Disclaimer: I don't own Starbursts. I'm back with a new computer! Hallelujah! (is that how it's spelt?) As this is an original chapter, it will be shorter than an episode rewrite. R&R!
BTW: Prime Rose=Roslyn Samuels
Prime Spock=Selek
Prime Bones=Leon Jones
Chapter Thirteen
The Monster Under the Bed Returns
Captain's Log: Stardate 2259.166
We have just docked at Ap-Lau for the conference Roslyn invited me to. I have given shore leave to everyone save for a skeleton crew. Spock and Bones will be beaming down with the first two parties, and me with the last. Roslyn said she'd be waiting to speak with me, so I told my guys to head to their first lectures.
Unfortunately Lt. Uhura is causing trouble again. She continuously harasses Spock, then loses her temper over him pushing her away. With his touch telepathy, her attempts to touch him are seriously near to assault. If this continues, I'm gonna logic Spock into pressing charges. Not even her Admiral uncle can get her out of trouble if she's officially court-martialed. Despite her recent behavior, she is still getting to attend the xenolinguistics conference, much to my displeasure. How I loathe politics with every fiber of my being.
On the bright side, I won't just be seeing Roslyn and her guys, I'll be seeing Sam, Aurie, Tom and his fiancée Martha, Emma and Dean. Although, part of me feels kind of uneasy. I scanned the guest list and saw all the Tarsus Nine were on it. Me obviously, Kevin as part of a school trip, Tom for the agricultural science section, Emma as a reporter, Dean is with her, Sha're for the micro-biology section. Aiger is supporting her and then Melanie and Michael are part of the security detail.
It's probably just my paranoia. The identities of the Nine are sealed. Only we and a few Admirals know anything about it. It's just a coincidence. This is a big conference, and we all have good reasons to be here. It's just a coincidence, that's it.
"Hey Rose!" Roslyn stepped forward from her position among the welcoming committee to embrace her younger duplicate. "How are you?"
"Good, yourself?"
"Same old, same old," Roslyn replied lightly. Something in her coal coloured eyes looked off though, and Rose felt the unease she'd been wrestling with since seeing all the Tarsus Nine's names in the same list increase.
"Come on," Roslyn continued brightly. "I've to introduce you to Saavik. Vulcan babies are adorable, I mean the ears! They're to die for, honestly. And she's such a sweet, precocious little girl. You're going to love her, I guarantee it."
"I bet," Rose agreed, giving a warm smile. She loved children, always had. She was good with them as well. Briefly, she wondered if T'Amara and Samek, her counterpart's twin children, would be born in this timeline.
Glancing at Roslyn, she frowned at the dark look that was lurking in her elder's eyes. Roslyn's shields were better than the Enterprise's, but Rose had long since learned to read the subtle hints of emotion in people's expressions. Something was bothering Roslyn deeply. Her thoughts went to Roslyn's cryptic mention of her 'project' again. She didn't know what the project was, but the guest list continued to make alarm bells sound in her mind.
"Roslyn-"
"Not yet," she whispered softly before raising her voice slightly. "Here we are." She gestured at the small house in front of them
he whispered softly before raising her voice slightly. "Here we are." She gestured at the small house in front of them. It was Vulcan-styled, but smaller than Rose would've expected considering it housed T'Pau, Sarek, Amanda, Roslyn, Leon and Selek. Three Council Elders, one of the Ambassadors from Earth and two Admirals. And Saavik of course.
She followed her into the pointy bronze structure, sighing in relief at the respite from the baking hot Ap-Lau sun. Her eyes scanned the foyer. The room was very Vulcan, sparse and functional. The exact opposite of the Betazoid's penchant of filling their homes with various knick-knacks. The two half-Betazoids hurried through the room, a determined look in Roslyn's eye.
"There's a show being performed tonight by the Karidian Entertainment Trope," Roslyn told her casually as they made their way across the open-air courtyard. "It's their opening night, and they'll be here for the entire week. Hamlet is the first show, starts at eight. I have tickets for the six of us."
