Disclaimer: Star Trek is Paramount's. Gray is Whatshername's. The Sharks (mostly) are mine.
I was gonna write Trekkie Soul. I swear. Than this kinda…happened. This one writes itself, I swear. But I'll get to Trekkie Soul next.
A long chapter…some plot advancement…a surprise I don't think anyone has guessed…and the first flashback. What more could you ask? : )
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lt. Commander Gray, chief of security, came down to the auxiliary control room, where he was graciously admitted—at phaser point, but graciously—to discuss the surrender. The terms were simple. Complete and unconditional.
"I don't think I'm being unreasonable," Kirk said. "I could be nastier, believe me. Complete and unconditional surrender sounds awful, but it's not that horrible. Mostly I want you to turn in your phasers."
"We could do that," Gray said cautiously.
"You're going to have to. Aside from that, I'm really not very interested in your crew. Don't oppose me and we could co-exist very nicely."
Gray was a little puzzled. "So…what do you want?"
"Your ship, of course," Kirk said matter-of-factly.
Gray's eyebrows rose. "The Enterprise?"
"The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701… Poetry," Kirk said a little whimsically, then snapped back to business. "Yes. The Enterprise."
Gray showed his first signs of objection. He knew his hands were tied, that's why he'd come to surrender to begin with. But no Starfleet officer has ever been known to simply roll over and let invaders take their ship. Gray said as much.
Kirk laughed. That was not quite what Gray had been going for. Kirk did it anyway. "Good grief, man, don't you get it? I'm being polite even talking to you, because there's not a damned thing you can do to stop me. I already have the ship. Maybe you don't realize something. I didn't just start fiddling with controls on the board here. I'm hacked into the computer, the codes are changed, it's only answering to me. You were too slow. By the time anyone realized what was going on, my position was secure." He shrugged. "You're right. You can't roll over. Because you're already rolling."
Gray's mouth was set in a grim line as he glared at Kirk. He was silent. Such was not true for everyone.
"You cannot just take our ship!" Chekov snapped, ignoring Sulu's efforts to hush him. "Ve are a starship! Starfleet vill not stand for it! No petty criminal raider can possibly expect to get avay vith this!"
"Mr. Chekov, when did you become a part of this conversation?" Kirk asked icily, managing a tone remarkably similar to Spock's earlier reprimand in the shuttlebay.
Chekov glared at him. "Someone has to point out the ineffectiveness of your plans."
"You know, I'm still carrying a phaser, do you want to join your Vulcan friend in dreamland?"
"That would be difficult," a dry voice said, drawing their attention to the corner where Spock was getting to his feet with catlike grace, "as I am no longer unconscious."
"Mr. Spock! Welcome back to the land of the living!" Kirk said cheerfully. "We were just discussing surrender."
"Why?" was Spock's immediate question.
"We don't have any choice, Mr. Spock," Gray said grimly. "He's got control of the computer."
Spock's eyebrow rose. "Indeed."
"Indeed is right," Kirk grinned.
"What are the precise terms of the proposed surrender?"
"Complete and unconditional," Chekov spat.
"Generalities are not helpful. I want specifics."
"All weapons handed over." Kirk smirked a little wickedly. "A cease-fire of a slightly different sort."
"Anything further?"
Kirk shrugged. "Not much else. I'm not interested in the people, I'm interested in the ship. I don't want to murder anyone. I don't even want to toss you in the brig, particularly. Do your jobs, and don't fight me." His tone hardened. "Fight me, and it's a completely different story, because believe me, I'll fight back and you won't live through it."
"You said you veren't a murderer!" Chekov protested.
"I'm not. But there's a difference between murdering and killing. Murdering is taking life unnecessarily. If killing you stays unnecessary, there won't be an issue. Make it necessary, and I don't have a problem with killing half your crew."
"How can you just calmly talk about killing two hundred people?" Chekov demanded. "That's awful!"
"It's practical," Kirk said flatly. "What, you think I should be worried about the great loss of life? The damage to my immortal soul maybe? The tragic deaths of innocent people? Hell, I worry about all that and I'm the one who's dead. When it comes right down to you or me, it sure as hell isn't gonna be me, and that's the only attitude that's gonna get me anywhere in this galaxy. You or me, and—if necessary—I'll kill you all. And it won't keep me awake at night, either."
