AUGUST, 2286

USS ENTERPRISE- OMEGA

He stared out the spaceport, and thought of worlds no longer there. Romulus. Q'onos. Andor. Tellar. Delta Prime. The list was very long, and seemed set to expand by at least one more name, if King Ghidorah broke their lines and made it to Earth.

He was the most powerful being in what was left of that universe, with the exception of his wife and equal, Saavik, and The Ancient Destroyer itself, whose power was unfathomable, and whose tricks seemed to defy every attempt to hold back his bloodthirsty goal of total cosmicide.

Peter Kirk didn't feel very powerful, then. He felt like a little boy with a toy sword, facing back eternal darkness. He, Sarek, and Saavik had planned well for this apocalypse. But the monster and its deceased followers, so happy to die for the archfiend, had planned better.

They had taken exactly one solid, clear victory in all that time. But like so much else in this war, it could never be called a clean victory.

"Sir? Lieutanant Cmdr. Kirk?"

Peter didn't know the young man.

"Yes, Ensign?"

Like all too many people in his presence of late, the young man seemed nervous. Jim may have been publicly revealed as his biological father, but Peter wasn't the Captain, and the deference was starting to eat at him.

"Weelll, sir, I just wanted to thank you. See--I was among the last cadets taken into Admiralty Hall. I was lucky, I guess. I only had to strip for their amusement. Some of my friends, they..they just used."

Admiralty Hall was a one-time social club whose building, sixty years back, had been bitterly opposed by Peter's late grandfather, George Kirk. Because all Kirks knew that the place was a front for a cult of xenophobic hate, called The Order Of The Ancient Destroyer. The Admiralty became hopelessly corrupt, and among its countless crimes was the ritualized sexual abuse of those most under their power. Starfleet Academy became a brothel from which loathsome individuals could pick and choose and satisfy their lust. At 13, Peter himself had been kidnapped, taken to The Hall--and raped repeatedly and brutally. Ten long years in cryo followed, as The Order sought to keep control of the one who could oppose their demon.

Just two years prior, Peter had exacted his revenge. Court-Martialing an innocent Hikaru Sulu, Cartwright's bigoted crew made the mistake of having a full house. Rescuing Captain Sulu, Peter then blew the Hall off the map. Only Cartwright escaped, and Peter made sure that was not for very long.

"I'm glad they stopped hurting you, Ensign."

The result had been what they wanted. When Ghidorah came, there was still a coup, led by the Hall's defrocked and casually violent proteges. But while ugly and costly, the fight to regain Earth and the UFP was won quickly, although Peter's great-uncle Bill S. Kirk had been among the brief war's many martyrs. Because they had removed The Admiralty, Peter and his allies/family had kept the coup from ever looking legitimate. That had been vital.

"Sir--for that action, you are forever my hero. Next time--they might have really gone after me."

But even before the coup, chaos reigned in the wake of Peter's actions. The Cadets protested their plight, and were moved against by armed troops. The cost in lives was high. The permanent closure of Starfleet Academy had been a cost that Sarek had never considered. For Peter and his beloved Saavik, it was a source of shame and guilt.

"Thank you, Ensign. But I am not a hero."

"What do you mean, sir? You've done any number of remarkable things. I think you're a hero!"

Peter didn't wish to offend the young man, so he rephrased.

"If I am what you called me, Ensign, I am still not a hero for blowing up Admiralty Hall."

The young man merely shrugged.

"No! I read about all your planning, your staking out of the target, your impeccable timing...precision targeting. All that effort alone makes you a hero, in my book."

"Don't raise your voice to me, Ensign. Admiralty Hall and all the planning that effort took only makes me someone that blew up a building."

Peter turned back to look out the spaceport.

"And history has shown us very well that any idiot can blow up a building."
 

9/11/2001 - Remember