Vulcan, April, 2278Amanda Grayson was not a waiting around type, by nature. But Sarek had begged her on his knees to remain at the traditional family estate, surrounded by honor guards. It was meant to emphasize the peril he felt for her. It had worked.
The young girl he departed with was their granddaughter, Saavik, though she only knew them as a foster family. It hurt like hell sometimes to not be able to tell her the truth. But Spock could not bring himself to acknowledge Saavik, so heinous were the conditions of her conception and birth. So his parents kept their silence. Amanda asked Sarek a simple question before he left for Earth.
"What has to be retrieved, Sarek? What is on Earth that is so important that you two have to skulk around?"
Sarek was his usual calm self as he spoke next.
"The means to avert the destruction of the Universe itself."
If it had been anyone but her husband saying that, Amanda would have laughed out loud. A guard entered, and bowed before her.
"Lady Amanda---your husband bids you return to your house."
When she did that, Amanda heard an unholy wail of sheer agony, and wished then that she were like her Aunt Amanda, for whom she had been named. That lady never got gray hairs, nor could she ever die--until 2275, when she and all of her kind had been killed in a transport 'accident'. What she missed most about the amoral 1500-year old beauty was her free spirit. Amanda Grayson pursued the source of the wail.
"Hello?"
It was coming from Spock's old room. In his old bed lay a young human male who looked vaguely familiar. He was shaking fit to bust. Amanda sat next to him, and took his hand. That was a mistake.
Though a low-level psi herself, she could feel the pain roll off him in waves. He then started to shout incoherently.
"Dadeedadededeeedaddeee!!! Stopdon'thurtmepleaseI'llbegooddon'tkillGrandma. DaddypleasecomesavemeI'minHellDaddy.NostopNostopNostopGorganRedjacThreeSkullKhiterahViolatorKingDeathGidrahGidarhGidrahGidrah--GHID-OR-AH!!!!!!"
Amanda heard a pop, and realized her young guest had punched a hole in the wall. His hand was undamaged, though. He turned and saw her, if indeed he could see anything through tear-flooded eyes.
"Grandma?"
Amanda was frightened, both for and of this intense young man.
"Grandma, is that you? Was it all a dream?"
She took a chance.
"Yes, baby, Grandma's here. It was all a bad nightmare."
He held her for dear life, though oddly, the tears stopped.
"They hurt me, Grandma. The people in my dream. They did things to me, then they tossed me into a coffin. I was dead, and I was in Hell, and I was so cold. Then a beautiful Princess came to rescue me. She was like an elf-princess. So pretty. I'm sorry she was a dream. Grandma, can I call Uncle Jim? Please?!"
A sickening thud was heard in Amanda's mind, as so many things came together. Uncle Jim was James T. Kirk--she had seen the resemblance in the boy's face. A cold coffin meant cryo-stasis. Amanda too thought the elf-princess was pretty, even if she herself didn't. She recalled Spock mentioning that Jim's nephew—who was actually his son--was killed a decade back. But he had only been kidnapped. No, not only kidnapped. Raped. Her precious Saavik shook the same way, when the night terrors came.
Then, he pulled back from her, almost snarling.
"You're not my Grandma! You're Her!! I won't let you hurt me again, you witch! I'll KILL YOU!!!"
Instinctively, Amanda's hand darted out and reached the boy's neck. She then did what five other humans knew how to do successfully. Unconscious, he seemed only slightly calmer. Sarek and Saavik returned, then. Saavik quickly covered the boy and put him back onto the bed. Amanda took immediate note of the way she gently stroked his hair.
"Mother, why did you wake him up? He needs rest. They hurt him very badly."
At Sarek's behest, the two adults withdrew as Saavik damped a rag to wipe the boy's face. Amanda had seen Saavik's gentle side before, but never in so overt and pronounced a fashion. It was equal parts heartening and disconcerting.
"Sarek, that girl is in love!"
"Yes, it would appear she is. Well, the young man is her stepbrother, after all. Added to that, he impressed her with some action upon awakening. She refuses to elaborate further. Do you know who our houseguest is?"
"Jim Kirk's son--Peter, I think his name is. You went to Earth to rescue him? I'm glad, but how does that tie in to saving the universe?"
"Wife, what I am about to say next will require time and patience to understand. In saying it, I mean no offense whatever to your religious sensibilities. Do you still wish to know who he is?"
"In relation to what you spoke of before leaving, hell, Yes, I Do!"
Sarek nevertheless floored Amanda with his next words.
"Again, not in a monotheistic structural sense---but---He Is The Messiah."
Finally, he trusted her enough to take food from her. He ate it and went back to sleep. For Peter Kirk, this was life. For Amanda Grayson, it was difficult. The boy never said a word, and seemed ready to pounce if she moved in the wrong way. He slept in a stuffy room in near total darkness. When she got back into the living room, Amanda almost found the air too cool. The boy liked warmth, after ten years in cryo. So he got warmth."Is he all right, Mother?"
"Saavik, where did you and Sarek find him?"
The girl hung her head.
"I cannot say."
"You mean, Sarek told you not to tell me. Fine, be that way."
It all infuriated Amanda. Was her husband protecting Peter's kidnappers--or was he afraid of them? Neither prospect calmed her any.
"I'm going out. You and Sarek found him, then you can take care of him."
As she made for the transport, Amanda heard the boy cry out again, in tones that made her think of Spock's torture on Hellguard. He had told them of it when he also told them who Saavik was. But Spock had forgotten it all the next day, denial being his mind's safety mechanism.
"Whoever you are, Jim Kirk will kill you when he finds you--if you're lucky."
Sarek emerged from his small study.
"She has gone?"
"Yes, Father. She was quite upset."
"These are upsetting times, Saavikkam. Will you prepare him to come out? He trusts you."
Saavik nodded, and helped Peter up. He shook when taken outside his room, but did not bolt and run. He had an instinctive affection for his rescuer, Saavik. She returned that affection, but was still unwilling to say what the tortured young man had done that had so changed her.
"Peo-Peo-People."
Sarek held out his hands, a gesture of trust among humans.
"There is only us, Peter. Myself and Saavik. You trust us, don't you?"
To Sarek's shock, Peter ran forward and embraced him. Sarek, though embarrassed, dared not push him away.
"I saw you. In dreams."
"That is correct, Peter. We touched, somehow, in dreams. That is how I found out you were alive."
"People. Inside your head."
"Inside---my head?"
The boy reached up and touched Sarek's forehead.
"Ka-tras. They have names."
Sarek felt his unease grow. The boy was a telepath of massive power, and had pushed through his personal shields like they were non-existent. But Katras hidden inside his own mind? Was it even possible?
"What are those names, Peter?"
"T'Lara. S'Chonn. They lived in a faraway place--Vulcania."
Sarek began to shake, so Saavik returned an upset Peter to his room, where he fell back asleep immediately.
"Father, no one knows what happened to Vulcania colony. Also, who are T'Lara and S'chonn?"
"They were my parents, Saavik. And I now know what happened to Vulcania colony--and them."
"What happened?"
To Saavik's shock, Sarek actually appeared to be growing emotional.
"Vulcania Colony fell to The Ancient Destroyer. It killed everyone there."
"But King Ghidorah is only a myth."
Unbelieving, Sarek wiped away real tears.
"Not to me he's not."
T'nia was Healer Soreth's mother. More than that, she was a Seer. She combined these two skills as no one else could or cared to. Sarek always felt like something of a failure around her, but in fact what he sensed from T'Nia was her own sense of having failed him. Sarek's childhood had significant moments of difficulty, and this had carried through to his relationship with Spock. It all stemmed from the early loss of Sarek's parents. Even a Vulcan child could never hope to entirely shake off feelings of abandonment in such a case. But as Peter Kirk had revealed, and as T'nia was just finding out, T'Lara and S'chon had never really left Sarek. They were with him all the while."Then it is confirmed?"
"Yes, Sarek-kam. It is a shame to me that it took a human boy to see so basic a truth in you. You contain the living katras of your parents. It has never been detected because no one would ever believe an infant would be used in that manner. I must now determine why they did such a thing and how to extricate them. A daunting task, since they are so very much a part of you. You may not survive the experience."
