Commander Spock watched as Captain Kirk beamed away. As of this moment he was Acting Captain Spock, and his position was on the bridge. Spock turned around and looked at Lieutenant John Kyle, who was operating the transporter controls still. He had just beamed Captain Kirk to the Deep Space K-7 station. It was currently 0809 hours, at 0800 hours the new duty shift had just started. Spock observed that Lieutenant Kyle had been on duty before they went to the recreation rooms, and he is still at his post. The shift had changed, and he was no longer on duty.
"Lieutenant Kyle, why are you still at the transporter controls. Duty shift, changed to first shift at 0800 hours, it is currently 0809, and you should be off duty. I am not aware of any double shifts." Spock understood that this question was unusual, and not necessary.
"Sir, I took double shift tonight, so I could see Captain Kirk off of the Enterprise." Spock felt like he was wasting time, he nodded his head, and walked out of the transporter room door. He was walking through the corridor, towards the turbo lift, thinking about what he was to do. The Enterprise was currently under order to meet a ship, of a new species, a first contact mission. Quite straight forward the Enterprise goes on first contact missions frequently. The Enterprise's mission reflected that, they were on a five year mission, to make first contact, and to explore.
Spock entered the turbo lift, and spoke to it, "bridge," he commanded the turbolift to bring him to the bridge, so he can assume the captain's chair, and man the Enterprise. If he wasn't Vulcan, and he could show emotion, he would be so happy, that he gets two weeks to command the Enterprise. But he was Vulcan, partially, and he refused to exhibit such an emotional reaction to this assignment.
The turbo lift door popped open revealing many hard at work Starfleet personnel. Acting Captain Spock stepped onto the bridge. He watched as every officer on the bridge stood and looked at him, and said, "Captain on the bridge!"
"Continue," Spock said watching as all of his officers went back to work. Spock sat down on the captain's chair and glanced out of the view screen that was on, and was showing the Deep Space K-7 Station. He pulled down his blue sciences uniform, to straighten it out. He thought how long until this uniform would be yellow, and he would have his own command. But, that wasn't a concern at the moment, currently the top priority of the Enterprise is to make contact with the Didarians and invite them to join the federation.
Lieutenant Uhura had here earpiece in and was working at her console fast. Spock was staring at her anxiously awaiting when she would give him the news he was waiting for. Of course, only a thought. He would never express such emotion, he strides to be as Vulcan as he can possible be. He waited some more, until she turned to him with bright eyes, her hair up, and her short skirt red, operations uniform.
"Commander-"
"Captain." Spock snapped in the middle of Uhura's sentence cutting her off, because she made the mistake of calling him commander when he was acting captain. So technically he should be addressed as captain.
"Excuse me; Captain Spock we are receiving communications from Deep Space K-7. We are clear to leave the station." Uhura said with the slightest hint of annoyance at the correction Spock had made.
"Thank you Lieutenant." Spock said looking at her, than shifting his line of vision to the two officers in front of him. Lieutenant Sulu, who was working the helm; and Lieutenant Chekov who was operating tactical.
"Lieutenant Sulu, please lay in course for the rendezvous with the Didarian flagship. Warp factor 6." Spock commanded to the helmsman, to set course.
"Course laid in Captain." Lieutenant Sulu responded to his captain, entering in the coordinates and began piloting the Enterprise.
Spock nodded to the helmsman; and he stood up off of the captain's chair. He walked backwards towards the turbo lift. He had his hands behind his back and was standing straight up walking with the utmost dignity. He turned back to the bridge of the Enterprise and gave one last command before he would continue to main engineering, to micro manage Mr. Scott's engine room.
"Lieutenant Sulu, you have command of the bridge." Spock said staring at Sulu, watching him stand up and walk towards the captain's chair, and sit in it. Halfway through his strut replying to Spock.
"Yes Sir."
