Starfleet Chronicles - Leonard McCoy

Chapter Three

When they boarded the shuttle, they began putting on their spacesuits. She sat down next to Olsen when she was finished, and Jim sat down on the other side of her, Sulu at the end. Jim looked at Olsen and asked, "You got the charges, right?" He nodded and grinned. "Oh yeah. I can't wait to kick some Romulan ass." They sat still as Pike maneuvered the shuttle towards the Romulan ship. Jim was nervous, and he talked when he was nervous. He looked at Sulu and said, "So what kind of combat training do you have?" Sulu smiled and said, "Fencing."The look on her brother's face was priceless, and Jade grinned at Sulu. "That's actually very cool!" He returned her smile and shrugged. "What about you two? Both of your names are Kirk?" She chuckled softly as she nodded. "Yep, Jim's my twin brother. We both have advanced hand-to-hand, but I'm much better than him." Jim scoffed and leaned over her. "Don't listen to a word she says; she's not better than me." Captain Pike spoke up from his seat. "Need I remind you what I walked into when I first met the two of you, Cadet? You still want to say you're a better fighter than your sister?" This caused Jim to look at Pike in embarrassment and Jade to let out a peal of laughter. Pike chuckled before announcing it was Pre-jump time. They put their helmets on and stood.

"Gentleman and Lady, we're approaching the drop zone. We have one shot to land on that platform. They may have defenses, so pull your chutes as late as possible. Three, Two, One." When he initiated the airlock, they were thrown backward, and their bodies pressed against the ceiling of the shuttle. They were holding onto the bar until it was time to actually jump. Captain Pike gave them one last warning. "Remember, the Enterprise won't be able to beam you back until you turn off that drill. Good Luck." The next thing she knew, she was dropping from the shuttle. Jim was next to her, Olsen was slightly in front of her, and Sulu was on the other side of her. They couldn't hear anything but breathe as they approached Vulcan's atmosphere. It became extremely hot as they began breaching the atmosphere, and she heard Jim and Sulu yell out. The drill was on their right as they continued to drop rapidly. She listened to her brother begin to speak through the comms. "Kirk to Enterprise. Distance to target, 5,000 meters." Sulu then called out, "4,500 meters to target!" When they reached 3,000 meters, Sulu pulled his chute, but it was slightly too quick. She waited until they were 2,500 meters and then pulled her own chute. She was getting nervous when Jim hadn't pulled hers yet. He pulled his at 2,000 meters, but Olsen was still falling. They watched in horror as he waited until he was 1,000 meters away to pull his chute. He hit the top of the drill too hard and was pulled under the drill and instantly killed. Jade gasped at the sight and used her comms. "Kirk to Enterprise, Olsen was pulled into the drill; he's gone."

She watched as Jim landed hard as well and had to hold on as his chute was pulled in. Just as she landed, Jim was immediately pulled into a fight with a Romulan. She brought her chute in and ducked as a blaster went off. When the gun was tossed to the side, Jade ran forward, jumped up, and punched the Romulan that was pinning her brother in the jaw. She was vaguely aware that Sulu had landed roughly and had to cut his chute off before he also jumped into the fray. Her brother was hanging from the side of the drill while one of the Romulans was trying to knock him off. She and Sulu managed to kick the other Romulan onto the flame output, and he was taken care of. Sulu ran over to Jim and took care of the asshole who was trying to kick Jim literally while he was down. They pulled him onto the platform, and all three of them were breathing heavily. Sulu looked at her and yelled, "Olsen had the charges!" She winced as she stood up and replied, "I know!" Sulu asked what they were supposed to do, but he was already tossing the two of them rifles and aimed his own. "This!" Jim yelled as he began to shoot at the drill console. She and Sulu followed suit until the drill was disabled.

They watched as a device fell past them and went straight into the hole they'd been drilling. Jim groaned and hit his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise. They just launched something at the planet through the hole they just drilled. Do you copy, Enterprise?" After a minute of not hearing anything, he tried again. "Kirk to Enterprise. Beam us out of here!" They heard someone come through finally. "Stand by. Locking on your signal." The drill began to ascend upwards. Jade and Jim watched as Sulu was thrown backward and off the drill platform. Jim looked over at her before closing his eyes briefly. He ran forward and jumped off the platform. She yelled as she crouched down onto the drill. "Kirk to Enterprise, the drill is being lifted; you have to beam me up before I am pulled into their ship! Kirk and Sulu are falling!" She heard a frantic response. "I can't lock onto your signal; you're moving too fast!" When she listened to her brother's frantic calling that they were falling without a chute, tears began to stream down her face. She closed her eyes when she felt the sensation of being beamed. When she opened them again, she was on the transport pad. She saw that Chekov was on the panel and working frantically. She stepped off the pad as her brother and Sulu crashed onto it. They were both groaning, and Sulu thanked Jim for saving him. Choking back a sob, she launched herself at both of them and pulled them both into a hug. Jim chuckled and returned the hug, and to her surprise, Sulu did as well.

