> "Be that as it may," said Kirk, "the sum total of my experience commanding
> more that one

You wanted a "than" there.

Really, it was probably for the best that this Kirk left Starfleet. Canon-Kirk didn't have much choice when they promoted him; it was the only game in town if he wanted to keep working in space in anything close to the way he wanted, and he had to play by their rules, and the part of Kirk that actually is a team player and a dutiful officer would have eventually made its peace with that, even if it wasn't his true passion. In a world where the movies don't happen and Kirk ends up needing to take that desk job, I imagine he spends an awful lot of time mentoring officers, because Kirk is very much a people person; he's all about personal relationships. He'd have made a hell of an Academy head, too.

UF-Kirk would have very much chafed doing that, not because he isn't a dutiful officer in the same way as Canon-Kirk but because this universe has actual alternatives to Starfleet and the part of him that's more than a little selfish and a bit arrogant would always have been looking at the WDF, or the Freespacers, or a few other outfits and mulishly telling the rest of him "We could have our own ship INSTANTLY if we left." Parting on amicable terms for an organization that would always let him have his own field command so long as he wanted it and was competent to manage it, and that is based very largely on the establishment and cultivation of personal relationships and esprit de corps, is a much better fit for his personality.

Nogura, and Starfleet, were not wrong to pull him from the field and try and bump him upstairs; Starfleet and the Federation have considerations that extend far, far beyond making Jim Kirk a happy man. But Kirk wasn't wrong for leaving, either. That's just how things be, sometimes.

Incidentally, Ben, I was very impressed at how you wrote Nogura. With respect, you have a long history of writing people who are meant to be antagonists, or at least antagonistic, as unpleasant caricatures. But Nogura is being an absolutely professional, even accommodating, officer here despite his own personal dislikes and biases. I found myself nodding along with him a lot, agreeing and sympathizing with him. Well done.

-Merc
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