Tarsus IV. It was something he'd never wanted to hear again, no one, not even Spock knew what had happened there, no one even knew he was one of the Nine. He was sure that Bones has a suspsicion, but he'd never asked, and he'd never told. Shaking his head, he brought himself out of his musings, looking toward the view screen where Admiral Pike was broadcasted.
Giving Pike a look, he said, "What brought this on Admiral?" Wincing slightly Pike replied, "I know you don't want to go, hell, if I were you, I wouldn't want to go either. And I wasn't even there for any of what happened."
As soon as Pike said this, he paled as Kirk growled, "Thank you so much Admiral Pike, no one knew. As of now…. Sulu plot a course for the planet known as Tarsus IV," As soon as the words were out of his mother, he was up and out of the captains chair with nary a look to anyone on the bridge, let alone the view screen where Admiral Pike was still watching in horrified shock.
After he had left, the bridge crew looked to each other in shock, their captain…. Their captain was one of the nine survivors of Tarsus IV? He'd never even hinted at having experienced such a trauma. Almost as one unit, they all spun to look at Pike again.
Uhura was the first to break the silence, "Admiral… Why are we being sent to Tarsus? Especially if the Captain, OUR captain is one of the Nine?!"
From where she was standing it looked like Pike had some trouble swallowing, and with a wince he started explaining, "I had nothing to do with this. Those in the admiralty who don't approve of Jim's promotion to captain at such a young age… And those who just plain don't like him have managed to block all attempts to help him from those of us who like and approve of him. They're trying to break him," It was here he looked at them beseechingly with a waver in his voice, "I watched that boy grow up, don't you dare let him break. Do you hear me?"
Spock stepped forward and with a barely noticeable heat to his voice, "Admiral Pike, we will not let anything happen to our Captain. You need not ask that of us, for he is ours, and we are his. He will continue to captain this ship."
With a barely hinted at relieved sigh, Pike finally sent Spock to find the captain and bring him back to the bridge so that he could tell him more on what was needed when they finally reached Tarsus IV.