Star Trek; Phase One
An asteroid fragment, the size of a city block, approached Earth at a speed of nearly 30,000 miles per-hour. Although most of the object would be burned up entering Earth’s atmosphere, a sizable amount would remain which would obliterate a small island, nearly 300 miles off the cost of Australia. The angle of the blast would create a sizable tidal tsunami, but projections saw little harm from the wave. Though, most likely, ocean levels as far away as Hawaii and San Diego would be affected for nearly two days.
Starfleet’s science division could not account as to how the object broke from the rest of the debris cloud from the Clark/Dennison asteroid, and had gotten as far as it did with out being detected. It was as if it had gone through one of those crazy wormholes science fiction movies always depicted. A wormhole was as good as an explanation as anything else; at least for now.
Archer Island; United Space Agency Headquarters (an artificial island constructed off the coast of Florida.
The massive complex that housed Starfleet Command on Archer Island was a flurry of action. The entire command had been placed on red alert due to the approaching asteroid fragment.
And while those on duty hustled around, James Kirk sat alone in Colonel Pike’s office at Command HQ. The rest of the building may have been at full alert, but Kirk wasn’t. Not yet at least.
Kirk could only think about his son, his nearly one year old son, being kidnapped by some stranger named Tom Garak. Garak wanted to barter the baby’s life for sensitive tech that ran the Spock unit. Why this was so important to Garak had not been divulged.
And while Garak was responsible for this act, Kirk was not exactly happy with Carol Marcus either. Carol was David’s mother, and former romantic interest of Kirk. She had willingly handed their son over to Garak upon Garak revealing to her that Carol’s sister and her family were all being held captive as well. And unless Carol had given Garak little David, Carol’s sister and family would never be seen again. Carol acted on impulse and caved in on Garak’s demands sometime back. And while Kirk commended her for trying to save her sister’s life, inside he wish she hadn’t. It was a selfish emotion, Kirk knew. But he was only human. And now, because of Carol’s gamble, David’s life was in absolute peril.
The man responsible, Garak, loved to use threats against the innocent to get what he wanted apparently, and had earlier, during the conversation with Kirk, equated it to being just another job. Kirk and Pike were about to discuss what to do about the entire mess when the alert about the asteroid fragment came through, taking Pike away to deal with a more pressing matter.
At first, Kirk was content to sit alone in Pike’s office, await the end to the crisis, and not head down to the main tactical ops to help with the situation. But that was not his way. He stood up, put little David to the corner of his mind, and instead of being James T Kirk the mortal, he became Captain James T. Kirk of the United Space Agency, hero. It was in his blood to always help even when his own life and concerns should have been more paramount to him.
Upon opening the door to leave Pike’s office Kirk came upon Doctor Richard Daystrom waking through the corridor. Kirk was about to bring up the ordeal that he was going through, in relation to Daystrom’s invention, the Spock unit, but tabled it for now. Pike had told Kirk that much of the data discussed by Garak was top secret. Kirk would keep it that way; for now.
“Ah, Kirk,” Daystrom said. “I just left the Enterprise an hour ago after the alert came through. We were all evacuated off of the Enterprise, except for the crew. I just wanted to thank you for signing off on Spock’s next phase of development.”
“It’s no problem,” Kirk said as they both made their way to ops. “I found his advice most useful.” Kirk added, not revealing the fact that Spock’s best advice had been on the humanity side of the equation. And Spock’s own questions about his own artificial awareness had also flagged Kirk’s interest.
The two continued on their way toward ops. As they came into the large room, arrayed with several large monitors and control stations, and many scrambling officers, men and women, they headed over to where Pike was standing. Gary Mitchell was there too. Unknown to anyone, Gary had just gotten off a plane that had taken off from Archer Island and had been re-routed back to the island due to the asteroid fragment heading toward Earth.
“This looks pretty bad,” Daystrom said as he looked at the main tactical screen which showed the ever approaching fragment.
