NEW TOS-AU, Show Me (Ancient Destroyer Holiday Story) PG, 1/1 (K, U, Mitch, PK)
Gojirob
Author : ‘Goji’ Rob Morris
Series : The TOS-based AU, The Ancient Destroyer Cycle
Type : Backstory, Holidays
Part : 1/1
Characters : K, U, Gary M, PK, SamK
Rating : PG
Summary : At the end of a very hard year, Young Kirk meets someone who
can recharge his soul.
Show Me
By Rob Morris
"Show me the meaning of the word. Show me the meaning of the word. Cuz
I've heard so much about it.
They say you can't live without it. Welcome to the human race, With
its war, diseases and brutality.
You with your innocence and grace. Restore some pride and dignity to
our world in decline.
Welcome to the special place, And our heart of stone that is cold and
grey. You with your angel face,
Keep the despair at bay, and send it away." - ‘Show Me' by Chrissie
Hynde and The Pretenders, 1981
EARTH COLONY DENEVA 3, DECEMBER 25TH, 2255
"Geez, Jim-we had to walk? Why is it even cold on a place like
Deneva?"
The cold wind made the area where his arm had been successfully
reattached ache, but it was a good ache. It reminded him that he was
alive. Alive, when so many others aboard the USS Farragut were not.
The thing that had come out of some primal darkness and drained them
all dry was even worse than most realized. Kirk and the other
survivors had described a voice, a hint of a whisper of a presence
that spoke of far worse to come-or was it to come again?
"Gary-Jim told us. The residents wanted a Terran December feel. I'm
just sorry Carol couldn't come."
Starfleet knew a group of primal survivors when they saw them, and the
equally primal need for those survivors to hit something. That
something was an Orion slave trade station, and most of the
‘commodity' had been Starfleet cadets on retreat, shaking as their
final ‘processing' was about to begin. Kirk had taken the eye of the
one who'd taken his arm in two, a thug who claimed to be the Orion
Pirate Prince himself. The first thing Kirk did with his restored arm
was to give the pursuing enemy vessel the finger just before they
achieved warp. The port windows had met up exactly right and the thug
clutching his eye was screaming something as Kirk smiled.
"Why? So the two of you can fight over Jim under the mistletoe? Nyta,
you don't make deals with Carol Marcus. She's too smart. People with
our IQ can't be competed with on a mental level."
But on the way back, dealing with all those shattered kids brought
back memories of Tarsus, of what had nearly happened to him and Nyta
Uhura-and what had happened to Kevin Riley. To them, the newly-minted
officer seemed the grand old man of the Fleet, but all that meant was
they kept right on turning to him. As the saying went, he ended up
giving them everything he had, and everything he did not. This sort of
deficit inevitably led to a man utterly drained by the time he saw the
Deneva of February of that same year.
"Carol is my friend. She'll dig in, she'll dig deep, but she'd never
undermine me. This is the heart we're fighting for, not the head."
It had been colder then, but he hadn't felt remotely alive as he
staggered towards his brother's home. The leave Starfleet had wisely
delayed it now demanded of its survivors and heroes. Kirk and a woman
who was a self-described wanton had not been able to muster so much as
a good checkers game on the way back.
"Carol doesn't stop. She will figure out a way to hedge our Jimmy in.
So why don't you just give in and become Mrs. Mitchell?"
Once inside Sam and Aurelan's home, the woman who was now his sister
in law, and whom he had thought of as a sister for much longer than
that, held him and comforted him. The man the galaxy would one day see
as a titan was nothing in her arms, mournfully talking of battles too
close and ones plainly lost with foes both ruthless and seemingly
untouchable.
"Your faked sincerity floors me, Mister Mitchell. It changes nothing
at all, though."
At some point, he knew he should have pulled away, but when she said
that he didn't need to stop, he didn't. Sam had burst in while they
were finishing up, screaming bloody murder, and then laughing his ass
off. When the woman he had just broken oaths with began to laugh as
well, James Kirk began to feel raw fury.
"C'mon, Nyta! If I'm unescorted, I'm gonna be stuck in a corner the
whole time, discussing baking techniques with Jim's Mom."
As it turned out, pranking was not the only thing on Sam and Aurelan's
minds. An accident had rendered Sam sterile, and they wanted a baby of
the Kirk family line. Jim openly wondered whether two people immature
enough to set all this up were even remotely ready to be parents. But
he consented, and in fact, his time with Aurelan had already sealed
matters. A wary Brianna and a delighted George were informed that they
were to be grandparents, and even chose to set aside their differences
for a December meeting after the baby was born.
"Talk with her about faking enthusiasm, Gary. She's the only woman her
age I've ever seen not be delighted by the news about a grandchild."
December 8th came, and with it two pieces of news. Peter Claudius
Kirk, legally the son of George Samuel Kirk Junior and Aurelan Sorel
Kirk was born on Earth Colony Deneva Three. On the other side of the
galaxy, George Samuel Kirk Senior was presumed lost along with Captain
Robert April and the entire crew of the USS Constitution,
circumstances unknown. Final communications and telemetry were cryptic
and yet ominous at the same time. Something was out there, all knew,
as in the old maps which stated ‘Here Be Dragons'.
"Well, no woman is happy with being reminded of her age. Brianna's
just that way."
