Kirk didn't want to use Jim. He didn't want to put a single one of them through this. "...Jim. If I use you, I'd be using Spock and McCoy as well, since you're bonded to them. Which translates to Kirk and younger Spock too, and Prime in turn. If I used Harold, it would affect Sulu. I can't even figure out anymore which of the two Chekovs is from another universe. What about the actors? They're already in a hell of a state..."
A slow breath out, "If in two week's we can't figure this out... I'm not sending this ship back to Earth."
"Jim, you can't. They'll take her away from you. It's not worth it--if I can stop this, I will. That's my choice to make, and I can make sure it impacts my bondmates minimally. If I can alleviate this for the rest of them, it's worth it. I won't let you risk your command for us. Not when there's a chance I can stop it."
"We have no way of knowing you can stop it. Even if we return to Earth and you go down there, that doesn't stop them from demanding more, and I would still be defying their orders." Kirk stood up, pacing a little. "This crew matters more then me being captain, in the end. I've got a duty to everyone, including the people that are from other universes. I promised them a safe haven, all of you..." His eyes closed.
He wouldn't let anyone become some Starfleet science experiment.
"You can't offer a safe haven without the Enterprise," he pointed out quietly. "What are you going to do if they come after us? Are you going to make 400-plus people outlaws for the sake of a handful of us? They're not monsters. If I can prove to them I am who I say I am, I can vouch for the others. And you're safe."
"I know they're not monsters, Jim, but they are scientists. They'll want to know everything, things we can't figure out. Like why Sulu and Harold can hear each other in their heads, but you and I can't. And now ANOTHER Sulu.. three of them, three universes. And I don't even want to start to think about the bastard we have down in the brig. I want him back in HIS universe, but they'd put him on trial."
Kirk closed his eyes, "This ship has, minus the crew we still have to drop off, almost 1200 people on it. We're a big ship, and they're trusting me to make the right choice. Problem is none of them are completely right, but I know ONE is completely wrong."
"That's why we use me," Jim said. "Convince them I'm you, and we cover the rest." He knew there were holes in that reasoning, but it was all he had to work on. It was worth a try, weighed against Jim and the ship and everyone on it. "It's worth a try, Jim," he said intently. "They already know there are some kind of impostors here. Throw them one." He cocked his head. "The charming one."
"Better throw them Spock then." Kirk said as if he was serious, then gave a tiny smile to show he was joking. "There's the starting problem that there's a HUGE difference between us versus say, our multiple look-alikes. You're older then I am, and look pretty damn different, sound different.. even though I know you're me." That was very weird to say aloud.
Jim just nodded as if that wasn't strange at all. It was, of course, it's just that it made the sort of sense that didn't have much logic behind it. "And that's not exactly scientific evidence," he agreed. "I never got a lot of flack for the somewhat unorthodox things that have happened on my ship, but I usually didn't report them until they were resolved, either. Which so far, they have been, and fairly quickly. Mostly I get reprimanded for not reporting until I've resolved things." He shrugged. "All right. So it's complicated. But I don't see how it hurts to collect as much information as we can. Step up the 'rescue' operation. See if Scotty and Spock working together can get anything going. In the meantime... have McCoy run anything he can think of on us. Just us, so we're not bothering anyone else. Just so we know what we're dealing with."
In truth, for all he knew, they'd already done all this. He'd have been surprised if no one was even curious.
"Scotty and Spock are already working on it, full time on Spock's part. We can get your Spock to help as well. You wouldn't believe the tests I know Bones was running on Harold and Sulu about," He tapped his temple, indicating their mental telepathy of sorts, "And I know physical things as well, but I don't know everything about it. We can get them to test you and me, too."
"Of course," he said. "I meant that my Spock could contribute, possibly. And I'd like Bones to test us. Me, anyway--he probably has you pretty well documented by now. I want to know what our choices are."
He sighed.
"I know they aren't good. But we've got to find something that doesn't ruin you along with everyone else."
"I'm going to hold and officer's meeting and get everyone's opinions. At least the highest of us. We need to figure this out, we have to. Even if its just a worse case scenario." Kirk slumped a little, then finally sat back down with a thwump.
Jim nodded again, catching Kirk's eye and smiling. "Hey," he said. "We'll figure it out. How can we not? We're James T. Kirk."
He sat back.
"Now. We got off track a little. Other than the chain of command thing--your Spock reports to you, mine reports to both of us essentially--you got any other idea how this works?"
A tiny smile in return. Fucking right, they could do anything together. Maybe they could end up charming the-- well, they weren't much about charm, but who knew.
