Jim grinned back at him as he entered. It was a habitual, unconscious response to seeing his counterpart, with everything between them.
"You knew who it was," he said without preamble. "Like I did, the other day." He wondered how things had gone, with Sulu. Was it intuition, or something between the two of them?
It took Kirk a second to realize what Jim was saying, another second to go back in time and realize he had known. "Huh. Yea, I did. I wasn't even thinking about it... just knew it was gonna be you." He scratched behind his ear, wondering about that.
Jim shrugged and sat, not standing on ceremony. He wasn't under Jim's command right now, technically. "Just an observation," he said. "I've been thinking about that. Don't know if it's just our natural intuition, or..." He gestured between their heads. "Maybe something of both. But interesting."
He crossed his legs. "You wanted to see me, Captain?"
"Interesting." Kirk murmured in repeat, looking thoughtful for a moment. He wondered which it was, honestly.
Anyway.
"I talked to Spock about my idea. He thinks its," He grinned for a moment, then schooled his expression and voice, "A very logical choice." Repeated just like Spock would say it, even making his voice a bit higher to match.
"What didn't really surprise me was that he wanted to be what he is, first officer, responsible only to me."
Jim smiled quickly at Kirk's impression, but he too sobered quickly.
"Perhaps not strictly logical," he said. "But I understand that. I appreciate the thought you've put into this, Jim. But since you bring it up, I should probably tell you." Jim frowned slightly, his expression implying there was more behind this than his even tone suggested. "Spock and I have recently had some... difficulty navigating the division between our professional and emotional lives. I became frustrated with his tendency to go to you with his professional concerns. Not because that's at all inappropriate--it's not professional, or personal, jealousy. But because I consider myself his commanding officer in conjunction with you. Meaning not that he shouldn't go to you with such concerns, but that being entirely left out of the process was a strain."
He spread his hands.
"I'm not sure exactly what I'm saying. I hope you don't take this the wrong way; I have a feeling you'd feel the same, in my position. I did not ask Spock to alter his behavior, aside from keeping me informed. With a more formal position, that should be less of a problem. But I thought it important to let you know that we're still working on the details of this navigation."
Well, that was coming as a surprise. Kirk's brows shot up, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. A brief thought about Bones flickered through his mind - could it happen with them, too? "It's good you brought it up, actually. That kind of... openness is what we're gonna need to be able to handle all of this." It was entirely unprecedented, no surprise.
He focused on Jim again, "That's just something we'll have to focus on. How this works, at least in my head, is you'd still be his commanding officer, and as long as Spock or I aren't on duty, the highest level one around. Still who he'd be reporting to... but us as well. So technically under this new... guideline? regiment? whatever... he should be reporting to you like he would me."
Jim nodded. "It does," he said. "And, frankly, given Spock's comfort with regulations, it might help. I think he just neglected to think about it--maybe it was unduly emotional of me to be concerned, maybe my own cabin fever talking, but there was too much going on I was never made aware of that I can't help but feel pertained to me as well. Not his fault, but some system in place would definitely help."
He tilted his head slightly, watching Jim. "What did you tell Command, to get this worked out?"
"...I haven't." Kirk said, something heavy in his voice. He thought about that conversation with Spock, trying to think of how to say his next few words.
"...I had a meeting with Starfleet." He finally said, his voice saying a lot. It hadn't gone well at all. "They don't believe us. Not even Pike or Winona."
"But that's ridiculous," he said. "We can prove it. Hell, after Nero, how can they doubt that there are things we can't yet comprehend? Hell, it's implied in our mission statement that we're going to find things we've never seen! What about DNA, the transporter data banks? Who do they think the old Spock is?"
"Don't you think I know it's ridiculous!?" Kirk almost growled, but it wasn't an anger at Jim at all. "Prime, the old Spock, lied his ass off. I know that much, I looked into it. Vulcans can't lie my foot. I don't understand why they don't believe us but, but..."
His fingers tightened. "Two weeks. That's it. Two. Weeks. That's all they're giving us to figure this out... or we'll be forced back to Earth." Kirk didn't think he would need to explain what would happen if they got back to Earth. How all of the transplanted people would be forced under batteries of tests, near interrogations or in some cases, full on ones.
It didn't particularly surprise Jim, though he understood Kirk's frustration. Shared it. Starfleet gave him a great deal of autonomy--they had to, and it was why he was there--but they still had to be obeyed. And they still had their hidebound regulations and traditions to uphold.
But he knew it'd be disastrous for them. At least here, they could control the environment to some degree. And there was a hope of getting back. They had, if not a family, something approximating it. It wouldn't last forever, but for now everyone was housed and fed and clothed and had company. If they had to stay in this universe forever, they would. But he didn't think it would help anyone to be shuttled off to some hospital or holding facility somewhere.
