"BONES!"
McCoy whirled around, startled, an empty hypo dangling from his fingertips. His blue eyes shot open wide with disbelief. Before he could look to Spock to confirm this obvious hallucination, Captain Kirk sprinted across the bay and grabbed his friend by both arms.
"Spock!"
"Captain, it is certainly a welcomed sight, but we were informed that you and the others were in captivity."
McCoy shot the Vulcan a venemous look, but Kirk was unaffected by Spock's emotionless observation.
"We..uh..subdued our captors, Mister Spock, and Chekov led us here. Is there any cha-"
Kirk's speech was torn away by a gasp, and he stumbled back, breaking his hold on McCoy and falling against the floor of ice with an audible bang.
"YES," a voice soothed, the words tickling the back of his mind, like a mental feather
, "SEE WHAT I SEE."
In front of Jim Kirk's eyes, he saw his ship explode, thousands of porcelien peices shattering outward into silent space. The light of the explosion blinded him but he no longer needed to see. He could FEEL it instead, the agony of four hundred twisting, burning bod- the pull of ice cold gravity so stro-the final words of someone familar, someone filled with so much regret, "Saints preserve us."
"Jim! Jim, what is it??? Jim, snap out of it...what did he say?" That last request was directed to someone else close by and without seeing them or even really hearing them, Kirk whispered those desperate words,
"Saints preserve us....Saints preserve....the ship. My ship, it's-"
"I COULD PREVENT THIS. THESE EVENTS HAVE YET TO TAKE PLACE."
"..please..." Captain Kirk reached beseechingly out into the darkness, felt the warm clutch of someone taking his hand, so far away, so barely noticable...
"I COULD PREVENT THIS. I COULD SHEILD YOUR SHIP FROM THE BLAST..."
"Jasha...please...you can...only you..." Kirk's voice sounded dreamlike and lethargic, even as adrenaline still pumped through his wild beating heart and his body still quaked from the sight of his doomed ship. A touch interupted his telepathic connection, as jolting as a sucker punch as fingertips touched his brow. And suddenly, Spock was there. Inside his mind and talking to the Jasha.
"You have the knowledge that the doctor and I have found. It was the Klingons who destroyed your villages, not the Federation. And now, the Federation protects you..."
Spock's thoughts trailed off and Kirk felt the grip of minds lessen, leaving him once again in his darkness.
"YOU...YOU...."
The Jasha's voice seemed subdued now, quieter and lacking it's earlier defiance.
"YOU are correct. THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE DOING. I CLEARLY FEEL THAT AS WELL. THANK YOU, MISTER SPOCK. I FEAR THAT I HAVE BEEN ACTING ON WHAT YOU CALL...revenge..."
Captain Kirk shuddered as the Jasha left his mind, abandoned it and left it feeling empty, yet gloriously uncrowded.
They all could hear her now, the landing party as well as the wandering, aching and aiding Solotans who filled the healing chambers.
"THAT LEAVES LITTLE CHOICE FOR ME...I MUST AIDE YOUR WEAK SHIP. I MUST...MAKE IT STRONG."
Pavel Chekov's leaden eyelids lowered and he found himself echoing in a hoarse whisper,
"...make it strong.. make"
Hikaru Sulu clenched his teeth, muffling the words, yet making them more determined,
"... it strong...make it str-"
Nyota Uhura took Sulu's shoulder in a clasp, latching onto his strength as she, too muttered those three magic words,
"strong...please, make it strong..."
An exhausted, brave Claude Laking echoed the plea,
"Make her strong...make"
McCoy joined the steadily growing chorus, recognizing the chant, feeling it roll off his tongue with little effort,
"make it strong..make her strong.."
Spock had his eyes shut and his face was casted in a stone mask, no one needing to know what he too was mumbling inwardly.
