This part of Treyessa is beautiful, Jim thinks, gazing up at the silvery geometric buildings that spiral into the sky, with their seemingly impossible structures held aloft by magnetic fields. Grass in various shades of blue and grey covers any open ground, not even ruffled by the vehicles flying overhead. He can see why Scotty's minions–and they are Scotty's minions, no doubt about it–in Engineering are so eager to get down to the surface. The city is a masterpiece of architecture. They take a few moments to look around, as they always do on a new planet, Spock no doubt deducing the exact mechanism used to control the magnetic fields, and Neyren spreading their fins to absorb the sunlight. Sudarto studies the various groups inside and outside the pavilion, preparing herself for any surprises.
The pavilion set up for the conference is no less spectacular. The floor hovers a few inches off the ground, and high above them a tent hangs unsupported, filtering the light from the planet's bright yellow sun. The Minister waves for them to enter, and Jim steps up into the pavilion, Spock at his side. Neyren follows a moment later, reluctantly leaving the warm sunlight. Sudarto takes a place right by the edge of the disk, where she can see both her captain and the delegates. She might not like being down here without her team, but Jim's confident that she can handle anything that might go wrong. Anything that might go wrong… that's not the best thing to be thinking about, but the Minister's aides are already showing them to their seats and he's got to focus on the mission at hand. A mission that would be a lot shorter if this was just them and the Treyessa. Instead, it's a conference with dozens of other planets. The Treyessa have an unusual way of doing trade. Rather than working out and signing deals individually, they like to make tentative agreements that are sealed at a physical meeting with representatives from all groups. Spock has explained the benefit: the Treyessa can sometimes wrangle bonuses out of the delegates by appearing to refuse the agreement and threatening to send the party away empty-handed and embarrassed. It's devious, and it takes way too much time for Jim's liking.
Finally, the introductions and small talk are over, and they're led to their tables, Neyren reluctantly pulled from the conversation they've struck up with a gaggle of other translators. The Minister, on the raised central platform, stands to speak, and the conference begins. Just like most of the diplomatic events they've attended, there's a lot of what Jim considers nonsense: traditional introductions and pointless discussion set in roundabout language. He'd make some sort of joke, if he wasn't so certain that Spock would just look at him disapprovingly if he suggested that maybe every single detail of interplanetary politics wasn't crucially important. After being the target of that look more than once, mostly whenever he gets distracted from some self-important governor or excessively long Starfleet briefing, he's not going to mention it again. When he gets back to the ship, he can joke about the bullshit of the day to Sulu. His helmsman doesn't take himself nearly as seriously as Spock and Uhura seem to all the time. Although he doesn't ever want to get on anyone's bad side–he's seen how fierce his crew can be when given a reason.
But for now, the meeting. Somehow it's even more boring than long hours on the bridge. At least there he feels like he's in control of something. Well, it's better than getting blown up, and he's at least glad that everything seems to be going according to plan.
The Minister waves a group of Treyessans in formal suits up onto the platform. One of them hands a data chip to the Minister's clerk, and a few moments later a holographic presentation leaps into the air above them. Jim watches the animated statistics for a few moments before turning to Spock. "What's this?"
"A promotion by the Southern Polar Metals Board in an attempt to persuade us to purchase their products. If you would consult the itinerary given to us..." Jim glares at him until he stops speaking.
"I looked at the schedule. This wasn't on it," he hisses, keeping his voice low to avoid angering the other delegates, but expressing his annoyance and impatience all the same.
"It has been updated, which is not unexpected, considering the methods of the Treyessan market. " Spock hands Jim his padd, and sure enough, the screen reads PRESENTATIONS BY LOCAL INDUSTRIES.
"Sounds pretty fishy to me," Jim grumbles, returning the device. Judging by the low murmur among the other attendees, they're not too happy about this either. Neyren isn't even bothering to translate the phrases the universal translator doesn't catch. Up on stage, the metals merchants prattle on, extolling the quality of their goods. Jim might be able to strike a good bargain an has plenty of experience bartering for snacks and drinks and lab time at the Academy, but he's no trader, and all this advertising is boring as hell. He vaguely wonders if his counterpart in that other universe had to deal with this much useless shit during his Captaincy. There wasn't much to go on from the fragments of memory he got from the other Spock, steeped in that unforgettable sense of fondness and devotion. The other Captain Kirk was a man who inspired that sort of loyalty from his crew. The love... he pushes that from his mind, it's too daunting a concept to consider when Spock is sitting right next to him. Besides, he thinks bitterly, the Jim that the other Spock loved probably never put his entire crew in danger and got dozens of people killed by being fucking stupid enough to trust an evil madman. The other Jim couldn't have been that sort of person, the other Jim wouldn't be reduced to a pathetic wreck by stupid simple dreams. And, fuck, there are the memories he doesn't want to think about. That was embarrassing, he should have at least been able to cope with it alone. It's a wonder anyone still respects him as Captain, really, a wonder the admirals haven't yet labeled him unfit and pulled him from command, with all the ways he's a total fuckup.
His inattention must have become obvious, because he's pulled back to the present by Spock saying, "Captain, the next portion of the conference is beginning."
