The Once & Future Captain
Part 4
The wait for Bones and the others to arrive at Jim's house was near unbearable. Spock had gone off to explore the rest of the house and Uhura could only stare sadly around Jim's room. She'd never cut Jim any slack for misbehaving, no matter if he'd had a troubled childhood or not. As far as she was concerned, "My Mommy and Daddy didn't love me" didn't excuse criminal behavior, disrespect towards authority, or general ass-hole behavior. She'd always assumed that Jim hadn't ever gotten over the ridiculously high expectations for being George Kirk's son and that was why he'd been a certified troublemaker throughout his entire life - he'd just stopped caring. But being here and seeing where he'd spent part of his teenage life, this... this was on an entirely different level.
"Uhura?" She heard Bones call, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Up here!" she called. "The stairs are past the kitchen!"
Within a minute Bones, Chekov, and Scotty were joined by Spock as they crowded into Jim's old room. She heard the audible intake of breath as the three newcomers took in the childhood bedroom of their captain.
It was painted a light blue and there were holographic posters on the walls, showing various galaxies. A few framed holos were flashing around, showing a laughing Jimmy with a younger Kevin Riley. There were blue ribbons tacked onto a cork board by his window, with faded gold writing proclaiming: 'Grand Champion - Tarsus IV Academy Science Fair' and 'First Place - Xenolinguistics Translation Open.' Next to a framed holo with the caption 'Tarsus IV Academy Glee Club,' books with titles like The Adventures of Captain Macomber and A Separate Peace lined a bookshelf that stood next to his still-open closet. A baseball was resting on his bed next to a kid's mitt.
It was a shockingly normal room, one that could have easily belonged to any teenage human boy. Nothing about this room screamed 'repeat offender' or 'disrupter of the peace.' Nothing about this room would suggest that it's one-time occupant would grow up to have a myriad of issues that would lead to various nights in jail. Or that it's occupant would grow up to be the most famous captain in the whole of the Federation.
"Jim's house," Bones said quietly. "So this is where he lived."
"It seems a bit... well, normal for the Jim I know," Scotty said finally, studying a perfect replica model of the XCV 330 Enterprisewith great interest. Attached to the model was a little blue ribbon that read 'First Place.'
The computer on Jim's desk, which he flipped up and turned on, on the other hand, captivated Chekov. "Chekov!" Uhura hissed. "That's probably private!"
Chekov shrugged and proceeded to hack past the security Jim had once set. "So is the rest of the house, I'm assuming. We've already entered unasked, we might as well go all the way."
"Were you successful in locating the translator we were sent to retrieve?" Spock asked.
"Negative, Commander," Scotty said. "No such luck."
"And the Captain has not contacted you?"
"No, Jim's been pretty silent," Bones said, tearing his eyes away from a holo wherein Jim was playing fetch with a golden retriever. "This entire planet is like something out of the Twilight Zone." Four sets of eyes turned to meet his. He sighed. "It was an old Earth show where the strange and paranormal happened. You know, creepy stuff."
"This planet definitely qualifies as creepy," Uhura said. "Without the dead grass and trees, it'd look like everyone just disappeared."
"Aya!" Chekov exclaimed beaming at the computer. "It's working!"
A window on the screen popped up and started playing.
Thirteen-year-old Jim Kirk's face appeared and he was smiling widely.
"So, I'm James Tiberius Kirk, I'm thirteen years old and this is my video log. I know it sounds pretty lame, but Aunt Claire and Uncle Arthur suggested that I log my time here, since I might want to look back one day and reminisce. I doubt I'll ever be that sentimental, but, whatever.
"I'm living with my aunt and uncle, as I said. They've been here since the colony started. Aunt Claire's a nurse and Uncle Arthur teaches at the academy. They're both pretty cool, I guess. It's nice to not have adults calling me a 'fucking idiot' for a change."
