Title: Home (Multichapter fic with 35 parts)
Beta: Lissaea at Livejournal
Warnings, Themes and Tropes, etc.: bondage, torture, prostitution, explicit sex, drug use
Summary: The Vulcans need a new home planet, so the Enterprise and her crew set out to find one for them.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek or any of its characters.
– Home-Part 4 of 35 –
The paper work finally completed, Jim switched off the last of the PADDs before calling the bridge to ask Spock to join them. When he introduced Spock and Pravit to one another the other captain was friendly and polite.
Jim displayed the star charts on the main screen, which highlighted perfectly why this mission was necessary-few areas in this region had been extensively charted; those areas that had, were tagged with a label in a bold font that said: 'information unreliable'. At this Jim felt his heart beat faster; he just couldn't get his body to stand still. He walked back and forth in front of the screen, and it really was a fight to keep himself from fidgeting. There were worlds out there just waiting to be explored!
He looked at Pravit and Spock. While a small smile graced Pravit's face, it seemed that Spock was practicing his best 'brick wall' impression. The focus of Spock's eyes shifted from the chart to Jim's face, which caused the skin under his thin uniform sleeves to tingle due to the raw energy Spock was emitting—the air in the room was electric, almost tangible. Spock might control his body to such a degree that he often resembled a marble statue from Earth's ancient past, but his eyes … it was his eyes, often left unshuttered, that allowed for Jim to steal a glimpse in at the emotions that were contained inside that Vulcan body.
Jim forced himself to look back at the chart. "Now shall we discuss the details of this sector and divide up the workload?"
Pravit got up and walked to the map. "We thought the planets over in this cluster would be too hot, so we can cut that patch out entirely."
"I disagree," Spock said. "There is still a reasonable chance a few planets there would present themselves as ideal candidates."
Pravit stared at him. Then he looked back at the map and pointed to one of the planets. "That planet has five suns!"
Spock's step was full of energy as he made his way around the briefing room table to join Pravit in front of the screen.
"Its orbit does however bring it sufficiently far away from all of them to sustain liquid water, while the massive gravitational pull from the stars is enough to assure that it is not a 'dead body', but one with a molten core."
Jim grinned. Spock was amazing, and with him at the helm of the scientific end of this mission he felt secure that no alien rock would be left unturned in their search. A month or two from now Spock's people would be able to leave their dreary, temporary city on the outskirts of San Francisco.
The warning panels on the wall flashed red. From one moment to the next the briefing room was plunged into semi-darkness as the emergency lights turned themselves on, while alarm sirens rang out.
"Bridge to Captain Kirk." Sulu's voice sounded over the intercom.
The sound of Sulu's voice, the urgency and the adrenaline Jim heard in it, made the blood vessels in his heart feel like they had been injected with ice water.
He hit the comm panel to activate the channel. "Kirk here. What's the situation, Lieutenant?"
"An unidentified ship, sir."
Jim's heart pounded furiously against his chest as he shot up out of his chair. "On my way."
The three of them sprinted towards the door of the briefing lounge. When they reached the bridge, Jim took the captain's seat.
"Report!" he said.
"We detected a ship-," Sulu started to reply.
"Another sheep, sir!" Chekov burst out. "Or the same one. On our short-range sensors … no, it iz gone again now!"
Jim ran up to the window and looked out. "It's still there," he said, "It's flying past that moon."
"The sensors show nothing, sir," Chekov said.
The ship had only been visible to Jim for a fraction of a second. He sat back down in his chair, clenching the armrests.
"Do you have the energy readings from that Klingon vessel?" he asked.
Sulu spun around. "Klingon?"
"Yes, it was a Klingon ship. The sensor readings we took, Lieutenant!"
He'd only been in starfleet a year as a cadet when he'd first seen the outline of that class of Klingon vessel. There was no way in hell he could mistake it, the sight was branded onto his mind forever.
Sulu was frowning. "Well, um, the sensors weren't able to scan them for long, sir, so we couldn't pick up the ship's configuration, but looking at the energy signature I'm pretty sure it wasn't Klingon."
"How sure is 'pretty sure'?" Spock asked. "Could you specify, Lieutenant?"
"Well, I'm not sure-seventy, maybe eighty percent? The energy signature of Klingon spacecraft is very distinctive. But they were on the edge of our sensor range, of course."
Pravit stepped next to Jim. "How can you be so sure? The ship was very far away and only visible for a short time."
"Stardate 2255.78, when the Klingons were blockading our dilithium mines on De'anvor V. I was there. Believe me, I know the sight of a Klingon vessel at a distance."
"Could we hail my ship?" Pravit asked.
"Of course. Lieutenant Uhura, open a channel to the Excaliburand put the call on the main view-screen."
