Mirrored Logic

Independent RP blog for Commander Spock, ISS Enterprise, and mirror!Prime.

[mirroredlogic]

[ @starfleetsvulcan i just remembered--we were going to do a thread in alpha shift where m!prime tempts spock over to the Dark Side. we can do it independent of the alpha shift universe if you’re still interested? i’ll still reply to your canonverse starter.]

[starshipdoctor]

Do you understand what this is?

The mental command pressed into his consciousness and he could not close his eyes to the image this Spock was forcing on him. Ideas he had never fully realized, feelings he hadn’t even considered that his mind was being led to observe. Love, desire, need. He’d never thought of Spock that way… not yet, not until… He writhed under the Vulcan’s grasp, angered at the private, vulnerable shoots of thoughts that were being ripped apart and cooly analyzed. He could not deny their truth, but he didn’t want to tell this twisted version of Spock that he harbored anything like affection or love for his counterpart.

How am I supposed to understand, I don’t KNOW what I want. Why are you asking me––!

He knew under the mind meld it was futile to fight back, but this Vulcan would not defeat him. He blinked forcefully, trying to gain mental strength, and met a look in the Vulcan’s eye that frightened him suddenly, leaving his body flushed with ice. He’d been used to a Spock that was cold, reluctant to show anything like fondness, let alone the baser passions. But the Vulcan’s mental and physical hold on him kept him from shaking loose.

What do you want from me? he asked coldly through his thoughts, holding the Vulcan’s stare with one of his own.

[ @mirroredlogic ]

[mirroredlogic]

That was a lie --- McCoy had recognized it just as much as he did. The surprise and confusion, however, was genuine.

Curiosity, he replied smoothly through the meld. I will be disappointed to see you leave.

Bur curiosity was not enough for Spock to keep him here. He needed his own captain back, and a CMO that could handle the requirements of the job. He broke the meld suddenly, and grabbed McCoy roughly by the arm to lead him to the door. “You have already given me what I want. Your comrades are waiting for you in the transporter room. If we delay you return much longer, you will miss their departure.”

@starshipdoctor

[mirroredlogic]

He recognized the sound of measured, even footsteps approaching behind him with a sense of satisfaction. He had known he would come sooner or later. The opportunity for self-examination would be a temptation too great for such an inquisitive mind to ignore. He knew this himself from personal experience.

“Commander Spock,” he said as he turned around. “I knew you would come, eventually.”

@starfleetsvulcan

[youngestcaptain]

                               ❝My First Officer nearly killed me during our first year together, but we got through our difficulties in understanding each other.❞ Kirk was finding it difficult to know that his counterpart no longer existed in this foreign Spock’s universe. ❝Together as the youngest command team in Starfleet’s history, we have accomplished great things together.❞        

                               ❝I feel pity for you that you could not see the natural alliance of us in your universe.❞  Kirk scoffed. ❝Your ego– your lack of humble nature will destroy you.❞  He continued.   ❝One day you will meet an enemy that you can’t understand. An enemy that you need to defeat using gut instinct…❞  He smirked slowly. ❝And you’ll fail because you won’t have me at your side.❞      

[mirroredlogic]

“He ‘nearly killed you’?” His eyebrow twitched in interest. This was unexpected. “That seems like a rather extreme response to simply having ‘difficulties in understanding each other.’ I was under the impression that Federation Vulcans preferred diplomacy over violence.”

Pity. Had he been human, he would have smiled at Kirk’s naivete. “I did see the ‘natural alliance,’ captain. And then when it no longer was useful, I saw the natural end to that alliance.” It was unfortunate. The Imperial Kirk had been a skilled and charismatic commander, of great use to Spock -- but he had become foolhardy and power hungry from overconfidence, which had jeopardized his plans. “Ironically, it was your Federation counterpart that gave me the tools needed to kill the Imperial Kirk -- or any foe, without detection.”

