"...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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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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