Chapter 14:
*Kirk's POV*
Pain shoots up from my shoulder, wakening me from my instance sleep. I sit up from the floor to find myself in an one person pod craft. The glass is fogged up, covering the outside from the inside. I wipe the glass clean to see a tunnel of snow. My eyes closed as my face falls.
"Computer...where am I?" I asked.
"Current location Delta Vega: Class 'M' Planet, unsafe. You have been ordered to remain in your pod until retrieved by Starfleet authorities."
"Bite me, how's that," I argued back.
The canopy rises up to let a blast of cold air hit me with some agony. I climb out to climb out of the tube of snow. Once I got to the surface, I realized that I am in the middle of freaking nowhere!
"Son of a bitch-bitch-bitch! There's nothing here!"
I let out a loud groan before beginning on the journey through this massive land of snow and ice. "Lieutenant's log, supplement:" I speak into the tricorder, cold and pissed off, "I'm preparing a testimonial for my Starfleet court martial assuming there's still a Starfleet." Something away from my point of view is beneath the ice. "Acting Captain Spock, whose only form of expression is apparently limited to his left damn eyebrow, has marooned me on Delta Vega in what I believe to be a violation of security protocol 49.09, governing the treatment of prisoners aboard a st-"
A growl startles me. I look around to see nothing, but another growl is heard. I turn around to see an eleven foot tall cross between a polar bear and gorilla at thirty feet feet away from me. It steps out from behind a mass of ice to see me. Slowly, my feet moves backward, but the creature charges towards me!
Now running for my life with that creature gaining towards me. It looks hungry. Something explodes under the ice and appearing as a nearly thirty feet tall, red in color, and with hundreds of eyes. Whatever this is smacks the creature away as I fall into the ice. I turn back to see the thing is much more worse! It roars when I managed to get onto my feet to run away, screaming.
Suddenly I fall down a massive snow mountain! The red creature stops at the edge and roars loudly until the ice breaks away! It too starts to fall as well. My body begins to tremble, but then I land on more ice….hard. Looking up, the falling creature was about to crush onto me. I try to run, but I couldn't because of the ice.
Finally my footing came and run towards the cave that I saw when the red creature lands hard. The thing's sharp spear limbs breaks the ice and pursues me.
Even in the darkened cave the creature comes after me. I ran as fast I can, but it reaches out to me and grabs me! My body gets pulled towards the disgusting, wet, teethy mouth. Not wanting to be eaten, I tried to hold on to anything at this point.
All of a sudden, there's a fire light followed by two figures. The thing's eyes grew wild at the flame light and it drops me to back off scared. I am on the ground freak out of what just happened, completely out of breath. My eyes look up to the two figures. One was a male figure and the other is a female figure.
"The Hen-Gra," the male figure speaks.
"Notoriously afraid of heat," the female figure adds.
The darkness around us is light up by the fire as the two figures turn to me. They appear to be in their elderly Vulcan years. Both look familiar to me, but I never seen those two before. Who are these people? They move closer to me, finally seeing my presence and look amazed. The male is holding the flame as the female is holding what looks like a urn.
"Hey...thank you…" I thanked them.
"...Jim?" the male one asked.
"James?" the female one asked.
"How did you two know my name?" I asked them stunned.
"How did you find us?" the elderly woman asked.
"Does Starfleet know of our presences?" the elderly man asked.
"How do you know my name?" I screamed at them.
The two look deep within my eyes.
"We have been...and always shall be….your friends," she says.
"No, I don't know you two, the only Vulcan I know aren't exactly buddies."
Elderly Vulcans look at each other before turning to me again.
"You are James T. Kirk," the male says.
"Your father is George, as if your brother," the female says.
"Your mother's name is Winona," they both said, "you were born in 2233-"
"Stop, please, I don't understand."
They both nod and decided on a different approach.
"My name is Dr. T'Aimu McCoy, one hundred and forty three years senior to the Vulcan/Creature hybrid you know," the sweet looking elderly female explains.
"I am Spock," the male explains, "one hundred and thirty years senior to the Vulcan you know."
"Bullshit," I said, not believing this.
"It's remarkably pleasing to see you again," 'Spock' says, "especially after the events of today."
"Old friend, sir, I don't have any idea how you know what you know, but I don't know you two and if you are Spock and T'Aimnu we're not really friends. Well T'Aimnu is my friend. You hate me. You marooned me here for mutiny."
"Why are you refering me by the Vulcan spelling instead of the Creature spelling?" Dr. T'Aimu McCoy asked, a little confused.
"Mutiny?" 'Spock' asked. "You are not the Captain?"
"You're the captain," I corrected him, "Pike was taken hostage."
"By Nero," 'Spock' realizes it while Dr. T'Aimu McCoy's dark eyes widen.
"What do you two know about him?" I asked them.
They both stayed there in silence for a few moments before Dr. T'Aimu McCoy speaks, "he is a remarkably troubled Romulan."
"Please, allow me," 'Spock' speaks, "it will be easier."
'Spock' reaches for my face which I grab his wrist, speaking, "what're you doing?"
