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.
"They'd come all the way for this? Which mad astronomer had sent them out here? Whose twisted idea had it been?"
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek or any of its characters.
– Home-Part 10 of 35 –
Jim hadn't had a break since they'd discovered the ruins. He and Spock had stayed on the planet, even when night had fallen. Away-teams were still busy at work, unearthing yet more Vulcan history, but Jim had finally handed over command of the teams to Sulu as he'd decided they both needed some rest. They sat on the ground with their backs against the granite rock face on which they had found the first inscriptions, simply looking up at the stars in silence, at last able to gather their thoughts. The sky was starting to lighten as dawn approached.
Spock was the first to break their reverie. "In the decade before the Awakening, when Surak laid down the scriptures of logic, many colonies were abandoned or destroyed when civil war tore the Vulcan Empire apart. It was an atomic war of unparalleled brutality—billions died, whole colonies obliterated … a lot of history was lost. After the war, those colonists who survived found their worlds marred by radiation and fallout or raided by those who had been exiled for refusing to embrace logic; records of the time were understandably poor, but it was thought all survivors came to live on Vulcan—or Romulus."
The starlight was not bright, but Spock's white skin stood out in sharp contrast to the dark stone. His face was the perfect picture of tranquility. Even though Jim had seen him angry, it was still hard to imagine Vulcans being anything but peaceful people.
"What do you think happened to this place?" Jim said.
"There are no traces of radiation, though it does seem the population of this world was decimated around the time of the civil war. The colony was obviously not entirely abandoned though; at least a few must have remained since the most recent inscriptions are only one thousand years old. Furthermore they prove that the colonists had adopted a life based on rational thought. It is not clear from what we have unearthed so far whether or not they stayed in contact with Vulcan, but I do not believe that they did, as I never read of this place in any history books."
Jim looked away from Spock and back up at the sky. The stars were slowly disappearing as a blanket of grey was draped across the firmament. They had discovered so many beautiful structures, exposing layers of history spanning thousands of years, buried under just a foot of earth. Saketh lacked the grandeur of Vulcan's endless red desert and its awe-inspiring rock formations; but this world, this very landscape, had been shaped by Vulcans for thousands of years.
"At one time this was a large colony," Spock said. "Up to a hundred million may have inhabited Saketh."
Crumbling cities Vulcans had once lived and died in were testament to that. The work that would be required to restore any settlement here may be far greater than to build a new one from scratch, but psychologically … it would surely be invaluable to these people.
When Jim next looked over at Spock his face was bathed in a golden glow. The sunrise was painting the wisps of cloud above them in bold shades of pink and orange. It was a new dawn. Spock turned towards him and their eyes met.
Spock's face was open, his soul laid out bare for Jim to see. The tight lines around his mouth spoke of all the hurt and anguish at losing his home, but the smooth brow and his bright eyes of the determination to carry on, to continue to live and love.
This was a moment Spock wanted to share with him.
Something inside his heart moved then. He'd never felt this close to anyone before, he loved Spock more than even his own brother. This closeness that he enjoyed with Spock-it meant more to him than he'd ever care to admit to anyone.
"For the first time since … ." Spock didn't finish the sentence.
Jim shifted closer so that their bodies were touching and placed a hand on Spock's shoulder. Some events were too traumatic to ever be discussed. Jim understood that and nodded.
They sat like that, leaning on one another, until the sun had risen well above the horizon. In front to them, meanwhile, amongst the thick moss on the stone ground a tiny plant slowly unfolded its blue petals. It was the same type of plant that Spock had first analyzed, except far smaller. There couldn't possibly be enough soil up here for it to grow properly.
Jim stood up; it was time to beam back up to the ship.
"It belongs in the valley," he said looking down at the plant once more.
"Indeed. It will not survive here."
Spock retrieved a sample beaker and knelt down in front of it. "I will take this specimen back to the ship for further study."
Jim was leaning against a tree studying the latest geological report.
"Your big-headed elf has developed something of a one track mind," Bones told him. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed. Last week he had Sulu do an extra five shuttle fly-bys of some mountain range—five! The poor guy was exhausted after all that and then, without even a word of thanks, he asked him to reschedule the botany expedition for today, and co-ordinate a whole week's worth of shuttle missions to various other sites around the planet instead. We needed those results from the botanists for analysis in medical-I had to come down and take samples myself.
"I'm worried Spock's losing perspective; he's spending too much time here in the ruins. I think he needs a break from this mission."
"What would you like me to do about it? Confine him to his quarters? Don't be ridiculous, Bones," Jim said.
"Oh that's what you think of my opinion-it's ridiculous now, is it? Jim, sometimes … ." Bones sighed. "Look, Captain, it is my professional opinion as your Chief Medical Officer that Commander Spock needs to be taken off this mission for a while."
Jim didn't look up from the report he was studying. "So far I've found no reason to pull him off the project."
"Fine, but I'm going to make a note in my logs that I told you and you overruled me."
Jim snapped his head up to meet the Doctor's eyes. "Woah there, calm down, Bones! Obviously Spock is very involved with this mission. But I've been keeping an eye on him."
"You just make sure you keep a very good eye on him." Bones grunted and walked off, leaving Jim alone with the report.
Spock had become a bit obsessive it was true … one thing in particular that Spock would not let go of was his insistence that there would be vast underground complexes. Jim had been very happy to indulge and even encourage Spock's preoccupation with this-all the buildings they had uncovered so far, as beautiful as they were, had been damaged by the elements. The prospect of being able to explore intact underground tunnels and rooms excited him.
