A/N
Hi all, very sorry this has taken so long, I've been quite seriously unwell. Situation is improving now though, thankfully. But yes. That, then Christmas and all that kind of made this take a long time to get written.
I hate this chapter. I've written and re-written and edited obsessively, and I'll never do it justice (and I haven't checked for typo's yet, i'll do that tomorrow) It's the biggest chapter of the story, and it's been coming since the beginning. I'm sorry... in advance.
Warnings for this chapter are for the following: violence, vaguely menacing Borg, gore, and character death.
Chapter Nineteen
"So, we have Mr. Tucker over here at the helm," Bones informed him as Jim tried his best to look interested.
"Tucker huh, as in Charles 'Trip' Tucker?" Jim asked and the young man stood to face him, standing to attention due to Jim's rank.
Jim laughed, telling him to relax and the young man nodded and relaxed slightly but not entirely.
"Yes Sir. He's my grandfather."
"So… Quinn as in… like quintet, like five? Charles Tucker the fifth?" Jim asked and he smiled.
"Yes Sir, you got it."
"You're like a damn detective Jim. I been sittin' up here with him two days and didn't put that together," Bones grumbled and Jim smiled a little at him. The Doctor was still looking at him suspiciously, almost as if he still didn't believe it when Jim had told him he was unharmed after Spock's Pon Farr.
"Admiral Archer always talks very highly of your grandfather," Jim said, doing his best to come across as warm and friendly though he felt like being anything but. The guy seemed nice enough, but all he could think about was Leo.
"He was a great man. Wish I'd have got to spend more time with him," he said and Jim nodded.
"I met him once, back when I was younger. I didn't know who he was at the time, but we had a little conversation. Your father… Charles the fourth, was never in Starfleet?" Jim asked and the helmsman shrugged.
"We no longer speak, Sir," he said and Jim tried to look sympathetic.
"You can relax kid, no need for Sir. Just 'Kirk' is fine… you know. Jim is fine, you can call me Jim," he said and Bones leant in close to his ear.
"Forgetting your rank here Jim? Commodore is a lot more intimidatin' for these young things than Captain," he murmured.
"Sir… really I would feel more comfortable addressin' you properly," he said in a southern accent so strong that it almost put Bones' to shame.
"Whatever makes you most comfortable Ensign. As you were," Jim instructed as he began to slowly walk back over to the Captain's chair, Bones beside him.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the Doctor pressed again and Jim sighed.
"I'm fine. He wasn't like before. He said something about how it gets less intense each time he experiences it, so the earlier ones were the worst and now they're winding down. Anyway, seven years until I have to think about it again," Jim shrugged, crossing to his chair and sitting down, patting the armrests fondly.
"How far out from their last known position?" Jim asked and another young Ensign scrambled to report to him.
Bones sighed and shook his head, turning to leave the room.
"Well. Seeing as you're back, I'm gonna go down to sickbay where I belong," he said and Jim gave a small nod, turning back to speak with the Ensign.
Bones crossed the bridge and over to the turbo-lift, pressing the button for the doors to open and waiting a moment.
When the doors did open he was met with the sight of his eldest daughter in full uniform, reporting to the bridge for duty at the communication's station.
He gave her a small, proud smile as she passed and their eyes met, but said nothing as he didn't want to embarrass her.
Bones paused before stepping into the lift as he heard the warning they were about to drop out of warp.
Gasps filled the bridge as the ship came to a halt and the viewscreen stabilised.
Jim stared at what was before him. The Intrepid was docked with a ship unlike any he'd ever seen before. It was over twice the size of the Intrepid, and shaped like a cube. The outer skin was not smooth like the Enterprise, but a complicated and intricate mass, looking almost like a circuit board.
"Hail the other ship," Jim ordered and Joanna immediately rushed to the station, opening a channel.
"This is Commodore James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise. You are hereby ordered to stand down and-" Jim was cut off by a mechanical voice.
"We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile."
Jim frowned and got up from his chair. Bones crossed the room to stand near to him, ignoring going to sickbay. This ship was certainly a threat, and the Intrepid was certainly in trouble, even though it looked undamaged from the outside.
"You're leaving me no choice but to deem this an attack and to-"
The ship rocked slightly and Jim stopped speaking.
"They fired on us Sir, shields holding," Tucker reported and Jim nodded.
"Fire back."
Spock entered the bridge and opened his mouth to ask and Bones interrupted him immediately.
"They're calling themselves the borg. Whatever that means. Took one shot at us but nothing serious. Jim's trying to talk to them," he explained and Spock nodded once, straightening his tri-banded blue jersey and then clasping his hands neatly behind his back.
"Scan their ship, Intrepid too," Jim commanded.
Joanna was listening intently to something and immediately stood up.
"Jim. I… Commodore. Sir. Sorry. I've picked up a transmission, it's the Intrepid's automated distress signal," she said and Jim looked back at the enemy ship.
"I'm going to give you one chance to explain yourselves, desist your actions, and release your docking with that ship," he warned and a strangely distorted face obscured the viewscreen as they returned the visual side of the comm. transmission.
"Shit," Jim muttered as the creature looked at them. One eye had been replaced with a cybernetic implant, the remaining eye black and piercing. The organism's skin was grey, and they had no hair, no discernable gender. They appeared almost humanoid, almost as if they were half human, half machine.
He motioned for Joanna to end the transmission and she did, cutting them off.
"Scans indicate strange bio-readings aboard both ships Sir, we're picking up most of the Intrepid's crew accounted for, but some have had their bio-signatures altered."
Jim sprang into action.
"Bones, get to sickbay, stand by to receive crew members that have been affected by whatever the hell is going on here. Joanna, stay where you are, you hear anything from Intrepid you contact me right away. Tucker, declare a tactical alert and hold this position, if they become aggressive use whatever force necessary but avoid harming Intrepid. We need to get them out of there," Jim ordered. Spock looked at him carefully and Jim glanced away before turning to him.
"Spock, take the conn, I'm going to lead the away team," he said and Spock immediately began to object.
"Jim I-"
"Captain. Take the conn. That's an order," Jim said firmly as he strode towards the turbo-lift doors.
