"Captain Chekov?"

The man who thought he would never get used to that title was also not used to hearing respectful tones from Doctor David Marcus. But, as the saying goes, nothing sobers the mind like the prospect of a hanging the next day. That is, if the next day arrived. That, like so much else, was no longer a sure fact. Pavel Chekov began to wonder if anything ever had been-anything except Ghidorah. He bade David Marcus and the ship's navigator, Lieutenant Guinan, to sit down in what was now reluctantly his office.

"I vish to thenk the two of you for the speed vith vich you made up your report. You presented vhat ve needed to know about the current disaster. Sadly, though, thet report ees a moot point. The Federation has learned of Ghidorah's presence the hard way. Bigots declaring for The Order Of The Ancient Destroyer briefly negated the UFP's existence before somehow being claimed by the creature. Worse, reports from Ambassador Spock and a Klingon solicitor have King Ghidorah wery near to beginning his attack on the Q'onos system. If half the legends are true, I do not give the Klingon Fleet much of a chance, even though they are one hundred heavy cruisers strong."

Lt. Guinan saw that David Marcus still did not wish to speak, thrown off as he was by recent events. She, on the other hand, had been waiting to speak for almost two centuries.

"I'm sorry to say, Captain, that the Klingon fleet has no chance whatsoever. Back in the Delta Quadrant, there was a race so powerful and so avaricious that there was no one, anywhere, who did not live in fear of them. Battle-cubes so big, they were like small moons. But they fell when the Ancient Destroyer came, just like everybody and everything else. I hear the Klingons are tenacious, but the damned thing just never stops. As to our report, I'd say its somewhat worse than worthless, considering its rather tragic result."

Chekov was starting to gain his bearings, but still felt very much he was waiting for someone else to take the center seat back. This would pass, but only somewhat.

"No vun could have predicted such an outcome, Lieutenant. I mean, look at me. I am a Keptin, vhile Hikaru Sulu sits again at the helm of the Enterprise. That such a thing could occur is almost hilarious to me. My friend is wrongly disgraced, and I am tragically elevated. Against all that, a gigantic three-headed dragon seems almost logical. But only almost."

David Marcus was hard-pressed to add anything at this point, so he asked a question instead.

"Captain, not to bring up a sore point, but wasn't Janice Rand the first one of your group of Enterprise officers to succeed to the Captaincy, even of a small vessel?"

Pavel reflected. None of them could sleep if they dared. It was still six hours before they rendezvoused with Ambassador Spock's shuttle, and telling the story of how the Enterprise crew began to be scattered had no small bearing on the recent tragedy that placed him in the center seat.

"It all began on the vurst day of our first five-year mission. It vas 2268, and someone had just said something wery stupid......"

----------------------------------------------
U.S.S. Enterprise, 2268

"Lieutenant Philip Terrence is hereby relieved of duty, and will be put off this ship at the next available opportunity. He has right of speech, to be certain. But in this case, the speech involved shows massive disrespect to his Captain and his crew. Mister Terrence, would you mind repeating your joke?"

The Lieutenant's face showed no remorse.

"Sure. I mean, why not? Its a funny joke. 'Why do the female personnel have such short skirts? Because, if the Captain loses too many Redshirts on an away mission, he'll know the natives aren't friendly, and he'll need easy access.' Doesn't anybody get it?"

As he was led to his quarters for confinement, Terrence realized that no one got it, or cared to. Like any other truly crude remark, it wasn't the content, but the tone of commentary, the dismissive nature of it all. Starship Captains did not have time to ride herd on the words used by their crew. But there was still a line, and a 'joke' that showed such incredible disregard for over half the crew, Security, The Captain, and races that they might encounter demanded addressing. To make matters worse, Terrence had made it known that he based the joke on his thoughts about Lieutenant Janice Rand.

"I am NOT a glorified secretary, waiting for visits from command!"

Rand had said that as she slammed down her trademark pad, breaking it as she did. She did apologize to Captain Kirk later, but when other crewmembers made it clear that they thought she was overreacting to what was merely a crude version of the truth, it was Kirk who apologized to her. She didn't hold him responsible for their low opinion of her. But she did request a transfer off of the Enterprise. She had things to do.  Ten years down the line, when Captain Janice Rand of the IceBreaker- Class Initial Scanner Vessel USS Perry paid a visit, she was honored by Kirk's praise of her, and her drive and ambition. She also took note that her one-time boyfriend had as his audience many of her former crewmates who had unthinkingly derided her. They sat with the faces of raw cadets caught violating curfew. Some of these people were still with Enterprise in 2286, and only the face of Ghidorah itself would make them forget Kirk's furious lecture. But that was still ahead, and this day in 2269 would only get worse, planting the seeds for the dispersal of much of the finest crew in StarFleet.

Kirk was thus already in a foul mood when McCoy called him to Sickbay. He had hoped it was news concerning his nephew Peter, who, with Spock, was now one of two survivors of the Denevan Plague. He hoped it was good news. It was not.

As McCoy and Spock tried to buffer the words, Jim learned the worst. Brianna, his mother, had been found murdered in her Ottumwa, Iowa home. While Peter's body was not found, he too, was presumed dead. As Kirk left Sickbay in a pure rage, the Doctor and Mister Spock tried to deal with the news as well.

"Very odd, Doctor. Terrorists striking Earth itself, a scant 2000 miles from StarFleet Headquarters, and silently, at that."

"Spock, you amaze me. A sweet, gentle woman who regarded us all as family is dead. A young man who we all watched cry when he was told he couldn't stay here may as well be. But you manage somehow to be more concerned with whoever did it----what the hell am I saying? Sorry, Spock. I want to find these people, too. I guess the how of it all is important. Poor Jim. To lose a mother and a son like that. I know its not logical, but the method does disturb me."

"It disturbs me as well, Doctor. I fear what it portends. After all, there is reasonably only one way such individuals could strike so. Oh, and in your understandable grief, you have committed an error. Young Peter was the Captain's nephew, not his son."

"If you're suggesting an inside job, Mister Spock, I'm with you on that. I have something to tell you in that regard. But, I made no error. Sam Kirk was field-testing a Class 8 Hydroponic Accelerator. Its induction field suddenly collapsed."

"I see. If I am not mistaken, Doctor, the resulting radiation would not only sterilize anyone utilizing it, but render their DNA structure unreadable, as a result of residual cell damage. But Peter Kirk was born, looking much like his father and uncle. Then my own grief worsens, Doctor. I barely knew the proper words to console Jim for the loss of a nephew. But I, who have lost a child, have no common experience to offer."

"You who have lost a child....Spock, what did you just say?"

"I said, Doctor, that since I have no child, I cannot appreciate the Captain's grief. As you have commented in the past, we Vulcans are oft too Cerebrus to see an emotional point of view."

"You just did it again. Spock, you said Cerebrus, instead of cerebral. Think about some rest, Commander. This whole thing may be weighing on your human side. Now, I'd like to be alone after all this. There's someone I have to contact."

If Spock thought that the Doctor was going to contact a loved one, he was wrong. Not knowing about the role they had played in this tragedy, McCoy was going to contact some shady, manipulative types who owed him a favor. But he would never end up making that call, and be better off for it. If he had, he would have found himself no wiser about the murders, and once again been played by the enigmatic Section 31. Spock turned to leave.

"Of course, Doctor. Odd, that I should say Cerebrus."

"Not so odd, Spock. After all, this day has been hell for all of us, and Cerebrus was the Hellguard. Like I said, your mother's side is just leaking through....Spock!!!"

McCoy would see sights stranger than this-one monstrous one in particular. But seeing his Vulcan sparring partner simply faint dead away, muttering as he did, would never quite leave him.

"HellGuard....Little One! I am coming for you. Oh, forgive me. Forgive your..."

A worried McCoy had put a sedative in the shaking Vulcan. This rest enabled Spock to invent a story about a confession he had obtained from the deceased Romulan Commander, Linviaj. A confession about Vulcan prisoners violated and killed on a planet called HellGuard, and the hybrid children still alive there. It hid the truth. The truth that Spock himself had been among the violated. That he had murdered his violator. That he had left behind the product of that violation, a daughter who he would yet rescue. A girl named Saavik. For now, McCoy had to stand watch over his ailing friend, and hope that his other dear friend, his soul blasted by grief, could hold up without him. But Kirk had lots of friends aboard the Enterprise. One of them came to his cabin now.

"I didn't lock the door, Lieutenant, but I would like my privacy, if you don't mind."

Uhura turned as though to leave, but then locked the door herself.

"Captain, show me a picture of your family. Show me lots of pictures. Tell me all about them. Tell me about your nephew, your mother, your brother, your father, everyone."

"Get out, Lieutenant, and that is a direct order!"

"Then have me arrested. But I'll break out of the brig, if I have to. You are not spending this night alone."

"Are you aware of what you sound like? The TONE of in-sub-ordi-nation you are assuming with your Commanding Officer!? I tell you to get out, you get out, if I have to throw you out!"

But Uhura had learned some tricks from this grief-stricken man. Like how to break through almost any barrier.

"That won't work with me, Jim. It didn't work the night Hank left, and Carol first demanded you take a planetside position. Remember? I threatened to have you charged with trespassing, even assault. But you stayed. Your arm still has a mark where I kept punching it. But you stayed. If you hadn't, I'dve quit the Academy. So to hell with your orders. I owe you a dozen times over. Add to all that, I loved that boy. For that month he was aboard, I made it my mission to stop his tears. And now that boy is dead. So damn you for telling me to go away. Call Security, or pull your phaser--or tell me more about those you've lost. Start anywhere you like."

Kirk had relented halfway through Uhura's impassioned plea. But her words about Peter's tears had only served to start Jim's own. She had to remind herself that this was why she had come to see him. For all that, the tears were like hell for her. Seeing his face cry was almost too much.

"Nyota, he was my son! I'm not going to say the how of it right now, but he was. My mother I miss with a vengeance. But Peter was my own flesh and blood. And there was no one telling me not to be a part of his life. I knew Brianna wouldn't be there one day. But my son---I had a dream before you came in. He called out to me---he said, 'Daddy, come get me. I'm in Hell. Please, Daddy, come get me. Get me out of Hell.' BUT I COULDN'T!!"

She held him for much of that night, sometimes more firmly or more closely than others. While they made love, the evening ended not with passion, but with a gentle reading of a letter from George Samuel Kirk, Sr., on how proud he was at his impending grandfatherhood. It had been beamed shortly before The USS Constitution was destroyed by Ghidorah.

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

2286 -   USS Reliant

Chekov saw that Guinan and Marcus were confused as to how he knew, as it were, all the gory details of that day. "Vhat it should have been vas a quiet night between two old friends, vith no one the wiser. But, somehow, the excrecable Lt. Terrence got wind of it. He attempted to use it as an excuse for his crude comments, saying that the encounter proved his point. While he failed, that encounter became knowledge ship-wide. The vunderful people at Admiralty Hall used this as a successful excuse to keep the senior staff--us—from moving on to other ships, our own commands. The word was, we were all climbing over each other, having space orgies. It suited the Admiralty's xenophobic agenda that no one who shared James T. Kirk's philosophy on New Life should spread it any further. As we now know, this was because they served the Old Life- King Ghidorah."

David Marcus saw that there was still ample time, and Chekov's story of a much more human military sector had him intrigued, to say the least, so he asked more questions.

"So the events of that day kept you together longer. I thought this was a story about how you all broke up, as it were."

"It ees, David. But the stymieing of our careers couldn't last forever, and, in some ways, accelerated certain things when the time came. I'll talk of that in a moment. Lieutenant Guinan? El-Aurians have vhat some people a 'Big Picture' viewpoint. Give me your impression of the situation as it stands. I don't vish to be caught unawares."

Guinan sighed. Ghidorah was a topic her people had taken an oath to avoid, after their emigration to the Alpha Quadrant. On odd occasions, she wished the Borg had killed Ghidorah, and been the ones to move against her people. Better a very powerful foe than a very powerful, completely unfathomable one. But Chekov had earned her loyalty, often keeping the previous Captain off her back. So she drew in what she knew.

"Well, sir, even the words 'Big Picture', are a little too precise for what I can give you. Short answer--Death, and lots of it, hiding around every corner. My gut tells me the Klingon Fleet will at the very least fail to kill Ghidorah. To make matters worse, something else is approaching the heart of the Federation from the other direction—the Maw Of Hell."

David spoke up.

"Our research indicates that the Maw Of Hell is most likely the artifact known as The Doomsday Machine. It may have been merely laying dormant."

Chekov nodded.

"Makes me glad I'm not aboard the Enterprise. If The Doomsday Machine has revived, I would not vant to be there vhen Will Decker finds out. His father, Commodore Matt Decker, was lost during the thing's first rampage. When Keptin Kirk used the wrecked Constellation to try and destroy it, ve almost lost him as well."

Guinan continued.

"But also out there is hope. There are NO prophecies regarding Ghidorah's final destruction. But out there is someone who bears Ghidorah's mark, whose name is The Rock. Now, if this person confronts Ghidorah at exactly the right time, the story goes that 'The Ancient Destroyer Shall Become As Us, Able To Be Slain. Though Mighty Shall His Power Remain, then may the form for the battle be chosen, and the question asked and answered."

David shrugged.

"What question is that? How can any one question beat that monster?"

"It can't. But Captain, Doctor, that question is oh-so mightily important. Will You Fight The Enemy? Will You Fight King Ghidorah?"

"Ve vill oppose him vith everything at our disposal."

"Not good enough, sir. If that last fight comes, then it must be a physical one-on-one."

David tried not to laugh.

"Who in all creation could survive a physical battle with King Ghidorah?"

The question hung in the air. Chekov called the Bridge.

"Are we still receiving footage from Q'onos, Mister Bryant?"

"Aye, Captain. I'll tell you, those Klingons are tough numbers. They are really cutting loose on the creature. I'm glad we'll never have to face them in battle."

"Q'onos is not down yet, Mister Bryant. Don't cheer over a former enemy's possible demise on my Bridge."

"Er, Captain? I meant the peace talks, sir. I wasn't....."

"I apologize, Mister Bryant. Attribute it to exhaustion. Chekov out."

Chekov swore under his breath. As a green ensign, he had dreamed of going in and wiping out the two great powers that opposed the Federation. Now that it was truly happening, he felt sick to his stomach. Worse, he was transposing his own feelings of guilt onto a capable Bridge Officer. He was not only exhausted, but at a loss as to any possible action to take. Reliant was not a Constitution- Class, and the Klingons already had 100 such ships in pitched battle. The footage was mind-numbing, as well. Despite their seeming success, five Klingon ships had been lost already. One had been engulfed by the folds of the great wings. Another had protected Koloth's ship with its own life by ramming the undulating Death Head. The third had struck the Mecha-Head's spine and literally slid down to its doom. Two more were sliced apart by the razored tails. The creature seemingly had no meaningful weak spot.

"As much as I despise inaction, it seems that we are bound to it for now. One starship will make no difference out on that field of fire."

David Marcus nodded in agreement, but was still thrown off by how far he had misjudged both Chekov and his mentor, whom he only knew as his mother's former boyfriend. That they should show restraint rather than rush in with phasers firing, blindly unto the breach, showed a great deal of thoughtfulness in a place he never thought to find any. His reassessment of James T. Kirk and his family would only accelerate in the coming weeks. But for now, his own judgement awaited.

"Captain Chekov? This is Carol Marcus. We of Regula 1 have agreed that, should the need arise, our plowshare can be beaten into a sword. You can have Genesis, and add its components to the Reliant's."

All three were stunned at this turn of events, but none more so than David Marcus.

"Mom? Scrap Genesis? Whoa-whoa! I admit the situation's bad, but Genesis, our life's work? Why wasn't I consulted?"

There was a long silence, and suddenly David felt like a child caught lifting from his parent's savings. He knew the answer to both questions before Carol said them.

