Chapter 5 - I Thought Love Was Only True In Fairy Tales....There is good love, and there is sick love. Sick love was exemplified by Captain Kruge of the Klingon Fleet. Currently, he watched yet more video of the Ancient Destroyer. Ghidorah had smashed a huge Cardassian support fleet in a heartbeat. It could not be called a battle, since there was none. But Kruge, richly bribed by Cardassian authorities to use the sector that he patrolled as a back-door to the now-aborted invasion of Bajor, would not be put off by this minute detail. He exulted as each ship died. He spoke to himself in full view of his disgusted crew. To them, basking in any slaughter that one did not participate in was simply wrong.
"Watch, as the nose on the Mecha-head first gently butts the lead ship, and then lasers it open. Heh? The Gul seems happy at his death? Must be a vid-error. Oh, look. As the jagged Mecha slices through support struts, Death and King fire at the others in the convoy, oft times catching 3 at once! How efficient. Now, the best part. A whole string of fleeing ships are caught between the two great tails. Oh, the joys of slow motion replay. To think, the Cardassians paid me to watch this!"
The Communications Officer looked at his console, which Kruge had ordered slagged to prevent contact with Qo'noS. Kruge's plan was to show up suddenly and kill Ghidorah, earning him the acclaim of the Empire. Forewarning the Fleet would mean shared glory, and that was never Kruge's way. A lifetime ago, Klueie would have called such tactics bold, a sign of true Klingon daring. But not now, when his Captain stared at the effortless rout of a worthy battle-fleet like Klueie stared at the undressing holovid his wife sent him.
Once, Kruge had been an officially sanctioned terrorist, and he was damned good at it. Whenever there were actions the Empire could not officially take, there was Kruge. Klueie remembered those days. Honorable Kelex; brutish Kone; unstable, beautiful Keh'leyn; Kobbei, son of Chang, a frustrated actor; and K'tlka, whose Eastern continent accent had rendered him almost beyond comprehension. They stood by Kruge, and he by them. The Federation cried foul, and the Empire knew nothing. It was a good life, til Spock came on EarthDate 2281.
The new Federation Ambassador to Qo'noS had real negotiating power, and suddenly the High Council felt it had the Federation's respect. Spock made real trade and tech concessions to the Empire, as well. But he made it clear that seeing this as weakness would be done at the Empire's peril. The damned Organians' prophecy was very close to becoming a reality, and Kruge just couldn't have that.
In 2283, he struck. His plan was simple, and brutal. There was a young Vulcan hybrid in the care of the House Of Sarek, Spock's father. Her bondmate met with - an accident. She was rapidly approaching Pon Farr, which in her hybrid circumstance meant Plak Tow hitting at about the same time. With transmissions revealing that Sarek and his human wife were away, Kruge prepared a surprise. This time truly on his own, the now-mad Captain ordered a gigantic E-M pulse generated, one that disrupted the entire Vulcan Sector of space. In a nanosecond, all technology was rendered slag. No transports could move, no transporters could respond, and all comm units were tin boxes. Sarek's house was remote, and help would not reach there for perhaps as much as seven days. Alone, the young woman would die, necessitating Spock's withdrawal. Then, things would be as they were.
But she didn't die. The reports after the disaster were replete with how this woman, Saavik, had been brought through Pon Farr by forcible bonding with a young human that no one in the general public even knew was still alive - Peter Kirk. Not only was the High Council furious with Kruge for his unsanctioned labors, but he had made a hero out of the nephew of a man they still had no real fondness for. He was reassigned to patrol a non-sector, and gradually took out his rage on his loyal senior staff. Insanity had turned to evil, in Klueie's mind, and at long last he decided to act, in the only way left to him.
He stood up, and looked the man he once called friend straight in the eye. Kruge regarded him.
"Something to say, Klueie?"
"Yes, Captain. Kruge of the House of K'Twski, son of Klloyd - you are without honor, and more, you are a LOSER!!!!"
