Chapter 22- Do the Right Thing
Jim swiveled in the command chair preoccupied by what had transpired in sickbay. He felt that as the captain he owed his crew an explanation. The time for secrecy had ended and in all times past the officers of the ship stood by him no matter the danger and he was reasonably sure they would again, but he couldn't take it for granted. They should have the ability to make their own choices circumstances permitting and he couldn't blame them if they opted out of this one.
After all, he had been reasonably sure that Peter would never allow Sylar near him given what was at stake, yet that was the choice he had made. He couldn't really pass judgment on him because he didn't know what it felt like to be trapped in his own body the way Peter seemed to be, but he couldn't imagine he could tolerate it for very long even if he had superpowers. It was easy for him to think that he would rather die than place others in danger, but he simply had no frame of reference for what was going on. All he knew was that Peter was a good guy who was only human after all.
He had asked the evolved humans to vacate the deck so the meeting could be conducted among the members of Starfleet with complete freedom to express their opinions on the matter without fear of offending their guests. As an additional measure, he made Matt swear on his life that he wouldn't eavesdrop and he believed him when he promised he wouldn't. He had also told Noah of his plans as a courtesy from one leader to another- it was the honorable thing to do and Noah appreciated the heads up. He seemed to fully understand the bind this new development had put him in.
While he twisted in his chair, Spock paced behind him at his station. The rest of the crew took this as a bad sign and shot nervous glances at one another. After a tortuous silence that seemed to stretch on forever, Jim cleared his throat and stopped his mindless twirling. "I asked you all to come up here because a serious turn of events has taken place. As you all know by now, we have taken people on board that possess various superhuman abilities. Of these, Sylar and Peter are the most powerful…or evolved…or whatever." He sighed heavily. "What you may not know is that Peter recently gained the ability to time travel from one of his colleagues. He went back to his time to get another evolved human and ended up also causing the arrival of his brother, Nathan- the man responsible for all of this as far as we know. Something happened to him while he was gone and now he is in serious trouble medically and it seems Sylar is the only one who can fix it." He looked at each stoic face of his crewmembers and continued. "I am not going to pretend to know how this all works, but I have been told that Sylar and Peter can collect abilities somehow. Sylar has already stated that in exchange for his help he will take Peter's powers including time travel. I think we all know that this is not a good thing."
"Why would he do that?" Sulu asked aloud. "Why wouldn't he just help him especially because he seems to be the only other super-evolved-human?" He stumbled over his last words because he wasn't sure of the exact terminology, but he couldn't think of anything else to call them.
"Sylar does not act out of mercy or for the good of the species as a whole. The continuation of the next step in evolution does not concern him so long as his own survival is assured." Spock answered as he stopped at full attention. "If he has an opportunity to gain from his fellow man's suffering he will do so. Otherwise he will allow Peter to perish without hesitation. For him, it is the only logical outcome."
"Is he a Wulcan too?" Chekov whispered to Sulu with a smile.
"I assure you he is not one of us, although he does appear to value reason." Spock replied dryly. Chekov wiped the smile off of his face and faced forward, forgetting how sensitive his superior's hearing was.
"So how can we stop him from getting the ability to time travel without sacrificing Peter?" Uhura asked with determination. She may not have always agreed with her captain, but one thing they could mutually value was a win-win scenario.
"We can't." Jim sighed in defeat. "Part of the problem is that Peter is apparently OK with this. If Sylar doesn't get the power now, who's to say he won't later? I allowed them to come onboard because they were in danger of extinction. Now that Nathan is here, I don't know if that is still true or not. What I do know is that I did not grant them indefinite asylum. I realize that Sylar is a threat as it is, but he will be even more so if he gets what he wants. So, I am putting this up for a vote. If you want them to stay because they are an endangered species they will. If you want them to go, I'll tell them to pack their bags."
"Go where?" Scotty asked incredulously. "If Peter and Hiro are the only ones that can go back an' forth and such and neither are well, it is bloody unlikely that you could ask Sylar once he's got it to kindly not let the airlock hit him in the arse on the way out."
"I don't know." Jim laughed. "Back to Earth, Delta Vega, anywhere but on this ship."
Chekov meekly raised his hand to speak. "But Sir, ve took responsibility for them vhen ve let them stay. Ve can't kick them out now vhen they have nowhere to go and are so far away from their own time. So, I vish to wote for them to stay."