"The away team to do what, precisely?" Spock asked coolly and Jim tensed.
"I'm sorry, are you forgetting the part where I don't have to justify my actions or decisions to you?" Jim demanded and Spock held his ground.
"I am merely suggesting that not only as second in command of this vessel, and as your husband and bondmate that you might listen to my input and-"
"Spock. Not now! I'll pull rank if I really need to, but you need to stay here. You know my orders. Hold this position, keep us far enough away from them, monitor the situation. I'm going over there."
Spock held Jim's gaze for a moment, the blue in his eyes burning more brightly than he had seen for a long time. Jim's face was set and determined, fists slightly clenched, shoulders tense. He could pull rank and really order Spock to stay, if he wanted to. Spock decided it was best not to argue and answered in a flat tone.
"Yes Sir."
"Leo, you'd better be wearing pants under there," Christopher warned as he barged into his twin's bedroom without knocking, finding him and Emily curled up in bed together. Leo's shoulders were visible and bare, his arms wrapped tightly around Emily who was laying in front of him with her back to him.
"I am," he mumbled sleepily.
"Knock much?" Emily asked and Chris shook his head.
"Never."
"Yeah he really does do this all the time. Like… the worst was the time he walked in when I was-"
"Jerking off?" Chris finished helpfully and Leo blushed, Emily smirked.
"I was going to say something else. But yes. That time was also particularly awkward," Leo muttered, tightening his grip around Emily a little bit.
"Ah don't be shy about it Leo, I've done the same when we used to share a room," he teased and Leo looked horrified.
"When?!"
"When we shared a room! Normally more than once a night too. You really are a heavy sleeper, I mean, I was like three feet away from you and really, really going for it."
The look of comedic disgust on Leo's face made Christopher crack up laughing and drop the act.
"No. I didn't. But the look on your face is priceless right now!"
Leo sighed and Emily closed her eyes again, hoping Chris would take the hint and leave them alone.
"Come on, get up, we've got important stuff to see!" Chris nagged and Leo groaned loudly, scratching his head and messing up his hair.
"Chris, leave us alone," Emily whined, curling closer to Leo and wrapping her arms around him tightly, burying her face into his shoulder.
"Yeah get out of here, asshole," Leo grumbled.
"Leo come on! Almost twenty-one years I've been waiting for you to see, and now that you can all you want to do is lay in bed!"
"Maybe the only thing I want to see right now is right here with me," he countered and Emily felt her face grow warm.
Chris smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Oh I see how it is. You're gonna try and get laid, so you don't want to hangout with your brother if there's sex as an alternative option," Chris said and Leo sighed.
"If it makes you leave, then yes, get out, we want to have all the sex," he said flatly and Emily giggled.
"You need one of these," Chris said, whipping his wallet out of his back pocket and throwing a small foil packet at his twin. He picked it up and looked at it, turning it over and over in his fingers before starting to feel it through the packaging.
"It's… squidgy," he said curiously and Chris snorted with laughter.
"Emily I'm hoping you know how one of those works, because I'm not sticking around to show you guys," Chris teased and Emily glared.
"Chris, get out!" Leo ordered and the older twin finally took the hint and left the room.
"Finally," Leo sighed, scooting a little closer to Emily and wrapping her up tightly in his arms, kissing her neck gently, trailing up her jaw and then across to her lips.
They kissed for a few moments before Emily pulled away, looking at him carefully as she got ready to ask her question.
"Did you mean that? About me being the only thing you want to see?"
He blinked and smiled, placing a small kiss on the end of her nose.
"The main thing right now, yeah. I mean of course there's lots for me to learn and-"
Leo stopped speaking abruptly, both hands rushing to his forehead. He didn't look in pain, just deep in concentration. After a few seconds his eyes snapped open and he leapt out of bed. Emily followed him as he rushed downstairs, completely confused and concerned.
"Did you guys just feel the-"he began to ask as he neared the bottom of the stairs.
Seren came around the corner quickly, face pale and panicked, one hand still on the side of her face and the pad of her index finger pressed to her temple as she tried to focus.
"Parental bond," he finished slowly.
"Guys… I feel… weird," Christopher trailed off as he walked into the hallway.
"That's a distress… panic… I feel all…" Leo failed to verbalise and Seren nodded in understanding.
"They're in big trouble out there," Seren said quietly, closing her eyes and trying to focus again.
"What was it? Something from Spock? Did you see something?" Emily asked urgently and Seren shook her head.
"We can't share visuals without melding or being properly bonded. Technically speaking our parental bonds with Spock and Jim have been dormant for years but that was… blind fear. Sent out to all of us, and probably subconsciously too… so more than likely from Jim as he's never been a hundred percent on shielding strong emotions," she said. Chris was nodding, Leo looked tense and on-edge.
"So what do we do?"
"See if there's been a distress signal? Contact Starfleet?" Emily suggested and Chris nodded.
"None of us are in Starfleet to do that," Leo pointed out.
Chris was on thin ice as a cadet, and walking in demanding if there had been a distress signal from Enterprise would probably get them no answers.
"What about Molly Scott? She can hack anything," Christopher suggested and Seren looked at her brothers for a few moments.
"She's a child. We can't expect her to-"Seren fell silent again as a fresh wave of fear crashed through the three of them.
Christopher visibly shuddered.
"Something really fucking bad is happening, and I don't like it one bit," Leo said, backing up so his back was flat against the wall and he could see the whole room, eyes darting around quickly.
"I'm going to comm. Molly and see if-"
Chris stopped speaking as his communicator began to sound in his pocket.
"I hacked somethin' I shouldn't have been hackin' and I heard somethin' I shouldn't have heard!" Molly's scared voice rang out as Chris flipped open his comm.
"What's going on out there?" Seren asked quickly.
"Enterprise is in trouble. Jim's led an away team onto an enemy ship, Spock has called Starfleet for backup and they're mobilising a fleet to-"
A recorded message began playing into the house, coming from a source they couldn't immediately locate. Christopher stormed off in the direction of the sound and called his siblings urgently into the lounge. Emily followed and watched as Chris traced the edge of the room, listening for the source of the sound until he paused near a vent.