Rose blinked in bemusement, nodding hesitantly. "Sure," she agreed slowly. "I like Shakespeare."
"I know," Roslyn smirked as they entered the dimension travelers' section of the house.
Selek was there tapping away at his PADD while an adorable green-skinned baby sat on a multi-coloured rug playing some sort of puzzle game with a crinkle of concentration in her dark eyebrow. Rose felt her frown instantly smooth into a smile.
"How cute is she?" Rose cooed, instantly in love with the young Vulcan child.
"The cutest," Roslyn grinned back as Selek stood, greeting them with a ta'al.
"Hello Rose," he smiled fondly at her, the antithesis of a Vulcan. "How are you?"
"I'm good," she answered.
Roslyn leaned down and picked up Saavik, balancing her neatly on her hip. The baby huffed indignantly and squatted her adoptive mother's shoulder.
"Saavik-kam, meet your Aunt Rose," Roslyn introduced the two. Rose smiled as she accepted the baby.
"So, Hamlet," Roslyn continued a few minutes later, once Rose was finished cooing over the precocious child. "You're up for it?" She ignored the look Selek sent her, along with his feelings of disapproval along their bond.
Rose barely looked toward the older woman, too intent on the infant in her arms, but she nodded. "Sure, but I dunno about the guys. You'll have to ask them."
"I'll go do that now then," Roslyn replied after checking her watch quickly. "It's about time for the lunch breaks anyway. Can I borrow your comm?"
Rose handed it to her easily, not noticing the grim looks in both of her friends' expressions. Despite her dislike of her manipulation however, Roslyn was determined not to prejudice her younger counterpart to the situation. She had to go in blind, otherwise she would make herself believe or disbelieve in Kodos' being alive.
No matter what though, Roslyn silently swore to herself. None of the Nine were going to die this time. Tom isn't going to die this time. Lenore Karidian wasn't going to get the chance to murder seven people and destroy the fragile mental peace built by Rose and Kevin. Not this time. Roslyn would make sure of it.
"Rose?" A familiar, gruff voice called from behind her. "Is that you?" She spun and gave a startled smile.
"Tom!" She exclaimed, hurrying over to give him a hug, her friends trailing after her. "I didn't expect to see you here." She'd known he was on the planet, but Tom had always found Shakespeare archaic and boring. Rose would acknowledge that it was archaic, but not boring.
"Well I couldn't miss the conference," Tom shrugged gruffly. "And Martha wanted to see the show, so."
"Where is Martha?"
"Freshening her make-up," Tom huffed. "What is with women and make-up, dare I ask?"
"Well you risk me answering," Rose teased lightly.
"Don't," Tom ordered flatly. He looked over her shoulder as Bones shifted uncomfortably, crossing his arms. "Why don't you introduce me to your friends Rose?"
"Of course," Rose conceded. Tom had lost all of his ability to smile and joke around when. Rose quickly pushed that train of thought away. It was dangerous, and she didn't want to darken her good mood with bad memories.
"This is my imzadi, Leonard McCoy," she introduced Bones first. "I've told you about him."
"Yeah, I remember," Tom agreed. He reached out and shook the other man's hand briskly before pulling away. Rose could see Bones' eyes lingering on the black leather mask covering the left half of her friend's face. No doubt he was pondering what could have happened to make Tom need such a thing.
"And this is Spock," Rose went on quickly. She gave her socially-awkward friend a sharp look to keep him from saying anything unintentionally insensitive. Tom wasn't the type to be relaxed about insults, accidental or not. The two exchanged nods and Rose went to introduce the three universe travellers. She had just finished when Martha came trotting up to them with a cheerful smile.
