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Will hadn’t met many Vulcans during his time at Starfleet—even more than a century later, there still weren’t a whole lot of Vulcans left—but none of them had been like these particular Vulcans. Or four of them at least. The fifth was more what he expected from a Vulcan.
“Captain Kirk, Commander Kirk, Ambassador Kirk, Dr. Kirk, Lieutenant-Commander Kirk,” he greeted.
The eldest of the five, Captain Astraea Kirk, smiled—such open emotions were unnerving on such a Vulcan face—and said, “Commander Riker, please call me Astraea. I will never be the Captain Kirk.”
“Captain—”
“You can call me Bump, if you would prefer that,” she said. “I’ve long since grown used to it, especially when onboard the Enterprise. Then Wa’, Cha’, and Wej, and T’Risa,” she said, gesturing to her sisters and daughter, if memory served.
Lieutenant Worf interjected, “That is Klingon for one, two, and three.”
Captain Kirk smiled. “Perhaps I shall tell you about it sometime, Lieutenant.”
Worf fell silent. Of course, Wesley chose that moment to speak out. “Commander Kirk, could you teach me some things? Your ideas regarding engineering and warp cores were groundbreaking. And I know you’re still researching.”
“Ensign,” Will barked. “They are here for a reason, not to indulge your whims.”
Before Wesley had a chance to argue, Picard walked in. “Captain,” Astraea greeted.
“Professor Kirk,” Picard replied. “It has been quite some time.”
“It has,” Astraea agreed. “No longer a lowly Cadet, I see.”
Picard nodded briskly. “Fortunately not. I’ll show you to your quarters.”
“We know where our quarters are, Captain,” Ambassador Kirk interjected.
“The ship has changed,” Picard replied.
“She’s had a facelift, that’s all,” Commander Kirk said cheerfully. “This is the ship we were all raised on. Astraea captained it for five years. I was the Enterprise’s Chief Engineer for nearly twenty years. We know where our quarters are.”
Picard looked taken aback. “Then by all means.”
Will accompanied their guests and the Captain to the quarters the group had been assigned, Astraea leading the way.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Picard said, “Why are you joining us today?”
Astraea chuckled and turned to him. “Just like Starfleet was in my day. Gives you orders with no explanation.” She gestured to the silver jar she had been carrying—it almost looked like an urn, but why would Vulcans be carrying an urn around? Will was under the impression that they buried their dead, they didn’t cremate them. “The true guests on your ship. Captain James Tiberius Kirk and his First Officer, Commander Spock.”
“There’s only one urn,” Wesley said.
“Shut your mouth!” Will snapped.
Astraea laughed and all of the others smiled, although Ambassador Kirk’s smile was nearly nonexistent. “Oh, it’s fine,” Astraea said. “Children are the joy of life.”
“I’m not a child,” Wesley objected.
“Honey, except T’Risa, we’re all at least a hundred years old. And T’Risa is old enough to be your great-grandmother,” Astraea said. “T’Risa is my daughter. You are a child.”
And without another word, Astraea turned to Picard. Wesley’s mouth was clamped shut. Never had Will seen anyone shut the brat up so easily. “This should explain everything,” she said, handing over a piece of paper. Will frowned. Paper was expensive.
“Our dad—James Kirk—had a fondness for paper books,” Ambassador Kirk said. “And our sa-mekh was a romantic. That is the conclusion we have drawn from that letter. You may read it as well, Commander Riker.”
Will stepped up next to Picard in order to read the letter. It was written in a very neat script, and it made Will understand why people might like writing on paper. There was just one problem.
“I do not speak Vulcan,” Will told the women before him.
“Nor do I,” Picard admitted.
Astraea looked a bit embarrassed. “Sorry. I forget not everyone was raised to be multilingual. I’ll just tell you what it says. My wonderful family,
“I know you will be reading this because you felt the sudden disappearance of the bond. You will have come to check on me. I feel I owe you an explanation, what little I have.
