Chapter Seven
A year after taking command of the Enterprise, Jim was reminded just how close the Federation and the Empire were in proximity. It was just after the start of Alpha Shift when the Enterprise intercepted a transmission on a non-Federation frequency.
"Captain, it's a child." Nyota Uhura turned to Jim in alarm, "Something's wrong!"
"Trace the transmission, tell me where it's coming from." He wondered how a child would have gotten hold of a communicator and what cause they would have.
"Jim…" Nyota rarely used his first name, and when she turned to him again, her face was ashen, "It's from Coruscant."
"Coruscant? Patch it through, Uhura."
"Yes, sir." She scrambled her controls and Jim got to his feet.
"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise. To whom am I speaking?"
"Nalme Nell! Please, please help us!" that was a child's voice alright, and a young one, too.
"What's going on, Nalme? Why do you need our help?"
"They're destroying the Temple, they're killing everybody!" he listened, they all did, and somewhere in the distance, Jim swore he heard gunfire.
"Nalme, are you in the Jedi Temple?"
"Yes! Please hurry!"
"Alright, stay calm. Find as many Jedi as you can and find a safe place to hide. I'll get back in contact when we reach Coruscant. We shouldn't be long."
"Help us, Captain!"
"I will, Padawan. Where's your master?"
"They killed her!"
"Hide, Nalme, just hide. I'm coming, I promise." Jim waved to Nyota, who cut out and he ordered a course set for Coruscant, "Scotty, I need all the power you can give me, we're in a bit of a rush!"
"Full power at the ready, Captain!"
"Thank you, Scotty."
"Jim, what's going on?"
"I don't know, but we'll find out when we get there." He paced the bridge for a while and then left, giving orders for Away Teams to be assembled. He had shuttles prepared as well and changed out of uniform. He was in Shuttle Bay 2 when the Enterprise gave a violent jolt.
"Captain to Bridge, Sulu, what happened?"
"I don't know, sir, we flew through some kind of anomaly and dropped out of warp!"
"Did we make it to Coruscant?"
"Yes, sir, we did."
"What does the computer tell you?"
"According to the computer, it's 26 BBY."
"Twenty-six years before the Battle of Yavin. In Federation time-keeping, that's…2235." He blinked, "I was two years old. That's the year the Jedi Temple was destroyed! We're running out of time!" Jim felt a massive disruption in the Force and it took every ounce of strength to stay on his feet. Taking one Away Team, he beamed straight to the Temple and quickly located Nalme Nell and twenty Younglings. He beamed them back to the Enterprise and took off through the Temple.
By the time he ran into Anakin Skywalker on rampage, he had transported nearly a hundred Jedi to safety and more were being taken out every time Scotty fired the transporters. He had the Enterprise shuttles making runs to secure landing-sites to which he sent fleeing Jedi. He had stumbled across a group of Younglings hiding in the Council Chamber when the door was forced open. Jim turned around, lightsaber held at the ready, and recognized the young Jedi who came in.
"Anakin." He breathed.
"Get out of my way or I'll kill you." Anakin Skywalker snarled. Jim quietly thumbed the transmitter on the comlink. It would send a signal to Scotty and beam out any Jedi he was with, leaving him to continue the search.
"You won't kill any Jedi while I'm in your way, Skywalker." He said calmly, pressing the switch. Skywalker's eyes widened in alarm and anger as the Younglings were beamed to safety.
"Where did you send them?"
"Somewhere safe, you'll never find them." He wrapped both hands around the lightsaber, "You said you were going to kill me, get on with it already." Bad idea taunting Anakin Skywalker on the verge of his fall to the Dark Side, but Jim had the feeling he could change things that needed changing. If Spock Prime had messed around with timelines and destinies, why couldn't Jim do the same thing?