Bringing into the Loop-de-Loop
May. 3rd, 2026 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerMain Points:
Star Trek (the 2009!movie verse) Cambion AU (New Genesis)
Summary: Pike's feeling a little bad about his part in all this mess.
Word Count: 1157
Rating: Teen
Being a Captain is often a pain in the butt. Rewarding, but it’s anything but easy. Pike’s told that to Jim enough because it’s something he’d needed to hear, too (and had, mostly from Phil) and he figures being first has to be good for something. Being an Admiral is, if anything, even more so, especially as Pike has made some enemies along the way, so it’s not like some of them are any more likely to listen to him than when he was a Captain. The fact that he’d lost his temper a couple of times actually trying to knock some sense into the heads of his fellow Admirals probably hadn’t helped, but it was just so frustrating being grounded. Maybe he has a bit of cowboy in him but not being able to just ride off to the rescue the second he hears something went wrong bothers him.
It’s not that he’s without allies. It’s not even that they haven’t started preparing for this. Pike’s had the gut feeling that something’s been wrong with Marcus for a very long time, and he’s learned to trust his gut. Even when it says that there’s something very, very wrong with his own mentor. He desperately doesn’t want to believe it’s true, but it all tallies, every single weird thing Marcus has said or done for a very, very long while. He has the feeling that the man will attempt to use Nero as an excuse, but he’s been acting strangely for a while.
They’ve been doing a low-key investigation for a while, hampered mostly by the difficulty of actually finding evidence and the need to keep it quiet. What they have managed to dig up suggests that Marcus has been doing this for a long time, possibly since the start of his being assigned to Section 31. Pike doesn’t want to know about how often Marcus has seen his own mentee as merely a tool to further his own agenda, but it’s not like he can just avert his eyes and pretend nothing’s going on, either. Marcus sees his own daughter as a pawn in his schemes, for goodness’ sake.
The main issue here is that they’d meant to actually have the evidence before they brought this before the other Admirals, only they can’t, under the circumstances. Ten hours into the conference Pike’s near ready to take a phaser to his own skull to put himself out of his own misery, but Komack finally acknowledges that they should at least check out the distress signal from Regula and the whereabouts of their expensive flagship. He even sarcastically suggests that Pike be the one to go check it out, if he’s that worried about it. Admittedly, he’s probably just agreeing because he thinks it’ll prove that Pike’s off on a wild goose chase and it’ll get Kirk in trouble for not following protocol, but Pike’s more than willing to use the excuse when it’s handed to him on a silver platter. That might just be another commonality between him and Kirk.
“Your protégé jumped the gun a little, don’t you think?” Archer’s probably not actually upset about it, which is the only reason Pike feels comfortable joking back.
“If you’ll remember, he did get called a prodigy at the Academy.” It hadn’t been meant as a compliment, but Kirk swallowed the hurt and wore the title with pride. “He’s unconventional but he gets things done. And this will get done.”
Archer studies him for a second. “You didn’t clue him in.”
“On an open channel that was definitely being bugged, you’re damn right I didn’t, and yeah, I should’ve followed that up. But we’re Starfleet. We learn from our mistakes, and we take responsibility for them.” He reins himself in. Archer’s not the one he’s mad at, anyway. “Sorry, Admiral.”
Archer actually smiles and nods, not taking a second of that personally. “Go get it done.”
He barely gets a message off to Boyce, who’s in the middle of a surgery, he’s informed, and will probably mock-scold Chris for being a hypocrite and not waiting to make sure Boyce knows even when it’s inconvenient. Number One actually is available, but merely wishes him luck, promptly passing on her own message to Admiral Archer to inform the man that she and her crew are available if necessary for backup.
He doesn’t get his own pick of ship or crew. It’s far from state-of-the-art, though at least medical has been retrofitted (which might end up being important, given the mission they’re on) and as much as he misses the Enterprise, even getting to step on board a bridge again is a sweet moment he never thought he’d get to taste again. If anything, the older style is charming in its own way. Nogura and Archer had arranged it, so presumably he isn’t about to be stabbed in the back, and the ship and her crew probably have a few more surprises he’s not seeing right now. It’ll be a relief to not have to worry about spies every day, or potentially getting poisoned when Kirk and his strange healing powers are lightyears away. He still throws the phaser under his pillow before he gets some shuteye. Even arranging this had been a long day, and he’ll need to be at the top of his game to pull this off.
He’s woken up by Asasihr Ch'vylnos, his communications officer, over the intercom, and soon enough he’s on his way to the bridge. “Captain, a party has already beamed down to Regula I. You should see what we found.”
He’s treated to a transmission showing complete and utter chaos—overturned furniture, ripped out electronics, hastily scrawled formulas, what looks like a half-barricaded door, and, disturbingly enough, two bodies, one of which seems to have been killed much more painfully than the other. No living people, though. No notes. You better still be alive, Jim.
“See, here, a hole was torn in the planetoid?” Lieutenant Vulukor switches to the viewscreen. Unfortunately, he does, as well as something far more tragic.
“Those are bodies, over there, among the debris.” He has no idea if they were purposefully spaced or if something about the explosion had caused it. “Any trace of transmissions?”
Ch'vylnos shakes his head. “Given the signs of an attack and the possibility of a trap, I thought it was better to wait for orders.”
Cautious. Sensible, but slightly contrary to their mission to save lives. Pike nods anyway. “All right, start transmitting. This is Admiral Pike, captaining the Guanshiyin. We received a distress signal; are you still in need of assistance?”
For a good few minutes, they receive no reply, until Vulukor clacks her beak in excitement and manages to turn up the sound enough that they can hear, oddly enough, Ambassador Spock crackle though the other end. “Assistance would be appreciated, Admiral.”