"If we scrap Genesis, David, it will be because the project is fundamentally flawed. You received no say in this because, as of right now, I'm kicking you off the project. How dare you? How dare you involve the use of protomatter in the matrix trigger?"

The color drained away from David's face. Both Chekov and Guinan stared at him, knowing full well what Carol was saying, and what it meant.

"Mom, I did--what I had to. We were up against a wall. I swear to you, I measured the protomatter down to the last tetrogram. It presented no danger to the creation matrix. None whatsoever."

"Amazing. Astounding. Instead of figuring out a legitimate means of doing this, you go around the rules, just like...."

Chekov faced a tough choice in this revelation. Technically, David Marcus would have to be arrested. Traffic in protomatter was up there with genetic acceleration and slavery. In some odd instances, General Order VII could actually be activated, though that worked under the assumption of firing on an Orion pirate ship. But this was a disaster zone, and almost everything else would have to wait. Even the law. David had not yet backed down, though.

"Just like? Just like WHO? God, you've played this game with me since I was able to think. Once and for all, Mom, what person am I supposed to be just like? I'm calling your bluff, lady."

Chekov broke it up.

"You are not calling her bluff now, and I'll thank BOTH Doctors Marcus not to settle their differences over my ship's intercom."

Carol was still in a rage, but kept her voice down.

"Sorry, Captain. David?"

Feeling he had at long last called an old disciplinary bluff dating from his childhood, David responded almost triumphantly. This was a mistake.

"Yes, Mother?"

"Remember that young man you argued with on Vulcan, prior to the beginning of this expedition?"

"Peter Kirk? Sure! Hey, I'll apologize to him, next time we meet up. Anything else?"

The trap.

"Say hello to his cousin--next time you look in the Mirror!"

The connection was broken, and so was part of David Marcus.

"But-if-Peter Kirk is my cousin, then that means----so what happened in 2281, Captain Chekov?"

Chekov began his tale of the last battle of the third five-year mission while footage of the battle of Q'onos played on a small monitor. Guinan was the first to take note that Ghidorah had not yet unleashed a single bolt of energy--yet 15 ships were already lost.

"He's playing with them."

"Perhaps, he is merely drained, conserving his power after Romulus. Now, at the last of it, it was Romulan treachery against Q'onos we faced. The problem was proving that to the Klingons......"

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

2281

As the fantastically enhanced ShuttleX pulled away, the cloaked Romulan superfortress above Q'onos came into view. Kirk's three adversaries, Kang, Koloth, and Kor all witnessed this, proof of what the Romulans had tried to pull. The Away Team - Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov- had done their jobs. Koloth turned to the Romulan Ambassador. His smile fooled no one.

"Missssttter Ambassador! If Romulus needed extra docking space, there are lots better places than right above our homeworld."

"Captain Koloth, this is not what it seems like."

"It seems to me that you tried to take a trusted ally and turn them into your puppet."

"All you have is the word of a Vulcan, Spock. Vulcans are the intellectual puppets of the Federation, and genetically untrustworthy."

"They are related to Romulans."

"Then we should know. Look, is your High Council going to seek to scrap our alliance based on this one incident?"

As anyone and anything Romulan was banished from Klingon space in perpetuity, the answer seemed to be yes. Kor spoke to Kirk aboard the Enterprise.

"So you say that evidence of this heavily cloaked superfortress was found on Hellguard more than 10 years ago, Kirk?"

"Yes, Kor. They disguised it as child's scribblings, but a former resident of Hellguard said they were never allowed any such luxury. It was too big to get safely into our space, so Spock reasoned out that it was only useful if used to betray an ally."

"Disturbing. There was to be a conference with the Romulans, just next week. Ten Birds-Of-Prey were to follow the diplomats. Nothing by themselves, but combined with that now-destroyed superfortress. enough for their spies to stage a coup in The High Council. Kirk, I hate owing you, but I do. What will you do now, in the way of a new First Officer?"

Kirk looked puzzled.

"I'm sorry, Kor, What do you mean by that? Spock's right here."

"I mean, now that Spock is assuming, by joint request of Both our ruling bodies, The Federation Ambassadorship to Q'onos, who will you seek as his replacement?"

Kirk looked over at Spock, who fidgeted in a very Vulcan way.

"Spock?"

"I was searching for the proper time to tell you, Jim. It is quite true. To further build upon the understanding we gained this day, I have accepted the position I was offered. Captain Kirk, I must sadly inform you--I am leaving the Enterprise."

Captain James T. Kirk stood at a loss for words. He never thought this day would come. Spock was leaving his service and, as the saying goes, nothing would ever be the same again.

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

Chapter 2 - The New Blood

2286

The news was not good on any front. Not on Q'onos, where The Klingon Fleet was engaging King Ghidorah in the fiercest space battle in recorded history. Not on The Starship Enterprise, where Peter Kirk, possibly the only hope Life itself had against the monster, had suffered a perhaps inevitable nervous collapse. Certainly, there was no joy on the Engineering deck of Starship Reliant, where an angry David Marcus confronted an angry Carol Marcus. Carol had decided to scrap the Genesis device, owing to the illegal protomatter trigger David had secretly installed. Convinced that David was not contrite enough over this omission, Carol casually trotted out the long-secret identity of David's father - Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk. David's response was in kind.

"You know what? I have pulled some stupid things in my time."

"You'll get no argument from me, David."

"Mom, that would be a real first. That said, I have NEVER trotted out our personal lives during a professional disagreement, especially in front of a whole Starship! You accuse me of being like Kirk, with the protomatter. But from what I've studied of his career, he would also NEVER pull what you did. Score one for military discipline. Whoda thunk?"

"Oh, Jim has discipline. On his ship, you'd be in the brig, right now."

"You wouldn't be permitted to serve. But that's beside the point. To finish an argument that you had already won, you pulled out your ace. Well, congratulations, Mother. You, as always won. It would have been nice if you hadn't done it in front of Kirk's protege, but hey, all scientists care about is results."

Angrily, Carol picked up a metal tray and waved it at David.

"I swear, David, if you don't stop pushing me...."

David knocked the tray from her hands.

"Don't pull that 'street fighter' act with me. Not ever again. Kick my butt all the way from here to the airlock. But I'm calling you out, this time. No more veiled words, no more hidden anger. You got a problem with me, you take it up with me. Kirk, you take it up with him. But Mom, whatever else you do, stop mixing us up!"

To her horror, Carol kept on saying things she would regret later.

"You have been the most difficult, self-indulgent thing to raise, probably since Ghidorah itself. But the Ancient Destroyer was created to kill life, David. What in the hell is your excuse? Singlehandedly, you have destroyed the life's work of several good people, not including your own, much more legitimate efforts. Sometimes, I wish your little brother had been the one that...."

The look of horror on David's face told Carol that she had crossed the last boundary. As a child, David had remembered her second pregnancy, which ended in miscarriage, but had been told later on that he was mistaken. He had never had a younger brother. Once again, Carol had pulled out an Ace to slap David with. But she did not feel like she had won. No, not at all. Before she could apologize, or David could react, the intercom sounded, like a bell in a boxing ring. It was Acting Captain Chekov.

"Vill BOTH Doctors Marcus please report to the Ship's Briefing Room? Now?!!"

Anngry as hell, with not a word between them, the Doctors Marcus did as they were asked. In the Briefing Room was an understandably upset Pavel Chekov. To say that this had not been his week was a very great understatement. The open feud between Mother And Son was enough to make him wish he was on board a Klingon ship, facing down Ghidorah. He had, he felt, put up with it log enough. As the Marcuses entered, they sat visibly apart, which suited Chekov just fine.

"I von't even bother to lecture you about the method and manner of your argument, since it is so far beneath contempt. But, I am happy to say that you two helped crystallize a decision for me. I am declaring martial law upon this ship. Both of you are removed from Genesis until you calm down. Doctor Henlai of Delta Prime, who I'm told is no fan of StarFleet, is project head in the interim. Doctor Henlai, do you concur?"

A voice over the intercom had Carol's jaw dropping.

"Regretfully, I do, Captain. We have removed the protomatter. Should we dispose of it?"

"Hmm. Negative, Doctor. This mission may yet have us facing King Ghidorah. Give it to weapons control. I swear that it will only be used in the event the monster attacks us."

A confused Carol spoke to her colleague.

"Henlai, why are you doing this? And how did you remove the protomatter?"

"Sigh. Carol, you and David are being so emotional, you make me want to grow hair, get my ears pointed, and make for Vulcan. The protomatter was in the trigger only, not the main matrix. I still find its secretive insertion disturbing, but its nothing we hadn't discussed previously."

"Henlai, when was this discussed? I don't recall being present, then."

"You were not, Carol. My dear friend, you tend to end debate almost as abruptly as David pursues his own path. For some years, now, the other staff and I have learned to talk amongst ourselves. Now, Genesis has neither explosive protomatter that well could have seeped into the main matrix, nor a summary death sentence. Captain Chekov?"

"Yes, Doctor Henlai?"

"Three things. One, I will hold you to your promise to only use the protomatter against the Triple Shadow Of UnLife. Two, we believe that we can give up certain vital components of Genesis to enhance your ship for the battle I fear to be inevitable, without completely destroying our delicate structure. Three, I have to say this circumstance has caused me to somewhat reconsider my opinion of Starfleet. You have shown restraint, sir. In truth, I expected us to make for Q'onos."

"Thank you, Doctor. But if the Klingons cannot stop Ghidorah with that Fleet, Reliant would be hindrance rather than help. If we had a fleet--maybe. But we do not. Chekov out."

Guinan, silent until now, spoke up again.

"Captain, where is The Fleet? I've never been big on Calvary movements, but I think its called for, here."

"Its a good question, Lieutenant Guinan. In fact, if you will all just wait, its one I intend to ask of an old friend, right now."

Chekov saw Uhura's face appear on the monitor, and the smiles that emerged were those of siblings very glad to see that the other was still alive.

"Captain Chekov. How may I help you, Sir!?"

"You can start by dropping the 'Sir' business, Nyota. Can I speak to Keptin Kirk?"

"No, Pavel. Right now, myself and Hikaru are it on the Bridge. Xon, Ilia and Decker are beefing up ShuttleX in case they have to confront Ghidorah. As to the Captain--well, things are crazy. Jim's acknowledged Peter as his son, Peter and Saavik have re-bonded, and are expecting, and the Captain has received details on Ghidorah's creation from no less than Q. Apparently, though, the creature has destroyed the Q Continuum. The Q we knew expired about an hour ago. Further, Peter is in a coma, induced by nervous collapse. Len is trying to bring him out. Pavel, again, my sympathies."

"Certain things just happen, Nyota. May I speak to Captain Sulu?"

A voice from beyond Uhura spoke up.

"Yes, Captain Chekov?"

Pavel smiled.

"Just vanted to hear you say my title, Hikaru. Take care and kiss Demora for me. How is she holding up?"

"She and the teenagers are caring for the littler ones. All the kids are doing well -- except for Jim's. Do you remember what we called him, Pavel?"

"Indeed I do. 'Peter with the haunted eyes'. He's always been so brave. He'll pull through. That Saavik is a tough number, too. I always knew they were in love, even seven years ago. Hey, Hikaru,  why haven't any other ships joined Reliant? If Q'onos falls, we alone will be no threat to Ghidorah."

"Ahhh, just tell him how your people invented butter. He'll run with both tails between his legs, I guarantee. Sorry. Truth be known, some worlds haven't yet released ships that were seized when the UFP dissolved. Other ships are ferrying supplies to systems that were under rule of The Order for those few days. Still others--well, how secure is this channel?"

Chekov nodded.

"Quite secure to begin with, but I had Uhura reconnect us, just to be sure, when I first called. What's up?"

Sulu looked around, and Uhura nodded to him that she would watch the Bridge door.

"We're destroying the Orions. A huge fleet, massively overpowered, is taking out every single Orion target they ever had on their list. The UFP's troubles were a great opportunity for them. Those pirates even moved against Tellar. Considering their past cooperation on mining facilities, the Tellarites regarded it as a true betrayal. With Romulus gone, and The Klingons occupied, the only people who might object are The Orions themselves, and there are now a lot fewer of them. Its partly self-defense, but it comes so damned close to genocide, Pavel. Still, the decision was made, that if the Ancient Destroyer crosses into Federation space, we cannot be distracted. We want not merely to punish Orion, but to signal anyone with similar ideas about the current chaos to severely rethink their strategy. Pavel, I have to go. Be well, my friend. I know an 11-year old with a big hug waiting for you."

"Very well, Captain Sulu. My best to Xon, as well. Tell him I'm an emotional wreck without his logic to guide me."

"That I will. Sulu, Enterprise out."

With that, the monitor went blank, and Chekov turned to the three people sitting before him. Each reeled from an aspect of the news from Enterprise.

Guinan seemed quite sad.

"Q, you cocky bastard. I'd like to say you got what for, but right now I'd give anything to see your stupid face, smiling that 'I-built-The-Cosmos' smirk. You self-satisfied....damn!"

Carol felt decades older.

"Jim---is going to be a grandfather?"

David was almost smiling.

"I have an older brother? I'm gonna be an Uncle? Uncle David---Uncle Dave!"

Chekov shook his head.

"Some people just don't know how to handle the Apocalypse. Guinan, join Doctor Henlai and the others on Genesis, do what they tell you to. I will continue my narrative about Spock's leaving the Enterprise with The Doctors Marcus for company."

Carol raised a concern.

"Captain? Isn't this time better spent on preparation?"

"Doctor, I am coordinating the remaining prep work from here, since that's all the help I can really offer right now. As for you two, you are a captive audience, and you will sit and hear how First Officer Spock became Ambassador Spock. I will gladly let you go when you have both cooled enough to avoid a replay of the Balboa-Drago fight of 1984. Now THERE was big throwdown. Almost as big was the Captain's reaction to Mister Spock's announcement."

2281

On Earth, at StarFleet Academy, Peter Kirk lay in his dorm-bed, unable to sleep for thoughts of his one true love, his Lady Knight, who pulled him out of hell and back to life. But it wasn't merely for this reason he loved Saavik. She had endured all he had, but from early childhood on. She was strong, as he wished he could be. That she endured all that, and still managed to get him out of Admiralty Hall had his undying admiration. The love came from her every movement, and her tolerance of his many mistakes. Lastly, it didn't hurt that he had peeped on her in the shower. He didn't feel alive unless she was near. But he couldn't be sure she felt the same way--until now, that is.

Saavik felt nervous as she entered his dorm. She looked over at her one true love, her ArchAngel. When Peter Kirk refused to revenge himself on a particularly sadistic captor, Saavik learned that the other way Surak spoke of was no mere theory. It was more than just platitudes. Peter, who had lived on the Paradise that was Denev 3 until Age 11, had seen it all taken away yet again by the evil agents of The Order Of The Ancient Destroyer. But he was a true hero, and even when she could sense the burning desire he felt to revisit the pain of rape upon the 'short-eyes' as he called her, he would not. She would have gutted all of her rapists, gladly. Plus, she could talk with him, as she could no other, not even Amanda. There were things only the violated understood. Her love for him worked on many levels, from admiration for his forsaking revenge, to his gentle humor, all the way down to the most basic thing of all---he had been stark naked when she released him from cryo. On Hellguard, the girls' were ordered to keep their eyes closed, or lose them, as they were taken by the guards. She wasn't sure if he loved her, too, til she saw the anxious surprise on his face turn to delight as she entered. It was finally going to happen, her chosen bond-mate be damned.

In a quick motion, they had their clothes off and were in Peter's bed. They decided to say each other's names before they began their night of passion.

"Peter."

Saavik spoke, but it wasn't her voice. It was 'Uncle' Jim's. This threw them both off a little, and they looked around. Peter regained himself by taking in Saavik's body. She smiled as he spoke.

"Saavikam."

Problem again. This time, Peter's voice was Spock's. Quickly, they darted around the room, and looked for speakers, projectors, or anything else. They both shrugged, fell into bed again, and were now together the way they'd always dreamed of. Saavik yelled out her lover's name.

