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illogicalpunkwrites · 3 years

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What Water Gave Me

Hello everyone! This one is...interesting. I dunno, have fun! Thank you for reading and please let me know if you would like to be tagged!

Pairings: Leonard McCoy x Kirk!Reader

Rating: M (18+)

Warning: Sex pollen, smut, ABO dynamics, cursing, angst

Words: 4.4K

Tags: @bloodangelballerina @theweepingvulcan91

None of you found out about it until it was too late. Visiting a new planet was always exciting, especially when it was far different from Earth. None of the biologists knew what would happen when the crew drank the water until the first person started showing symptoms. That first person was none other than

your brother and the captain, Jim Kirk. He started behaving erratically, nearly pushing over other people to make sure Carol wasn’t messed with. She started to sweat and you hurried over to pull them away from each other. While you and Jim used to rough house in your younger days, you weren’t used to him actually trying to fight you. He got a couple of hits in, some of them really hurting you before you were able to gather yourself.

“Jim!” You yelped as he swung at you again, ducking just in time. You swept your leg out from under him, sending him to the ground so some members of your security team could hurriedly incapacitate him.

“No! Let him go!” Carol sobbed.

“Get Jim to his quarters and lock him in using the override!” You barked. You made a hysterical Carol sit down in the Captain’s chair and wiped her forehead. She started squirming in the seat and you kept trying to ask her questions, but she only called for Jim. Calling him…alpha?

“Uhura, call Bones and tell him what’s going on. Tell the same thing to Science Division.” You didn’t hear a response and looked over the top of the chair. “Nyota?” She was fanning herself, looking at Spock whose knuckles were blanched white as he gripped the console. “Sulu, can you leave your station for a minute and get Spock to his quarters? He might try to fight you but he seems okay right now.” He was the right person to ask. With what information you gathered, anyone who had any sort of partner was susceptible to what was going on. Luckily, his was back on Earth.

“What do you think’s going on?”

“I’m not sure, I’ll get those two back to their quarters and call medbay-”

“Sciences to Bridge.” The console beeped in and you sighed.

“This is Commander Kirk, report.” You demanded, already overwhelmed with what little you had dealt with in such a short amount of time.

“We’ve tested some samples from the planet and found something interesting. The water contains some sort of hormone that-“

“Drives people insane?”

“It establishes A/B/O dynamics within the population.”

“What the hell does that mean?” You asked incredulously.

“Alpha, Beta, and Omega dynamics, Commander.” Spock explained, his voice strained as Sulu led him to the elevator.

“No don’t take him!” Nyota got up to head towards the elevator but you jumped over to grab the back of her dress. “No! Alpha!” The doors closed and you let her go to nearly paw at them. Her dress was soaked through with sweat and a puddle of…something was forming underneath her.

“Medbay to bridge!” Leonard’s voice came through, sounding frustrated and tired.

“Bones, it’s (Y/N)! What’s going on?”

“I’ve got people trying to kill me down here on one side of the room and people crying on the other.”

“Are they all couples?”

“Most of them, their partners came and found them. I don’t think they liked me being near ‘em”

“We need to get everyone affected in their quarters, apparently the water establishes A/B/O dynamics.”

“My god.” He groaned. Normally, you would’ve laughed but you were highly stressed.

“I’ll send a security team down there to help out. Kirk out.” You explained before switching over to the ship wide intercom. “This is Security Commander Kirk, I need all personnel that drank water from Ni-bu to go to their private quarters immediately. If you do not follow orders you will be forcibly moved by security. I repeat, leave your stations and return to your quarters immediately.” You ended the call and grabbed Nyota and Carol. You got into the elevator and pulled out your communicator. “Kirk to Sciences division, please tell me there’s a cure for this thing.”

“We’ll have to go to K-7 for that, good thing is we’re not the only ones that have dealt with this. There was another planet like the one we were at that The Pegasus had to deal with.”

“Alright, I’ll tell Chek-“ You stopped and shook your head, knowing how flirtatious the Russian was. “I’ll get back up there and set the coordinates.” Pulling your friends along was like pulling two feisty Chihuahuas: they kept pulling away from you, kept yelping for their alphas, and at one point Carol actually bit you. Once that chore was done, you sprinted back up to the bridge to put in the coordinates and called for Sulu.

“Hikaru, you alright?”

“A little scraped up but I’m fine. Security’s doing a good job down here, some of your workers are affected by it though.”

“You think you can stay down there and help them out? I’m working on getting Bridge settled down.”

“You got it, but you owe me big time.”

“Next round’s on me when we get to K-7.” You chuckled before calling out. “Alright Chekov, let’s-“

“ENGINEERING TO BRIGE!” Jaylah screeched and your blood left your body. You had nearly forgotten about engineering. A large section of them went to Ni-bu to help fix some of the infrastructure and technology.

“Jaylah, are you alright?”

“Everyone down here is going crazy! Security is here but there is not nearly enough of them! I need help!”

“Where’s Scotty?”

“He went to go find Lieutenant Mira!” You groaned and grabbed Chekov by the back of his shirt while some other people from security grabbed most of the bridge.

“I’ll be down there as soon as I can, keep doing what you’re doing!”

XXXXXX

Hours later, the whole situation was defused with everyone who was affected locked in their rooms. Those who didn’t seem affected, the Betas, roamed around the halls like dead men walking. Sanitation swept and mopped the halls where puddles of “slick” had been left. You dragged your feet and nearly your entire body ached by the amount of times you had either been rammed into, hit, or bit by your crew mates. You saw Sulu and you gave each other a congratulatory hug.

“You owe me so much more than a round of drinks. This is not in my job description.” He mumbled, making you laugh.

“Thank you so much.” While most of your team had been okay, it had dwindled down severely by the time engineering was wrangled off. Scotty surprised you with how wily he was, giving you a run for your money. Thankfully, Jaylah helped you out and you threw him into his office.

Sulu pulled away and looked up and down at you, you had some cuts here and there and were bruised up. While it wasn’t the worst your body had faced, you’d still seen better days.

“Go to Medbay, Kirk. Your job is done for now and I’m sure McCoy could see a friendly face.” You smiled weakly and made your way down. When you came to the door it didn’t slide open so you knocked instead.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me! Lemme in!” After a few beeps on the PADD, the door slid open and you hurried in before it locked back behind you. You saw Leonard at his desk with a bottle of whiskey. His shirt was torn in some places and you could see the beginnings of a black eye. “Well, Doc, you look like you had an eventful day.” He snorted in response and poured you a glass.

“Please tell me we’ll get to K-7 soon.”

“We should be there by tomorrow morning. Sulu’s gonna get some rest before so he can get us in. I think the plan is for medbay to come to us to give us the hypospray.” You explained and took a large gulp, feeling the burn go down your throat. Leonard looked at the bruise on your jaw and you shrugged.

“It was Jim, nothing I can’t handle.”

“And the bites?”

“Carol, Scotty, and some others I can’t even remember.”

“Scotty bit you?”

“I had him in a choke hold.” You couldn’t help but laugh. “The female Alphas gave me a run for my money.”

“I think I can add this to the list of reasons why I hate space.” He finished up his drink and went to go grab a med kit to sterilize the wounds. You’d have to wait a couple of days to get the scars removed.

“Because it makes people unbelievably horny?” He laughed at that one, making you smile. “I’m glad that it wasn’t a free for all though, people were focused on either their partners or the people they’ve had a crush on.”

“My god I don’t even want to imagine what it would’ve been like if it’d been a free for all.”

“But I’m surprised, Len. You struck me as an Alpha.” You joked.

“I thought you’d be an Alpha.” He retorted. “You’re the one the one that fights everything.”

“I do not! I only fight when it’s needed!”

“Which is why you’re in here so often.” You finished off the whiskey and held out your left arm where one of the bites was. “You need to be more careful.”

“Hey, I didn’t know Carol would bite me!” You replied with a smile.

“I wonder why though? No one tried to bite me.”

“I’m the hotter one of the Kirk siblings?”

“Okay, I’m with you there.”

“I have to say, I like you a little roughed up. You look like an action hero.” He chuckled and knelt on the ground in front of you, antiseptic in hand.

You felt something when he touched you, something stirring within you. You tried to shake it off but you couldn’t as it grew. As he cleaned your wounds you could feel your body temperature rising and you became incredibly uncomfortable. As you looked at him you could see him tense up with his brows furrowing even more than they usually did and his grip on you tightening. You started squirming in your seat, your inner thighs becoming coated with something as you looked at Leonard. Oh god, was that slick? Once he was done with all of the open wounds he put his kit to the side shakily. You realized, even in your foggy state, he was trying to maintain composure. Your slick dripped down to the floor, making it hard for both of you to ignore. Now you realized what you both were and why neither of you had experienced symptoms all day. He was an Alpha, and you were his Omega.

“Leonard.” You whispered, nearly whined. He looked back at you and then to the bruise on your jaw. He brought his fingers to it and pressed on it gently, making you wince.

“You’re burning up.” He stated softly, his breathing picking up and voice gravelly. “You need to leave.”

When he said that, everything in your system freaked out. You leapt on him from the chair, wrapping your arms around his neck and straddling him. He caught you with his fingers against your ribs.

“Leonard, please.” You started kissing his neck, making his fingertips dig into you. He smelled so good, like something homey and warm with a splash of whiskey, and you couldn’t help but grind yourself against his hard cock. He let out a stuttered moan, his composure melting away as he felt your unbelievably wet pussy against him. “Alpha!” You cried softly.

That’s when it snapped away, Leonard picked you up and you wrapped your legs around him. He hurried over to his private office and you two fell onto his little cot, his lips smashing into yours. You moaned and arched your body into his, wanting as much contact as possible. His tongue slid into your mouth as you kicked your boots off and worked on his shirt.

“Off.” You whimpered. He sat back away from you and pulled down the zipper on your dress before sliding it off of you. You pulled his shirt off and pulled him back to you as he worked on the clasp of your bra.

“Such a pretty little ‘mega.” He slurred before laving his tongue down your bruised jaw, pain not even resonating with you at this point. He dropped your bra to the side, kissing and nipping down your neck and collarbone. His tongue circled around your nipple before sucking it into his mouth, kneading the other one with his hand. He was rougher than you thought he would be, teething at your pebbled nipple. You wondered if he was like this all the time. You rocked your hips up against him, wanting more than just that.

“Alpha, please!” You whined, making him chuckle. His hands drifted down the sides of your body to grip the elastic of your panties and pull them down your legs. He started pressing wet kisses down your stomach as his hands spread your legs to slot himself between them. You felt his breath against your pussy and you squirmed towards him, thighs enclosing around his head.

“God, you look-“ He didn’t even finish his sentence before burying his head in between your legs, his tongue circling your clit and tasting your slick. You arched your back and wove your fingers into his hair as an unruly moan escaped you. You felt your pussy growing even wetter and he groaned against you, the vibrations sending ripples through you. He sucked your clit into his mouth, flicking his tongue against it.

“Fuck! Alpha!” He looked up at you as you pulled his hair. “Please, need your cock, need your cock!”

