Crayz9000 wrote:I actually would recommend not using Microsoft Word's grammar checker. More often than not, that screwed-up POS tells you that you should replace correct grammar with completely bass-ackwards grammar, and overlooks grammatical errors. It also has no idea of context...
Now I laugh at those of my teachers telling us to use it.... Or......they use it themselves..... ~Jason
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."
Crayz9000 wrote:I actually would recommend not using Microsoft Word's grammar checker. More often than not, that screwed-up POS tells you that you should replace correct grammar with completely bass-ackwards grammar, and overlooks grammatical errors. It also has no idea of context...
Now I laugh at those of my teachers telling us to use it.... Or......they use it themselves..... ~Jason
Do you guys remember my MSWord screwup pic? I deleted it awhile ago, but it wanted me to correct something to "YOU IS".
<<SEGNOR: Grand Admiral of the Gnomish Hordes><GALE: Equal Opportunity Lover><SDNet Keeper of the Lore><Great Dolphin Conspiracy>> My Audioscrobbler
Cult of Vin Diesel - When you mix Vin Diesel with a strong acid you get salt water.
I'll keep the bit about showing examples in mind and probably show you a lot next time you post a chapter. I just don't feel like going over it again now that I have seen the errors and already forgotten them...
Busily picking nuggets out of my well-greased ass.
There must be something wrong with the board. You added a new chaper on my birthday and it didn't tell me about it!!! Bravo, Stravo. Good chapter!
Hapan Battle Dragons Rule!
When you want peace prepare for war! --Confusious
That was disapointing ..Should we show this Federation how to build a ship so we may have worthy foes? Typhonis 1
The Prince of The Writer's Guild|HAB Spacewolf Tank General| God Bless America!
I've been itching to write this chapter for a llloooonnggg time. We finally get to see a hint of what fate lies in store for our good captain. My only comment is that fate can be damned cruel.
Chapter 55: Solitudes Pt 2
He walked cautiously but without fear into the dark cavern. Q was standing patiently on a long rocky bridge that spanned an enormous abyss below. Kirk paused and peered down into the darkness below.
“Afraid?” Q asked softly.
Kirk looked back up at Q.
“No.” he replied, his voice echoed on the icy cavern walls around him.
“Come across then. We don’t have much time.”
Kirk slowly placed a foot on the rock bridge. It seemed solid enough, but there were patches of thin ice and frost on the path. He carefully wove his way across, keeping his eyes on Q who was casually walking ahead of him. He swore he heard a low rumble below him.
Q reached the other side.
“If I were you, Jim, I would hurry.”
“What’s happening?” Kirk asked as the bridge began to vibrate, small loose stones tumbled over the edge and the ice on the walls around him began to hum in time with the approaching vibrations.
“I would run.” Q suggested.
Kirk did not hesitate and started running the last few meters to the end of the bridge as he heard something hissing up the abyss beneath him and a low rumbling roar followed. He could feel it almost upon him and he leapt the last bit of distance onto the other side of the cavern. He landed with a thud, quickly rolling onto his back as a hurricane like gale ripped into him and he saw his attacker.
An enormous wormlike creature flashed past him towards the ceiling above, a giant pale white tube like body twisted and twitched as armor plating like scales ruffled in time with the muscular thrashing of the creature. It’s head was ringed with several long jagged tusks, one was broken off at the end as it turned slowly he noted it had no discernable eyes.
The thing let out a long shriek as it turned its massive redwood trunk sized neck and started searching.
Kirk scrambled backwards with his hands away from the monster.
“It’s keying to body heat. If I were you I would follow me now.” Q said as he started walking deeper into a new cavern behind them. The worm thing paused as it passed over where Kirk was scrambling backwards dumbfounded.
The thing’s thick muscular neck stiffened as it reared up.
Kirk scrambled up to his feet and raced into the cavern just as it rammed the ground where he had been a moment ago. The rocky surface cracked on impact and the thing whipped back upwards, mouth reflexively closing around what should be prey. It paused as it finally noticed there was no prey and let out a final loud shriek of outrage before slowly descending back into the darkness.
“What the hell was that?!” Kirk exclaimed breathlessly.
“A new life form?” Q replied with a wink. Kirk frowned. “A Scythian Worm. They have kept civilization from developing here and will continue to do so for some time. They are ravenous predators that hunt based on vibrations and when closing on their target, sensitive heat detectors that home them in on their target. They especially haunt the caverns and deep places of this world.”