"Use me," he said suddenly. "Tests, meetings, interviews, whatever. Either we come up with a convincing lie--which I can spearhead the delivery of--or I become extremely persuasive. Even if they believe us, they're not going to let us stay on the ship. But if there's anything we can do, or collect, before we're forced to do so on Earth, use me for it. Leave the rest out of it as long as you can. And maybe we can have Spock check up on any old regulations on the books regarding refugees or safe harbor or something."
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)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 04:02 pm (UTC)"You knew who it was," he said without preamble. "Like I did, the other day." He wondered how things had gone, with Sulu. Was it intuition, or something between the two of them?
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 04:06 pm (UTC)He crossed his legs. "You wanted to see me, Captain?"
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 04:09 pm (UTC)Anyway.
"I talked to Spock about my idea. He thinks its," He grinned for a moment, then schooled his expression and voice, "A very logical choice." Repeated just like Spock would say it, even making his voice a bit higher to match.
"What didn't really surprise me was that he wanted to be what he is, first officer, responsible only to me."
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 04:25 pm (UTC)"Perhaps not strictly logical," he said. "But I understand that. I appreciate the thought you've put into this, Jim. But since you bring it up, I should probably tell you." Jim frowned slightly, his expression implying there was more behind this than his even tone suggested. "Spock and I have recently had some... difficulty navigating the division between our professional and emotional lives. I became frustrated with his tendency to go to you with his professional concerns. Not because that's at all inappropriate--it's not professional, or personal, jealousy. But because I consider myself his commanding officer in conjunction with you. Meaning not that he shouldn't go to you with such concerns, but that being entirely left out of the process was a strain."
He spread his hands.
"I'm not sure exactly what I'm saying. I hope you don't take this the wrong way; I have a feeling you'd feel the same, in my position. I did not ask Spock to alter his behavior, aside from keeping me informed. With a more formal position, that should be less of a problem. But I thought it important to let you know that we're still working on the details of this navigation."
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 04:30 pm (UTC)He focused on Jim again, "That's just something we'll have to focus on. How this works, at least in my head, is you'd still be his commanding officer, and as long as Spock or I aren't on duty, the highest level one around. Still who he'd be reporting to... but us as well. So technically under this new... guideline? regiment? whatever... he should be reporting to you like he would me."
He hesitated, then, "Does that even make sense?"
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 05:10 pm (UTC)He tilted his head slightly, watching Jim. "What did you tell Command, to get this worked out?"
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 05:16 pm (UTC)"...I had a meeting with Starfleet." He finally said, his voice saying a lot. It hadn't gone well at all. "They don't believe us. Not even Pike or Winona."
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 05:21 pm (UTC)"But that's ridiculous," he said. "We can prove it. Hell, after Nero, how can they doubt that there are things we can't yet comprehend? Hell, it's implied in our mission statement that we're going to find things we've never seen! What about DNA, the transporter data banks? Who do they think the old Spock is?"
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 05:26 pm (UTC)His fingers tightened. "Two weeks. That's it. Two. Weeks. That's all they're giving us to figure this out... or we'll be forced back to Earth." Kirk didn't think he would need to explain what would happen if they got back to Earth. How all of the transplanted people would be forced under batteries of tests, near interrogations or in some cases, full on ones.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:18 pm (UTC)But he knew it'd be disastrous for them. At least here, they could control the environment to some degree. And there was a hope of getting back. They had, if not a family, something approximating it. It wouldn't last forever, but for now everyone was housed and fed and clothed and had company. If they had to stay in this universe forever, they would. But he didn't think it would help anyone to be shuttled off to some hospital or holding facility somewhere.
"Use me," he said suddenly. "Tests, meetings, interviews, whatever. Either we come up with a convincing lie--which I can spearhead the delivery of--or I become extremely persuasive. Even if they believe us, they're not going to let us stay on the ship. But if there's anything we can do, or collect, before we're forced to do so on Earth, use me for it. Leave the rest out of it as long as you can. And maybe we can have Spock check up on any old regulations on the books regarding refugees or safe harbor or something."
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:21 pm (UTC)A slow breath out, "If in two week's we can't figure this out... I'm not sending this ship back to Earth."
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:31 pm (UTC)"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."
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:33 pm (UTC)He wouldn't let anyone become some Starfleet science experiment.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:37 pm (UTC)"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."
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:40 pm (UTC)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."
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:55 pm (UTC)In truth, for all he knew, they'd already done all this. He'd have been surprised if no one was even curious.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 07:00 pm (UTC)He sighed.
"I know they aren't good. But we've got to find something that doesn't ruin you along with everyone else."
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 07:11 pm (UTC)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?"
no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 07:16 pm (UTC)"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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