Desperate Measures
Feb. 23rd, 2026 07:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerI do think waiting to finish the chapter and post until my temp wasn't over 102F was a good idea.
Main Points:
Star Trek (the 2009!movie verse) Cambion AU (New Genesis)
Summary: Kirk and Chekov start their breakout plan.
Word Count: 1142
Rating: Teen
“Will it be all right, Keptin?” Chekov asks quietly as he helps Chapel splint another set of fingers. The plan, honestly, is relying on a couple things: Khan’s permission, Kirk’s ace up his sleeve, and maybe most importantly Augment pride and superiority, to think there’s no way a bunch of ‘normals’ could potentially pose a threat. So far, all those components still seem to be in place, but he wouldn’t be surprised if this was just some test by Khan to see how far he’ll get with it. Still, he has to try. And he can’t let his doubts show.
It’s sweet that Chekov cares about Bones, though. Admittedly he might have accidentally invited his entire command staff and possibly entire crew to be a little more invested in his love life than he really should have, but at this point it’s not like he can or should ask them to butt out, and it’s also not like his relationship with any of this stuff has ever been anything approaching normal (well...Pike might have some stuff to say about that, but Kirk suspects that Pike’s relationship with all of this isn’t normal either).
He has to be confident, though. Both for the plan to work and for morale. Self-doubt isn’t attractive. “McCoy knows how to handle himself. We just have to concentrate on doing our part. And I have no worries about us pulling it off.”
Pavel puffs up with Russian pride, but Kirk doesn’t stick around to see him get to work, because he’s got his own part to play. It is...disturbingly easy to step into the role. It’s bugging Kirk the entire time, but it’s not like he has a choice, not one he’d be comfortable making. Lives are on the line, the lives of his crew members, and while it’s worth talking about ethics and the right way to do things, he doesn’t have a whole lotta options here. If anything, it’s surprising that this kind of thing hadn’t come up more often. He’s definitely charmed his way through more than one diplomatic encounter, but given that everyone at one of those things was using everything they had to influence everyone else, those always felt more like a free-for-all where nothing was off-limits. He knows now that Spock, now that he knows what to look for, had noticed that those things could be...a little heady, especially when seduction is a time-honored universal tradition. Even the Vulcans do it to some extent, though it’s obviously for them all about the logos, which lets Kirk flex his debate skills. But now instead of judging Spock just quietly makes sure Kirk’s not getting in over his head, which is nice.
He feels in over his head now, even though he’s not. Even though almost everything about this is the same, other than the fact that he is weaponizing that influence and it feels so uncanny and wrong. He still wonders if he’s not pushing people at a low level all the time, especially when the last thing he ever wants is to be alone or left behind ever again, but he now can be pretty sure that he’s never forcefully done this before. He’d like to say ‘never again’, too, but if push comes to shove he’s pretty sure he’ll do it again. Might need to get a little more creative to find alternatives, maybe even brainstorm with some of his officers, but too many people have already died.
It doesn’t help that thanks to the other Spock he’s aware that he’s had to do this before (his other self anyway) because it wasn’t this ethical big deal for the guy. He hadn’t had to worry about anything other than his normal human charms. Actually messing with someone, not like mind control but more like mind manipulation, wasn’t something he’d had to worry about.
The thing is, and yeah, even Spock gets in on the teasing about this sometimes, James Tiberius Kirk is a nerd. Spock gets the science readings, but all the stuff about ancient Earth? It’s not like Spock doesn’t do that too, but for the most part he tries to keep it more distant and academic. Neutral facts. Kirk doesn’t do that. It means, though, that when Pike had come out with the whole ‘cambion’ hypothesis, it hadn’t taken Kirk long to place the word, and while it’d been neat and all to have something in common with some interpretations of Merlin, it’s not like he’d missed the moral implications, either. That’d given him a crisis. Though he supposed a lot of teenagers were prone to crises about sex, so maybe just like the rest of it that actually gave him something more in common with the rest of humanity.
It’s hard enough not to feel like a predator when he’s just normally existing, let alone projecting his will and charisma on others. At least he’s not out of control like he had been.
The Augment starts out suspicious, but when he keeps asking about stuff he’s genuinely interested in (history, music, entertainment of the time) and genuinely wants to hear those answers? Things go a lot smoother. A lot of people tend to think of charisma as this innate trait, a static statistic on a sheet, but it’s more like skills anyone can learn. Anyone can be charismatic, but most don’t care to put in the effort, because it is effort. Admittedly not a lot of it if you actually like learning about new people, but active listening, reading people, finding the right things to say? All skills.
By the time he’s pulling the woman away from her post, he doesn’t have to look to know Chekov has started his breakout. It helps that he’s been listing to Scotty about details of the ship design for a while, so he probably has a decent idea of how to unlock the door himself without setting off any alarms. And he’d known his touch was intoxicating, but he hadn’t realized he could use it to leave someone in a horny haze, particularly when he siphons some of their energy, too. He tries only to draw enough to heal up fully—it’s their damage, so it’s only fair they heal it up too—but it’s still weird.
Familiarity’s helping Kirk too, personally, being used to the sounds of the ship to be able to hear anyone coming far before they’d be a problem or being able to duck into a side passage when necessary. He’s actually nearly to some of the Engineering backup stations and actually lets himself think that the plan’s going well, which is, of course, when the shipwide announcement by Khan begins.
