Fic: Everything Was Beautiful; Nothing Hurt, Chapter 13
Title: Everything Was Beautiful; Nothing Hurt... or Even More Kin and Even Less Kind
Chapter Title: Chapter 13: The Rebellion of the Mole People
Author: katiemariie
Artist: tprillahfiction
Fanmixer: civilbloodshed
Beta(s): subluxate and avsioss
Link to Art: Art
Link to Mix: Fanmix
Word Count: 6k
Elaan had assembled, perhaps, the strangest birthing team in the known universe. There were, of course, the people you would expect to be there: Charlie; the midwife, a Romulan woman; and the doula, an Andorian zhen. By Elasian tradition, Worf, as the parents' closest comrade, was invited to present the baby with a dagger forged by blind virgins-in this case, a five-year-old Ferengi using a replicator. Typically, the Empress of Elas was present at the birth of the next Dohlman and given the placenta to fertilize the royal garden. In this case, T'Pring would have to do. Given the unprecedented nature of this birth-an Elasian had never procreated with a Human before, let alone one with inheritable god-like powers-McCoy and Sybok were allowed in the room as doctor and Vulcan Master, respectively. With that many people, there was hardly enough space for the birthing pool.
“Oh my god, this is disgusting,” Sybok gagged. The midwife shot him the stink-eye. “Not the natural birth part. The standing water.”
“This is unclean,” T'Pring whispered.
“I know. I told her caves were better, but she wouldn't go for it.”
“I don't know what's wrong with a hospital,” McCoy said quietly.
“That's because you're an American... Oh, god. He's going to get in there with her... That's wrong.”
“That's how they got into this mess in the first place.”
T'Pring shivered. “Do they know the sex?”
“No,” McCoy said. “It's too soon to tell. Elasians don't develop primary sex characteristics until puberty. Before then, they just have a urethral opening.”
“What about chromosomal differences? Those surely would have appeared on the genetic tests you performed.”
“Chromosomally, all Elasians are neutrois. Hormones in their food and environment determine what sex characteristics they'll develop.”
“That is highly inefficient.”
“Silence!” Elaan yowled. “I am trying to concentrate.” A moment later, a distinctive splooshing sound came from the tub. Elaan lifted a small, pink infant from the water. Once the midwife clear the baby's nose and mouth, ey screamed like a banshee passing a kidney stone. Elaan wiped a tear from her face, rubbing it on the baby's forehead. She shushed and the crying stopped. “This why we use our tears, not so we can fuck your men.”
“You are so badass,” Charlie said, utterly in awe.
-
“Hey, Grandpa, how's the baby?” Chapel asked as McCoy passed her office.
“Seven pounds, five ounces. Not evil.”
“That's the best we can hope for. Suvin said you got a priority communique from Delta Vega.”
“Delta Vega? Who do I know on Delta Vega?”
-
“I should've known.”
“Someone has to watch what comes through the Ah'rak black hole,” Number One said, her face pixelated on McCoy's vidscreen. “Data would never have come to Sha-Ka-Ree otherwise.”
“How much of my life has been a set-up by you people?”
“Not much of yours, Dr. McCoy. You have the preternatural ability to be in the right place at the right time.”
“Just like how Starfleet just happened to give you Scotty's old job?”
“That wasn't as difficult to arrange as you might imagine. I was the only officer who volunteered for the position.”
“And now you're standing guard over that black hole.”
“Essentially.”
“Then, tell me, how the hell did that psycho kidnapper make it to our planet? Or did you arrange that, too?”
“My powers are limited. If you recall anything Scotty or Keenser have told you about this posting, I am stuck here until Starfleet or Thomas Lester come and get me.”
“You're telling me there wasn't anything you could do?”
“No, not then. Now, however, is a different situation. Two hours ago, a small vessel exited the black hole and landed on Delta Vega, apparently out of fuel. Its passengers claim to be Captain James T. Kirk and Lieutenant Daniel Marcus of the Imperial Starfleet.”
“They're from the Mirror Universe?”
“Yes... I don't know why you people call it that. There are countless parallel universes. It's incredibly arrogant to encounter a universe you deem evil and claim to be its opposite.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I don't know. It's something that has bothered me.”
“Not the name. Why are you telling me about Kirk and Cupcake? Shouldn't you take this sort of thing to high command?”
“We both know that Starfleet cannot be trusted with this information. Even if they do not rush head first into the black hole, Kirk and Marcus will likely be picked apart by the Federation's best scientists. Sha-Ka-Ree is the safest place for them.”
“Why talk to me? Why not T'Pring?”
“Our people have chosen to liaise with you. Try to have someone here to pick them up by 1800 fleet time. I was planning on washing my hair.”
-
This Kirk was more foreign to Elder Spock than any Kirk he had met before. And he had met many. This Kirk looked like a wounded animal, curled defensively into the side of the only Human to ever show him kindness. (T'hy'la in one universe, it seemed, were t'hy'la in all universes. Spock tried to stem the tide of jealousy that realization provoked.) Marcus was less good-humored than Cupcake. He could not imagine this man allowing himself to be called a baked good. Unless it was a particularly ferocious baked good.
“Who's the gimp?” Marcus asked once they had boarded the Squid.
Worf hissed, brandishing his phaser rifle.
“He is, to use a Human expression, my muscle. Worf is to assure that neither of you act on your baser instincts during our short trip.”
“Hey.” Marcus spun Elder Spock's command chair so that their faces mere inches apart. “I don't appreciate being threatened. Especially by a crippled klink and a half-breed geezer.”
“Young man, this klink has more honor and courage in his left heart than you have in your entire circulatory system. And, as for myself, I have traveled to Talos IV three times, died twice, and killed more gods than there are on Mount Olympus. I created the very universe we stand in, ensured the death of Adolf Hitler, and saved the whales. I don't appreciate being threatened.” Elder Spock turned his chair back to the conn. “Sit down.”
-
M'Benga peeled off his gloves. “Surgery went fine. I've reversed any damage the black hole did to their brains.”
“Good.”
He wouldn't meet Elder Spock's eyes as he scrubbed out in the surgery sink. “If the next Kirk that comes out of the black hole is yours, what will you do?”
“Introduce him to my bondmates. I am quite satisfied here, and, as Sybok so kindly reminded me, I am not Jim Kirk's t'hy'la.”
-
Sybok swiveled side to side in his office chair. “So...” He tapped his fingernails on his armrests. “Why'd you come to this universe?”
“There was nowhere left for us to run. The other you sicced the entire fleet on us.”
“I'm sorry to hear that. How did that make you feel?”
“Like we were being hunted down by some sadistic freak with pointy ears.”
“I see. Is my appearance triggering at all for you?” Sybok looked down at Mirror Kirk, who was cowering behind Mirror Cupcake's legs.
“No. You look pretty harmless,” Cupcake answered. “I could eat you for a mid-meal snack.”
“Good. That's... Do you actually eat people?”
-
“I don't see any reason to deny them asylum,” Sybok told T'Pring. “All they're looking for is a safe place to live.”
-
“Hey, Keenser,” Scotty smiled. “You took a long lunch. You and Lieutenant Dish have a little afternoon delight?”
“No, I got a vidcall.”
“Who from?”
“My cousin.” Number One told me Kirk and Cupcake from the Mirror 'verse are on Sha-Ka-Ree. Did I leave the iron on?
“Did ye say somethin'?” Scotty rubbed the back of his head. It hurt something nasty all of a sudden.
“I said, 'My cousin.' Sie vidcalled me.”
“Oh. Back to work then.” He was thinking he would have to go up to sickbay. There was no reason why his head should hurt so bad and now it was like his vision was fading. “Keenser, you mind the store. I'm gonna-”
-
Two weeks later...
The drugs the guards were pumping into his system made it hard to remember how long he had been down there. The whole timeline of events preceding that had gone screwy, too. The longer he was down there the harder it was to remember why he was done there. Sometimes he couldn't even remember his own name.
He knew David. And cupcakes. And he was pretty sure there was a woman involved. A her.
Jim. His name was Jim. He had a son and a partner and they were going to get married in Iowa. (It seemed like he'd been saying that last part for a long time.) But where were they?
“Where's my son?” His shouts echoed cruelly in his cell.