“As for my ‘ego,’ as you say... I think you confuse lack of humility with rationality. If I make wrong decision, I can justify why I made it with facts and percentages. When you choose incorrectly and make a decision that leads to loss of life, how do justify that decision? You simply ‘went with what felt right’? That seems rather presumptuous to me.”

“But I do not understand the purpose of this idle conversation. You have yet to tell me exactly why I am being held here in this cell. Have I broken any laws that warrant imprisonment?”

@youngestcaptain

[youngestcaptain]

                            Kirk suspiciously noticed how Spock hadn’t answered his question about returning to his universe. It shook him up, if he was being honest, he didn’t like being suspicious of Spock. Deep down, he wanted to believe there was enough in common in this Spock with the ones he knew. The whole thing was crazy, starting with the fact that he knew multiple Spocks, but he tried to not dwell on it. 

                           ❝I didn’t know that.❞ Kirk replied in a terse tone. ❝But what I do know is you’re clearly saying things which you know will get an emotional response out of me.❞ His eyes squinted slowly. ❝Are Vulcans savage where you come from? More emotional, in touch with their primal instincts…❞ 

[mirroredlogic]

He ignored Kirk’s comment about seeking an emotional response. Kirk might be managing his emotions now, but he was sure he could draw out a reaction if he could find the right nerve.

“I would use the word ‘ruthless.’ ‘Savage’ implies a certain irrationality of disposition. Vulcans are logical creatures, as I am sure you are aware, and our actions are ruled by necessity and logic. I would argue that imperial Vulcans are perhaps more divorced from their emotions than the Vulcans in your universe. An imperial Vulcan would not hesitate to terminate an valued alliance immediately if it became unsuitable. If I understand your First Officer correctly, he has a certain weakness for forming emotional attachments that would not serve him well in my universe.” His eyes glittered, like a wolf preparing to go in for the kill. “I assassinated Kirk in my universe to take command, for example. It was regrettable, but necessary.” He watched for Kirk’s reaction, waiting to see if he had hit the nerve he was looking for.

@youngestcaptain

[old-fashioned-boy-mccoy]

That was just plain irritating. What kind of back-handed compliment was that supposed to be? Here it was again- McCoy showed this Spock the littlest bit of kindness and he threw it right back in his face. Save a man’s life a time or two and what do you get? Insults. Oh sure, there was a grain of truth to all that, but there was no way he’d give this Spock an inch.

He scowled. “Once bitten, twice shy.” McCoy was well aware that there were more types of harm than physical. He’d care for this Spock as a patient, but beyond that there was no familiarity between them. McCoy found that once his trust had been broken, it would take a heck of a lot of doing to get it back.

“I’d oblige you, but certainly not one-on-one. I don’t know what kind of a fool you think I am, but whatever you say you can say it with Chief Giotto in the room.”

@mirroredlogic

[mirroredlogic]

“Ah. I do not agree.” It was disappointing that he was going to have to use this card so quickly. He had hoped for a little more subtlety in this initial conversation. Then again, “subtlety” was not a word that had ever seemed to exist in the doctor’s lexicon.

“Clearly you have not forgotten our last encounter. I have seen your mind, your memories, your desires, your secrets. I have the ability to share these with anyone. I will respect your privacy if you will respect my desire for discretion.”

“I assure you my questions are quite harmless,” he said coolly.

@old-fashioned-boy-mccoy

[old-fashioned-boy-mccoy]

McCoy swallowed hard. He didn’t trust this version of their First Officer as far as he could throw him. No, there’d be no negotiating, odds were. Reasoning seemed out of the question… Well, weren’t Vulcans fond of logic, regardless of the universe?

Pushing down the panic that threatened to overwhelm him- it wouldn’t do to abandon a patient anyhow- McCoy steeled himself. He still clutched the tricorder, but this was his ship. Everyone here was on his side, not this Spock’s. And… and besides, this Spock was injured. What could he possibly do from his sickbed, restrained and barely healed? The medical perspective gave him new courage. Why start out on the defensive? It was his own home court.