Sarek, though weary, maintained his composure, and nodded.
"I am prepared for that, Bright Lady. Now, about the boy, Peter Kirk. What did his captors do to him, precisely?"
T'Nia stared at her terminal. As a Seer, she was not expected to maintain the same level of emotional detachment as other Vulcans. Even for that, Sarek could tell she was greatly disturbed by what she found.
"The question is more, what did they not do to him? My tests shows traces of genetic accelerants, psi-enhancers, and so-called
'transmitter' viruses. It reaches the absurd, though---transmitting telepathically on so wide a band would beam messages to an empty void."Sarek kept all talk of Ghidorah to himself.
"A mystery, to be sure, T'nia. What have you learned in speaking with Saavik? Her affection for the boy seems more than empathic. At first I had assumed that she was merely processing emotions stemming from her own abuse. But there is more to it, is there not?"
"A great deal more. Sarek, she and Peter Kirk are----K'l'fth."
It was a term Sarek had heard once or twice---usually in pre-Reform poems. It meant, 'created together'. Though seemingly frivolous, it had serious implications for the children.
"T'nia, you are saying that Saavik and the boy have always been-----"
"Married, yes. Since before birth. In time, they will become curious about one another. Allow this curiosity--come what may. What I have read in their essence goes far beyond sex, or even mundane love. In their bond will the end of days be avenged. It has already begun for them. The boy beams at the girl, his rescuer. The girl sees in him the chance to be better. She, the new Mother of his life, he, new Father of her soul. In time, their bond will reach its true depth, and they will crush all that oppose them."
Sarek took that in, and made a choice.
"Young Peter is torn up by his emotions. At Gol, T'Lar can show him the rudiments of control."
"Wise. By the time you are done, I will have spoken with T'Pau about your parents and their disposition. Sarek---even if the young ones play sex games right in your face--allow it. Any sexual relationship between them will be healthier by far than the terrors they have endured."
While Sarek was uncertain of this advice, he did not dismiss it, either. He bid T'nia farewell and went out to meet the children. Peter slept quietly, his head on Saavik's shoulder. In many respects, what T'nia had spoken of had already begun.
"Are you well, Father?"
"That is yet to be determined, Saavikkam. Go now to your classes. I must take Peter to Gol."
"I do not like Gol, Father."
"They will not harm him, as you well know. Nor will I. Now go. If he sees you leave, it will be more difficult."
Reluctantly, Saavik got up and did as she was told. Sleeping all the while, Peter was taken to Gol, where the Kolinahri adepts dwelt, and where even a shattered mind could be reforged--Sarek hoped.
After her classes, Saavik made the difficult journey to Gol, there to join Sarek and Peter. In a ridiculously short amount of time, her thirteen-year old 'cousin' had become her only concern in life. Saavik Brianna Kirk had fulfilled her promise to her adoptive father, James Kirk. Peter had been found alive, and it was she that did it. As a child, she had asked if she could play with Peter, once she found him. But as with most other things in her life, that had taken on a new meaning."I know it is not my fault. I did my best. His captors should have kept him dressed. Thanks to you, 'cousin', last night-- I did not get to sleep at all."
Yet, Saavik knew, her affection for him stemmed from far more than just the odd circumstance of Peter being the first male she had seen unclad.
"Logic tells me that you should not have been so forgiving to your captor. Admiral Bunson's game was a cruel one. You are a thirteen year-old human male, Peter. You wanted to have sex with her, and you wanted to hurt her while doing so. But you forewent vengeance, even though I egged you on. You decided it wasn't worth your time. Nine years of Surakian rote indoctrination have traveled in one ear and out the other for me. One horny boy decides to be an angel, and it all becomes crystal-clear. You did not have to make angelic aspirations, Peter. My affection for you proceeds without rhyme or reason. Kaidith. Like the downhill flow of water, some things are meant to be."
But at Gol, not all was meant to be.
