Echo

Chapter 31: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Author's Notes: Hi everyone! FYI there are adult things that happen in this chapter towards the end, so if you aren't into that, -you're reading the wrong story- I suggest you skip it. Enjoy! Please leave a comment if you're enjoying the story so far!

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Leonard

The admiral on screen had been in his position for close to six years now, and while the doctor could not say that he particularly liked the man, anyone was better than the traitorous Admiral Marcus. Despite his questionable bedside manner, as McCoy stood beside the captain, he couldn't deny that he felt a sense of elation at the words of the head of Starfleet.

"It seems as though continued pursuit of the ship in question is futile at this point," he stated bluntly, "I'll not have you risking your crew for the purpose of hunting them down. Return to earth, Captain Kirk."

Jim nodded and said, "Yes, sir."

When the transmission went dead, the captain sighed and covered his eyes with one of his hands. Leonard already knew without him admitting it that he was disappointed. In his eyes, not finding the ship was a failure, and while few others would see it from that perspective, there would be no swaying him in the other direction. The doctor wanted to reassure him, but aside from mentioning that at least he would be seeing his girlfriend a lot sooner, he did not know what to say.

"We did all that we could, captain," said Mr. Spock.

The first officer seldom spoke words of comfort, preferring brutal honesty to all other paths of communication, but even though he was going against the grain of his ordinary policy, Kirk would not be so easily consoled.

He exhaled, stood up, and stepped down from his elevated seat. The members of the crew that operated the bridge watched him silently, careful not to disrupt his train of thought. He looked upon the map projected where the Admiral's face previously was and rubbed his chin.

Deep down, Leonard knew what his friend was thinking. He wanted to defy his provided orders and continue pursuing the threat. It didn't help that his history with following, and not following instructions was so inconsistent. When he refused to obey the orders of Admiral Marcus and did not fire torpedoes on Q'onos, with great difficulty and at great cost, they didn't start a war with the Klingons and exposed the Admiral for what he was. However, when he violated the prime directive by rescuing Spock from an active volcano, he lost his ship.

Kirk had a tendency to act without really thinking it out, which prevented him from being burdened with worry, but also caused plenty of collateral damage when he failed to control that aspect of his personality.

"What am I missing, Mr. Spock?" He spoke suddenly, not looking at either of his advisors.

Spock approached him delicately and answered, "Captain, we have searched every possible location in which the fugitives may be residing. Thus far, our attempts have reaped no benefits. It is likely that they are beyond our capability to pursue at this point."

"It doesn't make any sense, though," Kirk insisted, "How could they have eluded us when their every possible location was transmitted?"

Leonard scowled thoughtfully before offering, "Is it possible that they might have some sort of cloaking device on their ship?"

Spock met his gaze and replied, "Klingons are the only race we know of that can jam a Federation vessel's scanner, doctor, and it would have to be larger than a war bird to intercept the scanners of a starship as large as the Enterprise."

While the first officer was dismissive, a sense of interest crossed the captain's face, and he shifted his eyes to the other side of the room, asking, "Lieutenant Uhura, when we were searching for the ship, at any point did we lose the ability to transmit a signal?"