The Man Out of Time

Chapter 5

Later than night, Pike finds me sitting outside at a table of some café, attempting to read something on a tablet in front of me. He sits down in the chair across from me, startling me.

"Jesus." I say, looking up from the tablet. "How did you find me?"

"You're my Goddaughter, I know you better than you think." He pauses. "They gave the Enterprise back to me."

"Congratulations." I say. "Watch out for your first officer though, he doesn't like to not follow the rules."

"Spock isn't going to be my first officer, he was transferred to the USS Bradburry. You and Jim and are going to be my first officers. Marcus took some convincing, but...I can make a good case every now and then."

"What did you say?" I ask, surprised.

"The truth, I believe in you two. If anyone deserves a second chance they're Jim Kirk and Natasha Adams."

"I...I don't know what to say." I say. "Have you told Jim yet?"

"Haven't found him yet. He's probably at the bar isn't he?"

"I would assume so, first time you found him he was there."

"You were too."

"Yeah, but I didn't have napkins hanging out of my nose." Pike and I laughed.

"True." He answers.

"It's going to be okay, kid." He says. "Gotta go find Jim, see you later." He adds, standing up with the help of his cane and walking away.

Not too long later, Pike hailed me on my communicator.

"Suit up." He says. "There's an emergency session at Daystrom."

I met Kirk at the entrance to the building, and we continue walking from there, only to run into Spock in the elevator.

"Captains." Spock greets.

"Not any more Spock, first officers. We were demoted, and you were re-assigned."

"It is fortunate that the consqequences were not more severe." Spock points out.

Kirk sighs and mutters, "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Captains, it was never my intention to-"

"We're not Captains. We saved your life, Spock, you field a report, we lost our ship."

The elevator door opens and Kirk and I are the first ones to get off, Spock following us.

"Commanders," Spock says.

I hold Jim's arm with one hand, holding him back.

"Just let him speak." I whisper to him. "He might actually act human this time."

"Because that's going to happen." Jim whispers back.

"Commanders." Spock says, catching up with us.

"Oh, he wants both of us." Jim says. "Fantastic." He adds sarcastically.

"I see now I should have not alerted you to the fact that I submitted the report." Spock says, now caught up with us.

"We're familiar with the fact that you want to follow the rules, but Spock we can't do that. Where we come from, if someone saves your life, you don't stab 'em in the back!" Jim says.

"Vulcans cannot lie." Spock says.

"Then we're talking to the half-human part of you." I say. "Do you understand why we went back for you?"

We're interrupted by Captain Abbot. "Commander Spock?" He asks Spock.

"Yes sir." Spock confirms.

"Frank Abbot, USS Bradburry, you're with me."

"Yes Captain." Spock says, and Captain Abbot walks away.

"The truth is," I start. "We're going to miss you." I glance at Jim, who nods.

Jim waits for Spock to say something, but doesn't. Realizing it's hopeless, Jim sighs and walks away with me.

 Not long into the meeting, when Jim makes a point on how in the event of an attack, that the protocol is that Captains and First Officers gather at Starfleet HQ in this room.

Spock begins to say something when we notice red lights flashing outside behind us.

I get up from my seat and know exactly what it is. I turn quickly to the others and yell "Clear the room!" right when the ship opens fire.

Kirk runs off somewhere and then I find him standing near a broken floor-to-ceiling window, shooting at the ship.

"Wait, Jim!" I say, taking out a hose and tossing it to him. He ties it to the gun and throws it at the ship's engine, which sucks up the gun and hose like a vacuum. We forget about the rest of the hose, and the whole thing it's attached to rips off the wall, bounces off the ground, sailing over us and goes into the ship's turbines. The ship starts spinning wildly and we both see whoever was piloting the ship.

The only person in there is Khan, who glares at Jim and disappears in golden light right before the ship bangs against the side of the building and crashes down to the ground.

Then I remember.

Pike.

I run over to him, Jim following me. I see Spock by Pike's side and I check Pike's pulse on his neck, but there's no pulse and Jim realizes it.

Tears come to my eyes but won't come out, I've cried too much over my family in the past.

In the morning after Khan's attack, Spock calls me on my communicator.

"Mr. Scott has found something in the wreckage of Harrison's ship, he's asked to see us right away."

Jim, Spock, and I meet up with Scotty, who's carrying something.

"Captains! I found this in the jump ship sir, this is how the bastard got away! It's a portable transwarp beaming device."

"Can you figure out where he went?" Jim asks.

"Already did Captains, and you're not going to like it. He's gone to the one place that we...just cannot go."