Inevitable
by Starsinger
Federation President remains unnamed. Mostly because I'm REALLY BAD at coming up with names. I named my main character for a Dragonriders of Pern fanfic Jarra, did better with her dragon, Yaneth. Don't get me started on what it took to come up with THAT name. President sees Kirk, awake. This goes better than McCoy expected. Don't own them.
McCoy stood in the doorway. The Federation President and Ambassador Sarek before him. One week into recovery and the President was still insistent about this, so, Bones caved in. As long as Sarek came with him. "Jim is waiting for you, Sir. He's in bed, in a hospital gown, but still recovering. I'm not getting him dressed, and I'm not giving him a stimulant so he won't fall asleep in the middle of your conversation." The President glared at the Doctor. "On the other hand, you will have a captive audience. Jim isn't going anywhere."
The President stopped and looked at Sarek, who nodded his head. "Alright, Doctor, have it your way."
"Damn straight, I will. Again, if I or Ambassador Sarek believe you are upsetting him, you will be escorted out, by security if necessary," both men nodded their agreement before leaving McCoy. McCoy had reports to fill out and charts to check. He'd been consulted on a number of cases since entering the hospital, and wanted to make his observations while his memory was still fresh.
Kirk's bed was up high enough so he could come to a sort of attention as the President entered. He didn't salute, he didn't trust his hands. "At ease, Captain," he looked long at the young man. "So, youngest Captain in Starfleet, rising star, man who saved Earth, twice, and a tactical genius that probably hasn't been seen in a hundred years. How do you feel?"
"Like hell, sir," Kirk replied. Jim's instincts screamed that this was bad. He didn't trust the man in front of him. He looked at Sarek who nodded his head. There was something wrong about this man. He'd met the President a few times, and nothing had before seemed off or wrong. Jim picked up his PADD casually and started slowly pressing keys.
"What are you writing?" the President asked.
"I lost 231 crewmembers that day, Sir. I'm finishing the condolence letters to their families," in truth, he was alerting Spock and McCoy that something was wrong. The President's very demeanor was deceptively relaxed, but his hands were clenched into fists. His shoulders hunched in a way that one was higher than the other. Sarek stayed behind the other man, looking at him curiously.
"Why don't you start from the beginning?" the President said smoothly, sitting in a chair.
Kirk started back from the beginning, and told it all over again. The story was getting old. When he ended with the warp core chamber the other man looked at him, "So, what happened after that?"
Kirk looked at him, even more puzzled, "I don't know, I was dead."
"You're not anymore."
Kirk was puzzled. The man was stating the obvious. Instincts screamed at him to at least get the Ambassador out of the room. "So, what would you do, have me go back to being dead?"
The man raised a phaser and aimed at Jim's head, "Mr. President!" Sarek said, distracting the imposter. The man turned toward the Vulcan, intending to take him out first, no witnesses. In afterthought, launching himself out of bed and on top of the imposter was probably not the wisest thing to do, but it was the only thing he could come up with. Adrenaline being a wonderful thing and all he surprised the man as his forward momentum caused them both to topple over. Unfortunately, Kirk was on the bottom, not quite sure how that happened. The world started to spin and dance as the stranger fought to bring the phaser back into position, only to slump back on top of Jim, victim of Sarek's Vulcan neck pinch. Sarek effortlessly pulled the "President" off Jim and then picked Jim up and put him back to bed.
Thirty people ran into the room a minute too late. McCoy saw Sarek deposit Kirk back in bed and then cover him back up. McCoy shook his head, "I've learned to always trust your instincts Jim. Unlike your judgment with regards to women and bars, it's infallible." They heard whispering and turned around. One of the security guards had discovered the man was wearing a disguise. They ripped off the mask to reveal the head ridges and goatee of a Klingon.
"Jim, what have you done to piss off the Klingon Empire, lately?" McCoy asked. Admiral Archer skidded into the room. Word apparently travelled fast.
"Nothing that I know of," Kirk replied.
"We'll send word to Klingon High Command," Archer replied. "The Federation President was found dead in his home here on Earth an hour ago. How did you know?"
"His body language was off. I kept thinking I needed to get Ambassador Sarek out of here." He looked up at Spock's father. "Thanks for the timely neck pinch."
"No, thank you," the Ambassador told him. Security left, taking the assassin with them.
Archer looked at them all, "What is it, Jim, that makes them feel threatened?"
"I wish I knew," and he did. He, unfortunately, knew there was one person who would know, and Ambassador Spock wasn't talking.
Wow, that took a completely different course than I was thinking, it kinda wrote itself. Okay, there's no kinda about it, it me know what you think, this looks like it'll keep writing itself, eventually. Where the heck did this come from?