#taraus iv

[anewstartrekfan]

Star Trek Rambles: Lenore Karidian: A Wonderful Subversion

Lenore Karidian is one of the best women Star Trek ever wrote (I say this a someone who has only seen a season and a half of tos) I know not a high bar but legitimately. She had Captain Kirk eating out of the palm of her hand. Even when he was trying to fish from her she managed to turn it around in her favor. I truly believe she never actually gave a shit about Kirk. It was all a means to an end to protect her father. What’s my proof?

Their first little date, about 5 minutes after meeting each other, they ditch a party she was late for, (because she murdered the host), and then lead Kirk down a path, TO WHERE SHE KILLED THE LAST GUY

If you ask me she was luring Kirk there to kill him. How, I’m not sure, but I can assume she had something planned for when they were going to kiss.

Oh but what about their flirting on the enterprise? The scene where Kirk proclaims that women remain women no matter what.

That scene is a farce in terms of the romance and revealing when it comes to Lenore’s beliefs. Kirk is giving her this tour to try and get her guard down so he can get info on her father. However Lenore notices this, calls him out for it, and turns it around on Kirk. Forcing him to answer her questions, like if he is actually human, and if the women on the enterprise are human as well.

“Are you captain? Human?”

“Has the machine changed them? Made them, just people instead of women?”

It’s subtle but she isn’t just fake flirting here. She’s othering Kirk and his crew. Her later attempt on Kirk’s life involves overloading a phaser, which would destroy not only Kirk’s cabin but those around it. Kirk has to call for an emergency evacuation while he desperately searches for it. It’s easy to justify killing the Tarsus 9 because they weren’t human by her father’s standards anyway, but what about Kirk’s crew? She had to other them as well to justify it.

“All this, and power too. Caesar of the stars, and cleopatra to worship you.”

I spoke in a prior blog about how Kodos sees technology as something that has made humanity inhuman. That removed the struggle from life, emphasizing the so called tradition of man shaping his destiny himself without tools. Aka, fascism. Lenore does this as well, and displays a sort of devotion to tradition when she quotes Star light Star bright and talks about how old the stars are. When Kirk insists he’s human, she doesn’t agree with him. Instead she shifts the topic to the women in the crew. When Kirk gives his line about how women will always be women, Lenore again changes the subject. Likening Kirk to Caesar. Stroking his ego, but also it is fitting given she planned to murder him. She likens herself to Cleopatra, a woman who is frequently portrayed as a seductress and blames for Antony’s fall.

Another thing to remember is she got a tour of the whole ship from Kirk. Which is how she was able to track down Riley AND plant the phaser in Kirk’s cabin.

While I can’t prove she was going to kill Kirk in an earlier scene, she absolutely tried to kill him with the overloaded phaser on the enterprise. And what’s key is she attempts this before Kirk confronts her father. So at the end of the scene when she breaks things off with kirk, and is angry at him for just being a tool, I think she’s upset that she didn’t see Kirk was using her as well. She drops the pretenses and says what she actually thinks of him.

“You are like your ship. Powerful, and not human. There is no mercy in you.”

All she sees Kirk as is a threat to her father’s safety. And above all else that is what she cares about. It’s why she has the nervous breakdown at the end. Her father finds out she’s been murdering the survivors of the genocide he committed and he’s heartbroken. She can’t see that her actions doomed her father, and when she kills him only because he protected Kirk, she loses it completely. How could her father ever dare to want to protect Captain Kirk? The inhuman who was going to throw him in jail. Who dared to make her father suffer?

Big picture is she was great. Cunning, ruthless, and a match for Kirk’s wit. She only got caught because Kirk happens to hear her confess to her father. Had Riley not tried to kill Kodos, Kirk would’ve arrested Kodos and let her go free none the wiser.

[hyperfix-sideblog]

In addition:

Click, Click - Boom by shadowblade_tara

Summary:

A teenage Spock decides to study terraforming of a desert planet instead of following his father on a routine diplomatic mission. He doesn't expect to get attached to anyone, but then again, that was before he met one Jim Kirk.

Destiny starts early in this one, and it starts on Tarsus IV.

Post Taraus IV

like blood, the stars by startrex

Summary:

(Or, the one where Jim has a Vulcan daughter, and it leads to all sorts of emotions.)

update: now with a chapter two from Spock’s perspective!

