"Tomorrow" part 2/2, K/S fic, Star Trek XI
Title: Tomorrow
Pairing: Kirk/Spock
Word count: 9,079... -ish
Genre: pre-slash, uh, adventure?
Summary: My response to this prompt posted on st_xi_kink.
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post the second part of the story. I'm working on my M.A. paper at the moment and because of a mess up at the University I had to re-write and re-think my whole paper. And it sucks, if anybody asks me. :( Anyway, here's the second part of the fic. I hope it's at least half as good as the previous part and it won't be much of a disappointment. And again, sorry for butchered grammar and for all the broken laws of physics. ::bows and offers chocolate cookies::
“Wait! Wait-…” McCoy paced the room, running his hands through his hair, and dragging a palm over his face awfully frequently. “So, basically, you’ve been hanging out with a dead person and didn’t realize that the guy might actually be dead already. And you realized something was not right only five hours after he died... again?” the human stopped pacing just to glare at Spock. This was not happening. He believed in ghosts, sure. And he liked to think that Jim was still with them, on this ship, because it was the only way he could cope with death of his friend. But the situation at hand was just… it was…
The First Officer looked up from the floor he’s been studying for the last several moments.
“That is not a precise description of what happened.”
McCoy glared again.
“Yes.” Spock simply said. “Despite the inaccuracy of your statement, yes, this would be almost correct.”
The doctor rolled his eyes and huffed. He started pacing again, thinking, thinking hard. He sighed, ran his fingers through his hair again and spun around to point at Spock narrowing his eyes.
“No…” he growled. He didn’t like this game at all. Whatever Spock was on about, it must have been some kind of a joke. “You’re shittin’ me. You made this story up. Are you actually expectin’ me to believe you? I know Vulcans are insensitive bastards but I didn’t suspect you’d be so-“
“Please calm down, doctor.” Spock’s cool tone seemed to have an effect on McCoy who snapped his mouth shut and let his arm fall to his side, but his eyes were still narrowed dangerously.
“I met a person who claimed his name was Lt. Kirk and I did, as you put it, ‘hang out’ with him. There was no reason for me to believe that he might lie to me or that he might be…” Spock hesitated. “A ghost. Lt. Kirk seemed to be very much alive and solid which is not usually questioned among your kind while encountering other human beings. I was not familiar with the story of James T. Kirk who was your friend, therefore I did not have any reasons to suspect anything abnormal about Lt. Kirk.” Spock was still sitting in his chair, almost in the same position, one elbow propped on the table’s edge, the other hand folded on his lap. His expression also hadn’t changed, although one could hear hints of different emotions in his voice.
McCoy didn’t have time or patience to focus on Spock. His head was spinning, his hands shook and he couldn’t seem to stop in one place for more than half a second.
“I realized something might not be right only several minutes ago, when I wasn’t able to find Lt. Kirk’s name on the list of the crewmembers. I would have blamed it on the system malfunction, if you didn’t tell me the story of the ship’s suppositious ghost.” Spock folded his arms across his chest and leaned back on the chair.
The human was silent for quite some time. He finally stopped in one place, hands fisted painfully at his sides. His shoulders looked tense and Spock wondered for a short second, how a human face could look much older in a blink of an eye if certain conditions were provided.
It could also look much younger - a phenomenon he observed while spending time with his mother and recently - with Jim. If either of them was content, their features would soften accordingly. Spock found Kirk’s expressions particularly fascinating.
“This is just too much for me.” McCoy murmured. “We buried Jim last year. Or, at least, an empty coffin with his name engraved on its side. We mourned him. We grieved. And finally, finally when I found the peace of my mind, something like this happens.” He makes an unidentified gesture in the air. “Are you sure you weren’t imagining things?” he asked hopefully and his voice broke a bit making the doctor sound vulnerable.
“Doctor McCoy, Vulcans do not ‘imagine’ things. We act on logic and we believe in facts. We do not believe in ghosts. I never expected to meet a person who doesn’t actually exist anymore, let alone to befriend them.”
“This is just too weird. Haunted ship, strange things happening and now you, telling me, that you talked and made friends with a ghost. I can’t believe that I actually believe you. In some twisted, inexplicable way, I believe you.”
The Vulcan nodded once.
McCoy was most illogical of all humans Spock has encountered. The human seemed to be accepting anything out of ordinary, believing that is was his friend’s ghost. This faith was blind and full of trust, with no need for a proof. But once the proof was delivered, the belief faded.
Spock watched the doctor carefully. He would have analyze the case further, but it wasn’t time for studying human behavior of logic. They were already overdue for the staff meeting.
“What do we tell them?” McCoy asked, as Spock stood up and took the disk with the report. The report was not approved, but Spock downloaded the unauthorized copy anyway. “I mean, you did mention Jim’s name in you report. You tried to get it approved and Pike will get a notification about the failure. We can’t keep it a secret now.”
McCoy was right. And indeed, Spock did intend to relay the same report to their Captain. Illogical as it may seem, there was the slightest chance that the Captain might accept the report and believe in Spock’s version of the past six hours.
***
Captain Pike listened carefully to each report, amazed that no one reported any damage. The energy which was lost during Arkhnar’s attack was restored, however nobody could explain what happened exactly.
It seemed as if the ship absorbed the necessary power on its own will.
“I did not manage to run a full diagnostics. There were other priorities that needed to be attended to.” Spock said calmly. “The initial analysis indicates that the Enterprise not only survived an attack which should have damaged the ship beyond repair. This vessel fed on the alien energy and the process caused no errors or anomalies in the flow of the power in Enterprise’s circuits.”
“Other anomalies than the one you just described, is that what you mean Mr. Spock?”
“That is correct, Captain. I will investigate this phenomenon further as soon as possible.”
The captain regarded his First for a short while. The Vulcan was the only one on this ship, who believed that science can explain even the most unusual things.
“Mr. Scott, how does the situation look from your end?”
“It is quite disturbing, captain.” Scotty squirmed in his seat. “The engines are at full capacity and there are no problems with the energy flow between the systems. But honestly, I’m afraid to do anything in this moment. We gained the energy in a way which broke almost all of the laws of physics.”
Chekov cleared his throat and spoke.
“I noticed a small, almost undetectable spike while the energy was being drained from the attack. It was neither our or Arkhnar’s energy signature. And it wasn’t sucked in with the rest of the power. It behaved like a buffer of some sorts, however it was located in the immediate area between the shield and the energy from the pirates’ cannons.”
“Affirmative. I did manage to detect a unrecognizable energy which is stored in the shield buffer at the moment. Just as a precaution.” Spock confirmed turning towards the captain.
Pike nodded, acknowledging the information.
“Will we be able to run tests on it?”
“Yes, Captain. I would like to ask the Ensign to forward as many information as he could gather about the shields.” Spock inclined his head towards the young navigator who nodded eagerly.
“I’ll do it right away when I get back to my station.”
“Thank you.” Pike nodded at Chekov. “Mr. Sulu, I would like you to analyze phasers’ uncontrolled attack. As soon as you find something out of ordinary, contact Mr. Spock.”
“Yes sir.”
“Mr. Scott.”
“Aye?”
“I believe your expertise would be very helpful to Mr. Spock during the tests on the energy.”
“Aye, sir. I don’t have anything else to do down there in the engineering room. In some twisted way everything works as it should, or even better, which is beginning to be a wee bit scary. There are only some burnt circuits but fixing that doesn’t require my personal attention.”
Silence filled the room. They all have been the best from the best, yet they still were at loss.
Pike cast a quick glance around. So far, nobody panicked, although you could almost sense the fear on the ship.
Sulu and Chekov exchanged quick glances, probably a little scared. Their reports matched and there was no discrepancy between them. Whatever has happened recently, their readings were the same.
Chekov did seem a little bit pale. The Captain blamed it on the stress. He couldn’t blame the Ensign. He was still a kid.
McCoy was sitting quietly, listening to Spock’s words. The Captain assumed the Medical Officer already heard the Vulcan’s version, since he didn’t argue or comment as he would usually do, and he mourned the loss of their companion. McCoy always took deaths among the crew the hard way. He was their doctor and their friend, he was supposed to save lives.
Pike closed his eyes for a short time. There will be time for grief. Right now they had to solve the problem at hand.
“Gentlemen, I understand that this is a very complicated and unusual situation, however I strongly believe that we have to do everything we can to solve this problem.” The Captain’s voice was harsh.
They all nodded quickly, unspoken fear still hanging in the air.
Pike wanted to call them to order because there was never anything worse than a Captain whose crew slipped out of control.
“Mr. Spock, I want the report and the results of the tests as soon as possible.” He added, maybe even too sternly. “Dismissed.”
The room filled with noise and soft murmurs. Pike didn’t move from his heat. He waited for them to leave, so he could think in silence. He rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes.
They were in a very complicated position.
Everybody here believed in the bloody ghost. But nobody was crazy enough to admit to it. Or to voice their opinion about Arkhnar’s attack.
They were fortunate enough that the energy didn’t damage the Enterprise from the inside and that they weren’t in danger at the moment. But the very fact that the Enterprise’s systems were malfunctioning, reasons unknown, might lead them to the loss of the ship. The Starfleet might want to withdraw the Enterprise from the space exploring program for security reasons, and Pike wasn’t ready for this. Enterprise became a home for most of the crew and they simply couldn’t lose her.
“May I have a word with you, Captain?” Spock’s voice brought Pike back from his own thoughts and fears. He looked up to see the Vulcan standing in front of him. Dr McCoy was lingering in the room, still sitting in his chair.
“Of course. What is it?”
“I believe I have experienced most unusual thing.” Spock stated, clasping his hands behind his back.
Captain Pike snorted.
“I think we all have.”
“You misunderstand, Captain.” Spock tilted his head slightly. Pike noticed McCoy standing up and walking closer to them and standing next to Spock.
“I’m here to speak about my report. I believe you have received notification about a failed attempt to submit it.”
“Yes, yes I did, but I hardly had time to check it carefully. Nobody else managed to submit their report yet, Mr. Spock, we all were quite busy for the past several hours.”
“That is not the case, Captain. The report was rejected because of incorrect name of the man who died in the tube after opening the valve.”
Pike fell silent.
“His name was Kirk.” McCoy growled impatiently.
Pike’s eyes snapped open as he looked at the other man.
“What?”
“The man who died today. He introduced himself as Lt. James T. Kirk.”
“Is this some kind of a bad joke?” the Captain stood up from his chair and regarded Spock and McCoy with a piercing look. Here he was, knowing that there was no logical explanation but refusing to admit their resident ghost had something to do with the whole situation. And those two did it for him. They pronounced Kirk’s name like it was most natural thing to do.
It was quite fascinating, Spock wondered. Humans tended to believe in ghosts, but when given a proof or when told a true story that confirmed their beliefs, they suddenly suspended their beliefs. Truly fascinating.
“Vulcans do not have a sense of humour, Captain.” Spock answered genuinely. “Neither does Dr McCoy.”
The doctor growled low in his throat and looked at the Vulcan, narrowing his eyes.
“And what do you have to say, doctor? As far as I know you were in the sickbay the whole time. You couldn’t have seen the person who died today.”
