The Long Silence [for losthunter]

[boldygoing]

Jim had been looking forward to getting drinks with Hunter after the end of the Nibiru mission.

Sure, it didn't exactly go according to plan, but when does it ever? And with the news of a five-year mission in the works, not yet assigned to a ship, he's pretty excited that the Enterprise might have a shot at the most prestigious and ambitious assignment Starfleet has ever offered. No crew is more prepared, he feels. And getting to explore uncharted territory every day for five years is a dream come true.

But that's before he gets called into Pike's office and busted back to fucking cadet.

Before the admiral tells him that the Enterprise is no longer Jim's.

Before Pike tracks him down in a dive bar, spiraling into the black hole of his own thoughts, consuming everything except the horrible, sinking feeling in his gut that somehow he's done everything horribly wrong, and the admiral tells him that he's not out of the running just yet.

He's not captain anymore. But Commander Kirk is the first officer of the Enterprise now, and as awful as it is that Spock has been reassigned, it's a rope thrown to a drowning man.

He's not okay. But maybe eventually he will be. And he barely has time to process any of this before the call comes in, that there's an emergency session called at Headquarters. Something like that is never, ever good news. And no matter what it's about, Jim has the distinct feeling that he's not going to be able to get around to having drinks with Hunter tonight.

He hurries to get into his gray dress uniform, and fires off a quick text message to the now-familiar number. Need raincheck. Emergency @ HQ.

Surely he'll have the time to reschedule later, once the crisis is over.

Comments

[boldygoing]

"Spock, make yourself useful, would you?" McCoy's southern accent becomes a bit thicker when he's stressed, but the Vulcan seems used to it, retreating to retrieve a sanitized chair to place near the side of the bed. It's not the most comfortable chair in the world, but it's better than nothing, perhaps a universal experience shared between hospitals of all sorts of eras.

The doctor adjusts something with the IV, swapping out an emptied container of medication for a full one. "Jim's gonna need all the friends he has," he says gruffly, and he can't resist trying to straighten the captain's hair a little, messy and uncombed, his hands gentle.

[losthunter]

Once the chair is brought over to him, Hunter adjusts himself onto the seat, before returning his hand onto Jim's arm. The chair reminds him of all those uncomfortable chairs in all those specialist offices. He shivers.

He watches the doctor adjust the IV, and then smiles softly at how he straightens the captain's hair a little.

"He calls you 'Bones', doesn't he?"

[boldygoing]

McCoy rolls his eyes a little, but beneath the grouchiness there's a fondness in his eyes. "To the point where sometimes I think he forgets I have a name," he confirms.

And then, because he's a doctor and he knows to look for these things, he says, "Sorry about the chair, but it's all we've got. CCU's not meant for lots of visitors at once. Not that it's stopped half the crew from checking up on our captain here." He doesn't sound annoyed by that, though. It's been nice to have the company, especially on the bad days whenever the enormity of what happened to Jim hits him hard.

[losthunter]

"Well, it seems to fits nicely in with some of the stories he has told." Hunter smiles a little fondly at the sleeping form of Jim.

"It's alright."

"Hear that Jim? You have so many people just waiting for you to open your eyes." He doesn't seem to mind talking to someone who can't talk back right now.

[boldygoing]

McCoy doesn't mind either. If the circumstances weren't so dire, it'd almost be a nice change of pace to have Jim unable to interrupt him. "Oh, sure. The crew, the admirals, the media... can't hide from 'em forever, Jim." The doctor looks over at Hunter. "They still camping out the front entrance?"

[losthunter]

"The media? Yah they are..." Hunter frowns deeply. He is reminded so much of his father and his lust to get the byline first.

[boldygoing]

"Bunch of vultures," McCoy mutters, busying himself with checking Jim's vitals again, closely examining one of the fluctuating readouts on the biodisplay. "They were trying to sneak in for three days before we got them banned from hospital grounds. You'd think the ship buried in Presidio Heights would be more interesting than one starship captain, no matter how famous he is."

[losthunter]

Hunter flinches slightly. There was a time when he was so proud to be the son of a media mogul. He used to eat up the media attention on him.

How things have changed.

"They just want the best-looking starship captain to make their bottom line. All of them waiting for a photo opp..."

[boldygoing]

"Indeed," Spock agrees, speaking up for the first time in several minutes. "It is greatly disrespectful, both to the captain, and to the others who have lost their lives."