“You could have warned me damnit.”
“I’m not omniscient, how was I supposed to know that it would attack?” Q protested.
“Wait, you’re admitting that you’re not omniscient?” Kirk noted with a critical gaze.
“Or I could want you to think that, either way we are here.”
“Where?”
“The cave of vision. This place is permeated with a powerful energy field that some in another galaxy call the Force.”
Kirk stepped past Q and looked into the cave. Enormous crystal structures jutted down from the ceiling, tapering down to a fine point at the height of a man’s head. Water gently ran down the crystal and dripped off the tapered ends into deep pools surrounded by a stone structure that for all the world resembled two hands cupped together, fingers splayed upwards in supplication. The ceiling was marred by a round hole that seemed artificially created. It allowed a shaft of bright sunlight to drift down in the cave, illuminating a part of the pool.
“That’s not ice.” Kirk noted as he stepped closer to inspect the crystal. He saw fragments of himself reflected in the facets.
“No, it is not. It is the crystallized form of energy that inhabits this cave. The water running off the crystal forms the vision pond. Those who drink of its waters are granted incredible visions of the future, places far away and friends long gone.”
“You don’t expect me to drink that do you?” Kirk asked sharply turning around to face Q. Q shrugged.
“You don’t have to, but then again you would have come all this way for nothing.”
Kirk heard a soft sob that was caught in someone’s throat behind him.
“Who’s there?” he whispered into the shadows of the cave. The sobs were quickly stifled. Kirk slowly reached down and gripped his phaser, slowly drawing it as he stepped over a ‘finger’ of the stone outcropping and saw something huddled on the far side of the outcropping.
“Who are you?” he asked sternly.
The small shape turned suddenly and looked up at him. Sunlight streaming through the hole in the ceiling caught the figure’s face and Kirk gasped softly and dropped his gun hand.
“Sam?” he whispered.
“Jimmy!” the little boy cried and ran into Kirk’s arms. Kirk held him incredulously for a moment and looked over the small boy’s head to Q.
“This can’t be real.”
Q remained impassive as the small boy sobbed into Kirk’s chest.
“Shhh…” Kirk whispered and stroked the young boy’s head. his hair felt precisely as Kirk remembered it. His flesh was warm to the touch, the hot tears were even starting to soak through Kirk’s gold uniform shirt.
“Are they coming for us Jimmy?”
Kirk slowly looked down at the apparition that was supposed to be his older brother George Samuel Kirk.
“Who?”
“Them Jimmy, the Governor’s men, like they came for the others.”
“The governor’s me-” Kirk stopped short, horrid realization dawning on his face. “You mean Kodos’ men?” he asked tightly.
“They came for Andrew’s parents yesterday.” George Samuel Kirk replied, tears filled his eyes.
“Sam, Kodos is dead. He died a long time ago.”
The young boy shook his head disbelievingly.
“I don’t want them to hurt us Jimmy.”
“I won’t let them hurt you, Sam. I swear.” Kirk replied, gripping his older brother tightly. Only a year older than Jim, Sam was always more interested in science and learning than Jim. His father would often joke that Jim always seemed to be the older brother. During that awful time on Tarsus IV when Kirk and his brother had been sent to live for a short time while their father finished a tour of duty on a far off colony system. A sever food shortage had ravaged the colony and there was simply not enough food to feed all the people. The governor of the colony, Kodos, made a hard decision, only now as a commander facing such horrendous odds did Kirk truly understand what pressures the man must have been under, ordered the summary execution of thousands of colonists in order that others may live. Among those chosen to die were the old and sick, most of the young and children remained alive.
When the Federation rescue ships finally arrived Kodos vanished in the confusion.
Kirk still dreamed of those dark times, hiding from Kodos’ men and watching people you knew and loved, friends and neighbors dragged off to never be seen again. Kodos’ omnipresent voice on the speakers promising that there was a light at the end of the tunnel he had plunged the colony into. Kirk would never forget that voice. It didn’t matter that years later as a starship captain he would face Kodos the executioner again, reduced from a disembodied godlike voice to a broken Shakespearean actor named Anton Karidian haunted by his own personal demons.
