Charlie X

"Materializing."

Jim watched the transport pad dispassionately as Spock stood next to him. This was an official mission, their second mission on this trip so far – they were transferring a young man who had been shipwrecked on the planet Thasus fourteen years ago and somehow had miraculously survived all this time on his own. Soon the Captain and Navigator of the rebuilt cargo ship Antares would be here to transfer the boy to their care, after which they would take him to his nearest relatives. The three people, and the boy's bag, materialized on the transporter pad and Jim stepped forward with a winning smile, extending his hand politely. "Captain Ramart! Hello, I'm Captain Kirk."

Captain Ramart smiled and shook his hand, "Nice to meet you, Captain Kirk. This is my Navigator, Tom Nellis."

Jim shook the navigator's hand next, smiling at him as well, "How do you do?"

Nellis grinned – a bit stressed out, that grin was; Jim wondered why he was so stressed – and said, "Fine thank you."

Before the navigator could say anything else, Captain Ramart tilted his head with a more strained smile, "And this our castaway Charlie, Charlie Evans. Here's his dossier."

The boy looked to be about seventeen years old, with curly, light brown hair and brown eyes, as well as an air about him that was tense and wild. This boy did not, Jim thought, have very much control over himself. Granted, he never had a way to learn it, but Jim felt bad for his relatives for having to deal with this when he was already such an age. Seventeen year olds were difficult at the best of times – even Pavel had had his moments when he was seventeen. Sighing, he accepted the dossier and sent a welcoming smile towards the kid. Maybe he could get Pavel interested once he was over his cold – they were of an age, only a year or so apart, and it wasn't to be for very long, after all. "Charlie. We've heard a great deal about you. Welcome aboard."

He turned back to Ramart and the man smiled at him with another strained look. Spock caught his eyes and glanced at Charlie – had the boy done something? "Wonderful boy, Charlie. It's been an honor having him aboard."

Nellis spoke up, his voice just as strained as Ramart's was. "Why it's been a great pleasure, the things that he's learned in the last-"

Captain Ramart interrupted Nellis, which was unusually rude, "Absolutely! To think that this boy spent practically his whole life alone on that planet. Everyone killed, just a few data cards to learn from."

The young Charlie grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, interrupting them (not much of a surprise, since he wouldn't know how rude it was) to ask, "How many humans like me on this ship?"

Ramart responded, "Like a whole city in space, Charlie. Over six hundred in the crew of a starship, aren't there, Captain?"

At that, Jim smiled a bit, "Six hundred and twenty eight to be exact. Is there anything we can do for you, Captain? Medical supplies, provisions?"

Charlie interrupted again (he would have to talk to the kid about that) saying, "Over six hundred. All human like me. That's exciting. Is that the right word?"

Nellis nodded with another forced smile, "That's perfect, it's the exact word."

Ramart spoke quickly after that, saying, "You see, we'd like to keep Charlie with us, but with his closest living relatives on Colony Five and your vessel going that way, Starfleet-"

"I'd like to see your ship now. All of it. The people and everything."

Cornflower blue eyes gave Charlie a sharp look and Jim told him, "You keep interrupting, Charlie. That is considered to be very rude. Also, just to make you aware, they are not all humans on this ship, we have several other species as well. Please do not treat them in a rude, mean, or cruel manner or I will have to do something about it. We are all equals aboard the Enterprise."

Then he turned back to Ramart with a smile once Charlie apologized for his actions, "We have a large supply of entertainment cards on board, Captain, would you like some?"

"No, but thank you, Captain. We've a tight schedule to make. Just forty of us, we're making out fine."

Jim laughed softly, "This must be a space first. A transport vessel that doesn't need anything! Not even, say, some Sarian brandy? You could relax for an hour before you go back, Captain."

He was being flirtatious, but that was just how Jim was. Equal-opportunity flirting with anybody that was good looking. And Captain Ramart was fairly handsome, for all that Jim wasn't actually interested. Flirting was part of his personality and he wouldn't change it for anything except himself. Well, or Spock – if Spock ever felt unhappy with it he would stop in an instant. Ramart stepped onto the transport pad with a shake of his head, Nellis following him, "We're fine, thank you Captain. Pleasant journey."

The Ensign manning the controls beamed the pair back to their own ship and Jim sighed and turned toward the door. Yeoman Rand (not to be confused with Ensign Rand) came in and Jim smiled at her. She smiled back, before waving at Charlie. "Yeoman Rand, would you please show Charlie to his rooms and then take him to Medical for a proper check up?"