You’d never begged like this before and you were sure you wouldn’t have if you weren’t in this state. He crawled back up your body and you pulled his head down to yours to kiss him, tasting yourself. Your hands shot down to his work pants and you palmed his straining cock, making him gasp into your mouth. You shakily undid the button and zipper before pulling them down and seeing his erection bob against his stomach. Your breathing got even heavier as he helped pull his pants off the rest of the way, his shoes thudding as they hit the ground. You leaned up to kiss and nip at his neck as you stroked his cock, trying to lead him to your pussy.

“Shit darlin’, Omega-“ He cut himself off with a grown and pulled your hand away, taking his cock in his hand and rubbing it against your pussy to coat it in slick. You needed more. You locked your legs around his waist and pulled him as close to you as you possibly could. “You ready, my Omega?”

“Please, Alpha.” You whispered as he kissed your forehead. Then you felt his cock enter you slowly, stretching you perfectly and making you keen against him. He breathed out loudly and slowly as he seated himself fully inside of you, your fingernails digging into his back. The both of you stayed just like that for a moment or two, foreheads against each other and breathing heavily. He leaned down to kiss you and you swore you had never felt so loved and protected. You started rocking your hips against his and he took the hint, rolling his hips back so that he was almost completely out of you before rutting back in. “Yes!”

“Feel so good, ‘mega” He slurred against you, starting a slow rhythm. But still you needed more. Your head lolled to the side, exposing your neck to him and he leaned down to suck your pulse point into his mouth. He started thrusting faster into you, hitting that spot inside of you that made you let out high pitched noises into his ear. His pubic bone rubbed against your clit deliciously and you knew you wouldn’t last much longer. You felt like you couldn’t even speak anymore as your pussy started tightening even more around him, making him quiver a little. He looked down at you and you brought your hands to his face and neck to caress him more as your body bounced with his thrusts.

“Close, Alpha.” You warned and he leaned down to kiss you. The coil in your lower belly tightened even more and one more perfectly angled thrust did you in, a puddle of slick soaking into the sheets as you felt tingling flood your body. You cried out into Leonard’s mouth as your entire body stiffened with the intensity of your orgasm. Leonard’s thrusts started becoming sloppy and his grip on your body tightened. As you rode your high, something in the back of your mind still wanted more.

“Cum inside me” His eyes widened before gripping your thighs to put your legs over his shoulder, leaning towards you so you were folded. You shrieked out and threw your head back at him suddenly being so unbelievably deep. His arms wrapped around you as you bit his tanned shoulder, making him gasp into your ear and his hips stuttered against yours. With one final deep thrust, you felt his hot cum coat your walls. You whimpered at your oversensitivity but finally felt satiated, almost complete in a way. His body went limp against yours but you didn’t loosen your grip, neither did he. Your fever went away and the slick seemed to have stopped, but you wanting him didn’t.

“Stay.”

XXXXXX

You knew it was early when you woke up, but you weren’t sure how much longer you had before you docked at K-7. You felt sore all over, sticky, and still beyond tired. However, your head was fairly clear and you weren’t feeling feverish. You looked behind you and saw Leonard still asleep with his arm around you. You felt your heart drop as you realized that the night before really did happen, it wasn’t some hormone ridden dream.

You’d always been attracted to Leonard, even if he was a bit neurotic (something you still adored about him). However, you wanted to respect Leonard as a friend, coworker, and best friend of Jim’s. You couldn’t imagine how Jim would feel if you and Leonard started dating. There was also always the dreaded what ifs. What if you two broke up? How would your friends and Jim deal with that? You were also in a high stakes job. What if you seriously got injured, or worse? What if he never even felt the same way?

Also, being completely overrun by foreign hormones was not how you want you two to get together anyway.

So, as you Kirks do, you decided to get out before more awkwardness could come or having to face the difficult consequences of your actions. Luckily, Leonard seemed to be a heavy sleeper but you could feel a fever beginning to creep on you again as his arm tried to tighten on you. You felt your heart ache as even the non-Omega part of you wanted to stay. But if you did, what happened wouldn’t be just between the two of you. Someone would walk in and know what had happened. You didn’t even bother putting on your underwear or shoes, just your red dress before unlocking the doors with his PADD and sneaking back to your quarters to lock yourself in. You were breathing harshly, the fever hitting you pretty hard, and you slid down your door to the ground.

“Computer, air conditioning at full capacity.” The fans whirred around you as you tried not to think of Leonard.

XXXXXX

Leonard woke up with a groan and stretched against his cot. He felt around his bed for you, but shot up when he didn’t find you. He looked around the room and saw that your underwear and boots were still in his room. He kind of wanted to laugh, thinking about how you probably bolted out of there. He thought you were probably embarrassed about the whole thing. A nagging part of his brain said it was probably because you regretted it entirely. He had always liked you, but for the sake of Jim he kept it more friendly and professional. Perhaps it was best to just forget about it. Better that than a repeat of another failed relationship.

“Dr. McCoy? This is Nurse Chapel from the K-7 research lab. We’re here to give you the hypospray.” He hurriedly put on his clothes and kicked your things under the cot before letting the nurse in.

XXXXXX

A couple of days later, you hurried to the bridge to return some reports of the events to Jim. You had avoided medbay like the plague and unbeknownst to you, a couple of friends took notice. As you handed the PADD to Jim, he looked at your healing jaw and cringed once again.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know, asshole, you say it every time you see me.” You chided playfully. He looked at the rest of the scars left on your body from the others and raised an eyebrow at you.

“You can probably get those taken care of, y’know?”

“I know, I just haven’t found the time with writing this shit up.” You replied and he chuckled, waving you away. You smoothed out your skirt and went to the elevator, but Sulu slid in before the doors closed.

“Oh hey! What’s up?”

“What’s up with you? You always get your scars fixed up and Uhura knows for a fact that you’ve had enough time.”

“Are you two gossiping behind my back?” You replied and he crossed his arms at his chest. “Maybe I want to keep the scars.”

“You want to keep scars in the shape of bite marks?” He replied flatly and you shrugged. The doors opened again and He grabbed your arm. “That’s it, I’m taking you to medbay.”

“No!” You panicked and pulled away from him.

“What in the world’s going on?” He asked incredulously, and you looked around. “Did something happen the day we went to Ni-bu?” You opened your mouth but quickly shut it.

“I’ll tell you what happened, just not here.”

“C’mon!” He pulled you into a nearby closet and locked the door behind him. You paced what little you could in the space and he sighed. “Would you just tell me?”

“I thought I was okay. I didn’t have any of the symptoms so I thought I was a Beta. After everything settled down I went to medbay like you told me to get my cuts cleaned up.” Sulu quickly put two and two together, especially after days of suspicion.

“You weren’t a Beta and neither was he.” You shook your head. “And, lemme guess, you left in the morning?”

“I didn’t know what else to do.” You nearly whispered. “I fucked up.”

“Yeah, you did. Kirk, you gotta fix this. You have to talk to him. You can’t avoid medbay forever.”

“I can try.”

“Kirk.”

“I know you’re right! I just don’t know what to do.” He wrapped an arm around you and you leaned into him.

“Just go in there.”

XXXXXX

Leonard was reading from his PADD in his quarters when he heard a knock on the door. He put it down on his bedside table before letting it open and saw you. His black eye was healing nicely, but he winced when he widened them in surprise.

“Uh, hey.” You started, already wanting to punch yourself.

“Hey.”

Fuck, this was awkward.

“Can I come in?” He stood to the side and you stepped in, the door closing behind you.

“If you’re here for your clothes and boots there under my cot in my office.”

Ouch.

“Thanks but that’s not why I’m here.” You stood there, trying to keep from fidgeting. “I wanted to talk about what happened, and before you say anything I know I shoulda stayed. I wanted to stay but-“ You broke off and sat down in his arm chair. You felt like if you kept standing then you’d pass out.

“But what? I’ve been wonderin’ why you didn’t stay, myself.” He said and you nodded.

“And I shouldn’t have done that to you.” You looked down at your clasped hands and tried to swallow the nervousness radiating in your body. “Leonard, I’ve always liked you. I’ve always been attracted to you.” You didn’t see the surprised look that crossed his face. “But I was always afraid of what would happen. I mean, you know me and Jim: we’re both terrified of relationships and I know that you’re wary of them after how things went in your marriage. I’ve always wanted to respect that.” You didn’t realize you had started to ramble. “And Jim is another thing! That ass is always so protective over me and you’re his best friend! That’s a conundrum just for him! Does he kick your ass or lock me in my cabin or both?! Not to mention we’re in space and it’s probably one of the most dangerous places ever!” You finally looked at him and saw him chuckling, hiding his face behind his hand. “Why the hell are you laughing? I’m pouring my heart out here!”

“Because you sound like me, dammit!” He smiled and you stared at him incredulously. “Go on, finish up. I gotta talk some time.” You shook your head at him and stood up.

“Fine, you want me to finish? I didn’t want to wake up and hear you talk about how it was a mistake because just thinking about that fucking kills me. I wanted it to happen, maybe not like that but I wanted…something like that to happen. There, I’m done.” You stood there and waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. “Well you said you had to talk.” You looked back up at him expectantly and his eyes had softened, he wasn’t smiling anymore.

“I didn’t know you felt that way and...as much as I didn’t think that this is the way things would happen, I don’t regret that it did. I’ve wanted to be with you for so long but everything’s complicated. But I wanna give it a shot because I can’t imagine not being with you.” Tears welled in your eyes at his confession and you threw yourself at him, taking in his warmth.

“I want to be with you, Len.”

“As long as you promise you won’t run away again, darlin’.” You smiled up at him and kissed him softly.

“I promise…Alpha.” He stiffened against you and you laughed. He smiled and captured your lips in his, holding you tightly against him. “You think you could get rid of my scars first?” You squealed as he picked you up and you wrapped your legs around him.

You two would just have to deal with everything else later.

#leonard mccoy x reader #Leonard McCoy #star trek #Star Trek Fanfiction #star trek aos #star trek TOS

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deannaroxannewrites · 3 years

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Tropetember Day 11 - Time Travel / Amnesia / Coma

Coma comma revelation

Pairing: James T Kirk x GN!Reader

Fandom: Star Trek AOS

Rating: General Audiences

TW: Coma, minor swear

AN: Day 11 of @tropetember. Sorry for the wait, life has been a bit mad. Not the best but hope you enjoy :)

The aftermath of an away mission gone wrong.

Find this story on Ao3 here.

Word Count: 1.3k

It wasn’t uncommon for members of an away crew to end up in the sickbay upon their return to the Enterprise. Injuries regularly ranged from small cuts and bruises to native diseases to broken bones. A visit to Dr McCoy was something all members of the crew had to mentally prepare before beaming down. What was uncommon was for people to be in the sickbay for longer than an overnight stay.

Spock and Kirk had both had a couple of longer stopovers following heroic (read: risky) actions. Dr McCoy dreaded either, or worse both of them, being there because they were both hard-headed and constantly tried to sign themselves out against medical advice. Luckily, this wasn’t something McCoy had to worry about with the current resident of the sickbay. What was happening was far more worrying. Because you had been in a coma for 4 days now and nobody had any clue as to what to do.

