TIMELINES

KIRK: (to Spock Prime) 

Your coming back in time, changing History -- it's cheating.

SPOCK PRIME: 

A trick I learned from an old friend. 

(he does the salute) 

Live long and prosper.

History became Legend, Legend became Myth

Much That Once Was, is lost

And some things that should not have been forgotten, were lost.

For none now live who REMEMBER it.

AMY:
I killed someone. Madame Kovarian, in cold blood.

RIVER:
In an aborted timeline, 

in a World That Never Was.

AMY: 
Yeah, but I can remember it, so it happened, so I did it. 
What does that make me now...?

"How does it work? Off the central timeline we just left.

Events of importance often cause divergent “tributaries” to branch off the main timestream.

But what’s astounding is there’s far more to it than that.

On occasion, these tributaries return—sometimes feeding back into the central timeline, other times overlapping it briefly before charting an entirely new course.

An old friend is suddenly recalled after years of being forgotten.

A scrap of history becomes misremembered, even reinvented in the common wisdom.

There are hazards to Hypertime, of course.... 
Artifacts carried into differing hypertimelines dangerously break down the barriers between kingdoms...but you’ll learn more about that in the months and years to come."

“Some would have you believe that time is a House of Cards, and that if you remove one card, the house collapses.

The physics of time, however, allow for another possibility: remove that same card, and the house rebuilds itself— but never to its original form"

[Enterprise Bridge]

SPOCK: 

Have you confirmed that Nero is headed for Earth?

UHURA: 

Their trajectory suggests no other destination, Captain.

SPOCK: 

Thank you, Lieutenant.

(Kirk is seated in The Captain's Chair)

KIRK: 

Earth may be his next stop, but we have to assume every Federation planet's a target.

SPOCK: 

Out of The Chair.

CHEKOV: 

Well, if the Federation is a target, why didn't they destroy us?

SULU: 

Why would they? Why waste the weapons? 

You know... we obviously weren't a threat.

SPOCK: 

That is not it. He said he wanted me to see something. 

The destruction of my home planet.

MCCOY: 

How the hell did they do that, by the way? 

Where did the Romulans get that kind of weaponry?

SPOCK: 

The engineering comprehension necessary to artificially create a black hole may suggest an answer. 

Such technology could theoretically be manipulated to create a tunnel through space-time.

MCCOY: 

Dammit man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist.

Are you actually suggesting they're from The Future?!

SPOCK: 

If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, 

however improbable, must be The Truth.

MCCOY: 
How poetic.

KIRK: 
Then, what would an angry, future Romulan want with Captain Pike?

SULU: 
As Captain, he does know details of Starfleet's defenses.

KIRK: 
What we need to do is catch up to that ship. 
Disable it, take it over, and get Pike back.

SPOCK: 
We are technologically outmatched in every way. 
A rescue attempt would be illogical.

CHEKOV: 
Nero's ship would have to drop out of warp for us to overtake him.

KIRK: 
Then, what about assigning engineering crews to try and boost our warp gear?

SPOCK: 
Remaining power and crew are being used to repair radiation leaks on the lower decks...

KIRK: 
Okay, alright. There's got to be some way...

SPOCK: 
...we must gather with the rest of Starfleet, to balance the terms of the next engagement.

KIRK: 

There won't be a next engagement. 

By the time we've gathered, it'll be too late. 

But you say he's from The Future, knows what's going to happen, then the logical thing is to be unpredictable.

SPOCK: 

You are assuming that Nero knows how events are predicted to unfold. 

 

To the contrary, Nero's very presence has altered the flow of history, beginning with the attack on the USS Kelvin, culminating in the events of today, thereby creating an entire new chain of incidents that cannot be anticipated by either party.

UHURA: 
An alternate reality?

SPOCK: 
Precisely. Whatever our lives might have been, if the time continuum was disrupted, our destinies have changed. 

 

Mr. Sulu, plot a course to the Laurentian system warp factor three.

KIRK: 
Spock, don't do that. 
Running back to the rest of the fleet for a, a, a confab is a massive waste of time...

SPOCK: 
...orders issued by Captain Pike when he left...

KIRK: 
He also ordered us to go back and get him. 
Spock, you are captain now! You have to be...

SPOCK: 
I am aware of my responsibilities, Mister...

KIRK: 
Every second we waste, Nero's getting closer to his next target.

SPOCK: 
That is correct and why I am instructing you to accept the fact that I alone...

KIRK: 
I will not allow us to go backwards...

MCCOY: 
Jim!

KIRK: 
...instead of hunting Nero down!

 

SPOCK: 
Security. Escort him out.

(two security officers grab Kirk and he starts to fight them off)

SECURITY OFFICER: 
Hey!

MCCOY: 
No, Jim!

(Spock stops the fight with a Vulcan nerve pinch)

SPOCK: 
Get him off this ship.

(Kirk is shot out of the Enterprise in an escape pod, into Delta Vega)

(Kirk's nearly eaten by the monster when the elder Spock shows up with a torch, scaring away the monster)

SPOCK PRIME: 
James T. Kirk.

KIRK: 
Excuse me?

SPOCK PRIME: 
How did you find me?

 

KIRK: 
How do you know my name?

 

SPOCK PRIME: 
I have been, and always shall be, your friend.

KIRK: 
Wha... oh, look... uh, I don't know you.

SPOCK PRIME: 
I am Spock.

SPOCK:

Father?

SPOCK PRIME:

I am Not Our Father. 
There are so few Vulcans left, we cannot afford to ignore each other.

SPOCK:

Then why did you send Kirk aboard, when you alone could have explained the truth?

SPOCK PRIME:

Because, you needed each other.

I could not deprive you of the revelation of all that you could accomplish together.

Of a friendship, that would define you both, in ways you cannot yet realize.

SPOCK:

How did you persuade him to keep your secret?

SPOCK PRIME:

He inferred that universe-ending paradoxes would ensue should he break his promise.

SPOCK:

You lied?

SPOCK PRIME:

Oh, I... I implied.

SPOCK:

A gamble.

SPOCK PRIME:

An Act of Faith.

One I hope that you will repeat in the future at Starfleet.

SPOCK:

In the face of extinction, it is only logical I resign my Starfleet commission and help rebuild our race.

SPOCK PRIME:

And yet, you CAN be in two places at once.

I urge you to remain in Starfleet.

I have already located a suitable planet on which to establish a Vulcan colony.

Spock, in this case, do yourself a favor -

 

Put Aside Logic. 

Do What Feels Right.

Since my customary farewell would appear oddly self-serving, I shall simply say : Good Luck.