"Personal Log of James T. Kirk, star date: 8350.5. Me and my crew - who, again, was only following my direct orders when perpetrating the theft of the USS Enterprise - have taken a vote and decided in favor of leaving the planet Vulcan, where our dear Mr. Spock must remain for the time being to heal from his recent experiences. Mr. Montgomery Scott was able to restore commander Kruge's Bird of Prey, which we will use to make our way back to Earth and face the consequences of our actions."

Kirk turned off the recording device and leaned into his chair. A useless effort, considering the thing was made of solid metal. Klingons didn't much care for comfort, but they sure loved their trophies. The walls of Kruge's quarters were adorned with the furs and skeletons of exotic creatures, strange weapons from all across the galaxy and other assorted spoils of war. The whole thing never failed to make Jim uncomfortable, not helped by the fact that this room belonged to the man responsible for his son's death. Well, one of them, anyway. It probably wasn't fair, but the former captain of the Enterprise blamed himself for David's demise more than he did anyone else.

Jim Kirk had a talent for pulling off improbable victories, or "turning death into a fighting chance for life" as Bones so eloquently put it, but it seemed he could never do it without losing someone he cared about. First Spock, now David. It had been months since the confrontation with Khan, but Jim couldn't help but wonder if the ghost of that maniac wasn't cackling to himself right about now, relishing in his rival's pain.

He chased away those thoughts. "I can beat myself up later," he said to himself as he got up off the chair. "It's still be a long way home."

Kirk left his quarters and made a quick stop by the engine room, where his favorite scotsman was so absorbed by the machinery you could swear he was about to be swallowed whole by it.

Scotty jumped when Kirk called behind his back, then poised himself again, looking only the slightest bit embarrassed. The two discussed the ship's weaponry for a while, despite having a feeling the trip would be uneventful. "Weathered sailors feel uneasy in calm waters, don't they, sir?" said Scotty, smiling. "The armaments are standard for this kind of vessel. Particle weapons, photon warheads, even one of those fancy cloaking devices. Impressive, yes, but nothing compared to…"

The sentence was left unfinished as the two men saw flashes of something they wouldn't soon forget. The destruction of the Enterprise on the Genesis planet had been a tough blow on everyone, but they were still yet to properly pay respects to their old home. This was something that could wait until after court martial, Kirk decided, which was becoming something of a pattern with him. Jim left and Scotty turned to the complex maze of metal behind him and it took almost five seconds before he forgot about the entire rest of the world and went back to ogling at the machinery.

Kirk made his way to the bridge. The rest of the crew were there, paying him only a quick glance as he entered the room. These were familiar faces, ones he would count on even if he was standing at the gates of hell itself. The only exception was the puzzling lieutenant Saavik, who offered to take Spock's place as science officer for the time being. Why? No one but her knew the answer, but Jim would soon find out. She stood up as he walked in and called him admiral.

"At ease, lieutenant. I'm only still an admiral because i haven't attended court martial yet," said the officer, in his usual confident tone. "How's the trip, mister Sulu?" he asked "It's going well adm-i mean, Jim. We should reach Earth in a few days" replied the helmsman.

The woman walked up to him and asked to speak privately. To anyone else, her tone would not be out of the ordinary, but Kirk had been around Vulcans long enough to notice the small hints of emotion they worked so hard to suppress. She seemed to have something on her mind. They made their way to the turbolift, and once there, Saavik kept her head down and her hands behind her back. "Lieutenant, if you called me all the way here, tell me what you wanted. The ship needs my attention" Kirk said, slightly irritated.

That seemed to snap her out of it. "Yes, sir," she answered. "I wish to formally apologize for the death of David Marcus. The Federation Officer's Code Of Conduct, chapter VII, subsection 'c' clearly states that it is the obligation of an officer to care for the lives of any civilians present in assignments, and yet-"

He cut her off. "Stop quoting regulations at me, Saavik. I have more important things to do than-"

This time, she interrupted him. "I failed, sir. David Marcus' safety was my responsibility, but instead of protecting his life, i let him be killed. As a matter of fact, he died saving me."

Her words hit him like a punch. Not only was she becoming surprisingly emotional for a Vulcan, there was the fact Kirk had never dared ask the details of what happened on the Genesis planet. "I… never knew how…" he didn't finish his sentence. Saavik assured him David had died in a way most humans would consider heroic, given what she knew of their culture.

"I'm prepared to request my exoneration from Starfleet upon the ship's arrival on Earth. It's the reason why i accompanied you on this trip." said the young vulcan.

Jim blinked.

"What? No, no… Listen, any officer on this ship will tell you it's impossible to follow the regulations all the time. Out there, our job is to uphold the values we swore to protect, but no one expects us to never make mistakes, especially under pressure. Nobody holds you responsible for what happened to David" Her eyes looked down as Kirk became calmer.

