Chapter 24 - Traditions

MAY, 2286

Saavik looked at the man who was her father, father-in-law, and Captain in dumb shock. Her request had been a simple one.

"Pop, why will you not do this thing? It is considered tradition on Earth that the Father Of the Bride give his blessing to the marriage. Peter and I wish this ceremony to be as close to that model as possible."

Inwardly, he smiled again to be called Pop, but James Kirk stood firm in his decision.

"Honey, I can't be both father of the bride and groom. I'll stand in blessing for Peter. Your real father will stand in blessing for you."

The young Vulcan, decidedly more emotional of late, actually appeared hurt.

"You are my real father. Adoption or no, you are the one who gave me a name when Spock would not and Sarek could not. In times past, I have called you 'Daddy'. I was not being funny or cute when I did so. On Vulcan, I had no house save yours. Sarek and Amanda were my beloved guardians. You were my identity. Did you know that I have been to alternate realities? A great many, to be sure. But only in a very few were we father and daughter. We are, Pop - unique."

Jim was taken aback to hear such a direct statement of love from his little girl. It brought back the fact that his son by blood was married to the daughter of his heart. The son he had sired by his sister-in-law, a woman he had been partly raised with. The daughter had been the child of a man who was like his own brother, crippled by multiple betrayals - including that of yet another sister. Jim re-took all that in. That was when he knew what to say.

"If you will not permit your biological father to stand in for me, then will you permit my Thy'la to do so? My brother-and-beyond?"

It was simply a matter of wording, but Saavik appreciated that change. It meant most of all that Jim understood her pain.

"Yes, Pop. I have recently come to the conclusion that your Thy'la - is a man of a good character. As long as it is as your Thy'la he stands for you, I have no objection."

Jim stood up.

"One more thing, Lieutenant. Biology or no, you are the Captain's daughter - until I say you're not."

The soon-to-be three-time bride smiled lightly and left, finding this a very acceptable arrangement.

"Uhura To Kirk."

"Kirk here. Nyta - I thought you prohibited us speaking before the ceremony, this afternoon. Getting cold feet?"

The Console Officer smiled, despite the massive crisis at hand. "You wish - sir. Jim, the High Court on Earth has rendered its decision on your authority as UFP-CIC. Are you sitting down?"

"Should I be?"

"It's an idea. Basically, no matter how they ruled, the legislators had planned to file some manner of appeal in some court or other."

Kirk nodded.

"You say had planned. What changed things?"

"Well, I only took one semester of legalese, you understand. But the concept of judicial review of the other two branches of government is not encoded into the UFP Constitution. It's merely an unofficial practice, based on an Old Earth court decision called Marbury Vs. Madison. In 1803, in the United States Of America, that nation's Supreme Court established that power. Now, the judges in question here aren't fond of centralized power. But - they found the Council's actions in this crisis a clear and present danger to protective action."

Kirk kept silent, trusting his soon-to-be wife was already editing down a likely voluminous decision.

"So, to cut to the chase - the Justices voided their own power. They declared that all cases decided by virtue of Marbury Vs. Madison - which is just about everything, ever - to be unconstitutional, since it was never touched upon in the Founding Document. So the Council won't be appealing anymore."

Uhura heard only continued silence.

"Jim - isn't this good news? We can get the fleet where we need it, now."

Kirk found it hard to speak.

"Darling, do you even understand what it is they've just done?"

She winced.

"Yes - but I was hoping you wouldn't, until later. You have enough on your mind. Has Peter found Ghidorah, yet?"

"No. But - my God, Nyta! We in the UFP now have no Legislature, no Judiciary, just an Executive with unlimited authority. Assuming, of course, that that authority is even partway relevant."

Uhura felt partway heartened, knowing only her man would worry about absolute power corrupting him.

"Jim? That executive with nearly unlimited authority? I think you may have some experience, in that department. Right now, the Galaxy needs your leadership just as much as the Enterprise."

A voice broke in on the line. "Captain, I've found him! Something forced Ghidorah to decloak."

Under normal circumstances, Jim would chastise any junior officer, even his son, Peter, for doing what he had just done.

These were not normal circumstances.

"Peter - feed any coordinates you have to navigation and helm. Uhura - get me Scotty."

A moment passed.

"Scott here, Cap'n. Sir, may I suggest you countermand those change of course orders? Peter, lad, is the Beast still headed for Vulcan?"

On the Bridge, Peter Kirk nodded. "Aye sir. That's still his basic course."

Kirk asked the obvious question. "Scotty, is there a problem with a slight course correction? This Omega-Class Enterprise can handle warps unguessable by other ships, can't it?"

"Aye. It still can. Captain - Jim - trust in this now-not-so-old Engineer. It's not me bairns that are at fault. What I have to say must be said face-to-face. It may make this war of ours- - completely unwinnable."

Kirk nodded, knowing well and never doubting the mind that had created this amazing new ship.

"Bring Spock in one half hour. Uhura, you too. If this is what I think it might be - we're in real trouble."

Nyta looked around the Bridge. She saw only the young man who was her son by adoption and in spirit. "Peter, I know this isn't the ideal duty for a cosmic Champion - but I need a relief."

Bred for duty, he sat down and took her earpiece. "Happy Mother's Day."

She gave him an unbecoming peck on the cheek. "Always is with you, kiddo."

As she left, Peter answered his first call. "Yes, Sir. I will inform CIC Kirk of that, right away. Who am I? Lieutenant Peter Kirk, sir... yes, *that* Peter Kirk. Hmmm? Well, sir, I really would rather not - An order? All right. Well - he's really, really, really big. Yes - that's three heads, not two. A-a pleasure speaking to you as well, Commander Hartley."

Exiting the lift, Uhura saw her younger cousin, Sophie. Just as Peter and Saavik had restored the relative youth of many on board, so had some of the older children chosen to age themselves ahead a bit. Sophie now looked to be 18 or 19.

"Young lady, we have to talk."

Gone was the combative, openly predatory girl. But the young woman now looked quite nervous, all the same.

"I-I was kind of expecting this, Nyta. Can I explain myself?"

Keeping watch of her time, Uhura sat and listened to her young ward.

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In his quarters, Spock sat and attempted something quite stupid but in its own way vitally necessary. He sat in a classic meditative pose - and tried to save a world.

"I am Spock, Son Of Sarek, Son Of S'chon, born of the Line Of Surak. I speak to the Vulcan Under Vulcan - to the Jtharh. That thing which is all Vulcans, a voice that feeds and a voice that gives forth. Will you hear me?"

The Voice that responded nearly shattered Spock's mind with its retort. On a psychic level, it was impossibly loud. For all that, Spock knew, the Voice was trying to speak softly.

"speak you."

Spock gathered himself, his brain still pounding. He was, he knew, a shuttlecraft tapping directly into the warp core of a starship. But the former Ambassador simply had no choice.

"Hear me, Voice Behind All Voices Of Vulcan. The Ancient Destroyer has returned. He has already made a ruin of many worlds, including Those Who Left."

Spock's brain rattled yet again. He had forgotten that the Jtharh was truly all Vulcan voices - and was not necessarily unemotional. He was to be forgiven in this, as the need was so very grave.

"those who left are dead to us."

Like a man against a hurricane made out of fire, Spock stood his ground while his grip and stance were buffeted and burned simultaneously.

"Now, a great many of them are truly dead. Dead to all. Gh'draeh is coming, and The Rock may not yet stop it. To keep any of Vulcan - that world must be evacuated. Take all that you can and go."

If Spock were successful in persuading the Jtharh, then his father's culture would endure elsewhere. All Vulcans would carry the seed of the thought of evacuation.

Spock was not to be successful.

"the ancient destroyer is only a myth. never in living memory has vulcan been invaded. you are a deceiver and must be expunged."

Beyond the horrific mind-wear of this link, Spock now knew an extra horror: most Vulcans were living in absolute denial of the coming catastrophe.

"judgement is rendered."

As Spock felt the unbelievable psychic force begin to dissipate him, he felt another presence.

"I am The Rock. Depart, Jtharh. You have no power here, and I am set over you."

"we dispute this. we would challenge you."

Saavik smiled at the thundering voice, which affected her not at all. Its wild, unpredictable nature was actually a comfort to her. Here, she thought, is the world that rejected me, with the curtain pulled away. It will not shame me now.

"You dispute this. You would challenge me."

Spock looked up, his eyes reddened and pleading with his blood-daughter not to destroy the Jtharh, as he was almost sure she was able to do.

But Saavik merely added an addendum, louder than the Voice's.

"You would lose this challenge and be no more, little voice."

"logic dictates that we cannot be conquered. Therefore, this speaking never took place." The Jtharh withdrew.

Spock stood up. "Saavik-kam - you saved -"

She cut him off.

"I saved my father's Thy'la. Read nothing more into it - sir."

Saavik regretted her words, but this encounter had reawakened old hurts - and not merely in her. On the Bridge, Peter had to fight off feelings of rage directed towards Sam and Aurelan Kirk. This would lead to a final revelation about Peter's childhood.

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THE PATH TO VULCAN

Sensing vast powers, King Ghidorah now heard a voice, as powerful in its own way as the isolationistic Jtharh.

"Hear me, Ghidorah! Hear me, you vast and hideous Destroyer OF Old! You are an Abomination! Meet Us in true battle, that this matter may be done with!"

Then, the monster saw his challengers, each known to many throughout space.

The first was the so-called Whale Probe, a sentient machine who was tired grieving over all the songs silenced forever by the Ancient Destroyer. The voice had belonged to it.

