A Reaper's Vale
Abby Ebon
O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Disclaimer: I do not own the following, "Doom", "Star Trek", "Torchwood" – and, just in case it comes up – "Doctor Who".
Recognition: This challenge is prompted by VigdisVale, and taken up by yours truly, both in recognition of the two-hundred-and-fiftieth (250) review of my story "Dehctiws" – and this fantastic 'little idea' of hers.
Timeline; "Doom", "Star Trek", "Torchwood".
2009 –Torchwood, "Children of the Earth"
2046 – Doom events take place; John "Reaper" Grimm/Dr. Samantha Grimm survive Mars's Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) Olduvai Research Facility; both 'infected' with "Chromosome 24".
2053 - WWIII
2063 -Warp flight achieved.
2161 -The Federation Starfleet was chartered.
2227 - "Leonard McCoy" born. John Grimm is 181.
2230 - Spock born in the city of Shi'Kahr, Vulcan.
2233 – James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk born
2246 - Tarsus IV; Jack Harkness present/ Kirk is 13.
2258 – Star Trek; Kirk becomes Capt. of the USS Enterprise
5094 - Jack Harkness is voted "rear of the year"
O.o.O.o.O.o.O
The Man That Died
2246, Tarsus IV
"Come on, kid, get up." This is a voice Jim Kirk will never forget, as it urges him, James obeys. In latter life, Jim will recognize this voice as something like the voice of his conscious; in later life, Jim will know this as the day James Kirk dies and Jim Kirk is born. A hand ruffles his (dirty and mud caked) blond hair, it's large and safe and strong. James looks to this man's face and knows he shouldn't be alive, he's dark haired for one, and his eyes are a dark hazel. James rubs sleep from his eyes, and settles down when he looks around to see the other kids safe, snuggled and tangled up with each other in sleep like puppies. It's the only way to stay warm in the freezing nights.
"What's up? The patrols don't start till sun up." James asks, because there is always a reason for these visits. His question is rewarded with a roguish grin, as if pleased by James alone, and James knows he doesn't have a dad – but if he did, he'd want a dad who grinned at him like that.
"Forget patrols, kid, forget this fear and stink and hiding – I'm getting us out of here." James can't help but believe him, but guiltily his eyes swim over the others, some older then James, some so much younger James feels like they're babies. James feels old in his bones and body, he knows he's starving, knows that this is what slowly dying is like. He tries not to think about it; tries only to survive the next day, and the next.
"All of us?" James asks softly, knowing that he's asking for the impossible – or a miracle. He nods, quick and sure, and James can't help but believe him.
"Damn right all of us. I've got our way out planned, a good old SOS screaming beacon." He rubs his hands together for warmth or out of sheer excitement. James rolls his eyes; for a simple plan it's got some stupid mistakes even James can see.
"They have the food; they have the radios and broadcasters. How we going to get the single off if we're running from them." Dark hazel eyes dance, and grinning lips twist into a pout as if hurt that James thinks rather then believes in him, believes blindly in miracles and faith and impossible dreams. James can't – he's not a kid. Will never again be a kid.
"Easy James, we won't - I've got my ship working now." James sits back; his tense back eases against the dirt. He feels safer in the caves of the earth then near buildings or around ships; a warm hand rests knowingly on his shoulder.
"You have a ship?" James breathes around the words, fighting irrational fear – a ship brought him here; maybe a ship can save him – save them, instead of doom them all.
"Yap, grew it myself. EDESNE last of her kind now." Those words are full of pride, but underneath is an endless sadness that James knows he'll no nearer now to understanding then he will be until his heart is broken.
James gets up, and looks back to the baffled if amused looking man sitting hunched over cross-legged. He had to squeeze himself into the caves, and now he'll have to squeeze back out.
"Come on Captain, time's wasting." James says outside the cavern, mocking a grown up he can hear coming a mile away with muffled cruses and more scraping then sounds safe. When he gets up and dusts himself off, the man's skin is untouched. It's always been that way, and James doesn't ask why; for the same reason he doesn't ask why the ENESNE is the last of her kind and what kind of ship can be grown.
"Well, we can't have that, can we?" The man mutters, and in his words is more meaning and history then a lifetime can include.
It's the Captains turn to lead and James turn to follow, they take back alleys and short cuts and twists and turns that go no where or double back a block the way they came. James says not a word of complaint; he knows this is for safety's sake. When the sweeping leather stills, James sees nothing and for a moment considers a trap and betrayal.
Guilt gnaws on the knots of his belly, when he sees the Captain putting a key into the wall, and James worries that the man might have lost his mind. With a grin thrown over his broad shoulders, like magic the wall opens, the Captain waltz through with a wink for James.
James can't help but follow, because it feels right, and while James leads children that trust him; it's a weight he has to grow into and following the Captain for now – letting the adult take the burden, he feels guilty for it, but it's not like the older man gives him a choice; he's the Captain, and James is 'the kid'.
