Undiscovered II: Questions of Peace
Dec. 1st, 2013 12:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
works_in_spaceWell, he had his answers now. And he could not say he liked them.
The Klingon homeworld - Q'onos, which almost no one in the fleet ever used - was dying, the victim of a massive accident that destroyed its moon and devastated its atmosphere. And the Klingons reached out the Federation to sue for peace. And to seek a new home.
The idea was unfathomable. Every olive branch ever offered to the Klingons was swatted aside. Or just shot at. Every deed Kirk had ever seen from them, from Organia to David's death, spoke of a race so soaked in death and war and hate that trust was impossible.
And yet, the Federation was buying this. As was Spock.
It hurt Jim to find out that his closest friend, his most trusted ally, was the point man for the Federation. It hurt more to find out that Spock had volunteered Kirk and his ship to escort the Klingon Chancellor into Federation space for negotiations. He was being asked...no, ordered...by the one man he called "brother" to betray his own principles. To betray common sense.
The Klingons could not be trusted. How could Spock say otherwise? Where was his logic now that he needed it most?
But all Spock could say was "only Nixon could go to China." As if a shrewdly calculated political decision meant to drive a wedge between two allies was the same thing as asking the Federation to dismantle the Neutral Zone, to let an implacable foe settle within her borders. Never mind that Jim didn't appreciate being compared with one a man whose reputation for anger and violence was still widely known. His own mission, Jim thought, was never one of personal gain and personal retribution.
And to say that if they didn't act now, more conservative elements would overthrow Gorkin? As if there were such a thing as a liberal Klingon in power. Oh, he was sure that there were those among the Klingons who were capable of breaking away from the old ways. But such people never ascended to power in a regime so brutal and repressive.
"They are dying." Spock's trump card? An appeal to emotion?
"LET THEM DIE!"
And suddenly, Kirk stopped in his tracks. Surely he couldn't have said that. Surely every race, every sentient on every world, had the right to live, so long as the rights of others to live was recognized.
But Jim Kirk, captain and warrior, explorer and scientist, condemned a race to die.
And it began to dawn on him that maybe it wasn't just about the Klingons.
But he was too old and tired and worn down and angry to think about it now. He could look inside himself later. For now, he just needed to accept that his friend had forced him into one more unwanted mission. He didn't want to go. He'd done his bit for king and country. And he was stuck.
The Klingon homeworld - Q'onos, which almost no one in the fleet ever used - was dying, the victim of a massive accident that destroyed its moon and devastated its atmosphere. And the Klingons reached out the Federation to sue for peace. And to seek a new home.
The idea was unfathomable. Every olive branch ever offered to the Klingons was swatted aside. Or just shot at. Every deed Kirk had ever seen from them, from Organia to David's death, spoke of a race so soaked in death and war and hate that trust was impossible.
And yet, the Federation was buying this. As was Spock.
It hurt Jim to find out that his closest friend, his most trusted ally, was the point man for the Federation. It hurt more to find out that Spock had volunteered Kirk and his ship to escort the Klingon Chancellor into Federation space for negotiations. He was being asked...no, ordered...by the one man he called "brother" to betray his own principles. To betray common sense.
The Klingons could not be trusted. How could Spock say otherwise? Where was his logic now that he needed it most?
But all Spock could say was "only Nixon could go to China." As if a shrewdly calculated political decision meant to drive a wedge between two allies was the same thing as asking the Federation to dismantle the Neutral Zone, to let an implacable foe settle within her borders. Never mind that Jim didn't appreciate being compared with one a man whose reputation for anger and violence was still widely known. His own mission, Jim thought, was never one of personal gain and personal retribution.
And to say that if they didn't act now, more conservative elements would overthrow Gorkin? As if there were such a thing as a liberal Klingon in power. Oh, he was sure that there were those among the Klingons who were capable of breaking away from the old ways. But such people never ascended to power in a regime so brutal and repressive.
"They are dying." Spock's trump card? An appeal to emotion?
"LET THEM DIE!"
And suddenly, Kirk stopped in his tracks. Surely he couldn't have said that. Surely every race, every sentient on every world, had the right to live, so long as the rights of others to live was recognized.
But Jim Kirk, captain and warrior, explorer and scientist, condemned a race to die.
And it began to dawn on him that maybe it wasn't just about the Klingons.
But he was too old and tired and worn down and angry to think about it now. He could look inside himself later. For now, he just needed to accept that his friend had forced him into one more unwanted mission. He didn't want to go. He'd done his bit for king and country. And he was stuck.
