Signs of the Times

Because the more things change, the more they stay the same.

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Giotto looked up when he heard a knock on his door. Only one person ever did that. Captain, no, he corrected himself, Admiral Pike stood in his doorway.

"Chris," he said, coming around his desk to clasp his former Captain's hand. "You look good."

"At least I look better than the last time you saw me. I'm out of that chair." Chris shifted the grip on his cane and smiled at him. "How are you doing, Sam? I hear you've been putting these young colts through their paces."

Sam smiled back at the Academy's new Provost. "Someone has to. The Academy doesn't knock near enough sense into them."

"Hey! I resent that." Kirk appeared behind Chris's shoulder with a trademark grin. "No one can knock sense into me, although I'll admit the Chief here has given it good try." He lifted his eyebrows at Pike. "And if I'm a young colt, why am I having trouble keeping up with a old horse with a cane?"

"Tortoise and the hare, Jim," Chris chuckled. "When you're Captain, everyone on the ship needs a piece of you, so even slow admirals can pull ahead. Now go take care of whatever that yeoman stopped you about and give me and Sam a chance to catch up."

Kirk looked at them suspiciously. "Why do I feel like I've just been told to run along and play so the grown-ups can talk?"

Probably because he had been, but Sam was not going to be the one to say it. Pike liked Kirk better than most of the other captains in the fleet, but he was clearly enjoying the fact that all of that gold on his sleeve would let him get away nearly anything. Giotto raised an eyebrow at him.

Pike just grinned. "Go play, Captain, and tell Mr. Scott I'll be down to engineering next to inspect for missing beagles."

"Fine." Kirk rolled his eyes as he turned to leave. "You two kids be good."

Sam swallowed a laugh. Kirk was irrepressible. "Come in and sit down, Chris. If we weren't both on duty, I'd offer you a drink."

"Who me? I'm just a passenger using this fancy stuff to hitch a ride." He stuck his thumb out, waving his admiral's braids in the process. "Funny thing about being an admiral though, even off duty, if I order you to take a break and you have to do it."

"Sir, yes, sir." Giotto gave a small salute and pulled a bottle and glasses out of his cabinet. "Computer, set notice for private hours."

As Sam poured, Chris settled into a chair and looked around nostalgically. The ship was new, but offices tended to stay the same. He accepted his glass and pointed to small sign over the desk: 2 Credit Fine for Whining. "Do you still enforce that?"

"Actively," Sam replied. "If I didn't keep blowing the fund on women and wine, I'd be rich by now."

"Wine isn't your drink," Chris scoffed. "And have you even looked at another woman since Maria?"

Sam pursed his lips and tipped his head side to side. "Looked at least."

Chris's eyes lit with mischief. "Anyone I know?"

"Yes."

Chris raised his eyebrows, waiting. Sam allowed a small smile in an otherwise impeccable poker face and just looked back.

"You're still not going to tell me are you?"

"Nope."

Quite apart from the fact that woman in question was too young for him and had (hopefully) no idea that he looked at all, his position as Security Chief meant that he didn't share details of his private life (or lack thereof) with shipmates. As a cadet Giotto had witnessed the fall-out from someone ignoring that rule, so he tended to take it a lot farther than most. Pike understood that, but trying to pry had become a game, especially after he'd proven clueless about Maria until the day they'd asked him to marry them. The look on Chris's face had been priceless. If she'd lived, they might have tried to see how far they could get with starting a family before their Captain noticed.

"You're going to drive Jim crazy, you know," Pike scolded. "He's already got an XO who makes you look chatty."

"According to the doctor, Kirk's already crazy. And I like Spock; he plays a mean game of poker." Sam sipped his drink and relished the surprise on his friend's face.

"I might have known," Chris snorted. "You two probably have a contest going to see who'll hold out longest on calling him 'Jim'."

"I can't speak for Spock, but for me, he stays Kirk, Captain or sir until I stop feeling tempted to call him 'son'." Giotto looked up thoughtfully. "Or until he proves he can walk away from a bar fight. I'm not sure which of those is likely is come first."

"What's that old parents' curse: 'may you have one just like you'," Chris cocked an eyebrow and laughed.

Sam shook his head. "I had a temper. He has an attitude. With any luck, that means he'll get over it faster. Besides, even if it's sometimes hard not to think of him as a kid, he's not my kid."

