Vokaya Halan

A/N: This would have been up earlier but Christmas decided to steam roll into me, and how the hell did that happen?! When did we get to the end of 2013 already?! Seems like yesterday we just started, huh? I also kinda got the entire three seasions of TOS when were totally out of sync so me and my mother went through them ALL putting them in in the right order, it took awhile! I kinda wanna thank my mother (whenever she gets around to reading this fully) for putting up with my constant bickering of her to read and to make sure I've gotten the characters properly (Amanda and Sarek are still particular concerns for me; I still don't think I've got them right!). Also, if you guys want to, you can make pictures and what-not, just tell me you are and give me the links so I can post them for the rest of the class to look at too, (I absolutly LOVE looking at fan-made stuff for...fan-made...stuff...), and also if you want, you can make a story picture, as I have no idea how to make them (nor have the talent to do so), so if you want to do that, message me, and all that jazz, kay? And also, if anyone is following my duck-trio adventures, I found them, but they were in a flock, I making it count because I haven't seen any ducks since. Also, could someone give me a crash course into sentancing Vuhlkansu? I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong, as I'm placing words with English context, while I'm thinking Vunlkansu does things a little differently? Correct me if I'm wrong, right, or even totally over the hill and far over the cliff, kay? Thanks! I'll help further down the road!

Chapter 5 – Communication Skills II & Future Talks

The crew was left stunned.
"What the hell just happened?" McCoy exploded.
"I have no idea."
"Presumably, they'll be back, and we can question them, then." Sarek commented first.
"Spock and Jim did seem to know what they were doing." Amanda responded.
This got a few frowns, as the crew had no idea of the link between them.
"They also seemed to possess knowledge we do not."
"No kiddin'!? We haven't even been to Galfron! But I kid you not; Jim won't be touching ANY cake!"

Spock and Jim landed on Delta Vega.
Jim grinned seeing Spock. "'Kay, now I see why we have our jackets." Jim said, taking out his earpiece and pocketing it.
"Shall we?" Spock questioned, doing the same with his earpiece.
"Your guess is as good as mine as to where he'll be. He was in a cave when I was first here, but that was when Vulcan went bah-bye."
Spock rolled his eyes. "Let's try there first." He was already freezing.

Jim trudged into the cave, looking back at Spock who was following. "I tell you, we're not—" he turned to see an elder Vulcan looking rather amazed to see him. "Hey. That was easy." He retorted with a blink.
"Nothing is ever 'easy', Jim." Spock replied.
The elder Vulcan looked startled to see them to say the least.
"…Exploding universe, my ass..." Jim muttered.
Spock tried not to grin.
"I have no come to meet myself before, fascinating." Elder-Spock said.
"Yeah, imagine how I feel, I've got two of you over me." Jim said.
Elder-Spock looked amused.
Spock rolled his eyes.
"Now, I'm guessing you're both cold. So, Spock, use that device you so love for the moment. I swear; I'll forever hate the fact Khan stole it." Jim said.
Elder-Spock's expression hardened at the mention of the name.
Spock got out what looked like a black box form under his coat, shivering slightly as he did.
"Not to mention all the other things he did?" Spock asked in retort, pressing buttons as we went.
"Oh yeah, I'm forever pissed he killed me." Jim snarled.
"Fascinating," Elder-Spock commented. "You do not look dead."
Spock glared at Jim.
"What?" He retorted to the glare, knowing its reasons. "I did all I could to save our ship, you were in the seat, I was there."
"I believe there was a situation where I did the same thing when faced with Khan." Elder-Spock commented.
Jim lit up just like a boyish achiever. "HA! See! It WAS what you would have done!" He said gleefully, while poking Spock.
"Indeed." Spock said, looking up having finished his coding.
"How did you two find me?" Elder-Spock asked, going along with the flow, as if used to the fact weird things happened around Jim of any universe, and worked.
Jim looked sheepish. "Our minds were sent back three years from now back to when we were children; not quite the 129 years for you. But you could say we all cheated, and you're both bad, bad Vulcans for learning that from me." Jim said with a huge grin.
Elder-Spock chuckled.
Spook shook his head in his silent amusement, "When we're ready." Spock reminded.
"Right…!"

