A Relentless Pursuit (Star Trek: Jim Kirk/OC)

Chapter 20

Farrah walked over to her station as her relief Lieutenant David Talley turned and saw her walking over to him.

He was a good-looking man in his early thirties with light brown hair and brown eyes. He looked up at her with tired yet alert eyes in relief. She knew the feeling of sitting in that chair for over ten hours while one of them was resting and whatever else they wanted while they were free. It wasn't like Starfleet expected them to be at their stations 24/7, so they each had a counter part that would back then up.

"I am sure glad to see you," David told her with a smile sitting up, "Thanks for the relief Pike," He told her putting a hand on her shoulder as he passed her and she sat down logging in with her codes so the computer would know that it was now her who was sitting in the chair.

"Mr. Spock! What've we got?" Jim asked Spock looking away from Farrah as she interacted with Lieutenant Talley. He didn't know the man well, so every time he saw them interacting he felt a spark of jealousy. The man was a good-looking guy so how could he not be. But he had faith in his relationship with Farrah and trusted her, Talley he wasn't so sure about.

"Captain, the distress beacon we intercepted is from an old Starfleet Vessel. The S.S Valiant," Spock informed him turning around in his chair as Jim walked over.

"The Valiant?" Jim repeated in surprise, "She disappeared almost two hundred years ago!"

"Indeed." Spock agreed, "There is still no sign of the ship. Just the beacon. I am attempting to access the beacon's data recorder remotely," He explained to Jim while putting the comm in his ear.

"I'm getting something.. Ship's logs fragmented but..." Spock trailed off listening in before continuing,"...It appears their mission was similar to ours. Exploring the Galaxy's edge in this same quadrant. They took severe damage from...something...seven crewmen dead...no make that six. One seemed to have recovered," Spock told Jim continuing to listen to the rest.

"Wait. This must be garbled...it doesn't make sense...something about extra-sensory perception...the Captain frantic...giving an order," Spock paused before looking at Jim, "For the ship to self-destruct."

"Mr. Spock, beam the beacon aboard," Jim replied apprehensively needing to know more about what would have caused the Captain to give such an order.

He then turned from Spock to look at Nyota, "Lieutenant Uhura, I want those logs scrubbed clean. Give me a full report on the contents," Jim said to her.

"Aye, Sir," Nyota replied nodding.

"Captain, we are approaching the edge of the Galaxy. Crossing terminus in five minutes," Lee Kelso announced from the navigators station previously occupied by Chekov.

"Very good, Mr. Kelso," Jim told him looking over as Spock came to stand beside him.

"Whatever happened to the Valiant, our mission stays the same. Cross the edge and see what's out there," Jim said to Spock.

"We may very well encounter the same threat faced by our predecessor," Spock replied nodding.

"Only one way to find out," Jim replied sitting down in the command chair, "We're leaving the Galaxy. Mr. Mitchell! Ahead warp factor one," Jim said looking over at Gary.

"Aye, Sir," Gary replied doing as he asked, "Crossing the Terminus now," He announced.

"Captain!" A Scottish voice called out making Jim turn to look seeing Scotty walking up the stairs to him.

"Mr. Scott! You're just in time to say goodbye to the Milky Way," Jim said to him with a grin.

"That's all well and good, Sir, but I need a moment of your..." But Scotty was cut off by Farrah before he could finish.

"Captain, sensors are detecting...something...up ahead!" Farrah announced looking at the strange readings on her console, unsure what to make of them.

"Onscreen!" Jim ordered.

A bright green light showed up on the viewing screen, much larger than the Enterprise. It was a rectangular shape that was distorted on the edges like green flames and it seemed to stretch on forever.

"Mr. Spock?" Jim asked the man looking for an explanation.

"Readings are inconclusive. Captain, but it appears to be a force field of some kind," Spock informed him.

"Shields up!" Jim called out as the green light seemed to shift, and pulse towards the ship.

Before anyone could do as he asked, the lights on the Enterprise started flickering before turning off completely.

"The lights!" Scotty shouted looking up at them.

"Yellow alert! Status report!" Jim yelled out.

Before anyone could do anything, all the consoles on the bridge sparked before exploding in the faces of their users sending them all flying back.

Farrah had luckily leaned back in her chair when the first sparking had started so wasn't injured other than the blast sending her flying to the floor.

She pushed herself up and looked at her console seeing it on fire, and it wasn't just hers, it was everyone's.

She turned to look and caught Jim's eye as he looks at her in worry, she gave a nod signaling that she was okay and he gave her a quick smile in relief letting her know he was not injured either.

Suddenly, Gary Mitchell started screaming as he clutched his head in pain squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

"Gary!" Jim shouted in concern seeing his friend in pain.

Gary's entire body suddenly flashed in the same orange glow as the consoles. Revealing his entire skeleton, like an x-ray to the entire Bridge who looked over at him, before it was gone and Gary had fallen to the ground back to normal.

"Mr. Scott gets us out of here!" Jim shouted to Scotty before turning to Gary.

"Aye, Sir," Scotty replied shielding his eyes and mouth from the fire and smoke.

"Gary, are you hurt?" Jim said to Gary as he shook him lightly.

Gary groaned before sitting up while still clutching his eyes shut and putting a hand to his head, "Jim..." He mumbled out before speaking louder, "I'm...a little weak, but otherwise..." Gary continued much clearer than before dropping his hand back to his side and turning to Jim.

"...I feel fine," Gary told him grinning while opening his eyes to reveal them to be glowing and completely white.