The Champion of Themyscira: Act II

At some point in the last four years of galactic exploration and diplomatic negotiation, Jim had learned to enjoy waking up early. There had been that time - just before Altamid - when he felt like space travel had lost that rhythm of "early" versus "late". It only mattered how many hours he'd logged before falling asleep.

But, after he'd lost the Enterprise, he found himself longing for that freedom to fly, to set schedules that meant late nights and early mornings had no meaning. And now that he was watching the red sunrise over Themyscira's horizon, he knew why. Sunrise here meant sunset somewhere else. Having his ship meant he could see every sunrise and sunset on this side of the galaxy. Having his ship meant he could help people in need, whether from themselves or from others.

Which was why he needed to get back to his ship. He didn't buy Kal's explanation of why they couldn't leave the planet. Not entirely. The older man had explained that they'd once been on Earth, but wouldn't say when that was or how they got here. And while he'd mentioned that the scientists who apparently created the atmospheric barrier that kept Themyscira almost entirely untraceable, they still had scientists who understood subspace communications.

They were practically warp-capable. They were an Earth colony that had formed a completely independent society and had never left the planet simply because they chose not to.

But, there was something that Jim was missing. A big piece of the puzzle.

If all he needed to do was solve it was agree to fix the barrier, then he'd already made that commitment. He just needed the shuttle to do it. And maybe some of Kal's scientists could help him piggyback his signal off of their subspace relays…

The clash of metal reached his ears from the room that he'd be given to rest in. Jim strained to peer through the open window to pinpoint the sound, but he couldn't quite find the source. It did mean one thing, though: He wasn't the only one awake this early.

Kirk made his way towards the door and caught his reflection in the mirror. He scowled. This uniform had seen better days, and even though Kal had offered to leave him clothing, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to trash the only uniform he had. It might send the wrong message to the queen: that he'd given up.

Making sure to at least get his hair down to presentable levels - he woke up looking like he'd stuck his finger in an EPS conduit - he stepped out of his room and made his way down to the courtyard. The pain in his ankle was gone, so he could at least walk with a minimal limp from the cast. It hadn't taken long for him to get the lay of the palace after Kal's tour. Even if the man wouldn't tell him more about his time on earth than just his days in Metropolis, he had given Jim ample opportunity to grow familiar with the architecture.

Even so, Jim wandered for several minutes before he could track the sound of metal ringing against metal to an open field and sought out the source.

Not for the first time since crashing here, Jim was left a bit speechless.

He'd read his military history. He knew how the Romans and Greeks had trained - in theory. He personally loved riding horses when he had the rare opportunity, but he'd never seen anyone train for battle on them. And this was most certainly a training ground.

Arrows flew from quivers, free as birds, and struck targets in mid-air. The target reminded Jim of old Velocity games at the Academy. Cadets would take turns hitting a hovering target with their phasers. The technology the Amazons were using looked identical.

There were faces he recognized as well. There was a broad-shouldered Amazon who looked twice the size of her two opponents, but she stood against them bare-handed. It didn't take long to see why. She had them both down and flat on the ground in no time. Jim found himself striding towards the pitch to get a closer look at the skill and sheer discipline he was witnessing.

A flash of light caught his gaze again, and Jim paused in his walk. He turned towards the glint in his vision.

The Queen was fighting. She wore a variation of the armor he'd seen her in yesterday, only she lacked the cloak. The sunlight had reflected off of her gauntlets as she pulled her sword to fight her own opponent: Kal.

Kansas sure knew how to fight back. Crossing his arms over his chest, Jim went to find a spot to watch out of the way. He wasn't in a rush to disturb them. He wanted to understand these people, how they thought, how they built strategy.

The two traded blows with such ease that the way sparks flew from their weapons seemed impossible. They were so relaxed, yet focused. Queen Diana's blows had almost no force applied to them, yet when she met Kal's blade, the weapons buckled visibly.

"You're not doing yourself any favors, Diana…" Kal grunted after a particularly rattling blow. "By going easy on me…" Kal blocked another blow, then another. He managed to land an elbow against Diana's stomach, and the queen backpedaled to recover. "Harder! Get it out of your system now!" Jim winced in sympathy, but it was unnecessary.