"Me too." Sulu nodded. "I know this Sylar guy is a little creepy, but honestly the only time he has attempted to hurt anyone was when he woke up and didn't know where he was. He could have killed us all ten times over by now if he wanted to, but he hasn't."
"Agreed." Spock nodded. "As normal humans, we hold no interest for him. If he were to act, he would prey on his own kind. However, I would advise against releasing them on Earth- a planet that has been without their kind for centuries and lack the understanding required for their survival or defenses against their powers as they apparently had in their own time. To remain on the ship would be the lesser of the two evils as I believe you would say."
"I guess we did make a commitment." Uhura sighed. "But I would feel better if we had some way of protecting ourselves should their intentions turn South. I see no reason not to trust most of them, but from what I have seen so far Sylar and perhaps Nathan should be closely watched."
"To be fair, Uhura, we don't really know if Nathan was responsible for their extinction." Jim reminded. "Even they aren't 100% sure, they said they thought he was and if you ask me if what Claire said was true about what happened when Peter went back, it didn't sound like the actions of a guilty man. The fact that he didn't know what was in the weapons tells me he may not have been as directly involved as they think he was."
"His personal attachment to his younger sibling has been very apparent." Spock observed. "If he had prior knowledge of the operation, he would have divulged it to Drs. McCoy and Suresh to end the physical suffering of his brother. If not then, certainly now that he is so strongly opposed to Sylar's intervention. It is illogical to assume that he is withholding information or was indeed the orchestrator of the mass extinction until further evidence is presented."
"Still, do ya think we could have some of that stuff around just in case?" Scotty inquired. "Ah sure as hell would feel better knowin' we had it to even the playin' field just a wee bit."
Spock looked down at Jim with a stern expression. He was clearly opposed to keeping such a powerful toxin around the ship, but it was the captain's call. If it nearly killed Peter, it certainly would the others and wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose of keeping them aboard? Jim rapped his fingers on the arm of his chair and began twisting as he thought. "Ok," He reluctantly agreed, "but only officers will have access and it will only be used in an extreme emergency where lives are clearly in danger and there are no other alternatives. Do I make myself clear?"
A chorus of "Aye, Sir!" rang through the bridge until Uhura waved for silence. "Sir, I have an incoming transmission from Starfleet."
Jim was a bit wary about receiving an unexpected message from Command, but was at least glad he had vacated all of the specials. He didn't know how he would explain so many strange faces out of uniform on the bridge. "On screen." He ordered sitting up a bit straighter.
The face of Admiral Pike filled the screen and the two reflexively smiled at each other. "Kirk!" Admiral Pike greeted warmly. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have received a distress call from a Klingon ship in the beta quadrant. They reported being attacked by a Romulan vessel. The ship is crippled and needs an escort back to the nearest Klingon starbase. I need you and the crew to forgo nonessential repairs, pull out of space dock and warp yourselves over there. I know you were looking forward to a few more days of leave," his eyes twinkled mischievously, "are your crew so bored they are doing a group project on evolved humans in antiquity? We have noticed a huge pull on the database from your ship."
"Something like that." Jim laughed smoothly. "We will be on our way as soon as we are cleared by the dock."
"Good. We have other ships in the area, but we want to send a message to the Romulans if you know what I mean." Pike smiled.
"I get it, Sir. Send in the big dog." Jim nodded.
"Exactly. But Jim, just make sure you don't get into any unnecessary fights out there." Pike warned. "This is a recovery mission, not a dogfight. The Klingons are not part of the Federation yet and the Romulans sure the hell aren't, but now is not the time for revenge."
"Understood, Sir." Jim saluted even though he couldn't exactly promise he wouldn't get into trouble. He knew better than to make promises he couldn't keep and judging by the smirk on Pike's face he wouldn't have believed him anyway.
He was relieved when the screen went blank and he was off the hook for the moment. "Uhura, contact the dock and inform them of our orders. Sulu, ready the ship and standby for the launch order. Chekov, get on the horn and alert everyone to stations. Spock, you have the com until I get back." He spouted as he made his way to the lift. "I have to tell our guests that they are going on a roadtrip."