"PETER!!"

She had the body of a goddess, but the voice of James T. Kirk, and it was truly disconcerting. She rubbed her throat, but gave up and kissed Peter. He looked back at her when she was done, and tried to speak tenderly.

"Saavik, you must wake up! The ceremonies are in about one hour!"

Saavik rubbed Peter's ears, to make sure they weren't pointed. They weren't. Still, he had Spock's voice, and it was simply ruining things. They looked about again. There was no sign of Ghidorah. Then, they wondered why they would be searching for Ghidorah in a Starfleet dorm. This time, both in their own voices, they spoke as one.

"A Dream."

Peter woke up, Uncle Jim sitting right next to him. He liked his uncle/father, but was really hoping that someone quite a bit prettier was waiting there. Jim smiled, and looked at his boy.

"Sounded like you were having quite a dream, there, sport. Nothing bad, I hope?"

"Oh, no, Uncle Jim. Just brought something together that probably couldn't happen in real life. You know how it is."

Peter felt like a complete fool. In real life, Saavik would never come in his room, except to chat. He felt quite pathetic, devoted to the first woman he saw upon leaving cryo. He saw Jim's concern for him, and changed the subject quickly.

"So. Today's the day? The investiture ceremony?"

Jim Kirk looked exactly like a man who was moving away from his best friend. That was mainly because he was.

"He won't listen to reason, Peter. I mean, he doesn't even have true diplomatic experience. The Klingons will eat him alive--not literally. Spock, Federation Ambassador to The Klingon Empire? How silly does that sound to you? He belongs out there---with me."

Peter sighed. He wasn't able to help his own dream sex-life, but he could help the man who gave him life, 26 years prior.

"Honestly, Unc? It doesn't sound silly at all. Spock as Ambassador sounds--logical. Look, Dr. McCoy called me, and said you were both squabbling like children. You, acting like he's deserting you, him not understanding why this is causing distress for you and the crew. Its got to stop. You two are friends. You told me that him and Dr.McCoy are like you and Dad were-- brothers. You didn't have a chance to say goodbye to Sam. Please don't tell me you want to pass this one up, all for spite." Peter hoped Jim didn't notice his slip-up, calling his own father Sam. But with Jim, his biological father, right there, it was sometimes hard not to think of Sam, now fifteen years dead, as being 'just' an uncle. It was unfair to both men, and it left Peter thankful his wasn't a surrogate birth. Two fathers was confusing enough.

"Peter, what makes you so blasted smart, pal?"

"I guess I get it from my father. So are you going?"

"Oh, I was always going. It was my activity and enthusiasm level that were in doubt--but not any more. By the way, Uhura was asking after you. Everyone on board was very impressed when you entered the Academy, so soon after your imprisonment. Especially me, Peter. Uhura told me to tell you something."

"What's that?"

"She's holding you to your proposal of marriage--don't even think about trying to worm out."

Peter wondered, then spoke up.

"Proposal? I was eleven years old!"

Jim's face grew impish.

"Hey, an agreement's an agreement. She'll have to start calling me 'Uncle Captain.' Peter and Uhura, sittin' in a---"

"GET OUT! As a cadet to his far superior officer, I hereby order you to get out and talk with Spock before the ceremony."

They were both chuckling.

"Boy, they make thin skins here at the Academy, these days. You'd have never survived Finnegan. By the way---I love you, kid."

"I love you, Unc. Now get you gone, before they have to Court-Martial me for going 20th Century on your butt!!"

Jim stood with his hand on his hip.

"Forever making promises!!"

"Computer, close and lock door!"

Happy and frustrated at the same time, Peter tried to go back to sleep, hoping to resume the dream.

"I gotta get a new family."

Saavik woke up in her dorm-room, Spock standing over her bed. She remembered that she had granted any member of her family access to her room. She would have to change that.

"Saavik, were you dreaming?"

"Yes, Spock. A most frustrating dream. For some reason, simple addition was not  allowed to work. A highly simplistic alignment, one as natural as Pi, failed to connect in a permanent way."

She felt like a fool. Peter eschewed all physical contact that exceeded a few seconds. If she walked into his room, he would expect one of their chats, nothing more. She regarded herself as quite a pathetic creature. Because of the sexual abuse and segregation on Hellguard, and the private tutoring she required on Vulcan once she was rescued, she was immensely attracted to the first unclad man she ever saw - Peter. Not that there wasn't something else, there. But she questioned the basis of her initial attraction frequently-and her sanity.

"So. I am to be ready for the investiture ceremony. Tell me, will Captain Kirk be wearing StarFleet Garb or the garb of a best friend?"

"Saavik, you are close to Peter Kirk?"

"We are close. There are times I feel like Peter is right on top of me."

"Good. My friend, Jim, is behaving in a completely irrational manner. He acts as though this admittedly great change in our lives means also the end of our friendship. I begin to wonder about his ability to cope without my guidance. Can you see anyone else at his side, as he does what he must? An Enterprise of which I am not First Officer?"

Saavik thought carefully. Spock was dear to her, and she wished to help him wherever she could. Since he was, on occasion, also somewhat clueless, she had to get rid of him in hopes of somehow recapturing the dream. So she spoke logically and rationally.

"Logic dictates that you could not remain First Officer forever, and that he is, and shall always be, your friend. Dr. McCoy had informed me of your disagreement. You should endeavor to understand that this is a time of supreme emotional upheaval for him, and that your own emotions may have inadvertently come into play, as regards the troubles between Sarek and Sybok. You have, after all, described the Captain as a Brother. Let this brother part on better, clearer terms than the other, whose name may not even be spoken on Vulcan. Go to him, Spock."

Spock nodded.

"Indeed. I had failed to take my own emotional state into account. My thanks, Saavik. Tell me, how does one so young in years acquire such clear wisdom?"

Saavik's eyes shifted, and she said the first thing that came into her head.

"Reading."

With that, Spock again nodded, and finally left.

In their separate rooms, Peter and Saavik immediately put their heads down, and fell back to sleep, never realizing the telepathic contact they were in. Through the mists, they saw each other, still unclad, and started to make love.

"Peter?"

"Yes, Saavik?"

"Why are those cadets taking a test all around us?"

"Um, I think its finals day or something. I'm not stopping. You?"

"No. But the instructor is coming over, to speak to us."

"Let him get his own woman."

At that moment, the class started laughing, and everyone they ever knew was there, too. Calmly, they drew phasers and killed everyone they ever knew, and then kept going.

"Mmm. Saavik? How long before the police get here, to arrest us?"

She then hit a switch that sealed the room and the building off, and activated perimeter defenses. Her hair stretched out behind her, she looked up at him.

"Long enough?"

They were both five minutes late for the start of the investiture ceremony, and did not look at one another for that entire remaining time. Before their children's arrival, though, the two unknown fathers had a chance to talk- about friendship, and about brotherhood.

"You know, Spock, I can be a real ass."

"Yes."

Kirk stopped, not wishing to walk into every single trap this day.

"But you did not seem to understand anything I was saying to you, these last several months."

"There was a reason for that, Captain."

"And what reason might that be, Mister Ambassador?"

"You were quite incoherent."

Zapped again. Jim had to fight off the urge to make this a competition, when it so clearly was not. Not really, anyway.

"It could be that I was incoherent because you have to be more Vulcan-than-thou all the time. Spock, this is goodbye! You're going away. We may never see each other again."

"No, that will never happen. We go together, Jim, much like brothers. In many ways, we will always be together. As to my lack of understanding of things that are said to me, I fear Doctor McCoy may be right. Why, not ten minutes ago, Saavik said, quoting, "I often feel as though Peter is right on top of me'. Now, I know she spoke of their close friendship and proximity. But, in another individual, I would see this as a humorous sexual euphemism. Obviously, Saavik meant proximity. But I almost read it incorrectly. If I fail to read a child like Saavik, then how have I failed my best friend?"

Jim smiled. He was now more at ease around Spock than he had been since the announcement of his Ambassadorship.

"Better question. How has your friend failed you? I've never bothered to congratulate you, Spock. Well, I'm doing it now. Bring peace to our galaxy, my friend. Erase the Neutral Zones, my brother. And, most of all, when your task is done--return to me, Spock. To me, and to The Enterprise."

Spock thought for a moment.

"To paraphrase a favorite philosopher of my mother's, 'Like a river flows, surely to the sea, that is how it goes-some things are meant to be.' What say you to that, Jim?"

Kirk shrugged.

"Don't look at me, Spock. I always preferred Roy Orbison."

The ceremony went smoothly, even with the two young stragglers. Only Leonard McCoy noticed how the two avoided each other's gaze, and nervously at that. He gently nudged Uhura, gesturing for her to look over at Peter and Saavik.

"Well, Nyota, it seems you're losing your boyfriend. No way he'll follow through on that proposal now."

She responded to his good-natured ribbing in kind.

"Oh, I could see those two happening a parsec off, Leonard. Besides, in my people's tradition, if a male reneges on a marriage proposal, I get to claim the eldest male of his line. And one of these days, I just might do that."

Unsure whether she was being completely facetious, McCoy kept on.

"Oh, really? Well, you're in for some rough competition-from a lady called The USS Enterprise."

Uhura shrugged.

"If I want Jim, I'll just slap the little witch around, and she'll go off crying."

McCoy always enjoyed having the last word.

"You go, Uhura."

With the ceremony almost done, it was now James T. Kirk's turn to speak.

"What you Klingons may not realize is that, those times you were cursing the name of Kirk, it was really your new Ambassador that you were cursing. I'll say it flatly : Without him, I am considerably less than what I am with him. But now he must go among you. We all managed to stumble into a patch of peace, after we exposed the Romulan plot to make a puppet out of The Klingon Empire. The Federation therefore is sending its most able gardener to till, weed and protect that patch so that it can grow--and produce what we have always thought was impossible—a just, verifiable and lasting peace in our time.  To aid in this great cause, I freely sacrifice a piece of my own heart. I give up to the people of The Klingon Empire my brother, in whom I am very well pleased. I give you all the United Federation Of Planets Ambassador to The Greater Klingon Empire, Spock, son of Amanda of Earth and Sarek Of Vulcan. Spock, I officially relieve you of your duties as First Officer To The USS Enterprise, to better pursue your new and awesome task. Live Long and Prosper, Spock Of Vulcan, second Ambassador from the House of Sarek. Be well, brother."

As Kirk walked off, he saw even Sarek was hiding his face. In all the bedlam, he had forgotten both Sarek's condition and the fact that his son was following in his footsteps, just as Peter seemed to be following in Jim's. So as to allow Spock the whole spotlight, he stepped back, by McCoy and Uhura. Scotty, who already had a few in him, was bawling his eyes out scant centimeters from T'Pau.

"We--joy--with thee, engineer."

Spock was silently annoyed with Kirk. His speech left nowhere to go--but over the top. So that's exactly where Spock went. He held up the ceremonial replica of the Sword Of Kahless that he had been presented with, wearing of course the traditional robes of a Vulcan diplomat. Into the sky, he lustily shouted out one word, a word that signaled it
all.

"Q'APLAH!!!!!"

And the Klingons went wild.

Spock had already said his goodbyes to his parents, Saavik and the rest of the crew. But events conspired to keep Jim out of sight. Before Spock beamed aboard the Ship of a High Councillor, he saw Kirk in the distance. Unable to hear one another, they merely formed the Vulcan standby.

"Live Long And Prosper, Captain James T. Kirk"

"Live Long And Prosper, Ambassador Spock."

As Spock and the Klingons all beamed out, Kirk smiled as he saw Sulu and Chekov attempting to awaken the blottoed Scotty. McCoy was firmly refusing to dance with Uhura. Not for the first time in his life, his body ached to see just how good she looked. Absently, he started singing, and everyone stopped and heard. Perhaps because it was effortless, none of the infamous 'Kirk strain' showed through.

"Wise Men Say; Only Fools Rush In; But I Can't Help; Falling In Love With You;Shall I Stay?; Would It Be A Sin?; If I Can't Help; Falling In Love With You;"

Now, everyone joined.

"Like A River Flows; Surely To The Sea; Darling, So It Goes; Some Things Are Meant To Be;"

Jim didn't notice himself arm-in-arm with Uhura. They would later say that the night 'didn't count'. Without realizing it, Peter and Saavik sang along,  staring thunderously deep into each other's eyes as they did. They would deny it consciously - but tonight they each knew that the other loved them back. In a victory for his recovery, Peter permitted Saavik to hold his hand as they walked back to their quarters. He shook inside, and it hurt to let another touch him. But, for the first time in years, it would have hurt more not to be touched.

"Take My Hand; Take My Whole Life, Too; For I Can't Help; Falling In Love With You."

Kirk and Uhura awoke the next morning in Peter's quarters, behind a privacy screen. Saavik and Peter had slept in a large chair, having had one of their all-night chats. He thought it all quite sweet--until Uhura pointed out where their sleeping hands had wandered. Without even realizing, Jim moved their hands to more respectable locations. Uhura found this hilarious, Jim acting every inch the father. But Uhura nearly had a laugh- conniption when Kirk went to gently kiss Peter on the cheek, and Saavik sleepily shifted into position, smiling afterwords. Once the adults were safely outside, they both had a giggle-fit. While Uhura beamed back, Jim went to Admiralty Hall.

Cartwright sat in front of him, with the ever-present Admiral Bunson by his side. There was something about them Kirk did not like. Later, he would like them even less as he learned how they had kidnapped, raped, and tortured his son for ten years, all in the name of demonic Ghidorah. Appropriately, in three years time, it would be Peter who would blow the corrupt Admiralty and Section 31 to kingdom come. But for now, the folks at Admiralty Hall specialized in micro-management of Starships--to Jim it seemed like his Enterprise in particular. This feeling was not misplaced. Finally, Cartwright spoke.

"Captain Kirk--or should I say, Admiral, when you're on the ground--that was our agreement."

"Your agreement, Sir. You came up with it without me."

"That's what I said. Anyway, Admiral, you have requested that Helmsman Sulu be promoted to First Officer, that Communications Officer Uhura be given the Helm, and that Navigator Chekov be made Science Officer. I see. Admiral Bunson?"

The over-cheery cadet's nightmare almost seemed to be amused.

"Denied. Your new XO, Navigator, and Science Officer will be aboard tomorrow."

Kirk was not given to conspiracy theories, at least not within StarFleet. But Admiralty Hall had produced too many knowing smirks, too much micro-management, too many claims of no knowledge about the death of Kirk's mother, and the kidnapping of his son. Somehow, now, he knew. He was staring at the people who gave the orders. These were the people who made his boy cry. Too highly-placed for threats, or revenge. Kirk allowed his gaze to drift. Bunson grew upset.

"Admiral Kirk! Do you accept these orders?"

"Oh. Of course, Admiral. I was just thinking."

Cartwright grew imperious.

"A fine thing, to merely drift off while in Admiralty Hall! Kirk, I
demand an explanation."

"Again, sorry. Admirals. I was just thinking about Peter, my nephew. I'm so glad to have him back. If I ever find out who took him, held him, tortured him, I'll tear their hearts out with my teeth. They are nothing but terrorists. Admirals."

Leaving the arrogant scum appropriately shaken, Kirk called the Enterprise. He would have to talk to Peter later.

"Sulu here, Captain. What's the good word?"

Kirk wondered how in the hell he was going to explain this mess to three of the finest officers in Starfleet who had more than earned their new positions. Not to mention how to explain it when those people were his dear friends.

"Beam me up, Hikaru---there's news."

---------------------------------------------
Chapter 2 - The New Blood

All jokes and all songs were done. Spock was gone, and morning-after realities were sinking in. At StarFleet Academy, Peter Kirk awoke to find a message from Jim, giving his regrets about not being able to say goodbye in person. His awkwardness at waking up with Saavik in his arms was perhaps a reflection of the awkwardness between his Uncle and Commander Uhura, who had spent yet another night together that 'didn't count'.