The three landed in the entrance hallway for the outpost. Jim quickly banged in the outward door, as if he had just come in.
"It is, for a term, 'busted'." Spock announced.
The black box had black smoke rising from it.
"Oh good, just in time," Jim started, then looked to Elder-Spock, while Spock made the box look like putty as he destroyed it in his bare hands; erasing all evidence, "If you could." He said with a cheeky smile which both Vulcans frowned at.
"To what to do—"
There was a clang of metal beyond them.
"Hello!" Jim called out, seemingly ignoring the two frowning Vulcans. "I'd rather they not know we came here by beaming, try to look like you've walked through the snow."
The two Vulcans did not need to try to look cold.
They were freezing, even when Keenser brought them to Scotty.
"Fascinating," Elder-Spock muttered, catching on to what Jim was referring to.
("Well, tha's brilliant, do they still have sandwiches there?" Scotty asked,) Jim and Spock let Elder-Spock run things; it would be bad if Scotty found out they too were technically from the future too. But he hadn't asked them, directly, only to Elder-Spock.
("The notion of transwarp beaming is like trying to hit a bullet with a smaller bullet whilst wearing a blindfold, riding a horse— what's that?" Scotty trailed off seeing what Elder-Spock was doing.
"Your equation for achieving transwarp beaming," He said then left the station.
)
Scotty seemed too far gone that his formula worked.

With the ta'al exchanged; Jim, Spock and Scotty were beamed back to the Enterprise's engineering room. Scotty found himself personally acquainted with the water works.
"Damn it, Spock!" Jim cursed and ran for the release valve.
Gathering the attention of Pike; they soon found themselves herded back up to the bridge.
Jim felt Spock flinch when he saw the Elders, more specifically; his parents, and automatically reverted to his modern-day Vulcan practices, that would get less questions about where they were from could he help it. Spock had already known that it would be very hard to explain Vulcan being gone when Vulcan clearly was not gone to anyone who asked about his let up in 'teachings'.

Pike looked to Scotty, who was soaking wet.
"…This…I'll assume…is 'Scotty'." Pike exclaimed.
All three blinked.
"How'dae know me name?" Scotty asked, rather confused.
Jim and Spock shared the same look.
"I assume you heard our radio talk when we were over on the Narada." Spock said.
While Jim swore; Scotty looked confused.
"Now who's swearing?" Pike asked, Jim stared, "Explain: now." He ordered.
Jim sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.

Jim looked unsettled. "I'm betting you can explain this, a hell lot better than I could, Spock." Jim countered, looking to Spock.
"On the contrary, I find I too am having difficulty in finding words." Spock replied.
"Is that Vulcan for, don't put me on the spot, because I don't want to explain? Jim asked, with a gleam in his eyes.
Spock rolled his eyes. "I will try, Jim."
"Good, because I don't understand this shit either." Jim said, looking about ready to just sit on the floor in a huff.

"Our minds are from approximately three years from now, and we have had that knowledge since our childhoods." Spock announced, going for the simplest recounts.
"How the hell…?" Pike and McCoy asked at the same time.
Jim shrugged. "No idea. Once minute we're playing chess in our connecting quarters, then boom, I'm being cornered by three Vulcans! Which I freaked out about by the way; I'm not used to seeing more than three Vulcans at once. Here they were TEAMING up on me! And they weren't the three I knew!" Jim exploded in a rush of words, sending an apologetic smile towards the Elders. "So, if I'm ignorant, just know I have reasons?" Jim started, blinked, and then looked to Spock. "I can say that, yeah? Does that, what was it, 'protection', still hold?" Jim asked, looking severely confused, and a little on edge with how many Vulcans were in his presence; and they all had their attentions on him.
Amanda looked shocked, "From back then?" She asked; her eyes wide.
"You are referring to the time when Jim was on Vulcan." Spock clarified, both humans nodded, not noticing the game of eye table tennis going on with the crew. "I had you placed under my protection during the time you had no access to the same memories I had. I did not want you going back to an environment that would endanger you further." Spock bristled.
"I know you're still pissed about me going to Tarsus." Jim acknowledged. "I couldn't let them die again, when I could try to prevent it, I knew personally what and when Kodos did things, Spock." Jim reminded his friend, and would have liked to have been tactile, but mindful of the many Vulcans, he did not.

"This was going somewhere." Pike spoke up, making Jim flinch.
"Right, basically, we don't know how this happened. But it happened." Jim said.
"Ambassador-you…?" Pike echoed.
Jim flinched and turned to Spock with a pout. "Shit."
"Indeed." Spock conceded.
"Okay, um, how'd he explain it the first time?" Jim looked slightly off, and then blinked. "…Basically in 129 years from now a star near Romulus goes into supernova, Spock agreed to help the Romulans, by injecting red matter into the supernova. Before he could, the star destroyed Romulus. The red matter created a tunnel through space-time, causing the Nerada to come through first and in front of the USS Kelvin, and the Jellyfish to come through 20-odd years later. Before we corrected it, Nero drilled into Vulcan to create a centre of point for the red matter, destroying the planet and most of its inhabitants…" Jim explained. They all saw the result of understanding go through the Vulcan Elders. "Morale of the story, Spock, in 129 years from now; remember to kill that star, please?" Jim asked.
Spock blinked. "I will endeavour to remember, Jim."

