[2] Amor Vincit Omnia ➳ Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013) ✔️

|08| 'Tis No Sin To Cheat The Devil

Chapter 8 x

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"Sir," Kirk cried out, "My crew was just...just following my orders. I take...I take full responsibility for my actions. But they were mine, and they were mine alone."

"No," Victoria moved to his side, taking his hand in her own, "They were OURs," she looked at him, not about to let him face Marcus alone for two very good reasons.

The first was that...they could have stopped him from going after Harrison. The Fleet in general couldn't strike at the man, couldn't have entered the Klingon space to capture him or attack him. They could have used that as an argument against Kirk doing it, informed other heads of Starfleet what was happening...file a report like Spock had. They could have detained him, locked him up, knocked him out with that pinch that Spock could do and held him back till they worked out what best to do. Hell they could have mutinied if they really felt in necessary. There were SO many different things they could have done to stop Kirk but they hadn't, ALL of them, in doing so, were agreeing to go with Kirk when they easily could have refused of even left the ship, like Scotty had.

What was worse...she knew there were things SHE could have done to keep him from going after Khan and leading to this situation. She had more power over Kirk than his own mother seemed to have at times, certainly more power than the rules of the Fleet. He listened to her, he valued her opinion, he cared about her...it was the reason he was so dead set on getting Khan in the first place. Not only was Pike his recruiter...but HER father. She'd been devastated and Kirk had felt it his duty to see her avenged. And while she felt it keenly, the desire to see Khan destroyed for killing her father, she knew that it wasn't the right thing, not now. If Khan was openly attacking he crew, it would be one thing, but what she and Kirk had been prepared to do was as much murder as what Khan had done. If she'd just realized it sooner, she could have simply asked him to stop.

And he would have.

But she hadn't so this was partially her fault as well and she was stand by him, especially for the second reason. Her mother didn't ever stand by her father whenever he had to made difficult choices or decisions. The more and more her father got involved in the Fleet, the higher up he worked in terms of titles, the less her mother stood by him. She knew how difficult it could be to be captain, to be responsible for all the lives under you, to know that every single decision didn't just affect you anymore but an entire ship's worth of people... and Kirk was trying his best. It was the least she could do to stand at his side no matter what, to show him that she believed in him and that she was with him through it all.

She was not her mother, she would not abandon the man she loved. Come hell or high water (or torpedoes) she was going to stand beside him as he faced down Marcus.

Kirk let out a small breath, seeming to gather all that from the look Victoria sent him but was unable to smile at her for it as the situation really was far too dire. He settled for squeezing her hand in return and turned back to Marcus, "If I transmit Khan's location to you now, all that I ask is that you spare them. Please, sir. I'll do anything you want. Just let them live."

Marcus was silent a long while, seeming to be contemplating Kirk's moving words but Victoria only felt a weight settle in her stomach, a horrible feeling of foreboding hitting her at the man's expression. For some reason she couldn't help but think that the man was just trying to drag it out, to give Kirk false hope. She wasn't sure if she might have seen that expression on the man's face before when she'd been younger and was associating the two now, or if she just didn't think Marcus had a decent bone left in his body.

It was probably both.

Though her fears were confirmed when Marcus remarked, "That's a hell of an apology," and followed it with, "But, if it is any conciliation...I was never going to spare your crew. Fire at will."