Meeting after the Meeting

[mirroredcommand]

The new quarters were highly preferred over the cells of before, no matter how the quarters were obtained. Pike, privately, thought he was being on his best behavior when it came to such things. Otherwise, he would have simply killed one of the higher officers, removed their belongings, and declared their rooms as Spock and his own. The quarters were bare, but some time spent with the replicators made it less so. As it stood, they had little else but time.

After the messages had gone out to their respective ends, Pike could tell that the chances of their getting access to the labs was nearly none, but perhaps they stood a better chance if James T. Kirk would vouch for them as well.

The rumor mill was just as strong on this ship as it was on the one he knew far better, even if the rumors were highly different then the ones he was used to hearing. The ones in particular that struck him as interesting were the ones that the man who declared himself from Starfleet Intelligence had displeased many in needing to speak with them in interviews, and he was slowly gathering information, along with Spock, on exactly what he wanted to know in the interviews. He knew they were being recorded, and the man was attempting to gain trust by coming to locations chosen by the interviewee, but Pike knew better then to fall for such simple tricks. Starfleet was working through this man. Perhaps their universes had more similarities then just the ones on the surface.

He could smell the spiced herbal tea that was one of Spock's favorites, conveniently programmed into the replicator by the child-Captain, and was letting his own coffee grow cold. It seemed that a brand of Klingon coffee was what had grown popular, though how the Federation of this universe got their hands on it he would never know, but all that mattered was that it brewed hot and strong and somehow even a replicator could hardly mess that up.

Comments

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"We believe that a man must stand up and judge, sometimes even against his own will. Out there," He flicked a single finger in the direction of the window, indicating space, "There is no Empire and Federation, only what people like you and I bring on our ships in the form of the strength of our people, firepower, and beliefs. Every day we must judge. Judge if an action is the best choice to make, if another ship or race is a threat to our people, or any millions of other choices big or small. You can never say you are not a judge."

Pike locked eyes with Jim, "Or you would be lying to yourself. You and I are judges every day. We have the lives of our crew in our hands, at the very least. Our choices judge, sometimes, always, judge whether or not our crew lives or dies."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim spread his hands.

"You're absolutely right," he said. "I didn't mean to absolve myself of that responsibility. I feel it keenly. I've killed. I've allowed members of my crew to die. I've regretted every life lost. One is constantly weighing the lives one is responsible for against the threat offered by those who insist on being our enemies. I do have some autonomy from Starfleet in those choices, though I answer to them when all's said and done. That responsibility is mine. But I see a tremendous difference between those decisions made on the fly, to ensure the safety of the greatest number of people, and those made when one has breathing room. In cold blood, I could never sanction murder."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"In the public file about the fight against Nero, it says that the Enterprise destroyed the Narada by forcing it through a black hole." Pike could remember it distinctly and was fairly sure it was doctored for the public eye instead of the full truth about what happened. "Which, if they left, presumably thought him to be dead."

Pike leaned forward, putting his elbow on his knee, "Would you have sanctioned that murder?" He hardly considered it murder, but it was killing someone nonetheless.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"Yes."

Jim had thought about this already.

"Nero was actively seeking the destruction of Earth. Jim offered him mercy. Nero refused it. In that moment, in that situation, the options were limited. Self-defense was predominant. The entire situation is horrific and regrettable. I admit to wishing Nero dead. I wish, further, that he'd never come here. Never split off the timeline to one where I grew up without a father, where Spock lost his mother and planet in one feel swoop. But it's done now. And now, in this moment, with the Narada offering no immediate threat and showing signs of change, with Nero's second in command doing the same, with Nero wounded, their destruction would be murder."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"But now do you know that Nero possess no threat? Is it only because the manifestation of his ship is currently held hostage on this one?" Pike raised an eyebrow. "He came after your captain, or friend, or both, and from what I witnessed, tortured them the the brink of death. Only timing on the rescue mission saved them from death. What if he had killed the two Kirks? Would you still want him to live?"

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"Everyone poses a threat," Jim replied significantly. "The matter at hand is whether it is immediate. And it is less wanting him to live... and more not believing the decision to kill him is ours to make unless that threat is direct. What may be difficult to understand is that I have no personal investment in Nero's life. I hate him, to the extent I feel I can hate anyone. I hate what he did to Jim, to George, to Vulcan. It's difficult for me to attach much value to his life in the individual sense. But if I abandon my principles, I am less than myself. My concern is general until the specific threat outweighs it. If he had died in our rescue attempt, I would have regretted it less than perhaps my vehemence now might suggest. But he lived. As did Ayel, and the ship, and the two Kirks. And the situation we must deal with now deserves careful thought."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"A madman is sitting at the trigger of a weapon that could destroy this ship if it were not for hostage-taking." Pike said with a raised brow, "Somehow, I fail to see how this is no longer a direct threat. Would you not be less then yourself if he were to do something else violent against this crew, another planet, or anyone else, knowing you could have stopped him?"