They were interrupted as Spock walked through the door and told them to clear the pad. "I'm beaming to surface." As Jim began to argue with him, Jade stepped forward. "Commander, you can't go alone. I'm not injured. Would you like me to accompany you?" Jim's objections became two-fold then. Spock regarded her and nodded once. She stepped onto the other beaming pad as Spock yelled energize. When they were on the surface, Spock stood up from his crouched position and looked at her. "Thank you for accompanying me, Cadet. We must make our way to the Katric Ark. The elders will be there, but it's a deep cave, so we must get them out before we can beam up." She nodded and followed as he took off at a sprint. The planet was shaking violently, and their surroundings were crumbling around them. They managed to get to the Katric Ark and made their way to the center. As they reached the center, where they were all circled around a statue, a woman stood up and said Spock's name. Everyone else turned to look at them in shock, as Spock explained. "The planet has only seconds left. We must evacuate. Mother now!" Jade closed her eyes briefly when she heard that she was his mother. She began helping the others out of the cave as quickly as possible. Not all of them made it because the cave was collapsing.

When they were out on the landing, Spock called the Enterprise. "Spock to Enterprise, get us out now." They immediately heard Chekov's voice, "Locking volume. Don't Move. Stay right where you are." The beaming began, but Jade could feel the ground underneath them start to crumble and shake. Spock's mother was too far away; she could see what would happen, but it was already too late. She dropped down to the surface below as the ground gave way. Before any of them could react, they were back on the Enterprise, Spock's hand still outstretched, reaching for his mother.

Jade didn't know what to say; she walked over to her brother and hugged him. He immediately enveloped her and began telling her that everything would be okay. They watched as Spock led his father and the other Vulcan Elders out of the room. Jade looked up at Jim, her face tear-stained. "She was right in front of us, Jimmy. His mom was right there, and we couldn't do anything as she fell." Jim pulled her back to him and sighed. "It wasn't your fault, Winnie. It wasn't anyone's fault but those Romulan assholes." Jade looked over at Chekov with a sad smile. "Chekov, thank you for taking over and saving us. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you." He stood up and took a ragged breath. "I just wish I'd have been able to save his mom." Sulu reached over and patted him on the shoulder. "You heard what Jim said, it's only those assholes' fault, don't blame yourself. You saved all three of our lives by taking control of the transporter." The three of them took their spacesuits off and went to the medical bay.

When they entered, McCoy ran over to them. He took in their state and sighed before moving them over to any available spot. She was lost in thought as he began to clean a cut on her cheek. Usually, being this close to the doctor would send her pulse into overdrive, but she couldn't help but think of what she'd just witnessed. Sure, she didn't have a relationship with her mother, but at least she was still alive. She knew exactly how it felt to lose a parent, though she'd never met her father. Nero kept destroying lives, and she wanted vengeance. She looked up at McCoy when he tilted her chin up to him. "Jade, are you okay? I thought I told you I didn't want to see you in here." She couldn't even work up a smile at his attempt at teasing. A tear slipped down her cheek, causing him to sigh deeply. She was stunned when the doctor wrapped his arms around her shoulders and enveloped her in a warm hug. "Today has been very trying, sweetheart, but you're here and okay. When I heard you volunteered to go down to the surface with Spock, I wanted to ring your neck." This caused her to chuckle as she leaned into him slightly. "I didn't expect my first time on a starship to be this eventful, Lenny." He pulled back from her and tilted her chin to him again. When she made eye contact with him, he was grinning. "You called me, Lenny." He said softly. Jade's eyes widened as she realized he was right; she had called him Lenny. "Oh, I -well." He just laughed, leaned down, and kissed her forehead. "I liked it, sweetheart, but only you can call me that. I better go and help out." She was speechless as McCoy gently let her go and walked to another patient.

