...what is it...
...it's a boy...
...let's name him Jim...
...your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes...
...he saved eight hundred lives...
...I dare you to do better...
Kirk's eyes shot open, the distorted words and memories that had been buried away deep in his head dissipating when he regained consciousness. He took in his surroundings while breathing heavily, feeling air once more enter his lungs. He was dressed in a plain white robe and laying in a large, extremely comfortably padded bed. He'd been in enough hospitals to recognize one, even though this time he felt extremely tired, like it was the first time he was ever waking up. He closed his eyes, remembering what had happened to him, and took a moment to thank everything he believed in that he was still alive. He turned his head to the side, seeing McCoy standing next to a large monitor, which was displaying his vitals.
"Don't be so melodramatic, you weren't even dead." McCoy joked.
Kirk rolled his eyes, but was still happy to be alive, even if it meant having to hear more of McCoy's jokes.
"It was the transfusion that really took its toll." McCoy continued. "You were out cold for two weeks. The radiation shut down your body, but the cryo pod managed to preserve you."
"Transfusion?" Kirk asked weakly.
"Your cells were heavily irradiated, we didn't have any other choice." McCoy answered, pressing a small sensor to Kirk's chest.
"Harrison?" Kirk asked weakly, realizing what he meant.
"Once we caught up with him, I synthesized a serum from his blood." McCoy nodded. "Tell me, are you feeling homicidal? Power mad?"
"No more than usual." Kirk smiled. "How'd you catch him?"
"I didn't." McCoy replied, stepping back and walking around the bed.
Kirk turned his head after McCoy, but stopped part way through, seeing Spock standing at the end of his bed. The Vulcan walked forward, stopping at Kirk's side while McCoy checked the machinery on the other side of the bed.
Kirk smiled up at him. "You saved my life." He said.
"Uhura and I had something to do with it, too, you know." McCoy added.
Kirk shook his head, smiling lightly.
"You saved my life, Captain." Spock replied. "And the lives of-"
"Spock, just..." Kirk rolled his eyes. "Thank you."
"You are welcome, Jim." Spock replied.
Kirk smiled at the Vulcan and leaned back against the pillow, closing his eyes and relaxing.
In a remote Starfleet storage facility, two officers checked their electronic pads, ensuring that their cargo information was accurate. All 73 cryo pods, containing the ancient war criminals, were lined up and accounted for, so the officers walked towards the door, their job finished.
One of the officers took a final look down at a pod near the door, looking at the resting, peaceful face of John Harrison though the frosted glass. By now, the world knew his story, though not the complete details. The officers exited the storage from, entering the lock code and walking away as the heavy door slid shut.
The door closed with a resounding boom, leaving the augmented crew in darkness. None of them moved, locked in a frozen sleep. And in the pod next to Harrison, there was a more important member of the crew, a dark-skinned man with black hair combed back against his head.
Khan Noonien Singh.
The real evil had yet to be awoken.
"There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil in ourselves."
Kirk's voice echoed through the microphone across Starfleet Headquarters' main square, where every officer, along with citizens and family of the dead, were assembled and sitting, paying their respects to those who had been lost. Ceremonial jets flew overhead, leaving white trails in the air while two officers folded a Starfleet flag. There had been too many lives to account for everyone, so a group funeral had been decided on.
"Our first instinct is to seek revenge when those we love are taken from us." Kirk continued. "But that's not who we are. We are here today to rechristen the U.S.S. Enterprise, and to honor those who lost their lives nearly one year ago. When Christopher Pike first gave me his ship he had me recite the Captain's Oath, which were words I didn't appreciate at the time. But now, I see them as a call for us to remember who we once were, and who we must be again."
Kirk stepped onto the bridge, dressed once again in his yellow captain's shirt. He paused once he stepped through the door, smiling at the reassuring sounds of the room.
"Captain on the bridge."
Kirk smiled at Chekov's voice, walking forwards towards the captain's chair, where Sulu was sitting. "It's hard to get out of it once you've had a taste, isn't that right, Mr. Sulu?" He asked.
""Captain" does have a nice ring to it." Sulu nodded, standing up. "Chair's all yours, sir." He smiled, walking over to his station.
Kirk smiled back, holding the back of the chair reassuringly, reaching down to click the chair's comms button. "Mr. Scott, how's our core?"
"Purring like a kitten, Captain." Scotty reported happily. "She's ready for a long journey."
"Excellent!" Kirk replied, walking across the bridge to greet a scowling McCoy, who had just arrived on the bridge. "Come on, Bones! It's going to be fun."
McCoy's look of disdain followed Kirk as the captain walked past him, patting him on the shoulder. McCoy didn't react to the pat, looking ahead through the main viewport. "Five years in space. God help me." He growled to himself.
"Dr. Marcus." Kirk said, as he reached Carol's station. "I'm glad you could be part of the family."
"It's nice to have a family." Carol nodded.
Kirk nodded, acknowledging the sentiment, and walked back to his chair, standing in front of it and looking out at space through the main viewport. "Spock." He called.
"Yes, Captain?" The Vulcan asked, walking away from his station and standing at his friend's side.
"Where shall we go?" Kirk asked.
"As a mission of this duration has never been attempted, I defer to your good judgement, Captain." Spock answered, walking back over to his station with a small smile appearing on his face.
Kirk smiled, sitting down in his chair and momentarily enjoying the familiar feeling. It was calming, reassuring, and nostalgic. He felt at home again.
"Mr. Sulu, take us out." He said.
"Aye, Captain." Sulu replied, clicking the activation switches on his pilot's console.
Outside, the twin thrusters of the Enterprise fired, sending the ship forward into warp speed.
Off to the next adventure.
Space, the final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
Her five-year mission, to explore strange new worlds, and seek out new life and new civilizations.
To boldly go where no man has gone before.
So everyone, that's my version of Star Trek: Into Darkness. I got some positive feedback on this, and I had a lot of fun writing it. The next movie I'm tackling will have many more changes, so if you're interested, I hope you enjoy!
The fire rises...
Thank you so much to everyone who read this story, hopefully you enjoyed, and I'll see you next time!