2.11 - Spock Prime

~~*~~

Jim groaned as he woke up, completely out of it as if had just woken up from an extreme night out with a killer hang over. Looking around, he realised he was definitely no longer on the Enterprise. He was in an escape pod. "Computer, where am I?" he questioned.

"Location: Delta Vega. Class-M planet. Unsafe. There is a Starfleet outpost fourteen kilometres to the northwest. Remain in your pod until picked up by Starfleet authorities." The computerised voice explained as Jim unwrapped the bandage on his hand that was restricting his movement.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." He groaned out. Spock had actually kicked him off of the ship. Had Cali let him? Or had he tried to stop him? Jim wondered, though he was somewhat glad that, whatever choice he made, he hadn't ended up in the escape pod with Jim. While he knew that there was a bond between Spock and Cali, he just wouldn't put it passed the pointy-eared-bastard to kick Cali off too if he defended Jim too much. Emotionless git.

Jim groaned out again as he opened the door of the escape pod to see that the force of it's landing had made a hole in the surrounding snow several metres deep that Jim now had to climb out of. Pulling himself out of the pod so he could stand up, he found a ruffle bag of supplies and began his ascend.

His hands already felt numb from the cold as they gripped desperately onto the ice and he could physically see his skin growing purple. Not too much longer without any warmth and he'd look bluer than Cali did when he blushed.

As he finally got to the top of the small cliff face, breathing in the icy air like daggers in his lungs, Jim groaned out again. All around him was a barren wasteland. All he could see on every horizon was white. The snowy ground blended into the clouded sky making it all seem like it went on forever.

~~*~~

In the bag of supplies that came with every escape pod, Jim thankfully managed to find a winter coat and gloves. While it wasn't designed for arctic conditions like this planet, the thin fur lining doing very little to fight the negative temperatures, the hood did help to keep the chilling breeze off of him. It especially helped when a thick fog rolled in and a snowstorm began raging all around Jim suddenly and without warning.

He really wished that the bag also had goggles in them as he scrunched up his eyes in a desperate attempt to see through the daggered wind and hail-ish snow.

Another lucky find in the bag had been a communicator. While he had tried to call the Enterprise at first, hoping that they had fixed the subspace communications like Spock had said they were working on, and praying that Cali would be the one manning it so that he could know that his angel was okay, it appeared his luck ended with finding the device. There had been no reply, likely out of range of the small devise by now.

Instead, Jim decided to make a personal log to get his grievances off of his chest while he wandered meaninglessly around the frozen wilderness.

"Stardate twenty-two fifty-eight point four two, four uh, four whatever. Acting Captain Spock has marooned me on Delta Vega, what I believe to be a violation of security protocol forty-nine point oh nine, covering the treatment of prisoners aboard as starship."

Jim paused his rant, hearing a noise. It complimented the raging wind. A song like noise that hummed behind him making Jim turn around in confusion. What on earth could be making that whistling?

As he did turn around, he squinted, spotting a greyish blurred shape in the distance that seemed to be coming towards him. He stood there, watching it approach with squinted eyes for a moment longer until it got close enough that he could hear its bounding jump, racing towards him. Then he saw it. Still too far away to see clearly in the storm but clear enough to see it's ugly face and massive teeth as it roared menacingly at him.

Realising he was in danger, Jim quickly flipped around, running as fast as he could in his heavy snow clothes. Tripping and falling, the creature that was clearly adapted to this climate easily started to catch up on Jim, despite his kick of adrenaline making him run faster.

Just as Jim turned to look over his shoulder, he was pushed to the ground by a force unknown. He could hear the ice cracking and breaking as it exploded outwards right from under the chasing creature.

Jim turned over onto his back so he could see what had caused him to fall only to see the creature in the maw of a monster, much larger and scarier than the last. If the furry creature was three times the size of Jim, this monster was 10 times the size of the creature. It was easily able to fit the beast into its pronged mouth. It was shaped like a red ant, long spindly legs and the same red shell-like skin covering its body. The monster threw the creature away, the limp body slamming into an ice spire several metres away and falling to the floor dead.