Video Jim moved his computer around so that a view of his room could be seen. "This is my room, obviously. It's got a great view of the backyard. I was out there for about an hour or so today, playing with Sir, our dog. He's really friendly. I've never had a dog before, actually. Mom's allergic, she said, and Uncle Frank hates animals, so we never bothered.
"I start school tomorrow and I'm really excited. This place is supposed to have the most exciting academic programs available, not like the watered-down shit they force-feed you back on Earth."
Video Jim shook his head disgustedly. "Damned teachers there didn't know anything. I wonder what it will be like to not be bored in school?"
He looked up at the clock. "Well, I have to be going; Aunt Claire warned me not to be late for dinner. She actually asked me what my favorite meal was, said she'd make it for me as a welcome home treat. Is that something families do when a person comes back? It's different. No one's ever asked me what I wanted before, like my opinion matters." He sighed. "Until next time, Kirk out."
The video went black. The crew looked around at each other. None of them quite knew what to say.
The trek around the mountain was fairly short. Both knew what their destination held and it had been this particular place more than anything that had Jim and Riley agreeing to take part in the mission at all. Eleven years had been a long time, but both had known once the message from Pike had been sent to Jim, that they would have to stop here and pay their respects.
Just around the mountain, less than a mile from the cavern where they'd hid along with the other children, was a graveyard. The large span of dirt was still there, though years of rain and wind and sun had soaked and then dried it flat. No grass had sprung up where they'd dug, though they'd tried to replace what grass they'd dug up. It only vaguely resembled anything rectangular; the teenagers able to dig had been so weak that lifting a shovel was a challenge. Keeping it neat was the least of their worries.
Inside the grave were the bodies of the children he'd saved from the city, who'd later died from starvation or sickness before the relief from Starfleet had arrived. There were fifteen of them, total. Little Ella, who had died not long after Jim had ventured into the city one last time for help, was buried here. So were Gracie, Ginny, Trevor, Kyle, Connor, Steven, Turk, Miranda, Aiden, Bernard, Mohinder, Charlaine, Lynda, and David Michael. One by one they'd all died and Jim and Riley hadn't forgotten any of them.
For Jim, Ella's death had been the hardest to take. Jim had tutored her in algebra every Wednesday afternoon. Her Dad had taught him how to use power tools like a table saw and a laser cutter. Jim had very much considered Ella to be a younger sister. For her to grow so sick so quickly, her malnourished body unable to fight off the illness, had been heart wrenching. She'd finally passed away in her sleep after being unconscious for a day, wrapped tightly in Percy's arms as he'd cried.
Riley, on the other hand, had been neighbors with Trevor and Ginny. The siblings had only been two years apart in age; Trevor had been 12 and Ginny had been 10. He'd spent years playing with the pair before Jim had arrived on Tarsus IV, and even after Jim, he'd always made time for them. They'd both died of starvation, Trevor days before Ginny, as he'd insisted that she eat the food allotted to him. Seeing decisions like that forced onto a twelve year old had filled the others with a silent despair; all of them had been too weak to rage.
Riley and Jim didn't speak as they stood there paying their respects to the children they hadn't been able to save. Tears ran down their faces and when Riley moved to hug Jim, Jim didn't stop him. None of this should have ever happened; someone should have been there to help. They'd only been children, after all; children who shouldn't have had to bury their own.
Another video flickered on. Video Jimmy, smiling widely, talked excitedly.
"Jimmy Kirk here, again. So far I like things here on Tarsus IV. I started school today and the teachers are amazing! They actually know what they're talking about! I didn't have to correct any of them at all!" He looked impressed and said conspiratorially, "That's never happened before.
