This is like rereading a favourite book almost... 10 years later? I dont read fic as much as I used to in high school, but you always had a flair for politics and humor that I've seen a lot of people try to imitate, but not actually reach.

I like your edits btw, feels very cleaned up from first draft.

Such an amazing story! 3 Love the honest-to-God portrayal of the inner workings of the Federation and the politics. It was quite spot-on and lighthearted. One thing worth mentioning is your sense of humor! You absolutely had me in stitches at times! Absolutely loved this!

Sunday8

Something about your stories that I really like is that they have probably more action than any of the movies. films made of them would sure be really cool! :D

Anyways, another really good story (I feel like running out of synonyms to "super") and another happy reader. Do you think of posting more stuff? I would be really excited for that.

This was an excellent story I enjoyed reading very much. Thank you for writing it and sharing.

Lauren

I don't really review often, but I have to say, your story was very well written and I really enjoyed it. I really liked the way you wrote Spock's sense of humor and how he eventually started saying "Illogical" just because it amused Jim. :) I also admire the way you depicted the political arena of the Star Trek 'verse. My understanding of politics is admittedly rather nonexistent, so the fact that I actually understood what you were talking about was quite a feat. Well, I'm off to read the sequel(?) now.

Great story! I love your attention to political details :D

Great story, I really liked your use of Memory Alpha information. I find politics intriguing.

Not trying to flame here but...

I found one blatant error though, George Kirk was NOT the only fatality on the Kelvin.

There was at least three people shown killed on screen(movie), one guy got sucked out into space through a hull breach & another guy got killed by an explosion in engineering as he was running somewhere and talking on his communicator. Also, George Kirk.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you, thank you! I been looking for a good st09 political fic for a while and this managed to fit the bill nicely.

GEEZ, politics suck. At times I almost lost track of what was going on simply because politics are so damned confusing. But no worries, you explained it as well as politics can be explained. AKA, fantastic translating. :D

Tishri is a fascinating character. I'm not quite sure that I understand why Kirk was comparing himself to her, though; I got the comparison to Arya, but Tishri escaped me. And yeah, Tom Leighton is a back-stabbing bastard in this story. Interesting, because he and Kirk were friends in the Prime universe – I wonder what happened in this one to change that?

You describing Sarek as a zombified BAMF while in possession of a gun made me giggle. Actually, there were several things in this that made me giggle; there were parts that were absolutely hilarious.

Great interactions between Kirk and Spock here; they're showing that awesome teamwork that they're famous for in the Prime universe. The crew’s reaction to Kirk and Spock is also believable, touching, and totally awesome. I also like all the real facts that you used from Star Trek Wiki, especially all the stuff about Cardassians, Andorians, and the asteroid Weytahn (Pann Mokar!). You were also spot-on in the chaos the Federation must be in after that disaster. Especially with all of the weird alliances forming.

Suggestions, though: There are points in the story where it skips to days in the future without any warning – no little dash thingie or page break or anything, and it took a while to realize the change. There are also things that could be delved into a little more deeply, like what happened to Kirk and Spock while they were kidnapped. Weren’t they gone for days? It’s fine the way it is, I’m just curious. :D

Another fantastic story by you. Bureaucracy is a nightmare and it made me appreciate that fact. I sincerely enjoyed reading it. Keep up the good work!

The classic chess match and light teasing between Kirk and Spock make for a perfect ending.

-le gasp- Tarsus? Is that going to be in the sequel?

I still like Tishri. She's slimy, but at least she's competent. And I like her jokes. XD

Promotions for everyone! Great that we get an idea of where everyone is going after this. lol, I like the description for Sarek's: "So... why's he head of diplomacy now?" "... The feds think he's the sh*t, and the Vulcans are all, 'meh, whatever, okay.' So... yeah..."

I found the Tarsus questioning thing a little odd, though. You'd think Kirk would be more hesitant to admit to something like that. Him and Spock don't seem /that/ close yet. Or maybe we just aren't given enough insight into his state of mind while it's happening. Just seems kinda... random, I guess.

And I love Spock's denials of Kirk being at all similar to Tishri. In ANY way.

Jim: "Hey, we're kinda the s-"

Spock: "You're logic is stupid. No."

And "Federation Weekly" XD ... Awesome. I keep half expecting some version of Futuristic Facebook to show up.

We'll call it SpaceBook 0 [well... that was MY sad (see: pathetic, miniscule, inadequate, MASSIVE FAILZ) attempt at humour for the day]. "Stay connected with friends across three of the four Quadrants! (Small print): No reception in Delta Quadrant, because Orion sucks." Yeah... No... D ... I don't even remember the quadrant names right now, or what's in each of them, so forgive me for most likely butchering Canon here. I've had too much caffeine and can't seem to stop typing, so you will be the unfortunate author to be inflicted with my insane ramblings today.

Okay, I'm just going to shut up now. I've already written an essay. DX

Excellent chapter - funny, exciting, pure awesome.

Do we get to see Sarek kick some crazy Andorian A$$? O

Yes! Kirk to the rescue. D The thing between Kirk and Tishri about bringing lots of Vulcans was hillarious. XD

I absolutely totally loved the interaction between Jim and Spock during chess.

Spock's observation (did I catch just a little snark in that Vulcan tone) about politicians 'rarely totally commit to their original mission statements when in office' was perfect.