Too much, too little, too late

[genius_level]

Captain, there’s a security breach on deck…

Captain Kirk, you’re needed in Security… in Medical… in Engineering… in the shuttle bay…The first inkling that something was terribly wrong had been in the ship’s readings on the bridge, disturbances reported here and there, increasing in magnitude. He and Sulu had exchanged puzzled looks, and barely a

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[outcastprince]

He had felt--restraint over despair and doubt, lingering at the edges of the cloud that had suddenly fallen over sickbay and someone there. Normally, Sybok would leave it be - not so much for respect or privacy but simply because he didn't want to get caught indulging in his empathy, the one thing that could land him on a prison colony (somehow - they always found a way

[genius_level]

Jim didn't want company. His emotions were still raw and painful, everything still too close to the surface, the first impulse to snarl at the intruder and make him get the hell out.

He took a slow breath before looking up at Spock's brother, perhaps one of the last people he wanted to see right now. Anxiety burned in his stomach. He didn't want to do this. Jim wanted to be calm, reassuring... in control when he talked to Sybok about today, and what they were doing to find Spock.

But he couldn't exactly turn him away, either. "Have a seat," he told the other man, his voice hoarse.

[outcastprince]

Sybok took a seat right next to him, wearing a mask of calm (inside, he could feel Jim's turmoil, could feel it thicken as he got closer, practically taste it on his fingertips). He set the box down between them, and it hissed open to reveal two cold bottles of beer nestled next to a stack of thick chocolate chip cookies. Unconventional, maybe - but the same treatment got him through a couple seasons in Utopia Planitia.

"I know you're looking," he said, taking one of the bottles and twisting it open. "So you don't need to tell me...but I want to make sure you're in one piece when we find him. He'd want that."

[genius_level]

He sat there for a long moment, turning those words over in his mind before allowing a barely perceptible nod. Jim accepted the other beer without comment, twisting the cap off and taking a long, slow drink. He wasn't sure why Sybok was placing that trust in him, not when he hadn't even realized Spock was being impersonated.

"I intend to be," he told him, brushing off that show of concern. There was nothing more Jim could say about that. If he'd pursued those first nagging suspicions that something wasn't right with Spock... the clues had been there, and he'd let his personal feelings get in the way.

Something he'd been doing a lot lately. He sighed, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes.