Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek.
Author's Note: The home stretch! About six more chapters! Thanks to all who have stuck with my "debut" story here. I admit, it's been difficult due to a sleep issue for much of the story. Writing on three hours of sleep- don't recommend! That said, I hated to leave the story hanging so I kept going these past few weeks. Anyways, without a beta I can't imagine what ya'll would've thought of this! ;) Thanks again for the support. I hope you enjoy the final chapters...
Author's Note #2: I have a Jim & Carol focused story in the works that happens directly after Escape Artist. I'm tempted to post a chapter of it now but will wait...yes..I will wait. And then, another WIP to share along with that. More details to be announced on my profile page within a day or two.
Chapter 16
Listening to Memphis' deliberate vocal details of Jim's Tarsus past reminded Spock of the time Jim manipulated him on the bridge.
Spock made no attempt to deny he fiercely disliked Jim Kirk at that particular time. Dr. McCoy could attest to that since he witnessed Spock's purposeful and personal attack with mentioning George Kirk's death at the initial hearing over the Kobayashi Maru. Rendering Jim unconscious and removing him from the Enterprise was another drastic action caused by Spock's dislike. Comparing Jim to a stallion which needed broken, another. And marooning Jim on Delta Vega.
It was pointless to dwell on all that now and on the self-loathing Spock had at the completion of saving Earth, but it served a purpose.
That feeling of dislike had morphed into skepticism, skepticism to admiration, and admiration to friendship. And, finally from friendship to this sense of extreme compassion and dedication not usually attached to Spock's friendships nor to his standard and satisfactory dedication to his superior officer.
This increased dedication he felt...was illogical and unfamiliar.
He withdrew from this uncomfortable train of thought to consider, a bit cautiously at first, that Memphis and Jim were not unalike. Influenced by drug or demon. Never properly given the help they needed. Never accepting of any assistance they were offered.
Memphis' attempt to emotionally compromise Jim in the extreme elements, before they reached their destination, was a direct effort to sabotage their success. However, Spock wanted to save the Enterprise, the Tarsus 9- and Jim.
Clearly, Memphis was adept at getting what he wanted despite challenges just like Jim.
"I hated you then and I will not deny myself that same emotion towards you today. I took the person I was when you left me, an orphan with tragedy imprinted in his mind, and went to someone who transformed me in the name of bettering the world." Memphis spouted to Jim, whose statuesque posture bothered Spock more than any weaving on his feet Jim would do.
"You turned yourself in," Spock commented abruptly, after assessing the captain's demeanor. The past 23 hours was prompting symptoms of post traumatic stress Jim had done his best to suppress- for years.
Since the meld, Spock's own intuition and knowledge of Jim's feelings had grown. He could not ignore the suffering of the captain.
In fact, Spock could not ignore it at all.
Pieces of Jim's life, now secure in the thoughts of Spock in a precise and telling manner, forced Spock to view Jim with different calculations. This man, displaced from childhood at aged 13, was not the same man Spock had come to know and view as friend. Jim would be that same man to him once Spock was able to reconcile the hidden scars with the man before him.
Even the recording he saw of Jim's scars had not affected Spock in the same, deep manner.
A slow boiling pot. Uhura had been correct in her judgement of Jim's past.
"I created the opportunity to save myself and sent JT to what he deserved." Memphis said to Spock.
"Your own life, to live free as you wanted, was not worth anything to you?" Jim interjected, pulling back his hood. Spock could now see what he already suspected.
Jim's tolerance level for properly dealing with Memphis' taunts about Tarsus exponentially lowered. The drugging had sabotaged the captain's emotional well-being. The captain's eyes were rimmed with red, his jaw set, cheeks flushed, and from the look of Jim's chest movement- his heart rate irregular.
"Free," Memphis laughed bitterly. "Free to die a horrid death from famine. I took a chance."
"I don't know if I can ever forgive you for this." Jim growled after he heard Memphis explain his actions.
"You assume I want your forgiveness." Memphis smiled eerily.