Running his hand down his face, Dr McCoy’s gaze remained laser focused on the most recent test results, trying to find an answer. Any answer. Even a clue. Nothing. There was nothing indicating why you weren’t waking up.

Sighing quietly to himself he got up and headed to your room, checking on the monitors. He hadn’t even realised anyone else was there until he turned to exit.

Stood leant against the wall next to the door, Captain James T Kirk stood like a sentry. His eyes watched everything in the room, in between regularly checking on you. The Doctor pressed a hand to his heart as he processed his surprise. Had Kirk not been wearing his yellow command shirt, chances are McCoy wouldn't have even noticed him with how still he was standing.

“Jim, you’re the Captain not a shadow” he observed, his normal gruffness softened slightly.

The gentle rebuke received no response from Kirk. He simply flicked his eyes from the body in the hospital bed to McCoy and back again.

It was clear to see that all was not right with the Captain. His uniform was creased, his eyes red. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

“Jim, you ok?”

A small sigh and a shake of the head is all he receives in response. McCoy props himself up against the wall next to him, a show of silent solidarity.

"They weren't even supposed to be there, Bones."

You'd opted to go on the away mission instead of Mr Spock to allow the Vulcan some time off from Kirk-sitting, and as part of your push to keep at least one of them on the ship at all times. "Cos, you know, regulations" was all you scoffed when someone pointed out that they'd both made a break for it onto some distant moon, leaving you as Lieutenant Commander in charge of the ship.

The additional position had been created to help support the demands of a 5 year mission on the crew as a whole. Given the Enterprise's tendency to have an engineering emergency in the middle of crisis, Mr Scott was often unable to support in the way the Chief Engineer may on other ships. You bridged the gap, allowing Kirk, Spock and Scotty to hand over some of their day-to-day responsibilities to focus on the extreme.

Though they had initially railed against it, they would all now agree that your presence had improved the efficiency of the ship. It also allowed them all some welcome downtime. The crew appreciated that more than they would ever admit in front of the higher-ups. Kirk in particular could get bitchy when he was tired.

Something that no one would have predicted about adding you to the crew, was the depth of the friendships you had formed with the command crew. In particular, you had developed a close friendship with the Captain, despite his initial wariness. You and Jim were regularly spotted in observation watching the stars float by whilst having a drink, or heading to each other's quarters with a holodisk in hand.

Jim, for his part, had been reluctant to get to know you. The Captain of a starship is supposed to be separate from the rest of their crew. But, as with the interpersonal relationships between the crew, the length of the mission had required these expectations be adjusted in the interest of crew morale.

The outcome of the slow blossoming relationship with you was something he had not predicted. Where he always felt responsible when crew were hurt, the shot of ice through his system when he saw you being stabbed with a syringe was much, much stronger. More importantly, his almost visceral reaction had been completely unexpected. He was the Captain, he had to look out for everyone. Yet, he spent every second of the day and night since returning to the Enterprise worrying about you.

Drawing himself back from his thoughts he glances to Bones, who is watching him with a combination of concern and soft understanding.

“We have the best people in the Federation working on this Jim.” He gently grasps Kirk’s upper arm. “They’ll be ok. You’ll get them back.” He pauses then, glancing between the two of them. “Then you can maybe have an honest conversation about the two of you.”

Kirk sharply glances at him over his shoulder before allowing his own shoulders to sag.

“I hadn’t even realised,” he quietly whispers, moving to the side of the bed. He takes your hand in his before sitting down next to the bed. “It’s not allowed, Bones.”

McCoy for his part just smiles at him.

“Never stopped you before”

That gets a small smile out of the Captain as he turns his eyes back to you. He’s so focused on you that he doesn’t even notice as Dr McCoy slips out to head to his office.

-----------

Waking up after being unconscious for an unknown amount of time is, in a word, disorienting. The sickbay lights are bright, your throat is dry and sore and your head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton wool.

It takes you a while to come to but you’re ever so grateful to hear Dr McCoy's southern drawl welcoming you back.

“There you are darlin’, you had us worried.”

You let him run all of his tests without complaint, using the time to orient yourself. It’s not until he’s nearly finished that you notice there’s someone else in the room. You throw Jim a small smile, followed by a grimace as McCoy hits you with a hypospray.

“That should be everything for the minute,” McCoy tells you. “We’re going to keep you in for observation for a few days but your recovery is going as well as we could have hoped.”

You smile in relief at that, and he tells you he’ll be back in a few minutes before he heads out of the room.

After taking a moment to shuffle yourself into a more comfortable position, you wave a hand at Jim to beckon him over. He takes a gentle hold of your hand as he moves closer. It fills you with warmth and you can’t help a small smile.

“Managed not to blow up the ship while I was out of commission then?” you tease, wanting the frown to disappear from his face. He shakes his head in response.

“I honestly don’t know. I haven’t really left this room.”

You glance at him surprised, and then see the soft expression on his face. Huh. You thought it was just you.

Taking the plunge, you gently tug at his hand until he slides into bed next to you, your head resting on his chest. The beat of his heart starts to lull you back to sleep.

It’s probably best to rest while you can, you decide. You’ve got a lot to talk about.

#tropetember #fanfiction #star trek aos #star trek #james t kirk x reader #Captain Kirk x reader #kirk x reader #coma

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garnetmantle · 3 years

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Title: After Omega, Star Trek TOS

by: green rose

@sicktember

Prompt #4 Headache

Notes: The TOS episode "Omega Glory" is literally one long recipe for a headache for Kirk. Spock was caught in the nimbus of a phaser set to kill in this episode.

Numbly, Jim tried to orient himself among the crush and chaos that was the excited Yangs. Spock. He was trying to keep an eye on Spock, who had admitted to being weak, which probably meant he was barely keeping his feet under him through some feat of Vulcan endurance. Jim’s vision was swimming a bit in the torch-flashing darkness, and he was so damn tired, but he eventually homed in on the red-shirted security guards, and found McCoy, very unhappy, at Spock’s side.

The doctor was not supporting Spock, but he clearly wanted to be. Spock stood at-ease, clearly rebuffing any such attempt. So McCoy was scanning the crowd, and when his eyes hit Jim he lunged forward and grabbed his arm, dragging him forward to stand the appropriate distance from Spock for a beam up. The sudden jerk brought the taste of bile up behind Jim’s teeth. Bones was glaring hard enough that it made Jim a little more dizzy to try to meet his eyes, so he stopped trying to and looked at Spock. Whose at-ease was wavering in its own wind.

“I suppose we can beam up now?” McCoy demanded.

Unperturbed, Spock spoke into his communicator in a steady but very quiet voice, “Three to beam up, Mr. Scott.”

Jim was moving the second the transporter let go, and caught Spock, who went at the knees the moment the transporter beam released him. Kirk had him before his body could hit the ground -- he’d known the usually-inconsequential disorientation of the transporter was going to get Spock, he’d just been able to tell. McCoy was swearing, and his scanner was humming.

So Jim had him under the elbows, crushed against his side, and he only had a moment to dislike how limp Spock had gone before the awful realization hit him that his own balance and coordination was not sufficient to maintain the two of them until the waiting medical team swimming into focus in the too-bright lights of the room could climb on the platform.

Kirk clenched his teeth and swallowed. He had been up for two straight days and nights, but he was not going to drop Spock, and he was not going to throw up in the middle of the transporter room. He was trying to get the nausea forced back enough to tell the corpsmen to hurry up and get Spock when McCoy took Spock’s other side and more than half his weight, and gestured his subordinates forward.

They relieved Jim of the Vulcan’s weight, which he needed, and of the contact, which left a gnawing worry behind it, and put Spock on the anti-grav stretcher they had waiting. One of them handed McCoy a small med-kit which he instantly opened. He read off the hypos, and administered them directly to his patient.

Clearly McCoy had called ahead. Why had Spock waited that long for him to beam up?

It was a little worrying that Spock had let himself be handled by strange corpsmen -- these were new crew, on board less than a month -- and put on the stretcher without complaint, silent and pale and submitting to McCoy’s attentions with none of their usual argument. Jim blew out a slow breath and closed his eyes, then breathed in a deep one as he raised his head and eventually reopened them. Reset. He trusted Bones, and Bones had said authoritatively that Spock would live. There was a lot left to do with—

“Doctor,” Spock had rallied enough to come up on his elbows and look at Kirk, his gaze assessing. He interrupted the doctor in a quiet but very firm voice. Definitely coherent. “You are aware that the Captain has had several trauma-induced periods of unconsciousness during this mission, but you are unaware of the most severe. To my certain knowledge, he has been unconscious due to two severe traumatic blows for a cumulative nine hours and eighteen minutes since our beam down.”

Spock wasn’t announcing it to the room, just to McCoy, but it was bad enough because Bones stopped dead and raised his head. “Captain, you are required in Sickbay in twenty minutes.”

A biting reply wanted to come out – he was too tired to be bossed about by his CMO exercising his prerogatives – but Jim made himself stop. The truth was, his head was a pulsing raw pain he’d been able to manage only by lifting above it – literally dissociating from his own body a bit to cope. He had blood coming out of one ear, his vision was getting worse, and as his adrenaline dropped he was starting to get his own crosswind himself. He was stubborn, and he had a thousand things to do, but he wasn’t stupid.

“Yes, Doctor.”

McCoy, following the stretcher out, stopped to double-blink at him, then looked him over again. “Do you need transport?”

“No, Doctor.” The guards and Scotty and the transporter chief were all listening to them, now, so Jim walked to the door. Oh, yeah. He was getting his own wind and McCoy noticed, of course, caught Jim’s arm to balance the wavering, and started to demand Kirk come with him right then.

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes, on one condition,” Jim said quietly as he followed McCoy out into the hall. “I know you have some kind of anti-emetic in there, you always do when you’re treating Spock for anything serious. Give me.”

“Yeah?” McCoy asked, trying to catch his eyes, no doubt to evaluate his pupils, but Kirk wasn’t having it. Not quite yet. The doctor's voice was on the gentle side, though, which was immediately soothing, and he opened his med-kit. ”Migraine?”

Jim wished he could say yes, but it wasn’t a good day for blatant lies. “No. Spock’s right. I got my bell rung twice, hard-“

“As opposed to the half-dozen times it was lightly rung?” the doctor asked sharply. “I’m not blind, you know-“

Speaking slowly, Jim continued, ��But I’ll be all right for a few more minutes, and then you can do whatever you want.”

“You’re just afraid you’ll get sick all over the Bridge? I’d bet on the turbolift, that upward and lateral motion at once—“

Kirk felt sweat on his upper lip, and he swallowed, hard. McCoy looked a bit abashed and gave him the shot in the arm, and within a few seconds Jim’s stomach had returned to the normal position. He coughed a little and swallowed, then tried out a smile. “You’d be amazed how much that helps. I –“

“Will be in Sickbay in twenty minutes, Captain,” McCoy growled, snapped his med-kit closed and took off after his patient. Instinct urged Kirk to go after them, but duty sent him in the other direction.

