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You had a debt to Jim Kirk. He saved your life on Tarsus IV all those years ago. You owed him this. You knew once you committed a crime against Starfleet, you were done for, but you. owed. him.
So once you learned from Captain Sloan that they knew were the Court of Miracles- Jim’s Court primarily- was, you had to warn him.
It had been three years since the crew of the Starship Enterprise disappeared, along with their mother ship. There was ongoing searches for them, but not a hint of them was found. Then Starfleet generals caught wind of a rogue band of Starfleet officers assisting one side or another in some war across the galaxy. After that point, the fleet of Enterprise went from m.i.a. to being branded as mutineers. Four months ago the U.S.S. Salem, one of the fleet’s newest ships, was sent on a peaceful research expedition. They came home with the ship almost completely unsalvageable- and the entire ship’s crew shaken. They were almost killed, and sent home with a warning: There was a Court of Miracles close to Earth, and it demanded awed fear.
You remember being told scary stories about the Courts of Miracles- horrible decrepit places filled with pirates and villains and evil. All races and species came together in these secret caverns to do awful things. Black markets, murders, theft. When you were 15, Starfleet helped take down one of the larger Courts, a horrible massacre of your own people was the price you paid. 200 people were arrested.
So of course, being on a two man ship at warp speed to a Court made you feel terrified. You had no weapons, no actual fighting skills. Your friend, Koren, refused to let you go alone. Of course both of you knew what would likely happen. You were going to die, either way. Jim will kill you for trespassing, or the fleet will kill you for betrayal. You just didn't say it out loud.
You knew where the court was yourself because you were the best tactics officer in the fleet. Your time in the academy was merely a formality, if you had failed all of your classes you still would be where you were- Chief Tactics Commission Officer. Fancy title for ‘you planned things’, but who cares? It meant you got to have fun pulling rank.
You were expecting some form of shield or outer perimeter, but that was the brilliance of Jim’s court. Of course, you mused, a perimeter would give them away. Dumbass.
Once you landed on the dry desert planet, you lead Koren to the only cliffside. The gravity and temperature was similar to that of Earth, there was somehow even oxygen too. It was a little too hot for your taste.
“And are you sure this is how we get in?” Koren asked you, nervously looking over the cliff. They kicked a rock over, and it took almost too long for it to fall.
You remembered a story Jim told you, once. A story about a car, a cliff, and a young boy. Jim always had a flair for personal touches with things he controlled.
“Yup. And if not, we have our parachutes.” you tried to sound cheerful as you pointed your thumb and your backpack.
“Yeah. Great. Okay, uh, let's do it.” Koren grabbed your hand and you both took four huge steps back. Then you ran, and jumped. There was no room in the air to scream, so you clenched your jaw and tried to keep your eyes open. The feeling of falling was thrilling, but so was being right.
And right you were! The two of you landed rather roughly but safely together in the floor of a cave. It was somehow dimly lit, and Koren looked around, mystified. “Fascinating,” they said, breathless.
“Be careful, your Vulcan is showing.” You kid, nudging them as their cheeks grew dark.
“Hush. Let's just go and get this over with… do you even know which way to go?”
Looking both ways, you realize that the tunnel goes in two directions from you. After taking a few steps either way, you realize that one way slopes up, and the other slopes down.
“Logically, I would hide my court as far underground as possible.” You said, straining ‘logically’ to tease Koren further.
They didn't say anything, so you merely proceeded down.
As you walked, you told Koren about the Enterprise crew. They really didn't know much about them, and you knew too much, so it was a win-win. Spock Koren knew about, you knew they looked up to Spock greatly, which they denied but you thought was cute.
“If the entire crew was so smart, how have we made it this far?” Koren asked plainly.
It actually made you stop in your tracks. Yes, you had been walking for over ten minutes now. Either you were close or too far but either way- “We should have encountered some booby traps-”
There was a chorus of spine-chilling laughter, and you felt yourself grow cold.
“-Or an ambush.”
A hand closes over your mouth as soon as you finish your snarky comment, and Jim Kirk himself stalked from the darkness to look down at you. You wrestled your mouth away from the hand.
