Gond sat in his command chair on the bridge of the Fist Of Kahless, and boredom had taken hold once again. And for the third time that day, he wished for some action. His wish was granted. "Gond," His wife Zanat said from her sensor station. "We have a vessel on long range sensors, approaching at warp seven." "What do we have?" He asked, a smile on his face, and the boredom now gone. "A Cardassian scout ship on a course for our base at Mekhat 8." "Young Kurga," he said to Zanat's brother, who was on his first mission, fresh from the War Academy. "We have a ship for you to use for target practice. Take your station and let's see how you do at manual targetting." "Yes Gond!" Kurga smiled and jumped to the weapons station. When they got to within fifty thousand kilometers Zanat did another sensor sweep. "Gond, you'll have to cancel that order, because I'm now getting a broadcast from the ship, on all bands," The woman stared at her monitor for a few seconds. "You're not going to believe this. It's broadcasting the Dirge For The Honorable Dead. And there's only one life form aboard." The tall half human turned to his wife. "Helm, bring us alongside that ship," He said, turning back to Kurga. "Kurga, assemble a boarding party. Let's find out what's going on here." Kurga ran off the bridge. Within two minutes he was aboard the small craft with five warriors, calling back to his ship. "Gond, I found a human, and I'm beaming him over directly to the medical bay. I've never seen anything like this." "It's that bad?" "Yes," Kurga said before he paused for a few seconds. "I think it's one of the missing Kirk twins. And there's more. There's a dead human female here. It's Sasha Marx. There is also a baby here in a stasis tube." "A baby?" Zanat asked, shocked. "Human?" "Yes, a girl." "Has she been injured?" Gond asked. "Not that I can see. Should I remove her from stasis and bring her aboard?" "Yes," Gond said, looking at his wife. "This day just became rather interesting. Zanat, you have the com." Gond ran into the medbay a few minutes later. On one of the beds lay the burned and shattered body of a short human male. Looking at the scarred face he could see that this was indeed one of the Kirk twins. Mackenzie had gone missing thirteen months ago, while Joshua and his squad, and his uncle Jacob's squad as well as Sasha's had gone missing two weeks later. Three members of Marx's team turned up later and told of an ambush. Gond despised Mackenzie, as did everyone who knew him. But Joshua was his brother. It was Joshua who had introduced him to Zanat. In the next bed, wrapped up in a blanket, lay a sleeping dark skinned human baby. And on the other bed lay the badly burned body of Sasha Marx. "Oh Sasha." Gond said, sadly shaking his head. "I did a quick paternity test, sir," Doctor Barash told him. "This baby is the offspring of these two. And this is Joshua Kirk and Sasha Marx." "Gond?" Zanat's voice abruptly came over the intercom. "The Enterprise is approaching. They're asking if we need assistance with anything." "They need to take them," The doctor said. "These wounds are more than we can handle." "Yes Zanat," Gond replied. "Tell them we have Joshua Kirk on board. Tell them he's in bad shape. And tell them we also have a baby and Sasha Marx." "Very well." Minutes later, Beverly Crusher was beaming aboard. When the Klingon doctor stepped aside for her, the redhead winced at the sight of the man on the bed. "Son of a bitch!" The woman muttered angrily before she tapped her com badge. "Enterprise, prepare to beam me directly to sick bay. We have a badly injured man beaming over. I want my entire team on alert." "Yes Doctor." "I'll have an infant with me, so I want Dr Menzies ready. I'm also beaming over with one fatality." Ten minutes later, Gond was sitting in his command chair, Zanat standing behind him, when Kurga entered the bridge. "Gond, we've found the point of origin for the scout ship. It's Teros 6." "Helm, set course for Teros 6, maximum warp! Our brother Joshua and his warriors are crying out for revenge! All ships prepare for combat. Cloak all ships." "All ships cloaked and ready," Zanat said after a few moments. "Then let us proceed with this hunt." Jean Luc Picard was on the bridge of the Enterprise as she raced for Deep Space 9, the nearest station with a first class medical center. Beverly had sounded worried about Joshua's chances. "Captain?" Riker called from the sick bay. "Captain, you need to get down here now and see this." "What is it, Will?" "You need to get down here and see for yourself, sir," He repeated, his voice sounding strained. "On my way," Jean Luc did not like the way he sounded. "Data, take the com." "Yes sir." Picard entered sick bay and found