It was then his communicator beeped.
"Kirk here."
"Captain," Sulu said, "Commander Spock's found the entrance to an underground city."
"Great, when can we expect to send the first teams in?"
He heard Sulu sigh. "That's exactly why I'm calling you, sir. This is an exciting discovery, and although technically, we could pull everyone off the other projects, without even a moment's notice, I think that would be terribly inefficient. Surely you agree with me it can wait until tomorrow?"
"Lieutenant, where is the Commander?"
"He's here, sir, discussing some details with Mr Scott. I just thought that it would be good to ask you for your input on this."
"Commander Spock wants to go in now, doesn't he?"
"I presume so. He has not given any order yet. Sir, may I remind you that most projects down here involve delicate tests that must run for hours. They'll have to be set up and redone from scratch if we stop them now."
"I'll talk to him, but I want to make one thing clear, Lieutenant. If Commander Spock decides that it is necessary for him to pull everyone, including yourself, off your projects to work on a new one, you do just that, understood?"
"Yes, sir. Perfectly." With that Sulu terminated the connection.
Jim chewed on this lip as he mulled over the situation. Eventually he decided it would be best if he went over to talk to both of them in person.
When he arrived he found all three deep in conversation.
"So, what's the situation?"
"We have secured the opening to a passageway leading into the side of this mountain," Spock said.
"Ay, very solidly built!" Scotty said. "Structure of the tunnels seems sound as far as our scanners can make out."
Spock raised an eyebrow. "They were built by Vulcans, Mr Scott."
Jim had to suppress a grin; his heart also started beating faster.
He turned to the third member of the party. "Mr Sulu?"
"Sir, the tunnels would be safe to explore now," he answered.
The unspoken 'but' at the end of the sentence hung in the air between them. Everyone was now staring at Jim, and as the grin he could no longer keep in check started to spread across his face. Scotty and Sulu started to shuffle their feet.
"Well," Jim said, "as I understand it, there is no hurry to explore this underground city-."
"Captain-," Spock interrupted.
"Ah!" Jim said, holding up a placating hand, "let me finish. Our research teams are currently busy elsewhere on the planet. However, I am about to go off duty and wouldn't mind having a sneak preview. How about you, Commander Spock?"
Spock nodded tersely.
And so it was agreed and Jim and Spock hurriedly grabbed a few essentials.
"I've downloaded a map onto yer tricorders showing just how far ye can stray. I wouldn't advise going in any further than that-ye'd be out of communication range for one and secondly our scanners weren't able to get a clear picture much deeper into the rock, so yer'll run out of map," Scotty said.
"Thanks! I'll call in for an update in an hour," Jim called back over his shoulder at Sulu and Scotty as he stepped through the entrance into the dark beyond.
The unnatural light of his torch illuminated the black marble walls of the passageway, which glistened with moisture. Underfoot, mud squelched with an eerie noise that was swallowed up by the clammy air. His breath turned into a white mist that preceded him as we walked on, while Spock's breath … didn't. Was it due to his adjustable body temperature or was it an alien adaptation to desert life to conserve water? How cold this place must have felt to the Vulcans who'd once lived here … . It occurred to Jim that this place might not have seen any light in over a thousand years. He turned towards Spock, who'd yet to take out his tricorder.
"I know this may sound odd," Jim said, "but I feel like I'm disturbing an ancient tomb."
Spock's face remained impassive. "This part of the complex is not a tomb, Captain."
"This part?"
Spock didn't answer, but quickened his pace as they neared the end of the passage, which appeared to be a dead end.
"Time to consult the map!" Jim said, whipping out his tricorder.
Before he had even loaded the map though, Spock indicated that he knew the way.
"Oh!" Jim exclaimed when he looked up.
Above him the black of the low ceiling had become even darker. None of his torch light was reflected from above anymore; it was all swallowed completely. He walked up to the wall and ran a hand up it until his arm was almost fully extended—then he reached an edge.
The map on his tricorder showed a large room directly above them, which he scanned for unusual contraptions, deadly animals and the like—none, it appeared to be safe.
"I should be able to pull myself up," he said.
He passed his torch to Spock. It wasn't easy on his arm muscles, since the marble didn't offer much in the way of grip for his feet, but he was able to lift himself up and out of the passageway.
The cold was the first thing to hit him. It made the skin on his face stretch uncomfortably and his fingers were freezing where they were in contact with the smooth, hard floor.
"Spock, the torches!"
Down below Spock held them both up for him to take. Before he could get back down onto one knee to offer Spock any assistance, his friend was already lifting himself up.
Jim couldn't tear his eyes away from the display of super-human strength in front of him. Odd feelings were churning through him. He felt at once threatened-that reaction he was used to-but also, in a very weird way, he felt reassured.
Spock got to his feet and stood by his side. It was no wonder the room had swallowed all the light. The walls were so distant that even now their powerful torches barely illuminated the ceiling or the walls. To think that this place, once an important entrance hall, now lay in disrepair, its architects long dead and forgotten, gave him goosebumps as it cast a light on the insignificance of his own existence.
"An odd entrance to a city," Jim said, turning to Spock.
"An easily defensible entrance," Spock countered.
Jim felt his insides twist, the picture of the welcoming entrance hall replaced with one filled with guards and cold steel—a reminder that Vulcans were just a step away from being murderous Romulans. He took out his tricorder, the mechanical hum and familiar beeping a cold comfort as he scanned the room. There were a number of exists and he was only too glad to follow Spock towards one of them.