“No, but I can confirm that the crew’s status has not changed since yesterday’s check. The Enterprise detects exactly 428 lifesigns on the ship. If somebody died, I would have received a notification from Enterprise sensors by now.”
Pike turned to Spock.
“Sensors may be wrong. We did receive quite a lot of energy in an unknown way. It could cause some system malfunctions.” He said and before Spock could reply he continued, “Are you sure? Did you even consider the possibility that the person might be another crew member who simply lied about their name?”
“I did, Captain.” Spock tilted his head. “However it would not be wise to give a false name to a person who is a superior officer. Not for a longer period of time. Besides no one has reported any casualties. If anything happened to one of the crewmembers, others would notice a missing person.”
“Longer period of time?” Pike frowned, folding his hands on the table before him.
“I met James Kirk precisely 3.15 months ago. It would be highly illogical of him to use a different name.”
“And illegal if performed without an authorization of a superior officer.” McCoy added. Spock raised his eyebrow. It was rare to hear Dr. McCoy cite regulations and Spock paid extra attention to remember this moment so that he could tell that to Jim tomorrow.
In the same moment he remembered that he will not be able to play chess with Jim anymore. He froze. His heart made a strangest thing he’s ever felt and the Vulcan decided to ask Dr. McCoy for full physical later in the day.
“Three months ago?” Pike asked in a small voice. It brought Spock back from his thoughts.
“Three point fifteen.” Spock corrected the Captain. “We engaged in a game of chess quite frequently, when we both were off duty.”
“You.” The captain pointed at Spock. “Played chess. With Kirk.”
“That is correct, Captain.”
“And Kirk was in the tube when the valve was opened.”
“Yes.”
Pike turned away from Spock and made several steps towards the back of the room then stopped, turned around and walked back. His shoulders were tense.
“He seemed alive.” Spock continued. “I didn’t have any suspicions until doctor McCoy told me the story of a Lieutenant who lost his life over a year ago due to a transporter malfunction.”
They told the Captain what happened in the science lab before they came to the conference room and Pike could only listen and hang his head low.
People were telling many different and scary ghost stories about the Enterprise and Pike considered half of them true, but he never witnessed anything out of ordinary other that minor system malfunctions or energy spikes. Usually the problems were solved quickly by Mr. Scott, or they disappeared just as unexpectedly as they showed up. But they never were as obvious and complicated as what he heard today.
And quite frankly, it was disturbing to know that despite all odds, Spock’s words sounded logical to him.
Vulcan reason and logic, those were things that probably never malfunctioned. Although Dr McCoy would probably argue.
Spock handed him the disc with the report.
“This is my detailed report of the events starting from Arkhnar’s first attack, until the moment he was captured.”
Pike looked at the disk and felt numb. He was a Captain of a starship. He had to act accordingly. The Starfleet wanted facts and numbers and he couldn’t give them a ghost story.
“Mr. Spock, could you please run the tests we spoke about before? This is our priority at the moment.” He finally said and tried to sound self-confident. “We need to report to Starfleet as soon as possible.”
“And what about Jim?” McCoy asked fervently, giving the Captain a very nasty look. Pike remembered vaguely that Kirk and McCoy were friends back in the Academy.
“We will investigate the matter once we send initial reports to the Starfleet. I suspect they will check the reports first and only then they will ask for further explanations. I will try to buy us more time, gentlemen.” He ran his hand down his face.
He didn’t remember the last time he was so tired.
“I’ll tell Mr. Sulu to go through the security cameras’ records. There has to be some explanation for Kirk’s appearance. If it was Kirk at all.” He murmured the last sentence under his breath. He looked at the other two men and sighed.
“There’s not much I can do right now for you, gentlemen.”
Spock nodded and McCoy gave him a wry smile. He left them in the conference room and went to the bridge. He had a ship full of ghosts and unknown energy to command.
***
McCoy was sitting in his chair in the office.
The sick bay was mostly empty. Only Chapel and some other nurse were there, cleaning up after a busy day and preparing clean sheets and instruments for the next day, just in case.
The doctor had some time for himself. His shift was over but he didn’t feel like going to his quarters. He wasn’t sleepy, but he couldn’t focus on anything else. His mind kept going back to Jim.
He remembered that day when they both got assigned to Enterprise. Jim was excited but also proud of himself. If he didn’t know better, he’d say that Kirk was boasting.
McCoy never trusted machines, even if some of them, like in the sickbay, saved human life. He insisted Jim should go first, but the young Lieutenant wanted to draw out the moment and almost forced the doctor to go first.
He beamed up and he never saw Jim again.
His pride, the contentment he felt because of Enterprise, vanished.
No, he didn’t blame himself. It was Kirk’s fault. If the damn kid didn’t insist that McCoy should go first, he’d be alive.
“Damnit, Jim.” He sighed.
It hurt, because he’d imagined this a thousand times before. He imagined Jim tried to contact with him by the energy spikes and malfunctioning door. He thought that if Jim ever came back to haunt them, he’d contact with McCoy. Obviously, the green-blooded hobgoblin seemed more interesting to Kirk than an old friend from the Academy.
On the other side, though, it did sound exactly like the Jim. Try to do the impossible, no matter what.
“Way to go Jim.” He sighed and reached for the half empty glass of bourbon.
Besides, Kirk was always trouble. Back at the Academy, and, apparently, even after his death. The kid just couldn’t let go when he was obsessed with something. But the question was, what was Jim’s obsession now?
***
The tests were a very long and very complicated process. Mr. Scott did his best to run the analysis thoroughly. Spock analyzed the logs and the data gathered by the main computer, but his mind kept wandering off to other logs. He more than often thought about quickly checking the records from the tube, but the only thing that prevented him from doing that were Captain’s orders.
So he followed the readings and compared them with the records and kept thinking about Jim and about the fact that he might never see him again. There was no point in showing up after one’s death. Especially when you were already dead in the first place. What would have happened to a dead human who died again?
Humans insisted they had souls, but it was never possible to prove it. Human souls were more of a belief than a fact. The recent events made Spock wonder, if it was possible that human soul was real, if it was anything like a vulcan katra.
Spock closed his eyes and shook his head. He wasn’t getting anywhere with his tests. He had to meditate at least for a short time to clear his mind.
He looked at the screen and decided to depart as soon as the is finished with the current readings.
“Mr. Spock,” Scotty’s voice caught Spock’s attention. “I’ve found a strange signature in the energy that was supposed to be transferred from the transporter to shields.”
“I can see it here in my readings too, Mr. Scott.”
“I know you can see it, Spock, but can you translate it?” Scotty’s voice held a hint of pride and satisfaction. Spock looked up from his screen and after a moment of consideration walked towards the computer occupied by the chief engineer.
“Here,” the human pointed at the screen happily. “I isolated the energy signature and run a series of tests on it. I launched a translating program and this is what showed on my screen.”
Spock looked at the screen. Then at Scotty and again at the screen. This was not possible.
“Transporter’s beta copy?”
“Aye.”
“What made you use the translating program?”
“Ach, it was by mistake, you see. I launched it out of habit. I usually do this with every new piece of technology we receive from newly met species. Just in case it is something familiar.”
Spock would roll his eyes but his Vulcan part allowed him to only raise his eyebrow.
“At least we’re getting somewhere, aren’t we?” Scotty grinned.
“Indeed.” Spock answered and watched the code that was running on the screen. The figures went too fast for him to read, but he was able to make out few fragments which did look logical.
“The same energy was redirected to the shields and I believe this is the same energy we store in the shield buffers at the moment.” The Vulcan quickly checked the records. “Yes, it is the same energy.”
“The one that powers up the transporter shouldn’t have this signature.”
“I agree, Mr. Scott. Let’s find out what this code is, exactly, before running tests on the energy itself.”
“Aye.” Scotty agreed happily.
Spock gave him a quick look.
It seemed he had to postpone his meditation.
***
“The problem is, Captain, we don’t know what kind of information this energy pattern holds. We can’t risk duplicating another crew member.”
“I understand, Mr. Scott. But we can’t get rid of it too. If we let it mix with other energy it may cause more problems. And we can’t exactly erase or delete it, can we?”
Scotty flinched and frowned.
“If the energy is indeed a copy of a crew member? That would be murder, Captain!” his voice betrayed the same feelings Captain Pike had.
They were on the bridge and other crew members heard their conversation. Sulu was glancing at them every now and again over his shoulder.
“What options do we have?” The Captain asked, ignoring the way the others were watching them.
Scotty looked at Spock, who looked back. Pike noticed they were being quiet for a bit too long and turned away from the screen.
“Well…” Mr. Scott starter and seemed to be at loss of words. Spock continued, though.
“There is a possibility.” Spock waited for Captain Pike to say anything, but when the human stayed quiet he continued. “If we manage to transfer the energy from shield buffers to the transporter we will be able to read the code and at least determine what information it holds.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“The only possible place for this energy is in the transporter buffer. The same place the beta copy of the transported material is held. If the information is stored for too long in the transporter’s buffer, automatic re-materialization might occur. We cannot redirect the energy elsewhere because it could mix with the power in other circuits and it will be almost impossible to track it and separate it.”
Captain Pike sighed and looked at the screen before him. When he was called to the science lab he expected to hear something more optimistic.
“The transfer to the transporter is very risky, Captain. The information that the code contains can be anything.” Scotty said softly.
Pike looked at both of them. A Vulcan and a human. Standing there, straight faces and being all professional. But he knew that they were both dying to do this, to read the code and to know what it was.
This strange energy absorbed other energy and acted as a buffer and a shield by itself, without any other supporting systems. It seemed to act on its own volition.
Captain Pike thought hard for a moment. If they suspended the tests, the Starfleet scientists will want to test it themselves. The Enterprise would have to turn around and head back to the nearest possible rendezvous point to hand over all the details.
If Spock and Scotty proceed with the tests now, they ship might be in a great danger. Depends on what information the strange energy carries. And Captain Pike had his own suspicions.
“Mr. Scott, can we disable the transporter while transferring the energy.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that. The buffer works between the transporter pad system and the control panel. If it loses the balance, we may face some additional problems.”
“Captain?” Spock knew that expression on the Captain’s face. It was the same one that he saw on Jim’s face every time they played chess, when the human would make a risky move.
“Mr. Spock, how much time would you have before the automatic re-materialization starts?”
“Approximately five to six minutes. It will not be enough, however.” Spock watched as the Captain sank back in his chair and pinched at the base of his nose.
“There is another way.” Chekov’s voice cut the silence which fell on the bridge.
“Chekov?” Pike opened one eye and looked at the young navigator.
“The energy left a trace in Enterprise sensors and systems. We were able to find its signature. We can trace it back to where and when it was created in the transporters circuits. This way there will be no risk of re-materialising.”
Pike turned to Spock. The Vulcan nodded.
“Ensign Chekov is right. It is possible to trace the signature back to the origin point and then compare it with transporter logs. This way we will be able to at least determine whose beta copy was stored as energy and the process will be much safer for us and for the ship.”
“Alright then. Chekov?”
“Yes sir?”
“I want you to assist Mr. Spock. It’s your idea anyway.”
“Yes sir!”
***
The re-tracing of the energy’s signature was much longer than they at first expected. They had to check every log backwards, and then find the previous log, just to find out that they need to check the log before, and the log before that one.