It was like water dripping away. Onto him. Away from him. A little more impairment. A little less adrenaline. Jim Kirk put one foot in front of the other, and he smiled when he needed to, and he was able to think well enough to handle what had to be handled and know when something had to be put off for a more coherent day. The lights got brighter, though. Drip. And blurrier. Drip. And god it hurt to focus his eyes. Drip. He prepared a bare bones report for the Admiralty, because that couldn’t wait, and every sound got louder. Drip, drip. The world got foggier, and his energy to navigate through it was lessened.

He finally turned, then waited as the Bridge kept turning for a moment before settling down before his eyes. “Mr. Sulu. You have the conn,” he said, and headed for the turbolift. His crosswind was getting more stormfront than gentle breeze – he knew he was swaying on his feet, didn’t that count for something? “If I’m needed you can reach me in Sickbay. Mr. Spock is also in Sickbay. Unless he is needed to keep the galaxy or the ship from blowing up, please forget you can reach him there.”

“Aye, Captain,” came from several people, but then quietly, from Uhura alone, “Could one of us escort you to Sickbay, sir?”

Kirk forced himself to stop swaying, forced a smile to his lips. “No, but thank you, Lieutenant.”

The drop of the turbolift had him laying back against the wall, and his hands over his eyes were trying to push the pain back away. Water dripping everywhere, he was in a rainstorm and it was washing away the world and his energy and his ability to control himself. His head had reached the white-out level, the pain hitting places his consciousness wasn't willing to go with it. One last thing, though.

He walked into Sickbay to see Dr. M’Benga arguing with Dr. McCoy, gentle to his irritation. “You’ve been up for two days, Leonard. Either go to your quarters or go sleep in your office, but you are not fit for regular duty right now.” They’d both worked under worse conditions for crisis duty.

“Just give me a few more minutes, Geoff. I’m not being stubborn. I want a shower and my bed, but—there he is!” He turned from his fellow doctor to glare at Kirk.

“Twenty minutes does not mean forty-five, Captain, sir.”

Kirk made one of his ‘yeah, yeah, whatever’ dismissive gestures and closed his eyes in a brief headshake. “How is Spock?”

McCoy frowned at him as he moved toward him with a scanner in one hand and a tricorder in the other. “In a healing trance. He’ll be fine in a few days, Jim. We were able to treat the radiation poisoning and the rest he can handle himself.”

Jim’s head went down with a huff of a sigh, but he batted at McCoy’s arm when the doctor raised it with the scanner, and McCoy started to growl at him, but Jim made his little dismissive-gesture-closed-eyes-headshake thing he did again. He spoke very evenly. “No. Bones. I think I... could use that… transport now.”

He didn’t go at the knees, he just dropped, and it was all McCoy and a lunging M’Benga could do to keep his limp body from bouncing off the floor.

He got a bed beside Spock's for three days. McCoy's blood pressure was not very appreciative of their stay.

End

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theknightoflameblogs · 4 years

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Dinner Date? (AOS Spock x Reader)

A/N: I think this may just be a part one, I do want to continue the story but I was more eager to see if people were interested first. Also this is meant to be read with either a female, male, or non-binary reader! I have been wanting to do a Spock x Reader for awhile now, this is my first time writing one! Enjoy!

Summary: After being hospitalized (and passing out) in Sickbay from a dumb choice you made while on mission, you are surprised to find that Commander Spock had stayed by your side while you slept.

Word Count: 3,338

Warning: Swearing and a sarcastic Bones and cute moments

---

“Shit. Shit. Holy- FUCK!” Was all you could manage to say as a sharp pain twisted into your side. You were currently in Sickbay after having collapsed on the floor just outside of the bridge, nearby crewmen immediately rushed you to a not-so-happy Dr. McCoy.

“Damn it, man, I told you not to eat that planet’s weird berries!” McCoy said in a frustrated tone as he pulled out his scanner. “It’s only been what- two hours? And you are already showing symptoms of infection in your abdominal region that would usually take years to develop!”

“How can you be so sure…” You breathed, gripping at your stomach which started to cramp. “...that it was the berries?”

“Mm, I dunno (Y/N), maybe because of the fact that Jim and I had no berries whatsoever and we seem to be doing perfectly fine. It’s no coincidence, damn it!”

Nausea passed over your body in massive waves, you applied pressure via your fingertips between the two tendons on your wrist in an attempt to get the feeling to cease. You remembered seeing this technique in an article somewhere, but you were pretty sure that the article didn’t take into account your situation. “Well the natives said... that eating the berries was a sign of a... good spirit… a way to connect with them. It’s called respecting...tradition. Something you and the Captain… refused to do.” The fact that it was taking so much energy to construct sentences both amazed and horrified you.

“Maybe those berries weren’t meant for humans.” McCoy grunted, walking out your line of sight. “Just because you're some diplomat representing all of Starfleet doesn’t mean you have to go around eating weird foods for the sake of tradition.”

“Bones,” You declared. “I could really do without the lecture right now.” You only felt worse the longer you laid there, your forehead broke out into a sweat and your face grew hot. You pictured McCoy getting his instruments together from the sound of metal clinking against metal, at least that is what you hoped he was doing.

“Alright! Alright, hold on…” He said, fumbling with what sounded like a plastic bag. “Damn... what would that green-blooded hobgoblin think of this?”

“You mean Commander Spock?” You asked, even though you understood what he meant. “What does he have to do with-” a sharp sting entered the side of your arm as your asshole-of-a-friend, and trusted doctor, injected you with a large syringe. “-Oh, what the hell was that?!”

“That-” McCoy said, holding up the syringe defiantly, “-just saved your life. Well, maybe. Give it an hour or two, your fever should already be going down. The pain will subside in no time.”

“Jesus, Bones, you could have at least warned me before stabbing my arm!"

“Well it’s not supposed to hurt so much without a warning.” You heard him say, but you were more focused on the white walls within the Sickbay, which were beginning to blur into everything else until it became one muddy display. It made your eyelids feel heavy.

“Everything is so abstract looking…” You said half-consciously, watching as different colors danced in front of your vision.

“Well I’m no Picasso, much less a painter,” You heard him say, or maybe you just imagined it. It didn’t matter though, seeing as all the sounds and sights were becoming one big jumble. It didn’t stay this way for long before everything went completely black.

You have been abroad upon the Enterprise for almost a year now, part of its five-year intergalactic planetary voyage. As a Starfleet diplomat, you were stationed on the bridge and tasked with regulating Starfleet protocol and managing peace-treaties and negotiations. Through this job, you befriended many on the Enterprise, especially those stationed on the bridge with you. You were quick to become friends with the notorious (or so he thought) Captain Kirk, as well as others like Lieutenant Uhura and the pilots, Mr. Sulu and Chekhov.There were even people beyond the bridge like Mr. Scotty down in Engineering who you managed to get well acquainted with. You were simply amazed by all these different and infatuating personalities you had come to know, but there was one person- or rather, an alien- who you had come to admire the most aboard your time here.

Commander Spock.

You were only to report on the bridge three days out of the week, the rest of your time was spent helping to ease the tension between antsy crewmen who were getting themselves into disputes and fistfights (even though it was not in your pay grade, and was sure as hell not part of your job description either) and even assisting the Chief Officers in preparation for meetings in the department they resided over (which was part of your pay grade).

It was a small attraction… at first.

The Enterprise was only four months into its five-year voyage whenever the Captain tasked you to assist in preparing and partaking in an introductory meeting (really it was more of a banquet) for the Science Department. The last two months had already taken up your time with meetings (*banquets) in other departments: speaking on behalf of Starfleet, introducing yourself to the staff and crew, helping them adjust to life aboard a starship, answering to millions upon millions questions and concerns. Today would be no different, or so you thought.

You entered the science lab with a clipboard full of notes you were preparing to say in your speech. Contrary to others’ belief, you never used the same speech twice, you took too much pride in your work to do so- except for those few rush jobs where the only thing you managed to have on hand was a speech about how cute yet terrifying Tribbles were. The memory of all those confused faces in the crowd during a Starfleet conference still haunted you to this day. The Admiral was to say, in the very least, displeased.

Awaiting by a table of fliers was the Enterprise’s chief science officer. His back had been turned to you when you entered the lab, and he was still unaware of your presence as you drew closer to him.

“Commander.” you greeted, yet received no reply. That was odd, with you being the only other person in the laboratory besides him, he had to have heard you. Maybe you just weren’t being loud enough. Determined, you took another step closer. “Commander!”

Still, no reply. By now you managed to get close enough to see his face, and you were rather more perplexed to see that his eyes were closed. Odd. You weren’t well educated enough about Vulcans to know if this was some ritualistic standing sleep-like state they put themselves in, but it reminded you of a similar nature that some of the Terran animals back home displayed.

“Just like a horse…” You murmured, before slowly reaching up to touch the Vulcan’s face. You hadn’t realized how close you had gotten to him. He stood there perfectly, his face was so mellow, so clear of emotion, he almost looked like some sort of statue…

A hand caught your wrist before a finger could even graze his cheek, a shock ran through your body, it scared the shit out of you. “What is like a horse?” Commander Spock asked, staring down at you with his full, dark eyes.

You quickly (and embarrassingly) pulled your hand away from his grip, holding it protectively close over your hammering heart. “C-Commander Spock, I-I thought you were asleep!”

“I was not sleeping.” He responded in a calm tone. He straightened his posture and placed his hands behind his back. “I was meditating.”

“Nervous?” You asked half-jokingly. “The whole department is going to be here tonight, things can go wrong, but it will be alright.” It was apparent you were saying this more for your own benefit rather than his.

“I find it illogical to be nervous.”

“And why is that?”

“Based on what I could gather from your involvement in past assignments, Lieutenant. I trust you are more than qualified to execute this meeting successfully.” He replied with a small smile.

You felt your heart swell at the praise, and you smiled right back.

After that day, you and Commander Spock maintained a mutual friendship: greeting one another with a nod or smile as you passed by in the hallways or having small (but quite educational on your part) talks while riding the lift, it never went beyond that, but you didn’t mind. You felt like your growing attraction for him had to be limited in some way, seeing as his thoughts on you are nothing but platonic.

…

...Lieutenant?

Lieutenant (L/N)? Can you hear me?

You felt a rough shake of your shoulders, pulling you straight out of the darkness in a start.

“Doctor, I believe that was an unnecessary course of action. The Lieutenant was already waking up.” A familiar voice said.

“You’re overreacting, Spock. (Y/N) needed a jumpstart.” Another voice responded.

You looked around the room quickly, watching as the blurred figures started to take appropriate shape and form. It was Dr. McCoy and Commander Spock, both peering down at you. Immediately, McCoy started to check your vitals asking you clipboard questions like: How are you feeling? Is there any pain when I do this? Commander Spock on the other hand stood idly by with his hands behind his back, his face could be read as stoic if it weren’t for the fact that his eyebrows were furrowed. It actually surprised you to see him here, but you had a feeling that it had to do with the details of your mission.

"Oh man…" you grunted as you sat up slowly. "How long was I out for?"

"Approximately for five hours and twenty-one minutes." Spock responded.

