An hour later, Kirk stepped onto the bridge. McCoy glanced over at him, most of his irritation at the Admiral gone by then. "My turn with that speed-learner, I take it?" McCoy asked.
"Ie, Bohw'nns," Kirk answered, his Rihanha accent absolutely perfect. "Aeuthn qiu oaii mnek'nra?"
"Ie, enriov," Kaithlin answered, seeing that McCoy did not understand a single word.
"Daelft," Kirk answered, smiling. He glanced over at McCoy, and jerked a thumb in the direction of the door he had used to enter. "Urru hwai etrehh, Bohw'nns. Ssuej-d'ifv?"
Kaithlin translated. "He says to go ahead and use it."
Kirk chuckled. "Rhe've?" Kaithlin laughed at his small joke, and they both succeeded in confusing everyone else on the bridge. Kirk waved his hand in dismissal. "Ie, ie Bohw'nns. Urru hawi etrehh."
McCoy didn't like not knowing what his friend was saying, but he got the gist of it. "All right, I'm going. See you in a while, Jim."
And as McCoy left the bridge, he heard the odd sound of Kirk laughing in tandem with Kaithlin. This is getting REALLY disconcerting... McCoy grumbled to himself. I wonder what they find so amusing?
~~~~~~~
With Kirk's help, Kaithlin was able to construct two more Rihanha speed-learning devices. Sulu and Talbot went to their small quarters to use the devices on themselves. When McCoy returned, slightly annoyed but speaking Rihanha near perfectly, Spock took the opportunity to learn the Romulan language also.
McCoy looked over at Kirk and mock-saluted. "Dokht'r Mak'khoi fraeta vr'talla, rekkhai!" he declared.
Kirk's eyes sparkled in amusement. "Aefvadh, Dokht'r. Llilla'hu." Kirk turned back to face the "front" of the bridge. "Ta'rhae," he ordered, and the viewscreen activated. Outside was the empty Hangar Deck, with a few crewmen working on the outside of Aehallh. The modifications to the outside hull were nearly complete, and soon afterwards the Aehallh would depart.
Kirk spotted Captain Styles outside the ship, walking around to the rear boarding hatch. Kirk sighed and put a hand over his eyes. "Hia..." he muttered. "Sybok, sthea'hwill pungere Khre'Riov Stai'hlls."
Luckily, Sybok had spent enough time in exile to know the basics of Rihanha. He nodded. "Au'e rekkhai." Then he left the bridge, heading for the rear boarding hatch.
A few minutes later, a fascinated Captain Styles was led to the bridge by the Vulcan. "Quite a ship you've got here, Jim," Styles said. "Even for a rusty old Klingon bucket of bolts."
To the convenience of everyone, Kaithlin and Korrd had managed to get the Universal Translator working on a Rihanha-to-Anglish basis. Kirk understood Styles this time, and was only a little disturbed by the fact that all his Federation Standard words seemed to elude him. He just couldn't remember the meanings of the words, and Rihanha seemed so much easier.
Kirk pointed a finger in Styles' direction. "Vaed'rae, aihr arham Aehallh, hwiiy dhat afw'ein, Khre'Riov lloann'na!" The translator computer rendered it as, "Listen, this is my Aehallh, and you have no reason for insult, Fed captain!"
Styles looked over at him, concerned that he had somehow offended the Admiral, and relaxed when he saw the young Romulan - no, human - grin at him. It was getting hard to keep species straight...
"Khre'Riov Kiurrk..." Sybok called, and winced at the way Rihanha mangled Kirk's name.
The Admiral also visibly shuddered, and then turned to the Vulcan. "Ie, Sybok?" he asked, ignoring the mutilation of his name.
"Ta krenn..." Sybok pointed to the viewscreen, which was still showing the Excelsior's Hangar Deck and a few crewmen.
Kirk looked up to see a few humanoid figures in the shadows. One lifted a small object, and an instant later a gray blur shot out and impacted Aehallh's hull. The ship rocked on its landing struts, and Kirk had to grab the armrests of his chair to keep from falling out.
"Vah'Areinnye?!" McCoy shouted, which translated into "What the hell?!"
Kirk whirled to face Styles. "Vah-ohrie hwi bont lloa'nn'rii, Stai'lls?!" he demanded.