Something inside told me to release his hand. Which I did. 'Spock' gently places his fingers on my cheek and temple.
"Our minds...one and together...one hundred and twenty seven years from now everything ends," I hear him whisper.
His eyes close shut when an electric charges into my body. Suddenly I see visions.
A supernova, an exploding star, eating away at all around it.
"A star in Beta Quadrant will go supernova and like a cancer left untreated….it will grow….and destroy everything."
Six Vulcan scientists study a hologram. The star's origin, a path of destruction and older Spock is among them.
"I saw the beginning of it myself. Vulcan Science Academy devised a plan to stop it."
Coming into view shows the jellyfish looking ship, but under construction.
"We built a ship containing a material capable of generating the only thing powerful enough to consume a supernova. A black hole."
Inside the ship where the containment holds, the Vulcan Scientists are assembled.
"I agreed to pilot the ship. Knowing Cousin T'Aimnu and I would not return."
Now at a ritual ceremony of a Vulcan Kamikaze pilot, Dr. T'Aimu McCoy and Spock sips some tea inside the Ark.
"Our sacrifice, in service of all races, seemed only logical."
Spock sits in the Jellyfish cockpit with Dr. T'Aimu McCoy standing next to him with the urn in her hands again.
"Unfortunately….before we could begin the mission...the supernova destroyed Romulus."
And suddenly, we are out of the mind melding thing as I grab Spock's hand again. "Nero's planet was destroyed."
"Yes," the female doctor speaks, "he of course blamed us. Believed Vulcan allowed his planet to die. Which was hardly the case. Let Cousin Spock continue."
"This annoys me, I don't like it-"
"I know, I know," Spock speaks.
"Do we have to do it like this?"
"I'm surprised to hear you complain allow me to finish."
He touches my face again and we enter again.
The ship swoops past through and I see the massive supernova in the infinite distance, but then the Narada appears to fire torpedoes at Spock's ship.
"Nero came after us. Determined to thwart our mission. If Romulus was allowed to die, he said….all planets should share its fate."
The older Vulcans are in the cockpit, rocked by the torpedoes exploding closely. Their minds are racing as Dr. T'Aimu McCoy is holding onto the urn tightly.
"We needed an exit. We knew if this mission failed….everyone, our family, everywhere….would lose everything."
Spock and his cousin leaves the cockpit and enter into an airlock. Tumbles in weightlessness and enters into the containment room. She removes the red matter from the hold.
"She realized: a large black hole could destroy the supernova. A smaller one...could be our escape. Could send us back in time, allowing me to complete our mission. So we created a black hole…"
He loads the cannister with a small amount of red matter into a jettison tube and she fires the cannister into space. Spock returns to the cockpit and takes aim on the controls to fire at the cannister.
Soon a black hole has been created. Spock pilots towards the hole.
"Nero must have understood what we were trying to do. Because he began racing for it."
Both the Narada and the Jellyfish aims for the black hole.
"Nero simply got to it first. How long Cousin T'Aimu and I were traveling…..I couldn't tell you. It was timeless. But when we arrived….."
Light covers Spock's and Dr. T'Aimu McCoy's faces so they fade away. They are back in space…..facing the Narada.
"Nero was waiting for us, but we end up into your reality instead of ours."
I inhale sharply, returning back to reality with the two Vulcans in the cave. My mind spins around. Now I believe who I am with is Spock and T'Aimnu, but why did she say that I was referring to the Vulcan spelling?
"Forgive us," Dr. T'Aimu speaks up, clutching onto the urn tighter, "emotional transference is an effect of the mind meld."
"...so you do feel…"
"'Cthia' is the stricture that binds our emotions," Spock replies, "but few us are that perfectly Vulcan."
My sleeve wipes away the tears that has fall on my face, "Going back in time….you changed all our lives."
"Yet remarkably, events within our timelines, characteristics, people," Spock begins.
"Seem to overlap significantly," Dr. T'Aimnu McCoy adds, "please tell us about the rest of the crew, Chekov, Uhura-"
"Tactical and Communications-"
"Sulu," Spock says.
"He's the helmsman, why?"
"My husband Dr. Leonard McCoy," she says, showing me the urn, "would have assert our meeting here is not a matter of coincidence….but rather, indication of a higher purpose. Of course, we discussed this before his death."
"He'd call it a damn miracle," I smirked.
Dr. T'Aimu McCoy giggles a little, "that's my husband."
"Perhaps the time stream's way of attempting to men itself. In both our histories, the same crew found its way onto the same ship in a time of ultimate crisis - therein lies our advantage," Spock explains.
They both stood up on their feet.
"We must go," she says, "there's a Starfleet outpost not far from here."
I stood up as well to stop them, "where you came from….did I know my father?"
"...yes," Spock replies, "you often spoke of him as your inspiration for joining starfleet."
Each word came to my heart as I begin to try to imagine what my life would have been like with my father again.
"You should know," Dr. T'Aimu McCoy speaks up, "he proudly lived to see you become captain of the Enterprise."
"...Captain?"
"A ship we must return you to as soon as possible," Spock explains.