McCoy was one impatient human and he kept bothering Spock almost every day for the next two weeks. Spock could understand McCoy’s impatience. They were supposed to work on ghost-Kirk’s appearance as soon as the matter of the energy is solved, but the tests were taking too long to complete for the doctor’s liking.
“Please, understand, doctor. I am doing everything that I can. Finding out what happened to Jim is also very important for me. He was your friend at the Academy, but he also became my friend.”
McCoy huffed and glared at Spock.
“I believe you, Mr. Spock, but I have a strange feeling that if we don’t hurry up, we will lose Jim forever. And I can’t wait any longer. I need to know if there is anything we can do to help him. If there’s any way we can bring him back.”
Spock wondered, how was it possible that McCoy accepted Jim’s existence as a ghost so quickly and how easily the other man believed that they could save him.
“Dr. McCoy, if there is even a chance that Jim has an eternal soul, that it is even remotely similar to katra - then it is my responsibility to find it and bring him back.”*
McCoy nodded. They spoke the other day about Jim’s ghost and Spock shared his theory about Jim’s katra with the doctor. But they couldn’t do anything at the moment. Spock was preoccupied with re-tracing the energy signature.
Even Sulu didn’t make any progress even though he did find all security records from that moment when Spock decided to open the valve himself. The video showed Spock talking to someone in the tube, but the other person was hidden from the camera’s range.
Sulu rewound the recording slowly, in hopes that they will at least see the man who entered the tube. Unfortunately, about thirty seconds of footage was lost because of an energy spike which must have interrupted the camera’s work at the moment. It happened shortly after Spock showed up at the tube.
Spock asked the pilot to check other cameras, giving the precise date, hour and place of his previous meetings with Kirk.
“I’m sorry, Commander. It seems that all of the videos were affected by energy spikes in the circuits or other disturbances. There simply is no way to retrieve the video.”
Spock nodded but said nothing. It was an interesting case of energy spikes.
“Mr. Spock?”
“That will be all, Mr. Sulu. Complete the report and submit it to the Captain.”
“Yes sir.”
The Vulcan straightened and turned around to leave the bridge. He needed to meditate, to calm down his thoughts. His mind was full of questions, equations, theories and possible explanations, but at this very moment none of them was making sense to him.
Energy spikes were causing the security cameras’ to malfunction every time he met with Kirk. The same energy spikes started shortly after Kirk’s death.
Spock frowned. He walked into his quarters and took his boots off. He sat down on the nearest chair and closed his eyes.
Strange energy behavior caused recharge of the engines and it powered up the shields. Energy. It was all about energy which seemed to constantly mess with the ships settings and circuits.
Spock cleared his mind and started the meditation process.
***
“Captain, the ship detected an ion storm ahead of us.” Sulu informed.
Pike leaned back on the chair, feeling slightly irritated. Apparently this month was not lucky for Enterprise. Meteor showers, pirate attacks, problems with the shields and now this.
“It’s stronger than the last one we have encountered, but with the shields up we will be safe.”
Chekov looked at his friend and then turned to the Captain, his face serious.
“Captain, the energy that we’re retracing is still stored in the buffer. If we raise the shields now, the buffer will be reset and we may lose all the information.”
Captain Christopher Pike closed his eyes and resisted the urge to swear, shout and throw things. He still was the captain. Even if this was the worse month on Enterprise he’d ever had.
“What are our chances without the shield?”
“Without the shields, the ship will be severely damaged. Enough to disable the engines and warp systems. Also it is possible that the ion storm will mess up with life support on the ship.”
“How much time do we have?”
“An hour at most.”
Captain Pike turned to communications station.
“Uhura, contact with Mr. Spock and tell him to come to the bridge. I believe he will have something to say in this matter.”
“Yes sir.” Lt. Uhura turned back to her communications panel and hailed Spock’s quarters.
***
Spock opened his eyes, startled by some strange sensation tugging at his mind. He felt it before, but it wasn’t that intense. Yet, he couldn’t recognize it. It was as if his mind was trying to remember something very important on its own.
He frowned, closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side, concentrating on this single sensation.
It was gone within several seconds since he felt it. Spock opened his eyes and focused on the matter of the energy with signature of a beta copy. He hoped his mind was clear enough for him to approach the problem from different angle.
He froze when a theory he considered insane and illogical began to make more sense to him now.
“Jim!” he whispered rather to himself and stormed out of his quarters. If his theory was true, then dr. McCoy was right. They had little time to save Jim.
He walked towards the lab they were using to re-trace the energy signature and ignored surprised looks from the humans he passed by.
The lab was empty which was quite fortunate for Spock. He launched the program that was used to re-trace the energy signature and entered a precise time and date to bring up the transporter logs from the very moment when Jim Kirk was being beamed up.
He compared the transporter’s energy flow before and after the failure of the beaming process. Spock squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get his emotions under control.
He was right. McCoy was right.
He flinched, startled, when the communicator’s soft sound filled the lab.
“Bridge to Spock.”
“I’m on my way.” He answered not even bothering to wait for any further orders. He had to talk to Captain right now and nothing was more important than the discovery he has just made.
***
The door opened and Spock entered the bridge.
“Captain, you might be interested in the results of our tests-“
“Not now Mr. Spock.” Pike cut in and waved at the screen in front of them. “We have an ion storm to survive and I’m afraid we won’t be able to avoid it.”
Spock stopped in his track, right next to the Captain’s chair and looked at the screen. He suddenly felt hot wave flowing down his back. Then, it was freezing cold and hot again.
“We can’t raise the shields, Captain!” Spock turned to captain Pike.
“We have to. The storm is too strong. I’m afraid we will have to abort the tests and save the ship.” the Captain smiled at Spock sadly. “I know that the buffer will be reset and the energy will be erased, but in order to survive, we have to do this.”
“No!” Spock’s answer surprised the Captain and the rest of the bridge crew. It wasn’t normal for Spock to show his emotions an right now, he was almost projecting them to everyone present in the room.
“This energy is a beta copy of a human! This is Lt. Kirk, stored in that buffer!” Spock all but shouted and grasped the chair’s armrest. “We can’t kill him now!”
McCoy chose this moment to enter the bridge.
“What?” the doctor almost tripped on the stairs and barely held his balance. “Damnit, Spock! What the-“
Pike stood up and walked to the pilot’s control panel. He looked at the screen where the readings and information about the ion storm appeared. He took a deep breath and turned back towards Spock.
“What do you mean, Mr. Spock?”
“The beta copy stored in the shield buffer, is, in fact, Lt. Kirk’s beta copy.”
“Do you know how crazy this sounds?” Pike walked back to Spock and watched the Vulcan carefully. “The beta copy was never created. Kirk dematerialized and all information was lost. Besides, what made you think that it might be him?”
“Ever since the accident, there were multiple malfunctions reported by the crew. Most of the malfunctioning systems and devices did not need any maintenance, as they started working properly shortly after the problem occurred.”
McCoy snapped his fingers, suddenly getting the way the Vulcan was thinking.
“Yes! Yes! The energy spikes, door opening and closing, computers showing wrong information!” the doctor waved his finger at the Captain. “Shields! Arkhnar. Phasers!”
Spock nodded with approval.
“It all started soon after Kirk’s supposed death. Instead of tracing the signature back in logs, I checked the exact report and readings where the transporter malfunction was logged. The energy with beta copy signature was created exactly when Kirk was beamed.”
“How is that even possible?” Sulu wondered, and gave the Vulcan a quick glance.
“We don’t have time for explanations right now. We have to do something before the storm reaches us. Chekov, check the transporter logs and confirm if Mr. Spock’s theory is correct.”
Pike looked at McCoy, who was shaking with all the excitement. The doctor was probably the only one who didn’t really believed in Kirk’s death. The Captain gritted his teeth. He had to think fast.
“Confirmed, Captain.” Chekov’s voice sounded a bit shaky, but nobody could blame him.
“Sulu, slow down the ship to full stop. We have to buy ourselves as much time as possible.”
“Yes sir!”
“I will try to transfer Jim from the buffer to the transporter.” Spock said. He was already at his station, starting the process.
“Good. Dr McCoy - “
“I will prepare medical team and we’ll be in the transporter room in no time.” And with that, the good doctor left the bridge, already on his way to the sickbay.
Pike smiled and nodded. This month might have been the worst in his life, but the Enterprise crew was the best crew he’s ever worked with.
“Captain, the engines are not responding.” Sulu reported. “I’m not able to power them down. The ship will not stop.”
“Emergency power down.”
“Non responsive, Captain. The Enterprise is flying on her own.”
Shit.
“We’re gaining speed.” The pilot’s voice held a small amount of panic.
“How much time before we’re in the storm’s range?”
“At this speed?” Sulu did quick calculations. “We have less than ten minutes.”
“I am having serious difficulties with extracting Jim from the buffer. He’s resisting.” Spock said, and his fingers squeezed the edge of the science panel. The process of transferring Jim to the transporter was more similar to a game of hide and seek between Spock and the energy still stored in the buffer.
Chekov’s gasp attracted Pike’s attention.
“Captain, shield activation sequence has just started.”
“It’s Kirk.” Sulu whispered. “But what is he doing?”
“He will die if the shields are activated!” Chekov hit the controls trying to abort the sequence but with no success.
“No.” Spock growled and almost slammed at the controls on his panel, desperate to get any response from the system.
“The ship gained more speed. We’ll be in the storm’s range within 40 seconds.” Sulu reported.
“Sulu!”
“I’m doing all I can, Captain but the ship simply does not respond to any commands. Kirk has control over it right now.”
“He wants to kill himself.” Chekov said quietly. “He doesn’t know we can save him.”
Spock stopped torturing the science station and turned in one swift move towards the main screen, where he could see the shield activation sequence was completed.
“No! Jim, no!” he whispered.
The shields activated and several seconds after that they were hit by the first wave of the storm.
Spock felt helpless.
The buffer was reset. Any information stored there was lost.
“The engines stopped.” Sulu reported. “We’re in the middle of the storm.”
Spock didn’t know if it was logical to hate shields that protected them, but he didn’t care right now. He hated the shields with all his Vulcan heart.
“Mr. Spock, I believe you would like to see this.” Chekov’s voice interrupted Vulcan’s thoughts. He really didn’t want to see anything at the moment, but he approached the navigator anyway and looked at the readings.
“He didn’t want to kill himself. He wanted us to bring him back.” The Ensign looked at the Captain and explained. “The ship performed a scan for lifesigns on its own. It detected one lifesign stuck in the shields.”
Spock’s heart swelled suspiciously.
“Captain,” he said calmly. “I know what he is planning. We have to remain in the storm’s area for as long as possible.”
“I don’t understand.” Pike shook his head and pinched the base of his nose. “Wasn’t he supposed to be dead?”
“Jim is energy right now. He’s an intelligent energy. He left the buffers split second before the shield activated. It will be much less complicated to extract him from the shields.” Spock turned and walked towards the door. “If you would accompany me to the transporter room, sir?”
Pike turned to the pilot.
“Mr. Sulu, you have the conn. Hold the position inside the storm’s range and wait for further orders.”
“Yes sir.”
***
McCoy was already in the transporter room when they arrived.
