Fic: [ST:TOS] Q, Kirk, "First notice" [Eng] [gen] [worksafe]
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Characters: James T. Kirk, Q
Worksafe, gen, ~950 words.
For _vejitto_ because it is Christmas. I hope you'll enjoy it.
~~
„Captain James T. Kirk! I always wanted to meet you.”
„Who are you?” The stranger appeared without opening any doors, without tipping any alarms. The uniform looked wrong, the face was unknown. The strips and stars and colour showed him to be an Admiral of the ’Fleet - Kirk’s gut feeling told him this was a lie. He pushed down a few buttons, hoping to catch Spock’s attention with the silent, rarely used code.
The stranger’s smile showed a moment of surprise before all pretence of being an officer fled him. „To go with the simple explanation: I’m Q. Did you know they teach kirkism at the Academy these days? I mean next century. Linear time always confuses me.”
Even though time travel was possible (and achieved by the Enterprise first) it was still not a common knowledge and Kirk seriously doubted anybody would come back from the next century just to meet him. His ego liked the idea though so he tilted his head and decided to play before Spock arrived. „I’m not sure I follow you Mr. Q.”
„Respect. Jean-Luc lacks this, this natural fear of the unknown, of the more powerful.”
There was obvious glee and something dark behind Q’s eyes. Kirk hid a shudder and decided to change topic. „Jean-Luc?”
„The next captain of the Enterprise. You will meet if nobody screws with your timeline. And by nobody I mean your Spock; he has a tendency to butcher a perfectly good timeline just because he got bored after your death.”
„After… What are you?” Kirk stood up, flattening his palms against his desk. It looked like he had to deal with this stranger alone; and have Scotty look at the notifications’ system of the ship later.
„Q. Just Q. Nothing more, nothing less. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it, you never were that smart to begin with.”
The insult smarted but Kirk held himself back. A person who can appear and disappear at will; somebody who claims to know - or come from - the future… He was dangerous and Kirk was willing to swallow his pride. For now. „And what do you want?”
„Good boy. You needed only three questions to find the right one. Hey, why the anger? I just complimented you!”
Kirk counted silently to ten before asking the question again. His fingers itched to move for the phaser but that seemed like a very stupid move. On the other hand it might invite the attention of the crew and surprise the bastard. „I ask you again, sir, what do you want?”
„Oh, don’t worry about your precious Enterprise, or your loyal lemmings. I mean no harm.”
The dismissive tone hurt even more than the condescending. Kirk stepped around his desk, half-snarling the words into Q’s face. „You insult my crew and me, and you came uninvited onto my ship. I’d ask you to leave.”
“Insult?” Q looked amused and not threatened. “When you lead them to their death and they still follow you after years? That’s what lemmings do, and-“
Q’s body was of flesh and bones; it obeyed the rules of physics and staggered back from the force of the punch. Kirk’s left fist ached but the satisfaction far outweighed the possible grumbling of Bones once he got down to the infirmary. The phaser was in his right hand, trained at Q and set to stun. “What the hell do you want, Q? Insulting me? Insulting the Enterprise? You’ve done both!”
Q straightened and moved his jaw a bit gingerly before his smile took on an unpleasant edge. “I am the judge, the jury, and executioner. I am Q. Anything I want is possible and right now I don’t want you to talk!” Kirk opened his mouth to reply but his voice box didn’t want to obey. Fear and fury warred within him as Q continued to talk. “I came here to meet you. Humanity is interesting; but also aggressive and obvious to the dangers of the universe. I’ll leave now with a warning. We’ll be watching you; all of humanity. And your deeds will be used against you in the upcoming trial.”
Q snapped and Kirk’s voice came back; his mouth was set into a hard line as he glared. “What sort of man would threaten a whole species when only one person grieved them? You insult and threaten us like a common bully! Humanity has no need of gods who demand worship and slavery!” Q’s laugh was surprising Kirk into silence.
“How… different. You don’t say you’re sorry for hitting me. You don’t say I’ve no power to make my threats reality.” Q shook his head, his previous mood forgotten for the sake of amusement and wonder. “But you’re mistaken if you think I want your worship. I’m not Apollo and the warning still stands. Humanity will be watched. Consider this carefully the next time you push against the frontiers of space, Captain Kirk.” Q tipped his non-existent hat and disappeared.
Kirk blinked. The silent and not so silent alarms of the Enterprise went off - as if they wanted to make up for the last five minutes’ inactivity. Spock opened the door and frowned, or came as close to it as a (half)Vulcan could.
“Something wrong, Captain?”
“Maybe,” Kirk replied but didn’t elaborate. Q’s warning was still fresh in his mind and he wasn’t sure how to share it with his First Officer. He’ll find the words before it was time for their chess game. “It doesn’t matter for now, Mr. Spock. I think, we won’t live to see this to develop into a real problem.”