"Yeah, because (Y/N) was so worried about the exact number of minutes they missed." McCoy said with a loose smile, despite the gruff tone in his voice.

"I may not be well acquainted in human social cues, Doctor-" Spock said, turning his gaze on McCoy, "-But I believe you are using sarcasm. In your case, this would not be uncommon."

"Well good job, Sherlock. Seems you cracked the case!" McCoy said with false praise.

Spock went to open his mouth, you could tell he wanted clarification by the way his gaze narrowed, but instead, he diverted his attention back onto you. "How are you feeling, Lieutenant?"

It was a question that surprised both you and the doctor (or maybe he always looked that confused). “I feel fine-” You said abruptly, “Well, at least I think I do. Am I, Bones?” You nervously looked over to your friend.

“Yeah, you’re fine.” McCoy responded, waving his hand casually. “All we had to do was pump your system full of antibodies and just like that, infection was gone. Thank God we aren’t living in the Dark Ages.”

The Commander approached your bedside. “It seems the berries initiated a rapid case of abdominal infection known to your species as colonic diverticulitis. It’s quickening effects seem to have caused a trauma in your nerves, specifically your sensory nerves, leading them to send incorrect signals. Which explains your disassociation with reality.”

“Alright, Mr. Know-it-all, I’m the doctor here.” McCoy said with a grumble, before addressing you. “It just means those berries infected your bowels and started blending your five senses together like one big smoothie.”

“That is rather an inaccurate description, but yes, the Doctor is somewhat correct.” A slight grimace was in Spock’s voice, causing you to smile. The two always had differentiating opinions. Watching them react to one another like highly-active mind fields was quite entertaining.

McCoy only shook his head in irritation, “Which means, (Y/N), no more eating any foreign soul-binding berries, you hear? I mean it.” He was now targeting you, which was not so entertaining.

“Okay. Okay.” You held up your hands in defeat. “I solemnly promise to never eat any foreign soul-binding berries, again.”

“Yeah, well let’s see how long that promise lasts.” He crossed his arms, before a faint smirk appeared on his face. “You know Pointy-Ears here-” he said gesturing to the Commander. “-was worried sick about you. Got here as soon as you passed out, didn’t even leave your side when writing his report to command.”

You felt your face grow hot at the news. He waited here for you? He wasn’t in the landing party with you when you beamed down onto that planet… you didn’t know how to take this news. But knowing you, you must have been overthinking it, he was just being friendly after all. Still, you had to force yourself not to cover your face in shame as you knew it was red with embarrassment. You didn’t want your friend (and doctor) or the Vulcan you had come to like so much see your flustered expression.

“I was merely concerned with the Lieutenant’s well-being, as (L/N)’s superior, I saw it only fitting to stay by their side until they got better.” You heard him say.

When you felt confident enough to look up from your bed sheets you were surprised to see Spock staring straight at you.

“Uh huh…and I’m the king of Mars.” McCoy sarcastically said with a taunting smile that you wish you could smack off his face. He probably didn’t even know what he was embarrassing you by doing this.

“Doctor, the United Martian Colonies is governed by a uniglobal government, it does not have an establish monarchy-”

“How about I get a drink, and you finish that thought later. Alright, Spock?” Bones interjected with eagerness. “(Y/N), you’re free to leave whenever. From your head to your toes, you are medically sound.”

“Thanks to you, Bones.” You replied.

“Please, it’s only my life’s work.” He said, waving his PADD up in the air knowingly. “And if you need me, which you better not, I’ll be in the bar- drinking the day away.” With that, he disappeared out the door.

You turned your attention over to Spock, who had his gaze on the door. You decided it would be best to head out as well, seeing as you couldn’t control your heartbeat, you were sure you looked like a tomato with how frequently your face was turning red. "Well I guess I’m free to leave since my doctor suggested so." You say in a means of farewell.

The bed's mattress shifted under your weight as you slowly began to peel yourself off from it, it took awhile, seeing as the way you had been laying on it for the past five hours made you stiff,

"I have to agree with the Doctor's earlier statement." Spock said, grabbing your attention. "Your actions were reckless and could have been fatal if it were not for him."

"Understood, Commander.” You responded formally as you pulled on your yellow blazer over your tank top. You felt somewhat dejected, but shook that feeling away. He was concerned because he was your commanding officer. That gesture alone should have been satisfying enough.

“I typed up a mission report and sent it to Command, they requested that you send in a report as well.”

“Thank you, Commander.” You replied, grabbing your Command insignia off of the end table before reattaching it to your uniform. “Have the natives of the planet decided whether or not to join the Federation?”

“I’m afraid I do not know. I was... preoccupied at the time.”

He must have been talking about the report. Thinking about it now, it would be best to complete yours now while it was still fresh on your mind. It was only fair to your Commander that you got it done as soon as possible.

“Well I better head-” You started.

“Lieutenant, I was wondering-” Spock also initiated taking another step forward.

The sound of the entry door sliding open stopped you both, it was Captain Kirk.

“I heard what had happened and the natives promised-” Kirk announced as he casually walked into Sickbay. “-they did not know it was potentially fatal to us and assured- am I interrupting something here?” His nonchalant attitude formed into a more devious one as he looked between the two of you.

“Uh, no, you aren’t.” You said quickly. “What did they say?”

Kirk smirked, briefly shrugging his shoulders, before continuing on. “Well everything is all good now. Just about an hour after you were admitted into Sickbay, the natives agreed to join the Federation. Took awhile for them to decide. They sent gifts of apology to you, I had them sent to your room. Of course, if I had known that I would be receiving gifts, I would have eaten some berries too.” He said with a chuckle.

“Captain, that would be highly illogical seeing as the same berries led to the incapacitation of Lieutenant (L/N).” Spock noted matter-of-factly, making you smile a bit. It was well-known that as a Vulcan, his mind-set followed logic to its core, however you couldn’t help but interpret his words as being thoughtful. Or maybe, you were just projecting that into his words.

“And that is why I am in debt to our wonderful Lieutenant, here.” Kirk said with a dramatic bow. “Without (Y/N), the Federation would not have gained a whole planet as its ally today.” You couldn’t help but laugh as you watched your Captain move across the room like some Shakespearean actor (like running on his tippy-toes and bowing), you decided to play along and twirl dramatically over to him before kissing him on the cheek as though his words just meant the world to you. The scene itself caused an eyebrow-raised look from a clearly confused Spock, the expression alone made you two laugh.

“Am I missing something here?” Spock asked, looking between the two of you.

“Nope.” Kirk responded, lazily putting his arm around the Vulcan’s shoulder, “But you know what you are missing? A nice, hot meal. After such a long day, you two deserve a treat. Go grab something in the mess hall together, Captain’s orders.” He finished with a smirk, making your stomach turn. Why would he say it like that? ...Did he know you liked the Commander? But that would be impossible! You never even mentioned to anyone how you felt about Spock… Were you that obvious?

Before you could open your mouth to say anything, you saw that your Captain was already leaving the room. He turned around briefly and gave two thumbs up and an encouraging nod in your direction, but to your surprise the gesture wasn’t aimed at you, but rather.... at the Commander.

You heard a throat clear beside you and turned to see that Spock was looking you in the eyes. Like, really looking at you.

“Lieutenant...” The way his voice wavered suggested… nervousness. He knitted his eyebrows together and his posture became much more stiff, confirming your suspicions. “...do I have your permission to address you by your first name?”

You felt your cheeks burn again at his request. “You do.” Immediately his body relaxed. “May I, in turn, address you as Spock?”

“Certainly, (Y/N).” He said smoothly, you could tell he was testing out your name. You liked it.

You felt a nervousness build up within you, unsure where this conversation was leading to until Spock spoke up again.

“I would like to request your presence tonight in the mess hall for social engagement and dinner.”

And with that your heart was blown ten thousand light-years away.

“You sure our lovely Captain didn’t bribe you to say that?” You asked half-jokingly, trying not to sound like you were just melted away.

“I do not need persuasion with money or gifts to spend an evening with you.”

How he could say such things without becoming a puddle of embarrassment amazed you. You felt giddy as a warm smile spread across your lips. “Then yes, I would love to have dinner with you.”

“I’ll come by your quarters at eight.” He stated, smiling down at you.

“I’ll be waiting.”

#spock #spock x reader #start trek #star trek aos #fanfiction #cute #part 1 #leonard mccoy #jim kirk #romance #first fanfic

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

Text

September 17: 3x07 Day of the Dove

I am incredibly discombobulated today—usual weekend nocturnal shenanigans I guess! Anyway it’s somehow midnight. Gonna try to write up these note on the Classic episode The Day of the Dove in as efficient a manner as possible.

Hmm, a planet with wavy pink Fraggle plants. I like it already.

But where is Spock? Very suspicious.

I really appreciate Kirk giving a little speech to set up the overall question/issue for us. (I know he does this all the time with the Captain’s logs but this is out loud and so… more obviously expository.)

Oh no, it’s our old friends…the Klingons.

I will admit that this ONE TIME, the Klingon is being reasonable. Like, it is reasonable to think that Kirk and the Enterprise attacked his ship, given that his hip WAS attacked, and who else would it be?

Three years of peace between the Klingons and the Federation? That is inclusive of the show so all this tension must technically be “peace” and also implies there was something more like a direct war going on, like, right before Kirk got the captaincy.

Zoolander voice: What is this, a colony of the INVISIBLE?

“We have no devil. But we understand the habits of yours.”

No takers? No takers on the torture? No volunteers to be mercilessly tortured by the Klingons?

Star Trek Beyond could have had Kirk and Chekov bond over being brothers! I mean, to other people.

They’ll kill 100 hostages at the first sign of treachery. He does know there are only 400-some people on the ship right? Maybe you should pace yourself, Kang.

Kirk’s so badass he needs MULTIPLE guns trained on him just to use the phone.

Oh-ho secret message to Spock. Which version of the iPhone will be capable of doing THAT?

The Klingons are “suspended in transit” is an awfully nice way of saying they’re just dematerialized atoms in space. Philosophy major and/or Bones nightmare fuel.

How did Kang not see this coming, by the way? Like, he just says “I’m taking your ship now, me and my 6 men versus your 400-some men, and I’ll do this by simply declaring it to be so. Now let’s beam up to your ship, where I’ll be greatly outnumbered, and there are armed security guards all around me.” Guess he’s been reading The Secret!

WIFE AND SCIENCE OFFICER

Aka the most important part of this whole episode.

Kirk’s face is very ?????? You can have both????

It’s legitimately not even important for her to be the science officer tbqh. Like that is so gratuitous. That’s just in there to drive me insane.

"We're prisoners, somehow, after I demanded to come on the ship, assuming they'd just give it to me without any kind of fight. How DID this happen?”

Federation death camps lol—someone’s been watching Fox News.

I do kind of wonder… is this an actual rumor that goes around the Klingon homeworld or is it something that the alien entity put in her head specifically to make her angrier right now? I mean it really could be either.

