No Win Situation
For a moment, Jim could scarcely take breath. Krudge had given the order, and he knew that one of the three prisoners on the Genesis planet was dead. "Saavik?" he whispered, not trusting his voice to speak any louder. The far more painful possibility invaded his mind. "David?" No father should ever outlive his son.
Jim didn't dare to utter the third possibility. Spock. Oh no, after they'd all come this far, it couldn't be Spock. Anyone but him.
"Admiral." Saavik's voice came over the intercom. There were only two possibilities left. Oh God, not David. Not his son. Oh, but please, please don't let it be Spock! "David is dead."
Jim felt a split second of relief before the full realization hit him. David. His son. His only child. His blood. Jim's muscles went limp and he took a few steps back. He tripped over something, but barely noticed, the conflicting emotions of his heart overriding all other thoughts. Spock was alive! There was still hope. He couldn't reconcile the joy he felt with the overwhelming tragedy of what had just happened. It didn't feel like the defeat it should have. Spock still had a chance.
"You Klingon bastards, you killed my son." But they spared Spock. But David, oh he didn't deserve this! His own father should be filled with grief, thoughts of vengeance filling his entire being. He wanted to laugh at those Klingon bastards. Fierce as they were, they still hadn't done to him what Khan had. They still hadn't taken that which was most important to him. They still hadn't taken his soul. But at the same time, Jim wanted to cry. His son should be more important to him than Spock. Who else was there to feel this way for David? Who was there to feel like a large part of themselves had just died with him? He let out a sob for the love that David may never have had in his short life. "You Klingon Bastards, you've killed my son!" He wept as he spoke. David was too young. Though Jim had never really wanted a family, he wondered now what kind of father he would have made. What advice would he have given his son, if he had had the chance?
But perhaps the most important lesson of all had been learned by Jim, through David. Life was indeed short, and a man could never truly cheat death. The universe had lost a brave, kind and intelligent man today, and it would never be the same again. But Jim would show the character that he had sidestepped all those years ago when he had cheated in the Kobayashi Maru test. He would accept this loss and never stop fighting, for his crew, for Spock, for himself. He picked himself up off the ground and faced Krudge with this new found determination.
"You Klingon Bastard."