Published: Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Notes: I just had an idea pop into my head and I wrote it down on the 6th, finishing up the editing today. The idea was: if James T. Kirk post-Nero was sent back into his body before-Nero, what would he try to change and how would he manage it? And, y'know, how cool could I make his future knowledge and know confused could I make the characters be? If you have any ideas, criticism, or you just wanna say you liked it (or that you didn't), leave a review. As always, I hope you like it!

Chapter One

The Flash

It was two weeks after the Nero Incident, and the Enterprise was using its weak thrusters instead of the warping capabilities that it had lost to escape the black hole. The ship pushed its way through familiar space towards its home slowly but surely, having been repaired as much as possible. It was damaged, but still warily triumphant. Pyrrhic though it was, they had managed to pull victory from defeat.

The weeks had been painful for all involved. The Vulan elders remained in their quarters, mostly left alone. The crew maintained a shocked silence, still not completely believing that Vulcan was gone and that Earth had almost followed it.

On the bridge, the Captain of the Enterprise turned to his First Officer with an expectant look, weary eyes scanning the PADD that he had been given just a moment before.

"I believe, Captain, that it would be prudent to ready all those crew members who have had contact with Nero for debriefing on Earth," Spock said, tucking his hands behind his back. "I have already made a list of those crew members. I believed that you would wish to warn them to prepare a written report."

"Thank you, Mister Spock," the Captain replied.

Kirk began to arrange his features into a frown––debriefing would be painful for all of them, he was sure––but the motion stopped in its tracks as a strange sensation enveloped his head. It wasn't quite pain, but quite similar. His hands shivered as he attempted to reach the button that would connect him to sickbay. Before he could call for Bones' help, however, he crashed onto the floor and watched distantly as the bridge crew surrounded him with worried expressions.

Then, everything faded away.

~ oOo ~

James T. Kirk tried to gasp, struggling to force his lungs to move. Around him, the universe shone with a type of energy that he was sure humans were incapable of witnessing. It felt like his eyes were being burnt off as he saw something not meant for his mortal mind, so he tried to squeeze them closed.

No matter how he tried, he still saw things. He was falling, but he wasn't moving. He remembered something someone had said about space––that space was that thing that was moving. Maybe that was right. Rather, everything was moving around him at high speed, people and voices and screams moving by on fast-forward as Kirk remained utterly still.

His body felt like ice, his fingers gripping the podium fiercely as they turned white.

"––to experience fear," someone was saying, and Kirk could tell that he had just caught the continuation of a serious conversation. "Fear in the face of certain death."

Kirk could suddenly make out the faces of his instructors and fellow cadets lining the large room, Spock looking at him expectantly. Had he lost a few days? Were they reevaluating his punishment for messing with the Kobayashi Maru?

That must be it. Why else would he be here, listening to those words? He should have his head checked by Bones––he wouldn't put it past Nero to somehow screw with his head when he was on that Romulan mining ship.

Still, Spock looked strange. He didn't have that subtle tightening around his eyes, which had appeared shortly after the destruction of Vulcan. He looked ... younger.

Was that even possible? Vulcans were supposed to be a long-lived race, but Jim didn't think that meant that they could grow younger. It wasn't so much a physical thing, as the way that Spock carried himself. After the destruction of Vulcan, Spock had seemed to age decades in just a few moments. And Kirk knew what that would look like––he'd met the other Spock from the future.

Kirk honestly couldn't remember if he had prepared for this, so he thought back to his memories of before. After the appearance of Nero and the murder of millions of Vulcans, his memories of arguing about the unfairness of the Kobayashi Maru seemed dull and unimportant. He could vaguely remember a few points he'd made, but this––whatever this was––was honestly just for official records. It was obvious that after saving earth they wouldn't totally get rid of him, even if they decided to put a warning in his file. That was the important part, that one day he might be able to work towards becoming captain of the Enterprise for real.

