Remember Who You Are
Summary: The Enterprise is sent to represent Starfleet at the opening of a memorial at the new colony on the restored planet of Tarsus IV. Jim is distressed, but his crew doesn't know why.
AN: And here's chapter 2 (finally). Sorry I didn't get it up sooner. I wanted to upload yesturday at the latest but between cleaning the house and getting ready for school I kinda forgot/procrastinated (bad omen for the homework season...). It doesn't help that my parents, um, well let's just say they are very down to earth, have never been obsessed with anything, and don't approve of people who waste all their time on the computer. Anyways, here's the chapter. When I was writing this, this section just kind of ran away with me. It's not hugely important to the story, so I guess you could call it a filler chapter between 1 and 3.
Thank you to all who reviewed or favorited or followed this story! I was surprised that I got so much response. I'm sorry if I didn't respond to your review; I only got to some of you.
As always, thanks to FyreFlyte for reading this, getting excited about it, and encouraging me to get it all written.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, Star Trek:2009, Jim Kirk, Spock, Tarsus, etc. And the title of this story was inspired by the song Sound the Bugle by Bryan Adams from the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Soundtrack.
Chapter 2: Accusations
"Welcome to the colony of New Tarsus," the tall, grey-haired man in front of them said, shaking Jim's hand. "I'm Representative Noss from Section 4."
Jim smiled in return, but it lacked the usual brilliance. "Captain Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Pleased to meet you, sir."
"Come," Noss said with a smile, turning towards the street and gesturing for them to follow. "I will show you the colony and how it works on our way to the memorial sight."
Everything was completely different. The layout was different, the government was different, the style of houses was different, even the location was a little ways away from the original. Apparently, no one wanted to live in a place that was just like the first Tarsus. Jim found he was grateful that nothing really sparked any flashbacks, pleasant or unpleasant. Representative Noss explained that the colony had been divided into twelve sections and each section elected a representative to serve on the council for a four-year term. They had to have a majority vote for any decision they made. For food, not only was it being grown all around the colony in the restored soil, but there was a massive greenhouse in each section growing extra food for that area, and an extensive scientific research center on the edge of town which ran soil tests every two days. Yes, they had definitely taken measures to make sure the famine and resulting abuse of then-governor Kodo's power never happened again. As they passed through the streets, the colonists who had been living in this new paradise for three months watched and whispered to each other, gesturing to the Starfleet uniforms. As they passed a hotel, an angry young man marched up to them and spat at Jim's feet. The effect was immediate. The watching crowd roared, and Sulu and Kev stepped in front of their captain. Everyone glared at the man who simply ignored them and stared daggers at Jim.
"Why is stupid Starfleet even bothering to show up? You don't belong here, don't deserve to be here, not after you failed so epically last time," he snarled.
"Sir, back away from the Starfleet officers," someone said as two police officers showed up. They went to grab him, but he shook them off and continued. "Do you know what it's like to watch your friends and family get murdered? Do you know what it's like to live in fear of being discovered and killed every day? Do you know what it's like to watch your younger sister shrivel and die from malnourishment? Starfleet didn't show up until it was too late. Starfleet couldn't save anyone even after they arrived, because they were too late. Starfleet failed. How can we be sure you won't fail again?" he seethed.
"Sir, that's enough," a police officer said, "You're under arrest for the time being." They went to haul him away, but Jim held up his hand.
"Wait."
The officers stopped and looked at him, expectantly.
Jim turned to the survivor, mind reeling. He knew this person. Images flashed through his mind of a boy and his little sister huddled in terror together besides the remains of their burnt house, of the boy and girl laughing, of the boy crying into his shoulder.
"Your concern is justified," Jim said, trying to keep his voice steady as his old hatred at the universe for making children suffer through something like Tarsus began to bubble beneath his skin. "I, too, am disgusted that Starfleet failed to respond appropriately. But believe me when I say that if Starfleet doesn't respond immediately to the faintest distress signal from this planet or any other, I will personally blow them up for you."
