Chapter 17 - A Doctor, Not A DragonslayerMARCH 1, 2286 - THE MEDICAL LOG OF DOCTOR LEONARD H. MCCOY
"The Apocalypse has begun. There's no other way of saying it. The Great Beast has risen from the shores of the Cosmic Ocean, and it's laughing off our best efforts to destroy it. We are losing, and death - in the form of King Ghidorah - is winning."
McCoy looked about, and saw his grandson sleeping, at long last. His eyes were still red from a tidal wave of tears.
"My daughter and ex-wife are dead. Most everyone on board has had their planetside relations killed by the Order of the Ancient Destroyer. God help me, I'd like to feel a whole hell of a lot more about losing my two Joannas. But my ex always made it out like her cheating was my fault, and my daughter always bought into that. Or maybe she didn't, and it was just easier to live with her mother by agreeing with her. I let my ex-wife punch me hard in the face when I didn't raise a stink about her behavior. But even now, for Johnny's sake, I refuse to thank her for it. Maybe I'll feel more about their deaths later. Or maybe I am exactly as cold and unfeeling as I have always accused Spock of being."
Scotty's continued moans of 'Cissy', his pet name for his dear older sister, made Leonard realize he was not unfeeling, just overloaded. By his side were Ensign Jessa Preston and Peter Preston, his niece and nephew. The young woman, so confident as she boarded, was now a shattered ruin herself. When she had accused Captain Kirk of somehow being responsible for her mother's death, her little brother shouted her down. This led Jessa to push him down, until she caught herself and started sobbing uncontrollably, saying it was all her own fault.
"Many of the kids on board are now orphans. Some will never be the same as a result. Some few are perhaps better off."
Her name was Hagia Sophia Tanabe, second cousin to Commander Uhura. After learning her mother was dead, she revealed a lifetime of sexual abuse. The 'promiscuous' girl had as much pain to hide as almost anyone else.
"Why any parent would decide that the beauty they bring into the world is somehow a source of sexual pleasure is beyond me, and that's how I like it. I know the studies intimately. I've read the reports forward and back. I've hyper-analyzed the brain scans. I even asked Spock to go on at length, once. I no more understand it now than I did before. Still, Sophie's in good hands, now. Nyta is her legal guardian, and she and Jim have finally decided to stop hiding their relationship, and get hitched. As Saavik will attest, Jim makes a good stepfather."
Interrupting McCoy's work was the awakening of Peter Kirk. His wife, Saavik, was asleep still, her head on his chest.
"Are you all right, Peter?"
"I guess. How long have I been asleep?"
"About a week."
"Doctor, please don't joke like that. Why are we all still sleeping on the Bridge?"
"Because, the shockwave hasn't passed yet. It's had several nasty breakfronts. Peter, you really have been asleep for a week, because that's how long we've been drifting. You pulled a couple of telekinetic stunts to get us through the worst of it."
The young reluctant hero stroked his wife's hair. He silently praised God when he saw that both she and their unborn child were healthy.
"I don't remember any of it."
McCoy nodded.
"Likely, you suffered a mild stroke. Your body's odd metabolism has been compensating ever since. Try not to push it, though."
"Tell that to Ghidorah."
"Lieutenant Kirk, please stop ducking me. It has never worked for either your father or father-in-law. And Jim and Spock are better liars."
"If you're asking about prior heart failure, sure, it's happened. Several times in cryo. The genetic accelerants and wide-scan psi-enhancers they pumped into me have known side-effects. Two years after my rescue, I aged five years in one day. Of course, this was after two years of being stuck at thirteen, and three more after of being stuck at eighteen. Then, when I killed T'Pring and Stonn -"
McCoy stopped him.
"You killed T'Pring? Why - how, without everyone on Vulcan noticing?"
Peter shrugged.
"She was a member of the Order. She caused Sarek to nearly kill Amanda, and Saavik to nearly - er - unman me. I'm not sure what happened after T'Pring captured Saavik and me. But they found her, at the bottom of a crater, stomped flat, radiation levels off the scale. T'Pau hushed the whole thing, embarrassed by the presence of Ghidorans on Vulcan. But I'll shed no more tears over her than I did over Gary Mitchell or Charlie Evans. No more tears than I will when I kill Ghid......."
Still exhausted, Peter went back to sleep without even realizing it. His hand was on his wife's stomach, as though to protect the new life within from the monster without. Saavik briefly awoke, and moved his hand onto her chest. McCoy chuckled.
"That's Jim's daughter-in-law, all right."
And his adopted daughter, as well, McCoy thought. Damn Spock, he thought further, for not acknowledging the girl. Saavik loved Jim, and even called him 'Pop'. But she deserved her real father's attention.
"Shifting my attention to Lieutenant Commander Ilia, her coma, unlike Pete's, is completely inexplicable. I fear what it may really mean......."
