The command crew gathered around the briefing room with excitement. The refit of the Enterprise had been completed on schedule and everyone was ready to get underway.
"Okay so what's our status?" Jim questioned from the head of the briefing table.
Spock took the cue and stood, moving towards a monitor at the far end of the table and activating a map. "After the demise of Nero, both the Alpha quadrant and the Beta quadrant have been thrown into a state of turmoil" He explained enhancing the map to reveal the bordering Klingon and Romulan Empires. "With the destruction of almost a third of the Klingon fleet at the hands of Nero, the Romulan Empire has chosen now to invade the Klingon Boarder. This has relieved pressure on our own boarders allowing us to pull vessels away from the border and aide in the Vulcan resettlement. As for the Enterprise, we have been ordered to the Cardassian Neurtal zone, with the destruction of six of our own ships, and the loss of Vulcan, Command feels that the Cardassian's may choose this time to make a play for our colonies"
"The Cardassian neutral zone?" Scottie piped in "Sir even at maximum warp it will still take us 3 weeks to get there"
Jim nodded his head "I know we would prefer a little more action right now, but with the events that have just passed, I think it would be good for crew morale to take a little break. Consider it a shakedown cruise, give us all a little time to get to know each other" he smirked looking Uhura dead in the eyes.
"Captain, about our unexpected guest" McCoy interrupted "Ensign Troy delivered last night, but the baby is still rapidly aging, if I don't find a way to stop it he'll be dead of old age by then"
"Perhaps I may be able to help" Spock stated, turning to the doctor.
"How?" McCoy questioned.
"We need to know the beings origins, If I perform a mind meld I may be able to retrieve that information" Spock offered.
"First of all, It's not a being, it's a baby!" McCoy rebutted "And secondly I'm not going to let you perform some Vulcan voodoo on a patient of mine"
"It is not voodoo, as a telepathic species, mind melds are a natural part of our evolution" Spock defended.
"There's nothing natural about poking around in some ones head!" McCoy remarked.
Jim raised a hand "I'm sorry Bones, if the baby is an alien being, then we need to find out if it's a danger to this ship" he turned to Spock "Proceed".
Spock knelt before the child, already it had rapidly aged to the form of a three year old "It is okay I will not harm you" he comforted. The child nodded and proceeded to stand still while Spock placed his hand upon its face.
"Our minds, one and together" Spock whispered as his mind entered the child.
At first there was nothing, just simple darkness, and then a torrent of images began to flood the Vulcan's mind.
A cube so massive it eclipsed the sun, creatures that seemed to be a conglomeration of flesh and machine, a vessel of federation design carrying the registration of NCC1701V. The images passed and he found himself in engineering, but it wasn't the Enterprise, the design was similar but much larger. In the distance he made out a man with deep blue eyes. He had seen the face before, the uniform the man wore was over 20 years old. "Ensign give me a hand over here" The man stated, Spock nodded and walked over, he then picked up a crate and suddenly dropped it "Jesus son that must weigh four hundred ponds" the voice uttered.
The scene dissolved, and Spock now found himself in some sort of outpost, climbing down a ladder. The ladder shuddered violently and someone fell from above him. Spock reached out and pulled the man up by his arm realizing it was the same man he encountered in the previous scene. Again darkness ensued, followed by another scene this time John was in private quarters and again the man was there sitting opposite him "My Son, I'm going to have a son" he stammered tears filling his eyes, before the scenery changed once again.
This time Spock found himself slouched in the corner of a medical shuttle looking upon a crying women as she gave birth. "Tiberius, no that's the worst, name him after your father, Jim, that's a good name" he heard a voice come over the com link. Spock realized what he was watching, the birth of his own Captain. Spock then found himself standing up and bounding across the room "Kirk" he yelled.
"I'm sorry John, it was the only way, take care of my Son" The voice replied over the com link.
Spock found tears streaming down his cheeks "no you have to live" he shouted back "YOU ARE GOING TO LIVE" he added as a transport beam unlike anything Spock had seen before materialized Kirks father before him.
Spock broke away from the meld, his eyes streaming with tears.
Bones moved in to examine the first officer while Jim knelt beside him "Are you okay?" Jim questioned.
Spock nodded brushing away the doctors instruments "I am okay, I was just not prepared for the emotional intensity of the encounter" he answered.
"What did you see?" McCoy questioned.
Spock looked from the doctor to Jim "Your father" he explained.