Someone had taken him. A friend who didn't act like a friend, who didn't sound like a friend. Strange. It doesn't work on you here either. Scotty, but not Scottish.
The cell door opened, and Jim braced himself for another round of injections.
“Jim?” A man-tall, lumbering, familiar-stumbled toward him.
“Are you real?”
“Yeah. I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?”
“Okay.” Jim gave the man-Cupcake, Daniel, t'hy'la-the thumbs up.
He was soon hefted over Cupcake's shoulder in a firemen's carry. (Whoever was keeping him here never chained him up. The drugs were enough to keep him plastered to the floor.) “You're safe now. I gotcha.” Cupcake carried him out of the cell into the bright light of the corridor. Working his damnedest against gravity, Jim looked up. There was a yellow man and a woman with a baby.
“David?”
The yellow man stuck him with a hypospray. Why would Cupcake let him do that? The fuzziness that coated his mind began to dissipate.
Jim. His name was Jim. He was captain of the USS Enterprise and he'd been in worse scrapes than this.
“Baby, put me down.” Cupcake set him down onto his feet and kissed him hard. “How long has it been?”
“The Enterprise arrived fifteen planetary days ago,” the yellow man-wait, was that Uhura's robot?-said. “You were imprisoned here shortly thereafter.”
“Who are you?” he asked the woman. “And why do you have a baby?”
“I am Elaan of Sha-Ka-Ree, Dohlman of Elas in exile. My people do not let others mind our children. Perhaps if your people did the same, you would still have your son.”
“Woman, if you weren't holding a baby...”
“We do not have much time,” the robot said. “and we must still rescue the others.”
“What others?”
Elaan smirked. “You'll see.”
-
“Holy shit,” Jim muttered. “Did I get split in two again?”
“No,” the Other Cupcake said, stepping out of his cell. He was carrying the Other Jim like a baby. “I'd swallow arsenic if I came from this bitch ass universe.”
“They are from the Mirror Universe,” the robot explained.
“We're still here. How did they...?”
“Black hole,” Elaan said.
The robot nodded. “It is more common than you would think.”
“Come on. We need to get back to base.”
-
Elaan led them into an underground bunker of some sort. “What the hell is this place? A fall out shelter?” Cupcake asked.
“Approximately, yes,” the robot, Data answered. “This is an anti-spaghettification shelter. If Sha-Ka-Ree is ever attacked in the same manner as Vulcan, the population can take shelter in structures like this and survive being ripped into another universe. It is also a completely man-made structure with psionic shielding. We cannot be detected here.”
“Detected by who?”
“Whom.”
“What?”
“'Detected by whom?' is grammatically correct. To answer your question, we cannot be detected by Mr. Scott, any of the telepaths on-planet, Charles Evans, or Mother Nyota.”
“Motherwhat?”
“Data,” said a woman stepping into the room from one of the many adjoining tunnels. “Go plug in.”
“Yes, ma'am.” Data toddled off. (Jim didn't think robots could toddle.)
The woman smiled. “I'm Guinan.” A small group of Humans came out of the tunnel after her. “This is Kyle, Wyatt, Erin, and Jennifer. They're Deaf.” She signed as she spoke. “When they're in the room, please use FSL as well as Standard.”
“I don't know sign language,” Jim said. “Can they read lips?”
Guinan translated this and waited for their response. “No, you oralist douchebag.”
“Sorry.”
“Who are you people?” Other Cupcake asked.
“We're the resistance.”
-
After figuring out the naming issue (Other Cupcake was Marcus, Cupcake was Cupcake, Other Kirk was Kirk, and Jim was Jim) and Elaan had went off to nurse, Guinan sat them down for hot cocoa. “We're the only people on-planet he hasn't been able to brainwash.”
“And the Enterprise?” Jim asked. “Has he gotten to the entire crew?”
“Yes. For some reason he's keeping the Enterprise in our orbit.”
“Why did he come here? He could have the entire quadrant by now.”
“There are things here that he can't get anywhere else.”
“Have you tried alerting Starfleet Command?”
“Starfleet Command can't help us. The only they can do is send more ships, and he'll do the same thing to them as he did to the Enterprise.”
“I can't believe... This is Scotty we're talking about.”
“That's not what he's calling himself now. According to him, he's Sybok, commander and prophet of the Galactic Army of Light.”
Kirk's head snapped up. “No...”
“That's impossible!” Marcus yelled.
“He said he would find me,” Kirk said, shakily. “Wherever I went, he said he would find me!”
“Kid, calm down,” Guinan said. “Who are you talking about?”
“The Sybok from our universe,” Marcus explained. “He called the Enterprise his Galactic Army of Light.”
“That's probably where Scotty got it from,” Cupcake said. “He heard Sybok say that while he was in the Mirror 'verse. I mean, what's the alternative?”
“Your Scotty is possessed by our Sybok.”
“What?” Jim laughed. “That's impossible!”
“I've been around the universe enough times to know that nothing is impossible,” Guinan said. “Scotty has been possessed by Sybok from the Mirror Universe. That's the only reasonable explanation for why he's calling himself Sybok, leading his army, brainwashing people, and speaking without a Scottish accent.”
That was when Jim remembered. When Scotty took control of the bridge, he didn't have an accent. If he did have an accent, then who the hell was he? “Jesus Christ, they're right. That's not Scotty.”
“He could be putting on an accent,” Cupcake said.
“Scotty would never do that. He said his accent was the only thing keeping the British Crown from taking back Scotland. You remember when we did that Nativity play last Christmas. He wouldn't even drop the accent to play one of the three wise men.”
“Fuck. Evil Sybok has David.”
“Shit. Evil Sybok has David.”
“Who's David?” Marcus asked.
“He's our son,” Kirk said.
“Who's the mother?”
“Your sister.”
“I thought our universe fucked up.”
“It's not-”
A Human woman came in from one of the exterior tunnels, dragging Sarek behind her. She signed something to Guinan.
“Where did you find him?” Guinan said while signing.
“I am in the room,” Sarek said also signing. “You don't have to talk over me.”
Wait. What happened to Sarek's accent? “That's not Sarek.”
“No shit,” Guinan said.
“Sybok must have possessed him, too!”
“I am not possessed.” Not Sarek pulled himself from the woman's grasp. “Whatever that means. I'm Keras, Sarek's identical half-brother.”
“Identical what? When did this happen? I can't keep up with all these new relatives.”
“Don't worry,” Guinan said, placing her hand on Jim's arm. “We have a chart.”
The woman signed. Keras rolled his eyes and translated, “I found him in a spider hole near town hall, hiding like a coward.”
“Thanks, April,” Guinan signed-said. “Can you go bring out the others? They're in pod three.”
April left, and Keras sat on the floor next to Guinan. “I'm guessing those four aren't two sets of identical half-brothers.”
“No, the mean one and the squirrelly one are from another universe. The same one as the man who attacked Spock.”
“Spock was attacked?” Jim asked.
“M'Benga from their universe came through and kidnapped Spock and his kids. It's a long story.”
“What the hell has been going on here?”
Elaan and baby, Data, and the Deaf Humans trudged out of a tunnel. “Everybody take a seat.” Once everyone was settled, Guinan continued. “If we're going to get this planet back, we need to figure out why all of us are immune to Scott-Syb-Scottbok's brainwashing. He showed me my worst memory, tried to absolve me of my pain, and it didn't work. I'm guessing because my people are immune. Elaan?”
“He tried it on me and it worked, but then Iescyr cried and I was normal again.”
“Maybe primal emotions can undue the brainwashing,” Marcus suggested. “If we put people's children in danger, they'll snap out of it.”
“I don't think that is what happened. We were also transported out of our house and into this bunker... My baby is magical.”
Okay.
“He did not even attempt to heal my pain,” Data said, looking almost forlorn. “I do not think he believed I had any.”
“He tried to do me, but he used the wrong memory,” Keras said. “The destruction of Vulcan. That doesn't mean anything to me.”
“That's cold, brother,” Cupcake said.
“He must have tried to brainwash you at the same time as all the other Vulcans,” Guinan guessed. “The only reason he was able to conquer the planet so quickly is his ability to brainwash groups of people with the same worst memory. It doesn't help that much of the planet's population consists of minority groups that were persecuted for centuries on their home planets.”