Spock could sense the pride the bubbled up in Lieutenant Sulu's gut when he got command of the Enterprise. He understood why, it is a magnificent thing to command a starship, he wanted to command a starship; but he wasn't sure how badly he actually wanted to. He loved serving under Captain Kirk, and it is pure speculation that he will ever even be offered a command.
He stepped into the turbo lift and stood for only a second, and observed his crew, and felt pride. After all he was half human, he understood why Captain Kirk loved them so much, and they were a great crew. The finest in the fleet, and it is his honor to serve under such a skilled captain such as Captain Kirk.
"Engine room." The turbolift doors slammed shut and Spock was on his way to the engine room. He knew how mad Scotty was going to be, that he was critiquing his work. Scotty ran his engine room differently than any other engineer in the fleet, he was unique, un-orthodox but he got the job done. He knew the tricks of the trade, and Spock, down deep respected him greatly.
Lieutenant Sulu was manning the captain's chair and he was in love with the feel of being in control. He had the conn, he was the head honcho he was the top dog. He was in freaking love. He looked at the helmsman that had just replaced him, and he knew that poor soul, would be him soon. He had to enjoy the time that he was on the bridge, the captain's chair really. He looked forward at the man that he considered his best friend, Pavel Chekov. He had a heavy European accent, and was a good man, a great man, a great officer. If he ever commanded a starship he would have him as the first officer, if possible. He knew these dreams of being a captain were just delusions of granger and that it probably wouldn't happen. He would probably retire as a Lieutenant Commander, and start teaching at the academy.
He dismissed that thought, because being pessimistic, is a disease. It is a plague that can destroy career's and can eliminate futures, in just a single thought. He would probably be a captain one day, on the fast track to being an admiral. Maybe he command a nice ship, maybe do some exploring. Maybe explore places that nobody has ever been, like Captain Kirk did, exploring new worlds, and meeting new species. That was the dream.
Lieutenant Sulu looked forward at his good friend Chekov was manning the tactical station, and he knew he was doing a damn fine job at manning the weapons. But, he was a good friend and that came with certain, penalties if you will. He was going to bust his balls, like they did to each other whenever they could, it was like a game between friends.
"Lieutenant Chekov report." Sulu demanded, with a stern and demanding voice. The voice that a hard assed captain like Spock would be if he ever got a command used.
"Hum, aft and fore phasers are operational. Photon torpedo bays are working, everything checks out." Chekov spoke to the Lieutenant who currently had the bridge. Chekov sounded confused, there was no cause for a check-up, but deep down, Chekov knew exactly what he was doing to him.
"Lieutenant, I don't like you're attitude. I suggest you make some changes unless you would like to be relieved from your duties?" Sulu messed with Chekov, they both knew well that there was no attitude. There was no cause and Sulu was doing this, just to piss Chekov off, and jerk his chain while he had the leverage to do so.
"Yes, sir." Chekov said rhetorically to Sulu, who was wearing a fake pissed off face, and Chekov knew that his rhetorical comment would make him even madder.
"I don't think you understand, I told you to clean up your attitude when you are talking to your captain. I will see to it you are operating the tactical station in a little dumpy outpost in on the neutral zone, eh, do you want to sleep so close to Klingons. I'm guessing not, so clean up your damn attitude and I won't have to take such drastic measures." Sulu said, at this point Chekov was ignoring him, finding things to do on his console so he didn't have to talk to Sulu.
Before Sulu could mess with Chekov anymore, Uhura broke into their conversation with a very important update.
"Mr. Sulu, the Didarians are hailing us on long range channels." Within that status was asking Sulu if he would like to respond to the Didarian hail.
"On-screen." Sulu said, as a man who appeared to be human with small blue rings that were almost tattooed on his bald head, which was obviously a trait his species possessed. He also had deep blue eyes that were brighter than any humans he had ever seen probably another one of the traits that the Didarians have.
"Captain Kirk?" The Didarian on the other end of the view screen said with a grin on his face. Like he was expecting somebody that looked more like a captain. Sulu didn't understand, maybe he was part telepath, and he knew that he wasn't captain Kirk.