Nothing would change the terror he still felt when he remembered clutching his brother in the darkness of an alleyway as that voice boomed out of the endless number of speakers, calling for yet another wave of executions for the good of the whole. Never again would Kirk believe that false assumption that the good of the many outweighed the good of the one. No one could say that with a straight faced that had lived through the reign of Kodos the Executioner.
“No one is going to hurt you, Sam. I swear it.”
Sam smiled softly as he looked up at his younger brother. He stopped suddenly and turned around.
“Jimmy! It’s them!!” Sam exclaimed hysterically.
Kirk looked up quickly and stopped short as he saw a pair of shadowy figures dancing at the very edge of the stone outcropping. As if the sunlight was the only thing holding them at bay.
“These are just illusions, Jim. Remember you’re suffering from massive head trauma. I told you to stay with Paris.” McCoy griped from the other side of the outcropping.
“Doctor, nevertheless the Captain needs our help.” Spock added.
Kirk saw them standing above in a small alcove carved into the rock by a long vanished waterfall.
“Trelayne?” Kirk called out turning to look back at Q but he was no longer standing in the cave.
“Jimmy?” Sam whispered, terrified by the wispy shadows that were slowly becoming more distinct, taking the shape of men in security body armor. There was a growing air of menace about them that he did not like. His gut told him that if he waited for them to fully materialize things would get very bad. He had no idea why or how he knew that but he just did. He felt Sam’s fingers desperately digging into him.
“They’re coming for us!” he shouted.
Kirk brought his hand up and fired a steady burst from his phaser. The red beam lanced through one shadow, its body swirled like inky smoke, and impacted against the far wall of the cave with a small explosion of rocky debris.
He stared at the thing as it quickly reformed and swore there was a cold predatory smile on the shape’s face for a moment. There was an anger behind the malevolence too. An anger that he briefly recognized. There was something familiar, primal about that anger.
“We have to run.”
“No We run and we’re dead.” Kirk replied evenly, no idea who he knew this but he knew it as certain as he knew that he would die alone.
“Jim don’t you get it? You ARE alone? This, this cave, these visions they’re all hallucinations caused by your head trauma. You need to calm down and center yourself. You’re going to get yourself killed!” McCoy shouted.
“Logically Captain you know that your brother is dead, we saw him die on the Deneva. These ghosts are nothing more than phantoms crafted from your own mind.”
“What about this Force, Spock? Could this energy field tap into my mind and create these illusions?” Kirk called back up to Spock.
“Listen Spock, don’t play to those hallucinations Jim is having or we’ll lose him for good. He could go running off a cliff or something.” McCoy hissed to Spock.
“Jimmy who’re you talking to?” Sam asked as the shadows began to skirt closer into the light. The badge of office was clearly visible now, Tarsus IV Security.
“Captain there are too many variables to take into consideration for your supposition. There is not enough data—“”
“Spock damnit! Is it possible?” Kirk demanded and fired another burst. The red beam lanced through the arm of the neatest shadow’s arm. The arm burned away like a cloud on a sunny day but the shadow substance quickly filled in the vaporized limb.
“WE HAVE MADE THE DETERMINATION THAT ANOTHER SWEEP MUST BE MADE. CURRENT FOOD STOCKS WILL NOT ALLOW SURVIVAL PAST THIS WEEK UNLESS MORE ADJUSTMENTS ARE MADE. FOR THE GOOD OF TARSUS IV ALL INDIVIDUALS SELECTED BY ME MUST SURRENDER TO THE PROPER AUTHORITIES. RESISTANCE WILL ONLY BRING MORE VIOLENCE UPON YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.”
Kirk looked up, eyes narrowed as the voice from so long ago echoed in the cavern like that of some fallen god.
“Please Jimmy, we have to run.”
Kirk slowly lowered his phaser and looked into the eyes of the closest guard. It peered back at him with barely retrained anger and he looked closely now, fighting the urge to look away to not acknowledge what he thought he saw.
The anger roiling right beneath the surface, a desperate anger, fueled by a primal fear. A fear of failure. A fear that he would lose. That he would not have victory.
FLASH
He stood on the bridge, broken consoles with broken bodies draped across them rapidly filled with smoke as the fire suppression systems blasted thick choking white mist down to consume the fires. He could hear the moans of pain and the dying and the thick hot green blood caking his hands and pants as he held Spock in his arms. On the screen the flotilla of Imperial ships grew as their deadly emerald beams lanced out in a storm of turbolaser fire that evaporated any starship they touched.
