[Discovery] -- [Kirk's Office] -- [Open for Official Business]

[kirktastic]

It was so heavily backlogged. Messages, paperwork, reports, news - all of it was backlogged. Kirk had holed himself up in his office, trying to get through it all. Okay, the paperwork was at least not seriously backlogged and he saw Spock's hand in that. Spock was good at that sort of thing, even if Kirk wasn't entirely surprised to see some things

Comments

[headnursechapel]

Christine had, at first glance, assumed that it was her Captain Kirk who had sent the message. The native one had never contacted her like this before, after all, and certainly not about anything urgent. But - in my office.

There was really only one thing this could be about.

She was not, in fact, in surgery, and she headed down to the captain's office, pressing the chime to be admitted.

[headnursechapel]

She nodded, and was silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Captain," she said at last. "People don't injure themselves that way. Not if there's not something wrong with them. Nero doesn't have his knife anymore. But he could still hurt himself, if he chose to." She looked up, her expression solemn. "He could throw himself against the forcefield next time."

"My job is the preservation of life. All life. As a medical professional...I'm recommending he undergo a psychiatric evaluation, as a step towards psychiatric treatment. For his own safety."

She had no idea if a human psychiatrist would do Nero any good. If anything would help, at this point. But she couldn't sit by and do nothing.

[kirktastic]

There was a lot she didn't know. "We have Starfleet on the way to meet us where we're going. From there, his fate will be decided. Trust me when I say there is plenty wrong with Nero."

He gave a little smile, "Trust me, I'm not dismissing what you're saying. This just goes beyond psychiatric treatment."

He wondered if it was against Vulcan logic to get into Nero's brain and just change things. Most likely. It wasn't a serious thought, only a passing one that people had sometimes.

[headnursechapel]

She looked at him for a moment.

"I know who he is, Captain," she said at last. "And I know what he's done."

She'd read the history of what had happened in this universe. And she'd been there in Sickbay after he and his father had been rescued from Nero's ship. She'd seen firsthand how mad, and how dangerous, Nero could be.

"I'm not saying it will cure him. I don't know if it will help at all. But Captain, if we leave him down there alone, after he's already injured himself once - if we stand by and do nothing and he tries to hurt himself again, and succeeds -"

She paused. When she spoke again, her voice was softer, but no less intent.

"We've got to try something, Captain."

[kirktastic]

"Even without the knife, even if he was naked and in that cell alone and without another instrument, he could find ways to kill himself," Kirk said quietly, trying to be gentle even with such a blunt statement. "He's a rabid dog, mad and dangerous to anyone around him."

He looked to her, then away. He tapped his fingers, thinking, before he nodded, "I'll do what I can about it. I want him in one piece when we get to the Colony." So fair they were being to a man that had destroyed a planet, giving him chances that Nero had never given the Vulcans.

[headnursechapel]

Christine nodded. She was fully aware of Nero's potential for self-harm; it was exactly why she felt so strongly that if there was anything they could do to prevent that, they had a duty to try. It was, after all, what separated them from people like Nero; that capacity for mercy, even to their enemies.

"Thank you, Captain," she said, her gratitude evident in her face.

"Was there anything else you needed from me?"

[kirktastic]

"No. Thank you for coming up to see me," Kirk gave her a tired but warm smile. "I'll see what I can do." He already thought of a new question he had to ask Jim.

[headnursechapel]

"Of course," Christine said, smiling. She paused. She didn't know this Kirk well, and she didn't want to take inappropriate liberties. But her training as a nurse, her instinct to care for others, was difficult to overcome. And Kirk looked, frankly, exhausted.

"Take care of yourself, Captain," she said gently. "I know you've got a lot to do. But starship captains need sleep too."

She offered another smile, and slipped out the door.