"How did you know where Mister Scott would be?" Pike asked, causing Scotty to blink through the amount of information download to his now involvement.
"Ah," Jim started. "That would be when Nero wanted you over the Nerada, you put Spock in the Captain's chair, and me in first. We disagreed on our course. Spock threw me off the ship and onto Delta Vega. I met Ambassador-Spock there, and he looked mighty surprised to see Scotty there, he used his theory of transwarp beaming to put us back on the Enterprise. He told me that in his verse that I had been Captain, him first, and to succeed against Nero, I would need to be so." Jim recounted, brushing over wounds.
Pike looked surprised. "You were Captain?"
Jim nodded. "Three years prior getting sent back. Probably a lot longer in his verse; Spock was my first. He has the uncanny capability to save my ass a lot."
"Which would not need saving if you looked before you leaped, Jim." Spock reminded in chide.
Jim rolled his eyes. "If shit stopped hitting the fan every time we go on a damn mission, I might." He rebuffed.
"And Galfron…?" Spock reminded, one eyebrow rising.
"And within the exception of wonderful looking cake," Jim said while glaring at Spock. "Stop bringing up Galfron!"
Spock nodded, and immediately his posture changed to receive the order. It was as if he interpreted Jim's tone of voice as an order. The others could see how Spock would react if Jim was Captain.

"You do realise that in changing all this you are not Captain?" Pike asked, curious if Jim had thought this through that far.
Spock looked to Jim as well.
Jim nodded. "I know. But if I could save just one life, I would do it again. Spock and I just saved Vulcan. I would call that a fair trade." Jim said, smiling a small sad smile.
Spock frowned, seeing something in Jim the others hadn't. Seeing the frown Pike and the rest looked curious.
"Jim?" Spock started.
"Hm…?" He answered.
"Are you well?" Spock asked.
Jim then frowned. "No, no, I don't think I am."
Jim then fainted.
Spock acted quick enough to break his fall, and take Jim into his arms.
"Jim!"

Darkness seemed to be overwhelming. Though, it wasn't quite as smothering like the darkness through death.
Jim.
That voice sounded familiar.
Jim.
The voice called again, its voice casting light into the darkness.
Spock.
It was Spock's voice.

McCoy would have done a double take and ordered a trip to the shrink had he not seen it himself; as soon as the Vulcans were off the ship, and the two (one Vulcan and the one human from Vulcan) that had followed had not entered the med-bay with them as well: Spock immediately showed emotions; specifically worry and concern. Vulcans don't have emotions, damn it! McCoy could barely get Spock to budge from where he had placed himself; right by Jim's immediate side, like he was glued! It was weird seeing a Vulcan show emotions! McCoy couldn't let it go.
"Damn Goblin." He muttered as he read the medical wand.
"Query…?" Spock asked.
McCoy twitched; he still sounded like a Vulcan!
"He'll be fine. His body is exhausted. You wouldn't happen to know how long ago he last slept last would you…?"
Spock shook his head. "His sleeping pattern is always irregular at best. I have previously found him awake during all hours of the night."
McCoy shook his head. "Sounds like Jim, alright." He said with a sigh.
"Indeed." Spock replied. "Do you have any estimation as to when he will wake?"
McCoy scoffed, "When he damn well wants to."

Jim groaned, catching the attention of his two bystanders.
"…Spock?" Jim asked; his voice slightly blurred.
"I am here. Doctor McCoy is to." Spock answered.
Jim blinked to get his mind working. "Where are we?" He asked.
"On our way back to Earth; I predict we will be called in front of the Admiralty." Spock said cautiously.
"…Oh, great…Which ones…?" Jim asked. "Am I meant to be nice to one in particular?"
This had McCoy confused.
"You will need to be, as will I." Spock answered.
"That's gonna be hard." Jim said with a grimace.
"Indeed." Spock said stiffly.
"…How are Amanda and Sarek?" Jim asked.
"They are still aboard. I believe they wish to talk to you." Spock replied.
"Awesome…When do we get to Earth? And when will I get outta here?"
"We will arrive in approximately two hours." Spock told him, and then looked to McCoy.
"Dammit, Jim…! Let me check you over first, before you jump the gun." McCoy grumbled.
Jim lit up at the possibility of leaving.
"How do you feel?" McCoy asked while running his medical wand over Jim.
"Not dead." Jim replied; at the comment both noticed Spock flinch, "Sorry, Spock."
Spock shook his head, but remained silent.
"Okay….!" McCoy started awkwardly not understanding why in the least Spock would flinch at the mention of Jim saying he was dead.

