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Stemming the Tide [Going Dark, Part 3]
Jan. 3rd, 2018 10:10 pmBefore his name was Krall, it was Captain Balthazar Edison.
Captain of the USS Franklin and one of the most decorated original servicemen in the history of the Federation. A special forces soldier right up until Earth's military was disbanded and reformed by the Federation into Starfleet. They gave him a ship, sent him off into space. The sort of figure every school child learns about during primary school and all throughout their education. Especially if they continue on into Starfleet.
The Franklin went missing over a century ago, marooned on Altamid and cut off from the fleet by the dense clouds of the nebula. Uhura and Bones confirmed that Edison was using some kind of ancient technology in order to drain the life force out of his captives (which unfortunately meant his crew) to preserve his own life. Kalara was working for Edison, he used his knowledge of Starfleet's technology to spy on Yorktown and the ships that sent their logs to the base.
Including the Enterprise. That was how he knew the artifact was with Kirk and his crew. Kalara had been the bait and Starfleet had taken it hook, line, and sinker.
Jim had tried to keep the artifact safe. Hidden it away with one of his ensigns whose unique alien anatomy made concealing the device relatively simple. She's dead now. Because of him. Krall has his biological weapon and from everything Uhura has said it will devastate anything it comes into contact with. Rescuing his crew had been no simple task.
It would have been impossible without the help of a survivor of another of Krall's prisons, a young alien named Jaylah. She managed to escape the subterranean prisons and has been living in Edison's forgotten ship ever since. The Franklin is remarkably intact for its age, and Scotty's genius managed to get the ship's transporter back on line. With a bit of a risky infiltration and a large distraction by way of Captain Kirk utilizing Jaylah's holographic beacons and a very loud antique motorbike they'd been able to rescue what was left of the Enterprise's crew.
Jim's loathe to admit it but Krall's ultimate goal being the destruction of Yorktown and eventually the entire Federation also played a huge part in being able to rescue his crew. He's gone now with his swarm of mining drones. All Jim has to chase after him with is a century and a half old barely functional ship that's filled to capacity with more people than it was made to hold even for short trips. They have no proper weapons on the Franklin. If Edison is able to break into Yorktown and unleash his weapon, millions of souls will die.
It will be just the beginning.
They can't even warn Yorktown until they've broken free of the nebula. Too late, always a step too late. Jim's fingers curl underneath the handrests of his chair as he watches the displays flash by. This isn't some nightmare and Jim Kirk is not helpless. There must be something they can do. No time to second guess and wonder what if. There is only time to do.
Spock's calling out the algorithms the swarm drones are operating on to keep their impossibly tight formations. He and Bones infiltrated one of the swarm ships. Jim's stomach is in knots at the thought of the both of them in danger but he has to admit it is no less risk than he and the rest of his crew are in trudging along in their giant slow moving artifact of a ship toward the base. Low frequency audio disruptions could scramble and overpower the swarm and stop the assault on Yorktown. Without any conventional weapons it's the only thing they can try.
Luckily, Jaylah is quite the classical music connoisseur. Her collection of centuries old music can be broadcast from the ship while they do a drive by of the swarm. Yorktown can amplify the signal by broadcasting it themselves. Waves of drone ships slam into each other in an explosion of steel and fuel. Those same signals that allowed them to act as a school of fish in water are their undoing. Yorktown will not be brought down by missile fire or drones on this day, but during the chaos Krall managed to break into the base with his bio weapon.
Too late. Again they're too late.
No matter how many times they stop or slow Krall's advance he always manages to slip away. Jim's bolting through the base, weaving through civilians hurrying for shelters. He's going to disperse the weapon in the air recyclers. What does it matter that he's saved what's left of his crew if everyone in Yorktown is killed from this weapon?
No.
Not again.
Not this time.
Krall is nearly twice Jim's size and every blow leaves him reeling, stuck in the recycling station like they are. The weapon is armed. There's no time. There's no time. Scotty's voice is ringing out through the terminal. If they don't eject the weapon through the maintenance hatch and into space, everyone will die. If Jim's still in there when they do it? Well, he's going to have a quick trip and a very brief look at Yorktown before all the liquids in his body boil and evaporate in the vacuum of space. If Krall's weapon doesn't kill him first.
The same sense of loss and frustration Jim had expressed for months in his captain's logs stares back at him now in the words Krall screams at him. How Starfleet abandoned him and those like him in favor of breaking bread with the enemies of the Federation he fought and men died for to protect. Humanity is weaker now because of the Federation. They are diplomats when they could be rulers. If there was a metallic echo in Krall's voice, Jim knows he'd be hearing Felix's own tormented ambitions cried out instead in that moment. The desire to protect warped and sharpened into the drive to kill anyone and anything that would stand in the way.
Captain James T Kirk has never been more sure of himself than when he answers Krall's declarations.
"Better to die saving lives, than to live with taking them."
He has died for his crew before. He will die for the Federation and what it stands for. Willingly if it will save lives with no regrets. Those weeks and months he's spent agonizing over what his purpose is in Starfleet and in life are clear to him now. The Nightmare may have sullied the path and made Jim lose his way, but he's found it again as his elbow snaps back and knocks Krall--Edison--into the weapon before ejecting it out and away from the air systems of Yorktown. He is a captain in Starfleet on the command track. His purpose is to protect not only the lives of his crew but the values and lives of all Federation peoples across the galaxy. To spread the notion of peace over strife. To make known that which was shrouded in mystery.
Jim Kirk was born to be in Starfleet, and he will gladly die to protect it.
It is fortunate indeed then, that he has crew equally as dedicated in their own purposes and who are as determined to protect Jim just as he would them. Spock's grabbing Jim as he falls, pulling him to safety while Bones cheers from their drone ship. They are all of them beaten and bloody.