"Sure thing, Captain. Come on, Charlie."

Charlie, however, was staring, speechless, before he asked, "Are… are you a girl?"

Jim barely kept from laughing aloud at the absolutely affronted look on Janice's face, and barely kept from grinning as Charlie looked toward him and asked, "Is that a girl?"

Jim raised his eyebrow and nodded, "Yes, that's a girl, Charlie. Go on, now."

They left the room and Jim turned back to Spock. He'd had his First Officer here with him to observe and see if anything was unusual about the boy, which clearly there was. "The effusive praises of Captain Ramart and Navigator Nellis were coerced out of them by some sort of psi ability. Mr. Evans did something, and when he finished glaring at them they just burst into conversation, which is unnatural. I am unsure of what, exactly, such an ability would be, but it does seem to have the potential to be dangerous or frightening, as both the other captain and his navigator were terrified – their body language showed that clearly, and their fear was practically shoved into me."

He frowned – he hadn't intended for Spock (who was an unnaturally adept telepath, capable of feeling others' emotions even without relying on touch) to get more than a baseline read, but there was really no point in apologizing, as it wasn't his fault that they had been terrified. "I noticed that. Strained smiles, rushing off without requisitioning anything… but what on earth could it be?"

Spock quietly said, "What, indeed, Captain."

"You're the older one, Bones. You supply a father figure. For fuck's sake I'm not that much older than he is, regardless of how much he may or may not look up to me. Besides, since when am I an acceptable role model? Since never! Your idea is preposterous. Just, completely ridiculous."

Bones sighed and Jim looked seriously at him. "There is something unusual going on here, Bones. I can't get so involved that I ignore any quirks or bad habits because I've gotten attached to the kid – and while that is unlikely, considering he's nearly an adult, I'm only human," he said with a grin towards Spock, whose eyebrow was lifted slightly, "So I could always make mistakes."

His older friend growled slightly before sighing again, this time in resignation. "Alright, fine, Jim, but my daughter's just a kid right now, I don't know how to handle a teenager!"

"You'll learn," Jim said blandly before turning to Spock. "Spock, thoughts?"

"I do wonder how he survived on that planet. It is now my belief that there are possibly Thasians on the planet after all, although likely not in a form any of our scanners can pick up on. His story about learning to find food on his own is highly unlikely considering that there are few edibles on Thasus."

Bones scoffed at this, but Jim held his hands up, "Regardless of if he had help or not, he is alive, he is here, and he needs to learn how to be human. There's no point getting into an argument over it right now. We can't afford to be divided."

Spock was playing his Vulcan lyre when Nyota began humming along over her card game with Yeoman Rand, before he stopped and she flushed. "I'm sorry, I did it again, didn't I?"

He let a smirk show in his eyes and raised an eyebrow towards her. Then he began strumming a song that Nyota had written – a rather silly and pointless tune that was nonetheless somewhat amusing, as it used a noticeable amount of symbolism and made Spock out to be some nefarious being, which was why it was so amusing: the idea of Spock being actively nefarious was, frankly, absurd in the extreme.

She brightened and stood, all of the eyes of the Rec room turning towards her as she walked over to Spock, looking at him expectantly; by now the crew of the Enterprise were all aware that she had a stunning singing voice, so truly everyone was watching. "Oh, on the starship Enterprise, there's someone who's in Satan's guise. Whose devil ears and devil eyes, could rip your heart from you. At first, his look could hypnotize, and then his touch would barbarize, his alien love could victimize, and rip your heart from you. And that's why female astronauts, oh very female astronauts, wait terrified and overwrought, to find what he will do. Oh girls in space, be wary, be wary. Girls in space, be wary. We know not what he'll do."

The Rec room burst into cheers and whistles, and Yeoman Rand called out, "Another verse!"

He kept strumming and Nyota hummed a few bars before joining in with an impromptu verse, just as their latest passenger walked in, "Now from a planet out in space, there comes a lad, not commonplace. A-seeking out his first embrace. He's saving it for you. Oh, Charlie's our new darling, our darling, our darling. Charlie's our new darling. We know not what he'll do."

Before she could continue, her voice abruptly stopped, as did the sound of his lyre, and he sharply looked around the room to find Charlie scowling thunderously at Rand, who had clearly been paying (according to him) too much attention to other people. The boy initiated an interaction with Rand, playing card tricks that were clearly more than simple tricks, and just as clearly being brought about by some kind of psi ability, exactly as he had hypothesized earlier.

