August 22: Old Names With New Faces [Star Trek]
Title: Old Names With New Faces
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Rating: T/PG-13
Crossover: Star Trek: AOS
Spoilers: Post-series for B:tVS; post-Star Trek (2009)
Notes: Reaching for nostalgia again: I last timestamped the Temporal Malfunctions series here in 2015. On my last reread, it occurred to me that I'd left a pretty significant logistics issue hanging...
Summary: It was harder than Buffy wanted to admit to tuck the reality-jumping amulet away in her pocket and give this latest version of the Enterprise and its Kirk a chance. 1500 words.
It was harder than Buffy wanted to admit to tuck the reality-jumping amulet away in her pocket and give this latest version of the Enterprise and its Kirk a chance.
The older Spock's argument made a lot of sense; given her experiences with it so far, she could probably visit a hundred thousand realities and never hit the one she was looking for. And even if she did find the right one... she and her first Captain James T. Kirk had exchanged maybe a handful of words, most of those on that last away mission, before the transporter accident that had left them bodyswapped. A little less than two weeks later, they'd been untangled-- and in separate centuries. They'd shared a unique bonding experience, one that had left a lasting impression on her, but would it actually have led to anything more? What if she went back, and it didn't work out?
Even so... walking the corridors of the Federation's flagship in this reality, all gleaming black floors and brightly lit white walls, peopled by a crew mostly a lot younger than the one she'd been a part of, was like walking into a much-beloved, much-missed home and finding that everything had been rearranged while she was gone. The new Kirk gave Buffy a cheery half-serious tour of the floors a VIP might see, told everyone he met who asked that they'd picked her up on the colony, and completely avoided actually telling any of them who she was or what she was doing there. Then he left her in a conference room, told her "Give me a couple of hours before you make any decisions; in the meantime, I've given you access to ship's net," and then disappeared.
She was familiar enough with the glint in his eye to know he was plotting something. And curious enough about the changes between the Starfleet she was familiar with and this one to make good use of the computer terminal in the middle of the table. Even that was weirdly different, despite its recognizable function; no grey boxy technology here, everything gleamed. The flat black screen operated by touch as well as voice, no button use necessary, and was happy to confirm that she was indeed aboard the USS Enterprise.
The first thing Buffy checked was her own record, just in case; but the younger Kirk's universe had lost as much of its history as her own had in World War III. Los Angeles and the rest of that part of California might as well not have existed for several decades in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first, as far as population records went. The entries on the Augment War itself covered more or less the same bullet points as well, though they seemed kinda... sparse? She raced through those articles, and the foundation of the Federation, and found them pretty much unchanged, too. But more recent history, over the last twenty-five years or so, seemed very different. She did a quick skim through the regs first-- not much different at the level a security ensign would have to care about, it looked like-- and then dived into the details.
...The next time she was back by the colony, she was going to have words with that Spock. Much the same in spirit as he ever was, how was that even possible? This universe's Kirk had done everything the hard way, from his premature birth in space to his ascension to Captain. The odds were even more strongly against him having largely assembled the same crew and led them to save the universe in just such a creatively brilliant way as the other Kirk, as her leading the Potential Slayers to victory over the First Evil back in the last days of Sunnydale.
Her first James T. Kirk had been on his way to being a legend; this one had Destiny's fingerprints all over him. There was a difference: one she knew as well as she knew her own name.
She was still staring at the damage and casualty reports from the Enterprise's return to Earth following the Nero incident when the man himself returned to the room, a tight curl to his smile that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. "So," he said, nodding to the screen. "How do I measure up?"
"Are you kidding me?" Buffy blurted, caught off guard by the absurdity of the question. "Do you even know what the other Kirk was doing at your age?"
His smile tightened further. "Why don't you enlighten me," he replied, tone full of challenge.
Chip on his shoulder, check. Like Faith back in Sunnydale, maybe, fearing herself surplus to requirements? Buffy knew this, too. "Not commanding starships and saving the world from supervillains; he wasn't even a first officer yet!" she reminded him. "You're not even on the same map. But enough of what I've been up to; your ego doesn't need any more stroking. What have you been up to that's supposed to make me want to stick around?"
He looked a little taken aback at her reply; but he was grinning again by the end of her question, a little of the sharp edge worn away. "Here," he said, pulling a data card out of the bundle he was carrying, then tossed it to her and nodded toward the screen. "Set it there."
Buffy frowned and did so-- and was shocked to see her own face come up on the display, looking exactly as it did now, above a subtly different red tunic. This universe's uniforms used a more textured fabric, with a black underlayer; the colors were a few shades brighter than in the other 'Fleet, and the symbols on the chest separately applied rather than embroidered on. This one showed her as a lieutenant, too, rather than an ensign; it did have her name and her approximate age right, but it also showed her as a new transfer from the Vulcan science fleet... and listed her as the adopted human daughter of Selek.
