Chapter Text
By the time they reached the shuttle bay and Jim suited up, it took every scrap of concentration to maintain his self-control. The wave had built up inside him frighteningly quickly, and he could only hold so much in. He’d shattered more than a few interfaces, torn a few ladders off the bulkheads in the tubes, and even knocked out an entire deck’s lighting system.
And all of that was nothing. Not even the tip of the iceberg he held inside.
He felt something press against his neck. “Anti-emetic,” Bones said. “You’re gonna need it. Everybody aboard needs them right now.”
Jim allowed himself a nod. The power inside him rose like a tide. If he didn’t do something with it soon, he’d drown in it. Bones slid Jim’s helmet over his head, activating the oxygen feed. “Get out there and free us,” he said. “I’ll be waiting for you in sickbay.”
Jim nodded, trying not to lose focus while also picturing what had to be done. Get out, get to the front of the ship, and clear a path.
Easy.
He could do that.
He could throw huge hunks of unknown planetary material around space.
Yeah, no problem.
The tiny hands gathering around him danced at the thought of it.
“Hold on,” Bones said. “Don’t let go. Not yet.”
Metal groaned around them. Jim looked, spotted a shuttle straining against its docking clamps. He could feel his connection to it, feel the way his thoughts could easily lift it up. He gathered the power back, pulling it into himself. “Fuck.” He looked at Bones. “I can’t hold onto this for much longer.”
“I know. Go! And make sure you clear a path.”
Jim didn’t need telling twice. Leaving Bones to head into the shuttle bay control room, he ran to the shuttle bay door. Moments later, it slowly opened. Space beyond was littered with rocks and wrecked ships.
Spock’s voice suddenly filled his head. “Bridge to Captain Kirk.”
Bones answered for Jim. “Don’t talk to him right now, Spock. We barely got down here without him accidentally tearing the ship to pieces.”
“Understood.”
With the shuttle bay finally open, Jim launched himself into space. The EVA suit’s boosters enabled him to get into position on the ship’s saucer section with ease. He probably could’ve moved himself there with his own power, but he needed to save it.
He was going to need every last scrap of strength. The massive chunks of rock hanging around him were big. Very big.
It was strange, being outside with the shield shimmering around him, flashing where the debris field made contact. He reached out, trying to close his thoughts around the closest piece of space trash.
He felt his power bounce off the shield.
“Shit.” Jim activated his suit’s comm unit. “Kirk to Spock. You’re not gonna like this, but I need you to drop the shields.”
“Captain, if we drop the shields, we will have no defense,” Spock said.
“Yeah, you will. Me. But if you don’t drop the shields, I can’t do anything.”
“You cannot manipulate matter beyond the shields?”
The ship lurched when a massive, shuttle-sized rock hit the shields. Jim staggered to one side, grateful the magnetized boots kept him attached to the hull. Dammit. He did not have time to argue; not with larger debris coming at the Enterprise. He needed to do this, now, before he lost control and wasted everything he had. “Spock, trust me. Drop the shields. I’ll clear a path. Sulu, make sure you’re ready to get us to that space station.”
“Aye, Captain,” Sulu said.
“Understood,” Spock said. “Shields dropping.”
Jim planted his feet in a bladed stance, ready for a fight. The shields disappeared. Jim launched into action, catching rocks and throwing them away, crashing them into each other to clear through the debris field and keep anything from hitting his ship, his home, his crew.
And it wasn’t just rocks. There were fragments of ships in the field.
Jim couldn’t spare the mental focus to take in specifics. He had to protect the crew and their ship.
He could do this. He could keep going. Immense power worked through him, responding to every thought. Nothing else existed to him, just the rocks and wreckage standing between them and the space station. He sank deeper into the flow, his mind connecting with everything in his path and sending it spiraling. More. More, more, more. It was incredible. He felt disconnected from his body. He existed as energy, and with every object he threw away, the ship moved closer to the alien spaceship.
A gift for you so that you may learn from your betters.
And then his mind crashed without warning, pulling him back into his body. He blinked, surprised to find himself on his knees, the ship’s shining hull under his hands. Pain screamed through his skull. He’d done more than he’d ever tried before, his body complaining, and yet the power howled inside him, begging to be unleashed.
“ – to Kirk. Come in, Captain.” Spock’s voice sounded like to came from the other side of the galaxy. “If you can hear me, there is a large asteroid directly ahead of the ship. It is the last one standing between the ship and the space station. If you do not clear it, the ship will sustain heavy damage. We cannot bring phasers online soon enough to fire on it.”
“C’mon, Jim. Get up!” Bones’ voice was just as distant. “You have to do this!”
Jim forced his head up. He saw it racing towards the ship; a massive chunk of rock the size of the saucer section, hurtling closer every second. Staggering to his feet, Jim ran forward, summoning everything he had left.