I also appreciate this episode for being pretty much the only one to actually attempt to give the Klingons a reason for being as they are. The Romulans… maybe aren’t well-described, but they do have a sort of regalness to them, appropriate for being related to Vulcans, and you can kind of imagine that they are the way they are because they’re Vulcans without the intense self-control. Plus they’re literally only in 2 TOS eps and in the second, the Federation are the aggressors. But the Klingons show up a half-dozen times only to be depicted each time as just like Cartoonishly Bad, aggressive, violent, and selfish for basically no reason. And I mean, some people really are!! But TOS has so much nuance in other places, that it always seemed a little disappointing to me that the Klingons are really just like ‘well we’re just bad and we hate everyone and we really like killing I guess.” At least in this ep there’s a little more added to that: that there is poverty on their world, that they feel aggrieved, that they feel unprotected, that taking and conquering is how they look after themselves…

I think that’s later in the episode though.

He’s detaining them in the LOUNGE lol. With their favorite dishes available to them to eat. Absolutely barbarous conditions.

I can’t believe Chekov is hanging in the elevator with the cool kids. Like, one of these things really isn’t like the others.

Kang is officially sure of himself for someone currently imprisoned in the lounge, that most fearsome of Federation death camps.

Hmm, could the glittery light alien have taken over??

You know what, that's a lot of tasks for Johnson to do all by himself: search the whole ship, fix the engines, and free 400 people.

Sulu would love this: everyone gets a sword!!

“Bridge. I gotta show this to Sulu immediately.”

Klingons have maintained a dueling tradition. That’s interesting. Finally some characterization going on.

Spock is really living up to his logical nature today. Everyone else has gone off the emotional deep end and he’s like “have you considered this completely rational explanation that accounts for the actual, observed facts??”

Whoops Chekov is actually an only child. Scratch that previous Beyond headcanon. (Interesting that his dead brother does really resemble Sam though—killed on a research colony??)

Love that Sulu knows that about him though.

Oh, that’s a pretty schematic picture of the Enterprise. I want that on a t-shirt.

Lol the pan out to the armory, now filled with… swords!!

Do ALL of these men have a fetish for swords? Sulu and fencing, Spock displaying swords in his quarters, and Kirk in his San Francisco apartment, and Scotty salivating over this Scottish blade.

“Klingon units.”

Finally Sulu gets his sword! It’s what he deserves.

Love that the shiny light alien also has a fetish for swords.

Oh no, it’s our old adversary, an alien life force.

What is the alien’s purpose? Um, I’m pretty sure its purpose is to start shit.

“An appropriate choice of terms, Captain.” I don’t even remember what this is referring to but I think it’s pretty clear that Spock is enjoying himself during a crisis again.

Bones, being so dramatic. Were there atrocities? He’s talking about the Klingons as if they were literally hacking off limbs—it’s a few stab wounds here and there, chill.

Oooh, time to behave like military men—strong words. (But I thought it wasn’t the military?? @ S**** P****) (This might not even be my best argument, given the context of this episode, but I’m sticking with it.)

This is like a giant game of capture the flag.

AU that’s just about the Enterprise crew playing capture the flag with the Klingons.

Sulu in the background standing guard with his sword

Damn, turning on Spock with the slurs now!!

Spock was absolutely ready to kill him. Like he would 100% have taken him out with a blow to the head. And he’d been doing such a good job of not feeling the alien’s effects so far! Admittedly, that was a strong provocation though.

Honestly, I really like this scene. It’s uncomfortable and tense and you can really see how the alien is bringing out the worst possible influences of their respective races. And I liked how Spock was definitely full on pre-Reform Vulcan for a minute there. It was a more effective portrayal of what that might have looked like than All Our Yesterdays tbqh.

A result of… stress?

Kirk got himself out of it first. He’s so strong. He knows himself so well, he cannot be outsmarted by any alien.

“We’ve been taught to think in terms other than war.”

“The alien brings out the worst of us—patriotic drumbeating…even race hatred.”

He’s so sad; he can’t imagine thinking like that about Spock :(

Sulu in a Jeffries tube! A man of many talents. It’s okay bb, take credit for turning on the lights.

The alien must have been getting bored. The Klingons must have been doing too well, and the playing field needs to be leveled for maximum shit-stirring.

“Let’s find that alien.” That’s how I ALWAYS feel.

Oh, Kang, you’re so close—“What power supports our battle but thwarts our victory.” So, so close to getting it.

ALIEN DETECTED.

Spock takes his sword, of course.

“Jim.” Obligatory Jim moments hit differently when they’re not so obligatory.

“Jim—stop hitting my protégé. And put that sword down.”

Kirk looks so sad, picking Chekov up to carry him bridal style.

Also in addition to ‘race hatred’ I think we need to add ‘rape-y tendances’ to the bad stuff that the alien is inspiring here.

“A brief surge of racial bigotry. Most distasteful.” Spock winning for understatement of the year.

They're assuming the alien is trying to test out their relative powers but I think it just wants entertainment. I mean, doesn’t it look like a naughty little thing?

Mara’s outfit is… little shorts? Interesting. Usually not my style but she makes it work.

Spock doesn’t even look at Johnson as he falls lol. Another one bites the dust.

“It exists on the hate of others.”

What does this remind me of? Oh, the Vast of Night and the whole “aliens made us do every bad thing ever” conspiracy theory. At least this one makes more sense, in part because it is not quite so overwhelmingly broad!

All hostile attitudes must be eliminated, he says, and there's Mara right behind Kirk giving him a death stare lol.

Kang is so obviously posing. Google Earth, always taking pictures.

Only a few minutes before drifting forever in space becomes inevitable? Good thing Kirk works well under pressure.

“Well… do whatever you can, Scotty. You know the drill.” Doesn’t even bother giving real directions anymore. We’ve been in this scenario before.

“So we drift in space, with only hatred and bloodshed aboard.”

And the 392 people below just get to…live in Enterprise prison, I guess.

Star date: Armageddon. So dramatic!

I’m not even making that up; that’s an actual quote. Can you imagine being an Admiral listening to this?

“Stop the war now.” An actual line, really aired on television.

Spock wants to threaten the wife lol. That's the old pre-Reform Vulcan seeping through. Surak who?

Damn, Kang is cold. “Eh, she gets the concept of being killed in battle.” They’re gonna need marriage counseling after this.

“There is another way. Mutual trust and help.” Yes that’s my hero!!

“No one can guarantee the actions of another.” Can’t remember the context of this entirely anymore, but great line.

The entity is loving this—multi-person choreographed sword fight!!

"Those who hate and fight must stop themselves. otherwise it is not stopped.” Another baller line. Spock has a lot of deep thoughts today. And so does Kirk. And Kang.

Kirk tries to reason with the alien. Nice try.

“Shoo. Shoo, alien. Off the ship, go away.”

Omg that last moment—Kang slapping Kirk’s back way too hard, Spock’s completely ridiculous wide-eyed expression when he does, like some sort of combo of amusement and confusion, and then Sulu just passing on by in the background….

Then the alien just yeets itself into space. And that’s the end!

Always feels weird when there’s no wrap up on the bridge.

Also, what are they going to do with the Klingons? They have no ship. They really did come out of this a lot worse than Kirk and co. No ship, huge casualties—and no one to blame even, but the alien.

I feel like the alien messed up a little in killing so many Klingons. Like, it could have accomplished its purpose, angering the Klingons and turning them on Kirk, by attacking the ship a little less violently—you know they’d react to 5 deaths pretty much the same as 400, and then there would be many more people to fight forever and produce that sweet sweet anger!

Maybe the alien’s powers aren’t strong enough to influence 800 people though. Also it wants equal forces and 800 people wouldn’t fit on the Enterprise, one assumes. So it still makes sense.

That was, of course, an excellent episode. 100% agree with is classic status, even though the main things I remembered going in were the wife + science officer bit, and everyone laughing at the end in a really forced, fake way, in order to make the alien go away.

I thought the Klingons were a lot better/more interesting today than usual. First, I think Kang is a better character, or a better actor maybe, than the others; he has a certain way about him that is… more watchable, more sympathetic. And he’s always saying these really dramatic things that make it seem likely he writes patriotic Klingon war poetry in his off time. Also, including his wife made them seem more… not human obviously, but normal. Not just cardboard cut-out villains. And of course the actual lightly specific motivations I earlier mentioned helped too.

Also, the plotting was very good: it built up slowly but surely over time, so at first the alien’s influence wasn’t that obvious, and then it became more so, and then it became horrifically obvious and extreme. And then you had to re-evaluate earlier moments: was that the alien changing facts in their heads, or a real part of the animosity between humans and Klingons? And it wasn’t always clear, which I appreciated. The tension when the people were at their worst wasn’t overdone, like in that moment with Scotty, Spock, and Kirk—or even in Chekov’s assault on Mara, tbh. The various strategies of the different sides were very entertaining too; there was never a dull moment, and they fit in a lot of straight-up actions and twists into 50 minutes.

The possible threat was truly terrifying, also: stuck in a space ship, forever, unable to die, feeling the worst possible emotions all the time, besieged, angered, despairing, fighting a war that can’t be won, being injured and suffering only to recover and fight again, and it never stops… A perfect nightmare mixture of insanity and violence and pain. And the alien, in encouraging hatred and anger, doesn’t discriminate between sides: they turn on each other just as much as on the Klingons, breeding paranoia and infighting. For eternity.

The episode also felt much more strongly anti-war than I remember tbh. Like it was not subtle. Kirk literally says “stop the war” in so many words. He has a part in his speech where he talks about the possibility of other aliens out there, encouraging other wars. And while I do think “maybe the aliens are making us do it” is a cop out explanation, or would be if it were real, the scenario gave the show a lot of room to say, like, pretty ballsy things: to include “patriotic drum beating” along with “race hatred” in a list of corrupting feelings they were experiencing; to show how the same instincts that lead to warring also lead to sexual assault and the aforementioned ‘race hatred;” to reveal the true horror of an endless war by making the participants unkillable and sticking them in a singular space ship in the middle of nowhere; to imply that the combatants of war gain nothing from it, but outside or third-party entities will pull strings of their own design to profit from the conflict as long as possible; even to make an impassioned plea to camera to stop the endlessness of the conflict. Like I can’t even totally unpack this but it is a lot!

Finally, it was also a great Kirk episode, which of course is my most important factor. He’s smart; he’s strong; he’s so sure of himself and his values that he cannot be manipulated to mindless hatred, he represents the values of the Federation, and the show itself; he treats even his enemies with basic respect and humanity; and ultimately, he saves the day.

Okay I was not efficient in writing this up at all! It is very late!!

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek #2021: fandom thoughts #star trek tos

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greenroseunderglass · 3 years

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After Omega : Fanfic - Star Trek TOS (Gen)

@sicktember

Prompt #4 Headache

by: greenroseunderglass (1st post to tumblr, I know I'm messing up every way possible.)

Notes: The TOS episode "Omega Glory" is literally one long recipe for a headache for Kirk. Spock was caught in the nimbus of a phaser set to kill in this episode.

“I suppose we can beam up now?” McCoy demanded.

Unperturbed, Spock spoke into his communicator in a steady but very quiet voice, “Three to beam up, Mr. Scott.”

Clearly McCoy had called ahead. Why had Spock waited that long for him to beam up?

