Who Would Have Thought?

Fanfiction
Title:	Who Would Have Thought?
Author(s):	Kitty Berman
Date(s):	1995
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Who Would Have Thought? is a Kirk/Spock story by Kitty Berman.

It was published in the print zine Within the Mirror #10.

Summary

"After spending a week together as youths, Kirk and Spock remeet on the Enterprise where Kirk finds himself falling in love with the Vulcan."

Reactions and Reviews

1995

One thing that I especially admired about this Mirror story is that so much happened in it. I haven't read all that many Mirror universe stories, so I can don't know if this is typical of the genre, but I continued to turn pages because I was genuinely interested in the characters, and intrigued by what twist the author would provide to well-known plot lines next.

I enjoyed the opening sequence when Kirk and Spock are young and meet on Earth, as this was original and I've got a weak spot for the younger guys. It really is intriguing to wonder what would have happened if they'd met when they were youths.

I appreciated it when First Officer Kirk decided to make his move on Pike earlier than he'd planned because it would help him get the Enterprise to Vulcan for Spock's pon farr, and I thought the execution of Pike by both our guys was excellent. I also really liked it when Kirk tells the science officer "Go kill the bastard," referring to Stonn at Koon-ut-kalifee. Yeah!

Ms. Berman is a competent writer with good ideas who would benefit from a strong editor who's willing to work with her on sentence construction and punctuation. There were bunches of mistakes in both (commas and apostrophes and a few verbs were needed) but I found that once I adjusted to the grammatical and other errors that I was still able to read and enjoy the story.

What would make this story, and presumably the rest of the author's work even better would be more attention paid to rounding out situations, making them more believable and fully realizable, with concurrent improvement on characterization as well. Some of the early part of this story seemed a bit too naive for my taste, and it lacked the biting edge of the Mirror situation and characters. Jamie seemed too soft to grow up to be the mirror captain.

Some of this naivete came through in writing style, such as when the younger Kirk and Spock are exchanging their life histories. A bit too much conversational dwelling on "I don't really want to tell you this but I trust you so I will." And then, virtually several pages of monologue from each, information that I thought could have been conveyed in a less static way if imbedded within a genuine conversation.

But despite what this story might have been, it was an enjoyable reading experience, with characters that made sense overall, and a plot that held my interest.

This may qualify as "child sex" story in the sense that Kirk is 16, 17 at most, but this Kirk is a naive prostitute. He doesn't truly become embittered until he is brutally raped before he enters the Academy. Spock, however, is also young and naive, so this may be simply juvenile sex.

I have a little trouble with stories like this and "A SUNSET TOUCH'" (same zine) in which Kirk "earns" his way into Starfleet by whoring for some prominent person. This, of course, is a legitimate scenario, especially in an alternate universe, but I just can't see Kirk doing it. I also was uncomfortable about the way both Spock and Kirk killed without a second thought, much less emotion. (My impression of this particular issue of the zine was of casual, callous killing throughout, but it may be just the mood I was in when I read it.

I really liked the way the author showed the characters growing and changing, That is hard to do.

Young Spock is a bird in a gilded cage. During a week of freedom, he crosses paths with a young Kirk (known as Jamie), who is a prostitute with ambitions to join Starfleet.

Later, Pike, who is the Enterprise captain, forces his attentions on Kirk. And years later, Kirk becomes an officer on the Enterprise where he and Spock reunite.

This first part of the story was well-done with an interesting twist on the characters and the mirror universe. I really enjoyed the young K and S's relationship. The difficulties began in the second part when Spock goes into pon farr and must return to Vulcan. Pike, not knowing the ramifications of pon farr (nobody wanted to tell him?) wants to go elsewhere. Kirk, wanting to save Spock at any cost, decides to kill Captain Pike, who is hateful and creepy, anyway.

This would be fine, after all this is the mirror universe, but Kirk's motivation to kill Pike had better be a good and believable one. The problem for me was that the entire story hinged on Kirk's desire for revenge for Pike's forced sexual advances.

One of the difficulties is that Kirk was a prostitute at the time of Pike's assault. I realize, of course, that even a prostitute gets to decide with whom they are going to have sex and Pike, I presume, didn't pay Kirk. But the question is how much of an impact does this have on Kirk's life?

I know there are different standards and rules here, but Kirk is still Kirk deep down and Spock is sliii Spock deep down and these guys are moral and honorable no matter how nasty they appear. But Spock doesn't even question Kirk's plan.

And no one even tries to persuade Pike to go to Vulcan. No one even mentions it! I realize Pike would probably say no, but couldn't someone just ask him first?

And finally, Pike's helplessness and total paralysis at the time of his murder really was distasteful. In the end, it doesn't matter how bad Pike was or what motivated Kirk. If Pike had lunged for Kirk or tried to attack him in some way, that would have changed the situation dramatically. As it is, Kirk brutally murders a helpless human being and Spock feels this is an honor bestowed upon him.

And speaking of Spock, he joins in on all this moral blindness and kills T'Pring. Hey! Whatever happened to a session in the agony booth?

But no matter how nasty or immoral these mirror guys are, they still have the perspicacity to make the bed and tidy up after sex.

However, I really enjoyed the entire first part of the story where Kirk and Spock meet and spend time with each other. It ably showed their growing love and desire for each other in a difficult and dangerous world. And both their youthful, ingenuous, charming personalities were a delight.

1996

"Who would have thought" that the two youths who met by chance so many years ago end up as a powerful bonded command team?

On nearly 60 pages we can follow their tracks. An interesting and gripping plot, like all of Ms. Berman's stories, this one is captivating until the end with a lot of wonderful scenes to remember. My favorites:

P.86: "'You've pretty obviously never had to do anything for yourself. You make lousy coffee.'"

P.108: "Pike died with Kirk's knife buried in his heart by a two handed blow. One hand was human, the other Vulcan."

P.111: "He hoped he would be able to control himself at the ceremony. Killing the bride was probably not acceptable behavior, even on Vulcans."

P.122: "Farrel showed no reaction but Setan raised both eyebrows in a fair imitation of Spock. Kirk had a gut feeling that the Vulcan knew exactly what he and Spock would be dealing with...."

I also loved the scene where young Kirk showed Spock his miserable "home" where he grew up.

Also wonderful was the easy banter between the two of them in the last paragraph. A really wonderful K/S story!