“What’s taking you so long, Spock?” To say the doctor was nervous would be an understatement. He drummed his fingers impatiently on the tricorder he was holding.
“We’re in the middle of the ion storm.” Spock simply announced and powered up the transporter.
“What?”
“As I have already explained to Captain Pike, Jim took over the Enterprise and led us here, so that we could extract him. He’s in the shields right now and I believe he will come on his own to the transporter circuits as soon as they are activated.”
“Spock, you said yourself we’re in the middle of the ion storm. We can’t use the transporter. It will simply not work!”
“That is correct, doctor. And this is the exact reason why Jim needs to be transferred right now.”
Spock grabbed his communicator and hailed the engine room.
“Mr Scott, please cut off all the circuits on the way from shield generator to the transporter room.”
“Aye, commander Spock!”
“I think I understand.” Pike said slowly and turned to McCoy to explain. “As far as I understand, Kirk is a bunch of energy mixed with beta copy from transporter room. We can’t rematerialize him like that because the energy might interfere with particles which determine Kirk’s body.”
The transporter’s control panel lit up as the power flowed through the circuits. Mr. Scott announced shortly that all the interfering circuits and systems were separated from the main route which Jim should be taking.
Spock disabled the transporter’s buffer, and Pike carried on.
“The ion storm is the only moment when a certain amount of data can be stored in the transporter’s circuits without the risk of automatic re-materialization. Like you said, the transporter will simply not work and only here we can separate the beta copy from the energy that carried it for the last year or so.”
“Exactly, Captain.” Spock nodded and McCoy raised his eyebrows.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Captain, we have detected changes in the shields. The energy, the lifesign, it’s flowing through shield generator’s systems into Enterprise’s internal circuits!”
“Thank you, Mr. Chekov. Do not interfere. That’s an order.”
“Yes, sir!
McCoy resumed the nervous drumming on the poor tricorder. Captain Pike clasped his hands behind his back, just like Spock did on multiple occasions, but he couldn’t stop himself from snapping them every several seconds.
Spock looked at the two humans standing right next to him and raised an eyebrow, fascinated by their nervousness.
A short noise made by the control panel was the signal that the energy was successfully transferred to the transporter’s system.
Pike took the communicator and hailed the bridge.
“Mr. Sulu, what’s the status?”
“The shields are holding. No immediate danger so far, Captain.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sulu. Carry on.”
“What now?” McCoy barked. It was more than obvious that the doctor couldn’t wait for Jim to be rematerialized.
“I need to separate the energy from the beta copy it carried.” Spock declared, and his eyes never left the control panel.
“What are the chances that it will work?”
“If the Jim’s signature is separated from the energy, it will be approximately 97,35% of chance that Jim will rematerialize intact.”
“And if it’s not separated?” McCoy asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“I cannot predict the results in this case, Doctor. Jim might be rematerialized but his body might be damaged. Or his mind, or he might not rematerialize at all. But I believe none of this will happen. Separating beta copy from the energy is a quite simple process. However…” Spock fell silent and kept working on the energy stored in the system.
“However?” Pike queried.
“Beta copy hold only the information the transporter gathered when Jim was dematerialized.” The Vulcan’s hands stilled on the console and he looked at the Captain and then at the Medical Officer.
“Jim was a sentient and intelligent mix of lifeform and energy. He was conscious and able to make his own decisions. Anything that happened since the accident with the transporter, any memories and experiences, are held by the energy.
“Simply speaking, when Jim rematerializes, he will have no memories of the past year. For him it will be just as if the transporter never malfunctioned.”
McCoy felt sudden sympathy for the pointy eared hobgoblin. There was only Jim, only one person the Vulcan could call a friend, as far as the doctor was aware. And Spock was losing the friend any way, dead or alive, it didn’t matter.
“Is there any other option?”
“No.” Spock answered shortly and his voice was amazingly calm and collected.
“Captain, the storm is moving on. It’s too fast for us to keep up.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sulu.” Pike turned to Spock. “What about the beta copy?”
Spock nodded and activated the transporter pad.
“I’ve successfully separated it from the energy and it’s already saved in the buffer. We can leave the storm’s area.”
“Mr. Sulu, thrusters on full. Take us away from the storm.”
“Yes sir!”
They felt the ship shaking slightly from the effort to leave the storm, and suddenly everything calmed down.
The transporter pad powered up and they saw a figure appearing before them.
“Jim!” McCoy gasped.
Lt. Kirk rematerialized and fell to the ground, unconscious.
“Jim!” McCoy was on the pad in a heartbeat. Even Spock couldn’t be that quick, but the First Officer followed the doctor anyway.
Spock kneeled next to the man lying on the floor of the pad. Jim looked exactly the same as he remembered. Maybe he was a little bit paler, but Spock didn’t notice any other differences. Even if Jim’s ghost was his hallucination, it was an extremely accurate hallucination.
He managed to brush Jim’s fingers with his own before medical team barreled in and took Kirk to the sickbay.
***
They were in McCoy’s office, waiting for the doctor’s report on Kirk. “How is he, doctor?”
“Still unconscious. But otherwise, he’s fine. I assume that such a long time spent as a pile of energy was a little bit too much for him and his nervous system was a bit overloaded, so to speak, but he will recover. Quite soon, I presume.”
“Mr. Spock, what’s the status of Enterprise systems and circuits?”
“Surprisingly well, Captain. No further malfunctions were reported. Also, the energy spikes stopped at the same time when Lt. Kirk was rematerialized.”
“So what happened in the first place? What caused all this problems?” Pike asked, and McCoy looked expectantly at the Vulcan. Spock tilted his head and cleared his throat.
“The transporter had been upgraded shortly before you, doctor, and Lt Kirk were scheduled to be beamed up to Enterprise. The upgrade was processed incorrectly and it caused a buffer lapse exactly in the moment when Lt Kirk was being beamed. The beta copy was created, but it was saved in the circuits as an energy. It all happened within 0.012 seconds but it was enough to save the beta copy in the wrong place. Once the buffer was restored, it looked as if all the data was lost. Lt Kirk existed as an energy, locked in the circuits.”
“So why didn’t he try to get out sooner? Why did he wait so long?”
“He simply was not able to do it sooner. If not for Arkhnar’s attack, he would be still imprisoned in the ship’s systems. There was no direct connection between the shields systems and the rest of the Enterprise. When we tried to transfer the energy from the transporter to the weapons, the action opened a route to the shields. Jim took advantage of that, saved the ship and gave us a chance to save him.”
“So,” McCoy started. “This thing with ion storm was also Jim’s plan?”
“Not all of it. We would be able to extract the beta copy eventually, but the storm was an obstacle. At least I considered it to be an obstacle. Lt. Kirk saw it as an opportunity. Very original thinking, I must say. Even if he doesn’t remember it now.”
“Sounds like Jim all right.” McCoy commented. "What about the ghost you said you were playing chess with?"
"I'm afraid I won't be able to answer your question, doctor. There is a slight possibility that humans posses something distinctly similar to Vulcan katra. It is, however, difficult to prove. Some Vulcans have telepathic abilities. It is much more probable that I could see Jim's image because of my abilities. Still, I am unable to determine what happened exactly."
Pike smiled softly and averted his gaze from the two men sitting on the other side of the table.
“So, no more ghosts on the Enterprise, huh?”
McCoy sighed and smirked.
“I have to admit it was fun to have a ghost on the ship.” The doctor murmured.
Spock looked at them and agreed silently. The ghost of James T. Kirk made him feel happy, even if it was only for a short period of time.
“Doctor McCoy, Lt. Kirk has just woken up.” Chapel’s voice came through and broke the easy silence which fell between the three men in the office.
They all rushed to the sickbay, anxious to see Kirk awake. Spock stayed one step behind the captain and the doctor, knowing that Jim will simply not recognize him.
“Bones!” The Lieutenant was struggling with nurse Chapel. She tried to make him lay down while he tried to get up.
“Damnit, Jim!” the doctor snapped but he was grinning and soon he enveloped Jim in a hug that knocked air from Kirk’s lungs. “Good to see you, kid.”
“Whaa-?“
Nurse Chapel stepped away from the bed making space for the Captain and the First Officer.
Jim frowned when captain Pike slapped him on the back and said “It’s good to see you alive, Lieutenant.”
Lt. Kirk lost all his will to fight with nurses and fell back on the bed, frowning at McCoy.
“Bones, what’s going on? You look like shit, man.”
McCoy barked a short laugh.
“But it’s not me lying on the bed in the sickbay.”
“Would you mind telling me what the hell happened? One moment I’m in the transporter, ready to be beamed up and the next one I’m in the sickbay. Was there a transporter malfunction?”
McCoy snorted.
“You could say that kid.”
***
Jim Kirk stood at Spock’s door, not really sure if he would be welcome here. He heard some pretty strange stories about his supposed deaths (plural!) and about how he saved the ship and then he was saved by the Vulcan scientist.
He still couldn’t get over the fact that it was actually one year later, that he was beamed not only in place, but also in time. How creepy was that? And they were saying something about ghosts and stuff, and Kirk really stopped listening, because this was just too much for him.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Enter.” He recognized Spock’s deep voice coming from behind the door.
The door opened and he stepped hesitantly into Spock’s quarters.
It was hot inside, but Kirk could manage. He stepped further inside and the door swished closed behind him, cutting off any possible escape.
“Lt. Kirk. What can I do for you?” Spock stood in the middle of the room, his hand clasped at the small of his back.
“Actually, I…” Kirk started but he forgot what he wanted to say as the Vulcan stepped closer. Not close enough to shake hands, but still, it was pretty close.
“They say you saved my life. I wanted to thank you.”
Spock tilted his head slightly.
“It was not just me.” He answered. “Mr. Scott, Ensign Chekov and Lt. Sulu also had their share in saving you. You should thank them as well.”
“Yeah, I already did that.” Kirk rubbed the back of his neck. Man, this was way more difficult than he expected. “The thing is… They all say that if not for you, nobody would be able to do anything to help me. So, thank you. I owe you, big time.”
“You’re welcome, Lietenant. But remember that you saved the ship, even if you do not have any memory of that. I would say we are even, as humans put it.”
Spock didn’t show any emotion, but Jim could bet his life that he saw something change in the other mans’ eyes. He smiled at the First Officer and held out his hand.
“Okay, we’re even.”
Spock nodded and reached out to shake Kirk’s hand.
Jim felt extreme warmth of the skin beneath his fingers and he felt an outburst of relief and hope building up in his chest. It calmed down when their hands disconnected, but the hope was still there, although he was pretty sure it wasn’t his own emotion. He frowned mentally and noted to himself to find as much information on Vulcans as possible.
“So, Bones says you play 3D chess. I thought… Since I’m off duty for three more days, maybe we could have a game or two?”
Spock tilted his head.
“That would be most welcome, Lieutenant.” He answered and Jim grinned.
“Tomorrow sounds okay?” Jim had a distant feeling of Déjà Vu.
“Tomorrow sounds perfect.” Spock agreed.
And it was. It really was.
The End.
Edit:
*Dr. McCoy, if there is even a chance that Jim has an eternal soul, that it is even remotely similar to katra - then it is my responsibility to find it and bring him back. This sentence is so totally a remix of Kirk's words in 'Star Trek 3: Search for Spock."
