Title: Mark of the Beast (1/?)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Pairing: Kirk/Spock/McCoy
Disclaimer: I own the writing, the crazy idea, but not the characters. Just playing with ’em… rather roughly.
Summary: The Enterprise falls into yet another ill-timed scheme. A terrible choice must be made—and honored.
Or read at AO3

Prologue

The liquid is pungently sweet, almost tasty, as he sips from a small bottle, cap in hand. Funny that such a thing can be so deceptively good when its purpose is to kill. Jim resolutely downs the rest of its contents and leans his head against the cold base of the statue.

He wonders if Bones and Spock have unraveled his lie yet. Half of him secretly hopes that they have, that they are searching (and want and need him back); the other half—the responsible one, Captain, who convinced him to act, finally—says, quite ruthlessly, that Jim Kirk is a fool to want to be saved when he knows that it will only result in loss.

He does not pray; he is not the type of man to ask pardon for a thousand wrongs in the last moments, not before (when his belly was bloated and his skin pulled tightly over his bones) and not today. Rather, Jim thinks of that which is precious—of those two wonderful pieces of his heart—and feels grateful, if a little sad.

The silent stone beast looms over his head. The man’s eyes are heavy now, tricking him. He thinks idly for a second that those harshly sculpted forelegs elongate, perhaps the taloned feet twitch, then stretch open once (twice).

His mind slows. He is detached.

The empty bottle slips from his fingers but his ears barely pick up the sound of its rattling clink-clink on the ground. All’s dark, growing shadowed and strangely alive. They (those deepening shadows) speak in low whispers, like tickling breath on his throat. They say welcome, Jim.

Should he reply? Jim manages a simple thought, one word: Go?

The response is a low (assenting) hum. So he does.

Some time later (an hour perhaps), McCoy and Spock, together with dying cries of “Jim!”, find his body still—beginning to chill—in the courtyard of the Basilisk. Kirk’s eyes are open, dilated to twin pools of black.

It begins, per usual, at the behest of a Federation ambassador. The man—he’s not truly a man in any sense of the word, but the assumption is made regardless of species—represents a humbly sized planet with a large ego and wealth of enemies. His people are not gentle but neither are they warlike. Simply, as a race of inherently unsatisfied individuals, they hunger for power. Their rivals—any neighboring life in the quadrant—must envy their natural ability to create illusion (and deception); so the ambassador claims. The planet of the Basilisk requires a strong presence of authority—and an intermediary of good faith.

“Send us your best man,” his translator beeps steadily. “Send us the best—and we promise to negotiate fairly with the Federation—and those who would wage galactic war upon my people.”

The Enterprise orbits the small silver planet not many stardates after this challenge. The Captain places the first, steady foot on its glittering soil in the name of Starfleet and Federation trust. At his side is a petite female, the diplomat by request. She stands as straight-backed and quiet as the Vulcan First Officer. There is a swarm of red-shirt Security which march, always tense, with them to the Palace of the Basilisk.

It won’t be until three days later, after the first faint pulls of a downward spiral, that Doctor McCoy is called to another’s bedside.

At this particular moment, as the party moves forward in confidence, there is a ruler overlooking his domain. He observes the gold, red, and blue as it approaches—and thinks with satisfaction that his gods send this gift of ignorance and soft will. He releases the dark covering over the window and returns to the inner sanctum of his workroom. The hollow sphere (of Seoul, a gift from many generations ago) is cloudy with a reserve of energy. He lays his right hand upon its cool surface, thinks of his goal, and sets a plan in motion.

Next Part

Related Posts:

• Mark of the Beast (9/9) – from August 12, 2010
• Mark of the Beast (8/9) – from August 11, 2010
• Mark of the Beast (7/9) – from August 10, 2010
• Mark of the Beast (6/?) – from August 9, 2010
• Mark of the Beast (5/?) – from August 8, 2010