Disclaimer: Star Trek belongs to Gene Roddenberry and Paramount, the original concept of this fic belongs to my friend, Highend. Ever grateful for her permission to post my rewrite and continuation.

The Road Majority Walks
01: Unamended Time

"Time cools, time clarifies: no mood can be maintained quite unaltered through the course of hours." — Mark Twain

There were another 9.6 days until Spock would step aboard the Enterprise as her captain for the first five-year assignment, and inwardly, he was pleased at the accomplishment.

During the first moments after returning from the Narada incident, he had been under the impression that it would be James T. Kirk who would claim the captaincy: he had been the true "hero", after all. Much to his surprise (though he would be farpressed to admit to such a thing), Spock had ended up being the one to make his way through the fanfare in order to relieve Admiral Pike from his position as captain. It was, he supposed, a fitting end; he had decided to remain in Starfleet on his alternative self's advice, and in doing so, the higher ups had decided to award him for his feats instead of Kirk. At the thought of the human, Spock scanned the crowd of faces — the troublemaker was nowhere to be seen amongst them, then again, no one had seen Kirk since they had returned to Earth. Spock had come to the conclusion that Kirk was, as most humans would be, jealous or enraged about Spock recieving the captaincy, when it was perfectly judicial that he had been given the position instead.

Rational it was, for an impulsive, rash creature that refused to follow the regulations — that were there for a reason, Spock mused — set down by its employers to be captain of a major Federation starship, to be disregarded as a potential candidate: success and heroism aside. Diplomative missions would have, doubtlessly, ended in disaster with such an unpredictable variable thrown in the mix. Why choose the unpredictable hero over the one who was also proclaimed as a "hero", though thoroughly more rational and less likely to cause disaster? Spock was minutely aware of the fact that his status as an endangered species played a role in the decision; a diplomatic choice in order to assure the remaining Vulcans, that despite their physical resemblence to Romulans, the Federation still looked to them in the highest regard.

Another rational decision.

Spock found Nyota in the crowd, a bright smile on her face: she was happy for him, pleased with his accomplishment instead. There was a promise in her eyes that he could not reciprocate, that would have made anticipation curl inside of him had he been anyone else. Their relationship was a practical one. She was an intelligent, loyal, and aesthetically pleasing partner, who understood what he expected and could tolerate in a relationship such as theirs. He nodded to acknowledge her gesture, and Nyota's lips quirked further upward in an expression of glee. Spock couldn't tell if that was what made him apprehensive, or the knowledge that it would likely terminate when pon farr came. For now, he was content to continue the relationship, eventual outcomes aside.

From his vantage point before the crowd, awaiting Admiral Pike, he could identity Doctor McCoy amongst the crowd. The perpetually displeased human was glaring down at his feet, fists clenched to the point that his veins were bulging, as though he knew something — something that he did. not. like. — was going to happen, and was powerless to stop it. If Spock had been nearby, he would have pointed out that it was unhealthy for a doctor to be stewing in his rage, despite the high probability that it would ellicit an unwanted verbal tyraid. Next to the doctor was the engineer they had picked up from Delta Vega, looking helplessly confused at McCoy's negative mood.

And yet, Kirk wasn't amongst the crowd. There were many familiar faces — some that were going to be apart of his crew — some who were going to remain in the Academy for a time longer — and some, some who hadn't made it.

There was no challenging gaze staring back at him, demanding that he look outside the realm of logic.

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios."

It was likely that Kirk would never show, despite his option of accepting the position of First Officer on the Enterprise.

Just as it was likely that Spock would be enthralled if that were the case.

Admiral Nogura finished his speech to the smattering of applause, respectful, but not eager, though it quickly turned to a more upbeat roar when Admiral Pike wheeled over to Spock, solemn and lacking in his usual optimism. Spock pondered over that for a moment while he diplomatically accepted the medals of honor and fastened them to his staunch, black uniform with a practiced finesse, but deliberate exaggeration to please the mostly human crowd: the actions he took to satisfy a species that he held minimal attatchment to. His mother — his chest constricted tightly at the thought, and misery warbled at the innermost portions of his mind — was the only human he had been close to for the longest time; now, he had fallen after his father, involved with one; companion to others.

He wondered, briefly, if the remaining Vulcans would grace him with the same respect as the humans now observing him.

"I relieve you, sir," Spock's words were formal and precise, and carried over the assembled crowd in the silence that permeated.

Pike smiled, faintly — wistfully even, although he expected someone else to be speaking that line — before he said, Starfleet formal, according to the proper procedure of officially handing over commaned, "I am relieved." And despite Spock's general dislike for the duo meanings that humans were more than capable of, he could comprehend the meaning, even if the newly dubbed Admiral hadn't quite meant it in that manner. Overexposure to such statements tended to increase awareness of them.

Kirk would have made a terrible captain, with his brash, unpredictable personality, despite, as it would seem, his propencity to come out of such situations relatively unscathed.

Satisfied with the conclusion to the chaotic and traumatic events that had transpired, Spock remained where he was as the sea of red filtered out through the doors at the top of the stairs: he stayed still even as the Admirality left to join the celebrations no doubt occurring on the other side of the wall. The muscles in his lower back clenched warningly as he spied a familar, weathered individual making his way towards Spock. He greeted the senior Spock without hesitation, "Greetings. I had anticipated that you would already be on a shuttle to uzh T'Khasi."

"Am I not welcome at my own, ah, promotion?" the senior Spock asked, eyes crinkled around the edges and a displeased reflection in his dark eyes.