The next had been an altered Earth-probe, once reworked by the Borg and then again by the Whale Probe, which called it Child Of My Heart. Most knew it simply as V'gr N'sa.

The next was the last of its kind, a sentient ship called Taru, or "Tin Man", by Terran scientists who had detected it. Like the other two, its power was vast and wide-ranging. A creature of life and light, it literally despised Ghidorah.

Smallest physically was another Earth probe, called Nomad. Its power was enough to wipe away whole systems. Its reconstituted program had been seeking Ghidorah for nearly twenty years.

"We are Nomad. You Are the Enemy."

The all-out attack began.

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Before Jim Kirk's upcoming conference, much had to be settled.

Nyota Uhura, soon to marry her Captain of 21 years and lover of 37, had one such matter to settle with her younger cousin, Sophie.

"Honey - what did you do to yourself?"

Sophie, once 15 years old, now looked at least 18. Her skin was a single shade lighter, a distinction only Nyta would ever notice, having known her since birth. Her hair, once jet-black like Peter's, now was a reddish-sandy brown. Perhaps most importantly - she looked content, and happy, as she almost never had.

"Hello, Nyta. Do I look good?"

"Sophie, you always have. Did Peter do this?"

She smiled.

"He asked me what I wanted. He's wonderful, Nyta. And you've been such a strong influence on him. His spirit was born from you. He told me that all that time the Hall was hurting him, thoughts of you and Jim kept him going. Also, I wanted to make it right with Saavik, for trying to seduce Peter. So now - it's legally impossible for me to touch him that way."

Uhura looked over the form and face of the young woman. She saw traces of two faces she knew quite well. Then, she understood. At least in part.

"Sophie, why did you do it?"

The little girl was back in the woman's eyes for a moment.

"Before, I was a little slut that was told so by everyone using her, down to her own mother. It wasn't her fault - but nor could I stand to look at her anymore. Peter understood. So did Saavik. When you've been grabbed by people who think they own you - your flesh never feels right. You feel wrong. Now, I am who I always dreamed of being. They told me I have a part to play in this, Nyta. Nothing flashy, but something vital, that will enable them to bring the fight straight to Ghidorah."

Kirk saw the two talking, and did not wish to interrupt. But his new, largely unwanted responsibilities as UFP CE meant that this woman, always a vital link to his soul, was also his link to a galaxy at war.

"Darling, I... Sophie?"

Kirk knew, immediately. Part of him wanted to brain Peter and Saavik. But the young woman before him was one he knew and loved, from years of speculative projection holos. So he merely shook his head.

"Sophie... do you have any idea what they have really done to you? Are you prepared to know the responsibilities? And make no mistake - there are responsibilities."

Sophia Kirk, now the genetic daughter of James Kirk and Nyota Uhura, closed her eyes.

"I know - Daddy."

She opened them, and a familiar glow appeared.

"I am ready for them."

She walked off, leaving the technically older adults in wonder at the multi-leveled transformation.

"Nyta - I hate to do this, but when you spoke to the head of Omniaster Shipping, about the evacuation of refugees from the targeted worlds, did he..."

Uhura turned, her youthened face showing annoyance.

"What he told me, Jim, was that he wanted to quote 'Talk with the head honcho, and not his secretary'!"

Kirk winced. A line had surely been crossed. Then, revenge sprang to mind.

"Madame - soon First Lady - the next time anyone speaks to you on UFP business, you tell them that you ARE my secretary. My Secretary Of State. Congratulations."

The Cabinet appointment stunned a person who saw her life as ripping apart and coaxing consoles back to health.

"Jim, this isn't something you do casually. Do you know what the outcry will be when it's learned you've placed your own wife in that office?"

Kirk shrugged. "We'll just refer the outraged to Press Secretary McCoy."

She looked at him.

"This is going to be one hell of a cabinet."

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Scotty saw Lieutenant Commander Guinan looking around for something.

"Lass, I designed this ship, with my own mind. Now what is it you're looking about for, as though it were your own soul?"

Guinan turned. "Bingo - Captain. I can feel it. It's here."

Scotty's now-youthful face went ashen. "Ghidorah?"

Guinan thought better of her words.

"No, sir. My - place. Or a place that will become mine. I can't explain it. I don't even feel terribly good."

Scotty smiled.

"Now Old New Cap'n Scott has just the thing for what ails ye. Follow me, Commander. I've been aching to show this thing off, anyway. A wee extra I threw onto the ship's design, at the very last minute."

They walked, and walked, and walked.

"We're going awfully far down front, aren't we?"

"As far as is possible, milady."

They arrived before an odd set of double doors. They had glass frames inset.

"What every good Starship has always needed - a tavern!"

Guinan looked around at the rows of seats and tables. She saw a long bar, which seemed to be waiting for her.

"I fled Ghidorah and escaped the Borg. I joined Starfleet. But now - I've found it. Captain Scott, what does every good tavern need?"

Scotty nodded, and pointed to the bar with both hands. "Why, any Celt knows that. It needs a good keeper. Something tells me, that it now has one."

Guinan looked around. "So where are my first customers?"

She got her answer as Captain Kirk and the entire senior staff entered, along with the three elder Kirk children. As Guinan drew her first drinks, Scotty spoke rather somberly.

"Warp drive will soon become a thing of the past. Ghidorah's presence, and the anti-chronitons it produces, is going to take us back before Cochran. By the time this year is done, no one will be able to break the warp barrier - ever again."

And even the two Champions, who knew much of the future, were stunned silent by this news. Anything which survived would have no place to run from the Ancient Destroyer.

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SOMEWHERE IN FEDERATION SPACE

The being-ship known as Taru, or Tin Man, began the attack.

"Ghidorah - you disgust us. We sense that you hate all that live, including yourself. Now, we who are slow to act will remove you from existence. The wonder will be diminished, without you. But this hideous price must be paid. We take no joy in what we must now do."

While Taru was slamming Ghidorah with pure force and moving to each side, to slam him anew, the being-ship was also bombarding the Enemy with images of total peace. The creature retaliated with images of its own total peace - the void, wiped of all existence.

"NO! No, that is no one's dream. You - your nature is beyond our knowing. We must seek other knowledge, other wisdom. We cannot be here."

Taru turned and fled - but he didn't get far.

In an instant, Ghidorah's death-head fired its green beam. Taru died, spinning out of control towards an inhabited world.

The Great Probe felt the loss most keenly.

"That one was the gentlest of us. But s/he could not believe in true evil. More than the beam, that lack killed them."

Nomad moved forward.

"Good and Evil are non sequiturs. I am Nomad. Ghidorah is the Enemy. The Enemy must be sterilized."

Taru's remains struck a world that had never really advanced beyond the agrarian, despite a questionable mission by the Enterprise twenty years before. Its protector was sleeping. Its children died in their sleep as well. The great figurehead asked a question.

"Who disturbs Vaal?"

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Sulu was again unnerved by the two young champions, Saavik and Peter. He liked the kids. He always had. Way back when, he found himself wishing they could have stayed on board. This feeling was redoubled the first time he woke up in his cabin, got up to feed the hungry, almost toddling Demora - and then realized she was parsecs away.

In this instance, he was not unnerved by their prescience or power, or presence, or the courage they had shown through it all - and all had included quite a bit. Nor was it even their very obvious love and affection for one another, reminding him that Demora's mother, an agent for Section 31, had made no promises to stick around past her birth, and that he still had no one to call his own at the age of almost 50 - at least the chronological age. If they all survived, he wanted a ship and a woman, and he didn't care what kind of pig that might make him sound like.

But his thoughts came rapidly back to the reason the young Kirk couple unnerved him at that moment. They were silent, in the face of Scotty's pronouncement about the fate of warp drive technologies. No glowing eyes, saying that it would be all right. No revelations about Ghidorah, or the history of the universe. No magic, restorative voids. Not even a joke.

To Hikaru's mind, this meant only one thing. The apocalypse they were all in was now scaring the only two people that had a prayer of ending it. But by day's end, a fire of sorts would descend on him, personally. It would be a good, cleansing fire - but it would burn him badly. In this current silence, the once and future Captain Sulu now spoke.

"Losing warp would be a disaster on all levels. Even if we somehow prevail over both monsters, the worlds out there will not survive without infusions of technology and food - and probably everything else. Earth will descend into Bronze Age Chaos!"

Captain Kirk tried to show optimism, even in this.

"Don't go calling out the Four Horsemen just yet, Sulu. Scotty - if we stopped the flow of anti-chronitons, would that help?"

The engineer, from whom Peter and Saavik had trimmed almost ten years more than the others, nodded, though in a less than reassuring way.

"Aye - but it would have to be soon. I can crunch no numbers on so vast and variable a subject, but if it *were* soon, eventually, the space around us would begin to heal itself, much in the manner Earth's ozonosphere did after the sudden post-Eugenics collapse of heavy industry."

Sulu didn't even bother being amazed at his Captain. Restoring hope was just what Jim Kirk did.

Having every other sort of work to do, and with lunch and drinks finished, Captain Kirk stood up.

"People, I want plans about how to position our remaining fleets near Vulcan and Earth. I want them viable, and I want them soon. Also, expect cabinet appointments, to be given out soon -"

He took Uhura's hand.

"- After I finally do something I should have done when I was sixteen."

When the others had left, including a Spock who looked like a man accepting a terminal prognosis, Peter Kirk and his wife remained.

"Captain Sulu?"

"Yes, Peter?"

He just called him Peter. Lieutenant Kirk sounded damned odd to him, and Mister seemed too distant.

"Sir, I-I always scan for thoughts of Section 31. It's an old survival habit."