"I think the biggest news, though",
he continued with an almost awestruck tone, "is that I met someone here who I think likes me. His name's Kevin Riley and he lives a few blocks over. He's about my age and he's been here with his parents since the colony started. I was waiting outside the pharmacy while Aunt Claire was picking up some of my allergy medicines, and he came right over to me, just out of the blue." Jimmy looked bewildered - truly amazed that anyone would want to be in his company. "He introduced himself and said he'd read that a new kid was coming on-planet and that he'd been looking forward to meeting me for weeks!" He shook his head, his sandy blonde hair flying back and forth. "Can you believe that? Like I was a big deal or whatever. He started asking me all these questions like where I lived on Earth and what my favorite subjects in school were. He asked if I'd met anyone our age and when I said no, he said he'd take care of that. I'm supposed to go over to his house for dinner Friday night. He said he wouldn't take no for an answer and that once I'd tried his mother's shepherd's pie, I'd never want to leave. And then he said he'd see me at school tomorrow and that he was glad to have made a new friend."
Video Jimmy looked at the camera with an expression of almost hunger on his young, innocent face.
"I've never had a friend before."
"Jimmy?" Riley asked, staring out over the mass grave, after he'd let go of Jim.
"Yeah?"
"I think I'm gonna go to my old house, look around. Are you going to be okay?"
Jim looked at Riley and nodded. "Yeah, go ahead. I'll be fine. I'm just going to go find the translator so that we can end this. I'll catch up with the rest of you."
"Okay then, I'll be off." Riley strolled off and Jim smiled after him. He had his oldest friend back.
Riley and Jimmy struggled back to the cavern, urging the small children to keep silent and keep up. There were seven of them they'd found hiding out in one of the houses, many of them whom Jimmy had known.
"We're almost there, just keep going and then you'll be able to rest," Jimmy promised. Ella fell behind and he hurried back and crouched down so she could ride on his back.
"Riley, were we followed?"
"It doesn't look like it, Jimmy," Riley said, helping Tyrell to his feet after he'd stumbled over a rock. "We were lucky."
They'd narrowly avoided Kodos's patrolling units who were still sweeping the city for any citizen of limited value who had managed to avoid execution. Sirens had been blaring that it was past curfew and the productive citizens had huddled inside their house, fearing that at any moment, the authorities would come sweeping in and demand that they surrender their lives. Jimmy and Riley had led the children from one empty house to another, occasionally picking up a new refugee that was in hiding. Getting out of the city was the trickiest – you had to time the cameras just right to ensure you made the blink-and-you-miss-it blind spot.
Finally the terrain shifted and the cavern drew nearer. Riley ushered the children inside while Jimmy kept watch. When he was convinced they were as safe as they could be, Jimmy went inside, exhausted from his rescue efforts. He was so hungry, but the food had to hold until he could make another trip into the city. Besides, there were those younger and smaller than him who needed it more.
The newest additions to their group were huddled up around a fire someone, presumably Dexter, had built. They were staring up at Jim wide-eyed, all terrified.
"What's going to happen to us?" Shiloh asked.
"I want my Mommy!" Charlaine, only four years old, said in a wail.
"Shut up Charlaine!" Turk snapped. "Stop acting like a baby! You can't see your mommy. She's dead!"
"Leave her alone Turk!" Lynda hissed. "She's scared! We all are!"
"Crying's not going to help us," Turk said darkly. "And where are we, anyway?"
"Arguing isn't going to help either," Percy's voice called from farther back in the cavern. "This isn't going to work unless we get along." He moved further up near the fire, his face grave.
"Percy's right," Jimmy said. "We have to stick together in this. It's the only chance we have to stay alive."
"Why are they killing us?" "Why hasn't Starfleet come?" "When can we go back?"
"Kodos thinks the only way to save the colony is kill people who aren't useful," Jimmy said, not entirely understanding Kodos's reasons himself. "Starfleet hasn't come because they don't care. We never got a reply back from the distress call the Board sent them. And we can't go back, not while Kodos is there. He'll kill us all. He's gone mad."
"What's going to happen to us?" Jenny asked, sitting next to Percy, holding Ella to her side.
"I don't know," Jimmy said. "I haven't planned this far ahead. I just wanted to get as many of us out of that city as possible. We can't trust anyone in there."
"So we just wait?" Turk demanded.