"Molly, I'll call you straight back," Chris said quickly, cutting off the comm. and looking carefully at the vent. It was repeating the same message, over and over, recorded by Jim's own voice.
Enterprise distress signal has been activated.
"What do you think he's-" Leo began and Chris pulled at the vent, slowly removing it from the wall before reaching inside and pulling out a small silver device that was making the sound. He pressed the one, circular button on the top of it and placed it on the floor as it stopped speaking, a hologram of Jim appearing instantly.
I've set this up so that if Spock and I are ever both aboard the Enterprise and the distress signal is triggered, this message should begin to play.
Seren and Christopher exchanged a glance. Emily watched the three siblings taking in the message carefully.
I hope to god it isn't the case, but if the planet is in immediate danger you need to go up to my room and open the closet, throw everything out and find the panel in the back. The code to it is your birthdates, in order. In there you'll find everything you need. Get yourselves ready, then go get the McCoy's and stick together. Stick with David, he's involved in something that might be able to keep you three safe. Call Archer, he'll tell you the rest.
If the planet isn't in danger, stay put, stay together and stay safe.
The hologram disappeared and Chris hurried towards the stairs.
"Chris, the planet isn't in danger," Seren protested.
"We don't actually know that for sure," Leo pointed out.
"Yeah. Molly said they're scrambling a fleet, so anything could be happening out there. What if whatever it is is coming right at us?" Chris called back after himself as he started to ascend the stairs.
"I don't agree with this," Seren warned as Leo followed his brother.
She followed them, Emily behind her, and found the twins in Jim and Spock's bedroom, contents of the closet thrown all over the floor as they emptied it and located the code panel at the back.
Chris jabbed in a few familiar numbers and the back of the wardrobe slid open, causing him to smirk and Seren to gasp.
"He knew this would happen one day," he said as he picked up the items that were sitting in the concealed panel.
A plain black Starfleet uniform for each of them, as well as a small box containing three silver phase pistols.
"He was training us. Everything he ever taught us… he was showing us how to prepare for something like this," Seren said slowly as she picked up a phase pistol and weighed it in her hands.
Leo picked up one of the uniforms and looked at it.
"Did he know I was going to be able to see?" he asked and Chris shrugged.
"I don't know. He probably thought best to be prepared for it just in case. Now suit up, we're going to get out there and-"
"Chris are you serious?! You three don't know anything about space, hell, where are you going to get a ship?!" Emily blurted out.
"She has a point Chris… what are we meant to do? Starfleet will handle whatever situation is going on, I'm sure," Leo said, sounding anything but confident.
The four of them stood in silence for a few moments until Chris broke the tension.
"Well. You two do whatever you want, but I'm going to go put this uniform on and go help get Jim and Spock back," he said firmly, leaving the room and going down the hallway to his own. The eerie silence now echoing through the parental bond in the space of the rush of fear was certainly more unnerving than the fear itself had been.
Leo looked at Emily who nodded in understanding.
"I know you want to follow him. I don't think you should," she said and he took a step closer to her.
"Noted."
He gave her a small peck on the cheek and left the room, also going to change.
"They're going to get themselves killed," Seren grumbled.
"Then go with them and make sure they don't," Emily said, causing the part-Vulcan to nod, stand up straight and also march from the room.
It took less than half an hour for Leo, Christopher and Seren to have changed, got themselves ready, acquired the location of the Enterprise and Intrepid, and collect Molly Scott from her house as well as dropping Emily off at her own.
"So… what's the plan?" Molly asked as she sat in the back of the car with Leo, who was staring out of the window with complete fascination at everything around them.
"Archer," Chris grunted.
He didn't explain until they reached a vast Starfleet facility near the outskirts of the city. It was a much more utilitarian facility than the ultra-modern HQ in the city-centre. Ships were built and technology was tested and developed there. Dr Carol McCoy was the head of the development team at the site, and she and Jim often disappeared behind closed doors for extended conversations
"Admiral Archer, Sir, it's Leo. Kirk. We're uh… we need your help," Leo said as soon as Archer answered the incoming transmission.
He was silent for a second before answering.
"Enterprise has gone silent. You guys shouldn't hang around," he said and Leo nodded. Archer was obviously already aware of what was happening, privy to more information than the children had at their disposal.
"Yes sir. We… just aren't really sure what to do," he admitted and the ex Admiral replied immediately this time.
"Well you shouldn't be doing anything! You should be at home. Not too long ago you were a very sickly young man and I don't think that Jim and Spock would want-"
"With all due respect, Admiral, I have to be a part of this," Leo interrupted and Archer was silent for a few moments.
"You three do exactly as I say," he ordered and Chris glanced at his two siblings. Seren looked apprehensive, Leo looked determined.
"Yes sir," he said obediently, and Archer began to explain.
Despite his retirement, Archer still held a large amount of influence at Starfleet. Enough of an influence to have David's academic suspension lifted so he could be called with the rest of his squadron. They didn't yet have a name, but due to the colour of their uniforms, were being called the 'Reds' around HQ.
Despite his natural abilities as a pilot, David was the least skilled of the four, and had partially only been accepted due to the fact his Mother had been the one to develop the ships.
The four young men were part of a new program, small, fighter type ships that could be utilised if necessary.
Archer deemed them absolutely necessary.
He beamed in from Iowa, looking every day of his nearly ninety years. Orders spilled from his lips calmly, collectedly, proving to anyone watching why he was the best head of Starfleet there had ever been, and that until the day he died, he would never truly retire.
"You four, here," he grunted and the three Kirk's and Molly stood before him.
"You're a child, can't go," he said sternly to Molly who immediately opened her mouth to protest.
"Sir. All due respect, but she's the most useful one of us," Christopher said and Archer looked at him.
"You have to stop doubting yourself boy, you've got plenty of uses, you just have never had to find them before. Scott, if you go and get yourself killed, your parents will never forgive me," he said and Molly nodded, dark eyes serious and face set.
"Yes sir, understood," she nodded and he sighed.