Just as Jim was ably to get to his feet, eyes unable to leave the thing in front of him, it turned. Roaring at him with a fully extended mouth, Jim could feel the warmth of its breath over his entire body even through his clothes. The force of its breath so strong that it almost pushed him right back over. He could see the dozens of large teeth, as long as his forearm, lining each section of its star split mouth.

As it roared, Jim turned and continued his run, screaming in fear as he tried desperately to get away. This thing could likely swallow him whole and there was no way he was letting that happen.

Turning his head to see how close the thing was, Jim didn't see the steep ice hill that was coming up until his foot was stepping over the edge causing him to tumble down it.

Grunting as he fell, he could clearly hear the monster roaring back down at him from the top. Could feel in the shaking of the ground as it slipped, slamming into the large blocks of ice that protruded from the ground due to its massive size.

Both the creature and Jim shouted as they fell, Jim several meters ahead of their downwards tumble as he reached a mini lake of clear ice at the bottom first. He could see the monster still falling as he groaned at his landing and quickly got to his feet, slipping, and almost sliding back over as he tried to run over the patch of snowless ice.

Just as the beast landed, right where Jim had been with a force that would have crushed him, Jim spotted a cave entrance and legged it, hoping it would be small enough that the monster could not follow him inside. But while the entrance may not have been, the inside of the white ice cave was, allowing the thing to smash right through causing blocks of hard snow to shoot out like projectiles and smash into the walls of the fissure.

Weaving in between pillars of ice, Jim desperately tried to get further in, hoping he hadn't found himself in a dead end where the monster would get him, when he felt a force pull his leg, hard. Hard enough that he immediately fell as the monster's tongue snaked around his ankle and tried to pull him into its gaping maw.

He kicked at the tongue frantically with his other foot, praying to get it off as he pried to pull himself back with all of his strength, but it seemed useless as he continued to be pulled forwards.

That was until light suddenly appeared from nowhere. A tall man in a grey snow suit with a long flaming torch. He waved it in the face of the monster, making it screech as it let go of Jim and backed away as if scared. The man continued to advance on it, waving the flames as a weapon and shield until the monster let out one final roar before turning and retreating from the cave in defeat.

Still breathing heavily, Jim was relieved as he allowed himself to stay laying on the ice floor. Though, his eyes still stayed locked on the new man, not knowing if he would turn out to be friend or foe despite saving his life.

Satisfied that the monster was gone, the man turned around to reveal that he was an elderly Vulcan, his face wrinkled and hair grey. The Vulcan turned to Jim in relief before actually looking at him when his face dropped and morphed into confusion for a moment, as if he recognised him. That was confirmed when the man spoke, saying Jim's name with a tone of familiarity. "James T. Kirk." Jim could see the look on the man's face. It looked relieved, happy almost, with something else, something soft, in his chocolate eyes that Jim couldn't place.

"Excuse me?" Jim questioned, trying to regulate his breathing as he frowned at the foreign Vulcan that apparently knew who he was.

"How did you find me?" the Vulcan questioned back with a small glad smile, obviously either not noting Jim's confusion or choosing to ignore it.

Jim quickly stumbled to his feet. "How do you know my name?" He questioned, feeling panicked that this strange man apparently knew him when he certainly didn't know him.

"I have been, and always shall be, your friend." The man replied, a glint in his eyes as if the words held true meaning to him.

But to Jim, they just sounded weird and not an answer to his question. "Wha... oh, look... uh, I don't know you." He replied, an awkward laugh escaping his lips.

"I am Spock." The elder Vulcan replied immediately making Jim's amusement to turn to disbelief.

Jim looked at the Vulcan. On close inspection, he could see the familiarity between the old man and the young one that he had been arguing with not so long ago. But how would that be possible? There was just no way.

"Bullshit."

~~*~~

Despite his total disbelief that the old Vulcan in front of him that had saved his life was the same person as the younger Vulcan that had just kicked him off of the ship, Jim followed the man slightly further into the cave to find he had set up a small fire for himself. He was freezing, even if it was warmer in the ice caves since there was no breeze, and he needed to get warm. Though, Jim had no idea where the mysterious Vulcan had found wood to make the fire out of, as he had yet to spot any trees in the frozen wasteland.