"Right." He chooses to ignore the concern he can hear somewhere in that reminder. It's not like he's never gotten distracted before. He decides not to think about how incredibly easily his thoughts slipped away from business. Being stuck in bed for the better part of a year has probably eroded his patience.
He glances at the metal sellers as they shuffle off to the edge of the pavilion, and then blinks, because one of them is staring right at him. The next moment the seller is deep in conversation with his fellows, and Jim turns his attention back to the screen because Starfleet's contract is next to be discussed.
~o~
After what feels like a lifetime of debate over a deal he's certain was worked out way in advance, they're done. The Treyessan merchants have their engines promised, and Starfleet has their metals contracts. Just some diplomatic chatter left, and they can leave. The rest of their team beamed down as soon as the meeting ended and are currently engrossed in various discussions and studies.
Jim wanders around the tent. Neyren was perfectly happy to go back to talking excitedly to the other translators, and Spock is busy taking readings of the magnetic fields holding up the tent, a swarm of Enterprise scientists and engineers crowded around him. Sudarto hasn't left her position, and is glaring around at the suddenly busy crowds of delegates and staff. It doesn't seem very likely that someone would try to attack them at a trade meeting, but she's paid to be vigilant.
"Captain Kirk?" says a voice at his shoulder. It's one of the Minister's assistants. "Minister Yonda would like to speak with you regarding recent Klingon aggressions."
He's about to politely refuse on the grounds that Starfleet doesn't allow captains to discuss political matters outside of political settings, but this couldn't hurt and it might even help improve relations if he plays friendly.
The assistant leads him around the back of a building floating low to the ground. The tent is soon out of sight and Jim is beginning to wonder whether agreeing to talk was the best idea. No, he thinks, he wants to do this…
A few figures stand in the shadow behind the structure, and Jim has just enough time to register that the Minister's not there before he finds that he cannot move another step. Alarm floods his mind, washing away any illusions of security. What the fuck is he doing?
The figures step towards him, and that's the metal merchant there next to two people of some species he doesn't even recognize, and an Orion girl with a vicious grin, a humanoid wearing some sort of helmet with wires running across the surface and he's frozen, staring at the man's blank eyes. Then his brain is working rapid-fire like someone is pulling the thoughts from him: waking to Bones explaining the blood serum that saved him, Khan staring at them from within his prison as if he was the one in control, dropping Spock and the cold fusion device into the volcano at Nibiru, an old man on an icy planet showing him in a few intense moments of image and emotion a life lived in another universe, Bones injecting him with some crazy disease he's never heard of, Gaila explaining how to hack into the Academy databanks…
The feeling of someone rifling through his head turns without warning into an intense sensation of pressure and chaos that quickly threatens to become pain, then cuts off abruptly. Whatever force was holding him still breaks. He stumbles forward, nearly falling until Spock grabs his arm and steadies him. Jim wrenches his mind away from the past and blinks the flash of phaser fire from his eyes to see the blank-eyed man fall. Lieutenant Sudarto doesn't even wait to see him hit the ground before taking out the rest of the group, most with shots from her phaser. One of the Treyessa resists the first strike but falls after a sharp punch to the head. Sudarto is surveying her targets when the blank-eyed man stirs. She shoots him again, then when she's certain he's either dead or knocked out, takes out her communicator and barks orders for them all to be beamed back.
~o~
Back on the ship, it's organized chaos. They've been through enough emergency situations that the motions are familiar enough, but a surprise is still a surprise. Once the three of them are off the transporter pad, the techs being beaming back the rest of the team in twos and threes. Jim spots Neyren and Dr. Marcus among the returning crewmembers before he, Spock, and Sudarto are shuffled off into another room by a few other security agents. Jim suspects he's going to have Bones up in his face with a tricorder at some point within the next few minutes, so he wants to make the most of the time. Sudarto's ahead of him.
"Okay, we need to figure out who the hell that was and what the hell they want." She turns to him. "Captain, did you recognize any motive?"
"I dunno. The one with the white eyes did something that sorta stunned me. And then it felt like he was going through my head…" He runs a hand through his hair, remembering feeling like his own thoughts weren't his to keep. He glances at Spock, hoping for an answer, and is surprised at how tense he looks.
"He was using a form of distance telepathy to direct your thoughts and read those that came to the surface. When I intervened, he attempted to overload your brain, but I managed to divert and absorb the attack."
"You diverted it onto yourself!?" Jim yells, louder than he intended, and he's struck by concern when Spock appears to flinch back from the volume. He looks a bit dazed and tired too, enough to be noticeable.
"Are you all right?" he asks, more gently this time.
"Do not be concerned; there are other matters at hand."
Now he's certain something's wrong. He's probably messed up his head, taking a telepathic attack for Jim's sake, and of course he wouldn't admit to being anything less than fine even if he was dying, and especially not with anyone else in the room. He decides to wrap this up as quickly as he can.
"Lt. Sudarto, good work down there. You go ask around, see if anyone else saw anything. Spock, get checked out in Medical and then you can rest until we've organized the reports. We'll regroup later. First, I need to speak to the Minister."