reversetrekbang entry: "The Loop"
Title: The Loop.
Artist: theoreticalpixy
Author: ariadnechan and the_physicist
Rating Art/Fic: PG/ Fic: PG-13
Genre: Adventure
Pairing: Kirk/Spock & Pike/Number One.
Word Count: ~9570
Warnings: Time loops, Mayor characters disappearance.
Art Thumbnail:
Fic Summary: Pike calls for Jim and Spock in a secret mission. They must to go to Sigma four to rescue younger Pike/Number one from their imprisonment. Pike has confidence in this mission, because he was there and he saw Jim and Spock rescue them. But what will happen to Jim and Spock there? Will they comeback alive in their own timelines to finish the loop in time?
Link to Art: here
“Lieutenant Rossi reporting, Sir.”
Despite her injured leg the lanky brunette stood to attention in front of Lieutenant Tyler, who was temporally in command of the Farragut.
Tyler put down the PADD he'd been turning over and over in his hand and tried to erase the deep crease from between his brows. It felt wrong to be sitting in the captain's office, in his chair, rather than standing to attention on the other side of the desk.
During a routine exploration mission, both the captain and first officer had disappeared off the face of the planet Sigma IV. He needed a lead, something anything. What had happened down there?
Rossi was the only member of the away mission to return. She was in bad shape emotionally, he could tell that instantly; her eyes were red- rimmed. But he couldn't give her time to come to terms with what had occurred. He needed to everything, and he needed to know it now. She was the only witness they had.
“Report, Lieutenant.”
“Well, sir, we'd beamed down. We split up, with one group going off to catalog the local flora, while I was in the other group which was to examine the geology. Ensign Johnson of security and I were standing barely two meters behind the Captain--I was cataloging some rock formations and looking for minerals--when it happened.”
"When what happened? Tell me in as much detail as you can."
“I was absorbed in my task, but suddenly I heard Johnson cry out. I reached for my phaser and I then saw how a bolt of lightning struck him down, and then another." Rossi paused to compose herself. "All the lightning had seemingly come out of nowhere; there were no storm clouds.
In the end there was nothing left of Johnson. I saw his red shirt crumble to dust as the ensign ... disappeared.”
Tyler had sympathy with her. It was common knowledge on the ship that those two had been in an on off relationship since their Academy days.
Rossi pushed her shoulders back, standing taller. “I ran towards the captain and Number One, who'd both taken refuge behind a large boulder. I couldn't reach their position though, as a bolt of lightning hit the ground in front of me and I fell. As soon as I got up again, I managed to get myself out of the way of the lightning and found cover among some tall rock formations. When I looked out from behind my cover I saw that they'd stepped out from behind their boulder. They were firing into some strange purple cloud above their heads. I hadn't noticed it earlier."
Tyler raised his eyebrow at that. 'Purple cloud'? He couldn't think of anything in the atmospheric survey of Sigma IV that could explain this.
"The Captain was trying to comm the ship," Rossi continued, "but the energy of the lightning bolts, that I now knew were coming from the cloud, seemed to be blocking the channel. I decided to hail the ship myself and asked for an immediate beam up for the three of us. Just then a bolt of lightning struck the Captain and Number One's position. That's the last thing I saw before I was beamed up to the ship, alone.
"Lieutenant Ibarra was at the transporter controls. He said he couldn't get a fix on them, there was too much electrical disturbance. A security team arrived in the transporter room and we were waiting for your instructions when Ibarra told us that he'd lost their signal entirely; they'd disappeared. He couldn't locate them anywhere on the planet's surface.
“When we finally beamed down, it was only to confirm that the cloud and the Captain were gone. We covered an area of three square kilometers around the site, but found no clues. We beamed back after four hours of searching, and now I’m reporting to you, sir.”
Tyler was as puzzled as before. But the Lieutenant had told him all she knew. She was in a bad shape and she needed to go to sickbay.
“Lieutenant, report to sickbay. When your leg's been attended to I want to see you in conference room four.”
“Yes, sir.”
After the meeting Tyler decided to send down more teams and widen the search area.
With each passing hour though the grim reality that he might just have inherited the Farragut seemed ever more likely. By the time they reached hour number sixty-one everybody, whether they'd been involved.
In the search efforts (they'd now combed a hundred square kilometers of rocky desert) or had assisted through running various different scans from on board the ship, all were tired and depressed. Tyler knew it was time to inform Star Fleet that the two most senior officers had vanished, leaving behind no clues, just thin air.
He reached for the PADD on the Captain's desk. His desk, in all likelihood, because Captain Christopher Pike was ... dead.
"Bridge to Lieutenant Tyler. We've just had call from the surface!"
Captain Pike and Number One are alive. They just appeared 100 kilometers away from their last known position. They're alive."
He slumped back into the chair, letting the PADD slip from his fingers and clatter when it hit the floor. He was just as relieved as the bridge crew at the news, more than grateful to hand command back to Christopher and get the hell away from this planet.
That night, as the ship headed back to Earth, he was thankful for each parsec of space that they were adding to the distance they were putting between the ship and Sigma IV. It was hard not to think of that place as cursed. He wasn't happy that the mystery might never be solved, as neither the captain, nor Number One, had any recollection of the time they'd spent there, but he wholeheartedly agreed it was too dangerous on that planet for a full investigation to take place.
****
Chris was in his cabin writing his final report. Number One was ensconced in a chair a few feet away scanning scientific journals. A wistful smile crept across his face as he typed out her given name, which she'd always hated. And he had to agree with her, he couldn't think of her as being anyone but Number One.
He put down the PADD. “One, my dear."
She looked over and when he was sure he had her attention he continued.
"What on Earth are we going to do about this report? There's no way we can explain what happened; that we were held captive for fifteen years and were rescued by two Star Fleet officers from the future, who saved us from the creatures who held us captive--as if we were nothing but interesting pets. What should we say in the report?”
“Chris, it’s really easy, you think too much. We only need to say that we were captured, that we have no exact recollection of what happened there, but all we know is that we were studied and eventually discarded. And that we recommend that they ban any Federation vessels from visiting the place because of the dangers. Though we say that it a final survey in fifteen years should be conducted to review the ban.”
“You make it sound really easy, but they will want to know more about the fifteen years we were there, even if was less than two days time for the crew.”
“Chris, if we say any more, we might jeopardize our own rescue. We're going to have to organize it so that it happens exactly the way it did--we can't risk creating a paradox… I’m not comfortable to leave out those fifteen years from our report and less so that time loop open, but we have no other alternative.”
One gave him a very serious look.
Chris was really worried and tired. “But seriously One, you really think that two kids will believe us and save us in the future? I've looked them up, you know; they're only little kids, now.”
“My Chris maybe I love you because you are so sweet when you are this worried. Of course they're kids now, they were quite young when they came to rescue us. I wonder how come they gave, or will give, a ship to a captain so young. But there's really no logic to this whole situation whatsoever, so I think it's for the best if don't tell anyone for now--the less the admiralty knows the better. We have a lot of planning to do, my love.” One was always so calm and logical, and beautiful; Chris was really lucky to have her as his first officer and his wife. Which reminded him: there was still one thing they had to put right.
“Okay, One, but we must alert them about our marriage status the soon as possible.”
One tried not to chuckle “Chris, we have to marry first in this time line.”
Pike held his head with both hands. “This whole situation is giving me headaches.”
“Don’t worry, dear. I'll finish the report after reading this article. Then you read it and correct it and we'll be set in an hour tops--just in time to get to bed. A real bed again at last!
So you can go and shower in the meantime if you like.”
“I really wonder how I lived without you all my life, honey.” Pike smiled at her.
“I know, right?” she said winking at him while she moved to the computer.
**** **** ****
And that's what they did. They then spent the next fifteen years building their life around the shaky scaffold of information about their future lives that they'd been given by Jim and Spock, which included him working at the Academy while waiting for the Enterprise to be completed, so he would find Jim in Iowa.
After finding Jim though he'd played his part and had nothing more to do towards securing his future rescue until the day on which he'd send Spock and Jim on the mission to rescue them. It was probably a good thing, he thought, that Jim hadn't told him everything. Would he have had the self control to prevent a time paradox if he'd known about Nero? But even the small stones that he'd face in his path may have filled him with dread, if nothing more, had he known about them. Such as the fact that he'd end up in a wheel chair or that One would spend four years away from him, captaining the York Town--a fine scientifically oriented vessel, and she had always wanted her own command--but he'd missed her nonetheless.
Now she had an Academy post so they could be together though. He was really happy with his desk job too. Captaining the Enterprise would have meant not seeing her for a further five years.
But now things were in the right place and it was the right time. He had to make the call he's spent fifteen years waiting to make.
Pike was worried. This wasn't complicated; he was making this into something more difficult than it had to be, but he didn't know for sure ... his wife had seen the young duo escape the planet along with them. She said that they'd been pulled away by their own transporters too. He didn't doubt that they'd escaped. But what if she'd missed something? While they'd been transported out, in the blink of an eye he'd thought they'd flickered ... had the aliens kept them hostage for fifteen years too? Chris had thought about that a lot over the years--especially after really getting to know Jim Kirk.
Could he do that to Jim and Spock? Send them to live agelessly on that rock for god knows how long just so that he could be rescued?
Before the attack on Vulcan he'd had his doubts, but that had changed everything. He had to be there to make that brilliant young man first officer and give the ship to Spock or Earth and who knew how many other planet would share Vulcan's fate. These facts didn't make this any easier.
"Admiral Pike to communications. I want a secure subspace frequency set up to the Enterprise. Get me Kirk on the line."
****
Jim leaned back in the captain's chair and loudly slurped his coffee. He did it to annoy Spock, although he was sure it annoyed Uhura too. Seeing those two getting riled up was just too funny. He could just imagine Uhura impatiently waiting for her shift to be up so she could complain about him drinking loudly to Spock in the privacy of her quarters.
He grinned over the rim of his cup, watching, waiting, slurping again-- timed just right--and there it was! Spock's ear twitched in irritation! Yes, he'd done it! For some reason, he took great satisfaction in getting Spock’s attention, even if was negative attention. He briefly wondered why that might be, but decided that all he wanted was a little fun.
"Captain." Uhura turned in her chair. "A call from Admiral Pike, priority one."
"Put it on screen."
"Sorry, the rest of the call info just came up--its security clearance is only for your level."
Jim's eyebrows shot up.
"Put it through to the conference room."
****
"Those orders sound straight forward enough, Admiral, so what's the catch? You look concerned."
"Captain ..., Jim. I was the one to beam down to that planet 15 years ago along with my first officer. I put it on the list of forbidden planets for a good reason."
"Um, I'm just scrolling through the dossier you forwarded to me. The descriptions of what's wrong with the planet seem rather vague. Can you tell me more?"
"I'm afraid not."
Jim furrowed his brow. "But the dangers need re-evaluating? Why?"
"You'll find out when you get there."
"I don't like the sound of this, Chris."
"Take care, Jim. Take care."