All around him just as his starship and crew were dying his fleet was slowly fading away and with it any chance of defeat.
“This is a test of character, ensign.”
Kirk shook his head as he stood at attention, smoke drifting from another ruined bridge, so long ago.
“There was no way to win.”
“That’s the point ensign.”
Kirk scowled, his jaw line hardening as he grit his teeth.
“There are always solutions, people just don’t find them in time.”
The instructor’s face changed as he turned away from the harsh light of the simulator room.
It was Nemesis’ face.
“You will find, ensign, that life can be very hard and very cruel and there won’t be heroes or villains. There won’t be last minute escapes.”
“I don’t believe that.” Kirk replied defiantly.
Nemesis smiled coldly.
“You don’t stand a chance and you know that.” Behind him the tall figure of a blue skinned human with red glowing eyes appeared. The Grand Admiral locked eyes with Kirk.
“You cannot defeat me. You know this.” he stated simply.
“No. Anyone can be defeated.”
“Perhaps.” Thrawn conceded. “But you cannot defeat me and that is what matters.” he added with a stony gaze.
“Damn you!” Kirk roared.
FLASH
The shadowy guards were now all around them, many reaching out to touch him.
“Jimmy!” Sam exclaimed horrified as the first shadowy wisps touched his arm.
“FOR THE GOOD OF THE WHOLE YOU MUST BE SACRIFICED. THIS DECISION WAS REACHED NEITHER EASILY OR LIGHTLY. IN THE END THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE. MY DUTY IS TO THE COLONY AND NOT TO AN INDIVIDUAL OR INDIVIDUALS. I LOOK TO THE FUTURE BY SPARING AS MANY OF THE YOUNG AND ABLE BODIED AS CAN BE DONE. THAT IS ALL.”
“Drink the water, Sam.” Kirk muttered as if waking from a dream. “I know you!” he shouted jabbing a phaser at one of the shadow guards that was almost fully formed now. “I know you!”
The guard finally solidified. It bore his face.
“You’re me, my anger” he looked to another guard. “my frustration,” to the next guard “my fear. All of it personified in you.”
The guards paused.
“Drink Sam!” Kirk urged his brother and shoved him down to the pond.
“Jim you don’t know if that water’s poisoned. Stop!” McCoy shouted.
Kirk thrust his hands into the water and was shocked by how cold it was, as if thrusting his hands into pure ice, he raised the cupped hands to his face, not noticing that his hands were in nearly the same position as the outcropping’s shape and without hesitation drank deeply of the water as he watched Sam take a mouthful as well.
The water eased down his throat, cold and icy, so cold it felt at first as if he were swallowing knives. He nearly coughed but as he drank the shadows looming over them melted like morning mist and vanished before it could touch them.
He sat back slowly on the unyielding stone, feeling the water settle in his belly like a snowball and he watched Sam as he coughed a bit but slowly smiled.
“They’re gone.”
“This place doesn’t like people being angry. This place feels different somehow, calm, peaceful.”
“Enjoying your stay?” Q asked perched precariously on one of the stone fingers. He smiled mysteriously.
“What is this place, Trelayne? This doesn’t feel like your magic.”
“No it’s not part of my ‘magic’ as you so eloquently put it Jimmy.”
“No one calls me Jimmy.”
Sam looked over sharply, a stricken look on his face.
“All except you Sam.” Kirk assured him and almost instantly felt silly for doing so. He looked so much like the young boy he remembered. They spent those horrible months drawing strength from each other.
“You did well. You actually saw through the cave’s illusion. Not something I would have credited you with considering.”
“Considering what?” Kirk asked sharply.
“That you are nothing more than a glorified ape touching the very face of power. You handled yourself well. Take as a compliment.”
“It sounds suspiciously like an insult.”
“You say tomato I say tomatoe.” Q shrugged.
“Jimmy, who are you talking to?” Sam asked shyly.
“You can’t see him?” Kirk asked curiously.
“See who?”
“Don’t worry about that Jim, but we’re running out of time and as wonderful as this moment of getting to know each other is, we have business to attend to.”
“Really?” Kirk smirked.
“This is no laughing matter, James. This is the moment of truth, this is the time when you will choose your path and thus the eventual fate of the universe.” Q said and he seemed to grow larger and majestic.
“The universe?” Kirk replied surprised.