"What? How? Why?" She hadn't even decided what she was going to do yet!
"Let's be honest, here," he said confidently, answering the unasked questions as well as the audible ones. "If you weren't already thinking about staying, you would never have even made it to the ship. I saw the look on your face when we beamed up; you wouldn't have put yourself through that if you didn't think it might be worth it. So of course you're going to give this universe a chance. I don't know how it worked in your last Starfleet, though, but in this one, you were never going to just walk onto our shakedown cruise wearing the wrong uniform and pretend like you'd been here all along. So I called our friend Selek; I was pretty sure he'd know which levers to pull, and there you have it. New ID. The only thing I wasn't sure of was whether you spoke any Vulcan; but he said you probably knew enough to get by, and there was precedent, anyway."
Buffy did speak a little, actually; one of the things that had lingered from the subconscious transfer she and the other Kirk had experienced in each other's bodies. She played a pretty mean game of chess now, too. "Precedent...?"
"Never mind," he waved that away. "Put your new uniform on, and I'll make some re-introductions. Giotto's our Security Chief, like Spock says he was on your Enterprise; the rest of the bridge crew should be familiar to you, too. They'll mostly be off-shift at the moment; I'll take you by the mess, see who we can find. It'll be a few more days until we head out on our next training-wheels mission; you have at least until then to make up your mind."
Some things were the same here: that effortless command attitude, the strategic thinking, the sheer magnetism in his presence. "You don't believe in no-win scenarios, do you?" she had to ask, a reluctant smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.
"Why do I hear an 'either' in that question?" Kirk replied, wryly. "But no, I don't. You're a mystery, and a potential asset, and a beautiful woman; and I don't think I'm flattering myself too much to say the reverse is true for you, too. Of course you're going to stay."
Well at least he was honest, Buffy thought, throwing up her mental hands in surrender. Maybe this wasn't the place she was looking for. But all things considered-- maybe it was the place she needed. And considering the patterns of Destiny-- a place that needed her, too. And there was something to be said in starting from a clean-ish slate with this Kirk.
"All right," she said, grinning as she took the bundle from him. "Quarters first though? Let's save at least a little mystery for later."
He laughed, visibly pleased, and gestured toward the corridor. "After you."
-x-
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Rating: T/PG-13
Crossover: Star Trek: AOS
Spoilers: Post-series for B:tVS; post-Star Trek (2009)
Notes: Reaching for nostalgia again: I last timestamped the Temporal Malfunctions series here in 2015. On my last reread, it occurred to me that I'd left a pretty significant logistics issue hanging...
Summary: It was harder than Buffy wanted to admit to tuck the reality-jumping amulet away in her pocket and give this latest version of the Enterprise and its Kirk a chance. 1500 words.
It was harder than Buffy wanted to admit to tuck the reality-jumping amulet away in her pocket and give this latest version of the Enterprise and its Kirk a chance.
The older Spock's argument made a lot of sense; given her experiences with it so far, she could probably visit a hundred thousand realities and never hit the one she was looking for. And even if she did find the right one... she and her first Captain James T. Kirk had exchanged maybe a handful of words, most of those on that last away mission, before the transporter accident that had left them bodyswapped. A little less than two weeks later, they'd been untangled-- and in separate centuries. They'd shared a unique bonding experience, one that had left a lasting impression on her, but would it actually have led to anything more? What if she went back, and it didn't work out?
Even so... walking the corridors of the Federation's flagship in this reality, all gleaming black floors and brightly lit white walls, peopled by a crew mostly a lot younger than the one she'd been a part of, was like walking into a much-beloved, much-missed home and finding that everything had been rearranged while she was gone. The new Kirk gave Buffy a cheery half-serious tour of the floors a VIP might see, told everyone he met who asked that they'd picked her up on the colony, and completely avoided actually telling any of them who she was or what she was doing there. Then he left her in a conference room, told her "Give me a couple of hours before you make any decisions; in the meantime, I've given you access to ship's net," and then disappeared.
She was familiar enough with the glint in his eye to know he was plotting something. And curious enough about the changes between the Starfleet she was familiar with and this one to make good use of the computer terminal in the middle of the table. Even that was weirdly different, despite its recognizable function; no grey boxy technology here, everything gleamed. The flat black screen operated by touch as well as voice, no button use necessary, and was happy to confirm that she was indeed aboard the USS Enterprise.