"Yeah, well, that's the news for you," McCoy grumbles. He looks down at the comatose captain, a sad sort of look on his face. "Don't you worry about that though, Jim. Spock's taking care of writing the letters for you."

[losthunter]

Hunter frowns deeply again. There is a small 'dad' voice in the back of his head that goes through the spiel of rationalizing the need of his job.

But sitting here, seeing Jim in such a fragile state, Hunter would be one of the first people to violently escort any media people out of the room, if they dared to make an appearance.

"Letters?"

[boldygoing]

"It is traditionally a starship captain's duty to compose individual missives to the families of fallen crewmen," Spock explains. "As I understand it, the practice is meant to help ease the emotional pain of loss."

[losthunter]

"Oh..." Hunter lowers his eyes. The realization that there are so many families and friends who are hurting right now. Who are mourning.

"Will there be a memorial ceremony of some type?"

[boldygoing]

"Eventually," Spock answers. "It is... there have been multiple incidents that invite emotional recognition. There has been a candlelight vigil for the civilian casualties every night in Golden Gate Park. A more formalized ceremony for Starfleet personnel is tentatively scheduled to take place in three days, encompassing both the lives lost on the Enterprise and the attack on the Daystrom Conference Room."

"Jim's not gonna like missing it," McCoy adds, lightly patting the back of the captain's hand.

[losthunter]

"Maybe there is something I could do to help? If you have photos of the crew who lost their lives, it wouldn't take me long to create stylized portraits of them."

Especially if Jim is going to miss the ceremony, Hunter wants to show his support somehow. These are all people that were important to Jim. Enough that he risked his own life to save others.

[boldygoing]

Spock and McCoy share a brief look. "Would you be able to do ninety-six in three days?" McCoy asks. "I think Jim would appreciate the gesture; I just don't have a clue how long that'd take."

[losthunter]

"I make portraits for a living. When I am at art and trade fairs, I typically can do one in 10 minutes. It is a long enough sitting for a client, who wants to visit at the other booths."

"I could get it done." He shrugs lightly.

[boldygoing]

"Perhaps ninety-seven, then," Spock suggests, and McCoy looks blank for a moment before realization seems to strike.

"Oh. Yeah. Ninety-seven would do it," the doctor agrees, and gives Hunter a somewhat solemn look. "One of the admirals killed at Daystrom was really important to Jim."

[losthunter]

"Then definitely we should include that admiral." Hunter feels a little better that he can do something to help with the memorial services. And help the families who have to deal with the tragedy in a small way.

"I just need their photo to get started."

[boldygoing]

"I will see to it," Spock says. He, too, would prefer to have a task with which to occupy himself. He doesn't take well to being idle.

The Vulcan heads out, leaving Hunter and McCoy alone with Jim. The doctor runs a hand over his face, looking utterly exhausted. But he looks over at Hunter and says, "So how do you know Jim, anyway? I didn't think he had any friends outside the service."

[losthunter]

"We met at a market. He stopped by my booth, and we started to talk." Hunter tells a half-truth himself. He just hopes that they still have markets in this century.

[boldygoing]

McCoy doesn't seem to see anything odd about that story, fortunately. "Yeah, that sounds like him. Intergalactic peacemaker no matter where he goes."

[losthunter]

"Anyway, when he had selected something to purchase, I had teased him about him taking me out for drinks as payment. We met up again for those drinks. And just... a friendship blossomed from that." He is still gently stroking Jim's arm with his fingers.

[boldygoing]

Jim remains unresponsive, but McCoy doesn't look concerned by any of the readings on the biodisplay at the moment. He does sigh a little though, heavy and tired. "I'm sure he'll be happy to know you came to visit, once he's done doing the Sleeping Beauty thing."

He looks over at Hunter. "I don't know how much Spock told you. Got any questions?"

[losthunter]

"If I believed a kiss could make miracles happen..." Hunter shook his head slightly. That magical kiss didn't work in his situation. But he has to wonder if any of Kendra's latent magic would have any effect, since it would still be tied to a kiss. He is a little tempted to try it.

"He explained about the purposes of the medical fields that are in place right now. And not to disturb them."

"And he explained that Jim risked his life to save his ship and his crew."

[boldygoing]

McCoy rolls his eyes, but there's no real venom in it. "Better not. Start something like that and the line to kiss him awake would be all the way out to the street."

The doctor nods a little. He expected that Spock would stick to the cover story, but even that sounds rather bare bones. "We'd all be dead if he hadn't. Still don't have a clue how he broke his back, though. Not like there are security feeds inside the core."