Betelgeuse II was a rather pleasant planet, Kirk had to agree. By using his charms, he had managed to get the Enterprise's crew a two-week shore-leave here. But Kirk wasn't here to adore the lush greenery or the blue sky or even the mountains in the distance, no, he had come here to visit his nephew Peter. After his brother and sister-in-law had died just two years prior, Kirk had not found the time to actually care about Peter. He was here to rectify this to at least some degree.
Kirk followed a path that led through some rather dense shrubbery. Its flowers smelled wonderfully. He stopped in front of a big modern house; its kind was typically found on Terran colony worlds. He could see a small play ground and a vegetable garden on either side of it. Kirk pushed the buzzer at the door. Soon, the door was opened. A middle-aged lady stood behind it, smiling at the man in the Starfleet uniform. "You must be Captain Kirk.", the lady stated. Kirk nodded. "I'm Nathalie Bennett. I run this institution. Please follow me."
Kirk was led inside and up the stairs. "Are you Peter's only living relative?", Miss Bennett asked. "No. He still has a maternal grandmother, last I checked. But the woman is almost ninety." "I see.", they had left the stairs and were now walking down a hallway. Miss Bennett stopped. "This is the library. Peter is in there.", she explained and opened the door. Kirk stepped inside. "I will leave you alone.", Miss Bennett told him.
Inside, there were three children, a girl and a boy that were younger than his nephew and Peter himself. All of them looked up. Peter shut the book he had been reading and put it back onto the shelf. "Uncle Jim!", Peter exclaimed, earning angry glances from the other children. "Let's go talk in my room.", he said and pulled Kirk after him.
They climbed another flight of stairs. From there, Peter led him to a small room. Kirk looked around it. It was simple but comfortable. A window opened to the garden. Peter sat down in in front of his desk in his chair, while Kirk sat on the bed. "Why are you here?", his nephew asked. "I wanted to see you.", Kirk told him. "You haven't visited once in two years, why now?", Peter retorted. "We were away on mission. I didn't have a chance to.", Kirk tried to explain, slightly taken aback by his nephew's harsh words. To his shock, Peter started to cry a little. Not really knowing what to do, he moved over and sheepishly laid an arm around him. "I miss them too.", he confessed.
Slowly, Peter regained his composure. "For how long are you going to be here?", he asked, still sniffling. "Two weeks. After that, we have a mission to Alpha Centauri.", Kirk replied. "Can I come with you?", Peter begged. Kirk smiled a little. "I'm afraid that's not possible. Space is no place for a child." "I'm almost fifteen.", Peter protested. Kirk nodded. "And in three years, you can enter the Academy if you want to. But not now." Peter crossed his arms. "Can I at least have a look around the ship? Last time, I didn't really have a chance to do so." Kirk nodded again. "Why not? When would you like to do so?", he wanted to know. "Right now?", Peter proposed, and Jim had the uncanny feeling that he was sitting across his brother and not his brother's son.
Miss Bennett had agreed to their little outing under the condition that Peter would be returned by dinner time. As it turned out, the children were all on school holiday, meaning Kirk had the whole day to spent with his nephew. They were now standing in the garden in front of the house. Kirk whipped out his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise.", he called. "Enterprise here.", Scotty answered. The good soul of engineering had offered to man the transporter so that his people could enjoy their shore-leave. "Two to beam up.", the Captain ordered. "Aye, Sir.", the engineer answered. Kirk put the communicator away and a gold aura engulfed both of them.
Kirk could already see the Enterprise's transporter room, when all of a sudden, an extremely bright light shone into his face. It was dark for an undeterminable amount of time. Slowly, the world around them materialized again. "What happened?", Kirk asked as soon as he had completely materialized.
It took a few seconds for him until he realized that he was speaking to Scotty, but the ship around him was definitely not the Enterprise. In a split second he turned his head, to find his nephew next to him; unharmed, it seemed. "A minor malfunction. But I could fix it.", the strange Scotty answered him. "This isn't the Enterprise.", Peter commented while looking around. "No.", Kirk agreed. "Enterprise?", Scotty asked, looking rather flabbergasted. "What in the name are you talking about?"
The whole ship was kept in dark colors and seemingly rather old. They had materialized on a cargo platform. Scotty was wearing a dark-blue leather jacket and looking at Kirk's uniform in awe and confusion. "I think we have a problem.", Kirk told Peter.