The Captain needed to know about this.

"Kirk here."

Jim looked at his communicator and tried not to focus on the awkward young man who had been conversing with him. That conversation had been uncomfortable and was yet another reason why he just could not be this kid's father figure. The kid had no idea of what was socially acceptable (he had slapped Janice's ass for fuck's sake – no wonder she had complained to him earlier that she might have to get forceful with the kid), and if he focused too much on Jim's outward behavior he could come to think that all kinds of things were okay that absolutely weren't unless you had someone's permission or things like that. Flirting with everyone you spoke with, male, female, and non-binary alike, was not actually acceptable – not that it deterred Jim but it was accepted in him because aside from that, he was generally professional. (Generally being the key word, there.)

"Captain Ramart of the Antares is on D channel."

He frowned; why the hell would they be calling the Enterprise already? "I'm on my way to the Bridge now."

Charlie asked, "Can I come with you?"

Jim hesitated for a moment but then decided what the hell, the kid might just be missing them. After all, they'd been his first human contact after the crash. "Sure thing, kid. Stay out of the way though. There's a lot of fiddly stuff on the Bridge, we can't have the ship going off course or anything."

"Okay."

They walked swiftly to the Bridge, catching a turbolift to get there, and Jim resolutely did not say anything. He was worried that he shouldn't let the kid come along, but he'd rather know where Charlie was while speaking to them than leave him unescorted. If something happened, he would rather Charlie be observed than alone.

Just as he walked onto the Bridge, he heard Uhura saying, "Can you boost your power, Antares? We're barely reading your transmission."

Spock was there, and the look in his eyes was not pleased when they lighted on Charlie. Odd – something must have happened that Jim was unaware of. He raised his eyebrows and silently asked if he should send Charlie away but all Spock did was minutely shake his head. Okay, that was weird. "We're at full output, Enterprise. I must speak with Captain Kirk."

"Kirk here, Captain Ramart. What can I do for you?"

The transmission was not very good, indeed. The other captain's voice could barely be heard above the interference and static. "Captain, we're just barely in range, I've got to warn-"

He cut off, and suddenly Jim had a really bad feeling about this. 'Dammit I shouldn't've brought the kid along! If anything happened to them it's my fault!' "Re-establish contact!"

Uhura looked at him worriedly as she fiddled with the controls. "They're not transmitting any more, Captain."

It was a shame he couldn't think about how pleased he was with their growing friendship right now. "Charlie, I need you to leave. Now!"

Charlie left and Jim said hurriedly, "Spock, sweep the area of the Antares transmission with our probe scanners."

Spock moved to his station with an "Affirmative, Captain."

Jim collapsed into his chair and rubbed his forehead, cursing under his breath. Nobody mentioned it, which he was thankful for – he didn't want to bite anybody's head off over his own stress and his own mistakes. Uhura asked him concernedly, "You think something happened to the Antares, Captain?"

Jim gave her a terse, "Yes."

It was all he said, but her eyes flicked to the door and her mouth set into a grim line as she nodded. Spock finally responded, saying, "Picking up some debris on our scanners, Captain. It appears to be what is left of the Antares."

"Fuck!" Jim jumped out of his seat and left the Bridge, barely noticing when Spock followed him. When they entered the turbolift, however, once it was in motion Jim punched the wall. "This is my fault! I thought he might want to speak to Ramart and stupidly let him tag along! When I knew he has some sort of psi ability! Fuck!"

He went to hit the wall again but Spock (?!) restrained him. His skin was cool through Jim's shirt and he clenched his fist before sighing and relaxing his body so that Spock didn't feel like he had to restrain Jim from hurting himself any more. Spock let him go and forcefully stated, "This is not your fault, Jim. Charlie would likely have destroyed the ship the moment he knew about the transmission if he had not been with you at the time. You did not have the knowledge I do because I got called to the Bridge before I could give you the information, which makes this outcome as much my own fault as it is yours, if it happened to be either of our faults. But it is not. It is solely the fault of Charlie. We must decide what to do about him, if anything can be done."

Jim quietly stated, "I don't know that anything can be done, Spock. How the fuck do we deal with an out of control teenager who has far too much power for anyone else's good? We can't take him to Colony Five! He isn't fit to live among humans, dammit! He just murdered forty people – people who rescued him – without a second thought!"