"Fine. Now you four need to get to hangar nineteen-alpha, there's a prototype ship there, fastest thing we've ever built. I could tell you not to go. I could order you not to go, but I know it's damn well pointless to do so. So get to the hangar, pronto! McCoy will be there waiting for you with the rest of the Red's and-"
"I thought David was suspended?" Leo pointed out and Archer glared at him in a way that made him shut up immediately.
It took him a moment to fully realise that Archer was very much in Admiral mode, and not their pseudo-grandfather anymore.
"Sorry sir," Leo said quickly, standing up a little straighter.
"You probably shouldn't go either, kid," he said and Leo looked at the floor.
"Probably not, sir, but if everyone missed out on the things they probably shouldn't have done, I don't think any of us would be here," he said and Archer gave the faintest hint of a smile.
"God speed, and stay safe," he said, stepping back.
The rest of the fleet had already left, the facility strangely quiet as the four of them hurried down the long corridor. Leo was nervous, and still able to feel fear that didn't belong to him seeping through the parental bond in waves. Sometimes it would be silent, other times, suffocating. It drove him onwards. Being able to see felt so natural, and combined with his memories of the vast building from all the time he had spent there over the years with Jim, he didn't feel at all lost.
What he did feel was guilty.
Emily had made it clear that she thought he was doing something stupid. He'd stubbornly told her they'd talk about it when he got back.
"This is it," Seren said as they reached a door on the right hand side marked with '19-A'. Using the access code Archer had given them, Christopher let them into the vast room.
Leo mumbled a few awed words at the sheer size of the room, large enough to contain the ship that had yet to even make it's official maiden voyage.
The ship was far smaller than the Enterprise, designed to be manned by a crew of as few as five should there be demand for it. It was a similar shape to the Enterprise, though more streamlined, thinner, but with four small docking ports that held the four small fighter-ships.
"No way, not Molly and Leo," David's voice echoed out across the room.
"Molly and Leo have both made up their own minds," Christopher said coolly and David frowned, straightening his dark grey jumpsuit. The red bands around the collar and sleeve-cuffs caught Leo's eye.
"Why do I get the feeling Archer has broken every rule that exists by giving us this ship?" Molly asked and Seren glanced around.
"He probably has. I haven't seen any other officers around. It probably isn't authorised," she said and David scowled at her.
"So don't come," he said and she glared back.
"You might need a doctor," she objected and he folded his arms across his chest.
"So come," he said simply, turning his back and walking back towards the ship.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Leo muttered to Molly as they followed, heading towards the ship to head out and assist their parents.
Spock held his breath as he awaited the confirmation.
He could feel the beating of his own heart inside his lower ribcage, hypersensitive to every tiny movement of his body, his breathing, the slight perspiration on his palms.
Kirk to Enterprise. We've successfully docked with the Intrepid. Boarding now.
Spock slowly allowed his held breath to escape, slowly enough that nobody around noticed.
"Acknowledged," he said flatly.
He didn't want to argue with Jim any further. He wasn't going to push it.
Because I can tell you're just dying to ask Spock… the plan here is to assess the damage, if any, to Intrepid. Locate Sulu, as he's not accounted for, and try to establish contact with the hostiles. Try to negotiate a way to-
The transmission cut off and Spock looked immediately to Joanna who tapped frantically at the comm. panel.
"Comms are down Sir, something is jamming all frequencies," she said quickly.
Spock jabbed the button on the armrest of the chair for the internal comm. system.
"Mr Scott. We are experiencing issues with our comm. system. Are you able to divert all attention to re-establishing communication with shuttle one?"
There was a moment of silence before Scotty replied.
"Aye sir, on my way up to you now."
Tucker stood up from the helm, handing control off to another Ensign standing by.
"Let me get this panel off and get a look," he said, stepping over to Joanna who looked at him strangely.
"It's an external jamming signal," she said with a raised eyebrow.
"I know that, but that don't mean we aint able to adjust our signal to get around it," he said, looking down at the floor as he spoke. Bones had noticed that about him. He was shy, clearly lacking in self-confidence despite being a very competent junior officer.
"Where are you from?" she asked, noticing his strong southern USA accent.
"Florida, Ma'am," he said as he began to remove the panel.
Bones stood with his arms folded near to Spock's chair, watching his daughter interact with the young helmsman and Spock silently fretting over having lost communication with Jim.
"They'll get the away team back online," he said and Spock gave a small nod.
Spock? We're fine. Comms went down as soon as we docked. Intrepid's systems are all to shit. Something really weird is going on over here. I need to get to the bridge to figure out just what.
Spock tensed as Jim used their bond to communicate his message.
"Jim has just informed me that they are unharmed and the comm. disturbance has been caused by the enemy ship interfering with systems aboard the Intrepid."
The Doctor walked towards the viewscreen, looking out at the interlocked ships and frowning.
"Assimilated. They're tryin' to what, steal technology? Seems a little redundant as their ship is clearly more advanced than-"
He was cut off as the comm. panel sprang back to life, a burst of static shattering the quiet of the bridge.
"Sorry," said Quinn, quickly getting the static interference under control and the system back online.
"Thought you were a pilot?" Joanna asked suspiciously as she attempted to regain the lost connection to the away team.
"I know a trick or two," he shrugged as he headed back to the helm.
Even in the intensity of the unfolding situation, Joanna couldn't help but smirk, and her father couldn't help but notice.
Jim found himself separated from the rest of the away team very quickly.
"Kirk to Enterprise. Did you get a lock on Sulu's bio-signature yet?" he asked into his comm. The section of the ship was eerily quiet compared to just a few moments ago when they had encountered a small number of hostiles.
"It's unclear. The reading is weak, and coming from Engineering, near to the shuttle bays," Joanna responded and Jim glanced up and down the corridor.
"Understood. I'm going for Sulu, then the bridge. Kirk out."
He did his best to suppress the fear in his mind, knowing full well that Seren, Leo and Christopher would be able to sense it if he let it overcome him.
Their parental bonds had never been broken, just allowed to go dormant through lack of use. Jim had always found his bond with Leo particularly strong, sometimes almost as though they each knew what the other was thinking.