"Excuse me?"
"I was told we would receive a Captain, somebody who was well versed in meeting new species not some puny lieutenant." The Didarian man sneered.
"With all due respect, Captain Kirk is taking some away time. Commander Spock his second in command is in control. I am at the captain's chair, while he is in main engineering, would you like me to get him? I can relay a message to him if you wish." Sulu said as calmly and cool-headed as he could.
"No, just tell him that we are at the rendezvous and there are certain anomalies that are confusing, we don't understand them and we figured your crew should know." The Didarian informed Sulu.
"What kind of anomaly are you reading? Is it a threat, could it be a threat?" Sulu asked the Didarian representative.
"We are detecting tachyon particles; that could be associated with a temporal distortion. It may be a threat, we may have found a crack in the space time continuum, and it may be unstable." The Didarian explained.
"I will inform Commander Spock of the situation, I am sure he will contact you as soon as possible." Sulu said, not fully understanding what the Didarian had just told him.
"Thank you lieutenant." Sulu nodded to him and the transmission was cut off, and Sulu sensed a form of respect that was formed between him and the Didarian representative.
"Uhura, you have the bridge, I need to inform Mr. Spock in person, if they hail us once more, inform me at once." Sulu said as he stood up and nodded at Uhura, and she nodded back. She wasn't going to take the captain's chair because she had to operate conn, she would still command the ship from where she was. Sulu turned and walked over to the turbolift and entered and stiffly spoke to the turbolift.
"Engine room."
Acting Captain Spock walked into the engine room and saw all of the technicians and engineers hard at work at various console s doing different jobs. All just to keep the Enterprise running. Spock knew what it was to run the engine room, it was hard it took a lot of engineers to do the job and they did it well here. But Spock was here to make sure that they all knew that he was in charge and was going to be telling them how to do their jobs.
Chief engineer Scotty was working at a console and seemed to be doing leisurely so there was most likely nothing critical happening in the engine room. Scotty noticed that Spock had entered the engine room and his face got annoyed and mad, he knew Spock, and he knew he was a hard-assed typical Vulcan. He was here to degrade his work, and micro-manage, and Scotty knew it. It was his way of asserting dominance and Scotty was going to have to sit here answer all of his questions to the best of his ability and get through it. Because after all he was the commanding officer of the ship, and of him, and it was his job to manage the ship.
Spock walked across the engine room with his eyes trained on Chief Engineer Scotty. His eyes never changed and his demeanor nor attitude never wearied from normal. What would Scotty expect him to do, smile at the sight of him? That would be a much too human thing for Mr. Spock to do. Scotty was actually nervous, he knew that everything in this engine room was working to the utmost proficiency and he was filing his report on the diagnostic on the impulse engines that he had just finished. Spock was now standing right next to him. He was about to speak, but he just stared at him for a few moments.
"Mr. Scotty, I trust that everything in my engine room is operating at maximum proficiency and there should be no need for me to be checking up?" Spock asked Scotty, like Scotty was supposed to report to him, when there was nothing to report. Yet, Scotty digressed and said nothing.
"Yes sir, everything is operating at, at least ninety percent efficiency, I have finished the diagnostic on the impulse engines and am filing my report as we speak. So, if I may ask, is there something I can do for you?" Scotty said keeping his cool.
"Yes, there is. To which percent efficiency is the Warp core operating at, at our present time?" Spock asked.
Scotty looked down to the console he was on and messed around a bit, and found the efficiency of the warp core and responded to Mr. Spock. "The warp core is operating at ninety-two percent efficiency, sir."
"Don't you think that we could raise the efficiency to at least ninety-five percent? Mr. Scott." Spock inquired.