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"That's always a risk," Jim admitted, his voice low but not from uncertainty. "It is a question I must ask myself every moment Spock is not at my side. My regret, were something to happen to him, would be entire. Possibly out of proportion considering the other crimes Nero has committed. But I also must trust. Trust in Spock's analysis and instincts. Trust that the Narada cannot act against herself, while part of her is here. Trust that she would not request what she has if her sole intent was to destroy us, and that her goals will stall whatever Nero's may be.

"What I must weigh, therefore, is which regret is more likely: that I did not act, or that I acted in haste?"

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

It was an interesting venture into Jim's mind. Though he hardly agreed with Jim's methods, he could see a conviction as strong as his own and could respect that. "Your trust seems to be a near-endless well spring, something I can't fathom." It was the more suitable reply to what cycled through his head that Jim seemed to just be waiting to be taken advantage of.

[mirroredspock.livejournal.com]

It is true that he would not risk his Spock lightly. Nor would, from what I have seen of his mind, his Spock allow a situation to persist if he felt his James T. Kirk were endangered by it.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

There was a hint of a smile under Jim's raised eyebrows. "I can certainly see how it seems that way," he agreed. "And why it would be impossible for you to accept. I don't think it would serve me well, in your world. Unless I'm much mistaken."

But the fact was that he sat here, outnumbered, threat not perhaps imminent but quite real. Trust, under intelligent regulation, was what allowed him to do so.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

What he would allow, and what Spock would do on his own, may be entirely different things. Pike pointed out; Spock had done his own acting against his own orders in the past, though rare it was.

"It wouldn't." Pike agreed easily enough, "You would have been dead a long time ago."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim took this truth with a smile and a shrug. "Then I suppose it's a good thing I don't live there," he said. He sobered slightly. "No, I'd be an entirely different person. I don't think I would like that person, Christopher. But I daresay he wouldn't like me, either." He liked Pike, though, which in some sense struck him as odd though in others it felt quite as natural as when he liked anyone else worthy of respect. There was an intensity about him that intrigued him, though it was a dangerous thing as well. There was something hard and cold about that icy blue gaze that was a warning to all. But there was more to Pike than that. More to this Spock, too. And Jim had always been committed to seeing that. "We'd all be fools not to recognize that our choices are, to a large extent, bound by our environments."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"Of course." Pike agreed with that readily enough. "The one I know from my universe is intelligent, cunning, and swift like yourself. He is also incredibly dangerous, has a penchant for blood and knives, and would sell his own child to get farther in his career. He's a skilled navigator, but ruthless in his desire for my chair."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"The one from the universe I visited is ambitious as well, from what I know," he said. "Just as every Pike I have ever met has had some quality of intelligence and leadership that is readily recognizable. I suppose what we all share is the ability to exist in all the worlds we have yet seen, adapting in our own ways. Whether we like it or not."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"So it would seem." Pike nodded. "The choice involving the Narada and its crew is not yours to make, or mine, but only that of the very man they took and tortured. Should be interesting to see what he chooses."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

It was a fair point, and Jim knew it. Though he was well aware that if he were Jim, Spock and Bones would already have been at his door, questioning his capacity to make such a decision. As much as he resented any such implication--as badly as he had reacted to it, in the past--he was aware of the value of the regulation. Of checks and balances.

"I'm a little too close to the matter to choose such a neutral word as 'interesting,'" he said. "But I take your meaning."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"It has been an intriguing lesson to sit back and watch not only one but two different styles of command since I've come to this universe. Now they seem to be coming head to head." It was imply that he was waiting to see which one won.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"Is it that obvious?" Jim asked evenly. "I will say only that you have not seen me in command. Not in any but the most tangential sense. Though... I can't say I don't hope there is something to learn, by it."

It worried Jim. What they would decide. What the consequences of that decision were. What his own position meant, should he be given the chance to be proven wrong. He glanced at Spock for a moment.

"You would not sacrifice Spock, I think, had yours done as mine decided," he said quietly, fixing his eyes back on Pike. "Not unless it became a matter of life and death for you and the rest of your crew."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"My Spock would not have been so foolish, but if he had chosen to do so, I wouldn't destroy the Narada or its crew. I would be waiting for an opening to be able to retrieve Spock and then I would destroy the ship, or convinced him to finish the deed." It would have been easy to send Spock in and watch them fall beneath his hands.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim nodded. "Reasonable, under the circumstances described," he allowed. "Spock assures me he is making progress, in his own way. And I will protect his ability to do so, until such time as it becomes untenable and he must be retrieved."

[mirroredspock.livejournal.com]

That moved Spock to speak again.

"And if he must be retrieved? What then, James T. Kirk?"

What force was this captain without a ship prepared to bring to bear?

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

He fixed his gaze, serious and resolved, on Spock.

"Then I will make my own bargain with the Narada. I will find a way there. And find a way back, with Spock."

If worst came to worst, he would gamble on Jim's unwillingness to kill them both.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"You seem convinced that the Captain will chose revenge over your advice." Pike said with interest. "Do you believe he would go so far as to even destroy your Spock?"

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"I'm not at all convinced of that," Jim said, refocusing on Pike. "But I'd be a poor commander, indeed, if I refused to consider the possibility. I don't think Jim will go so far. But neither can I assume that his choices are mine."