Chief Engineer Scott had a hangover, as well he might, but he had gotten through those before. Chekov had actually spent the night re-familarizing himself with the Science Station, in anticipation of his move to Science Officer. Sulu had simply slept. When the announcement came that he would now be First Officer, he wanted to be as sharp as a tack. Uhura fought off her awkwardness around Kirk by formulating a bold plan that would combine her new job at the Helm with that of Navigator. Her logic was, Spock had served as both Science and XO, and no one in StarFleet knew more than her about redesigning control systems.

Spock was gone, sent off to Q'onos to be The Federation's first real Ambassador to The Klingon Empire. While this was a shock to the system for The Enterprise crew, there was still a greater one to follow. The will of their Captain aboard their own ship had been thwarted by people who seemed the antithesis of everything that both StarFleet and The Federation stood for. The feud between Admiralty Hall and The Kirk Clan stretched back to George Samuel Kirk, Sr.'s days as a cadet, and would not be settled til three years later, in 2284, when George's grandson Peter blew it off the map. For Admiralty Hall was home to two things : Micro-Managing Admirals and The Order Of The Ancient Destroyer. James T. Kirk would, in his time, deal with King Ghidorah. But the bigoted egos at Admiralty Hall would be a pain in his side almost straight through to the second that his son took vengeance on them. Captain Kirk had no idea what he was going to tell his crew about the Hall's latest maneuver.

"Captain On The Bridge."

Sulu announced this with pride and a broad grin. It was almost too much for Kirk. His loyal crew, so content when Spock was XO, now seemed anxious to get their stalled careers moving. Given what he now suspected about the Admiralty, the Captain had to wonder if it was that loyalty to him that had stalled those careers. That gored him, almost more than anything else. The senior staff could not help but take note of his discomfort. Like many other things, it quickly became their own. McCoy eyed Uhura, which she took as a cue to speak.

"Captain? Is there something wrong?"

Kirk wanted to say, 'Never with you, Nyota', but those kind of words belonged with last night's festivities, if they belonged at all. He took  note of who all was there, and happily, it was only the six people he had served three successful five-year missions with. He reminded himself to send a note appraising Captain Rand of the goings on of her old ship. Janice, it seems, had done the right thing for her career while maintaining old loyalties. Sarek said she had played an unspecified role in his search for Peter. At last, he had something to say. It wouldn't go over well.

"Back after we lost Gary Mitchell, I was allowed a wide discretion in how I ran this ship. It now seems that discretion passed with the death of Admiral Nogura. Admiralty Hall has denied my request for a crew shuffling. Three new crew members are coming on, as XO, Science Officer, and Navigator respectively. Commander Sulu, you are now in charge of Personnel and Security. Joe Thompson's promotion will have to wait. Lt. Commander Chekov, you are hereby promoted to full Commander, and will take over the Helm. Commander Uhura, I am petitioning to have you brought up to Captain Of Sciences. Since Admiralty Hall has no say in that process, I am going to see that it happens. Allow me to say, first and foremost, that I am disgusted by this turn of events, and they occur completely contrary to my wishes. I imagine that you all have quite a bit to say."

Sulu nodded.

"Permission to speak freely, Captain."

"In the presence of this group, and in private? Always, Hikaru."

"Thank, you--Jim. It just seems to me that a group of people who have never been able to find out who kidnapped and tortured your nephew have a hell of a lot of nerve telling you anything. I haven't been big on revealing this, but I have nightmares about people taking Demora away. This may seem off subject, but it goes straight to their competence-and to the fitness of a group of desk-bound idiots to micro-manage shipboard life."

Doctor McCoy seconded.

"Y'know, Jim, all of us here have watched your boy recover, and we've all been amazed at how far he's come, and how fast. But your mother's murder took place in Iowa, for chrissakes! Please tell me that while one hand slapped this crew in the face, the other at least told us how such a thing occurred."

Scotty was shaking off his hangover, but the anger was infectious.

"Besides my Jess, I also have a nephew named Peter. I like to think the greatest danger he's in is pneumonia, when the Scottish winds grow nasty as they do. If they can work to give me a nice but meaningless title like 'Captain Of Engineering', can they at least not tell us that our families are safe upon Earth itself? They've disrespected three of the finest people I'll ever know. Can they not exchange such scurrilous behavior for my simple peace of mind?"

Uhura didn't need to speak. Her affection for Peter Kirk was well known. After all, the boy had proposed to her at age eleven. Plus, she had told Kirk that something would come along to gum up the promotions. Unlike the others, Uhura had always suspected Admiralty Hall had at the very least more knowledge of the murder/kidnapping than they let on. So Chekov spoke next. He was livid.

"I, too, have a family. Its called The Enterprise. That family has been dishonored. I am going to resign my commission, march into Admiralty Hall, and hold all those Cossacks at phaser-point til they tell me why they can throw ball-bearings at our feet, but cannot find a group of terrorists who struck at the very heart of the Federation!"

Kirk was heartened, somehow. He knew there would be anger. But he had never realized til now how his pain over Brianna's murder and seemingly, at the time, Peter's, had become the crew's pain. What he said next would not calm them any further, though.

"Pavel, the reason that Starfleet has never been able to find those terrorists is because those terrorists ARE at the heart of The Federation. I have no proof, but I believe Peter was held by Section 31, acting under orders from Admiralty Hall. As to why, I still have no idea. All I do have is a slip-up on Admiral Bunson's part. In one of her many efforts to seek my company, I saw a Ghidoran tattoo. Never mind where. But I've seen those tattoos among the Admiralty. It seems that The Order Of The Ancient Destroyer is no myth. Thankfully, there is no evidence to suggest that King Ghidorah is anything more than a myth."

Chekov seemed to gulp.

"Sir? Vhat if there is such evidence, and they buried that, as well?"

Sulu shrugged.

"Then we're dead. One thing the legends make damned clear--whole vast fleets couldn't stop that thing. But I'll assume that the Captain has checked his research."

"Actually, I had Spock do it, before he left. If anyone could discern between fact and fiction, its our old friend."

Sadly, Kirk could not know the pained denial Ambassador Spock was in, concerning The Order. On Hellguard, a Romulan Commander had raped him and bore his child, as a sign of her power. That child was currently back on Earth, studying with Peter Kirk. Her name was Saavik. Thus, his research was faulty.

Sulu spoke again.

"So we've been backhanded. I say, let's try to work with our new crewmates, and not give those monsters the pleasure of disrupting our routine. What else can we do?"

Chekov, now.

"What you said, I suppose. Keptin, who are the new bloods?"

Kirk half-frowned.

"Coming aboard are : Lt. Ilia, a Deltan, to be Navigator. Xon, a Full Vulcan and very recent Academy graduate, to be Science Officer. Last but not least : First Officer Commander Willard Decker."

The air was like ice. Scotty looked around, and shook his head. McCoy thought again about the times he had served Section 31, and gained new resolve to tell them no-among other things. As though he were still to become XO, Sulu spoke for them all.

"A Deltan female, who will throw off any crewmember not prepared to deal with her pheromones. A Vulcan who will likely have even greater difficulty than Spock did in adjusting to humans. To top it all off, at the lead of our new crew will be a young man who will have to sit in the chair that his father usurped before committing suicide in a vain attempt to destroy the Doomsday Machine. You know, my people didn't invent this curse, but it sure as hell applies : May We Live In Interesting Times."

Kirk concurred.

"Indeed we do, Commander. Indeed, we do."

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

Will Decker looked at his new Captain, James T. Kirk, almost regarding him, as though for battle. As it turned out, a battle was exactly what he was in for. The new XO was unwanted baggage.

"Permission to come aboard, sir?"

Decker had been made First Officer as Spock's replacement. But Kirk had gotten no say in this. His choice, Commander Sulu, had been turned down by Admiralty Hall, which in times past had never interfered with internal promotions and reshufflings. But then, Jim reasoned, the old regime would never have ordered the death of his mother and the kidnapping of his son. Nogura could be an SOB, to be sure. But he tolerated Section 31, at best. Regarded them as a necessary evil. Jim didn't know which was the greater threat the increasingly xenophobic admiralty posed, the demon-worship he was now sure went on there, or the secretive micro-management that had cost some starship crews their lives and/or careers.

"Permission not granted, Mister Decker, til we get some understandings between us. I don't know who you know at The Hall, but you were not my choice for First Officer. The man who will be serving you at Security and Personnel is the man I wanted, and it is my intention that he shall still somehow have that job. The first time you call the Admiralty to complain, you can check into your new quarters in the brig."

Decker was massively confused.

"Sir, if this is about my stand regarding away teams...."

Now Kirk was on unsure ground.

"What stand? I'm talking about your back-door appointment, Mister. Trust me, you won't care for this ship. On The Enterprise, it is most decidedly not who you know."

"Back--door? Admiral, maybe you better take a look at these orders."

"I will, but up here, its Captain. The promotion was Admiral Bunson's idea of an induce-----This is my signature on these orders."

Decker nodded, certain he had caught Kirk in a lie.

"Yes, Sir. Such things do tend to get recorded. May I ask why you are now denying that you requested me?"

Kirk shook his head, looking over the expert forgery.

"I am denying it for several reasons, Will. I maintain that Hikaru Sulu would be the better First Officer, and that he has earned that position. Also, I consider it nearly obscene to ask a man, no matter how fit he might be, to occupy a chair that his father was disgraced in. Matt was a great man who lost perspective, just as I would have. Lastly, I deny it because...I didn't sign this. It was done over my objections, without my signature. Hell, it was almost done without informing me."

Decker nodded.

"Sir, it sounds a lot like you are accusing Admirals Cartwright, Bunson, and Komack of petty vindictiveness. May I tell you a story? Its pertinent."

"Go ahead."

"After I graduated the Academy, I was called to Admiralty Hall. Komack spoke to me about power, and those who dared for it. Cartwright went on about 'Non-Terran' influences being bad for Starfleet. Finally, old 'Short-Eyes' had her crack at me. Or Should I say, her second crack."

"'Short-Eyes'? You mean Teresa Bunson?"

"Sir, you've never heard the rumors? The younger cadets talk about her all the time. No one will come forward, of course. Sir, she's----fond of children. In a predatory manner. I wasn't a child anymore, but she made intimations about my career track, and how she could help it. Sometimes, I can't sleep knowing she's alive. There are two points to my story. One is my previous assignment, given to me when I told them no."

"Your dossier says it was classified."

"It is. I was put over Starbase Omega."

Kirk's jaw dropped, and his blood ran cold.

"Will! They had you---watching over--"

"Yes, sir. The Doomsday Machine. It was one of my duties to fly into the maw and check for signs of activity. My mother died while I was assigned there. Understandably, she never visited. So, Captain, I can sit where my father last sat. I flew over the spot where he died every day I was there for five years."

"All right, let's say I concede that. But what was your second point?"

Decker sat down on the pad.

"Fair warning, sir. While I dined with and fended off Admiral Bunson, I inadvertently asked her how well she knew you. She laughed in that 'knowing' way she has, and said that, while you had never gone out with her, she had------"

"Say it, Will."

Decker braced for impact.

"She said that she had dated your nephew, sir. Later, I checked. You only have one nephew, who was murdered in 2268--at age eleven."

Jim was furious, but kept himself together.

"No. Peter is alive. He's at the Academy, living in a dorm that's on Vulcan Embassy soil. He's under Sarek's protection--and the protection of a rather fetching young woman with whom he shares a huge mutual crush. But that's not yet common knowledge, Will. I prefer it remain that way. These people are so good at twisting the public spotlight, I think he's almost safer in obscurity. As odd as that sounds."

Decker half-smiled.

Obscurity? Captain, as a kid, after the Constellation, I'd have given my right arm for obscurity. So you have reason to believe the Admiralty caused your nephew's disappearance?"

"I wish I didn't. I wish to hell I didn't. You know, my father opposed the construction of Admiralty Hall. Almost got himself thrown out of the Academy, saying-quite loudly- that it would isolate the top brass."

"Except they are still there, and both our fathers are gone. Sorry, Captain. That was out of line. What's their game with this forgery?"

"It wasn't out of line---Number One. As to their game--disruption. None of them can imagine us talking rationally about all this. They exist at each other's throats, and think we must do the same. Tell you what. Let's meet Sulu by the Shuttle Bay, and take on our new Navigator and Science Officer."

"Sounds good to me. I have some definite plans about upgrading Shuttle X."

"Oh, yes. You mentioned a stand on away teams. What about that?"

"Well, sir. I just happen to firmly believe that a Captain should not be on them."

Kirk thought of his life for a moment, then tried to imagine it without being part of a landing party every so often.

"We'll---discuss it, Number One."

"Nothing to discuss, sir. But Okay."

The ride to the Shuttle Bay seemed long indeed.

Waiting there was a more than somewhat disappointed Security/Personnel officer. But he had a duty, and few did that duty better than Commander Sulu. He extended his hand to the man who beat him out for First Officer.

"Commander Decker, I know it doesn't do you any favors, but I can live with what's occurred. I'm not crazy about it, but I'll make do. There will be no sniping from my corner, nor unwarranted questioning of your orders or authority."

"You're right, Mister Sulu. It doesn't do me any favors. But it is good to hear."

Kirk saw the shuttle's approach.

"Gentlemen, the next five years is about to begin. Let's resolve to ignore the Hall's efforts at disruption. Ad Astra, and then some."

The two officers nodded in agreement with their Captain. The bay doors closed, and the shuttle disembarked.

"Well, you must be Mister Xon. Welcome aboard. We hope our ship provides you with both friendships and challenges."

No eyebrows were raised. Just a face that cried out 'overanalyzes'.

"Both are unlikely, Captain. But as a Full Vulcan, I expect that my fundamentally superior efficiency will serve as an inspiration to the rest of your crew. Orders, Sir?"

Kirk fought back what he was feeling.

"Mister Xon, go and see Doctor McCoy, and tell him what you just told me--in, fact, expound upon it."

Xon didn't even bat an eye.

"Aye, Sir."

After the Vulcan was well out of even his earshot, Sulu laughed out loud.

"Captain, remind me never to get on your bad side."

Decker stared back.

"I don't get it. I didn't think there was anyone, anywhere, who hadn't heard of the Spock-McCoy feud!"

Then, his head turned again. The Deltan Navigator was leaving the shuttlecraft. He knew her instantly.

"Ilia?"

"Will?"

There was an extremely long, awkward silence, punctuated by the one-time couple's separate, silent departures, their faces still stunned and shaken.

Sulu shrugged.

"Guess they have their disruptions."

He left, to continue his new duties. Kirk remained for a moment, and considered what it meant to know for certain that your superiors were out to get you, and would sink to any depth to do it.

"Strange Days Indeed."

With those words, he too departed, and began his fourth consecutive five-year mission as Captain Of The USS Enterprise. But the changes were not done yet. No, not at all.

Chapter 3 - Trying To Live My Life Without You....

Enterprise, 2282

"We hope that the Tubkri faction's unpleasant actions do not bias your recommendation to the Federation Council, Captain Kirk. Since your First Officer was returned to you unharmed, we see no reason that it should."

Kirk smiled, his best, practiced diplomatic smile. Getting Will Decker out had been like pulling teeth from a baby sehlat while the mother sehlat watched. His response to the minister's concerns was terse.

"I disagree."

Uhura cut the screen-link off. Will Decker then nodded triumphantly, and started off the Bridge. Started, that is.

"Number One. I may not have much use for the 'Ready Room' they gave me during the last refit, but its in the direction opposite of where you're going."

Decker stopped, and if an XO's dignity would have permitted, he would have gulped, then. Instead, he just walked into Kirk's Ready Room, his Captain close behind. Helmsman Pavel Chekov stated the obvious.

"Somevun ees going to know the pain."

When Hikaru Sulu came on the Bridge, Chekov gave up the helm to him. Since Sulu's new position as Personnel and Security Officer was not nearly enough to contain his restless energies, he frequently took a second shift back at his old position. This gave Chekov time for his extra duties.

