A/N: Welcome to the 50th chapter! Greetings from the overtired writer who has been working a landscaping job in pre-dawn mornings and who completely forgot both Monday and Thursday to post the next chapters! I cannot promise I shan't forget again next week because I have six paintings commissioned as well, and I need to sleep at some point. Also, hail to the latter half of my twenties! I feel the serotonin draining as I type...
Another day, another away team livestream from the comfort of the bridge. "Better than Youtube," Elle said conversationally, as they watched the small anthropology and security contingent scout the planet.
"Youtube," Kirk said. "That's the one with the videos?"
Elle gave him a thumbs-up.
"That planet looks like paradise," Kirk said wistfully, as the security team meandered through a meadow, two-thirds of a way to frolicking.
"Very nearly, captain," Spock said, his head in his scanner. "It's incredibly similar to Earth, one might almost say a perfect copy."
"What are the odds on such duplication?"
"Astronomical, Captain. The relative size, age and composition of this planet makes it highly improbable that it would evolve similarly to Earth in any way."
"Thrice is enemy action," Kirk said slowly. "Elle, any chance this is the Aegis at play again?"
Elle shook her head. "I don't know yet. I need more context."
On screen, the anthropology team rounded a copse of trees and came upon a metallic obelisk. "What is that?" one of the anthropology nerds asked eagerly, moving forward.
Elle yelped and grabbed at Kirk's arm. "Ohhhh, wait, wait, I know this episode. We need to beam them back before somebody says the magic words."
"What?"
"That obelisk reacts to, um, communicators. No. Musical notes. Something. That causes amnesia." Elle bounced on her toes. "We need to beam them back before anybody triggers the thing."
Kirk nodded and poked the comm button on his chair. "Transporter room, we're recalling our away team. Beam them back immediately from their present positions."
"Aye, captain."
On-screen, the away team let out yelps of surprise as they were beamed up mid-sentence. The video stream cut off. There was a hail from the transporter room. "What's the big idea?" the anthro nerd asked plaintively and added, "sir?"
"That obelisk contains alien machinery and is still active, possibly hostile," Kirk replied crisply. "Apologies for cutting your mission short, gentlebeings. Standby for further information."
"Aye, sir."
Kirk turned to Elle. "All right," he said, "how does that thing cause amnesia?"
"It's an obelisk that belongs to the Preservers, who I think are the parents of the Aegis, um, so it is related? But it's a language based on musical tones, so in the show, you, Spock, and Bones go down-"
"Thus violating every single safety protocol in the books," Spock murmured, radiating sheer disbelief at the illogical-ness of human entertainment.
Elle ignored him. He said that every time. "-And you say 'Kirk to Enterprise', and get into the obelisk. Something zaps you and you lose your memory. You get out somehow and find the natives. Then there's a whole thing, where you're living with them, and Spock has to go try and divert the asteroid-"
"Speaking of which, we can only remain in orbit another ten minutes," Sulu reminded them.
"-But it doesn't work, and it doesn't need to, because the obelisk thing is an asteroid diverter," Elle finished triumphantly. "So you go back in and push buttons based on the musical notes and divert the asteroid and it's all very sad. I mean exciting."
"Why is it sad?" Kirk asked.
"It's not," Elle said, giving him a wide smile. "You save a planet. That's not sad."
"Elle?"
She couldn't lie to the captain. "What's the first thing a Jim Kirk would do when relieved of all burdens of command?" she asked him, instead, trying to use what Spock called the Socratic method.
His eyebrows knit together. "Oh."
"Yeah."
He shrugged. "I'd really prefer not to have amnesia, so, Mr. Spock? As Chief Science Officer, how would you like to proceed?"
Spock looked at Elle. "Does the obelisk still work?"
"It still works," Elle replied confidently.
He quirked an eyebrow. "In percentages, how confident are you?"
Elle chewed on her lip. "Well, it's a Preserver artifact, and those things work for ever, and the fact that there hasn't been an asteroid strike for at least the last five hundred years even though this planet's in the plane for it, I'd say... ninety-five percent?"
Spock's eyebrow went all the way up. "And if we stay here and we are not able to interpret the obelisk's controls? What plan of action do you suggest?"
"Well, tractor beaming it won't work, because we already won't get there in time like in the show," Elle said. "And if we have..."
"Fifty-eight days," Sulu supplied.
"Fifty-eight days to come up with a solution..." Elle squinched her face into a scowl, racking her brain for related events. "We can change the gravitational constant of the universe?"
Spock's other eyebrow went up. "We cannot," he said severely.
Elle huffed. "No, that's just the, there was an episode like that, where they had to divert an asteroid, or a planetoid or something, and Q said to change the gravitational constant of the unvierse, but Geordi, the Enterprise, they did something with the warp field, and changed the gravity of the moon or something, and kinda looped it out and around the planet."
"Spock?" Kirk asked, deadpan.
"Plausible," Spock said, nodding slowly.