“We were sitting waterfowl,” Elaan said bitterly.
“And what about you guys?” Guinan said, looking at the Deaf Humans.
“Maybe Scottbok doesn't know sign language,” Jim suggested, “and he couldn't pick through their memories to find the worst one.”
Data interpreted for a middle-aged Deaf man, Kyle, “Other Deaf people were brainwashed.”
“And I can hear and speak Standard,” Jennifer said.
“Why don't you talk then?” Marcus asked.
“I'm Deaf.”
“But you can hear.”
“But I was raised Deaf.”
“What? Did your parents plug your ears?”
“No, I'm Deaf.” She traced a capital D in the air.
“Oh, Deaf.”
“So,” Guinan said, “it's not linguistic. Is there anything else? Are you related in any way?”
“No,” Data interpreted for Wyatt, “but our families all lived in Martha's Vineyard before the tourists took over.”
Data asked, “How long did your families live there?”
Data interpreted, “I do not know. For as long as any of us could remember.”
“Fascinating,” Data said. “Even though you are not related, you could all be in some way genetically similar due to close community of Martha's Vineyard prior to the 20th century.”
Data interpreted for Erin, “Yes, that is why Martha's Vineyard had so many people born Deaf back then. We could be descended those people with hereditary deafness-the people who came up with the language FSL is based on.”
The Deaf Humans exchanged high fives.
“So,” Guinan said, “it could be genetic.”
“You said the entire planet's brainwashed except for us,” Cupcake said. “My sister lives here.”
“Maybe we're immune because we're t'hy'la,” Jim suggested.
“Sukir and Tuvo are t'hy'la and they were brainwashed,” Elaan said.
“Then maybe I have the genes that make me immune and I give Cupcake some kind of immunity.”
“I think we can agree our best guess is its genetic,” Guinan said. “Now, we just need to make a cure using some of your DNA.”
“How do we do that?” Elaan asked.
“I don't know. I'm a bartender. Does anybody...? No.”
“M'Benga from our universe had a vaccine,” Kirk said quietly. “That's how he wasn't brainwashed.”
“We need to stage a prison break, then.”
-
Two days later, Jim was sharing breakfast with his best friend's kidnapper and attempted rapist.
“Why should I help you?”
“He took my son.”
“He takes a lot of people's children.”
“This is your only shot for revenge.”
“Now you're speaking my language.”
-
Sybok reclined lazily in his chair. He took great pleasure imagining it was his father's chair. To take over a man's house was one thing. To steal his favorite chair was another. He spared a glance for Sarek, who was, of course, cowering in the corner right where Sybok left him to relive his worst memories. It's good to be the king.
Worf came to his side. “Commander, should we prepare the Enterprise for your evangelical tour?”
“Not yet. I have business here. You may go back to work.” Sybok returned his chair to the upright position. He could see them better this way: his menagerie of supernatural creatures sitting on Sarek's living room carpet like a bunch of primary schoolers. He had to admit it was unsettling to look at a (dopier, useless, unambitious, eunuch) different version of himself, but, as long as the man was under his control, it didn't concern him. “My children, officers in the Galactic Army of Light, I have a special project for you.” He'd come here to retrieve Kirk and that gorilla of his, but he cast those two aside when he realized what plenty this planet offered. “Using the powers granted to you the light unifies all of existence, I want you to bring my mother, the Madonna, the holy mother of this movement back to life.”
The two Humans masquerading as a star had the good sense to hide their shock, unlike the others. “How?” Charlie, the boy, asked.
“I don't know!” Sybok snapped. “Figure it out amongst yourselves. Pillage Sarek's memories if you have to. Go on, you're dismissed.”
-
“Here it is,” M'Benga said, holding up a vial. “Your cure. Inject with a hypo and they're cured.”
“That will take forever,” Cupcake said. “Can't we just pump it into the air?”
“Uhura controls the weather,” Guinan said. “It would be neutralized in ten minutes.”
“Uhura controls the...? What is she? The great and powerful Oz?”
“Actually,” Data said, “Mother Nyota is a cyborg who controls the planet, which is a giant computer used to imprison members of the Q Continuum, a race of omnipotent aliens.”
“What the fuck is going on on this planet?”
-
With only one vial of antidote and several days before the next batch would be finished, the resistance decided their best option would be to cure one of the people with superpowers (“How many are there?” Cupcake gasped.) and hope they could bring down Scottbok and reverse the brainwashing. Sybok was their first choice, given his skill set and how much easier he would be to kidnap than anyone else. True to their prediction, when Elaan and Cupcake broke into his house to grab him, Sybok was passed out on the floor and didn't wake up until he was back at their base and M'Benga jabbed him with a hypo.
He seemed to struggle internally, his face contorting, grimacing, but then his eyes popped open and he smiled. “Have you heard the good news? The Galactic Army of Light is recruiting new-”
“Why didn't that work?” Elaan demanded, sticking her finger in M'Benga's face.
“I don't know. It works on Vulcans. He could be resisting it.”
“Sybok is the most powerful Vulcan alive,” Data said “and, due to his ability to see other people's worst memories, he has more reason than anyone to remain brainwashed.”
Marcus cursed. “We're fucked! Scottbok is going to come looking for him.”
“He's right,” Guinan said. “Our timeline's been cut in half. We can't afford to be gentle with Scotty's body anymore.”
“I told you from the start that we should kill him,” Elaan said.
“Maybe you were right.”
“Wait,” Jim said. “We can't kill him. He's Scotty. This isn't his fault.”
“We don't have-”
“I won't let you kill a member of my crew!”
“Jim, up until this point, Scottbok has made a point not to kill any of us. But when he hears we kidnapped Sybok? We'll be dead. Or worse. So, if you ever want to see your son again, you'll have to make a few sacrifices.”
“Fine,” he said quietly.
“How do we do it?” Keras asked. “Uhura's defense screen makes phasers inoperable on-planet.”
-
“I feel like Robin Hood,” Cupcake grumbled.
As it turned out, Erin was an avid archery hobbyist. Also, as it turned out, Scottbok retained Sybok's telekinesis and was able to redirect all of the arrows toward Christine Chapel, who was knocked out of the way by Sarek.
-
“What happened?” Guinan asked.
“We accidentally shot Spock's dad,” Jim asked.
“Grandfather?” Data said sadly.
“We're fucked,” Keras interpreted for Erin. “Those were our only arrows.”
“We're all going to die,” Kirk muttered. “He's going to hunt us down like a dog. Hang, draw, and quarter us. Make a suit out of our skin. Use our bones as golf clubs.”
“Have you heard the good news?” Sybok said brightly. “The Galactic Army of Light is recruiting new-”
“Shut up!” Keras roared. “I did not come all the way to this shit hole of a planet to die!” He flipped a switched on the wall, and the live stream from a security camera they set up outside Sarek's house appeared on the wall. “See that! Inside, your bondmate, your son, your father!” He crouched next to Sybok on the floor, grabbing his face so that he had to look at the footage. The image of Sarek's bleeding body reflected in Sybok's eyes.
As he was wont to do in times of stress, Data began to sing. This time a song Sarek taught him. “If you say, 'Come with me off to Massachusetts,' then to Massachusetts we will go. We will buy dishes there, maybe even two-”
Data was interrupted by the sound of Keras' body slamming into the couch. Sybok stood up, clutching his head and no longer smiling. “Why would you do that?” He backed into the corner of the room. “I was happy. Everyone was happy.”
“Psychological trigger,” Guinan explained.
“We need you to help us,” Jim said. “He has our son. He has your son... who I gather is a witch or something.”
“I had my mother.” Tears ran freely down Sybok's face. “I had her katra right in my hands, but you took me away. We were going to bring her back.”
“Tough shit,” Marcus spat. “Your mom's dead. Boo-fucking-hoo. Your father's bleeding to death and you're the only one who can save him.”
“You think it'll be that easy? I just walk in there and...”
“It's your destiny,” Guinan said.
“Fuck you. I'm not your goddamn martyr. I'm not your Vulcan Jesus. I don't have to sacrifice everything that I am for you people.”
“We're not asking you to die.”