"Until I can figure this out, yeah," Jimmy said miserably. He didn't know what the plan was, he was just trying to keep them alive until help could come… if it ever did. "But in the meantime, we're going to have to stick together. We can't rely on the adults. We can only rely on ourselves. We're a family now, a crew. We have to make this work."
The others were all quiet. Then, determinedly, came Ella's small voice. "If we're a crew, we gotta have a captain."
"Ella's right," Turk surprisingly agreed. "We need a captain to lead us."
"Jimmy's captain," Riley said instantly. "He got us this far."
"I can't be captain," Jimmy said. "I don't know what I'm doing. Percy should be captain; he's the oldest."
"No can do, Jimmy," Percy said. "I'm the doctor. I'm the oldest and I've had the most medical experience, limited though mine's been."
"You're the captain, Jimmy," Bernard said. "You got us out of the city."
Jimmy looked around at all the children sitting around the fire. They were looking to him for guidance and hope. They had absolutely nothing to hold onto, and Jimmy couldn't let them down. "Fine," he said. "And I'm gonna need a first officer. Riley?"
"All yours, Captain," Riley said, a hard look on his face.
"Right then," Jimmy started pacing. "We're a crew now, understand? We have to work together and look after each other. We have to make this work. We're going to get out of this, you hear? We're going to make it."
The other children nodded and Jimmy knew he'd do anything to keep them safe.
He was the captain now. He had to look after his crew.
"Jimmy Kirk here! I have really exciting news!" Indeed, Jimmy was bouncing excitedly in his seat, the widest grin on his face. "I met a xenolinguistics teacher here! Her name's Hoshi Sato and she used to serve in Starfleet. She was the first human to ever speak Klingon! Anyways, she lives a few doors down from me and she's agreed to teach me Klingon, so long as I work really hard at it. She says that if I can master Klingon, she'll teach me other languages like Vulcan and Andorian!" Jimmy's hands flailed in excitement. "I can't wait, Uncle Frank would never hire an instructor for me and the schools back on Earth won't teach alien languages until you're in high school." He sighed. "It's really stupid of them, because everyone knows that the ideal time to learn languages is when you're a child. It's the stupid Earth Purity movement, rearing it's annoying head again. As if teaching children alien languages is going to make them less human." He shook his head, disgusted. "But Hoshi's really nice. She has a pretty laugh and she said if my first lesson goes well, she'll teach me her favorite ways to swear in Klingon as a special treat!"
He looked over his shoulder as a voice called "Jimmy! Dinner!"
"I gotta go. Aunt Claire made lasagna. Kirk out!"
"Kirk here, again. The lessons from Hoshi are going really well. She knows everything, it seems. I've learned loads already. Hu'tegh! Dor-sho-gha! One of her favorite ways to teach is to tell stories about her time with Captain Archer on the Enterprise in Klingon. But she's really strict. I spent ages saying Hu'tegh! Dor-sho-gha! until she was satisfied I'd gotten it right."
He beamed; apparently to Jimmy Kirk a grueling lesson was the most exciting thing ever.
"In other news, Riley, Percy and I are going to the lake south of the city to swim this weekend. We had to get a special permit, since that area is still undergoing development. But Percy's old enough to chaperone, they said, even though he's only 15. Whatever." Jimmy rolled his eyes. "But Percy is really cool. He wants to be a doctor, which means I'll finally know a doctor I don't completely hate. Percy wouldn't be like a regular doctor; he'd be a cool doctor."
Bones's expression was pained and he closed his eyes.
"And probably the strangest of all is that the Governor of the colony asked Aunt Claire if I could come to the government building after school tomorrow. He said he wanted to check on my progress since I've been here. She looked kind of uncertain about it, but I think it would be neat to get inside the government building. From what I hear, Governor Kodos is really nice. He helped plan this entire colony. It wouldn't exist without him.
Well, I'd better get going. It's almost time for bed and I still have to take Sir outside for the night.
Kirk out."
