It's damn close to the traditional Vulcan 'I grieve with thee,' a phrase that's come to mean a hell of a lot more than it used to. A very appropriate statement indeed. "Thank you," he says, a little quieter. "I still don't have the words for it either."

Jim interlaces his fingers to stop himself from fidgeting, and looks down at the table for a moment, before continuing. "Starfleet has a rule that says a commanding officer who's emotionally compromised by a mission has to step down, for safety reasons. Spock had more experience than the rest of us, but he'd just watched his planet be destroyed, and his mom died with it. I had the training and the knowledge needed to lead, so I ended up in charge." It's a massively abridged version of events, but he doesn't want to bog down the tale with confusing or unimportant details, like the fact that he wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place, or that a version of Spock from the future is the one who told him he had to take command.

"Nero was going to destroy Earth, my planet, the way he'd taken out Vulcan. We caught up with him, and Spock and I boarded the Narada before he could finish. I rescued Captain Pike and Spock turned the superweapon against Nero." He shakes his head slightly. "Nero was the one who killed my dad, the same day I was born. I gotta admit, it didn't make up for all the stupid, awful shit he put us through, but it felt sort of satisfying to watch him finally go down."