Riker, Crusher and several of her people were standing around one of the beds. As he approached, they moved aside. The captain stopped dead in his tracks. "My God!" He said in shock. "What has happened to him?" "He's has third degree burns over forty five percent of his body," Crusher said as she fought back tears. "He has blunt force trauma and radiation poisoning as well. But the rest of what you see is the result of torture. Months of it. He has broken bones and cuts that have healed. I've never heard of anyone surviving wounds this bad except his uncle Michael MacKenzie." Picard looked at the ship's councillor. "He's in immense pain psychologically," She said with tears in her eyes. "What ever happened to him is being replayed in his mind. I also feel an incredible, almost overwhelming, hatred." "And what about Sasha Marx?" Picard asked. "Her only wounds were burns and massive blunt force trauma," Crusher replied as she shook her head. "She shows no evidence of torture. And the baby is a perfectly healthy girl. And Dr Barash was right, Josh and Sasha are her parents. "I want video of this!" The commander of the Enterprise looked at Doctor Crusher. "I want a record of every cut, every burn. There will be hell to pay for this one day." She nodded. As Picard was turning away, Kirk's hand shot up and locked onto his arm, breaking it. "Where's Sasha and the baby, Papa Jean Luc?" He asked in a hoarse whisper. "They're in the next room," Picard looked up at Beverley Crusher, then back at Joshua. "They'll be fine. What happened Josh?" "No," Joshua replied hoarsely. "I know Sasha's dead. It should have been me, not her!" "I'm sorry, Josh," Picard said in a low voice. "But we need to know what happened." "We were captured, on the mission to...to." The young man whispered, before shaking his head. "I can't remember where. Why? Why can't I remember?" Crusher tried to pry his fingers from around Picard's arm. "We were tortured, but we escaped," He said adamantly. "We didn't leave though. We used their own explosives against them." "They had to be stopped!" A expression of rage formed on his burned and scarred face. Deanna Troi fainted at the hatred that now flowed from him. "And I killed him! Took out a base and birthing center. A big one. We hurt them badly." Kirk then lost conciousness, Picard finally pulling his broken arm away. Tapping his communicator, he called to the bridge. "Riker, make a call to Admiral Kirk," He said. "Let him know that General Gond has found Joshua. Tell him that we're taking him to Deep Space 9. And call Bill Marx. Let him know we have his daughter. Let's hold off on telling them about the baby until they get there." "Yes sir." Picard watched as Beverly's team worked on the commando that he'd seen grow from a baby to adulthood while one of her subordinates mended his arm. Picard and Crusher beamed down with her patient. Admiral David Kirk ran around Doctor Bashir to his son. The Admiral was a tall man, but when he saw his son's condition, he seemed to shrink inward. She knew his children were his world. She'd known the Kirks for years. In fact, it was she who'd delivered Joshua and his brother. And it hurt to see this man in pain like this. She placed her hand on his arm. "David, he's going to be all right," She said reasuringly. "Bashir will further stabilize him. Then he will be ready for the trip to Mars." "Do you know what happened yet, Jean Luc?" Kirk asked, putting his hand over the woman's. "Very little," The Enterprise's caommander replied. "They were captured and taken to Teros 6. Him and the others managed to escape and destroy the Jem Hadar base and birthing center there. Gond reported that he encountered a Jem Hadar battle group at Teros 6. He said they destroyed them. They also found the remains of the birthing center and base. He said it was a big one. At least fifty thousand of them. Joshua said that they hurt them badly. And I think they did." "He said something else," A puzzled look appeared Jean Luc's face. "He said killed him. And the emotion coming from him was so intense that Deanna Troi fainted, and has had to be kept sedated since." Kirk pondered Picard's words for a minute, then shook his head. "We'll find out what he was talking about when he comes around," The elder Kirk said. "Was that all?" "No," Kirk's old friend paused for a moment. "They also found a baby. A girl. And Josh and Sasha are her parents." "Where is she?" David asked in shock. "Where do you think?" Beverly told him with a smile. "On the the Enterprise, being spoiled by Will Riker and my staff." "What about Jacob and the others?" Kirk asked weakly. "There was no one else with them," Picard told Kirk. "And there's still no sign of your son Mackenzie." "Fuck