Jim couldn't see much when he woke up. The most he saw was the frosted windshield of his escape pod. He then began to think of the events on the bridge. That's what it truly sunk into him what had happened. "Did Spock really just shoot me off the ship?!" The then looked to the computer right next to him, letting out an angry sigh. "Computer, where am I?"
"Location: Delta Vega." Jim began to roll his eyes while undoing the bandage around his wrist. "Class M planet. Unsafe. There is a Starfleet outpost 14km to the northwest." Jim began to roll his eyes. Spock really did do it. "Remain in your pod."
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Jim did the opposite of what the computer told him, opening up the pod and beginning to climb up the walls his pod had created with what few supplies were on his back. When he finally made it up, he looked around, noticing what a snowy and barren wasteland he was in.
Luna was in her room, reading one of the very many books in the on ship library, just trying to calm herself down when she heard a knock on her door. "Who is it?" She called, angrily, knowing that if it was Spock she was going to punch him in the face this time.
"It's me." That was her father's voice. She closed her PADD and moved to the door, opening it up to look at him. "So, are you coming back on the bridge or what?"
"I don't know." She spoke, crossing her arms, trying to imitate her father's stance. "Is Spock done talking about me?"
"Look," Bones spoke before walking past her, right into her room.
"Okay, this is happening." Bones never did this. Not even when she was a teenager and he was worried out of his mind what would happen to her, knowing the danger zone was from thirteen to seventeen.
"I don't like the pointy eared bastard either, but you've gotta do what he says."
"Then why didn't you say anything back there!" Luna finally yelled.
Bones took a deep sigh, fixing a plant that came with the room. Honestly, he knew this was going to happen. He began to ask himself why he even tried to come to talk to her. "What have I told you about your yelling?"
"Dad," She warned, trying to alert him in some way that she was about to go off. "Jim was sent off the ship, and you let the two of us drown while you didn't do anything! You could have helped! He could have not been sent off if you would have stepped in!"
"Luna," Bones spoke calmly, putting his hands out so she could focus on what he was about to tell her. "I need you to listen to me." Luna just kept staring daggers at him, something she could do so well. "You're my child, and if I can do something that's going to help you, I will. Hell," he spoke in a laugh. "If you killed someone I would burn the evidence and take the fall for you." Luna furrowed her eyebrows in thought, knowing that was a bit extreme, but she was still following him. "So, on the bridge, I did what I had to do to keep you safe."
Luna shook her head at him, still hating that he didn't step in for Jim like he did for her. "I'm not a child anymore."
"But you're my child, and if you were sent off along with Jim, I don't know what I would do."
Luna stood there, looking at him, feeling her eyes begin to brim with tears. "But Jim is your friend, and you could have helped him like you helped me."
"Someone had to take care of you."
"I don't need to be taken care of! I need Jim!"
Bones then began to move towards her, but she felt all this anger, making her shove him back. Bones looked at her for a minute, wanting to comfort her as the first tears fell down her face. He moved forward again, but she pushed him another time. They continued this action until Bones finally pulled her into a tight hug she couldn't escape, and once he did, she completely broke down in his arms. She was scared. She was scared about Nero. She was scared for what else Spock was going to do to the people she loved. But above all, she was scared for Jim.
Jim found a parka in his bag, and put it on as he trudged through the snow. He pulled out the communicator in the bag, pressing the recording device before talking. "Star date 2258.42. For…for…" Jim really didn't know why he was making this. "For whatever." He took a deep sigh before continuing, getting angry about it all over again. "Acting captain Spock has marooned me on Delta Vega. What I believe to be a violation of security protocol 49.09 governing the treatment of prisoners aboard a starship."
Just as he finished speaking, there was a loud sound coming from behind him. When he turned around, he saw something coming towards him at incredible speed. And once it became clear through the snow, he found it was absolutely terrifying. After letting out a loud scream, he turned around and began running away from it. As he ran from it, he tripped, but immediately got back up. Right when the thing was about to get him, another creature came out of the snow and got the one that was coming after him.
As he laid on the snow, looking at what had just happened, he was really wishing he would have stayed in his pod. That's when the other bigger monster turned its attention on Jim. He got up and began running, but almost immediately, he stumbled and began rolling down a hill. He couldn't stop himself, and he knew it was just a matter of time before the thing caught up to him.
