it as an insult. They would believe you think they are not intelligent enough to recognize an attack. If we are discovered, Burnham says we must tell the Klingons that we are pursuing an enemy threatening both the Federation and the Klingon Empire, and that we will not leave until the threat has been eliminated. The treaty permits us to enter the Neutral Zone in order to fight a common foe...If they interfere after we've claimed that right, they would appear dishonorable."
"Don't you think that might cause more problems?" Jim asked worriedly. "Khan's not really threatening them."
"That is not quite accurate, Captain," Spock said. "The surviving records from the Section–31 ship, the USS Vengeance, indicated that Khan was responsible for the destruction of Qo'nos' moon, Praxis. Burnham says this event forced the Klingons to divert a large portion of their assets away from war and to disaster relief; thus making Khan a mortal enemy of the Klingon Empire."
"If they know he did it," the captain pointed out. "You remember how covered up he was when we met him on Qo'nos: what are the odds they ever saw his face?"
"That is a possibility," Spock confirmed. "Which is why our mission will be greatly simplified if we can avoid detection. We narrowly avoided a conflict with the Klingons two years ago: the destruction of Praxis, and the Klingon's continuing war against the Romulan Empire, were both instrumental in that...but if the Klingons do choose to fight a war on two fronts, thousands, if not millions of Federation citizens could die."
"Way to take the pressure off," Jim snorted. "Wasn't like this mission wasn't dangerous enough without the whole fate of the Federation being dumped on our shoulders."
Spock came close to frowning. "...Captain, I am just relaying the facts. Becoming antagonistic does not improve our situation."
The captain grimaced.
...Yeah, his last comment had come out a lot harsher than he'd meant for it to be...
"I'm sorry, Spock," Jim sighed; slipped down the wall. "You've done a great job dealing with all this...but I just can't stop worrying. About everything. About what happens if the Klingons find us; about the bombs; about B...Leonard."
"I know you are afraid he will not be at those coordinates, but––"
"It's not just that." Although that was definitely part of it. "M'Benga says he's not sure what Leonard's psychological state's gonna be if...when...we find him. All that torture...all that isolation...by the time we get there, he'll've been completely alone for at least seventeen days."
Seventeen days of waiting; hoping desperately that someone got his message. Knowing that he's only days away from being forced to wake Khan up again…
God, what if he gave up before they got there? What the hell were they supposed to do if Khan ever woke up and found out what'd happened to his fam––
"Jim," Spock walked over; sat across from him. "I am aware that this has been difficult for you...but in the past week, your behavior has become erratic––far more so than I have ever seen. Bouts of anger...and what can only be described as...depression. As both your First Officer and your friend, I have no choice but to ask: have you stopped seeing Doctor M'Benga?"
The captain frowned. "Spock, I've been in the medbay more this week than in the past four months combined. I know I've been acting a bit off, but trust me: I'm not skipping out on my counseling sessions."
"Then are you physically ill? Because if you need to reduce your shifts in order to recover from something, I will gladly––"
"I'm fine," Jim smiled sadly. It was nice to see his friend cared. "Not sick. I've just been needed in the medbay this week."
"For what purpose? You do not have a medical degree. You claim your physical and mental health are not the reason for your visits, and yet given that there have not been any serious injuries reported in the past few days, the only other logical reason for you to be needed in the medbay would be if…"
Spock trailed off; his eyes widened minisculely. Jim was able to pinpoint the moment his first officer made the realization.
"...Captain...is there something wrong with the Augments?"
And there it was.
...He'd wanted to keep Spock out of this. To protect his friend from the consequences if this all went sideways...but in truth, he needed Spock's advice. He needed the man's brilliant, analytical, logical mind to help him figure out what the hell he should do.
"...Yeah, Spock...there is." Jim rubbed his face in his hands; looked at his friend with exhausted eyes. "It's...well...About a week ago, M'Benga, Chapel and Scotty were doing diagnostics on the cryotubes. They found an...anomaly...and ended up running some more intensive medical scans on our...passengers. Their findings were conclusive: someone's operated on the female Augments."
Spock's eyebrow twitched up in surprise. "What kind of operation?"
...God, this was hard to say.
"They're...um..." A deep breath in; out. "They've all had...hysterectomies. Somebody...sterilized them."
Spock...blinked. He clearly hadn't expected that.
"...And you believe this was done in our time?"
Jim gave a small nodd. "Had to've been. M'Benga's adamant that even with enhanced healing abilities––which not all of the Augments seem to have, by the way––the medical procedures in the late Twentieth Century would've left substantial scarring. It took a trip through the full–body molecular scanner for any signs of scarring to show up in the Augments. Only top–of–the–line modern medical tech can do that."
"Then Admiral Marcus must have ordered Section–31 to––"
"Wasn't them." Although that would've made the situation so much simpler. "At least, not under Admiral Marcus. The medical scans M'Benga took of the female Augment we captured at Alvin's base––Zuleika Walker––showed that all her organs were intact. If this was something Marcus ordered done to prevent the Augments from reproducing, he would've done it to all of them right away. There's still a chance that it happened under Admiral Yearling's command, but Christine...Doctor Chapel swears that she never even heard a rumor of something like this being done to the Augments. She thinks it was done after Khan's escape."
God...all that time spent moving the Augments...what if they'd been delivering them to the butchers that…
...This...this never should've happened.
There were hundreds of laws on the books stating explicitly that the only one with the right to decide whether or not a sentient individual reproduced was that individual themself. Period. Didn't matter if they were a member of an endangered species, or if they had a biology that meant reproducing would bring about the end of their lifecycle, or if they were a prisoner with superpowered genes: the Federation was supposed to respect and protect the individual's reproductive choices; not take them away...
"Jim, Zuleika Walker must be reexamined immediately," Spock urged. "If she has also undergone that procedure, then we will have definitive proof of when this travesty occurred. Has Starfleet Command given permission for her to be removed from her cryotube?"
...And there was another part Spock was really, really not going to like.
"Spock...I haven't told Starfleet Command about M'Benga's findings. As far as they know, we haven't even tried to take any of the Augments out of cryostasis."
Spock's eyebrows jumped into his bangs. "Captain, the last time you withheld information of this magnitude from the admirals, they took your command. You must––"
"This isn't like Nibiru," Jim hoped his friend could read the sincerity in his eyes. "I'm not withholding this information from the admirals because we broke some insanely strict directive: I'm doing it to protect the crew."
"I fail to see how risking being removed as Captain of the Enterprise in the middle of a time–sensitive rescue operation could possibly protect the crew."
"That's because you still don't know everything," Jim sighed. "Spock, when we were at Starbase Eleven, your counterpart from the other timeline contacted me. He's doing pretty well, by the way; even adopted a couple kids."
"T'Nara and Sevok," Spock nodded. "He introduced me to them four months ago. They appear to be intelligent children...if understandably troubled. But I do not understand what they have to do with your decision to––"
"They don't have anything to do with it," the captain stared at his hands. "I'm just...um...well...So Spock––the other Spock––he caught wind of Khan's escape and offered to help. Apparently, where Khan's concerned, everything's gone so differently in this timeline that he's fine with giving us some pointers. Same goes for a couple other events...Spock's also worked with the Vulcan High Council to make sure New Vulcan was built on a world that hadn't experienced any planet–shattering natural disasters in his timeline."
"Of course. That is a very logical way to approach his unique situation. And what did he suggest we do about Khan?"
"At first, negotiation," Jim huffed. "Pretty much the exact deal that I offered Khan before Admiral Alston screwed everything up...but the conversation went waaay off track real fast."
"Why?"
...Time to rip the bandaid off.
"...Guess what planet was at the top of the 'Do Not Colonize' list the other Spock gave to the Vulcan High Council?"
Spock's eyes went wide. "No...Are you saying...Ceti Alpha V?"
"Ceti Alpha V," Jim confirmed. "Apparently the neighboring planet, Ceti Alpha VI, is going to spontaneously explode in about six years. Spock didn't know why. But he did know that the fallout is going to decimate all life on Ceti Alpha V. If Khan had agreed to colonize that planet––"
"Then the Augments would have been slaughtered," Spock finished, clearly stunned. "You truly believe the President of the Federation knew about this when she authorized the colony?"
Jim nodded. "Absolutely. From what Spock––the other Spock––said, there's no way the Federation Council was in the dark on this either."
"...I see." Microexpressions of revulsion, sadness, and fury crossed Spock's face. "...And you believe Starfleet Command know about the planet as well?"
And that was the trillion credit question, wasn't it?
"I'm not sure," the captain shrugged. "They can't all've been told. If Admiral Alston knew, he wouldn't've tried to make us kill that Augment when we trapped Khan."
"But there is a high probability that at least a few of the admirals in Starfleet Command were made aware of Ceti Alpha V's fate," Spock concluded. "And without knowing who those admirals may be, or if the two events are connected, you do not know if alerting our superiors to the sterilization of the female Augments will lead to an investigation, or an attempt to eliminate the evidence...including anyone who knows the sterilization took place."
"Yeah, that's pretty much it." He was pretty sure his logic was sound on this one. "I...I don't know who to turn to on this, Spock. I don't know if there's anyone in Starfleet Command I can turn to."
His friend was silent for a decent slice of eternity...then let out a suppressed sigh. "...Is there anything we can do to reverse the damage that has been done to the Augments?"
"That's what I've been trying to figure out for the past week." Jim felt a twinge behind his left eye. "If we were still handing these people over to Khan in a couple days, then there'd be nothing we could do. M'Benga says lab–grown organs take weeks to form properly. But if this mission succeeds, the decision shifts to the danger of surgical complications; the risk of rejection...Not to even start on the ethical implications of whether or not to replace something like an entire freaking uterus without telling the patient it was ever gone...just to name a few of my headaches."
"...Have you given any thought to what you will do if we discover that Starfleet Command knew about both these atrocities?"
"Only every time I try to sleep," the captain laughed bitterly. "But I'm trying to be hopeful. It just seems like a lot of overkill for one operation. All the Federation Council would've had to do was let Khan's people peacefully settle on Ceti Alpha V; wait for the planet next door to go boom...and let the universe think it was all just a trick of fate. This sterilization bullcrap reeks of someone lower in the food chain who was afraid of the Augments starting a generational war."
...And as much as he hated himself for the thought...part of Jim couldn't help but wonder if that was a valid concern.
Generations of Augments, with values molded by people Khan called his 'family…' It was easy to see how that could end in a bloodbath.
...No.
Free will existed. And they had only ever met a handful of Augments.
There was no reason any children the Augments had had to act like Khan.
...And fear of what some hypothetical person might do did not give anyone the right to choose if someone else could have children...Augmented or not.
"If your instincts prove to be true," Spock's voice called him back to the room. "Then we are likely looking at two independent assaults on a defenseless population...I do not ask this lightly...but have you considered that the sterilizations may be an act of revenge? We have a crewmember with extensive knowledge of Augment physiology...one who has lost a loved one to Khan's rampages. Do you think––"
"It wasn't her," Jim pinched the bridge of his nose; grimaced as he lost battle with the migraine charging into his brain. "Even beyond absolute shock and disgust I saw on her face while she and M'Benga filled me in on this crap, Chri...Doctor Chapel was never alone with the Augments that the Shenzhou brought to us. Not even after the scans confirmed what we'd already feared. I know we can't completely clear her until we check out Zuleika Walker again...but I'd stake my command on Chapel's innocence in this."
...God, he hoped those words didn't come back to bite him. He liked Christine. He felt sick even thinking that she might've––
"...Jim," Spock snapped him out of his head again. "If we cannot find proof connecting a member of Starfleet Command or the Federation Council to these crimes, the accusations could destroy not only our lives, but the lives of everyone we have ever served with. Before we act––"
"We gather as much evidence as possible," Jim gave him a wry grin. "Your Alternate–Timeline–Self is already working his contacts to find out more about the Ceti Alpha V bullcrap; we need to focus finding out who operated on our prisoners. What those assholes planned to do to these Augments were as unjust as they were immoral, and it's our duty to set it right."