Without really thinking about it, Kruge withdrew a disruptor, disintegrated Klueie, and then swore a small, old-dialect oath for all to hear.
"H'kayDokbos!"
In the interim, the man called Klars quietly put the K'Ch'Rn, Colonel Worf, off the ship in Kruge's personal shuttle. Ultra-fast, it might reach Qo'noS before Ghidorah did. It was, he knew, a life-ending decision.
"So is my honor restored, at least in some small way. Kahless's path, Colonel."
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Aboard the USS Enterprise, Peter Kirk began to tell a love story. A love story with a very unlikely beginning. As he did, his once-again wife Saavik sat with her eyes closed, ingesting the incredible news of the day. Within 1 hour, she had gone from Hellguard hybrid refugee made good to bondmate. In 10 months time, she would be a mother. Even better still, she now knew who she was. Getting her father to admit his rape at the hands of Romulan renegades, though, would yet be difficult. As Doctor McCoy had said when he revealed her DNA analysis, the man could be quite stubborn. As Peter began, she drank in his voice, and remembered with him. It was now impossible for her to even conceptualize a moment when she didn't want his arms around her. But it had been exactly like that, eight years ago.
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2278
"You asked to see me, Sarek?"
"Yes, Saavik-kam. But I ask not for the Saavik of now. Rather, I need the wild child, the scavenger that your - that my son brought here 9 years ago. I have a great and pressing need for that survivor to go where I may not."
"I have worked long and hard to put her aside, Father of My Heart. But you and Amanda put up with that creature, so you have the right to ask her back. But why is she so needed?"
"Do you know why the Vulcans who were taken to and raped at Hellguard were treated so? In whose name this was done?"
"By this small three-cresting brand on my inner-left wrist, I know that it was the Order of the Ancient Destroyer, hateful worshippers of fabled Gh'draeh."
"Saavik-kam, Gh'draeh is no myth. He is quite real. He murdered Vulcania, including S'kon and T'Lara, my parents. More, his worshippers are at large on no less a Federation world than Earth, within StarFleet's Command structure. There is a young boy that they hold. He is The Rock That Bears Gh'draeh's mark."
"The Rock?"
"A translation of an old prophecy and a proper name. 'The Rock That Bears the Mark Of the Ancient Destroyer shall shatter his mighty fangs, and then he shall be as we are.' the boy's name is Peter Kirk, blood relative to my son's Captain. They hold him beneath Admiralty Hall, in the city of San Francisco. These illogical zealots believe they call Gh'draeh, by using the boy as a transmitter. My research indicates this to be only partly true."
"Peter deriving from Petrus - The Rock, in Earth's Latin root-language. Father Of My Heart, they shall not hold him for very much longer."
A month later, Saavik stalked the corridors of Admiralty Hall, killing and wounding only as she needed to. Due to an odd connection between the boy Peter Kirk and Sarek, finding the chamber where he was kept in cryogenic stasis was ridiculously easy. Silently, she grabbed the long hair of the woman who had draped her body on top of Peter's cryo-chamber and smashed the slimy Admiral's face into the glass, knocking her out and releasing Peter. He stirred, and looked at Saavik. As she pulled her hood away, she told him who she was and why she was there. He tried to speak.
"R-r-robe. Naked."
"Human modesty astounds me, but the Admiral seems not to be using hers, so, cover yourself, if you must."
Saavik later wondered why she added all this, but decided it very definitely was not disappointment at his insistence on being covered. She was too detached for that
Peter later wondered why he insisted on a robe instead of getting out of there. He decided it certainly wasn't because he felt attracted to his 16-year old rescuer. He was too flustered and tired for that.
Saavik was impressed by Peter's refusal to revenge himself on Admiral Bunson. Most humans had no self-control, particularly in so untoward a circumstance, and the Admiral was now as helpless as he himself had been. It spoke to something in her that Peter did not even want to punch or grab at this person.