"Kirk to bridge. Commander Chekov, everyone alright up there?" he asked into a comm. panel on the wall.
There was a moments hesitation before a response.
"Yes Kepti-Commodore. Yes, Commodore. Systems hawe been modified sir, zey were doing somezing to ze ship," he responded and Jim frowned, glancing up and down the silent corridor again.
"You got sensors? How many of those bastards are still on board?" Jim asked and there was another moment of hesitation.
"Unknown sir. Use caution, zere are reports zat weapons fire is ineffectiwe after a few shots," he warned and Jim weighed his phase pistol in his hand, tightening and loosening his grip experimentally.
"Noted. I'm going to make my way towards Engineering, figure out what the hell is going on here, then get back to the bridge. Enterprise is ready to assist," he said quickly before beginning to stride purposefully along the corridor.
He made no effort to keep his footsteps quiet, but did avoid the turbo-lift, instead opting for the backup ladder access shafts that provided access to the other decks. If systems had been modified, the lifts could be unsafe.
He rounded the final corner and was knocked right off his feet by a blow to the ribcage, sending him crashing back onto the floor.
He raised his weapon to fire at the attacker, fear spiking in his mind as his eyes locked onto the grey, emotionless face and bionic implant instead of an eye.
He pulled the trigger once, twice. The Borg stumbled slightly but did not fall. Jim took the half-second opportunity and stumbled to his feet, ramping up the power on his phaser to maximum and taking another shot, this time finally rendering the creature unconscious.
He breathed heavily for a moment, one hand running over his ribcage to assess the damage. Sore in the morning certainly, but nothing broken he decided.
"What the hell are you?" Jim mumbled as he nudged the fallen Borg with one boot.
He took a final glance around the corner and upon deciding there was nobody else around, headed for the access shaft to get to Engineering.
Seren, Christopher and Leo flinched as the felt a particularly potent rush of fear into their minds, adrenaline beginning to flow and leaving them all restless.
"I can make us go faster," Leo piped up.
It was incredibly tense on the bridge.
David had immediately declared himself Captain, and had sat in the chair with such a natural air of authority that nobody dared argue with him.
Seren had put two and two together and realised that the three other young men who made up the rest of David's squadron were the three that Christopher had argued with, hence the largest possible physical distance being maintained between them.
"How?" Molly asked, looking up from where she was tampering with one of the panels.
"Like this," Leo said simply, picking up a PADD and screwing his eyes tightly shut.
He wrote neatly, complex equations that made Christopher's eyes hurt just to follow them and Molly's face to light up in an enormous grin.
"Does my dad know you can do this?" she asked and he shook his head, pausing his frantic writing for a moment.
"No. I'm pretty sure it's dangerous," he said as he finished the complex writing.
"And breaks a lot of rules. I love it!" she declared gleefully. Chris was frowning as he tried to understand exactly what Leo had written.
"Wait… does this… say what I think…"
"It states that we can maintain this current level of warp, and then use the transporter field to make an enormous jump. We could reach our destination in minutes if it was to work," Seren said incredulously.
"Leo… how long have you been able to do this?" she asked as Leo continued to add to his equations.
"Since… since I don't know. Last year? When I built the portable transporter, the pocket size one. I was doing some workings out and accidentally stumbled across it… manipulated Scotty's equation slightly in order to allow an object travelling at warp to be beamed, instead of an object being beamed onto a ship travelling at warp," he explained quickly.
David looked up.
"Are you suggesting we actually do it?" he asked.
"He's suggesting your parents are out there just the same as ours, and if you could feel the fear coming off them like we can, you'd want to do anything you could to cut off the two-day flight out there," Christopher argued.
"Molly, is it even possible?" Seren asked and Molly's brown eyes traced over the writing, again and again.
"Jesus… Leo, you know you've just like… trumped every piece of work my father has ever done? Outdone him a million times over if this works?" Molly asked and Leo shrugged, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.
"Theoretically, yes, it can be done. I'll need to modify the transporter, Leo can help if I talk him through what he's looking at," Molly said and Leo shook his head quickly.
"No. No, I can just close my eyes, feel," he insisted.
Seren looked at him closely.
He'd been able to see and out of bed for under twenty-four hours.
Already he was behaving as if he'd been able to see his entire life, as if nothing he was seeing was anything out of the ordinary for him.
"How fast?" David asked and Molly reviewed the PADD again.
"We'll be there in under four minutes," Leo said quickly and Chris and David glanced at each other.
"Do it. Leo and Molly, get it done," he said, sitting up straight in the Captains chair.
"And what are we going to do when we get there?" Seren asked.
"Easy. Four of us Red's will man our ships, do as much damage to the enemy ship as possible. You four get on board Intrepid or Enterprise, whichever needs the most help, and start killing bad guys," he said and Seren closed her eyes momentarily.
"You know none of this is really that simple," she said and David leant back a little bit into the chair.
"It should be," he said firmly.
"David you're being kind of reckless," Leo pointed out and David scowled.
"Says the person suggesting we use an untested theoretical equation to manipulate the transporter device and fling this ship halfway across the galaxy?"
Leo shrugged, a tiny confident smile playing on his lips as he and Molly began to head for Engineering.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Chris said in a low voice to David who stood up from the chair.
"Hope you know what you're doing. You're going to be Captain now. I'm going to prep for launch," he said, meeting Christopher's eyes for only a second before walking away.
Before he could stop himself, Chris sent a clear message across their bond and David paused momentarily as he received it.
Be careful out there.
David glanced back and gave a small nod, before hurrying from the room.
A burst of static on the bridge startled everyone, but not as much as the words that followed it.
This is Kirk, need immediate beam-out! I've got Sulu, and something is wrong with him. I need a medical team standing by.
Spock executed the orders instantly, relieved when informed by the officer in the transporter room that Jim was safely back aboard with Sulu.
"Doctor McCoy, report to sickbay and assess the condition of Captain Sulu," Spock ordered as Bones hurried from the bridge.
"Like you needed to even order me," he grumbled as he got into the turbo-lift.
He hurried along the corridor once the doors opened on the correct deck, making his way to the transporter room.