“No, you're asking me to kill. I can deal with dying. I've been dead. But I can't live with what you're asking me to do.”
“You killed Trelane.”
“He got better. And I didn't know what I was doing. You know what? I can play Jim Kirk. I can kill all the gods you want, but I cannot kill Scotty.”
“He's not Scotty anymore!” Cupcake snapped. “We smashed the katric ark, because you said it was torture to be kept between this world and the next. What do you think is happening Scotty's katra right now?”
“Don't make this into some errand of mercy.”
Elaan advanced on Sybok, holding her baby out toward him. “Look at Iescyr. Look at your grandbaby. If you don't kill Scottbok, you are killing em.”
Sybok reached out and caressed the baby's forehead. “Ey looks just like my baby.” Sybok turned and walked determinedly toward the exterior tunnel.
“Where are you going?” Guinan called.
“To see Scottbok.”
“One does not simply walk into Sarek's living room,” Keras protested.
“One isn't. Your guys are coming with me.”
-
The surface looked eerily normal. Public transit was still running. Frisbees were being thrown about. Businesses were open. Besides the absence of the sun, there was little indication that an engineer possessed by a Vulcan from another universe had taken over the entire planet. It wasn't long though before Scottbok's mooks caught sight of them and escorted them to Sarek's living room.
“Sybok, you're home.” He smiled. “and you've brought company.”
On the floor was Sybok's father, barely breathing, and his mother, breathing but not alive. Charlie, Uhura, and They Who Speak as One were working over them like Santa's elves right before Arbor Day. (On Arbor Day, the elves delivered Kiebler cookies to the children who reduced their carbon footprint that year.)
“I'm sorry, Scotty.” And Sybok did what came naturally.
He was expecting Joanna to yell at him again, but she just smiled. “Took you long enough.”
“I was detained... What's wrong with him?” Whoever he brought through didn't look like Scotty or Sybok on the other side. He looked like... Scottbok.
“That shouldn't have happened.” Joanna touched Scottbok's shoulder and he split into Scotty and... Sybok's arm?
“What in the name o' god happened tae me?” Scotty yelped. “Am I dead?”
“Kind of. You'll get better.”
“Is that an arm? Do people's arms get cut off in heaven?”
“That,” Joanna kicked at the arm, “is the part of the Mirror Sybok's katra he placed in yours when he took you aside in his universe. A safety precaution or something. Hearing about Mirror Kirk must have activated it.”
“Who cuts off a piece o' their soul and puts it inside somebody else?”
“Voldemort.” Joanna picked up the arm. “I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this.”
“Can I take Scotty back?” Sybok asked.
“Oh, yeah. Sure. Go right ahead.”
When Scotty and Sybok got back to Sarek's living room, things were already looking better. Parents were holding their children, Sarek was getting patched up, his mother was gone, and Mirror M'Benga was back in handcuffs. “See?” Sybok said. “No harm done.”
Jim's face turned grim and he set David down on the floor. “The Enterprise had one casualty.”
“No,” Scotty murmured. “I wouldn't have...”
“Why would he kill anyone?” Sybok asked. “That's not how he works. He brainwashes; he doesn't kill people.”
“This person couldn't be brainwashed,” Guinan said.
Sybok felt his heart stop. Of all the people...
“Who was it?” Scotty demanded, frantic. “Who was it? Tell me!”
“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,” she said.
“Security found hir body in engineering a week ago,” Jim said, solemnly. “Hir neck had been snapped.”
“Tal-shaya,” Mirror M'Benga snickered. “That's how he likes to do it.”
“Keenser? No. No!” Scotty hyperventilated. “I wouldn't have...”
“Scotty.” Uhura grabbed his face. “Listen to me, this is not your fault. This is not your fault.”
“It is. Sie's dead. And I did it with my bare, bloody hands.”
A conversation Sybok had years ago replayed in his mind.
“It is far better to have delusions of grandeur than of mediocrity. You are the most powerful Vulcan since the Enlightenment, but you waste your talent on parlor tricks and tantric sex.”
“Have you been watching me?”
“Yes. I've watched as you've done nothing to aid Mr. Scott. You are the only person on that ship who can ease his pain, but you choose not to.”
“I'm not you. I can't go around brainwashing people. I don't have that-”
“You are the last Vulcan Master. The training of the next generation of telepaths falls on your shoulders. Stop playing assimilationist and take your rightful place.”
“It's not your fault, Scotty,” Sybok said. “It's mine. If I had trained you, if I'd looked at you for more than five minutes-god, I had you in my office! I tested your telepathy! If I had done what I was supposed to do, I might have seen what he had put there, or taught you how to protect yourself, none of this would have happened. I'm so sorry. I can make it to you. I swear, I can make it up to you.”
Jim and Cupcake stepped toward Scotty, uneasy smiles on their faces. “Scotty, we can help you, okay?” Jim said.
“This is just protocol,” Cupcake added. “You won't be in the brig for long. It probably won't ever go to trial.”
“We'll have the boys in blue run some tests. We can fix this. It'll just take time.”
“What are you talking about?” Uhura asked, indignantly. “You're not throwing him in the brig. You're not going to run some tests.”
“I don't like this any more than you do,” Jim said, “but he killed a crew member and hijacked the Enterprise.”
“It wasn't him!”
“I know, but things have to go through the proper channels. We need evidence before we can declare him innocent.”
“Scotty, stand behind me.”
“What?” Scotty asked, still crying.
“If you don't want to go to jail or have Starfleet experiment on you for the rest of your life, stand behind me.”
Scotty stepped behind Uhura. Charlie, Sybok, and They Who Speak as One fell in line with her, forming a living barrier between Starfleet and Scotty.
“Jim, I think it would be best if you left now,” Spock said.
“Guys, this is ridiculous,” Jim said, exasperated. “I'm not the enemy here. We're your friends. We're your best friends. We were in your wedding. Bones, tell 'em. Tell 'em they don't have to be afraid of me.”
“Kid,” McCoy said, gruffly, “that's the problem, they aren't afraid of you.”
-
Several months later...
“Come on, my little padawans,” Sybok said to his four o'clock class. “Everybody who tries their hardest gets candy!”
“I want candy!” Trelane shouted.
Valeris shushed him. “I am trying to concentrate.”
“Sorry.”
Keras, visibly humiliated, caught Scotty's eye. “How can you take this? We're grown men.”
Scotty shrugged, letting his pencil fall to the the ground. “Even grown men like candy.”
-
McCoy watched as Charlie imagined the new subdivision. Twenty new houses all done in El-Aurian style. He grinned at Guinan. “And I suppose y'all just happened to think this was a good place to stay after you spent so much time here?”
Guinan gave one of her enigmatic smiles, her ridiculous hat shading half her face. “So, our motives for helping you weren't completely selfless.”
-
“Victory!” Worf roared.
Pike threw down his racquet. “Calm down, it's just squash.”
“Says the man who lost.”
“What's with you today? You're unusually perky for a Klingon.”
“Valkrell is carrying my son.”
“Congratulations.”
“We will name him Mogh after the most explosive volcano on Qo'noS.” Worf took a long drink from water bottle. “Ahh... May Vina bear you many offspring, as well.”
Pike chuckled. “We're both a little past the age to start having kids.”
“I forget you Humans have such short lifespans. Perhaps that is why your culture has never accomplished anything of worth.”
-
“This really sucks,” Jim said, his brow furrowing on Elder Spock's vidscreen. “Nobody's talking to me. It's like the band broke up.”
“Something similar happened in my timeline. We went our separate ways, but we came back together and things were even better than before.”
“Really?”
“Not at first, of course. In the beginning, everything we did took much longer than necessary. There were these young people in the way... After they died, things improved. Then I died. But when I came back, that was the best time we ever had together.”
“So, you're saying if I'm patient, everything will work itself out.”
“Yes, I suppose that is what I'm saying.”
-
“As I have told you seventeen times already, Sha-Ka-Ree will not allow Federation scientists... You will not revoke our visas, Mister President, and you will not threaten deprive us our security detail while visiting... My family will be in Paris tomorrow evening. We will settle these matters then. Goodbye.” T'Pring hung up her comm and headed back to her seat.
“See that?” Uhura said, pointing out the window. “That's Africa.”
