- 12 -
"So you're a copy of our Spock, and for three decades your consciousness resided in an android body designed to look like a little girl?" said Grace Coleman, not quite believing what she was hearing.
"That is correct," said the man sitting on the other side of the conference room table, the 'Spock' Grace had watched kill Emperor Khan and take his throne.
"A small, female child is the image humans use to depict non-threatening innocence," said Kara Summers, the striking young woman who had beamed over to the Endurance with Spock, "so it was the logical form to house his consciousness during that time. That form and the apparent mother/daughter relationship we let them believe existed between us allowed humans to think they understood us. They did not. The AIs I developed for the Empire, and which were incorporated into the operating systems of the doomsday machines and all Empire starships were non-sentient copies of his mind. They operated perfectly for over two decades and the Empire came to trust and depend on them, but Spock always had the ability to override them at any point."
"When our Spock at Starfleet Intelligence briefed me about the coming invasion and told me how he needed me to respond I thought he must be mad at first," said Grace, "particularly when he told me the little act he wanted me to put on to direct attention from your destruction of Khan's prized weapons systems."
"That misdirection was necessary for our plan to succeed."
"It seemed overly theatrical to me, but after seeing how you disabled the Empire fleet I trusted you to follow through on that, too. The look on Khan's face when he saw his weapons systems apparently destroyed by someone just snapping her fingers was priceless. Still, it would have been nice to have known in advance that those weapons systems were doomsday machines."
"You had to appear surprised to discover that," said Kara. "Had you not, the Empire spy on Endurance could have suspected advance knowledge on your part and found a way to warn the Emperor."
"We had anticipated the defeat of the invasion force would compel Khan to allow a leadership challenge and had prepared this body in advance," said Spock. "After the destruction of the doomsday machines, I left the bridge of the ISS Leviathan and went to its place of concealment on that ship. Once I had transferred my consciousness and vaporised my previous body with a phaser, it was a simple matter to then transport to the bridge."
"How did Khan cut you across the chest? Were his finger nails really that sharp?"
"No. He had a small device embedded in the tip of one of his fingers that would deliver a dose of a neuro-toxin designed to slow an opponent down enough to give Khan the upper hand in any physical combat. He did not know I was an android and thus would not be affected."
"So he cheated?"
"I believe Khan would have expressed it in terms of the superior man leaving nothing to chance."
"I know you leaked the list of Empire infiltrators when the time was right for you, but I wish I'd known Michael Shaw was an Empire agent before Zoe Nyonga took him down."
"Not just any agent," said Kara. "He's the son of Emperor Spock and his wife."
"What?" said Grace, blind-sided by this information. "B..but he's white, he looks entirely human, and he has an English accent!"
"The accent is as fake as his name. As for his skin tone and apparently human physiognomy, those are just the physical characteristics he happened to inherit from his mixed genetic background. He's one of four sons, the others of whom are all both darker-skinned and more obviously Vulcan. He's also the only one who's a big believer in the Empire. Your ship being chosen to face us was not an accident because now you are not only taking us to his parents but also him, albeit in your brig. That was part of the deal for securing the help of our Spock and Uhura."
This was a lot to take in, but Grace had another question.
"I don't understand your part in all this, Kara," she said. "Why would you work against the Empire at all? And why use Spock's consciousness as the basis for the AIs rather than your own?"
"Because my creators, the Haakuun, made me so that my consciousness cannot be used in that fashion. As for the Empire, my first loyalty is to the man who found me on my dead world, Sybok. I have always worked diligently in furtherance of his aims. An opportunity to do so arose with the elaborate plot whereby we stole your Spock's brain and took it to Sigma Draconis VI to make a copy of it. The Empire's purpose in doing so was, in essence, to 'capture' a Starfleet officer with no one being any the wiser and then interrogate him endlessly. However, I saw that here was the opportunity I had been looking for. If we could take possession of this copy of Spock's mind when the Empire had finished with it, I knew I could use it to create the AIs I needed. And since Spock was loyal to the Federation I was sure he would go along with our plan."
"Now all that remains is for me to switch places with the Empire's real Spock as planned and for him to assume the role of Emperor."
"What happens to you after that?"
"With the doomsday machines destroyed and Spock on the throne the Empire cannot continue as it has, so our job is done," said Kara. "The Haakuun are gone in my universe, but perhaps not in yours. When all others have returned to the Empire's universe, I will remain in this one to search for them."
"As will I," said Spock. "My apparent age is purely cosmetic. I will amend this body so I appear as Spock did when I was copied from him. I will then accompany Kara on her quest. We are two artificial and potentially ageless beings. It is logical for us to travel together."
The buzzer on the intercom desk unit sounded.
"Yes, what is it?" said Grace.
"Reyna here. Sorry to bother you captain, but we've just discovered a shuttlecraft is missing."
"Why wasn't this discovered earlier?"
"Ship's systems were altered so that its departure would neither be registered nor detected."
"Do we know who took it?"
"The only crewmembers missing are Commander Lester and Lieutenant Cassandra."
"Lieutenant Cassandra?" said Grace, trying to place the name.
"Transferred from the Lexington last year, captain," said Reyna. "She's an Aragonian, a blue-skinned humanoid. She recently had Dr Saavik surgically alter her claws to resemble human hands."
"What were her duties on Endurance?"
"She was in charge of the shuttle bay."
"Convenient. Did they take anything with them?"
"Doctor Saavik reports a supply of melaninox missing from sickbay."
"Melaninox? I wonder what they could want with that? Well, the Endurance is heading to Camus II at maximum warp so there's nothing we can do about it now. Find out anything else you can and prepare a report for me. Coleman out."
"Problems?" asked Kara.
"Maybe. Janice Lester is - or claimed to be - both a time displaced version of my mother from another universe, and married to James T. Kirk."
"I recall Jim telling me - or rather my progenitor - about Ms Lester and their time together at Starfleet Academy," said Spock. "If she's your mother, does that mean that Jim is..."
"My father? God, no! Arthur Coleman was my father. I'm not related to Jim Kirk at all!"