You're Designed to Tremble Too

TonightNoPoetryWillServe

Summary:

13-year-old Jim Kirk comes to live with Sarek, Amanda, and Spock on Vulcan after a terrible tragedy. Spock is initially less than pleased, but quickly finds himself fascinated by the human boy.

Love this story. Gives me the feels, but I always forget that it also makes me cry

Graduate Vulcan for Fun and Profit by lazulisong

It really does take a village to raise a Jim.

The members of the Kelvin's crew watch over Jim as much as he lets them.

Atlas by Angel Baby1

Between what was and what will be stands James Tiberius Kirk, in all his fractured patchwork glory. Because saving the Federation was only the beginning. Eventual K/S

Jim Kirk Tarsus IV Fic Recs

This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :)

Starfleet Academy for Gifted Youngsters by Ael - Not Rated

Starfleet Academy, home to carriers and mutants alike. Three years before Nero's attack on Vulcan, Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy begin to forge what will one day be a legendary friendship. A series of snapshots of how it all began.

More than Innocence by CasualBanshee - Rated T

Throwaway one-shot. Jim Kirk survived Tarsus with more than just mental scars and how that could change the events in the second reboot film.

sound as stone by starknjarvis - Rated T

The three people who figured out that Jim was on Tarsus IV.

A Star To Light The Way (In which Jim never thought he’d live past 22, anyway) by AlyssiaInWonderland - Not Rated

A fic based around the following prompt excerpt on Tumblr: “So, captain,” she began, eyeing him mischievously. “Where would you be if you hadn’t joined up?” Jim shrugged nonchalantly, pursing his lips for a moment in thought. “Dead probably,” he finally replied, lightly but absolutely serious– oblivious to the shocked expressions of his crew around him. “Or halfway to it in a bar in Iowa somewhere.” Or, Nyota's journey from first meeting Kirk, to loving Jim, through three, increasingly angsty, incidents spanning Academy Era to post 2009 film.

Predetermined by BonesOfBirdWings - Rated T

James T. Kirk always goes to Tarsus IV - because George Kirk can die, Vulcan can be destroyed, and Jim can be resurrected, but Tarsus IV is immutable. OR - An exploration of the fanon fact that Jim always experiences the massacre on Tarsus IV, no matter the universe.

i think i'll keep you (like a secret) by hoosierbitch - Rated T

Bones came to Starfleet with a hell of a lot of baggage. Jim came empty handed.

Over Exposure by SadieYuki - Rated T

Jim would much rather deal with an army of assassins wielding pine nuts over having to weather the storm caused by this single video.

Five times Jim talked about Tarsus and one time Nyota heard him by jenny_wren - Rated M

Jim is not exactly over Tarsus but he's over it enough to be casual about it, so times when Jim nonchalantly horrified someone by being casual about Tarsus

Theory and Practice by Writer_at_the_Table - Rated T

He's sitting stiffly, back straight and face utterly blank. There is no laughter twinkling in his eyes. She feels wary at the sight of him, this cadet who only superficially resembles the one she thought she knew. Starfleet Academy professor Anita Cornerstone calls Cadet Jim Kirk to her office to discuss his response on an essay assignment. The conversation they have is not the one she was expecting.

The prison of your mind by EternalSheWolf - Rated T

The kid takes him to the ground, hard and fast, and the knife punches right through his throat. The man gurgles and blood sprays, and the kid’s head snaps up, blond hair flying everywhere, as he gives the blade a final, savage, twist and pulls it free. He’d know those eyes anywhere. It’s Jim Kirk.

Recognition by jademac2442 - Rated T

Based on the TOS episode Conscience of the King. Post Tarsus IV. Riley is assigned aboard the Enterprise. He recognizes Kirk.

Once More unto the Breach by AnEscapeFromReality - Rated T

James Kirk was the rudest student Professor Heleine ever taught. He stomped out of the middle of the professor's lecture like he wasn't a mere cadet. Well, the professor was done putting up with him. If he couldn't sit through an expert lecture, then he should give the lecture about Tarsus. That would teach him some respect.

Linguistic Ambiguities in Vulcan Ethical Codes by elumish - Rated T

The thing people always forget is that it was a Vulcan ship that reached Tarsus IV first.

A trail of crushed laurels by Kandelaar - Rated T

Jimmy Kirk isn’t an old soul stuck in a young body, his teachers whisper, he’s sharp, jagged edges and a too-bright mind wrapped in skin and bones all glued together with his stepdaddy’s fists.