"Not much of a clue. I'm going to open up both sets of our files... well, mine'll be open to yours, except my private logs, and I'm going to tell Spock to do the same. You and I can both add to one log, file reports to the same place, so we'll always have access to both."
(OOC: ...Like some damn intergalactic 23rd century version of gDocs. XD)
"Okay," Jim said. "Are we coding this somehow, in case the brass get wind of it and want to know why either there are two of us or why you're up all hours?" They still had a lot to talk about. Regarding duties and what constituted an emergency and all that. Jim frowned. "This whole opposite-shift thing better not make you a stranger."
"...I want to code it in two ways. One so that they can tell us apart, and the other... I want a second batch, done, encoded like hell so that Starfleet can't get it. Just... in case."
The last made him laugh, "Hell no. You think I ever wanna give this up?" It wasn't a friendship, it wasn't a lover, it was... something far more.
"Good. Exactly what I would have done," Jim said. "I don't know how they'd react to this arrangement, and I think it's best if we reserve the option of not telling them." Jim believed in, loved, had given his life to Starfleet. But he was not a stickler for rules. It was the spirit of the thing he had sold himself to. And he felt that spirit resided inside him, not in a batch of regulations.
He smirked at Jim. "Good. I'm not nearly done with you yet, either." But they'd have to be, one day. Sooner, rather than later, for the sake of everything but... this. This thing they had.
Sooner or later, they would be split apart anyway. Kirk knew someday the others would return home. But until then... he planned to keep this. "Good to know."
Everyone knew Kirk wasn't a sticker for the rules, either. "I don't want to tell them, if we don't have to. Mostly because I know they will freak about it."
Jim laughed. "Naturally. I'm a non-entity. There's no guarantee, as far as they're concerned, that I'm qualified to be on this ship, let alone to command. Let alone that I'm you. You know you could get in a lot of trouble for this," he said, his mirth vanished. "I'd be content in one of the departments, where no one has to know."
"...Or this ship can run at its absolute best, with knowledge I need to learn and can be learning from someone with more experience. Starfleet lost thousands of people when Nero came... they can't afford to be so picky. They trust me with a ship like this but don't trust my judgment about other things." Kirk rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
Jim shrugged. "I don't disagree with you," he said. "But I needed to give you the suggestion. Just in case you have second thoughts. But... we can certainly consider that, as an argument."
"I haven't had second thoughts yet. Maybe I will when it starts, but right now I know this is what we should be doing." Kirk looked to Jim's eyes, his own serious.
That brought a small smile to Kirk's face, and he let out a breath. They could do this, all of them. This ship, this crew, these people. They would figure it out.
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A slow breath out, "If in two week's we can't figure this out... I'm not sending this ship back to Earth."
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"Jim, you can't. They'll take her away from you. It's not worth it--if I can stop this, I will. That's my choice to make, and I can make sure it impacts my bondmates minimally. If I can alleviate this for the rest of them, it's worth it. I won't let you risk your command for us. Not when there's a chance I can stop it."
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He wouldn't let anyone become some Starfleet science experiment.
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"You can't offer a safe haven without the Enterprise," he pointed out quietly. "What are you going to do if they come after us? Are you going to make 400-plus people outlaws for the sake of a handful of us? They're not monsters. If I can prove to them I am who I say I am, I can vouch for the others. And you're safe."
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Kirk closed his eyes, "This ship has, minus the crew we still have to drop off, almost 1200 people on it. We're a big ship, and they're trusting me to make the right choice. Problem is none of them are completely right, but I know ONE is completely wrong."
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In truth, for all he knew, they'd already done all this. He'd have been surprised if no one was even curious.
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He sighed.
"I know they aren't good. But we've got to find something that doesn't ruin you along with everyone else."
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He sat back.
"Now. We got off track a little. Other than the chain of command thing--your Spock reports to you, mine reports to both of us essentially--you got any other idea how this works?"
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"Not much of a clue. I'm going to open up both sets of our files... well, mine'll be open to yours, except my private logs, and I'm going to tell Spock to do the same. You and I can both add to one log, file reports to the same place, so we'll always have access to both."
(OOC: ...Like some damn intergalactic 23rd century version of gDocs. XD)
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[OOC - I lol'd.]
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The last made him laugh, "Hell no. You think I ever wanna give this up?" It wasn't a friendship, it wasn't a lover, it was... something far more.
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He smirked at Jim. "Good. I'm not nearly done with you yet, either." But they'd have to be, one day. Sooner, rather than later, for the sake of everything but... this. This thing they had.
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Everyone knew Kirk wasn't a sticker for the rules, either. "I don't want to tell them, if we don't have to. Mostly because I know they will freak about it."
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"All right," he said. "Then we do it."
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"So," he said. "When do we start?"
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