Captain Kirk felt the power of the strong minds around him, knew what this task would take, and under his breath, he muttered, the spoke then screamed with little control,
"MAKE HER STRONG! MAKE HER STRONG!!! MAKE HER-"
"INCOMING!"
The call came across the tension filled bridge, gaining a scowl from Mr. Scott as he glared at the viewscreen.
"Hold yer ground, laddies, sheilds up to fullest power!"
In the red green glow if his console, Giasco looked up with a thin frown on his long face,
"Sir, the sheilds cannot sustain another hit, not like the last on-"
A blow shook the ship from side to side, a circut in the ceiling of the bridge shorted out, showering the helm in a breif and beautiful surge of sparks.
"Giasco!"
"A breach, sir! A definate breach!," The acting science officer cut off his demand, "Sections 12a and starting to stretch to 12b!"
"Get engineerin'on it, on the double!!," SCott roared, then back towards the helm,
"Giasco! The sheilds!"
It was not a question, but an order.
"Down, sir, the foresheilds are defin-"
"INCOMING!"
"All power to the fore sheilds NOW! Don't bother charging those phasers yet...just...JUST..MAKE HER STRONG!"
Scott watched in desperation as the large beam of red light surged towards the Enterprise, his poor battered ship.
"No power, sir! I can't! I can't-"
"Impact in less thean ten seconds-"
"Saints preserve-"
The collision came, the red light bearing down on the viewscreen, then dissappearing in a sudden flame of green light. The ship did not quiver, did not even whimper with strain as the lime colored shroud covered her body. There was a breif hum as the lights on the bridge fluttered back to life, flooding the small space with light and sound. No one missed, however, the meek and redundant voice of the acting science officer as he swallowed hard and whispered with awe,
"All...all power is restored, captain."
The green glow then slid silently off the Enterprise, congealing into a round mass at the front like a glob of mint jelly, then pealing away at a violent speed, headed straight for the bird of prey.
Korth glared at the viewscreen, his Klingon blood raging in his veins with the fury of a thousand ancestors. He watched the photon torpedo charged at the broken Enterprise, prepared to see it explode into millions of satisfyingly, unsalvegable peices. But this strange new sheild, this Federation technology had suddenly sprang up and defeated Korth's favored and most powerful weaponry. What was that it was doing now?
What? It couldn't be-
Korth's eyes widened as the green projectile whizzed towards his ship at an uncomprehensible speed. His mouth opened to direct an order to his crew, but before the gruff Klingon words could exit his throat a blinding, horrible exploded into his mind. One word, all ablaze with green flame and anger and murderous rage worthy of a Klingon raid,
bortaS! bortaS! bortaS! bortaS!
revengerevengerevengerevengerevengerevengerevengere-
The incoming fire blossomed around the Klingon ship, the sound of the explosion swallowed completely by the surrounding space.
In a single chamber of the Solotan labrynth, the Jasha sat strained upon her nest of soft pillows. Her bulbous pale eyes surged with greenlights, like two landscapes of snow and pine. Her mouth worked, chewing a single word over and over again until she could no longer draw a breath. She gasped then and fell to her side, the lights in her eyes vanishing abruptly. She knew by the strange feeling inside of her that the strain was about to take her, the burden of so much anger, so much vengeful rage, even with several other minds projecting the threat along side of her own, had taken too much from her than could be replaced.
Yet, there was a last task she needed to preform before she allowed her soul to join with the former Jashas in the Resting Place. With a voice, filled more now with love and affection than hatred and pain, she crooned her final words to the Federation humans that had found themselves aiding her powerful telepathy with their own meager senses. She whispered this message with her mind, her mouth turning up just slightly at the edges, then answered the beckons of her ancestors.
"THANK YOU."
There were warm tears streaming from McCoy's eyes, though he couldn't imagine why. He reached for Spock's arm and the Vulcan turned with the hand not yet touching his skin.
"Is she...?"