"Meester Xon. Allow Commander Uhura to take the Science Station. You and me, ve have to talk."

The Full Vulcan nodded, and Uhura put her station to automatic, something that was becoming more and more possible. Nyota had been working to eliminate her arguably vital but career-blocking job almost since the beginning of the second five-year mission. Her vision was of one day having no need for a specialized Communications Officer aboard a Starship.

Deltans were second only to Medusans in terms of their navigation skills, so Lieutenant Ilia's mind was not needed to be fully on her job. As was often the case of late, it was on a conversation she recently had with her former love, First Officer Will Decker.

"Please don't hand me that, 'I Didn't Call You' line, Ilia. Starfleet is in the book, and messages can be sent even to classified locations like Starbase Omega. I tried seeing you before I left Delta Prime. Your family blocked that."

She wasn't buying.

"My family's objections posed no difficulty for you before, Will. As always, the only obstacle to our happiness--was you."

That had been the civil part of their talk. Things went rapidly downhill from there. If she could just blame it all on him, it would be easy. But her family was formidable in getting their way, and she had a high enough security rating where she could even have managed a trip to Starbase Omega. But then, she would have had to see him. For a sexually immature human, her Will had known quite well how to make a Deltan nervous. He still did. Very soon, she knew, they would have to define their relationship, up or down. The standoff was intolerable.

In The Captain's Ready Room, Will Decker was dealing with someone who knew how to make him nervous.

"Believe it or not, Number One, I can forgive the disobeying of orders. I have in  the past. I likely will again. It happens. But, to argue with me on MY BRIDGE? Mister Decker, I didn't allow my own nephew, who had just been orphaned, to do that. Why do you think I would allow it of you?"

"Why would he argue with you, sir? Just curious."

Kirk wasn't letting him change the subject, but answered anyway.

"He wanted to stay. With me. Here. The Hall wouldn't allow it. But whatever the reason, whoever that boy is to me, I didn't let him get away with raising his voice to the Captain of this ship--not on my bridge."

Decker kept to the main subject, as well, but retained his interest in the secondary one.

"Sir, I still hold that a Captain should not be part of an away team--ever. As it stood, the only hostage they had was a First Officer. Valuable, but still not imbued with the value of a Captain. I made the right choice, as you did, when you backed down."

Poor choice of words.

"If-IF I backed down, Number One, it was to avoid the embarrassment of a protracted argument. Don't count on that saving you, next time. As I have said during our previous 'discussions', there are at least three officers on that bridge who I feel could easily replace even an officer of your skill. Next time you pull that kind of stunt, one of them will. Okey-dokey, Mister Decker?"

"Captain, I hardly feel...."

"SAY Okey-dokey, Number One!"

Will Decker couldn't be tamed. But he could be taught.

"O-key-Do-Key, Captain."

Kirk smiled.

"NOW you're talking my language. Dismissed, XO."

"One last thing, sir. Off-topic."

"Go ahead."

"So Peter actually asked you if he could stay on board?"

Kirk nodded.

"Mmm-hmm. Quite persistent about it, too."

Decker looked down.

"Kid's got guts. I would have never have dared ask that of Matt. He would have gone nova. Thank you, sir."

"Just remember our talk, Will. We'll get along fine, as long as you remember who sits in the comfy chair."
 

For Pavel Chekov, the task was equally daunting. His Captain had directed him to bring one of 'the new crew' up to speed. As with many things, this was easier said than done.

"I was merely endeavoring to be complete, Commander. To answer the Captain's question entirely."

"Ah, Xon. You told the Captain of the history of trade routes by that world, the geological balance of the continents, the political structures dating back three millennia, and certain formation legends that the new regime had discarded."

"What was wrong with that, sir?"

Chekov put his hand to his head. He just wasn't getting through.

"Xon, the man only asked you whether or not we could use the planet's moon to evade their sensor array! You frequently give answers that are of great length. Vorse, you get so into it, thet even the Keptin cannot seem to cut you off."

Xon seemed almost dejected. Vulcan-wise, that is.

"Sir, I plead ignorance. Humans are a puzzle to me. My efforts to understand and interact with you have met with total failure. I must ask to be transferred off this ship."

Chekov shook his head. The Captain was not giving the Admiralty that satisfaction. Xon and the others were staying, if only despite them.

"No transfer, Mr. Xon. I, believe it or not, vas once as awkward as you. But as Sulu helped me, I shall now help you to more smoothly interact with your fellow crewmembers."

Xon nodded gratefully.

"My thanks, sir. But how will you help me?"

Chekov's head shook back and forth, lightly.

"Mister Xon---How---Is The Question."

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

THE DEAD ZONE, 2282

It was not called 'The Dead Zone' because there was no life there. The place had numerous M-Class Planets. It was not called that for inaccessibility, either in or out. No, it was called 'The Dead Zone' for a reason having nothing to do with any natural occurrence. In this strategic area, the Neutral Zones of The Federation, Klingon and Romulan Empires intersected. In theory, this should have been impossible. But forty years of treaties and such had eventually created this region. And no one ever touched it.

The region was too heavily scanned. Plus, the commitment of force and troops necessary to take and win the area would be far too great. Other areas would surely fall as a result. In the final analysis, even the Romulans made no plans to take that place. For it would mean war. War that no Organian nor any Q could stop. So that terrific staging area, replete with viable planets, remained 'The Dead Zone'. No Federation member of Section 31 even thought about it. The Tal Shiar had better things to do. Even Mad Kruge and his band of terror-makers, The T'xze, were loath to push that war-button.

But there was another warrior race in the Alpha Quadrant. One who had long felt that it had been denied a place at the table. They were the Lion-like Kzinti. But as enticing as 'The Dead Zone' might be to them, their ships were forbidden travel while armed. Though, it should be remembered, that Lions are always hungry, and always probing their cages, ready to strike out.

Aboard The USS Enterprise, James Kirk answered the call of his still-new First Officer, Will Decker.

"Status, Number One?"

"Call from The Iron Fang, sir. Koloth says its urgent."

Kirk nodded.

"Well, we are supposed to be at peace, now. Put him on-screen."

"Kirk."

"Koloth."

"Kirk, its a disaster. Somehow, The Kzinti have taken over The Dead Zone."

Jim shook his head.

"Ships that are heavily monitored and cannot travel armed have managed to take over the most heavily scanned area in The Quadrant? Koloth, no offense, but are you sure?"

Koloth took no offense. The situation was absurd.

"I know, Kirk. But things get worse. You see, The Romulans are not sending any forces to aid us. They have further said that if we fail to drive the Kzinti out within three months----it will be war."

"All the while, making sure never to actually violate the DZ. But, Koloth, the Romulans wouldn't dare arm the Kzinti themselves-covertly or overtly. So who provided the crucial transport?"

Koloth actually frowned.

"Ever hear of a race called The Breen, Kirk?"

Jim put his head in his hands. He was getting a headache.

"In passing."

In the meantime, Chekov's efforts to teach Xon about human ways—hit some snags. Xon sat and sang.

"In Sha-Ka-Ree, There Is No Beer; So Logically, We Drink It Here...."

Scotty looked at an exasperated Pavel.

"Chekov, just how many beers has that man guzzled down?"

Never looking up, Chekov responded.

"One."

Unknown to anyone, there was a third unwanted presence in The Dead Zone. Undetectable by long-range sensors, it waited and watched the Kzinti/Breen activity. Older than the Universe itself, King Ghidorah knew well how to wait.

Chapter 4 - Lie Down With Lions.......

THE KZINTI/BREEN HELD DEAD ZONE, 2282

Three months had come and gone, and still the dead zone was occupied. After some blustering statements, the Romulans had withdrawn the threat of war. For the joint Klingon/Federation Expeditionary Force, that had been the one and only piece of good news. The respective and respected Commanders, Kirk and Koloth, had each witnessed scenes of heartbreaking defeat. Kirk had seen two of his crew executed on wide-band broadcast.

"I am Pridor Ska'ar of The Fantastic Army Of The Restored Kzinti Preeminence. We lions have long memories, Kirk. We knew they would send you. We remember the many setbacks you handed us. We remember your crew. Bring forward the Caitian and The lobstrosity!"

She had been stripped and her fur shaved. She had been beaten within an inch of the life that was about to be taken from her. But no amount of Kzinti torture could truly break Lieutenant Commander M'Ress. She surprised no one on the Enterprise by showing dignity and humor. She mooned the screen, her tight backside now missing a tail.

"I hope you and Pavel are there, Hikaru. You two always were trying to peep on me in the refresher. Well here it is!"

Pridor Sk'aar stood dumbfounded.

"Death awaits you--and you flirt with those hairless apes?"

M'ress smiled.

"Its called friendship, Pridor. Its called Love. Plussss, I've got a great behind. Maybe if you Kzinti lions weren't always moaning about the hand fate dealt you in not conquering the galaxy, you wouldn't all be such puss....."

Those were her last words, as the blaster was pulled and fired repeatedly. The lions shook with fury at her defiance.

"Bring Arex."

His limbs were all gone, but he too had a smile that reflected almost obscene serenity.

"Do you wish to flirt, lobster-king?"

"Noooo. Pavel snores. Sorry Chekov. Nooo. I smiiile--because I have seen what the Breen really look like, beneath those masks. You avaricious Kzinti have no idea what you've thrown in with."

"What, pray tell, have we 'thrown in' with?"

Arex communed with his beliefs as he died, refusing to say another word. Then the transmission went blank.

"Captain's Log. While M'ress and Arex left us at the beginning of our third tour, they, like poor Captain Janice Rand, found raped and murdered in her quarters aboard The Ice-Breaker, remain a part of our hearts. Those that gouge out those hearts will find themsleves in the deepest regret possible, soon after."

Kirk couldn't comprehend the Kzinti mentality. Kidnapping and executing two of his former bridge officers was not a tactic of any soundness. There was a madness about, and not merely in the Dead Zone. Uhura spoke to him.

"Captain, the services are all planned. As per Caitian custom, all of M'ress's lovers are to stand up and give details of their passion together. But I don't know if Pavel is up to it."

"Unless it will insult her clan, let him off the hook, Commander. The wonders he's done with Xon have earned him a reprieve."

Last week, Xon had answered a question in one medium-long sentence. A testament to Chekov's growth as an officer and teacher, and a triumph for his Captain's patience. In Science Officer Xon's quarters, he asked Chekov a question that did not involve human popular culture and its ramifications.

"Commander, not to pry, but---how was M'ress, when you would share a night together?"

Pavel grinned, despite the grief.

"She vould alvays insist I leave my socks on............."

And so it was that in this one short talk, Xon learned more of humans and other species than in a short lifetime of lofty tomes and cold analyses.

Meanwhile, Koloth had troubles uniquely his own.

"Klaa, you fool! You are transmitting from where?"

The arrogant young Captain smiled.

"We, Force Commander, are well inside the Dead Zone. Ten ships strong, all cloaked--and with over two thousand Breen prisoners in tow. Does boldness still have a place in the Empire?"

"If you come back in one piece it does, pup! I shall decide whether to kill you or honor you upon your return. Koloth out."

Klaa stared at his Breen captors.

"They are convinced that we are still in charge. Kirk will die, as you have promised in exchange for our quick surrender. Now what happens?"

The Breen at last removed their helmets. Klaa stood and stared, his heart pounding. Each Breen had a golden head, and reptilian features. They were the features of The Ancient Destroyer. The Breen, you see, were The Spawn Of Ghidorah. They spoke with the echo of an eerie astral wail behind them.

"Now, we feast!"

The snaking heads found the Klingons delicious. Klaa never did stop shaking, even as he went whole down his captor's gullet.

The result of a failed effort in DNA weaponry meant to destroy Ghidorah one billion years ago, The Breen had even once made a deal with corrupt humans to populate the Earth with their hybrids, a gargantuan plot turned back by two FBI Special Agents at great cost. For now, though, they merely concentrated on feasting--and the Klingons were hardly the only victims of this hunger. The Kzinti Pridor of Pridors went to check on his wives and children in their quarters. But they were all gone.

"Attend me."

Silence.

"ATTEND ME!!!!"

The only things that attended him were thousands of small, golden winged bat-pirhana creatures. The Kzinti had picked up their kit and kaboodle and inhabited the Dead Zone. Now, all they were was food for the Breen's young - The Dorats, as they were called. But then, when one lies down with dragons, one tends to get eaten. The lions' place at the table finally became unimportant, as they were now all on the table, and dinner, as is said, was being served.

"Captain's Log. The forces within the Dead Zone are circling the wagons. While there are numerous holes in their defense, both Koloth and I agree that these are traps. To this end, we send only ShuttleX with four of my best to probe what may be their real weak areas. In my heart, I know Hikaru Sulu is up to the task. But having lost two during this campaign, I want him, Will, Ilia and Xon all back in one piece. Like Pierce, I am a sore loser--when it comes to death."

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

USS RELIANT, 2286

Captain Chekov stopped his account there. The intercom beeped.

"Bridge to Captain."

"Chekov here."

"Ambassador Spock and the Klingon, Colonel Worf, have arrived, sir. Putting the Ambassador on now, sir."

"Congratulations and Condolences, Captain Chekov. But I fear far worse lies ahead. The good news - we may have information vital to destroying Ghidorah in our possession."

While that was good news, Chekov was no fool, and braced himself.

"What is the bad news, Ambassador?"

Spock caught his breath, the situation itself taxing him to his limits.

"Colonel Worf informs me--that based on bad intelligence that Q'onos received about the Federation--they developed a certain substance they believed the Federation already had in its possession. Captain, that substance--was Corbomite."

Chekov swore an oath.

"Colonel Worf! Was this substance's development ever completed?"

The Klingon hid his grief over the loss of most of his people like a true warrior.

"I am afraid so, Captain. We had large towers filled to bursting with this substance, all over the planet. It was--supposed to be a deterrent. As a result, the coming shockwave will be slower-moving but harder hitting--perhaps up to five hundred times harder."

Chekov shut his eyes, and did the math himself as an exercise. It was a grim exercise with a grim answer.

"This sector of space is going to turn to splinters of rock and dust."

David Marcus asked the big question.

"Captain, what the hell is Corbomite?"

Chekov looked out at eternal space.

"David, it vas a bluff your father inwented. It ees a bluff that ve are finally being called on, and all we have are 2's and 6's. I suppose in these, the end times, lies become truth, as well."

Carol Marcus looked directly at her son as she spoke to Chekov. Her face was half fury, half apology for the odd turns of events and poorly timed revelations.

"No, Pavel. Lies are always lies--and they always come back at you."

David only half-smiled. The thought, while appreciated, would take time for him to allow as truth. Chekov was on the Ship's Main Intercom.

"RED ALERT!! THEES EES THE KEPTIN!! PREPARE FOR HIGH-END SHOCKWAVE! BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!"

And as he and his crew did that, Chekov's mind darted back to The Dead Zone and four years ago, when the life of The Quadrant and the life of his friends were both in heavy doubt.
 

Chapter 5 - A Captain Rises

ShuttleX was its name, but it was more like a small starship. Overenhanced and overpowerful, it was the ultimate hit-and-run weapon. Right at that moment, it was commanded by Hikaru Sulu. Although his First Officer, Will Decker, was also there, all had agreed to defer to Sulu's superior experience. He had become very good at these sort of missions, and they were a good way of working off the frustration of not being promoted to First Officer. He heard his Science Officer, Xon speak.

"The Kzinti ships no longer move in their natural formation. Rather than the 'valley' technique, like great cats surveying pridelands, theirs is now a jagged line, like Earth's Crocodiles, all lying in wait."

Empathic Lieutenant Ilia seconded this, in her own way.

"I am no longer sensing the thrusting aggression that has always marked the Kzinti. Rather, there is a--flow--as though something unwanted and toxic were seeping forward. Commander---there is evil here. Pure Evil. He--he who is neither pain nor pleasure--The Ender Of All Sensations....."

