In a holding cell on Argelius, Montgomery Scott prayed hard.

"Laird, ye ken me. I am no killer. But a demon climbed inside me head, and I was too weak to fight him back. I am only as ye made me. I cannae beat this hellish beastie alone. Och, I plead for yuir mercy!"

Hovering outside of Scotty, the fiendish Redjac merely plotted and waited, and it laughed at his prayers.

When the seance was held, it laughed again, once more taking possession of the helpless engineer. But as the dagger was aimed at the heart of its latest victim, two hands held Scotty's fast. The lights came on.

Kirk saw a young, beautiful woman, a Celt like Scotty, holding one hand. The other was held by a rugged man with longish hair, looking like he would be at home on the frontier of the 19th Century or the Highways of the 20th. The man spoke, quite disgusted.

"It ends here, Redjac!"

The woman was softer in general tone, but it was clear that a judgement was at hand, nonetheless.

"You laughed at poor Montgomery's prayers, despite the rules. You must be touched in the head."

Spock spoke, the others present seeming transfixed.

"You are, I take it, familiar with the entity that has inhabited Mister Scott?"

The woman spoke again. She smiled at the Vulcan.

"Spock! I haven't seen you since you since your Kahs-Wan. Give Amanda my best, will you? She stayed up all that night for you."

"I....shall."

"As to Redjac, here, let's just say that, from before Gommorah to Golgotha to 1880's London and beyond, his evil has been felt. But until he violated the rules by tormenting an innocent like Montgomery, rather than one of his wretched followers, we could not act as we have now."

McCoy was incredulous.

"Just who are you people?"

The man smiled at The Doctor.

"Leonard--you made the right choice. The cure wouldn't have helped your father. He wants you to know that. Us? Well, you could kind of call us an invisible security force. We don't wear red shirts--but we have encountered more than a few of your people that did."

Struggling and briefly regaining his own voice, Scotty misspoke.

"Invisible Security? Ye mean ye are from Section 31?"

Thunder and Lightning flared briefly outside. Scotty winced.

"I'll just take that as a no."

Redjac reasserted itself inside Scotty.

"Captain Kirk! These two will take me away to be destroyed! You must grant me political asylum!"

Kirk almost laughed at the thought of handing that asylum case to the diplomats. He looked Redjac in the eye, so to speak.

"I guess, then....Time is not on your side."

The demon winced.

"I used to like that song."

Which Kirk understood not at all. He asked the two helpers a question.

"Please. What are your names?"

The woman smiled.

"I am Monica, and this is Jonathan. But we've met before, James. You may not remember it, but we have. On Tarsus. On Deneva. And we will meet again."

Jim went for broke.

"On Earth, there lives a young boy, who recently....."

Jonathan raised his hand.

"Jim....God has that one, firmly in his sights. Him and another. We're not the last angels you'll ever meet. Trust me."

"I do."

Redjac spat out a last bit of venom.

"I am as nothing, Kirk! I merely serve a power so ancient and so blisteringly evil that your meager comprehension is inadequate to even begin thinking upon it!"

Monica slapped him across Scotty's face. Scotty did not feel it. Redjac did.

"That one will be dealt with in its time. Say no more or he'll not just destroy you-- he'll negate your existence from day one. And you know he can."

Utterly defeated, the thing was pulled out of Scotty, and the intervening, eternal forces of good and evil both withdrew. Jonathan waved.

"Take care, all!"

The last word was left to Spock.
 
"Fascinating."
 
-------------------------------------------------

RIVERSIDE, IOWA, ONE YEAR LATER

Kirk came back from wandering in the foothills of his youth. A mother and a nephew, gone in one heartbeat. But hadn't they said the boy was in God's sights? What had gone wrong? Or had anything gone wrong? Jim felt odd. Spock was nowhere around, and yet there was a persistent feeling of a friend who would not leave, even when yelled at.

At last, Spock did appear.

"Captain--we could not find you. Did you and Doctor Marcus have an argument?"

"Yes. Carol thought I was using the funeral as an excuse to tell David who I am. I told her off. I just needed to be alone, Spock. You mean you couldn't find me? The ground is a little muddy. It should be easy to see where I've been."

"But that's just it, Jim. I see you came from an easterly direction."

"That's right."

Spock pointed at the ground behind Kirk, seemingly pristine, despite the mud.

"Then---where are your footsteps?"

Kirk would have his answer, but not for ten more years.

THE END?