McCoy held his portable scanner over Ilia's still form. There was no change.
"Although he doesn't remember it, here and now, Peter Kirk let us know that Ilia's homeworld of Delta Prime was caught in the shockwave resulting from Qo'noS destruction. Our ship's shields are designed to let us roll with the wave, to some extent. A planet like Delta Prime must remain in its orbit. The sad thing is, the Klingons respected the Deltans enough to leave them alone, despite the relative proximity of their respective homeworlds. But in death, the Empire took Delta Prime with it. Ilia is an empath. Her world is attempting to take her with it, as well. Only her renewed love for Will Decker keeps her with us. It may not be enough."
The Doctor placed his hand on Saavik's stomach, and actually felt a minute kick.
"Jim and Spock's grandchild is kicking already. It's gonna be a remarkable kid. He or she will have the two toughest parents ever."
McCoy imagined a future argument with the child, and laughed slightly.
"Vulcan's greatest mistake was in rejecting Saavik. If they had not, by ignorance, or by design, excluded her from their mental embrace, they'd have had a Vulcan to be reckoned with. Maybe it's the times we live in. Surak said IDIC and Logic would fall away. I fear he was most prophetic, in that. So it's been that Saavik was raised by several people. By Jim, when he did his damndest to get that wild child ready for presentation to T'Pau. By Sarek and Amanda, forced for reasons of Spock's sanity to not tell the girl she was their own granddaughter. Even Peter, her own husband, played a huge role. By rejecting pointless revenge on one of his captors, Saavik has told me that her 'Angel' showed her the way."
"But the most important man in her young life - her own biological father - has been little better than a distant uncle. I want to help my old friend with his pain. But Jim is father, after a fashion, to both those kids. Until Spock is healed, I must obey the wishes of my Captain in all this. Spock, please amaze me at least one more time before we draw the cosmic curtain and call it a day. Your little girl wants her Daddy."
Again seeing the face of a young Jim Kirk, the Doctor talked upon the condition of Peter Kirk.
"The girl's name was Mary Sue Johnson. She was an ensign aboard the Advance Guard, one of the Federation's first starships. She was beautiful, brilliant, and so capable, the crew was turning to her before they knew it. When she was lost on a landing party, the crew froze up. Her help was like a drug, and now it was gone. For a variety of reasons, this cosmic semi-legend has NO bearing on the life and times of Peter Kirk. Despite that, he fears this is the case. He sees the crew turning to him. from children to senior officers. The demands placed on him by his Captain and father are draining. He has a destiny to fulfill. What does it do to a young man, to know that the fate of life itself rests in him? His biggest worry should be impending fatherhood. But his biggest worry has three heads and is a megameter in circumference. He is strong, and he and his wife love each other so very deeply, it challenges the word 'bonded' for being vague. But what will emerge when this powerful young man finally cracks wide open? He is too much like Jim for his own good."
Before starting on his Captain, Leonard took a bite out of an apple. After he swallowed, he got back to his business.
"For Jim Kirk, this isn't Armageddon. No, it's a family feud. The Kirks versus the Ancient Destroyer and his happily deceased Order. For Captain James T. Kirk, the war with King Ghidorah - is personal."
McCoy had completed his narrative. There was nothing else to say, and a grim task to perform. The passing of the light into darkness had a terrible, tangible reminder aboard the Bridge of the drifting USS Enterprise. Will Decker was shaking. Life and Death had struck him in the face once again.
"Don't cry, Will. Oh, please don't cry. I'll be right here, with you. Lieutenant Kirk's mind already contains my people. Even more so than Vulcans, Deltans are dependent upon a group mind. I'm sorry for the plans we made."
He wiped his forehead, soaked with worry sweat.
"Damn it, Ilia, don't apologize to me! You're dying."
She chuckled.
"So much time together, and still you don't understand. Will, nothing dies. Except Ghidorah. When our young couple here destroys him, it will be for all time. But everything else shines on. Everyone - you have my love. Captain Kirk - it was a privilege, sir. Heading and course?"
Kirk smiled, as he knew Ilia would want.
"First star to the right, then straight on til morning - ahead Warp Six."
Ilia's form was still. Peter Kirk spoke, though, using her voice.
"Course plotted and laid in, Sir."
He then shuddered.
"My apologies, Commander Decker. I've not been this close to one of the monster's victims since I lost my parents on Deneva."
The Exec straightened out. There was a job to do, as always.
"We're both our fathers' sons, Peter. We do - what must needs be done. To the last measure."
"Yes, Sir."
If Lieutenant Kirk and his wife had not been so thrown off by watching Ilia's death, a simple, non-intrusive telepathic scan would've shed a frightening light on Decker's words. But for the young heroes, this nightmare scenario was one they still feared for one another. So they merely held one another. McCoy and his medics removed Lieutenant Commander Ilia's body, and the life of a young woman came to a final close. Despite five years aboard the Enterprise, very few had really known her. Despite this lack of knowledge, the grief would remain very, very real.
