Work Text:
The crew stood in front of the planet’s queen in a large room that seemed to grow from the earth itself. The throne was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of small shinning crystals. Each reflected back the soft light emitted by the council standing around them, watching the faces of the foreigners who had saved them.
Their faces were bruised, torn and tired, but each of them held a sense of satisfaction and pride. They had saved these people, this planet, from blinking out of existence. An unnatural sickness that a threatened these peaceful, wonderful people had been stopped. It had been difficult, and none of them had come out unscathed, but they had done it.
The Quari were a benevolent people, made up more of light and energy than a real physical form. Their queen seemed to be the focus of their power, giving her the ability to see beyond them and into them all at once. They had powers like the enterprise had never seen, able to know things, make things, seemingly from thin air. The queen was an ethereal being of soft sunlight with a delicate mouth.
“I offer each of you a gift.” She stood from her throne and smiled tenderly at the crew in front of her. “Among my people, gifts are meant to strike the heart. A true gift, as is the kind I wish to give you, must settle in the middle of the heart and never leave.”
She first approached Spock standing to the far left. “To you, Spock, I offer you warmth. An ember, from the hearth of your childhood. A piece of your home that will never fade.” She pressed the softly glowing stone into Spock’s hand. It did not burn his skin, but sat warmly in the center of his palm. He stared down at it, shock edging in at his mouth and eyes. Slowly his elegant fingers closed over the piece of his long destroyed planet.
“Thank you, your majesty.” His voice was hushed and he remained quiet for a moment before meeting her gaze. “I must ask. How is this possible?”
She tilted her head curiously, seeming to be thinking of how to explain their ways to the beings before her.
“Energy cannot be destroyed. It exists forever in our space and in our minds, though it may change. We can see what is never lost and recall it to us. Your memories are of a warm fire while you lay in your mother’s arms. To recall your mother would be too complicated a thing. We cannot recall a personality or the inner workings of a being, but I can recall the ember and the warmth you felt. It is simply a matter of finding the energy as it exists now.”
The Vulcan nodded slowly, obviously struggling with the concept, but willing to think it over.
The queen smiled and moved down the line to Scotty.
“To you, Montgomery Scott, I offer a piece of your inspiration.” She put her hands out, revealing a small metal panel, maybe six by six inches long. Scotty took a long moment before he reached out for it with trembling hands. With a crooked grin he wiped at his eyes with a dirty and torn sleeve.
“My Dad,” he cleared his throat, “He carved our names into this. From the first hover car we built. Thought it went to scrap…”
Nyota put a caring hand on his arm as he sniffed.
“To you, Nyota Uhura,” The lieutenant squeezed Scotty’s arm before turning her attention to their host. “I offer a memory.” She pressed a small device into Uhura’s hand, who listened carefully as it clicked to life. A soft, clear voice started to play. It wasn’t a language any of the others could recognize, but judging by the tender smile pulling at her lips, Uhura had no such problem.
“Mama,” she said softly. “I dropped this music box in the pond at the academy. It never worked right again.”
“To you, Leonard McCoy.” Bones startled when he was addressed. He had been caught up in the emotions playing across his crew-mates’ faces. The queen smiled softly and held out her gift to him. “I offer you a connection. Your father’s bond ring.” She pushed her hand forward when the doctor didn’t reach out to take the ring in her wispy palm. He swallowed hard and took it.
“Ma said he never felt right getting a new one after he lost it. Only one wedding only one ring…” Len slipped the ring onto his left hand, smiling softly at the smirk Jim couldn’t resist giving him.
“As for you James Kirk,” The queen took up the Captain’s hands, forcing his eyes to focus on her, “For all that you are a physical being, I find myself at a loss. I have no object for you.”
“I don’t need a gift, your majesty,” Jim assured her. He knew that he had nothing of his old life to bring back to him, he cut his losses too regularly before he came to Starfleet. Now, so many years a captain and with a steady home, he had the all materialistic things he wanted and none that he didn’t.
She leveled him with a serious look and Jim could feel an uncomfortable pressure in his mind, as if she was digging through his thoughts.
“I offer you peace, James Kirk.” She let go of his hands and stepped back, closing her ghost-like eyes.
The crystals of the room started to flicker with images, hundreds of thousands of images of faces. Each one reflected back a person. Some of them Jim could recognize, most he couldn’t.
Bones’ was there, as was Sulu’s, but there were faces of children he’d never met and species he’d only ever seen once.
“I don’t-” He squinted at the display in front of him. This wasn’t anything from his memories, he’d be surprised if he’d even met this many people.
“These,” The queen gestured to the crystals, “are the faces of the people you have saved.”
Jim blinked, stunned by the words and by the overwhelming image.
“These are the lives that you have touched, James Kirk. I offer you this gift of peace. Rest your mind and no longer doubt that you are a good man.”
Jim raised a trembling hand to his mouth, unable to look away from the thousands of faces staring back at him. He threw out his free hand, groping blindly for Bones. The doctor took his arm and held it tight, grounding the captain.
“Thank you, crew of the Lady Enterprise. We owe you much.”
And with that the crew stood in the empty cavern of the throne room. The faces gone, the Quari gone, returning to where ever they went when not in physical form.
The crew was quiet for a long moment. Spock was the one who called for Sulu to beam them back aboard the ship.
Later, in the captain’s quarters, Bones lay a gentle hand on Jim’s back.
“You okay there, kid?”
“Yeah, Bones. I’m okay.” Jim smiled up at him softly. “Better than, actually. I’m good.”