"I didn't order it, Jim!" Styles replied fearfully, putting his hands up. "Whoever they are, they're acting on their own!"
A second impact rocked the ship again. "Rhae etrehh, rhae ie'yyak!" Kirk commanded, immediately snapping into command mode. "S'tr-ifv rhae!"
All around the bridge, the computers powered up. Korrd reported the phasers were charged, and shields were up. Kirk turned to Styles, and the translation of his speech came through almost at the same time as his Rihanha words. "Styles, I suggest you get the hell off Aehallh before we have to get out of here," the computer translated Kirk's speech.
Styles paused for a moment, then ran for the back of the ship. Kirk watched him dive down the ramp and take cover behind some boxes. If anything, the rate of fire increased as soon as Styles was out of the way.
The rear hatch closed behind Styles, and the ship shook with repeated blasts from a phaser rifle of some kind. Sulu and Talbot rushed to the bridge, both looking rather startled and concerned.
"Rommie freaks!" Kirk's heightened hearing could pick up from outside. "Damn Roms on our ship!" "Styles must be crazy!" "We're in mutiny, men!" And then cheering.
"Korrd, sthea'hwill hna'h!" Kirk ordered, and the Klingon obligingly fired the engines up.
Aehallh rose up off the floor of Excelsior's Hangar Deck, and streaked out the open doors to the safety of the stars. The larger Starfleet-made starship did not pursue, nor did they fire.
"Sir, what happened?" Sulu asked in Rihanha.
"Mutineers," Kirk replied in the same language. "Some bigots who evidently don't care for anyone who voluntarily becomes Rihannsu. They fired at us, and we were forced to leave."
Talbot sighed. "Exiled from Earth, exiled from the Excelsior...we're having some bad luck today, aren't we?"
"Well, I guess that only leaves us with one place to go," Kirk said.
"Oh? What's that?" McCoy asked warily.
"ch'Rihan," Kirk said softly, and everyone went silent. ch'Rihan - known to the former Federation as Romulus, the Rihannsu homeworld.
Kirk looked down at Sulu. "Mister Sulu, set course for ch'Rihan. Maximum warp."
"Aye sir," Sulu said quietly.
~~~~~~~
Outside the ship, a white-robed figure floated, unaffected by the vacuum of space. It slowly shook its head sadly, and disappeared in a flash of light.
~~~~~~~
Elsewhere in the galaxy, wars were being fought over possession of Federation territory. Klingon space tripled, Romulan space quadrupled, and the Gorn began to move in on the rest. Skirmishes broke out among the Orions, the Andorians, and the Tellarites. The Tholians, the Metrons, and the Medusans advanced their empires to the very edge of explored territories, and millions died in their wake.
And elsewhere in the galaxy, a group of machine-beings began an early advance on that area of space. The Hortas and the Sulamids were slaughtered by the thousands. The Neuralites, finally at peace with one another, were executed en masse by the Excalbians. The Deirr fled their homeworld only to be taken prisoner by the Cardassians. The Klaha, the Eyren, and the !'hew were annihilated when a Troyian triggered a supernova on accident.
And during the same time, the Ferengi stole valuable property on Elaas and were summarily massacred within the month. The Bajorans fell to the Vians. The Talosians' planet broke apart in an explosion set by the Kelvans. The First Federation emerged to aid the Denevans against a re-invasion of the blastoneurons, and were blown out of the stars by a second Doomsday Machine. The Capellans were sold as slaves by the Triskelion Providers. Zeon and Ekos began a nuclear war, and both planets were completely wiped out.
At another place, at the same time, the Kohms and the Yangs rekindled their war, with no one left to stop them from global holocaust. The Melkots destroyed the Yonadans when their malfunctioning ship strayed into Melkotian space. The Platonians achieved spaceflight and allied themselves with the Orions, who were quick to exploit their talents in raids on the Eminiar sister planets. A raging epidemic accidentally introduced by the Vulcans killed all inhabitants of Gideon. Stratos resisted invasion by Kzinti, and almost all the natives were killed or permenantly disabled. The Skorr began a galactic war that rendered almost the entire Beta Quadrant unliveable.
And all that which came to be happened because of one second's difference.