“And definitely most peculiar,” Pike added. “It is traveling at a speed faster than any of fragments from the debris cloud. My nerds in the science department, most of whom are about as atheistic as a rock on the bottom of the ocean, equated this situation to a disgruntled God willing the asteroid to come to Earth and smash out a city that lived in sin.”
“God is a mysterious man,” Daystrom countered; obviously a believer.
Gary had to fight back a smile. Unknown to anyone else, except for Khan up on Mars, it was Gary who had indeed, using his growing powers, willed the fragment to strike the island, killing all those on it; chiefly John Gill, who had betrayed Khan. At this point it became obvious to Gary that Starfleet was unaware of Gill being on the island with his followers.
But Khan knew Gill was there. And it was Gary Mitchell, who had made a bizarre deal with Khan. Khan knew of Gary’s growing abilities and suggested this act in exchange for any information Khan had on baby David Marcus’s abductor, and Khan’s silence about Gary’s abilities, and the fact that Chekov had been infected with a parasite.
Once this current emergency was over, Mitchell would find Tom Garak, save the baby, and then utterly kill, in a most violent way, Garak. It was only a matter of time.
“Is the island inhabited?” Kirk asked Pike.
“Not as far as we know,” Pike replied.
Gary had to contain his own laughter. But the secret was about to be exposed.
Suddenly one of the officers at one of the various operations post looked up to Pike, who stood on an upper level which looked down at the ops stations.
“Sir, we’re receiving a distress signal from the island,” the officer said.
“Did you say a distress signal? From who?” Pike inquired.
The officer was listening to someone talk to him via the headset he wore.
“Sir,” the officer replied, “this person claims to be former Senator John Gill.”
“Isn’t he the one who is trying to set up another world government?” Richard Daystrom asked.
“Yes he is,” Pike answered. “Not exactly who I would have expected to receive a distress signal from. Nonetheless,” Pike said to the officer, “put it up on the main screen.”
They all turned their attention to the main screen. A countdown from impact could be seen on the lower left-hand side of the screen. It was just over fifteen minutes.
“This is John Gill,” Gill said. “I am sending this signal to all those who can receive it. The island that is about to be obliterated by the asteroid fragment has been, for sometime, a secret post where myself, and officials from countries loyal to our cause to offer the people of Earth a choice in a world government. Now, it would appear, every exit, and way off of the island, has been blocked. Some outside force has seen to it that no one here, on this island, is to survive this attack. I accuse the United Space Agency puppets, in behalf of their UN masters, for this act of aggression.”
It was a most stunning accusation.
“Many women and children will die,” Gill said in a soft and defiant voice. “I just wanted you at the United Space Agency, and the media outlets I am transmitting this signal to, to know the truth of what has happened on this day.”
And as to make a point, the view on the monitors panned away from Gill and showed a very large crowd of people who were gathered on the island in some kind of conference center. There were men and women, even children, who had been living on the island all this time apparently.
Pike, who muted the mic, looked around at his people in ops.
“How could we not have known that many people were on that island?” Pike wondered out loud.
At first, as Kirk saw the large crowd on the screen, he could only wish them well. But to him they were just strangers and at this point there was nothing he could do for them. That was until he recognized, toward the right end of the crowd, a little baby; it was David. He was being held by a man with long flowing gray hair.
Gary, too, suddenly recognized little David. But Gary also recognized the man holding David; Tom Garak. It was then that Gary realized that Khan had played him like a fool. By convincing Gary to destroy the planet, Khan had signed David’s death certificate. And because of the drain on his abilities to bring the asteroid closer to Earth instantly, and to maintain its speed as well, Gary had used much of his power and it had left him feeling drained. There was nothing Gary could do to stop the asteroid fragment from hitting the island and killing his best friend’s son.
Pike looked over to Kirk, having recognized David as well.
“Jim,” Pike said softly, “I’m so sorry.”
Kirk’s face betrayed his emotions. He was a defeated man.