He landed on a frozen lake, and when he looked up, the thing was falling down the hill like he was. Jim tried to run, but the ice made him slip around. Once he got his feet steady, he looked around, finding a cave only a few feet away. He ducked in, but it followed him right in. Jim was beginning to think he would never get away from it. Just as he thought that, the thing grabbed his leg and began to pull him. He screamed as he got closer to the creature, beginning to think all about Luna. Her face. Her laugh. Her smile. Her peaceful sleeping face at two in the morning when he would wake up from a bad dream. And lastly, he thought of her pregnant belly.
That's when fire showed up near the thing's face, making it back up until it got out of the cave. The person who was waving the torch was wearing a heavy jacket like him, and all Jim could do was breath heavily and watch him. When he turned around, his face held some recognition as he looked at Jim. "James T. Kirk."
Jim turned his head to the side, never seeing this man before in his life, but he know he looked familiar, he just couldn't place it. "Excuse me?"
"How did you find me?"
Jim was just as puzzled as the mystery man, deciding to stand up so they could have a proper conversation. "How do you know my name?"
The man looked at him before giving him a deep sigh what seemed to hold sadness. "I have been and always shall be your friend."
Jim looked at him for a moment before deciding to laugh. This was all just too weird. "Look, I don't know you."
"I am Spock."
Jim's eyes got wide after he heard that sentence. His eyes then went down as he tried to process what the hell was going on. He then looked back up at "Spock", remembering that he said he was Jim's friend. That's how he knew it was a lie. "Bullshit."
The two settled into the cave, Spock lighting a fire so Jim could warm up. As he was kindling the fire, Jim just sat there with his knees close to his chest, thinking over everything that happened. He began to think he was going crazy. Maybe he experienced trauma when Spock knocked him out. Maybe this was all one very vivid dream. "It is remarkably pleasing to see you again old friend. Especially after the events today."
Jim then stood up, not really wanting to listen to him anymore since he was still super pissed at Spock for what he did to him not even an hour ago. "Sir," Jim spoke patiently, not really sure what to say to the man at this point. "I appreciate what you did for me today, but if you were Spock, you'd know we're not friends. At all. You hate me. You marooned me here for mutiny." Luna would be so proud of him for using the word "marooned".
Spock's eyes got wide at the last word in his sentence. "Mutiny?"
"Yes."
"You are not the captain?"
Jim turned back to him, laughing a little. "No, no." He pointed at him before speaking again. "You're the captain. Pike was taken hostage."
Jim was pacing a little bit as Spock's eyes held so much hurt, thinking about what happened to his planet today. "By Nero?"
Jim stopped pacing before turning around to look at him again, realizing maybe this Spock could be his ally. "What do you know about him?"
Spock looked away from him, taking a deep breath before speaking almost as if he had to relive the pain all over again. "He is a particularly troubled Romulan." Spock then got up, deciding it was going to be easier to show him rather than tell him. "Please. Allow me. It will be easier."
When Spock came towards Jim with his hand up, Jim flinched back, unsure about the whole thing. To him, Spock still hated him. "Whoa, whoa. What are you doing?"
"Our minds, one and together. " Jim's eyebrows furrowed, but he let Spock carefully place his fingers on his face. "One hundred twenty-nine years from now, a star will explode and threaten to destroy the galaxy." Jim's eyebrows furrowed, still not quite sure what was happening. "That is where I'm from Jim. The future." As soon as he said that, Jim was taken somewhere else in Spock's memories.
There was a burning ball of fire in front of him in the middle of space, Jim beginning to feel Spock's panic at the presence of it. "A star went supernova. Consuming everything in its path. I promised the Romulans that I will save their planet. We outfitted our fastest ship." The memories then moved to Spock on a ship, beginning to create the red matter, what was launched into the center of Vulcan. "Using red matter I would create a black hole which would absorb the exploding star. "
Then Spock was in a small ship, headed towards the star. "I was on route when the unthinkable happened. The supernova destroyed Romulus." When Jim saw the planet disintegrate, he felt this unbelievable helplessness. "I had little time. I had to extract the red matter and shoot it into the supernova." Jim waited in anticipation for what was going to happen next, sensing it didn't all work out as planned.