"With all due respect sir, there is no need for our warp core to be operating that well, do you plan on traveling at warp nine or so for several days? Ninety-two percent is over and above what is necessary to carry on at warp six, for a couple of hours." Scotty sneered back to Spock. Getting mad at the uselessness of his questions. It was so un-like a Vulcan to be wasting time like he was. He claimed to be all logic, but he frequently saw the human side of Spock, but he could never call him on it."
"Mr. Scott, when you are the main engineer aboard my vessel, if I want you to run this warp core at one hundred percent efficiency, you will do it without problem." Spock ordered Scotty. Not actually wanting him to get the warp core to work that well, which was nearly impossible anyway.
"Aye, sir." Is all the Scotty could get out of his mouth, because he knew whatever else was going to be coming out would get him discharged or put on trial for countless crimes. But Scotty controlled his temper and just accepted what Spock was saying, and he sat there and waited for the next onslaught of questions about his engine room to come out of Spock's mouth.
"How are the warp matrix flux capacitors running?" Spock asked Scotty. Scotty keyed it up on his console once more looking at the bright lights coming from his console. He also looked down at the warp core, and just admired the beauty of it for a moment and continued on his console. He saw something that deeply disturbed him, the Warp matrix flux capacitor needed a diagnostic, and he knew that is what he would be doing for the rest of his evening, is doing a damn diagnostic because this pointy eared bastard had to be in command of this ship. He couldn't wait for Captain Kirk to return, he was already gone for way too much time. He didn't know if he was going to be able to live as the Chief Engineer of this starship without murdering acting Captain Spock.
"They are running at eighty five percent efficiency and are in need of a full diagnostic, sir." Scotty knew what was coming next, he pretty much asked for it, he was going to be doing it, at least he could bring down a couple other engineers days down with his own. And get them to help him.
"Mr. Scott, preform the diagnostic on the Warp matrix flux capacitor. I want it done by the end of this duty shift, please report to me as soon as you have finished the diagnostic. It is not a priority to me, so if I am off duty, please report to the acting captain, and I will read your report at the beginning of my shift." Spock said, glad that he had something he could order Scotty to do.
"Yes, sir. I will have it done by today. Unless there is anything else I would like to get started." Scotty said genuinely wanting to get started on the diagnostic of the warp matrix flux capacitors, and partially wanting to get away from the Vulcan before he attempted to ring his neck out of anger.
"There actually is something else, if you don't mind me asking, honestly I don't care if you approve, and I will ask my questions. When I'm done with you, you can continue your duties." Spock said clearly bossing Scotty around aggressively. Other engineers were walking by and smirking and walking faster to avoid a confrontation with the Vulcan commander, who was their acting Captain. Scotty was at his wits end with Spock, but he nodded indicating him to proceed asking whatever questions he may have.
"What is our estimated time of arrival, with the Didarian flagship? So we can continue with our mission, I do not wish to be late." Spock asked Scotty, which he started working on his console again to get him the answers he was looking for.
"Sir? Don't you think you should ask your helmsman?" Scotty Inquired.
"I will ask whoever I wish, and I asked you. So I ask again, what is our estimated time of arrival with the Didarian flagship?" Spock asked once again demanding an answer from the chief engineer Scotty.
"Sir, we will be there in just about three hours." Scotty informed Commander Spock Reluctantly.
"Just about?"
"Sir, we will be there in two hours, fifty eight minutes, and forty five seconds." Scotty added the seconds, not knowing exactly what the seconds were, but to add to the point that he was trying to make to Commander Spock.
"Thank you, Mr. Scott. Do not forget about the warp matrix flux capacitors diagnostic report, you need to make to me this evening." Spock said patronizing Scotty, as if he had forgot what he was making him do.
"Yes, sir." Scotty continued working on the console, doing the prep work for the diagnostic of the warp matrix flux capacitor.
Lieutenant Sulu appeared at the entrance of the turbolift, he had a serious look on his face and Scotty assumed that there was something he needed to report. Why wouldn't he just pull out his communicator to get Spock, this most have been deemed quite important.
