I'm trapped and forced to write this. My cat fell asleep on my legs (I'm lying on a couch). I love her. But I wish I could move around freely.
To be honest. This was already written, but I am looking it over and fine tuning it. For you. My beloved reader.
Thank you for all the early interest! I hope I do not let you down!
Chapter Three
Unwitting Reunions
"Jim. You found me."
"Excuse me?" Asked Jim.
Jim would be at a loss if he was expected to explain how the old vulcan across the cave knew him. The very same old vulcan he had gotten a glimpse of as the Romulans dragged him out of his ship and into his cell.
The Vulcan had been in a cell of his own, and they had locked eyes for a brief second before Jim was jerked roughly by unfriendly hands and he did not have time to wonder why there was another prisoner. His cell had been far enough away too that by the time he was alone and able to wonder, he was too far away to try to communicate.
He could guess as to how he got here on this god-forsaken planet, probably the same way as Jim. But for what reason? Why was he on the Narada (Nero's spaceship of love) to begin with? How was he significant? It was a mystery.
"How did you find me?" The old vulcan asked again.
He seemed like the old grandfather type, with an honest voice and a voice of genuine surprise. But that did not explain one crucial thing.
"Woah woah woah, how do you know my name?"
"What happened to you on the ship?"
"Why don't you tell me what happened on the ship?!" Jim yelled. "And how do you know my name?"
The vulcan was staring at him now and some sort of realization seemed to cross his face. Jim couldn't help but think that, for a vulcan, the old man did not hide his feelings well. Or at all. The complete opposite of every old Vulcan Jim had had the misfortune of crossing paths with.
Jim was not sure what conclusion he drew, but the next words out of the old man's mouth hit him hard for reasons he could not explain.
"I have been… and shall always be your friend."
What does he mean?
"Look, I don't know you. And I don't have any friends." Jim responded firmly, ignoring the chills that went up his spine for reasons beyond the cold. "Now you are going to tell me everything you know about Nero and the attack on Vulcan, starting with how you know my name."
"You are James Tiberius Kirk, are you not?"
"Yes. How do you know that?"
"We knew each other, in another life. My name is Spock."
"Wha… but that Spock guy was on the Enterprise. Nero…"
"He and I are one and the same, but I am one hundred and twenty-seven years his senior."
"But how… I don't understand. What is going on?" Jim was thoroughly confused. The vulcan started to move towards him, hand outstretched, which immediately put Jim on edge.
"There is much to explain. It will be easier to understand if I just show you."
"What are you…?" Jim did not get to finish his question before the elder closed the distance between them and pressed a hand to the side of Jim's face, taking Jim away from the physical world.
…..
Mind melds are a curious thing.
I had read about them, but information was scarce, the way most things were when it came to the more lucrative aspects of Vulcan culture.
What I read was nothing even close to what I now felt.
He was in my head.
Our minds… one and together…
Images flooded into my brain, images that were not mine and that I have never seen before, and unseen words floated around me. I felt the need to catch them, but all alluded me and I was lost. Then I felt his presence and reached out for it. He accepted me, wholly and completely, and guided me through the maze of his mind.
A star in the Beta Quadrant going Supernova…. Destroying everything in its path…
A white hot flash of light and a star caving in on itself before exploding outwards like a fiery tsunami.
I promised the Romulans I would save their planet… We outfitted our fastest ship…
Using red matter I would create a black hole which would destroy the exploding star.
I was en route when the unthinkable happened…
The wave of flames surrounded him and consumed all the images and the ghostly whispers of countless screams chilled him to his core.
Destroyed… Romulus…
Impending destruction loomed. Jim knew the star would not stop with Romulus. It would grow and keep growing…
I am death, the destroyer of worlds.
I had no time…
I went to extract the red matter and surely enough ejected it into the super nova.
The red matter! I had seen it before! It was what was going to be used to destroy Vulcan. Now I knew by creating a black hole at its very core.
As I plotted my escape I was intercepted.
He called himself Nero. Last of the Romulan Empire.
Nero's face popped up in front of me and suddenly I was back on the bridge of the Romulan ship, The Narada. He stood and watched with satisfaction as others restrained and beat me. Punishment. For breaking out of my prison and sending the message. A sharp tug pulled me away from this memory and I fell to the bridge of another ship.
A Vulcan ship. I was sitting at the helm…. No Spock was sitting at the helm.
He was being pursued by the giant Romulan ship, that came from no where, forcing him off his escape route. The ship doomed them all, trapping them in the wake of the black hole. Then everything went black.
Both of us were pulled into the black hole….
Nero went through first… he was the first to arrive…
A lightning storm in space. A Romulan ship with futuristic technology. The death of his father. A forgotten voice saying his name.
Nero and his crew spent the next twenty five years awaiting my arrival…
But what was years for Nero, was only seconds for me.
Trapped.
I went through the black hole. Nero was waiting for me.
He held me responsible for the loss of his world.
He captured my vessel and spared my life…For one reason.
So that I would know his pain.
No… no…
He beamed me here so that I could observe his vengeance.
As he was helpless to save his planet, I was helpless to save mine…
No. Please, no. I tried my best. I warned them when the big mouth leader exposed his plan to me for no reason.
I tried my best. It did not work and now….
The image of Vulcan, as seen from this planet hung above him. Jim looked up and watched helplessly as the planet slowly collapsed in on itself, break apart bit by bit, the effect snowballing, increasing in speed, with clashes of horror and magnificence in a horrible swirl until nothing was left.
Billions of lives lost because of me, Jim.
His pain was my pain. His grief and mine, one and the same.
Because I failed.
No. You did not fail. I did.
…
Vulcan was destroyed.
Jim had failed. His warning was not enough.
It was what he had feared, that sometime between blacking out and being saved from a snow monster Vulcan was…
He knew it was going to happen. He risked his life to send out a warning. He was only able to due to Nero's arrogance caused him to reveal his plan to early, in his delight over running across Jim.
Now he knew why… somewhat. There was Spock, one of multiple Spocks, apparently, Nero had a grudge against. He became the center of Nero's revenge plan for the loss of his planet. And Spock knew Jim. He said they were friends. In his past. Which meant he and Nero were from the future.
They came back and changed the past, starting from the very moment Nero and the Narada showed up in Jim's reality. Jim's whole life changed with the destruction of the Kelvin and his father's death.
Now he has never even met Spock, this reality's rightful Spock, who will now never become this older version of Spock. And they were friends but they aren't because the other Spock was in Starfleet and Jim was… just Jim.
They changed everything.
Stole a life Jim could have had, and now will never know.
It was all so confusing.
Jim felt sick and collapsed.
End Chapter
"So like, right now for example. The Haitians need to come to America. But some people are all, "What about the strain on our resources?" Well it's like when I had this garden party for my father's birthday, right? I put R.S.V.P. 'cause it was a sit-down dinner. But some people came that like did not R.S.V.P. I was like totally buggin'. I had to haul ass to the kitchen, redistribute the food, and squish in extra place settings. But by the end of the day it was, like, the more the merrier. And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians. And in conclusion may I please remind you it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty. Thank you very much."
-Cher from Clueless