McCoy voiced the question that all the other landing party members wished to know. They all had their eyes glued to Mister Spock, all asking.
Spock nodded.
A crackle of static interupted their silence and caused Uhura to jerk as if she'd been stung.
"Captain!" She cried with delight, bringing out her forgotten communicator from her belt. It crackled a second time, then chirped brightly. Scott's voice came through, loud and crisp on the small panel. "Scott to landin' party. Come in landin' party. PLEASE come in!"
"Scott!"
Kirk snatched the communicator from Uhura's able hands, and asked in a voice of worried tension,
"Scott, how's my ship?!?"
There was a hesistance in Scott's answer, as though each word had to be carefully thought out.
"Well, she be fine now, Cap'n, shipshape, sir...but my, do we have a tale to tell ye when ye get back on board. Speaking of which, Cap'n, the sheild surrounding Solo is down, and the transporter has had a miraculously recover'y, so we can beam ye up whenever ye see fit."
Kirk's eyes scanned his group of crew, filled at once with his familar good humor.
"We have a tale to tell you to, Scott, believe me. But for now, make that seven to beam up."
We will return to the Solotan surface soon, Kirk thought as the warm ticklish glow of the transporter enveloped him, to take care of the wounded citizens and in time, to ask about them joining the Federation as a permanent member.
Seven pillars of light vanished from the cold confines of the Solotan ice caverns, then reappeared into the mild, bright transporter room, each one still remembering the quiet and sincere THANK YOU that they had recieved, each one whispering back the same in their own minds. Respect and honor filling the words.
THANK YOU.
THE END.
Thank you for being so patient. It was hard to find the time to create more of this story, but I really enjoyed writing this and I hope to write more ST things as time goes on. I had no time to spell check this chapter, so I admit to a few spelling mistakes in here. Please forgive me for those, I will attempt to edit ALL of this at a later date so that its easier to read. But I just HAD to finish it, right away, now matter how rough. It was screaming at me to be finished. I think you'll understand. I hope you liked it. :)
McCoy whirled around, startled, an empty hypo dangling from his fingertips. His blue eyes shot open wide with disbelief. Before he could look to Spock to confirm this obvious hallucination, Captain Kirk sprinted across the bay and grabbed his friend by both arms.
"Spock!"
"Captain, it is certainly a welcomed sight, but we were informed that you and the others were in captivity."
McCoy shot the Vulcan a venemous look, but Kirk was unaffected by Spock's emotionless observation.
"We..uh..subdued our captors, Mister Spock, and Chekov led us here. Is there any cha-"
Kirk's speech was torn away by a gasp, and he stumbled back, breaking his hold on McCoy and falling against the floor of ice with an audible bang.
"YES," a voice soothed, the words tickling the back of his mind, like a mental feather
, "SEE WHAT I SEE."
In front of Jim Kirk's eyes, he saw his ship explode, thousands of porcelien peices shattering outward into silent space. The light of the explosion blinded him but he no longer needed to see. He could FEEL it instead, the agony of four hundred twisting, burning bod- the pull of ice cold gravity so stro-the final words of someone familar, someone filled with so much regret, "Saints preserve us."
"Jim! Jim, what is it??? Jim, snap out of it...what did he say?" That last request was directed to someone else close by and without seeing them or even really hearing them, Kirk whispered those desperate words,
"Saints preserve us....Saints preserve....the ship. My ship, it's-"
"I COULD PREVENT THIS. THESE EVENTS HAVE YET TO TAKE PLACE."
"..please..." Captain Kirk reached beseechingly out into the darkness, felt the warm clutch of someone taking his hand, so far away, so barely noticable...
"I COULD PREVENT THIS. I COULD SHEILD YOUR SHIP FROM THE BLAST..."
"Jasha...please...you can...only you..." Kirk's voice sounded dreamlike and lethargic, even as adrenaline still pumped through his wild beating heart and his body still quaked from the sight of his doomed ship. A touch interupted his telepathic connection, as jolting as a sucker punch as fingertips touched his brow. And suddenly, Spock was there. Inside his mind and talking to the Jasha.