him!" He shouted, the elder Kirk's face twisted in rage. Everyone in the sick bay turned to him in shock. "I'm worried about Nancy's little brother Jacob and the other other men who went out with Josh. Mackenzie can burn in hell!" "But he's your son!" Crusher said, still shocked by the venom this man had for his own son. "No, he's a son of Singhe!" He said as he shook his head. "He stopped being my son when he chose to follow that group of lunatics! That I should have a son who fell for their shit is more than I can stand. No Beverly, I now have two sons. Joshua and Jacob." "Give it a break, David!" General Bill Marx said loudly as he entered the room and shook his head. "Just give it a break! I'm with Josh when it comes to his brother. He died on Olympus Mons that day five years ago. What came out of that hospital was not Mack. Not the Mack I knew," David Kirk just stood silently. Marx sighed with disgust and shook his head again. "Where's my little girl, Jean Luc?" He asked Picard, tears welling up in his eyes. "She's on the Enterprise, Bill," Picard looked at Beverly, then David. "But there's something you need to know. When they found Joshua and Sasha, they found a baby. Their baby. A girl." Marx stood speechless. Picard had his ship beam the man up. "God damn it!" Kirk muttered as he sat and put his head in his hands "How am I going to tell Nancy? Her sister Cynthia was killed when her ship, the Drake, rammed a Dominion battleship eight days ago. Now Jacob's probably dead, and our Josh is in there battered and burned. Jean Luc, I grow so weary of this war. I am sick of the death. I just want to go home to Mars and live with what's left of my family." "Tell you what," David Kirk looked down at the floor and sneered. "Let the damned cowardly Vulcans pull themselves away from their science. Pull the Orion scum away from their criminal enterprises and put their asses on the line. I'm tired of protecting them. I say let them protect themselves. Why must it be we humans who do the fighting? The Andorians are getting tired of the burden of the war as well. Same for the Tellarites. It's our sons and our daughters who end up like Josh in there, or like Jacob on Teros 6, never theirs." "David," Beverly Crusher said as she put her arm around him. "It will end. It has to." "Oh sure!" Kirk said angrily. "It'll end. Then we'll go back to the way it was before Bev. With fat bastards like Maximillian Kennedy calling people like the three of us Neanderthals. And the Vulcans will demand Starfleet cut the number of warships so they can have more science ships. Meaning that we'll be caught flat footed when another enemy attacks us. Then we'll be called on to die again." "You know, I used to pity you, Jean Luc, when you never married." He smiled and put his hand on his friends shoulder. "That you never experienced the joy of holding a new born baby in your hands. you've never felt the thrill of watching your children run around through the grass. You've never lived through the magnificent dread of a daughter going on her first real date!" Picard and Crusher laughed with him. "But of course Joe's the only person Julia was ever serious about, David," Beverly said with a smile. "So you should consider yourself lucky." "Every day, Bev," He said. "Every day." "But then again," Kirk said quietly as he looked down to the floor, tears falling to the deck. "But then again Jean Luc, you'll never have to live through the heart break of having a son who betrays you, and everything you believe in. You'll never have to tell your wife that, not only is her baby sister dead, but so is her baby brother. And you'll never have to see a son laying on a table looking like that!" Beverly Crusher and Jean Luc Picard put their arms around him in the embrace of old friends. Twelve hours later Bashir entered the waiting room Where David Kirk and Bill Marx played with their granddaughter. "Admiral, your son is now ready to travel to Mars. He was even awake for a short time." "Did he say anything?" Kirk asked, a pained look on his face. No," Julian Bashir replied as he laughed. "He can't talk because of the Nezix he's been given. But he did grab one of my nurses backside! Khindie's." "Martok's granddaughter?" Bill Marx laughed. "The boy is taking his life into his own hands David." "No, it sounds like he was taking something else into his hands," Crusher said as she grinned. The tension that had filled the room suddenly dissolved into laughter. David looked to the doctor and shrugged. "What can I say?" The admiral said with a grin. "He is a Kirk! Now let's go to Quark's. I have him keep a stash of good Bourbon there for me." "You truly hate synthahol, don't you David?" Beverly said, putting her arm through