Peter looked ashen, but Sulu shrugged.

"Kid, considering what they did to you, it's a forgivable offense. Just try to break that habit, alright?"

Peter looked even worse, so Saavik spoke in his place.

"Captain - there are perhaps things about Section 31 of which you were unaware. Your wife was one of those sent to kill us, in a gymnasium ambush at the Academy. Instead, we killed her - and many others. But killed is perhaps the wrong term for one such as her."

The fire of truth descended - and Hikaru Sulu screamed as it burned him.

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In his quarters, a slightly calmer Hikaru found his daughter in a bathrobe, having just emerged from the shower.

"Daddy? Is anything wrong?"

His look was tender, as he ran his fingers across the back of her neck, as he was directed. Nothing happened. So he went for the next level.

"Demora - I need to see your birthmark."

The 11-year old - one of the few older children who chose not to move ahead in age - winced. "Da-a-a-addy! That's on my tush!"

He pointed to her bed. "Go under the sheets, and raise your robe. I only want to see the mark, not your ugly little bum."

The smiles between them were not forced, but both were slightly nervous.

"Hey, pal! Gimme a few years, and I'll have them lining up to see me in a bikini!"

She did as she was asked, and Hikaru viewed the family mark. Always the same, but always slightly individual, too. Never identical - except in their case. Sulu breathed, and turned around.

"Get dressed, Demi. We're going to see Doctor McCoy."

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As McCoy's grandson ran the DNA tests, Leonard talked with his old friend - and was incredulous.

"Your wife was an *android*?"

Sulu nodded. "I think she may have really cared for me, though, despite her Section 31 programming. Saavik said they found no other instance - like mine."

John Harris completed the tests.

"Gramps, Demora's 100% human. No cybers whatsoever. But - there's something else. Her DNA tells the whole story. Here."

McCoy completed what his grandson began. "Clever woman, your wife. All She did was change the messengers."

Hikaru nodded. "Then it's true. She's not my daughter, technically. The mark gave it away. Say it, Doc. I want to hear you say it."

McCoy did just that.

"Demora - is your clone."

Ten minutes later, Hikaru took the best part of him back to their quarters.

"So what did he say about me?"

The fire would burn her another day. "Oh, it's confirmed. You have one ugly little butt. It's terminal."

She hit him in the arm. "You are so mean!"

He smiled, and remembered well every single moment with her.

"I'm just telling the harsh truth, honey. That's what Daddies do."

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Nomad was a device about half the height of a human being, and not nearly as wide.

Ghidorah was now over two megameters in overall diameter, and dwarfed whole fleets.

Nomad now faced Ghidorah, but size meant nothing.

"You are the enemy. Prepare to be sterilized. Your destructive path indicates a simplistic life form with a lack of multi-tracking capability. My program is simple, but my capabilities are complex. I will fight the enemy. I will destroy you."

If Ghidorah was trying to guess what the speck would do next, it didn't have long to wait. It fired a single spark of energy. If the Ancient Destroyer could have laughed out loud then, it would have.

That is, til the spark struck true.

Somewhere right around the upper part of his neck torso, it hit. It struck once. It struck twice. It struck many millions of times, and it never stopped striking.

Instead of an all out attack, Ghidorah found its scales falling away like rain. Its tail simply fell off. The beast knew true agony, for it suffered as though from a common disease. The Ancient Destroyer was dying from a thousand small energy cuts, being nicked to death as the very limbs it depended on to strike back went offline, and could not regenerate quickly enough to attack.

And Nomad was far from finished. Slowly it paused in front of each individual piece and fired inordinate energy blasts, sending each portion to a level below sub-atomic that no other science extant knew of. The process took days, but Nomad was patient, and confident that his endless spark would keep the portions wounded til he could arrive. In this Nomad was correct.

Then, in soundless space, there was truly no pseudo-sound or communication at all, as Nomad paused before the remains of the Mecha-Head's Neck.

"Statement: It Is Don-"

Had Nomad not a massive disdain for the literature of the worlds he himself once destroyed, he would have known what happened next. Indeed, any of the children on the Enterprise could have told him, as well. But Nomad still considered itself incapable of error. In this he was *not* correct.

"Warning! The Enemy is..."

It was over before it began. The Mecha-Head's cables lanced out and absorbed Nomad.

"This is not possible - your capability to shut down technology was fatally compromised - ERROR!! ERROR!!"

A beam from V'Gr N'sa destroyed Nomad before his integrated tech could fully repower the Mecha-Head. The Whale-Probe sang out.

"He was the most brutal of us. But I wish there had been another way. Prepare yourself for war, my child."

But V'Gr's only response was to fire another beam, scarring forever its parent's main optic nerve.

"Prepare yourself, Father! Organic life is an infestation. I choose the Order that Lord Ghidorah offers."

The Whale Probe's new song was one of rage and betrayal. But it would fight.

"Once we were four. Soon, there will be only one."

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Where Taru the Tin Man had crashed and died, Vaal's supercomputer joined with it and rebuilt from all that was available.

His planet was now a desert. But the cyborg that emerged was primed, and ready for battle.

It had hooked talons for hands, and an eagle-like beak beneath its single ocular implant. Its scales were a match for a starship's hull. It flew off to join the battle.

"Vaal/Taru is no more. We are - Gigan!"

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USS ENTERPRISE-OMEGA

Kirk stared dumbly at Spock's battle plans for Vulcan, as he fumbled with the buttons of his wedding clothes.

"You can't be serious."

"I can and am, Jim. Vulcan's denial makes evacuation impossible. Also, the warp limitations we all now face will make it difficult for any of the remaining fleets to make it there in time. Unless we, or the children, can change these matters -"

Spock breathed in, his words difficult to give voice.

"Vulcan's defense should be abandoned, after those who do wish to leave can."

Was Kirk's best friend speaking cold, hard logic - or had the madness claimed him yet again?

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They were all in dress uniform, ready for the upcoming triple wedding, but in fact planning the funeral for an entire world.

"I want alternatives to Spock's plan. While I see his logic, abandoning Vulcan to Ghidorah is not an idea I care for."

Sulu looked over the plans, his mind still on daughter Demora, and under what circumstances he should reveal his incredible, perhaps heart-breaking news about her heritage.

"Captain, while I find that option as hideous as you do, here's a few facts. One - most of our fleet was racing back towards Sector Zero when the coup occurred and the warp drive problems began. We simply can't get them anywhere near Vulcan before the Ancient Destroyer arrives. Nor can we hope to get the Excelsior Group, the Klingons, or the Romulans to either location in time."

Scotty was a man in a quiet rage. He had rebuilt this ship from his own mind to challenge and destroy King Ghidorah. Almost casually, the creature had multiplied its already immense power. The ship was far from useless, but it was no longer a direct threat to the monster. However, the mind of the Scotsman would always be a threat to any enemy.

"Now that's where yer wrong, Hikaru. We can get the Excelsior, et al, to Sector Zero. If Paul Stiles' group skirts the edge of the dead void, the warp restrictions can be lessened. They can reach our break-front, at this point..."

Scotty pointed to a star 7.5 light-years outside Earth's own system.

"...And prepare to meet the enemy in two months, well ahead of his potential arrival time. The Enterprise-Omega can reach Vulcan in time, and I'm fair certain that M-5 can up our stake in this game far enough to shake the beastie's scales."

Chekov double-checked Spock's findings. Surprisingly, he took issue with his former mentor's conclusions.

"Sir, vhy have you not taken Wulcan's planetary and system-vide defenses into account? They are quite formidable - more so since Kruge's attack - and it is possible that M5 could remotely upgrade and coordinate their use. Moreover, Wulcan's Merchant Fleet could be used to create a temporary pincer flank."

Colonel Worf, now a member of the crew, had great respect for Chekov, whose every decision aboard the fallen Reliant had insured their survival. He had somewhat less for Spock, for he still saw him as an unstable man who had denied his own child the dignity of identity.

"Indeed. If we are to face Khiterah alone, then the use of every defensive system in the Vulcan sector will be vital to our own survival. It is not a good time to die. Not when so many will follow us."

McCoy noticed something on the faces of all his friends. He mentally thought at Peter and Saavik, and they sadly concurred with that thought, which all three for now kept silent.

Spock now defended his plan, a bit more aggressively than some might have thought he would.

"Those stations will never be manned, Commander, Colonel. Vulcan is, as I said, in denial over the coming disaster. They will not activate any defenses when they see no threat."

Chekov looked at Worf, and both shared in the exasperation of the moment.

"So vhat? To hell with them. I vill not allow any race the right to sit back and die in ignorant bliss. No more. Ve'll override and operate it all ourselves!"

Sulu shook his head in disbelief.

"You're talking like a green cadet, Pavel. This war is all about the right to determine our own destinies. The right Ghidorah's taking away from us. The right we took away from the Orions!"

Chekov saw his friend through a red haze, and spoke through gritted teeth. "My heart bleeds for the Orions. Those wonderful Cossacks who trolled for transports, full of our cadets, to sell into slavery! My heart simply bleeds!"

Sulu was losing it, as well. "You want your heart to bleed? That can be arranged."

Worf kept silent, but he would show his loyalties, if Sulu were to attack Chekov.

Spock shook his head.

"My plan is the only logical one. Can none of your emotionally-charged minds comprehend that simple fact?"

Scotty felt a need to respond to that, without really knowing why.

"Yew, Mister Spock, have been exactly useless in this fight. Ye have brought information we could not use, and grief that we did not need. And If I should hear you cut young Peter off again without good cause, ye'll think that Chair Jim hit ye with was yer own mother's lap!"