Sulu walked over to where Spock and Scotty were standing. Both men were staring at Sulu as he approached them, both pondering what could possibly be wrong.
"Captain, we have received a communication from the Didarian flagship." Sulu reported to Commander Spock who was listening intrigued, raising his right eyebrow at Sulu.
"What did they want?" Mr. Spock asked Lieutenant Sulu who had just came from the bridge, with vital information.
"They have run into an anomaly that they believe may have the potential to be a rift in the space time continuum, and if not it might be unstable and do potential harm to both vessels." Sulu regretfully reported.
"Come with me to the bridge lieutenant." Spock commanded as he walked almost sprinted to the turbolift and entered it, on his way to the bridge. He waited there until Sulu entered the turbolift with him. Spock looks up and speaks to the turbolift, "Bridge." Scotty watched as Scotty and Sulu disappeared towards the bridge. Scotty waved his fingers at a couple of engineers, signaling them to follow him to go and do the diagnostic on the warp matrix flux capacitors.
The turbolift doors opened quickly and briskly revealing the bridge of the Enterprise. Acting Captain Spock and Helmsman Lieutenant Sulu were in the turbolift when the door opened. They both stared to walk the second the doors had been opened, Spock walked up to the captain's chair and looked around at all of Starfleet's finest officers. Communications officer Lieutenant Uhura was sitting at her station. Tactical officer Chekov was at his station, and Lieutenant Sulu walked up to his console and sat down at his helmsman console and began working on it.
Spock was still sitting comfortable in the captain's chair thinking about exactly what he was going to tell the Didarians when he contacted them again. What if this was a stable crack in the space time continuum, man would be able to explore history. Of course Starfleet would let nobody into it, if they did the timeline would be altered in many ways, this referred back to the butterfly affect. There would be no sense in going back through it. But on the other hand if it wasn't even stable, it could collapse causing a black hole. This definitely needed to be explored, as soon as he arrived, he needed to report back to Starfleet they would be interested, even if they weren't he would be required to report.
Yet Spock was still fighting in his mind if it was the right time to contact the Didarians, they would be there in nearly two and a half hours, and the Didarians would be demanding answers, and he would have absolutely no way to give them the answers that they seeked. As soon as they got there they would be able to run some scans and determine if it was dormant or if it was unstable. They would be able to properly assess the situation.
"Mr. Sulu, estimated time of arrival with the Didarian flagship?" Spock asked him wondering how close his estimation of the ETA was. He watched as Sulu found the answer on his console, and never lifted his head, not even when he spoke.
"Sir, we will arrive with the Didarian ship, in approximately two hours and forty four minutes." Sulu reported and went back to working on the console.
Spock wasn't surprised that his guess was almost perfect, his life was dedicated to utter logic and he didn't mean to sound full of himself but he was a genius, and one of the finest Starfleet officers that they had ever had. IT was almost necessary to contact the Didarians, seeing as though they requested that he do so. If he didn't contact them, there was the possibility that they could complain to Starfleet command, and if they did he would catch fresh holly hell.
Commander Spock turned his head and looked at the communications officer Uhura, who he thought an awful lot about. She was a great officer, and she would be the officer that he talked to, to connect to the Didarian flagship, which was inevitable at this point, he didn't want to talk to them, but he knew that he had to, so he decided that this was the time to hail them.
"Mrs. Uhura, open visual communication link with the Didarian flagship, I am responding to their recent hail." Spock ordered Uhura to open the link.
"Yes sir." Uhura obeyed orders as Spock watched the Didarian representative pop up on the view screen. He was sitting it what must have been his office. Before they started to speak, Spock observed him and noticed the blue rings on his head, and the illuminating blue eyes that he possessed.
"Greetings, are you the Commander that the prestigious Captain Kirk apparently hold to such a high accord?" The Didarian said, not necessarily meaning to hurt his feelings, if he had them, but to assert that Spock must do well, or he will complain.