"Yes, sir." She turned to her console.
A petite woman with a short crop of blond hair, wearing science-blue, appeared on screen.
She drew her eyebrows together. "Commander Isabaev, here. What is your situation, Captain Kirk?"
"We detected a ship at the edge of our sensor range, though it has since moved out of reach of our scanners."
Pravit moved to stand next to Jim. "Commander, did our sensors pick up a vessel? And if so, would you say it was Klingon?"
"Yes our sensors detected a ship, but only for a few seconds. We are still trying to analyze the sensor readings." Isabaev turned to someone out of sight. "Lieutenant, check both short and long range sensors for Klingon energy signatures. Check the logs too."
When she turned back to them she shook her head though. "It doesn't appear to have been a Klingon ship."
"Thank you, Commander," Jim said.
She nodded curtly and then the view-screen went blank.
Could he have been wrong? Jim thought back to the blockade-his first command. They'd captured more Klingon ships than they'd been able to pull with tractor beams and there had been very few people spare to crew them. He'd been given a few mechanics, an engineering technician and a few security personnel who were to keep an eye on the Klingon prisoners (all of them, thankfully, had remained unconscious) and that was it! He was told the ship was his!
And he'd screwed up. When they were rescued via shuttle craft, flying back to the Farrgut, he'd forced himself to look out of the window at his Klingon ship, which had stood out dark against the bright desert surface of De'anvor V-its outline crisp and clean. That image signified the failure of his first command experience.
Jim stared at the view-screen in front of him, at the moon which had outlined the Klingon ship.
"I know what I saw," Jim said. "Yellow alert status. We need to call a meeting with the admiralty at once. Lieutenant Uhura," he said and nodded at his communications officer, who turned to her station and got busy at once.
"The meeting will take a while to set up," Pravit said. "I suggest we go over the sensor data with a fine comb and try to make sense of the energy readings."
It might have been a bit perverse to be glad for the delay in setting up the meeting, but Jim didn't care. It gave him gave him more time to go over the readings, or more precisely, it gave Scotty more time to go over them-engines and their energy signatures being his area of expertise. For now Pravit had returned to the Excaliburto oversee his own crew's analysis of their data, leaving Jim to pace up and down in his office while he and Spock discussed the situation.
"Okay, let's just look at the data one more time," Jim said.
It was still hopelessly beyond his analysis capabilities, though, and even Spock didn't seem to be able to make heads or tails of it. Defeated, Jim put his PADD down, closed his eyes and massaged his temples.
"Damnit, I know what I saw, Spock."
Spock didn't reply, but the sound of him tapping on his PADD stopped. Jim kept his eyes shut. He'd been in command and he'd messed up. The ship's black shadow mocked him. Even though Captain Pike had said he'd done a good job preventing the Klingons from recapturing the vessel, that it didn't matter that the warp core had overloaded, that no one had expected a cadet with only a few month experience in space to make all the right calls, he still felt like he'd disappointed him.
"Sir," Uhura's voice rang through the intercom, "I've set up a secure channel to Fleet headquarters. Admiral Barrow is standing by."
"Thank you Lieutenant," Jim said as he and Spock got up to leave his quarters. "Stand by to transfer the call through to the briefing room."
When the turbo lift doors closed behind them, Jim took a few deep breaths. He was damned sure of what he'd seen, there had to be a sensor malfunction, it was the only explanation that they'd been unable to pick up any readings from the ship even when he'd been able to see it clearly with his eyes. The breathing exercise helped him calm down somewhat, but finding Klingons this far into Federation territory could only spell trouble for their mission.
Spock didn't look troubled and he allowed himself to take comfort and strength from that. It was good to have an unflappable first officer.
"We cannot risk war with the Klingons," Admiral Barrow said.
Jim stared back at the older man on the screen. "I'm fully aware of that, sir."
"Good. Keep it in mind at all times."
"We'd lose," Jim said.
He could feel both Pravit and Isabaev's eyes on him. Spock, he knew, hadn't taken his eyes off the screen though.
"We will not contact the Klingons without good reason and the sensors from both ships prove you wrong, Captain," Barrow said. "Kirk, you are aware that computers tell the truth, aren't you?"
Barrow turned to Pravit. "Do you have any reason to doubt the sensors and computers on both ships, Captain? Do you believe the vessel Kirk saw was Klingon?"
"I think the computer is the more reliable witness. The energy signatures were not Klingon," Patel said, straight-faced.
Jim did not blame him for the comment. He was only doing his job.
Then, Barrow turned to Spock. "Commander, you have an in-depth familiarity with the computer systems onboard the Enterprise. You would agree with Captain Patel's assessment of the situation, would you not, that the computer evidence is more reliable?"