Jim traversed the rocky terrain (Though really, he thought, was there any other kind on this planet now?) and let his mind wander. Nothing about this place had changed, apart from the fact that it was dead. He pulled his mind back, noting the trees he'd marked the decade before. He came upon the solid oak with the Andorian marking for "s" or, at least, their closest symbol for their closest sound to "s." He passed another oak, this one with a Terrellian "o." "B," (Cardassian) "a," (Vulcan) an "n," (Standard) and another "o," this time in Klingon. He turned slightly right, following the trees past another "o," a "d," an "l," an "e," and an "s." He couldn't help but grin. Hoshi had loved the damn things and Jim had too. And it was random enough that no one else would have gotten it and he'd marked the trees discretely enough so that he or Hoshi would have been the only ones who would know that there was anything to look forHe'd seen her tending to her flower boxes in the windows often enough, but she never looked over to see his waves of hello.
The sign by her gate read "Sato." He'd wondered if she was related to the same Hoshi Sato who had served with Captain Archer on the Enterprise, because that would be so cool. He'd never met anyone who'd served on that ship before, though he'd read all about it and its history.
He decided to be brave and entered the gate. He tentatively called out a few soft "Hello!"s but she didn't seem to hear him. He drew closer to her and suddenly he heard "Hu'tegh! Dor-sho-gha!" It was loud and guttural and it sounded so strange to come from such an elderly woman with such a pretty face while she was tending to her gardenias.
"Hugh-teg! Door-shoe-ga!"
"That's wrong," he heard her say as she finally turned to look at him. "Hu'tegh! Dor-sho-gha!" Her voice twisted itself around the harsh words.
"Hu'teg! Dor-shoe-ga!"
She shook her head, displeased. "Still wrong. Hu'tegh! Dor-sho-gha!"
He kept repeating her phrase, each time a bit closer to hers. But it was still wrong and she kept making him try it over and over again. "You can't just say the words in Klingon. You have to mean them. You have to feel. They're guttural and deep and emotional! Try it again."
"Hu-tegh! Dor-sho-gha!"
The woman beamed at him, her eyes crinkling with approval. "Very good. You're the Kirk boy, aren't you? You moved in with Claire and Arthur a few weeks ago?"
Jimmy nodded. "James Tiberius Kirk."
She winced. "Tiberius. I'm so sorry," she said with a smile.
Jimmy laughed. "Are you related to the Hoshi Sato who served on the Enterprise?"
The woman shook her head. "No, I'm not."
Jimmy's face fell. He'd SO been hoping…
"I am the Hoshi Sato who served on the Enterprise." She said, mischievously.
He could feel his eyes light up. He had SO MANY questions he wanted to ask her. "You're a xenolinguist, right? That's alien languages, right?"
Hoshi smiled and turned back to her flower box. "Xenolinguistics: the study of alien languages, morphology, phonology, syntax." She smirked at him, making her look years younger. A particularly devilish amusement was in her dark eyes. "It means that I have a talented tongue."
Jimmy outright laughed. He liked this woman. She was fun and she was brilliant. "How many languages do you speak?"
"Alien or Earth-based?"
"Both."
"62," Hoshi answered. "I'm a bit rusty in one or two of them, but others I'm very well-versed in. I'd better be, since I was the first human to speak most of them."
"Could you teach me?" Jimmy asked.
Hoshi raised a finely groomed eyebrow and studied him appraisingly. "Which ones?"
"Any of them, all of them," Jimmy said. "Whatever you're willing to teach, I'm willing to learn. I learn fast and I work hard."
She was quiet for a long time as she turned back to her flowers. Jimmy waited for what felt like an agonizingly long time before she finally gave him her answer. "Klingon, for starters. It's going to be hard and I'm going to be very demanding. I expect you to be on time and take it seriously. If you work hard and I'm satisfied with your progress, we'll move on to other languages like Andorian and Vulcan. And," she said as she turned back to him with a wicked grin, "I'll teach you my favorite ways to swear in Klingon."
In five weeks he'd mastered Klingon, as well as helped Hoshi with fun new ways to insult and swear. Vulcan was difficult, but Jimmy had two of the dialects down after four months..
