[Captain's in Office] -- [Open to All]

[kirktastic]

(OOC: Note! This is an open post for anyone who needs Kirk in any way, shape, or form right now, so just drop on by even though its starting off with Kirk and Spock!!)

After the night with Bones, to say James T. Kirk felt like shit was an understatement. He felt hurt, and angry, and confused, and all over the place all at once. It made for... well, not the greatest beginning for an alpha shift on the bridge.

He was slumped in his office. Sleep hadn't come easy, and he hadn't stayed that way much at all. This morning had even required coffee. Shit, he hadn't been forced to drink coffee to stay awake in months.

And now he had a meeting with Spock. Great. He was pretty sure there was something else ... someone else... he had a meeting about today too but couldn't force himself to remember yet.

Comments

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Another odd summons from the Captain. This one didn't have the same sort of urgency to it, but Tina grabbed a medkit on her way out the door anyhow. If she didn't need it, fine, but if she did, it would be better to have it with her from the start.

She went to his office and buzzed for entry.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Already she was learning one of the top five facts about James T. Kirk - always good to have a medkit when dealing with him and ample lube.

"Enter." Kirk looked up, stylus just above the padd he was writing on.

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina stepped into the office. "You asked to see me?"

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"Have a seat," He gestured to the chair on the other side of his desk, "I was wondering... Bones mentioned you worked with this guy in the past and I'd like to get some first hand information about him." Kirk pulled up the memo again, making sure he had the right name. "Doctor Roger Korby," He looked up, "Do you remember working with him?"

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina sat down rather quickly.

"Yes," she said. "I was one of his students for a while. And... We were engaged to be married."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

...Oh. Wasn't what he was expecting. That just made everything a little more... complicated. "Tell me about him. What kind of man is he like? Does he keep his word? Can he keep secrets? Will he snoop into every corner until he gets what he wants?"

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina leaned back, composing her thoughts. "He's brilliant, for one thing," she said. "He's not just the top of his field - he essentially created his field. He's persistent and focused. Dedicated. So, yes, you can expect some snooping into corners."

She paused. "As for keeping his word... I would have said yes, at one time, that he was completely trustworthy, with impeccable ethics. But I know things now that I didn't when I was his starry-eyed student. I wouldn't trust him with much, to be honest."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Great news to be hearing about someone coming on board his ship, "What is his field exactly?" He leaned forward, curious as hell now. "And why wouldn't you trust him? Is this on a personal or professional level?"

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"Archaeological medicine," Tina said. "It's a little difficult to explain it concisely, but the discipline is basically about studying the artifacts of ancient cultures and using the data gleaned in medical applications. A lot of what you get is interesting but not very useful theory, but there are also important breakthroughs, like the methods Roger pioneered for combining the principles of old Orion medicine with modern Terran immunization protocols. The adjuvants we're using on this ship right now were developed from Roger's research."

She smiled a little sheepishly. "Sorry, that was probably still more than you wanted to know. I guess you can tell that I still have a lot of interest in that field."

"As far as trust," she added, looking more somber, "it's personal. But it cast a lot of what I thought was true about him professionally into doubt. Made me see certain incidents in new light."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"No, it's actually interesting," Kirk gestured for her to relax, but frowned over her last words, "...so we'll have to keep an eye on him." He murmured, shaking his head. "Anything else I should know about this guy? Anything that can be used to keep him in line?"

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina frowned thoughtfully. "I'm not sure what kind of keeping him in line you think you might need to do, but for what it's worth, I think you can trust him to act in his own best interest. Which, even in a very theory-heavy field, isn't always about publishing the results of every study. Or even continuing a line of research, no matter how fascinating, if the potential gain doesn't justify the expenditure of resources. I mean..." She made a moue of distaste. "I think he could be bought."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"...not a lot could buy someone off the trail of what we've got going on on this ship." Kirk stood up, glaring at the wall, "Dammit I am sick of them..." He trailed off as he looked to Tina, and gave a half-smile, "Sorry. Didn't mean to just start ranting."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"You sat through my gushing about medical archeology," Tina pointed out. "I think you've stored up some ranting time. But, aside from having one more person on board, is there a reason you object to a researcher studying what's happening? I mean... Isn't that good? To have more people working on understanding it?"