Will Decker actually shouted at his former lover.

"Ilia, LET IT GO!! That stupid prophecy has no bearing on reality. The Breen are just another race. The Ender Of All Sensations---Is A Myth."

Sulu cocked an eyebrow.

"Ender Of All Sensations?"

Xon responded.

"The Deltan appellation for the creature of myth commonly known as The Ancient Destroyer. Another common name is---"

But Sulu was way ahead of him.

"Ghidorah."

There was silence after that, til Ilia spoke again.

"Sir, those ships are all Breen. The Kzinti are gone. More, I do not believe they could have used the trick which got them in to get out."

Xon agreed.

"With the Dead Zone surrounded by heavy cruisers, utilizing overlaps in the sensor grid would be completely ineffective. Telepathically, I too, pick up a 'smell' of death. The Kzinti have all been killed by the Breen."

"Is that even possible? The Kzinti had snuck in tens of millions of troops, and hundreds of millions of their civilians. If this is true, than only those Kzinti on their homeworld yet live."

Sulu checked the Breen ships on sensors. There was a whisper of movement that would have eluded Decker, but not a twenty-year man like himself.

"No, there are no Kzinti left--period. The Caitians declared war after M'Ress's public execution. But it was more like genocide. God, I'd hate for someone that sexy to be remembered with slaughter."

Decker grinned.

"Was there anyone M'ress didn't sleep with? No offense, Commander, but I don't think there was."

"She wouldn't have taken offense, Will. M'ress would say, 'There's a stereotype about Caitian women, and I mean to embrace it.' She joked about sex, but loved everyone she was with-and quite a few she wasn't. She greatly admired Captain Kirk. Offered him her company the night Peter was found alive. The Captain had other company."

Xon asked a question.

"Why does everyone on board speak so euphemistically about the sexual/romantic relationship between the Captain and Commander Uhura? It is well known that they are old friends. Are they ashamed of this relationship?"

Sulu shrugged.

"I think, Xon, that they just like to keep it illicit to give it flavor. Heh. If you want to see a dancing around relationship, you should see The Captain's nephew and Ambassador Spock's ward, Saavik. They play kissy-face in private, and old married couple in public, and I'm certain......"

Before Xon could comment on how Vulcans do not play 'kissy-face', Sulu pushed on the thrusters. Decker looked at sensors to confirm.

"Breen in pursuit!"

Sulu smiled.

"No offense, Will. But this is why I'm in charge, here."

With the Breen ships gaining, Hikaru did the last thing anyone expected.

"Releasing Thruster Pods!"

ShuttleX had cheap, disposable thruster pods that could be fired away like rockets. Once fired off, they gave the ship tremendous forward momentum, and hit any pursuers with a staggering force. This tore through the lines of the Breen ships, which had never bothered to raise shields against the Shuttle. Fully half were taken in the resulting cascade. Decker then piloted ShuttleX back to the Federation/Klingon lines. Koloth waited, and grew impatient. He called Kirk.

"Congratulations to your people, Kirk. But if you had scored that kind of hit against me, I'd be on you like a wedding couple on a roast targ. Where are the Breen?"

Captain Kirk considered his colleague's honest question.

"Koloth---damned if I know."

Rather it was the Breen who were damned. At their main base, they welcomed their 'father', Ghidorah. They removed their helmets and showed their features, so much like the gold head.

"Lord Ghidorah, we are your children."

This message was sent to The Ancient Destroyer, using their common DNA code as the transmitter. Then, a response was received.

"I am The Enemy Of Life. There Can Be No Greater Abomination to me--than my own progeny. Die."

Rarely had Ghidorah merely blasted a region with all three heads firing beams simultaneously. But it had never been so disgusted. When all was done, The Dead Zone truly earned its name, and cloaked Ghidorah was never seen. This would change. For now, though, the Breen were turned to paste under a gravimetric nightmare, disrupted at the cellular level, and erased summarily.

"Captain's Log. Whatever The Breen Superweapon was, it failed them in the worst way. Two races being wiped away can hardly be called a victory. But life still has its victories."

He looked over at his grinning 2nd shift helmsman, who had given a rip-roaring speech about sex with M'Ress at the Passion Accounting. Perhaps, Jim thought, balance had been achieved.

"Yes, Life does have its victories. Just ask Captain Hikaru Sulu, USS Cooper. He still deserves better, but I'm selfish. I like this seat."

Next : Tholians, Ilia/Decker, and Chekov gets a surprise of his own--past and present!

Chapter 6 - The Shining One

Reliant, 2286

Captain Chekov was hauling vital ship's systems to secured areas, in hopes they would survive the gathering shockwave. Qo'nos destruction, backed up by, of all things, Corbomite, would take out much of the surrounding regions of space. He saw Lieutenant Guinan working on the shield enhancements.

"Those are some strange additions, Mister Guinan. Vhat tech are they derived from, might I ask?"

The El-Aurian never once looked up. She was working at a fevered pace.

"Before Ghidorah came, the Borg assimilated a member of my family. I---had to try and retrieve her. Borg shields are second to none in their adaptivity. She escaped and rejoined the Collective, but not before I knew shield harmonics calibration better than anyone except Soran. My--dealings with Q didn't hurt that knowledge, either. Sir, a question. Is anyone of your direct acquaintance named 'Rock'?"

Chekov puzzled at that.

"As a proper name or a name's meaning, Guinan?"

"Oh. Just the meaning. Its the old prophecy again. I feel you know the ones who may stop Ghidorah. Just an odd sensation, that's all."

Chekov snapped his fingers, then hit the intercom.

"Ambassador Spock, please come to the shield generators."

Guinan almost seemed annoyed.

"All respect to the Ambassador, Captain, but I can do this job myself."

"Then vith his help, you'll do it twice as fast, Lieutenant. But that's not the only reason I'm calling him."

Spock was prompt as ever.

"Then why, Captain? My work in enhancing communications' ability to cope with the shockwave is far from complete."

"My apologies, Mister Ambassador. But ve have been friends long enough for me to know that you vould vish to hear this."

"More grave news, I fear?"

Chekov shook his head.

"No, sir. Great news, rather. Your ward Saavik has re-bonded to Peter Kirk! More over, Captain Kirk has acknowledged Peter as his son. The best part, though, is a real ray of hope."

"Always welcomed in time such as these, Captain."

Spock was glad in his heart that Saavik and her beloved Peter had re-married, particularly given the role he himself played in the dissolution of the couple's first bond. Now, he would acknowledge Saavik as his daughter, and he knew Peter to be as fine a man as Jim. It was the union of two already-close families. Spock felt amusement at the fact that the quietly strong Peter had taken him as a role model, while Saavik looked up to Jim Kirk. Yet, they were also both their father's children. Spock vowed then and there to be the best belated father in the history of such matters. His little one needed him.

"What is the other piece of good news, Pavel?"

Chekov grinned and actually put his hands on Spock's shoulders.

"Sir--The Keptin is going to be a grandfather! Saavik is pregnant!"

A remarkable thing then happened. Pavel stared at the deck floor where Spock lay. Guinan finally said it out loud.

"Well, well. That has to be the first time I've ever seen a Vulcan faint."
 

Colonel Worf saw the unconscious form of Ambassador Spock. Puzzled, he then looked at Captain Chekov.

"Is the Ambassador injured?"

Chekov was just as puzzled at seeing his former mentor faint dead away.

"No. The floor is carpeted. Its strange. All I did was tell him about the marriage and pregnancy of his ward, a young woman named Saavik."

The Colonel nodded.

"That would explain it, then. This Saavik is actually the Ambassador's daughter. He recovered those memories during our journey here. Is the husband an honorable man?"

Chekov nodded, but felt a little indignant at the question.

"He is Captain Kirk's son, Peter. They have been in love for---ever."

"Indeed. Once, the grandchild of Kirk and Spock would have been cursed by the Empire as a devil-spawn. Now, in these last days, it is hope. I welcome it."

Chekov looked at Worf.

"Colonel, do I know you?"

"Yes, Captain. I was serving under Captain Kang when that entity set the two crews against each other for its pleasure. You kidnapped Lady Mara, and knocked me unconscious, proclaiming I had killed your brother--a brother, I later discovered, you never had. The influence of the entity unbalanced you, as it did so many of us."

"Ah, yes. That's highly significant. You--wore your hair differently, then."

"As did you, Captain Chekov. Back then, you looked like a monkey of some sort."

"Colonel, don't get me started on my hair."

Lieutenant Guinan then returned from Sickbay with a stimulant for the Ambassador. She injected it into Spock, but he failed to revive. Guinan shook her head.

"Captain, I have another method of revival. Its an old El-Aurian trick used on patients with heart trouble."

"By all means, Lieutenant, try it. Ve need to get the Ambassador up and around."

Guinan leaned over, and put her head next to Spock's left ear. She put her mouth an inch away from the ear, then breathed in.

"Mister Ambassador......GET UP BEFORE YOU FREAKING DIE!"

Spock started, and looked around. He then rubbed his ear. Chekov scowled at Guinan. She shrugged.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

Spock took Guinan's hand, then turned her head towards him.

"LIEUTENANT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

Guinan grasped her head, and now began to question El-Aurian folk remedies.

"You're welcome, sir."

Chekov looked at Spock.

"Sir, I apologize for springing the news on you in that manner. Had I realized Lieutenant Kirk was your daughter..."

"No need for apologies, Pavel. But I am still unsure as to how much of a father I can be to Saavik--I fear I was emotionally unprepared for this further development, logical though it may be. I find myself wishing Jim were here, if only in some small way."

Just then, in walked Doctor David Marcus.

"Captain, the Regula Crew has completed the sensor enhancements you wanted--that's the good news. The bad news is---the shockwave is just as bad as we feared. The worse news is--I don't think we can get above it all in time. The worst news is sensor sightings of an organic---about a megameter and a half in total diameter. Its King Ghidorah, and he's making a beeline for us--this ship's position, sir. Maybe even for this ship."

Guinan stepped in.

"That doesn't make any sense. The Ambassador's daughter and her husband are the only real threats to Ghidorah, and they're aboard the Enterprise."

Spock naturally was surprised to hear this about Saavik and Peter.

"Lieutenant, in what way do you speak of my daughter and son-in-law? What do they posess that is a threat to The Ancient Destroyer?"

"Well, they have each other, for starters. Gods, I can feel their love from here. But more, they are The Rock Upon Which Even Ghidorah's Teeth Will Break. They Are The Champions Of Life, The Face That Stares Over The Hill. If the time is right, they will face Ghidorah in physical combat--with all Life as the Prize."

Spock sat back down at this.

"All her life, I have failed to protect her. How can I hope to do so now when her burden is nearly incomprehensible?"

Chekov hoped he had the answer.

"Sir, you don't need to protect her. Those two children, now adults, are the most dangerous people in the entire universe. I pity Ghidorah, for having to face them. His death is assured, to me."

"By what science do you make so sweeping a proclamation, Captain?"

"The science of Genetics, sir. Saavik and Peter also happen to have the two most dangerous fathers in the Universe. Logic dictates their victory over King Death."

Spock allowed a small smile, just as David Marcus interrupted again.

"Anxious as I am to see my Big Brother again, we have to get underway. Our survival's still in question, vis-a-vis the Shockwave, but--I have a plan."

Spock nodded.

"Of course you do, Doctor. The science of Genetics once again------"

Spock had a dramatic realization.

"Doctor, is the Genesis Prototype aboard this ship?

"Well, sure. We weren't gonna leave it to be studied or stolen on Regula One."

Chekov caught on, as well.

"Ghidorah is after Genesis."

Guinan nodded.

"He fears it. He wants to go after The Rock, but his animal instincts fear Genesis more immediately."

Worf questioned what Guinan said.

"Lieutenant, how could you know such a thing? Also---have we met?"

"I'm not an empath, Colonel. But given that monster's size and power, its actually more difficult not to sense what its putting out. And no, I don't think we've met--but I know what you mean. You seem familiar, somehow as well."

Spock stood up, and put parental issues aside for now.

"Neither Genesis nor the information we posses must be lost. We must seek and rendevous with The Enterprise. Reliant is not even remotely prepared to deal with Ghidorah. But if I know Captain Kirk - and I do - he will have prepared for the beast, at least enough to survive the encounter."

Chekov finalized a difficult decision.

"Ambassador Spock, I wish to request that you take command of this ship."

Spock shook his head.

"A starship needs consistency in Command structure, Pavel."

Chekov stood firm.

"No, my friend. A starship needs a man who can bring it through in a pinch. I am reasonably certain I can do so. I am completely certain, however, that you can."

Spock both knew and appreciated what it cost Chekov to say that. To give up his command to a possibly better qualified officer, for the sake of the mission. Especially this mission, one of the most vital of their lives. He knew they had to reach Jim.

"I accept temporary command, then, of Starship Reliant. Get underway, and Doctor Marcus, I will hear of your plan in the company of your fellow scientists. Colonel Worf, I will request that you take tactical."

Worf nodded. The thought of having the Butcher of Q'onos in his weapon-sights had definite appeal to the grieving Klingon.

On the Bridge, Chekov was more than happy to be an XO again. The manner of his promotion still ate at him, and would, he felt, be a hindrance to Command. Spock took note of this.

"Captain Chekov, are you regretting your choice?"

"No, sir. I was merely hoping that any inquest as to Reliant's eventual fate goes better than Hikaru Sulu's, as regarded the USS Cooper."

Spock clearly frowned, remembering the opportunity that tragedy presented to the Ghidorans at Admiralty Hall. They had destroyed Sulu then, and enjoyed doing it.

"Pavel, it would almost have to go better. What happened to Captain Sulu was a farce and a travesty of military justice."

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

Chapter 6 - The Shining One

Admiralty Hall, San Francisco, Earth, 2284

After the two legends he had served under, there was probably no better command-qualified member of the Original Enterprise Bridge Crew than Hikaru Sulu. His name meant The Shining One, and amidst a crew of stars, he did indeed manage to shine through. For this reason he had been given command of the science/exploration vessel, USS Cooper, in 2282.

But Cooper's mission, to chart the recent Tholian cresting, had been a failure. The USS Cooper was gone. So was most of her crew. So were The Tholians. With the vanishing of the Kzinti and Breen races, this made three notable species on the extinct list. In two years time, though, The Ancient Destroyer would make three vanished races seem almost a nostalgic statistic from a golden age. But for now, it was the loss of USS Cooper that was of concern. The Cooper--and its Captain.

On several levels, the court-martial hearing that was examining Captain Sulu's actions was patently illegal. He had no counsel. The very same people who had given the orders that had placed Cooper at the scene and circumstance of its destruction now sat in judgment over its Captain. Most of all, Admiralty Hall had no legal authority to conduct these hearings.

Since it was first built, despite the massive protests organized by Cadet First Class George Samuel Kirk, Senior, in 2225, certain Admirals had come to work out of the clubbish Hall itself. In time, as The Order Of The Ancient Destroyer strengthened its position within Starfleet Command, it was a very few Admirals who did not work out of there. Orders began to be issued bearing Admiralty Hall's stamp. Orders for missions were supposed to come from SpaceProbe. Orders for promotions were supposed to come from The Career Tower. Court-Martials were supposed to be handled by as many like-ranked officers as possible, for reasons of fairness and propriety.

But 'The Hall' had slowly and systematically simply assumed all such powers, despite the steadfast refusal of The Federation Council to vote on the subject, up or down. One reason was that there had been a lot of court-martials of late. As the Order tried to rid Starfleet of what it saw as 'alien-lovers', many orders were given that either led to suicide missions or a flat refusal to follow those orders. To their frustration, one Captain who kept returning from these suicide runs was James Kirk. Another reason for The Hall's absorption of prerogatives stood directly in front of Sulu.

His name was Brock Cartwright. He was many things. Among them was liar, murderer, and thug. Captain Cartwright had risen to the Grand Admiral's position in a manner that no one could figure, after the untimely death of Nogura. At a favored restaurant in New Orleans, Sulu had heard the owner, Chef Sisko, say outright that his cousin Brock had laughingly spoken of causing Nogura's passing. He was a man who was powerful, corrupt, and didn't care who knew it. He was also a xenophobe, and hated non-Terrans with a vengeance. Some whispered that he called himself, 'The Fourth Head', whatever that meant.

Hikaru knew he was in trouble. Despite his assumption of responsibility, all five other survivors of the Cooper had been demoted to Ensign and sentenced to twelve months at a harsh rehab facility. But he also knew something else, even darker.

With his former Captain also being one of his best friends, it was impossible not to care about his family as well. Jim's many successive losses in that area had cut into his senior staff as well. But the greatest loss had been the death of his son--the apparent death. For all the grief involved, though, Hikaru really didn't 'get  it' until the one day infant Demora had wandered out of his sight for a full ten minutes. The icy terror he felt before he found her hiding place made him wonder how Kirk even functioned, believing his boy was dead. It also meant that he joyed more than anyone except Jim or Uhura when Sarek recovered Peter. Then, the questions came.

Who had murdered Brianna, Jim's mother? Who had held the boy in cryo for better than a decade? How had terrorists struck in Iowa, of all places, but not made their presence known? Kang once offered up a Klingon's two cents on all this.

"Kirk, if it had been The Empire, we would have crowed about it and sent you video. Same with the Romulans, and most powers I can think of. I leave you with this--there is only one power in this quadrant that does these things and then hides them beneath a veneer of respectability. Your Federation."

But that avenue led nowhere, and even capturing and questioning the Section 31 agent who had attempted to recruit McCoy told them nothing. The man's suicide had nearly taken Spock with him, as a desperate mind-meld failed to recover needed information. Slowly, though, The Enterprise came to feel like a ship under siege by its own government. Back in 81', when Sulu had been denied XO status upon Spock's departure, it was all confirmed, in their eyes.

Sulu shuddered as he realized that Peter Kirk's cryo-chamber had probably been kept only a few levels below where he stood right then. Peter was a good, strong kid, every inch his father's son, even if he didn't know it. But the pain of what had been done to him showed. In 79', when Jim had played a dumb game of peek-a-boo with the recovered boy, he had gone feral, and tore the crew apart. That, Hikaru, thought, was how someone might react if they'd been chloroformed and abducted before. As the morale -sapping waiting period finally ended, Hikaru offered up an unspoken prayer that Spock's untoward challenge of Peter's marriage to Saavik would fail. Both Jim's kids deserved happiness. Cartwright spoke, now.

"Captain, this body is prepared to hear your opening statement. My advice : Keep it brief. Your standing is shaky enough as it is."

Now, the woman known as 'Short-Eyes' Bunson.

"I say that no opening statement is necessary in such an obvious case of....."

Sulu shouted out, then.

"Cadet? What are you doing here?"

When Bunson's head turned involuntarily, Sulu chuckled loudly. She did not.

"Captain Sulu, you're attitude displays massive contempt of this body and these proceedings!"

Now, Sulu spoke, and the monster itself couldn't have stopped him. He opened up both banks, and fired at will.

"Contempt, Admiral? No, I'm afraid it all runs far deeper than that. I flatly do not recognize the authority of this social club--for that's all it is. A social club for bigots to sit and agree with each other. I have watched as you have given orders that make no sense. I have watched as the careers of good men and women were shattered on no pretext at all. That's how its gone. You seize more power, and we fall back. You have shattered every covenant by which this Starfleet is supposed to be run. You no longer have the confidence and respect of those you command. So you say I show contempt? I can only answer that charge in one way, and that is by saying, You Are Damned Right. I have endless, flowing contempt for you bigoted bunch of desk-bound baby-raping power mongers. You are not Starfleet. Not even remotely. I don't know what you are—but whatever it is, I am sickened by it--and I am saddened by it. For Once, appearing before this body would have meant something to me."

Sulu knew the silence that followed was an attempt to freeze out his words through a lack of response. That, the, was why he had chosen those words so carefully. Komack tapped his viewscreen.

"The first charge is a failure to clear crew appointments for the Cooper with Admiralty Hall..........."

Sulu had to chuckle at the charge. He hadn't known his crew for very long, but he would never have submitted to the Hall for their stamp of approval.

Then, the laughter stopped, as he realized he hadn't gotten to know his crew at all. There just hadn't been time.

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

Earth, 2282

"Well, everyone, lets get beamed up and underway."

First Officer Hansen nodded.

"An excellent meal, Captain Sulu. Thank Captain Kirk for letting us use his apartment. Oh, and was that Cadet Richard Grayson doing the serving?"

Sulu quickly reminded himself that 'Richard Grayson' was a false ID used by Jim's son Peter at the Academy.

"Yes, Anya, it was. Do you know Cadet Grayson?"

Helmsman Nolan Paris spoke up.

"Know him? Captain, he's the undisputed martial arts champ in all classes! Plus, they say he's got a command potential not seen at The Academy since, welll......"

Sulu smiled.

"Captain Kirk?"

Nolan held up his hand, shaking his finger.

"Riigght. Lucky guess, sir."

Not so lucky, thought Hikaru. Apples and Trees, and all that.

"Well, here's to The USS Cooper--and God bless and keep the Tholians--at least a parsec away at all times."

"To The Cooper!"

From Hansen to Joe Torres in engineering and on through, they weren't the very best. But they were the best he could hope for while skirting Admiralty Hall's byzantine selection process. Captain Sulu would at least have a capable crew. Not that it would help.

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

Admiralty Hall, 2284

Sulu gave no response as the second charge was read.

".....That Captain Sulu failed to complete his most basic of missions, the charting of the Tholian cresting zone."

Again, Hikaru remembered vividly being cut off at the knees.

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

Tholian Space, 2283

Captain Jepric, the extremely young, snide CO of The USS Lord Acton, was living proof of 'Its Who You Know.'

"Captain Sulu, you can transmit the Cresting data or I can arrest you. Your choice."

"Well, Jepric, since you asked so nicely, here it is. Now please depart. The Tholians haven't detected us yet, and I prefer it that way."

"Don't give me orders, Xenophile! Boy, 'Kirk's Kids' are just full of attitude. How that Chekov got to be XO aboard the Reliant is beyond me."

"Its beyond me, too, Jepric. After all, Pavel isn't like you. He's an experienced, seasoned, talented officer."

"Sulu, don't push me!"

"Jepric-and you can tell this to the Hall--I'm pushing."

Hansen looked up.

"They're going to take the credit for our efforts, aren't they, Sir?"

Sulu nodded.

"That's a safe bet, Mister Hansen. Jepric--and bigots like him—are pets of The Hall."

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

Earth, 2284

"The next charge--that Captain Sulu exceeded Mission Parameters."

This time Sulu did respond.

"You bet your corrupt asses I did!"

Admiral Bunson snickered.

"Quite eloquent, Captain Sulu. Care to expound on that prose?"

"That all depends, Admiral. I have a date with a Cadet Candidate tonight, and thought you might want to double. Fact : The Cooper spent months telling you people that the Tholians were cresting out of control. But it took that one horrible day to bring it all back home."

Komack studied the record.

"You refer to your failure at Terazed Prime?"

Hikaru was a man with nothing left to lose. Jim had Demora aboard the Enterprise, and no one would protect her more fiercely than the man who had lost most of his own family. He spoke with conviction and with pride.

"I have failures aplenty in my life. But Terazed--that's all on you. All of it. The Line Of Blood leads back here. Terazed's people. All the lost ships and crews. All the ruined lives. Not to mention the life of the finest young man I've ever known."

As Sulu began to recount the Terazed disaster, he noticed the helmeted guard next to him using his fingers to sign out a short message—a message only he could read, it being based on an internal Enterprise code.

"Be Ready."

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

Tholian Space, 2284

"Helen, what is the message?"

Helen Kim looked it over.

"Well, Captain, the Translator has a rough time with Tholian, but—it appears to be -- 'Build---He Comes'. Ad Infinitum"

Science Officer Beltran had some further grave news.

"Sir, the Tholians are dying. The unique crystalline energy signatures that correspond to their 'Queens' have fallen off. I believe the current building frenzy has brought about race suicide."

Sulu took his chair.

"Mister Beltran, is that even possible? How could even this level of activity destroy their queens?"

"Exhaustion, sir. Much like people expecting a famine, the Tholians fail to recognize that eating the seed-corn only calms the hunger very briefly. Afterwords, no new crops will ever grow. What could make them panic like this, though--well, sometimes fauna on Earth can sense a coming storm or climatic shift."

"Meaning that the Tholians know something we don't, and its making them crazy. That, in turn, makes us crazy. Mister Paris, set a course for Terazed Prime. I want to bypass the Hall, and speak directly to Captain Kirk. We need a heavy cruiser out here, pronto."

Kim at Communications shook her head.

"Terazed does not answer, sir."

Sulu had once owned a puppy. The playful little guy liked to jump his fence. One day, when he came home to find the pen empty, Hikaru got a sick feeling. Sure enough, a landing transport had hit and killed him. That sick feeling now returned.

"Warp 6 to Terazed. Blast any Tholians in our way--my authority."

First Officer Hansen spoke up.

"Captain, firing on Tholian vessels..."

"XO, you have your orders."

Orders that she followed--to no avail. The scene on Terazed was sickening.

"My God, Captain--its like Vesuvius!"

"Its like cryo, only--they're gone."

"The Tholians did this--why? We'd only 'infect' their 'nest'."

"You-you-you can see them! This---"

Sulu had no words. The Federation Colony on Terazed Prime, home to many thousands, had been built over by the rampaging, panicked Tholians. The people and buildings remained. But they were like fossilized insects in crystalline amber. The building wave had come quickly. None of the people had frozen screams. It was just another day--except that it would likely last forever. The colonists had thought the Captain Sulu slammed down his fist.

"I am summarily declaring Mission Failure. Contact Starfleet and tell them we're pulling out. My orders are--get us clear of Tholian space--til this--this self-genocide is done."

"Captain--they must have a series of relays, leading back to Earth. We're already getting a response."

"Put it on audio, Kim."

"Cooper! Do Not Withdraw! These orders come directly from Admiralty Hall."

"Sulu here. Does The Hall understand our position? The Tholians have destroyed Terazed, and butchered their own queens. We must at least pull back."

"Do you understand orders, Sulu? Do Not Withdraw! We must show our enemies that suicide tactics do not work."

Paris shook his head.

"Its a neat trick--but they can only do it once."

Sulu bid Kim cut off the Audio.

"Everyone--get us the hell out of here."

The crew needed no prompting or reminders to do that.

"Sir, we've stopped."

"Worse, the lower section has picked up Tholian breeders, using biodomes. Captain--the ship's seventy percent crystallized!"

Sulu had a plan. Sadly, that plan was amputation of the body to save the brain.

"If we can, detonate our four photon torpedoes within the lower section. We'll crack up, but it'll blow this section clear."

They could, and they did. The Bridge, itself an emergency bio-dome, was pushed forward and out of the expanded Tholian region. Though life-support never failed, Sulu breathed easier when The Essex came for them. Then, the court-martials of the seven survivors began. Sulu was the last to be tried. He did not find out what the now-extinct Tholians were panicked over. But he would. So would everyone.

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

Earth, 2284

The verdict was a no-brainer.

"Captain Sulu, having been found guilty on all counts, this Council hereby invokes General Order Seven......."

The Guard next to Sulu cried out.

"Now, Hikaru! Make for Jim's place! I'll hold them off!"

The guard fired with a strength and precision that belied his being a mere thug. He even fired up into hidden observation windows, killing members of Section 31 as he went. Their bodies fell hard and hit the ground. Sulu shook his head.

"Whoever you are, I won't leave you behind!"

"GO!"

Sulu felt an unmistakable telepathic push, and so he left, as the guard did exactly as he promised. When he was beamed aboard the Enterprise, he sat down and collapsed as his worried Captain looked on.

"Hikaru, we received a signal...the Hall is shielded…are you...all right?"

Kirk had obviously run the distance to see his old friend. Hikaru looked up, a very broken man.

"I'm fine, Jim--after all, I'm home, aren't I?"

"Bridge To Captain Kirk! Important news from down on Earth, sir."

"On audio, Number One."

Will Decker did just that.

"This just in to the Galactic News Network--a terrorist strike has occurred at the very heart of the Federation. The venerable Admiralty Hall has been bombed. We are told the building is completely destroyed. There are believed to be no survivors. More as we have it."

Sulu shook his head.

"That guard--the one who saved me. Captain, it must have been him! But I have no clue as to his real identity."

"Captain Sulu--all I know is, whoever it was, they are a hero to all those who lost respect for their Command. A new day dawns on sanity."

Sulu would resume the role of helmsman aboard the USS Enterprise. But his failure would dog him. So would the mystery of the ID of his friend, the bomber.

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

Reliant, 2286

Chekov nodded.

"At least we now know the identity of that bomber, and why he did it."

Acting Captain Spock puzzled at this.

"Do we? Pavel, I must admit to being unaware of this revelation."

David Marcus smiled.

"It was my brother. He sent those SOB's straight to hell!"

Spock was alarmed at this notion.

"Peter? My Captain's son? My daughter's husband? How could he do such a thing, let alone by himself?"

"Sir, please understand. Nyota told me that Piotr vas not merely kidnapped at the behest of Admiralty Hall. They used him for their sick pleasures. As to alone--he had a sponsor. Sir, it vas Ambassador Sarek."

Spock swam in a sea of barely-contained dark emotions. The boy he cared for as befits the son of his thy'la had been subjected to the same depravations as Spock and his daughter Saavik. This daughter and son were thy'la to one another and had engaged in a very public and physical relationship since Peter's rescue. Now, those children had joined with Spock's own father to kill those in the service of a greater evil. Where, then, was the world he knew?

"All hands--secure--brace for shockwave!"

The shockwave from Q'onos destruction finally reached the small starship. As he sat and waited to see if they survived, Pavel Chekov sought to push aside thoughts of Ghidorah, riding the wave towards them. So he thought instead of his service as Reliant's XO.

Chapter Seven - Chekov Of The Reliant

USS Reliant, 2286

As the shockwave hit, Doctor David Marcus thought about many things. There was the shockwave itself, residue from the destruction of the Q'onos system. There was The Genesis Device, bolted down physically and magnetically next to him on the Bridge where he now slept. There was King Ghidorah, subject of all the old legends, now as real as - as David's brother. He tried not to question his mother's decision to keep James Kirk out of his life. That was done. But to find out that Peter Kirk, whom he had argued with not six months before, was his own half-brother was almost too much. The rest of it was beyond comprehension.

"Penny for your thoughts, Doctor?"

David saw that the person who addressed him was Lieutenant Guinan.

"Thanks, Lieutenant. Its just the surreal nature of things, right now."

"Things such as?"

"My brother is a prophesied hero, openly acknowledged son of the father I barely know---and he's married to a babe. I mean, have you seen pictures of this Saavik? I'd like to..."

But Guinan quickly covered David's lips with her finger.

"Uh, David? Saavik's Dad is in the center seat."

David became slightly flushed at this.

"Oops. Well, I'd still like to. But I'm gonna be an Uncle, too. From one relative to a whole gaggle in two weeks. And all it took was Armageddon to bring us together."

Guinan nodded.

"Yes, family reunions can be like that."

Of course, Acting Captain Spock had heard David's almost-comment. He wondered about the division between Jim's two sons. Peter was the very embodiment of the grim look that overtook Kirk's face when an enemy had crossed the line and had thereby earned total destruction. David, on the other hand, was the bored look on that same face, bending the rules not out of arrogance but just to see what would happen next. Then there was Jim's third child, the one he adopted. The woman, now again married to Peter and expecting his child. Her name was Saavik, Kirk by name, but Spock's daughter by blood. A lot of blood.