"Then perhaps that is what you should do, Captain. Change our course away from the colony and let the Governor know what is going on."

He breathed a sigh of relief, limply leaning against the wall of the turbolift. "Thank you, Spock. That's exactly what needs to be done. Logic wins again."

Spock simply raised his eyebrow at him and he smiled weakly, changing the turbolift to take them back to the Bridge. Spock apparently decided to speak while they were headed back. "All of Charlie's abilities that I have observed in action are abilities traditionally found in Thasians, Captain. It seems highly likely that either he has been in contact with Thasians, or the planet Thasus itself incites the development of those abilities. I felt it necessary for you to know this."

When they got back to the Bridge, Jim told Uhura, "Call the Governor of Colony Five, Uhura. Ensign Kellen, change our course away from Colony Five."

Suddenly Uhura's station short-circuited (what the fuck?), shocking her, and Jim called out, "Spock, get Bones down here, now!"

Spock bent to it as Uhura got up with a wince. "I'm pretty sure I'm not really hurt except for an unexpected shock, Captain. I'm more infuriated that this is happening! There is no reason for it to have short-circuited! It refuses to do anything I ask of it!"

"Captain! I can't change our course! Any coordinates I feed in just get rejected out of hand!"

Lilo on the helm turned to him, "The helm isn't responding either, Captain."

Just then the doors behind him opened and he whirled around, "Bones!"

But it wasn't Bones. It was Charlie. The entire room stilled and Jim cursed again. "You can't do this Charlie! You can't just force people to do what you want, all that will do is make people dislike you and hurt them. If you ever want to have friends, doing this is eradicating the chance of that happening!"

Charlie, however, was steadfast, glaring at the room. Then he looked at Spock and smirked. Spock began to speak, "Tyger tyger burning bright, in the forests of the night."

"Shit! Spock!"

"I'm trying to—Saturn rings around my head, down a road that's Martian red."

Jim was aware that Spock was fond of poetry – they both were, and shared it with each other frequently. Nobody who hadn't been told that deserved to know, however! This was infuriating and he couldn't do shit about it! It wouldn't have been so bad if it was all Command personnel but it wasn't: Hikaru and Pavel were out sick – they still haven't found a cure for the common cold – and there were all the people at stations who rotated out daily. "Charlie, release the transmitter! Let us go!"

Charlie was impassive as he said, "You don't need all that subspace chatter, and I refuse, Captain. I'm in charge now."

Bones came in just then and looked around, "What's wrong? Spock called for me and then started spouting off poetry! I'm a doctor, dammit, not a poet!"

"It's Uhura, she got zapped by a malfunctioning panel. Please see to her, Bones."

Spock was, unfortunately, still at it, Charlie forcing the words out of his mouth, "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary."

Charlie laughed, a chilling laugh, one that bordered on psychotic, if not outright evil. "Very nice, Mister Ears. Oh, I can make him do anything, anything at all! Whirl around, laugh, anything that I want, he will do!"

"That is enough, Charlie! It is not funny, it is not entertaining, and the only thing you are accomplishing is making me want to be anywhere but where you are."

The teenager gasped and stared at Jim, taking a step back as his eyes looked around the room, at everybody who was noticeably not laughing, not entertained, and not pleased. For all that most people on the ship didn't really understand Spock, he was incredibly highly respected, in no small part because he had buried his resentment and become Jim's friend in spite of their past. It was heartening how absolutely nobody was getting amusement out of this situation, honestly.

Then Charlie pouted rather unattractively (it was nothing like Pavel's endearing and devastating pout) and said, "I don't care! I don't care!"

Then he left and Jim could almost feel Spock's relief, before he solemnly stated, "He has reached a point where he won't back down, anymore, Captain."

He sighed, running a hand restlessly through his blonde hair. "I know, Spock. I know."

There was nothing he could do about it right now, however.

Yeoman Rand's voice filtered onto the Bridge, and Jim realized that, like she warned him the boy might earlier, Charlie must be making too big of a deal for her to continue trying to gently slide him aside. "I want you to get out right now."

"But I only want to be nice to you!"

"Get out, Charlie."

Spock looked at him and Jim nodded, "Spock, with me."

Spock watched his Captain stride furiously towards Yeoman Rand's quarters, silently worried for Jim. This situation had to be terrible for him – his innate good nature made him want to sympathize and connect with Charlie, but the boy was bordering on being a psychopath (if not already there – he had, after all, destroyed a ship with forty people on it, with absolutely no remorse after the fact) and was incredibly dangerous to all of them.