While the Vulcan sat on a raised piece of bluish ice on one side of the small fire, poking the wood with a stick to ensure it kept burning, Jim was crouched on the opposite side with his hands stretched out to soak up the flames' warmth. "It is remarkably pleasing to see you again, old friend. Especially after the events of today." The Vulcan said, much more warmth in his tone than Jim thought possible in a Vulcan.

"Uh," Jim started, standing from his crouched position, "sir I appreciate what you did for me today, but, but if you were Spock you would know we're not friends at all. You hate me, you marooned me here for mutiny."

"Mutiny?" The Vulcan, Spock Jim had to remind himself, questioned, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

"Yes." Jim replied, pacing away from the fire slightly.

"You are not the Captain?" Spock questioned, making Jim turn back around to look at him as he shook his head.

"No, no. Umm..." he answered, sounding amused at the assumption as he continued his small pacing, "You're the Captain. Pike was taken hostage."

"By Nero." Spock said in realisation, looking back at the fire in distress as Jim turned around to watch him.

Jim almost couldn't believe that this friendly Vulcan was the same as the cold man he had met early that day. Sure, he could see the physical similarities, but the many wrinkles that aged this Spock's face dramatically in comparison to the younger one on the ship did make it hard to tell if the similarities were due to relations or race. Breaking the pause, Jim questioned, "What do you know about him?"

"He is a particularly troubled Romulan." Spock replied, standing up and approaching Jim. As he did, he held his hand up towards Jim's face. "Please, allow me. It will be easier." He said, attempting to touch his leaning hand to the side of Jim's face causing the younger man to snap back in confusion.

"Woah, woah. What are you doin'?" Jim questioned, taking a small step back as he leaned away, not understanding what was happening.

"Our minds. One and together." Spock explained, though Jim still didn't actually understand, as he moved forward and lay his hand upon Jim's face, fingers stretched across his forehead, cheek, and chin. "One hundred twenty-nine years from now, a star will explode, and threaten to destroy the galaxy." Spock starts before blinking causing both himself and Jim to be thrown into the Vulcan's mind as the mind meld activates.

All that Jim could see for a moment was a bright light as his brain tried to comprehend what it was trying to be shown before the rushing lights, reminiscent of warp speed, faded to show him an area of space.

"That is where I'm from, Jim." Jim saw a planet he recognised to be Romulan and what looked like a small asteroid belt before the images focused on a fluctuating star. "The future. The star went supernova—" The star exploded sending a shockwave of light and gas out towards the planet. "—consuming everything in its path. I promised the Romulans that I would save their planet. "

The image changed to the Elder Spock with a group of Romulans before fading quickly to show Jim the construction of a small ship in a large dark hangar bay. "We outfitted our fastest ship." Jim was shown the inside of the ship. It was small and futuristic with a cage in the centre that held a perfect red sphere floating inside. "Using red matter, I would create a black hole, which would absorb the exploding star."

The ship, which reminded Jim of a small Jellyfish was shown traveling quickly though space. "I was en route, when the unthinkable happened. The supernova destroyed Romulus." The supernova wave reached Romulus. The planet's crust was shown crumbling as the core heated and the entire sphere quickly disintegrated. It happened so quickly, there would have been no time for the occupants to escape.

Jim can feel panic and mourning that did not belong to himself. "I had little time. I had to extract the red matter—" Spock inserted a large needle into the cage containing the red matter. The surface of the sphere breaks as the needle pierces it and a small piece is pulled into the container. "—and shoot it into the supernova."

Spock loaded up the drop of red matter and it was shot into the star. A small shockwave was seen before a blackhole was suddenly in the centre of the wave, pulling the dangerous energy and heat into destruction, saving the rest of the system from the same devastation.

"As I began my return trip, I was intercepted." Inside Spock's ship, Nero was shown on the viewscreen. He looked furious. "He called himself Nero. In my attempt to escape, both of us were pulled into the black hole." The Narada was shown being pulled into the black hole. "Nero went through first. He was the first to arrive."