But they are alive.
Yorktown is alive.
Captain of the USS Franklin and one of the most decorated original servicemen in the history of the Federation. A special forces soldier right up until Earth's military was disbanded and reformed by the Federation into Starfleet. They gave him a ship, sent him off into space. The sort of figure every school child learns about during primary school and all throughout their education. Especially if they continue on into Starfleet.
The Franklin went missing over a century ago, marooned on Altamid and cut off from the fleet by the dense clouds of the nebula. Uhura and Bones confirmed that Edison was using some kind of ancient technology in order to drain the life force out of his captives (which unfortunately meant his crew) to preserve his own life. Kalara was working for Edison, he used his knowledge of Starfleet's technology to spy on Yorktown and the ships that sent their logs to the base.
Including the Enterprise. That was how he knew the artifact was with Kirk and his crew. Kalara had been the bait and Starfleet had taken it hook, line, and sinker.
Jim had tried to keep the artifact safe. Hidden it away with one of his ensigns whose unique alien anatomy made concealing the device relatively simple. She's dead now. Because of him. Krall has his biological weapon and from everything Uhura has said it will devastate anything it comes into contact with. Rescuing his crew had been no simple task.
It would have been impossible without the help of a survivor of another of Krall's prisons, a young alien named Jaylah. She managed to escape the subterranean prisons and has been living in Edison's forgotten ship ever since. The Franklin is remarkably intact for its age, and Scotty's genius managed to get the ship's transporter back on line. With a bit of a risky infiltration and a large distraction by way of Captain Kirk utilizing Jaylah's holographic beacons and a very loud antique motorbike they'd been able to rescue what was left of the Enterprise's crew.
Jim's loathe to admit it but Krall's ultimate goal being the destruction of Yorktown and eventually the entire Federation also played a huge part in being able to rescue his crew. He's gone now with his swarm of mining drones. All Jim has to chase after him with is a century and a half old barely functional ship that's filled to capacity with more people than it was made to hold even for short trips. They have no proper weapons on the Franklin. If Edison is able to break into Yorktown and unleash his weapon, millions of souls will die.
It will be just the beginning.
They can't even warn Yorktown until they've broken free of the nebula. Too late, always a step too late. Jim's fingers curl underneath the handrests of his chair as he watches the displays flash by. This isn't some nightmare and Jim Kirk is not helpless. There must be something they can do. No time to second guess and wonder what if. There is only time to do.
Spock's calling out the algorithms the swarm drones are operating on to keep their impossibly tight formations. He and Bones infiltrated one of the swarm ships. Jim's stomach is in knots at the thought of the both of them in danger but he has to admit it is no less risk than he and the rest of his crew are in trudging along in their giant slow moving artifact of a ship toward the base. Low frequency audio disruptions could scramble and overpower the swarm and stop the assault on Yorktown. Without any conventional weapons it's the only thing they can try.
Luckily, Jaylah is quite the classical music connoisseur. Her collection of centuries old music can be broadcast from the ship while they do a drive by of the swarm. Yorktown can amplify the signal by broadcasting it themselves. Waves of drone ships slam into each other in an explosion of steel and fuel. Those same signals that allowed them to act as a school of fish in water are their undoing. Yorktown will not be brought down by missile fire or drones on this day, but during the chaos Krall managed to break into the base with his bio weapon.
Too late. Again they're too late.
No matter how many times they stop or slow Krall's advance he always manages to slip away. Jim's bolting through the base, weaving through civilians hurrying for shelters. He's going to disperse the weapon in the air recyclers. What does it matter that he's saved what's left of his crew if everyone in Yorktown is killed from this weapon?
No.
Not again.
Not this time.
Krall is nearly twice Jim's size and every blow leaves him reeling, stuck in the recycling station like they are. The weapon is armed. There's no time. There's no time. Scotty's voice is ringing out through the terminal. If they don't eject the weapon through the maintenance hatch and into space, everyone will die. If Jim's still in there when they do it? Well, he's going to have a quick trip and a very brief look at Yorktown before all the liquids in his body boil and evaporate in the vacuum of space. If Krall's weapon doesn't kill him first.
The same sense of loss and frustration Jim had expressed for months in his captain's logs stares back at him now in the words Krall screams at him. How Starfleet abandoned him and those like him in favor of breaking bread with the enemies of the Federation he fought and men died for to protect. Humanity is weaker now because of the Federation. They are diplomats when they could be rulers. If there was a metallic echo in Krall's voice, Jim knows he'd be hearing Felix's own tormented ambitions cried out instead in that moment. The desire to protect warped and sharpened into the drive to kill anyone and anything that would stand in the way.
Captain James T Kirk has never been more sure of himself than when he answers Krall's declarations.
"Better to die saving lives, than to live with taking them."
He has died for his crew before. He will die for the Federation and what it stands for. Willingly if it will save lives with no regrets. Those weeks and months he's spent agonizing over what his purpose is in Starfleet and in life are clear to him now. The Nightmare may have sullied the path and made Jim lose his way, but he's found it again as his elbow snaps back and knocks Krall--Edison--into the weapon before ejecting it out and away from the air systems of Yorktown. He is a captain in Starfleet on the command track. His purpose is to protect not only the lives of his crew but the values and lives of all Federation peoples across the galaxy. To spread the notion of peace over strife. To make known that which was shrouded in mystery.
Jim Kirk was born to be in Starfleet, and he will gladly die to protect it.
It is fortunate indeed then, that he has crew equally as dedicated in their own purposes and who are as determined to protect Jim just as he would them. Spock's grabbing Jim as he falls, pulling him to safety while Bones cheers from their drone ship. They are all of them beaten and bloody.
But they are alive.
Yorktown is alive.