"T'Ral, I am seeking to remain unemotional. But if you fail to tell me what has become of the boy, I have no information on which to base rational thought."
T'Ral, though a true Kolinahri, showed a very minor strain as she spoke to Sarek.
"We did not realize his true psi-potential. The lessons we imparted to him by meld had an unexpected side-effect. Prepare yourself, Sarek."
Peter emerged, and was calm. Supernaturally calm. Calmer than Sarek had ever seen him. Calmer than Sarek had ever seen Sarek.
"How do you feel, Peter?"
The boy puzzled at the statement.
"I have been supplied with adequate water, food, and housing. Beyond that, such an interrogative requires a purely subjective, almost speculative answer, Mister Ambassador. You surprise me with so wasteful an effort."
Peter was sent back into meditation, but not before Saavik entered the chamber. She walked up and took Peter's hand.
"It is good to see you well, Peter. I am pleased that you are now so calm."
Peter pulled his hand away.
"Why do you so willfully engage in so intrusive and untoward a gesture, Saavik? It is quite unseemly."
Saavik looked at Sarek, stunned by the boy's utter coldness. He bid her wait in the transport. Upset, she did just that."Ambassador--Master. I shall withdraw."
Sarek looked at T'Ral, disbelieving.
"I can sense no emotion from him at all. T'Ral--what level has he achieved?"
T'Ral was almost visibly thrown by this turn of events.
"I have never dealt with a non-Vulcan with a greater appetite for emotional clarity. His pain was so great, his enhanced mind drank in our lessons far too quickly. Peter Kirk is the first human to achieve the casting out of animal passions. The first to achieve true cleansing."
Sarek looked over at the meditating young man, now as calm as the desert with no wind and no visitors. He said one word.
"Kolinahr."
One minute he had been shaking, fit to bust. Now, the human was Kolinahri, bereft of emotion. For Sarek, Peter Kirk was proving to be a great challenge in almost every respect."What is it that disturbs you, Ambassador? The Masters, here at Gol, have shown me The One True Way. The pain that has eaten at me is no more. Surely a clear, logical mind has a far greater probability of defeating Ghidorah."
T'Ral spoke up. There were simply no offworlder Kolinahri--as she liked it.
"You are human. This cleansing process was not meant for you."
"Illogical, Master. It is a path that is the end of all pain. All that live will one day embrace it."
Sarek tried to counter Peter's argument.
"Peter, not even all Vulcans have embraced it. It is the end of pain, yes, but it is also the end of joy."
"Ambassador, the Admirals who raped me caused me pain and this brought them joy. The two are so closely linked, that the loss of joy is an acceptable one."
Sarek pulled out an Ace.
"Your joy has brought joy to others. Your Uncle---certainly Saavik has grown fond of you."
Sarek and T'Ral both felt the twinge. Peter still had emotions, albeit deeply supressed ones.
"My Uncle, who is also my father, will know joy at my survival. I have no desire to cause pain to Saavik, though. I will consider your words."
Then, it happened. A small patch of rug had bunched up, causing Peter Kirk to trip and fall. While uninjured, he began to scream out as he had before. The bottleneck was shattered. Sarek would later realize that the fall conjured up dark memories in the boy. The last thing he had tripped over was his grandmother's dead body, just before he was kidnapped. Though markedly calmer within a short time, Peter was still sullen and withdrawn.
"Sarek, we are ready for Thee."
T'Pau, T'Nia, and T'Ral stood like the Three Fates, ready to begin removal of his parents' katras. And when they were done, Sarek realized that he had never known a single day without them in his mind.
"What, then, will become of me?"
T'Nia gave the news.
"In twenty years, your overwhelmed systems will fall away. Within ten years, your emotional control will be there not at all. You will keep yourself, Sarek--but you are dying."
And at this news, Sarek felt pure rage.
"Must I, too, be included in The Line Of Blood drawn by The Ancient Destroyer?! When, then, is enough?"
While only T'Nia remained calm at this outburst, it was Peter who acted. Like a ghost, he rose up, and brushed his fingers across Sarek's forehead. Sarek felt more in control immediately.
