(Again, dedicated to the lovely @alluruh and her awesome @shlavweek!)
Three years. It had been three years since the end of the five year mission of the Starship Enterprise and its intrepid crew, three years since Shiro had taken the promotion to admiral and started spending his days planetside, leaving no one to captain the ship again. Three years since Slav decided to begin the process of Kohlinar, the purging of all Bytor emotions in the name of Probability. After years and years of toil he was finally ready for the final initiation ceremony to join the brotherhood at Gol. He knelt in front of the Masters, ready to receive the pendant that would signify his success. As he waited, he spared one final thought for his soul partner, his brother in arms across the universe. What would he think of all this? Not that it mattered, of course, it was too late now. Slav had made his choice. As the gongs rang, he sent Shiro a final passing thought. Goodbye, my partner.
Suddenly, like a flash of lightning through his mind, he felt a thought enter. Shiro was in trouble, he knew it to be true. He looked up at the Bytor masters, all semblance of emotional control gone. “Go, this is not your place,” said his advisor. Slav was standing and halfway to the door before he finished.
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The things number of things you could do without question when your father was the human ambassador to Bytor was utterly astonishing. Within minutes, he had commissioned a small shuttle and was hurtling towards the last known coordinates of the Enterprise. According to his father, an unknown, massive, and powerful threat was traveling ever closer to earth, set on destroying the planet. Shiro and his paladins had been tasked with destroying it first, at any cost. Now, with time to think, Slav allowed himself to consider the full weight of his decision. Three years of non stop work, endless days of toil learning how to repress and to calculate and report with precision, all gone for the sake of one man, who might not even want him back. He had broken his heart when he left, after all. Perhaps…yes, it would be best to leave again just as soon as the job was done. Shiro had no need for a broken Bytor on earth, where he would be safe among his piles of paperwork.
As the shuttle neared its destination, Slav shook out his robes and smoothed down his fur as best as he could. It was best to make a good second first impression, after all. The ship jostled as it docked in the Enterprise’s landing bay. Slav stepped out–Shiro wasn’t there of course, there was only a 4.703% probability that he knew Slav would be arriving at all–, and began making his way to the bridge. An ensign took the liberty to lead him up. It was a good move, the chances of Slav finding the bridge without any assistance on this refitted ship were dwindling with every step, and had reached 12.986% by the time he’d gone three feet. Finally, the pair made it to the place Slav considered a second home. Shiro, who it appeared had been barking orders turned sharply at the sound of the doors sliding open. His eyes widened when he saw who it was. “Slav!” he exclaimed, joyous at the sight of his old friend. It was all Slav could do to turn away from his hopeful, nearly yearning expression. He had work to do to make sure his Shiro’s planet would stay safe, and when that was done, he had to go, for his sake. It was best to–how did the saying go? “Rip off the band-aid” as fast as possible. He sat at the new science station–located in a terrible position, the view of the captain’s chair was atrocious–and began his calculations.
Data scrolled down the screen, faster than any human eye could detect. Slav worked through the mathematics just as fast. Divide by this, square that, carry the one, yes he could see it now. The only possible solution. He turned to face Shiro as best as he could. “Admiral, permission to take a shuttle craft.”
“Shuttlecraft?” asked Shiro. “What for?”
“All signs prove it, there is a 97.294% probability that the entity moving towards the planet earth is both sentient and intelligent. We’ll need to speak with it in a manner which it understands, to hopefully get it away from you-your planet. For that, the choice most likely to be effective is and always will be a mind meld.” Shiro blinked once, trying to process the sheer danger in Slav’s mission.
“A meld? You mean you’re going to go up there, to try to talk to that thing? To touch it? No Slav, I can’t authorize that! You could be killed!” Slav made sure to show no outward emotion, though a small part of him was dancing in joy at his captain’s concern.
“It’s the only option and you know it, sir. Fortunately I am no longer held to the restrictions of Starfleet, since I am a civilian. I’m going to take the shuttle up; don’t try to stop me.” He began walking towards the door. Shiro groaned, and ran a hand through his white tuft of hair.
“Fine. Just promise me you’ll stay safe?” Slav paused, and turned to face Shiro once more. “Admiral, the chance of this being a dangerous mission is negligible.” With that, he made his way to the shuttle bay to meet his uncertain future.
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Slav woke up in medbay, the visions he’d seen still swirling around in his mind. The entity–V’ger, it had called itself–wanted one thing and one thing alone. And oh, how laughable it was that he hadn’t seen just how precious it was, how foolish that he had almost thrown away the very gift that V’ger craved! He chuckled to himself, his movement setting off alarm after alarm on his bed. Chief Medical Officer Matt and Shiro burst into the room. The admiral nearly threw himself at Slav’s bedside, clutching his hand as Matt checked the sensors for life sign readings. “Slav? You’re okay! Thank goodness; what happened, what did you find?” he asked, rubbing circles into the back of Slav’s hand with his thumb. It took all of Slav’s strength to formulate an answer under the deeply pleasant feeling. “It’s simple, really. V’ger is a highly intelligent being, and wants to make sense of the one thing that he has no frame of reference for.”
“And what’s that?” asked Shiro, holding Slav with two hands now. Slav smiled brilliantly up at his human.
“This simple feeling,” he said, gazing into Shiro’s loving eyes, “is beyond V’Ger’s comprehension.
