Chapter 5: Inhabited

"Captain," Scotty said over the internal communications array. That had been the third thing fixed on the ship. Kirk loved the clear digital sound, the ringing of the syllables in Scotty's voice. Not because Montgomery Scott had a pretty voice, but because of what he was about to say.

"Go ahead, Mr. Scott," Kirk said. He sat back in his chair, his fingers bouncing on the arm. It was anticipation. He couldn't wait for it.

"We have the main engine back online," Scotty said. "And, we're ready to restore full power to the ship. We're just waiting for the go ahead."

"The go ahead is given," Kirk said, and like that the bridge of the Enterprise became a flower in bloom. Consoles flickered to life, the lights came up to their greatest illumination, and the pops and whistles of a bridge at work greeted him like an old friend.

The bridge crew cheered. And, Kirk let them. Three days of darkness and fear, and now the lights had come back on. The crew deserved their celebration.

But, there were other things.

"Mr. Sulu," Kirk said. "Patch into our new hardware and plot the quickest route home. We need to alert Starfleet to our condition, and warn them of a possible attack by the Borg."

"Yes, sir," Sulu said, turning back to his console.

"Mr. Spock," Kirk said. "Scan the wreckage of the Borg ship for any life signs, or further bits of useful technology. And, see if you can tell me where that black hole went."

"Yes, sir," Spock said. "Though, logic would imply the distinct lack of possibilities for life to have survived on the Borg ship."

"Just want to make abso…"

"Captain," Sulu said, cutting Kirk off in mid sentence.

"What is it?"

"The navigational computer doesn't recognize the distribution of stars. It can't find any points of reference in our database, or in the one we stole from the Borg." The color drained from Sulu's face as he spoke, and a strange sort of fear crept into the Asian officer's eyes. "The computer doesn't know where we are."

"What?" Kirk said. The color form his face had drained as well and the look on his face betrayed the amount of stress he'd been under. The feeling of helplessness was back.

The Enterprise was drifting in an unknown part of space, and…

"Seventy-eight million years," Spock said. He spun his chair around and looked at Kirk. "From this point, that is how long it would take us to get home. At maximum warp, of course."

"How?" Kirk said.

"I used the sensors to analyze the stars around us. Then based on…"

"Spock," Kirk said. "I really didn't want an answer to that."

"Oh," Spock said.

"Yeah," Kirk said. "Seventy-eight million years to get home." He looked at the screen again, and sat further back in his chair.

"Ten million billions to the tenth power," Spock said. "A rough estimate of the number of lightyears it is from here to Earth."

"Great," Kirk said. "The black hole…"

"Must have acted like a wormhole, sir," Sulu said. He looked at the screen and the debris floating around the vessel. "Like it did with the Romulans, but, instead of taking us through time. It took us through space."

"Very astute," Mr. Sulu," Spock said. His tone held a pinch of condescension.

Kirk heard it, and gave the Vulcan a sharp look, but Sulu was oblivious.

"What do we do now?" Uhura asked.

Kirk almost jumped out of his skin. He'd become absorbed, not in Spock and Sulu's conversation, but with the viewscreen, with the unfamiliar stars that hung all around them. Each of them represented one thing: endless possibilities, and each of those held hope. Kirk looked from the viewscreen and back at Uhura.

He looked at her for a minute, and a genuine smile spread across his face. One that transformed into the cock sure grin Uhura was a little more familiar with.

"We explore," Kirk said. He stood up, and walked around behind the captain's chair. "Broadcast this all over the ship."

Uhura nodded, and flipped the necessary switches on her console. She nodded, and Kirk looked back at the viewscreen.

"This is the captain speaking," Kirk said. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled as he listened to his own voice. There was anticipation there, moving below his skin like blood. He wanted to say these words, as bad as he wanted to hear them said. "Mr. Spock and Mr. Sulu have just informed me that we are ten million billions to the tenth power in number of lightyears away from Earth. The trip, at maximum warp, I'm told, would take seventy-eight million years.

"To many of you, this might be the worst news you've ever heard. I hope you change your mind about that. This is the Final Frontier, we really have gone where no man has gone before.

"I plan on continuing our mission. I plan to keep exploring and meeting new lifeforms and new civilizations. And, I will hold onto hope, and I will hold onto the Earth and the Federation.

"We will see them again, and we'll have some damned good stories to tell. Kirk out."

Uhura cut the comm line, but before it went dead Kirk thought he heard applause.

"Inspiring," Spock said.

Kirk turned and looked at the Vulcan. There was a grim look on Spock's face, worse than it usually was. Kirk smiled.

"You think I can't follow through?" Kirk said. The sentence floated in the land between question and statement.

"Logically, I fail to see how you can promise a return to Earth." Spock said.

Kirk shrugged, and felt like a prophet as he twisted his seat around and dropped into it. "We are in a vastly different place, Spock. Who knows, they might have the technology to send us back to Earth before dinner time."

Spock resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"And, part of our mission is exploration." Kirk finished.

"And, what do you plan to explore first?"

"I dunno," Kirk said. He turned back to the viewscreen, and sat with one hand cupping his chin. "I want a full sensor sweep. Show me the closest inhabitable planet. Preferably one that's already inhabited."

"Aye sir," Spock said. He spun his chair back around to the science console. There might be doubt in the Vulcan, but he would o his duties. And, he would stand by Kirk's side.

"Sulu," Kirk said. "Get into that alien nav computer and see if it can intuitively learn the set up of the stars, and any possible course adjustments. I'd hate it if we had to put all of this in manually."

"Yes, sir," Sulu said. His hands began to move, and Kirk watched as he worked.

The captain found himself in an interesting place. He was in charge of everything on the ship. He could delegate away tasks with nobody questioning him. But, up here on the bridge, in his chair, he was a knot on a log. He wanted to be doing something. Anything, besides sitting here.

"Captain," Spock said, turning in his chair and looking over his shoulder. "I've found an M-class world. I detected life, and high signs of energy, but I am unable to tell if it is a civilization or not. I'm sending the sensor readouts to Mr. Sulu."

"I've got them," Sulu said. His eyes moved across the small screen in front of him and he was nodding. "I can feed these into the nav computer and get the coordinates. Not sure if the trip will be as exact as you might want."

"Not a problem," Kirk said. "Just get us there."

"Aye sir," Sulu said.

"Warp five, Mr. Sulu," Kirk said. He smiled. "And watch out for any pot holes. Engage."

A/N: If I might have a moment of your time, I can point out two locations you might like if you enjoy my work. The first is HubPages... search for me there, my name is RyanSmith86. I do reviews, random articles about writing, and occasionally I'll post short stories. The other location is Facebook. I would put a link here, and would scramble it. So, instead, check out my profile page, and you'll find a link to my Facebook page, which you should like. That would be cool with me.