Pairing: Kirk/Spock
Word count: 9,079... -ish
Genre: pre-slash, uh, adventure?
Summary: My response to this prompt posted on st_xi_kink.
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post the second part of the story. I'm working on my M.A. paper at the moment and because of a mess up at the University I had to re-write and re-think my whole paper. And it sucks, if anybody asks me. :( Anyway, here's the second part of the fic. I hope it's at least half as good as the previous part and it won't be much of a disappointment. And again, sorry for butchered grammar and for all the broken laws of physics. ::bows and offers chocolate cookies::
“Wait! Wait-…” McCoy paced the room, running his hands through his hair, and dragging a palm over his face awfully frequently. “So, basically, you’ve been hanging out with a dead person and didn’t realize that the guy might actually be dead already. And you realized something was not right only five hours after he died... again?” the human stopped pacing just to glare at Spock. This was not happening. He believed in ghosts, sure. And he liked to think that Jim was still with them, on this ship, because it was the only way he could cope with death of his friend. But the situation at hand was just… it was…
The First Officer looked up from the floor he’s been studying for the last several moments.
“That is not a precise description of what happened.”
McCoy glared again.
“Yes.” Spock simply said. “Despite the inaccuracy of your statement, yes, this would be almost correct.”
The doctor rolled his eyes and huffed. He started pacing again, thinking, thinking hard. He sighed, ran his fingers through his hair again and spun around to point at Spock narrowing his eyes.
“No…” he growled. He didn’t like this game at all. Whatever Spock was on about, it must have been some kind of a joke. “You’re shittin’ me. You made this story up. Are you actually expectin’ me to believe you? I know Vulcans are insensitive bastards but I didn’t suspect you’d be so-“
“Please calm down, doctor.” Spock’s cool tone seemed to have an effect on McCoy who snapped his mouth shut and let his arm fall to his side, but his eyes were still narrowed dangerously.
“I met a person who claimed his name was Lt. Kirk and I did, as you put it, ‘hang out’ with him. There was no reason for me to believe that he might lie to me or that he might be…” Spock hesitated. “A ghost. Lt. Kirk seemed to be very much alive and solid which is not usually questioned among your kind while encountering other human beings. I was not familiar with the story of James T. Kirk who was your friend, therefore I did not have any reasons to suspect anything abnormal about Lt. Kirk.” Spock was still sitting in his chair, almost in the same position, one elbow propped on the table’s edge, the other hand folded on his lap. His expression also hadn’t changed, although one could hear hints of different emotions in his voice.
McCoy didn’t have time or patience to focus on Spock. His head was spinning, his hands shook and he couldn’t seem to stop in one place for more than half a second.
“I realized something might not be right only several minutes ago, when I wasn’t able to find Lt. Kirk’s name on the list of the crewmembers. I would have blamed it on the system malfunction, if you didn’t tell me the story of the ship’s suppositious ghost.” Spock folded his arms across his chest and leaned back on the chair.
The human was silent for quite some time. He finally stopped in one place, hands fisted painfully at his sides. His shoulders looked tense and Spock wondered for a short second, how a human face could look much older in a blink of an eye if certain conditions were provided.
It could also look much younger - a phenomenon he observed while spending time with his mother and recently - with Jim. If either of them was content, their features would soften accordingly. Spock found Kirk’s expressions particularly fascinating.
“This is just too much for me.” McCoy murmured. “We buried Jim last year. Or, at least, an empty coffin with his name engraved on its side. We mourned him. We grieved. And finally, finally when I found the peace of my mind, something like this happens.” He makes an unidentified gesture in the air. “Are you sure you weren’t imagining things?” he asked hopefully and his voice broke a bit making the doctor sound vulnerable.
“Doctor McCoy, Vulcans do not ‘imagine’ things. We act on logic and we believe in facts. We do not believe in ghosts. I never expected to meet a person who doesn’t actually exist anymore, let alone to befriend them.”
“This is just too weird. Haunted ship, strange things happening and now you, telling me, that you talked and made friends with a ghost. I can’t believe that I actually believe you. In some twisted, inexplicable way, I believe you.”
The Vulcan nodded once.
McCoy was most illogical of all humans Spock has encountered. The human seemed to be accepting anything out of ordinary, believing that is was his friend’s ghost. This faith was blind and full of trust, with no need for a proof. But once the proof was delivered, the belief faded.
Spock watched the doctor carefully. He would have analyze the case further, but it wasn’t time for studying human behavior of logic. They were already overdue for the staff meeting.
“What do we tell them?” McCoy asked, as Spock stood up and took the disk with the report. The report was not approved, but Spock downloaded the unauthorized copy anyway. “I mean, you did mention Jim’s name in you report. You tried to get it approved and Pike will get a notification about the failure. We can’t keep it a secret now.”
McCoy was right. And indeed, Spock did intend to relay the same report to their Captain. Illogical as it may seem, there was the slightest chance that the Captain might accept the report and believe in Spock’s version of the past six hours.
***
Captain Pike listened carefully to each report, amazed that no one reported any damage. The energy which was lost during Arkhnar’s attack was restored, however nobody could explain what happened exactly.
It seemed as if the ship absorbed the necessary power on its own will.
“I did not manage to run a full diagnostics. There were other priorities that needed to be attended to.” Spock said calmly. “The initial analysis indicates that the Enterprise not only survived an attack which should have damaged the ship beyond repair. This vessel fed on the alien energy and the process caused no errors or anomalies in the flow of the power in Enterprise’s circuits.”
“Other anomalies than the one you just described, is that what you mean Mr. Spock?”
“That is correct, Captain. I will investigate this phenomenon further as soon as possible.”
The captain regarded his First for a short while. The Vulcan was the only one on this ship, who believed that science can explain even the most unusual things.
“Mr. Scott, how does the situation look from your end?”
“It is quite disturbing, captain.” Scotty squirmed in his seat. “The engines are at full capacity and there are no problems with the energy flow between the systems. But honestly, I’m afraid to do anything in this moment. We gained the energy in a way which broke almost all of the laws of physics.”
Chekov cleared his throat and spoke.
“I noticed a small, almost undetectable spike while the energy was being drained from the attack. It was neither our or Arkhnar’s energy signature. And it wasn’t sucked in with the rest of the power. It behaved like a buffer of some sorts, however it was located in the immediate area between the shield and the energy from the pirates’ cannons.”
“Affirmative. I did manage to detect a unrecognizable energy which is stored in the shield buffer at the moment. Just as a precaution.” Spock confirmed turning towards the captain.
Pike nodded, acknowledging the information.
“Will we be able to run tests on it?”
“Yes, Captain. I would like to ask the Ensign to forward as many information as he could gather about the shields.” Spock inclined his head towards the young navigator who nodded eagerly.
“I’ll do it right away when I get back to my station.”
“Thank you.” Pike nodded at Chekov. “Mr. Sulu, I would like you to analyze phasers’ uncontrolled attack. As soon as you find something out of ordinary, contact Mr. Spock.”
“Yes sir.”
“Mr. Scott.”
“Aye?”
“I believe your expertise would be very helpful to Mr. Spock during the tests on the energy.”
“Aye, sir. I don’t have anything else to do down there in the engineering room. In some twisted way everything works as it should, or even better, which is beginning to be a wee bit scary. There are only some burnt circuits but fixing that doesn’t require my personal attention.”
Silence filled the room. They all have been the best from the best, yet they still were at loss.
Pike cast a quick glance around. So far, nobody panicked, although you could almost sense the fear on the ship.
Sulu and Chekov exchanged quick glances, probably a little scared. Their reports matched and there was no discrepancy between them. Whatever has happened recently, their readings were the same.
Chekov did seem a little bit pale. The Captain blamed it on the stress. He couldn’t blame the Ensign. He was still a kid.
McCoy was sitting quietly, listening to Spock’s words. The Captain assumed the Medical Officer already heard the Vulcan’s version, since he didn’t argue or comment as he would usually do, and he mourned the loss of their companion. McCoy always took deaths among the crew the hard way. He was their doctor and their friend, he was supposed to save lives.
Pike closed his eyes for a short time. There will be time for grief. Right now they had to solve the problem at hand.
“Gentlemen, I understand that this is a very complicated and unusual situation, however I strongly believe that we have to do everything we can to solve this problem.” The Captain’s voice was harsh.
They all nodded quickly, unspoken fear still hanging in the air.
Pike wanted to call them to order because there was never anything worse than a Captain whose crew slipped out of control.
“Mr. Spock, I want the report and the results of the tests as soon as possible.” He added, maybe even too sternly. “Dismissed.”
The room filled with noise and soft murmurs. Pike didn’t move from his heat. He waited for them to leave, so he could think in silence. He rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes.
They were in a very complicated position.
Everybody here believed in the bloody ghost. But nobody was crazy enough to admit to it. Or to voice their opinion about Arkhnar’s attack.
They were fortunate enough that the energy didn’t damage the Enterprise from the inside and that they weren’t in danger at the moment. But the very fact that the Enterprise’s systems were malfunctioning, reasons unknown, might lead them to the loss of the ship. The Starfleet might want to withdraw the Enterprise from the space exploring program for security reasons, and Pike wasn’t ready for this. Enterprise became a home for most of the crew and they simply couldn’t lose her.
“May I have a word with you, Captain?” Spock’s voice brought Pike back from his own thoughts and fears. He looked up to see the Vulcan standing in front of him. Dr McCoy was lingering in the room, still sitting in his chair.
“Of course. What is it?”
“I believe I have experienced most unusual thing.” Spock stated, clasping his hands behind his back.
Captain Pike snorted.
“I think we all have.”
“You misunderstand, Captain.” Spock tilted his head slightly. Pike noticed McCoy standing up and walking closer to them and standing next to Spock.
“I’m here to speak about my report. I believe you have received notification about a failed attempt to submit it.”
“Yes, yes I did, but I hardly had time to check it carefully. Nobody else managed to submit their report yet, Mr. Spock, we all were quite busy for the past several hours.”
“That is not the case, Captain. The report was rejected because of incorrect name of the man who died in the tube after opening the valve.”
Pike fell silent.
“His name was Kirk.” McCoy growled impatiently.
Pike’s eyes snapped open as he looked at the other man.
“What?”
“The man who died today. He introduced himself as Lt. James T. Kirk.”
“Is this some kind of a bad joke?” the Captain stood up from his chair and regarded Spock and McCoy with a piercing look. Here he was, knowing that there was no logical explanation but refusing to admit their resident ghost had something to do with the whole situation. And those two did it for him. They pronounced Kirk’s name like it was most natural thing to do.
It was quite fascinating, Spock wondered. Humans tended to believe in ghosts, but when given a proof or when told a true story that confirmed their beliefs, they suddenly suspended their beliefs. Truly fascinating.
“Vulcans do not have a sense of humour, Captain.” Spock answered genuinely. “Neither does Dr McCoy.”
The doctor growled low in his throat and looked at the Vulcan, narrowing his eyes.
“And what do you have to say, doctor? As far as I know you were in the sickbay the whole time. You couldn’t have seen the person who died today.”
“No, but I can confirm that the crew’s status has not changed since yesterday’s check. The Enterprise detects exactly 428 lifesigns on the ship. If somebody died, I would have received a notification from Enterprise sensors by now.”