"Half the people on this ship are your kids, Pop."

It had really been too much to hope that that nickname hadn't gotten back to Chris, or that he hadn't been just waiting to use it. Sam gave him a sideways smile. "You're the one who's going to be tending to all those new cadets, Gramps."

Chris put a hand to his face. "Oh God, I forgot we used to call Archer that."

"Get used to it." Sam grinned. He was going to really enjoy being at least metaphorically younger than Chris.

Pike sighed and looked into his drink for a moment. "Speaking of maturity, how's Dan Jenkins coming along?"

Now there was an unexpected turn in the conversation. Giotto narrowed his eyes. "This isn't just a social visit, is it?"

"Sign of the times, Sam - we need to rebuild the fleet and expand it. We got a ton of new recruits after the Narada hit earth, but we need officers to lead them. Just like when you and I were coming up during the Border Wars, a lot of junior people are going to have to take on senior roles."

"This ship is nearly all junior people, my department especially. You know we lost Radnor, Eaon, Malawi and Ilescu at Vulcan, and Haskell was promoted to the Zumwalt just six months ago. Jenkins has the makings of a fine security chief, but he needs time and experience first."

Pike's brows drew down. "He's your Second, Sam. Are you telling me he couldn't step in if something happened to you?"

"No. In a crisis, Dan is solid. For the rest of it, he could manage until he grew into the role as long as he had Groesner as his Second. They're quite a team - bicker like brothers, but half the time you'd think they had some sort of private telepathy going." Giotto gave Pike a measuring look, knowing what the next suggestion would be, and quickly formulated a counter-offer. He didn't want to stand in the way of Dan or Phil advancing, but they weren't ready yet and he wasn't ready to lose them either. "Give me another year to round them out and start moving some other people up, then you can promote them together when the yard finishes rebuilding the Farragut."

"Fair enough." Chris nodded and sipped his drink thoughtfully. "Or they could take over here. The Farragut is going to need a captain..."

Giotto shook his head emphatically. As if he didn't already have enough people who needed a piece of him. "You know better, Chris. Security chiefs make lousy captains."

Pike scowled. "Bullshit, Sam."

"Known fact. Captains are all about inspiring confidence and optimism and making people believe they can perform beyond their limits. Kirk's got a natural talent for that, just like you. Chiefs are pessimists and cynics; the necessary counterweight to the lot of you. We look for all the things that could go wrong and look people in the eye and make them face their limits so that they don't get killed ignoring them." He set his empty glass down as if that somehow capped the argument. "Captains lead; chiefs push."

"There are people in the admiralty who'd like to promote you."

Sam barked a laugh. "There are other people in the admiralty who'd like my head on a stick. Besides, this ship needs me. It works in its own strange way, but if it's going to keep working, someone's got to scrub the green off these rookies and Kirk in particular." Giotto gave Pike with a meaningful look. "He'll make a truly great captain someday, but only if he learns how to avoid killing himself first. Spock and McCoy might be able to get him there on their own, but Chris, there's a level of crazy around here that I wouldn't miss watching for anything."

Pike pressed his lips together in a resigned smile. He might have rank on his side, but in all the years they'd known each other, Chris had yet to out-stubborn him. "You sound just like Burruss," he chuckled ruefully and looked around. "What happened to that sign he used to have up?"

"I took it down. None of these newbies knew him, so they'd get the wrong impression."

Chris raised an incredulous eyebrow. "You didn't get rid of it, did you?"

"No, of course not; that sign was a legacy. If I make it to retirement, I'll to hand it down to whoever replaces me. It's right here in my top drawer." He pulled it out and set it on the desk between them. It read:

I've been lied to, swindled, taken advantage of, ridiculed, and humiliated, and the only reason I keep hangin' around is to see what the #&& happens next!

Sam grinned at him. "Every time one of these kids - or one of you old geezers in the admiralty - does something completely outrageous, I take a look at it and remind myself that if Burruss could hang on through all the shit we pulled, I can too."

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AN: Written for a request by DarkEidolon, who knows someone with the same signs. I have more stories for Giotto, but this seems like a good one to finish this particular series before it gets too long. (I may start a Vol. II after I finish Caveat Emptor, which also features Sam).

Hope you have all enjoyed this. I know I've enjoyed your input and reviews. Please continue.