“Suicide is perhaps the most illogical act I can think of, when one is physically healthy. And yet the thought will not leave my mind. My father lived nearly sixty years after the death of my mother. I have gone a year without my ashalik, and the idea of going on longer is horrific. I know that what I plan to do will hurt you, and I hope you will be able to forgive me for that, but I cannot continue living in this way. I cannot express how brave I now know my father to have been.
“As I told Astraea a year ago, I wish for my ashes to be mixed with my beloved Jim’s, and then sprinkled throughout space. I did not mention this to Astraea, but I wish for this to occur from onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, if at all possible. I am sure between all of you, you have enough influence to bring this wish to fulfillment. If not, I have no objection to your using the reminder of mine and Jim’s actions in regards to the Narada, Nero, and Khan, as well as our other accomplishments throughout the years in order to achieve this.
“Now I have a few words to say to each of you.
“And then he basically addresses all of his children and grandchildren by name, explaining that he loves us and that he is proud of us. He addresses his great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren as a group,” Astraea finished. “And we all understand anyway. He loved Daddy so much.”
Will didn’t know how to respond. They clearly didn’t resent their father for his apparent suicide. Then again, from stories he had heard, and based on Astraea Kirk’s age, Spock and James Kirk had been together for more than a century. The idea of being married to one person for that long was beyond his comprehension. The idea of loving someone enough to even want that was beyond him.
“You wish to distribute their ashes while tethered to the ship?” Picard asked.
“Well, no,” Commander Kirk—Chrystal? That seemed right—said. “I’ve created a device in which we will place the ashes. The device will be fixed to the outside of the ship. It will release a small amount of their ashes every five minutes. If you travel at maximum warp while they are there, it will take three days to distribute their ashes all across the galaxy.”
§§§
“Maximum warp for three days straight?” Worf objected. “That will fry the engines!”
Chrystal Kirk scoffed. “Please. If I can push her to warp fourteen for twenty two minutes and thirty nine seconds while simultaneously using transwarp beaming to rescue one of our men with no long-term consequences, I can damn well push her to warp ten for three days with no long-term consequences.”
“Warp fourteen?” Wesley asked.
“Do they not have you read past missions?” Astraea asked, disapproval clear in her voice. “Our dad was the most unorthodox Captain Starfleet has ever seen and he was constantly reading about past missions and current missions of other vessels.”
“Unorthodox is a good way of putting it,” Data put in. “According to my memory banks, he broke the Prime Directive no less than nineteen times, and only got demoted for the first one. He consistently used tactics that had no logical basis, yet most often came out of the situations with less loss of life than the seemingly logical course would have earned.”
“That’s Daddy,” Dr. Kirk—Ashalynn?—said quietly. “With Sa-mekh in the background saying, ‘Jim, that’s not logical, Jim, that’s not logical, Jim, I’ll blow you if you would please just do the logical thing just this one time.’”
Will choked. The idea of a Vulcan saying something like that—“Don’t worry, Commander,” Astraea said with a smile. “He never actually said that.”
“Never outright at least,” Chrystal muttered.
Lieutenant-Commander Kirk—T’Risa—raised a hand to cover her smile.
“According to the files, that particular mission is classified,” Data put in. “We would need clearance from an Admiral in order to view it.”
Astraea thought a moment and then said, “Oh, yes. My apologies. Regardless, Chrys is right. She did push this ship to warp fourteen for more than twenty minutes with no long-term damage.”
“No long-term damage,” Picard noted. “Am I to take that to mean there was short-term damage?”
Chrystal waved her hand airily. “Nothing significant. We were stuck on impulse power for close to five days while I realigned everything, but that wasn’t an issue. It would have been closer to two and a half days if I wasn’t seven months pregnant at the time.”
Will could only stare. “You pushed a ship to warp fourteen then fixed her core in only five days? While seven months pregnant?”