Pike turned to Spock.
“Sensors may be wrong. We did receive quite a lot of energy in an unknown way. It could cause some system malfunctions.” He said and before Spock could reply he continued, “Are you sure? Did you even consider the possibility that the person might be another crew member who simply lied about their name?”
“I did, Captain.” Spock tilted his head. “However it would not be wise to give a false name to a person who is a superior officer. Not for a longer period of time. Besides no one has reported any casualties. If anything happened to one of the crewmembers, others would notice a missing person.”
“Longer period of time?” Pike frowned, folding his hands on the table before him.
“I met James Kirk precisely 3.15 months ago. It would be highly illogical of him to use a different name.”
“And illegal if performed without an authorization of a superior officer.” McCoy added. Spock raised his eyebrow. It was rare to hear Dr. McCoy cite regulations and Spock paid extra attention to remember this moment so that he could tell that to Jim tomorrow.
In the same moment he remembered that he will not be able to play chess with Jim anymore. He froze. His heart made a strangest thing he’s ever felt and the Vulcan decided to ask Dr. McCoy for full physical later in the day.
“Three months ago?” Pike asked in a small voice. It brought Spock back from his thoughts.
“Three point fifteen.” Spock corrected the Captain. “We engaged in a game of chess quite frequently, when we both were off duty.”
“You.” The captain pointed at Spock. “Played chess. With Kirk.”
“That is correct, Captain.”
“And Kirk was in the tube when the valve was opened.”
“Yes.”
Pike turned away from Spock and made several steps towards the back of the room then stopped, turned around and walked back. His shoulders were tense.
“He seemed alive.” Spock continued. “I didn’t have any suspicions until doctor McCoy told me the story of a Lieutenant who lost his life over a year ago due to a transporter malfunction.”
They told the Captain what happened in the science lab before they came to the conference room and Pike could only listen and hang his head low.
People were telling many different and scary ghost stories about the Enterprise and Pike considered half of them true, but he never witnessed anything out of ordinary other that minor system malfunctions or energy spikes. Usually the problems were solved quickly by Mr. Scott, or they disappeared just as unexpectedly as they showed up. But they never were as obvious and complicated as what he heard today.
And quite frankly, it was disturbing to know that despite all odds, Spock’s words sounded logical to him.
Vulcan reason and logic, those were things that probably never malfunctioned. Although Dr McCoy would probably argue.
Spock handed him the disc with the report.
“This is my detailed report of the events starting from Arkhnar’s first attack, until the moment he was captured.”
Pike looked at the disk and felt numb. He was a Captain of a starship. He had to act accordingly. The Starfleet wanted facts and numbers and he couldn’t give them a ghost story.
“Mr. Spock, could you please run the tests we spoke about before? This is our priority at the moment.” He finally said and tried to sound self-confident. “We need to report to Starfleet as soon as possible.”
“And what about Jim?” McCoy asked fervently, giving the Captain a very nasty look. Pike remembered vaguely that Kirk and McCoy were friends back in the Academy.
“We will investigate the matter once we send initial reports to the Starfleet. I suspect they will check the reports first and only then they will ask for further explanations. I will try to buy us more time, gentlemen.” He ran his hand down his face.
He didn’t remember the last time he was so tired.
“I’ll tell Mr. Sulu to go through the security cameras’ records. There has to be some explanation for Kirk’s appearance. If it was Kirk at all.” He murmured the last sentence under his breath. He looked at the other two men and sighed.
“There’s not much I can do right now for you, gentlemen.”
Spock nodded and McCoy gave him a wry smile. He left them in the conference room and went to the bridge. He had a ship full of ghosts and unknown energy to command.
***
McCoy was sitting in his chair in the office.
The sick bay was mostly empty. Only Chapel and some other nurse were there, cleaning up after a busy day and preparing clean sheets and instruments for the next day, just in case.
The doctor had some time for himself. His shift was over but he didn’t feel like going to his quarters. He wasn’t sleepy, but he couldn’t focus on anything else. His mind kept going back to Jim.
He remembered that day when they both got assigned to Enterprise. Jim was excited but also proud of himself. If he didn’t know better, he’d say that Kirk was boasting.
McCoy never trusted machines, even if some of them, like in the sickbay, saved human life. He insisted Jim should go first, but the young Lieutenant wanted to draw out the moment and almost forced the doctor to go first.
He beamed up and he never saw Jim again.
His pride, the contentment he felt because of Enterprise, vanished.
No, he didn’t blame himself. It was Kirk’s fault. If the damn kid didn’t insist that McCoy should go first, he’d be alive.
“Damnit, Jim.” He sighed.
It hurt, because he’d imagined this a thousand times before. He imagined Jim tried to contact with him by the energy spikes and malfunctioning door. He thought that if Jim ever came back to haunt them, he’d contact with McCoy. Obviously, the green-blooded hobgoblin seemed more interesting to Kirk than an old friend from the Academy.
On the other side, though, it did sound exactly like the Jim. Try to do the impossible, no matter what.
“Way to go Jim.” He sighed and reached for the half empty glass of bourbon.
Besides, Kirk was always trouble. Back at the Academy, and, apparently, even after his death. The kid just couldn’t let go when he was obsessed with something. But the question was, what was Jim’s obsession now?
***
The tests were a very long and very complicated process. Mr. Scott did his best to run the analysis thoroughly. Spock analyzed the logs and the data gathered by the main computer, but his mind kept wandering off to other logs. He more than often thought about quickly checking the records from the tube, but the only thing that prevented him from doing that were Captain’s orders.
So he followed the readings and compared them with the records and kept thinking about Jim and about the fact that he might never see him again. There was no point in showing up after one’s death. Especially when you were already dead in the first place. What would have happened to a dead human who died again?
Humans insisted they had souls, but it was never possible to prove it. Human souls were more of a belief than a fact. The recent events made Spock wonder, if it was possible that human soul was real, if it was anything like a vulcan katra.
Spock closed his eyes and shook his head. He wasn’t getting anywhere with his tests. He had to meditate at least for a short time to clear his mind.
He looked at the screen and decided to depart as soon as the is finished with the current readings.
“Mr. Spock,” Scotty’s voice caught Spock’s attention. “I’ve found a strange signature in the energy that was supposed to be transferred from the transporter to shields.”
“I can see it here in my readings too, Mr. Scott.”
“I know you can see it, Spock, but can you translate it?” Scotty’s voice held a hint of pride and satisfaction. Spock looked up from his screen and after a moment of consideration walked towards the computer occupied by the chief engineer.
“Here,” the human pointed at the screen happily. “I isolated the energy signature and run a series of tests on it. I launched a translating program and this is what showed on my screen.”
Spock looked at the screen. Then at Scotty and again at the screen. This was not possible.
“Transporter’s beta copy?”
“Aye.”
“What made you use the translating program?”
“Ach, it was by mistake, you see. I launched it out of habit. I usually do this with every new piece of technology we receive from newly met species. Just in case it is something familiar.”
Spock would roll his eyes but his Vulcan part allowed him to only raise his eyebrow.
“At least we’re getting somewhere, aren’t we?” Scotty grinned.
“Indeed.” Spock answered and watched the code that was running on the screen. The figures went too fast for him to read, but he was able to make out few fragments which did look logical.
“The same energy was redirected to the shields and I believe this is the same energy we store in the shield buffers at the moment.” The Vulcan quickly checked the records. “Yes, it is the same energy.”
“The one that powers up the transporter shouldn’t have this signature.”
“I agree, Mr. Scott. Let’s find out what this code is, exactly, before running tests on the energy itself.”
“Aye.” Scotty agreed happily.
Spock gave him a quick look.
It seemed he had to postpone his meditation.
***
“The problem is, Captain, we don’t know what kind of information this energy pattern holds. We can’t risk duplicating another crew member.”
“I understand, Mr. Scott. But we can’t get rid of it too. If we let it mix with other energy it may cause more problems. And we can’t exactly erase or delete it, can we?”
Scotty flinched and frowned.
“If the energy is indeed a copy of a crew member? That would be murder, Captain!” his voice betrayed the same feelings Captain Pike had.
They were on the bridge and other crew members heard their conversation. Sulu was glancing at them every now and again over his shoulder.
“What options do we have?” The Captain asked, ignoring the way the others were watching them.
Scotty looked at Spock, who looked back. Pike noticed they were being quiet for a bit too long and turned away from the screen.
“Well…” Mr. Scott starter and seemed to be at loss of words. Spock continued, though.
“There is a possibility.” Spock waited for Captain Pike to say anything, but when the human stayed quiet he continued. “If we manage to transfer the energy from shield buffers to the transporter we will be able to read the code and at least determine what information it holds.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“The only possible place for this energy is in the transporter buffer. The same place the beta copy of the transported material is held. If the information is stored for too long in the transporter’s buffer, automatic re-materialization might occur. We cannot redirect the energy elsewhere because it could mix with the power in other circuits and it will be almost impossible to track it and separate it.”
Captain Pike sighed and looked at the screen before him. When he was called to the science lab he expected to hear something more optimistic.
“The transfer to the transporter is very risky, Captain. The information that the code contains can be anything.” Scotty said softly.
Pike looked at both of them. A Vulcan and a human. Standing there, straight faces and being all professional. But he knew that they were both dying to do this, to read the code and to know what it was.
This strange energy absorbed other energy and acted as a buffer and a shield by itself, without any other supporting systems. It seemed to act on its own volition.
Captain Pike thought hard for a moment. If they suspended the tests, the Starfleet scientists will want to test it themselves. The Enterprise would have to turn around and head back to the nearest possible rendezvous point to hand over all the details.
If Spock and Scotty proceed with the tests now, they ship might be in a great danger. Depends on what information the strange energy carries. And Captain Pike had his own suspicions.
“Mr. Scott, can we disable the transporter while transferring the energy.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that. The buffer works between the transporter pad system and the control panel. If it loses the balance, we may face some additional problems.”
“Captain?” Spock knew that expression on the Captain’s face. It was the same one that he saw on Jim’s face every time they played chess, when the human would make a risky move.
“Mr. Spock, how much time would you have before the automatic re-materialization starts?”
“Approximately five to six minutes. It will not be enough, however.” Spock watched as the Captain sank back in his chair and pinched at the base of his nose.
“There is another way.” Chekov’s voice cut the silence which fell on the bridge.
“Chekov?” Pike opened one eye and looked at the young navigator.
“The energy left a trace in Enterprise sensors and systems. We were able to find its signature. We can trace it back to where and when it was created in the transporters circuits. This way there will be no risk of re-materialising.”
Pike turned to Spock. The Vulcan nodded.
“Ensign Chekov is right. It is possible to trace the signature back to the origin point and then compare it with transporter logs. This way we will be able to at least determine whose beta copy was stored as energy and the process will be much safer for us and for the ship.”
“Alright then. Chekov?”
“Yes sir?”
“I want you to assist Mr. Spock. It’s your idea anyway.”
“Yes sir!”
***
The re-tracing of the energy’s signature was much longer than they at first expected. They had to check every log backwards, and then find the previous log, just to find out that they need to check the log before, and the log before that one.
