Jim Kirk + Cassian Andor
PG | Complete (or, Sarah is incredibly slow at responding: The Saga)
So, he'd apparently been here before. Bones was here. Some of his other crew members were here - Jim could certainly say he was confused, but he wasn't necessarily put off. There were much worse things that he'd been through over the past few months and in all honesty, if staying here allowed him to go to the exact point that he left- well, nobody would pick up on that. Perhaps Spock, but as long as his being here didn't harm his crew, Jim saw no point in not accepting a (sort of) break at face value, rather than mulling over it.
There was a war. They'd brought him in, along with...a lot of other people across time and space. Places he'd never heard of, species he'd never seen and a whole lot of Terrans, from the sounds of it. He stepped out of the building that contained his designated living area and squinted up at the sky, taking it all in for a moment. It was a beautiful planet. An interesting planet, for that matter - he'd never seen somewhere with so much goddamn water. Atlantis was an old fairytale that he could barely recall of a lost city, but this wasn't how he'd imagined it to look. Certainly not with all of the mod-cons of a modern(ish) life. He looked down the long road, reading the signs on the buildings and checking the sum that'd been given to him to last the first week or so without work, deciding to head right for the nearest food place to get something sweet and a goddamn coffee. He needed something a bit stronger to get his head around this, but even Jim Kirk had a rule against drinking earlier than 1pm when the sun was as bright and the day was as mellow as today.
Cassian had often been similarly struck by the beauty of Atlantis. He’d traveled all over the galaxy for the rebellion and somehow didn’t think he’d ever met a planet it’s equal. It was probably the reason he took every opportunity to be outdoors here, when time afforded. Atlantis kept the teams on a fairly rigorous training schedule, but the field commanders had a bit more freedom and flexibility. That was convenient when you were trying to find some time alone with your girlfriend.
Today, he was on his own, though. He’d caught up on field reports, Mara was busy with her team, he had a couple of free hours to kill and had the thought that he could use something to drink. Too early in the day for a visit to one of the bars, he made his way toward Coffee Me Better, where they miraculously actually served caf, despite this being about as far from his own galaxy as one could get.
Spotting his fellow field commander, Cassian offered a rare and warm smile for the man who he was sure didn’t remember him. “Captain,” he gave in greeting, referencing an old joke he wouldn’t be likely to remember, either. “Welcome [...] to Atlantis.” He’d almost added the word back, but didn’t want to make the man feel more awkward about his lack of memories for the place.
Jim heard somebody address him - he could only assume it was him, but for once he didn’t actually know that he was the only Captain on the proverbial ship. If they were smart enough to drag him here he was positive that there would be plenty of other captains in history that would be able to assist in the war against Atlantis, or...whatever precisely was going on. He wasn’t particularly one to fall for a sob story after being burned a few times before and frankly, he couldn’t fully decide if Atlantis were the good guys just yet. Everybody seemed to trust them, but how could he know if they’d properly looked?
He stopped mulling over that over the coffee he’d grabbed (with his requested four shots of caffeine, paired with a slightly concerned look from the pretty barista) and turned to the voice he assumed was aimed at him, raising his eyebrows at the man in front of him. “Uh. Hi. They did warn me about people knowing me who I didn’t know. If that’s one of these situations, I am sorry. My memory’s usually pretty damn good,” he leant back on his elbows on the table. “What should I call you?”
Cassian grinned and waved off the apology. “Captain Cassian Andor,” he offered. “It’s all right that you don’t remember. Those lapses are pretty common around here. People come and go and they don’t always remember any of this should they happen to return.”
It had only been the once for Cassian, but he’d seen people leave and come back enough times. Jim, in particular, had done it a few times, although this was the first time he’d come back with no memory of the place. A bit disappointing, perhaps, but not entirely unusual or unexpected.
“I’m one of the field commanders here,” he added after a beat since he knew he wouldn’t remember that part, either.
“Lapses,” Jim repeated after a moment, rubbing his forehead. “I’ve been here before but I don’t remember any of it or any of you. Forgive me for being a bit weirded out by that,” he moved from where he’d previously been sat, deciding that he might as well sit across from the man who’d started talking to him. Cassian Andor. No, it still didn’t ring any bells which he’d somewhat hoped it would - like the memories would return to him from his apparent previous visits here, but...nothing. Not even an inkling of recognising him.
“Oh! Right. Yeah. I think I’m doing that although I’m not exactly sure what it’s meant to entail yet. There’s a war or something and we’re fighting it,” he took a sip from the mug he was holding, setting it down on the table. “I haven’t exactly decided yet whether we’re on the right side or not.”
“Fair enough.” He probably would have judged anyone who did take all of this at face value, in all honesty. Cassian had been lucky enough to have someone he trusted to assure him everything the hologram had told him was true and that had made it easier to swallow, but only just.
“I suspect this will mean more coming from Leonard or even from Sulu or Christine,” he offered, “but we are on the right side. This war is going to impact all of our worlds, not just this one. They’ll all cease to exist if we don’t stop COS here and now.” Even if going home hadn’t meant certain death for him, he would have stayed, because he believed in this fight, but he also didn’t expect a man who remembered nothing of their friendship to just believe him. He supposed it was lucky there were a number of people from Jim’s world here who would confirm it for him.
It was strange to hear his friends’ names from the mouth of...well, somebody who was theoretically a stranger, but he supposed that did make his words more...credible? “They’re all happy here, in fairness,” Jim smiled a little. From what he’d see, his crew and his friends all had people here that they cared for and even loved - even Admiral Pike was here and had a partner. It was odd to see, but Jim wasn’t even a part of the glue that held them together in this place. He swirled the remainder of his coffee and downed it in one go, glancing up at the board to decide if he wanted another or not.
“Not everything is always as it seems. There’s a lot...shady about the administration here, just from what I’ve seen so far,” he shrugged. “But Starfleet wasn’t roses and cupcakes either. It’s just a lot to take in.”
“No, it isn’t,” Cassian agreed, “but I’ve been here for quite some time, enough to have made up my own mind about what we are doing here. Sharon and Becker are displaced from other worlds, just like us, and they’re good people. They’ve earned my trust.” He might not always be sure about those above their heads, but it was enough for him.
“You’ll have to make up your own mind, too,” he added. “They’re telling the truth when they said you won’t be forced to stay if you wish to return home.”
“I guess that is a good thing. If it really is the case that we come back to right where we started-” he paused and thought of Bones’ response. He couldn’t just abandon him after promising to stay and he wouldn’t ever even dream of it. Bones probably didn’t necessarily need him anymore, but Jim definitely needed Bones and it would be weird going back and knowing that at some point in the past or the future, he’d have hurt him. “I’m gonna stay. I think, barring anything horrible happening,” he rubbed his chin, looking up at Cassian.
“How about me? You’re not from my world, right? But you knew me.”
Cassian nodded. “A version of you has been here a couple of times,” he explained. “We were on a mission together on an older version of your Enterprise, Jonathan Archer’s ship. You’ll find a number of people in Atlantis who knew you when you were here before, but it’s not uncommon for people to come back and not remember this place.”
Archer. Archer, wow - that really was a dinosaur of a ship compared to Jim’s Enterprise. He smiled a little wistfully as he looked down at the drinks on the table, remembering his ship and his crew - at least some of them were here. “Well. I hope I live up to whatever mistakes my past self made here. Time to make a bunch more messes,” he grinned, raising his coffee in a sort-of toast. He might as well make the best of it, after all.