“Jim!” You manage to say, “It’s me! I need to war-” before a cloth was used as a gag to shut you up. In the corner of your eye you see Koren gagged similarly, a frantic panic in their eyes they were clearly trying to suppress.
You saw them all one by one, as your hands were bound tightly with a cruelly scratchy rope. Jim, Sulu, Spock, Nyota, Leonard, Scotty, Chekov, even Chapel and Gaila. They all wore matching uniforms that looked nothing like the Fleet’s. They were made of a more elastic fabric and they all were charcoal grey. They all had different white bands around the calves of their legs where their pants tapered in, obviously some form of rank. They were a lot more scarred, and a bit less put together, their hair a bit messier and their grins a bit more roguish.
“Maybe you've heard of a terrible place, where the scoundrels of space collect in a lair,” Jim offered, a sick, slow smile on his face.
“Maybe you've heard of that mythical place called the Court of Miracles,” Leonard mused, his southern drawl stronger and rougher than ever.
“Hello, you're there!” Chekov cackled suddenly from behind you, his grin wide and fierce.
“Where the lame can walk and the blind can see-” Scotty and Sulu sang together, almost whimsical.
Jim pulled out and wielded his phaser with a nauseatingly teasing face. “But the dead don't talk- so you won't be around to reveal what you've found!”
“We have a method for spies and intruders, rather like hornets protecting their hive.” Spock stated, his eyes cold and detached. His hands were folded neatly behind his back, ignoring Koren’s attempts to catch his gaze.
“Here in the Court of Miracles where it's a miracle if you get out alive!” The whole group agreed.
They pushed you and Koren forward, deeper into the chambers until there was a brilliantly lit clearing, a mix of modern and old age technologies and styles assaulting the senses. There were tarps and tents set up all around, but you had no time to look at them as you were whipped around to face a large guillotine. Two people from behind kicked the back of your knees so you were forced to fall on your knees painfully. You remember learning briefly about guillotines back in your Old Earth studies- but seeing one in real life looming and bloodsoaked was daunting.
Jim assumed his place near the guillotine where something that resembled a throne sat, covered in pillows and blankets that fit Jim’s shape. He seemed downright giddy and it made you dizzy.
“Justice is swift in the Court of Miracles I am the lawyers and judge all in one!” Jim cried out jovially, his arms splayed out to display his greatness.
Sulu leaned around you to look you and Koren in the eyes earnestly. “We like to get the trial over with quickly-”
“Because it's the sentence that's really the fun!” Chekov joined in, wagging a knowing finger at you.
Jim stared down at both of you, grinning widely. “Any last words?” His voice was smooth like honey, and terror gripped your bones.
You couldn't say anything, the gag was too painfully tight, but you still made as much noise as you could, desperately pleading.
Leonard had taken his place besides Jim, his arms crossed. He rolled his eyes at your protests, looking bored. “That's what they all say.”
“Now that we've seen all the evidence-” Jim began, but Chekov’s voice rang out above his.
“Wait! I object!” He said it playfully, not meaning it at all, one arm waving comedically in the air. Watching them joke about your death made you sick, seething.
“Overruled!” Jim fake snapped, unable to conceal his grin.
“I object!”
“Quiet!”
Chekov snapped his fingers in relent with a halfhearted “Dang!”
“We find you totally innocent… which is the worst crime of all…” Jim said, a cute but sinister pout on his face.
“So you're going to hang!” Scotty yelled out, and Jim shot him a halfhearted glare.
“No! Guillotine, you promised! I didn't spend 20,000 credits for this to go to waste!” Jim whined, not unlike a kid when his momma doesn't buy him candy.
“You stole those credits, remember?” Nyota laughed, her arms crossed and hip swayed to a side. “They weren't yours in the first place.”
“Finders keepers.” Jim stated shrugging, as if that were final.
Sulu made a move to drag Koren over first, but you reeled yourself to the side to knock them out of the way. Sulu wasn't thrown off, merely grabbed your wrists and dragged you over with ease.
You could feel the stick of old blood on your throat as he pushed you down, and you could hear the sobs coming from Koren.
Look away, you wanted to tell them. This was it.
Jim crouched in front of you, in his prince like way. He really did look like royalty. In a weird way, as you were facing death, you were proud of Kirk. You remembered him as a scrawny boy who almost died because he wanted everyone else to live. Now he was strong, still risking his life but doing so with others that would do it for him. You look him deep in the eyes, and something softens within him.