McCoy was one impatient human and he kept bothering Spock almost every day for the next two weeks. Spock could understand McCoy’s impatience. They were supposed to work on ghost-Kirk’s appearance as soon as the matter of the energy is solved, but the tests were taking too long to complete for the doctor’s liking.
“Please, understand, doctor. I am doing everything that I can. Finding out what happened to Jim is also very important for me. He was your friend at the Academy, but he also became my friend.”
McCoy huffed and glared at Spock.
“I believe you, Mr. Spock, but I have a strange feeling that if we don’t hurry up, we will lose Jim forever. And I can’t wait any longer. I need to know if there is anything we can do to help him. If there’s any way we can bring him back.”
Spock wondered, how was it possible that McCoy accepted Jim’s existence as a ghost so quickly and how easily the other man believed that they could save him.
“Dr. McCoy, if there is even a chance that Jim has an eternal soul, that it is even remotely similar to katra - then it is my responsibility to find it and bring him back.”*
McCoy nodded. They spoke the other day about Jim’s ghost and Spock shared his theory about Jim’s katra with the doctor. But they couldn’t do anything at the moment. Spock was preoccupied with re-tracing the energy signature.
Even Sulu didn’t make any progress even though he did find all security records from that moment when Spock decided to open the valve himself. The video showed Spock talking to someone in the tube, but the other person was hidden from the camera’s range.
Sulu rewound the recording slowly, in hopes that they will at least see the man who entered the tube. Unfortunately, about thirty seconds of footage was lost because of an energy spike which must have interrupted the camera’s work at the moment. It happened shortly after Spock showed up at the tube.
Spock asked the pilot to check other cameras, giving the precise date, hour and place of his previous meetings with Kirk.
“I’m sorry, Commander. It seems that all of the videos were affected by energy spikes in the circuits or other disturbances. There simply is no way to retrieve the video.”
Spock nodded but said nothing. It was an interesting case of energy spikes.
“Mr. Spock?”
“That will be all, Mr. Sulu. Complete the report and submit it to the Captain.”
“Yes sir.”
The Vulcan straightened and turned around to leave the bridge. He needed to meditate, to calm down his thoughts. His mind was full of questions, equations, theories and possible explanations, but at this very moment none of them was making sense to him.
Energy spikes were causing the security cameras’ to malfunction every time he met with Kirk. The same energy spikes started shortly after Kirk’s death.
Spock frowned. He walked into his quarters and took his boots off. He sat down on the nearest chair and closed his eyes.
Strange energy behavior caused recharge of the engines and it powered up the shields. Energy. It was all about energy which seemed to constantly mess with the ships settings and circuits.
Spock cleared his mind and started the meditation process.
***
“Captain, the ship detected an ion storm ahead of us.” Sulu informed.
Pike leaned back on the chair, feeling slightly irritated. Apparently this month was not lucky for Enterprise. Meteor showers, pirate attacks, problems with the shields and now this.
“It’s stronger than the last one we have encountered, but with the shields up we will be safe.”
Chekov looked at his friend and then turned to the Captain, his face serious.
“Captain, the energy that we’re retracing is still stored in the buffer. If we raise the shields now, the buffer will be reset and we may lose all the information.”
Captain Christopher Pike closed his eyes and resisted the urge to swear, shout and throw things. He still was the captain. Even if this was the worse month on Enterprise he’d ever had.
“What are our chances without the shield?”
“Without the shields, the ship will be severely damaged. Enough to disable the engines and warp systems. Also it is possible that the ion storm will mess up with life support on the ship.”
“How much time do we have?”
“An hour at most.”
Captain Pike turned to communications station.
“Uhura, contact with Mr. Spock and tell him to come to the bridge. I believe he will have something to say in this matter.”
“Yes sir.” Lt. Uhura turned back to her communications panel and hailed Spock’s quarters.
***
Spock opened his eyes, startled by some strange sensation tugging at his mind. He felt it before, but it wasn’t that intense. Yet, he couldn’t recognize it. It was as if his mind was trying to remember something very important on its own.
He frowned, closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side, concentrating on this single sensation.
It was gone within several seconds since he felt it. Spock opened his eyes and focused on the matter of the energy with signature of a beta copy. He hoped his mind was clear enough for him to approach the problem from different angle.
He froze when a theory he considered insane and illogical began to make more sense to him now.
“Jim!” he whispered rather to himself and stormed out of his quarters. If his theory was true, then dr. McCoy was right. They had little time to save Jim.
He walked towards the lab they were using to re-trace the energy signature and ignored surprised looks from the humans he passed by.
The lab was empty which was quite fortunate for Spock. He launched the program that was used to re-trace the energy signature and entered a precise time and date to bring up the transporter logs from the very moment when Jim Kirk was being beamed up.
He compared the transporter’s energy flow before and after the failure of the beaming process. Spock squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get his emotions under control.
He was right. McCoy was right.
He flinched, startled, when the communicator’s soft sound filled the lab.
“Bridge to Spock.”
“I’m on my way.” He answered not even bothering to wait for any further orders. He had to talk to Captain right now and nothing was more important than the discovery he has just made.
***
The door opened and Spock entered the bridge.
“Captain, you might be interested in the results of our tests-“
“Not now Mr. Spock.” Pike cut in and waved at the screen in front of them. “We have an ion storm to survive and I’m afraid we won’t be able to avoid it.”
Spock stopped in his track, right next to the Captain’s chair and looked at the screen. He suddenly felt hot wave flowing down his back. Then, it was freezing cold and hot again.
“We can’t raise the shields, Captain!” Spock turned to captain Pike.
“We have to. The storm is too strong. I’m afraid we will have to abort the tests and save the ship.” the Captain smiled at Spock sadly. “I know that the buffer will be reset and the energy will be erased, but in order to survive, we have to do this.”
“No!” Spock’s answer surprised the Captain and the rest of the bridge crew. It wasn’t normal for Spock to show his emotions an right now, he was almost projecting them to everyone present in the room.
“This energy is a beta copy of a human! This is Lt. Kirk, stored in that buffer!” Spock all but shouted and grasped the chair’s armrest. “We can’t kill him now!”
McCoy chose this moment to enter the bridge.
“What?” the doctor almost tripped on the stairs and barely held his balance. “Damnit, Spock! What the-“
Pike stood up and walked to the pilot’s control panel. He looked at the screen where the readings and information about the ion storm appeared. He took a deep breath and turned back towards Spock.
“What do you mean, Mr. Spock?”
“The beta copy stored in the shield buffer, is, in fact, Lt. Kirk’s beta copy.”
“Do you know how crazy this sounds?” Pike walked back to Spock and watched the Vulcan carefully. “The beta copy was never created. Kirk dematerialized and all information was lost. Besides, what made you think that it might be him?”
“Ever since the accident, there were multiple malfunctions reported by the crew. Most of the malfunctioning systems and devices did not need any maintenance, as they started working properly shortly after the problem occurred.”
McCoy snapped his fingers, suddenly getting the way the Vulcan was thinking.
“Yes! Yes! The energy spikes, door opening and closing, computers showing wrong information!” the doctor waved his finger at the Captain. “Shields! Arkhnar. Phasers!”
Spock nodded with approval.
“It all started soon after Kirk’s supposed death. Instead of tracing the signature back in logs, I checked the exact report and readings where the transporter malfunction was logged. The energy with beta copy signature was created exactly when Kirk was beamed.”
“How is that even possible?” Sulu wondered, and gave the Vulcan a quick glance.
“We don’t have time for explanations right now. We have to do something before the storm reaches us. Chekov, check the transporter logs and confirm if Mr. Spock’s theory is correct.”
Pike looked at McCoy, who was shaking with all the excitement. The doctor was probably the only one who didn’t really believed in Kirk’s death. The Captain gritted his teeth. He had to think fast.
“Confirmed, Captain.” Chekov’s voice sounded a bit shaky, but nobody could blame him.
“Sulu, slow down the ship to full stop. We have to buy ourselves as much time as possible.”
“Yes sir!”
“I will try to transfer Jim from the buffer to the transporter.” Spock said. He was already at his station, starting the process.
“Good. Dr McCoy - “
“I will prepare medical team and we’ll be in the transporter room in no time.” And with that, the good doctor left the bridge, already on his way to the sickbay.
Pike smiled and nodded. This month might have been the worst in his life, but the Enterprise crew was the best crew he’s ever worked with.
“Captain, the engines are not responding.” Sulu reported. “I’m not able to power them down. The ship will not stop.”
“Emergency power down.”
“Non responsive, Captain. The Enterprise is flying on her own.”
Shit.
“We’re gaining speed.” The pilot’s voice held a small amount of panic.
“How much time before we’re in the storm’s range?”
“At this speed?” Sulu did quick calculations. “We have less than ten minutes.”
“I am having serious difficulties with extracting Jim from the buffer. He’s resisting.” Spock said, and his fingers squeezed the edge of the science panel. The process of transferring Jim to the transporter was more similar to a game of hide and seek between Spock and the energy still stored in the buffer.
Chekov’s gasp attracted Pike’s attention.
“Captain, shield activation sequence has just started.”
“It’s Kirk.” Sulu whispered. “But what is he doing?”
“He will die if the shields are activated!” Chekov hit the controls trying to abort the sequence but with no success.
“No.” Spock growled and almost slammed at the controls on his panel, desperate to get any response from the system.
“The ship gained more speed. We’ll be in the storm’s range within 40 seconds.” Sulu reported.
“Sulu!”
“I’m doing all I can, Captain but the ship simply does not respond to any commands. Kirk has control over it right now.”
“He wants to kill himself.” Chekov said quietly. “He doesn’t know we can save him.”
Spock stopped torturing the science station and turned in one swift move towards the main screen, where he could see the shield activation sequence was completed.
“No! Jim, no!” he whispered.
The shields activated and several seconds after that they were hit by the first wave of the storm.
Spock felt helpless.
The buffer was reset. Any information stored there was lost.
“The engines stopped.” Sulu reported. “We’re in the middle of the storm.”
Spock didn’t know if it was logical to hate shields that protected them, but he didn’t care right now. He hated the shields with all his Vulcan heart.
“Mr. Spock, I believe you would like to see this.” Chekov’s voice interrupted Vulcan’s thoughts. He really didn’t want to see anything at the moment, but he approached the navigator anyway and looked at the readings.
“He didn’t want to kill himself. He wanted us to bring him back.” The Ensign looked at the Captain and explained. “The ship performed a scan for lifesigns on its own. It detected one lifesign stuck in the shields.”
Spock’s heart swelled suspiciously.
“Captain,” he said calmly. “I know what he is planning. We have to remain in the storm’s area for as long as possible.”
“I don’t understand.” Pike shook his head and pinched the base of his nose. “Wasn’t he supposed to be dead?”
“Jim is energy right now. He’s an intelligent energy. He left the buffers split second before the shield activated. It will be much less complicated to extract him from the shields.” Spock turned and walked towards the door. “If you would accompany me to the transporter room, sir?”
Pike turned to the pilot.
“Mr. Sulu, you have the conn. Hold the position inside the storm’s range and wait for further orders.”
“Yes sir.”
***
McCoy was already in the transporter room when they arrived.