"Fear," he replied, trying to focus on the here and now, somehow disconnected from the room, the messages running from his brain dusty and slow, feeling as though there was an overlap of himself where he was standing, "is important, yes. Everyone has to feel fear to understand how they will act under fatal threat," he agreed readily. "The experience of fear helps people understand themselves and their command better."

Kirk focused on Spock, trying to make him understand that––while he didn't dislike Spock any more––he also still didn't agree with the Kobayashi Maru. The people before him started to shuffled their papers, believing that he had finished. He had lived through perhaps the most scary thing he could think of, while these admirals had remained on earth. No offense to them, but he wouldn't just quietly allow them to humor him while intending to allow the Kobayashi Maru simulation to continue.

Kirk took a breath, before continuing on boldly with a voice filled with confidence, causing the men and women before him to double take.

"But the test itself fails to teach us fear! It is a simulation, no matter what way you look at it. No one takes the Kobayashi Maru seriously because everyone knows it is impossible to pass. No one ever even tries," he stressed, trying to get his point through. "Everyone simply 'does their best' and forgets trying to actually make a difference. It may have been designed to teach us fear, but it only taught us how to give into 'the inevitable'."

Kirk's forehead furrowed with disapproval, hands tucked professionally behind his back as his voiced echoed around the large room. Instead of a mere cadet explaining his actions, his aura was that of a superior berating the gathering for their foolishness. He turned back to Spock, face set into a stubborn twist.

"It's lazy, teaching everyone how to follow the rules in the face of death but forgetting that there are exceptions to every single one of them. There's no such thing as a no-win scenario, just scenarios we haven't figured out how to beat yet. With that in mind, I believe my actions to be completely justified."

Then, reminded that Spock did technically outrank him, acting captain or no, Kirk added belatedly, "Sir."

There was silence. It was absolute and creepy, as if no one dared to breathe, and Kirk wondered if perhaps he'd said a little too much.

He felt tired to his bones, and his mind seemed to be dragging by at a snail's pace. Even after such a short speech, Kirk wanted to drag himself to his dorm (if it hadn't been utterly destroyed by panicking cadets, unlikely but still possible, cross your fingers) and hibernate until the next planet-swallowing incident.

He grit his teeth in annoyance at his limitations, trying to retain his neutral expression. He could argue for hours at a time, but now he was feeling like a small gust of wind would blow him over after just a couple of minutes? It was pathetic.

After a few moments, Kirk began to become nervous. Maybe he was wrong, and they really would kick him completely out of Starfleet even after stopping Nero. He turned his attention instead on his fellow cadets. For some reason, he focused on a green-skinned woman and his breath caught. Gaila?! But she was on the Farragut. She was dead!

Then, an aide entered the room and handed Admiral Barnett a PADD, which he scanned before looking over the collection of Starfleet instructors and cadets with a stony face.

Huh, deja vu, Kirk thought with bemusement.

"We've received a distress call from Vulcan. With our primary fleet engaged in the Laurentian system, I hereby order all cadets to report to Hanger One immediately." He stood up with a firm, "Dismissed."

~ oOo ~

Kirk stood like a statue for a few moments, staring blankly at Bones as his mind attempted to make sense of what was happening. He continued to stare into space, mind somewhat numb. With the understanding dawning across his blue eyes came purpose. Then, suddenly, he was off.

He pelted down the hallways toward his dorm room, normally a ten minute walk from the assembly halls, floor eaten up under his long strides. Kirk pushed other cadets (and, imagine, he's a mere cadet again) to the side unapologetically as he frantically forced himself to go faster. He stumbled into his dorm room and collapsed on his bed, overwhelmed, lungs expanding and collapsing rapidly. His mind attempted to mash together some sort of plan, and Kirk's thoughts whirled into overdrive.

Tell the admirals? They wouldn't believe a man who had just been academically suspended. They wouldn't even allow him to explain. They would probably detain him, preventing him from sneaking aboard the Enterprise.

Tell Pike? Even Pike wasn't crazy enough to believe the words of a man claiming to be from the future.