Moreover, he was a danger to the people they were supposed to bring him to. Ideally they would have taken him back to Thasus, since he had clearly been surviving perfectly fine on his own (assuming he was, indeed, on his own, which Spock was highly dubious of) for his entire life there. He might be human, but he was by no means capable of functioning amongst other humans right now.

They turned a corner and Jim burst into the room, followed by Spock, but Charlie used his powers to knock them over and disable them. Rand was immediately to their defense, however, yelling out, "Charlie! How dare you!"

Then she slapped him, and then he made her disappear.

"Why did she do that? I loved her but she wasn't nice at all. What you did wasn't nice either, but I still need you, Captain. The Enterprise isn't quite like the Antares. Running the Antares was easy. You have to be nice. Alright?"

The look on Jim's face was one of incredible pain, but he resisted the pain Charlie was using to try and coerce him into obedience, and only asked, "Spock?"

"My legs are not functioning properly, Captain."

As a matter of fact, "not functioning properly" was an understatement. His legs were broken, but he was not going to tell Jim that just yet. If he did, nothing would stop Jim from pummeling Charlie into the floor. The Captain glared at Charlie. "Let him go, Charlie!"

The boy raised an eyebrow, "And why should I? I don't like him. I don't like you either, but I need you. I don't need him. I could make him disappear right here and now and never have to see his stupid face again."

Jim simply looked determined, as he responded, "I'm telling you to let him go because you need me to run the ship, and I need him."

Charlie huffed and suddenly Spock could move again, his legs healed in an instant. He was (not that he would admit it) suffused with warmth from hearing his Captain state that he needed Spock with no embarrassment or shame whatsoever. He had simply been stating a fact, but it proved how deep their friendship truly went. "If you try to hurt me again I'll make a lot of people disappear."

Spock stood and watched Jim gravely look at Charlie, "And what about Janice? Is she dead? Gone? Destroyed?"

The boy got a stubborn look on his face as he responded with, "I won't tell you. Growing up isn't so much. I'm not a man and I can do anything I want! You can't do what I can!"

Charlie left, and Jim briefly touched Spock on his wrist, transmitting the beginnings of a plan in seconds that would have taken much longer to say aloud, and more risk as well. When he nodded to the Captain, Jim smiled at him, clearly relieved that he wasn't upset. It was the first time Jim had touched him skin-to-skin since the night he aided Spock in purging his grief, which just went to show how much Jim respected Spock's personal space and his limits. Then Jim left to follow Charlie, and Spock went to put the plan into motion.

"He had a mean look. I had to freeze him. I like happy looks."

Jim watched dispassionately as Charlie entered the room that Spock was outside of, before he turned towards Jim. "Aren't you coming in?"

He shook his head, blue eyes watching the teenager coolly as he tilted his head towards Spock in a silent signal. Spock activated the force field, and when Charlie tried to exit the room he was bounced back into it, falling to the ground. The boy gave off an inarticulate cry of rage before standing up and glaring at the doorway. Suddenly the entire wall was gone, and Jim found himself to be paralyzed (along with Spock) as Charlie forcefully stated, "That wasn't nice at all. You'll be sorry. Just you wait, you'll see. You'll be sorry you did that."

Then he could move and breathe again, and he took in a shuddering, gasping breath as Charlie walked off with a glare, repeating, "You'll see."

Jim turned to Spock with a sigh, going to the wall opposite where the room was and sagging against it. "Fuck, I can't keep up! Nothing works! All we do is piss him off more!"

"It was a good plan, Captain, you could not know that he would be able to disable our trap in such a manner. Besides, you are forgetting one factor, Jim."

He slid to the floor, gazing blankly at the ground and resting his head in his palms, feeling hopeless and furious. "What's that?" He asked dully.

There was a smile in Spock's voice as he responded, "The universe seems determined to make sure that you survive no matter what happens. They call it "Kirk luck" among the crew."

His brow furrowed and he looked up quizzically, "That makes no sense."

It made no sense at all, but the words still gave him a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach because, in his experiences so far, it was true. That everybody seemed to realize this about him… He wasn't sure what he felt about it, but it certainly wasn't a pleasant feeling. He didn't deserve that luck, after all. He had done absolutely nothing worth experiencing living through things that should have (and in one case, had) killed him, over and over again.

