Chess Aboard the Enterprise [for smartass_captain]

[boldygoing]

It feels like it's been ages since Jim has gotten to sit down with the other Kirk, under pretty much any circumstances, really. Between whatever happened with his double's Enterprise and all the pre-launch chaos on his own end, even their interrupted chess game from the previous year was better finished via PINpoint, snapshots and chess positions sent digitally every now and then, drawn out nearly a week before the other captain could claim victory. And then it's just been busy busy busy since then, their duties keeping them both occupied, an unspoken understanding that comes from experience sitting in the very same captain's seat that the ship and her crew come first, always.

Call it a rare yet fortunate break in the routine, then, that they both have a couple hours free at the same time. The door to the captain's quarters is sealed against anything less than a CMO override, a replicated pot of coffee and two mugs set out by the chess set, an unconscious mirror of the setup from the first time they did this, on the other ship. But the small knickknacks are different, small tokens of Hunter's influence following him even here. Small hanging plants below the wall shelf, a whiskey dispenser with a handcrafted Enterprise inside, a strange manual style of calendar set to today's date, among other things. And on top of a wooden bookshelf, a long line of colorful origami animals standing guard over battered old paper books.

With everything set, there's only the guest of honor to attend to, a quick message sent to the second-most familiar contact in his PINpoint.

Comments

[smartass_captain]

Jim's afternoon meeting has been rescheduled to the morning after. Doubtless Felix will be cross he chose to head back to Tamriel for some magic practice with Jim having some unexpected free time but them's the breaks. Ordinarily Jim would be spending that free time in the Nexus wandering around and getting some groceries or chatting up friends. Today though, when his counterpart's text comes through Jim is seated on his couch in his apartment in Yorktown dutifully taking notes out of a leather bound alchemy tome when the message goes through.

He scoops it up and smiles just a bit at the younger captain's request. It won't even occur to him until after he's grabbed his leather jacket and pulled it on over his teeshirt that this means going back to the Enterprise.

Just, not his.

The sound of the engines hits him first. The hum he's been missing underfoot for months now. For a second Jim aches to just fall to his knees and spread his palms flat against the floor to better feel the soft steady vibrations. Tiber squirms in his arms and drops down onto the floor to do just that, spreading his beans out as he stretches before chirping up to Jim. Everything seems fine to him!

He catches sight of the younger captain and pushes a smile onto his face.

"Sorry. It's been a while since I've been on the ship."