James Tiberius Kirk (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
boldygoing) wrote2021-03-09 07:14 pm
boldygoing) wrote2021-03-09 07:14 pm
Catching Up [for smartass_captain, backdated]
There's a good deal to do in the wake of the attack on Yorktown, even once he's given his debriefing to both the station's leadership as well as Starfleet Command. A thorough census of the survivors, checking in with the injured, composing letters for the families of the confirmed dead. For once, however, it feels as though he's not alone in such things, Yorktown in able hands as the station's leadership takes control of a good deal of the cleanup. It's strange, having both more and less paperwork than Jim had assumed there might be.
He'd be perfectly entitled to a leave on grounds of stress, but Jim has never been very good at just sitting still when there's work to be done.
It's an easier pace to keep up with, and despite taking it slow, he still finds that he has time to himself every day, time when he isn't really sure what to do with himself. Not until arrangements can be made to return to the planet and pick through the ruins of Enterprise.
An extended absence might be noted, but no one's likely to come looking for him in the night cycle, and there are no more shipboard emergencies that may demand his attention.
Two days after the attack on Yorktown, as the station's cycle turns to evening, he sends a message. Well you don't have to worry about me finding out anymore. Chess?
He'd be perfectly entitled to a leave on grounds of stress, but Jim has never been very good at just sitting still when there's work to be done.
It's an easier pace to keep up with, and despite taking it slow, he still finds that he has time to himself every day, time when he isn't really sure what to do with himself. Not until arrangements can be made to return to the planet and pick through the ruins of Enterprise.
An extended absence might be noted, but no one's likely to come looking for him in the night cycle, and there are no more shipboard emergencies that may demand his attention.
Two days after the attack on Yorktown, as the station's cycle turns to evening, he sends a message. Well you don't have to worry about me finding out anymore. Chess?
no subject
One year older.
"Ah, I dunno. You could always ask to go back out again," he says, and even though he's smiling, it's not really a joke. "First five-year mission doesn't mean 'only.' Plenty of space still left out there in the black. A job that's never finished, but... who knows what's out there?"
no subject
But he wasn't doing so great around the time this all went down. His alternate? Seems to be in a much better place. Jim's grateful for that. Not to say he wouldn't have torn up the Nexus trying to find a way to reach his alternate if that's what it took. Jim knows he owes that favor. It's just....a relief to see one of them healthier than he was. Better prepared.
Maybe he shouldn't have been. Jim can't find it in himself to regret it.
"Of course I'm going to--but it won't be the same." A little wistful. He's grown to know the people under his command so well these last several years. Especially the ones who have survived this long. Some of them won't go back out again but that's been true of every mission. Even among those who have stayed with him this long....they've got lives too. Families. Promotions to chase. It's not going to stay like this forever. There was a time that would terrify him.
It still makes him nervous. But he's not agonizing every day they get closer to Earth, either. Things change. Maybe something great will come with it. Even if it's not quite the ramshackle family Jim's carved for himself out of his crew.
"I'll be asking to go back out there until they refuse, more than likely. Felix is taking well to it. But he's not seen much of Earth. Guess there's an opportunity there, too. To not lose my mind quite so quickly."