"And if that doesn't work we can just blow it up!" Elle said blithely. "And then the phaser crews can play whack-a-mole with the leftover bits. Coupla' torpedos oughta do it."
Sulu and Chekov broke into identical coughing fits.
"Well there is that," Kirk said, covering his mouth with his hand. "You don't think the natives would be confused by the resulting meteor showers and bursts of light in the sky?"
Elle turned to give him a Look. "You mean the thing that shoots asteroids out of the sky that they live right next to?"
He sniggered. "Good point." He grinned. "Well, Mr. Spock?"
"Elle's analysis is satisfactory," Spock said, "though her penchant for explosions is a matter for further discussion."
Elle exchanged glances with Chekov and he shook his head. She grinned.
"I believe we should attempt to open the obelisk with the appropriate 'magic words,'" Spock said, managing to not suffocate on the illogical phrase. "And if it is still active, I believe we are safe in remaining in orbit, captain. I recommend starting a team on modifying the warp field for gravitational warping, in case we cannot figure the cypher in time."
"Logical," Kirk said dryly.
"One would hope so," Spock said primly, and the captain sniggered.
"All right," Kirk said. "Mr. Spock, pick your teams."
Elle followed Spock down to the science departments and watched the mad scramble as people reported to the away mission or got started on asteroid-deflecting theories. "Are you going or staying?" she asked.
"I will beam down," he said, "assuming I was the one who figured the cypher in the episode."
"Yeah." She grimaced. "I mean, you were looking for a missing Jim Kirk so there was a lot of tension in the discovery, but yeah."
"As we have the top xenolinguistic officers, a contingent of cryptographers, and two musical theorists on our crew, I do not believe that decyphering the language will be as tension-ridden as you saw it in your episode," Spock said dryly.
"Yeah, probably not." She leaned her hip against the nearest table.
Spock worked on the computer console for a few moments in silence and then asked, "If the captain had no memories..."
She looked at him curiously.
"Was he happy?" he asked, looking Supremely Uncomfortable.
Elle shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Elle."
She folded her arms and turned away. "It's not going to happen so there's no point in discussing it. It's not logical."
"A burden shared is a burden halved," Spock said gently.
Elle made a face. "There's no burden. You can probably guess anyway, but it didn't happen so it's fine."
"Kaiidth," Spock agreed. "What is, is. Come, we need to prepare the away team."
He was true to his word and didn't bring it up again. Elle couldn't help thinking about it, though, the rest of the day.
"Elle?"
She glanced up at the captain guiltily. "Sorry, what?"
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine." She picked up the book and tried to put her attention back on the page.
He touched her wrist, lowering the book. "Elle, look at me, please."
She met his golden eyes reluctantly. "Yes, sir?"
"What's the matter?" he asked. "You've been off this whole mission. Is it the Preserver obelisk?"
"No," she said, fidgeting. "That's really cool, actually."
"The asteroid?"
She shook her head.
"The Prime Directive?" he pressed.
"Nooo."
He raised an eyebrow. "Me?"
"Not everything's about you," she said half-heartedly.
"I thought I was the main character," he protested, mock-arrogant as he puffed out his chest.
Elle couldn't help but laugh. "Whatever."
He smiled at her. "Seriously, though. What's on your mind?"
Elle sighed. "Nothing."
"That's an awful big sigh for nothing." He scooted over on the couch and offered an arm. "C'mere, kiddo."
She folded into his side and let him hug her. "It's just." She sighed again. "You were so happy, in that episode. And the other times, when you didn't know who you were, or you didn't have those responsibilities. You, you were made to be a hsuband, and a father, besides being a starship captain, and you take to it so easy, and-" She sighed. "It's not fair. You should get to have both. Be both."
He rested his chin on her head and squeezed her for a long second. "It isn't fair," he said. "But I had to choose between being responsible for four hundred and thirty lives, or two. And I made my decision, and I love my job."
"But you could be repsonsible for four hundred and thirty two," Elle pointed out.
"Being a husband and a father is a full-time job," he said. "And being a captain is twice as full-time, with no spouse to hand it off to."
"You have Spock," Elle said.
He snorted. "Married work partners we may be, but the final decision is always mine, as is the responsibility. And in this metaphor, he's definitely not my work wife."
"No, that's Bones," Elle said.
He snorted.
"What? Mothers do more scolding, and Bones has scolded everybody he's ever met, including god," Elle said.
He laughed. "Don't tell him that. Or at least don't tell him that without recording it."
She snickered. "I won't."
He kissed the top of her head. "Besides," he said, "I barely even parent you, and I'm your primary guardian."
"Yeah, but I understand why, and I have like, seven other authority figures," Elle said. "And if you find a family, they'd understand it too. It doesn't have to be either/or." She sighed. "I just want everybody to be happy."
He smiled and pressed another kiss to her forehead. "Thank you. But as it stands, there aren't any candidates, and I already have you, little miss troublemaker, so you don't need to worry about me. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Good girl. Do you feel like reading the next chapter or should we call it a day?"