Jim stalked towards Spock and his prisoner as a haze of snow began to cover them. "You took a chance on eight people. You think you can tell me that a five year old, terrorized into muteness, did not want to be saved. You think you knew better and so decided to split up a brother and sister, sending one to what I imagine was a sort of hellish brainwashing and the other to living without the only family she had left. You think you can stand here and convince me that making yourself feel better was worth betraying not only me, but eight innocent children."
"I think I chose the path that freed those eight individuals, Captain."
"You had no right to do that to them," Jim yelled. "We were all just kids, Memphis. Kids!"
"The only reason they agreed was because of you."
"What do you mean?" Jim paled.
"You stole food from the guards, rescued seventeen individuals who were on the genocide list, killed numerous guards, destroyed information, and ruined Kodos' plan to murder the Riley family in its entirety. Actually, it was your cousin's ramblings of worry for you that helped me process what you did and come to the conclusion you would be worth something to the governor."
Jim's face contorted to show regret, devastation...guilt. He looked warily at Memphis. "If I had done what Kodos had asked me to do while I was his prisoner would he have saved those children?"
Spock remembered what Kodos had asked Jim. The information from Riley's scientific experiments. And more.
Memphis stepped towards Jim, looking at him with an expression of pity. "Yes."
Memphis' internal struggle led him to trusting to the very ones who killed his parents and thousands others. Illogical. Spock did not think that was the entire story for Memphis.
Jim's internal struggle sent him on a cyclic path of constant conflict and no respite for his emotions.
Both Memphis and Jim had been catapulted into self-preservation at an early age. Presently, Memphis was acting to preserve himself yet again. No doubt Jim would do whatever it took to ensure the safety of his crew now.
Jim pulled out his phaser and directed it towards Spock. "Take off your coat, Spock."
"Captain," Spock said, "That will..."
"I realize what it will do to you, Spock, but right now you're going to listen to me. Take it off, and toss it over."
Spock slipped his coat off as Jim's expression became more tortured. "Jim, he is using you."
"No, no, Mr. Spock," Jim said, a bit sadly. "It's not Memphis who is using me."
Jim raised his gaze from the frozen ground. The resignation in his eyes made Spock's chest crawl with apprehension. It also included emotions that Spock understood since delving into Jim's past.
Jim's plan was...dangerous.
Spock concluded that Jim had planned this, whatever this was, all along. A protective action of the captain to get Spock out of harm's way that, of course, was not in the best interest of said captain.
"The coat, Mr. Spock." Jim jerked his head. Spock threw the coat. It landed on the ice over twenty feet away. "And your phaser."
Spock obeyed again.
"Release his cuffs, commander." Jim wiped his eyes as he squinted in the cold air.
"Captain, that is unwise." Spock's body already reacted to the unnaturally cold weather. A trance- and soon- would be the only way he could survive.
"Release him," Jim said tightly.
"No, Captain, I will not."
"Mr. Spock," Jim said, "you have ten seconds to obey my orders or you will find yourself stunned and lying on the same sheet of ice directly underneath your boots. And I do not know when anyone would be able to rescue you from this dangerous climate."
Spock waited five seconds before releasing Memphis' cuffs, using this time to consider Jim's well-being and that of Memphis.
"Now, Memphis." Jim continued to point the phaser at Spock. "Put those on Mr. Spock."
Memphis chuckled as he put the cuffs on Spock. "You may have bought time with that little mind meld, but it won't rescue any of you. Unfortunately, for you Mr. Spock, this drug will ultimately put your captain under the command of who holds peace for Jim's mind. And who is that, JT?"
Jim remained silent. His eyes glazed over- and not only with tears. Jim had been slowed down enough to contemplate all that happened on Tarsus in a deeper way than Jim had never done before. The drug, coupled with his memories and all that Memphis reminded him of and betrayed him with, now brought Jim's boiling pot to a lethargic simmer. If Spock would continue to use Uhura's analogy...