She had been bred, in part, to kill that which she came to love the best. Saavik had been created to kill Peter Kirk. But Spock's presence in her mind, at so early an age, kept her from becoming like her mother, Romulan Commander Linviaj. So any talk of 'Anti-Rocks' would fall away. If the El-Aurian Guinan were correct, the love that Saavik and Peter had felt since childhood would itself lead to Ghidorah's destruction.

But The Line Of Blood was long. Virtually everyone Spock knew or cared for had been ravaged by The Ghidoran Order, most of all his daughter and son-in-law. Spock still found the subject of Saavik's forced conception a disturbing one. Also troubling was Sybok's role in all this. He did not treasure the thought of hating his brother, but his actions on behalf of the Order were nearly incomprehensible.

"Then again, my own actions towards Saavikkam..."

Spock caught himself, realizing the toll that complete exhaustion was taking on him, to think out loud like that. But his attitude toward Saavik was no bright spot in his life. As McCoy would doubtless say, it stank. He could name without thinking the events in her life that he had deliberately missed. She thought herself disliked, when she was loved. She thought herself ugly, when she was beautiful in his eyes. She was a reminder of how Spock had held out against his captors on Hellguard. She was also a reminder of how they ultimately broke him. How he couldn't stop them from taking her away. How his own brother had betrayed him into captivity. She was a reminder of his limits, and his failures. As a result, she grew up awkward and unsure of herself, a target for those who felt the false confidence bigotry often bestows.

"History kept on repeating itself. The awkward part-human found a Kirk and then found that living without him was extremely difficult."

Spock concluded his reverie by deciding that, after his daughter was acknowledged and her forgiveness asked, he would thank Peter for loving her as he did, even through Spock's decision to support T'Pau's decree of dissolution regarding their first bond. That was a decision which still confounded even Spock.

"Captain Spock?"

"Yes, Doctor Marcus?"

"Has...my father spoken of me?"

"Quite often."

"Was it by mutual choice that he and my mother didn't...."

"That, David, is something you should ask them."

"Yeah. Well--what kind of man is my brother?"

Spock thought of the young man from whom he had often been as distant as he was from Saavik. This was not by choice. Peter's kidnapping and apparent death had Jim virtually silent on the subject til Sarek rescued the boy in 2278. Afterwords, it became obvious that Saavik and Peter were in a multi-leveled relationship, which only increased the silent Vulcan birth-father's discomfort in that tender area. Spock's answer to David was brief, but telling.

"He is The Rock."

Oddly, David seemed satisfied with this, and nodded appreciatively to Spock.

Both saw Commander Chekov finish speaking to the scientists and crew members on the lower decks, making sure they were secure as they rode out the shockwave, allowing themselves to be thrown about with only minimal attitude control, using overenhanced shields as cover. They were a straw in a great hurricane, and all aboard Reliant knew it.

Guinan looked at her instruments, shook her head and spoke up.

"Captains--right about now, we should be crashing into Delta Prime—but its not there anymore."

Spock understood.

"A stationary body such as a planet would be pulverized by this disaster. Only our ability to move about and be moved has saved us—thus far."

Chekov heard every word his mentor said with crystal clarity.

"If a breakfront should hit us with enough force--ve are just as dead."

The Klingon, Colonel Worf, offered a last prayer for the survival of the Klingon outer colonies, then spoke.

"Captain Chekov, when I came on board, I heard mention of a Captain Terrell. May I ask what became of him?"

Chekov complied with the request.

"Aboard Enterprise, ve had just said goodbye to Hikaru Sulu when the news of my own promotion came through......"

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

USS Enterprise, 2283

"Well, this is The Cooper, signing off. Pavel, don't press the self-destruct button on The Reliant--at least not for six months. That's my time in the betting pool."

Chekov shook his head at the on-screen image of Captain Sulu.

"Hikaru?"

"Yes, Pavel?"

"As far as jokes go, stick to Command."

"Watch it, Commander--and be careful, okay, 'little brother'?"

"I vill consider that an order, Keptin Sulu."

Pavel had one last matter to attend to before going into standby in the transporter room, prior to the rendezvous with Reliant, but he was stopped twice along the way.

"Anything wrong, Keptin?"

"No, Mister Chekov. In fact, I have a little something for you."

Kirk handed Chekov a printed book, and bade him open it up. It was 'The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer'. There was a message written inside. Pavel read it aloud.

"Dear Pavel : No Man Is Poor So Long As He Has Friends---Peter Kirk."

Chekov smiled.

"He remembered how much I love that old Fyodor Caprovsky film, 'it’s a Wonderful Life'. How is your boy doing, Keptin?"

Kirk smiled, a little nervous about what he had to say next.

"He's married, Pavel."

Chekov was taken aback by this.

"Married?! To Whom?"

"Oh, he ran off with Spock's mother Amanda--Chekov, just who in blazes do you think he married?"

"Ohhh....Saavik! Heh, sir. Your daughter married your son!"

"Ahh! We Kirks like to keep it in the family, like the Egyptian Pharoahs."

Chekov was not entirely sure his Captain and friend was joking, but let it go from there.

"Sir, I feel like your good news has a dark cloud over it."

"Very perceptive, Pavel. The problem, mainly, is Spock."

Chekov thought never to hear his mentor described in this light by the man's best friend.

"Ambassador Spock, sir? How could he present a problem on such a happy occasion as these beloved children--really The Children Of The Enterprise--finally fulfilling their obvious love for one another?"

Kirk nodded.

"I know, I know. But he has seen fit to challenge the bonding. They didn't exactly do it with anyone's permission. Fact is, Peter bonded with her during Pon Farr, to save her life. Put his own life at risk by doing so. They do love each other, but T'Pau has the right to review all such bondings, and Spock has filed his intention that it should be dissolved."

"But, Keptin---You Are Saavik's Father."

"Adoptive Father. Since Vulcan's law and rituals are just so blasted thick, I long ago empowered Spock to act on my behalf, so I wouldn't cause any problems for Saavik. Now he is using that power. Sonovabitch couldn't be bothered to show up for her Kahswan--but this--this gets his Vulcan tights all twisted!"

Kirk saw the pain this was causing Chekov.

"Pavel--I'm sorry. I just love both those kids so damned much, and I can't figure out why a man who is like my own brother has to pull something like this. Perhaps I love too many people, too well. Now, I watch another one of those people leave my ship. Godspeed, Pavel."

"Thank You----Jim."

Jim smiled.

"See? It only took you sixteen years."

On his way down, Chekov was stopped by Uhura. Behind her were all the women he knew--and some he didn't. Uhura looked grim.

"Commander Uhura? Is Something Wrong?"

"Pavel Andreiveitch Chekov--if you think you are getting off this ship--without kissing every woman in this line--you have another think coming, Mister!"

Then, Uhura kissed his eyeballs out.

"Nyota--what will the Keptin say?"

"Are you kidding? HE wanted to kiss you, too. But I talked him out of it. That one you just got--was from both of us."

Chekov saw the assembled line of beauties and cuties, all puckered and ready for him.

"I am leaving all this to investigate The Beta Quadrant?"

Into the Transporter room staggered a Pavel who was no longer sure his lips were attached. There he saw his own protege, the young Full Vulcan called Xon. Emotional scenes were out, Pavel knew.

"Do you have something to say for yourself, Mister Xon?"

Again, one would need to know Vulcans to truly understand the full meaning of Xon's next words, which were seemingly nondescript.

"Sir--you will write, won't you?"

"Seeing as your 'human lessons' are not yet done, it would  seem that I have no choice but to write. But, since it is also my great pleasure to do so, I vill simply have to write twice as often, for balance. Live Long And Prosper, Xon Of The Enterprise."

The young man happily returned the traditional salute.

"Live Long And Prosper, Chekov Of The Reliant."

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

USS Reliant, 2283

Pavel Chekov was having his first talk with his new Captain, Clark Terrell. Terrell was the man who broke the riddles of the anomalies others found. One such riddle now presented itself with readings from the Beta Quadrant that had remained static for far too long. Now, with an accessway negotiated by Ambassador Spock, the Reliant could tread on a tract of open space that the Klingons once defended just because.

The Beta Quadrant had been unexplored for the simplest of reasons. If the three major powers saw the others expanding into it, war could erupt without anyone really knowing why. Periods of stellar expansion were carefully negotiated, particularly after Cestus Three. Claims were too easy to jump, and frontier legislators a little too quick to call for often precipitous action.

After Reliant, a Klingon ship would explore this part of space, then perhaps even a Romulan one. But for now, Pavel heard the first signs of trouble from the otherwise likeable Clark Terrell.

"XO, did you hear about our confrontation with the Romulans at Buoy-Point Alpha?"

"Yes, Keptin. They claimed to have no record of the access treaty. You held your ground, despite their firing upon you briefly. It was a good call, sir. You are to be commended."

Captain Terrell then said something, that, in one form or another, would haunt Pavel for the rest of this mission. By itself, the question was quite innocuous. But it would be asked again and again, sundering outright the relationship between Captain and First Officer.

"XO---How would Captain Kirk have handled that situation?"

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

As the months went on, and they continued to approach the end of that tight, inviolate accessway, Terrell's innocent first question began to multiply, not once or twice, but many hundreds of times. Routine maneuvers such as speeding up or course correction began to come under the scope of the 'Kirk Test'. Since Reliant lacked a full-time CMO, no psych reports were available. But Pavel had to act, and he did so. The crew was losing confidence in their Captain. So was that Captain's First Officer.

"They tell me you are the one to speak with, Lieutenant. I vish to know vhat you do about the Keptin's problem with self-confidence."

Off-Duty, Lieutenant Guinan wore a yellow headpiece that both contrasted and suited her demeanor.

"This is off the record, Commander?"

"Absolutely."

"I am an El-Aurian. We are, among other things, a race of listeners. What I know came from The Captain himself, on those times he had over-indulged. Its not pretty."

"I vould think that anything that could shatter so capable a man must be ugly by definition."

"It is, sir. In 81', he was brought before The Hall, and offered the job of XO aboard a major ship. He would have taken it, too, but for one problem."

"Problem?"

"Yes. They wanted him to spy on its Captain, a man Terrell greatly admires and whom The Hall despises."

For Chekov, the math was easy.

"Keptin Kirk. Those Cossacks at Admiralty Hall specialize in hurting him and his family."

Guinan nodded.

"Including a young man, sir? Because according to Captain Terrell, some young male relative of Captain Kirk's is at war with them, making their miserable lives just a little more miserable."

Chekov smiled, just a little.

"If the young man in question has declared war, they had better surrender. Guinan--what was Keptin Terrell's answer to The Hall?"

"Easy. He said no. As a result, they held him in 'Special Custody' for five days. Each of those days, they'd trot him out and berate him like a plebe cadet for hours on end. The man who came out of there was not the man who went in."

Pavel sighed.

"Da. That Much Is Apparent."
-------------------------------------------
June, 2284

"First Officer's Log, Pavel Chekov recording. We are now six months into The Beta Quadrant, and vhat ve have found is nothing short of astounding. There Is No Here. No stars, no lights of any kind. No gravity wells. There is quite literally nothing. The readings we got were faint echoes of a place that was. The helm tells us that we may not even be in our quadrant, or even Galaxy any more. There is simply no way of telling. But the Void that faces us here gazes into each and every one of us. None more so than my Captain, who has spent five of these six months in his cabin, sitting in the darkness. I fear his desire to have an Enterprise officer as his XO has been greatly diminished. When last asked what Captain Kirk would do in his place, my reply to Captain Terrell was simple, and all was said in one word : Resign."

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

USS Reliant, 2286

Clark Terrell stared at the report he was given. It confirmed King Ghidorah's existence, better than any news report.

No bad methodology. No biases. Doctor David Marcus and Lieutenant Guinan had been most thorough. The monster was real. More real than his own Captaincy. His life had been a joke, after The Hall. He actually chuckled remembering how many of his crew had cheered when Admiral Teresa Bunson was confirmed dead. But now, that bitch was having the last laugh, and so was that bastard Cartwright. Their Dragon was real. So it was not only his life, but all life that was a joke.

"Senior Staff---Minus you, XO, to the Shuttlebay. We only have the one, people, so get a move on."

He was letting Chekov off the hook, becaus he had been right. Terrell should have resigned. He should not have shanghaied the Science Team at Regula One.

"You'll make a good Captain, Pavel."

In the shuttlebay, Terrell waited til most of his senior staff was there. His words were short and sweet.

"You people really should have said no to The Hall."

Phasering the controls for the Bay Doors, Captain Clark Terell took much of his crew with him, for crimes real and imagined, but sadly mostly real. Many of his best people had done to him what he refused to do to Captain Kirk. Now, as they joined him in the vacuum, all such spying was forever done.
-------------------------------------------

"Ve found his suicide note. I'm sorry for being so very sketchy, but this tale is especially hard for me, and I am quite tired........"

Guinan cried out.

"Organic on mid-range sensors, one gigameter distant! With his size, he'll be on us in no time!"

Spock felt the evil presence of The Ancient Destroyer. It was impossible to shut it out. How could even Jim's son live with the thing inside his mind for twenty years?

"Doctor Marcus, increase magnification to appropriate viewing strength."

David then saw. They all saw.

One wing was red and bat-like. The other, golden and membraned. One tail was like a club, the other like a razor blade. The torso looked like drip-forged armor, the mixture of each head's influence. The right head was gold. The middle head was silver. The left head had the aspect of lead. All three were horned, with the Gold's crownlike, the silver's sickle-like, and the gray's sharp and angular. It now was a total diameter of One and One-Half Megameters.

Reliant had one chance to evade King Ghidorah, and Spock took it.

"Attention, all hands! I am deactivating all inertial dampeners except those that are  local and those needed to keep Reliant from being torn apart due loss of field and structural intergrity. We shall no longer have any control over our basic direction. The shockwave will carry us, hopefully, far away from Ghidorah. Please brace for impact!"

Spock carried out his measure just in time, as The Death's Head picked that moment to fire on what was Reliant's position. Now, the chase was on.

Just after 'aiming' the ship toward what he believed to be Enterprise's likely path, Spock cut all fields and dampeners not absolutely necessary to life, limb and ship's integrity. The sudden boost left King Ghidorah a comfortable distance behind them--so they hoped.

Colonel Worf strapped himself down while bear-hugging The Genesis Prototype.

"If Khiterah fears it, then I embrace it."

All on the Bridge found purchase and a place to sit out this new level of danger. Those below The Bridge were not so lucky.

Carol Marcus noticed her father was beating her. Then she saw herself throwing the bum out of her mother's house, after he picked a fight with a surprisingly restrained Jim Kirk. She saw David being born, and the arguments that followed. She saw how perhaps her cutting remarks toward Jim and David were based in unresolved anger towards her father. She saw the doctor tell her the second child was stillborn. She saw Jim announce the death of his mother--and his other son. She saw Genesis, and a brilliant woman who spoke without listening. She saw a son she could barely control. She sometimes wondered why she felt the need to. Then she saw something odd. It was the sight of a wall that she was flying toward at pulverizing speed. Sadly, she would not die alone.

"Captain Spock! Near-Complete Local Dampener Failure on every deck except this one."

"Status, Mister Guinan?"

"Sir, we are a tin-box in space, and Ghidorah is still coming. Poor devils below deck. Bad way to die."

Spock, Chekov, and the others saw the obscenity approaching. As the thing got closer, and closer, they knew. The devil had come to get them

"Ve're done!"

Spock disagreed

"Not so dead, Pavel. Observe what now approaches the monster."

Chekov looked, and smiled broadly.

"Like The Calvary Of Old, he arrives back just as we need him!"

It was a great, silvery thing, and it fired on Ghidorah's open mouths.

The USS Enterprise was now on its way to prove that the light from Heaven can drive back even the shadow of the beast.

-------------------------------------------------
End Story.

To Be Continued in Chapter 18 of 'Behold, The Ancient Destroyer!'

Enterprise Vs. Ghidorah!