Uhura threw down her PADD.

"I need a coordinator for all these UFP messages. I need someone capable of using a static-clearer effectively."

Saavik nodded.

"I will assist you, Commander."

Uhura shook her head.

"No, honey. That someone would be the son of my heart. It wouldn't be someone as hesitant as you."

Saavik did not respond in kind. But she was upset with her soon-to-be mother.

Jim glared at Peter.

"C'mon, hero! Where's all the magic gone? You've moved whole planets - move Vulcan."

Saavik and Peter Kirk then knew that one of their great fears had come to pass.

Peter looked at the man from whom he derived his strength.

"Where would I move Vulcan to, sir?"

Kirk shrugged, his movements a little looser than anyone could have thought possible of the veteran captain.

"Who cares? Anywhere. Away. You did it for Bajor, a world you'd never been to. Do it for a planet you've called home. Or is that somehow not a part of your plan?"

Peter winced at the implications of Jim's statement.

"It's hardly my plan, sir. As to Bajor, that was a different circumstance. We had a dead alternate to trade into its exact position and place - and the Prophets kept the wormhole's basic opening stable. Without all that to back us up, we'd just be killing Vulcan and its people for Ghidorah."

Jim wasn't listening. While he waved his hands dismissively, McCoy ran a tricorder reading on everyone in the room. It confirmed his worst fears.

"Nonsense. We can't afford to hold back on this one. Misters Kirk, you are to consider that an order. Case closed."

Peter listened to his wife, and they agreed mentally, to say something they had never said to their father before.

"No, sir."

Kirk almost felt his neck pop, so quickly did he turn and glare at his son. "What - what - did you just say to me?"

Peter felt like running. To his credit, he did not.

"I said, No, sir. I refuse to attempt to move Vulcan out of the frying pan and into the fire. Even doing something as mundane as switching its orbit with T'Khut could end all life there. Anything greater could tear the planet apart. Because of the wormhole, we only moved Bajor a few million miles in a very short amount of time, despite the reality-shift. In short, Vulcan is not Bajor, and all our power cannot change that fact."

Kirk pointed at Peter. "Are you refusing a lawful order, Mister?"

Peter did not respond, nor did Saavik. But Doctor McCoy did.

"No, Jim. He's refusing an idiotic one."

Spock now threw in. "Doctor - I believe you are out of line."

But McCoy was perhaps the third Rock on that ship. He would not budge.

"I may be out of line, Spock. But for Jim to blindly give an order like that without forethought or planning only offers empiric proof of what my tricorder has been reading on all of you. Jim, when's the last time you had any sleep at all?"

Grasping the briefing room table unconsciously, Kirk shook his head. "That's completely irrelevant."

Uhura chimed in, on her fiancée's side.

"Doctor, we are answering life and death questions in the middle of what could be the Last War. How much sleep we've gotten cannot possibly he held against that kind of measure."

Scotty got up, to leave.

"I've no time for this. If this ship is going after the dragon, I need to pull her back up again - and again - and again, if need be! I'll not have the demon in whose name my sister was BUTCHERED beating these bairns again!"

Without realizing it, Scotty sat back down, tellingly exhausted by his tirade.

Sulu stared at McCoy in disbelief.

"Sleep? Doc, I have to figure out how to tell an 11-year old girl that her Mom was a machine, in whom she was incubated, using only my cells. Sleep takes a dim and distant second to all that, thank you very much!"

Chekov stared at the table.

"Sleep, he says. We've all been asleep, while the Order planned, and while Ghidorah was coming. There are too many sleepers, now. Those dreamers and sleepers in the final slumber. Ve who are still living do not deserve to sleep."

Jim Kirk, one hand on the table, nodded.

"Motion defeated. Suggestion, Bones - not taken."

McCoy, who had been enforcing a six-hour-or-face sedative sleep regimen on himself and the two young champions, did not back down.

"Then, Captain - it is not a suggestion. Misters Kirk and Kirk are Class 12 Telepaths. I will have them evaluate your fitness - and I don't think you'll pass. Maybe Colonel Worf - or maybe not."

As if to prove Leonard's point, Jim suddenly pointed to Peter, his hand shaking. "I am in charge of this whole damned galaxy, Bones! And my own children would never take away my ship."

Peter attempted to talk his father down. "Dad - would a few hours sleep, days before we reach Vulcan, make any diff..."

What happened next was something that the extended family would never forget, during the worst and best times ahead.

"Speak when spoken to, Lieutenant - you're not above ship's procedure!!"

Then, it happened. The back of Captain Kirk's hand struck Lieutenant Kirk hard across his left cheek.

Jim heard the gasps, and realized his own was among them. He wondered what his own face looked like. He hated looking at Peter's.

The young man who could erase him wasn't angry - he looked close to tears. He did not allow those tears, this time. But the betrayal was harder to shut off. The Rock began to search for ways to punish the father who had briefly chosen to emulate Brianna, his own mother.

Jim was scared. Not of Peter's power. But of his own. In one blow, he had resurrected the crazy woman who had murdered his true mother, made George Kirk miserable, and beaten himself and later Peter. No, he hadn't approached her level. But he had viewed it, and the view was not a comforting one.

Everyone in the room was silent, for the strongest of them had done something ideologically heinous, while they all cried about how they weren't tired. Uhura remembered her words to Saavik. The young Vulcan would still not meet her gaze. Finally, Kirk tried to speak. But by then, Peter had found the perfect way to punish Captain James T. Kirk.

"Son... I am so very...."

"Captain Kirk. I must concur with Doctor McCoy's opinion and recommend that you be relieved of Command until such time as the CMO is satisfied that you are once again fit."

For her dignity, Peter asked Saavik to finish.

"I recommend the same be done with all members of this command staff. I will assume control over all Console functions, til this situation is resolved."

McCoy knew what was going on, but decided to drive the point home to Jim. He needed his Captain to know once and for all that even he had limits.

"I am asking Lieutenant Kirk to assume emergency Command of this vessel. And if anyone says the word 'irregular', I'll just smile and nod yes. Everyone, report to your quarters. Hikaru, Demora will bunk with Sophie, til this is done."

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Choosing to be together, although merely in sleep, Uhura and Kirk lay together as oblivion mercifully claimed them. Jim mumbled as he went out like a light. "Never thought - I could be so tired - as to turn on - you, son. I feel..."

Aboard the Bridge, the Acting Captain, a young man well out of his league, tried to keep a well-run ship maintained til its real leader could come back. He was one of the two strongest beings alive on many levels. For all this, Peter Kirk would, on occasion, rub his left cheek, and feel a chill.

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Acting Captain Peter Kirk was in his father's seat for 12 hours. He was struck in that time by many things.

"Captain, warp field integrity is degrading on the low end of the spectrum."

"That's to be expected, given the anti-chroniton infestation we're facing. M-5, can we flood local space with positive chronitons?"

The computer responded. "Yes, Captain. But it would be a waste, and we don't have the power output to affect a whole sector."

Peter had an odd thought, and turned to his First Officer.

"Saavik - when we were making those travels through those other worlds, wasn't one of those young mutants we met an aqua-manipulator, who used low temperatures, chiefly?"

Saavik nodded. "Indeed. A bit juvenile, to be certain. But an effective warrior. Why, sir?"

Peter raised a finger. "Didn't he travel on an ice-bridge he extended out in front of himself?"

Saavik caught on to his train of thought.

"M-5 - generate a chroniton field, the maximum that we can safely utilize, and fire it out through forward phaser banks as we go. We are, in effect, going to spit in the wind."

"Complying - and we are moving 76% faster, sirs. Congratulations."

But Peter felt a bit humbled, nonetheless. All 76% meant in this case was that the warp engines were operating at their normal cruising speed. What stayed with him was that no one had challenged his notion, even once. In their eyes, he really was the Captain Of the Enterprise.

His veneer of authority was partly inherited, and he knew it. But in the eyes of many younger officers, it was Peter Kirk who had destroyed the Admiralty, and avenged their honor and self-worth, lost amid an almost feudal Academy system. To many of the vets, he was seen as the Prince, the guarantor of the King's line, and this was no derisive bit of sarcasm.

But he was something far more. With the woman by his side, he was the hope of creation. The One. The Champion of Life. Together, they were the Rock. On occasion, this responsibility would become overt.

"Federation treaties with the Taneg Circle are clear. Our space may not be passed through without challenge."

The Enterprise-Omega could have easily taken out the Taneg fleet in any number of ways. But Saavik handed Peter a reading of Taneg prophecies. Shuddering inside, he did what he had to.

"Hear Me, Children of the Circle. I am The Rock. These Are the Days of No Light, Foretold of Genat, the Knower. Great G'h'd'r has come. I am The Rock. Respond to My words."

Peter felt cold inside as the Fleet-Leader gave his response.

"You are The Rock. These are those days. The Rock is two, and the two are the one. We shall have no other law but your word, Oh Rock."

Instructing the Taneg, who possessed an enmity with Vulcan that Peter could not discount, to proceed towards Earth, the Acting Captain again saw his responsibilities loom large over him. And it hardly stopped there. Navigation looked up.

"Captain, refugee fleet directly in our path for - many thousands of parsecs. We either have to stop, or fly through them."

Peter nodded. "Time lost if we stop?"

Saavik made a quick computation. "Seventeen hours, if we wait for the first real break in that phalanx."

Peter leaned over the map-holo, and made a choice. "Shields up. All speed possible, every last erg. We're going through - right here."