“What is wrong Kirk?” Daystrom asked, putting his hand on Kirk’s shoulder, trying to comfort the younger man. “Do you know someone on that island?”
Kirk nodded slowly. “The baby on the right hand side of the screen,” Kirk said to Daystrom, “is mine. He was kidnapped, probably by the man holding him.”
“Oh dear lord,” Daystrom said. “Why? Why would someone kidnap your son and take them to that place?”
Kirk looked to Pike, who in turn nodded, giving Kirk permission to speak.
“They kidnapped my son so as to get Spock’s matrix,” Kirk said to Daystrom.
A look of guilt came over Daystrom’s face.
“I’m so sorry Kirk,” Daystrom said. “If I had known maybe…” Daystrom’s voice trailed off. Then he continued, “Kirk, there may yet be away to save your son. I’m not saying it will work, but we can try.”
Kirk turned to face Daystrom.
“What do you mean?” Kirk asked looking up at the screen and seeing the 12 minute countdown.
“Come with me,” Daystrom, “we don’t have much time.”
And with that, Kirk followed Daystrom down the main corridor. Being interested as well, Gary jogged along with them.
“Where are we going?” Gary asked Daystrom and Kirk.
“I have been working on a new device with my friends over at the Quantum Mechanics lab. It’s very top secret so I must ask you two to not divulge anything you are about to see,” Daystrom said as they made it to the elevator and went up seven levels.
“What exactly are you talking about?” Kirk asked.
“For sometime now,” Daystrom said as they rode the elevator, “we have been working on a device that can transfer matter from one place to another.”
“You mean like that movie the Fly?” Gary asked.
“Yes, a very droll example, but an acceptable comparison,” Daystrom said to Mitchell. “Though, to be honest, our model would not require a receptor on the other end in order to work. Plus, at a coordinated time, the object could be beamed back, so long as a lock was kept on the person who was transported.”
“Beamed?” Gary asked. “What are you saying?”
Daystrom looked as serious as he ever had since Kirk had known him.
“I believe I can transport you to that Island to save your son. You, and all that that implies, will be stored as a data-stream. Then a signal will transfer that data to that island, and you will be re-assembled there, just as you are now,” Daystrom said. “Kirk, I lost my daughter years ago in train accident. If I could create a time-machine to go back and save her, believe me, I would. I am not saying you will live. You could end up being stuck on the island, or die during the transfer process. But although you and I may not agree on much, I do believe either of us would risk our lives to save our children.”
Kirk nodded in agreement as the doors to the elevator opened and deposited them into the main science lab. Kirk and Gary followed Daystrom to a control panel. Situated nearly ten feet away was a round, glowing platform on the ground.
“We call this thing a transporter,” Daystrom said to them both as he clipped a device on Kirk’s shirt. “Just step on that platform, and don’t take that clip off. I can use the GPS coordinates that were on the monitor to beam you to that island, and into that room. I will set the retraction time at,” Daystrom looked at the clock, there were nine minutes left before the fragment would it, “eight minutes. At that point you will be beamed back no matter what.”
“How many times have you used this thing?” Gary asked as Kirk walked over to the platform.
“We have been using it on a experimental level for about a month,” Daystrom replied.
“And how many people have you sent through?” Gary countered.
“Kirk will be the first,” Daystrom allowed. “That’s why I can’t guarantee this will work,” he added.
“Let me do this Jim,” Gary suggested.
“I can’t ask you to risk your life,” Kirk replied. “I have to do this. You just promise me that if I don’t come back from this, you’ll get them to name a ship after me or some dumb thing like that.”
Gary smiled. Kirk had meant everything to Gary. It was Kirk who had convinced him to join Starfleet and join the Officer’s program. They had known each other since high-school. They had given each other a couple bloody noses over that time, but had shared more laughter in return.
“Alright,” Daystrom finally said. “Energizing.”
At first nothing happened. And then a strange effect came over Kirk’s body. It was as if he was shimmering out of existence, and then he was gone.
Continued…