Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, the inspiration for this came from SofiaDragon's Va'Pak; Uzhau.

AN: Kirk Prime will be either Admiral Kirk or Lelianna, while Kelvin Kirk will be Captain Kirk or Lily.

Published 13-5-2024

Read, enjoy and review!

Chapter Four

The Admiral and the Captain

Admiral Lelianna E. Kirk of the Twelfth House stared out at the stars, lost in thought. How had everything gone so wrong? She wondered despairingly to herself. While her younger counterpart had saved as many lives as could be reasonably hoped for, and she, Spock and Scotty had saved several more using Scotty's transwarp beaming equation, plus there were the Vulcans who'd been off planet during the disaster the surviving Vulcans were already beginning to call Lo'uk Pak, that still left the Vulcan people with only roughly 12,000 survivors, out of a race that had once numbered 4 billion. The Vulcan people as a whole were never fond of leaving their home planet, and that had worked against them in this disaster.

So many dead, and it was all because she and Spock had been too slow.

She let her eyes flutter closed in grief. She'd failed to save lives before, but this...the scale of the tragedy was beyond her comprehension. Beyond anybody's comprehension.

And she was at a loss as to what she and Spock would do now. The likelihood of being able to return to their universe was slim, to say the least, and she knew both she and her imzadi was in favour of staying in this universe and working to help the Vulcans rebuild. It wouldn't fix their actions, but it would be some small penance for their failure.

Saavik's face flashed across her mind and she closed her eyes in grief. She and Spock had known their mission might be their last act, and they'd said their goodbyes to their daughter, but that they would live the rest of their lives, however long that was, without seeing her again made Lelianna's heart ache with grief.

She heard someone's footsteps approaching and turned to the door. She was unsurprised when her younger counterpart entered, dark circles beneath her exhausted black eyes (well, the right one. The left one was swollen closed and covered in bruises. Clearly the younger woman shared Lelianna's dislike -she refused to say fear- of Sickbays. Or perhaps it was just low priority given the amount of patients Sickbay was dealing with). Lily started at the sight of her, a wary expression crossing her face.

"Apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt," the young Captain said awkwardly, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear.

"You didn't interrupt anything," Lelianna assured her. "I was just, thinking. Or brooding, I suppose is the more correct wording."

Lily nodded slowly, coming over to stand beside Lelianna and stare out at the stars. With the ship plodding along slowly at impulse power, it looked like an unmoving sea of black with different coloured dots. Mostly white, but some red and yellow and blue were mixed in too.

Lelianna had always found peace in looking at the stars, and she could sense her counterpart relaxing a bit as she too took in the sight.

"Ambassador Spock told me our universes diverged when the Narada arrived and attacked the Kelvin," Lily said suddenly. "So that means that you grew up with our parents."

Lelianna nodded in confirmation, feeling her heart squeeze in pain. Nero had taunted her with the knowledge that her parents had died the day of her younger self's birth, and she couldn't help but blame herself. If only they'd been faster...

"What were they like?" Lily asked wistfully. "I just- Aunt Milanna would tell Sam and I stories, and I've been hearing my whole life about what a hero Dad was but...what were they like?"

Lelianna sighed as she considered. "They were people, flawed but good people," she told her young companion gently. "Dad was always making 'Dad jokes' that made Sam and I groan, and Mom was a strong empath and telepath, so you could never get anything past her. They raised us on the Kelvin for most of our childhood, and it was great. I played in Engineering while Mom worked and learned tactics sitting on Dad's lap on the bridge.

They were both born wanderers, same as me. They hated being on shore leave, so they would take Sam and I to museums or exhibitions or whatever, or if it was on a new planet we'd wander around taking pictures and examining different sights. Dad loved photography while Mom loved plants. Our quarters on the ship were always stuffed full of holos and plants."

They continued talking for about an hour, Lelianna digging around her memory for every little scrap of information she could remember about George and Winanna Kirk (and considering her eidetic memory, that was quite a bit). She told Lily a hodgepodge of stories and facts about the couple, ignoring the familiar ache of their loss as best she could. She owed Lily this much, at least.

She was in the middle of telling her younger self how George had rebuilt an antique motorcycle with her when she was fourteen (her parents had taken a ground posting for a year while she recovered from Tarsus, though she didn't mention that part to Lily) when Bones -Dr McCoy, she reminded herself. Her Bones was long gone- came stomping in, eyes narrow and tricorder in hand. Lelianna winced in sympathy for her younger self. If this younger, alternate Bones was anything like her best friend, he was going to be pissed that Lily hadn't come for medical attention.

"Bones! Hi!" Lily said brightly in 'I'm innocent' voice, a sweet smile on her face. "You look exhausted, haven't you gotten any sleep?"

"No, because I've been searching this entire damn boat for you!" Bo-Dr McCoy snapped back. "I get that I was busy with Pike yesterday, but you should've come to me earlier today. And you're not in the system, so the computer couldn't locate you either, meaning I had to go looking!"

"Bones, you had patients in way worse shape than me that needed tending, and I've been swamped with reports all day," Lily reasoned. "I was going to come find you when things settled down a bit, I swear."

Lelianna seriously doubted that. She had been known to hide in Jeffries tubes with broken ribs to avoid the hell that was Sickbay.

McCoy glared at her, clearly not believing her. "We'll be talking about this later!" He warned. "But right now I want to check you over."

"Fine," Lily sighed. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She turned to Lelianna, who had been watching with a wistful smile. It was just like her and her Bones, back in the day. "Look, do you mind if I come and speak to you some more at some point when I'm free? I'd really like to hear more about them."

"Of course," Lelianna agreed. "Whatever you want to know, I'll be happy to tell you."

"Anything?" Lily repeated with a sly smile.

