AN: Another rare pair. Like really rare. FKirk/Sybok.
For those who don't know who Sybok is, which isn't hard because Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is 'muh', he's Sarek's first born son and Spock's older half-brother. In the prime timeline, he was banished from Vulcan and erased from all records. Eventually, he steals the Enterprise and ends up getting himself killed but that won't have much baring on this story. I don't know why he was omitted from the reboot like Kirk's big brother but I think it would've been cool to see either of them.
Since I like to have some kind of visual reference when I write my stories, I decided on Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four, Warm Bodies, The Choice) for FJim and Matt Bomer (White Collar, The Normal Heart, Magic Mike & Magic Mike XXL) for Sybok.
*Fun Matt Bomer fact: He and Zachary Quinto went to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (my hometown) together and they appear to be really good friends. They're seriously adorable together too but that's beside the point.
That's enough randomness from me. On with the story.
A diplomat is a person who specializes in facilitating peaceful relations between different factions, often by serving as a negotiator or a neutral mediator of disputes. A diplomat who is a citizen of one power may be hired or appointed to professionally serve the interests of another power.
Star Trek: The Next Generation 'The Price' (S03E08)
"Do I really have to go on this stupid thing?" Jim Kirk groaned as her back hit the mat. "Spending two weeks dealing with politicians isn't really my area of expertise or my idea of fun. Besides, I'm sure there are other people who would kill for that spot. I'm a solider, not a diplomat."
"If you want to be a captain, you're gonna have to learn a little diplomacy," Captain Christopher Pike told her. Jim rolled to her feet and moved to attack. She delivered a right hook to his side. "Not every mission is gonna be tactical, Kirk."
"I know that," she said as she ducked under a swing and swept his legs from under her advisor. "I don't have to like it."
"No," he chuckled, "you don't. I think that's enough for today."
"Only because I'm kicking your ass," the cadet smiled as she reached a hand down to help him up. Pike wrapped his hand around hers before he gave her a tug and flipped her over him, onto the mat near his head.
"If you say so, Miss Kirk."
"Show off."
How was this her life? If someone had told her last year that she'd be joking around with a Starfleet captain, she would've told them that they were crazy. Then again, James Tara Kirk -Jim to most people- was considered crazy in her own right.
The daughter of the late Lieutenant Commanders George and Winona Kirk, Jim carried the weight of a family legacy on her back. Not that people gave a damn how she felt about being compared to a man she never met or the fact that people forget about the one parent she actually had. She tried her hardest to steer clear of Starfleet, going to out of the way universities after she came home from living off planet, but all it took was a bar fight with some idiot cadets and a conversation with a federation hero to get her here.
Pike is a crafty motherfucker if there ever was one. Most people would give her a list of reasons for her to join up. She's heard everything from "it's what your parents would've wanted" to "you're wasting your potential" and a lot of crap in between. Pike just dared her to be better than her parents. Being one to never turn down a challenge, Jim found herself strapping into a shuttle bound for Starfleet Academy the next morning with the few possessions she had to her name.
There are people who want to see her crash and burn but Jim is a lot smarter than her nepotistic party girl reputation gives her credit for. She had a master's degree in normative ethics, or moral philosophy, the study of ethical action and she was working on her second master's at Starfleet Academy Command School -under Pike's urging- in military science. Now, he was sending her on diplomatic mission on Vulcan.
"Look," Pike sighed, "you took the top spots in your survival strategy and tactical analysis classes. You aced Advanced Tactical Training. You help teach my hand-to-hand combat classes. You're being considered to teach Federation History one-oh-one next year. And you already have your commission. People can doubt you if they want but we all know you can handle yourself in battle. The problem is that you don't play well with others and being in command means that you have to do just that."
"So, I have to go?"
"Yes, you have to go."
"You know, I hate you sometimes," she chuckled.
"Good. Means I'm doing my job."
"How did you get assigned to this mission?" Cadet Nyota 'I won't tell you my first name but I didn't think about the fact that you could look it up' Uhura said as she sat in the seat across from Jim in the shuttle bound for the USS Republic. "Pull some strings or call in favors?"
"No. I was ordered to go on this trip, so like any good ensign, I'm going," Jim told the woman who hates her for no real reason. "I would much rather go with Bones to see his daughter. Or you know, go see my brother who I haven't seen in five years and meet my future sister-in-law. On top of that, I'm already pissed about having to play nice for credits. So, can you please save the righteous indignation for another day?"
