Captain Christopher Richard Pike

You have said it before - children playing at Starfleet. Do you want to show them how to play as adults? Is that your goal?

Spock will do as Christopher plans but... he does not dislike them all. It would be a shame to, for example, be at odds with this James T. Kirk.

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"I'll be frank with you," he said. "My primary interests here are in Spock's safety, and getting back home. But this world is similar to mine. Its people familiar. And I am willing to abide by their decisions until and unless they impact the safety of my own crew. It's not an easy position. But it's the one I've chosen. Thus far, I've seen kids too young for command, through no fault of their own. I'd rather see them succeed. Perhaps I'm arrogant to assume I can have some part in that. I was young when I became captain, as well. If I'd been reined in tight by Starfleet, I never would have learned. I hope that they'll find their way. Without official blights on their records."

He sat back, shrugging again.

"I wasn't ready at Jim's age. But I had a chance to fail and learn from my mistakes. If I can help him avoid the worst of the failure... I may speak to his McCoy about it. But he's likely to be fairly close to the situation, himself."

Like he, Spock and McCoy now were. Bonded. Inescapably. If he were Command, what would he do? Allow three top officers on the Enterprise to continue in an emotionally tangled command situation? Was there any objectivity anymore?

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For now my goal is to get us home. Pike said with a glance in his bond mate's direction.

"Those are strong words, Jim, but not ones that I can fully agree with. I see children playing when there are more competent officers around that could be dealing with these things with more knowledge, wisdom, and practice." He shook his head, "I'd rather follow you then the child in charge. Why would you sit back and watch them blunder about like this when things could be getting done?"

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Would you really follow his command?

Spock is surprised enough that it almost shows in his eyes. Christopher is not the following type.

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I would follow his over the child's. At least I can see that while Jim and I disagree on things, as I have a feeling he is much less the killing type, at least I can respect his command. I've seen little worth respecting so far in the child. Pike gave the smallest shrug, something that would have been ignored by anyone witnessing in their own universe, but spoke volumes between them.

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The shrug communicated quite clearly to Spock. He raised a brow, the slightest quirk.

Fascinating.

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"Because this isn't my world," Jim said quietly. "Officially, I have no authority here. Unofficially, my personal feeling is that this is their ship, their universe. It ceased to be mine at the point Nero appeared, splitting things off and giving that boy an entirely different life from mine. I wasn't part of what brought them to this point--who am I to dictate events now? That said, Christopher, I don't intend to see you stranded if there is a sure way back for you. I just don't see that our options have narrowed to... what you suggest."

But he was touched, oddly, by the suggestion. Even if it went against everything he believed in, even if it was largely manipulative, he did not think a man like Pike made such an offer lightly.

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Pike looked across the room to the blank wall, frowning with a gaze that seemed to go beyond the room they were in. "Something tells me that things will be changing in the future, though why I'm not sure." His lips quirked into the faintest of smirks, "Perhaps call it a captain's intuition."

He focused his gaze on Jim again, "who are you to dictate events? You are a starship captain, who knows that the lives of not only the ship's crew but dozens of outsiders from other universes are under a possible inept command. I'm not saying you should run out there and declare mutiny right this second, but sometimes the needs of the rest are greater then those of a few." He frowned with that final thought, wondering exactly where it had come from.

His eyes flickered over to Spock, I believe, sometimes, I have been around Vulcans too long.

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A flicker of humor.

You say that as though it is a bad thing.

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I do. It was so dry anyone who could have heard it would have thought he was serious, but through the bond amusement flared. Considering the single Vulcan he had been around for any real length of time was Spock, it was meant entirely as a joke.

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Jim watched Pike soberly for a moment. "They do," he agreed. "I'm not unsympthetic. But I also know that this Kirk and Spock want what I want, ultimately. We may currently disagree about how to get there. But we may not always. The captain has been through a very traumatic event, from which he is still recovering. I have every faith that he is up to the task."

It was a faith he felt he had to keep, for now, for his own peace of mind. But he would not be blind, even by his own choice.

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"You are satisfied with how they would treat the situation with your Spock, then?"

If James T. Kirk could be as confident with his bondmate absent and in enemy hands, perhaps there is something to his ridiculous faith in the children.

