Another Path
Chapter 5
Fracture
Of its own volition, Spock's hand rose into the space between their faces.
A facial muscle ticked and his jaw clenched tight enough to make his teeth creak as the hand he held with fingers extended before him shook. He knew what needed to be done but he fought it with every fiber of his being, knowing what it would mean.
She would be bonded to him and he would kill her.
They would join, become one in mind, body, heart, heat, sex and he would kill her.
His fingers twitched, itching to touch her face, to close the contact, to pull the trigger.
He had to have her.
He had to kill her.
His fingers twitched towards her face, about to close the gap and claim her life, when the lights abruptly dimmed and the grating red alert klaxon serrated the heated air between them. Chekov's voice sounded over the ship-wide tannoy - his accent heavy with tension - calling all crew to battle stations and all bridge officers to deck one.
The intensity of the moment between them thankfully shattered, Spock and Uhura bolted for the bridge. Spock, on his much longer Vulcan legs, got there first, just in time to be thrown to the deck plating as the first phaser blast impacted against the shields and disrupted the aether ballast system. Scrambling to his feet, Spock lunged for the science station and began reeling off damage reports while simultaneously rerouting power through available substations and running scans on the vessel that was attacking them.
On the main viewscreen, Chekov had superimposed a tactical schematic over the image of the enemy ship. It's exterior design was unfamiliar but the readouts at the science station were displaying some alarmingly familiar readings from the engines and munitions.
"Particle shields still inactive; energy shields holding at sixty percent." Sulu's voice was clipped and efficient, he was in his element under pressure.
"Keptin! She's cloaking!" Chekov's voice on the contrary was panicked, alarmed and as the visual shimmered and the ship vanished the young tactician's agitation was shared by all of the bridge.
The shocked silence that followed the ship's disappearance was broken by a soft curse from the Captain. He turned to face Spock, his eyes steely and unyielding. "Spock, report."
Spock did not need to consult his scan results again to verify the bad news. "Romulan, Captain."
A shocked murmur spread across the bridge. Members of the Romulan Empire had not encroached into Federation space for thirty years and for them to cross the Neutral Zone that separated the two territories now in an act of violence could mean only one thing.
Pike returned to face the viewscreen and tapped his lips with an index finger as he thought out loud. "What purpose did that serve? There was only one ship so it wasn't a vanguard and they wouldn't attack us for fun..." He eyed the tactical station. "Chekov, analysis please."
Chekov's fingers flew over his console and his eyes flickered rapidly back and forth over the vectors and angles that his instruments had logged during the brief fight. Finishing off with a small flourish, he pivoted his chair to face the Captain as he addressed him. "Their attack pattern was definitely one designed to be defensive, Sir. By my calculations, they were defending this asteroid," he returned his chair to face his console and tapped the control to display his findings on the main viewscreen. The image that appeared was one of a mile wide piece of rock on the outer edge of the asteroid field that Sulu had dodged no more than twenty minutes ago.
Pike squinted at the serenely floating chunk of space debris and frowned. "Scan it."
Spock sat at his console, ran a quick series of standard scans and came up empty handed. "Nothing appears out of the ordinary, Captain. It appears to be a metamorphic composite made up of iron, carbon, silicone and magnesium, much like the other asteroids in this field."
"Could something on the surface be cloaked?"
"Possibly, however I do not need to remind you, Captain, that we do not have the capability to detect any sort of cloak." Spock rose to his feet. "That said, there is a theoretical method being debated at the Vulcan Science Institute, of detecting the emissions of a cloaking device, thereby offering an approximate location of said device. However, I do not advise remaining in the area for the amount of time that it would take to modify the scanners to make the attempt; there could be other cloaked Romulan vessels in the vicinity and we are still without our particle shields. One well-placed photon could cripple us."
Pike twisted his lips in thought. "Sulu, how long to star base five?"
Sulu checked his flight plan. "One hour ten minutes at impulse power, Sir."
Pike leaned over his chair to activate the intercom, "Pike to Scott."
"Scott here, Sir."
"Scotty, are we any closer to having the shields back on line? I'd really like to be able to go to warp right about now."
"I'm afraid not, Sir," There was the sound of clanging and irate voices in the background, the loudest of which was Ensign Keenser as he yelled at one of his minions in Badaki. "Everything except the final phase relay has been fixed or patched, but the last gateway is jammed solid and I don't have the equipment on board to unjam it."
"Very well. Pike out." He thumbed off the intercom and gazed at the screen again. He turned to Uhura, "Get me a line to Starfleet Command please; priority one."
Uhura nodded and keyed into the subspace network, requesting communication with Earth.
Nothing happened.
"Something is blocking transmissions, Sir; all I'm getting is static."
The temperature suddenly dropped for everyone on the bridge. They'd lost their lifeline, they were half defenseless and a step away from being sitting ducks in an unknown scenario.
It was executive decision time.
"Mister Sulu, back us up out of fallout range and divert all reserve power to the repulsers. Mister Chekov, arm photons."
Chekov jabbed at the controls with trembling fingers as the ship lumbered backwards, then flipped up the switch cover for the firing key. "Torpedos armed, Sir."
Pike waited for the nod from Sulu that they were clear. "Fire."
Two brightly glowing miniature stars streaked from the fore of the ship to slam into the drifting threat, exploding it into a hailstorm of rock, pebbles and dust. The repulsor field deflected the smaller pieces of rock, but one larger piece glanced off of the port nacelle.
Pike barked, "Damage report."
Spock's eyes skimmed the reports streaming into his station. "Hull breach on deck nine, emergency force fields are holding; no casualties."
"Mister Sulu, get us to star base five as quickly as you're able."