his. "Uncle Scotty put it best when he said that stuff takes all the adventure out of drinking." When they got to the bar, David Kirk turned to Picard. "I wish to ask a favor of you my friend," David Kirk said. "Will you take Joshua, Sasha, and the baby back to Mars?" "You do know that the president will not like having a ship taken off the line to transport so few." "You will not be," Bashir said said angrily. "I have thirty-eight more men and women awaiting transport. We're having trouble getting a ship to take them to the Starfleet medical center on Mars. Their resources are stretched to the limit they say. I've lost three people because I don't have the facilities to give them the care they need." "That's bull shit!" Kirk said. "They have the money for three new science ships and two new research stations. These politicians will lose the war if we aren't careful." "Very well then David Cicero Kirk," Picard said quietly as he put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I will take them home." "Thank you. There can only be one ship that can carry a Kirk home. And that's the Big Prize." The next morning, David Kirk and Beverly Crusher woke up in each others arms to the sound of a chiming com badge. David reached over and slapped it. "Kirk here!" "Why are you answering Dr Crusher's com badge Admiral Kirk?" a highly amused Will Riker asked. "Crusher here," Beverly grinned as she picked it up and spoke into it. "What do you need Will?" "Jean Luc just thought you two would like to know that it's time to move the warrior Joshua and the young one." "You sound like a Klingon, Commander Riker," Kirk said. "There's hope for you yet." "That's what I said David," General Martok's voice could be heard speaking up. "Martok, what are you doing here?" Kirk asked, puzzled. "You were nowhere near here." "Gond told me what had happened," The warrior's voice replied over the communicator. "The word of what Joshua and his commandos did is all over subspace. It's all anyone is talking about. So I came to see this great warrior you've raised. Imagine my surprise when I entered the sick bay with Riker and found your son surrounded by all the nurses, all of them fawning over him. One of whom is my grandaughter Khindie. She is smitten with your boy David, and that beautiful baby girl. Now you two get dressed and get down here so we can pry them away from these women, and send them home. Ten minutes later David Kirk stood before his son Joshua. Though he was badly burned and covered in scars and had a regrowth patch over his missing eye, Julian Bashir's nurses were all over him, kissing him goodbye. Last of all was 200cm tall Khindie who took Joshua's head in both her hands and gave him a long, passionate kiss. When she was done, Joshua smiled up at her. "It looks like parts of this boy are working just fine," Beverly Crusher said as she started laughing. she then pointed at the blanket covering him. Everybody grinned except Khindie who bent over again and looked Joshua in the eye. "I'm taking that as a promise of future things Warrior Joshua." Joshua Kirk placed his hand over his heart, then put it over hers. "David," General Martok looked to his friend David Kirk. "It looks like my granddaughter will be joining your House." "I can't wait for their young ones," The admiral smiled back. "I just hope that they give Nancy and I some more granddaughters. Julia and Joe are not cooperating." "Jean Luc," David Kirk said as they walked about the station's Promenade. "Don't you think it's time to tell Jacob that you are his real father? You've been keeping your distance for far too long." "Do you think it's a good idea?" "He idolizes you," Kirk said firmly. "He would be thrilled. And it would make him even more popular with the girls too. The ladies of the Family love you. Just think about it. Nancy thinks it's a great idea as well." "And speaking of Nancy," David Kirk gave the shorter man a grin. "She's been wondering when a certain Frenchman with an English accent will find his way back to her bed?" Picard's face turned red and he began to stammer. The elder Kirk laughed at Picard's discomfort. "Jean Luc, when are you going to realize that it's no big deal to us," Kirk said as he grinned. "My people have a need to breed that will not be denied. Nancy knows that Beverly and I have shared a bed many times and is not bothered by that. Because she knows that she owns my heart. And I know that she's been with others. This is especially important when you're in Starfleet and will be apart for weeks, or months at a time. Just think about it." "Very well," The Enterprise's captain nodded. "I will. And I am glad that you had no problem raising Jacob." "Jean Luc, he's as much a son to me as