Chapter Text
Every muscle in Jim’s body hurt as he and Sulu slammed down onto the transporter pad. He struggled to unclench them even as they burned from the strain. His heart was pounding so hard the beats were nearly suffocating where he could feel them in his throat.
Sulu groaned from below and Jim carefully rolled off of him. Sitting up he felt the world spin briefly before his fuzzy vision narrowed in on Spock.
“Clear the transporter,” Spock said, marching into the room. Jim could feel tension rolling off the Vulcan but what he was reading made no sense to his addled mind. Fear, anger, worry, sadness, panic and desperation all blended together in a pisonic wave that nearly knocked Jim back to the floor. Either the fear of the fall shattered Jim’s mental shields or Spock’s emotions were so out of control he was projecting them for anyone to hear. If Jim was honest with himself, it was probably both.
Sulu scrambled up at the order but Jim remained where he was seated not out of insubordination but rather sheer mental exhaustion. He tried to sort the storm in his head to at least determine what emotions were his and what emotions were Spock’s but even that was fruitless.
“I said, clear the Transporter Kirk,” Spock demanded a second time.
Jim brought his hand up to his forehead as a headache began to build. Something wasn’t right and Jim wasn’t moving until he knew Spock wasn’t about to do something stupid.
“Where are you going?” Jim asked, fighting back the nervous nausea that could have belonged to either of them.
“That is not your business,” Spock replied. Whatever was bothering him was clearly important as Jim had yet to see Spock as mad as he was now and that was saying something as Jim appeared to excel at pissing Spock off. Which was exactly what he was probably about to do.
“Actually, as your First Officer, it is entirely my business to know where the Captain is in an emergency situation. Where are you going?” Jim finally found his balance and was able to push himself up to his knees.
Spock glared down at him but offered a hand to help him up. Jim knew better than to grab his hand as that would make their linked emotions even worse and instead grabbed his wrist for the Vulcan to tug him back onto his feet.
Spock was angrier than he looked as he nearly threw Jim into the ceiling with how hard he pulled. “Hey, don’t dislocate my shoulder,” Jim snapped.
Spock ignored him and as soon as Jim was upright, tucked his hands behind his back. Jim didn’t need telepathy to know that Spock was clenching his fists out of sight.
“The Vulcan High Council is currently inside the Hall of Ancient Thought. They will not leave until every katra in the History and Culture Tomb is preserved but they do not know what is happening and will die before they can finish the job if someone does not get them. It is my duty as a Vulcan to save them.”
Spock was lying about something. Jim could sense that much but both of their emotions were completely haywire right now so Jim would take him at his word that this was at least one of his reasons for going down.
“You’re emotionally compromised. You can’t go alone,” Jim declared. Spock opened his mouth to argue but Jim cut across him by turning to Chekov. “Declare for an emergency evacuation now of all shuttle ports to leave as soon as the shuttles hit full capacity. Start beaming up as many people as you can, between this transporter, the two cargo transporters and the medical transporters you can beam up fifty-five people at a time. Vulcan’s twin planet - does it have colonies on it?”
Jim turned to Spock only to find him staring. There was no emotion clear on his face, Jim’s spontaneous actions must have given him the time needed to control his impulses but his emotions and worries were still leaking towards any psi-positive person on the ship.
“Yes, and yes, their transporters are powerful enough to reach Vulcan,” Spock replied, having already picked up on what Jim’s next question would be. “As does their moon.”
“Message them too,” Jim continued. “Have them start beaming over Vulcan’s from the far side of the planet where our transporters can’t easily reach. Spock and I are going to take a shuttle down to the planet and get the Vulcan Elders. Sulu, you have the Conn. Spock, let's go.”
“Uh,” Sulu replied, looking between Spock and Jim.
“You heard him, Lieutenant Sulu,” Spock said, his dark eyes never leaving Jim. “Ensign Chekov, inform Nyota to send a general distress call out to all surrounding areas as well. There are Starfleet bases in the area that will be able to possibly offer assistance.”
Sulu and Checkov both acknowledged the order and watched in surprised silence as Spock nodded before following Jim from the room.
“Why have you determined that we will take a shuttle?” Spock demanded as soon as they were no longer in front of an audience.