"Yes, my name is Commander Spock. You are Captain Rajal, in command of the Didarian flagship, deej'la'hall?" Spock said, hoping that Rajal the Didarian representative would be impressed of his knowledge of their situation and there people.
"Indeed. Did the lieutenant report to you in full what I told him?" Rajal asked Spock, hoping to save some time in this conversation, with Spock already knowing the details.
"I was briefly informed, it would be most beneficial to us if you would explain exactly what it is, and transmit all sensor data that you have collected, of the anomaly to our ship." Spock asked Rajal.
"Transmitting now. We had arrived at the rendezvous point four hours earlier than our appointment. And started scanning. You know normal stuff to make sure everything was safe. We encounter this sup-space distortion that may possible be the first stable crack in the space time continuum. Or it could be unstable, which could do potential damage, to everything around it, if it was to collapse." Rajal said as Spock intently listened to what he had to say. Spock understood everything, and he knew the science officer who was sitting in his place on the bridge was reading the data that Rajal had confirmed he transmitted, hopefully that could bring new light on the situation.
"Fascinating. Does it show any signs that it might be unstable, or that there might be some sort of threat?" Spock asked Rajal, so he would know how important it was, and if there might be imminent danger to the point where it would not be safe for the Enterprise to be in the area.
"We are not entirely sure how to determine the stability of the crack in the space time continuum. That's why we are worried, and we want the Enterprise to get here as soon as possible to assess the situation." Rajal said to Spock, and without wasting any time Spock wanted to boost the speed in which they will arrive with the Didarian flagship. Before that, he nodded to Rajal, acknowledging what he had said, but not ending the conversation.
"Mr. Sulu, increase warp factor from six, to warp fact seven point five." Spock said looking at Lieutenant Sulu, and then looked back at the monitor where the Didarian Rajal was.
"Yes sir." Lieutenant Sulu said in a low tone, almost under his breathe so he did not disturb the conversation that Spock was having with the Didarian. Spock would not have mined, but Sulu was just trying to be as courteous as possible. Spock shifted his attention to Rajal on the monitor.
"Captain Rajal, we will be there as soon as possible. We are currently analyzing the data that you transmitted, we will check its stability, and report to you as soon as we possibly can. Was there anything else that I could help you with Rajal?" Spock asked Rajal showing him that he was willing to do anything to accommodate any of his needs.
"Mr. Spock I do have one question, we would think that a successful diplomat such as Captain Kirk would wait to go on vacation, until after this first contact mission was done, am I right?" Rajal asked Spock. He understood why he was curious he had every right to be, he felt like his first contact mission was being put on the back burner, like he didn't matter, but that was not the case at all.
"Mr. Rajal, the captain works very hard on a day to day bases and makes many first contact missions. Everyone I have been at his side for, I assure you that I will be able to do the job you are expecting me to do. There is nothing to worry about." Spock tried to put some happiness into Rajal's heart. Which was very unlike him.
"Okay Commander. I trust you, our people have recently ended one of the bloodiest conflicts in our history. The civil war had gone on for nearly twenty years, we finally came together as one. Now we are seeking the Federation, so we could advance form our infancy as a people." Rajal explained to Spock, and Spock understood him, and would enjoy dealing with him.
"Yes, Captain Rajal, I understand, like I said if there is anything that you need, do not hesitate to hail us. We will be here if you need us. Other than that we will be at the rendezvous as soon as possible." Spock said trying to end the conversation so that he could assist in analyzing the data that Rajal's ship the Deej'la'hall.
"Thank you, I appreciate your kindness Commander. We will talk to you as soon as soon as we need to. Good day." Rajal said ending the transmission. Spock nodded to him as he left, showing him that he extended his most sincere goodbye. This was going to be an unusual first contact mission, a very strange one, but now it was time for him to analyze the data. Hopefully this thing was not unstable, if it was, we would have to get out as soon as possible. Spock needed to contact Starfleet, he had much to report to them.