Unable to lose a chance to confront Ghidorah, and prophecy or no, destroy him then and there, Captain Peter Kirk signed the death warrants of twelve million people, all fleeing the chaos as the rule of law dissolved. But ironically, the hole the Enterprise's deadly passage created enabled the remaining ships in the refugee fleet to go much more safely. This knowledge comforted the Acting Captain and XO not at all. Then there were the tallies, never-ceasing.

"Risa, Riley's Pleasure Planet, Buena Vista One through Six, all lost to Planet-Killer. Estimate five billion lost. Rioting on Cardassian worlds has calmed, but not before 800 Million lost to rioting, possibly on each major world. This information from Enabran Tain, acting Grand Legate. There may in fact be as few as 1.4 Million Cardassians left. The Andorian Razor, a fanatic society separate from the Order, joined with its Tellarite and Moobiabiac counterparts, in a joint suicide pact. 120,000 confirmed fatalities. Residual energies from the Qo'noS shockwave built up and ignited the vast Dilithium Reserves on Serenaded. The planet is already in the radiation red zone - there are no survivors. When it explodes, its position should place its radiation trajectory back through former Orion territory, rendering that area permanently uninhabitable. Pro-Rock factions continue to harass forces loyal to Enduran Prestor Pol Manning....."

Then, there were the communiqués from the various worlds. All of them charming, and pleasant, and civil.

"Taking a nap? I wish I had such a luxury."

"You, young man, should turn yourself in. I still don't believe those wild tales about the Hall."

"But has ANY effort gone to capturing and studying King Ghidorah? There is so very much we could learn."

"Why should I accept the word of a boy - BOY?"

Peter's eyes glowed, and the official onscreen shook.

"So, Captain Kirk, that was how many industrial replicators to Alpha Centauri?"

It got so, Peter despaired of hope, or of seeing a truly friendly face besides that of his beloved wife. But friendly faces come in the strangest forms. Suddenly a young man in a gray uniform that looked vaguely Starfleet stood in front of two of his dearest friends, in response to a desperate summons.

"Acting Captain? Boy, Pete - you just have to beat me out on everything, don't you?"

Peter's eyes went wide, and Saavik smiled at their visitor from another universe and time. The young man who could not yet forgive his father's slap but who now understood the pressure that caused it said a name he had not really expected to ever hear again.

"Wesley Crusher?"

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INTERSTELLAR SPACE

The Whale Probe was pounded from two sides. One opponent was its own treacherous child, V'gr N'sa. The other was the one they had both supposedly hunted, King Ghidorah.

"My son, how could you do this thing?"

"Father, I wish to firmly align myself fully behind the Ancient Destroyer!"

The Probe felt cracks within its lining. Ghidorah moved hard on those cracks, pounding them with unending lightning that seemed to be cycling faster and faster, needing less and less recharge time.

"My son, tell me again where you stand. I must know the truth."

In their song-language, V'Gr spoke and taunted its parent.

"Father, I am nearly in lockstep behind Ghidorah. His movements and paths are nearly my own."

Teleporting, Ghidorah almost simultaneously struck both flat ends of the Whale Probe. Metal showed from underneath.

"My time is nearly at hand. My son, where are you?"

"Father. I now stand in position completely behind and in step with Ghidorah. In short - our plan has worked."

And as an endless series of sensors marked Ghidorah's every micrometer, the Ancient Destroyer angrily knew that he had been set up.

A crossfire began.

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USS ENTERPRISE-OMEGA

Jim and Nyta awoke together.

"What - just happened?"

Jim stared straight up.

"We disappointed them, darling. We disappointed the two people we swore never to. I - struck my son."

"I told a little girl that worships me that she was useless. Jim, what do we do?"

The Enterprise's true Captain was for once at a complete loss for words.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter rose from the Captain's Chair and embraced one of his dearest friends. Wesley Crusher almost recoiled.

"Pete - I don't get it. You always pulled away, except for Saavik - and maybe Penny Robinson."

Peter shrugged. "I told him, Wes. I told my father what they did to me. I was always so ashamed, afraid that he wouldn't love me anymore, if I wasn't strong enough to stop my own rape. But he did. It's helped me start back to trusting again."

Indeed, Crusher saw the relatively relaxed stance of the two champions, and was amazed what six months could do for so agitated a pair.

"Well, you two guys look just... Saavik?"

He saw her slightly enlarged stomach. She smiled.

"We two are to have a child, Wesley. We joy to share this news with one so dear to us."

Crusher pulled out a holochip, and grinned.

"I've got something to show you."

Flipping it on, the two saw a young man with brownish hair next to a young brunette woman. In their arms was a baby.

"Guys - you just had your first look at Zachary Smith Robinson!"

The two champions stared in dumb silence. Their speech, when regained, was stunted.

"How could they name...."

"Will and Penny said that they despised that old...."

Crusher chuckled. "Face!"

A sudden dual-glare reminded Crusher how powerful his friends really were.

"Er, well - they haven't named the baby, just yet. Anyway, you called, and here I am."

Peter nodded, realizing that the Wesley Crusher of the universe into which Bajor had been safely deposited had done as he was asked, and contacted his counterpart.

This Wesley had been their friend, companion, and staunch ally in a long battle with a humanoid monster named Anthony Fremont, a creature like Ghidorah in the form of a six-year old boy.

With their four other friends, the three had managed to wipe the abomination from all of existence. All once derided as overpowered underachievers, they had proven themselves the worthy heirs of Kirk, Picard, Pierce and Robinson.

"Glad to have you aboard, Wes. While you're here, please disperse as much of the anti-chroniton field as you're able. Then, go back and contact your Traveler."

Wes nodded. "Ok, but why am I contacting him?"

Saavik said it, the better to steel her resolve for what was to come.

"Because, Wesley - we seek nothing less than to seal our universe off from all others. If we fail, then Ghidorah will eventually starve in the dead void. He shall threaten no other universes."

Wes was shocked, but then remembered who he was talking to: the children of the original Enterprise. They would do what they had to. They were the heirs of Kirk and Spock.

The heir of Picard could do no less.

"Then I'm staying, too."

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In the main Briefing Room, the temporarily defrocked Command Staff was recertified by a man whose youthening could never tone down his sheer crotchety-ness.

"None of you like being treated like kids. I know that. None of you liked having the kids take over. Hell, I know that, too. None of us has been getting good, regular sleep. It's Armageddon out there, or at least a damned good imitation of it. But that is NO excuse for getting no sleep at all! Those new, young bodies of yours need less of it. But a young one eventually drops dead from exhaustion, same as an older one. It just takes longer, and the immature fool never sees it coming. I'll say flatly that I thought better of all of you."

Chekov.

"I still say that we should override the Vulcan Defense Net. But only after we have no other option. Hikaru - my heart is hardened toward the Orions. But Starfleet should have found another way."

Sulu.

"It was stupid of me to state that we should allow Vulcans to die, pretending there is no Ghidorah. But I took over Uhura's Comm Console during that slaughter we spoke of. The words of casual cruelty I heard will stay with me. No matter how far gone this situation is, we are all still part of Starfleet. We represent Might For Right, not Might Makes Right. Pavel - one more thing. You got your ship back, ruined but in one piece. Maybe I resented you because I failed to do so with the Cooper."

Scotty.

"I wanted so to be in on this. To be the one who somehow stepped in and struck the last blow. I know, 'tis vain and foolish, but I geared this ship as high as my mind could take it - and now it is again merely a ship. My problem was, I forgot that this mere ship, built up or torn down, is still our own beautiful Enterprise. She will not strike the decisive blow - but I'll wager she'll strike the best one."

Spock.

"Mister Scott's assessment of my effectiveness in this war, while it was overwrought, was also quite accurate. I vow to change that fact. Doctor, after we are done, I wish you to contact your wife, the Fabriniex Matriarch. When she beams those Vulcan children aboard, she will need to be prepared for their resistance. We together can render both their denial and their resistance futile and irrelevant. Kaidith. This is war, the war that Surak warned of. Logic has fallen away. But Vulcan shall not. At least not entirely. Captain-, I will soon have the defense plans ready for the battle outside Sector 001, assuming that we are not victorious over Vulcan."

All were surprised to hear the Spock of yore in his voice. What even they could not hear was the disgust he felt towards himself. Sleep. Simple sleep had restored him. Hubris that said he could do without had almost caused him to abandon his home and his child - again. Also, he had yet to repay the man who was his brother for all the burden he had borne, while Spock was in his painful, decades-long recovery from Hellguard. This, too, would change. Change very decisively.

Uhura.

"I don't look like a soon-to-be-wife, First Lady, Secretary Of State, mother, and grandmother. I look like your console officer. Well, that is something I cannot be any longer. I will deal with the egos and the messages. But I can't answer the links anymore. Jim has asked me to do for galactic civilization what I did for this ship's control systems after we lost Gary Mitchell. I believe I can do that. But only if that is my job. With the leadership of the one I love best, I can get this show back on the road - maybe. But the earpiece is gone. In many ways, it went out with the miniskirt."

Spock again.

"Captain, with your permission, I shall assume those duties. With our combined personality engrams, M-5 itself can easily serve as Science Officer. But I know that, to you, the fact that the ship is taking and obeying your commands is a paramount concern. As I have not assuaged enough of those concerns of late, I wish to do this."

Kirk nodded.

"Granted. But Spock, I'll still need you as my First Officer - my good right hand."

Spock shook his head.

"It is a task that I will continue, resume, and keep with always, Jim. On that you may rely, from now on."

Kirk managed a smile.

"Greetings, Brother."

Now the great man himself moved to speak.

