The Cocksman

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	The Cocksman
Author(s):	Jenny Starr
Date(s):	1986
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The Cocksman is a Kirk/Spock story by Jenny Starr.

It was published in the print zine Naked Times #11.

Summary

"Spock regrets his refusal to begin a relationship with Kirk after his captain and the rest of the landing party disappear while studying the planetʼs pre-industrial society."

Reactions and Reviews

In the fiction department, NT#11 starts of with the winners of a contest originally started in NT9. The #1 winning story, THE COCKSMAN is among the most tightly-written, intricately-detailed K/S stories I've ever had the pleasure to review. I couldn't find any faults with it. Told in a somewhat "dry" style from Spock's pov, THE COCKSMAN is a chilling, perhaps even disturbing tale of kidnap and intrigue. And the solution is, of course, logical.

I mourn the day Jenny Starr stopped writing K/S, because in my opinion she is one of our finest writers. This story is incredibly imaginative and realistic, very hard to read because of the sense of impending doom and the stark, vivid awfulness of the climactic scene. Makes me wince just to think of it. But this is a story to return to and admire again and again. K/S without a sex scene...great K/S!

Sometimes there’s a premise so different, so engaging, that you never forget it. Such are the events of “The Cocksman”. The name eluded me over the years, as did the zine, but every now and then I would recall the ritual of the people of Camus IV and it’s effect on Kirk and Spock. Such a vivid image was drawn that I never forgot it.

Similarly, it lost nothing in the re-reading. Originality, imagination and believability interlock to involve you completely in this primitive society. While the situation created by these uncivilized customs leaves little time for tenderness between Kirk and Spock, the love shines through in a very unique way.

It’s very compelling -- a must-read -- and I don’t want to give away the plot, it really needs to be experienced, not related here.

1986—a good year for K/S. Jenny Starr was one of the best of our genre‘s early writers. This story is the first place winner of the Naked Times contest announced in issue #9 and a wonderful example of her writing and plotting skill.

The story opens on a conversation between the captain and first officer. Kirk is pressing for them to extend their close relationship into the sexual realm while Spock refuses. Later, in his personal log, Spock reviews his knowledge of all the meanings of the term 'love' (including an inexplicable reference to a zero score in tennis), and concludes that yes, he does return Kirk‘s feelings; he does love his captain. However, he has decided against entering the sexual aspect of their relationship for several reasons, the main of which is that he doubts his capability to exhibit the passion that Jim would require in a mate. Arrival at Camus VI for an observational mission cuts the exchange short. The Prime Directive is to be strictly enforced. The two share a late night conversation via communicator where Kirk reports the landing party‘s findings. The people live an agrarian lifestyle reminiscent of life in the US in the mid 1800s. The food is plentiful, fresh, and delicious, the people friendly and welcoming to these 'strangers from another village.' They have found rooms at the local inn called The Cocksman. Kirk signs off for the night. The captain fails to check in the next morning, and Spock does not hear from him again. Spock, as always, does not hesitate where Kirk‘s safety is concerned. His instincts are telling him the landing party is in trouble, and he calls an early briefing with senior staff. I very much liked this vision of Spock in command. He is sure of himself, extremely competent, and obviously has the respect of his subordinates— McCoy excluded. When he informs them of his intention to beam down to the planet weaponless and accompanied by only one security guard and one communicator, McCoy calls him on the illogic of a Vulcan remaining inconspicuous on a planet full of beings that appear human. The dynamics between the two men are so like those in the series that you can easily hear their voices. In a nice touch, McCoy waits until the others are dismissed before really pressing his point, not wanting to undermine Spock‘s authority—the upshot of which is that he becomes included in the rescue mission, obviously what the good doctor had in mind all the time. The village is as Kirk described. The inhabitants are obviously illiterate with signs depicting the purpose of each shop in pictures. Each picture is accompanied by a painted representation of a large shock of wheat. The sign by the inn depicts a nude man with golden skin, arms raised, eyes closed, with a huge erect penis. (Long time K/Sers are now saying to themselves, I know that story! Yes, indeed it is that one. Stop here if you want to reread the story, and more details would spoil it for you.) The new travelers are well treated, especially the tall blond security guard, Swensson. Women in this society keep pretty much to themselves; Spock finds them all together in one of the shops. When they are told that the most important date in their calendar, the Wheat Fair, is soon to be held, Spock concludes the landing party has been conscripted as slave labor to ready the fields for the planting that will be done that day. The innkeeper denies that any other strangers have visited their town this season. When they mention the women, the innkeeper proudly remarks: 'Women are for breeding, men are for seeding.' Spock warns the other two men to avoid eating and drinking the native foods. Skip ahead to Fair Day. Spock arises to find Swensson has disappeared and McCoy cannot be roused, an empty cup of hot cocoa on the table by his bed. He leaves their one communicator in McCoy‘s lax hand. Spock finds the village is deserted. The locked door of the shop where the women wait is breached by the simple expedient of Spock kicking it in. They tell him where the men can be found and give him a long hooded robe. At the field he finds a huge shock of wheat eerily painted with a face and complete with an erect wheat penis...the Wheat God. Before it are four equally spaced tents and the swaying drugged men of the village in fervent prayer led by the proprietor of the inn. He, like the others, is erect. Each tent holds one of the men of the original landing party and Swensson, all fair-haired. Missing is the dark–haired Montaigne. In the third tent is Kirk; Spock has finally found his captain. As the villagers form lines before the tents, Spock maneuvers himself to the head of the one before Kirk‘s. Spock is aghast at what proceeds to happen. Swennson‘s tent is first to be entered with Kirk‘s next in line. The security guard is aware but drugged and defenseless. The villager descends upon his erect penis. As he approaches orgasm, the man runs into the field and 'fertilizes' the ground with his seed. Man after man takes his turn. As the line ends, the innkeeper kills Swensson, removing his penis as a last offering to the god. Spock is pushed forward. Stunned and almost beyond thought, Spock sees Kirk is aroused and recognizes him. Without weapon or means to call for help, there is no way out. Kirk has a last wish: he wants to make love with Spock and die in a meld as they come. Spock lowers himself 'on the altar of the one and only god he had ever worshipped.' Thankfully, McCoy saves the day; he has ordered the ship to stun everyone in the field. One shocked doctor comes across his two commanding officers still entwined together. He manages to keep their secret from the rescue party.

Spock‘s personal log details the rest of the story. He is experiencing lapses of memory due, he surmises, to that final meld—the Tal‘Kahr death meld—he initiated with his captain. No matter, Kirk has been briefed by McCoy and will fill him in at a private dinner after shift. The captain assures Spock he will resume their conversation about a proposed sexual relationship between them. Spock privately decides to lose that argument. He‘s not sure how it happened, but he has no further doubts as to his ability to sustain a passionate relationship with his captain.