Descensus Averno

You may be looking for the Star Trek: VOY story Facilis Descensus Averno.

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Descensus Averno
Author(s):	Leslie Fish
Date(s):	written in 1975, published in 1994
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Descensus Averno is a Kirk/Spock story by Leslie Fish.

While it was Leslie Fish's last K/S story published, it was the first she'd written. According to the author, it had been submitted to Grup in 1975 and if published there, would have been a contemporary of Alternative: Epilogue to Orion and Shelter.

Almost twenty years after it was written, "Descensus Averno" was published in On the Edge #2.

Timing is Everything: 1980 Comments by Leslie Fish

When I got into fandom, K/S was already a much discussed premise around the fan grapevine (I believe Mary Manchester outlined her "Continuity Theory" a year earlier), but it was till hush-hush and underground. Having lived in various "undergrounds" for a good part of my life, I thought this was an idea that deserved to surface. "Alternative" hadn't been printed yet, but I did see a copy of Diane Marchant's A Fragment Out of Time in Grup #3 that convinced me that a K/S story could be printed in a fanzine, so I wrote one (a longish and fairly soft-core story called Descensus Averno) and sent it off to Grup. The story was accepted and I was told it would be printed in Grup #5 or #6, but it took a year for #5 to be published and another two years before #6 came out, and my story wasn't in either of them, for reasons known only to the gods and the publisher. Meanwhile I'd written Shelter as a triple literary exercise, attempting to: 1) write a convincing K/S story that could be printed somewhere besides Grup, 2) have the precipitating incident be something other than the "underground" usual cause of Pon Farr, 3) describe a love scene only (or at least primarily) in terms of one sense -- sound. I sent the first version [of Shelter] to Connie Faddis, for whose subsequent advice and criticisms I'll always be grateful, then sent the finished version to Warped Space for their promised "double X-rated" issue #20. WS accepted it, and between acceptance and publication, "Alternative" was printed. The rest, I guess, is history.

A Story Forgotten: 2017 Comments by Leslie Fish

I don’t think it ever did get published. It was an attempt to, it was a rough attempt to explain — in the past, okay, I had them both safely dead and their relationship only mentioned, but honored. I decided that that was really — it wasn’t good enough.

Reactions and Reviews

1994

I thought I would let the readers of CT know that "Descensus Averno", the last K/S story written by classic K/S writer Leslie Fish has been published in ON THE EDGE 2. "Descensus Averno" is a death story. Those who don't care for death stories should avoid it.

"Descensus Averno" is Leslie Fish's last K/S story, Fish was a K/S "pioneer" with "Shelter" and "Poses," two of the earliest and still extremely powerful K/S stories. DA was written some time ago, according to the editor, I wonder how long? On the "Bowen Hankie Scale" it definitely rates a ten. It'll take half your Kleenex box (at least) if you're a cryer like me.

The story is about 32 pages. By the middle of the first page, you learn both Kirk and Spock are dead. That does seem to spoil any surprises, one would assume. That assumption is wrong.

McCoy is explaining what has happened to Sarak and Amanda. (Of course, this is an a/u story. We ALL know our Captain Kirk would never die in REEL sci fi! ... cough, cough).

The story is nicely presented. It's interesting and complex. Actually, it's wonderful. You should read it unless you have an aversion to death stories like some people do. Or you can't see spending about twenty bucks (couldn't find the price - mine is a used copy) on a multi slash zine. Find a Pros fan, buy the zine and "gut" it between you.

I won't go into how great it is, which it is. I do have two problems with the story. These problems concern K/S writing in general. The story is obviously preachy. (If I want a sermon, I'll go to church.) The origin of homosexuality is said to be white Christianity way back in history (how far back wasn't said). I question this, I think it's inaccurate and as such weakens the whole discussion of homosexuality. But that's not the main point. Good writing doesn't have to hit the reader over the head with messages. Any "moral" or philosophy needs to be more smoothly integrated (and hidden) in the plot and dialogue.

I don't care if it is an a/u story. Some things just can't be changed, I know those are "fighting words" to the people who feel, "It's my universe, and I can do what I want to." This Sarak is as dense as a wall. He almost verges on stupid. This part just doesn't work for me. I can accept other changes, but not this. And by accepting other changes, the views of Christine and Uhura in this are EXTREMELY interesting.

Despite my grumbles, I love the story and plan to bawl my way through it again. This time I'll put my rum next to the box of Kleenex so I can join McCoy at the end. That's my idea of virtual reality.

2015

It's always a surprise to find a K/S story in a multi-media zine, so it was a real pleasure to find not one, but two gems in this one. This first story was Leslie Fish's last K/S story published, though apparently the first she'd written.

It begins in Sickbay, where McCoy is dealing with Sarek and Amanda's grief over the death of their son. Sarek, especially, is incensed that Spock's body was disposed of in space, rather than taken to Vulcan. But what Sarek doesn't know, what was left out of the official records, is the true story of Spock's death. It's a story that McCoy is then forced to relate.

It begins on an unnamed planet. Not just Spock, but Kirk, also, is dying. Both are injured, caught in a blast and unable to contact the ship. Spock tries to help Kirk by mind-melding with him to relieve his pain. It is then that you find out that, though a shared remembering, the two men are bonded.

Just then, they are transported up to the ship. But Kirk's injuries are too severe. He dies almost immediately.

From that point on, the reader is never sure, until the very end, what really happened in sickbay, how and why Spock died. Between the space battle which ensues when the ship is attacked by Klingons, past 'hallucinations' of Kirk and Spock together, and the lies and misinformation given out by McCoy, confusion ensues. Though he does not understand the effort and secrecy for the sake of an ancient taboo, Sarek is satisfied with what he has been told, and he and Amanda depart for Vulcan.

Only then, is the reader given the last, important fact that McCoy had withheld, even from Spock's parents.

I've only just touched the surface of this long and extremely satisfying story. While published in 1994, the story was written in 1975. As far as I've been able to ascertain, it is not on the net.