****
They were approaching the forbidden planet. Jim paced the bridge restlessly. He could feel the eyes of his bridge officers on him, cautious, worried. They hadn't seen Pike's expression, the sadness in his voice.
Was this some kind of suicide mission he was being sent on? Jim clenched his jaw and sat down in his chair. If so it was certainly not one he'd be sent on lightly--there had to be a damned good reason. He'd do his duty.
"Going into orbit around the planet now, sir," Sulu said.
"What do our instruments say about the planet's surface? Any changes we can detect?"
"No changes," Sulu replied, "the planet is just as the records indicate. If anything, it's slightly scary how the scans match the ones taken fifteen years ago almost exactly."
"Nothing hazardous? No anomalies?"
"All looks fine to me, sir."
"I will prepare an away team," Spock said, getting up.
Jim jumped out of his chair, startling everyone.
"No, Commander. This is something I must do alone."
His grave statement was met with blank looks from everyone.
Spock looked towards the turbo lift. "A moment please, Captain?"
Jim nodded and together they walked into the turbo lift. He hit the controls to take them down to the transporter room.
"Captain, your actions and the fact that no one has been allowed access to the planet in fifteen years indicates that our true orders are not in fact to take an away team to the surface to collect local rock samples for analysis on the ship. May I inquire what our actual purpose here is?"
The turbo lift came to a halt on a lower deck and its doors opened.
"I wish I knew Spock, but I don't. Pike was worried and as you said, our orders make no sense. Like you I'm just putting one and one together."
They walked towards the transporter room.
Spock stopped him. "Then may I suggest you do not beam down without a full security team? What are you expecting down there?"
"A life-form of some kind. I can't see any other reason for all this madness, though the secrecy still baffles me."
"Your guess has some merit. Captain, I should accompany you. You should not go alone."
“Spock this is something Pike asked to me to do. I can’t put any of my crew at risk, and you are totally out of the question--this ship needs a captain if I can’t go back. Do you want me to cite regulations on you?”
Something in Jim’s heart felt warmer at Spock's concern for him. Okay, well maybe he was only concerned for the mission, but still.
But he knew should put his foot down on this one. He didn't want to put Spock into danger unnecessarily, but his First Officer had a point. He shouldn't be going down on his own; and he trusted Spock would be a big help if they met a creature they couldn't communicate with orally. None of his security team were telepathic and their phasers might send out the wrong signals to the hypothetical aliens down on the planet.
"Fine," Jim conceded.
“Captain, there is something you need to know about this mission. Please come with me to the next conference room, before we beam down.”
“I will listen, Spock but keep it brief.”
Spock nodded and without another word they entered the conference room together.
Spock sat near a console and typed something into it.
“Captain there is something Admiral Pike didn’t tell you about this mission and you must hear what Captain Pike had to say about it. This message was sent to me, and was intended for us to listen to once we reached the planet's surface. Though maybe I misinterpreted that--I believe we should listen to it now. Captain, I know this is irregular, but I've known Captain Pike for many years and she never will do something illogical or unnecessary. To act this way, without orders from her superiors, makes me believe it must be important.”
“Captain Pike? Do you mean Pike’s wife?”
“Yes Captain, this is from her.”
Jim agreed. Whatever her initial instructions, he needed to know everything possible about the mission, even if this wasn’t an official transmission. And it seemed she might have vital information, because Jim remembered then that the only other time a ship had visited this planet it had been the Farragut--fifteen years ago and back then Captain Pike had acted as first officer aboard that vessel.
Jim nodded at Spock and he started the transmission. A beautiful forty-something brunette with blue eyes appeared on-screen.
“I will be straight with you two. This is a rescue mission; after the rescue you must again prevent any ship from visiting this planet. You must rescue Admiral Pike and myself.”
A wry smile crossed her face. “We were there fifteen years ago, and we stayed there fifteen years before being rescued and returned to our time. Right now though, we are down there, imprisoned by an alien creature. I can’t give you many details, I can only tell what you requested fifteen years ago that I should tell you now. And to ask of you that you tell us about our own ‘future’, the life my husband and I have lived for the last fifteen years; but only so much that we will be able to arrive at this juncture-no more. We are in a time loop, gentlemen, which must not be disrupted under any circumstances. I feel confident about this mission because I’ve already seen you complete it. However I know Chris is very protective of you two and doesn’t want to subject both of you to any unnecessary risk. But you must both go, you and Spock, or I know for sure that if only you go, Captain Kirk, that you, Chris, and I will be condemned to an eternal life as prisoners of an alien race.
“I leave this in your hands, but you must to go, the both of you, if we want to complete and close the loop.”
Jim contemplated the message. She hadn’t specifically mentioned that him and Spock would make it out alive, she’d implied it, but them getting off the planet was clearly not part of the time loop, that much his logic told him. They couldn’t mess up regarding the rescue of the Pike’s, but if they managed to do that, they might still find themselves trapped there-trapped as prisoners for all eternity. Could he do that to Spock? It seemed he had no choice. Spock had to come down with him, though he hoped that with that decision made he’d not just signed both their souls away to some kind of eternal damnation-if he had then Uhura would surely kill him for not bringing Spock back.
“Spock. I know she said we both had to go. But she can’t know for sure that I wouldn’t be able to do this one my own. I was going to order you to come with me, but … there are so few of you Vulcans left. And you’ll be missed. I have Bones, but he doesn’t really count. Are you sure you want to go, knowing that maybe you will never come back to Uhura?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Captain, I think you are mistaken. I never had a relationship with her; our relationship has always been one of platonic friendship. She was trying to comfort me during the Nero’s crisis. And we remain close friends to this day. Like you, I have no one waiting for me, because Nyota doesn’t count.”
Jim chuckled and clapped his hand on Spock’s back. “Okay Spock, we’ll do this together.”
Spock nodded and they walked to the transporter room. Jim didn’t know why, but he felt a lot better knowing that Spock and Uhura weren’t together. He dismissed the thought.
The lieutenant’s fingers at the transporter controls moved quickly and the beam to take them down to the planet picked them up in an instant.
****
The landscape was barren and rocky; red limestone cliffs towered in the distance. Jim could taste fine grit in the air; it seemed the place was prone to sandstorms--Spock should feel right at home here.
At that thought his heart constricted in sympathy for Spock.
Now they had to find Pike and rescue him though, so that the time loop would be completed and their own past would occur exactly the way it had.
"The tricorder detects no signs of life,” Spock said. “Since the ship's instruments didn't either, I propose that what life we may encounter here may be radically different to the kind of life that we know."
Spock, so stoic and professional, Jim thought. The sight of this landscape, so similar to Vulcan, had been enough to throw him off guard, yet Spock, if it had affected him, suppressed that and got on with work.
"We have the coordinates of the beam down of the Farragut's landing party,” Jim replied. “Let's go there."
They set off westward. The sun was low in the sky ahead of them. In front of him Spock's tall, slim silhouette was elegantly outlined against the shimmering horizon. He was a desert creature through and through.
The idea struck him that if they warned Pike of Nero, that maybe there was something they could do to prevent Vulcan's destruction, so Spock would not have to lose his own desert. This Spock might normally bristle at the thought of tampering with the time-line, but if it was to save Vulcan, he was sure the guy would be up for some cheating, just as the future Spock had been when it came to preventing Earth's destruction.
After only a quarter of an hour they reached the coordinates. Jim was sweating profusely now, but Spock didn't look the slightest bit inconvenienced.
They both checked their tricorders multiple times, but nothing registered and when they put them away and looked around, still they couldn't see any signs of what had occurred there.
"Kirk to Enterprise."
"Lieutenant Sulu here, sir."
"You have a fix on our position?"
"Yes, we do, sir."
"Do the sensors read anything unusual here compared to the surrounding area?"
"Negative, Captain. Just another patch of stony ground."
"Thank you, we'll stay in contact. Kirk out."
Jim closed the channel, but when he looked over to Spock he saw that his first officer was concentrating on something. His eyes weren't looking at anything in particular, but the tilt of his head and the furrow of his brows indicated he was listening to something.
"Spock, what do you hear?"
"I am not certain. There is a low buzzing-."
Suddenly Spock looked up, his eyes focusing on something behind him. Jim spun around to face whatever it was, but he hit the ground hard when Spock jumped on top of him to pull him low. Somewhere overhead was a deafening rip in the air and a blinding light. Lightning? It hadn't been cloudy.
Jim tried to look up, but Spock was heavy and wasn't moving.
"Spock?" he whispered.
When he didn't get a reply he twisted his neck around as far as he could so he could look around Spock's shoulder. Above and around them hung a dense lilac colored fog. Was that the creature that was holding Pike and his wife hostage? It had to be.
"Spock!"
Still no movement. He could feel his first officer's ribcage contract and expand--he was still alive, but maybe he was badly injured. But he didn't have a choice, injured or not, he had to move Spock to get out from under him.
It took all his strength to shift his surprisingly heavy friend off him enough that he could crawl out from under him. Spock's limbs were unresponsive in a way he normally associated with unconsciousness, but his brow was deeply furrowed and his eyes were shut.
The fog started to descend slowly on Spock.
"No, get away from him! You can't have him!"
Jim took Spock's wrists and tried to pull him away, but the mist was faster and now he was breathing it in. Blackness crept up on him and he collapsed on top of Spock.
****
"What do you mean, we lost them?" Bones shouted. "We beamed them down, we had contact, and then you lost them? Just like that, eh?"
He got up out of his chair in the briefing room and paced up and down it.
He was running his hands through his hair. "Sulu, tell me this is all just a bad dream?"
"I wish I could, Doctor."
****
"Captain. Jim, wake up."
Jim was still feeling like his eyes and lungs had been blasted with sandpaper, but he opened his eyes and sat upright with Spock's help. The Vulcan's touch was surprisingly gentle.
"I'm okay, Spock."
Then he spotted them. Pike and his wife--younger than when he'd last seen them. Fifteen years younger, he reminded himself.
"I have already explained who we are and why we are here," Spock said.
"Well, we found them at least," Jim said grinning. He looked Pike up and down. "Now to get you back to the Farragut, Captain, and us back to the future."
" To get us back to the Farragut we'd have to go back in time and that's impossible,” Pike replied, studying him carefully.
"You two don't look any older than you did the day you went missing! And that is impossible!"
"The aliens are keeping us here as their pets," Pike's wife, he remembered Chris always called her 'Number One', said. "They're very advanced, I don't think they inhabit the same set of dimensions we do most of the time. They're doing something to us so that our bodies don't age I think."
"You've been their prisoners for fifteen years?"
They both nodded.
"Wow, why didn't you send us to rescue you sooner? Seriously, just tell someone to come pick you up earlier."
Pike tilted his head to one side. "You are a Starfleet captain, aren't you?"
Jim rolled his eyes. "Don't talk to us about the detrimental effects of time travel, we already know. Speaking of which, there is something you need to do, an event you have to prevent from occurring… "
Beside him Spock had gone rigid, he'd even stopped breathing. Clearly he knew that Jim was thinking about telling them about Nero. But both Pikes were shaking their heads already.