"Jimmy here, again.
"Our advanced civics class went over to the government building today. Governor Kodos himself gave us the tour, detailing what goes on during a normal day at the place. He seems really nice. Kind of what I picture an old grandfatherly type person to be. Or an eccentric uncle. I wouldn't know; I never met my grandparents, and the only uncle I have is Frank, but he's an ass-hole and he hates me. Aunt Claire and Uncle Arthur don't count; they're actually like, second or third cousins. I just call them aunt and uncle because it's less confusing.
"Anyways, Kodos stopped me after class and asked if I'd like to come back sometime, learn the government system in-depth. I said yes, so I'll be there a few days a week after school. He saw me looking at the chess board in his office and he said he'd teach me to play, if I wanted. I know that my father used to play, but obviously he never had a chance to teach me. I think it will be fun to learn.
"Riley's waiting for me to mosey on over to his place to work on our Critical Species Theory class project, so I'd better head off.
"Kirk out."
"I didn't realize that Jim knew Kodos personally," Bones said. Uhura and Scotty nodded their agreement. Spock, as usual, didn't comment.
"He must feel so guilty," Chekov said. "From what I know of the captain, he probably feels like he should have realized what the man had planned.
The screen flickered, and another log began to play.
"Jimmy Kirk here!" His face was flushed with excitement. "So, uh, some exciting news, I guess. At least for me. Because today, something happened, that is, um-"
A figure burst onto the screen and it was Riley, young and full of life, his boyish face gleaming with mischief. "JIMMY'S GOT A DATE!"
Scowling, Jimmy pushed Riley out of the screen. "Dammit, Riley, this is my video log! I was getting there!" His face turned to face the screen again. "And it's not really a date, Miranda Berkley and I just decided to walk to the city concert together." He was blushing furiously, though he looked really quite pleased.
"She's gonna try to kiss you!" Riley said from outside the screen. Jimmy's face went pale and a look of horror started to replace his excitement. "Oh no," he said, turning to look at Riley. "What if she does? What do I do? Do I kiss her first or what?"
"Dunno," came Riley's voice. "Ask Percy. He keeps sneaking out at night to meet Jenny M'Yregzki. He knows about that stuff."
"Right," Jimmy said, nodding and looking more relieved. "I'll just ask Percy. He's cool." He shook his head. "Oh fuck, I have a date.
Kirk out."
On it went. Jimmy Kirk had made log after log detailing his time on the planet. He was especially fond of detailing his time with Riley and his other friends. He also was full of admiration for Hoshi Sato and would give entire logs in Klingon, Vulcan, or Andorian. This was a side of their captain they hadn't known existed.
"Jimmy!" Jimmy looked around wildly, he saw Hoshi motioning him over by the park. The trees were all slowly dying – the leaves were coated with black fungus and were falling rapidly to the ground. Within days the trees would all be bare.
"What's going-" he started.
She impatiently cut him off. "We're going for a walk. It's okay if you have an adult with you. Come on," she grabbed his hand and smiled brightly at a passing officer.
"How long are the new curfews going to be in place?" Jimmy asked. "Everyone's so tense and worried."
"They should be," Hoshi said. "The treatments the scientists have been doing to the soil aren't working. Every field that's been farmed is dead and the supplies for this planet are running low. Already things are being rationed." She was talking low and quickly.
"But Kodos said-"
"Kodos can't fix this. The entire city council voted against letting those aliens on-planet and he allowed it anyways," Hoshi said. "If they hadn't come on planet, none of this would be happening."
Jimmy saw red at Hoshi's words. "Kodos didn't mean for this to happen!" he said hotly.
"It doesn't matter if he did or didn't, Jimmy," Hoshi said. "But it did happen and it is his fault. People are going to start panicking. The new curfews and rationing is just the beginning. Last night an emergency measure passed and no one is allowed off-planet without Kodos's personal approval. There are ships passing by that could take us home and we can't leave."