Tell Bones? Maybe. Bones wouldn't really believe him, but maybe he'd get the benefit of the doubt. Possibly. Well, actually not really.

At this juncture, explaining that he had future knowledge would be more trouble than it was worth. It would take a good half hour to explain even just the highlights of his first time around––excluding whatever proof Kirk could remember to give. Bones might listen, but he would think it was a practical joke. Kirk didn't have anyone else he knew well enough to tell.

Spock––from decades in the future––would be really useful right now. Y'know, either of the Spocks, really, but future Spock would be really useful. He was also stuck on Delta Vega––lightyears away.

Well, okay then. Kirk would have to do this by himself. What did he know?

Firstly, all this information would be useless if Kirk wasn't on the Enterprise. Secondly, he would need to warn Pike (again) of the space anomaly and the attack on Vulcan. Thirdly, he would have to somehow stop Nero from sending any Red Matter to Vulcan. Fourthly, after stopping Nero from destroying Vulcan, he would need to stop Nero from destroying Earth. It would be just his luck to stop one planet imploding just to have another do the same exact thing.

...

How the heck was he supposed to do all that?!

Breathe, Kirk, breathe. In, out. In. Out.

...

Well, freaking out wasn't helping anyone. He was James T. Kirk, sort of almost acting captain of the Enterprise. In the future. He could deal with this.

He calmed down and swung off of his bed, swiping his PADD off of his desk and tucking it into his messenger bag. Upon second thought, he also grabbed his pocket knife from a shoe box in the closet and his midnight studying snacks from underneath his bed, tossing them in as well.

He had to take one thing at a time. At the moment, he needed to talk to Pike and he needed to get on board the Enterprise. He couldn't depend on Bones taking pity on him again, and it would waste even more valuable time if he had to wait for his allergic reaction to wear off when explaining things on the bridge.

Pike wouldn't believe him if Kirk said he was a time traveller, but he'd already believed him when Kirk warned him about Nero the first time. Add in a couple useful tidbits that he didn't know before, and they might just have a fighting chance.

He needed to figure out a way to make Pike actually listen to him, though. And Uhura too, because she had been the one to translate the Klingon message initially. Lastly, he would need to contact Spock, but at this point Spock thought he was just an arrogant cadet with issues. Thankfully, Pike had passed him the captain's override codes after waking up in the Enterprise's sickbay.

He opened the Message utility on his PADD and started typing as he walked blindly towards the Hangers, swerving to avoid incoming traffic in the halls.

Recipients: Captain Pike, USS Enterprise; First Officer Spock, USS Enterprise ; Lieutenant Uhura, USS Enterprise

Sender: James Kirk (code *******)

URGENT! I am familiar with the space anomaly that was reported around Vulcan. In 2233, an identical anomaly was found just before the attack of the USS Kelvin by a single highly advanced Romulan ship. Also, Lieutenant Uhura received and translated a message from Klingon space detailing that another, highly advanced ship destroyed a fleet of 47 Klingon vessels single handedly. Vulcan is under attack. The Romulan ship has a weapon called red matter that he's planning to unleash on the planet. (1)

As he finished his short message, Kirk waited for a moment as a short pop up window informed him that sending messages to officers aboard a Federation starship was impossible without the proper authorization. While that would normally be a major problem, Kirk quickly imputed his captain's codes and waited for the ping that told him his message was sent. There was a tension-filled pause. Ping!

Kirk smirked widely, mind still running through a few likely possibilities for preventing a disaster that had already happened.

Step Two? Check. (Well, mostly; he'd have to see how it worked when he got there.)

Kirk leaned against the entrance of Hanger One and peered out at the cadets lining up in their class groups and getting shuffled off into shuttles. He scanned the different groups with a furrow of his eyebrows before bringing up his PADD and scrolling through the Message system again. He began to walk through the groups of cadets, trying not to attract any attention.

Now to get himself aboard the Enterprise. He would have to figure out Steps Three and Four later.

Next Chapter: Too Much Information

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