"If you tell us to change an event in history it might lead to you never coming to rescue us and then you can't tell us to stop the event ... it's a loop, it has to be played out like this or it will be broken and cause some more disastrous event in our universe."
Jim deflated immediately. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Pike's eyes flicked from him to Spock and back again.
"I have been able to make telepathic contact with the beings," Spock said eventually. "I may be able to negotiate with them to secure their prisoners’ release. Jim, these creatures are advanced; to them we appeared to lack higher intelligence as they couldn’t understand us. They tried to communicate with Captain Pike, but he is not a telepath, so they only heard noise. They saw that they had some kind of basic intelligence at least, so they give them to their offspring as ‘pets’.”
Spock continued, “The young alien they were given to is grown up now; maybe he can be reasoned with and understand that while we lack their intelligence, that we are not pets. I can explain that we are beings in development, who may someday reach their developmental status.”
“Spock, okay, so you get them to let everyone go,” Jim said. “But that still leaves the problem of taking the Pike’s back fifteen years into the past.”
Pike's wife spoke up. "They can manipulate time. I don't think they'd have a problem taking us back in time if they do agree to let us go."
"Then I will try to reason with them," Spock said.
Jim didn't like the sound of Spock mind-melding with an alien barely out of his teens who kept humans as pets, but it was their only option. He nodded and then watched as Spock sat with his legs crossed and closed his eyes.
It seemed to take no time at all. When he opened his eyes again he looked right at Jim.
"Captain, if I could talk to you for a moment--alone.”
Jim just stared at him and then looked to the young Captain Pike and his first officer. But Spock always had a good reason for everything so he nodded. Pike didn't look pleased but he shrugged his shoulders. He and his wife got up.
"Will a quarter of an hour be enough?" he asked.
Jim nodded. "Yes, Captain. Thank you."
They left to go into an adjoining room, casting backward glances at Jim and Spock.
"So what's so important that we can't discuss it even in front of Pike?" Jim whispered. "They are Pike and his first, right?"
Jim's eyes went wide as he contemplated the possibility that they'd been deceived.
"I believe they are."
"Then what?"
"The young alien is indeed willing to let the Pikes go. But they are fascinated with me because I can communicate with them."
Jim stared at Spock open mouthed. "No. No way, Spock. You're coming with me, back to the Enterprise, I'm not letting them keep you here as some kind of lab rat."
"They do not want to keep me forever."
"How long?"
"Fifteen years, the same time they have studied the Pikes."
"Are you mad? You can't agree to that!"
"After that they would return me to this time and we can beam back to the ship together. My body will not age in their care."
"Talk to them again. There must be another way."
"Captain, it was a mind-meld. I saw their thoughts; this is not something they are willing to negotiate on. And we must return Captain Pike to his time-that is imperative. Without him to listen to you on the bridge of the Enterprise-."
"Without him I wouldn't even have joined the Fleet," Jim groaned. "I know."
"They must not refuse to go because of my sacrifice, which is why I did not want to discuss this in front of them."
"Spock, you are going to lose your mind on this rock all alone."
"I will hardly be alone."
"If anything that’s worse, knowing you’ll only have those aliens for company."
Jim reached out and placed a hand on Spock's shoulder and squeezed it.
"I'll stay here with you."
Spock went rigid. Jim knew that he had to make his move now.
“Spock, I’m with you. Please let me be with you.”
“Captain, fifteen years is too much time for a human, for a Vulcan it is nothing.”
“Spock, maybe for other Vulcans, but you’re half-human. And fifteen years-man, that’s a lot! This is my decision. I’m going to stay here with you; you can’t stop me, you know. I’m the Captain after all.” He winked at Spock.
“Captain… Jim, you don’t know what you are asking of me.”
Jim’s heart sank. Ouch, that hurt!
He looked away. “Spock, I’m sorry. I’d thought we were at least friends by now. I’m sorry I’m so irritating. I just like your attention.”
“Jim, that is not what I meant. You have an energetic personality; how could you be happy to spend fifteen years down here with me? I do think of you as my friend.”
Jim looked up as Spock forged on, “But if you stay ….”
The Vulcan didn’t normally hesitate; Jim furrowed his brow.
“… if you stay I could end up hurting you. And I do not wish that.”
“Eh, that just made no sense.”
He watched Spock closely. The man was so tense; it would almost have been comical if the situation hadn’t been so serious.
“For Vulcans, when they reach sexual maturity there could be madness, they must take a mate or die. But you are male and human-it is possible you would not survive what I would unleash upon your body and your mind.”
Ah. They stared at each other.
“You haven’t given me the percentages yet. How likely is it you’d kill me?”
“I have insuffic-.”
“Guess. Estimate!”
“20.467 percent.”
“I think I’ll take that chance,” Jim grinned. “I’ll stay. I’ve made my decision and the Captain’s decision is final.”
Spock gave him a dirty look. “We would end up married. With an unbreakable telepathic bond between us.”
“And you don’t want that with me. I see-.”
Spock sighed. Actually sighed. It was enough to stop Jim from continuing his sentence.
“Again, you misunderstand. I … I would welcome such a bond with you, even if this situation had not arisen.”
Wow. That was … unexpected, Jim thought.
His friend looked him in the eyes. “But not under these circumstances. I would not have you bound to me against your will or because you believe it is the only choice you can make.”
Jim had to think quickly. He had to say something that would convince Spock, he couldn’t lie therefore.
“Spock, I know this might sound a little odd, but what I’m about to say is the truth. Look me in the eye and then tell me it isn’t. Spock, I love you.”
Jim’s eyes were intense and his face conveyed the love he professed.
Spock looked down for a moment and drew his eyebrows together in thought.
“If that is the case,” he said when he looked up, “and you feel you would wish to be my partner, then I accept your offer as my companion, Jim.”
Jim stepped forward and kissed him gently on the lips. He didn’t know if Spock would be able to pick up on what he was feeling telepathically or not, but he concentrated on the feeling he wanted to convey; thoughts about love. As he did, he felt Spock begin to reciprocate the kiss, relaxing into it. His plan was working--Spock was convinced that he did truly want to marry him.
Jim broke the kiss. “Well the fifteen minutes are up I believe, we must go and tell them the good news.”
The Pikes were thrilled, but a little suspicious.
“Captain, are you sure there is nothing they wanted in return for our liberation?” Number One asked.
Jim flashed her one of his better smiles; the ones that had always allowed him to get out of any troubles he’d got himself into as teenager.
“No, there wasn’t.”
****
Spock clasped his hands behind his back. "I will ask the beings to take the captain and the commander back in time."
"Wait a minute. Captain Pike, if I could have a word with the commander? I need to say something to you, Ma’am, and it must be in private.”
She raised an eyebrow. "You can't change history, it would break the loop."
"I'm not intending to break any loops." Jim grinned broadly.
He could tell she was still suspicious, but agreed to hear Jim out in a neighboring room.
"Actually I'm just trying to close a loop," Jim lied.
Well, if this really was an unchangeable loop then of course it wasn't a lie, as she would already have done what he was about to ask of her.
"The Vulcans are very protective of their knowledge and incredibly private as a race. That's not good for them. Try and get them to share a bit of themselves. Set up a museum on Earth and maybe a zoo, seed-bank and a garden on Mars or another place."
"You want me to do outreach work for the Vulcans? Surely the Federation will not be overrun with xenophobia. What’s the real story here, Captain? Because I can tell you’re not telling me all."
“There will be an event-but you’re the one who keeps reminding me I can’t break the loop! I’m sorry, I can’t tell you. You don’t know how much I want to tell you. But things will be bad for the Vulcans and really bad for the Federation. You mustn’t talk to the Captain about it though, because he’ll have a major role in it all.”
Number One looked really worried so Jim decided to reassure her.
“I can assure that he doesn’t die. He sent me on this mission,” Jim said. "Just ... do the best you can for the Vulcans to open up and share.”
She nodded, though he could tell by the look in her eyes that he'd troubled her. They join the others, Spock was ‘talking to them’. He opens his eyes and everything was set.
As soon as Number One stepped back next to Pike their forms both flickered and then they were gone.
Jim looked around the sparse rooms that he'd elected to spend the next fifteen years of his life in. Although he knew he'd be able to get back to his ship after that, the sheer absurdity of the amount of time he had until he could sit in the Captain's seat again was too large for him to fully comprehend.
If they came back to a universe in which he could sit on a park bench on Mars with Spock, surrounded by some kind of Vulcan cacti, it would all be worth it though.
A small smile crossed his face at that thought. He still couldn't quite believe Spock's words--that if they stayed here together that they would necessarily become lovers. He was still slightly unsure how to take that revelation.
He'd told Spock he loved him. And he truly did. He loved all his friends. A part of the love he felt for Spock was different to the brotherly love he felt for McCoy though. For one, his feelings for Spock ran deeper, but also, there was a romantic component to his feelings that he couldn’t deny now that they’d kissed. His lips still tingled from when they’d met Spock's. Would that be enough?
**** **** ****
Jim was really eager to get back to his white lady, but when ‘Purply’-yes, he’d given the damn creature a name so he could mock it more easily--said that they could get ready to leave now, Jim felt a pang in his heart.
It wasn’t that Jim wanted to stay, no, heaven’s no, he missed life, friends and real things to do. Here the most exciting thing he got to do, besides Spock of course, was to occasionally play with alien technology. He was grateful they’d been given that much at least, to amuse them over the years, but Jim missed his freedom and he missed having other people around. He was definitely a people person.
This place had been his home for fifteen years, though. This was the place where him and Spock had become the solid couple they were now. It was an odd though, but he wanted to take pictures to show Bones what it was like here. ‘That’s where I had my workshop, and there’s where we made love the first time’. Those were detail Jim totally wanted to share with Bones, because the look on his friend’s face would just be priceless.
Spock smiled at him. Jim knew that not everybody would have recognized that expression as smile, but he was proud to say that he could read Spock well. So he extended two fingers to Spock, and as his lover did the same he felt a warm tingle run through his body.
‘Purply’ chose that very moment to send them back in time. For a flicker of a heartbeat Jim saw the Pikes and then they all went fuzzy. Beside him he could still feel Spock’s fingers against his, and Jim was sure wherever he was, as long as Spock was with him, he’d be at home.
****
Bones was on the bridge, running his hands through his hair. How could they just lose Jim and Spock like that? This made no sense.
"Sulu, tell me this is all just some bad dream?"
"I wish I could, Doctor."
“Sir,” Ensign Ramirez said, “I picked up their signal again!” She turned around in her seat, looking ecstatic.
“Then beam them up immediately, Ensign!” Sulu said.
For the first time since he’d found himself sitting in the Captain’s chair he felt relief.
“Sulu, I’m going to the transporter room right now. Those two had damned well better not come back half-dead.”
Sulu nodded at him, and he could hear the doctor cursing about how ridiculous working in space was, until the turbolift door closed behind him.
****
Bones dashed to the transporter room. He didn’t pay attention to the crewmen he was pushing out of his way, thundering on, running faster than he’d ever had to before … only to come to a stop outside the transporter room door. He steadied himself against the wall, to catch his breath. All the while he scowled at his friends; they really did deserve it, standing there looking perfectly happy, as it nothing at happened at all.