“Have you forgotten my little light show a few months ago? You humans are ridiculous, I show you the breadth and scope of reality itself and you FORGOT?”
“I have been rather busy fighting for the survival of the Federation.”
“The Federation?! That backwater is a gnat in the hurricane that is coming. You need to open your eyes James.”
Q snapped his fingers emphatically and the cave vanished in a burst of light replaced by a sea of galaxies. They slowly rotated in the dark infinity around them but there was something different this time, something that stood in stark contrast to what Kirk remembered from the last time Q showed him this image.
There were vast tracts of empty dark space. The millions upon millions of lights representing a galaxy were gone, the larger spiral galaxies closest to his point of view were spinning lazily around him when suddenly one of the galaxies began to unravel. One galactic arm slowly spun away from the main body of the disk and stars began to pour out into the void like blood splattering from a wound, winking out like dying fireflies in the cold expanse of the void between the galaxies. The galaxy itself unraveled like a wool sweater being pulled apart by several loose threads, another galactic arm spun away while a portion of the central disk simply sunk away. Within moments an entire galaxy had died before his very eyes replaced by the hungry void of entropy as it advanced like a Mongol horde on the remaining galaxies.
“My god.”
“What used to be a near infinite number of jewels in the crown of heaven have now been reduced to a paltry handful of thousands of galaxies James and not even the gods know what will happen when the final galaxy falls.”
Kirk looked in awe at the yawning expanse of cold darkness and the enormity of it finally hit him.
“Trelayne, what the hell can I do about this? I’m just a man, not a god.”
“That’s what we’re here to find out.”
Kirk stared at Q suspiciously.
“The time has come James.” Q boomed and suddenly Kirk was awash in bright white light, he had to cover his eyes to avoid becoming blinded and he heard a great wind around him.
“Jimmy, don’t be afraid, I’m here with you.” Sam yelled over the tempest and he felt his brother’s hand on his waist.
Kirk finally looked up and saw two great winding stairs leading from the base of the rock outcropping up into the ceiling which had vanished into a swirling maelstrom of light. The stairs seemed to be an odd extension of the stone and clear multi faceted crystals hanging down over the pool. Light pulsed through the crystal like bottled lightning as he examined each one. Q floated between the stairs that intertwined upwards like strands of DNA. Light flowed from him and his Starfleet uniform was now immaculate white and his hair seemed to dance as if in a gale.
“James.”
“Trelayne, what is this?”
“Your path, James. Walk the paths.”
“I can’t choose without knowing.” Kirk protested.
“And that you shall. Walk and learn, walk and see James. See the two paths left to you.”
“What do you mean left to me?” Kirk asked quietly.
Q smiled darkly. “When this adventure first began, James, there were so many paths open to you, the sky was quite literally the limit.” Behind Q a legion of such intertwined stairs became visible, but they were dark and no longer pulsed with life. “But as time has gone on your paths have been closed, the options available to you have dwindled to these two paths James.”
“What options? What paths? How was I supposed to know!”
Q chuckled.
“James no one knows the paths open to them, you chose freely and that is the only choice you are given in this life, to be free in your choice but every single choice you make opens one path and shuts others. Here.” Q pointed to one stair. “You chose to walk the path of the commander of the Federation remnant and so that path opened to you and the path of freely returning to your own time and living out your legendary life was closed to you.” Another series of stairs darkened immediately. “But other paths opened to you.” Stairs illuminated around him and he began to see that each interlocked stairway led to another and there was a series of chains all leading to this plateau.
“Where do these two lead?”
Q smiled and leaned in forward to whisper into Kirk’s ear.
“I’m giving you a chance that no one else should have. I’m letting you see the paths that stand before you. A sneak preview if you will.” Q put a finger to his lips and hissed “Shhhhh.” “I won’t tell the powers that be if you won’t.”
“You’re serious.” Kirk concluded incredulously as he searched Q’s eyes for any sign of deception or amusement.
“As cancer, James. Now walk the paths before our time is up.”
“Alone?”
“We always walk our paths alone, James.”
“No, Jimmy, never alone.” Sam replied and slipped his small hand into Kirk’s. He looked up at his brother and smiled.
Kirk looked down and smiled softly in return.
“You’ll come with me? It could be scary.”
“I’ll be with you.” Sam replied proudly.
“Jim, I’m not responsible for what happens if you go up there.” McCoy called out to him. Kirk looked back at McCoy and Spock. He looked back up at the stairs to Q’s left hand. He swallowed and slowly walked up to the stairs, paused and took his first step.
The room was silent as a tomb. There was a window behind him that showed a star field and a fleet of warships in various positions. He recognized the ships as Imperial stardestroyers and other Imperial craft, there were smaller craft out on the picket lines, some glowed a silvery white, some a sickly green. He walked up to the window and peered closer.
The white flecks were starships. All manner of Federation starships were floating in precise patterns among the Imperial fleet. Romulan warbirds were out on the fringes of the fleet, some vanishing from sight as they engaged their cloaking devices.
“Impressive isn’t it?”
He froze. His eyes widened slightly and he could see the expression of utter surprise reflected on the glass of the portal.
“I know that voice.” he whispered. Kirk slowly turned around to face the speaker. The Imperial Captain sat calmly in his seat, a book open on his lap. His uniform was immaculate, save for the collar which had been loosened as he sat after a long duty cycle on the bridge. His hair was neatly combed back and he wore a smirk on his face.
“I always knew this moment would come but I always forget and so you surprised me as you always surprised me and you always will.” James Kirk replied sardonically.
“What the hell are you doing in that uniform?” Kirk demanded quietly, unnerved by watching himself seated so casually in the command quarters of what was so obviously a stardestroyer. There was an odd silence in the quarters and after a moment realized what was missing. There was no gentle thrumming of the warp drive heard through the deck plates. It was silent, no sound of engines or any other machinery.
“I could ask you the same question. My god, you have no idea how strange this is, having this conversation now but on the other side of the equation as it were.”
Kirk stared at himself in disbelief. There were some odd lines in his face, some shadow beneath the eyes and more importantly a sorrow, deeply buried in those hazel eyes of his. It was not the first time he had faced himself, odd to think of it that way but it was true. There was the transporter incident that split him in two and Korbi’s android replica. But this disturbed him the most because it felt like him in every way and here he was in an Imperial uniform.
“Have a seat, please, Jim.” Imperial Kirk asked politely and indicated the open seat opposite him.
Kirk began to open his mouth but Imperial Kirk held up a hand. “I know that you’re going to say that you prefer to stand but please have a seat I’m not your enemy for god’s sake. I’m you.”
Kirk looked around for a moment as he realized he was alone in the quarters with his Imperial counterpart.
“Sam doesn’t follow us all the way in, trust me, I’ve been where you are not too long ago. Every man’s path is his own.”
Kirk hesitantly took the offered chair and stared hard into his counterpart, looking for some sign of deception.
“Jim, listen to me closely, this is only a preview so your time here is limited and after all this is over, thank Trelayne because when you realize what he actually did for you it will be too late to thank him.”
Kirk nodded reluctantly.
“This path you’re on right now is the result of my surrender to Imperial forces shortly after returning from Scythia. You will know the moment.”
“Surrender?” Kirk exclaimed horrified. ‘After all we’ve been through you surrendered?”
“I am you. And you will see that this path is the correct one. You’ve been thinking about it Jim, you know damn well that you’ve considered the option seriously, particularly after that debacle over Romulus. You can hide it from Spock and McCoy but this is me, I know exactly what you’re thinking because I already lived it.”
“I refuse to accept that I would choose to surrender. We have fought so hard, sacrificed so much.”
“Precisely Jim.” his Imperial double sighed softly and indicated the window with a nod of his head. “Look out there. Those are Federation starships with living crews. Worlds have been spared the Imperial whip because of our decision.”
“And what else did we gain?” Kirk asked sharply eyeing the Imperial uniform with disgust.
“I am the Supreme Commander of the Alpha Quadrant fleet and if I play my cards right the Emperor has secretly assured me that I will be up for Grand Admiral. We just have to finish hunting down the Imperium rebels. I have been assigned to assist Lord Vader in that mission. This fleet is led by my ship, the ISD Enterprise.”
“Enterprise?”
Imperial Kirk smiled softly.
“I managed to squeeze some concessions out of them when I joined.”
“And Spock and the others?”
“Spock is my XO, McCoy is my chief medical officer, they agreed with me that surrender was the only option, Spock because it was logical, Bones because he couldn’t see more Federation civilians suffer.”
“Civilians?”
Imperial Kirk frowned and sat back.