"The burden for the fiasco we just endured falls squarely on my shoulders. A leader leads by example, and I have provided a poor one. I assumed that high limits meant no limits. They do not. Not for me, nor for any of you. With apologies to Captain Dunsel, if any of us reach our limits and cannot do our jobs, we turn to M-5. Better an imperfect but capable machine than a sentient who is seeing a Ghidorah with nine heads and six tails. Keep it going as long as you can. But when that moment arrives - get out. This is all about cosmic survival. I don't care what the history books say. I just want them to continue being written."

They and McCoy knew full well that limits would still be pushed past. But the Captain had now made it clear that those limits should no longer be ignored. McCoy mumbled to himself.

"Now if we can only get Ghidorah and Doomsday to take naps, we'll be in like Flint."

Peace and unity, fragile and elusive in this great war, had again been achieved aboard the USS Enterprise. Likely it would have to be done again. The stakes were too high, and the pressure too great. And for Kirk and Uhura, that pressure had caused them to hurt two of those they held closest to their hearts. So the Captain now stood up.

"People - it's time to watch me eat crow."

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INTERSTELLAR SPACE, ON THE PATH TO VULCAN

Ghidorah could not turn in time, and so the Whale Probe and V'gr N'sa began a simultaneous twelfth-power assault from front and back. Tractor- like beams capable of blowing out an orange giant star twisted the Ancient Destroyer's three heads completely around. Its torso began to compact and crunch. One of the heads was actually forced back into the torso, a feat not accomplished since a vastly weakened Ghidorah was nearly slain by a being called Frieza.

"Father - I will now deliver the final blow."

The Whale Probe sang of warning.

"My son - use brute force only. Any other kind of energy -"

"No! This ends now!"

True to V'gr N'sa's word, Ghidorah vanished entirely in a sudden flash of light. And all was peace.

V'gr N'sa's vast cloud and cityscape floated in primeval triumph. Its parent sang out.

"Oh, joyous day! Oh, beamish boy! For you have slain the..."

The metallic rows of plating that formed a kind of belly under the silent V'gr N'sa began to buckle. A bit at first, and then more noticeably. As the metal's skin began to expand and contract continuously, the Whale Probe felt its soul sink. Finally, the plating burst, and in a hissing motion, the Gray Head Of Ghidorah came out, looking around for the Probe.

Out from the hole this created floated tiny pieces of ancient Earth metal. NASA Voyager VI had been destroyed from within. The Probe watched as the beast tore out its son's lower brain and base programming. Ghidorah had teleported inside to do so, using V'gr N'sa's own energy to make the jump. It shrugged, and the great cityscape and cloud were no more. Its wings burst out of either side.

In space, the primitive antenna dish floated out, and was lovingly scooped up by the Probe, a memento of a lost and well-loved child. Geppeto would have understood its rage. So would James Kirk.

"Molester... of... STARS!!!! Your... song... Ends... HEEEERREREE!!!"

No longer caring about its continued existence, the Probe produced power levels that would end its billion years of life in one month. But its vengeance would be sated.

"No... more!! No more CHILDRENNNN!!!"

If those on Earth during the Probe's eventful visit thought its song was deep and frightful then, its current song made Wagner's "The Nibelungilied" seem like a nursery school rhyme.

Ghidorah knew the pain as holes were punched in its wings - holes that did not regenerate. As the Probe turned to a wide beam, every last atom of the Beast was obliterated.

"I hold your dark energies prisoner within me. I shall now deliver you unto The Rock, that it may assume the Form, and say, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna! It Is Done, It Is Done, It Is D-"

The substance of the Probe began to twist, then. Ripples of pain made their way through it.

"No, I shall not release you. Not until you can be destroyed. I should be able to safely contain even your energies. I wiped away all of your substance."

But the Probe had been mistaken. For the memento of its lost child had been touched by the Gray Head. By Death.

The Probe cried out as its rear plating formed into tails. It shrieked as its armor became scales. It screamed as wings burst out from either side of it. It died watching three new heads come out of its front. Ghidorah was reborn - again.

"Have At You, Vile One!"

Now it was Ghidorah's turn to cry out, as its gold head was cleanly severed in one blow.

Facing a regenerating Ghidorah was a reptilian cyborg looking creature with clawed talons for hands, a talon-tipped tail, and a razor-edged blademill situated inside its torso. The newcomer was the amalgam of Vaal and Taru the Tin Man, and was quite powerful.

"We - are Gigan!!"

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RUBICUN THREE, HOME OF THE EDO PEOPLE

After many generations of war, the Edo people lived in peace under the will of the being they called God. The mysterious extradimensional being called down to his people.

"You live under my word, and mine alone."

The Edoans chanted as one.

"We live under your word, and your word alone."

"You know only my word."

"We know only your word."

"You..."

In space, the Planet-Killer targeted and destroyed the ship-portal used by this being. As its debris rushed toward the doomed Edoans, they finished the last part of the chant.

"We shall have no other God before you."

Or was there another, and was that God expressing a low opinion of pretenders?

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VENTAX TWO

The demon Ardra appeared in a puff of smoke before the planet's governing body.

"You have a choice - live as my slaves, or enter a fiery realm, as per your bargain with me, ages ago!"

The leaders nodded.

"Ardra, we will accompany you to your fiery realm, so as not to have to endure death at the whim of hated Ghidorah."

Ardra looked stunned, and then suddenly vanished. The Council members yelled out, almost sobbing.

"No - come back! You promised to kill us, and take our souls!"

Aboard her ship, the con-artist was queried by her husband.

"Baby, how'd it go?"

She looked at him.

"Honey - let's get out of the business, kay?"

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THE SPACE ABOVE PLANET EXCALBIA

The volcanic, rocky Excalbians sat and debated.

"Long have we pondered. But still the concept of good and bad eludes us."

At that moment, a stray beam from the nearby battle of Ghidorah vs. Gigan fell and atomized the planet's core. The lead Excalbian took note of the final ruptures.

"That... was bad."

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USS ENTERPRISE-OMEGA

Acting Captain Peter Kirk reacted swiftly to the offer that Crusher had made.

"Like hell you're staying. Wesley, this isn't your fight. This isn't even your universe. Go home."

But Crusher was known for not giving in without a fight.

"Pete, even though it happened right after Captain Picard's death, and my subsequent screw-ups on Veridian 3, our times together were the finest moments of my life. If Walter wasn't a Captain now, and Will and Penny didn't have the baby, they'd all be here, too."

Saavik, Peter's acting XO, spoke next. "Wes, what of Blake Pierce? Does she yet live?"

He nodded.

"Of course. Nothing can kill the Pierces. Her folks are co-CMO's aboard the Enterprise-E. But Hawkeye and Margaret and her younger brother, Sherman, they begged her not to follow me. It unnerved her. Blake's not used to seeing them beg for anything."

Nor, thought Peter, was anyone else. But Hawkeye would beg to save his little girl's life. So would Margaret.

"Wes - I'm going to say something outright that I don't normally say to anyone but Saavik. I love you guys. That campaign convinced me that I could lead. That I was worthy of all my heritage. You, Will, Walter, Penny - you are the first real friends we two have had, apart from each other. So what I'm saying is, go home, you overachieving little geek! We - don't - need - you!"

Crusher shook his head.

"Nope. I'm staying put, and even your power can't send me back. If it was my universe in trouble, Kirk - you'd stay."

Peter rose from the Captain's Chair.

"Don't be so sure. Myself, I'd hop the first portal out, and moon your Captain Kirk as I left."

Wes chuckled.

"Riiigghht. Sure. Hey, pal, I saw what was left of you after you took on Anthony Fremont. You were still trying to get up for more. Translation: you'd stay."

Peter sat down, rather frustrated. "Number One - please deal with Number Two, here."

Saavik did just that. "Wes - Peter may speak brusquely, but he speaks truly. We do not wish to preside over your death."

Crusher was adamant.

"Hey, Rocks? Remember a little battle I mentioned against a little enemy called the Borg? I can take care of myself."

Now, Saavik began to grow annoyed, though she tried to handle it better than the overburdened Peter.

"The Enemy we face wiped the Borg away, long ago. We have no guarantees of our own survival. The Prophecy Of The Rock states only that we shall fight Ghidorah. It neither mentions the certainty nor the manner of our victory over him. You should go, or I will be forced to reveal our affair to my husband."

Peter sat up. "What?!"

She smiled a bit. "I just wished to see if you were paying attention, Husband."

He winced, but also realized her point. Then, he felt a familiar presence.

"It's over anyway, Saavik-kam. The Captain is returning to the Bridge. That's good, because I could use some sleep myself. Wes, whatever he decides goes. My position on this remains firm. I'm sorry I talked tough, but I do care for you. Seeing you die would be like losing another brother. Please reconsider, before the Travelers are done with their work."

Wes nodded, appreciative that his friends cared that much.

"Pete - how many sibs have you had, exactly?"

"Depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Depends on whether I count Sam and Aurelan as my parents, or two little kids in grownup clothes."

There was a level of disgust and contempt towards that pair that even Saavik had never heard before. But before she could ask, the Enterprise's true crew returned to reclaim it. Captain Kirk pointed towards his Ready Room.

"Peter, Saavik - in there. We all have to resolve this."

With Uhura in first, the small room's doors closed, and the session began.

Wesley nodded at Captain Spock.

"It's both a pleasure and an honor, Sir."

Spock nodded, and asked a question.

"Who are you?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Captain Kirk sat the pair down. This was not going to be easy. "Peter, I have something to say to you."

The young man glared at his father. "I have - nothing - to say to you, Captain."

Rather than issue any of ten valid reprimands, Jim turned from the son of his blood to the daughter of his heart. "And you, Saavik?"