“I don’t know that many people who are eager to have their guts spilled, mister. Self-preservation is hardly a selective trait.” Talk science with him, keep him on this insane track. McCoy edged back from the bed slowly. He’d call security. This wasn’t supposed to be happening.

@mirroredlogic

[mirroredlogic]

“Indeed not.” His tone was cool and unaggressive, even curious, but his words were specifically chosen with the intention of triggering McCoy. He needed to draw him in through his emotionally reactive weak points. “I suppose the predisposition towards survival can override even the strongest of martyr complexes. Frankly, I am surprised to find you alive, Doctor McCoy. I would have thought by now that you would have died in some desperate act of sacrifice. Was that self-preservation instinct too strong in the end? Or have you simply not been offered the opportunity?”

McCoy’s attempt to inch away was not lost on him. “I understand that the captain sees me as a significant threat to the safety of the ship, but I can assure you that I have no intention of harming you, doctor. Indeed I could not do so even if I wanted to.” He lifted a wrist, showing his restraints. “I am far more interested in speaking with you. I have many unanswered questions. Perhaps you could oblige me.”

@old-fashioned-boy-mccoy

[mirroredlogic]

continued from here

Ever since the ion storm had brought the other bridge crew aboard the ISS Enterprise, Starfleet had made inter-universal travel a top priority in every science lab in the Empire. Ruthless punishments for failure meant that reliable one-way travel was created within just three years. Plans for cross-universe expansion and invasion were already underway.

Before such an expansion could take place, however, certain reconnaissance missions had to be enacted. Commander Spock had been chosen by Starfleet for this initial step, given his familiarity with the original inter-universal exchange and interaction with the foreign bridge crew. Spock was only too willing to comply. He had a personal interest in this mission as well as a professional one.

He had intentionally asked his own Doctor McCoy to inflict him with the injury moments before beaming aboard the ship. If he understood the crew of this other Enterprise at all, he would likely be taken to medbay under restraints for his injury rather than directly to the brig -- convenient, as one of his most vulnerable targets would be found there. However, he realized that McCoy had heard of his arrival and had intentionally avoided his ward except to make  night rounds during Gamma shift. Spock had feigned sleep to avoid a sedative  from M’Benga and waited for McCoy to appear. He had chosen his words carefully, using the element of surprise to his advantage.

“I do not threaten. I am merely making an observation,” he replied. He calmly watched McCoy from his medical bed, noting his defensive posture with interest. McCoy was visibly shaken. “Do you disagree?” he said simply.  @old-fashioned-boy-mccoy

[starshipdoctor]

It might have felt better if he weren’t so demanding… McCoy writhed under the mental hold, aware but unable to stop the manipulation. Knew that these dark hands were as surgically adept with the mind as his own were with the body. Helpless against the insane replay of so many emotions even he had yet to quantify, he was almost relived when the sifting stopped, landed on one spot, exhaustion beginning to forcefully set in, a physical response to lurching from joy to sadness, anger to relief in his memories. The vision he saw now was a tender one, and McCoy for a moment latched onto it, relieved at the clarity and stillness of the image, too tired to close the door as he stepped through it with his unwanted companion.

“Why––?” he breathed before giving in. What was the purpose of it? Mere curiosity? Why was he focusing on his own reaction to Spock’s blindness? Why was he settling on that pang of agony when he had seen that cold, unfeeling Vulcan stumble on the table and slice out those condemning words after he was blinded. Jim had blamed him; Spock had blamed him. What else was it but to blame himself as well? Damned it all, he was a doctor. He was human, he made fucking mistakes. But not like this, not to him. Rushing headlong into stupid self-sacrifice and now here he was, his soul reaching out to touch the Vulcan’s heart, to tell him he’d take care of everything, that he didn’t mean what he said before–– everything he said before. JUST COME BACK. STOP THIS. But the Vulcan was blind and there he was, stiffly holding back his grief behind that stupid mask. Let it go!