"Why would he keep us on planet if going back to Earth is safer?" Jimmy asked. He had a sick feeling in his stomach; the thought of leaving Tarsus IV made him want to retch. Tarsus IV was home. He was happy here. Things had to get better; they just had to.
"I don't know," Hoshi said. "I've tried sending a message to Starfleet myself, but all transmissions have to pass through the government building and each one is getting blocked."
The feeling of dread settled heavy within him. Surely Kodos had a master plan? Sure Kodos would pull through and save them all?
"Where are we going?"
Hoshi shrugged her shoulder to indicate her black purse. "We're hiding it. Or rather, you're going to," she caught Jimmy's confused eyes. "The Lingtrix."
"Why are we hiding it? We spent months working on that!"
"If things on planet are about to get worse like I think they are, then I want the Lingtrix safe and out of the way." She pulled a bit harder on his arm. "Now, come on."
Jimmy stood in front of the thickest tree in the half-circle around the clearing. He carefully stacked several of the large rocks that lay haphazardly around the base of the trunk. Then he stepped gingerly on the first step he'd created, bracing his arms against the trunk for balance. He took another step up, and then another, before grabbing the nearest branch and lifting himself up enough to grab another.
"Dammit, Hoshi," he muttered as his boot slid roughly against the tree, halting his progress. "Couldn't have just let me dig a hole, could you?"
He continued to make his way up the tree until it cleared somewhat and there was enough room for him to seat himself. There, in a hollowed out section of the tree, far away from prying eyes, was a roughed-up black backpack, sitting there just as he'd left it.
"And this mission is over," he breathed. He stayed aloft in the tree for a moment to catch his breath and then slowly made his way back down. He was just moving the rocks back into place when his communicator chimed.
"Sulu to Scotty," chirped Sulu's voice. "What's going on down there? I haven't heard from anyone."
Chekov hesitantly pressed the pause command.
"Er, we found the captain's old house," Scotty finally said.
"And?" Sulu asked.
"It's nothing like you'd expect," Scotty managed.
"Anything fun to learn about our captain?" His levity was awkward in light of the things they'd discovered. But Sulu wouldn't have known.
"We will discuss it once we are back on ship," Spock finally commented.
"Alright then. Let me know if the device turns up. Sulu out."
They all looked at each other, not sure what to say. it was as if their entire world had been turned upside down. Then Chekov started the logs again. The crew watched in painful silence as Jimmy's video logs played one after another. Halfway into Jim's first year of logs, the videos had taken a disturbing trend, one that filled them all with unease.
"Kodos is teaching me how to play chess… I aced my ethics final today. Kodos is really proud of me, he said… I've never had a father-figure who's cared about me the way Kodos has… Kodos seems to understand me like no one else ever has..."
Back on ship, Sulu paused thoughtfully. What were the crew doing in the captain's old house? Surely the translation device was more important than snooping around? Was Jim not with them? Did he even know?
"Jygon, you have the conn until further notice," Sulu ordered, head sticking out of the captain's ready room. He barely heard the "Aye, Sir," the lieutenant complied with.
"Sulu to Captain Kirk." He hailed once inside.
"Kirk here."
"Sir, has the translator been located?"
"Yes, I have it right now," Kirk answered.
"So you know, then?" he asked.
"Know what?"
"That everyone else is in your old house down there."
Kirk didn't answer. "Captain?"
"No," Jim said slowly. "I didn't know. But thank you for informing me. We won't be down here too much longer."
"Very good, Captain," Sulu said.
"Kirk out."
Sulu had the feeling that no one down there was going to be in a good mood once back on board.
It was hard to pinpoint when exactly the change first started, but little by little, Jimmy's logs started to grow darker.
"The crops have failed… Everything is being rationed… Aunt Claire and Uncle Arthur are talking about sending me off planet… Hoshi's growing so worried… New laws… Kodos doesn't seem too concerned… Everything is dying… Starfleet hasn't answered us… Why isn't Starfleet coming?"
