Admiral James Tiberius Kirk thought balefully about Klingons as he ate his simple repast. He'd managed to circumvent the deaths of nearly all non-Klingons involved, and that should have been the means for celebration. But no. 'Nearly' doesn't cut it.

They say that material things are expendable. That they're unimportant, can be replaced. But...it wasn't the same! The U.S.S. Enterprise was not expendable. She had been his life! Setting the self-destruct sequence and beaming down to the unstable planet below had been like heresy. It was profanity of the highest order!

Compunction couldn't even begin to cover how he felt. The berations of his mind were eating at him. He couldn't condone his own actions.

Nothing could ameliorate the situation. Nothing. And yet...something did. Spock had been saved...hadn't he? As of now, the half-Vulcan had a strange infirmity, his soul, his katra being held within Dr. McCoy's body rather than his own. But that could be fixed, he was sure. Spock wouldn't have given Bones his katra if he hadn't believed something could be done about it. His logical friend would have known about the insanity that would begin to creep up on the bearer of another's katra.

...Damned Klingons. It had hardly seemed like recompense to Kirk for them to simply have been killed, their ship commandeered. It was diminutive in comparison to what he felt they owed. As was his own career now. He and his friends had quite literally stolen the Enterprise from Starfleet in order to save Spock, and now she was no more. It had indeed been worth it, but the Federation was likely not to see it that way. He would be lucky if he'd be allowed to continue his servitude behind a desk, dealing with endless paperwork.

He grimaced. Servitude did not seem like a euphemism when he recalled the many administrative duties he had had to perform after accepting his promotion. How he had yearned to return to his ship, how he had craved returning to the stars. And now his ship was no more. And not only her...

Kirk gazed out the viewport of the Klingon vessel toward the planet Vulcan, where hopefully Spock and McCoy would be set to rights.

It seemed as though fire burned within his eyes.

He had lost the Enterprise. And he had lost his son.

ooo

And thus ends my homework assignment. What do you think? I'd really, really like reviews. I'm hoping that they might make me hate school and homework less. Or perhaps it's a losing battle. ((anxious smile)) Ah, but poor Jim.