He caught the rock.
That wasn’t enough. It was too big.
If he could trash a lab, he could wreck a rock.
He pushed everything he had outward, felt the energy wrapping itself around every inch of the meteor, finding every crack, every fissure, every tear. And then he started to pull. Harder and harder. He pushed past the pain. He had to do this. He couldn’t let Enterprise take a hit.
Jim’s throat ached with the roar echoing from deep within. He could barely see past the static blinding him. But he could see enough.
Saw the meteor.
Saw it coming apart.
Felt himself pulling it apart.
There was resistance. Tough formations that would not break, would not separate.
A ragged laugh broke free of Jim, teeth bearing in a feral grin. He tasted blood on his tongue, felt a hot gush flood across his lips.
Yes. Yes, they would break apart.
He could break anything he wanted to break.
The meteor shattered into two pieces.
Jim’s knees gave out. He shoved one half away from the Enterprise, but he had nothing left. The second half was going to hit.
No. No, he couldn’t fail. Not now!
Jim threw out a hand.
Nothing happened.
He’d burnt himself out.
And then light. From the phasers. Hitting the debris and shattering it.
It was the last thing Jim saw before everything went dark.
A voice followed him down.
You have learned well from your betters.
And then he saw it emerging from the darkness.
The sunset.
Except this time, it wasn’t in space.
He watched it setting on the horizon of a vast ocean.
Voices filled his head. All doing the same thing.
Screaming.
The noise shattered the world.
This time, the darkness didn’t let Jim go.
Spock watched the last of the debris blocking their onward trajectory explode. He couldn’t deny the distinct feel of satisfaction running through him. He did not, however, allow it to alter his focus. “Report, Mr Sulu.”
“We’ve got a clear path to the space station, Commander.” Sulu said.
“The captain?” Spock asked.
“Mr Scott beamed the captain aboard,” Sulu said. “He’s in Sickbay.”
Knowing better than to contact McCoy at this precise moment, Spock kept his focus on the matters he could deal with. “Take us to the space station,” he ordered.
“Aye, sir,” Sulu said, hands moving over the helm controls.
“Engineering to bridge. I’m bringing all our power levels back up to normal,” Scott said over the comm. “Now we don’t have to maintain shields, we can send power back to all non-urgent systems.”
“Communications?” Spock asked.
“Up and running,” Scott said.
“Lieutenant?” Spock turned to Uhura, knowing he needed to ask no more of her.
“I’m still picking up on the transmission,” Uhura said. “We will need to make certain there’s nothing aboard the station that could cause similar effects that the captain has suffered before we send an away team.”
“Agreed,” Spock said.
“I am scanning,” Chekov said. “The structure appears ancient.”
“How ancient?” Spock asked.
“Scanners suggest five hundred years, sir,” Chekov replied. He turned in his seat. “There’s something else. I am detecting several elements in its makeup unknown to the Federation except for the samples picked up by the captain’s shuttle.”
“Fascinating,” Spock said. “Will we be able to beam aboard?”
“I believe so,” Chekov said. “I cannot detect any shields.”
“This debris field was the shield,” Sulu said. “Whether it was supposed to be or not.”
“A logical conclusion,” Spock said. “We have seen numerous wrecks in the field.” They’d watched the derelicts fly away after the captain threw them away from the Enterprise. “It would seem many were lost here.”
“They had five hundred years to get lost here,” Scott said.
The Enterprise arrived at the ancient space station within minutes. It was tiny, probably capable of sustaining fifty crew members, assuming they were humanoid. Time had not been kind. The image on the viewscreen revealed large hull breaches.
“Power levels?” Spock asked.
“Minimal,” Scott said. “If you’re planning on going over there, you’ll need suits. I cannae detect life support of any kind.”
“If there’s minimal power, how are they sending out the transmission?” Sulu asked.
“What power remains is going to the communication system,” Uhura said. “It’s sending out on all frequencies, including subspace, but there are signals going out that our computer cannot interpret.” She looked over to Spock, an apology in her eyes. “The technology is beyond ours.”
“Is their computer core accessible remotely?” Spock asked.
“Unlikely,” Scott said. “If you want the data, you’ll have to get up close and personal.”
“I’m detecting radiation similar to what the shuttle’s sensors picked up,” Chekov said. “The levels are low.”
Spock used the captain’s chair to access his station’s readouts. Indeed, the radiation levels were so low they weren’t likely to damage organic life. However, he remained reluctant to send anyone aboard, given the nature of communications emanating from the station. While he wanted to gain an understanding of the space station and its purpose, their main concern remained the anomaly it caused. His human side, forever lacking in strict Vulcan discipline, suggested he simply order the station be destroyed. As always, logic won out.
