[NVC Day 14, Early Morning] -- [And So the Sun Rises] -- [Open to All]

[kirktastic]

After a long night at the theater, meeting Spock and his brother, and everything afterwards, it had been difficult to sleep. Along with the tickets, Jim had received a message about the trial's start the next morning. He had refused to let it bother him all night, just wanting to enjoy some time with Bones despite everything they had been forced to go through recently.

That didn't make for good sleep, though. Sometime before dawn, Jim found himself wide awake, laying in bed, Bones curled up against his side dead asleep. It took some work to get himself out of Bones' arms, not wanting to disturbing the sleeping man, before he grabbed his discarded robe over the back of a chair and pulling it on. He brushed a kiss over Bones' hair, affectionate while no one could see it, and stepped outside.

The deck was level with the ground, so it was no trouble to walk out onto the deck and past it, out towards the beautiful area that surrounded their guest quarters. Jim had a working theory that because the Vulcans had been on a desert planet before, without the ability to use plant life because of the strain of water consumption, that now that they could they decided to use planets as much as possible. He wondered how logical it was, but decided that knowing Vulcans to a degree, they would find a way to make it logical and convince everyone else in the process. The thought made him smile, just slightly, as he found himself a low wall that faced the ocean and sat down.

It was both easier and harder to think while he watched the sun rise, watching the ripples of orange, red, and pink climb higher in the sky. So much hinged on this trial, one he would be going to each day of. He had choices to make about it, as such a major player in what had happened. He would have to explain his actions to the court and by addition, Starfleet.

Let me have done the right thing.

Comments

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

George nodded, and fell into silence for a few minutes. "Wish the Admirality wouldn't pinch my ass quite so much. I know they're happy to see me..."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim blinked at that, specially after an almost relaxing silence seconds before, and just looked at his father. "...what?"

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"The Admirals, a few of them, have taken great delight in welcoming me back to life. You know several came to verify Chris' findings, and sit in on the trial right?" George asked.

"Since Chris has to deal with them, I've been doing the fiancee thing, and attending the luncheons, and cocktails with Chris. Several of them are rather...handsy and consider my butt public property." George scowled at that. "I normally wouldn't mind? But there's been a lack of asking. And the political situation being what it is, I can't just punch them."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"...Dad, I really didn't need to hear any of this." It was a little disturbing. Equally, he didn't ever want it to happen to him.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"Except you do," George said. "You're going to be playing politics for years. That's the glory of being a Captain, the part they never talk about when they're training you. You learn as you go, and you just jumped in without looking." George went quiet again. Jim could either learn, or not learn.

"They've got a lot built up here."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"I'm not going to let someone pinch my ass to keep my rank," Jim said bluntly, but understood the message behind it.

He looked out towards the water again, nodding. "It's impressive, how much they've done in a year. Had a lot of help, I've heard."

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"No, but you'll let people pinch your ass to protect your crew," George said equally bluntly.

"A couple of your crew and I worked on a Habitat project. It was fun, I didn't quite manage to nail my thumb to a wall, and I only got shocked once."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"What I'd do to protect my crew goes beyond ass pinching." The tone said that he really didn't want to talk about that, considering the trial coming up and what he had done, had suffered, to protect his crew.

"No good at building things like that," Jim glanced over to his father.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"Neither am I," George chuckled. "I had to grab a doc afterwards, just to get cleaned up. But every hand counts for projects like those. And at the end of the day, seeing that you helped build something instead of break it...it feels pretty good."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"...yea." Jim just nodded to his father's statement. It wasn't that he didn't care, it was just a lighter subject than his mind was handling right now.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"What are you hoping for the trial?" George asked curiously. "Are you going to stand as witness?"

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"For it to be over and done with," Jim said honestly. "...Course I am. Wouldn't be much of a captain if I couldn't handle it."

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

George bit back his first reply and formed it more carefully. "Why do you think standing witness has anything at all to do with your ability as a Captain? An ability you're growing into and becoming downright amazing at."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"If I can't stand up and tell them what happened, what they need to know to decide he's dangerous and should be killed or locked away forever, then I shouldn't be in charge of protecting hundreds of lives." Jim's voice was tight, his gaze forward.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"Jim, that logic just doesn't follow," George said bluntly. "Your ability to do this has no bearing on your ability to protect hundreds of lives. Your ability to protect hundreds of lives has bearing on your ability to protect hundreds of lives, and that, son, is something you've already proven."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"...strength. It's about strength." His voice was just getting tighter by the moment. This trial was testing him as much as anything he could do to himself, and it hadn't even started yet.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"Kiddo. I seem to remember someone getting tortured right along-side me. I tend to hear their screams a lot, even now, when I sleep. You happen to know who that was?" George asked. "Lots of screaming, bones being broken, someone refusing to give those Romulans any codes they wanted? I'm pretty sure that there was someone else right there telling them to fuck themselves."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

The memories surfaced, hot and hard, and Jim closed his eyes as he forced them back down to where they belonged - hidden away. "DAD." The tone was sharp, an order. Every part of him was tense, tight, no longer the relaxing silent morning he had come out for.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"That, was stength," George told him sternly. "This? Is spitting in their eyes because they damned well did their best to break you and you fucking beat them."

"I do have a request, after this is done," George admitted.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

It didn't feel like beating them. It felt like surviving them.

"What is it?" To George's request.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"I have a friend, who'd like to meet you," George said rubbing his neck sheepishly. "She hasn't seen you since you were a bump in your mom's stomach, and she would like to meet the son of Winona Kirk and see how you turned out, if you lived up to the promise of being her son."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim hesitated as he listened, shifting slightly uncomfortably. After what had happened with his mother, Winona just... leaving again from his life when he had started to open up to her again, he wasn't sure he wanted to deal with someone crooning about her. "...I really... don't want to be the son of Winona Kirk to someone, George. Son of George Kirk, sure." The words left his mouth and left a weird taste.

After all, almost all of his younger years had been avoiding that exact thing, being known as his father's son.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"I'm afraid you're stuck being both of our sons," George pointed out. "You kind of lost out on the lottery there. Me with my problems and it can't be easy to be the son of George Kirk, and your mom and her...problems."

"It's not like you're going to get fawned over. T'lan would consider such actions highly illogical."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim let out a very slow breath and shook his head. "I'm not her son. She made that clear."

"So, your friend is Vulcan?"

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

George just nodded. "Hell if I'm going to bother defending her actions to you. She's lost that right."

"Yeah, T'Lan was CEO on the Kelvin. She...didn't entirely approve of Winnie and me being married. Said it was an illogical choice."