The simmer would be more destructive than the boil.
If delayed as a simmer long enough without the right resources, such as Dr. McCoy and his drive to find Jim's cure, it would destroy the strongest parts of Jim and exploit the weakest.
If Memphis gained the upper hand, Spock would not survive.
If Spock did not survive, neither would Jim.
"Lenore Karidian."
Ambassador Spock's first words to Lenore were unusual. They were slow as well presumptuous.
"How do you know my name?" Lenore whispered, hesitant to watch the ambassador on the comm's view screen as she cried. Her first realization was that Ambassador Spock was Vulcan. She'd not expected that, but it did make sense since the children trusted him.
"I know who your father is, Miss Karidian."
Her second realization was that she had been living in the dark too long.
His response did not answer her question and, furthermore, the response did not settle her churning stomach. She still heard Kevin's whimpers, an excruciating reminder that her father or others with him were mistreating the scientist.
Her friend, or at the very least, a friendly acquaintance.
Her father, a stranger but the only familiar thing to her on Revlair.
It was achingly horrific.
"My father...Kevin Riley," choked out Lenore through her tears. The comm trembled in her hands. "He is...hurting Kevin."
"Where are you, Miss Karidian?"
"The basement...at the Green Gate." She whispered even softer, not sure he'd even hear her this time.
"I assume you are in hiding?" Ambassador Spock must have super-hearing.
She nodded, struggling to cease her crying because maybe that would stop her shaking.
"Stay hidden for now, Miss Karidian. I do not wish to see you hurt. Can you see them now and describe to me exactly what is happening?"
"Okay," she said, scooting herself back to the vent. "They're leaving, my father and three guards. Kevin is strapped to a chair. He looks unconscious. The room has one light in the center, and it looks abandoned except for the chair Kevin is sitting in."
"What is Kevin's condition?"
"I heard his bones cracking. His legs...they are bloodied, but his hands are worse off, Ambassador."
Even from where she was Lenore saw the distorted shape of his fingers. And her eyes followed the trail of blood up his arms to his chest and shoulders, which were bare.
"I see scars and new wounds," she whispered, "and his face, I cannot even see his face because it's so messed up."
"The children who gave you the comm, did they say anything about Captain Kirk?"
"That the captain was not right in his mind and that he would not be able to get here in time to save Kevin."
"And you, what did they say about you?"
How did he know to ask that? How did he even know the children said something about her?"
"Lenore?"
She looked down at the ambassador's face on the comm. His expression revealed nothing to her, not a bit of comfort but no judgement, either. For some reason, it didn't bother her but forced her to speak truthfully.
"That I was destined to do good."
Ambassador Spock nodded slowly. "I do not think you will be able to take Mr. Riley out of the building on your own, but you could possibly delay what is about to happen. Are you willing to try?"
That's what she'd been doing the past hour. Trying.
Could she do more? In spite of the fact her father was the one administering this evil?
"Yes," she said.
"If at all possible, get Kevin into the passageway. If not, I will do what I can to make sure help arrives, Lenore. Captain Kirk will help you if he can, I have no doubt, or bring someone to assist him. Another Mr. Spock, perhaps." Ambassador Spock paused. "Trust them."
"Okay," she faltered as she saw how desperate the situation was.
"Remain strong, Lenore."
"Why did my father do this?" Her heart wrenched at her own question that she did not even want answered yet.
"I cannot tell you, Lenore. You must think of what the children told you. You have a destiny to do what is right, what is good."
She turned the comm off, and pressed it against her chest. She would do this, whatever it took, to free Kevin. Divorce had tarnished the image she had of her father, and now this.
This was worse, so much worse, but her heart had already been slightly detached from their relationship. She would go to that place in her heart again, separating her father from her life, as she did before.
To save this stranger.
She lifted the vent door, cringing at the minuscule squeak.
To show the children here she had faith in their abilities.
It would be large enough for Kevin, she thought as she slipped through the now vacant space into the basement.
To find answers.