“To wayward captains wanting to send a warning to our destination, you might be interested in knowing that destination. We are heading for Tarsus IV.”
Crap.
Main Points:
Star Trek (the 2009!movie verse) Cambion AU (New Genesis)
Summary: Kirk and Chekov start their breakout plan.
Word Count: 1142
Rating: Teen
“Will it be all right, Keptin?” Chekov asks quietly as he helps Chapel splint another set of fingers. The plan, honestly, is relying on a couple things: Khan’s permission, Kirk’s ace up his sleeve, and maybe most importantly Augment pride and superiority, to think there’s no way a bunch of ‘normals’ could potentially pose a threat. So far, all those components still seem to be in place, but he wouldn’t be surprised if this was just some test by Khan to see how far he’ll get with it. Still, he has to try. And he can’t let his doubts show.
It’s sweet that Chekov cares about Bones, though. Admittedly he might have accidentally invited his entire command staff and possibly entire crew to be a little more invested in his love life than he really should have, but at this point it’s not like he can or should ask them to butt out, and it’s also not like his relationship with any of this stuff has ever been anything approaching normal (well...Pike might have some stuff to say about that, but Kirk suspects that Pike’s relationship with all of this isn’t normal either).
He has to be confident, though. Both for the plan to work and for morale. Self-doubt isn’t attractive. “McCoy knows how to handle himself. We just have to concentrate on doing our part. And I have no worries about us pulling it off.”
Pavel puffs up with Russian pride, but Kirk doesn’t stick around to see him get to work, because he’s got his own part to play. It is...disturbingly easy to step into the role. It’s bugging Kirk the entire time, but it’s not like he has a choice, not one he’d be comfortable making. Lives are on the line, the lives of his crew members, and while it’s worth talking about ethics and the right way to do things, he doesn’t have a whole lotta options here. If anything, it’s surprising that this kind of thing hadn’t come up more often. He’s definitely charmed his way through more than one diplomatic encounter, but given that everyone at one of those things was using everything they had to influence everyone else, those always felt more like a free-for-all where nothing was off-limits. He knows now that Spock, now that he knows what to look for, had noticed that those things could be...a little heady, especially when seduction is a time-honored universal tradition. Even the Vulcans do it to some extent, though it’s obviously for them all about the logos, which lets Kirk flex his debate skills. But now instead of judging Spock just quietly makes sure Kirk’s not getting in over his head, which is nice.
He feels in over his head now, even though he’s not. Even though almost everything about this is the same, other than the fact that he is weaponizing that influence and it feels so uncanny and wrong. He still wonders if he’s not pushing people at a low level all the time, especially when the last thing he ever wants is to be alone or left behind ever again, but he now can be pretty sure that he’s never forcefully done this before. He’d like to say ‘never again’, too, but if push comes to shove he’s pretty sure he’ll do it again. Might need to get a little more creative to find alternatives, maybe even brainstorm with some of his officers, but too many people have already died.
It doesn’t help that thanks to the other Spock he’s aware that he’s had to do this before (his other self anyway) because it wasn’t this ethical big deal for the guy. He hadn’t had to worry about anything other than his normal human charms. Actually messing with someone, not like mind control but more like mind manipulation, wasn’t something he’d had to worry about.
The thing is, and yeah, even Spock gets in on the teasing about this sometimes, James Tiberius Kirk is a nerd. Spock gets the science readings, but all the stuff about ancient Earth? It’s not like Spock doesn’t do that too, but for the most part he tries to keep it more distant and academic. Neutral facts. Kirk doesn’t do that. It means, though, that when Pike had come out with the whole ‘cambion’ hypothesis, it hadn’t taken Kirk long to place the word, and while it’d been neat and all to have something in common with some interpretations of Merlin, it’s not like he’d missed the moral implications, either. That’d given him a crisis. Though he supposed a lot of teenagers were prone to crises about sex, so maybe just like the rest of it that actually gave him something more in common with the rest of humanity.
It’s hard enough not to feel like a predator when he’s just normally existing, let alone projecting his will and charisma on others. At least he’s not out of control like he had been.
The Augment starts out suspicious, but when he keeps asking about stuff he’s genuinely interested in (history, music, entertainment of the time) and genuinely wants to hear those answers? Things go a lot smoother. A lot of people tend to think of charisma as this innate trait, a static statistic on a sheet, but it’s more like skills anyone can learn. Anyone can be charismatic, but most don’t care to put in the effort, because it is effort. Admittedly not a lot of it if you actually like learning about new people, but active listening, reading people, finding the right things to say? All skills.
By the time he’s pulling the woman away from her post, he doesn’t have to look to know Chekov has started his breakout. It helps that he’s been listing to Scotty about details of the ship design for a while, so he probably has a decent idea of how to unlock the door himself without setting off any alarms. And he’d known his touch was intoxicating, but he hadn’t realized he could use it to leave someone in a horny haze, particularly when he siphons some of their energy, too. He tries only to draw enough to heal up fully—it’s their damage, so it’s only fair they heal it up too—but it’s still weird.
Familiarity’s helping Kirk too, personally, being used to the sounds of the ship to be able to hear anyone coming far before they’d be a problem or being able to duck into a side passage when necessary. He’s actually nearly to some of the Engineering backup stations and actually lets himself think that the plan’s going well, which is, of course, when the shipwide announcement by Khan begins.
“To wayward captains wanting to send a warning to our destination, you might be interested in knowing that destination. We are heading for Tarsus IV.”
Crap.
