James T Kirk: The Next Generation

Tools…

Trianguli Gamma VI

Montgomery Scott opened his eyes, and he felt refreshed. He breathed in some fresh air, and then sat up in bed. The early morning light was still a few hours off, but Scotty could sleep no more. His many years in Starfleet had made him accustomed to, at most, five to six hours of sleep a night and nothing more.

And, since he usually dozed off while going over the schematics of ancient sailing ships or modern starships, around 10pm or so, it meant that getting up at 4am was routine.

He stepped out of bed, and waddled in the dark towards the table in the center of his quarters so as to find his glasses. He switched on the lamp stand that sat on the table, and before reaching for his glasses, he looked around and was amazed at how well his eyes could see on that morning, sans the glasses. As it had turned out, Scotty was determined to be just as allergic to modern vision corrective methods as Kirk had been.

A good pair of glasses did wonders for him, but on this morning, before putting his glasses on, he was seeing things from across the room that he hadn't been able to seen for decades.

"Maybe eat'n all them carrots has finally paid off," Scotty said to himself.

It was at that moment, when Scotty looked down at the table, when he knew something was very strange. He had reached for his glasses and had decided not to put them on, and had rested his hand on the table. But there was a very strange look to his hands; they were young appearing; very young.

Stunned at what he saw, Scotty pulled his hand back... and then, as curiosity gripped him again, he looked at both of his hands, putting them right before his eyes.

And Sure enough; both of his hands looked as they had looked decades earlier; when he was a younger man. Then he looked down again and noticed that the girth he had put on his waist over the years was gone as well.

If his hands were younger, and he was lighter in weight, then what about his face? He placed his hands on his face and sure enough; the wrinkles he had felt for so many years were now gone. But the touch of his own hands upon his face had gone far enough; he needed to see what he was feeling with his hands… with his eyes!

Scotty left his glasses on the table, and headed over to the tiny bathroom that was included in his quarters. There was room for a sink, and a place of a hairbrush and other grooming items. But what Scotty saw in his reflection made him forget all about that; what he saw was a much younger man.

Scotty estimated that he looked as he did during first or second year of the Enterprise's original mission.

"It must be a," Scotty smiled at the sight of look of youth in the mirror, "blessed miracle."

And why not, Scotty asked himself in his mind. If Jim Kirk could look young all over again, then why couldn't he, and, more the point, why couldn't Sulu or Spock.

It was at that instant that Scotty hustled away from the mirror and towards the entrance to his quarters. If being on Trianguli Gamma VI had somehow made him look and feel younger, then perhaps the same thing had happened to Sulu, or Spock. They were both far older than Scotty, due to the fact that unlike Scotty or Kirk, Spock and Sulu had lived all the way to the modern era without the help of a Transporter gimmick.

Scotty stepped outside of his quarters. The first whispers of dawn were starting to stream over the distance hills, and then suddenly Scotty heard a strange sound; it was a yell, and it was getting closer.

He turned and saw, quite by surprise, a figure in dark clothing running directly toward him. Before Scotty could do anything, the sudden stranger leaped into the air and tackled Scotty, throwing him to the ground. Before Scotty could scramble to his feet, his unknown attacker rolled up and squatted on Scotty's chest, keeping him on the dirt ground.

"Who are yuh!" Scotty demand, "let me go before I clobb'a yuh!"

"Scotty," the attacker answered, "it's me…Sulu!"

Scotty looked up at his attacker, and sure enough, the smiling face of Hikaru Sulu was staring down at him. Not the 147 year old Sulu, but the young Sulu whom Scotty had known all those decades ago on the Enterprise.

"Sulu," Scotty said, "would yuh let me up?"

Sulu rolled off of his old friend, and Scotty stood up.

"It looks like it happened to you too," Sulu said. "Montgomery, look at us!" Sulu said, excitedly, "We're young again. Sorry about running down on you like that and tackling you but I've so wanted to do that ever since I got old and could barely walk."

"Well, yuh could have warned me," Scotty said. "How could this have happened?"

"I don't know," Sulu said, "However, I'm sure if Spock were here he would say it was…"

"…Fascinating," Spock said, as he walked up to the two of them. And just like his two friends, Spock was no longer his aged self; but the young Spock they had known over a century ago.

Bajor

A Star Fleet search operation was being operated from Ben Sisko's home. Several security teams had gathered, including two teams of Klingons. They had been sent to Bajor by Chancellor Martok to assist in the search for Ben Sisko's daughter, and Jim Kirk's wife.

The Bajoran government had given the go ahead for the teams to search the several mountain ranges where it was determined the two hostages, Rebecca and Myran, were being held. Sisko and Captain Kira, who had been sent by Admiral Janeway to assist Sisko in anyway, were giving out the team assignments.

Sisko, who worried very much about his daughter, took a moment to sip from a glass of water. Far in the distance he saw two people standing on a hill. Sisko could not make out who they were, so he picked up one of the high powered binoculars that were sitting one of the tables. Sisko put the binoculars to his eyes and, after focusing them, he couldn't recognize the first person he saw, but he recognized the person's species. They came from the planet Trianguli Gamma VI. And then he adjusted the binoculars to see who the other person was and instantly a cold chill spread through Sisko's entire body. The face of the second person was one Sisko recognized immediately; Gul Dukat!

Continued…