One Last Time

Star Trek TOS Fanfiction
Title:	One Last Time
Author(s):	Gerry Downes
Date(s):	1976
Length:
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:	One Last Time
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One Last Time is a gen (K/S suggested) Star Trek: TOS story by Gerry Downes.

It was published in Stardate: Unknown #2.

This story was mentioned in The Development of the Kirk/Spock Relationship: Its Foundation in Fan-Fiction (1978).

Reactions and Reviews

An aged Kirk, anticipating senility, bids farewell to Spock (McCoy has died long before, victim of a transporter accident), buys himself a starship and heads off to cross through the Galactic Barrier. He finds a planet there, embroiled in an uprising, joins the revoutionaries, and is killed in action. Nicely written, and though the planet outside the Barrier and its repeat of Earth history - the regime is essentially Nazi - may be implausible, Kirk's response to his latter days is right in character.

The zine ends, really ends, just about crumbles around the readers' feet with 'One Last Time.' This is a real tear-jerker about Kirk in his old age. However, the Nazi stuff on the planet where Kirk crashes has been doen just one too many times. Or perhaps was this just his last dream?! Can this be a tongue-in-cheek story about such a serious topic? There are spots where it doesn't' seem quite on the level; did Downes know what she was writing? Well, accept for the last story, I recommend the zine wholeheartedly...

Finally, there is a piece called 'One Last Time, which is a rather sad and perhaps rather grim tale of Kirk's later years. The beginning is a somewhat terribly-paced flashback which brings the reader up to the 'present' wherein McCoy gets killed, Kirk and Spock leave the service, Scott dies, and Kirk and Spock retire together on Earth... quite a bit of background to swallow in less than one page. Anyhoo -- Kirk decided to go out with a blaze of glory -- literally and heads a ship toward the galactic barrier only to be bounced off and find his way to an isolated planet where remarkably good English is spoken... There, Kirk gets his last chance to take part in one final battle, to go out with a bang...I read this story out of sequence having read the story and 'Mate' back to back. I was forced to antidote myself with a Winnie the Pooh book following that pair, so that I would not slash my wrists. Really a morbid duet.