Peter was impressed by Saavik's offer to let him take some form of hateful revenge on the unconscious brass. Many times, he'd fantasized about making her pay, ending her laughter once and for all. That another person could see his hurt so clearly as to even offer that spoke to something in him. Together, they transported out.
In the shuttle back to Vulcan, Sarek took note of the way Saavik watched over the sleeping rescuee, and further took note of how she denied doing so. When she was asleep, he looked back at Peter, asleep in a Medi-Cot, and Saavik asleep in her chair beside the cot. He chuckled lightly, then stopped and realized for the first time there was something wrong with him. The Healer later confirmed his terminal illness and the parental katras that had been inside him for over a century, explaining his dreams of Ghidorah.
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2281
"So."
"So."
"Does Academy Life agree with you, Peter?"
"Oh, well, except for the Admiralty trying to grab me again and again, and those two loser roommates, Bzutchl and J'Epric, and the nightmares of Ghidorah, the only hard part is I keep missing an opportunity to speak to Uncle Jim. Also, I kind of miss you, Saavik."
"That - is understandable. We are much like Brother and Sister, you and I. Yes, exactly like that. Our many arguments, when you first moved into Sarek's household, are typical of sibling interaction. We now miss that. I - might like to have dinner with you, Peter."
"Good. So would I. What with you taking Engineering track, and me Command, we hardly see each other, and I think if I don't see you, I'll... feel a lack of family presence. Also, thanks. You know, I was looking for a word to describe our relationship, and sibling suits my purposes just fine. Did I ever thank you for pulling me out of that place?"
"You did. But I do not find such expressions of gratitude mispleasing at all... Peter? You seem distant."
"I... Saavik, the Companion and Dr. Cochran are dead. He found them. I have to go."
"But the Companion had sent her planetoid into deep space, where no one could find... it is best I go, as well."
When they reached their respective quarters, the two 'siblings' made a shockingly similar request of their hygiene/refresher routines.
"Shower. Hydro. Cold."
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2283
It was the long break before the final year at the Academy, and Peter simply could not spend it safely anywhere but Vulcan. There were advocates of the Order, even there, but many, many fewer and none in positions of real authority. While Sarek and Amanda went to a conference on Rigel, Saavik and Peter waited and studied for the crunch to come.
Saavik, not feeling well from an approaching Pon Farr cycle, was comforted by the thought of being on Vulcan, with a Healer waiting on comm-call to get her through, despite the loss of her unknown bondmate. She felt sad that he was gone, but nothing more for him.
One of the only people she did feel anything for she decided to tap on the shoulder, to ask if he was hungry. As she did many times, Saavik forgot that Peter eschewed almost all physical contact. The pain of casual torture lasting 11 years was simply too great. He started, and his hand lashed out behind him. Before he realized, Peter had swatted her across the face and pushed her away. He turned and realized his error too late, as she pushed his face into the desk he was studying at.
"Saavik! I said I was sorry. But you know what I've been through. I don't like being touched. The last person to approach me from behind chloroformed me after killing my grandmother. You didn't have to..."
Peter saw her face. It was feral as she spoke.
"I don't have time to abide your whining, Peter. Call the healer - it's begun."
Peter moved for the Comm Link just as Kruge's massive E-M burst hit Vulcan. Every device in the house simultaneously sizzled, including Air Conditioning. The house instantly grew warmer. Across Vulcan, transports fell and systems went dead. A shaking Saavik seemed soon to follow. Peter Kirk knew full well what a bond really was. He knew what Pon Farr and Plak Tow meant. Despite that, and his fear of being touched for any length of time, he moved and sat down next to Saavik. Instantly, her shaking hands sought his temples and upper face. She pleaded with him to go away.
"Please, don't let me do this! I don't want to hurt you. I don't want anyone to hurt you ever again, Peter. I care for you very, very much. Go now, and the bond will fade. But if you're near me, I must seek out your core. The Bonding will be forced. You'll be in great pain. I don't want to cause you pain."
But Peter just smiled.