"As I began my return trip I was intercepted. He called himself Nero," Jim felt fear when he saw his face, and then he thought about Luna. This madman could do anything to her, and he was not okay with that. "In my attempt to escape, both of us were pulled into the black hole." Jim then felt the gravity pulling him through the blackhole, the stress of it hurting his body. "Nero went through first. He was the first to arrive." Jim then saw images of the USS Kelvin getting blown to smithereens. His father was on that ship. He felt like he was watching his father's murder.
"Nero spent the next twenty-five years awaiting my arrival. But what was years for Nero was only seconds for me. I went through the black hole. Nero was waiting for me." Jim felt that fear go through him again as he witnessed through Spock's eyes what it was like to walk into the ship where everyone wanted him dead. "He held me responsible for the loss of his world. He captured my vessel and spared my life. For one reason. So that I would know his pain."
He was then back on the icy desert where he had found Jim, looking up at his planet Vulcan just as it began caving in on itself. "He beamed me here so that I can observe his vengeance. As he was helpless to save his planet I would be helpless to save mine. Billions of lives lost because of me, Jim. Because I failed."
Jim felt so guilty, sad and hopeless all at the same time, that by the time Spock had finished his story and let go of his face, he was crying for everything he had just experienced. "Forgive me." Spock apologized as Jim let out heavy breaths. "Emotional transference is an effect of the mind meld."
Jim moved away from him, finding comfort in one of the walls as he tried to catch his breath. At the end of it all, he couldn't help but think of Luna and picturing watching a planet she was on disintegrate while he could do nothing. He then thought back on something he had thought about Spock and Vulcans from the very beginning. "So, you do feel?"
"Yes."
Jim then began to feel this resentment, knowing everything was difference because of this. His father would have been alive if it wasn't for this. "Going back in time you changed all our lives."
"Jim," Spock spoke calmly, knowing he was going through something right now, but they had to get moving. "We must go. There is a Starfleet outpost not far from here."
Spock began to walk towards the exit, but Jim stayed, wanting to confirm his thoughts. "Wait." Spock turned around to look at him, ready for what he had to say. He would listen to anything he had to say since he hadn't seen Jim in so, so long. "Where you came from...did I know my father?" Jim was looking to him with a smiling face, ready to hear what his life would have been like with him.
"Yes. You often spoke of him as being your inspiration for joining Starfleet." Jim's smile got just a little wider at that. "He proudly lived to see you become captain of the Enterprise."
Jim let that title swirl in his brain for a bit. "Captain?"
"A ship we must return you to as soon as possible."
He turned around, but Jim thought of one more question to ask him. "Wait, Spock," he turned back around, ready to hear what he had to say. He decided he would answer one more question. "What about Luna?"
Spock turned his head to the side, puzzled at why he would ask that. They would have to be together by now, but then again, Jim also wasn't captain. Spock decided it was okay to tell him one little thing. "In the future, you and Luna are married with two children. A boy…and a girl."
Jim took a deep breath as he had a grin from ear to ear. He looked down, thinking about their future together before letting out a little laugh. Two kids. A little boy and a little girl. "Like I said, Jim," Spock spoke up, making Jim look back to him. "We have to go."
"Yeah." Jim spoke while nodded and following, but he just couldn't stop this smile on his face. Captain, a beautiful wife, and kids he would adore. He wanted his future right in that second.
Luna was back on the bridge, but she was still refusing to speak to Spock. "Warp three, sir." Sulu reported for her, knowing if she said it, a few insults would come out as well.
"Course 151-3. Laurentian system, sir." Chekov continued for her.
"Thank you, gentlemen." Luna rolled her eyes at his response, knowing he was intentionally leaving her out of it.
Bones then walked up to Spock's left before speaking. "You wanted to see me?" Luna rolled her eyes at her father's voice too. She really didn't want to hear that voice either.
"Yes. Doctor." The two began to walk away from the bridge, mostly so Luna wouldn't hear them as they talked about Jim. "I am aware that James Kirk is a friend of yours. I recognize that supporting me as you did must have been difficult."
"Is that thank you?" Bones kind of spat it out, not happy with Spock on how everything went down about an hour and a half ago or the fact that he was the reason his daughter cried for an hour.