Mohinder stared at the black and white printouts in his lab with a wary eye. It was as though because they displayed Sylar's DNA, they were permeated with evil. As he stared at the dark and light alternating bands of his chromosomes he wondered exactly which one made him a murderer. Deep down he knew the answer to human behavior was never so simplistic as that, it was most often a combination of genetics and environment. Genes, after all, only represented an untapped potential- they were the yardsticks of traits while the environment sometimes determined the exact measurement. Genes were only what could be and environment set the limits on expression. Even knowing this, it was easier and more convenient to think that Sylar had a gene for selfishness and one for a complete lack of empathy that made him what he was rather than it being a volitional choice on his part.
He studied the small, mutated sliver of band on his X chromosome that may have been responsible for his abilities and wondered what it actually did. Was it responsible for his base power or was it something else entirely? He sat upright in his chair wide eyed.
Ever so briefly the thought crossed his mind. There was one sure way to find out what the mutation did. He could isolate it and introduce it into the body of the one person it couldn't harm: Peter. Once Peter woke up, he could observe him for any new abilities or changes in the ones he currently held.
He instantly felt sick for even entertaining such an appalling thought. How could he even think about doing that to Peter? Sure it may have been the breakthrough he was looking for, it could even be the key to this whole extinction problem, but Peter was not a guinea pig- not the way that Sylar could be. The thought was distasteful but honest. Had the circumstances been reversed, he would have been at his microscope at that very moment prepping an injection for Sylar. Although one life should never be more important than another to a scientist, it very much was to Mohinder the man. To him, Sylar was just another bit of lab equipment: necessary but expendable.
He got up to once more look at Peter in sorrow. How desperate he must have been to make such a devil's bargain. He couldn't blame him, would he have the fortitude to choose to remain locked away to the rest of the world just to keep an ability out of Sylar's hands? He didn't want to think badly of Peter because he always had acted in the best interest of others even when it wasn't appreciated or when no one understood or believed him; including himself. But something about this was just uncharacteristic and dare he say…selfish…of Peter to so casually give Sylar the ability to time travel- essentially dooming them all.
As he watched a nurse take his vitals and pull the covers up a bit more to keep him warm, he began to wonder if Matt had heard him right or if Peter may not have been completely coherent at the time he gave his answer because the more he thought about it, the less sense it all made.
Jim found Noah having lunch with Claire by the windows in the cafeteria. It looked like it might have been a private moment judging by the miserable look on Claire's face while Noah tried to explain something to her. Normally Jim would have walked away to give them time to work it out, but he now had a tight schedule and a ship to run. Courtesy would have to take a backseat to expediency. He cautiously approached the table and flashed a quick smile at the blonde before asking, "Do you have a minute, Noah?"
"Sure." The man with horned rimmed glasses replied placing his napkin on the table. "We will continue this conversation at a later time." He assured his daughter. She didn't seem to be listening as she was too busy getting an eyeful of the ship's supreme commander. Jim again smiled, but quickly regained his composure. It was a habit for him to respond to beautiful women, particularly those that would willingly give him the time of day without being harassed to do so, but if he thought he had 99 problems as it was, tangling with Noah- her father- seemed a particularly ill advised move on his part.
After they had retreated some distance, Jim cut to the chase. "The crew wants you to stay, so you are welcome to do so. But in case you didn't hear Chekov's announcement, we have been called to active duty. As soon as we get the green light we will be out the gate at warp speed across the galaxy. I know being in space is probably enough to freak you out, so I can only imagine what being light years would feel like. I think it is only fair that your group gets to decide if that is something they want out of just as mine did."
"They won't." Noah answered plainly. "They don't have a choice. I understand this is a military vessel and you have a job to do. I will inform my group to stay out of your way while you do it, but if you couldn't tell by now they aren't really fragile so you shouldn't worry too much about us."
"As long as the Romulans don't have any of those darts Peter came back with, I won't." Jim quipped. "But if we get so far away and you want to leave, will that be a problem?"
"I wouldn't think so." Noah shook his head. "If Hiro and Peter can jump millennia in time, I don't think distance would be an issue."
"Ok then." Jim smiled. "Welcome aboard the Enterprise and prepare to meet aliens that aren't as friendly or hygienic as Spock." Noah looked quizzically at the young captain, causing him to laugh and ad, "Trust me. It will be the experience of your life."