The man's jaw dropped open and he blinked at Jim in surprise. Jim breathed out slowly trying to keep his face neutral. Internally, many unpleasant memories had just been dug up and thrown in his face. He was trying not to let his emotions show too much, but he was beginning to think he hadn't done as good a job of it as he would have hoped when Kev gasped.
"Ben!" he exclaimed, pointing at the man. "You're Ben!"
Ben startled and stared hard at Kev. "How'd you know my name?" he demanded.
"It's me, Kev! You know, from the cave."
Ben gasped. "Kev, the little guy who was always hanging with JT?"
Kev grinned. "Yup! And you-" he broke off suddenly, smile falling from his face as his eyes began to water. "You and your little sister Ella used to help me play jokes on him."
Jim was really, really glad the attention wasn't on him anymore, as the mention of Ella's name transformed the bubbling anger inside him into frustration and sadness faster than Jim had know was possible. Man, his emotions were going crazy on him today. He bent his head and screwed up his face trying to hold the tears back. Ben and Ella. Ben and Ella who, along with Kev and Tom, had decided that Jim needed a little cheering up not long after they had confirmed that his aunt, uncle, and older cousin had been killed, and so decided to declare an everyone-against-JT water fight. Jim had been soaking when they got back to the rest of the group, which caused everyone to break into a round of much needed laughter which lasted much longer than it should have. It had been the last time they'd laughed until long after they'd been rescued. And for Ella, it had been the last time she had laughed ever. Jim and Ben were both holding her when she drew her last breath, and Jim had held Ben while the boy cried his heart out. She had been the first death. As the memories flooded back to him, Jim found himself internally watching with longing while Kev and Ben hugged and cried together in the center of the street.
After a few minutes, the two pulled apart and dried their eyes.
"It's good to see you again, Kev," Ben sniffled.
"Likewise," Kev agreed. "Why don't you accompany us to the memorial sight? We were heading there now." He glanced at Jim as he said this, and Jim gave him a small nod of approval.
The policemen, seeing that everything was under control now, left and Ben continued on with them.
"So why did you join Starfleet?" Jim heard Ben ask Kev as they made their way out of town.
"I wanted to do something with my life, help others who have gone through hard times like I have," Kev replied immediately. "I figured I could probably help prevent something like what happened to us from within Starfleet, help prevent them from overlooking a planet in trouble. And," he admitted after a moment, "I wanted to explore the universe."
Ben snorted at that. Then he lowered his voice to ask something else, making Jim strain to overhear.
"Why is your captain...I dunno, passionate, about all," he waved his hand around, "this?"
Kev chuckled. "Eh, he's Jim Kirk, the greatest - and youngest - Starfleet captain of all time. He really cares about his crew and he really doesn't like injustice. You should see the admiralty's faces whenever they find out he's broken some rule and done what he thought was right; he's always right. They're classic. The pilot on the bridge records the conversations and posts the really good ones to the rest of the ship."
"What?" Jim squawked, turning on Sulu. Everyone went red, Ben because Jim had overheard him asking Kev about him, Kev and Sulu for being found out, and Jim because he had just revealed that he had been listening in.
"Er, sorry Sulu," Kev mumbled.
Jim shook his head, a slow smile stealing its way across his face. "So, did the whole crew see Admiral Archer splutter and admit that disobeying protocol had saved us from destruction, and then ask me not to tell anyone he'd said that before he signed off so fast that he forgot to tell us what our next instructions were?"
Sulu couldn't help the huge smile that broke out on his face and Kev snickered in the background. Jim sighed and gave them both a noogie, much to the shock of Ben and Representative Noss, before slinging his arms over their shoulders and continuing on down the road.
So yeah, not a whole lot has happened yet. The whole Ben thing just popped up while I was writing; I didn't plan it. Thanks for reading! I originally said this would be eight chapters long, but the next planned chapter is so short that I might combine it with the one after it.