Dark Star (Star Trek: TOS story)

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Dark Star
Author(s):	Greywolf the Wanderer
Date(s):	1997
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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Dark Star is a Kirk/Spock story by Greywolf the Wanderer.

It was published in the K/S slash anthology Th'y'la #20.

Summary

"The Romulan Commander is well aware of the reason the Enterprise has penetrated Romulan space to steal the cloaking device. But she has motives of her own... and what she plans for Spock will forever alter his life."

Reactions and Reviews

Unknown Date

Pon farr/rape story with the Romulan Commander letting the boys get the cloaking device while she gets to torture - and be impregnated by - Spock. She sends him back in a coma, from which Kirk manages to drag him out by meld. But she was also the catalyst to get Kirk & Spock together.

1999

I just read this lovely tale. I have to say I think you filled the plotholes mighty well :-) I thought Spock's interaction with the Romulan Commander was very interesting, and when it came to the Pon Farr it was very intense. Uncomfortably so, but in a good way.

I love the way you weave your tales, the depth and the intricacy of the plot. I was stunned to see you write m/f - I didn't know you had it in you :-)

Spock's and Kirk's coming together at the end was just beautiful and I absolutely *loved* the scene where Kirk brought Spock back. It brought tears to my eyes. A bit of angst is nice thrown in for flavor. I could feel Spock's will to die and his hesitancy to do it when he realized it would only hurt the one he cares about most. Beautiful... mmmhmm!

If I had any complaints at all about this story it would be that the slightly icky sex scene between the Romulan Commander and Spock was longer than the one with Kirk and Spock at the end, and since it was non consensual it felt a little unbalanced. I would have wanted to see more of Spock's and Kirk's interaction at the end. I found myself wanting it to go on, but when don't I want that when there's some nookie for the boyz? Sigh...

But other than that. Wow yes! What a thoroughly pleasant read.. well.. pleasant.. might not be the right word LOL, since I don't like to see the pointy-eared one suffer. However it was... fascinating :-) and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next, Greywolf. Your stories are always a treat. -- kira-nerys

Wolfie, I really love your spackling -- nobody, but nobody, does it better. Watched the ep last night with my Research Assistant and kept getting your version as an overlay. Now I get the urge to fiddle more with canon, and make your basic story not go A/U at all. Hmmm . . . but how . . .

I'm basing my comments on the zine version of the story, which is easier to flip through -- let me know if anything is different.

The thing I've never really gotten in this story is why Spock is willing himself to death after he gets back to the E. There's some of Spock's POV as Pon Farr is hitting, then we get nothing from his POV directly until it's K/S Nookieland.

Now, as I said in my feedback to jat about "Still Amok", I don't really understand prudishness about sex even in humans, much less why a logical Vulcan would be prepared to literally die of embarrassment. Or is this Spock suffering from the self-blame of a rape victim? I can't really tell what's going on, and since you don't give us his POV you pass up a great opportunity for buckets o angst. -- Mary Ellen Curtin

This is both a skillful re-telling of “The Enterprise Incident” and a sensitive story of an emerging K/S relationship. Readers who found the episode’s simplistic Cold Wars politics hard to take may find this version, in which the Romulan Commander neatly outwits the Feds, more interesting. The story of Spock’s relationship with the Romulan Commander is told against a backdrop of their respective societies that is satisfyingly original and well-thought out. I deeply appreciate the respectful way Greywolf treats his “alien” characters and the societies they come from. Too often, fan fiction uses aliens as “gimmicks” (e.g. background plot to give K&S something to do in their spare time, to create jeopardy, to advance the K/S agenda). The result is that they come off as two-dimensional, stereotypical, less than human. Greywolf’s “aliens” are a refreshing change. They have believable needs and desires. Their “differences” are never gimmicky, even when they are the “bad guys,” nor do those differences ever make them seem less important and valuable than Humans.

Greywolf’s Spock is written with astonishing insight and honesty. His sensitive characterization gives the story great depth and poignancy. This is a Vulcan Spock, not the Human with pointed ears who appears in so many K/S stories. Spock’s Vulcan-ness is conveyed very naturally and unself-consciously in the way he thinks, speaks and acts. That Vulcan-ness does not distance him from us— rather, it seems to connect us with what is both universal and particular in his character. It’s hard to explain what Greywolf does so well in this story and others he has written, but I always come away from his stories feeling as though I’ve just looked through a window into Spock’s soul.

In this story, each of the pair is in love with the other but afraid to reveal his feelings because of the possible consequences. The characterizations, the quality and honesty of the writing, and the fine detail of the plot elevate it far above the average treatment of this theme.

Of interest is the story’s narrative style. It is told in the “third person objective,” i.e. by a narrator “outside the action” whose view of the characters ranges from relatively distant (at the beginning of the story) to up-close. This method of narration allows the narrator to reveal the thoughts of several different characters in a single scene; it also allows the narrator to step back from the subjective perspectives of the characters and set the stage, so to speak. Objective narration tends to be more grand and dignified than subjective narration, so I felt this narrative choice worked well for this story.

2001

Once again, another of our esteemed K/S authors has taken us inside a classic episode only to dispel all our previous conceptions of what took place.

Of course Spock seduced the Romulan commander in "The Enterprise Incident". He had no choice. He was following orders. Just as clearly, nothing actually happened between them except perhaps an involuntary spark of affection. Oh, but wait. You haven't heard the whole story! Greywolf builds on the likely premise that Romulans are a ruthless vindictive culture, capable of extracting revenge with everything at their disposal.

It is entirely believable that the temptress we remember is acting to settle an old score and that she will go to any lengths to do so—including inducing with drugs a sudden and extremely acute pon farr in our favorite Vulcan.

This story explores the episode so well, luring us unsuspectingly into the known just for the purpose of thrusting us abruptly into the unknown and extremely cruel "truth".

Spock's reaction to what is happening to him at the Commander's hands and Kirk's clammy fear when Spock fails to return are startlingly real. The ramifications, being far from over when Spock is brought back aboard the Enterprise, are well devised and precisely related. The inner feelings of both men are exposed with no small degree of insight.

Each act or scene is well thought-out and deliberately executed both by the characters and the author. Make some time to read this one in one sitting.