Three weeks had gone by, and all this time Darren had retreated into his own mind, refusing to talk with anyone on board. He was in essence, still a child, a child that had lost his mother and father. In a way he blamed himself for her death, a single touch, he knew, could have saved her. But it was over now, with all the powers bestowed upon him he could not resurrect the dead, well at least not with access to continuum energy.
On the bridge of the Enterprise the crew had gathered, they had finally reached their destination and were ready to begin their mission, that was of course until a distress call came, screaming for attention.
"Sir we are being hailed by the USS McKinley, they are being attacked" Uhura shouted from her console.
Jim sat up straight "Helm lay in a course for the McKinley's last position, engage at maximum warp" he ordered.
"Aye Captain" Sulu responded as he altered the ships heading.
"Uhura, is there any information on who attacked them?" Jim questioned, just as his first officer entered the bridge.
"No Captain, but I believe it maybe Cardassian in origin" Uhura replied.
"Captain we are approaching the McKinley's last coordinates, dropping out of warp in 3 seconds" Sulu reported.
"Spock take tactical" Kirk ordered "Keep the phasers warmed up and the torpedoes on standby"
"Yes Captain" Spock replied just as the ship catapulted to a stop.
Before them lay the destroyed mass of the McKinley.
"What happened here?" Jim questioned.
"I am detecting trace amounts of particulate energy, it matches a Cardassian profile" Chekov announced.
"Any life signs?" Jim pressed.
"Negative Captain" Chekov replied.
"183 people were aboard that ship, are you telling me they're all dead?" Jim sighed.
"It is possible that the attacking vessel took prisoners, however it is unlikely" Spock answered.
"Bring sensors to full power, I want a complete sweep of this sector, find the nearest Cardassian ship and bring us to her now!" Jim shouted.
"Aye Captain" Uhura replied. In truth she had already began scanning for Cardassian transponder frequencies.
"I've located several Cardassian vessels, they appear to be gathering in the Liander system" she finally announced.
"The Liander system?" Jim questioned.
"The Liander system has no strategic value except as a staging ground for an invasion against Bajor" Spock stated "It is logical to assume that the Cardassians are preparing to occupy that world"
"Sir Bajor is outside of federation territory, we don't have any jurisdiction there" Chekov stated.
"Just like the Cardassians had no jurisdiction on our side of the Neutral Zone!" Jim almost shouted "Sulu set a course for Bajor and engage"
"Arriving in orbit of Bajor in 5 seconds Captain" Sulu announced as the pristine blue green gem of a world appeared.
"We are being hailed by first minister Trasnia Duratchu" Uhura announced.
"On screen" Jim ordered.
"Greetings Captain, I did not anticipate seeing another federation vessel above our world after we declined federation membership almost ten years ago" the first minister announced.
"I am sorry if we are bothering you first minister" Jim replied "But we were investigating the destruction of one of our vessels nearby when we detected a massive Cardassian fleet mobilizing in the Liander system"
A frown appeared on the ministers forehead "What could the Cardassians possibly be doing in the Liander system?" he questioned.
"We believe they are preparing to stage an attack on Bajor" Spock spoke.
The first minister turned to Spock with a raised eyebrow "Why would the Cardassians ever wish to occupy Bajor? We are a race of philosophers, and artists, of what value would we be to them?"
"As I understand it First minister, your race was exploring space long before mine learnt to walk upright, but for a race so old your technology is incredibly out dated. You would offer little resistance against a Cardassian fleet, and they would have a world of billions to serve them" Jim replied.
"Captain we have a problem, the Cardassian fleet has jumped to warp, they're heading here and they're heading here fast!" Sulu announced.
Shock overtook the first minister "I'm ordering our planetary defences online, but as you say captain they're technologically out dated, will you stay, will you help us?"
"One of those vessels destroyed a federation ship and murdered our people in cold blood. Of course we're going to stay and fight!" Jim replied.
The first minister nodded as he terminated the link.
"I'm detecting launches from several of the planets moons and surface, it seems that they have some fighters" Chekov stated.
"Set battle condition red, full power to shields and weapons" Jim ordered.
The void of space became a mess of stars as two dozen Cardassian war ships warped into orbit of Bajor.
"Captain we are being hailed by the Cardassian fleet" Uhura reported.
"On screen" Jim ordered.
Immediately the image of a Cardassian captain appeared on screen "Federation vessel withdraw immediately or be destroyed, On behalf of the Cardassian union we hereby annex this world and its colonies"
"This is Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise, the Bajorians are a sovereign people, you have no right to annex this space" Kirk replied.
Almost immediately the view screen died as the Cardassian captain ended the transmission.