Spock wasn’t announcing it to the room, just to McCoy, but it was bad enough because Bones stopped dead and raised his head. “Captain, you are required in Sickbay in twenty minutes.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

McCoy, following the stretcher out, stopped to double-blink at him, then looked him over again. “Do you need transport?”

Jim wished he could say yes, but it wasn’t a good day for blatant lies. “No. Spock’s right. I got my bell rung twice, hard-“

“As opposed to the half-dozen times it was lightly rung?” the doctor asked sharply. “I’m not blind, you know-“

Speaking slowly, Jim continued, “But I’ll be all right for a few more minutes, and then you can do whatever you want.”

“You’re just afraid you’ll get sick all over the Bridge? I’d bet on the turbolift, that upward and lateral motion at once—“

“Aye, Captain,” came from several people, but then quietly, from Uhura alone, “Could one of us escort you to Sickbay, sir?”

Kirk forced himself to stop swaying, forced a smile to his lips. “No, but thank you, Lieutenant.”

“Just give me a few more minutes, Geoff. I’m not being stubborn. I want a shower and my bed, but—there he is!” He turned from his fellow doctor to glare at Kirk.

“Twenty minutes does not mean forty-five, Captain, sir.”

Kirk made one of his ‘yeah, yeah, whatever’ dismissive gestures and closed his eyes in a brief headshake. “How is Spock?”

He didn’t go at the knees, he just dropped, and it was all McCoy and a lunging M’Benga could do to keep his limp body from bouncing off the floor.

He got a bed beside Spock's for three days. McCoy's blood pressure was not very appreciative of their stay.

End

#Sicktember #Headache #Star Trek #Fanfiction #Sicktember2021

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moderndaybard · 4 years

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2020 Weekly Ficlet 42/52(? We’ll see?)

Ever At Your Side, Part 4/7 (Uhura) [New Trek/Pokemon Crossover. Because Why not.]

(Part 1-Kirk; Part 2-Spock; Part 3-Bones; Part 5-Scotty; Part 6-Sulu; Part 7-Chekov)

Beginnings:

Long-term, deep-space missions, it turns out, are long stretches of routine bordering on monotony, interspersed very occasionally with the strangest—and often most dangerous—of exceptions. But despite the long stretches of ‘it-was-a-normal-day-see-previous-recordings’ sorts of log entries and confined quarters aboard ship, it was still somehow remarkably different for Lt. Uhura and Commander Spock to align their off-duty time with any consistency.

(The downside of an over-achiever dating a workaholic, mused more than once.)

Still, they did make the effort, and when they managed to pull it off, they made the most of the time that they had—which was why Uhura was now desperately trying to ignore the rivulets of not-sweat trickling down her back as she joined Spock in his meditation.

With their minds so close, Uhura knew that he would feel the flicker of her distractions, and so tried to stay present—to no avail. As soon as she’d noticed the physical sensation, there was no going back to the moment. The prankster had won this round.

With a silent apology to her boyfriend (who she knew was aware of the situation and finding his own meditation disrupted) she pulled away from the link that Spock and T’Kay had opened, opening her eyes and whirling on the ‘stealth master’ behind her. “I warned you that you’d get bored—I said that you could stay in my room or in your ball. You couldn’t have waited just a few more moments to ask for attention?”

Whatever expression the pokemon behind her bore at the moment was obscured behind the ‘scarf’ that covered everything below is eyes (the ‘scarf’ being, in fact, his tongue, a fact that seemed to throw most people when they learned and/or remembered that fact), but Uhura had been with her partner for so long that she could read the mischievous grin, hidden though it was. Utengo had no shame, at times.

The communications officer continued to glare at her partner Greninja, but she couldn’t help noticing how off the water-type looked in the room set to mimic the dry-heat of Vulcan for its occupant. This time, when she held out the pokeball in invitation, her partner did not sulk, pout, or refuse.

He did, however, lob one last ball of water into the air before he was recalled, which burst and showered the two trainers and other pokemon.

“To be fair, that is a way of showing he likes you,” Uhura offered to Spock.

“I am…aware,” the half-Vulcan intoned calmly. He, too, was used to certain…antics…of the pokemon in question. “Though, by that metric, one could argue that he likes quite a few aboard the Enterprise—if not most.”

She sighed, but couldn’t fully hold back a smile, either. “Unfortunately, he does.”

-------------------------

Meetings:

It’d been so many years ago—she was still a teenager still home, Starfleet Academy still a distant someday she was pursuing with all the force of her already-legendary determination. Language was already her passion, xenolinguistics the field she already had her eyes set on, and she’d already mastered three languages with another two not far behind.

But starship assignments were still a long way off, and prodigy though Nyota was, she knew there was still so much about the world—about herself—to be discovered, to be decided. And there was time for all of that.

Today, though, the only choice that mattered was which pokemon she’d be leaving with: who would be her partner in the years and decades to come. She had some ideas—being her, she’d done her research and done it thoroughly—but unusually enough for her, she hadn’t come with a set plan.

Which was good, because the little blue frog blinking up at her was not common in that part of Earth, so she hadn’t originally considered it.

She knew of the Froakie line, of course, knew the final evolution was prized by stunt performers, security officials, daredevils, and some in less-than-savory occupations. Additionally, water-types were not uncommon in Starfleet, especially since some experts (and ‘experts’) liked to claim that trainers that gravitated towards that type were more likely to be cool, rational, and quickly adaptable.

Personally, she thought that was ridiculous—even if the type-to-trainer-personality theory had any actual basis (which she was not convinced of), the young girl privately thought that the water-type lent itself just as easily to impetuosity, storm-like fury, stubbornness undaunted by any obstacle, and even to…

She saw it, in the little Froakie’s eyes, behind what most saw as the wide-eyed perpetually-worried expression of the line’s first stage; and he saw it in her, too, in the dark brown eyes of the girl regarding him thoughtfully, one praised for her intelligence and drive and thought mature beyond her years by those who never took the time to look close enough to see—

—the twin sparks of mischief, the mark of the schemer, the prankster. They’d get where they wanted to go, no question, but they’d reach it on their own, if unexpected, way.

(Not to mention, certain traits of his final evolution seemed like to good a joke for the future communications officer to pass up.)

She’d get questions in the days, months, even years to follow about what obscure language or dialect she’d turned to for Utengo’s name. “English, if you look at it right,” was the answer—and the joke—that so few seemed to get.

Seriously? It’s not that hard a scramble…right?)

-------------------------

(2009)

So much and so little had changed in the intervening years: Uhura and Utengo had grown up—the Frogadier that’d entered Starfleet academy at her side having evolved at last into a Greninja early in her (their) final year—and both had found, through trial and error, that it was when the other cadets, the professors, and the officers saw them as the mature, calm, rational, and adaptive water-type and -trainer they wanted to see that they were taken seriously, accepted.

So the twin sparks of mischief were dampened—though not doused—and set aside for the moment in favor of finding and excelling in (if not exceeding) in the expected paths for a Xenolinguist and her partner, learning the rules and expectations, what grey areas were and weren’t safe, observing the Academy staff politics to see who actually had clout, and how they’d gotten it. Uhura told herself that it was easier this way—there was no need to break new ground constantly if a sure path already existed.

Water will follow the channels dug for it, after all.

****

Kirk likely thought that her reluctance to ‘crew’ his third attempt at the Kobayashi-Maru was due to purely personal reasons (namely her unconcealed dislike for his brash attitude—which, admittedly, did contribute a little). He therefore probably wondered why she agreed to do so anyway.

(Career-wise, there were some bridges it did not do to burn, personal personality issues aside, and perhaps the most annoying thing about James T. Kirk’s flippant, arrogant persona was that he had the skills and smarts to back it up—his career would definitely be fast-tracked if he managed to avoid pissing off the very people inclined to do so.)

In truth, it was the test itself that she despised even more—Academy rumor mill being what it was, every cadet knew it was an unwinnable scenario going in. And Academy students being who they were, nearly to a person, they went in believing that they could be the one person to spot the loophole that would win it anyway.

To date, Kirk was the only one who’d tried more than once.

(Continued on AO3.)

#Star Trek 2009 #uhura #spock #pokemon #pokemon crossover #hypothetical pokemon team #well really just one partner #because its fun #my post #writing challenge

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thedreamsmith · 4 years

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How (Not) To Seduce a Blueshirt (Chapter 1)

@atc74 @arrowsandmixtapes @alleiradayne @captain-s-rogers for #OC appreciation day 2020

Warnings: Swearing

Pairing: Jim Kirk x OFC

Summary: In which Jim Kirk tries to catch the attention of the new science officer on the Enterprise. Scotty and Jaylah give the worst relationship advice. This is why Bones drinks.

‘We are now in orbit around Argratha, Keptin.’ Chekov called, his hands flying over the navigation console. ‘Have you chosen the away team for tomorrow’s first contact mission? …Keptin?’

James T Kirk had not heard a word that his navigation officer had said, for he had been too busy gazing at the new veterinary science officer as she leant over a console, deep in conversation with one of the other blue shirts.

That was, until a pointed cough from Mr Sulu dragged his attention back to matters at hand.

‘Did you hear me, Keptin?’ The bridge’s youngest officer made a valiant effort to keep his features neutral.

‘I believe the Captain was studying the…moon.’ Uhura’s voice was impassive but he just knew that she was smirking as she monitored the incoming transmissions from Argratha.

Something that sounded suspiciously like a giggle came from the direction of the navigation console, but he decided to ignore it. Jim consoled himself that at least it wasn’t Jaylah. Scotty’s third-in-command would’ve skipped the double entendre altogether and announced – loudly – to the entire bridge that the captain had been paying more attention to the doctor’s ass than their impending diplomatic mission.

Clearing his throat, he attempted to regain some semblance of dignity and pretend that his ears were not currently bright red. He failed miserably at both.

‘Ah…yes, what’s Argratha’s moon called again?’

Sulu opened his mouth to reply but Spock’s voice that rang out across the bridge.

‘Doctor Lyall?’

The bridge crew didn’t bother to hide their laughter this time and Jim sank further into the Captain’s chair – maybe he’d throw himself out the airlock once Alpha shift ended.

***

Reyne had just finished the weekly checks on the avian species in the menagerie when her comm beeped. Murray glanced up from his PADD at the sound but otherwise made no comment as he returned to his reports.

‘Doctor Lyall here.’

‘Doctor, you are needed on ze bridge at once.’ The young navigator’s voice was higher than she’d ever heard it, and in the background of the call there were the faints sound of people yelling and furniture being knocked about.

‘What’s going on, Mr Chekov?’ It was rare enough that she was called to the bridge, and even on those occasions it was always to do with some science mission that she needed to discuss with Commander Spock.

‘There is a blue rat on ze bridge!’ The Ensign’s voice broke on the last syllable and Reyne winced as she held the comm away from her ear.

‘Alright, alright. I’ll be there in five minutes, just stay calm Mr Chekov – I’m sure it’s more scared of you than you are of it. Lyall out.’ With a shake of her head, Reyne ended the comm and turned to face Murray, who had been listening to the whole, bizarre exchange.