On the other side of the black hole, the large ship met a second much smaller one. It was a Starfleet vessel. Weapons were shot from the Narada, hitting the ship. Jim saw a close up and realised mournfully that he was watching the destruction of the USS Kelvin. His father's death.

"Nero spent the next twenty-five years awaiting my arrival. But what was years for Nero, was only seconds for me." The Jellyfish arrived though the black hole. Jim could see Spock's discomfort as he travelled back in time, it was like he could feel it. "I went through the black hole. Nero was waiting for me."

Spock exited the Jellyfish that was now in the Narada's hanger bay. There are a small group of Romulan's standing not too far away that had been waiting for him. Nero stood closest to the ship, leading the group. "He held me responsible for the loss of his world." For a moment, the Vulcan looked angry as he looked upon Nero but Jim could feel that that wasn't the case. He was mournful, resigned. He kneeled before Nero, falling to his knees in emotional pain. "He captured my vessel and spared my life for one reason. So that I would know his pain."

Spock was teleported to the surface of Delta Vega. He looked up towards the sky. "He beamed me here, so that I could observe his vengeance. As he was helpless to save his planet, I would be helpless to save mine."

Above Spock's head, seen clearly despite the slight cloudy day, was Vulcan. Spock was forced to watch helplessly as the blackhole formed in the centre of Vulcan. Painfully slowly and yet far too quickly, the outer edges of the planet crumbled into themselves until nothing remained of his home. "Billions of lives lost, because of me, Jim. Because I failed."

As suddenly as it started, the mind meld ended. Spock pulled away from Jim leaving him to breath heavily. He could feel the tears in his eyes as his heart constricted in pure uncontrolled grief.

"Forgive me. Emotional transference is an effect of the mind meld." Spock explained as Jim stumbled back and away. He had never felt this much. Never felt this negative. It completely overwhelmed him.

"So, you do feel?" Jim commented, though the Vulcan's extreme emotions still overwhelming him made it sound much more like a question as he panted desperate to try and control his mind again.

"Yes."

"Huh, guess Cali was right after all." Jim mumbled to himself numbly, still looking away from the Vulcan, his eyes flickering around the icy walls to try and centre himself.

"Caliaire was with you?" Spock queried, sounding slightly vulnerable again. The Vulcan had noted Jim say the names a few times since they had met, but he hadn't got a chance to really question it.

"Yeah, on the Enterprise. He'd gonna be pissed for this." Jim replied dazedly, his breathing still irregular before panting out a desperate, "God, I gotta get back to him."

"You are together as well in this timeline?"

"Guess some things stuck."

"Good. He was always a good influence on all of us."

"Yeah, he is." Jim replied with a dazed smile. Thinking on his angel had helped to calm his racing heart and focus his mind. Feeling much calmer, he turned around to look at the Vulcan again, "But going back in time, you changed all our lives."

"Jim, we must go." Spock replied, not commenting on what Jim had said as he walked past the man towards the exit of the cave, "There is a Starfleet outpost not far from here."

"Wait." Jim called making Spock freeze and turn around to look back, "Where you came from, did I know my father?"

Spock looked mournful for a moment, realising the statement behind the question. Him and Nero going back in time had caused Jim to grow up without his father. "Yes. You often spoke of him as being your inspiration for joining Starfleet. He proudly lived to see you become Captain of the Enterprise."

"Captain?" Jim questioned hopefully.

"A ship we must return you to as soon as possible." Spock nodded, walking out of the cave without another word.

Jim didn't follow for a moment. All this information, and the emotions that came with it both his own and the Vulcans, were overwhelming. He had known his father. He was a captain. He still had Cali. The reminder of his angel made him look back at where the Vulcan had just left. He had to get back to his boyfriend.

~~*~~

And Jim has met Spock Prime.

The look on Spock Prime's face when he saw Jim. It just brightened up. Imagine, Jim's been dead for several years at this point for Spock Prime, so seeing a younger version of him, on such a day of great mourning, must have felt so good for him. It's such a powerful thought.