Ambassador Spock was in a quasi meditative state, as he sat amongst the small group of Vulcan elders, including….Sarek outside the office of Admiral Pike, his father; even now, following the death of his father, back in his own reality where he had died from Bendaii syndrome, Spock had always regretted keeping his distance from his father. When he heard from Captain Picard that Sarek was dead, Spock had screamed inwardly and sobbed, his mind flashing to every single one of the fights and disagreements he'd had with his father, and he had felt nothing but regret he could never undo the past.

The past…

It was so shocking; when he had learnt from Nero after the Narada captured the Jellyfish, that they were in the 23rd century, Spock had been stunned.

In this year, all of his friends and family were still alive.

His parents.

Captain Pike.

Number One.

….Mr Scott.

Nyota Uhura.

Pavel Chekov.

Hikaru Sulu.

Leonard McCoy.

Jim…all alive.

His experiences with the Guardian of Forever had taught him it was best not to revisit the past, now he had time travelled back to the era he had been born in and the era he had been defined as a Starfleet officer, Spock was in two minds. On the one hand, he wanted to keep everything he knew of the future a firm secret.

And yet, he was tempted, really tempted to reveal to Starfleet so much about the future; how he wished he could warn Starfleet of the Doomsday Machine, Khan, the Genesis Device, the Cetacean probe, V'ger, the Praxis disaster, the Tomed Incident, the Nexus, the Battle of Narendra 3, the Cardassian War, the Dominion War, the Borg incident, the USS Voyager's journey into the Delta Quadrant.

But Spock couldn't. He was too much of a Starfleet officer and a scientific realist to make that kind of decision. He had seen the damage caused to the past by time travel, and besides it was not his right to meddle in the affairs of this universe. He must let them make their own choices, learn from their own mistakes.

Still, Spock had learnt Starfleet planned to radically alter its fleets of starships to better defend themselves against the dangers of the galaxy, and he considered it perfectly logical since the events leading to the destruction of Vulcan had shaken the entire Alpha Quadrant. Calls for scientists, engineers and designers to help come up with new ideas for new fleets of starships to better prepare them and protect them from the dangers of the universe were sent out.

That was why Spock was here. Only a few people outside of the circle of Vulcan Elders who had luckily survived Nero's vicious attack on Vulcan, knew of his true origins and his history, and that list included the President of the Federation, the Head of Starfleet Command, and Admiral Pike.

Sensing Sarek next to him, Spock came out of his meditative trance. Instantly Sarek realised what he had done. "My apologies, I did not mean to disturb you."

Spock had learnt, as the years passed, it was acceptable to show off his human side (some would say it was his human side, which was nurtured slightly by his friendships with the Enterprise crew, but it was just the fact he was getting old and he had developed the view it would be good to combine logic with human irrationality. He smiled at his father, eliciting a raised brow.

"It's perfectly alright," Spock replied quietly. "I was just in a basic meditative trance."

"You're concerned for the meeting," Sarek noted.

"A little bit," Spock replied. "We will have to offer Starfleet aid in their projects to ensure the safety of the Federation, and our own people."

Sarek looked away, clearly unhappy. "It is…disturbing we have to offer our scientific knowledge to the development of weapons."

"We don't have much choice, Sarek," Spock longed to call this younger version of his father by his real title, but it was odd. "Everything has changed, and much of the responsibility is on my shoulders."

"It isn't logical to blame yourself for everything Nero did," Sarek said sharply. "From what you shared through the combined mind meld, there were many on the Vulcan council in your time and in Starfleet who were content to let Romulus fall. And the Romulans could have begun an evacuation. It was illogical for Nero to blame you for everything since you did not cause the supernova, which travelled at warp, obliterating dozens of star systems at a time."

Spock smiled at his father's alternative counterpart softly. "I know, and yet I do feel partly responsible for letting things get out of hand. But all we can do now, is to create a better galaxy and move with the times."

"A very human observation," Sarek commented.

Spock smiled wider. While he and his father had embraced a Vulcan way of life, they had moments of bonding. "Perhaps, but there is logic to it. The galaxy has become a darker place now, and we must make sure it does not get worse."

"Can it?" Sarek was aware, as was Spock, the other elders were listening in.

"It can, and that's the reason why I must get my notes to Admiral Pike," Spock said firmly.

"Admiral Pike…you have a strong rapport with him," Sarek commented. "My….son knows of him, and has worked with him. I presume you did the same?"

"Correct. I served under Captain Pike on my version of the Enterprise, for 11 years, 5 months, and 13 days," Spock replied. "However, since he was fast tracked to Admiral, in this time line, I do not know how much of an affect that will have on the future. Only time will tell."

Sarek and the other Vulcans were planning on melding with Ambassador Spock later to understand him properly, but they had to admit the ominous hints he had dropped there were many more horrors out there made it clear why he supported the armament programs.