Chrystal shrugged. “What can I say? I was taught by the best.”
If Chrystal was taught by the best, Will felt that that particular engineer likely could have taken over the Federation had he wanted to.
“I suppose pushing her to warp ten for a few days will be manageable then,” Picard said. “Although, Commander Kirk, I would feel more comfortable if you would stay in the engine room for the duration, in case of emergencies.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else, Captain.”
“If you don’t mind, we’d like to observe our old stomping grounds, my dad would say,” Astraea said. “I’ll be on the bridge, T’Risa and Chrystal will be down in engineering, Ashalynn will be in medbay, and Lennie will be wherever the hell she feels like at any given time. Assuming that’s acceptable?” Astraea smiled. “As much as I wish otherwise, she is no longer my ship.”
Picard nodded. “We can do that much for the man who has been called Starfleet’s greatest Captain.”
Astraea met Will’s eyes. “Never forget, Captain, that a Captain can never be truly great without a strong First Officer behind him. My parents were a team, they worked as one, and that is why they were so successful.”
Picard smiled. “Wise words.”
“Wisdom comes with age, I assure you,” Astraea laughed.
“Not always,” Chrystal muttered. “Take Daddy into account, if you would. A hundred and twenty and rock-climbing. It’s a miracle he died of disease and not falling to his death.”
“Okay, wisdom often comes with age,” Astraea amended.
Will was positive he would never look at Vulcans—or even Starfleet as a whole, given the way these women had been raised—the same way again.
§§§
“This is lunacy, Captain,” Worf said. “The ship isn’t made to do this.”
“I contacted Starfleet,” Picard answered, “And they gave me the go-ahead. And not just to distribute the ashes, but to travel at warp ten for three days.”
“Captain,” Geordi put in, “Are we absolutely sure Commander Kirk can deal with any problems that arise.”
“Starfleet is,” Will confirmed. “As baffling as it is, the admirals all have complete faith in all five Kirks currently onboard. And from the sound of things, they still feel indebted to Admiral Kirk and Captain Spock, for everything they achieved for Starfleet and the Federation. We must simply hand over the reins to the ship and hope for the best.”
“It’s all set up, Captain,” Chrystal Kirk’s voice rang through the bridge. “Hit the gas!”
“Make it so,” Picard murmured.
With a sigh, Worf began urging the ship forward until she hit warp ten. This was going to be a long three days.
§§§
The ship creaked to a halt once they fell out of warp. An analysis of the engines led to Commander Kirk announcing, “It’ll take me two days to get everything back into working order. Impulse engines are still in perfect working order.”
Wesley had hearts in his eyes. “Leave her alone, Ensign,” Will ordered. “Let her focus.”
“I could use an extra pair of hands,” Commander Kirk said. “Crusher, are you up to it?”
There was a mischief sparkling in her eyes that Will never would have associated with a Vulcan. It did explain why she would risk pushing the ship to warp fourteen; she was as much of a troublemaker and risk-taker as the notorious Captain James Kirk. Notorious, yet the standard nearly every Starfleet Captain judged themselves against, whether they would admit it or not.
§§§
“It’s been a pleasure working with you all,” Astraea told them as they pulled into orbit around Earth. “The Enterprise is in good hands.”
“I suppose I can trust her with your engineers,” Commander Kirk added. “Just call if you need anything.”
Will and Picard smiled. “It’s been an honor to have such distinguished guests,” Picard said. “Feel free to visit at any time.”
Astraea laughed. “I would take you up on that, if I wasn’t afraid I’d commit mutiny and commandeer your ship.”
T’Risa was regarding Will thoughtfully. She had been doing that off and on the entire time the Vulcans had been onboard. Just before they stepped onto the transporter pad, Will found out why.
“Commander Riker, if you ever decide you want to settle down, I have a granddaughter I think you might like,” she said. “You wouldn’t have a problem dating a woman with three eyes, would you?”