Spock raised an eyebrow and there was a smirk in his eyes as he responded, "It is illogical, yes. Much like yourself. Had you stayed behind on Earth instead of getting smuggled on board the Enterprise, you would have died as Nero used red matter to turn the Earth into a black hole. When your parachute could not hold Sulu's weight in addition to yours, you would have died but for Chekov's skill with the transporter. When I marooned you on Delta Vega you would likely not have survived; you certainly barely escaped death, as you have told me. I was closer than you can imagine to choking you to death, and yet I did not. A literal miracle considering how Vulcan emotions can break free and how ferocious they are when it happens. You died and only the barest of luck allowed that we could revive you using Khan. I repeat, Jim: the universe is determined to make sure that you survive, for some unimaginable reason."

There was a smile in his tone when he said the last, and Jim felt his lips quirking into their own smile. Notice that Spock wasn't actually complaining about Jim's continued existence, just pointing out very teasingly that it was illogical to be happening. "Okay, you win. I won't give up."

…Did Spock just – barely – roll his eyes?! That was great! "You were indulging in a spot of self-pity, not on the verge of giving up, Jim."

Jim grinned widely and barely kept himself from clapping Spock on the shoulder. He would have done it – it wasn't as if it would be the first time – but he had already touched Spock without permission once today, he wouldn't do it again unless it was necessary. Even though he really wanted to.

"Captain, my instruments show that we've got a message coming in on subspace frequency three, ship-to-ship. I can't hear it though, sir."

Jim sighed and asked, "Are you creating that message, Charlie, or are you blocking one that is coming in?"

Charlie almost looked innocent, except for the hint of sadistic amusement lurking behind the teasing quality in his eyes. "It's my game, Captain. You just have to find out on your own. That's how the game is played, after all. You can have it now, I've locked on course for Colony Five again."

Charlie left and Jim growled, tugging at his hair restlessly. "Dammit, I can't take him on, I can't predict him, and I can't risk him disappearing anybody else! Brat makes me want to take him on though, fuck. I really want to pound his face in."

"That is out of the question, Captain."

Good ol' Spock. Jim had expected a response like that. Although… Hmm… "Wait a minute. I wonder… Spock, has Charlie done away with anybody since he took over completely? He hadn't taken full control over the ship yet when he made Janice disappear."

Spock paused what he was doing, eyes flicking towards Jim as he slowly responded, "As far as I am aware, he has not, although I have not kept track of him completely."

"Well…" Jim mused softly, almost to himself, although he knew everybody currently on the Bridge could hear him, "Maybe he can't disappear anyone any more. It could be that he's overreached himself. This is a big ship we're on. He's taken full control over it. If we could tax his power, say, turning on every device on the ship: every circuit, every light, all of it. Then when he's struggling with that, if I could distract him maybe Bones could tranquilize him, keep him sedated until we get back to Thasus. He can't possibly keep control of the ship if he's unconscious."

Bones scowled at him, "I don't think so, that sounds too risky to me, Jim. We don't know that he hasn't made anybody else disappear, you're just assuming that. Not to mention we don't even know if a tranq would work on him."

"I don't think we have a choice, Bones. I really don't – if we don't do something he will get rid of every single person on board this ship. I refuse to allow that. I refuse."

Charlie appeared in the Command chair, and Jim frowned fiercely at him, moving forward even as Charlie stated, "I can make anyone go away any time I want to. It doesn't matter. You can't do anything to me!"

Jim was standing in front of the chair now, blonde hair tousled from running his hands through it. "Get the fuck out of my chair. Now, Charlie."

His voice, he was proud to hear, was utterly toneless, almost bored. Charlie eyed him and smiled mockingly, "I've got your ship, Captain. You can't do anything about it."

He scoffed and raised his eyebrow, glaring at the teenager, "Maybe, Charlie, but I don't think you can handle any more. In fact, I'm pretty damn sure you've reached your limit right about now, and doubt you can take on even one more thing. But you're gonna have to; you're gonna have to take on me now."

Jim could practically feel Spock's amused disapproval radiating out from him, more amused at the completely intentional pun than disapproval over his actions – maybe this had been inevitable once he came to that realization and Spock could tell? – and Jim smirked, shifting into a ready stance. Charlie was staring at him, and if the kid hadn't been such a blatant psychopath he would have felt bad at the look he received from Charlie. "I could have sent you away before! I could have, but I didn't! Don't make me do it now!"