Jim looked at him in surprise that Spock had agreed to his plan without even fully understanding it.
“I thought it was obvious. Transporters on ships, even the constitution class ships, can sometimes be distorted by minerals and atmosphere around mountain sides. If these people are as important to you as the Fifth House is to Betazed then we aren’t taking risks with getting them. The shuttle will let us get closer and give us an escape that we have control over.”
Spock’s eyes widened briefly. “You are Betazoid?” he asked.
Jim could feel the sharp spike of panic that came with that realization and rolled his eyes. “My mom’s mom,” he replied, as they entered the launch bay and made their way towards the second shuttle. “Quarter but I got more bells and whistles than most quarter Betazoids due to being born near a warp core explosion. Don’t worry about it. I don’t have the concentration to read anyone’s mind right now nor would I. I was raised on Earth. I have way more respect for people’s private thoughts than my grandma ever did and that’s saying something as Betazoid has a whole set of rules they supposedly follow.”
“I was not trying to accuse-”
“I know,” Jim said, smirking over his shoulder at Spock. “But it’s a natural reaction when meeting Betazoids. You probably get the same thing for being a Vulcan but at least your specie’s rumors aren’t true.”
“My shields are-”
“Shredded to shit? Yeah, mine too,” Jim assured. “It’s why I didn’t want to touch your hand earlier. I get it, Spock. Stop worrying about it. This is probably the least offensive thing you’ve said to me since we met. Now get in here and put on your seatbelt.”
Spock rushed forward to do as Jim said but he could still feel the sticky emotions of guilt and regret clinging to their conversation. Jim didn’t wait for him to be seated before starting up the launch pattern. They needed to move quickly and Jim figured Vulcan balance would keep Spock on his feet even with a rough launch.
He was incorrect.
The bitchy, irritated emotion radiating off of Spock as he got back to his feet and settled down next to Jim in the passenger seat had Jim fighting back a laugh. It was a much better feeling than the sticky one at least.
“Mount Seleya.” Spock pointed towards a towering mountain that stood tall next to a connecting pillar. “That is where the elders will be.”
“That bridge doesn’t look too stable,” Jim said, looking between the landing pad on the pillar and the actual entrance to the temple. “I’m going to park the shuttle on the actual mountain. It’s closer anyway.”
“It will make for a harder re-launch. Vulcan's soil is very fluid like due to the sand and hard to push off from,” Spock explained. Jim wasn't too fond of his tone as it edged close to implying Jim was stupid. “You should land on the designated pad.”
“Spock if that bridge gives out or the pillar collapses we’ll be stuck!” Jim argued. “I can get us off the ground. They teach us how at the academy.”
“They teach pilots how,” Spock corrected.
“I am a pilot.”
“You are a cadet tactical officer with basic piloting skills.”
“I’m a tactical officer with a pilot's license,” Jim said. He was starting to think that Spock was trying to be contrary on purpose at this point. “That makes me a pilot. I’m landing where I want.”
Spock didn’t argue but it likely had less to do with what Jim said and more to do with the boulder that went rolling down the mountain side and slammed into the pillar in question. Another hit like that would easily take out the whole structure and prove Jim right.
“Let’s go,” Jim said as soon as he landed the shuttle. He didn’t bother shutting it off as he wasn’t sure they would have time to restart it.
Spock didn't argue and led him into the Hall of Ancient Thought. Jim knew as soon as he crossed the threshold that he was one of the few outsiders ever allowed within the temple. There was something about the energy here that felt so Vulcan that being anything else within the building almost seemed like a crime. It was discomforting so Jim tried to keep close to Spock.
There were huge intricately carved pillars up and down the halls that made Jim feel small and insignificant in comparison. As they passed room after room, Jim could see the walls lined with these small statues that reminded him of the Easter Island Heads. He could feel something reaching out to him from the statues and it took him an embarrassingly long time to realize they were actually urns. Unlike their Earth counterparts that only held the ashes of human remains, these urns seemed to be holding souls, each one reaching out to Jim as if looking for connection.
