Burn To Ash: A Star Trek Fanfiction (Spock x OC)

Chapter 9

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter (as well as Chapter 10) is based on the Star Trek episode entitled "The Squire of Gothos." This episode is from the original series. All characters and their respective dialogue except for my own belong to Paramount Studios, with the exception of some dialogue for artistic purposes. Now, let's get into it!

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When I woke up that morning, I had a strange sort of spring in my step which I didn't really seem to have before. Butterflies seemed to flutter all around my stomach, and the thought of going to breakfast made me happy  for once. Not feeling all that hungry, I grabbed a waffle for breakfast, then went to take my position on the bridge. I walked in just as Kirk was giving Sulu orders to travel at warp factor three to Colony Beta Six. McCoy and Spock were standing near him.

"Let's get across this void in a hurry," Kirk said as Sulu upped the warp factor. 

"Void, star desert. The word conjures up pictures of dunes, oases, mirages," McCoy said. 

"Sunlight, palm trees. We're nine hundred light years from that kind of desert, Bones," Kirk replied with a smile. I was briefly encompassed in a memory I had of me and some of my old high school cronies fooling around one summer day at Marina del Rey when I was about sixteen or seventeen. We, in our endless teenage stupidity, had scored some illicit booze under the mistaken impression that we would look cool and mature. It was the first (and the last) time I had ever drunk alcohol up to the time I had joined Starfleet, mainly because I was given the unenviable task of driving everyone back to L.A since I had only had two drinks. I allowed myself a small smile, and I was finally driven out of my reminisces when Spock spoke. 

"The precise meaning of the word desert is a waterless, barren wasteland. I fail to understand your romantic nostalgia for such a place," he said, deadpan as per usual. McCoy turned to him with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"That doesn't surprise me, Mr. Spock. I can't imagine a mirage ever disturbing those mathematically perfect brainwaves of yours." Spock gave him a look of what I assumed to be slight amusement before replying, "Thank you, Dr. McCoy." I snickered, to the notice of no one but Uhura, who smiled along with me. Spock gave our ETA, then fell silent, with a curious look on his face.

"Something, Mr. Spock?" Kirk asked.

"Unusual, Captain. I'm now getting a sizable space-displacement reading," Spock replied.

"Can you verify that, Navigator?" Kirk asked, turning to a man named DeSalle who I had seen a few times in the cafeteria. 

"No, sir. Forward sweeps are negative. Wait! Verified, sir. We must be in some sort of light warp or we'd have picked it up earlier," DeSalle replied. He then put it on visual at Kirk's request, and to everyone's surprise, a large, ruby-red planet with white clouds filled the viewscreen. DeSalle rattled off some facts about the planet while everyone else remained mesmerized.

"Inconceivable this body has gone unnoted on all our records," Spock said. I was thinking the same thing. Starfleet records were known for being meticulous and accurate. It was very rare to find a record wrong or incomplete. Kirk told Uhura to notify the discovery of the planet, to which Uhura replied that there was a strong interference.

"The planet must be a natural radio source," Uhura said.

"Let's get out of its range. Veer forty degrees to starboard, Mr. Sulu," Kirk ordered.

"Forty degrees," Sulu acknowledged. He reached for the switch to steer the ship out of the planet's way, but suddenly, he started to sway, like he was dizzy. He stood up, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared. I barely had any time to react before Kirk jumped up out of his chair, yelling Sulu's name, then disappearing himself. My mouth dropped open.