Then he freezes.
“...Is that… is that you??” He asks, his mouth suddenly agape and his haughty nature suddenly abandoned.
Yes, finally. You nod, and he pushes you up from the guillotine hurriedly. Scotty protests, but when Jim shoots him a serious glare he shuts it. The knot Sulu tied on your gag was too tight for Jim to untie, so he pulled a knife from his boot and cut it off.
“Take theirs off too,” Jim said, motioning at Koren.
“Sir.” Spock stated, watching with confusion.
“Its you, its you!” Jim said getting excited. He grabbed your shoulders and shook you a bit. “Why didn't you just say so?”
“I did say so,” you spat back, adrenaline melting to relief as you fell forward onto Jim’s shoulder.
He absentmindedly ran his hand through your hair as he looked over at Koren.
“Hey! They look like you Spock!”
Spock nodded. “I had already observed that.” Spock and Koren looked at each other warily, and once Sulu untied their wrists, Koren held up the Ta’al.
“Live long and prosper,” They said, their back ramrod straight but their voice raw.
“Peace and long life,” Spock replied, returning the gesture, vague amusement on his face.
“JT,” you said, getting Jim’s attention as the sense of urgency returned.
He looked at you sharply, unused to the name.
“Starfleet knows where the Court is. They are coming after you, we were here to warn you-”
Scotty laughed, while the group looked grim.
“We knew. Why do you think my Court was empty?” Jim asked, relaxed.
“Then why are you still here?” Koren asked.
“We are here to make sure that this is the Court they go after.” Spock replied, and Jim was grinning at his own brilliance.
It finally dawned on you. “This is a temporary Court. A decoy to cover the actual Court.”
“Pretty much!” Jim said proudly. “We knew we would be number one on ‘fleet’s hit list.”
“Why did you leave the Federation in the first place?” Koren blurted.
Jim’s face darkened. “They refused to help out on a farside planet's struggle. Another planet was attacking and draining everything from the people who were all but helpless. I couldn't sit back and watch people die just so I could go home and be patted on the back for following rules. The Federation labeled it as a war but it wasn't. The people we were trying to help were being enslaved and massacred for no reason other than for the opposition's personal gain. That’s not a war, it’s not a war when one side can’t fight back. And you nor I owe the Federation anything, why should we follow it so blindly?” He then looked you hard In the eye. “And you of all people should know that this was not the first time the Federation put an important issue on the backburner.”
You remembered Tarsus. You remember knowing the Federation was late. You remember knowing the look on your brother's face as he was taken away from you. You remember praying to the Federation like it was a God for them to come save you. You remembered never being given a straight answer as to why the Federation took so long. You remember starving, you remember eating whatever you could find.
Your jaw clenched almost as a reflex.
“We fight the fights the Federation refuses to even see. We save lives of those who would otherwise perish. Courts are not always evil. Yes, we have outlaws, but we are outlaws too, we break laws to help. Every damn person that comes into my Court is there for a purpose, and there to help others. Other Courts have murder and rape and other inexcusable things. We are those who punish the other Courts, and other parties who mean harm.”
“We are going back to Starfleet.” you said with hardened determination.
“Wait we are?” Koren asked, shocked. “The Federation will kill us.”
You kept your eyes on Jim’s. There was a plan forming in your mind and Jim could see it. “No. We will go back and tell them about this place. Say you captured us and we barely escaped with our lives. Guide them back here, snap our fingers and say dang. Then the Federation will trust us to help find you- they would never think that we would lead them astray. You got enemies? We will ‘stumble' on them with the full force of the Federation.”
“We are gonna have to rough you up then,” Leonard said, a glint of regret in his eyes.
“It is for a purpose,” Koren said, and in that moment you realized their depth of loyalty. They were once again volunteering to betray the Federation for you for some people they didn't really know.
Jim looked you in the eyes carefully, a wariness creeping into his expression.
“Why do you want to help us so much?” He asked, not accusing but rather betraying his trepidation.
“I owe you Jim Kirk, and you're right. I don't owe the Federation one red cent.”
“Thank you,” Jim said, and he drew his fist back.