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"This guy? This guy isn't coming to understand how its happened. He's coming to study these people who are on our ship. Would you really want some guy prodding into your life and asking you questions, questioning your existence here?" Kirk shook his head, "I'm just a believer in respect and privacy for these people on our ship, at least the ones who haven't done any harm to us." He snorted, "Glad at least two of them are gone."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina's eyes narrowed, her experimental science-trained mind clicking into gear. "But that's assuming that who it's happened to is completely unrelated to what's happening and how, and the odds of that being true are - well, with all the doubles... Making a scientific survey of the displaced people on board, trying to analyze and correlate what, if anything, they have in common... It might actually give us a lot of useful information to work with."

She stopped, cocking her head. "What do you mean, glad that two of them are gone?"

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"I don't want to make these people, or anyone on this crew, feel like they're rats being watched in a cage. They've already been forced to go through interviews and meetings with Ephram and all that other jazz," Kirk said firmly. "It depends entirely on what this doctor plans on grilling people about."

"Pike and Spock, the ones from the," What was the term Julian had used, "Mirrorverse." Seemed as good as any.

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina could have reassured Kirk that the kind of research Roger would most likely be doing wouldn't be that intrusive - would be much more like having casual conversations, really, just recorded ones, but she was too struck by the last thing he'd said.

"No, Spock's still here," she said.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Kirk's fingers twitched. What? He studied her face, his eyes wide just for a second, "...His Pike's gone. They were leaving." He quickly ran back through his head, remembering at least part of the conversation he'd had with the bastard. "You're sure he's still here?"

Already his fingers flew over the console in front of him, bringing up locations of people on his ship.

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"Quite sure," Tina said. "I've been sleeping in his room. And I'm pretty sure Christopher intends to come back. You didn't know any of this?"

She was surprised. Shouldn't he be getting a transport log to sign off on every day or something? Or at least be notified when people used the transporters to beam out of the universe?

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Sleeping in his room?! "...Fuck." He whispered to himself, "Old damn son of a bitch," He gritted his teeth, locating that dot that did indeed indicate that that Spock was still on the ship.

"Oh, oh hell no." Kirk looked at her, "He isn't coming back. That Spock's going right back with him. They've caused enough havoc on this ship, they belong in that universe." Kirk was already getting up to go deal with this.

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina stood too, alarmed by Kirk's sudden agitation, his clear anger. "Captain, wait! What about asylum? Sending Spock back is a death sentence."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"What?" Kirk looked sharply at Tina, eyes narrowed, "Asylum? What do you mean by that? Why would it be a death sentence? That's where he came from, that's where his Pike belongs, and that's where he belongs."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"You'd be sending him back to a world where all of his people are enslaved. Where he's held onto his life, much less his position, by being able to meet any incoming threat. And he can't do that anymore, at least not now, not with his injuries. Granting them the equivalent of asylum would only be humane." She paused. "This man saved your life, Captain."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"I'd be sending him back to the universe he grew up in, came from, and gave up a life from." Kirk countered, but the part about the injuries... how severe where they, really? He frowned a little, thinking. "I have good reason for Captain Pike to not be on this ship. HE belongs there. He's recovered from the bond whatever happening. He is too dangerous to be in this universe." He didn't know everything that happened to Spock thanks to Pike, but... he didn't have to know to know the man was dangerous.

"Including him carefully omitting any truth about what he was doing with the transporter."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"He would die," Tina said flatly. "I don't know what Christopher told you - or didn't - or how dangerous he is. I'm not a strategist, and I really couldn't speak to any of that even if I had all the information. But I can tell you that Spock wouldn't survive there, and Christopher won't survive there for very long without Spock. Sending them back where they came from is the equivalent of executing them."