“It is very big,” Data said, awestruck.
“It's a big universe.”
Previous
Chapter Title: Chapter 13: The Rebellion of the Mole People
Author: katiemariie
Artist: tprillahfiction
Fanmixer: civilbloodshed
Beta(s): subluxate and avsioss
Link to Art: Art
Link to Mix: Fanmix
Word Count: 6k
Elaan had assembled, perhaps, the strangest birthing team in the known universe. There were, of course, the people you would expect to be there: Charlie; the midwife, a Romulan woman; and the doula, an Andorian zhen. By Elasian tradition, Worf, as the parents' closest comrade, was invited to present the baby with a dagger forged by blind virgins-in this case, a five-year-old Ferengi using a replicator. Typically, the Empress of Elas was present at the birth of the next Dohlman and given the placenta to fertilize the royal garden. In this case, T'Pring would have to do. Given the unprecedented nature of this birth-an Elasian had never procreated with a Human before, let alone one with inheritable god-like powers-McCoy and Sybok were allowed in the room as doctor and Vulcan Master, respectively. With that many people, there was hardly enough space for the birthing pool.
“Oh my god, this is disgusting,” Sybok gagged. The midwife shot him the stink-eye. “Not the natural birth part. The standing water.”
“This is unclean,” T'Pring whispered.
“I know. I told her caves were better, but she wouldn't go for it.”
“I don't know what's wrong with a hospital,” McCoy said quietly.
“That's because you're an American... Oh, god. He's going to get in there with her... That's wrong.”
“That's how they got into this mess in the first place.”
T'Pring shivered. “Do they know the sex?”
“No,” McCoy said. “It's too soon to tell. Elasians don't develop primary sex characteristics until puberty. Before then, they just have a urethral opening.”
“What about chromosomal differences? Those surely would have appeared on the genetic tests you performed.”
“Chromosomally, all Elasians are neutrois. Hormones in their food and environment determine what sex characteristics they'll develop.”
“That is highly inefficient.”
“Silence!” Elaan yowled. “I am trying to concentrate.” A moment later, a distinctive splooshing sound came from the tub. Elaan lifted a small, pink infant from the water. Once the midwife clear the baby's nose and mouth, ey screamed like a banshee passing a kidney stone. Elaan wiped a tear from her face, rubbing it on the baby's forehead. She shushed and the crying stopped. “This why we use our tears, not so we can fuck your men.”
“You are so badass,” Charlie said, utterly in awe.
-
“Hey, Grandpa, how's the baby?” Chapel asked as McCoy passed her office.
“Seven pounds, five ounces. Not evil.”
“That's the best we can hope for. Suvin said you got a priority communique from Delta Vega.”
“Delta Vega? Who do I know on Delta Vega?”
-
“I should've known.”
“Someone has to watch what comes through the Ah'rak black hole,” Number One said, her face pixelated on McCoy's vidscreen. “Data would never have come to Sha-Ka-Ree otherwise.”
“How much of my life has been a set-up by you people?”
“Not much of yours, Dr. McCoy. You have the preternatural ability to be in the right place at the right time.”
“Just like how Starfleet just happened to give you Scotty's old job?”
“That wasn't as difficult to arrange as you might imagine. I was the only officer who volunteered for the position.”
“And now you're standing guard over that black hole.”
“Essentially.”
“Then, tell me, how the hell did that psycho kidnapper make it to our planet? Or did you arrange that, too?”
“My powers are limited. If you recall anything Scotty or Keenser have told you about this posting, I am stuck here until Starfleet or Thomas Lester come and get me.”
“You're telling me there wasn't anything you could do?”
“No, not then. Now, however, is a different situation. Two hours ago, a small vessel exited the black hole and landed on Delta Vega, apparently out of fuel. Its passengers claim to be Captain James T. Kirk and Lieutenant Daniel Marcus of the Imperial Starfleet.”
“They're from the Mirror Universe?”
“Yes... I don't know why you people call it that. There are countless parallel universes. It's incredibly arrogant to encounter a universe you deem evil and claim to be its opposite.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I don't know. It's something that has bothered me.”
“Not the name. Why are you telling me about Kirk and Cupcake? Shouldn't you take this sort of thing to high command?”
“We both know that Starfleet cannot be trusted with this information. Even if they do not rush head first into the black hole, Kirk and Marcus will likely be picked apart by the Federation's best scientists. Sha-Ka-Ree is the safest place for them.”
“Why talk to me? Why not T'Pring?”
“Our people have chosen to liaise with you. Try to have someone here to pick them up by 1800 fleet time. I was planning on washing my hair.”
-
This Kirk was more foreign to Elder Spock than any Kirk he had met before. And he had met many. This Kirk looked like a wounded animal, curled defensively into the side of the only Human to ever show him kindness. (T'hy'la in one universe, it seemed, were t'hy'la in all universes. Spock tried to stem the tide of jealousy that realization provoked.) Marcus was less good-humored than Cupcake. He could not imagine this man allowing himself to be called a baked good. Unless it was a particularly ferocious baked good.
“Who's the gimp?” Marcus asked once they had boarded the Squid.
Worf hissed, brandishing his phaser rifle.
“He is, to use a Human expression, my muscle. Worf is to assure that neither of you act on your baser instincts during our short trip.”
“Hey.” Marcus spun Elder Spock's command chair so that their faces mere inches apart. “I don't appreciate being threatened. Especially by a crippled klink and a half-breed geezer.”
“Young man, this klink has more honor and courage in his left heart than you have in your entire circulatory system. And, as for myself, I have traveled to Talos IV three times, died twice, and killed more gods than there are on Mount Olympus. I created the very universe we stand in, ensured the death of Adolf Hitler, and saved the whales. I don't appreciate being threatened.” Elder Spock turned his chair back to the conn. “Sit down.”
-
M'Benga peeled off his gloves. “Surgery went fine. I've reversed any damage the black hole did to their brains.”
“Good.”
He wouldn't meet Elder Spock's eyes as he scrubbed out in the surgery sink. “If the next Kirk that comes out of the black hole is yours, what will you do?”
“Introduce him to my bondmates. I am quite satisfied here, and, as Sybok so kindly reminded me, I am not Jim Kirk's t'hy'la.”
-
Sybok swiveled side to side in his office chair. “So...” He tapped his fingernails on his armrests. “Why'd you come to this universe?”
“There was nowhere left for us to run. The other you sicced the entire fleet on us.”
“I'm sorry to hear that. How did that make you feel?”
“Like we were being hunted down by some sadistic freak with pointy ears.”
“I see. Is my appearance triggering at all for you?” Sybok looked down at Mirror Kirk, who was cowering behind Mirror Cupcake's legs.
“No. You look pretty harmless,” Cupcake answered. “I could eat you for a mid-meal snack.”
“Good. That's... Do you actually eat people?”
-
“I don't see any reason to deny them asylum,” Sybok told T'Pring. “All they're looking for is a safe place to live.”
-
“Hey, Keenser,” Scotty smiled. “You took a long lunch. You and Lieutenant Dish have a little afternoon delight?”
“No, I got a vidcall.”
“Who from?”
“My cousin.” Number One told me Kirk and Cupcake from the Mirror 'verse are on Sha-Ka-Ree. Did I leave the iron on?
“Did ye say somethin'?” Scotty rubbed the back of his head. It hurt something nasty all of a sudden.
“I said, 'My cousin.' Sie vidcalled me.”
“Oh. Back to work then.” He was thinking he would have to go up to sickbay. There was no reason why his head should hurt so bad and now it was like his vision was fading. “Keenser, you mind the store. I'm gonna-”
-
Two weeks later...
The drugs the guards were pumping into his system made it hard to remember how long he had been down there. The whole timeline of events preceding that had gone screwy, too. The longer he was down there the harder it was to remember why he was done there. Sometimes he couldn't even remember his own name.
He knew David. And cupcakes. And he was pretty sure there was a woman involved. A her.
Jim. His name was Jim. He had a son and a partner and they were going to get married in Iowa. (It seemed like he'd been saying that last part for a long time.) But where were they?
“Where's my son?” His shouts echoed cruelly in his cell.
