Captain Christopher Richard Pike

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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"It could," Jim hazarded. "But the sense I get is that she acted against orders, or at the very least without them, to send us back. To request Spock's presence on her ship. The fact that I consider him safe enough, for the moment, is testament to that. She desired the presence of a man whom she believes capable of assisting her crew, despite the fact that he's the very man her master is bent on destroying. Which should worry me, and it does. But I don't know what she was when Nero destroyed Vulcan or threatened Earth. And she has the capacity to grow and determine her own course. Currently she claims not to go against her masters' orders, but she's edging around them in ways that suggest she is capable of self-determination."

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They should destroy the ship and its masters and be done with it. Pike murmured into Spock's mind, but kept his expression the same as he replied aloud, "You have very different ways in this universe. Very, very different."

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I understand why they do. She is... fascinating. And I would not care for our Enterprise to receive such treatment should she attain this state of sentience.

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"The Federation is based on diversity and cooperation," he said. "And my personal philosophy is one that believes that people, and things, can change. That the situation must be re-evaluated as it does."

He did not say that his ways may very well be in conflict with those commanding this ship. Or that Pike and Spock's continued liberty was due, in part, to that belief.

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Fascinating as she might be, she still provides a heavy threat. Pike replied, Though I can see that this is going to be a heavy source of contention. The revenge of one universe against the philosophy of another.

"You say it's based on diversity and cooperation," Curious how different it was then the Empire, but as he was learning, far from unexpected, "Will the crimes of the ship and its masters simply be forgiven?" His brows rose; could they be so compassionate as to forgive and forget?

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Jim shook his head, frowning. "Hardly that," he said. "I'm not naive, nor stupid. I would have to be so, to assume that situations change for no reason. I'd also be dead. We have a justice system. We also have asylums and hospitals for the mentally ill and the criminally insane. Nero's crimes can never be forgiven. Nor should they be. But he can be treated with compassion, and he can be given the opportunity to repent. To ask for help. What's more, the ship itself and Nero's second-in-command are still ambiguous in their own guilt or madness. In her case, her sentience. I simply don't know--and not knowing, I can't condemn them outright. I don't believe in 'following orders' as an excuse, but it is an explanation. And I don't yet know whose crimes are whose. Or whether repentance is possible."

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This then was the essential difference - in the Empire they would strike at any sign of threat. James T. Kirk took risks - displayed strength not through immediate action but through waiting.

Fascinating.

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It was difficult for Pike to wrap his mind around. He had grown up, been trained, and commanded in a universe where things like this not only did not exist, but even the closest thoughts were considered weak and foolish. He was trying to understand though, to be able to comprehend it from another view point, even if he did not agree. He raised a hand gesturing with a curve of his fingers in a hesitant movement.

"You will have to take this slower with me, I'm afraid," He smirked, just slightly, as he admitted to wanting to understand. It put him at a disadvantage he would never normally show. "If his crimes can never be forgiven, nor should they be, as you've stated, then what good would an asylum or hospital for the mentally ill do? Even if he could be cured of his madness, which stands to be tested as even possible, he would still be a criminal. Why does your Federation offer compassion to someone who, to put it bluntly, blew up an entire planet?"

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