Jim was supporting Sulu who looked very ill. His skin was greying and his face contorted in pain.
"Hand him over, I got him," McCoy said quickly and Jim helped him with the man as they began to help him to sickbay.
"What the hell happened to him?"
"I have no idea, I found him like that… just laying on the floor down by Engineering. They're doing something to the ship… modifying systems and changing things, it's bizarre. And they aren't friendly," Jim added.
"They don't seem it," McCoy grumbled as they neared sickbay.
Jim stepped back as the doctor began to work.
"Bones, patch him up, okay? I need to get back over there and-"
Jim stopped talking immediately as he heard the unmistakable sound of weapons fire coming from a distant part of the ship.
"Go," the doctor ordered and Jim was gone, sprinting towards the bridge as fast as his legs would carry him, heart pounding in his ears.
"Status report!" he ordered as soon as he reached the bridge where Spock was in control of the situation.
"We've been fired upon by the enemy ship, warp capability has been knocked out," Tucker responded quickly.
"Fire back, target their-" Jim stopped speaking as a ship dropped out of warp near to the enemy ship, immediately opening fire on it.
There was a few seconds of silence as everyone on the bridge watched as the small ship dived dramatically towards the enemy, firing heavily on the ship but seeming to cause no damage. Four small pod detached from the ship and entered a formation, adding to the firepower bombarding the Borg ship now from all angles.
"Open a channel!" Jim ordered and Joanna nodded, immediately hailing the ship that he had recognised a few seconds prior.
Spock met his eyes and Jim knew he had also realised.
"Unidentified federation vessel, this is Commodore James T. Kirk of the USS. Enterprise, you are hereby ordered to stand down and-"
"Stand down my ass," came Molly Scott's voice through the comm. system.
"Molly?!" Jim hissed.
"Just stay still you guys, we got this," she said determinedly.
"Molly there is no requirement of you or anyone else aboard that ship to have put yourselves in danger. You should immediately-" Spock stopped speaking as one of the small fighter ships was hit and exploded in a ball of flame.
"Joanna hail the smaller ships," Jim ordered and she immediately began trying to open communication links with the three remaining ships.
"Can't," she said blankly as the message wouldn't patch through.
"Scan those ships, I want to know who's aboard them," Jim said, doing his best to keep the fear from creeping into his voice as he fought against what he already knew to be true.
He hadn't shielded his own fear of what was happening from being passed on through the parental bonds and into his children.
And now they were in danger.
Jim scrambled for the comm. button and jabbed it, re-establishing the connection to the bridge of the other ship.
"Dad?" Leo's face swam into view.
"Leo. God damn it! I don't know how the hell you got out here, or what the hell you think you're doing, but you need to get away from here right now," Jim warned. Leo frowned.
"We could tell… we could feel the… you were scared? We came to save you," he finished weakly and Jim caught Spock's eyes for a moment.
I'm so proud of them.
"Intruders have beamed aboard, decks six, seven, nine and twelve," Tucker warned and Jim looked back at Leo again for a moment.
"Leo. Leave, now," Jim ordered.
Christopher appeared beside his twin, both of them giving him the same, identical look of utter determination.
"We're not going anywhere," they said in unison as the communication shut off and the bridge was plunged into near-darkness.
"Power systems are being altered, Sir," Tucker warned.
"Go to red alert," Jim said quickly.
"We need help," Joanna said nervously.
"Given our current location it can only be assumed that the nearest Federation vessel able to assist is-"
"I know Spock, a long way away, there's nobody out here," Jim snapped.
"I have to go, I have to fight them off," Jim said stubbornly.
Spock looked at him carefully.
"Jim I-"
"This isn't just us anymore! Our… our kids are out here now, and they have no idea what they've just dived into. Spock I have to go, I have to get to the transporter room, beam across and somehow disable the Borg ship," Jim planned aloud as he hurried to the turbo-lift doors.
Spock followed him.
"Jim I cannot-"
"You have the conn. Mr Spock," Jim said firmly as he stepped into the lift.
Spock stood to his full height, barely an inch taller than his bondmate.
"T'hy'la," he offered and Jim blinked hard, stretching out his hand to touch the glass of the turbo-lift doors as they closed. Spock extended his hand in response, fingertips brushing against the cold glass as the lift moved and Jim disappeared from view.
"The weapons don't do anything to it! We need something bigger," Molly yelled, frustrated.
Even with all the combined firepower of their ship and the three remaining fighters, they were barely even distracting the larger ship.
"Beam the warp-core into the middle of their ship," Leo suggested aloud.
"Leo… that's so dangerous and-"
"Seren, people are dying here," he said flatly, staring blankly out at the stars.
"Can you do it?" Chris asked from his seat at the controls of the ship.
"It's not that simple. I can manually remove the core itself, prime it to detonate… turn it into a bomb. But then we'd have to beam that across," he said, watching the tiny green flashes of light hitting Enterprise, who's shields were now entirely depleted.
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Do we have another choice?" Seren asked.
"Intrepid's fully compromised, lights are going out on Enterprise… I'd say this calls for any means necessary," said Chris confidently.
"Let's make a big fucking bomb," Molly said, leading Leo from the room and down towards the warp core.
"You know that after what we did to the transporter, we aren't going to be able to-" Molly began and Leo nodded.
"I know," he interrupted.
"So how are we going to get it on that ship?" she asked and he stayed silent, his silence saying everything.
"You're not suggesting one of us goes over there are you?" she asked urgently and he said nothing, kept his expression neutral and stared straight ahead as they rushed through the corridors towards engineering.
"Leo?"
"Leo! You're insane! You're going to kill yourself!"
"And if that means all of you live, and all of Enterprise live, and all of Intrepid live, then so be it," he said, stumbling a little as the ship was hit and their gravity was thrown off momentarily.
One look at his face and Molly could tell that Leo was entirely serious.
Jim fought his way through familiar hallways. Main power had failed, so he knew that the transporter would no longer be operational.
He aimed for the shuttle bay, trying to get to his children on the other ship by any means necessary.
The more times he encountered Borg, the less effective his phaser became, each shot allowing them the opportunity to adapt and improve.