He continued. "I believe you have a lot of potential, miss Saavik, but you'll never reach it if you expect to be perfect all the time. If it means anything to you, i even remember Spock making one or two mistakes here and there. Learn from your failures, yes, but don't let them haunt you. Resigning because of what happened on the Genesis planet would be an overreaction."

Jim was aware of how bad he was at following his own advice, but justified it to himself with the fact he was much older than Saavik, and thus would have more failures to be haunted by. Despite this, what he said seemed to give her pause. The strange thing about the young woman was how much emphasis she placed on the written law. Vulcans used logic and reasoning to tame their violent nature, but she seemed to have done that with rules and regulations. Still, logic seemed to hold some sway over her.

"Oh, and another thing: I appreciate the apology. Not a lot of people would have the guts to just admit a mistake like that to their superior."

Their eyes were locked and Saavik - beneath the aloof exterior - seemed both grateful and relieved. They left the turbolift and resumed their work. Not that they were urgently needed or anything, the trip was going smoothly, and would continue like that for a few more hours.

Uhura broke the silence by notifying them of a distress signal coming from a small civilian ship using several different frequencies. Saavik conducted a scan which showed only one humanoid occupant on the vessel, apparently one of its engines had exploded, which would leave the ship stranded and its passenger potentially wounded. Kirk asked Bones if he could tend to the survivor.

"I'll see what i can do, but if our friend's got anything more serious than a sore throat, we'll need to reach a space station before anything can be done about it."

Kirk bit his lip. Stopping by a space station wouldn't be ideal, given that they had decided it'd be best to turn themselves over to the Federation on Earth, but he also couldn't just leave someone to die. "Understood. Head to sick bay and await our guest's arrival"

Bones scoffed. "Calling it a sick bay is charitable. Damn thing could see more use as a torture chamber," Kirk turned to him, half-smiling, "Well, i for one always believed in your miraculous healing capabilities, doctor. I'm sure you'll manage," to which McCoy replied with his usual grumbling, leaving soon after.

Kirk told Saavik to accompany him to the teleporter room, where they brought the survivor onboard. As he was materializing they could tell he was a young man, still in his early twenties, with aquiline features and short brown hair parted on the side, he also had a noticeable scar in his left arm and his clothes were plain, but tattered. The man collapsed as soon as he arrived on the ship and the two officers, caught off guard, rushed to catch him. Had they paid more attention before springing to action, they might have noticed the phaser he was carrying in his back pocket.

Bones was waiting for them at sick bay and, with some effort, the three were able to place the young man on a stretcher. As soon as his patient was lying down, Leonard McCoy started running tests on him.

Jim tried starting a conversation with Saavik, mostly just thanking her for the help, to which she replied with a simple nod. He then said she could call him Jim if she wanted and the look of absolute bewilderment she made was embarrassing, yes, but also reminded him a bit of Spock. Bones interjected before the conversation could get any more awkward by whispering that there was a problem.

"What is it?", said the admiral, also in a whispered tone.

"Looks like the boy is fine, Jim. The scar is old. Seems to have been made by a klingon blade, but the scanners aren't picking up anything else. The instruments in this trash heap are nothing to write home about, but even they would've been able to detect *something*. Hell, he doesn't even show signs of malnutrition or increased stress. I think-"

Bones couldn't finish his sentence on account of the phaser currently poking his left temple. The boy had gotten up from the stretcher and produced a particle weapon with such speed that none of the three officers managed to catch him. His expression was now arrogant and his eyes fierce. His body language suggested someone who had done this kind of thing so often it became second nature.

"Thank you, doctor! It's good to hear my health is as good as always!" he said, in a mocking tone. Before any questions could be asked, the ship started shaking violently for a few seconds, stopping abruptly. All present knew what had happened. They had been hit. A feeling of dread washed over Kirk as he realized what was going on.

The young man pulled McCoy closer, his irritant smile never wavering. "Smart trick, huh?" he said, cocking his head back.

"Suicidal is what it is!" said Bones, his face as red as a tomato. "Do you understand we were almost turned into space dust?!"

Their attacker snickered. It was a uniquely aggravating sound, kind of like a snort. It did wonders in increasing Kirk's blood pressure. "No need to worry your old heart, doctor McCoy! This was merely a show of strength, no murderous intent present! Besides, i deposit all my great trust in the crew of the Space Angler!" he said, still smiling. Bones looked dumbfounded "Space Angler?" he repeated, incredulously. "Jesus, boy, i know you're young, but i didn't think you were fifteen!" the young man displayed an emotion other than smug superiority for the first time since he began to speak. The hint of anger on his face came and went in a flash, but Kirk made sure to note it in his mind.

The criminal ordered them to deactivate the Bird of Prey's shields, and after a quick message to his ship, two women - a human and a klingon - beamed to sick bay, and both looked like they could rip someone's head off with their bare hands. With his crew on the ship, the attacker pushed McCoy aside. "I believe it's time for introductions!" he said, doing an overly dramatic flourish "I am the great and terrible Wentworth Yorkshire Poole! Captain of the mighty Star Angler! Me and my merry band are here with three goals: gift you with our company; charm you with our personalities; and rob you with our guns!"

