bakerstreet | A Master/Slave Meme

"This spaceship. It's as big around as, well, football pitches, at least."

An expansive gesture, in case football isn't a thing any more. He hasn't been given much of a sense of the scope, but knows from the corridors he's been marched through.

"How do they lift something this big off the ground without creating a blast of heat that should incinterate the planet?"

Because they propelled themselves around with combustion in his time, after all. As resentful as he is of all this, it's impossible not to have a little wonderment. It also highlights, though, why he's not of much use to Starfleet beyond being a model with interesting potential for replication. He is so far behind.

There are things in life that people take for granted. A question like this illustrates it perfectly and for a moment, Kirk has to swallow down his surprise. "Ion propulsion," he replies. "Though this ship -- and it's about the length of three football fields, by the way -- was half built on Earth and then lifted to dry dock in orbit and outfitted with the heavier gear. We switch to impulse engines after that, using repulsion, not heat."

This is an uncomfortable conversation because of where it has to be done from. He should be giving one of the twenty-first century's greatest heroes a tour, Bones should be excitedly studying the long term effects of a double, centuries long cyro-sleep on an Augment that isn't trying to kill them, and they should be having a party.

This--

"Can I have a turn at the Q and A?"

"And stories high? This could be a city."

A restless little shift in his cell, because now he's itching to explore it. It's a strange feeling, warring between wanting to settle into the smallest space he can find, and also wanting to find what passes in a windshield and press his nose up against the glass. Kirk's next question catches Steve a little off guard. People don't usually ask him. It's refreshing enough that he smiles.

"Sure. I mean, as long as the same rules apply?"

He may not strictly opt to answer.

"It is a city. A small one. We've got everything we need here." He doesn't mind to offer up this information. It's nothing that Steve can't figure out for himself anyway. After being granted the go ahead to ask his own question, Kirk spreads his hand to indicate that the terms are acceptable. He paces across the length of the cell and back again with long strides in calf-length boots.

He waits for a moment, trying to formulate the question properly even though he does fully believe that the other Captain will not answer him completely.

"What didn't you cooperate with?"

"They wanted me to participate in military protocols. This isn't a conflict I understand enough to become an effective part of, but they didn't seem to want to accept that as an answer."

A little shrug. He folds his arms over his chest, and grits his back teeth.

"I'm not a weapon that can be pointed at a problem. Furthermore, I'm not working in service of any authority that would expect me to be. Your Federation, Captain, is full of politicians and bullies, and nothing I've seen yet has convinced me that I want any part of it. So go ahead, ship me whereever you want, dissect me all you like, but frankly speaking you can all go-"

Steve becomes aware that his voice is raising, which may not be entirely wise, and that Kirk is perhaps not the person he should be taking this out on.

This is the second time in months that Kirk has been faced with the organization he loves trying to move back into the militarization codes that his people have left behind not long after the Eugenics Wars. Outside of the cell, the Captain of the starship tries to school his face, but he's wearing his heart right out in the open.

"This is the second time someone's stood where you are and told me that they won't be used as a weapon," he says quietly. "Are you planning on blowing up any buildings to prove it?"

He just has to know what he's dealing with.

Augments are impossibly dangerous.

"Using violence to prevent violence has never worked."

He isn't shy to tell him, arms crossing again. He looks faintly offended at the implication, but then, he doesn't know any of what came before.

"I guess the POW treatment makes more sense, if that's what you expect of me. But I wouldn't risk civilian casualties over something like this. I'll take the hit."

He'll take whatever is waiting for him at that deep space base, he means.

This is why Jim is not allowed to talk to prisoners. And this is why he does so any way. It's not that he's too trusting, it's that he likes the danger of it. He's a man with a genius level IQ, test scores to match, the youngest Starfleet Captain in history and an adrenaline junkie that seeks out dive bars to hit on women in hopes that their boyfriends will be around to clobber him.

Or that the women will take him home. Sometimes he doesn't care where his release comes from though. Sex is just as good as a fight.

He eyes Steve up and down and rolls his eyes. "If you break my neck, I'm going to be very upset with you." Jim's not even sure if it would take. After being given Augment blood-- There's been quite a lot of interesting side effects. He presses his hand to the lock release though. There are only a handful of people that know that there is a person here. He's going to keep it that way. "Come with me."

"You could blow my head off before I even tried."

Steve reminds him, reaching up to touch the chip at the nape of his neck. There may not have been briefing notes on that little feature, but then, Jim really isn't supposed to talk to prisoners.

He steps very gingerly out of his cell, taking a deep breath.

"My name is Steve Rogers."

Chip in his-- Okay. That's going a little too far. Jim keeps his mouth shut about that and sets a mental reminder to have Bones check it out when and if be gets caught harboring a former national hero. Evidently, they've taken clues from Khan but there's a big difference between their histories. Captain America saved millions. Khan killed millions.

"Yeah I know. Jim Kirk." There's a turbo lift at the end of the hall and usually, security personnel. Luckily, he'd sent them away before interviewing their cargo. Kirk presses his fingers against the controls and once the force field drops, he offers the other Captain his hand.

He moves to shake it, minding his strength, but still pleasantly firm, like any soldier of his age.

"It's nice to meet you. She's your ship?"

He hasn't seen much of the Enterprise, but for this and the handshake alone his smile is appreciative.

"All mine," Kirk replies, proudly. "I've had her for almost a year now, more or less," he says, walking through the doors to the lift as they open before motioning for Steve to follow him. "I'd give you the tour, but right now I'm breaking a few thousand regulations and my First Officer would gladly remind me of every last one of them if you don't hurry up. I've suffered enough," he jokes. "Deck five." The doors close and open a moment later and Kirk leads Steve as quickly as he can to his quarters.

"I wish Tony was here to see this."

He admits, absently, as he lopes after him. It's nice to stretch his legs, and to see a little more, even if the memory of the man and his abundance of Stark Tech makes it momentarily hard to swallow.

"He'd have had kittens."

Kirk's silent. There can be only one Tony that Steve is talking about and he won't be happy to know which side of the Eugenics Wars he ended up being on. That particular war had had so many losses for both sides that there really wasn't a winner. He smiles instead and shoos the other Captain into his quarters. It's nothing too grand, there's a lot of room on this starship but most of it is for equipment or areas to move people around.

"Kittens aside, these are my quarters. Make yourself comfortable.

Steve gets, all in a rush, exactly how far out of his way Kirk is going, and just for the sake of being kind.

It makes him smile again, suddenly a lot more eat ease, and a lot more tired.

"Thank you. Really, I mean-"

It's just the right thing to do and Kirk can't help himself. Even if it will end bad for them all, he really can't manage to do anything other than what's in his nature. He gestures for Steve to sit on the sofa, which doesn't look comfortable but it amazingly so. "Don't thank me. I haven't figured out what to do with you yet."

"They're going to try to replicate the serum in my blood."

He murmurs, settling down, watching him thoughtfully. Something gives him the impression Kirk will be as nervous about this plan as he is.

Kirk is indeed unhappy about this predicament. He watches Steve with eyes blue enough to parallel the other captain's and a frown to match. "From the little bit of the classified files I've read, that never works out well for anyone."

"I can't say I much intend to let it happen. But I don't quite know how to stop it, either."

He admits, looking up at him. He has the resolve, but not the tools.

This is putting his crew at risk. Kirk might be reckless now that death hasn't seemed to be able to grasp hold of him, but the rest of his crew is not so lucky. He doesn't mean to stare Steve down but that is exactly what he's doing right now.

"You can't just run around the universe. But maybe we can lose you somewhere."

"I don't know if that's a good idea. Wouldn't they just- beam me back?"

That's a technology he's deeply suspicious of. It feels weird.

A Master/Slave Meme

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