"You have the knowledge that the doctor and I have found. It was the Klingons who destroyed your villages, not the Federation. And now, the Federation protects you..."
Spock's thoughts trailed off and Kirk felt the grip of minds lessen, leaving him once again in his darkness.
"YOU...YOU...."
The Jasha's voice seemed subdued now, quieter and lacking it's earlier defiance.
"YOU are correct. THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE DOING. I CLEARLY FEEL THAT AS WELL. THANK YOU, MISTER SPOCK. I FEAR THAT I HAVE BEEN ACTING ON WHAT YOU CALL...revenge..."
Captain Kirk shuddered as the Jasha left his mind, abandoned it and left it feeling empty, yet gloriously uncrowded.
They all could hear her now, the landing party as well as the wandering, aching and aiding Solotans who filled the healing chambers.
"THAT LEAVES LITTLE CHOICE FOR ME...I MUST AIDE YOUR WEAK SHIP. I MUST...MAKE IT STRONG."
Pavel Chekov's leaden eyelids lowered and he found himself echoing in a hoarse whisper,
"...make it strong.. make"
Hikaru Sulu clenched his teeth, muffling the words, yet making them more determined,
"... it strong...make it str-"
Nyota Uhura took Sulu's shoulder in a clasp, latching onto his strength as she, too muttered those three magic words,
"strong...please, make it strong..."
An exhausted, brave Claude Laking echoed the plea,
"Make her strong...make"
McCoy joined the steadily growing chorus, recognizing the chant, feeling it roll off his tongue with little effort,
"make it strong..make her strong.."
Spock had his eyes shut and his face was casted in a stone mask, no one needing to know what he too was mumbling inwardly.
Captain Kirk felt the power of the strong minds around him, knew what this task would take, and under his breath, he muttered, the spoke then screamed with little control,
"MAKE HER STRONG! MAKE HER STRONG!!! MAKE HER-"
"INCOMING!"
The call came across the tension filled bridge, gaining a scowl from Mr. Scott as he glared at the viewscreen.
"Hold yer ground, laddies, sheilds up to fullest power!"
In the red green glow if his console, Giasco looked up with a thin frown on his long face,
"Sir, the sheilds cannot sustain another hit, not like the last on-"
A blow shook the ship from side to side, a circut in the ceiling of the bridge shorted out, showering the helm in a breif and beautiful surge of sparks.
"Giasco!"
"A breach, sir! A definate breach!," The acting science officer cut off his demand, "Sections 12a and starting to stretch to 12b!"
"Get engineerin'on it, on the double!!," SCott roared, then back towards the helm,
"Giasco! The sheilds!"
It was not a question, but an order.
"Down, sir, the foresheilds are defin-"
"INCOMING!"
"All power to the fore sheilds NOW! Don't bother charging those phasers yet...just...JUST..MAKE HER STRONG!"
Scott watched in desperation as the large beam of red light surged towards the Enterprise, his poor battered ship.
"No power, sir! I can't! I can't-"
"Impact in less thean ten seconds-"
"Saints preserve-"
The collision came, the red light bearing down on the viewscreen, then dissappearing in a sudden flame of green light. The ship did not quiver, did not even whimper with strain as the lime colored shroud covered her body. There was a breif hum as the lights on the bridge fluttered back to life, flooding the small space with light and sound. No one missed, however, the meek and redundant voice of the acting science officer as he swallowed hard and whispered with awe,
"All...all power is restored, captain."
The green glow then slid silently off the Enterprise, congealing into a round mass at the front like a glob of mint jelly, then pealing away at a violent speed, headed straight for the bird of prey.