"He is a powerful Psi, Sarek. With but a touch, he restored your faculties. But he may not cure you."
"I know, T'Nia. But to be given back so much endears this child to me. In pain, he still seeks to alleviate the pain of others. Indeed, Peter, You Are The Rock."
T'Pau walked up and regarded the boy. What followed next showed her as emotional as Sarek had ever seen her.
"Thee are a dear boy, visited upon by much pain. Those who afflicted Thee should neither live long nor prosper."
On the transport home, Sarek nodded at the sleeping boy.
"You are also, it seems, a miracle worker. T'Pau--likes you."
Sarek felt like he was leaving part of himself behind at Gol. But for him and all his family, it was perhaps at long last time to move on. Hopefully, Peter Kirk could be helped to do the same.
Continuity - 'The Line Of Blood', Chapters 1 and 2, are set immediately after this. Chapter 6 will conclude 'Morning Has Broken', and be set right before 'I'm A Believer'
ConclusionOf course, not all of Vulcan was the Forge. But Sarek and Amanda's home was near enough to that desert to make one think just that. To the boy wielding a lirpa in the midday sun, it seemed like all deserts on all worlds at once. But he would not yield to the heat. After all, he was the son of Captain James T. Kirk.
His opponent, also wielding a lirpa, was just as unyielding. Running headlong into emotions he had clamped down for a lifetime, he met the enhanced human's every blow. There was something stupidly exhilarating about daring the midday Vulcan sun. The father of Commander Spock was growing drunk on emotions.
At the window in the house, a girl who had learned never to give her heart away watched as the boy who had taken that heart leaped, blocked, and dodged while giving Sarek a real challenge. When they stopped to rehydrate, her wish came true --Peter removed his shirt. While his frame was not fully developed, she found she couldn't care less. Peter had similar feelings about Saavik's torso. Of course, neither one gave voice to such feelings, except through quick, loud arguments. The daughter of Commander Spock then walked away from the kitchen window, for soon it would be her turn outside. She would not remove her shirt--but she would make the watching Peter think she might. Amanda Grayson mused about how she had now been mother to four children, with varying degrees of success. T'Rea's insanity had touched poor Sybok too deeply. Spock had been driven away as much by her intransigence as Sarek's. Saavik was always part feral. Oddly, the emotions stirred in her by their new arrival seemed a calming, not a disturbing, influence. Like the oyster, she took the irritant and crafted from it a pearl. Amanda looked out at the boy who obviously shared her unacknowledged granddaughter's feelings. She would end up playing both parent and matchmaker to this young couple, and enjoy most every minute of both duties.
Outside, Sarek trained Peter. Not for the battle with Ghidorah. There was no preparing for that. No lirpa or kata or mental discipline could defeat The Ancient Destroyer. No, this was rage management. The rage of the boy who wanted his life back. The rage of the girl who wanted an identity. The rage of the man who had lost his long-term ability to remain detached when necessary. Only Peter's odd talent for regenerating Sarek's faculties helped him remain an Ambassador.
Inside, the woman raged as well. She could protect none of her children, and she could not save her man. But she could help them all to rebuild. Further, she would help the tortured young man to ready himself for The Battle Of Armageddon, when The Last Enemy, Death, would itself be killed.The battle was even--so Sarek cheated.
"Peter, I have arranged for us to meet with Admirals Cartwright and Komack."
At those names, the boy froze up with fear and anger. Sarek pushed him over, and took an easy victory. Peter looked up, embarrassed by his distraction
"You can feel their hands in your back, Peter, or you can let go of your rage and learn how to break their power. They cannot hurt you anymore. They are not even the true enemy. Answer now the question."
As Saavik came out for her lirpa-session with Sarek, Peter tried not to take notice of her. Though this was as difficult as any mental exercise he had been taught in the last few months, he stayed on track and answered The Great Question.
"Yes, I Will Fight The Enemy."
"Yes, I Will Fight Ghidorah."
The universal day is a good deal longer than mortal ones. But with that statement, Peter Kirk began a new day for all. It was a day that would see either the end of King Ghidorah--or the end of all life. Either way, morning had broken.