Jimmy Kirk, now 15 and an average, healthy teenage boy, was growing thinner and thinner. His hair, which he'd cut several months back judging by the logs, was much longer and limp. His face, once full of hope and optimism, was waxy and sunken. His blue eyes seemed larger and somehow dimmer, as if all the light had gone out. Until finally,
"Jimmy Kirk here.
"The planet is dying. Everyone is panicking. Aunt Claire and Uncle Arthur disappeared two nights ago. I didn't know where they were until I checked in at the government building. Kodos wasn't there. But I hacked into his computer to see if there was any word from Starfleet and Hoshi was right. He's been blocking all the distress calls the colonists have been sending. And there's more.
"Before this crisis started there were 8,000 colonists on this planet. Kodos is planning on reducing the number to 4,000. He's delusional. He thinks that this planet is going to be saved, that whatever fungus that's attacked the plant-life will be killed and that things will start growing again. In the meantime, there isn't enough food for everyone so he's going to execute half of the colony so that the other half can live. He's mad. There are all sorts of lists drawn up; stuff with age and number of children and societal value. It's eugenics. And he believes it.
"There are buildings set up throughout the city, ones that have certain air systems. He's killing them in those buildings by gassing them. Aunt Claire and Uncle Arthur were in the bank. Everyone has been so slow to catch on but the enforcers are going to really start tomorrow. Riley's on the list of the dead and I have to find him. And the other kids, I have to get them out of the city. I found a place, a safe place, hidden well. It will have to do until Starfleet gets wind of what's happening.
"I can't believe Kodos is doing this. I trusted him so much. He was like a father to me and he's killing us.
"I don't know what's going to happen, but this place isn't safe anymore. I don't know when I'll be able to make another log or if I'll ever be able to again.
"Kirk out."
"I can't believe he had to go through all this," Uhura said sadly. "He was just a kid."
Then the screen flickered again.
"Jimmy Kirk here."
He was emaciated and looked like one good breeze would kill him dead.
"We're dying. We just buried two more of us last week. We can't go on.
"I'm about to do something that I swore I'd never do. She said it was for emergencies only and I can't think of anything else. There's no food left and we're all so sick and hungry. If I find anything in the city it's going to the children, they need it more than myself and the older ones.
"When I came to Tarsus IV my mother sent me a package with a note and a data chip. She said that on that data chip was the code to the Starfleet's sub-space priority one communication channel. One signal with that code will send an alert to every Starfleet vessel flying. She wasn't supposed to give it to me and could be dishonorably discharged for doing so, but she wanted me to have something in case of an emergency. I didn't want to use it because I don't want her to get into trouble, but everyone's dying and I have to do something.
"I'm going to break into the government building and one way or another I'm sending distress call to Starfleet. I don't know if I'll make it out of the building alive but something has to be done. Either Kodos and his men are going down, or I am.
"Kirk out."
No more logs aired; they'd all been played. Uhura sat heavily on Jimmy's bed. Spock remained standing per usual and Bones leaned heavily against the wall next to Scotty. Chekov remained at the desk chair.
"So many things about him make sense now," Chekov said slowly. "Things I never really thought about before."
"What do you mean?" Scotty asked.
"He has never once complained about the food in the mess hall. Even when it is terrible he always eats whatever is on his plate."
Bones nodded. "He was the same back the Academy. Always cleared his tray and never gave a single complaint."
Scotty frowned. "If there's ever one left of anything, he never takes it, always leaves it for the person behind him."
"Conditioning," Uhura said. "He knew what it was like to go hungry so he never complains when there's food. And he leaves food for others so that no one else goes hungry."
"How did we not notice these things? How did no one else?" Chekov asked.
"The captain is skilled at displaying what he wants others to see," Spock finally spoke. "He has not spoken of this to anyone and because all of the records relating to this incident have been sealed, he would never have to."
"Why would we keep this from us though?" Chekov asked. "We are his friends. We would not judge him for this. Why keep it from us?"
"Probably because it's none of your fucking business."
The group looked at the doorway to his room. There was Jim with a black bag slung over his shoulder.