Not Kirk, but he’ll have his answers soon enough.
Star Trek (the 2009!movie verse) Cambion AU (New Genesis)
Summary: Pike's feeling a little bad about his part in all this mess.
Word Count: 1157
Rating: Teen
Being a Captain is often a pain in the butt. Rewarding, but it’s anything but easy. Pike’s told that to Jim enough because it’s something he’d needed to hear, too (and had, mostly from Phil) and he figures being first has to be good for something. Being an Admiral is, if anything, even more so, especially as Pike has made some enemies along the way, so it’s not like some of them are any more likely to listen to him than when he was a Captain. The fact that he’d lost his temper a couple of times actually trying to knock some sense into the heads of his fellow Admirals probably hadn’t helped, but it was just so frustrating being grounded. Maybe he has a bit of cowboy in him but not being able to just ride off to the rescue the second he hears something went wrong bothers him.
It’s not that he’s without allies. It’s not even that they haven’t started preparing for this. Pike’s had the gut feeling that something’s been wrong with Marcus for a very long time, and he’s learned to trust his gut. Even when it says that there’s something very, very wrong with his own mentor. He desperately doesn’t want to believe it’s true, but it all tallies, every single weird thing Marcus has said or done for a very, very long while. He has the feeling that the man will attempt to use Nero as an excuse, but he’s been acting strangely for a while.
They’ve been doing a low-key investigation for a while, hampered mostly by the difficulty of actually finding evidence and the need to keep it quiet. What they have managed to dig up suggests that Marcus has been doing this for a long time, possibly since the start of his being assigned to Section 31. Pike doesn’t want to know about how often Marcus has seen his own mentee as merely a tool to further his own agenda, but it’s not like he can just avert his eyes and pretend nothing’s going on, either. Marcus sees his own daughter as a pawn in his schemes, for goodness’ sake.
The main issue here is that they’d meant to actually have the evidence before they brought this before the other Admirals, only they can’t, under the circumstances. Ten hours into the conference Pike’s near ready to take a phaser to his own skull to put himself out of his own misery, but Komack finally acknowledges that they should at least check out the distress signal from Regula and the whereabouts of their expensive flagship. He even sarcastically suggests that Pike be the one to go check it out, if he’s that worried about it. Admittedly, he’s probably just agreeing because he thinks it’ll prove that Pike’s off on a wild goose chase and it’ll get Kirk in trouble for not following protocol, but Pike’s more than willing to use the excuse when it’s handed to him on a silver platter. That might just be another commonality between him and Kirk.
“Your protégé jumped the gun a little, don’t you think?” Archer’s probably not actually upset about it, which is the only reason Pike feels comfortable joking back.
“If you’ll remember, he did get called a prodigy at the Academy.” It hadn’t been meant as a compliment, but Kirk swallowed the hurt and wore the title with pride. “He’s unconventional but he gets things done. And this will get done.”
Archer studies him for a second. “You didn’t clue him in.”
“On an open channel that was definitely being bugged, you’re damn right I didn’t, and yeah, I should’ve followed that up. But we’re Starfleet. We learn from our mistakes, and we take responsibility for them.” He reins himself in. Archer’s not the one he’s mad at, anyway. “Sorry, Admiral.”
Archer actually smiles and nods, not taking a second of that personally. “Go get it done.”
He barely gets a message off to Boyce, who’s in the middle of a surgery, he’s informed, and will probably mock-scold Chris for being a hypocrite and not waiting to make sure Boyce knows even when it’s inconvenient. Number One actually is available, but merely wishes him luck, promptly passing on her own message to Admiral Archer to inform the man that she and her crew are available if necessary for backup.
He doesn’t get his own pick of ship or crew. It’s far from state-of-the-art, though at least medical has been retrofitted (which might end up being important, given the mission they’re on) and as much as he misses the Enterprise, even getting to step on board a bridge again is a sweet moment he never thought he’d get to taste again. If anything, the older style is charming in its own way. Nogura and Archer had arranged it, so presumably he isn’t about to be stabbed in the back, and the ship and her crew probably have a few more surprises he’s not seeing right now. It’ll be a relief to not have to worry about spies every day, or potentially getting poisoned when Kirk and his strange healing powers are lightyears away. He still throws the phaser under his pillow before he gets some shuteye. Even arranging this had been a long day, and he’ll need to be at the top of his game to pull this off.
He’s woken up by Asasihr Ch'vylnos, his communications officer, over the intercom, and soon enough he’s on his way to the bridge. “Captain, a party has already beamed down to Regula I. You should see what we found.”
He’s treated to a transmission showing complete and utter chaos—overturned furniture, ripped out electronics, hastily scrawled formulas, what looks like a half-barricaded door, and, disturbingly enough, two bodies, one of which seems to have been killed much more painfully than the other. No living people, though. No notes. You better still be alive, Jim.
“See, here, a hole was torn in the planetoid?” Lieutenant Vulukor switches to the viewscreen. Unfortunately, he does, as well as something far more tragic.
“Those are bodies, over there, among the debris.” He has no idea if they were purposefully spaced or if something about the explosion had caused it. “Any trace of transmissions?”
Ch'vylnos shakes his head. “Given the signs of an attack and the possibility of a trap, I thought it was better to wait for orders.”
Cautious. Sensible, but slightly contrary to their mission to save lives. Pike nods anyway. “All right, start transmitting. This is Admiral Pike, captaining the Guanshiyin. We received a distress signal; are you still in need of assistance?”
For a good few minutes, they receive no reply, until Vulukor clacks her beak in excitement and manages to turn up the sound enough that they can hear, oddly enough, Ambassador Spock crackle though the other end. “Assistance would be appreciated, Admiral.”
Not Kirk, but he’ll have his answers soon enough.