No sooner than she'd regained her footing, the smirk that the queen gave Kal suggested mischief and eagerness that meant trouble. Jim chuckled a bit. He liked that kind of trouble.

Unfortunately, he must have been a bit louder than he thought, or maybe his intent gaze was somehow sensed by the monarch, because she turned and caught his eye.

Immediately, the smile faded and his heart sunk a little. Forget the sunrise, that smile was more than enough to keep him going, and for some reason, he was the reason it kept disappearing.

He'd have to start the apologies early today. "I'm sorry." He held a hand up in surrender. "I didn't mean to interrupt, your highness. I just… I could hear this from my room and wanted to see what was going on. It's quite the operation you have here."

Kal sheathed his sword as Diana did the same. The queen strode over to Jim, the split long panels of her skirt showing off her athletic legs and the knee high armored boots. Jim made sure to keep his wandering eyes firmly locked on Diana's face, even if the expression still looked stony. "Good morning, captain." Kal said with a smile.

"Good morning." He flashed the other man a grin before looking back at Diana. "Again, you didn't have to stop on my account - "

"What I do is not up to you." She replied, waving the sentiment off. Her expression still seemed so severe, and Jim had a feeling it had something to do with him. "I was done. I didn't particularly feel like summarily defeating a friend in combat this morning." She glanced back at Kal. "Even if you would have absolutely had it coming to you."

The laugh she received indicated it was an old pattern between the two of them. How long had they been on this planet?

Jim tried to use the opportunity to send another smile her way. She relaxed - a miniscule fraction - but it was something. "Well, then, I hope I'm a welcome distraction. Or at least one that will be out of your way as soon as I can contact my ship. And I was hoping you could help me with that."

Diana rose an eyebrow and began to walk out of the pitch. She motioned for him to follow, which he gladly did. "How so? As I said, no one leaves the planet."

"I don't know exactly what you've attempted with warp travel, but I can guarantee my thrusters were still working before I hit the water. If I can get to my shuttle, get it out of the water, I can - I hope - access the computer core and power a few vital systems long enough to reach my ship."

"You just said your shuttle was underwater." That was Kal, who had joined them. "What makes you think any of it will still have power?"

"Our technology is very resilient, my chief engineer assures me." Jim cracked a smile at the thought of Scotty. "In fact, he frequently tells me I have the best ship in the fleet, so, I'd like to think that means something."

"And if we are able to retrieve your shuttle, what will you tell your ship exactly?" Diana was leading them away from the palace. He wasn't entirely sure where, but it wasn't the route he'd taken the day before.

"Obviously, they'll want to send a rescue party. But, since I don't know what sent the shuttle down, until I can send them my sensor data, I have no guarantee they can avoid the same fate. But, I can ask them to determine how we can seal the barrier for your people." Jim knew he was saying what they wanted to hear, but he couldn't stop himself. "Although, I admit, I hope you don't want to do that. I think you would be very surprised with what's happened since you left."

Diana paused, and she turned to face him. "What are you suggesting, Captain Kirk?"

Thankfully, this was Jim's favorite part of the pitch. "I'm suggesting that you open the barrier, allow me to reach out to my commanding officers and make the case that you're warp-capable. You could even come with me, see the galaxy and be an ambassador to your people." Jim had to be very careful not to point out how much of that you was specifically directed to the queen and not just her people. He desperately wanted to show her the world they left behind. He wanted to get past those walls she seemed to have erected at every turn. "The Federation has resources and technology that would benefit Themyscira."

"We've been just fine on our own this long," Kal remarked.

"And I'm sure you'd be fine if we just put the cork back on this bottled city." He had heard similar arguments before. "But, it's an option."

While Kal seemed against the idea, Diana had begun to walk again. And this time, she was walking faster. "Then let us retrieve your shuttle and see what options are available to us."

Diana could tell that Kal was upset with her. If not with her, he was certainly upset about her change in attitude towards the earth captain. If it was a trick played upon her by one of the gods, then she would not give them the satisfaction of thinking that this man was Steve. But, she had to consider James T. Kirk's offer even when they reached the shores of the western sea.