And he’d stopped his feelings before Spock miraculously awoke with his vision back. It was those memories he’d tucked away now, to muse about later. The ones that came crashing back now, as the other Vulcan drew them out of him slowly. He heaved wearily again, relief that the episode of emotion had run through.

[ turndownforspock ]

[mirroredlogic]

He did not fully understand what he was seeing. There was a selfless desperation in McCoy’s emotions that was foreign to him. But although it did not bear the marks of possessiveness or obsession, it did contain a quiet longing, a yearning, underneath the storming guilt and grief, that Spock recognized immediately as the seeds of desire, even if McCoy did not. He extracted it and showed it to McCoy.

Do you understand what this is?

He suddenly realized that he felt envious of this other Spock. It surprised and appalled him, but he could not deny that the emotion was there. This McCoy was like a drink of cool water compared to the chaotic and twisted mental patterns of his own McCoy. The purity and tenderness of the memory was unlike anything Spock had experienced before, and now that he had it in his grasp, he was reluctant to let it go. He looked down at him hungrily.

@starshipdoctor

[starshipdoctor]

He fought, desperately, to keep something anything private from the invasion of his soul. Memories like the ones being exposed now were the kind he would never tell anyone. Some of them, he wouldn’t even tell Jim, hadn’t even shared with his daughter or his wife. He was a private man and this violation angered him, tore at his vulnerability. He didn’t know what his body was doing, once this evil man had tore past his defenses and flicked away his hastily constructed mental guards. The whole of his energy shoved into his mind and he wished now for Spock’s mental powers––

He saw before himself memories of the previous hours, exposure of their secrets as the better halves of these evil men. And then the Vulcan pulled him sideways through the corridors of his memory, slammed into the door of one called “Spock” and pounded for it to open.

He lashed out, vaguely aware of the physical aspect of his resistance. Of all the memories, of course it would be the one of his counterpart, wasn’t it? Of course it would be the ones he held most secret of all. Of course it would be the ones this man could use against him, somehow.

Obey.

The throbbing Vulcan voice bore into his soul, flooded his body. He sensed himself yelling, his eyes unable to register sensory information as he focused so consummately on the defense of his soul. “You’ve got what you wanted, stop it.” His voice was haggard, hardly beyond a whisper.

But he was only a man and unlearned in the art of the mind.

The door crashed down and every delicate thought flashed out in the space between them. Their gentle banter, their fervent arguing… the affection he was beginning to feel for the Vulcan, a quiet wordless shoot in the fresh ground of his heart.

McCoy felt his heart rev with nervous energy, blood pounding his brain, as if the thoughts were intensifying in his head beyond his own natural emotions. He saw himself watching his own Spock, those thin Vulcan hands and the cold eyes, a conviction in his heart that the man was too afraid to be human, that he was too arrogant to accept his other half, that if he but opened his heart to accept his humanity–– the rightness of error, the goodness of frailty, the beauty of love–– then Spock would be more the man he hoped to be.

It was draining, suddenly, and McCoy felt the energy leave his body. A pounding headache crashed his head and he felt adrift, reaching for stabilization.

turndownforspock

[mirroredlogic]

Memories flooded past him indiscriminately, leaving behind emotional impressions of every kind -- frustration, joy, relief, anger, fear, victory, confusion -- he filtered through them as one might sift sand with a sieve. He was not looking for anything in particular. Unlike the initial infiltration of the mental defenses, this was the stage of vahtar-kal that required subtlety and finesse - to allow the subject to reveal their most vulnerable point through their own weakness. He knew McCoy was already responding physically to this process as he felt him sag beneath him.

Meanwhile the emotional impressions slipping from McCoy’s mind were painting a clear picture of his relationship with the other Spock. It was clear that it was quite different from his own relationship with the McCoy in his universe. It fascinated him, and it was difficult to prevent himself from wanting to possess as many memories of his other self as possible. Emotions foreign to his relationship with McCoy flooded by -- affection, exasperation, compassion --

Guilt --

Something was trapped in his mental sieve. This was it. He grasped the memory, surprised slightly by relative the freshness of it. It was loaded with something he couldn’t identify.

