kalokagathia - a Star Trek Story [on hiatus]

Chapter 15 : What Are We . . .?

Cass ambushed Jim as he came out of medbay, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him hard. Vulcan was no more, a black hole in the middle of space, and Captain Pike had not been returned. She needed to escape, and she knew just how to do it. Jim's eyes flew open as she kissed him. It was so out of the blue, so unlike her. She pulled back to breath slightly, resting her forehead against his before her lips found his again.

"I . . . I thought I'd lost you," she breathed, her lips snatching at his, snatching for an escape, her brain feeling as though it was going to cave in on her. All this death, all this destruction . . . uncertainty, her mind couldn't take it.

Jim's mind spun, and he pushed the girl away, walking a few paces down the corridor. Cass stared after him for a moment, utterly dumbstruck, and thoroughly confused.

"James . . . I-"

"What are you doing Cass?" Jim said, his voice full of anger, full of hurt . . . confusion.

"What . . . what do you mean?" she asked breathlessly.

"What are we? What is this-?" he gestured to the two of them, shaking his head of still ruffled hair. Cass looked at him rather guiltily, her head hung slightly.

"I . . . I don't know . . ." her voice shook as she looked up at him, her usually clear blue eyes cloudy. Jim Kirk looked at the girl who was usually so strong, so opinionated, and saw how she was breaking inside. He wanted to talk to her, to say he took back what he said, but he couldn't. He couldn't go on like this. Shaking his head once more, he turned around, and walked away from her.

Cass's head dropped down into her hands. Is there nothing she can't lose today?

"Uhura, you're certain he's headed for earth?" Cass said, her voice slightly harsh and icy cold. The dark haired girl looked quizzically at Cass, who avoided her stare.

"Their trajectory suggests no other destination . . . ma'am," Cass did outrank Uhura, but they rarely used it. Cass bristled at the title, but kept her eyes trained on Spock as he paced throughout the bridge.

"Thank you, lieutenant," he said, his voice too hitching on the title.

"He's headed for earth but we must assume every Federation planet is a target," Jim said, sat rather arrogantly in the captain's chair. Spock's chair.

"Out of the chair," replied the Vulcan irritably, and Jim stood up, albeit rather begrudgingly. He looked over at Cass with his startling blue eyes, and their eyes met briefly before hers flitted away. He felt like such an idiot. How many times had he gone to Cass like that when things had gone wrong? He'd lost count a long time ago. And just because she'd wanted that back . . . what? Idiot.

"If the Federation is a target, why not just destroy us as well?" said Bones, looking between Cass and Jim like a worried mother hen. Something wasn't right between his best friends.

"Why waste the ammunition, we obviously weren't a threat." Said Sulu, but Cass shook her head. They hadn't worried about that with the other Federation vessels. Spock had reached the same conclusion.

"No, Nero said he wanted me to see something, the destruction of my home planet." His voice was still so infuriatingly calm, Cass wanted to slap him. How could he sit there and be so goddamn unaffected.

"How did they do that by the way?" put in Bones, "I mean, where did they get that sort of technology?"

"That could be evidence as to where they have come from," began Spock, "such technology could also me manipulated to create a tunnel through space time." Cass froze, unsure all of a sudden of what to say. Bones apparently wasn't.

"Goddamn it man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist! Are you actually saying they're from the future?"

"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable must be the truth."

"How damn poetic," mumbled Cass, and Jim found himself smiling. The blonde girl scowled at him.

"I say we go after him," said Jim, and everyone present on the bridge turned and looked incredulously at him.

"Our orders were to rendezvous at the Laurentian system," said Spock, dismissing his idea.

"You say he's from the future, knows what's gonna happen then the logical thing is to be unpredictable."

"You're assuming that Nero knows how events are predicted to unfold? The contrary is true. His very appearance here has altered the course of history, beginning with the attack on the USS Kelvin and culminating in the events of today."

"An alternate reality," Cass said quietly again, her usual bouncy demeanour seemingly deflated. Everyone noticed, even Spock. Uhura gave her a pitying look that made Cass feel sick.

"Precisely," agreed the Vulcan, seeming to make his decision and walking back over to his chair, "helm, set a course for the Laurentian system, maximum warp."