"I am simply acknowledging your difficulties."
Bones almost threw his hand in the air, feeling his anger festering to the breaking point he was about to experience. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"
Spock stopped walking to turn around and look at him, ready for what he had to say. "I welcome it."
"Do you?" Spock simply nodded to him. "Okay then." Bones had to look around for a moment before finally exploding in a hushed whisper. "Are you out of your Vulcan mind?" Spock turned his head at the insult. It was very hard to hear to the rest of the bridge, but she knew her father's tone. She turned around, to see the two talking in hushed whispers, making her furrow her eyebrows. What on earth could they be talking about? "Are you making a logical choice sending Kirk away? Probably. But the right one? Back home we've got a saying. If you're gonna ride in the Kentucky derby you don't leave your prize stallion in the stable." Luna then got up, placing herself behind one of the pillars so she could listen without being obviously seen. Normally, her father probably would have seen her, but he was so caught up in their talk at the moment.
"A curious metaphor, Doctor, as a stallion must first be broken before it can reach its potential." Luna felt herself getting angry all over again at what he had said.
"My God man!" He father almost screamed at him, his face was so angry, and she could hear it in his voice too. "You could at least act like it was a hard decision!" As Luna watched her father react to that, she began to feel guilty for everything she had said to him in her room.
"I intend to insist in the effort to reestablish communication with Starfleet. However, if crew moral is better served by my roaming the halls weeping I would gladly defer to your medical expertise." Bones continued to glare at him, wanting to do the same thing Luna did to him. Slap in his cocky face. Spock then saw his father exiting the elevator before nodding to Bones so he could leave. "Excuse me."
Bones was still glaring in his direction after he walked off. "Green blooded little goblin."
When Bones turned around, though, he was attacked in a hug by his daughter. It was a hug she hadn't given him in a long time. One where she slammed her head into his chest and pressed her cheek as far into his body as it could go. This was a hug she gave him a lot when she was a little girl. Usually when she had come home from school, and she hugged him so hard because she had missed him so much during the day. He was confused at first, but he eventually hugged her back, putting his chin on top of her head. "I'm sorry." She whispered to him.
Bones began to stroke her hair, not needing any more information on what she was talking about. He knew what she was apologizing for, and honestly, he didn't need the apology one bit. "I love you." She told him, her voice coming out a little muffled at her mouth pressed up against the fabric of his shirt.
Bones just smiled before planting a long kiss on the top of her head. "I love you, darling."
Jim and Spock made it into the Starfleet outpost, but it seemed to be only slightly warmer inside than outside. As they looked down the hall, there was someone running towards them, but he wasn't speaking English. As he ran towards them, he seemed to get smaller. And when they were finally face to face with him, they saw he probably was just four feet tall, and he had a green face, shaped like the roots of a tree all combed back. They both turned their heads to the side as the thing took off its goggles to look at them before leading them down the dark hallway.
Both Jim and Spock weren't sure what to do. This could go either way. This could be extremely helpful or extremely useless. They were finally led to a man with his feet propped up on a desk and a piece of his scarf over his eyes. The thing slapped the man on the leg, making the man let out a groan. "What?" He had the thickest Scottish accent Jim had ever heard in his life.
He took the scarf off his face, looking to the thing before looking to the two men that stood in front of him. His eyes widened slightly, but he still looked angry. "You realize how unacceptable this is?"
Spock was wonderstruck at the look of his old friend. "Fascinating."
Jim looked over at him, confused. "What?"
"I am sure you're just doing your job," Jim looked back to the man when he realized Spock wasn't going to answer him. "But could you not come a wee bit sooner?" The man sat up before grabbing one of the bags lying around and shaking it so it's contents would come out. "Six months I've been here. Living off Starfleet botty nips and a promise of a good meal." Jim looked puzzled at what was going on, but Spock just continued to stare at him. "And I know exactly what's going on here. Okay? Punishment, isn't it? Ongoing. For something that was clearly an accident."
"You are Montgomery Scott." Spock was simply mystified by his presence.
"You know him?" Jim asked quickly, but Spock still wasn't looking at him.
"Yeah, it's me. You're in the right place. Unless there's another hard working equally starved Starfleet officer around."
"Me." They all turned to look at the creature next to him.