Someone had taken him. A friend who didn't act like a friend, who didn't sound like a friend. Strange. It doesn't work on you here either. Scotty, but not Scottish.
The cell door opened, and Jim braced himself for another round of injections.
“Jim?” A man-tall, lumbering, familiar-stumbled toward him.
“Are you real?”
“Yeah. I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?”
“Okay.” Jim gave the man-Cupcake, Daniel, t'hy'la-the thumbs up.
He was soon hefted over Cupcake's shoulder in a firemen's carry. (Whoever was keeping him here never chained him up. The drugs were enough to keep him plastered to the floor.) “You're safe now. I gotcha.” Cupcake carried him out of the cell into the bright light of the corridor. Working his damnedest against gravity, Jim looked up. There was a yellow man and a woman with a baby.
“David?”
The yellow man stuck him with a hypospray. Why would Cupcake let him do that? The fuzziness that coated his mind began to dissipate.
Jim. His name was Jim. He was captain of the USS Enterprise and he'd been in worse scrapes than this.
“Baby, put me down.” Cupcake set him down onto his feet and kissed him hard. “How long has it been?”
“The Enterprise arrived fifteen planetary days ago,” the yellow man-wait, was that Uhura's robot?-said. “You were imprisoned here shortly thereafter.”
“Who are you?” he asked the woman. “And why do you have a baby?”
“I am Elaan of Sha-Ka-Ree, Dohlman of Elas in exile. My people do not let others mind our children. Perhaps if your people did the same, you would still have your son.”
“Woman, if you weren't holding a baby...”
“We do not have much time,” the robot said. “and we must still rescue the others.”
“What others?”
Elaan smirked. “You'll see.”
-
“Holy shit,” Jim muttered. “Did I get split in two again?”
“No,” the Other Cupcake said, stepping out of his cell. He was carrying the Other Jim like a baby. “I'd swallow arsenic if I came from this bitch ass universe.”
“They are from the Mirror Universe,” the robot explained.
“We're still here. How did they...?”
“Black hole,” Elaan said.
The robot nodded. “It is more common than you would think.”
“Come on. We need to get back to base.”
-
Elaan led them into an underground bunker of some sort. “What the hell is this place? A fall out shelter?” Cupcake asked.
“Approximately, yes,” the robot, Data answered. “This is an anti-spaghettification shelter. If Sha-Ka-Ree is ever attacked in the same manner as Vulcan, the population can take shelter in structures like this and survive being ripped into another universe. It is also a completely man-made structure with psionic shielding. We cannot be detected here.”
“Detected by who?”
“Whom.”
“What?”
“'Detected by whom?' is grammatically correct. To answer your question, we cannot be detected by Mr. Scott, any of the telepaths on-planet, Charles Evans, or Mother Nyota.”
“Motherwhat?”
“Data,” said a woman stepping into the room from one of the many adjoining tunnels. “Go plug in.”
“Yes, ma'am.” Data toddled off. (Jim didn't think robots could toddle.)
The woman smiled. “I'm Guinan.” A small group of Humans came out of the tunnel after her. “This is Kyle, Wyatt, Erin, and Jennifer. They're Deaf.” She signed as she spoke. “When they're in the room, please use FSL as well as Standard.”
“I don't know sign language,” Jim said. “Can they read lips?”
Guinan translated this and waited for their response. “No, you oralist douchebag.”
“Sorry.”
“Who are you people?” Other Cupcake asked.
“We're the resistance.”
-
After figuring out the naming issue (Other Cupcake was Marcus, Cupcake was Cupcake, Other Kirk was Kirk, and Jim was Jim) and Elaan had went off to nurse, Guinan sat them down for hot cocoa. “We're the only people on-planet he hasn't been able to brainwash.”
“And the Enterprise?” Jim asked. “Has he gotten to the entire crew?”
“Yes. For some reason he's keeping the Enterprise in our orbit.”
“Why did he come here? He could have the entire quadrant by now.”
“There are things here that he can't get anywhere else.”
“Have you tried alerting Starfleet Command?”
“Starfleet Command can't help us. The only they can do is send more ships, and he'll do the same thing to them as he did to the Enterprise.”
“I can't believe... This is Scotty we're talking about.”
“That's not what he's calling himself now. According to him, he's Sybok, commander and prophet of the Galactic Army of Light.”
Kirk's head snapped up. “No...”
“That's impossible!” Marcus yelled.
“He said he would find me,” Kirk said, shakily. “Wherever I went, he said he would find me!”
“Kid, calm down,” Guinan said. “Who are you talking about?”
“The Sybok from our universe,” Marcus explained. “He called the Enterprise his Galactic Army of Light.”
“That's probably where Scotty got it from,” Cupcake said. “He heard Sybok say that while he was in the Mirror 'verse. I mean, what's the alternative?”
“Your Scotty is possessed by our Sybok.”
“What?” Jim laughed. “That's impossible!”
“I've been around the universe enough times to know that nothing is impossible,” Guinan said. “Scotty has been possessed by Sybok from the Mirror Universe. That's the only reasonable explanation for why he's calling himself Sybok, leading his army, brainwashing people, and speaking without a Scottish accent.”
That was when Jim remembered. When Scotty took control of the bridge, he didn't have an accent. If he did have an accent, then who the hell was he? “Jesus Christ, they're right. That's not Scotty.”
“He could be putting on an accent,” Cupcake said.
“Scotty would never do that. He said his accent was the only thing keeping the British Crown from taking back Scotland. You remember when we did that Nativity play last Christmas. He wouldn't even drop the accent to play one of the three wise men.”
“Fuck. Evil Sybok has David.”
“Shit. Evil Sybok has David.”
“Who's David?” Marcus asked.
“He's our son,” Kirk said.
“Who's the mother?”
“Your sister.”
“I thought our universe fucked up.”
“It's not-”
A Human woman came in from one of the exterior tunnels, dragging Sarek behind her. She signed something to Guinan.
“Where did you find him?” Guinan said while signing.
“I am in the room,” Sarek said also signing. “You don't have to talk over me.”
Wait. What happened to Sarek's accent? “That's not Sarek.”
“No shit,” Guinan said.
“Sybok must have possessed him, too!”
“I am not possessed.” Not Sarek pulled himself from the woman's grasp. “Whatever that means. I'm Keras, Sarek's identical half-brother.”
“Identical what? When did this happen? I can't keep up with all these new relatives.”
“Don't worry,” Guinan said, placing her hand on Jim's arm. “We have a chart.”
The woman signed. Keras rolled his eyes and translated, “I found him in a spider hole near town hall, hiding like a coward.”
“Thanks, April,” Guinan signed-said. “Can you go bring out the others? They're in pod three.”
April left, and Keras sat on the floor next to Guinan. “I'm guessing those four aren't two sets of identical half-brothers.”
“No, the mean one and the squirrelly one are from another universe. The same one as the man who attacked Spock.”
“Spock was attacked?” Jim asked.
“M'Benga from their universe came through and kidnapped Spock and his kids. It's a long story.”
“What the hell has been going on here?”
Elaan and baby, Data, and the Deaf Humans trudged out of a tunnel. “Everybody take a seat.” Once everyone was settled, Guinan continued. “If we're going to get this planet back, we need to figure out why all of us are immune to Scott-Syb-Scottbok's brainwashing. He showed me my worst memory, tried to absolve me of my pain, and it didn't work. I'm guessing because my people are immune. Elaan?”
“He tried it on me and it worked, but then Iescyr cried and I was normal again.”
“Maybe primal emotions can undue the brainwashing,” Marcus suggested. “If we put people's children in danger, they'll snap out of it.”
“I don't think that is what happened. We were also transported out of our house and into this bunker... My baby is magical.”
Okay.
“He did not even attempt to heal my pain,” Data said, looking almost forlorn. “I do not think he believed I had any.”
“He tried to do me, but he used the wrong memory,” Keras said. “The destruction of Vulcan. That doesn't mean anything to me.”
“That's cold, brother,” Cupcake said.
“He must have tried to brainwash you at the same time as all the other Vulcans,” Guinan guessed. “The only reason he was able to conquer the planet so quickly is his ability to brainwash groups of people with the same worst memory. It doesn't help that much of the planet's population consists of minority groups that were persecuted for centuries on their home planets.”