'Too bad. I was right, he's trying to convince me because he can't handle one more thing, but he's going to have to. I am done letting him have his way!'

Jim stalked forward, growling out, "You've got my ship, and I want it back. I want my crew back, whole and exactly how they were when you changed them or made them disappear. I will get that outcome even if I have to break your neck in order to get it, Charlie. I will not let you hurt anybody else, do you hear me?!"

Jim rushed forward as he said the last and grabbed Charlie by the shirt, throwing him out of the Command chair and watching as he landed on the ground with a thump. The entire room was utterly silent, watching them intently.

Charlie got up and screamed, "Don't push me!"

Jim fell across the chair as Charlie filled his body with pain, fire arcing across his nerves, burning through his veins, boiling his blood. It was agonizing, but Jim stayed silent, refusing to give in, just as he had the last time Charlie did this to him, simply giving the power-mad kid his best death-glare. When it was over he resolutely pushed himself up, ignoring the tremors radiating through his body and the stinging sparks of agony shocking him irregularly, ignoring Charlie's subsequent apology. "Sorry. I'm sorry but I had to teach you. You have to stop it now. I'm the one in control now, not you!"

Suddenly Spock spoke up, and Jim could not mistake the bare hint of satisfaction lacing his voice, "Captain, the navigation console is clear now. The ship is answering the helm."

Then Uhura broke in, "Sir! Something off our starboard bow. The message says they are from Thasus!"

She sounded incredulous, but Jim simply smiled somewhat shakily at Spock. He'd been right. Not that it was a surprise. What was a surprise was Janice Rand appearing right in the middle of the front of the room, blinking in shock as her flowy shirt swayed in a non-existent breeze for just a moment.

Charlie uttered a soft, "Oh no."

Meanwhile Yeoman Rand asked, "Captain? How did I…?"

Jim smiled at her, "It's alright, Yeoman. Spock? Any ideas?"

"Actually, Captain, sensors show that there is something there. The deflectors, however, indicate that whatever is out there has no solid substance."

Sure enough, there was some sort of green energy or something out there. Jim refused to feel any pity as Charlie cried out, "No! No, don't let them take me! I can't live with them any more! You- you're my friends! You said that when I first got here! I just want to go home, just take me home, don't let them take me back there!"

Suddenly a floating, green head appeared on the Bridge. At this point, Jim just couldn't even muster the energy to be surprised. Spock was right about Thasians, of course. Of course they wouldn't show up on scans if they were beings of pure energy. Of course they would have raised Charlie. The being spoke to them, his voice oddly echoing through the Bridge. "I have taken my form from centuries ago, so that I may communicate with you. We did not realize until too late that the boy had gone, and we are saddened that his escape cost the lives of the first ship. We could not help them, but I have returned your people and your ship to you. Everything is as it was, and as it should be."

Jim watched the energy being and Charlie who was now cringing beside his chair. He looked at Spock, who nodded imperceptibly, and sighed. "Let me guess: you are here to take him back?"

The Thasian said, "Yes. If he were to stay among his own kind he would kill them or force them to kill him. There is no other scenario or possible outcome."

Charlie cried out, "No! I'll never do it again! I'll be good, I promise! They can't touch me, I can't feel them, I'll be good, just let me stay!"

Jim shook his head. "I'm afraid that I agree with your friend there, Charlie. You can't be trusted because nobody can contain your power enough to teach you to live normally."

It was a sad fact, but it was the truth. He had wondered what they would ever do with the kid, but this was the kind of opportunity they needed. He glanced at Spock again, and the Vulcan nodded to him again. Good, Spock agreed. This was the only thing to do.

"Thank you for taking him off of our hands, good sir."

Charlie faded out as the Thasian whispered, "You are welcome."

Janice was clearly having difficulty wrapping her head around this. "What just… How…?"

Jim rested a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay, Janice. It's over now. You should go rest."

He turned to face his crew. "Everybody else, check your stations, make sure everything is in proper working order. Uhura, when you're done with that, call the Governor of Colony Five and explain – succinctly – what happened. We'll still stop by there for lack of other orders. Spock, you have the conn. I need a short break; I'll be back soon."

Then he left the room, sighing heavily and walking to his quarters. Maybe becoming a starship Captain was more trouble than it was worth… Nah, he'd get over it. Soon his body would no longer be stinging him, and he would go back to the Bridge and resume his work. Life would go on. It always did.