"It would be difficult to kill us all," Spock said evenly. "Even unarmed, we still outnumber you 18.913 to 1. I see no reason that we would be unable to overpower you through force of numbers."
Kirk nodded. "Valid point. But an open rebellion isn't going to work. One word from me freezes every control on this ship, which would make running it a little difficult. And if you shoot me in the back, you're gonna have an even bigger problem than you do now. I didn't just change codes, I inputted a new program. You might say that your computer is on a continuous ten-hour countdown to self-destruct. I thought it was rather clever, personally. Every ten hours an alarm goes off and there's five minutes to input the right code. And I'm the only one who knows it. If it's not put in…" He shrugged. "Destruction. Go ahead. Call my bluff. Retake the ship, toss me in the brig. The consequences won't be pleasant for anyone."
The Starfleet officers were silent for a long moment. Even Chekov.
"We seem to be very neatly boxed in," Spock said finally.
"Yes," Kirk agreed.
"In which case we have no choice," Spock continued, ignoring Chekov's inarticulate sound of outrage. "We have no choice but to surrender."
Kirk smiled. "I was hoping you'd see it that way."
The surrender was accomplished quickly and easily. Kirk, Gray and Spock all explained it over the comm. The crew took it fairly calmly. Phasers were collected with a minimum of fuss. Engineering, the Mess Hall, and everywhere else were unsealed. In no time the Sharks were spreading through the ship.
A little surprisingly, perhaps, Kirk didn't go to join the rest of the Sharks. Instead, he stuck with the bridge crew, who were going back to the bridge. Kirk went with them. O'Riley, reasons unknown, did the same. Reeves was more interested in continuing to fiddle with the computer. Carl was more interested in the Mess Hall.
On the bridge, the crew scattered to their respective stations. Spock took up his position at the science station, ignoring the central chair. O'Riley was a dark presence in a back corner. Not that the bridge had corners, as it was round, but metaphorically speaking he was off in a corner.
Kirk didn't immediately go anywhere. He stopped just out of the turbolift and stayed there, regarding the bridge on a whole. His expression was unreadable.
He was still standing there when the turbolift hissed open again and ejected another person. He certainly wasn't Starfleet, but he didn't look much like a pirate either. Look like it or not, he was a Shark. Still, there was something inherently likeable in his broad face, something inescapably comical in his plump frame and large mustache.
Kirk grinned at him. Very possibly the first truly pleasant, genuine grin Kirk had managed since coming aboard. "Hello, Harry. I see you didn't die after all."
Harry Mudd drew himself up with an air of injured dignity. "No, but it was a very near thing, Jim, a very near thing. Those last few spins were simply intolerable!"
[A/N: : ) Anyone see that coming?]
"Yeah, probably. But just look at the payoff," Kirk said with a sweeping gesture that encompassed the entire bridge.
Harry nodded. "Very nice."
"Nice? Nice! She's beautiful!"
"Yes," Harry agreed. He wasn't looking at the bridge. He was looking at Uhura, who gave him one icy look and turned her back to him.
"The ship, Harry, I meant the ship," Kirk said patiently.
"Oh. Well, she's beautiful too." Harry's eyes gleamed. "And worth a fortune."
"Don't you ever think of anything but money?" Kirk asked, stepping down to the lower part of the bridge.
"What else is there?"
Kirk shrugged. "I don't know. I use to know. Don't know anymore."
Harry gave him a slightly odd look, which he didn't notice. He had his back to Harry and was regarding the command chair.
"Always wanted one of these," Kirk said quietly, running one hand along the back of the chair.
"A chair?" Harry said, puzzled.
"A command chair." In a sudden, decisive movement Kirk sat down. He leaned back, viewed the bridge from this new vantage point. "A command chair of a starship."
He didn't notice that at the science station Spock was watching him closely. Spock had so far seen two Jim Kirks. The casual, careless man of the negotiating table, and the calculating pirate leader with the phaser. This was a third one, and as different from the other two as they were from each other.
Kirk wasn't thinking about Spock. He had other things to think about. "Yep. Had it all planned out. I was gonna be a Captain, and travel the stars. Decided that when I was eight."
Maybe it was the effect of the bridge. Maybe it was the chair. Whatever it was, Kirk found himself drifting back into memories he hadn't thought of in a long, long time, of a twilight evening many years and many lightyears away…
The two boys chased each other through the fields, finally collapsing, laughing, between two rows of corn. They lay on their backs, looking up at the night sky above. The stars reminded one of the boys of something.