His heart pounded in his ears as he reached a shuttle at last, launching at maximum speed and immediately heading towards the small, unnamed ship that Leo, Christopher, Seren and Molly were aboard.
There was a jolt as he docked roughly with the ship, immediately disembarking right out into the middle of the engineering deck where he found his son weighing a large metal cylinder around the size of a beer keg in his hands.
Jim knew exactly what it was.
"Concentrated warp plasma. Enough in here to cause quite a big bang," Leo said as Jim approached him.
"You need to beam it into the centre of their ship," Jim said quickly.
Molly was standing back a few paces as Leo stripped a few lengths of wire, affixing a crude timer that he had torn from a panel and was intended for something else than what he was about to use it for.
"Can't. I fucked our transporter to get us here so fast, cheated, manipulated the fabric of the universe… and I'm going to the special part of hell for people that fuck with the laws of physics," he said quickly, eyes tracing back and forth across what he was working on before eventually closing entirely, his fingertips carefully checking over his work.
"Unfuck it," Jim instructed.
"Can't be done, not now, not instantly," Molly sighed.
"What I did to it… used most of the power. This is the secondary core. And I'm going to hand-deliver it," Leo said determinedly, lifting the cylinder a little higher and heading towards the shuttle Jim had just left.
"Leo… what are you… are you crazy?" Jim demanded as his youngest son pressed one button on the timing device.
"Not crazy at all," he said, eyes meeting Jim's for just a moment.
"I'm doing it," Jim said instantly.
"No. I… this is my fault, I need to-"
"Nothing is your fault! Just let me take it. I've got…" Jim glanced at the timer.
"Eight minutes. I can dock, throw it out of the shuttle, and then get back before it detonates," he said quickly.
He and Leo stared at each other for a few long moments.
"Quickly," Leo said and Jim hurried past him and into the shuttle.
"Dad? I love y-"
"Hey. No. When I get back," Jim said firmly, hitting the button to close the airlock door, looking at his son one final time before tearing his eyes away and releasing the docking, hurtling the shuttle towards the Borg ship at maximum speed.
Jim tried not to pay attention when the shuttle was hit by a photon blast. He tried to ignore the warnings of engine failure.
He pressed on until he docked with the Borg ship, snatching up the heavy cylinder containing some of the most concentrated fuel imaginable and taking a sharp intake of breath before opening the airlock and stepping into the strange ship.
Humanoid figures in various stages of transformation lined the hallways as he moved inwards, attempting to just get a bit closer to the centre of the ship, allow the blast to do the maximum amount of damage.
Two of the creatures rounded a corner ahead of him and he had a split second to make his decision.
He decided to hurl the cylinder in their direction with as much force as he could muster, and then sprint back in the direction of the shuttle.
The metal clanked across the floor.
Jim hadn't looked at the timer.
He didn't know how long remained before the large explosion.
He got to the airlock and back into the shuttle, just managing to release the docking clamps and begin to move away from the ship when everything turned white.
Shaking and still not quite able to believe he was still alive, David extricated himself from the small fighter pod, scrambling down and standing on the solid floor on the shuttle bay.
Chris, what's the latest?
Jim's taken a bomb Leo and Molly built onto the ship. We're docking with the ship, going to try to get Jim out, his shuttle took fire getting across… so it'll be no good.
David was trembling, whether it was with nerves or adrenaline or the knowledge that he was the only one remaining of the four small ships that had gone out, he didn't know.
Where are you guys? David asked through their bond. He didn't get a response so approached a panel on the wall.
"Computer, locate Christopher Kirk," David demanded.
Unable to comply rang out the cool reply.
"Locate James Kirk, is he still aboard the Borg ship?" David attempted.
Unable to comply responded the computer stubbornly.
David punched the nearest wall, letting out a growl of frustration.
"Oh, go fuck yourself!" he yelled at the computer panel.
Unable to comply.
"No. Sure you aint," he laughed sarcastically, running a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. There were only seconds until Leo and Molly's bomb was due to detonate, and as far as he knew, Jim was still aboard the Borg ship that was about to be blown half to hell.
Deciding to just follow his instincts, David began sprinting down the long corridor, following the weak trace of Chris' mind he could feel inside his own.
As David entered the room, he could immediately sense that something very bad was about to happen, a cold shiver running down his spine.
He glanced at Christopher and Molly in the corner at the access panel, fighting to get the airlock into the enemy ship to open, trying to go after Jim.
Christopher's dark eyes met his across the room as he began to stride across the large space.
It was as if time slowed down as the explosion happened. The ship lurched violently and David crashed to the floor, landing hard on his side on the metal grating.
The panel that Christopher and Molly were up to their elbows in was directly connected to the enemy ship, and the explosion tore through it after a few seconds delay. The few seconds was all it took for Chris to realise what was about to happen, push Molly aside and shield her with his own body, putting himself between the small girl and the blast.
David scrambled to his feet as Chris crashed to the ground. Molly scrambled to the fallen man, dropping to her knees beside the person who had just saved her life.
Alarms were blaring, the ship was heavily damaged, and how they were not venting atmosphere was anyone's guess, as the airlock was hanging by a thread.
David knelt beside Molly next to Christopher, panic rising as his eyes took in the sight.
"Chris? I… oh fuck. Fuck! Chris look at me!" David said urgently, fighting to keep his voice level, grabbing Chris' hand tightly.
There was so much blood he had no idea how to even begin to react to it.
Chris was staring up at him, dazed expression on his face, each breath making the most terrible rattling sound.
"D-david?" he stammered weakly. He had blood in his mouth too, starting to cut off his breathing.
"Yeah it's me, I'm right here," he said, forcing a smile as he tore the black undershirt he had been wearing over his head and balled it up. His eyes scanned Chris' abdomen, trying to decide the best place to apply pressure to try and stem the flow of jade liquid pooling on the floor around him. He was burned. His uniform shirt burned into his skin, the artificial fabric melted against his flesh. A smattering of puncture wounds of various sizes covered his entire abdomen.