Montgomery Scott slowly turned to look at him, his face angry. "Keenser, shut up! You don't eat anything." He brought his fingers together to emphasize how small his appetite was. "You can eat, like, a bean and you're done." He turned back to the men excitedly, just wanting food. "I'm talking about food, real food. But you're here now. So, thank you." He stood up, beginning to look around to see if he could find it. "Where is it?"
As he walked, Spock continued to watch him as he walked to another seat in the lab. "You are in fact the Mr. Scott who postulated the theory of trans warp beaming?"
"That's what I'm talking about!" Scotty spoke excitedly. "How'd ya think I wound up here?" Jim was still trying to look at Spock for answers, but he was starting to give up hope that he would ever look back at him. "I had a little debate with my instructor on the issue of relativistic physics and how it pertains to subspace travel. He seemed to think that the range of transporting something like a grapefruit was limited to about a hundred miles." Jim was barely following. He knew that Luna would be able to follow if she was here, though. "I told him that I could not only beam a grapefruit from one planet to the adjacent planet in the same system, which is easy by the way I could do it with a life form. So, I tested it on Admiral Archer's prize beagle."
"I know that dog." Jim spoke in thought, but he quickly realized he hadn't seen it in a while. Admiral Archer used to bring the dog into the class Jim and Luna had together, and it would always come up to Luna like it was attracted to her. Luna would constantly joke that Jim was jealous that he had to compete with a cute dog for her affection. "What happened to it?"
"I'll tell you when it reappears." Jim's eyes almost bulged out of his head at that response while Scotty continued to take a sip of his water. "I don't know. I do feel guilty about that."
"What if I told you that your trans warp theory was correct?" Spock offered, looking to him excitedly. "That it is indeed possible to beam onto a ship that is travelling at warp speed?"
Scotty scoffed before looking back to him. "I think that if that equation had been discovered I'd have heard about it."
"The reason you haven't heard of it, Mr. Scott, is because you haven't discovered it yet."
Scotty's face then got straight as he thought over what he just said. He then stood up, laughing a little bit at what he had said. He had to have been insane. Although, that's what Jim thought earlier. "Are you from the future?"
"He is." Jim clarified with a point. "I'm not."
"Well that's brilliant." He spoke while looking to Spock, his mind was still fixated on the food though. "Do they still have sandwiches there?"
After both Jim and Spock explained what they needed from Scotty, he guided them to his very own transporter room. Well, an early transporter room that needed a lot of upgrades. "Well, she's a wee bit dodgy. Shield emitters are totally bum jacked as well as a few other things." He pointed Jim into the direction of the entrance. "In you go." Jim began to walk in, but Scotty was still intrigued by where they would be beaming onto. "So, the Enterprise has had its maiden voyage, has it? She is one well endowed lady. I'd like to get my hands on her ample nossels, if you'd pardon the engineering parlance." Jim actually found it funny and laughed at it. Better than dealing with Olson.
When they walked into the transporter, Spock was already inside, working on what Scotty had already come up with. Scotty then took the seat closest to Spock, still curious about what he hadn't invented yet. "Except, the thing is, even if I believed you. Where you're from, what I've done...which I don't, by the way. We're still talking about beaming aboard the Enterprise while she's travelling faster than light without a proper receiving pad." He then noticed Keenser sitting on one of the bars of the room. "Get off there!" He yelled at him as Keenser got down with a loud, angered grunt, Jim having to help him. "It's not a climbing frame!" He then turned back to Spock, carrying on with the conversation like nothing had happened. "The notion of transwarp beaming is like trying to hit a bullet with a smaller bullet whilst wearing a blindfold, riding a horse." He then looked back at what Spock was working on, all of it starting to make sense. "What's that?"
"Your equation for achieving trans warp beaming." Spock got out of his seat so he could look over what he had written down. It had all clicked for Scotty in less than a minute. He began to laugh with delight at what was right before his eyes.
"Imagine that." He spoke, completely amused with the concept. "It never occurred to me to think of space as the thing that was moving."
Jim then moved to Spock, needing to know one crucial thing before continuing with all of this. "You're coming with us, right?"
"No, Jim." Spock told him calmly, knowing Jim wasn't going to take this well. "That is not my destiny."