“Hi Bones, I missed you.”
Bones didn’t say anything, though, and just pulled out his tricorder to scan Jim instead.
“Of course you missed me that five minutes. Who else can you expect to patch you up every time you do something foolish, except me?”
Jim clearly couldn’t control himself, maybe he’d caught some virus? Because the next thing Bones knew the Captain was hugging him tightly.
“Okay, Jim I see you really missed me during the time you were lost to us somewhere on that godforsaken rock. But I need those arms to take you to sickbay immediately for complete check up. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t crush them.”
Jim laughed. “Sorry, Bones. Of course I’ll let you have a complete physical if you want.”
“Something really bad must’ve happened on that planet, if you’re going to let me take a complete physical without protesting. Come on, now I’m worried. Andorian Grible virus. Gotta be that.”
“No, nothing of the sort Bones. But I’ll let you run whatever tests you want on me, because you are my best friend. I just want to kiss you, I missed you so much.”
Bones raised an eyebrow at that. No, not Grible, it had to be something worse than that. He looked over at Spock. If Jim had it, maybe Spock was affected too. He’d noticed that Spock had tensed when Jim had hugged him-so Spock still seemed himself; uncomfortable with illogical displays of emotions and all that jazz.
“I very much hope that you will not kiss the doctor, Jim,” Spock said in a low voice.
“Honey, I didn’t know you were the jealous type,” Jim teased as he winked at Spock. “Apparently i like a bit, you know.”
Okay, so they’d both gone nuts. Right, he’s got it now. The Orion Havvari parasite.
“Sickbay now! Both of you!”
After he’d completed a full physical check on both of them, Bones was worried, though. No viruses, no parasites, but a hell of a lot of data that he couldn’t explain.
“I don’t know what you did down there, but your brain scans indicate some massive changes compared to the last ones I have on record for both of you. And your brainwaves … they are somehow in synch with one another. I’m not sure how to explain it exactly, it’s not really the frequency of the waves or even the activity. It’s more the patterns that I’m seeing here. Jim, if you were telepathic, I think it’s what some doctors would describe as ‘perfect telepathic compatibility’. Again, I’m pretty sure these patterns I’m seeing weren’t there before you went down to the planet. And you two are in better health, if that’s even possible, than when you attended your last physical. So you will two stop talking nonsense and actually explain to me what happened to you two, or should I run more tests?”
Jim grinned at him. “Don’t worry, Bones, we’re alright. And I told you: we were held captive for fifteen years. And in those fifteen year, Spock and I went happily married. It‘s bliss, being able to hear each other’s thoughts all the time.”
Bones rolled his eyes, but Jim carried on. “We had a lot of practice with the Vulcan telepathic marital bond and so that’s how we’re not telepathically so compatible. So, you see, it’s all really simple, just like I’ve been telling you for the last half hour.”
There was a buzz as someone tried to comm Bones. “Saved by a comm, gentlemen! But Jim, don’t worry. I’ll find out what’s afflicting you and cure you of it so you can tell me what really happened. And if this is all just some big joke, then you can bet your ass that I’ll run more test and put hypos where you didn’t believe I could stick a hypo spray! And you’re not to leave sickbay. For now I’m putting you both on medical leave, do you understand?"
Bones left to take the comm but returned shortly. “Ah, it’s for you, Jim. Captain Pike. I explained to Pike that you were in not fit state to talk, but she insisted, she wants to speak with you anyway. I don’t even know why I’m a doctor in Starfleet. Everyone just ignores my medical advice anyway. Think they know better just because they did first aid training … ”
Jim jumped off the bed and hurried passed him to a terminal where he asked Uhura to redirect the call to his quarters.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going? I told you to stay in sickbay!”
“Sorry, Bones. But Spock and I can’t take this call here. It’s a private call and you said we were both in excellent health.”
Jim winked at him, leaving Bones speechless, and he was just about to reply to Jim when Spock got off his bed and started to head for the door.
“Spock, I haven’t finished with you. Get back here, you hear? Godamned pointy eared elf.”
Rather than stopping Spock that seemed to make him walk even faster. As both his patients left sickbay, he followed them, about to comm security. But just as he was about to he managed to grab hold of Spock’s medical gown, but as Spock wasn’t stopping, it ripped and came right off. So there he was holding Spock’s gown, while the commander stood here naked but for his briefs.
****
Jim pulled up a chair in his quarters around the small screen that showed Captain Pike’s face on screen. He checked Spock wasn’t behind him. No? Good.
“So,” Jim said, before she could even say hi, “I just have to know: what about the plan? How did it go?”
“I knew you’d want to know, so that’s exactly why I made sure to call as soon as I could. But first tell me, how much time did they keep you two down there?”
“I couldn’t fool you, could I?” Jim pouted. “I’m really hurt, I thought I was a better actor. Well, I’ll say this, they sure took their damned time observing us, but don’t worry, we’re fine. So, tell me.”
Her eyes were full of compassion as she answered. “Our project when really well. And I kept it from Pike too, which I have you know was no small feat, seeing as I couldn’t explain to him why I was taking on all these mission as a Captain that prevented me from seeing him for years on end. But I completely understand why this was so important to you now and what it was you wanted to tell me. I’ll send you the complete report of the missions, but I think we achieved a fair amount. We’d even set up a research colony to test Vulcan and human biosphere compatibility. I think you heard of the place: the M class planet, called Alpha Prima. Those five thousand Vulcan physicists, healers, biochemists, and geneticists wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for you. Right now we have a friend of yours with us here, Ambassador Selleck. All in all, your message to me really helped.”
Now that she mentioned it, he did remember hearing something about a federation research colony, but he’d been so busy keeping the Klingon border safe … huh, turned out this was just another part of the loop.
“You don’t know how relieved I am to hear this, Captain Pike; if you weren’t married I would ask for your hand right now.”
She smiled brightly. “Stop that flattery, Kirk; it won’t get you anywhere. All it’s likely to get you is only a sore ass, if Admiral Pike should hear about all this talk of you stealing me away from him. I think he might just get a tad jealous if you tried that.”
She winked at him.
“Ah well, that’s a pity,” he replied, laughing. “Well, I’ve got a mad doctor on my heels, so I’ve got to go. But I can’t thank you enough for trusting me blindly the way you did.”
He ended the call and turned ‘round; he knew someone was standing in the doorway behind him.
“Jim, it seems you’ve been keeping important information from me all these years. You shielded this from me during mind melds.”
Spock didn’t sound hurt. He didn’t exactly look hurt either-well, that wasn’t quite true. To anyone else, yes, he looked his calm collected self, but thanks to their bond Jim was able to look deeper.
“Spock, I’m sorry.” He sighed. “But I couldn’t tell you. Look, I had no idea if this was going to work at all. It was hard enough for me not to lay up at night wondering about that. I couldn’t do that to you. I needed to know that it had worked.”
Jim kissed him on the cheek. Spock surprised him by answer that chaste kiss with a passionate one on the mouth. Jim took a little time to catch his breath.
“What caused the delay? Did Bones catch you?”
“Indeed, you could put it like that. And every other person walking through the corridor at that time.”
Jim frowned. “Right … ?”
“He managed to tear my medical gown, so we had to go back to sickbay to retrieve a new one.”
“So you had to walk all the way to sickbay without one? Wow, I would have loved to see that.”
“How so?”
“Well, it’s not really fair that everyone else should get an eye-full of you, but not me.” Jim winked.
“The only people who got an ‘eye-full’ really were Lieutenant Uhura and Doctor McCoy who both ended up escorting me back to sickbay. Luckily, Lieutenant Uhura was a lot more easy to convince of the validity of the story of what happened to us, that Doctor McCoy was.”
“Jeeze, Spock. I know she fancies you. So, um, how did the news go down with her?”
Well, maybe he’d asked the wrong person there. Spock wasn’t always good at reading and understanding people’s emotions.
“I am not sure. She was very quiet, but then she expressed some worry that I have been forced into this relationship simply due to the fact that it was only the two of us trapped down there for fifteen years. In the end I convinced her though that she need not be worried. I explained that we’d been married for fourteen years, two months and three hours and that I had found a peace with you that had until then eluded me. She congratulated us and told me that there would have to be a traditional human ceremony, and that she will organize it.”
Jim chuckled at that.
“But I should warn you: she said that if you should leave me standing at the altar, she would kill you.”
The flat tone in which Spock delivered Uhura’s joke was just too funny and he cracked up laughing.
“Jim,” Spock said, the humor clearly visible in his eyes, “you should not underestimate the Lieutenant, she is highly trained in many fighting styles.”
“Oh, I know she could kick my ass,” Jim laughed.
“May I offer my services as your personal body guard? I would not want anyone ‘kicking your ass’.”
Jim was almost without air, he was laughing so hard.
“Stop it Spock, you’re killing me.”
Spock placed a hand on Jim’s temple to calm him down and Jim took that opportunity to kiss his lover. It was a slow, but loving kiss, that grew in depth until they both had to stop for air.
“You know how much I love you?”
Spock nodded. “No less than how much I love you, Jim.”
Jim smiled. “Kirk the bridge.”
“Lieutenant Sulu. It seems like McCoy has placed me on medical leave until tomorrow. Get us as far away from this rock as quickly as possible.”
“Glad to have you back, sir! Destination?”
“The nearest star base. I’ll be resting for the time being. Captain out.”
Spock raised a teasing eyebrow. “Jim, if you need the rest I will leave you to it.”
“Oh no you don’t, Mr. Spock.” Jim looked over towards his bed. “I was thinking you might want to spend the next few hours inaugurating that bed.”
“As tempting as that may sound, Doctor McCoy seemed genuinely worried about us, even though Uhura eventually helped him believe our story, that we had not lost our minds. I believe the senior crew will wish to know in detail what happened to us.”
“Where’s the fun in answering all Bones questions now? He didn’t want to listen earlier. No, let him try and go back over everything we told him that he dismissed as mad talk earlier. I think that’ll be more than he can deal with at the moment anyway. I think we should leave him to stew with that.”
“You logic is sound,” Spock said, though Jim could see that he thought it was anything but sound. He just liked the idea of having Jim to himself for a while.
And Jim was proven right in that assumption, when Spock started kissing him and pushing him gently towards the bed.
The door chime to the quarters sounded. Jim ignored it.
Then Bones voice sounded over the intercom. “Jim, it’s Bones. Are you there? Damn it, why am I asking, I know you’re there. Get out here, right now, do you understand! I don’t know how I somehow let Uhura persuade me you were okay, but you clearly aren’t. We need to talk! Jim!”
Jim closed his eyes. “Computer, lights to ten percent and mute intercom.”
His plan was to keep this up until zero six hundred hours if he could get away with it. Maybe fifteen years without any responsibilities but to himself and Spock had left him with some bad habits. It was good he change the security codes so Bones can’t override the lock. But he would work on fixing those-tomorrow. For now, Jim placed kisses on his bondmate’s handsome cheekbones and all along his jaw until he met his full lips.