Spock nodded and held back his comments. Kirk felt grateful.
~end~
Characters: James T. Kirk, Q
Worksafe, gen, ~950 words.
For _vejitto_ because it is Christmas. I hope you'll enjoy it.
~~
„Captain James T. Kirk! I always wanted to meet you.”
„Who are you?” The stranger appeared without opening any doors, without tipping any alarms. The uniform looked wrong, the face was unknown. The strips and stars and colour showed him to be an Admiral of the ’Fleet - Kirk’s gut feeling told him this was a lie. He pushed down a few buttons, hoping to catch Spock’s attention with the silent, rarely used code.
The stranger’s smile showed a moment of surprise before all pretence of being an officer fled him. „To go with the simple explanation: I’m Q. Did you know they teach kirkism at the Academy these days? I mean next century. Linear time always confuses me.”
Even though time travel was possible (and achieved by the Enterprise first) it was still not a common knowledge and Kirk seriously doubted anybody would come back from the next century just to meet him. His ego liked the idea though so he tilted his head and decided to play before Spock arrived. „I’m not sure I follow you Mr. Q.”
„Respect. Jean-Luc lacks this, this natural fear of the unknown, of the more powerful.”
There was obvious glee and something dark behind Q’s eyes. Kirk hid a shudder and decided to change topic. „Jean-Luc?”
„The next captain of the Enterprise. You will meet if nobody screws with your timeline. And by nobody I mean your Spock; he has a tendency to butcher a perfectly good timeline just because he got bored after your death.”
„After… What are you?” Kirk stood up, flattening his palms against his desk. It looked like he had to deal with this stranger alone; and have Scotty look at the notifications’ system of the ship later.
„Q. Just Q. Nothing more, nothing less. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it, you never were that smart to begin with.”
The insult smarted but Kirk held himself back. A person who can appear and disappear at will; somebody who claims to know - or come from - the future… He was dangerous and Kirk was willing to swallow his pride. For now. „And what do you want?”
„Good boy. You needed only three questions to find the right one. Hey, why the anger? I just complimented you!”
Kirk counted silently to ten before asking the question again. His fingers itched to move for the phaser but that seemed like a very stupid move. On the other hand it might invite the attention of the crew and surprise the bastard. „I ask you again, sir, what do you want?”
„Oh, don’t worry about your precious Enterprise, or your loyal lemmings. I mean no harm.”
The dismissive tone hurt even more than the condescending. Kirk stepped around his desk, half-snarling the words into Q’s face. „You insult my crew and me, and you came uninvited onto my ship. I’d ask you to leave.”
“Insult?” Q looked amused and not threatened. “When you lead them to their death and they still follow you after years? That’s what lemmings do, and-“
Q’s body was of flesh and bones; it obeyed the rules of physics and staggered back from the force of the punch. Kirk’s left fist ached but the satisfaction far outweighed the possible grumbling of Bones once he got down to the infirmary. The phaser was in his right hand, trained at Q and set to stun. “What the hell do you want, Q? Insulting me? Insulting the Enterprise? You’ve done both!”
Q straightened and moved his jaw a bit gingerly before his smile took on an unpleasant edge. “I am the judge, the jury, and executioner. I am Q. Anything I want is possible and right now I don’t want you to talk!” Kirk opened his mouth to reply but his voice box didn’t want to obey. Fear and fury warred within him as Q continued to talk. “I came here to meet you. Humanity is interesting; but also aggressive and obvious to the dangers of the universe. I’ll leave now with a warning. We’ll be watching you; all of humanity. And your deeds will be used against you in the upcoming trial.”
Q snapped and Kirk’s voice came back; his mouth was set into a hard line as he glared. “What sort of man would threaten a whole species when only one person grieved them? You insult and threaten us like a common bully! Humanity has no need of gods who demand worship and slavery!” Q’s laugh was surprising Kirk into silence.
“How… different. You don’t say you’re sorry for hitting me. You don’t say I’ve no power to make my threats reality.” Q shook his head, his previous mood forgotten for the sake of amusement and wonder. “But you’re mistaken if you think I want your worship. I’m not Apollo and the warning still stands. Humanity will be watched. Consider this carefully the next time you push against the frontiers of space, Captain Kirk.” Q tipped his non-existent hat and disappeared.
Kirk blinked. The silent and not so silent alarms of the Enterprise went off - as if they wanted to make up for the last five minutes’ inactivity. Spock opened the door and frowned, or came as close to it as a (half)Vulcan could.
“Something wrong, Captain?”
“Maybe,” Kirk replied but didn’t elaborate. Q’s warning was still fresh in his mind and he wasn’t sure how to share it with his First Officer. He’ll find the words before it was time for their chess game. “It doesn’t matter for now, Mr. Spock. I think, we won’t live to see this to develop into a real problem.”
Spock nodded and held back his comments. Kirk felt grateful.
~end~