Five hours later, the glazed eyes of Will Decker noted something.
"Shockwave is dissipating. We can move about."
His voice was now a cold monotone.
Kirk was merely grateful to have him up and about. Will's growth as First Officer was a marvel to his crew. They needed that stability now, more than ever.
"Number One, I want everything on line and at full power as quickly as possible."
Will shook his head.
"Already done, Sir."
The Captain turned and saw that same eerie glow in the eyes of his son and daughter-in-law. He reasoned things out.
"The Lieutenants Kirk will learn to wait for orders before using their TK on my ship."
The glow stopped, and the two again looked like awkward young people on their first starship voyage. Saavik spoke.
"Our apologies, Captain. It will not happen again."
He turned his chair back.
"No, it won't. That said, we appreciate the help. Mister Sulu, Mister Ili-"
Grief bit at the Captain's heart. The Line of Blood just kept growing longer.
"Mister Saavik, take navigation. But out of sheer selfishness, I ask that you wear insulated gloves."
"Aye, Sir."
"Mister Kirk, head down to the Shuttlebay. Your continued presence can only help the children adjust..."
Decker spoke up.
"Captain, I think we want Mister Kirk here on the Bridge. The good news is - we've sighted Reliant on mid-range sensors, and while she appears to be barely functional, she is basically intact. Then there's the bad news."
Decker nodded to Sulu, who took over.
"An organic being, approximately one and one half megameters in diameter, is in pursuit of the Reliant, Captain. There appear to be three cranial terminuses, and non-locomotory wing-like protrusions that define most of the creature's form. Sir - it's King Ghidorah."
Decker asked Peter Kirk a question.
"How can sensors pick him up? I thought he had some kind of cloak."
Peter hid his fear well, but his gut was churning.
"He's weakened right now. The Shockwave had a lot of force behind it. Pure motion is one of the few types of energy Ghidorah can't absorb. Cloaks take energy. Plus, the growth spurt he's undertaken had to have tapped into his reserves somewhat. At least, that's what I think, Sir."
Kirk nodded at his boy.
"It's enough for now, Lieutenant."
He went on the intercom.
"ALL HANDS!!! BATTLE STATIONS!!! FULL RED ALERT STATUS!! WE'RE AT WAR, PEOPLE!! PREPARE TO FACE THE ANCIENT DESTROYER!!!"
The words, while perhaps redundant, still came from the ship's Captain. They were reassuring, as much as anything could be at that moment.
"What now, Jim?"
"Now, Bones, we save our friends aboard Reliant and kill the monster - I hope. Do you have another concern?"
"Yes, Captain. I feel that we are turning to, relying on, and asking too damned much of your son. Prophecy be hanged, Jim! That young man is being badly unnerved by officers many years his senior asking him for advice."
Kirk grinned, trying hard to find humor in anything at this harsh moment.
"You afraid my boy'll Mary Sue on us, Doctor?"
McCoy was not grinning.
"No, sir. According to legend, Mary Sue Johnson drank in the attention she got. Peter - and Saavik, as well - are very, very frightened by it."
"They are specialists, Bones, and we need their skills to protect Life-Kind."
"They are kids, Jim, and they need to know that their Daddies will protect them - as they could not when they were small."
The last part cut Jim deeply. Both young people had endured torture as children.
"You're out of line, Doctor. Way out of line."
"But am I wrong, Sir?"
Kirk closed his eyes. He spoke up loudly.
"Peter. Saavik. Let it be known that you are my pride and joy. On the one hand, having you both here instills me with a confidence that even against this monster, we will prevail. But I am also fearful for you, and so very sorry that I have no one else to turn to. I can't protect the two of you now, any more than I could when the Order hurt you as they did. I am sorry for that. But this selfish old man is so happy to have you here, he forgets himself. You see, I never dreamed of being a real father, let alone a grandfather. I promise to do better by you. If I turn to you without thinking, it's only because I know who I can always turn to. You are the two strongest people I know. And as your Captain, I must rely upon, impose upon, and demand ever more of that strength. Saavik, a piece of paper makes you my daughter. Peter, an accident of fate makes you my son. But the love I feel for the both of you makes us a family. Now, that ship has more of our family aboard it. Permission to run you both ragged?"
Peter felt a burden lift.
"Permission granted, Sir!"
The air cleared, a grim sighting was made.
"Sir, we have Ghidorah under physical sighting."
"Onscreen, Mister Sulu."
As the obscenity shimmered into being, the Captain's son, still somewhat worried about both success and failure, stared hard at the screen. His resolve was now unshakeable. Leonard McCoy smiled at the young man's bold words, an echo of his father and hero.
"I'm not hiding this time, Ghidorah. I'm through running from you, monster!"
And so the battle was joined.