The end.
Artist: theoreticalpixy
Author: ariadnechan and the_physicist
Rating Art/Fic: PG/ Fic: PG-13
Genre: Adventure
Pairing: Kirk/Spock & Pike/Number One.
Word Count: ~9570
Warnings: Time loops, Mayor characters disappearance.
Art Thumbnail:
Fic Summary: Pike calls for Jim and Spock in a secret mission. They must to go to Sigma four to rescue younger Pike/Number one from their imprisonment. Pike has confidence in this mission, because he was there and he saw Jim and Spock rescue them. But what will happen to Jim and Spock there? Will they comeback alive in their own timelines to finish the loop in time?
Link to Art: here
“Lieutenant Rossi reporting, Sir.”
Despite her injured leg the lanky brunette stood to attention in front of Lieutenant Tyler, who was temporally in command of the Farragut.
Tyler put down the PADD he'd been turning over and over in his hand and tried to erase the deep crease from between his brows. It felt wrong to be sitting in the captain's office, in his chair, rather than standing to attention on the other side of the desk.
During a routine exploration mission, both the captain and first officer had disappeared off the face of the planet Sigma IV. He needed a lead, something anything. What had happened down there?
Rossi was the only member of the away mission to return. She was in bad shape emotionally, he could tell that instantly; her eyes were red- rimmed. But he couldn't give her time to come to terms with what had occurred. He needed to everything, and he needed to know it now. She was the only witness they had.
“Report, Lieutenant.”
“Well, sir, we'd beamed down. We split up, with one group going off to catalog the local flora, while I was in the other group which was to examine the geology. Ensign Johnson of security and I were standing barely two meters behind the Captain--I was cataloging some rock formations and looking for minerals--when it happened.”
"When what happened? Tell me in as much detail as you can."
“I was absorbed in my task, but suddenly I heard Johnson cry out. I reached for my phaser and I then saw how a bolt of lightning struck him down, and then another." Rossi paused to compose herself. "All the lightning had seemingly come out of nowhere; there were no storm clouds.
In the end there was nothing left of Johnson. I saw his red shirt crumble to dust as the ensign ... disappeared.”
Tyler had sympathy with her. It was common knowledge on the ship that those two had been in an on off relationship since their Academy days.
Rossi pushed her shoulders back, standing taller. “I ran towards the captain and Number One, who'd both taken refuge behind a large boulder. I couldn't reach their position though, as a bolt of lightning hit the ground in front of me and I fell. As soon as I got up again, I managed to get myself out of the way of the lightning and found cover among some tall rock formations. When I looked out from behind my cover I saw that they'd stepped out from behind their boulder. They were firing into some strange purple cloud above their heads. I hadn't noticed it earlier."
Tyler raised his eyebrow at that. 'Purple cloud'? He couldn't think of anything in the atmospheric survey of Sigma IV that could explain this.
"The Captain was trying to comm the ship," Rossi continued, "but the energy of the lightning bolts, that I now knew were coming from the cloud, seemed to be blocking the channel. I decided to hail the ship myself and asked for an immediate beam up for the three of us. Just then a bolt of lightning struck the Captain and Number One's position. That's the last thing I saw before I was beamed up to the ship, alone.
"Lieutenant Ibarra was at the transporter controls. He said he couldn't get a fix on them, there was too much electrical disturbance. A security team arrived in the transporter room and we were waiting for your instructions when Ibarra told us that he'd lost their signal entirely; they'd disappeared. He couldn't locate them anywhere on the planet's surface.
“When we finally beamed down, it was only to confirm that the cloud and the Captain were gone. We covered an area of three square kilometers around the site, but found no clues. We beamed back after four hours of searching, and now I’m reporting to you, sir.”
Tyler was as puzzled as before. But the Lieutenant had told him all she knew. She was in a bad shape and she needed to go to sickbay.
“Lieutenant, report to sickbay. When your leg's been attended to I want to see you in conference room four.”
“Yes, sir.”
After the meeting Tyler decided to send down more teams and widen the search area.
With each passing hour though the grim reality that he might just have inherited the Farragut seemed ever more likely. By the time they reached hour number sixty-one everybody, whether they'd been involved.
In the search efforts (they'd now combed a hundred square kilometers of rocky desert) or had assisted through running various different scans from on board the ship, all were tired and depressed. Tyler knew it was time to inform Star Fleet that the two most senior officers had vanished, leaving behind no clues, just thin air.
He reached for the PADD on the Captain's desk. His desk, in all likelihood, because Captain Christopher Pike was ... dead.
"Bridge to Lieutenant Tyler. We've just had call from the surface!"
Captain Pike and Number One are alive. They just appeared 100 kilometers away from their last known position. They're alive."
He slumped back into the chair, letting the PADD slip from his fingers and clatter when it hit the floor. He was just as relieved as the bridge crew at the news, more than grateful to hand command back to Christopher and get the hell away from this planet.
That night, as the ship headed back to Earth, he was thankful for each parsec of space that they were adding to the distance they were putting between the ship and Sigma IV. It was hard not to think of that place as cursed. He wasn't happy that the mystery might never be solved, as neither the captain, nor Number One, had any recollection of the time they'd spent there, but he wholeheartedly agreed it was too dangerous on that planet for a full investigation to take place.
****
Chris was in his cabin writing his final report. Number One was ensconced in a chair a few feet away scanning scientific journals. A wistful smile crept across his face as he typed out her given name, which she'd always hated. And he had to agree with her, he couldn't think of her as being anyone but Number One.
He put down the PADD. “One, my dear."
She looked over and when he was sure he had her attention he continued.
"What on Earth are we going to do about this report? There's no way we can explain what happened; that we were held captive for fifteen years and were rescued by two Star Fleet officers from the future, who saved us from the creatures who held us captive--as if we were nothing but interesting pets. What should we say in the report?”
“Chris, it’s really easy, you think too much. We only need to say that we were captured, that we have no exact recollection of what happened there, but all we know is that we were studied and eventually discarded. And that we recommend that they ban any Federation vessels from visiting the place because of the dangers. Though we say that it a final survey in fifteen years should be conducted to review the ban.”
“You make it sound really easy, but they will want to know more about the fifteen years we were there, even if was less than two days time for the crew.”
“Chris, if we say any more, we might jeopardize our own rescue. We're going to have to organize it so that it happens exactly the way it did--we can't risk creating a paradox… I’m not comfortable to leave out those fifteen years from our report and less so that time loop open, but we have no other alternative.”
One gave him a very serious look.
Chris was really worried and tired. “But seriously One, you really think that two kids will believe us and save us in the future? I've looked them up, you know; they're only little kids, now.”
“My Chris maybe I love you because you are so sweet when you are this worried. Of course they're kids now, they were quite young when they came to rescue us. I wonder how come they gave, or will give, a ship to a captain so young. But there's really no logic to this whole situation whatsoever, so I think it's for the best if don't tell anyone for now--the less the admiralty knows the better. We have a lot of planning to do, my love.” One was always so calm and logical, and beautiful; Chris was really lucky to have her as his first officer and his wife. Which reminded him: there was still one thing they had to put right.
“Okay, One, but we must alert them about our marriage status the soon as possible.”
One tried not to chuckle “Chris, we have to marry first in this time line.”
Pike held his head with both hands. “This whole situation is giving me headaches.”
“Don’t worry, dear. I'll finish the report after reading this article. Then you read it and correct it and we'll be set in an hour tops--just in time to get to bed. A real bed again at last!
So you can go and shower in the meantime if you like.”
“I really wonder how I lived without you all my life, honey.” Pike smiled at her.
“I know, right?” she said winking at him while she moved to the computer.
**** **** ****
And that's what they did. They then spent the next fifteen years building their life around the shaky scaffold of information about their future lives that they'd been given by Jim and Spock, which included him working at the Academy while waiting for the Enterprise to be completed, so he would find Jim in Iowa.
After finding Jim though he'd played his part and had nothing more to do towards securing his future rescue until the day on which he'd send Spock and Jim on the mission to rescue them. It was probably a good thing, he thought, that Jim hadn't told him everything. Would he have had the self control to prevent a time paradox if he'd known about Nero? But even the small stones that he'd face in his path may have filled him with dread, if nothing more, had he known about them. Such as the fact that he'd end up in a wheel chair or that One would spend four years away from him, captaining the York Town--a fine scientifically oriented vessel, and she had always wanted her own command--but he'd missed her nonetheless.
Now she had an Academy post so they could be together though. He was really happy with his desk job too. Captaining the Enterprise would have meant not seeing her for a further five years.
But now things were in the right place and it was the right time. He had to make the call he's spent fifteen years waiting to make.
Pike was worried. This wasn't complicated; he was making this into something more difficult than it had to be, but he didn't know for sure ... his wife had seen the young duo escape the planet along with them. She said that they'd been pulled away by their own transporters too. He didn't doubt that they'd escaped. But what if she'd missed something? While they'd been transported out, in the blink of an eye he'd thought they'd flickered ... had the aliens kept them hostage for fifteen years too? Chris had thought about that a lot over the years--especially after really getting to know Jim Kirk.
Could he do that to Jim and Spock? Send them to live agelessly on that rock for god knows how long just so that he could be rescued?
Before the attack on Vulcan he'd had his doubts, but that had changed everything. He had to be there to make that brilliant young man first officer and give the ship to Spock or Earth and who knew how many other planet would share Vulcan's fate. These facts didn't make this any easier.
"Admiral Pike to communications. I want a secure subspace frequency set up to the Enterprise. Get me Kirk on the line."
****
Jim leaned back in the captain's chair and loudly slurped his coffee. He did it to annoy Spock, although he was sure it annoyed Uhura too. Seeing those two getting riled up was just too funny. He could just imagine Uhura impatiently waiting for her shift to be up so she could complain about him drinking loudly to Spock in the privacy of her quarters.
He grinned over the rim of his cup, watching, waiting, slurping again-- timed just right--and there it was! Spock's ear twitched in irritation! Yes, he'd done it! For some reason, he took great satisfaction in getting Spock’s attention, even if was negative attention. He briefly wondered why that might be, but decided that all he wanted was a little fun.
"Captain." Uhura turned in her chair. "A call from Admiral Pike, priority one."
"Put it on screen."
"Sorry, the rest of the call info just came up--its security clearance is only for your level."
Jim's eyebrows shot up.
"Put it through to the conference room."
****
"Those orders sound straight forward enough, Admiral, so what's the catch? You look concerned."
"Captain ..., Jim. I was the one to beam down to that planet 15 years ago along with my first officer. I put it on the list of forbidden planets for a good reason."
"Um, I'm just scrolling through the dossier you forwarded to me. The descriptions of what's wrong with the planet seem rather vague. Can you tell me more?"
"I'm afraid not."
Jim furrowed his brow. "But the dangers need re-evaluating? Why?"
"You'll find out when you get there."
"I don't like the sound of this, Chris."
"Take care, Jim. Take care."
****
They were approaching the forbidden planet. Jim paced the bridge restlessly. He could feel the eyes of his bridge officers on him, cautious, worried. They hadn't seen Pike's expression, the sadness in his voice.
