[NVC Day 27] -- [Open Office] -- [Open to All]

[kirktastic]

With the sentencing over, the Enterprise would soon be leaving Sha'Kwai and returning to its original mission. By this point, Jim was ready for it. He wanted off the planet, his wanderlust getting the better of it. It was the longest stretch of time he had spent in once place minus his years at the Academy - always moving, always traveling, wanting

Comments

[original_fine]

It was an unorthodox way of holding office hours, but Jim couldn't argue with the impulse. Why didn't they have a deck? He and Spock had, fortunately, showing up during a lull, and Jim was glad to see that Kirk looked better than he had. Maybe they'd gotten someone to fix what had gone terribly wrong.

"Jim?" he called out from the door as he entered. "Sorry. Captain!"

[kirktastic]

"I think one Captain to another when I'm sitting around in jeans could stand to call me Jim," Kirk replied with a laugh, standing up. "How are you? You look great... what the hell, how can you tan so easily and I can't? Aren't we supposed to be the same person??" He was partially teasing - he was still not really tanned even after all this time, but it was tanned for him.

[original_fine]

Jim glanced at Spock--who never tanned, either--and shrugged.

"I just came this way," he said modestly. "Maybe because I wasn't born in space or something." He eyed Kirk. "You look... better."

[kirktastic]

"Great, born in space means being perpetually pale for the rest of my life. Probably how these ended up pale too." He tapped beside his eyes. It had been a long time since he had seen Jim's Spock, and so he gave a smile in his direction. He wondered how Spock dealt with his snapping the bond - wondered if Spock had even known what happened.

"Feel better." A hell of a lot better after enough talking, in particular last night with Sybok.

[original_fine]

"Good," he said warmly, but he wasn't going to pry, not here and now. He didn't know how he would have dealt with such a thing, but Kirk seemed to be. "You must be relieved the trial's over." Jim had seen him there, of course, but it had been packed.

[kirktastic]

"Yea," his tone said just how much he thought the sentencing left much to be desired. "At least it's over and done with, and we're heading out in a few days. Want to get back in the game, get moving to the next adventure." Right now, as far as he knew, it was a quick venture over to Starbase 69 - which he couldn't help but be curious about - before they got their next assignment.

[original_fine]

Jim caught Kirk's tone, but not exactly the cause of it--it had been the harshest sentence possible, in his own world, and he'd read up and discovered this one wasn't all that different. But of course, Kirk had a personal stake in it--he had to have been under more strain.

"I can relate to that," he said. His own restlessness, he was sure, would have gotten him into far more trouble without Spock and Bones there. "It's why Spock and I wanted to talk to you, actually."

[kirktastic]

It wasn't the sentence itself that bothered him - it was the idea of parole. A parole that could come after he was dead and couldn't be there to say exactly what had happened. Cold facts and reports could never do what a person could.

"Oh?" Kirk's brows went up. He gestured to the seats on the other side of his not-so-official desk.

[original_fine]

Jim and Spock sat, fluidly and unconsciously in concert, and Jim nodded.

"We've been thinking--and talking--about our options," he said. "And, frankly, yours. And I think, all things considered, we'd be better used elsewhere. The Enterprise doesn't need two captains. You don't need us cramping your command. And at some point... Whether we get back or not, we need to find out how to live here."

He took a deep breath, wondering how Kirk would take that. There was a time, he reflected, he'd already have known.

[kirktastic]

Actually, Kirk wasn't all that surprised to hear it. He could remember their talk about this situation coming up in the future, and then he had been a little nervous about the idea. Now... well, a month had changed parts of him that he hadn't expected.

"Any idea where you'll go?" He asked, curious to see if they had already come up with something. "I bet you could have a ship of your own, if you asked for it."

[original_fine]

It hurt, a little, even though he knew this was for the best, that Kirk wasn't surprised. But he shrugged it off.

"I don't know," he said. "Maybe, eventually--I'm not that resigned. But as much as I love the Enterprise, it's not fair for me to cast whatever shadow I do." What influence he had was... debatable. But there was principle involved. Kirk would want him out of his hair. "We were thinking, maybe, Starbase 69." He didn't quite flush, but the quick lowering of his eyes was there. "If I can, I'd like to be there for Tina as long as possible."

[sehlatbear]

Spock nodded. "From a scientific perspective, it is the logical choice, located as it is near an anomaly such as the one that brought us here."

[kirktastic]

Mostly because Kirk had seen it coming. There was a restlessness in Jim that he knew in himself, one that came from being in the same place for too long. The idea of being stuck under someone else's command like Jim was...? It wouldn't have settled well with him. And it was true, that it would be better for Jim's talents to be used elsewhere. Jim had tasted the freedom of being Captain, and Kirk had a feeling that like himself, Jim wanted it back

[original_fine]

Jim smiled softly. "I'm honored she wants the name," he said. There were precious few to carry it on.

He would have no position, of course, at the starbase. Not until he got himself acknowledged in his own right. But it was a start.

"But at least someone's looking at it," he said. "Maybe it wasn't this particular thing, but whatever brought us here is certainly a deviation from the norm. Unless we think it's deliberate, we don't have much else to go on."

[kirktastic]

"I have my theories on how people are getting here, but it's one of those things I think is impossible to prove," Kirk smiled at that. It was one of those concepts that would have driven Spock nuts. "I have no idea how they're going to study this stuff, but at least they should be able to keep up with it. I haven't heard much in the way of a report about this sort of level of universal transference anywhere else except where we've been, but news takes time to get around sometimes."

[sehlatbear]

"There is, of course, the work that Captain Pike and his Spock performed. There was a great deal of deliberate movement on their part."