“We were the victims of our own success. Thrawn loses patience with thoroughly defeating us and begins a campaign of terror against the Federation citizens we claimed we were fighting for. It began with the Base Delta Zero of Earth and only grew worse. By the time I decided to surrender 60 billion Federation citizens met a fiery death.”
The silence in the room was thick. Kirk stared at his Imperial counterpart and the horror of the revelation was mind boggling.
“So you see, you call me traitor and hate me but what was I suppose to do?” Kirk began to open his mouth. “Fight you say? With what Jim? Our fleets could only harass and sting the Imperials. You don’t think I mobilized everything I could to defend Earth when Thrawn showed up? You don’t think I threw every starship we had into that fight and watched in horror as Thrawn outmaneuvered me and ignored my attacks as he rained death on Earth, peeling away the very atmosphere and surface of the planet leaving nothing but a molten ball!” Imperial Kirk’s voice had risen as he spoke until he was nearly shouting. “After that it was one defeat after another, one world reduced ash after every defeat. I had no CHOICE!”
Kirk stood up quickly and strode away from Imperial Kirk and faced the window again, looking out upon the fleet and the stars around them.
“There’s always a choice.” Kirk replied softly. “We always believed that even when we faced certain defeat. There’s always a choice, another way.”
Imperial Kirk looked up sadly and stared into his counterpart’s back.
“You have not seen the other path yet.” he said darkly. Kirk paused. “Once you see the other path you tell me what choice I had.” Imperial Kirk whispered darkly and stood up and walked towards another room.
“I’m going to the bathroom. I know when I come back that you won’t be here. Jim, I’m begging you. Do not try as I did to avoid this path. I did it and 60 billion sentients died. Horribly. There is no other choice. Surrender before that happens, don’t make the same mistake I did.”
Kirk turned his head and regarded his Imperial self.
“You look sad.” he noted.
Imperial Kirk nodded slowly.
“In the end, despite all the pretty words and niceties, Jim. I’m a miserable human being because I am solely responsible for 60 billion deaths and I am here wearing this…thing. Worst of all Jim…there really was no way to win.”
They exchanged solemn nods and Imperial Kirk walked into the bathroom.
Kirk was standing at the base of the steps again. He blinked and Sam stood holding his hand.
“Are you ready Jimmy?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know if I want to see the other path.” Kirk replied darkly. He looked up at the stairs to Q’s right and hesitantly took a step up.
He smelled the blood and gore first, hitting him like a wave. He coughed loudly and fought the gag reflex that was coming up as the new smells of human filth also assaulted him now and with it the sounds of slow metal grinding on metal.
He was standing in a small room, all metal, dark and windowless with a naked bulb of light overhead illuminating the area in a flickering sickly greenish glow. He stopped suddenly as he saw the source of the stink and gore.
James Kirk hung spread eagled in the center of the room, chained by the wrists and ankles to anchors on the ceiling and floor with a harness at the waist that had rows of buttons and switches. The sides of the harness were studded with various implements of pain, cutting blades, prods, needles. Some of the blades were still wet with Kirk’s blood. The chained Kirk’s gold command shirt was torn at the shoulders and wet with blood and spittle, caked with the grime of human filth near then waist, his pants were torn away, they had not survived the sessions and the filth had soiled what remained to nothing more than some rags covering his vital areas. No boots, his bare feet dangled a foot off the ground.
Chained Kirk’s face was a mass of bruises and contusions, one eye completely swollen shut, the other was completely engorged by blood, the pupil seemed to be almost swallowed up by the blood filling the what should have been the whites of his eyes.
Despite all of this chained Kirk smiled weakly and nodded.
“I was wondering when you would show up.”
Kirk shook his head.
“He was right.” he whispered.
“Who, our Imperial friend? Yes, he was right. There were only two paths and how could a sane person chose this path?”
“Why? How?” Kirk suddenly looked around and drew his phaser. “I’m getting you out of here.” he said and walked over to the harness.
Chained Kirk weakly shook his head.
“You can’t change what has already happened, besides there’s no escaping this place. I’m in the heart of the lion’s den, Jim. I’m on the Executor.”
“How did this happen?”
“I took the road less traveled.”
“God, WHY?”
Kirk nodded to himself and looked up a the ceiling.
“Because I would not wear that THING.”
“You KNEW this was going to happen? You knew and you did this anyway?”
Chained Kirk nodded.