Was this some kind of suicide mission he was being sent on? Jim clenched his jaw and sat down in his chair. If so it was certainly not one he'd be sent on lightly--there had to be a damned good reason. He'd do his duty.
"Going into orbit around the planet now, sir," Sulu said.
"What do our instruments say about the planet's surface? Any changes we can detect?"
"No changes," Sulu replied, "the planet is just as the records indicate. If anything, it's slightly scary how the scans match the ones taken fifteen years ago almost exactly."
"Nothing hazardous? No anomalies?"
"All looks fine to me, sir."
"I will prepare an away team," Spock said, getting up.
Jim jumped out of his chair, startling everyone.
"No, Commander. This is something I must do alone."
His grave statement was met with blank looks from everyone.
Spock looked towards the turbo lift. "A moment please, Captain?"
Jim nodded and together they walked into the turbo lift. He hit the controls to take them down to the transporter room.
"Captain, your actions and the fact that no one has been allowed access to the planet in fifteen years indicates that our true orders are not in fact to take an away team to the surface to collect local rock samples for analysis on the ship. May I inquire what our actual purpose here is?"
The turbo lift came to a halt on a lower deck and its doors opened.
"I wish I knew Spock, but I don't. Pike was worried and as you said, our orders make no sense. Like you I'm just putting one and one together."
They walked towards the transporter room.
Spock stopped him. "Then may I suggest you do not beam down without a full security team? What are you expecting down there?"
"A life-form of some kind. I can't see any other reason for all this madness, though the secrecy still baffles me."
"Your guess has some merit. Captain, I should accompany you. You should not go alone."
“Spock this is something Pike asked to me to do. I can’t put any of my crew at risk, and you are totally out of the question--this ship needs a captain if I can’t go back. Do you want me to cite regulations on you?”
Something in Jim’s heart felt warmer at Spock's concern for him. Okay, well maybe he was only concerned for the mission, but still.
But he knew should put his foot down on this one. He didn't want to put Spock into danger unnecessarily, but his First Officer had a point. He shouldn't be going down on his own; and he trusted Spock would be a big help if they met a creature they couldn't communicate with orally. None of his security team were telepathic and their phasers might send out the wrong signals to the hypothetical aliens down on the planet.
"Fine," Jim conceded.
“Captain, there is something you need to know about this mission. Please come with me to the next conference room, before we beam down.”
“I will listen, Spock but keep it brief.”
Spock nodded and without another word they entered the conference room together.
Spock sat near a console and typed something into it.
“Captain there is something Admiral Pike didn’t tell you about this mission and you must hear what Captain Pike had to say about it. This message was sent to me, and was intended for us to listen to once we reached the planet's surface. Though maybe I misinterpreted that--I believe we should listen to it now. Captain, I know this is irregular, but I've known Captain Pike for many years and she never will do something illogical or unnecessary. To act this way, without orders from her superiors, makes me believe it must be important.”
“Captain Pike? Do you mean Pike’s wife?”
“Yes Captain, this is from her.”
Jim agreed. Whatever her initial instructions, he needed to know everything possible about the mission, even if this wasn’t an official transmission. And it seemed she might have vital information, because Jim remembered then that the only other time a ship had visited this planet it had been the Farragut--fifteen years ago and back then Captain Pike had acted as first officer aboard that vessel.
Jim nodded at Spock and he started the transmission. A beautiful forty-something brunette with blue eyes appeared on-screen.
“I will be straight with you two. This is a rescue mission; after the rescue you must again prevent any ship from visiting this planet. You must rescue Admiral Pike and myself.”
A wry smile crossed her face. “We were there fifteen years ago, and we stayed there fifteen years before being rescued and returned to our time. Right now though, we are down there, imprisoned by an alien creature. I can’t give you many details, I can only tell what you requested fifteen years ago that I should tell you now. And to ask of you that you tell us about our own ‘future’, the life my husband and I have lived for the last fifteen years; but only so much that we will be able to arrive at this juncture-no more. We are in a time loop, gentlemen, which must not be disrupted under any circumstances. I feel confident about this mission because I’ve already seen you complete it. However I know Chris is very protective of you two and doesn’t want to subject both of you to any unnecessary risk. But you must both go, you and Spock, or I know for sure that if only you go, Captain Kirk, that you, Chris, and I will be condemned to an eternal life as prisoners of an alien race.
“I leave this in your hands, but you must to go, the both of you, if we want to complete and close the loop.”
Jim contemplated the message. She hadn’t specifically mentioned that him and Spock would make it out alive, she’d implied it, but them getting off the planet was clearly not part of the time loop, that much his logic told him. They couldn’t mess up regarding the rescue of the Pike’s, but if they managed to do that, they might still find themselves trapped there-trapped as prisoners for all eternity. Could he do that to Spock? It seemed he had no choice. Spock had to come down with him, though he hoped that with that decision made he’d not just signed both their souls away to some kind of eternal damnation-if he had then Uhura would surely kill him for not bringing Spock back.
“Spock. I know she said we both had to go. But she can’t know for sure that I wouldn’t be able to do this one my own. I was going to order you to come with me, but … there are so few of you Vulcans left. And you’ll be missed. I have Bones, but he doesn’t really count. Are you sure you want to go, knowing that maybe you will never come back to Uhura?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Captain, I think you are mistaken. I never had a relationship with her; our relationship has always been one of platonic friendship. She was trying to comfort me during the Nero’s crisis. And we remain close friends to this day. Like you, I have no one waiting for me, because Nyota doesn’t count.”
Jim chuckled and clapped his hand on Spock’s back. “Okay Spock, we’ll do this together.”
Spock nodded and they walked to the transporter room. Jim didn’t know why, but he felt a lot better knowing that Spock and Uhura weren’t together. He dismissed the thought.
The lieutenant’s fingers at the transporter controls moved quickly and the beam to take them down to the planet picked them up in an instant.
****
The landscape was barren and rocky; red limestone cliffs towered in the distance. Jim could taste fine grit in the air; it seemed the place was prone to sandstorms--Spock should feel right at home here.
At that thought his heart constricted in sympathy for Spock.
Now they had to find Pike and rescue him though, so that the time loop would be completed and their own past would occur exactly the way it had.
"The tricorder detects no signs of life,” Spock said. “Since the ship's instruments didn't either, I propose that what life we may encounter here may be radically different to the kind of life that we know."
Spock, so stoic and professional, Jim thought. The sight of this landscape, so similar to Vulcan, had been enough to throw him off guard, yet Spock, if it had affected him, suppressed that and got on with work.
"We have the coordinates of the beam down of the Farragut's landing party,” Jim replied. “Let's go there."
They set off westward. The sun was low in the sky ahead of them. In front of him Spock's tall, slim silhouette was elegantly outlined against the shimmering horizon. He was a desert creature through and through.
The idea struck him that if they warned Pike of Nero, that maybe there was something they could do to prevent Vulcan's destruction, so Spock would not have to lose his own desert. This Spock might normally bristle at the thought of tampering with the time-line, but if it was to save Vulcan, he was sure the guy would be up for some cheating, just as the future Spock had been when it came to preventing Earth's destruction.
After only a quarter of an hour they reached the coordinates. Jim was sweating profusely now, but Spock didn't look the slightest bit inconvenienced.
They both checked their tricorders multiple times, but nothing registered and when they put them away and looked around, still they couldn't see any signs of what had occurred there.
"Kirk to Enterprise."
"Lieutenant Sulu here, sir."
"You have a fix on our position?"
"Yes, we do, sir."
"Do the sensors read anything unusual here compared to the surrounding area?"
"Negative, Captain. Just another patch of stony ground."
"Thank you, we'll stay in contact. Kirk out."
Jim closed the channel, but when he looked over to Spock he saw that his first officer was concentrating on something. His eyes weren't looking at anything in particular, but the tilt of his head and the furrow of his brows indicated he was listening to something.
"Spock, what do you hear?"
"I am not certain. There is a low buzzing-."
Suddenly Spock looked up, his eyes focusing on something behind him. Jim spun around to face whatever it was, but he hit the ground hard when Spock jumped on top of him to pull him low. Somewhere overhead was a deafening rip in the air and a blinding light. Lightning? It hadn't been cloudy.
Jim tried to look up, but Spock was heavy and wasn't moving.
"Spock?" he whispered.
When he didn't get a reply he twisted his neck around as far as he could so he could look around Spock's shoulder. Above and around them hung a dense lilac colored fog. Was that the creature that was holding Pike and his wife hostage? It had to be.
"Spock!"
Still no movement. He could feel his first officer's ribcage contract and expand--he was still alive, but maybe he was badly injured. But he didn't have a choice, injured or not, he had to move Spock to get out from under him.
It took all his strength to shift his surprisingly heavy friend off him enough that he could crawl out from under him. Spock's limbs were unresponsive in a way he normally associated with unconsciousness, but his brow was deeply furrowed and his eyes were shut.
The fog started to descend slowly on Spock.
"No, get away from him! You can't have him!"
Jim took Spock's wrists and tried to pull him away, but the mist was faster and now he was breathing it in. Blackness crept up on him and he collapsed on top of Spock.
****
"What do you mean, we lost them?" Bones shouted. "We beamed them down, we had contact, and then you lost them? Just like that, eh?"
He got up out of his chair in the briefing room and paced up and down it.
He was running his hands through his hair. "Sulu, tell me this is all just a bad dream?"
"I wish I could, Doctor."
****
"Captain. Jim, wake up."
Jim was still feeling like his eyes and lungs had been blasted with sandpaper, but he opened his eyes and sat upright with Spock's help. The Vulcan's touch was surprisingly gentle.
"I'm okay, Spock."
Then he spotted them. Pike and his wife--younger than when he'd last seen them. Fifteen years younger, he reminded himself.
"I have already explained who we are and why we are here," Spock said.
"Well, we found them at least," Jim said grinning. He looked Pike up and down. "Now to get you back to the Farragut, Captain, and us back to the future."
" To get us back to the Farragut we'd have to go back in time and that's impossible,” Pike replied, studying him carefully.
"You two don't look any older than you did the day you went missing! And that is impossible!"
"The aliens are keeping us here as their pets," Pike's wife, he remembered Chris always called her 'Number One', said. "They're very advanced, I don't think they inhabit the same set of dimensions we do most of the time. They're doing something to us so that our bodies don't age I think."
"You've been their prisoners for fifteen years?"
They both nodded.
"Wow, why didn't you send us to rescue you sooner? Seriously, just tell someone to come pick you up earlier."
Pike tilted his head to one side. "You are a Starfleet captain, aren't you?"
Jim rolled his eyes. "Don't talk to us about the detrimental effects of time travel, we already know. Speaking of which, there is something you need to do, an event you have to prevent from occurring… "
Beside him Spock had gone rigid, he'd even stopped breathing. Clearly he knew that Jim was thinking about telling them about Nero. But both Pikes were shaking their heads already.