"You have a brother?" Uhura asked.
"You mean you didn't know that?" Jim asked sarcastically before adopting a shocked look on her face. "I thought everyone knew everything about me." She shook her head, "People usually forget that he exists. Works for him, he gets to live in semi-anonymity even with our father's name. I mean, seriously, it always makes me laugh that people forget that there's another George Kirk."
Her brother, Doctor George Samuel Kirk junior, was a staff biologist in a Federation research facility off-planet. He was due to get married soon to one of the scientists he worked with. Jim hasn't had the chance to meet Aurelan but she did get to talk with her over vid-com.
"You really don't want to go to Vulcan?" Uhura asked, dropping the subject of Jim's family.
"I don't mind the planet. I don't want to have to sit quietly and watch a bunch of ass-kissing and passive aggressive arguments," Jim sighed as the shuttle started it's ascent. "I get enough of that at the academy. Why are you going on this trip, linguistics stuff?"
The other woman smiled, "Of course."
Apparently, diplomats have a thing for partying before their business. The Republic dropped off the group of cadets and officers in ShiKahr, Vulcan's capital, just in time to get dressed up and go to a 'diplomatic reception.' Everyone with half a brain knew that meant a party, and not a fun kind of party either. Being authorized to wear civilian attire -even a cocktail dress- was about the only thing Jim paid attention to in the "don't be stupid or screw things up" briefing they got before they were led to the home of the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth's home, where the shin dig was taking place.
Pomp and circumstance always rubbed Jim the wrong way and she lasted all of fifteen minutes before she excused herself from the handsy alien she was talking to and went out to one of the balconies.
"You don't seem like the diplomatic type," a voice said from her right side. Jim didn't say anything, so he took that as an invitation to continue. "If I had to make a hypothesis, I would say you specialize in combat."
"Why would you say that?" Jim asked, genuinely curious. Most people assume that she's a nurse or a yeoman, like those are the only jobs a beautiful blonde woman can do.
"Your hands," the man said as he stood next to her.
Jim looked up and found herself standing next to a Vulcan. He was taller than her, at least six feet, and handsome as all hell with a strong jaw and alluring eyes that seemed to see everything. Unlike the other Vulcans she saw, his black hair was pushed back and out of his face. He was also wearing a suit instead of the Vulcan robes like many of the others. As a matter of fact, without the ears and eyebrows he could probably pass for Human.
Not one to usually find Vulcan's attractive, Jim found herself genuinely intrigued, so she decided to play along. "What about my hands?"
"Those are the hands of someone who works with them. Your nails are short and there isn't any grease or dirt under them, so you're not an engineer. Though, that's not impossible, it's just unlikely. Your stance is casual but defensive and even though you're on a balcony, you managed to find the one spot where no one can approach you from behind. How'd I do?"
"Not bad," she smiled. "Tactician with a proficiency in hand-to-hand. Though, I can hold my own in engineering if I have to. Jim."
"Sybok, son of Sarek," he told her.
"The ambassador's son. I'm not gonna get into trouble for talking to you, am I?" Jim asked. Not that she cared about getting in trouble, she just remembered that part of their briefing was about not talking to certain people, she was pretty sure that Sarek's family was off-limits.
"Do you want to?" Sybok smiled.
She couldn't help but give him a look. He was happy about something and it showed all over his face. Any other Vulcan would give her -and everyone else- that cold, blank stare but he didn't.
"Maybe," she shrugged. "I'm always up for a little trouble."
"Well, then I'll be sure to shout it from the rooftops that I met you. How's that?"
"That'll work," Jim chuckled. "If you don't mind me saying so, you're not like any Vulcan I've ever met before." It wasn't a bad thing, just odd.
"Not the first time I've heard that," he told her before leaning closer to whisper. "My mother raised me to embrace my emotions. I hide my feelings around other Vulcans to protect my father, my brother and my step-mother but out here, I tend not to bother with the charade. No one can see me but the stars. You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"No. I have my own mask to wear, as it were," she sighed. "People expect certain things from me, that's what I give them. No need to be anything other than that. I save the special stuff for special people."
"That's good. I might have to use that sometime."
"Wouldn't most Vulcans think it illogical?"
"Most would. Many probably do. I'm not like them," he smiled.
"I can see that."