The BLTS Archive - The Dark Lady
by Laura Jacquez Valentine (jacquez@dementia.org)

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Disclaimer: The boys, the ship, and everyone else belong to Paramount.

Once again, I'm just playing.  Lyrics to "The Dark Lady" are by
Bernadette Gillece.

Warning: We're dealing with The Wrath of Khan, here, so Spock dies.
Since we all know he comes back, if this bums you out, go watch ST III
for Eris' sake.

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As soon as I gave her back to him I knew I was dead.  She was very
tolerant of his dalliances, and when she thought she had lost him she
resigned herself to that.  I told him once, years ago, that he would
not survive us both, but I was wrong.  I was the one who would not
survive.

I walked the corridors in a daze, feeling her around me.  I could feel
the decks throb under my feet, and I knew--I *knew* she was lying to
Mr. Scott.  She didn't feel like a crippled ship.  I could hear her
heartbeat, clear and strong.  Scott must feel it too, I thought
desperately.  He must know.  She laughed then, this creature of metal.
She would crush me inside of her.

She had thought he was mine forever.  She had respected that choice.
And when I gave him back...she knew I would take him again.  And I
did,  that very night, in the warmth of my cabin.  I had pulled his
body against me, cried out into the blackness, felt him shudder and
come beneath me, listened to him call me his love.  She would have
killed me anyway, but I provoked her.  This will not be a pleasant
death.

Engineering was not so far from me.  I could almost see McCoy and
Scott through the doors.  She laughed under the soles of my feet.
This mad ship--she was insane. She would have killed all of us--all
these children that I was sworn to protect, even Jim--in her murder of
me.

The doors opened in front of me, and I could see in Scott's face that
he knew.  The ship was doing something she didn't *feel* like she was
doing.  He was frightened.  I was terrified, remembering the taste of
Jim in my mouth, the cool sweetness of human skin, the way he arched
his back when I touched him just so.  These were things she could
never have.  She knew he was mine now, but she would not permit it.

It wasn't difficult to fix the problem.  It was minor, as I had known
it would be.  Once she had killed me, she helped me repair it.  My
mother had a word for women like her: bitch.  The bitch.

At least she let me say goodbye to him. I wanted to kiss him, to
devour him with my mind and my body--but I was blind and trapped and
dying, and all I could do was...say goodbye.

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James Kirk caressed the sheets on Spock's bed, his eyes troubled.  He
lay down on it, and for an instant thought he felt the Vulcan beside
him.   But there was only empty space.  He knotted his fingers into
the  sheets, arched his back, and screamed.

---

In the rec room, Uhura, who knew the ways of some women, sang an old
Terran song.


The ship steered herself to the heart of the gale
Where a wave swept the maiden out over the rail
Sweet revenge--on an unfaithful lover.

That night, the Lady drank a toast.
She said, "Here's to your lovely lady host!
Your one true love!"
No voices replied.
And the Dark Lady smiled.


The song ended on a shivering note, and Kirk's scream seemed to sound
in its dying.

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The End