Joshua." Kirk held up his hand and pinched the skin on the back. "This is the flesh. It does not make one family. It can betray you. Mackenzie is proof of that." "But this," David then placed his hand over Picard's heart. "This is where family is. This is where Worf is for the Rozhenkos. This is where that baby in there will be for Nancy and I. And it is where Jacob is for me as well. And you my old friend. Now I have to go. We still have a war to win. I've already told Josh and the baby goodbye, and now I bid you farewell." Admiral Dave Richards sat at his desk and shook his head at what Joshua Kirk's empathic councillor Sa Min had told him. "Are you sure he's not telling the truth?" "Yes, sir!" She replied emphatically. "I feel it everytime he tells the story. Something happened there that he is trying to cover up. And the pain he's going through is horrific. You are going to have to bring in a telepath." "I'm not comfortable doing that," Richardson said. "Their people have a strong dislike of having someone go through their heads." "Sir!" The empath leaned across the desk and stared him in the eye. "If you do not do this, it will continue to eat at him. He's already attempted suicide four times." "It will have to be someone he trusts then," The head of Starfleet medical nodded. "I have just the person," The Andorian said. "He's also a Kirk." "Jim Pok?" "And he's due here on Mars today," Sa Min told him. "I have two patients he's going to work with. I'll ask him to do this." "Make it so then. This boy must get better. For no other reason than to celebrate the end of the war, and the part him and those others had in fighting it." James Pok lay on the floor of the room still twitching from the convulsions that he'd experienced when he melded minds with his nephew Joshua. Dave Richards and Kirk's coucillor, Ita Sa Min helped him up from the floor and into a nearby chair. "What did you see Dr Pok?" the Admiral asked. Jim Pok looked to Min and Richards and shook his head. The son of James Kirk and Kinna Banka told them what he'd experienced. "It's my fault," The Admiral said as he sat on the bed and looked in the direction of the wall where Joshua Kirk lay sleeping on the other side. "No sir, it is not!" Pok shot back. "You didn't do those things, he did. He was a masterful liar. The only people he couldn't fool were his own family, and Janith Solana. They knew that he had not changed, that he still followed Singhe. He had that rare ability to convince people that he was pure, when in fact he was not. Tainted is not strong enough a word to describe Mackenzie. Polluted is more closer to the mark. But it no longer matters. That boy in there took care of him. Him and tens of thousands of Jem Hadar." "I guess we're going to have to change the report on the incident," Richardson said. "Tell the truth." "Like hell you are!" Pok said with a laugh. "When was the last time you left this hospital?" The commander of Starfleet medical looked at him questioningly. "The Andorians are calling them the Holy Eleven," Jim Pok said as he shook his head in disbelief. "The Tellarites are calling what they did the Great Sacrifice. Hell, every Klingon is singing about them and drinking in their honor. Even the Romulans are getting in on the act. Everywhere they are being honored. Except by the damned president." "Did you know that the Senate asked that the President acknowledge what those commandos had done, and they were turned down?" Sa Min grumbled. "The President came up with some line about how it wouldn't be fair to all the other beings who fought and died in the war. So they asked that a holiday be declared for all those who have fought and died in the war. That was turned down. She said it would glorify war." "She will be the death of us all," Dave Richards said venomously. Gond, Zanat, and Kurga stood and watched the children of Julia and Joe Wilmowski play in the grass with their uncle Joshua at the estate of David and Nancy Kirk. "Just what are you two doing here Gond?" David asked as his granddaughter Cynthia jumped from Zanat to Kurga. "You should be at home expanding the House of Kang." "We are definitely working on that," He said, pointing at Joshua. "But he is the reason we are here." "Why is that?" "Because Chancellor Martok has thrown Ambassador Maximillian Kennedy out of the Empire," Gond said. "And I've given the Federation president a list of one thousand names of people he will accept as the next ambassador. And he will not accept anyone who is not on it." "Who's on the list?" Nancy asked, grinning as her son's little girl tugged at Kurga's goatee. "There is but one name on that list," Kurga replied with a grin. "And that is your son, Joshua William Augustus Patrick Kirk."