If they could leave the planet, then maybe it would be for the best. Of course, that would mean she would have to relinquish her rule, but it was a title she never wanted. She had been the Princess of Themyscira for so long, the mantle of Queen felt like an ill-fitted pair of boots.

But, she could not consider it in earnest until they had retrieved the shuttle. Once the trio reached the water, she turned to Kal as she unbuckled her scabbard and set it on the ground.

"Kal, can you help me?"

Kal pursed his lips a bit. "Diana, you're not serious."

"I can do it on my own, if you think it's too much. I'm giving you an opportunity to stretch your legs." She was goading him on, hoping that good-natured ribbing would cool her friend's temper. He had become her brother in so many ways over the years. It would not do to have him turn away from her now. Especially if she was considering…

Kal sighed and walked over to her. "I can handle it."

Kirk furrowed his brow as the two of them began to wade into the water. "Am I missing something? I was thinking more that we'd use a pulley system or - "

"Just sit tight, captain. We'll be right back." Kal said with a smile, then dove into the water alongside Diana.

Together, the two of them swam down to the wreckage of Kirk's vessel.

Again, Diana was reminded of how she'd made this plunge before to save the captain when he'd been drowning in the back compartment. And again, she had to push away the ever-present thought that this was the same event that had brought Steve to her.

Three hundred years, and yet that feels like a blink of an eye. It was only yesterday…

There was so much about her heritage that Diana had not yet understood when she first came to Man's World. It had never occurred to her that as an Amazon or a goddess, she had spent thousands of years on Themyscira, aging slowly in an ageless place. It had never occurred to her that to see one man die was to see them all die. If not at first, in slow fits and starts.

In the depths of the sapphire blue ocean, Diana found herself recalling Chief's face. His expression when he'd finally secured enough money to buy back a parcel of his family's land.

She thought of Sammy. The stories he could tell…

She thought of Charlie. Sweet Charlie and his songs. How she had learned to sing those ballads to him as he was taken before them all in a London blitz, languishing in a hospital.

She thought of Steve.

I wish we had more time….

Time was all Diana ever had. Apparently, it was enough time for the wheel of fate to turn and to bind another thread to Diana. Perhaps it was of the same color and wool as Steve Trevor, perhaps it was not.

Kal swam to the front of the shuttle. Its nose was still firmly lodged in the coral. She could see the red tinge of his eyes as he struggled to bring forth the heat vision that had once been so easy. As the star grew more red, the more his powers had faded. It would only be a matter of time now.

The coral broke off and the shuttle buckled.

Swiftly, Diana swam beneath the shuttle and braced it so that it wouldn't keep falling. Once she could feel Kal's hands on the vessel, the weight of it was pulled away from her. A quick glance upward told her that Kal had decided he would show off.

Diana popped back up to the surface for air just as Kal flew above the surface of the water, the shuttle over his head, and then hovered to gently place the vessel on the sand. The look on Kirk's face was priceless. It was so like Steve but… not. It was unique in this joy.

"You are a Kryptonian." Kirk pointed to the clasp still on Kal's armor, then eagerly rushed forward. "Not just any Kryptonian. You're Kal-El. You're Superman."

Diana had expected her friend to smile at the recognition. Instead, he scowled. The expression was made all the more severe by aged countenance and the day of scruff he had acquired.

"I was. Not anymore." Kal swept his hair back and wiped salt water off of his face before stepping away.

It didn't seem to deter Jim in the slightest. "There were only a handful of Kryptonians that ever made it to earth and you were one of them. And you're here? You went missing in the 2040s."

"And?" Diana's effort to cheer Kal up had backfired. He didn't want to think of his time on earth. At least she could look upon her time there with joy and hope. He still sees only Lois…

"Are you kidding me? 'And?' It's 2264." Kirk turned to Diana, an unrepentant grin upon his face. "You have to tell me everything."

"What you've heard about me from your history books is all you need to know."

"Please, Kal - " Kirk stopped when Kal shot him a withering glance. He didn't seem to be fazed, he just could tell that he was overstepping. Instead, he rose his hands in surrender and began to step towards his shuttle. "Okay… all right. I understand." He turned to face the now ripped open shuttle door, then back to Diana. "Thank you both. With any luck, I can reach the Enterprise in a few hours."

