[They aren't excuses. As far as Pavel is concerned, people vanishing from the City with no rhyme or reason is scientific fact. Jim's awesomeness is in no way diminished by unpleasant scientific facts.]
You haven't stopped being my actual captain, sir.
[Not exactly what Kirk meant, but it's true and feels like a good thing to say, just in case it doesn't already go without speaking.
Also? Being captain sounds like the worst job ever right now. Taking over engineering had been terrifying, and that was only a section of the ship! And being responsible for all of those lives? Chekov still has trouble accepting that people in engineering--people who were technically under his command and his responsibility, if only momentarily--were blown out into space or fell victim to gravity gone awry. How Kirk does it is beyond him.]
It is more likely that I will travel to a temporally anomalous universe than transfer to a new ship for any reason, of course, and I'm pleased to be a part of this captainly limb that you have grown.
[As a physically demonstrative person himself (around people who aren't Starfleet superiors), this gesture is not unwelcome.]
You would also be lost without me because you would have no navigator. [Not too drunk and Russian to suppress all sass.] And there are many things that I don't believe in in this City; you are not one of those things. Okay?
no subject
You haven't stopped being my actual captain, sir.
[Not exactly what Kirk meant, but it's true and feels like a good thing to say, just in case it doesn't already go without speaking.
Also? Being captain sounds like the worst job ever right now. Taking over engineering had been terrifying, and that was only a section of the ship! And being responsible for all of those lives? Chekov still has trouble accepting that people in engineering--people who were technically under his command and his responsibility, if only momentarily--were blown out into space or fell victim to gravity gone awry. How Kirk does it is beyond him.]
It is more likely that I will travel to a temporally anomalous universe than transfer to a new ship for any reason, of course, and I'm pleased to be a part of this captainly limb that you have grown.
[As a physically demonstrative person himself (around people who aren't Starfleet superiors), this gesture is not unwelcome.]
You would also be lost without me because you would have no navigator. [Not too drunk and Russian to suppress all sass.] And there are many things that I don't believe in in this City; you are not one of those things. Okay?