[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

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Private Message to Tina Chapel

[kirktastic]

Tina, when you get some time I need to see you in my office. Captain JTK.

[rn_chapel]

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]

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]

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

[kirktastic]

"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]

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]

...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]

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]

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]

"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]

"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]

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]

"...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]

"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]

"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]

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?"