"Billy," he asked, "whatcha gonna do when you grow up?"
Billy shrugged. "I dunno. What are you gonna do, Jimmy?"
Jimmy Kirk grinned, and carelessly waved an arm at the expanse of stars above. "I'm gonna go up there."
Billy wrinkled his nose in puzzlement. "Up there? Why?"
Jimmy considered. He didn't know why, exactly. He just knew he wanted to, had to, was going to. He didn't know how to say that though, so he gave the only answer that made sense. He shrugged. "Because."
Billy nodded, accepting this. "So what're you gonna do up there?"
Jimmy's eyes sparkled. "I'm gonna be like Garth of Izar."
"Who?"
Jimmy sighed deeply, a sigh denoting long and patient suffering. "Don't you know anything?" he asked scornfully.
"I know lots of things!" Billy protested. "I just don't know who Darth of Isaac is."
"Garth of Izar. He's a Starship Captain. He's incredible."
"Hmm." Billy considered this. "So what do starship captains do?"
"They fight Klingons, and Romulans, and…and…all sorts of scary aliens."
"Like Vulcans?"
"No," Jimmy scoffed. "Vulcans are good guys."
"I think Vulcans are scary. They never smile."
"Yeah, they're weird," Jimmy acknowledged. "But they're Federation."
"So what else do starship captains do?"
Jimmy grinned, contemplating it. "They're in charge of the Starship, so they can tell everyone else what to do. And they get to travel all around the galaxy in their ship, and visit different planets, and meet new aliens, and protect the Federation from the bad ones. And they travel around through all the stars, on and on and on. And they can do anything, 'cause that's what Captains do. If they want, they can even change the galaxy…"
Kirk shook himself out of the memory. "Well. Like I said. Eight years old." He laughed. It wasn't a pleasant laugh. It was a bitter, cynical laugh, and when he went on it was with a scornful tone. "Kids, and their crazy dreams, who have no idea what the galaxy is really like."
Well, it wasn't why he became a pirate, but it does offer some insight into Jim Kirk…and I thought it was cute.
Quick question to everyone: Okay, Kirk's cool as a pirate, leather jacket and everything, and, of course, he's Kirk, that says it all, but…are we getting it that he's a dirty evil scoundrel? 'Cause he's that too, and if that's not coming across I've got troubles.
RadarPLO: Yeah, I guess Chekov is the funniest…I didn't set out to make him funny, he did that on his own.
Earnest: Thank you.
Ael: No, no, it was "The captain of the Enterprise is not Kirk." I was very deliberate with that, because it put the emphasis not on Kirk and an alternate career, but on the alternate captain. But obviously it didn't work anyway. Ah well. Glad you like!
Wedge: Well, naturally, taking over Kirk's Enterprise wouldn't be this easy. But this is Lowell's Enterprise, and the most challenging thing this crew has done is ferry ambassadors. : )
Mzsnaz: Yeah, I liked that line. No sugar, got it. But here's more. Or there it was, guess you've already read it.
Emp: I liked that line also…: )
Broken Infinity: Witty? Really? Cool.
I-am-bug: No, not very intelligent. But that's okay. Flattery is everything, lol.
Silverfang: See, it's when they root for the villain that I worry that he's not villainous enough. Or do you just go for villains? And I suppose it is true, he is cooler.
Whatshername: Thank You! Someone was disturbed by Kirk shooting Spock! Kirkish. It is an UGGH word, but I'm glad you said it. If he still seems like Kirk, just a Kirk-gone-bad, then I'm succeeding. : )
Samantha Quinn: That's okay, that chapter was funnier. Lol, I'm glad I'm making good use of Chekov. All the minor characters were pretty underused on Trek, weren't they?
Kiri: I'm going to be thoroughly cryptic and confusing. Regarding Kirk dropping out of Starfleet Academy, in one way you're right. But in another way, you couldn't be wronger. More wrong. Whatever. It will all become clear with another flashback, in a few more chapters.
Beedrill: Yes, Gray is chief of security in Trekkie Soul. As far as I know he was never on TOS though, and is instead the creation of Whatshername's twisted mind.
Tis all. Leave a review at the door please. Oh yeah, and the summary will become a lot more relavant next chapter. In the meantime…reviews are life.