Chess Game (Star Trek: TOS story by Syn Ferguson)

Fanfiction
Title:	Chess Game
Author(s):	Syn Ferguson
Date(s):	2005
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Chess Game is a Kirk/Spock story by Syn Ferguson.

It was published in the print zine T'hy'la #25.

Summary

"It is an excerpt from “The Fire In Which We Burn,” an, as yet unpublished, longer work."

Reactions and Reviews

I would imagine that everyone has a group of very favorite K/S authors. You know, the ones that when you see their name in a new zine, you get that little shiver of anticipation thinking, “Oh, boy. I know I’m gonna enjoy this!” Those are the writers who see Kirk and Spock exactly the same way you see them. Well, Syn Ferguson has always been one of those authors for me—for me and tons of other people. For those readers who may not know, Syn wrote Courts of Honor, one of the defining novels of our genre. She is a Spockie down to her soul, but she never slights our captain in her pursuit of the most appealing version of our favorite Vulcan. As a matter of fact, Syn’s Kirk has always pretty much defined for me what a starship captain should be: brilliant, moral, caring, resourceful, and filled with integrity down to his toes.

I was intrigued right out of the starting gate by this story. It’s been so long since we’ve heard from Syn, that I would have been satisfied with the mere knowledge that she was writing again. And then to discover that she is in the process of writing what appears to be a novel called The Fire In Which We Burn, an AU story that deals with alternate timelines just thrilled me no end. The premise for this longer work captured my interest immediately. Years after our Kirk has met his death in the Nexus, our Spock rescues a Kirk from another timeline. In this place it was Spock, not David, who was killed on Genesis. It appears the men must join forces to prevent attacks upon the timeline. However this is to work, it appears some time travel is involved.

In this vignette, the author asks us to imagine an older, bitter Kirk in his sixties who has lost everything he has ever cared about: his captaincy, his ship, and the Spock he knew and loved as his dearest friend.

It is a frigid night when Kirk comes upon four Starfleet cadets in an alley beating an unconscious man. They pour liquor over their victim and hang a card good for some time in a local brothel around his neck, the intent being that the cadet would be unable to get back to his ship on time or perhaps be picked up as drunk by the Shore Patrol. He recognizes something about the man being hit and realizes it’s Spock. Not the Spock he knows, not even the Spock he remembers from their first days on the Enterprise together, but a younger Spock of nineteen or twenty barely out of adolescence and away from home for the first time.

He manages to rescue the hapless cadet, slings him over his shoulder and takes him to the brothel where he looks after him. When Spock regains consciousness we see just how young this Spock is. While physically mature, Syn makes it evident that he is struggling to make his way in the very alien environment of Earth. When Kirk mentions the name of one of his attackers they have the following conversation:

“‘Foster?’ Something in the way Spock said the name hinted at surprise.

‘Friend of yours?’

Spock’s face was impassive. ‘I have no friends on the Follett, but I had not realized he was an enemy. He is in the science department.’”

Just a few well written lines, yet it’s so easy to picture how alone and apart Spock is. And yet it’s also easy to see the man he is yet to become. Spock refuses to take the credits Kirk has taken from one of his assailants, credits that will ensure he makes it back to his ship on time. Kirk is forced to improvise—something he does better than anyone else—to get “Mr. Morality” off the hook. He plays chess with one of the locals for money.

Kirk is intrigued by this younger version of his friend, is drawn to him, entertains sexual thoughts that never entered his head before. And Spock learns a valuable lesson about sacrificing personal dignity in the face of his responsibility to his ship.

All this in less than six pages.

Syn, if you’re reading this, please, please, please complete this work. You have a legion of fans out here that would welcome whatever you choose to write.