Bones was livid, Saavik maintained her aloof visage, and Kirk let out a sigh.

"Never rains but it pours…" he said to himself.


Back in the bridge, the former crew of the Enterprise found themselves sitting on the floor, facing the business end of several phasers, held by women as fierce-looking as the ones that Poole, their attacker, had with him on Sick Bay. The women were quiet and followed their leader's commands with great efficiency. Jim and the rest weren't injured, not unless you count their egos, but Poole still made them uneasy.

By now it was clear what his game was. Poole himself would go to the damaged civilian vessel and play dead, sending out a distress signal to any nearby ships. The route the Bird of Prey had taken was used mostly by traders and other ships with light security anyway, so it probably wasn't hard to overpower them using his crew. It was a smart racket, but that alone wouldn't be much cause for concern for the crew of the Enterprise. No, what did concern them had to do with the aforementioned Space Angler.

The ship hadn't been hidden somewhere away from scanners, it was right next to the civilian vessel, cloaked.

Now visible, the heavily modified Romulan Warbird stood ominously within view of the ship. An obvious show of strength and attempt at intimidation, which was sadly effective. The fact that this boy was in possession of a ship like that meant two things: he was either cunning or powerful enough to overtake a Warbird full of trained Romulan warriors; and he had the scientific intellect necessary to then modify a vessel whose schematics still confounded Starfleet engineers. Fighting their way out of the situation seemed like an increasingly impossible task.

Kirk and Poole were measuring each other up for minutes before the admiral spoke up and told the pirate he could take whatever he wanted from them, as long as they were left with enough fuel to make it to the nearest space station. If he honored those terms, he would not face any repercussions from them or from Starfleet. After speaking, Jim let out a tired, defeated sigh, silently wondering what his old self would think of this. The boy simply looked on, leaning on the captain's chair with an expression of slight bemusement on his face. He cleared his throat in preparation for the performance.

"Old man! You wound me! You know that i am a creature of love, but forget i'm also a creature of greed! No, Tiberius, i don't think i can do that" He knelt down near them. "You see, your little adventure on the Genesis planet didn't go unnoticed, my dear! It seems Commander Kruge had many friends within the klingon empire. Friends with positively CAVERNOUS pockets! This, along with the fact you people seemed to fight klingons almost weekly back in your youth and… I believe you're smart enough to understand where i'm going, no?"

Kirk was becoming angry. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was a damn space pirate with half his age and twice as much attitude. Still, he attempted to calm himself and spoke in the most sober tone his current mood would allow. "Despite what happened, me and my crew are still citizens of the Federation. If we were delivered to the klingons and imprisoned or killed, that could have disastrous consequences. Even you have to understand that rising tensions between the Federation and the Empire would be bad for everyone. The terms of our surrender still stand: Just leave us with some fuel and you can take whatever else you want."

Poole just rolled his eyes and let out that annoying snort again. For the first time since arriving, it seemed he was speaking his mind.

"You have to be kidding me, old timer. In case you haven't noticed, i'm a space pirate. I'm not exactly interested in taking the safe way out. You think talking about politics is gonna get me to, what, give up the treasure of a lifetime? Even your dumb little mind has to know it wont work. And please don't humiliate yourself further by saying you have something valuable to trade for your soon to be over life. If you did, that would've been the first thing you said."

Kirk felt his blood starting to boil. He was barely keeping it together as it was, and Poole's comments were only making him angrier.

And then, of course, the boy had to open his mouth once again, this time speaking close to him.

"You Federation types are all the same, anyway. You like to put on airs, pretend everything you do is in the service of some nebulous ideal or whatever nonsense you feed to the cadets. But in the end, you're just as rotten as everyone else is. You pretend to be great, but are all sickeningly mundane cowards. If i'm being honest, it's probably for the best that your son died before he could fall for any more of your nonsense."

The next thing Kirk knew, he was standing up, his fist clenched, and Poole was on the ground, grasping his jaw, one of his molars lying on the floor next to him on a small puddle of blood. Before Kirk could say anything, the pirate snapped his fingers and told one of his guards to knock the admiral unconscious. "I'll make all of you hurt for this, old man!", he shouted. McCoy became angry. "You're worth less than mud!" he said, to which Poole had no response, only a strange smile. The klingon woman from before was the one who finally did it, with a right hook so strong Kirk thought his jaw would come loose and fly off.

The world exploded around him. A great black pool formed at his feet and he dove right in. His last thoughts were that when he woke up, he would have to match wits with a man who had seemingly overwhelmed several other ships throughout his criminal career. Someone possessing not only a honed scientific and criminal mind, but also a crew who could easily overpower and destroy his. There had to be a flaw in his armor, there just had to be, Kirk simply needed to figure out what it was before they could be delivered to the klingons. Problem was, that was easier said than done.