Jim clenched his fists. Using the Vulcan logic against him, damn that man! Of course computers were logic based devices, while humans had flaws … he didn't have time to finish that train of thought though.
"On the contrary," Spock said.
Suddenly all eyes were on the alien. "The Captain has no reason to lie about this. Everyone on the bridge was focused on their instruments, myself included, only the Captain was close to the view screen to observe the other ship. It is my logical conclusion, that considering the sensors were for the large part unable to detect the ship at all, that Captain Kirk speaks the truth."
"No one is doubting the Captain's integrity, just his eyes," Barrow said.
"Admiral," Spock responded, "Captain Kirk has experience with the Klingons, not just recently. I know you are aware of the missions he did with Admiral Pike before completing his officer training at the academy. Klingon ships are very distinctive in shape, we would be wise to trust his judgment on the matter."
"But the energy readings we got …," Isabaev said.
Spock turned to her. "Then we should consider the possibility that this ship has a new type of engine as well as some device on board that interferes with our sensors."
"Engineering to Captain Kirk," Scotty's voice sounded over the intercom.
It must be important for him to interrupt, Jim thought. And it was. Scotty had run the tests he'd asked for on the sensors and indeed the radiation from the nebular was affecting them in some way, enough for the short range sensors to cut in and out, but also give them incorrect data on the long range sensors. It didn't prove that Jim was correct, especially since it didn't explain the energy signatures entirely, but it did lend some support to his argument.
Eventually Pravit coughed politely. "Are we to continue our mission here for the time being, Admiral?"
The strained silence continued for a few more heartbeats.
"Please transfer your analyzed results, Captain Kirk, and I will discuss this matter with the other admirals and call you back shortly," Barrow said.
He hadn't been joking about calling back soon, it was only half an hour before he was on-screen again. And now he was joined by Admiral Pike.
"Yes," Pike confirmed, "you're to continue your mission. However, it has been decided … ."
Jim swallowed. He found he disliked the sound of this decision already; anything that Had Been Decided by the anonymous admiralty-entity was bad news.
"… that both your ships should stray no further than one parsec from one another. We will also send you a flight-plan that should take you past most planets, but will take you close to the Klingon border. We need to show some presence there. Thirdly-," and here Pike directed his gaze specifically at Jim, "-no one, I want to make this very clear, no one is to visit the surface of any of the planets."
Jim felt the heat of indignation slowly start to rise up in his stomach. Why was he being singled out?
Spock raised an eyebrow. "Admiral, such a restriction is unnecessary and will disrupt our exploration. We must be allowed to go down to the surface-."
"You 'must'?" Barrow said, "I think you'll find what you 'must' do is to follow these orders to the letter. I will personally see that anyone who breaks them is kicked out of Starfleet faster than you can say Mississippi. You don't have reliable sensor functions. No, when you drop out of warp you will have your shields up. You may beam from ship to ship, but you will certainly not lower them to beam landing parties down to a planet where they may be stranded if there is an attack."
"Yes, sir." Spock's eyes narrowed ever so slighly as he said that.
"So I've made myself clear? Good!"
Jim decided Pike might not have singled him out without reason after all. He might have to keep Spock in check. Well that might prove interesting.
"You think you'll be unable to complete the assignment unless you can send down away teams?" Pravit asked Spock.
"Our likelihood of success would be greatly reduced," Spock replied.
Jim shot Pravit a grateful look, he appreciated his help. Jim clasped his hands together and found that he was sweating slightly as he started to fully understand what Spock was trying to say.
"And if that is the case," Jim joined in, "then we're risking not only a massive waste of time and resources, but also potentially miscategorizing planets … we might recommend a planet with potentially dangerous faults."
"So you would have us cancel the mission?" Barrows said turning to Spock once more. "Commander Spock, of all of us I would have expected you to understand that we need to find somewhere for your people. There are not many suitable planets in the galaxy that are ready to move onto. The first planet your people chose as your new home was … well, you know of the tragedy of course."
A small ball of anger was slowly unfurling its talons inside Jim's stomach. He felt his fists clench and he quickly moved them off the table and out of sight.
"Commander Spock has already identified a few candidate planets in this sector," Pravit said.
"Perfect," Barrow replied, "You can investigate those then. I have great trust in you all that you will adapt to the restrictions we've placed on your mission. I understand the sensors are not working at their optimum, but maybe you can improve their accuracy."
Jim took a deep breath. "And I hope," he said, "that you will attend to the matter of keeping the Klingons out of this sector."
"Yes, that is our primary concern of course," Barrow said, through narrowed eyes.
As soon as the screen went blank Jim sighed with relief, because he finally knew for sure that Starfleet would at least contact the Klingons despite the initial doubts about his testimony, and really that was all he could ask for. He knew he had Spock and Scotty to thank for that.