Once he disappeared into the shuttle, Diana could see Kal's shoulders slump slightly.

"Kal, you know what we did on Earth. They called it the Golden Age of Heroes. Is it really so hard to believe that he would know you by your gifts?"

Kal bristled at the parlance. "It's been two hundred and twenty years since we left. There have been other heroes."

"Earth is your home." Diana insisted, although she already knew what he would say to her.

"Lois was my home. And she is gone." Kal's voice shook as he turned to face her. His fist was clenched, and there was a raw pain in his voice that she knew all too well. "You left, too."

"But, not because I lost him." Diana's tone was soft. She understood, but she could not condone it. "What about your son? Conner - "

"Conner thinks his father abandoned him or that he died, but he doesn't need me." Kal could not be reasoned with.

"Kal, he would not feel that way. Why don't we return? You could see him, we could tell Kirk who we are - "

"Because there's no point, Diana. And you know that. You're just taken in because he looks like Steve!" The moment Kal let that arrow fly, they both knew that it had been a critical blow, and one that they both regretted.

Diana's expression steeled. "He is not Steve. And I am not a foolish girl naive in the ways of mankind. When have I ever given you reason to doubt my intentions? It is our duty to protect those who cannot fight for themselves. I am trying to consider how it could benefit my people. Our people. Refugees that you helped me train. And they cannot be held back forever by this planet. Or me."

Kal opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say, he let die on his lips as he met her gaze. He sighed, shaking his head. "I don't want to fight with you. I'm…. going to take a walk. We'll talk later." He turned and purposefully strode off back towards the capital city.

Diana let him go. Anger would not solve their disagreement. It never did. That was a lesson that took Bruce far too long to learn in his life.

Instead, she turned her attention to what she could: the shuttle and the captain within. Kal had struck a weakness within her that she could not ignore. She did not know enough about this captain to trust his intentions. If she entertained this notion of leaving for the stars, she had to know him and his heart.

By the time she stepped into the cockpit, she was surprised to find that he had changed. Instead of his bright gold uniform shirt, he was in a blue uniform and jacket that held the gold bars on the shoulders. That jacket was unzipped and he was busy trying to pull something free from under a console.

The technology was very similar to what they had developed on Themyscira, using a mixture of the Kryptonian technology and what they had taken from earth. But, they were essentially on two different evolutionary paths. Again, that instinct that prompted her to leave Themyscira all those years ago was pushing at her, telling her that this was worth exploring.

But, she was still the queen.

"Can I help?" She asked as she came around, sitting on the only other available chair. The one she had pulled off of him was at the bottom of the sea now.

"No, but thank you for the offer." Kirk said with a grunt as he forcibly yanked a metal panel open. It came free with a clunk, but she couldn't see what he was doing. She desperately wanted to, so instead of remaining in her chair, she took the moment of silence to get up and move until she could see.

"What are you doing?" She finally asked. To his credit, he barely startled, but it was clear he hadn't noticed she'd moved to the other side of him.

"Uh…" He grabbed a few tubes and pulled them up to the console so he could look them over. "Well, I am hopefully going to reroute power from what's left of the primary core to my comms array. If I can do that, then I think I can use the subspace relays you've built on the planet to boost my signal enough to reach the Enterprise." As if he could tell that she would be more comfortable watching from the other chair, he shifted towards it and motioned for her to have a seat again.

She did so, then watched as he tried to connect a couple of the tubes together. "This shuttle has been submerged in saltwater for a day. But, you think it has power?"

"Oh, yeah. We steered away from electrical and combustible power a long time ago. I'm sure Scotty could give you the specifics on how and why it works, but basically…" Kirk finished attaching what he wanted, and a console lit up in front of them. "Just about everything is safe from water and vacuum. Plasma sucks and I've had nebula leak into the ship before. That was rough, took weeks to get the stains out." He winked at her, then went back to looking at his console.

The gesture made her heart pound for a moment, and she smiled before looking anywhere but at him. This would be difficult if she kept seeing Steve when she looked at him.

It would be best to focus on the differences. He was not a pilot and spy. "You said you are a captain. Of a starship. The ranking system has probably changed since I was on earth, but does this mean you command?"