"Saavik, I haven't known a day without pain in 15 years. And, I, too, care for you. Hell, I love you. Don't you understand? You're my knight, the knight who rescued me from the minions of the evil dragon! I was helpless, until the most beautiful creature I ever saw opened my coffin and brought me back to life. I owe you this, and more, I want this. But Saavik, it might well be I who cause you pain."
"You - you are engaging in hero worship. You owe me nothing. Besides, I could never be so lucky as to have someone like you love me. I was treated horribly as a child, and grew feral. You are much braver than I am, Peter, to have survived so much. I - do love you. Not a very Vulcan thing to say, I know. But I don't feel very Vulcan, right now."
"That's funny. I'm feeling a Vulcan, as we speak."
"Humor. Laughter. Joy. Brightness. My love, you shine so very much. How can you cause me pain?"
Then, Saavik gasped as Peter's eyes began to glow.
"It's all right, Saavik. It's a side effect of what they did to me. I see what you see, the vicious Romulans of Hellguard. Now, see the one who has marked our lives. Forgive me, my love, but Behold, the Ancient Destroyer!"
In Peter's mind, she saw the Line Of Blood, the Book Of the Fallen. She saw Ghidorah, and all those he had taken from the Universe. Saavik screamed intermittently for a day, while Peter saw the pains and turns of her life. By the time the bonding was done, he admired her courage and she saw him as her brave knight. Then, with the blood fever ruling both of them, they made love on the kitchen floor innumerable times. Strewn about was shredded red fabric that was once from StarFleet Academy tunics. Their academic studies fell off for the next four or five days, as experiments and insights of a different sort came into play.
They finally woke up next to each other, still on the kitchen floor, just as they were born - but with Amanda and Sarek standing right over them. Like a shot, they made for Peter's room, from which for reasons of embarrassment and unfinished business, they did not emerge for 3 more hours. Sarek looked at the spot where they had been sleeping. He shook his head.
"Wife, we shall simply have to get a new rug for this kitchen."
Amanda shook her head, as well.
"No, Sarek, I can get this out with lemon juice and vinegarrrrrhhhrhr hhrhoooohhoobwwhjahhahahahahahahha!"
Sarek was disturbed by Amanda's sudden burst of uncontrollable laughter, but then thought better of it, and started in himself.
"What the hell? I'm dying anywayyyyhahhahahahhahhah!!!"
Then things got silly between the older couple. If they hadn't needed a new kitchen rug before, they would need one now.
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2286 - Enterprise
"So, things got ugly for a while. T'Pau wanted to rip Saavik's head off, charge her with 'violating' me. But, after some clumsy efforts at denial, and this New Year's celebration which led to our expected arrival, we're back together again. Saavik, wife, I love you."
Saavik smiled, and opened her eyes. To the shock of Lieutenants Roesch and Walton, they were glowing like Peter's.
"Remember that when I'm giving birth, husband. Remember, Peter, we do tend to stumble quite a bit. And there is still a small matter to attend to."
Peter frowned, to think of fallen Romulus. He said one all-too familiar name, which was no small matter.
"Ghidorah."
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In Klingon space, Kruge was enraged to see the fleet mobilized. Colonel Worf had reached there before his former Captain, and Kang and Koloth led a fleet that hoped it was ready for Ghidorah. Colonel Worf was sent on to find Ambassador Spock, currently in Federation space, seeking to defuse a situation related to his job as Ambassador to Qo'noS. Together, they would warn the Federation. But as he searched, the Colonel felt low.
"Your planet needs you, coward! But you need to find the Vulcan - should darkness fall. A warrior's dilemma."
On his ship, Kruge still shouted.
"It does not matter HOW they were warned! The kill will still be mine!"
At that, every Klingon opened fire at Kruge with disruptors. He whose arrogance and madness had cost his people valuable warning time was dead, but his world and people might soon follow. In the distance, the point-ships cried out the warning.
"King Death returns! Beware you Klingons! Beware, now, Khiterah!"
Next- Chapter 6 - Those Questions Which You Failed To Ask....