The largest piece of shrapnel had pierced the upper left portion of his chest, seemingly right the way through. David didn't want to look too closely at what appeared to be exposed broken rib and muscle tissue.
"Seren, can you… I need help," he choked into his comm.
Chris's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he tried to take another breath.
"Hey, Chris, look up at me, ok? Keep your eyes on me," he ordered, pressing the fabric clutched in his trembling hands to the wound that was spurting blood at an alarming rate.
"On my way, who is it?" she asked and he bit back a sob.
"It's Chris. He's…" Chris slumped as began to lose consciousness. "Chris no. Keep looking at me, don't you dare go anywhere," he said desperately, tapping the side of his face, leaving flecks of green blood on the golden skin that was rapidly turning a sickly grey. Dark eyes stared up at him blankly, unseeing.
"I love you," David whispered. "Don't you dare die on me, Christopher," he said, tears beginning to stream from his eyes.
David was vaguely aware of a pair of arms grabbing him around the chest, dragging him away from Chris' now lifeless form as his sister arrived and began immediately assessing his injuries. David caught her eye and knew immediately Chris wasn't going to make it, the fear and resignation was plain to see.
Chris please. I love you. I'm sorry. Please, don't die on me. Please don't leave me.
"Let me go," he struggled weakly against the person holding him back as the doctor began to work.
Blood rushed in his ears, blocking out the sounds of the chaos and carnage around him. He was yelling but couldn't hear his own voice, his stomach protested to everything he had just witnessed and he vomited bile all over the floor before he could stop himself.
Whoever had been holding him back handed him a scrap of fabric to wipe his face.
Chris.
The silence in David's mind from the bond was too much for him to bear. His fingers were covered in something sticky and he raised his hand to look, seeing red blood mixing with green on his skin.
"David, stay still okay? You're hurt, you gotta stop wriggling," the voice was telling him, the person behind him gripping him tighter, trying to stop his struggling.
He no longer knew if he was calling out for his bondmate in his mind or aloud.
All he knew it he was getting no response.
David gasped as he awoke; body strangely numb, limbs heavy with artificially induced sleep.
"Hey, keep still okay? Don't want to tear your new skin," Leo's voice rang out. He turned his head to see the younger twin sitting beside his bed. He was covered in grime, dust and flecks of both red and green blood.
"I… Chris?" he asked urgently.
"Alive. Just," Leo said in a hollow voice. He held up his left arm to reveal a fresh white bandage.
"I've given him so much blood, twice as much as they said was safe for me to give and he needs twice as much again," he said shaking his head slightly.
"Molly ok?" he asked and Leo nodded once.
"Shaken up, cuts and bruises. She'll be fine."
"Where are we?" David asked and Leo glanced at the floor.
"Enterprise. They were able to get their systems back online well enough to get the transporter working to put everyone on one ship. The fleet will be here within another twelve hours."
David tried to force himself to sit up, glancing around sickbay, trying to locate his bondmate.
"Don't. Don't move. Your side was cut up pretty bad," Leo said and David grit his teeth and disobeyed, sitting up anyway and swinging his legs over the side of the bio-bed.
His boots touched the floor and he swayed to the side, unable to hold his own weight. Leo forced him back down onto the bed, gently enough to not hurt him, but firmly enough to make his point clear.
"David… you don't want to see him like this. It's… horrible. Don't," Leo said quietly, brown eyes brimming with emotion that his face showed none of.
"I don't care. I have to see him," he growled, trying once again to leave the bed and gasping in pain as his freshly healed side protested to the movement.
"You can't. He's in chryo. Only way to preserve his brain function. They might not be able to fix him," Leo said, voice cracking as he fought back tears.
"Do you mean…?"
"Yeah. He's… in a bad way. We need to get to a starbase, or Earth, or just… anywhere with the kind of facilities and equipment that he needs. And I need to focus on making more blood so I can give him more, I need to meditate. I just… shit David… it was right through. Through his chest and out of his back and the look on his face… I can't… I…" Leo trailed off, blank expression on his face.
"I don't remember much," David confessed.
"Probably for the best. I wish I didn't," Leo responded instantly. David noticed he was trembling slightly all over, a strange distant look in his eyes.
"What happened? Are we safe?"
"I blew them up. With so much force I inadvertently created a small singularity that half their ship fell through. They're either all very dead, or someone else's problem now," Leo said and David nodded.
"You got a list?" David asked and Leo picked up a PADD from the side and handed it over.
David quickly found the most up to date list of the injured and dead, noting that he'd been out for at least twelve hours himself. He spotted his own name and Chris' names on the list of injured, as well as Sulu and Spock. Next he turned to the list of dead.
He was unsurprised to find the three young men he'd been in formation with on the list and bit the inside of his lip.
His classmates. The same age as him, their whole lives ahead of them snatched away in an instant.
His eyes scanned lower down the ever-evolving document. Names appearing and shifting around. He caught one that made his heart skip a beat and eyes frantically search for it again.
Kirk, James T.
He glanced up at Leo who was now staring out of the viewing portal, same blank expression as the stars reflected back in his eyes.
Dead.
Kirk, James T.
"Hey Leo, is this list… accurate?" he asked quietly. Leo gave one silent nod.
"He was on their ship when it blew it up. He told me he'd do it, take the bomb across in the shuttle. I offered, but he insisted," he said in a hollow voice.
David felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes.
No.
Impossible.
"So it-"
"He's dead. David," Leo said so quietly it was barely above a whisper, barely audible over the hum of the ship as it sped towards wherever they were headed.
"I'm so sorry."
Leo shrugged.
"He saved all our lives, managed to disable their ship, plant the bomb Molly and I built. We just couldn't get him out in time. He gave himself to save us all."
David felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. Warm tears spilled onto his cheeks, his chest tightening and stomach churning.
The man he'd always looked up to; always considered as a second father combined with a very good friend, was dead.
Leo stared silently out at the stars that his father had longed to show him his whole life, alone at the viewing portal. David didn't say another word.
I hope that it's safe to come out and face you all... please *please* review. It'd mean so much to know what you think, of this chapter more than ever! Also, I'd just like to point out, this IS NOT the end of the story, so stay tuned!