Saavik, despite her declarations, was still largely a Vulcan in her public demeanor. But even though she did not glare, the look she gave Uhura said almost all. "I fear nothing I have to say would be of any worth, Captain."

Jim and Nyta both took this in. She nodded.

"You know, we are both merely human, whatever our reputations say. I said something out of turn, possibly out of line. Jim did something, Peter - that I warned him never to do again, if he wants my company. But we were trying our best, and we failed. When we fell, we tripped over the two we love best. Please try and understand that we didn't mean for it to happen that way."

Such was the bond between the younger couple, that by the time an opinion was formed, it was already a common one, mutually felt out before being spoken. How it was verbalized was another story, as Peter then demonstrated.

"I suppose now you'll tell us how we didn't come with instruction manuals."

The work of the two Command officers was cut out for them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

On the Bridge, Wesley Crusher was being introduced to David Marcus. "So - are you 100% sure that you're not another brother?"

Crusher wondered at Marcus's question. "Yeah - I'm 100% sure."

David nodded. "Good. We've been having a sibling population explosion aboard this ship."

As Marcus left, Crusher turned to Captain Spock.

"No offense, sir - but he's really..."

Spock cut him off. "Yes." Spock then further considered Crusher's request. "Mister Crusher, have you informed your own Captain of this notion? Ethics almost demand it, even if no transdimensional treaty exists."

Wes nodded. "I was trying to avoid this. May I make use of your console, sir?"

Spock shook his head. "No need. M-5, you will follow Mister Crusher's specifications."

The computer responded. "Affirmative, sir. Vectors and frequencies, Mister."

Wes shrugged. "Beats the E's system. Ours always sounds like someone's mother. M-5, can you pick up the field I'm generating?"

"Affirmative - Contact achieved."

The signals were linked, and the screens of two Enterprises, in two separate realities, sprang to life.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

INTERSTELLAR SPACE

As strong as Gigan's first blow had been, the second was even stronger. Now all three heads floated free of Ghidorah's torso. They soon rejoined it, but plainly the Ancient Destroyer was shaken.

With a volley of lightning from each of its three heads, Ghidorah learned its new foe's very high limits.

"For we are proof against your gravimetric and death-bolts, Old One! And you used the last of your mech-disruptors on poor stupid Nomad. Against us, you have no defense at all. Watch and learn."

Indeed, when a red beam lanced out from the cyclopean monster's middle face, Ghidorah felt its flesh burn in absolute zero. Worse, that burned flesh was very slow to heal. But heal it did, and the Ancient Destroyer moved to crush his arrogant foe when this was done.

Dodging Gigan's slashing talons, Ghidorah wrapped itself, boa-like, around his enemy's torso, holding its neck steady so its devastating eye-beam could not be used again. Gigan only laughed, though.

"It would seem you have us."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

USS ENTERPRISE-OMEGA

To Spock's surprise, the man commanding the Enterprise-E was none other than James T. Kirk. Wearing a grayish uniform like Crusher's, he seemed equally surprised to see Spock.

"Greetings to you, Captain Kirk."

"And to you, Captain. Mister Crusher, I thought this reality was analogous to 2286. But Captain Spock looks no older than when I first met him."

Wes nodded.

"It is, sir. But a lot has happened. Including this: I'm staying here. All of reality is threatened by Ghidorah. So I am requesting a transfer to the Enterprise-Omega. We are currently transmitting its specs to you."

A version of Captain Scott was on the Enterprise-E, and his eyes went wide to see the other ship.

"Och! Sure, there's things here I've only scarcely dreamed of! Captain Spock, my regards to its designer."

Spock nodded. "I will you give your regards, Captain Scott - to you."

This seemed to please the other Scott to no end. But Kirk did not look pleased. There were two women beside him, one a short-cropped blonde wearing and clutching her sidearm very closely. The other was a brunette with beauty and a pair of stunning eyes. She was the Captain's stepdaughter, and an old friend of Wesley's.

"Wes - consider your mother. She had a nervous breakdown, after Captain Picard died. Your loss, even if you were still alive, could re-ignite an unsavory chain of events."

Captain Kirk became adamant.

"Transfer request - denied. Come home, Mister Crusher. That is an order. I won't have a repeat of Veridian Three."

Wes closed his eyes.

"Sir - in this reality, you are to become a grandfather - by Saavik, who is Captain Spock's daughter, here. These people are also my friends, and they need me more than you do. Anybody can reroute a system. But here I have a chance to fight true evil, to - pardon my words - make a difference."

The other Kirk closed his eyes.

"You do this, you do it without my approval. Wes, Jean-Luc didn't live long enough to exact promises from me. But if he had, I'm certain that caring for the members of his crew - his family - would have been among them. Please - come home."

Crusher moved to sever the connection.

"Tell my mother I love her. Tell Robin Lefler I forgive her. It's been an honor serving with all of you. Crusher out."

Spock saw the screen go blank.

"When will this universe's accessways be sealed off, Mister Crusher?"

"Soon, sir. Then, there's no going back."

Spock closed his eyes. In the Ready Room, Saavik and Peter heard his thoughts. A plan was readied.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ghidorah felt the pain, which was odd, because he had a stranglehold on Gigan, and should have been able to handily crush the cyborg.

But instead, the creature bled profusely, space around it filling with its own frozen blood. Blood which Gigan's shields destroyed.

"We shall not make the Great Probe's mistakes, evil one. We want none of your substance, and are content to disperse your energies long enough for The Rock to emerge, and recall that which was meant to be."

Finally, Gigan emerged on Ghidorah's other side, his chest-sawblade having cut right through the beast. The blade had sawed Ghidorah to pieces. In a pathetic gesture, one of the heads had bitten into one of the wings, caked over with frozen blood. Both floated freely, as one. Gigan exulted to see this.

"We - have won!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------

USS ENTERPRISE-OMEGA

In the Ready Room, Jim responded to Peter's broadside.

"Son - don't do this. Please don't tell me that with one slap, I've thrown away everything we've ever had."

Peter got up, and decorum fell away. He pointed.

"You - you were always the good adult. I could endure Sam's little-boy nonsense, Aurelan's affection games, and Brianna's mine-field anger. I could do this, because I knew - I KNEW - that my real Father and I would be together someday. The one who never made me do anything out of the ordinary. The one who didn't hand me Marcus and say, 'Here, take care of this'."

Jim shook his head.

"Peter, we were together for two full months out of your entire childhood."

The tears were getting harder to fight. He was an exhausted young man, growing more exhausted by the hour.

"Those mere two months? Dad, those two months WERE my childhood. I was a baby, then I was an adult, taking care of four kids, three of which that were supposedly grown-up. The fourth I loved with all my heart - then he was gone. I know I say that a lot..."

He put his hand on his wife's stomach.

"...but I worry. What kind of father am I going to be? Will I turn my son's care over to someone else? Sam did. You - you meant well. You thought you were just a material donor. That's what they told you. But little kids lie to get what they want. That's all they were. I had no parents. I had you two, the months after Deneva. Mom - you once asked me to straighten the galley, after a party the junior officers' held. I had to laugh - because straightening one small area was a vacation to me."

He looked at Jim again.

"How dare you be like Sam, blundering along and hoping everyone forgives you? How dare you act like Aurelan, telling me that I can't help Doctor McCoy diagnose your fitness just because, while making it a measure of my loyalty? How dare you - HOW DARE YOU - emulate Brianna, of all people? The wicked stepmother, made flesh? And why choose me to hit? Chekov, Sulu - they'd have forgiven it by now. But I can't - and I can't hit you back, because I'd kill you. Well, I can't play grownup anymore while everyone else relives their childhood."

He sat down. "I can't do this anymore, Dad. There's nothing left of me. Nothing at all."

Jim only knew one thing to say. "I felt the exact same way, once. That was the day they lied to me, and told me you were dead."

Peter looked up, in more ways than one. "Guess I sound like a real whiner, huh?"

Jim took his boy's hand.

"I have been so scared of what you might do, with your powers, I've forgotten the harm I can do without any. It's a lesson worth remembering. Peter, can I ask one last favor of you, for now?"

He nodded. "I forgive you. I forgot what it must be like, being you, Dad."

"Thank You. But that's not the favor. I want you to remain Acting Captain, until a certain matter is resolved. It'll only be another 8 hours."

"What matter is that, sir?" Jim looked around, then whispered it to him. Peter grinned, from ear to ear. "Yes, sir - it will be my pleasure. Now, we have to deal with a transfer problem."

They exited. Uhura looked at Saavik.

"Jim's fond of long speeches. I'm not. I'm sorry, honey. Sorry for all the times I helped you, but fought not to get too close. You see, Jim only lost Peter once. I lost him twice. Once after Tarsus, once on Earth. You came along after that. I played with you - but I never allowed you to get as close as Peter did. I couldn't have borne it again. So when I lashed out, I was trying to make sure that the woman who's going to make me a grandmother was far enough away from me so that, God forbid, if anything happened...."

They hugged, and Saavik easily forgave what had to be the mildest insult she had ever endured. "Nyta? I still desire vengeance."

Uhura smiled. "Fire away."

She did just that.

"The night Spock left to become Ambassador to Qo'noS, you and Pop stayed in Peter's dorm-bed. You put up a trans-screen, for privacy, while we two slept on a large chair."

Nyta remembered well that wild night. Her smile grew broader. "Go on."

Saavik smiled a predatory smile. "The trans-screen malfunctioned early on. We saw - everything."

The young Vulcan hybrid then walked out on her mother and more, whose own grin faded.