"If you tell us to change an event in history it might lead to you never coming to rescue us and then you can't tell us to stop the event ... it's a loop, it has to be played out like this or it will be broken and cause some more disastrous event in our universe."
Jim deflated immediately. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Pike's eyes flicked from him to Spock and back again.
"I have been able to make telepathic contact with the beings," Spock said eventually. "I may be able to negotiate with them to secure their prisoners’ release. Jim, these creatures are advanced; to them we appeared to lack higher intelligence as they couldn’t understand us. They tried to communicate with Captain Pike, but he is not a telepath, so they only heard noise. They saw that they had some kind of basic intelligence at least, so they give them to their offspring as ‘pets’.”
Spock continued, “The young alien they were given to is grown up now; maybe he can be reasoned with and understand that while we lack their intelligence, that we are not pets. I can explain that we are beings in development, who may someday reach their developmental status.”
“Spock, okay, so you get them to let everyone go,” Jim said. “But that still leaves the problem of taking the Pike’s back fifteen years into the past.”
Pike's wife spoke up. "They can manipulate time. I don't think they'd have a problem taking us back in time if they do agree to let us go."
"Then I will try to reason with them," Spock said.
Jim didn't like the sound of Spock mind-melding with an alien barely out of his teens who kept humans as pets, but it was their only option. He nodded and then watched as Spock sat with his legs crossed and closed his eyes.
It seemed to take no time at all. When he opened his eyes again he looked right at Jim.
"Captain, if I could talk to you for a moment--alone.”
Jim just stared at him and then looked to the young Captain Pike and his first officer. But Spock always had a good reason for everything so he nodded. Pike didn't look pleased but he shrugged his shoulders. He and his wife got up.
"Will a quarter of an hour be enough?" he asked.
Jim nodded. "Yes, Captain. Thank you."
They left to go into an adjoining room, casting backward glances at Jim and Spock.
"So what's so important that we can't discuss it even in front of Pike?" Jim whispered. "They are Pike and his first, right?"
Jim's eyes went wide as he contemplated the possibility that they'd been deceived.
"I believe they are."
"Then what?"
"The young alien is indeed willing to let the Pikes go. But they are fascinated with me because I can communicate with them."
Jim stared at Spock open mouthed. "No. No way, Spock. You're coming with me, back to the Enterprise, I'm not letting them keep you here as some kind of lab rat."
"They do not want to keep me forever."
"How long?"
"Fifteen years, the same time they have studied the Pikes."
"Are you mad? You can't agree to that!"
"After that they would return me to this time and we can beam back to the ship together. My body will not age in their care."
"Talk to them again. There must be another way."
"Captain, it was a mind-meld. I saw their thoughts; this is not something they are willing to negotiate on. And we must return Captain Pike to his time-that is imperative. Without him to listen to you on the bridge of the Enterprise-."
"Without him I wouldn't even have joined the Fleet," Jim groaned. "I know."
"They must not refuse to go because of my sacrifice, which is why I did not want to discuss this in front of them."
"Spock, you are going to lose your mind on this rock all alone."
"I will hardly be alone."
"If anything that’s worse, knowing you’ll only have those aliens for company."
Jim reached out and placed a hand on Spock's shoulder and squeezed it.
"I'll stay here with you."
Spock went rigid. Jim knew that he had to make his move now.
“Spock, I’m with you. Please let me be with you.”
“Captain, fifteen years is too much time for a human, for a Vulcan it is nothing.”
“Spock, maybe for other Vulcans, but you’re half-human. And fifteen years-man, that’s a lot! This is my decision. I’m going to stay here with you; you can’t stop me, you know. I’m the Captain after all.” He winked at Spock.
“Captain… Jim, you don’t know what you are asking of me.”
Jim’s heart sank. Ouch, that hurt!
He looked away. “Spock, I’m sorry. I’d thought we were at least friends by now. I’m sorry I’m so irritating. I just like your attention.”
“Jim, that is not what I meant. You have an energetic personality; how could you be happy to spend fifteen years down here with me? I do think of you as my friend.”
Jim looked up as Spock forged on, “But if you stay ….”
The Vulcan didn’t normally hesitate; Jim furrowed his brow.
“… if you stay I could end up hurting you. And I do not wish that.”
“Eh, that just made no sense.”
He watched Spock closely. The man was so tense; it would almost have been comical if the situation hadn’t been so serious.
“For Vulcans, when they reach sexual maturity there could be madness, they must take a mate or die. But you are male and human-it is possible you would not survive what I would unleash upon your body and your mind.”
Ah. They stared at each other.
“You haven’t given me the percentages yet. How likely is it you’d kill me?”
“I have insuffic-.”
“Guess. Estimate!”
“20.467 percent.”
“I think I’ll take that chance,” Jim grinned. “I’ll stay. I’ve made my decision and the Captain’s decision is final.”
Spock gave him a dirty look. “We would end up married. With an unbreakable telepathic bond between us.”
“And you don’t want that with me. I see-.”
Spock sighed. Actually sighed. It was enough to stop Jim from continuing his sentence.
“Again, you misunderstand. I … I would welcome such a bond with you, even if this situation had not arisen.”
Wow. That was … unexpected, Jim thought.
His friend looked him in the eyes. “But not under these circumstances. I would not have you bound to me against your will or because you believe it is the only choice you can make.”
Jim had to think quickly. He had to say something that would convince Spock, he couldn’t lie therefore.
“Spock, I know this might sound a little odd, but what I’m about to say is the truth. Look me in the eye and then tell me it isn’t. Spock, I love you.”
Jim’s eyes were intense and his face conveyed the love he professed.
Spock looked down for a moment and drew his eyebrows together in thought.
“If that is the case,” he said when he looked up, “and you feel you would wish to be my partner, then I accept your offer as my companion, Jim.”
Jim stepped forward and kissed him gently on the lips. He didn’t know if Spock would be able to pick up on what he was feeling telepathically or not, but he concentrated on the feeling he wanted to convey; thoughts about love. As he did, he felt Spock begin to reciprocate the kiss, relaxing into it. His plan was working--Spock was convinced that he did truly want to marry him.
Jim broke the kiss. “Well the fifteen minutes are up I believe, we must go and tell them the good news.”
The Pikes were thrilled, but a little suspicious.
“Captain, are you sure there is nothing they wanted in return for our liberation?” Number One asked.
Jim flashed her one of his better smiles; the ones that had always allowed him to get out of any troubles he’d got himself into as teenager.
“No, there wasn’t.”
****
Spock clasped his hands behind his back. "I will ask the beings to take the captain and the commander back in time."
"Wait a minute. Captain Pike, if I could have a word with the commander? I need to say something to you, Ma’am, and it must be in private.”
She raised an eyebrow. "You can't change history, it would break the loop."
"I'm not intending to break any loops." Jim grinned broadly.
He could tell she was still suspicious, but agreed to hear Jim out in a neighboring room.
"Actually I'm just trying to close a loop," Jim lied.
Well, if this really was an unchangeable loop then of course it wasn't a lie, as she would already have done what he was about to ask of her.
"The Vulcans are very protective of their knowledge and incredibly private as a race. That's not good for them. Try and get them to share a bit of themselves. Set up a museum on Earth and maybe a zoo, seed-bank and a garden on Mars or another place."
"You want me to do outreach work for the Vulcans? Surely the Federation will not be overrun with xenophobia. What’s the real story here, Captain? Because I can tell you’re not telling me all."
“There will be an event-but you’re the one who keeps reminding me I can’t break the loop! I’m sorry, I can’t tell you. You don’t know how much I want to tell you. But things will be bad for the Vulcans and really bad for the Federation. You mustn’t talk to the Captain about it though, because he’ll have a major role in it all.”
Number One looked really worried so Jim decided to reassure her.
“I can assure that he doesn’t die. He sent me on this mission,” Jim said. "Just ... do the best you can for the Vulcans to open up and share.”
She nodded, though he could tell by the look in her eyes that he'd troubled her. They join the others, Spock was ‘talking to them’. He opens his eyes and everything was set.
As soon as Number One stepped back next to Pike their forms both flickered and then they were gone.
Jim looked around the sparse rooms that he'd elected to spend the next fifteen years of his life in. Although he knew he'd be able to get back to his ship after that, the sheer absurdity of the amount of time he had until he could sit in the Captain's seat again was too large for him to fully comprehend.
If they came back to a universe in which he could sit on a park bench on Mars with Spock, surrounded by some kind of Vulcan cacti, it would all be worth it though.
A small smile crossed his face at that thought. He still couldn't quite believe Spock's words--that if they stayed here together that they would necessarily become lovers. He was still slightly unsure how to take that revelation.
He'd told Spock he loved him. And he truly did. He loved all his friends. A part of the love he felt for Spock was different to the brotherly love he felt for McCoy though. For one, his feelings for Spock ran deeper, but also, there was a romantic component to his feelings that he couldn’t deny now that they’d kissed. His lips still tingled from when they’d met Spock's. Would that be enough?
**** **** ****
Jim was really eager to get back to his white lady, but when ‘Purply’-yes, he’d given the damn creature a name so he could mock it more easily--said that they could get ready to leave now, Jim felt a pang in his heart.
It wasn’t that Jim wanted to stay, no, heaven’s no, he missed life, friends and real things to do. Here the most exciting thing he got to do, besides Spock of course, was to occasionally play with alien technology. He was grateful they’d been given that much at least, to amuse them over the years, but Jim missed his freedom and he missed having other people around. He was definitely a people person.
This place had been his home for fifteen years, though. This was the place where him and Spock had become the solid couple they were now. It was an odd though, but he wanted to take pictures to show Bones what it was like here. ‘That’s where I had my workshop, and there’s where we made love the first time’. Those were detail Jim totally wanted to share with Bones, because the look on his friend’s face would just be priceless.
Spock smiled at him. Jim knew that not everybody would have recognized that expression as smile, but he was proud to say that he could read Spock well. So he extended two fingers to Spock, and as his lover did the same he felt a warm tingle run through his body.
‘Purply’ chose that very moment to send them back in time. For a flicker of a heartbeat Jim saw the Pikes and then they all went fuzzy. Beside him he could still feel Spock’s fingers against his, and Jim was sure wherever he was, as long as Spock was with him, he’d be at home.
****
Bones was on the bridge, running his hands through his hair. How could they just lose Jim and Spock like that? This made no sense.
"Sulu, tell me this is all just some bad dream?"
"I wish I could, Doctor."
“Sir,” Ensign Ramirez said, “I picked up their signal again!” She turned around in her seat, looking ecstatic.
“Then beam them up immediately, Ensign!” Sulu said.
For the first time since he’d found himself sitting in the Captain’s chair he felt relief.
“Sulu, I’m going to the transporter room right now. Those two had damned well better not come back half-dead.”
Sulu nodded at him, and he could hear the doctor cursing about how ridiculous working in space was, until the turbolift door closed behind him.
****
Bones dashed to the transporter room. He didn’t pay attention to the crewmen he was pushing out of his way, thundering on, running faster than he’d ever had to before … only to come to a stop outside the transporter room door. He steadied himself against the wall, to catch his breath. All the while he scowled at his friends; they really did deserve it, standing there looking perfectly happy, as it nothing at happened at all.
