Almost as soon as he saw the door to Spock's quarters images of that wave catching Spock as he tried to outrun it, of seeing Spock and that officer grab onto each other flooded his mind. For a moment he stopped as he again felt the paralysis of fear. Spock had been running and seemed to be stumbling a lot and appeared to be falling when that officer reached him. That officer. But which one? He had been told there were three still out searching for any evacuees they may have left when he gave to order for everybody to return to the ship. When they had been told that one of the officers was pinned under fallen debris and another had stayed with him trying to move the debris Spock had asked where and had run off to help get him. There had been four good earthquakes, he had seen Spock and one of the officers racing along the beach and that damned wave. Spock falling. The other officer getting to him just as the wave did. With only the one officer with him Kirk knew the other officer was either dead when Spock got to him or beyond any help as Spock would not just leave an officer. He could still see the way the officer and Spock had gripped onto each other, clung to one another, as the wave swept over them carrying them, and all before, it away.
By using the techniques Spock had taught him years ago he was able to put aside his feelings, for now, and deal with what he had to. He felt better physically after the shower and in a fresh uniform but there was that part of him he felt was in a coma: not wanting to accept what had been seen yet knowing what was seen. For now he would leave it and deal with it later, as Spock had taught him. Duty before all. His duty was to this ship, this crew. He had a meeting to go to, people to see, a report to write, and families to advise. He was also aware of the effects of what both McCoy and Scott had given him slowly taking effect.
The briefing meeting was like so many others, each of his officers fully explaining what they had experienced and noticed, stating what part they had played in the successful evacuation of the inhabitants. They had all experienced the seismic activity differently and most had said it was most unsettling as they had been aware of how the violence of about every other jolt was getting worse. None of them had given that much thought to such a large tsunami occurring as they were focused on getting all the evacuees to the ship.
With the exception of Officer Ganner, all of his crew at the briefing seemed to understand how their Captain was feeling; they had all known Spock for years as well. Most of those there also had a good working relationship with him. Many also had known the other officers. Half-way through the debriefing Kirk realized he had only really been hearing the words but not listening at all. When he looked at McCoy he saw the knowing nod and knew that McCoy would make sure that he heard the replay of the meeting later.
As he concentrated on what was being said he was somewhat surprised that they were only talking about Spock and one other officer as being lost. He was sure that there had been another officer. He clearly remembered being told there was an officer trapped by some debris and another staying with him trying to clear the debris. Why were they not talking of the other officer? Who had told him there were two?
They were talking about Spock and Officer Walker but not mentioning Officer Dint. Officer Dint was a good security officer, perhaps not as good as Officer Walker but very good all the same. Kirk half-smiled to himself. Even Spock had commented on how fortunate they were to have an officer like Officer Walker aboard as he could easily work in all the departments in the Enterprise with equally high efficiency yet had shown an almost Vulcan-like ability to assess a situation and react physically as well as a flair for creating small but useful emergency equipment on the spot when necessary and had called him a most unusual Human. Scotty had often said that he was a miracle worker in training when compared with what Officer Walker could do when it came to engineering.
"Captain, this is clearly too fresh a loss. We have covered all of the details leading up to the loss. Those of us who were the last to beam up know only too well what happened." Kirk looked at the speaker, Officer Ganner, and recognized him as the officer who had permission to observe Spock and study the duties of a First Officer when his scheduled shift was over. He had been on the ship for almost a year, had a good background, and he had promise of eventually being a good First Officer. Kirk had to give him credit for being aware of the condition of others as this was the first debriefing he had attended on the Enterprise.
"He's right, Jim." McCoy placed a hand on his arm, "You need to rest for a spell. All that was dealt with here you can access from your quarters. I will walk you to your quarters and then do not want to see you on the bridge for four hours, is that understood?"
For just the briefest of moments Kirk felt like denying his feelings but knew he had to deal with them before he could deal with what needed doing. He had the best crew and they would take care of things till he was ready. He nodded then looked at Sulu, "Sulu, you take care of things till I relieve you."
"No! No disrespect, Sir but I am a senior officer."