Run in the Shadows

Fanfiction
Title:	Run in the Shadows
Author(s):	Alice Hooker
Date(s):	1994
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Run in the Shadows is a K/S story by Alice Hooker.

It was published in the print zine Way of the Warrior #7.

Summary

"A long A/U story in which a young James Kirk is marked for death by his homicidal brother, Sam. His father hires the best protection in the business, Spock of Vulcan. And the chase is on-in more ways then one."

Reactions and Reviews

1994

An a/u story with Spock hired to protect a young Kirk. I liked that they would evenually end up on the Enterprise. This is a difficult kind of story to write since the characters are "embryos" of what we will see in the series, but the author did a good job of staying true to them, except I'm not so sure Kirk was so ready to forsake women at that age. This, however, was explained well. There's a very, very nice scene as Spock fights his "animal lusts' and leaves the room while Kirk sleeps. "Walking away, he paused at the door to allow himself the luxury of a farewell glance. Then he departed, with cruel, taunting memories of ethereal moonlight pooling over the sleeping form from a nearby window, fixing the scene in his very soul for all eternity/ Lovely.

Alternate universe story in which Kirk's father wants to protect him from the evil doings of the brother, Sam, who is a psychopathic murderer. Unbeknownst to Jim Kirk, he has killed their mother. Now he's after Kirk. Spock is a bodyguard hired by George Kirk to take Jim away into hiding.

Lots of plot and lots of fun reading, this is an involving story with an interesting premise. However... I don't think I have ever read a story with more point-of-view changes than this one. At a certain point, the POVs changed so much and so often that I just gave up trying to keep it all straight. It was only when Spock goes into a healing trance that the shifting POVs took a rest. They were especially fast and furious when there were two or more people in a scene. Which was most of the time.

There's an interesting, well-done opening scene that gives the exposition through George Kirk's conversation with a silent Spock, Except for a few unnecessary interjections of Spock's POV, this was a nice dramatic scene.

Also, we are told constantly what Kirk and Spock are thinking and feeling instead of being shown through action or dialogue. There are many examples of this "telling-not-showing." Just one is Kirk telling Spock that "before" Spock told him about T'Pring and Stonn. Well, you weren't there when he told him. A strange scene occurs in the story after Kirk and Spock become lovers. Spock marches into the bedroom, and without waking Kirk up, literally puts his cock in Kirk, thinking it's "illogical to resist temptation", I guess it's also illogical to first wake Kirk up.

And I know I'm not supposed to mind when Spock uses contractions. But I do.

However, Ms. Hooker has a wonderful imagination including an excellent invention of Orridian shape-changers and some neat Vulcan terms.

1995

This is an imaginative A/U story. Kirk is 17, at the Academy. His father George is a rich businessman who has hired Spock as a bodyguard for Kirk due to serious troubles with brother Sam. Sam is evil, twisted, wants revenge on Jim for slights he felt all his life. Sam murdered their mother! But George kept this fact from Jim, so Jim just can't believe his brother is so evil. I found it hard to accept also, that someone with such pathological problems would survive so long in a sophisticated world(s) without treatment or incarceration. I realize this is debatable; we saw plenty of examples of such deranged people in the episodes.

But the problem here is that most of this background information is imparted to us in dialogue, where it sounds stilted, and when in narrative, it sounds dry, just a recitation of facts.

I personally don't care for a teenage Kirk who is by turns blushing and teary-eyed, when he's not being overly self-aware for his age. Also, a problem with POV. We are in everyone's head, indiscriminately, even the minor characters.

Over the summer vacation, they go first to Asiron III where Spock owns a retreat.

There seems to be a problem in this story with having too much time pass, in two regards: (1) that each time period is not given fairly equal weight; and (2) that what happened in the intervening time is then just told to us afterwards. At Spock's place on the planet, we come in on them having been there five days already. Especially at this early point in the story, with their growing lust and love building up every minute, too much would have happened in those five days, and we weren't let in on it.

In one scene, there was too long a passage without any mention of their surroundings or positions. Only in the first paragraph of the scene is it mentioned where they are, so that five pages (of only dialogue and feelings) later, I forgot where they were (in a forest by a pool) and was surprised at the mention of horses, which as a matter of fact had not been mentioned before. Also in this scene, it is mentioned much later that Spock only has briefs on. This is something we should have been made aware of six pages before, definitely.

The beautiful warrior queen of Asiron comes along. OK, so she strips and jumps into the pool where Kirk is, and Spock expounds from the shore totally unnaturally on the culture here, as if it's a big deal that she did this. Exposition in dialogue just doesn't usually work. Anyway, Kirk is unreasonably uptight it seems to me. At Academy age, he is not an unworldly innocent to something so simple as nudity in mixed swimming.

And, if males in this culture are basically breeding stock, why would this queen sell land to a mate (Spock), and have an equal, adult relationship with him?

This feels contrived: Giving us information by having Kirk talk to Spock while Spock is in a healing trance, about their trip to the caves, a scene we were not shown. And this seems like an easy out device: exposition in Kirk's own out-loud-to-himself dialogue. Again, unnatural dialogue Spock knows Kirk is as hot as he is, so why his quandary? That he "shouldn't take advantage of Kirk's innocence or some such.

Some of the writing is obvious, relying on well-worn purple. There are some undeniably beautiful feelings expressed in lovely poetic language, but not when we're just told the characters are feeling them.. With an over-abundance of such sweeping sentiment, it all loses its impact- Anyway, I don't think people's spontaneous thoughts are in such defined concepts.

Danger! The hired killers are shape-shifters. A series of adventures, and good ones, evading the threat from Sam.

On the next planet they're on, Spock is catching and eating fish??

Back at the Academy, everything is resolved very swiftly. Amanda, Kirk's dad, all is happiness; Sam is dispatched. In the last scene, years have passed, they have a joint-posting and are off to the stars.

Aside from needing a more defined focus, this, as all of this author's imaginative tales, is a fun adventure with many vivid and interesting elements. And really good sex and a beautiful bonding.