"What's happening?" Kirk questioned.
"Sir they are jamming all subspace communications in system" Uhura reported.
"They have also armed weapons and targeted us with their disrupters Captain" Spock announced.
"Stand your ground commander, don't fire unless fired upon" Jim ordered as space erupted in disrupter fire.
"Damage to decks 4 through 9, rerouting structural integrity fields to compensate" An ensign reported.
"Returning fire" Spock announced as the forward phaser turrets locked onto their respective targets and released a torrent of deadly energy. The result was immediate as one of the Cardassian vessels erupted in a ball of fire. The remaining vessels began evasive patterns, picking off the Bajoran escorts while bringing as much power to bear upon the Enterprise as possible.
The ship shuddered as another round of disrupter fire struck home.
"Port shields down to 23 percent, rerouting emergency power to compensate" an ensign reported as several torpedoes launched, easily obliterating another crippled Cardassian vessel.
"SIR LOOK" Uhura shouted as five of the Cardassian vessels moved into low orbit and began bombarding entire continents from space.
"My god those are nukes" Sulu announced, stunned that the Cardassians would resort to such primitive but deadly weapons.
"Nuclear fallout is beginning to encase the globe Captain, I estimate at least a 70 percent death toll!" Chekov announced as the ship rocked from another round of fire.
"Shields are going captain, we have to get out of here now!" an ensign reported.
Jim snapped back to attention, "Sulu get us out of here" he ordered.
Seconds later the enterprise jumped to warp leaving behind the doomed world. However they were not alone as 3 Cardassian vessels jumped after them.
The ship shuddered from more plasma fire.
"We are being pursued captain, I've diverted all power to aft shields but they won't hold very long" Chekov announced.
"Sir If we cannot outrun them I believe our best option is to hide. We are very close to the Delorious belt, it is a highly charged plasma field several light years in diameter, it would make a perfect hiding spot" Spock stated.
"Sulu, set a course for the belt, we're going to have to blind their sensors for at least a few minutes to give us time to disappear" Kirk questioned "Anyone got any ideas?"
"If we realign our deflector array to emit an inverse graviton pulse it should not only overload their navigational array, but disrupt their sensors and warp field for at least 2 minutes" Darren offered as he stumbled onto the bridge.
"Do it" Kirk ordered.
The ship shuddered once more as a fresh round of plasma struck its aft shields punching them into the red. But almost immediately the Cardassian vessels were thrown out of warp.
"We're safe Captain, the energy field from the belt is effectively masking our power signatures, It will take them years to find us in here" Chekov announced.
Jim turned his attention to Darren who was still standing by the entrance to the bridge. "Welcome to the bridge" he smiled in the man's direction.
Darren looked into Jim's eyes, memories emerging of the time his father had spent with the man, but that was another life time ago, another universe. He had only come to the bridge for one reason and one reason only, self preservation.
Jim walked up to Darren "May I have a private word with you?" he questioned.
Darren nodded, and the pair moved into the adjacent ready room. Jim took a seat behind his desk and gestured for Darren to be seated, Darren nodded and the pair faced each other directly.
The pair stared at each other for some time before Jim finally broke the silence "I'm sorry about your mother" he consoled.
"It was my fault" Darren admitted "I've come to accept that, If I had not forced my way into this place, If I had not sought refuge within her womb she would still be alive, and I would have perished"
"Then it is true, you come from another universe" Jim pressed.
Darren nodded his head "A parallel universe, one in which there was but a single divergence" he replied.
"what was the divergence?" Jim asked.
"My father was never born in your universe, and because of that one alteration, your entire timeline has changed" Darren confessed.
"I don't understand" Jim replied.
"I barely understand it myself Jim" Darren stated, the familiarity of the name easily rolling off his tongue "I was born with the genetic knowledge of my father, images of worlds, places and times that no longer exist"
"What kind of knowledge?" Jim asked.
"You for one instance, I know you, I helped raise you while your parents were off world pursing their careers in Starfleet, I have 13 years of memories of you that never happened, including memories of your father" he answered.
"My father died aboard the Kelvin" Jim stated flatly
"No, I was there, or more accurately my father was there at George Kirks last fleeting moments, he transported your father to safety, he survived and rose to the rank of admiral within star fleet." Darren replied.
Kirk shook his head "It's impossible" he replied.
Darren looked into Kirks eyes, his Betazoid half feeling the pain in Jims heart, a pain his own memories wanted him to extinguish. Reaching out a hand Darren touched his father's godson creating a mental link between the pair. The memories of who and what George Kirk had become streamed into Jim, sadness giving way to Joy as the moments of his fathers life played before him.