“We were sitting waterfowl,” Elaan said bitterly.
“And what about you guys?” Guinan said, looking at the Deaf Humans.
“Maybe Scottbok doesn't know sign language,” Jim suggested, “and he couldn't pick through their memories to find the worst one.”
Data interpreted for a middle-aged Deaf man, Kyle, “Other Deaf people were brainwashed.”
“And I can hear and speak Standard,” Jennifer said.
“Why don't you talk then?” Marcus asked.
“I'm Deaf.”
“But you can hear.”
“But I was raised Deaf.”
“What? Did your parents plug your ears?”
“No, I'm Deaf.” She traced a capital D in the air.
“Oh, Deaf.”
“So,” Guinan said, “it's not linguistic. Is there anything else? Are you related in any way?”
“No,” Data interpreted for Wyatt, “but our families all lived in Martha's Vineyard before the tourists took over.”
Data asked, “How long did your families live there?”
Data interpreted, “I do not know. For as long as any of us could remember.”
“Fascinating,” Data said. “Even though you are not related, you could all be in some way genetically similar due to close community of Martha's Vineyard prior to the 20th century.”
Data interpreted for Erin, “Yes, that is why Martha's Vineyard had so many people born Deaf back then. We could be descended those people with hereditary deafness-the people who came up with the language FSL is based on.”
The Deaf Humans exchanged high fives.
“So,” Guinan said, “it could be genetic.”
“You said the entire planet's brainwashed except for us,” Cupcake said. “My sister lives here.”
“Maybe we're immune because we're t'hy'la,” Jim suggested.
“Sukir and Tuvo are t'hy'la and they were brainwashed,” Elaan said.
“Then maybe I have the genes that make me immune and I give Cupcake some kind of immunity.”
“I think we can agree our best guess is its genetic,” Guinan said. “Now, we just need to make a cure using some of your DNA.”
“How do we do that?” Elaan asked.
“I don't know. I'm a bartender. Does anybody...? No.”
“M'Benga from our universe had a vaccine,” Kirk said quietly. “That's how he wasn't brainwashed.”
“We need to stage a prison break, then.”
-
Two days later, Jim was sharing breakfast with his best friend's kidnapper and attempted rapist.
“Why should I help you?”
“He took my son.”
“He takes a lot of people's children.”
“This is your only shot for revenge.”
“Now you're speaking my language.”
-
Sybok reclined lazily in his chair. He took great pleasure imagining it was his father's chair. To take over a man's house was one thing. To steal his favorite chair was another. He spared a glance for Sarek, who was, of course, cowering in the corner right where Sybok left him to relive his worst memories. It's good to be the king.
Worf came to his side. “Commander, should we prepare the Enterprise for your evangelical tour?”
“Not yet. I have business here. You may go back to work.” Sybok returned his chair to the upright position. He could see them better this way: his menagerie of supernatural creatures sitting on Sarek's living room carpet like a bunch of primary schoolers. He had to admit it was unsettling to look at a (dopier, useless, unambitious, eunuch) different version of himself, but, as long as the man was under his control, it didn't concern him. “My children, officers in the Galactic Army of Light, I have a special project for you.” He'd come here to retrieve Kirk and that gorilla of his, but he cast those two aside when he realized what plenty this planet offered. “Using the powers granted to you the light unifies all of existence, I want you to bring my mother, the Madonna, the holy mother of this movement back to life.”
The two Humans masquerading as a star had the good sense to hide their shock, unlike the others. “How?” Charlie, the boy, asked.
“I don't know!” Sybok snapped. “Figure it out amongst yourselves. Pillage Sarek's memories if you have to. Go on, you're dismissed.”
-
“Here it is,” M'Benga said, holding up a vial. “Your cure. Inject with a hypo and they're cured.”
“That will take forever,” Cupcake said. “Can't we just pump it into the air?”
“Uhura controls the weather,” Guinan said. “It would be neutralized in ten minutes.”
“Uhura controls the...? What is she? The great and powerful Oz?”
“Actually,” Data said, “Mother Nyota is a cyborg who controls the planet, which is a giant computer used to imprison members of the Q Continuum, a race of omnipotent aliens.”
“What the fuck is going on on this planet?”
-
With only one vial of antidote and several days before the next batch would be finished, the resistance decided their best option would be to cure one of the people with superpowers (“How many are there?” Cupcake gasped.) and hope they could bring down Scottbok and reverse the brainwashing. Sybok was their first choice, given his skill set and how much easier he would be to kidnap than anyone else. True to their prediction, when Elaan and Cupcake broke into his house to grab him, Sybok was passed out on the floor and didn't wake up until he was back at their base and M'Benga jabbed him with a hypo.
He seemed to struggle internally, his face contorting, grimacing, but then his eyes popped open and he smiled. “Have you heard the good news? The Galactic Army of Light is recruiting new-”
“Why didn't that work?” Elaan demanded, sticking her finger in M'Benga's face.
“I don't know. It works on Vulcans. He could be resisting it.”
“Sybok is the most powerful Vulcan alive,” Data said “and, due to his ability to see other people's worst memories, he has more reason than anyone to remain brainwashed.”
Marcus cursed. “We're fucked! Scottbok is going to come looking for him.”
“He's right,” Guinan said. “Our timeline's been cut in half. We can't afford to be gentle with Scotty's body anymore.”
“I told you from the start that we should kill him,” Elaan said.
“Maybe you were right.”
“Wait,” Jim said. “We can't kill him. He's Scotty. This isn't his fault.”
“We don't have-”
“I won't let you kill a member of my crew!”
“Jim, up until this point, Scottbok has made a point not to kill any of us. But when he hears we kidnapped Sybok? We'll be dead. Or worse. So, if you ever want to see your son again, you'll have to make a few sacrifices.”
“Fine,” he said quietly.
“How do we do it?” Keras asked. “Uhura's defense screen makes phasers inoperable on-planet.”
-
“I feel like Robin Hood,” Cupcake grumbled.
As it turned out, Erin was an avid archery hobbyist. Also, as it turned out, Scottbok retained Sybok's telekinesis and was able to redirect all of the arrows toward Christine Chapel, who was knocked out of the way by Sarek.
-
“What happened?” Guinan asked.
“We accidentally shot Spock's dad,” Jim asked.
“Grandfather?” Data said sadly.
“We're fucked,” Keras interpreted for Erin. “Those were our only arrows.”
“We're all going to die,” Kirk muttered. “He's going to hunt us down like a dog. Hang, draw, and quarter us. Make a suit out of our skin. Use our bones as golf clubs.”
“Have you heard the good news?” Sybok said brightly. “The Galactic Army of Light is recruiting new-”
“Shut up!” Keras roared. “I did not come all the way to this shit hole of a planet to die!” He flipped a switched on the wall, and the live stream from a security camera they set up outside Sarek's house appeared on the wall. “See that! Inside, your bondmate, your son, your father!” He crouched next to Sybok on the floor, grabbing his face so that he had to look at the footage. The image of Sarek's bleeding body reflected in Sybok's eyes.
As he was wont to do in times of stress, Data began to sing. This time a song Sarek taught him. “If you say, 'Come with me off to Massachusetts,' then to Massachusetts we will go. We will buy dishes there, maybe even two-”
Data was interrupted by the sound of Keras' body slamming into the couch. Sybok stood up, clutching his head and no longer smiling. “Why would you do that?” He backed into the corner of the room. “I was happy. Everyone was happy.”
“Psychological trigger,” Guinan explained.
“We need you to help us,” Jim said. “He has our son. He has your son... who I gather is a witch or something.”
“I had my mother.” Tears ran freely down Sybok's face. “I had her katra right in my hands, but you took me away. We were going to bring her back.”
“Tough shit,” Marcus spat. “Your mom's dead. Boo-fucking-hoo. Your father's bleeding to death and you're the only one who can save him.”
“You think it'll be that easy? I just walk in there and...”
“It's your destiny,” Guinan said.
“Fuck you. I'm not your goddamn martyr. I'm not your Vulcan Jesus. I don't have to sacrifice everything that I am for you people.”
“We're not asking you to die.”
“No, you're asking me to kill. I can deal with dying. I've been dead. But I can't live with what you're asking me to do.”