Kirk chuckled. "Most of the time. I have a very opinionated crew, though, so they're not afraid to tell me when they disagree. But, yes." Blond strands of his hair fell over his eyes as he kept his gaze on the console. "I'm a captain. I'm a fairly young one."

"From exemplary conduct, I take it?"

"From circumstance and dumb luck, but… sure, we can call it exemplary conduct." When he glanced over at her, she rose her eyebrows in a silent request for more information. He obliged. "When I joined Starfleet, it was on a dare. My dad… he served. And he died saving the crew of his ship. So, a captain who knew him wanted me to prove that I could be as good as him. I thought I could be better. Well, long story short, I was on the Enterprise under that captain when he was kidnapped by the same vessel that killed my dad. And somehow, we got out of it. I worked with the crew and we pulled together."

"I'm sure your father would have been proud." Diana could remember the way Steve talked - briefly - about his own father. If you see something wrong in the world, you can do something or you can do nothing. And I already tried nothin'.

"I'd like to think so." His smile was sad, but thoughtful. "When I got command of the Enterprise officially, I was one of the youngest captains in Starfleet. And I thought I could break the rules because they weren't really for me. I was the exception. And you know, I still think that for the most part, but… let's just say I got a dose of humility that set me on the right course."

"So, now you fly the galaxy for Earth."

"No. I'm the captain of the Enterprise because… Somewhere, out there, right now, someone is saying the three most beautiful words ever spoken." Kirk paused for effect, and it worked. She was enthralled. "They're saying 'Please help me.' They're not afraid to ask for help. And I'm not afraid to give my life to fight for those who can't fight for themselves."

Diana slowly leaned back in her seat as her own words to her mother came back in full force to her. Full circle from a man who looked like the man who had been there when she said those very words to Hippolyta so that she could help fight man's war. It struck her as if the Fates had whispered in her ear themselves.

"I joined Starfleet because the galaxy is full of infinite wonder, but it's not why I'm a captain. I'm a captain because I want to meet people. I want to help them. Whether it's negotiating treaties or showing them how much good the Federation can bring to them…." Kirk leaned back in the chair, shrugging. "Then that's what I'm gonna do."

The silence held between them lasted for several moments. But, Diana did not have the words to express what he'd made her feel. For the first time in two centuries… she had clarity. She had passion. She felt… hunger for the unknown again.

The console beeped under Kirk's hand, and he turned to face it. "I've got comms. Remind me to pat Scotty on the back for teaching me that trick…"

By the time he would have looked up from his console again, Diana was gone. She knew what she had to do.

She had been wrong about what the world and her people needed. She needed to correct that mistake.

Jim had turned to tell the queen he was ready to send a message, but she was already gone. After a minute of inspection, both inside and outside of the shuttle, he tried to push down a small bit of worry and went back to work. It was not the first time a leader was pulled away for more important issues. He was just a little worried that she hadn't said anything to him first.

It took him another half hour to get the comms relay up and running, and another fifteen minutes to realize he'd hit a snag. Until he could actually open a channel with the Enterprise, he'd just have to repeat the same distress call. So, he recorded a quick message and sent it on its way.

Once that was done, Jim stood and made his way over to the transporter pad. It had taken a lot of damage in the crash, but was still intact. He wasn't surprised, he'd been shoved into it and it hadn't given way.

"Ok, Sulu… Chekov… I hope you two made it back okay." He muttered to himself as he tried to pull back the information in the buffer. If their patterns were gone, either they successfully transported or…. No. No, he was not going to lose anyone this time.

Jim didn't get further than punching a couple of buttons before he heard voices outside the shuttle. And they didn't sound like any of the Amazons. Or the queen. In fact… The language sounded…

"Romulan…" He breathed, immediately going into defense mode. He crouched and made his way back over to the weapons locker to pull a new phaser. He set it to stun, then braced himself against cover before peeking outside.

Sure enough, there was a group of about ten Romulan centurions walking towards the shuttle. What the hell were they doing here? This system was on the other side of the nebula. Sure, the nebula was relatively close to the Neutral Zone, but if they were here, they would have to have a ship well outside of the treaty boundaries. They were within Federation space.