“What’s taking you so long, Spock?” To say the doctor was nervous would be an understatement. He drummed his fingers impatiently on the tricorder he was holding.
“We’re in the middle of the ion storm.” Spock simply announced and powered up the transporter.
“What?”
“As I have already explained to Captain Pike, Jim took over the Enterprise and led us here, so that we could extract him. He’s in the shields right now and I believe he will come on his own to the transporter circuits as soon as they are activated.”
“Spock, you said yourself we’re in the middle of the ion storm. We can’t use the transporter. It will simply not work!”
“That is correct, doctor. And this is the exact reason why Jim needs to be transferred right now.”
Spock grabbed his communicator and hailed the engine room.
“Mr Scott, please cut off all the circuits on the way from shield generator to the transporter room.”
“Aye, commander Spock!”
“I think I understand.” Pike said slowly and turned to McCoy to explain. “As far as I understand, Kirk is a bunch of energy mixed with beta copy from transporter room. We can’t rematerialize him like that because the energy might interfere with particles which determine Kirk’s body.”
The transporter’s control panel lit up as the power flowed through the circuits. Mr. Scott announced shortly that all the interfering circuits and systems were separated from the main route which Jim should be taking.
Spock disabled the transporter’s buffer, and Pike carried on.
“The ion storm is the only moment when a certain amount of data can be stored in the transporter’s circuits without the risk of automatic re-materialization. Like you said, the transporter will simply not work and only here we can separate the beta copy from the energy that carried it for the last year or so.”
“Exactly, Captain.” Spock nodded and McCoy raised his eyebrows.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Captain, we have detected changes in the shields. The energy, the lifesign, it’s flowing through shield generator’s systems into Enterprise’s internal circuits!”
“Thank you, Mr. Chekov. Do not interfere. That’s an order.”
“Yes, sir!
McCoy resumed the nervous drumming on the poor tricorder. Captain Pike clasped his hands behind his back, just like Spock did on multiple occasions, but he couldn’t stop himself from snapping them every several seconds.
Spock looked at the two humans standing right next to him and raised an eyebrow, fascinated by their nervousness.
A short noise made by the control panel was the signal that the energy was successfully transferred to the transporter’s system.
Pike took the communicator and hailed the bridge.
“Mr. Sulu, what’s the status?”
“The shields are holding. No immediate danger so far, Captain.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sulu. Carry on.”
“What now?” McCoy barked. It was more than obvious that the doctor couldn’t wait for Jim to be rematerialized.
“I need to separate the energy from the beta copy it carried.” Spock declared, and his eyes never left the control panel.
“What are the chances that it will work?”
“If the Jim’s signature is separated from the energy, it will be approximately 97,35% of chance that Jim will rematerialize intact.”
“And if it’s not separated?” McCoy asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“I cannot predict the results in this case, Doctor. Jim might be rematerialized but his body might be damaged. Or his mind, or he might not rematerialize at all. But I believe none of this will happen. Separating beta copy from the energy is a quite simple process. However…” Spock fell silent and kept working on the energy stored in the system.
“However?” Pike queried.
“Beta copy hold only the information the transporter gathered when Jim was dematerialized.” The Vulcan’s hands stilled on the console and he looked at the Captain and then at the Medical Officer.
“Jim was a sentient and intelligent mix of lifeform and energy. He was conscious and able to make his own decisions. Anything that happened since the accident with the transporter, any memories and experiences, are held by the energy.
“Simply speaking, when Jim rematerializes, he will have no memories of the past year. For him it will be just as if the transporter never malfunctioned.”
McCoy felt sudden sympathy for the pointy eared hobgoblin. There was only Jim, only one person the Vulcan could call a friend, as far as the doctor was aware. And Spock was losing the friend any way, dead or alive, it didn’t matter.
“Is there any other option?”
“No.” Spock answered shortly and his voice was amazingly calm and collected.
“Captain, the storm is moving on. It’s too fast for us to keep up.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sulu.” Pike turned to Spock. “What about the beta copy?”
Spock nodded and activated the transporter pad.
“I’ve successfully separated it from the energy and it’s already saved in the buffer. We can leave the storm’s area.”
“Mr. Sulu, thrusters on full. Take us away from the storm.”
“Yes sir!”
They felt the ship shaking slightly from the effort to leave the storm, and suddenly everything calmed down.
The transporter pad powered up and they saw a figure appearing before them.
“Jim!” McCoy gasped.
Lt. Kirk rematerialized and fell to the ground, unconscious.
“Jim!” McCoy was on the pad in a heartbeat. Even Spock couldn’t be that quick, but the First Officer followed the doctor anyway.
Spock kneeled next to the man lying on the floor of the pad. Jim looked exactly the same as he remembered. Maybe he was a little bit paler, but Spock didn’t notice any other differences. Even if Jim’s ghost was his hallucination, it was an extremely accurate hallucination.
He managed to brush Jim’s fingers with his own before medical team barreled in and took Kirk to the sickbay.
***
They were in McCoy’s office, waiting for the doctor’s report on Kirk. “How is he, doctor?”
“Still unconscious. But otherwise, he’s fine. I assume that such a long time spent as a pile of energy was a little bit too much for him and his nervous system was a bit overloaded, so to speak, but he will recover. Quite soon, I presume.”
“Mr. Spock, what’s the status of Enterprise systems and circuits?”
“Surprisingly well, Captain. No further malfunctions were reported. Also, the energy spikes stopped at the same time when Lt. Kirk was rematerialized.”
“So what happened in the first place? What caused all this problems?” Pike asked, and McCoy looked expectantly at the Vulcan. Spock tilted his head and cleared his throat.
“The transporter had been upgraded shortly before you, doctor, and Lt Kirk were scheduled to be beamed up to Enterprise. The upgrade was processed incorrectly and it caused a buffer lapse exactly in the moment when Lt Kirk was being beamed. The beta copy was created, but it was saved in the circuits as an energy. It all happened within 0.012 seconds but it was enough to save the beta copy in the wrong place. Once the buffer was restored, it looked as if all the data was lost. Lt Kirk existed as an energy, locked in the circuits.”
“So why didn’t he try to get out sooner? Why did he wait so long?”
“He simply was not able to do it sooner. If not for Arkhnar’s attack, he would be still imprisoned in the ship’s systems. There was no direct connection between the shields systems and the rest of the Enterprise. When we tried to transfer the energy from the transporter to the weapons, the action opened a route to the shields. Jim took advantage of that, saved the ship and gave us a chance to save him.”
“So,” McCoy started. “This thing with ion storm was also Jim’s plan?”
“Not all of it. We would be able to extract the beta copy eventually, but the storm was an obstacle. At least I considered it to be an obstacle. Lt. Kirk saw it as an opportunity. Very original thinking, I must say. Even if he doesn’t remember it now.”
“Sounds like Jim all right.” McCoy commented. "What about the ghost you said you were playing chess with?"
"I'm afraid I won't be able to answer your question, doctor. There is a slight possibility that humans posses something distinctly similar to Vulcan katra. It is, however, difficult to prove. Some Vulcans have telepathic abilities. It is much more probable that I could see Jim's image because of my abilities. Still, I am unable to determine what happened exactly."
Pike smiled softly and averted his gaze from the two men sitting on the other side of the table.
“So, no more ghosts on the Enterprise, huh?”
McCoy sighed and smirked.
“I have to admit it was fun to have a ghost on the ship.” The doctor murmured.
Spock looked at them and agreed silently. The ghost of James T. Kirk made him feel happy, even if it was only for a short period of time.
“Doctor McCoy, Lt. Kirk has just woken up.” Chapel’s voice came through and broke the easy silence which fell between the three men in the office.
They all rushed to the sickbay, anxious to see Kirk awake. Spock stayed one step behind the captain and the doctor, knowing that Jim will simply not recognize him.
“Bones!” The Lieutenant was struggling with nurse Chapel. She tried to make him lay down while he tried to get up.
“Damnit, Jim!” the doctor snapped but he was grinning and soon he enveloped Jim in a hug that knocked air from Kirk’s lungs. “Good to see you, kid.”
“Whaa-?“
Nurse Chapel stepped away from the bed making space for the Captain and the First Officer.
Jim frowned when captain Pike slapped him on the back and said “It’s good to see you alive, Lieutenant.”
Lt. Kirk lost all his will to fight with nurses and fell back on the bed, frowning at McCoy.
“Bones, what’s going on? You look like shit, man.”
McCoy barked a short laugh.
“But it’s not me lying on the bed in the sickbay.”
“Would you mind telling me what the hell happened? One moment I’m in the transporter, ready to be beamed up and the next one I’m in the sickbay. Was there a transporter malfunction?”
McCoy snorted.
“You could say that kid.”
***
Jim Kirk stood at Spock’s door, not really sure if he would be welcome here. He heard some pretty strange stories about his supposed deaths (plural!) and about how he saved the ship and then he was saved by the Vulcan scientist.
He still couldn’t get over the fact that it was actually one year later, that he was beamed not only in place, but also in time. How creepy was that? And they were saying something about ghosts and stuff, and Kirk really stopped listening, because this was just too much for him.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Enter.” He recognized Spock’s deep voice coming from behind the door.
The door opened and he stepped hesitantly into Spock’s quarters.
It was hot inside, but Kirk could manage. He stepped further inside and the door swished closed behind him, cutting off any possible escape.
“Lt. Kirk. What can I do for you?” Spock stood in the middle of the room, his hand clasped at the small of his back.
“Actually, I…” Kirk started but he forgot what he wanted to say as the Vulcan stepped closer. Not close enough to shake hands, but still, it was pretty close.
“They say you saved my life. I wanted to thank you.”
Spock tilted his head slightly.
“It was not just me.” He answered. “Mr. Scott, Ensign Chekov and Lt. Sulu also had their share in saving you. You should thank them as well.”
“Yeah, I already did that.” Kirk rubbed the back of his neck. Man, this was way more difficult than he expected. “The thing is… They all say that if not for you, nobody would be able to do anything to help me. So, thank you. I owe you, big time.”
“You’re welcome, Lietenant. But remember that you saved the ship, even if you do not have any memory of that. I would say we are even, as humans put it.”
Spock didn’t show any emotion, but Jim could bet his life that he saw something change in the other mans’ eyes. He smiled at the First Officer and held out his hand.
“Okay, we’re even.”
Spock nodded and reached out to shake Kirk’s hand.
Jim felt extreme warmth of the skin beneath his fingers and he felt an outburst of relief and hope building up in his chest. It calmed down when their hands disconnected, but the hope was still there, although he was pretty sure it wasn’t his own emotion. He frowned mentally and noted to himself to find as much information on Vulcans as possible.
“So, Bones says you play 3D chess. I thought… Since I’m off duty for three more days, maybe we could have a game or two?”
Spock tilted his head.
“That would be most welcome, Lieutenant.” He answered and Jim grinned.
“Tomorrow sounds okay?” Jim had a distant feeling of Déjà Vu.
“Tomorrow sounds perfect.” Spock agreed.
And it was. It really was.
The End.
Edit:
*Dr. McCoy, if there is even a chance that Jim has an eternal soul, that it is even remotely similar to katra - then it is my responsibility to find it and bring him back. This sentence is so totally a remix of Kirk's words in 'Star Trek 3: Search for Spock."