Kirk readied the rifle to fire. "Who are you?"

"Who do you think I am?" Spock took a step forward.

Kirk's finger tightened on the trigger. "Not another step," He warned.

"Is that how you treat a friend?" The thing that looked like Spock inquired.

"Take one more step and I will kill you."

Spock began to circle slowly around the captain. "We now see how Captain James Tiberius Kirk truly feels about those he calls his friends," He said smiling. "Oh, and I wasn't lying about your crew being dead. Of course I..." his grin grew, "changed some of the details. They weren't dead when we found them."

He stopped and closed his eyes, relishing in the memory. "You should have heard them scream. Especially the girl. What was her name? Mia? Maya? Mayama!" He exclaimed. "That was it."

Kirk fired the rifle. The shot hit the Vulcan right where his heart should be. The Vulcan looked down at the smoldering surface of his uniform. He looked back at the captain, almost bored. "I see this is a sensitive subject for you," he commented. "Perhaps if we change topics." The scene around him suddenly warped.

Kirk found himself back at house in Iowa. He looked down at his hands, realizing he was no longer holding the phaser rifle. His floppy hair fell over his eyes, his hands were dirty and scratched. He was a kid again, and the looming figure of Frank stood over him. Kirk started to back away.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" Frank yelled. His breath stunk like alcohol and his eyes were bleary with drunken rage. "You're nothing but a worthless screw up! Just like your old man!" He struggled to pull his belt off.

Kirk backed away, fear rising in his chest. He remembered that day with all too perfect clarity.

"You wrecked the car! You wrecked it!" he yelled, successfully pulling the belt off.

Kirk tried to swallow his fear. He stood still. He was done running from him. "It wasn't your car! That was dad's car!" He yelled back. "And you're nothing but a dirty rotten piece of crap excuse for a human being!"

Frank roared in anger and brought the belt down. Kirk cried in pain, falling to the floor.

"I work hard to provide for you and your worthless brother!" Frank yelled. "You're worthless! A screw up like your old man! You'll never be anything you worthless piece of shit!"

the kid tried to crawl away, the wooden floor turning into dirt beneath his hands.

Captain James T Kirk forced his eyes open. Frank was gone. The house was gone. He was on the floor of the cavern.

He took several deep breaths, resting his head on the ground. It was gone, all of it was gone. He looked around him. He could still hear Frank's drunken voice shouting in his ears and his cheeks were still wet with tears.

It was gone now...all of it was gone...

You hide quite a bit in your head, Captain James. Tiberius. Kirk. A voice told him.

Kirk turned around and tried to stagger to his feet. His ankle blazed with pain as soon as he put pressure on it. With a cry, he fell back onto the ground.

So many things hidden behind that confident grin, the voice continued. So much pain. Not even those you call friends know about it. They think you're selfish. Spoiled little Jim Kirk. He never felt true pain before in his life. He never felt helplessness...

A pale humanoid stood in front of him. Dead grey eyes watched carefully. It was wearing long white robes and had an elongated skull. It tilted its head curiously to the side as it watched the captain struggle back across the floor. Oh you did fall, the humanoid told him. However, the drop was not quite as far as I made you believe it was.

Kirk found himself backed against the wall of the cavern.

What? Nothing clever? The humanoid asked. I know there is at least twenty-seven possible responses that just ran through your head.

"Go to hell."

The humanoid shook its head. How unoriginal.

Kirk flinched at the memory he had just relived. "Was any of that real?" he asked, his voice breaking.

For you it was.

"What do you want?"

The humanoid held out its hands in an innocent gesture. Oh, you will give me what I want. Access codes, classified Starfleet information, and locations of strategic bases...you will give all of it to me. The humanoid almost smiled as it knelt in front of the captain. My brother believes he had found the greatest treasure with the device. But I have found something far greater than that. I have you.

"What are you?" Kirk asked.

The humanoid stood and walked away from him. We were once known as Talosians.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

The humanoid turned to him. It should make you afraid. Very afraid.

Kirk continued to glare at the creature. "I've never heard of you."

The Talosian smiled sadly. We are unlike the rest of our kind. We have surpassed them. They were nothing but small, pathetic remnants of what was once a great empire.   The humanoid began to pace slowly back and forth, speaking almost as if to itself. Now they sit in squalor far below ground, caring nothing of conquest, nothing of power, nothing of what they once were. But we are better than them.

We once ruled entire systems.  Far before your pitiful species were making tools of crude stone, we were traversing the stars. We were once great. And so we shall be again. 

"Yeah, good luck with that."

The Talosian grimaced. It does not matter what you do from here on into the future. You cannot stop us now. It folded its hands together and suddenly it was gone and the cave was gone and Kirk was back in the house in Iowa and the looming silhouette of Frank stood over him once again, the belt clutched tightly in his drunken hands.