And they want the shuttle. Another quick glance suggested they weren't surprised to see it, either. They were already prepping their weapons.

The thought struck Jim like a bolt of lightning. Maybe they hadn't been taken out by the barrier. Even Chekov had told him that they'd barely begun scanning. They weren't close enough to get pulled into the ion turbulence. But, something had strafed their bow and… it could have been Romulan disruptor fire.

Of course, all of this was very important and Jim would store it away for later, but he couldn't help but remind himself that it was largely academic if he didn't survive the encounter. And even with cover, his odds of taking down 10 fully armed centurions with disruptor rifles were… very bad.

Maybe he could play ignorant, pretend that he was just as surprised by them as they could be of him. After a moment to steel his nerves, Jim slowly came out from cover long enough to call out to them, hands raised in surrender with his phaser in its holster.

"Did you crash here, too - "

One of them moved, gripping his rifle. Jim grabbed the phaser and managed to get a few shots off before they all opened fire.

He practically threw himself back behind cover in the ship. With the shuttle door ripped off its hinges, there wasn't much he could do except to use the bulkhead as door cover. He watched as green disruptor fire left scorch marks all over the floor and walls of the exposed doorway. He could hear their frantic calls and had to assume they were moving on his position quickly.

As far as calculated risks went, this one had to be up there with some of his worse ideas. But, he didn't really have another option. Adrenaline pumped through him, blood rushed through his ear as he whirled the corner long enough to let off a few phaser blasts, then had to take cover again before deluged with more green fire.

It was going to be a fast fight.

He stepped out and caught a hit in the shoulder. The shot sent him stumbling back against the bulkhead again. He crouched for cover and went for another blow, ignoring the way his wound burned. One of centurions had advanced ahead of the others. With a snarl, he gripped Jim's injured shoulder tight and yanked him out of the shuttle and onto the sand.

If he'd had more time to think about his circumstances, he might have realized that this was it, that he could very well die.

Instead, he only had time to mutter "Oh, shit - " as the disruptor came up.

And then something wrapped around his wrist and tugged him along the sand several feet away.

To his right, someone landed, gold and red plated armor planted in the white sands. Jim's eyes climbed up from the boots to a sword, a golden length of rope quickly retreating back to the hook at her hip. The blue armor around her hips. They went further to the shield held up and the red armor that wrapped the Queen Diana like it had been made for her.

And she was smiling. And Jim was spellbound.

"If you pick a fight, it should be an even one." She said with a chuckle, whirling the sword in her hand.

In a blink, she came at them.

The Romulans started to fire, but they were far and away unmatched for her. She never broke a sweat, she never flinched as the disruptor fire went past her. Her shield came up, blocking bolt after bolt before she hurled it at one of the centurions and took him down. Her sword went up, knocking the rifles out of each soldier's hand before she took them down. If it wasn't a swift kick, it was the lasso that seemed to have a mind of its own. Her hands went up and Jim gaped as the disruptor fire bounced off the silver bracelets. She was a force of nature. She was awe and wonder.

It was over almost before it begun. With a great "Hiya!", Diana grabbed the last centurion and knocked him into the last of his companions. The Romulans didn't get back up.

Satisfied that the fight was over, Diana turned to face him as she sheathed her sword smattered in the green blood of the Romulans that had gotten too close. After a moment, she extended her hand to him and he took it gladly. She helped him up and looked at him, amused and expectant.

And all Jim could think to say was… "Wow."

Diana smiled some. "Kal-El is not the only hero of Earth. And I wish to be its champion again."

It would have been easy to get carried away with all the questions that he wanted to ask her, but instead, a trickle of copper-based blood splattered from one of the Romulans she downed ran down her arm, and he couldn't help but reach out to clean it off with his thumb. "Well, you couldn't have gotten here a moment too soon."

Jim strode towards the pile of intruders, then looked up at the sky. "The Romulans don't share our love of exploration. If they want your planet, then they'll come for it."

He could feel Diana step up beside him, the tension between the two of them like a tight cord. When he glanced over at her, she was staring intently back at him. "Then we must reach your ship. And I will come with you."