With the loss of George Senior and Captain Garrovick, James Kirk felt
very much like a man who lost two fathers at once, and had no idea if
he was ready to be one himself.
"Hey, all. Come on in-Sam is just off having a talk with Bri. Jimmy-
there's someone who is very anxious to see you."
Someone Kirk was not at all anxious to see emerged with Sam. Both had
glares on their faces. He strode right up to a woman he tried all his
life to make peace with, till she placed him in a coma.
"Mom-whatever Sam said to get you so upset-whatever ‘warning' he gave
you about the new baby...."
He nodded.
"Consider it infinitized on my part."
It was a hard thing, even painful, the day he'd stopped trying to
understand whatever deep pain or sickness rendered Brianna not a
mother. But he'd had fewer headaches since, so it was a worthy trade-
off.
"Can't you speak to me just once in a civil or respectful tone?"
Neither Kirk brother was having any of it.
"Can't you be glad to have a grandchild?"
That was not in her, Kirk knew, and if he did not know, he could see
it in her face. Sam guided them both well away from her, while, true
to his prediction, Gary Mitchell ended up ‘cornered' by Brianna. One
night years later, while drunk out of his mind, Mitchell would reveal
to Kirk what they did when cornered.
"The baby's almost ready to see his Uncle Jim."
Kirk looked at the man who very nearly wore his face.
"The real baby? Not a done-up whoopee cushion, or like that?"
Sam sighed.
"Jim, let it go."
Kirk looked around, and then spoke in a hushed but firm voice.
"The hell I will. You used a prank to get me in bed with your own
wife, instead of just having the decency to ask me to donate what you
needed."
Sam lied through his teeth.
"Aurelan and I agreed that our baby shouldn't be born through a
passionless act."
"So that justifies lying to me?"
"It's like Carol once said, Jim. You're too much of a boy scout. Look,
if you feel that responsible, don't. You did your part, and we love
you for it. But you're not its father, I am. Can't you just enjoy
being an uncle?"
A cry came out of the bedroom, but it soon turned to cooing. Nyta held
a small bundle as she and Aurelan emerged. Aurelan almost seemed to
glare at Uhura, but this passed quickly.
"Good on you, Nyta. I can never get him to calm down that quickly."
Uhura seemed like she was in love with her second Kirk, and was indeed
reluctant to hand the baby boy over to the man who felt like a father,
but vowed to leave that to his big brother. While reality would
intrude hard on that vow, for then and there Jim Kirk let himself be
an uncle with a secret as he sat down with a child whose preciousness
came not from prophecies or destinies, but from the love that, God
Willing, surrounds all newborn children.
"Hey, You. I'm not much, but I'm all you've got, uncle-wise. Is that
the Milky Way, still in your eyes? Could you confirm the existence of
God for me? If he's there, you have to remember what he looks like."
A soft gurgle was all the response the tired man got.
"Could you ask him why a cloud that can kill people but can't be shot
was allowed to kill a ship full of good people? Can you ask him why a
people of ancient culture have degenerated into ravening space pirates
who view our cadets as meat? Can you ask him why I don't have a
father, and you don't have a grandfather?"
The baby's innocent face now began to look sad, which shook Kirk out
of his funk.
"No, no. Just say hi for me, and tell him, despite what some people
say, I don't think I'm him. Though I think your Uncle Gary may be
after his job."
A little laugh made Kirk almost believe that the child understood his
words.
"Granpa George had a recording of him singing a song to me, on our
first Christmas. I'll try not to sing as badly as Old Uncle Bill,
though."
A bizarre evening, including a veiled assassination attempt against
the baby, still lay ahead. But Kirk lost himself in the ancient song.
As he sang, Sam, Aurelan and Uhura came and joined him.
"The season is upon us now, the time for gifts and giving
as the year draws to its close, I think about my living.
The Christmas time when I was young, The magic and the wonder.The
colors dull, and candles dim and dark, my standing under.
Oh, little angel shining light, you've set my soul to dreaming
You've given back my joy in life and filled me with new meaning.
It's said a king was born that day, A baby just like you
As the wise men came with gifts, I've come with my gift too.
Peace through the stars fill up your time, and brotherhood surround
you that you may know the warmth of love and wrap it all around you.
It's just a wish, A dream I'm told, from days when I was young
Merry Christmas Peter Claudius, Merry Christmas everyone...
Merry Christmas Peter Claudius, Merry Christmas...everyone."
And as long as he held that baby, James T. Kirk felt like a man very
much at peace.
----------------------
2278, USS Enterprise
Through Spock, Sarek had asked to speak with Kirk via secure commcall.
As Spock and an anxious McCoy stood with him, Kirk watched Sarek
gesture off-screen. The one who came on in his place caused the eyes
of all three men on the Enterprise end to go wide as the hull, even
though two of them knew what to expect.
For Kirk, the mere sight of the teen boy on-screen was enough to raise
his spirits.
"Peter?"
"Uncle Jim? I'm alive!"
Though it was months away from Christmas time, Kirk felt the warmth of
that time when he held a newborn in his arms, and he remembered words
that seemed to echo from that night that now seemed lifetimes away.
*A baby just like you*
---------------
Thanks to the late John Denver, whose altered song was sung above.