The first thing Buffy checked was her own record, just in case; but the younger Kirk's universe had lost as much of its history as her own had in World War III. Los Angeles and the rest of that part of California might as well not have existed for several decades in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first, as far as population records went. The entries on the Augment War itself covered more or less the same bullet points as well, though they seemed kinda... sparse? She raced through those articles, and the foundation of the Federation, and found them pretty much unchanged, too. But more recent history, over the last twenty-five years or so, seemed very different. She did a quick skim through the regs first-- not much different at the level a security ensign would have to care about, it looked like-- and then dived into the details.
...The next time she was back by the colony, she was going to have words with that Spock. Much the same in spirit as he ever was, how was that even possible? This universe's Kirk had done everything the hard way, from his premature birth in space to his ascension to Captain. The odds were even more strongly against him having largely assembled the same crew and led them to save the universe in just such a creatively brilliant way as the other Kirk, as her leading the Potential Slayers to victory over the First Evil back in the last days of Sunnydale.
Her first James T. Kirk had been on his way to being a legend; this one had Destiny's fingerprints all over him. There was a difference: one she knew as well as she knew her own name.
She was still staring at the damage and casualty reports from the Enterprise's return to Earth following the Nero incident when the man himself returned to the room, a tight curl to his smile that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. "So," he said, nodding to the screen. "How do I measure up?"
"Are you kidding me?" Buffy blurted, caught off guard by the absurdity of the question. "Do you even know what the other Kirk was doing at your age?"
His smile tightened further. "Why don't you enlighten me," he replied, tone full of challenge.
Chip on his shoulder, check. Like Faith back in Sunnydale, maybe, fearing herself surplus to requirements? Buffy knew this, too. "Not commanding starships and saving the world from supervillains; he wasn't even a first officer yet!" she reminded him. "You're not even on the same map. But enough of what I've been up to; your ego doesn't need any more stroking. What have you been up to that's supposed to make me want to stick around?"
He looked a little taken aback at her reply; but he was grinning again by the end of her question, a little of the sharp edge worn away. "Here," he said, pulling a data card out of the bundle he was carrying, then tossed it to her and nodded toward the screen. "Set it there."
Buffy frowned and did so-- and was shocked to see her own face come up on the display, looking exactly as it did now, above a subtly different red tunic. This universe's uniforms used a more textured fabric, with a black underlayer; the colors were a few shades brighter than in the other 'Fleet, and the symbols on the chest separately applied rather than embroidered on. This one showed her as a lieutenant, too, rather than an ensign; it did have her name and her approximate age right, but it also showed her as a new transfer from the Vulcan science fleet... and listed her as the adopted human daughter of Selek.
"What? How? Why?" She hadn't even decided what she was going to do yet!
"Let's be honest, here," he said confidently, answering the unasked questions as well as the audible ones. "If you weren't already thinking about staying, you would never have even made it to the ship. I saw the look on your face when we beamed up; you wouldn't have put yourself through that if you didn't think it might be worth it. So of course you're going to give this universe a chance. I don't know how it worked in your last Starfleet, though, but in this one, you were never going to just walk onto our shakedown cruise wearing the wrong uniform and pretend like you'd been here all along. So I called our friend Selek; I was pretty sure he'd know which levers to pull, and there you have it. New ID. The only thing I wasn't sure of was whether you spoke any Vulcan; but he said you probably knew enough to get by, and there was precedent, anyway."
Buffy did speak a little, actually; one of the things that had lingered from the subconscious transfer she and the other Kirk had experienced in each other's bodies. She played a pretty mean game of chess now, too. "Precedent...?"
"Never mind," he waved that away. "Put your new uniform on, and I'll make some re-introductions. Giotto's our Security Chief, like Spock says he was on your Enterprise; the rest of the bridge crew should be familiar to you, too. They'll mostly be off-shift at the moment; I'll take you by the mess, see who we can find. It'll be a few more days until we head out on our next training-wheels mission; you have at least until then to make up your mind."
Some things were the same here: that effortless command attitude, the strategic thinking, the sheer magnetism in his presence. "You don't believe in no-win scenarios, do you?" she had to ask, a reluctant smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.
"Why do I hear an 'either' in that question?" Kirk replied, wryly. "But no, I don't. You're a mystery, and a potential asset, and a beautiful woman; and I don't think I'm flattering myself too much to say the reverse is true for you, too. Of course you're going to stay."
Well at least he was honest, Buffy thought, throwing up her mental hands in surrender. Maybe this wasn't the place she was looking for. But all things considered-- maybe it was the place she needed. And considering the patterns of Destiny-- a place that needed her, too. And there was something to be said in starting from a clean-ish slate with this Kirk.
"All right," she said, grinning as she took the bundle from him. "Quarters first though? Let's save at least a little mystery for later."
He laughed, visibly pleased, and gestured toward the corridor. "After you."
-x-