“There are paths that even I will not walk. Did you see his eyes, the sorrow? He’s eating away at himself little by little. This way at least is more honest, more direct.” Kirk mused.
Kirk examined his counterpart more closely now and shook his head.
“You’re going to die. They’re beating you to death.” he concluded.
“That is the general idea.” Chained Kirk replied sardonically. There was the sound of footsteps approaching and the hints of heavy mechanical breathing.
“Jim, listen to me, there are always choices, our Imperial counterpart forgot that but I didn’t. Think of the stairs when the time comes, think of what Trelayne showed us Jim. Think on it long and hard. One choice leads to another Jim! Now go!”
The foot steps stopped in front of the cell door.
Kirk stared at himself and reached out and brushed back a stray lock of hair.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t hesitate to tell Leia that you love her. It will save us when the time comes. When you’re here, you can have no regrets, Jim.” Chained Kirk replied. Then his face brightened as he remembered something. “Jim, Duck as soon as you can.”
“What?” The doors to the cell slid open.
He was standing back at the pool save that the stairs were gone now and the cavern was dark and quiet again.
Kirk thought for a moment and simply ducked.
A blaster bolt flashed overhead and exploded further down in the depths of the cavern. Kirk vaulted over the rock outcropping and rolled away as a series of blaster bolts flashed by him. He drew his phaser and rolled behind a boulder knocked loose by the blasts.
“Sam get to cover!” Kirk called out.
“There’s no one else here but us Kirk. You’re not going to fool me that easily.” a cold monotone drifted through the cavern.
“Fett!?” Kirk exclaimed in surprise.
“This ends here and now Kirk.”
Wherever you go, there you are.
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PeZook wrote:Dude...I'm getting an inferiority complex. Seriously.
I AM NOT WORTHY! I AM NOT WORTHY!!!
On a sidenote: great chapter, the best yet, I dare to say...
I'm just happy I have an audience that appreciates the work and enjoys when I experiment a little like in this chapter.
And yes, I want this chapter to be remembered as one of THE defining chapters of the story like the Battle for earth chapter. There were a few chapetsr I always envisioned when I first started this story - The Battle for Earth, The Battle for Vulcan, and this one. The rest are coming in short order now and the action picks up.
Wherever you go, there you are.
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This updated sig brought to you by JME2
From now on when I'm asked what religion I am, I'm saying that I'm a Stravoist. Otherwise, mere words can't express how well you're writing this story.
Very VERY GODLY GOOD Chapter. Now .....why wasn't I INFORM OF THIS??!!!~Jason
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."
edit: now that I have read it I must say well done. I liked Kirk seeing his paths and seeing what would happen if he chose either path.
Hmm. Kirk given 2 options; damned if you do, damned if you dont.
I'm lookings for the Path 'C' choice. Since this is mostly about Kirk the Hero and the redemption of Luke & the Federation.
Most of those 'vision cave' encounters dont actually give a heck of a lot of new information (in raw quanity), this one definatly gave a heck of a lot.
"Okay, I'll have the truth with a side order of clarity." ~ Dr. Daniel Jackson.
"Reality has a well-known liberal bias." ~ Stephen Colbert
"One Drive, One Partition, the One True Path" ~ ars technica forums - warrens - on hhd partitioning schemes.
“You don’t stand a chance and you know that.” Behind him the tall figure of a blue skinned human with red glowing eyes appeared. The Grand Admiral locked eyes with Kirk.
“You cannot defeat me. You know this.” he stated simply.
“No. Anyone can be defeated.”
“Perhaps.” Thrawn conceded. “But you cannot defeat me and that is what matters.” he added with a stony gaze.
“Damn you!” Kirk roared.
That... that is brilliant
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
You guys have NO idea how glad I am that I'm getting such positive feedback on this chapter. I've been wanting to write it for months but had to build up to it. Now it picks up from here and takes some unexpected twists and turns. And Kirk realizes he is Fate's bitch.
Thanks evreyone for taking time to read and enjoy this one.
Wherever you go, there you are.
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This updated sig brought to you by JME2
I wonder... does the second option entail the death of MORE than 60 billion Federation citizens? I just don't see Kirk choosing that. Is there more to the second option than meets the eye?
Busily picking nuggets out of my well-greased ass.
Heh. I have my suspisions on the third path, but I'll keep them to myself.
PS: It's Trelane.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
~Jason