“Can we interface with the communication system?” Spock asked.
Uhura worked on her station, consulting the people either side of her. Spock knew humans well enough by now to recognize negative answers when he was about to receive them.
“No,” Uhura said. “We will have to board the space station to shut everything down manually.”
“Understood,” Spock said. “Lieutenant, prepare any security measures you feel the EVA suits will require. Have Mr Scott assist you.”
“Aye sir,” she answered.
An alert sounded. Everyone turned to the ship’s systems officer. Lieutenant Shai, an Andorian, looked up from his station. “It’s sickbay, sir. I’m picking up dangerous power fluctuations.”
Spock didn’t have a chance to contact McCoy. The ship shuddered, alarms sounding off.
“McCoy to bridge. Spock, whatever y’all are planning on doing, you better do it fast otherwise Jim’s gonna shake this ship apart. He’s out cold and we can’t bring him round. Hell, we can’t get close to him. The power he's emitting hasn't stopped like before. He’s in the isolation room and we’re about to pump it full of a neuro-suppressant that might settle him for a couple of hours, but he’s beyond controlling this. The human brain wasn’t built for this. I know he’s undergone some changes, but it’s too much.”
“Worst case scenario, Doctor?” Spock asked.
“Worst case? He smashes a hole the size of Iowa into the Enterprise, we all get sucked into space, and we all die.”
“An unpleasant outcome, regardless of your exaggeration,” Spock replied.
“Just get some answers, Spock! We’re running out of time!”
“Update me once you have administered the neuro-suppressant,” Spock said.
“I will, but if this doesn’t work, I’m gonna need another alternative. McCoy out.”
Concern fading beneath his logic before it truly registered, Spock made a rapid decision. “Ensign Chekov, join Lieutenant Uhura and Mr Scott on the away team.”
“Aye, sir.” Chekov dashed off the bridge.
Spock looked at the viewscreen, gaze moving beyond the space station. “Mr Sulu, monitor the debris field. Shoot down anything that comes within range of the ship.”
“Aye, sir.”
He turned to the navigation station. Ensign Darwin had taken Ensign Chekov’s station. “Are we at risk of losing a clear path out of the debris field?”
Spock watched her rapid calculations. “The captain cleared a significant area,” she said. “The debris is still adrift and appears to be moving away from us. The field beyond the station is significantly thinner than it is here.” She looked up from her station to face him. “Sir, I believe we can remain here for several days without running the risk of the debris field closing us in. As long as we do not have to redirect power from the phasers to the shields, we should be able to shoot our way clear of the remainder of the field.”
It was a reassuring answer, the best they could reasonably expect. “Monitor the debris field,” Spock said. “If our onward trajectory becomes uncertain, inform me immediately.”
Darwin turned back to her station. “Aye, sir.”
Spock turned his gaze once again to the space station. The answer to the captain’s condition could be aboard.
“Scott to bridge. We’re good to go down here. The plan is to beam aboard the station, download the data from the computer core, and shut down any remaining systems causing the spatial anomaly.”
“Understood,” Spock said. “Keep open comms with the Enterprise at all times. If you begin to suspect you are suffering any ill effects from the systems, we will beam you back immediately.”
Another alert sounded from the ship’s systems. “Commander, I’m reading power outages in sickbay,” Lieutenant Shai said.
“McCoy to bridge. Bad news, Spock. The suppressant didn’t work. Gonna need another idea, fast.”
Spock glanced at the alert readouts himself. The ship was in very real danger if the captain wasn’t contained. “Doctor, the captain was unable to manipulate anything beyond the ship’s shields.”
“You didn’t think to mention that before Jim knocked out all our power?” McCoy shot back.
“Apologies, Doctor.” Logic guided Spock to the most logical option. “Can we beam him to the brig for sufficient containment? It has the strongest shielding available to us.”
“Yeah, but you’ll need to clear out all the personnel until the shields are active. They’ll be thrown around like ragdolls if not. I’ve never seen anything like it, Spock. It looks as though it comes on in pulses, and whenever one happens, telekinetic energy just bursts out of him. We’ll have to transport him during a lull.”
Fascinating, certainly. “Would you say it has increased with our proximity to the space station?” Spock asked.
“Hard to tell. He’s been gaining strength for days. If it is the space station, it must be emitting something that he’s attuned to that the rest of us are not, otherwise we’d all be tearing stuff apart with our brains.”
“We will scan for such radiation now, Doctor,” Spock said. “Get the captain to the brig. If the forcefield fails, inform me immediately.”
“You better hope it doesn’t,” McCoy said, ending the call.
Spock retreated to the science station, intent on finding the cause of the captain’s growing strength. One way or another, Jim needed to be stopped. Otherwise, the Enterprise and the crew wouldn't survive.