THE LAST FAREWELL
The 'Enterprise' flew homeward for the last time. Ordered to be decommissioned, Captain James T Kirk and his crew knew that this was the end of the final mission. Many of the crew had already transferred offship to new postings, and only the skeleton Bridge crew and minimal administration staff remained.
Spock was completing computer work in his cabin when his door chime pealed. "Enter."
Jim Kirk stood silhouetted against the lights of the corridor for a moment before he stepped over the threshold.
"Spock, I would like all the Bridge Crew to be my guests for dinner tonight. Will you come?"
"Certainly, Captain. A final celebration?"
"That was my intention. I would like all my loyal Bridge Crew around me for just one last time, before we become scattered all around the galaxy, and I ..." he allowed the sentence to trail pensively away.
Noticing his Captain's mood, Spock realised that Jim had not just come to his cabin to invite him for the meal - he could have posted that on the electronic mail. Spock clasped his hands on his lap, waiting.
"Have you heard who's to be the Captain of the new 'B'?" Jim asked, trying to maintain a conversation.
"No, Jim. I would have thought you would have been the first to be informed, not I." Spock knew he was hedging and waited patiently.
"I thought it would be you, Spock."
"I'm afraid my future lies elsewhere, Jim. Not only do I intend this to be my last tour of duty on the 'Enterprise', I also intend for it to be my last tour of duty for Starfleet."
Kirk's eyes widened in surprise. "You're resigning your commission?"
"I have been offered an Ambassadorship." Spock stated baldly.
"Following in your father's footsteps." added Kirk.
"It seems the logical thing to do, Captain." Spock replied, with just a quirk of his lips to indicate his emotions.
"I'll miss you, Spock. I'll miss you a lot!"
"And I you, Captain. But for everything there is a beginning - and an end. The time has come. You and McCoy are retiring. I have fulfilled my duty, and loyalty, to you and to Starfleet. I, too, am in need of a change. With the Klingon peace initiative, the galaxy is opening up. Perhaps I can yet make a small contribution to galactic peace, just as Sarek has done."
"Spock, I - I don't know what to say. I wish I could come with you! The spirit is willing, but the flesh is becoming weak. Why do we have to grow old?!"
"It is a prerequisite of life, Jim. Every living being has their time alive. It is up to the individual what they make of it. You have made an outstanding contribution, which will assuredly go down in history."
Kirk nodded a silent acknowledgement. "But now, all that's left for me is to become an Iowa farmboy again!" Kirk shrugged his shoulders and opened his arms in a gesture of resignation.
"Perhaps not. Perhaps you might consider taking a private commission on a spaceliner, as so many other retired captains have done."
"No, Spock. If I can't have the 'Enterprise', I could never settle for second best."
Spock nodded his understanding as Kirk turned and left.
---oo0oo--
Rigged for silent, cloaked running, the Klingon Bird of Prey raced after her quarry. Standing behind its Captain was a tall, bearded Klingon Ambassador with hate in his heart.
---oo0oo---
The Landfall Dinner was progressing normally, with reminiscences and poignant memories flowing through the conversation. The auxiliary Bridge crew were on duty as their seniors relaxed for the last time with their Captain. As the meal drew to a close, Kirk raised his glass of Romulan ale.
"Lady and gentlemen, a toast. To the future - the Undiscovered Country - and may we all find what we're looking for." Kirk sipped his ale pensively. Spock could see from his Captain's expression that the future Kirk contemplated was not the one he was looking for.
---oo0oo---
"Are we within range yet, Captain Krath?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then activate the device - now!"
---oo0oo---
On the Bridge, the young Lieutenant left in charge of the homeward bound cruise was walking around, casually inspecting the sensors and telltales blinking and bleeping assuringly on the consoles. As she passed the intraship sensor panel, she noticed a warning blip in the area of the Engine Room.
"Lieutenant Tallin to Engineering."
"Engineer Walters here." came the cultured tones of an Englishman.
"Engineer - check panel E3B - do you have a warning?"
"Nothing showing, Lieutenant, but I'll suit a man up to check."
A short time later the report came back. "Sir, although the officer could find nothing definite, his tricorder showed an area of darkness around the left nacelle. We would have to come out of warp to investigate."
Tallin made her decision and pressed the internal intercom button. "Tallin to Captain Kirk. Please come to the Bridge!"
Kirk stopped speaking in mid-sentence, then made his apologies to the rest of his comrades, whom he left to finish their repast.
As Kirk entered, Tallin snapped to attention. "Captain on the Bridge!" she announced.
"At ease, Lieutenant. Now, what seems to be the trouble?"
"Captain, there is an anomaly on the left nacelle."
"An - anomaly?" Kirk repeated carefully. "Explain!"
"An area of darkness within the engines - and it seems to be cloaked!"
Kirk's heart gave a lurch of fear. "Oh, no." he breathed, then hit the intercom button. "'A' Crew to the Bridge, on the double!"