The dark-haired woman was completely different to Tom in personality. While he was serious and cold, often coming off as cruel to those who didn't know his story, Martha was the opposite. She was friendly and gentle. Easily likable. Rose felt her smile grow as she sensed the genuine love the two felt for each other, combined with a slight softening of Tom's closed off expression as his fiancée wrapped herself around his arm. "We have to get to our seats now," Rose sighed disappointedly. "But I'll comm you later if we don't see each other afterwards. We can have dinner together tomorrow?"
"Sounds good," Tom agreed before they split off from each other. They were oblivious to the presence of the other Tarsus Nine. All of whom were seated in different places that would ensure they each had a perfect view of the stage and more importantly, of 'Anton Karidian'.
They had just gotten comfortable, Bones muttering unfavourably about Shakespeare, when the lights darkened and the curtain lifted to reveal the stage. The two men playing Francisco and Bernardo stood in front of a fake castle.
"Thank god," Bones muttered into Rose's ears. "They're using proper English. I dunno how anyone ever communicated back then with all those fancy words."
She chuckled slightly but didn't reply, instead concentrating on the play. She enjoyed Act I and clapped as the curtain closed on it to let the stage hands change the background.
"It seems to be an interesting play," Spock commented. There was a slight crease in his eyebrow, a sure sign that the plot was dragging him in.
"Definitely," Rose nodded. "I've always loved Shakespeare." The curtain rose again to show a lavishly decorated room in the castle, with the actors playing the courtiers scattered around it. For some reason, Rose felt her smile slip as an uneasy feeling stirred in her stomach.
"A little more than kin, and less than kind," Hamlet spoke his first line, making bile rise in Rose's throat.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Roslyn's gaze boring into the man on the stage. Her jaw was tense, and her knuckles were white as she gripped the armrest tightly.
Why was this man affecting them like this?
"Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun."
The second line did it for her as 'Hamlet' stepped forward and gave her a full view of his face. As he spoke to 'Claudius', her mind flashed back to That Day.
"The revolution is successful. But survival depends on desperate measures. Your continued existence represents a threat to the well-being of society. Your lives mean slow death to the more valued members of the colony. Therefore, I have no alternative but to sentence you to death. Your execution is so ordered, signed Kodos, Governor of Tarsus IV."
In her mind's eye she saw Hoshi and her aunt attacking the guards along with dozens of other frantic adults desperate to save their children. She heard the sound of blasters firing at the frightened, starving people, her tiny cousin sobbing in her left ear as she dragged as many kids away as she could, Tom crying out as the side of his face was grazed by a shot.
And standing above all the bloody chaos was a man she saw only once, but whose face visited her nightmares every year like clockwork as he declared that they were 'less valued' and as such deserved to die for it. Not even Nero could inspire that level of hatred in her, and she didn't even realize she had risen from her seat until Bones and Spock were asking what was wrong while Roslyn grasped her arm hauled her out of the theatre, the men at their heels.
In the lobby, she slumped to the floor, gasping for breath. Bones and Spock crouched worriedly beside her, asking her again what was wrong.
She started, tensing as the doors re-opened and Tom staggered out with a worried Martha. It only took a single look to confirm he'd also recognized their personal 'monster under the bed' in Anton Karidian, and any hopes of them both being mistaken were removed when Kevin ran out of the theatre so fast he didn't even notice them. Nor was she surprised when the other six people who could identify Kodos came out of the theatre at different times, all severely shaken and despairing.
"You arranged this," Rose stated dully to her strained looking counterpart. "Didn't you?"
"He can't be allowed to get away with what he did," the other woman answered her in a dead tone of voice. She stood, drawing the attention of the upset group.
"I am Admiral Samuels," she announced flatly. "Let's all go to my office. We'll arrange everything there."
"I do not understand what is happening?" Spock inquired. He had been hovering worriedly beside her since they'd entered the lobby. If she wasn't so upset, Rose would've thought his concern to be very sweet. As it was, she barely had the strength to meet his eyes.
"Kodos the Executioner is alive and in this building," she declared flatly, finally saying it aloud.