Lelianna laughed softly. Oh, Lily was definitely Lelianna at heart, that was for sure. "Within reason, of course," she qualified. "Some things have to be discovered yourself, and others might not be relevant for here."

Lily nodded in understanding. "Thanks, Admiral," she said, before allowing Bones to drag her away, scolding her loudly for not taking care of herself, while Lelianna decided she'd better go and try to sleep, or at least meditate.

"Who was that?" Bones asked as he ushered Lily down the hall towards the turbolift.

Lily glanced at him. "Admiral Lelianna Estelle Kirk of the Twelfth House of Betazed," she answered honestly.

Bones choked on thin air. "Are you serious?" He demanded.

"Mmhmm," Lily confirmed. "She and the Spock from her dimension tried to prevent Romulus from being destroyed by a supernova. They were in time to stop the supernova from destroying anywhere else, but too late to save Romulus. That's why Nero was targeting Spock and I in particular. He blamed us.

She knew our parents," Lily added softly, looking away from her best friend. "She was telling me about them. She made them real, you know? Not just 'the heroic George Kirk and his Betazoid wife', or Aunt Milanna's perfect baby sister. She told me about them."

"Well," Bones replied softly, his voice uncharacteristically gentle. "I'm glad you have someone who'll tell you about them."

She gave him a soft smile before clearing her throat. "Can we do the exam in my quarters?" She asked hopefully. Rand had assured her that everyone had a place to sleep, but if someone was released from Sickbay they would be given space in the Captain's Quarters, which satisfied Lily.

Bones hesitated, eyeing her bruised face. "I don't know, Lils," he said reluctantly. "I'm guessing you have a fracture in your left eye socket, and that'll need the dermal regenerator."

"Please Bones?" Lily begged. "You know how much I hate Sickbay. Especially when it's busy."

It reminded her too much of after they'd been rescued from the ruins of Tarsus. Every time she stepped foot in a hospital or Sickbay she flashed back to days upon days spent strapped to a bed to keep her from attacking the doctors and nurses, being forced to survive when all she wanted to do was die. Being interrogated by the Starfleet officers as to what exactly had happened on that hellhole disguised as a planet. Four Deities, she hated Sickbay.

Bones sighed. "Alright," he gave in, much to Lily's relief. "Only because I'm pretty sure Sickbay would probably send you into empathetic shock with all the emotions flying around there. I brought a portable dermal regenerator with me just in case, but you know it'll hurt more than the regular one, and we don't have any Lily-safe painkillers aboard. Actually, we're about out of painkillers entirely now."

Lily nodded in acceptance. "You know me, Bones," she shrugged. "I have a high pain tolerance."

"That's not a good thing, you know?" He retorted. "Don't think I've forgotten how you cracked two ribs during that survival training and kept at it for another ten days!"

Lily shrugged. "It turned out fine, didn't it?" She pointed out reasonably. Really, Bones fussed too much sometimes.

Bones growled in frustration. They had arrived at Lily's room, so she tapped in the code and walked in, heading to the couch so Bones could fuss over her.

He scanned her with his tricorder first, frowning at his results. "When was the last time you ate?" He demanded. "Your blood sugar is ridiculously low."

Lily blinked and frowned. "Uh, I guess the morning of the hearing," she admitted. Bones knew she had problems with food, but he never pressed her to explain the source of it. He did scold her when she forgot to eat, but Lily knew it was just because he cared.

"Lily," Bones said disapprovingly.

She held up her hands defensively. "I know, I know," she replied. "I've just been so busy. There wasn't exactly time for a snack while we were dealing with Nero, and since then I've been swamped with work."

Also, the mere thought of rationing made her appetite disappear as her stomach clenched violently and bile rose in her throat.

Bones huffed. "After this, we're going to the mess hall and you're going to eat a proper meal," he insisted.

Lily grimaced but knew that if she refused he would be perfectly happy to feed her via IV, so she agreed reluctantly.

"Other than low blood sugar and a slightly lower than usual BP, you've got a cracked eye socket, and a hairline fracture on your right hip. Plus your left hand is broken in multiple places."

"Ah," Lily muttered. That explained why it hurt so much to use said hand and to walk. Bones gave her an exasperated glare as he took out the dermal regenerator.

"Care to explain how you ended up with those injuries?" He asked in a pointed 'tell me or I'll make you tell me' manner.

Lily grimaced but explained how the drill guards and Nero and his XO were all responsible for the hand and eye socket, and how she'd fallen hip first on a ledge while on the Narada.

"For a genius, you're an utter idiot," Bones grumbled after hearing her explanation. He hesitated than added gently, "Lils, this is gonna hurt."

Lily squared her shoulders. "I can handle it," she assured her best friend. "Go on, Bones. The sooner you finish healing me the sooner you can force-feed me before I collapse into bed again."

Bones nodded in acceptance and activated the regenerator.

Lily clenched her jaw to keep from whimpering in pain as her bones were forced to heal weeks too quickly. She tried to meditate to keep the pain at bay, but it was too intense to let her go fully into a trance.

"Alright, we're done," Bones announced at last after about an hour of regenerator therapy. "Now, dinner?"

"Lead on, MacDuff," Lily smiled, rising to her feet and gesturing dramatically at the door.

Bones snorted. "You and your Shakespeare," he said, but his voice was fond.

"You know, that's not a proper quote," Lily mused as she and Bones began heading for the mess. "The actual phrase is 'lay on, MacDuff', and Macbeth was telling MacDuff to fight him."

"Nerd," Bones scoffed, lips twitching.

Lily reached up to drape an arm around his shoulders. "Ahh, you'd miss me if I wasn't babbling on about random facts in your ear," she told him teasingly.

"You wish," he retorted, with a fond smile on his face.