While he was eating breakfast, Kirk received another request for a meeting from Pike - this time for him alone. When he arrived, Kirk noticed that not even Boyce was there which raised his curiosity about what Pike wanted to see him for.

This time it was coffee poured for the talk. After passing one cup to Kirk, Pike sat with his hands wrapped around his own cup as if he was chilled. The pause wa long enough that Kirk's patience was nearly at the end when Pike double checked the setting on his communicator for the jamming frequency then finally spoke.

"I've been talking with Phil and he's of the opinion that I need to be upfront with you. Being in the Admiralty has taught me one thing I didn't know about myself. I can do the political maneuvers, but I don't enjoy them. In fact, they irritate the hell out of me. You, on the other hand, seem to thrive in that sort of environment. Could I do the Emperor's job if it came down to it? Yes. Would I ever enjoy it? The power? Sure. The rest of it? No."

Pike looked up then and saw Kirk watching him intently with those laser blue eyes, not saying a word or even moving. A smile quirked briefly on Pike's face before he took a sip of his coffee.

"Well, to make a long story short, I know where you're aiming for and so long as you can give me a promise of something interesting to do and the ability to keep Phil by my side, I'll back your move in any way I can when you want me to. For me, the aggravation of the details isn't worth the power."

Remaining quiet, Kirk sipped his own coffee without giving any indication of how he thought about what Pike was offering. It wasn't until he had completely drained the cup that he spoke.

"Before this goes any further, we need to meet as a group. At least yourself, Boyce, me, Bones and Spock. Maybe another one or two of my crew as well. You talk it over with Boyce and get back with me tomorrow if you're willing to come aboard the Enterprise to talk."

One of Pike's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Why not here?"

Leaning forward, Kirk deposited his coffee cup back into its saucer.

"Quite frankly, there's nowhere on this station that I'd consider secure enough for the type of talk we need to have, jammers set or not."

Considering the meeting to be over, Kirk stood up and Pike rose as well.

"Fair enough, Jim. I'll contact you tomorrow."

Nodding as he left the quarters, Kirk headed straight for the Yorktown's science labs, where he knew McCoy was most likely to be. A smile formed as he saw he was not only right about McCoy's location, but noted that Spock was with him as well.

"Gentlemen? Finish up with whatever you're doing for now. I want to talk with you both - my briefing room - ten minutes."

As Kirk watched them, Spock and McCoy exchanged a glance before moving to put their work on hold. It was at times like that when Kirk almost regretted encouraging the two of them to work together. Now that they were more at ease with one another, it was as if they had developed a secret language that consisted solely of glances and eyebrow positions that no-one else was privy to.

Shaking his head at his thoughts, Kirk headed for his briefing room as he decided he needed a strong cup of coffee for this meeting. To his amusement, McCoy and Spock appeared to have similar thoughts, but their beverage of choice was tea and they had brought their own and a pot, using the replicator only for the hot water. That was another thing the two men found they had in common - a firm belief that replicator tea should be avoided whenever possible.

Kirk found himself receiving suspicious looks from both men as he simply sat and sipped his coffee while they finished the preparation of their tea. Good. He never wanted them to feel that they could predict what he was going to do next. He didn't speak a single word until they were both seated with their own drinks, but then he began without any preamble.

"You know Pike requested to meet with me. Seems he wanted to let me know that he no longer has his eye on the Emperor's throne, but he's willing to back my move when the time comes."

Spock's expression was open skepticism, but McCoy was thoughtful. The fact that McCoy didn't immediately scoff drew Spock's attention as Kirk questioned his silence.

"So - what are you thoughts on offer, Bones?"

"I think it's valid, Jim."

Spock turned slightly to face McCoy more fully.

"Might I inquire as to what would make you reach that conclusion, Doctor?"

To Spock's annoyance, McCoy answered his question with a question.

"How well did you know Rajinder Puri, Spock?"

"When he was associated with then Captain Pike, he and I had met, but I could not claim to have known him well."

McCoy nodded as that made perfect sense before he began to explain.

"Once he openly declared himself as my mentor, I spent a considerable amount of time with Doctor Puri, occasionally when Pike was around. Puri enjoyed politics and he was damn good at the game. My guess is that in Pike's original game plan, he was going to run the Empire like one huge ship with him as Captain and Puri would field what political maneuvering was called for in his name."

Picking up his tea, McCoy took a sip and waited until both Kirk and Spock had given a slight nod.

"Now, I only really know Boyce by our few meetings and by reputation, but he's generally known as a man that prefers everything straightforward. Generally speaking, politics make folks of that persuasion irritable. Taking that assumption out, I'm of the opinion that Pike noticed where Jim is aiming for now and bitched about it to Boyce. That likely led to a lengthy discussion of the fact that neither one of them had any interest in playing politics at the galactic level. In many ways, the power behind the throne is preferable to the power of the throne. For one thing, the main attention is on someone else - for another, if you earn yourself a place in the new regime, there's still plenty of power to be had if power was the thing you were actually after. Jim, on the other hand, has shown both an appreciation and a talent for the political arena."

Seeing that Spock was now leaning forward thoughtfully, Kirk motioned for McCoy to continue.

"Now we take into consideration that everyone who has seriously gone after Jim has failed. And not failed a little - failed spectacularly. And when Pike went against you, it was a pretty hefty fail as well. Add in the fact that you're the one known by name, face and reputation to the heads of the other two major Empires? That's a lot of pluses in your column and that's not even counting the pluses that Pike doesn't know about, though I'm sure he suspects there are items he's in the dark on."

A slow smile formed on Kirk's face.

"In other words, he's likely to have come to the conclusion that it's to his advantage to back the winning horse."

Saluting Kirk with his cup of tea, McCoy chuckled.

"Precisely."

"Spock?"

Steepling his fingers, Spock was quiet for a minute before responding.

"I fail to find any significant flaws in Doctor McCoy's reasoning, Captain."

The way Spock phrased it amused Kirk.

"What about insignificant flaws?"

Spock inclined his head slightly.

"Those are aspects that I cannot speculate on with any degree of accuracy because of my limited interactions with Doctor Puri in the past and Doctor Boyce in the present. I will say that my past observations of Admiral Pike do lend themselves to the same conclusion that politics irritate rather than intrigue him."

"So - your recommendation is to take him at his word?"

A smirk formed on McCoy's face.

"Within reason. Trust, but verify."

That made Kirk laugh, then he shook his head.

"I expect to hear from Pike tomorrow and we'll be setting up a meeting here with the three of us, Pike and Boyce. Both of you think it over and let me know if you think anyone else should be in on that discussion. For now, let's get something to eat."

After eating, Spock and McCoy headed back to their respective departments as Kirk went to his quarters. He had already removed himself from Bridge rotation until after the meeting with Pike, so he poured himself a small glass of Romulan ale before starting his log entry.


Captain's Log - Stardate 2262.271

Pike wanted some words with me in private. It has not escaped his attention where I have my sights focused - namely the same spot he had originally had his own sights focused on. After a series of lengthy discussions with Boyce, he has reached the realization that, much as he would love the power, he doesn't want the aggravation of the top spot.

I told him that before this discussion goes any further, I want a group meeting between him, Boyce, Bones, Spock, and myself. Time to lay our cards on the table.