She was about to stand up when Jim appeared beside her, his hand wrapped in gauze. He was smirking at her with his eyebrow raised. "Just what was that, pray tell?" he said teasingly. Jade rolled her eyes and stood up from the bed she was on. "Don't make a big deal out of it, Jimmy, I was upset, and he was comforting me." Jim began walking beside her as they made their way to the bridge. He was the first officer, and she needed to know what her assignment was now that Olsen was gone. He gently bumped her shoulder when they got into the lift. "You know I approve of that, right? You two would be perfect for each other." Jade sighed and shook her head at him. "He's just a friend, Jimmy; that's all he'll ever be." Jim frowned at her words but didn't push further. When the lift opened, they walked onto the bridge. Spock nodded at them both but didn't speak to either of them at first. Jade wasn't sure what to do because he looked deep in thought. He began to pace and addressed Uhura. "Have you confirmed that Nero is headed for Earth?" She turned in her seat and replied, "Their trajectory suggests no other destination, Captain." He thanked her and kept pacing while thinking out loud.

Jade rolled her eyes as Jim sat in the Captain's chair, but he did try to put forth an effort to help in their planning. "Earth may be his next stop, but we have to assume every Federation planet's a target." Spock nodded, walked over to him, and told him to get out of the chair. She was amused at her brother's reaction, but he did get up. McCoy walked over to stand beside her, but she kept her eyes forward. After the scene in the med bay and what her brother said, she was too embarrassed to look at him.

Chekov broke the silence with his own input. He was a very bright kid; he was very advanced compared to the rest of them. "Well, if the Federation is a target, why didn't he destroy us?" he asked softly. Sulu scoffed and threw his hand up as he watched Spock pace. "Why would they?" he asked, "why waste a weapon? We obviously weren't a threat." Spock shook his head slightly and said, "That is not it. He said he wanted me to see something, the destruction of my home planet." McCoy spoke up from next to you and asked, "How the hell did they do that, by the way? Where did the Romulans get that kind of weaponry?" Spock answered readily, not really surprising anyone. "The engineering comprehension necessary to artificially create a black hole may suggest an answer. Such technology could theoretically be manipulated to create a tunnel through space-time." McCoy looked highly annoyed at this explanation and spat, "Dammit, man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist. Are you actually suggesting they're from the future?" Jade snickered at his words but quickly recovered when he turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. Spock replied calmly with his hands behind his back. "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Jade had to speak up then because Spock was correct in his assumption. "If I may, Captain?" she interrupted, and he nodded for her to proceed. She looked around the room and took a deep breath. "Spock is actually correct in assuming that this is extremely advanced technology. I've studied every kind of tech available, and we're nowhere near where they are. Not to mention that Nero knew who Captain Spock was and told him he wasn't yet acquainted with him. The only logical explanation left at this point is that, yes, they're from the future. There is a lot of speculation about wormholes or black holes, if you will. No one has really studied them because no one has the guts to go through them. If one were to travel through an actual black hole, there's no telling what could happen; thus, that's what we have here. Nero's weapons alone, not just the thing that destroyed Vulcan, would suggest no other conclusion than they're from the future." When she was met with silence, she thought she should have kept her mouth shut, but Jim smiled at her and groaned. "I hate that you're the smart one; you actually sounded like Spock there." Spock bowed his head slightly and said, "Thank you, Cadet Kirk, that was actually beneficial information."

Jim turned back to the group and continued the conversation with the new thought process of their time-traveling foe. "Then what would an angry future Romulan want with Captain Pike?" Sulu spoke up then; this really was a great team to work with. "As Captain, he does know details of Starfleet's defenses." Jade nodded and gasped, causing them to look at her once more. She made eye contact with Spock and added on to what Sulu said. "Sulu is correct, but it's even more than that. If he gets the command codes from Captain Pike, Nero can disable all of the defenses, and Starfleet won't even know what was happening until it is too late." Everyone looked alarmed at her words. Jim walked forward, and Jade could tell he was aggravated. "What we need to do is catch up to that ship, disable it, take it over, and get Pike back." Spock immediately began to shake his head, and Jade understood why before he replied, "We are technologically outmatched in every way. A rescue attempt would be illogical." They began to discuss what would have to happen for them to even be able to catch up with Nero, and with all of the negatives, Jim became more and more irate.

Spock announced that they needed to gather with the rest of Starfleet in the Laurentian system to come up with a plan. It made sense to Jade, but she was also afraid. Jim made sense, too, because if they waited for Starfleet Command, it would already be too late. She watched as Spock and her brother became more hostile towards each other until Spock finally ordered Jim to be taken off the bridge. She was horrified when Jim began to fight the security officers. McCoy gently grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back towards him out of the way. "Your brother sure does have a God complex, doesn't he?" When Spock used the Vulcan grip to knock Jim out, she knew it was for the best. She didn't anticipate Spock telling them to remove him from the ship altogether. That was a blatant security violation, he should have been put into the brig. She walked with them to the engineering room, where they put him in an escape pod and shot him down to the planet Delta Vega, a very hostile planet.