One above all the others kept pulling at his mind and Jim stumbled when something snapped into place. Jim imagined it wasn’t dissimilar to the Betazoid practice of Narzad, where in times of death a Betazoid could absorb the memories of a loved one. He had never experienced the practice but knew his mother still held his father’s memories within her. He wasn’t so sure about this Vulcan soul hitchhiker but he knew now wasn't the time to bring it up. It could, hopefully, wait until later.
A quick glance at the label over the door read in Vulcan: House of Surak - T’gai Lineage. If he didn’t know Surak would be in the History and Culture Tomb Spock mentioned earlier, he might have freaked out more. As it was, this was clearly a lesser known relative that just decided it liked Jim.
They finally made it to the tomb where the Vulcan Elders were carefully absorbing the souls from the Vulcan urns into their bodies. It was kind of freaky the way they just soaked them in. Jim wondered just how many each of them could carry. There had to be at least a hundred of those urns in the room and only nine council people around the room.
“Spock,” one of the Vulcan elders called as soon as they entered. “There are still sixteen katras unaccounted for. We will need your assistance.”
“A Vulcan’s katra, given they have a strong psi-ratings like the elders do, can withstand twenty other katra,” a voice explained softly.
Jim startled not having expected an answer to his musings. He turned to see a beautiful human woman standing next to him. She had a scarf wrapped around her wavy brown hair that she kept messing with as she watched the Vulcan’s continue on with their mission.
“I’m sorry,” Jim said. “I didn’t mean to project.”
“It’s fine,” she assured. “I’m sure your shields are struggling. I’m pretty sure I heard you through my son’s connection to your mind rather than you projecting anything anyway.”
“Your son?” Jim asked. He ignored the part about the connection, well aware that Spock and him had somehow picked up each other's mental frequencies back on the ship. Though, he supposed that answered his question about who her son was.
“Spock,” she replied as expected.
Jim nodded. That was what Spock had been lying about earlier then. He wasn’t down here to save the Vulcan High Council. He was here to save his mother who stood worried at Jim’s side and his father who was likely the Vulcan Elder directing Spock around the room to which souls to save.
“Are they almost done?” Jim asked. He didn't want to rush whatever process the Vulcans had going but it would all be pointless if they died here. “We really need to go.”
Spock’s mother didn’t answer at first but Jim could feel her emotions, fear and guilt, churning within her. When she turned to him, he was unsurprised to see the determined look in her eyes.
“My husband is the youngest on the council. If you need to run, he can keep up. The same cannot be said for the other elders. I will lead them out now. You will bring both Spock and Sarek back to me,” she said.
Jim knew an order when he heard one. “Yes, ma’am. Take them to the shuttle and we’ll follow.”
“Council,” she called. “Starfleet has a shuttle waiting outside. I think it best we start moving towards it.”
For a moment a majority of the Council looked like they were going to argue before a Vulcan female, likely the eldest on the Council stepped forward. “Lady Amanda is correct. There is no logic in waiting for Spock and Sarek. They can more easily catch up. The time to move is now.”
Jim watched the group head for the exit of the chamber and breathed a sigh of relief. They moved slowly between their advanced ages and the increasingly unstable ground. An odd sensation filled Jim as the elders moved and yet a ghostly visage of them remained behind. Even Amanda had a mirror image that stayed in the room even as she disappeared through the doorway, which eliminated Jim’s first assumption that it had to do with the katra.
The images seemed to have no real awareness of their surroundings and didn’t react when Jim reached out to touch them.
“Lieutenant Kirk,” Spock called, breaking Jim away from his investigation of the images. “We are leaving now.”
Jim turned to see Spock and Sarek standing near the doorway watching him. Both of the Vulcans projected confusion as to what he was looking at which told Jim whatever he was seeing, they couldn’t.
The ghostly images suddenly abruptly moved and started running from the chamber which was all the signal Jim needed to know now was, as the female council leader put it, the time to move.
As he, Spock, and Sarek rushed from the temple, they were followed by the ghostly projections. Jim nearly stumbled when he heard a psionic scream come from first one and then another ghost as they were crushed under falling statues. One of the statues really would have crushed Sarek had Jim not snatched him by the arm at the last second.
When they exited the temple, the ghosts vanished and Jim noticed with relief that all of the Vulcan elders, including the two who’s ghosts were crushed, were on the ship and already strapped in. The only one not seated was Lady Amanda who stood within the shuttle doors and held her arms out as Spock and Sarek came closer.