“You killed Trelane.”
“He got better. And I didn't know what I was doing. You know what? I can play Jim Kirk. I can kill all the gods you want, but I cannot kill Scotty.”
“He's not Scotty anymore!” Cupcake snapped. “We smashed the katric ark, because you said it was torture to be kept between this world and the next. What do you think is happening Scotty's katra right now?”
“Don't make this into some errand of mercy.”
Elaan advanced on Sybok, holding her baby out toward him. “Look at Iescyr. Look at your grandbaby. If you don't kill Scottbok, you are killing em.”
Sybok reached out and caressed the baby's forehead. “Ey looks just like my baby.” Sybok turned and walked determinedly toward the exterior tunnel.
“Where are you going?” Guinan called.
“To see Scottbok.”
“One does not simply walk into Sarek's living room,” Keras protested.
“One isn't. Your guys are coming with me.”
-
The surface looked eerily normal. Public transit was still running. Frisbees were being thrown about. Businesses were open. Besides the absence of the sun, there was little indication that an engineer possessed by a Vulcan from another universe had taken over the entire planet. It wasn't long though before Scottbok's mooks caught sight of them and escorted them to Sarek's living room.
“Sybok, you're home.” He smiled. “and you've brought company.”
On the floor was Sybok's father, barely breathing, and his mother, breathing but not alive. Charlie, Uhura, and They Who Speak as One were working over them like Santa's elves right before Arbor Day. (On Arbor Day, the elves delivered Kiebler cookies to the children who reduced their carbon footprint that year.)
“I'm sorry, Scotty.” And Sybok did what came naturally.
He was expecting Joanna to yell at him again, but she just smiled. “Took you long enough.”
“I was detained... What's wrong with him?” Whoever he brought through didn't look like Scotty or Sybok on the other side. He looked like... Scottbok.
“That shouldn't have happened.” Joanna touched Scottbok's shoulder and he split into Scotty and... Sybok's arm?
“What in the name o' god happened tae me?” Scotty yelped. “Am I dead?”
“Kind of. You'll get better.”
“Is that an arm? Do people's arms get cut off in heaven?”
“That,” Joanna kicked at the arm, “is the part of the Mirror Sybok's katra he placed in yours when he took you aside in his universe. A safety precaution or something. Hearing about Mirror Kirk must have activated it.”
“Who cuts off a piece o' their soul and puts it inside somebody else?”
“Voldemort.” Joanna picked up the arm. “I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this.”
“Can I take Scotty back?” Sybok asked.
“Oh, yeah. Sure. Go right ahead.”
When Scotty and Sybok got back to Sarek's living room, things were already looking better. Parents were holding their children, Sarek was getting patched up, his mother was gone, and Mirror M'Benga was back in handcuffs. “See?” Sybok said. “No harm done.”
Jim's face turned grim and he set David down on the floor. “The Enterprise had one casualty.”
“No,” Scotty murmured. “I wouldn't have...”
“Why would he kill anyone?” Sybok asked. “That's not how he works. He brainwashes; he doesn't kill people.”
“This person couldn't be brainwashed,” Guinan said.
Sybok felt his heart stop. Of all the people...
“Who was it?” Scotty demanded, frantic. “Who was it? Tell me!”
“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,” she said.
“Security found hir body in engineering a week ago,” Jim said, solemnly. “Hir neck had been snapped.”
“Tal-shaya,” Mirror M'Benga snickered. “That's how he likes to do it.”
“Keenser? No. No!” Scotty hyperventilated. “I wouldn't have...”
“Scotty.” Uhura grabbed his face. “Listen to me, this is not your fault. This is not your fault.”
“It is. Sie's dead. And I did it with my bare, bloody hands.”
A conversation Sybok had years ago replayed in his mind.
“It is far better to have delusions of grandeur than of mediocrity. You are the most powerful Vulcan since the Enlightenment, but you waste your talent on parlor tricks and tantric sex.”
“Have you been watching me?”
“Yes. I've watched as you've done nothing to aid Mr. Scott. You are the only person on that ship who can ease his pain, but you choose not to.”
“I'm not you. I can't go around brainwashing people. I don't have that-”
“You are the last Vulcan Master. The training of the next generation of telepaths falls on your shoulders. Stop playing assimilationist and take your rightful place.”
“It's not your fault, Scotty,” Sybok said. “It's mine. If I had trained you, if I'd looked at you for more than five minutes-god, I had you in my office! I tested your telepathy! If I had done what I was supposed to do, I might have seen what he had put there, or taught you how to protect yourself, none of this would have happened. I'm so sorry. I can make it to you. I swear, I can make it up to you.”
Jim and Cupcake stepped toward Scotty, uneasy smiles on their faces. “Scotty, we can help you, okay?” Jim said.
“This is just protocol,” Cupcake added. “You won't be in the brig for long. It probably won't ever go to trial.”
“We'll have the boys in blue run some tests. We can fix this. It'll just take time.”
“What are you talking about?” Uhura asked, indignantly. “You're not throwing him in the brig. You're not going to run some tests.”
“I don't like this any more than you do,” Jim said, “but he killed a crew member and hijacked the Enterprise.”
“It wasn't him!”
“I know, but things have to go through the proper channels. We need evidence before we can declare him innocent.”
“Scotty, stand behind me.”
“What?” Scotty asked, still crying.
“If you don't want to go to jail or have Starfleet experiment on you for the rest of your life, stand behind me.”
Scotty stepped behind Uhura. Charlie, Sybok, and They Who Speak as One fell in line with her, forming a living barrier between Starfleet and Scotty.
“Jim, I think it would be best if you left now,” Spock said.
“Guys, this is ridiculous,” Jim said, exasperated. “I'm not the enemy here. We're your friends. We're your best friends. We were in your wedding. Bones, tell 'em. Tell 'em they don't have to be afraid of me.”
“Kid,” McCoy said, gruffly, “that's the problem, they aren't afraid of you.”
-
Several months later...
“Come on, my little padawans,” Sybok said to his four o'clock class. “Everybody who tries their hardest gets candy!”
“I want candy!” Trelane shouted.
Valeris shushed him. “I am trying to concentrate.”
“Sorry.”
Keras, visibly humiliated, caught Scotty's eye. “How can you take this? We're grown men.”
Scotty shrugged, letting his pencil fall to the the ground. “Even grown men like candy.”
-
McCoy watched as Charlie imagined the new subdivision. Twenty new houses all done in El-Aurian style. He grinned at Guinan. “And I suppose y'all just happened to think this was a good place to stay after you spent so much time here?”
Guinan gave one of her enigmatic smiles, her ridiculous hat shading half her face. “So, our motives for helping you weren't completely selfless.”
-
“Victory!” Worf roared.
Pike threw down his racquet. “Calm down, it's just squash.”
“Says the man who lost.”
“What's with you today? You're unusually perky for a Klingon.”
“Valkrell is carrying my son.”
“Congratulations.”
“We will name him Mogh after the most explosive volcano on Qo'noS.” Worf took a long drink from water bottle. “Ahh... May Vina bear you many offspring, as well.”
Pike chuckled. “We're both a little past the age to start having kids.”
“I forget you Humans have such short lifespans. Perhaps that is why your culture has never accomplished anything of worth.”
-
“This really sucks,” Jim said, his brow furrowing on Elder Spock's vidscreen. “Nobody's talking to me. It's like the band broke up.”
“Something similar happened in my timeline. We went our separate ways, but we came back together and things were even better than before.”
“Really?”
“Not at first, of course. In the beginning, everything we did took much longer than necessary. There were these young people in the way... After they died, things improved. Then I died. But when I came back, that was the best time we ever had together.”
“So, you're saying if I'm patient, everything will work itself out.”
“Yes, I suppose that is what I'm saying.”
-
“As I have told you seventeen times already, Sha-Ka-Ree will not allow Federation scientists... You will not revoke our visas, Mister President, and you will not threaten deprive us our security detail while visiting... My family will be in Paris tomorrow evening. We will settle these matters then. Goodbye.” T'Pring hung up her comm and headed back to her seat.
“See that?” Uhura said, pointing out the window. “That's Africa.”
“It is very big,” Data said, awestruck.
“It's a big universe.”
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