"Yessir." Sulu's fingers flew over the controls and the ship lurched away from the asteroid field and towards safety.
-UFP-
It was not until much later that Nyota found out what had happened in the asteroid field.
Once the ship had docked at star base five, Captain Pike had disembarked and headed to the base's communications array in order to find a secure link with Starfleet Command. By the time he returned to the Enterprise the deflectors had been repaired and they were fit to depart.
However, they were not continuing with the original mission.
Pike sat in the Captain's chair with his spine as straight as it would go and his face betraying nothing. "Mister Sulu, set course for Earth; warp seven."
Sulu, detecting the note of steel in the Captain's voice, knew better than to turn around and question him. Instead he exchanged a mildly bewildered glance with Chekov as he released the docking clamps and laid in the new course. "Course laid in, Sir."
"Punch it."
The four hour journey back to Earth was tense, the entire bridge crew could feel the chilly atmosphere emanating from the captain's chair. As for Pike, he sat at ramrod attention for the first hour, then relaxed and took to reviewing data on a PADD as the ship operated quietly around him.
Two hours in, he rose from his chair with PADD in hand and gestured for Spock to accompany him into his ready room. As the door closed behind them, Pike locked it and sat down heavily behind his desk. Steepling his fingers in front of his face, he motioned for Spock to take the seat opposite him.
Spock sat and waited for his captain to speak.
"What do you know about Romulan military operations, Spock?"
Spock allowed a slight frown to crease his brow, this appeared to be an illogical line of questioning. He found himself speculating on what the captain had discovered during his private communique with Command. "I am familiar with most of Starfleet's published works on Romulan strategy, Captain."
Pike watched him carefully for his next response. "And are you aware that the Romulan military has been making preparations to invade Federation space?"
Spock's face was that of a perfectly nonplussed Vulcan, but his heart stopped dead in his middle as a sudden band of fear clamped tightly around it. "No, Sir."
Pike rose from his chair and started pacing, his hands laced tightly behind his back. "That incident in the asteroid field was the last piece of evidence that Command needed to confirm that an invasion is imminent. Starfleet Intelligence has been building a dossier for over a year, outlining their belief that the Empire is preparing to strike. Command have been in possession of this dossier for several months but were unwilling to act on Intelligence's advice until something a little more concrete could confirm their suspicions." He stopped pacing and fixed his first officer with a steady gaze. "When we get back to Earth, you are to resign your commission and report to Starfleet Intelligence; they have requested you specifically on permanent assignment. You are not to inform anyone of your intentions or your destination; you will tell your loved ones that you are being assigned to a research base on Mars for work on a new long range sensor array. En route there will be an accident and you will be dead."
Spock raised an eyebrow. His innards had calmed down at the captain's cool and stoic delivery of his new assignment and for that he was grateful. But even he had to question Command's desire to have him terminated.
Pike grimaced at his misunderstanding. "Not literally, Spock. It's safer for those close to you to think that you are dead."
Spock nodded, then cocked his head. "And what of you, Sir? I gather from your demeanor that something has affected you and I doubt that it is down to my sudden reassignment."
Pike smiled mirthlessly. "I knew there was a reason why you were such a damn good first officer." He dropped back into his chair and sighed heavily. "They're promoting me to Admiral. While you're off in the field, I'll be pushing pencils around a desk all day."
Spock frowned. "As I recall, Captain, you once stated that wild horses could not drag you into admiralty."
A touch of amusement coloured Pike's otherwise grim smile. "Let's just say they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
-UFP-
"Mars?!" Nyota was simultaneously incredulous and dismayed. Just as things were reaching a peak between them, he decides to up sticks and move to Mars?!
Spock nodded, continuing to pack his belongings into a flight case and silently lamenting the fact that they would soon be destroyed in the shuttle explosion that would fake his death. "It is an excellent opportunity, Nyota. The team will be developing new scanning technology that will revolutionize long range stellar cartography."
He had to make this sound normal, like he did this sort of thing every day.
He had to ignore the fact that his blood was burning through his body as it screamed for him to re-establish the bond between them.
Nyota leaned against a table as she watched him move around his quarters. Softly, she said, "I'll miss you."
Spock kept his back to her before daring to reply; he could feel the threatening sting of very human tears. To her that statement was a reminder to him of her affection, to him it was a reminder of what he had done to her.
It was also goodbye. "And I you."
She crossed the room and embraced him from behind, her long, slender arms snaking around his middle and her curves moulding to his back as she buried her face between his shoulder blades. His eyes fell closed and he touched her hands lightly in return where they met over his midriff. This should not have been difficult. Had he been fully Vulcan he would have been cursing the circumstances that brought them so close together, that had caused this turmoil in his heart. But he was not fully Vulcan.
He was part Human.
And he needed her.
Turning abruptly, he swept her up into a fierce embrace that lifted her off her feet and seized her lips with his. She gasped and he took that as an invitation to thrust his tongue hungrily into her mouth. He drank deeply of her lips until he felt lightheaded and she was crooning into his mouth.
Setting her back down on her feet, he drew back from her and brushed the backs of his knuckles down her cheek. His fingertips tingled in excitement as they passed through the air over her temples and his mind throbbed with want. He wanted to bury his mind in hers as he reclaimed her body, but he knew that if he did, she would see what was going to happen and try to stop him.
So he stopped.
Severing the physical contact between them, he smiled gently down at her, the first and last smile he would ever grace her with and she gaped at him before smiling back, a huge grin that split and lit her face.
By Surak he was going to miss her.
He picked up his flight case and stepped back, burning the image of her onto his retinas for as long as he could.
His parting murmur was soft, "Goodbye. T'hy'la."
And then he was gone.