She locked her arms around Spock in a fiercely tight hug that sent all sorts of warm and fuzzy emotions Jim’s way. The dissonance between the loving emotions bouncing between mother and son and the reality of the planet collapsing below them gave Jim a head rush.
Sarek pushing past him to reach his wife and child, broke Jim from the spell. He had a ship to pilot, preferably before the planet turned into a black hole and dragged them in.
“You three might want to take a seat,” Jim called, moving towards the pilot’s chair. He didn’t even blink when Spock chose to take the co-pilot seat. With the trip they were about to take, the extra controls would be useful.
Take off was rough, as it always was when launching from bare ground rather than a specifically designed launch pad. It was only made worse by the surface of the planet collapsing out from under them as they launched from the ground.
The gravity around Vulcan was horrific as the pull nearly doubled its usual strength. Jim worried for a moment that a shuttle might have been a worse idea than a transporter afterall when the shuttle finally pushed through and broke from Vulcan’s influence.
“Spock, hail the Enterprise,” Jim said. “We may need a tractor beam before this is over. Shuttles aren’t made for this kind of space flight.
“Enterprise, this is Acting Captain Spock, please have the tractor beam on standby.” Jim was surprised Spock listened rather than arguing like before but maybe Jim had finally said something logical or maybe the katras Spock took on were influencing him to be nicer.
“The tractor beam is currently being used to help smaller shuttles escape from Vulcan’s gravity, Captain. Should we still hold it on standby?” Uhura replied. Jim recognized her tone from the past few years of sharing classes though she had never used it with him. She was picking her words carefully so as not to upset the person she was talking to.
Spock froze and Jim could feel his indecision fighting itself in circles. Jim had thought during his academic tribunal that it was easy for Spock to say the things he said because he was Vulcan and emotion could not sway his opinion, now he was realizing that wasn’t quite right.
This was Spock’s Kobayashi Maru and logic could not come to a clear decision in this instance. Logic said neither ship would be more important than the other, so if a ship was already in the tractor beam it should be brought aboard while their ship was left behind. Emotion however, the drive for connection and understanding, said this ship was the most important one currently hovering over Vulcan. The lives on board might not be more important but the information those lives contained was and Spock couldn’t seem to make the call.
“Uhura,” Jim called. “Continue using the tractor beam as is, but if we call, drop whatever ship you have and grab ours. Preserving the Vulcan way of life is our most important goal at this moment. The High Council must live even if it means other Vulcans have to die. Do you understand?”
Jim expected an argument and from the deep breath he could hear through the Comm one was coming before Spock cut in. “Follow Lieutenant Kirk’s instructions, Lieutenant Uhura. Our people will need their leaders.”
“Yes, sirs,” Uhura replied, her voice heavy with grief.
The shuttle was dead silent as the comm call ended. Even Sarek and Amanda stopped their hushed whispers as the reality of the situation they were in full hit them. The silence didn’t last long however as a huge wave of psionic power swept over the shuttle and knocked the breath from all its occupants.
All of a sudden Jim could feel a pop, pop, popping in his brain without much context before clarity struck. The popping feelings were the Vulcan bonds that made up the galaxy wide Vulcan mindscape snapping one by one. Several of the Vulcan elders collapsed and when Jim checked on Spock tears were streaming down his face.
Jim distantly recalled that Vulcans didn’t have tear ducts but his mind was too scattered as the soul attached to him screamed at its own bonds, those remaining even in death, snapped. Jim still didn’t even know who had attached themselves to him, let alone who they just lost but the sensation made his stomach churn and he found tears slipping down his own face as well.
The shuttle jerked uncontrollably and Jim was jolted back into his body though everything still felt like he was doing it through jelly. He recalled calling the Enterprise and requesting assistance as the blackhole that was once Vulcan tried to pull them in. He recalled the jolt of the tractor beam grabbing them and the terrifying shake as the shuttle struggled to remain in one piece between the two forces working against it. He even recalled the bright lights of the extremely full shuttle bay once they landed and exited the shuttle.
The very last thing he recalled was passing out at the exact same time as Spock.