"Your destiny?" Jim repeated, reacting the same way Spock predicted he would. "He…" Jim had to stop himself, knowing that wasn't going to make sense. "The other Spock is not gonna believe me. Only you can explain what the hell has happened."
"Under no circumstances," Jim sighed, realizing no matter what combination of Spock and Jim were talking, they would always be talking over each other. "Can he be made aware of my existence. You must promise me that."
"So, you're telling me I can't tell you that I'm following your own orders." Jim barely kept up with that sentence as he said it. "Why not? What happens?"
"Jim, this is one rule you cannot break." Jim let out a little sigh, knowing this was probably going to be one of the hardest things he had to do. "To stop Nero, you alone must take command of your ship."
"How?" Jim scoffed out. "Over your dead body?"
"Preferably, not." Spock then got serious, looking Jim right in the eyes. "However, there is Starfleet regulation 619." Jim turned his head. He knew most of the regulations, but he wasn't familiar with that one. "619 states, that any command officer emotionally compromised by the mission at hand must resign command."
"So," Jim spoke slowly, his head already hurting from thinking about having two Spock's in the same time frame. "You're saying that I have to emotionally compromise you... guys?"
"Jim," Spock spoke slowly. Jim knew Spock felt, but he had never actually see him look so broken. "I just lost my planet. I can tell you, I am emotionally compromised. What you must do is get me to show it."
"Aye then lady." Jim then looked at Spock, feeling like he was going to miss their friendship, but he also knew, the friendship he was going to have with present day Spock was soon to come. "Live or die. Let's get this over with." When Jim and Scotty got settled on the pad, Keenser kept trying to go into the same panel as Scotty. "You cannot come with me." Scotty spoke before shoving him out. "Go on." He grumbled before giving Scotty a deep glare.
Jim then poked his head out, looking to Spock with a small smile on his face. "Coming back in time, changing history, that's cheating."
Spock then nodded in agreement with a small smile on his face. "A trick I learned from an old friend." Jim smiled at him, somehow knowing that Spock was talking about him. He gave him one last smile before going back to the controls and pressing the button to send them off. Before they could go, he brought up his hand, pressing his index and middle finger together while leaving a part between his pressed together ring and pinky fingers in a familiar symbol. "Live long and prosper."
MisfitCarter: I'm honestly so excited to write Luna and Scotty's friendship! I probably won't get to much of it in this story, but mmm boy will it be there on Into Darkness. I ended up making a moodboard on Tumblr for their friendship like I'm just so excited. And honestly, didn't we all want to slap Spock? Like, I love Spock, but he pissed me off so much in that scene. And thank you for your comments as always!
ImsebastianstanButter: Yes and yes! I love Bones! He's always been my favorite. He is a great father, and yes, that's what I've always loved about Bones and Jim's friendship. Jim sees Bones as a mentor of some sort. Thank you so much for your compliments!
rebootfan: I'm so sorry you had a bad day, and that is totally crazy! I didn't mean to read your mind, but if I have super psychic powers, I'm not going to deny them. Also, I love surprising people so I love that you love being surprised! And I feel you, Amanda and Pike did not deserve to die (even if Pike made me mad on Into Darkness)! Haha, my personal favorite Bones line is when he says, "Now tell me doctor, what can these amazing hands do for you?" and then you just hear Jim go "Bones!" It cracks me up! Thank you for always making me feel good with your reviews!
Love. Fiction. 2016: Haha you gotta make sure sometimes. Thank you, love!
Ziggy55: Okay, cool because I feel like I absolutely suck at action scenes, so I'm glad to know it wasn't dragging at that part. I LOVE WRITING BAD ASS LUNA SO MUCH! So, there's definitely going to be more of that side of her! Man, I wish I could just spill everything out I've got planned for Into Darkness because that's really when bad ass Luna comes in! McKirk2 is fantastic! That's the ship name!
Alright thanks to Ziggy55, we have a ship name! McKirk2! Alright, I hope you guys liked this chapter especially the ending because I thought it would be cool to just leave it on the iconic line! Especially when Leonard Nimoy says it! Remember to leave some reviews or message me because I have no life and you're all my friends, and we need to talk more. That's right! I'm talking to you! Okay, byyyeeeee!