"Spock." Spock heard his mother call, hearing her, he looked to the med bay's doors to see her 'come hither' look, but she wouldn't step into the med bay itself.
Spock looked back to Jim, who nodded his leave.
"Damn it, Jim. Stay still. Don't pass go—" McCoy continued to rant as Spock left to see what his mother wanted.

Outside the med bay's doors both parents stood, gathering curious looks from various passer-by's.
"Yes, Mother?" Spock queried, knowing in most likely it was her questioning and Sarek was brought along by her.
Amanda looked rather puzzled. "How's Jim?"
Spock nodded. "He awoke and is being overseen by his physician doctor McCoy. He is well, and would likely state that he has had worse." Spock recounted.
Amanda smiled. "Have you had much contact since the time he left Vulcan?"
Spock shook his head. "We only communicated to tell of our whereabouts, and when Jim would be on Tarsus."
Amanda looked alarmed, while Sarek frowned.
"You let him go to Tarsus?" Amanda asked quickly, Sarek's frown deepened as if he had wanted to ask the query.
Spock let out a puff of air, which got raised eyebrows at. "The reason I gave consent for him to go, as he asked for it; not that he needs it, was because I was sure had he been there a too long of a duration I would have been able to retrieve him. Furthermore, I knew even without such consent from me, he would have gone anyway. I have found that Jim is typically the type of human to repeat such reoccurring behaviour." Spock said.
Amanda tried to hide her flinch when yet again she realised her son had three alternative years' experience beyond. Three years without Vulcan. "How—how many…" She tried to start but seemed unable to finish.
Sarek looked to her as if not understanding what she wanted to say.
While Spock unknowingly so-humanly cocked his head, and didn't register Amanda's amazed look not Sarek's increased frown.
"An estimation of ten thousand survived the fall of Vulcan." Spock confirmed what Amanda was trying to say, while Sarek lost his frown and stared openly.
Amanda blinked in astonishment. "How is it that you knew what I wanted to know?"
"Jim has been reluctant most times when he asked after Vulcan and of my background." Spock told them and watched as both of them flinched.
"Which of us did not return?" Sarek's first question made Spock flinch.
Amanda and Sarek watched quietly as Spock silently looked from Sarek to Amanda: His gaze staying on Amanda as if to make sure she still breathed. Then jolted away and looked towards the med bay.
They had their answer.
Jim had become the closest thing that a Vulcan could have to step in to hold such a bond, and make one in its own right; a true loyal friend.
Such a bond was present between Spock and Jim.
Even if they didn't realise how deep it ran, and how deep it would always run.

They watched as Spock frowned, as if puzzled.
"Spock?" Amanda asked.
He looked back to them quickly. "Excuse me." He said and stalked back into the med bay.
Human curiosity caused Amanda to follow, baring that now there were no immediate dangers to Jim's life, with Sarek following his family quietly assessing.

Jim's bio-bed was empty. Statistics of his person were still displayed.
McCoy came back into view holding a PADD. "Alright, Jim—" He stopped to look. "Damn it, Jim! Where's he gone!?" McCoy saw Spock. "Is he clear that he has summons' to appear before the admiralty? He can't sneak off!"
Spock blinked. "He is aware, doctor. He isn't one to stay in medical centres for long periods of time; even when he cannot walk." Spock announced.

"What the hell causes him NOT to walk!?" McCoy burst out angrily; not at all seeing that Spock was walking around the med bay as if he knew it like the back of his hand. But Amanda and Sarek saw and watched his movements with ease. He stopped by a trolley loaded with full of hypo-sprays.
"When he decides to boldly see by throwing himself in front of a falling tree to, see if he had 'superhuman' strength." Spock said clear and deadpanned, while the humans stared at him incredulously. "It was decided by the many broken leg bones, that he indeed, was not indicating superhuman strength." Spock stopped, and his head cocked to one side again. "Doctor McCoy, was this trolley here before Jim awoke?" Spock continued to question calmly.
McCoy blinked as if he just realised Spock and the equipment had moved. "The hell…?!"
Spock yet again blew out a puff of air. "I shall retrieve him."
Before anyone else could stop him, he left the med bay.
Not a moment passed before McCoy and Amanda were chasing after him, while Sarek followed, still quietly assessing.