The Rasputin Effect

Fanfiction
Title:	The Rasputin Effect
Author(s):	Janis E. Laine
Date(s):	1991
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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The Rasputin Effect is a Kirk/Spock story by Janis E. Laine.

It was published in the print zine Scattered Stars #3.

Summary

"Imprisoned for landing on Talos 4, Kirk discovers that the warden who will oversee his execution is the Vulcan he knew when both were members of the Imperial marines."

Reactions and Reviews

1991

Talk about alternate universes! In this one, Kirk is a prisoner and Spock is a warden — and at the end, the Enterprise is in their future. This story has lots of surprises and the only false note is Spock replacing one of Kirk's memories.

A thrilling story that is worth reading. I love this Spock and Kirk!

This was yet another brilliantly-plotted story... and is one of the more satisfying reads I've had in some time. I liked the 'having your cake and eating it too' aspect of Spock being his usual, dutiful self, and carrying out the execution despite all the reasons he does not want to; and then having Kirk end up alive despite Spock's actions. I also liked that Kirk showed genuine fear as the time for execution approached, instead of the usual, unrealistic bravado. Everything about this story was excellent, except that I was left wondering what became of Kirk's 'gift'. Or did I miss the fact that the execution process somehow drained his powers? In any case, I liked the tidbit about Spock's knee. It's amazing, but true, that such an injury can have a dramatic impact on a person's life and choices.

1992

I basically found this to be a strongly written, intricately plotted and well thought out story. Kirk as a prisoner and Spock as his jailer was certainly a uniquely different scenario.

I did have a little trouble, however, when Kirk got his special powers and began healing everyone in sight. I don't know why, but it was just too much for me. I also didn't quite understand the ending and why it was necessary for Spock to have sex with Kirk in order to bring him back.

But all-in-all I found this to be a powerful, effective story. This author has a lot of talent -- I wish she'd write more.

1998

Due to outside interference, a timestrand isn t developing as it originally should've and those same beings responsible for that interference try to repair it. Kirk's premature death must be avoided. Kirk is a criminal, sent to a prison in space to be executed. Spock is the prison warden and they knew each other when they were in the Space Marines, they were friends but not lovers. There's an escape attempt and Kirk manages to flee from the station but the shuttle gets caught in an ion storm and is severely damaged. Upon awakening Kirk finds himself back in prison. He has acquired a peculiar healing capacity, presumably as a result of being caught in that storm, he can cure everything once. Though he cures the Emperor's only son, he still gets executed by the hands of Spock. Then he gets resurrected and the pardon arrives. I'm not too keen on AU stories, I never was. I try to go along with the author's ideas, sometimes it work and other times it utterly fails and this is one of those times. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. Spock killing Kirk because he doesn't want to shirk his duty. A using of each other, no love, at least none that I could recognize. I could go along with everything else but that kind of cold callousness between them was too much.

2006

Well, now, that was fun. Mirror Universe of a sort. Kirk's family was wiped out by Imperial forces when he was six; after a stint on the Enterprise, he now makes his way in the world by working a variety of cons and scams. Having inadvertently trespassed on Talos, he has been captured and sent for execution (in the "electrolethe") to a prison facility which happens to be managed by Warden Spock. Spock, it turns out, was lamed in an accident and sent to this out-of-the-way position. An alcoholic McCoy is presiding over the prison hospital, where he is managing to evade the imperial requirement that he use condemned prisoners for experiments to find a cure for Schwab's disease - from which the emperor's son suffers. Despite a fondness for Kirk, Spock will not disobey the execution order. He does, however, grant Kirk's last request and comes to Kirk's cell in a "courting robe" for chess and sex. Things do not go quite as expected, and Kirk ends up joining a jailbreak and almost escaping in the warden's yacht. An ion storm brings him down, but has given him magical healing powers. McCoy is delighted, and after Kirk has healed everyone on the premises (one healing to a customer), the doctor convinces Spock to send word to the emperor in hopes of a pardon for Jim if he heals the Atheling. Kirk does so, but no pardon is forthcoming. Kirk is duly executed, but as McCoy prepares to dispose of the body he discovers that some portion of residual healing energy can be transfered back to Kirk, and manages to get a heartbeat and get the body on life support. Of course, to really get Kirk back means recalling his katra; only Spock can do that, and only through sex/bonding. The author has included a clever little framing story involving Organians and Talosians to aid us in suspension of disbelief over the annoyingly magical bits.