“Hi Bones, I missed you.”
Bones didn’t say anything, though, and just pulled out his tricorder to scan Jim instead.
“Of course you missed me that five minutes. Who else can you expect to patch you up every time you do something foolish, except me?”
Jim clearly couldn’t control himself, maybe he’d caught some virus? Because the next thing Bones knew the Captain was hugging him tightly.
“Okay, Jim I see you really missed me during the time you were lost to us somewhere on that godforsaken rock. But I need those arms to take you to sickbay immediately for complete check up. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t crush them.”
Jim laughed. “Sorry, Bones. Of course I’ll let you have a complete physical if you want.”
“Something really bad must’ve happened on that planet, if you’re going to let me take a complete physical without protesting. Come on, now I’m worried. Andorian Grible virus. Gotta be that.”
“No, nothing of the sort Bones. But I’ll let you run whatever tests you want on me, because you are my best friend. I just want to kiss you, I missed you so much.”
Bones raised an eyebrow at that. No, not Grible, it had to be something worse than that. He looked over at Spock. If Jim had it, maybe Spock was affected too. He’d noticed that Spock had tensed when Jim had hugged him-so Spock still seemed himself; uncomfortable with illogical displays of emotions and all that jazz.
“I very much hope that you will not kiss the doctor, Jim,” Spock said in a low voice.
“Honey, I didn’t know you were the jealous type,” Jim teased as he winked at Spock. “Apparently i like a bit, you know.”
Okay, so they’d both gone nuts. Right, he’s got it now. The Orion Havvari parasite.
“Sickbay now! Both of you!”
After he’d completed a full physical check on both of them, Bones was worried, though. No viruses, no parasites, but a hell of a lot of data that he couldn’t explain.
“I don’t know what you did down there, but your brain scans indicate some massive changes compared to the last ones I have on record for both of you. And your brainwaves … they are somehow in synch with one another. I’m not sure how to explain it exactly, it’s not really the frequency of the waves or even the activity. It’s more the patterns that I’m seeing here. Jim, if you were telepathic, I think it’s what some doctors would describe as ‘perfect telepathic compatibility’. Again, I’m pretty sure these patterns I’m seeing weren’t there before you went down to the planet. And you two are in better health, if that’s even possible, than when you attended your last physical. So you will two stop talking nonsense and actually explain to me what happened to you two, or should I run more tests?”
Jim grinned at him. “Don’t worry, Bones, we’re alright. And I told you: we were held captive for fifteen years. And in those fifteen year, Spock and I went happily married. It‘s bliss, being able to hear each other’s thoughts all the time.”
Bones rolled his eyes, but Jim carried on. “We had a lot of practice with the Vulcan telepathic marital bond and so that’s how we’re not telepathically so compatible. So, you see, it’s all really simple, just like I’ve been telling you for the last half hour.”
There was a buzz as someone tried to comm Bones. “Saved by a comm, gentlemen! But Jim, don’t worry. I’ll find out what’s afflicting you and cure you of it so you can tell me what really happened. And if this is all just some big joke, then you can bet your ass that I’ll run more test and put hypos where you didn’t believe I could stick a hypo spray! And you’re not to leave sickbay. For now I’m putting you both on medical leave, do you understand?"
Bones left to take the comm but returned shortly. “Ah, it’s for you, Jim. Captain Pike. I explained to Pike that you were in not fit state to talk, but she insisted, she wants to speak with you anyway. I don’t even know why I’m a doctor in Starfleet. Everyone just ignores my medical advice anyway. Think they know better just because they did first aid training … ”
Jim jumped off the bed and hurried passed him to a terminal where he asked Uhura to redirect the call to his quarters.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going? I told you to stay in sickbay!”
“Sorry, Bones. But Spock and I can’t take this call here. It’s a private call and you said we were both in excellent health.”
Jim winked at him, leaving Bones speechless, and he was just about to reply to Jim when Spock got off his bed and started to head for the door.
“Spock, I haven’t finished with you. Get back here, you hear? Godamned pointy eared elf.”
Rather than stopping Spock that seemed to make him walk even faster. As both his patients left sickbay, he followed them, about to comm security. But just as he was about to he managed to grab hold of Spock’s medical gown, but as Spock wasn’t stopping, it ripped and came right off. So there he was holding Spock’s gown, while the commander stood here naked but for his briefs.
****
Jim pulled up a chair in his quarters around the small screen that showed Captain Pike’s face on screen. He checked Spock wasn’t behind him. No? Good.
“So,” Jim said, before she could even say hi, “I just have to know: what about the plan? How did it go?”
“I knew you’d want to know, so that’s exactly why I made sure to call as soon as I could. But first tell me, how much time did they keep you two down there?”
“I couldn’t fool you, could I?” Jim pouted. “I’m really hurt, I thought I was a better actor. Well, I’ll say this, they sure took their damned time observing us, but don’t worry, we’re fine. So, tell me.”
Her eyes were full of compassion as she answered. “Our project when really well. And I kept it from Pike too, which I have you know was no small feat, seeing as I couldn’t explain to him why I was taking on all these mission as a Captain that prevented me from seeing him for years on end. But I completely understand why this was so important to you now and what it was you wanted to tell me. I’ll send you the complete report of the missions, but I think we achieved a fair amount. We’d even set up a research colony to test Vulcan and human biosphere compatibility. I think you heard of the place: the M class planet, called Alpha Prima. Those five thousand Vulcan physicists, healers, biochemists, and geneticists wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for you. Right now we have a friend of yours with us here, Ambassador Selleck. All in all, your message to me really helped.”
Now that she mentioned it, he did remember hearing something about a federation research colony, but he’d been so busy keeping the Klingon border safe … huh, turned out this was just another part of the loop.
“You don’t know how relieved I am to hear this, Captain Pike; if you weren’t married I would ask for your hand right now.”
She smiled brightly. “Stop that flattery, Kirk; it won’t get you anywhere. All it’s likely to get you is only a sore ass, if Admiral Pike should hear about all this talk of you stealing me away from him. I think he might just get a tad jealous if you tried that.”
She winked at him.
“Ah well, that’s a pity,” he replied, laughing. “Well, I’ve got a mad doctor on my heels, so I’ve got to go. But I can’t thank you enough for trusting me blindly the way you did.”
He ended the call and turned ‘round; he knew someone was standing in the doorway behind him.
“Jim, it seems you’ve been keeping important information from me all these years. You shielded this from me during mind melds.”
Spock didn’t sound hurt. He didn’t exactly look hurt either-well, that wasn’t quite true. To anyone else, yes, he looked his calm collected self, but thanks to their bond Jim was able to look deeper.
“Spock, I’m sorry.” He sighed. “But I couldn’t tell you. Look, I had no idea if this was going to work at all. It was hard enough for me not to lay up at night wondering about that. I couldn’t do that to you. I needed to know that it had worked.”
Jim kissed him on the cheek. Spock surprised him by answer that chaste kiss with a passionate one on the mouth. Jim took a little time to catch his breath.
“What caused the delay? Did Bones catch you?”
“Indeed, you could put it like that. And every other person walking through the corridor at that time.”
Jim frowned. “Right … ?”
“He managed to tear my medical gown, so we had to go back to sickbay to retrieve a new one.”
“So you had to walk all the way to sickbay without one? Wow, I would have loved to see that.”
“How so?”
“Well, it’s not really fair that everyone else should get an eye-full of you, but not me.” Jim winked.
“The only people who got an ‘eye-full’ really were Lieutenant Uhura and Doctor McCoy who both ended up escorting me back to sickbay. Luckily, Lieutenant Uhura was a lot more easy to convince of the validity of the story of what happened to us, that Doctor McCoy was.”
“Jeeze, Spock. I know she fancies you. So, um, how did the news go down with her?”
Well, maybe he’d asked the wrong person there. Spock wasn’t always good at reading and understanding people’s emotions.
“I am not sure. She was very quiet, but then she expressed some worry that I have been forced into this relationship simply due to the fact that it was only the two of us trapped down there for fifteen years. In the end I convinced her though that she need not be worried. I explained that we’d been married for fourteen years, two months and three hours and that I had found a peace with you that had until then eluded me. She congratulated us and told me that there would have to be a traditional human ceremony, and that she will organize it.”
Jim chuckled at that.
“But I should warn you: she said that if you should leave me standing at the altar, she would kill you.”
The flat tone in which Spock delivered Uhura’s joke was just too funny and he cracked up laughing.
“Jim,” Spock said, the humor clearly visible in his eyes, “you should not underestimate the Lieutenant, she is highly trained in many fighting styles.”
“Oh, I know she could kick my ass,” Jim laughed.
“May I offer my services as your personal body guard? I would not want anyone ‘kicking your ass’.”
Jim was almost without air, he was laughing so hard.
“Stop it Spock, you’re killing me.”
Spock placed a hand on Jim’s temple to calm him down and Jim took that opportunity to kiss his lover. It was a slow, but loving kiss, that grew in depth until they both had to stop for air.
“You know how much I love you?”
Spock nodded. “No less than how much I love you, Jim.”
Jim smiled. “Kirk the bridge.”
“Lieutenant Sulu. It seems like McCoy has placed me on medical leave until tomorrow. Get us as far away from this rock as quickly as possible.”
“Glad to have you back, sir! Destination?”
“The nearest star base. I’ll be resting for the time being. Captain out.”
Spock raised a teasing eyebrow. “Jim, if you need the rest I will leave you to it.”
“Oh no you don’t, Mr. Spock.” Jim looked over towards his bed. “I was thinking you might want to spend the next few hours inaugurating that bed.”
“As tempting as that may sound, Doctor McCoy seemed genuinely worried about us, even though Uhura eventually helped him believe our story, that we had not lost our minds. I believe the senior crew will wish to know in detail what happened to us.”
“Where’s the fun in answering all Bones questions now? He didn’t want to listen earlier. No, let him try and go back over everything we told him that he dismissed as mad talk earlier. I think that’ll be more than he can deal with at the moment anyway. I think we should leave him to stew with that.”
“You logic is sound,” Spock said, though Jim could see that he thought it was anything but sound. He just liked the idea of having Jim to himself for a while.
And Jim was proven right in that assumption, when Spock started kissing him and pushing him gently towards the bed.
The door chime to the quarters sounded. Jim ignored it.
Then Bones voice sounded over the intercom. “Jim, it’s Bones. Are you there? Damn it, why am I asking, I know you’re there. Get out here, right now, do you understand! I don’t know how I somehow let Uhura persuade me you were okay, but you clearly aren’t. We need to talk! Jim!”
Jim closed his eyes. “Computer, lights to ten percent and mute intercom.”
His plan was to keep this up until zero six hundred hours if he could get away with it. Maybe fifteen years without any responsibilities but to himself and Spock had left him with some bad habits. It was good he change the security codes so Bones can’t override the lock. But he would work on fixing those-tomorrow. For now, Jim placed kisses on his bondmate’s handsome cheekbones and all along his jaw until he met his full lips.
The end.