They arrived by turbolift a few minutes later. "Spock - look!" Kirk exhibited the tricorder readout. They looked at each other, realisation in their eyes.
"But how?" Spock wondered.
"Your beloved Klingons, that's how, Spock!"
"And we don't even know what stage the device is at - how long we've got!" added McCoy.
"Uhura - red alert!" the familiar warning sirens shrieked their message of danger throughout the ship. "This is an all-crew announcement. Stand by to abandon ship! I repeat - stand by to abandon ship! This is not a drill!"
"Captain, the black area is increasing. Judging from the readouts - Spock's fingers flew over his computer board - "it would appear to be an expanding mini black hole! I estimate, at the speed of expansion, that the ship will be engulfed in - three minutes, fifty seconds ship's time."
"Ohmigod! Too little time! Uhura - put out a Mayday call. Sulu may be able to come. Now, all of you, get to your lifeboat pods - now! That's an order!"
Spock opened his mouth to object.
"You, too, Spock. I'll be right behind you!"
On the external viewfield, the black hole was expanding very quickly now, approaching the saucer section.
After the others had evacuated the Bridge, the viewscreen flickered into life.
Kirk's eyes widened in recognition of the Klingon face. "You!"
"I said many years ago that there will be no peace with the Klingon Empire until you are dead! It is my duty to ensure that that criterion is met!"
"But the Camp Khitomer talks were successful!" objected Kirk. "We saved the President from assassination - by one of your kind! Is there no end to Klingon treachery?"
All the time, the mini black hole was expanding. Time was short. Kirk thought quickly. "You want me dead? Okay. Allow my crew their freedom. I will stay on the ship - forever!"
As the lifeboat pods sprang from around the Enterprise's hull, the black hole reached the saucer, causing an implosion of the space around it. In an accelerating escape pod, Spock looked back as NCC 1701-A was engulfed. "No! Jim - noooo!"
"Haha! Victory! Jim Kirk is dead!" Evil Klingon laughter resonated through the escape pods' communications and, in the darkness, a Vulcan was weeping.
---oo0oo---
The Excelsior warped in as close to the anomaly as possible without being sucked in, its impulse engines straining. Sulu's crew picked up the survivors. Composed again, Spock made his way to the Bridge, accompanied by McCoy. The others who had witnessed the Enterprise and its Captain's demise retired to their guest cabins with their thoughts.
Sulu sat at the Conn, his face strained by what he, too, had just witnessed. "I'm sorry I could not be here to save the 'Enterprise', gentlemen."
"He's gone, Sulu. Jim's - gone!" said McCoy, fighting to control his emotions. "Remember, Spock, that night at El Kapitan, he said that he always knew he would die alone ..."
Seeing his colleagues' distress, Sulu said "Please come to my Ready Room, gentlemen."
As they entered, Sulu tactfully dimmed the lights, the moving backdrop of the stars adding to the sombre atmosphere.
"He was going home to retire, Sulu. Just a few more hours and he would have been safe." mused McCoy. "But he died like a true Captain - he went down with his ship!"
The Captain' s swivel chair, which was turned away from the three men to face outwards to the stars, slowly started to rotate.
"I hate to disappoint you, gentlemen, but the ex- Captain of the Enterprise is still very much alive!"
Two gasps of "Jim!" came simultaneously from Spock and McCoy, and Sulu threw back his head and laughed in his inimitable fashion, setting McCoy and Kirk off and causing a definite quirk in Spock's lips. And, if anyone had cared to look closely, they would have detected the emergence of a tear of joy from the Vulcan eye.
"How did you ... ?" the unfinished question was asked by McCoy.
Kirk completed it. "...get off the ship alive? Captain Sulu - would you care to enlighten them?"
"The Excelsior's transporter beam is able to work in transwarp. When I saw the demise of the ship and her distinguished Captain were imminent, I ordered him beamed aboard the Excelsior!"
"Well, you son-of-a-gun, Sulu. And how about the rogue Bird of Prey?"
"External screen on!" ordered Sulu to the voice-operated computer.
A tractor beam connected the Excelsior with the Bird of Prey, now fully visible. "They are our prisoners and will be returned to face court-martial by their own people!"
---oo0oo---
The remainder of the Bridge crew - Uhura, Scotty, Chekov, joined their colleagues in the Ready Room, warmly welcoming the safe return of their Captain. When they had all calmed down somewhat, Kirk turned to Sulu. "With your permission, Captain, now that we are all together again, and this time really for the last time, I would like to make a toast!" Sulu broke open the drinks cabinet and supplied glasses and drink. They raised their glasses. "Lady and gentlemen - to the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one, and to our 'Enterprise', the best ship in Starfleet - the last farewell!"
And, with one voice, Chekov, Sulu, Uhura, Scotty, McCoy, Spock and Kirk, glasses raised, said "To the Enterprise - the last farewell!"
---oo0oo---