"Physical and genetic resemblance aside, I am not you, nor are you me: we might have similar aspects, but we are not the same individual," Spock argued, irritation seeped in through the seams of control. He was not going to stand by and allow an alternative self presume to make implications of what should, and what should not be. It was wholly irrational. Another timestream meant another timestream. Similarities meant nothing, other than that it was nature over nurture. Differences meant that there were seperature timestreams, and that it was nurture over nature.

The elder Spock appeared saddened, a general slump of the shoulders and resigned amusement filtered through as he raised his hand in ta'a, "Good luck to you, then."

With the matter at hand resolved, the elder Spock turned around without another word, and went back the way he had come. With his retreating figure, he took years of experiences, of untold adventures, along with him. Ones that Spock would be unable to experience, as they had likely emerged from having the alternative James T. Kirk as captain of the Enterprise. He could only assume that that Kirk was a more — mellow individual. Or, at least, one more prone to reason than irrationality.

He watched his alternative self until he could no longer see him, before proceeding in the direction of the celebrations. Nyota was anticipating his presence.

Spock found her clustered together with Sulu, Ensign Chekov, the engineer from Delta Vega, and Doctor McCoy. He recieved the polite greetings and formal congratulations from the former three, and recieved only a dark mutter in responce from the doctor. The man was shaking his head and grumbling under his breath: Spock could catch barely descernable snippets, such as "he's a damn fool", and "hope you know what yer doin'". There was also reference to consuming copious amounts of alcohol to counter the "craziness" that was going to happen in a matter of minutes.

"Doctor McCoy, may I enquire as to why you are speaking to yourself?" Spock inquired, regarding the human with a sauve disposition, utterly unaffected by the man's reaction.

"'Inquire'? Goddamn 'inquire' — " McCoy grumbled, as was his usual method of communication, "Lemme tell you somethin', you green-blooded — yeah, tonight's gonna be a... blast, 'least, that's what I was told — God knows this can only end badly, he's gonna get himself killed one of these days. I hope he enjoys his goddamn big bang of an endin', or whatever it is he's aiming for with this stunt of his... goddamnit, Jim."

The half-human paused for a brief moment to consider the information he had gleaned, and then posed a new inquiry, "What, exactly, is going to happen, doctor?"

"Well," McCoy faltered, and looked away — his hands clenched and the colored veins bulged beneath the surface of skin, "I don't know any details..."

Just as Spock was about to remind the doctor that logically, it would be pertenate to say what was going to happen, even if he did not know any details in order to determine if what was about to happen was dangerous or not, a hush fell over the sea of red and staunch uniforms. Through the crowd, Spock couldn't see a thing, but from McCoy's prior statement, he was able to formulate a logical explanation within his mind: James T. Kirk had arrived. Spock swallowed reflexively, wondering what sort of raging storm had accompanied the irksome creature. He followed McCoy toward the forefront of the crowd, the sea parting before them, and he was only vaguely aware of Nyota and several others following closely behind. The half-human took a steadying breath and mentally prepared himself for the potential spite.

He was mildly... surprised to find a blank faced, and casually dressed Kirk standing before the gathered Admirality.

"Hey, Spock," Kirk greeted absently, a lazy smirk plastered across his handsome face: "You came just in time for the show."

"... Commander," Spock returned, blinking surreptisiously, as he reminded the human of his current rank as Commander; which was, at the very least, a worthy promotion for what he had accomplished. First Officer was just below Captain. It would meant that after the five-year mission, thus, five-years of experience, Kirk could have become a Captain. Somehow, Spock doubted that the human would accept the current state of affairs.

Kirk turned his blue gaze away from Spock, and focused on the Admiralty, pulling out an official looking envelope. He looked at it for a long moment before holding it out to Pike, "My resignation, sir. I figured, hey! I beat my old man — a couple hours is more than a few minutes, right? And I even saved Earth. I won your dare, where's my payment? Nowhere — too bad, so sad. I'm quitting Starfleet, I'm heading... out into space. I'm gonna... well, I'm just gonna go."

"Are you sure about this, son?" Pike asked, a grave tone had taken over him, "You could still — "

"Nope, I'm positive," the now unemployed Kirk said, false cheer dripping from his tongue, "I'm done with 'fleet. End of story."

He turned around, and headed for the exit. Suddenly, however, he paused, and turned around before he proceeded to shout, "Oh, yeah! Congrats on that captaincy, Spock. You deserve it."

You deserve it.

You deserve it.

The statement rang in his ears, echoing, as his mind repeated it over and over to him, disbelief present in the foremost portion of his thought. Spock hadn't really been aware that he was captain, Captain of the Enterprise — Captain of a Starfleet flagship, of the Starfleet flagship, the first Vulcan (only half, only half) Captain until the words had come from Kirk. As unnerving as it was, the realization of the responsibillity made him shudder: did he want to be captain?

He did.

"I believe... thanks are in order," Spock whispered, but Kirk was already gone, "Despite their illogical nature."

"Goddamnit — Jim!" McCoy shouted at nothing.

Kirk had left Starfleet. And Spock was to be captain of the Enterprise.

If the universe weren't a non-entity, it might have wept, however, the elder Spock was more than capable of doing so in its stead.

Notes: The next chapter, which was originally "Oddities Related to Vulcans" has been renamed, and is now "Starbase-N15". It will be posted 4/30/11.

I hope those of you who read the original version enjoy mine just as much (or maybe more, if I'm lucky) as Kayla's/Highend's. (:

uzh T'Khasi — lit. New Vulcan
ta'a — refers to the Vulcan's hand gesture/greeting