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

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim was well aware that he wasn't missing Spock the way Pike had been. But he appreciated the nod, anyway.

He got up and joined Pike at the replicator, looking over the rig. "Actually," he said. "I can do better than that. May I?"

He tapped a few keys, bringing up an image (http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x04hd/thenakedtimehd0335.jpg). "With that strange subspace connection, I can access images from Bill Shatner's program. Looks just like me, doesn't he?"

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

Pike glanced between image and Jim, and arched a brow, "Another look alike? Are there that many on the ship?" He asked out of curiosity, studying the image more closely and began typing rapidly.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

He didn't know. Interesting, but then, not entirely unexpected. It wasn't likely anyone was keeping Pike in the loop. But how did one start explaining what Bill and Len and De were?

"It's a long story," he said. "But yes, there are more. No more of you. But four of me, counting Bill."

[mirroredspock.livejournal.com]

Spock joined them to look at the image.

Is that... velour?

Perplexing.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"I met one other of yourself." Pike paused, studying, then continued. "Another exact duplicate." He glanced to the replicator as it made a small noise, and when he opened it, gestured, "Close?" It was an attempt at the pants, the easiest to start with. They were very similar to the ones Jim was wearing now, but with small changes.

It could be... He mused over the idea, deciding.


[OOC: The green tunic or the golden command one?]

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim reached for the pants, holding them up. They had the odd flare at the calf, a certain sheen he found comforting and familiar even as he had thought it odd at first.

"I'd have to try them on," he admitted. "But they look right." He frowned at Pike. "I met him, too," he said, and paused. Then. "What did you think?"


[[OOC - Gold, I think. Kirk made him a green wraparound replica already.]]

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"I have as of yet to decide." Pike looked to Jim, "There is something I can't quite place with him. What do you think?" He looked back down to the padd, frowning over a variation and changing it.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim hesitated again. On the one hand, he hated to condemn without evidence. But his gut was not only insistent, but rarely wrong. Even so, where was the sense in trusting these men over a version of himself who had offered no offense?

"I don't know," he said uneasily, his brow furrowed. "I don't like him. And this may come as a surprise, but there aren't many people I take an instant dislike to. Even copies of myself."

No, in point of fact, he tended the other way.

"He's done nothing to arouse my suspicion. I'm pretty sure I'm being unfair, and that bothers me. And yet..."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"Yet." Pike repeated, nodding. "What separates men from Captains is our instincts, Jim." He glanced over to the replicator, and gestured to it. "The material may not be right."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim reached for the shirt, testing it between his fingers. It gave, offering a combination of warmth and breathability. Not to mention a good fit.

"No, it feels right," he said. He looked back up at Pike. "It seems like neither of us has anything but our instincts warning us. That's enough for me to be worried, but not for any other action. You'll let me know if you learn anything more concrete?"

He shook out the shirt.

"Mind if I try it on?"



[[OOC - Okay it's magic!space!velour, okay?]]

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"Go on." Pike gestured lightly, glancing down to Jim's current boots and indicating them, "Those as well, or are the ones you have decent?" He shook his head at the mention of the warning, "I will let you know, but perhaps he should be under a more strict watch if he is a possible concern."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim stripped off his shirt unselfconsciously--the pants would wait, he wasn't sure how casual nudity was viewed in their world--and pulled the other on. It fit like a glove and, totally illogically, made him feel instantly better.

"These are fine," he said. "I brought them with me; the ones here are a lot heavier. My clothes... didn't last quite as long." He smoothed the front of his shirt. "Thank you," he said, smiling is self-deprecation. "It's the little things. As for that Kirk--we need code names, at this point--I'll do what I can. I've got someone looking out for him, and I'll talk to Jim next chance I get. I'm not a big believer in condemnation without evidence."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"I understand the little things." He gave the smallest tug on the edge of his vest. "It was the first thing I did, to replicator familiar clothing for myself and Spock."

"Code names?" He sounded highly amused at the idea, "You will have to devise several, then, as they are so many of you."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim had, of course, noticed the vest. It was what had prompted the current favor. Even if he didn't understand what sort of uniform it could possibly be.

"I will," he agreed. "The captain can be... Junior. I'm Jim, obviously. And the other one..." He paused. "What do you think?"

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"Junior?" It brought a laugh from Pike, "As far as the other one, I know little about him other then he was the tactical officer on his ship."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

It pleased Jim, to make Pike laugh. He wondered if the man often got the opportunity. Pike was changing, Jim reflected. Maybe he only saw it as getting "soft." But something had definitely eased in his manner since they'd first made contact in the brig.

Thus far, Jim's trust had been warranted. He wasn't stupid enough to ignore the idea that it might backfire. But that was a gamble he took every day.

"I always hated being called Jamie," he mused. "But that just seems petty."

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"Consider me petty, then." Jamie seemed an appropriate name enough for the man they did not trust.

[mirroredspock.livejournal.com]

It was... strange to hear Christopher laugh openly at the instigation of another. Spock considered. But he could not interpret James T. Kirk as a threat, not as he perceived the child-Spock to be.

You like him.

Spock observed as James T. Kirk stripped off his shirt to try on the new one. He was well-formed. There was much to recommend him - it was understandable why his own Spock might be drawn to him in a physical fashion.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

Much to his own surprise, Pike could only agree. I do. There is something about him I enjoy. He studied Jim in silence, unconsciously agreeing with Spock, even perhaps unconsciously to himself.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim laughed.

"That's settled, then," he said. He was relaxed, at ease, almost as if he was idling with friends rather than winding up a meeting which had begun with mutinous speculation. And not at all unsettled by their observation of him, which, as the captain of a starship and representative of the Federation to a hundred worlds, he'd gotten almost used to.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

"Is there anything else that needs to be addressed?" Pike questioned, closing down the small program he had created and turning to face Jim fully. It was not a universe meant for small talk, though he was rapidly learning he would need it here.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

There again, though, was that formality Jim saw as endemic to Pike's world for reasons that had nothing to do with politeness and everything to do with the reserve necessary for survival. It seemed a bounded, unhappy life. But that was his own prejudice speaking.

"Not at this time," he said. "Not until we know more, that is, about certain command decisions." He hesitated slightly. There was no telling, with both men revealing so very little, how far their regard tended. "Hopefully you'll be less bored than you were," he began again, "but there still is a lot of time to fill. For me, as well. I wouldn't object to being commed for another game of chess, or a bout in the gym, or whatever else you might find at least distracting for a time."

He was lonely, too.

[mirroredspock.livejournal.com]

"That would be acceptable."

It would be intriguing to watch more of this interaction between Christopher and James T. Kirk.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

Pike glanced to Spock only for a moment, no mental communication required, before he asked, "Do you spar, Jim?" He asked with a keen sense of interest.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"Of course," he said, interest returned and raised. "Afraid I'm getting a little soft, these past few months."