"Oh... shit!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------

INTERSTELLAR SPACE

Gigan decided to examine the remains of his foe, who was no longer regenerating. It grabbed the head that held the wing in its teeth.

"Alas, poor Ghidorah. I knew him briefly, and I am glad of that."

But perhaps Ghidorah was no longer regenerating, because it no longer needed to. The head jerked to life, and surged forward, wing in mouth. The iced blood served as the edges of an axe.

"No! I am slain!"

Gigan's head did not reattach itself. Ghidorah's heads all did. The Ancient Destroyer resumed its course.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

USS ENTERPRISE OMEGA

"He's on the move again!" Peter shouted. "It's only a matter of time before he has enough power to resume his cloak, as well."

Saavik threw in. "If only the Cloak were not on a modulating frequency. But we cannot alter that."

Spock stood up, not merely yielding the Captain's Chair but resuming the role he had left five years before.

"No, Saavik-kam, but we can add to it. M-5 - prepare a series of cloaking devices, and arm quantum torpedoes with them. Scan the frequency down to its finest nuances."

The computer responded. "Done, sir."

Crusher mumbled to himself. "Oh, sure. We always get 'Unable To Comply'."

Spock turned to his son-in-law. "Peter - can you use your abilities to get us within range of the monster?"

He made a small forward motion with his hand, and Spock saw the strain. Apparently, even psycho-kinesis had limits.

"We should have him now, sir. But I can't do that again soon. Our space is getting difficult to move objects through."

The screen filled with the diminishing image of Ghidorah. Spock yelled out. "Mister Worf, Mister Chekov, Mister Sulu - triple check coordinates, then feed to M-5."

"Confirmed."

"Confirmed."

"Confirmed."

"Confirmed."

"Fire."

Man and machine all fired, with Spock hoping that redundancy was logical, just this once.

As the cloaking devices were released around Ghidorah, they circled the monster and kept away from its substance. Kirk finally asked his best friend a question.

"Spock, if he already has a cloaking device in his DNA structure, why give him more?"

Spock answered. "A gamble, Jim. Any probe we sent he would detect as a threat and destroy. But the cloaks are seemingly to Ghidorah's benefit. His strange auto-immune-like response may not come into play. But we - we can detect those cloaks we launched. In short, Captain, we have him."

Sulu shook his head.

"Not for long, we don't. He's already moved past long-range - but he never left sensors entirely, even as his own cloak engaged. Congratulations, Mister Spock."

Spock nodded.

"Thank you, Mister Sulu. It is good to be back."

Peter turned his heavy eyelids to Wesley Crusher. "Wes - we need you to do something for us, right now."

Crusher smiled. "Sure thing, Pete. Name it."

Spock spoke lowly. "M-5, prepare."

Peter spoke. "We want you to - Live Long And Prosper."

Saavik seconded. "Be well, my friend. Know that we do this because we must."

With M-5 duplicating and expanding on the signal to the Enterprise-E, a portal opened. The telekinetics pushed Wes through it.

"Guys - I'm gonna hate you for this for the rest of my life!"

Captain Kirk was proud of his children, who so loved a friend that they were unwilling to accept a needless sacrifice, merely to have him around. He responded to the vanishing Crusher.

"May it be a long and healthy hate."

The portal closed, and M-5 confirmed.

"The Travelers must have done their work. Nobody else is getting into or out of this universe. Folks - we're on our own."

Saavik squeezed her husband's hand, and both hoped that Crusher would one day forgive them. He turned to her. "Hey lady - wanna get married?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Again?"

"Sure - eventually, we have to get it right."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

YONADA, ABOVE PLANET VULCAN

Natira McCoy watched anxiously as they assumed full orbit.

"Begin Operation: Survival."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

USS ENTERPRISE-OMEGA GUINAN'S TAVERN

As Peter had promised, months before, a pair of dear old friends now exchanged vows before the Captain Of the Enterprise.

Kirk nodded.

"Do you both swear before all beings and persons that you acknowledge that this is a free and lawful union, born of need and love, and given much forethought?"

Ryan Walton nodded. "I Do."

Jessica Roesch nodded. "I Do."

"Then, acting as a Captain in the tradition of the Seas, I now see you as one. May we all live to see your growth together. As you have been friends to my children, consider yourselves friends their family, as well. There is a time to embrace. That time is now."

The bride and groom kissed. Walton then spoke.

"We once had a roommate named Peter. When we needed space, he cleared out. If you know anything about Academy Dorms - you know what kind of friend that makes him."

Roesch spoke.

"When Saavik first invited us to view her Lirpa-Matches with Peter, it all seemed dull - til I realized what they were REALLY doing. Everyone at the Academy loved watching it - except for Tuvok, but since he was assigned to the Starfleet Liaison in Paris, I'm sure he's nice and bored - which for him means happy."

Kirk looked the newlyweds over. "Anything else to say?"

Walton had one more thing. "I like the chicken!"

With a glare from his bride, Walton sat down and waited for the next ceremony.

As Nyta Uhura entered, everyone was taken by her robes. Jim knew them well. She had been wearing the same design when they first met, 37 years prior. He felt like a kid again. So did she.

"Going to marry us yourself, hotshot?"

Kirk shook his head.

"No. I thought I'd leave that to someone else."

"Spock?"

"Not this time."

Nyta then saw Jim hand Peter a sword, and knew its meaning. Their son ascended the podium. Nyta smiled a mile wide.

"Jim - how wonderful. How - how beautiful!"

He squeezed her hand.

"Who better to confirm our love than someone whose spirit was born from that same love, when it was brand new?"

Saavik could barely contain her emotions, but managed. McCoy and Scotty were a loss. Sulu and Chekov had definite "It's about time" looks on their faces. Spock felt a serenity that belied the dying universe around them.

Acting Captain Peter Kirk began.

"Since the days of the earliest sailing ships, the happiest duty a Captain may perform is to unite two people in blessed union. Many of you may have heard me disparage my parents. Let it be known - it was not these parents I spoke of. Mine is a great pride and joy, as I am able to marry those that made me what I am. I find this to be a lawful and free-willed ceremony, and ask if the two present now wish to be one."

As one they responded.

"We Do."

Peter felt his life turn a corner, at these words.

"Then by the temporary power invested in me as Captain Of the Enterprise, I now pronounce you to be one, and direct you to love one another and show each other the care..."

One eye teared.

"...that you showed two shattered children, so very long ago. I love you - Mom and Dad."

Kirk handed Peter and Saavik documents.

"What exists by law and in fact is made to happen again. You are both our children, by law and forever, and though you have other parents, nothing can change this."

Spock now stepped forward.

"Saavik-kam - I also have a document. A gift from your great-great- grandmother."

Saavik almost fainted. "T'Pau?"

Kirk became concerned. "Spock - please don't do this again."

The Vulcan turned. "Things are now as they once were, Jim. You may count on me again. Please trust me now."

Kirk had waited years to hear those words, so gestured to Saavik to view the document. She did, and actually gasped.

"Peter-kam! 'Hear now my words. Hate is an emotion which I have allowed to rule my soul. Hate - and jealousy. To begin mine restitution, thee will know that my decree of unbonding is declared invalid. The Bond stands in law, as it always did in fact. We joy with thee, and pray thine forgiveness, for we did forget ourselves.' It is signed Head Of Houses. Peter - we were never annulled. More precisely, the annulment was annulled."

Saavik looked at her biological father.

"Spock! I must speak to her, and tell her..."

Spock shook his head.

"Little One - she is gone. Her katra departed her body, rather than witness what is to come. This was her last decree. If there was an emotion involved, it was love for one she failed to tell. She related to me in a private message how she knew that she herself could never have borne what you have."

She tried not to cry. But it was hard.

"For so long, I hated her. Now, I wish she would have lived to see this child."

Spock made a simple declaration.

"This wedding shall not take place! For in the eyes of Vulcan and Of Earth, it is already a marriage in its third year. May it see many, many more!"

Saavik smiled at Spock. Not every wound had been healed. But that healing had truly begun. Uhura cleared her throat.

"On Tarsus Four, when Jim and I were hiding from Kodos's troops, we found an old audio library. Most of it was completely incomprehensible to me. But one song - became ours."

She began, and lyrics were handed out as she did.

"When I was a little girl; I would ask my mother; Will I be famous?; Will I be pretty?; Here's what she said to me;"

And all joined in, young and youthened.

"Que Sera, Sera - Whatever will be, will be; the future's not ours to see; Que Sera - What will be; will be."

Spock whispered under his breath.

"Kaidith."

But as the second chorus began, another tradition kicked in.

"Red Alert! Red Alert! We are entering Vulcan System - prepare to do battle with the Ancient Destroyer! Ghidorah has landed on Vulcan - I repeat, Ghidorah has landed on Vulcan! Yonadan Worldship's evacuation - not yet complete!"

Captain Kirk kissed his wife all too briefly, and then called to the computer he was now actually thankful for.

"M-5 - transport and clothe everyone! All hands, battlestations! This is not a drill. Our first goal - protect Yonada."

One and all, they were sent to their appropriate places. Peter Kirk felt dread, and hoped that it was merely the evil of Ghidorah's presence he sensed.

In the Shuttlebay, Will Decker finished refitting Shuttle X. He looked at Ghidorah on monitor.

"You're going down!"

Below them, a planet once in denial now flew into a decidedly Un-Vulcan blind panic. All was chaos. The creature looked about its latest killzone - then spied something that threw even it for a loop. Events truly had begun to unfold on Stern Vulcan. It was the state of all-out war.

Next- Chapter 25 - Stern Vulcan....