Xxxxx

"Welcome to Earth, and to Starfleet Headquarters," Admiral Pike smiled at the Vulcan elders. "Please, sit down. How can we help you?" Admiral Pike asked.

"We would like to offer our scientific expertise to the militarisation programs, Admiral," Spock replied as he gazed at the counterpart of one of his former commanders. He wondered just how much this reality would be different without Captain Pike's 5 year missions, but he wasn't worried; with Jim, young as he was, in command of the Enterprise, there was little doubt even the relatively inexperienced Captain Kirk would excel in ways nobody could have foreseen.

Admiral Pike blinked in surprise. He had not expected this. "I…see. How can you provide help? With all due respect…Ambassador Spock," Chris had to admit, meeting an alternative future version of one of his aides and science officers, was still shocking even without the proof, "your people are still recovering from the loss of your homeworld. I would have assumed every elder would have been devoted to ensuring the growth of your society on New Vulcan colony?"

"We are, Admiral," Spock replied.

"It is logical to provide more services for the Federation in these times," a female elder said, "to ensure the survival of our people and the Federation, we must provide these services."

Admiral Pike was pained to hear that. "I see," he said, unsure of what else he could say.

"Admiral, if I may, as you are aware, I come from a different world. I can give you scientific knowledge on different computer technologies; isolinear circuitry, bio-neural gel packs which can store information and process commands through fuzzy logic, as is common in an organic brain. I have lived through many conflicts and I can give intelligence on different technological advances that came from those conflicts," Spock said.

Pike eyed the ambassador shrewdly. "Ambassador, I was under the impression you had decided not to reveal anything about future events, and yet you are prepared to provide us with that kind of information?"

"That is true, Admiral, I have travelled through time on many occasions. I myself was almost completely erased from history because of an accident," Spock ignored the looks of surprise he was getting from everyone, and out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a flash of horror cross Sarek's face at the news. "Believe me, I am familiar with the dangers of time travel, and I believe this reality can guide itself without me. That being said, I can provide you with some scientific knowledge which will help you, in the future."

Spock was hoping by giving them such knowledge any war which he didn't remember which would happen soon would be easily stopped without severe loss of life, but he wanted to mitigate the effects.

He knew that the Dominion and the Borg were out there, and as much as he hated to admit it, there were likely to be conflicts. The first Borg invasion had shaken Starfleet out of their complacency and without that attack, they would not have had the means or the resources to defeat the Dominion. Spock was more than aware war accelerated growth despite bringing horrors, pain, and hardship. They brought forward new developmnets. Advanced technology. Taking what was there, and improving it. In this world, the Narada's Borg technology had been scanned and the Enterprise had been redesigned to work with reverse engineered technology. If this world's Starfleet encountered the Borg or the Dominion now, they would be outmatched. With his knowledge they could fight back and defend themselves. That wasn't saying war with either the Romulans or Klingons in this reality could not take place, and he wanted Starfleet and the Federation ready.

Xxxxxx

In the Vulcan embassy, the Vulcan elders and Ambassadors Spock and Sarek were mentally readying themselves for the combined mind meld. The meeting with Admiral Pike had gone well, and Spock had handed him several data cards on which he'd recorded what he remembered of different warp formulas and facts, which would lead to the development of the warp scale, which had been redrawn later in the 23rd century and beyond, while also giving out some details he remembered about Quantum Slipstream Drive, including power sources and what would be needed for hull geometries.

"I believe we are ready," an elder remarked at last.

"Agreed. Ambassador Spock, we are ready, for the meld."

Ambassador Spock and Ambassador Sarek both stood up. An elder and Sarek took up position next to Spock, and they lifted their hands and their fingers probed the points to link to Spock's mind. The other elders lifted their hands and began melding with their fellow elders as this was the most efficient way of seeing his experiences at the same time.

"My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts," Spock heard and whispered as he melded with the elder and with Sarek, and the mental link between them showed his father his experiences on the Enterprise under Captain Pike and then James T Kirk, and how their friendship had grown to levels nobody could have imagined. Everything he had seen and done was shared within moments, a life time of scientific discovery and adventure, being with the friends he had made on the Enterprise, the same friends who had risked everything to save him from the Genesis Planet after that mess with Khan, and the encounter with the Cetacean probe while he was trying to stitch his brain back together, before going on to help form the dialogue with the Klingon Empire…and witnessing the consequences Jim and Leonard endured before seeing conflicts like the Narendra 3 massacre, the Khitomer attack, and the Borg incident before the Dominion War.

As he showed them the events which led to the creation of this divergent alternative reality, the Vulcan elders finally realised that, after what he had seen, and what Nero had done, he had taken the most logical stance in this reality.