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Jim looked at Spock, his full attention on the Vulcan. He wondered what the man thought of his counterpart. What they might learn from one another.

"There has, as yet, been no decision made," he pointed out. "And I have the acting captain's assurances that no action taken against the Narada without consulting me first. They will not sacrifice Spock."

He was aware of the danger. He fairly ached from wanting to wrest Spock bodily back to him. But Spock was in contact. Spock was well. And he was getting to know Narada, too. He could not think that Jim, or the young Spock, would threaten his bondmate's life so cavalierly.

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"I think you put entirely too much trust in the acting captain," Pike stated in a blunt fashion, "but that is entirely up to you. As it is, there is a certain stalemate, but if the Narada was capable of transporting some part of itself to this ship and Spock away, I see no reason to believe it couldn't do the reverse and keep your Spock trapped. It holds a valuable piece of commodity in this stand off."

Pike leaned forward, his eyes intense, "Tell me something. What do the three of you, the acting captain, yourself, and your Spock, hope to gain from dealing with the Narada and its crew?"

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"If the Narada is capable of transporting Spock away," Jim said quietly, "then there's little we can do to counter her desire to keep him, for now. Since he himself has requested to stay, I won't move against that. As for dealing... I merely seek to avoid needless loss of life. As it stands, the Narada holds the cards. And she has offered no threat to us. She is learning by leaps and bounds, and Spock is teaching the Romulans something of our ways. With no direct threat, and with every possiblity that things can be turned to our advantage, I see no reason to threaten them."

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"Defensive strategies are not as efficient as offensive ones. But, perhaps, with the Narada, one must wait and see."

It's as much of an opinion as he is willing to offer, especially aloud.

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Pike's brows furrowed above an expression that slid towards confusion, "Teaching something of your ways?" He questioned, tone seeking to understand, "Why are is he teaching something of any ways to the men who, if my reading has been correct, destroyed and threatened much, then captured and tortured the young captain?" There was a small pleasure in having learned that the second man was one George Kirk. He still held a hatred for the man, even after all of these years and one fight to the death.

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Efficiency, however, was not always the best course. And not always measaured in the same way.

"They did," Jim said. "But both the ship and the second-in-command were following their loyalty to a man driven mad. I would prefer that those responsible be brought to justice. However... Spock believes that one, at least, may be redeemed. I am willing to let him try. No course is set firm, but if Spock sees something worth reaching in the Romulan Ayel, then he shall have his chance."

He smiled wryly, without much humor.

"Especially when the Narada has more or less made it so."

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"I am intrigued by her."

The question of mutiny is for Christopher to decide, ultimately. Spock has heard what he needs for the moment, for his own judgment.

But the question of the Narada herself...

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Jim smiled, not at all holding back. "She's something," he agreed. "I become more impressed by her all the time."

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"Why are you so impressed?" Pike asked out of a true curiosity. "Considering the reports and visuals of the ship itself, it must be a highly developed computer. A massive intelligence backing up a possible newly born sentience would result in something like what you've told us."

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Jim smiled, openly self-deprecating though it was a sort of self-deprecation that wasn't at all sorry. "I'm blessed or cursed, whichever way you want to look at it, with an almost endless capacity for being impressed. Predicting something isn't always the same as experiencing it. If you asked me 'what would a ship like this be like, as a sentient being?', it's quite possible I'd have described something like her. But it doesn't touch that sense of discovery. I wouldn't want it to, either. My curiosity is valuable. It drives me. And there's a curiosity in her, a hunger, I can't help but be moved by."

It was a quality he valued not only in himself, but as had to be obvious, in his officers and lovers as well.

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Jim also seemed to have a constant capacity for surprise as well. He spoke clean and well, even on subjects that Pike might have found someone else an utter fool for. The ship, as what he could tell, had been a part of a gruesome attack. Most men, and he suspected that the younger version of the crews played into this, would have wanted revenge and would have been unable to feel similarly to Jim.

"Do you believe it works under its captain's orders?" Pike questioned, leaning forward. "Its curiosity could be someone other then its own."

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It was... fascinating to watch his captain in this capacity. Christopher did not take orders well, did not suffer fools, did not often find his equal.

If Spock had not already felt some small respect for James T. Kirk, he would have, watching the two of them.

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