One step though the wall, and James can't look anywhere else; it's a swimming pool, an indoor swimming pool in a courtyard garden. Above are the stars, but when James studies them, they are not stars at all but pulses of the beating heart of this ship, above are the limbs and branches and narrowing to trunks that spiral down like columns; James wonders if this what it's like to stand in a jungle. It's warm and dim and when the Captain speaks, James nearly jumps out of his skin.
"Emergency broadcast beacon, recording message; Tarsus IV colony under the tyranny of governor Kodos; colony food supply comprised by disease, estimate more then three thousand murdered by Kodos, and more starving to death – request evacuation." The Captain spins back a around with a reckless grin on his face.
"How big is it?" James asks, unable to help his own answering grin.
"Don't know, like you, she's still growing." The answer comes with a shrug, and James eyes go to the rooms that branch off from this one, and a chill comes over him – if it's like sitting in the middle of an indoor courtyard, what if it's as big as a palace, a ship – could be as big as a world? No one would ever know, because it would all somehow fit.
"What does EDESNE. stand for?" James asks, knowing he's fishing for hints to who the Captain really is.
"Time And Relative Dimensions In Space; all the ending letters." James thinks about it, and frowns.
"Wouldn't TARDIS fit better?" He says, because it makes sense that way.
"Nah, there will only be one TARDIS, and she's not mine." The lurking darkness that haunts the Captain is back, and James is sad he's made it come back.
The Captain takes a step out of EDESNE, and James follows, not noticing until he's beside him that he's tense and staring.
"Run, James." He says soft and insistent; James knows better then to argue or fight, so he obeys – but not far, he's hiding in an alley alcove, watching and waiting for the Captain to do what he has to and join him.
"Hey guys – how's it going?" The Captains hands are up, and he's clearly unarmed and smiling. The patrol doesn't care, it's armed and the man in front of them is clearly not a 'newly registered citizen'. They move in closer, threatening, swooping in like birds of prey.
The Captain waits until they are within arms length; then he breaks for it, as if to run. James knows it's a fake, and his grimy hands press hard over his lips, so his cry doesn't escape, he must not make a sound. He knows what this is; it's a sacrifice, a martyr's choice –one life for the greater good.
The Captain falls to the ground, like a spinning top, life and movement extinguished.
James waits, as he knows he must, until the patrol is gone, and then he's at the Captain's side, kneel with silent tears running down his cheeks.
"Jack…?" He hisses in the Captain's ear, but there is no response, save a low sound like growling coming from the wall. James looks up at it, and no one would mistake what he sees for any kind of wall. It glows and pulses like a heartbeat, and that low urgent sound grating against James' bones.
James goes to the living wall, and touches it – it's warm, and the sound is like breathing; his eyes are wide open, but it feels as if he's just blinked because the wall isn't a wall anymore; it's something else. James can't find words to describe it, or rather, there are plenty of words, but not one of them fit, and he can't string the words into a thought that others might hear and understand a glimpse of what he sees.
James watches it until it fades, and when it's gone, he turns to look at the Captain – who isn't there.
That night the rescue ships come; but it's too late for James, for the name James Kirk goes with Jack, and when he stumbles off ship into dry air and rich earth Iowa, his first words to his mother, his brother are:
"Call me Jim."
They do, because it's his only requesting plea, and he won't answer to that name – it's the name Jack died to save, and if it's used again – it'll be Jack who does.
James died with Jack; but when Jim grows up and finds no record of Captain Jack Harkness, ever, no birth, no death - nothing; save for deeper in the archives, where history whispers soft and sure of legends closer to lore then truth, he wonders if anyone died at all that day.
But facts are facts, and Jim wakes up screaming one name when he doubts.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Note: I rarely put in a little note about titles, but so you aren't confused about what I'm referencing; in Old Norse "vig" is war, and "dis" is goddess; for me this always brings to mind Freyja, the lady (literally, that's what her name means), goddess of among other things, love, beauty, fertility, gold, witchcraft; war, and death. You might say she was among the first "grim reapers". As well, it's my pleasure to tie that to John "Reaper" Grimm, played by a certain Karl Urban, who if you are not aware, also plays Leonard McCoy in the new alternate-universe "Star Trek" movie. Of course, "vale" is also in that title, which while commonly referring to a lush river bottom, also has connections with shadows and tears – usually as river (Riverside, Iowa; birthplace of Original!Kirk) bottoms tend to flood, thus drowning the innocent; so you may rest assured I'm content with knotting many meanings behind a title.
Going back to be beginning, there is a reason Freyja is a goddess I mention; namely, there will be lots of (male) loving in this fiction.
How to say EDESNE:
Time
And
Relative
Dimensions
In
Space
EDESNE –(Edes Ne; Des-tiny: "End Is Nay")
Ed-Eden
Es-Esme
Ne - Knee