Show this to me, he commanded.

starshipdoctor

[quoted-books]

You can love a monster, and it can even love you back, but that doesn’t change its nature.

Eliza Crewe, Crushed (via mrsfscottfitzgerald)

[mirroredlogic]

"Our minds are merging, Doctor. Our minds are one. I feel what you feel. I know what you know."      

Spock felt his mind extend out of him in dark tendrils, weaving into McCoy’s psyche and breaking through barriers of fear that gave him a familiar sense of satisfaction —

Why did the Captain let me live.

The doctor’s memories came out in chaotic flashes. He felt McCoy’s consciousness kicking against his own in a futile attempt to free itself from his grasp. He silenced it easily with a mental shove and sought out his answers —  

The ion storm — The transposition — The plan of escape —

Confusion, fear, disgust — He had the information he needed. He prepared to break the link, but suddenly — McCoy’s own universe, another Spock — He railed against McCoy’s defenses to open these memories but found them heavily guarded — he increased the pressure of his mental grip and still McCoy’s mind would not relinquish its hold — he could feel McCoy’s body struggling under him — Obey. You will succumb eventually.

Obey. He felt McCoy’s barriers begin to crumble, and through the cracks flooded images from every corner of his mind —

starshipdoctor

[turndownforspock-deactivated201]

the show sets it up that Jim’s appeal to mirror!Spock’s logic is what converted him to Leave the Dark Side but really, I feel like his mindmeld with Bones was probably the most important element in his “conversion.” or at least, he wouldn’t have been able to be convinced by Jim without digging around in Bones’ mind first.

it was only during that meld that he would have been able to understand what the principles of Federation are really about. he also would have been able to see what he’s like in Bones’ universe, to see himself thrive in a context that values mercy, equality, etc. and, i think touching a mind that is profoundly Good like Bones’ is would have been an important experience for him.

obviously, none of this makes that meld a “good thing,” though.

[mirroredlogic]

Spock waited for the inevitable. He knew it would be only a matter of time until he was turned over to Eugenics. The only question was whether McCoy had the manipulative intelligence to make him wait days rather than hours. 

He avoided medical during this time, refusing to give McCoy the opportunity to glean any further satisfaction from his victory. Instead he channeled his suppressed anxiety into unusually cruel command decisions, even by the Empire’s standards. 

But then one day turned into two, and two into three, and then three days turned into a week. He paced his quarters, his mind racing over what McCoy’s motivations could possibly be over making him wait this long. He was playing with him, of course. He wanted to see how long Spock could go before he snapped again from the pressure. Some part of himself felt a bizarre pang of interest that McCoy was capable of such advanced manipulation. He had always assumed that McCoy was too impulsive to keep a game up this long. 

The only move available to him, then, was to cut the game short. Suddenly he was filled with a sense of clarity, knowing that he had found a way to move from defensive to offensive maneuvering again, even if McCoy still held his fate in his hands. He gathered himself, putting his Vulcan mask firmly in place, and made his way to sickbay, barely noticing as crewmen nervously parted in front of his path, not wanting to become the next victim of the ice storm that had become his command style over the past seven days.

He tapped in the access code to McCoy’s office and was satisfied to find him alone behind his desk.

He waited until the door swept closed behind him before speaking. "Is this some kind of game to you?” He asked coldly, eyes flashing.

starshipdoctor

[mirroredlogic]

starter for deltas-captain

“Energize.”

The transporter room materialized in front of him and he stepped off the pad, approaching a human woman near the control console. 

“I must speak with the captain,” he said curtly. No doubt that the other Kirk would be interested to learn that he was aboard his ship.

[iheartleonardnimoy]

Brave New World 1998

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World_%281998_film%29

http://pagesix.com/2015/02/27/he-lived-long-and-prospered-leonard-nimoy-1931-2015/#5

[mirroredlogic]

[starter call. like this post if you want some effed up mirror!spock shit in your life]