Korth glared at the viewscreen, his Klingon blood raging in his veins with the fury of a thousand ancestors. He watched the photon torpedo charged at the broken Enterprise, prepared to see it explode into millions of satisfyingly, unsalvegable peices. But this strange new sheild, this Federation technology had suddenly sprang up and defeated Korth's favored and most powerful weaponry. What was that it was doing now?
What? It couldn't be-
Korth's eyes widened as the green projectile whizzed towards his ship at an uncomprehensible speed. His mouth opened to direct an order to his crew, but before the gruff Klingon words could exit his throat a blinding, horrible exploded into his mind. One word, all ablaze with green flame and anger and murderous rage worthy of a Klingon raid,
bortaS! bortaS! bortaS! bortaS!
revengerevengerevengerevengerevengerevengerevengere-
The incoming fire blossomed around the Klingon ship, the sound of the explosion swallowed completely by the surrounding space.
In a single chamber of the Solotan labrynth, the Jasha sat strained upon her nest of soft pillows. Her bulbous pale eyes surged with greenlights, like two landscapes of snow and pine. Her mouth worked, chewing a single word over and over again until she could no longer draw a breath. She gasped then and fell to her side, the lights in her eyes vanishing abruptly. She knew by the strange feeling inside of her that the strain was about to take her, the burden of so much anger, so much vengeful rage, even with several other minds projecting the threat along side of her own, had taken too much from her than could be replaced.
Yet, there was a last task she needed to preform before she allowed her soul to join with the former Jashas in the Resting Place. With a voice, filled more now with love and affection than hatred and pain, she crooned her final words to the Federation humans that had found themselves aiding her powerful telepathy with their own meager senses. She whispered this message with her mind, her mouth turning up just slightly at the edges, then answered the beckons of her ancestors.
"THANK YOU."
There were warm tears streaming from McCoy's eyes, though he couldn't imagine why. He reached for Spock's arm and the Vulcan turned with the hand not yet touching his skin.
"Is she...?"
McCoy voiced the question that all the other landing party members wished to know. They all had their eyes glued to Mister Spock, all asking.
Spock nodded.
A crackle of static interupted their silence and caused Uhura to jerk as if she'd been stung.
"Captain!" She cried with delight, bringing out her forgotten communicator from her belt. It crackled a second time, then chirped brightly. Scott's voice came through, loud and crisp on the small panel. "Scott to landin' party. Come in landin' party. PLEASE come in!"
"Scott!"
Kirk snatched the communicator from Uhura's able hands, and asked in a voice of worried tension,
"Scott, how's my ship?!?"
There was a hesistance in Scott's answer, as though each word had to be carefully thought out.
"Well, she be fine now, Cap'n, shipshape, sir...but my, do we have a tale to tell ye when ye get back on board. Speaking of which, Cap'n, the sheild surrounding Solo is down, and the transporter has had a miraculously recover'y, so we can beam ye up whenever ye see fit."
Kirk's eyes scanned his group of crew, filled at once with his familar good humor.
"We have a tale to tell you to, Scott, believe me. But for now, make that seven to beam up."
We will return to the Solotan surface soon, Kirk thought as the warm ticklish glow of the transporter enveloped him, to take care of the wounded citizens and in time, to ask about them joining the Federation as a permanent member.
Seven pillars of light vanished from the cold confines of the Solotan ice caverns, then reappeared into the mild, bright transporter room, each one still remembering the quiet and sincere THANK YOU that they had recieved, each one whispering back the same in their own minds. Respect and honor filling the words.
THANK YOU.
THE END.
Thank you for being so patient. It was hard to find the time to create more of this story, but I really enjoyed writing this and I hope to write more ST things as time goes on. I had no time to spell check this chapter, so I admit to a few spelling mistakes in here. Please forgive me for those, I will attempt to edit ALL of this at a later date so that its easier to read. But I just HAD to finish it, right away, now matter how rough. It was screaming at me to be finished. I think you'll understand. I hope you liked it. :)