‘A blue rat?’ His eyebrows had disappeared under the fall of his fringe. ‘What was the last planet we visited? Draco 6? Do you think it’s a-‘

‘More than bloody likely.’ She swept a lock of dark hair behind her ear as she grabbed a med kit and trap disk from the bench beside the door. ‘I’m going to kill whoever let it onto this ship.’

***

Reyne spotted the creature as soon as she emerged from the turbolift. She bit back a sigh of annoyance – Murray had been correct in his prediction.

‘Why the fuck is there a Lethian rat on the bridge? Please tell me there’s only one.’

At first, no one seemed inclined to answer either question, but finally Chekov piped up from his place behind the navigation console.

‘Aye, Doctor.’

‘Thank god.’

With a nod to the young Ensign, Reyne cast around for the piercing blue eyes and shit-eating grin that seemed to be at the epicentre of every disaster aboard this god-forsaken starship. A flash of command gold caught her eye as she spotted the captain crouched a few metres away from the small, blue rodent; eyes focused on his prey.

Eyes widening, she started forward but before she could issue a warning, Jim Kirk lunged, hands closing around the rat with a shout of victory.

His cheer quickly became a strangled yelp.

‘Bugger bit me!’

The Lethian rat took the opening and scurried away, causing several of the younger ensigns to jump onto their chairs as it scampered to the far side of the bridge.

In the ensuing chaos, Reyne turned just in time to see Jim raise his hand to his mouth.

‘Don’t!’ The sharpness of her outburst effectively grabbed his attention. ‘Lethian rats are venomous, and it’s worse when ingested. Wait a minute and I’ll bandage it up.’

Quickly, she pulled the trap disk from her bag and flicked the switch to prime it. The little metal circle would emit pheromones to attract the creature and humanely immobilise it once it got close enough. With a flick of her wrist, Reyne tossed the disk onto the floor in the general direction of the rodent and turned to face the captain.

Despite his injury, Jim Kirk gave her a winning smile as she stalked towards him, already pulling a bandage from her kit.

‘How did that thing come to be on the bridge, Captain?’

With skilled hands, Reyne disinfected the laceration and bound his palm with a biostrip.

‘Must’ve climbed up my shirt while I was on the away mission to Draco 6.’ The captain shrugged nonchalantly. ‘Scurried out of my sleeve.’

Reyne opened her mouth to point out the holes in his story but decided against it. She’d heard enough from Dr McCoy to know that Jim could be as stubborn as an ass when he wanted to be – which was almost all the time. Especially when it came to his physical exams.

‘You’re lucky there was only one; those things make tribbles look abstinent. Could’ve ended up with a ship-wide infestation of venomous blue rodents.’ With a shake of her head, she tied off the bandage. ‘You’ll need to go to the medbay – if it’s not treated within a couple of hours, the venom causes mild amnesia that gets worse the longer it’s left in your system. Until I catch this thing, just do what you usually do – sit in your chair and look pretty.’

It was the wrong thing to say because his eyes immediately lit up and he batted his eyelashes at her.

‘You think I’m pretty, doctor?’

The sharp beeping of the trap disk and a barrage of high pitched squealing saved her from having to reply as the rat fought against the snare.

Carefully, so she didn’t get bitten as well, Reyne picked up the snare and raised the wriggling rodent to eye level.

‘Couldn’t resist, could you? Horny wee bugger.’ The creature snapped it teeth at her. ‘Male, good. That means you won’t be popping out babies left, right and centre.’

With the press of another button, the disk injected the rodent with a small amount of sedative, and within a few seconds it had ceased its wriggling, but still eyed her with barely concealed rage. ‘Lethian rats get their name from an ancient Earthen mythology. Right, c’mon.’ She tipped her head towards the turbolift. ‘I’ll drop this wee guy off at the menagerie on the way to the medbay – I’ll need to give Dr McCoy the specifics of the venom.’

***

Five minutes later, Reyne strode into the menagerie with Jim in tow.

‘You were right, Murray!’ She gave her colleague a wide grin, depositing the sedated rat onto the exam table. ‘Look, I’ve brought you a friend.’

‘How wonderful.’ Murray adjusted his glasses and peered at the sluggish rodent. ‘And what would you like me to do with it?’

‘De-venom and examine it, I’ve got to take the captain to the medbay – he got bitten.’

‘Fine, but you owe me some of the cookies I know you have squirreled away in your office. The replicators can never seem to get them right.’ He accepted the storage box that she passed to him before glancing over her shoulder. ‘Um, Ree… You might want to book it over to medical, the captain isn’t looking too hot.’

Reyne whirled around, and it was immediately obvious was Murray was talking about; Captain Kirk had turned a sickly grey colour, and a faint sheen of sweat had broken out across his forehead. ‘Shit.’ She levered herself under his arm, guiding him away from where he had been leaning against the doorframe. ‘You must’ve had an allergic reaction to the venom. Shit.’

With a hurried farewell to Murray, she half-carried the captain out of the menagerie and towards the medbay.

***

Jim’s legs gave out just as they reached medical, and Reyne buckled under his weight as they stumbled through the medbay’s doors. ‘Dr McCoy!’

The older doctor came hurrying out of his office at the sound of her voice, and his ever-present scowl only deepened when he noticed the half-conscious captain slung over her shoulders. ‘What the devil happened to him this time? Put him down on the biobed there.’ He directed her to the nearest cubicle, and Reyne gasped in relief when Jim’s weight finally slid from her shoulders.

‘A Lethian rat got loose on the bridge, and our heroic captain decided to try and catch it with his bare hands – got bitten for his trouble.’

‘Unbelievable.’

‘It’s a slow acting neurotoxin, and I think he’s going into anaphylactic shock.’ Reyne stepped back to allow Leonard to examine Jim.

‘How long ago was he bitten?’ Leonard jabbed a hypo into the side of Jim’s neck. ‘That should stop the allergic reaction.’

‘About twenty minutes ago.’

‘Right.’ He turned to root through a drawer of vials, finally selecting one and adding it to a hypo already half-full of viscous yellow fluid. ‘This should do it.’

Jim shot the doctor a poisonous look but otherwise didn’t protest the second hypo. His colour was rapidly returning to normal and his breathing wasn’t as shallow.

‘I disinfected and bandaged the bite on the bridge, so that shouldn’t be an issue.’

‘Thanks darlin’.’ His features softened for a moment – as close to a smile as Leonard ever came, before he turned the full force of his glare onto the recovering captain. ‘Now why have you always gotta go throwing yourself into trouble without thinkin’?’

Reyne glanced over the PADD that Leonard had left on the side. Confident that the good doctor had things under control, she left the medbay with the sound of the captain getting a well-deserved dressing down from his CMO fading behind her.

#oc's are people too #oc appreciation day 2020 #star trek #Jim Kirk #jim kirk x oc #ofc #fanfic

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dreamthinkimagine · 4 years

Text

That’s An Order!

Here’s that Chekov fic that I promised 59,000 years ago. This is a sequel to “It Was Good and Bad” which was prompted by @amazingmsme.

WARNING: a lot of sad people, bully, mention of being drugged, mention of possible death, alcohol

Chekov had had a good few weeks. Kirk was still tickling people. “Because why not,” the Captain would say. But that was alright since Kirk stopped getting him - well, almost - but Chekov was OK with that because it wasn’t constant and not nearly as much. Just an occasional poke, squeeze, or prod; nothing more. No full on attacks. He didn’t feel anxiety or anger whenever he saw Kirk nearing him or when he was attacking people anymore and since they enjoyed it, he enjoyed watching them “suffer” the “wrath” of Captain Kirk. The crew as a whole became happier - even the grumpy MD could be seen smiling more often; sometimes it even seemed for no particular reason.

It was always amazing that Kirk’s mood had the ability to change the atmosphere of whatever room he was in. As soon as he’d enter a room, the air felt lighter; like there was no weight pulling anyone down. It was even light when the crew would tease Chekov for standing up to him. Turns out that lovable dork went and blabbed to any crewmen who would listen about how the brave navigator had stood up to his tickling “tyranny” as an example that he wanted his crew to feel comfortable. Even young cadets would shuffle their way up to the Russian and shyly ask him if it was true - he didn’t even know any of these cadets either, but he was happy to play along just the same.

To be honest, it made him feel sort of like a hero. It was like when the quiet kid in high school stood up to the big bad bully and word had spread before the end of the day. Did he realize that he looked silly? Yes; but that didn’t deter the pride he had for himself. At the time, his heart was in the right place and that was all that mattered. He truly felt that he was doing the right thing - that his friends needed saving and here came brave Chekov to the rescue. That’s why he joined Starfleet in the first place: to help people.

But he couldn’t do that when he was confined to Sickbay with a stomach bug, which was where he was when it started.

***

“Captain, I’m getting a signal.”

“Bring it up, Lt,” Kirk said. What appeared on the screen was a man with grey hair and a face gracefully patched with wrinkles (especially around his grey eyes), in a red, shiny, Starfleet uniform decorated with an insignia and three medals - Admiral Clark. They all recognized him - he was in charge of all the ships in their particular class. Now, the Enterprise had just rescued an innocent planet from destruction by the Romulans - a little slower than usual, but they still did it in a few hours - and Kirk was sure they were all about to be congratulated on their success.

“Enterprise, I need to have a word with all of you.” He said in a cold tone, and his eyes, showing no compassion, aimed at the man in the Captain’s chair. Kirk stood, Spock’s eyebrow rose - and so did McCoy’s. Scotty’s smile dropped, Uhura stared at the screen, and Sulu sat up in his chair, muscles becoming tight. “It has been brought to my attention that there has been more play than work on this ship.”

“Admiral, I can assure you that that’s not tru -“

“Silence, Kirk! You are the Captain and should have put an end to this sooner. Since you have neglected your duties and have thus risked the safety of everyone on board, it is the order of Starfleet that I must attend to this vessel for you.” Kirk shut his mouth, but didn’t break eye contact.

“Do you mean to say that Captain Kirk is no longer Captain?” Spock asked, a hint of sternness in his voice, only detected by Kirk and Bones. He stepped next to Kirk, literally standing as his Captain’s right-hand-man.

“That is exactly correct. Until further notice, I will be in charge of the Enterprise. Kirk, you’ll be serving as a Cadet.” His stared at the Admiral, gaping. “Communications Officer, open the frequencies so you will receive my orders. Put them on audio so you can all hear me until tomorrow.”

“And what exactly is tomorrow?” McCoy interrupted as he took a step forward, putting himself at his Captain’s left side.

“Tomorrow is when your Chief Engineer will personally beam me aboard to take my place at command.” Everyone turned to Scotty, who looked back at them, his mouth falling open. He raised his head back to the screen and brought up his arms, as if to speak, but Kirk beat him to it.

“But, Admiral -”

“No ‘Buts’, Kirk. You had your chance. Until told otherwise, by me, you will be a Cadet. Just a Cadet. Then maybe you can learn something about being a Captain. That’s an order.”

“...Yes, Admiral.” The screen went back to the stars of space and silence filled the Bridge. Hesitantly, Bones turned to his Captain who was wearing a blank face.

“Things’ll get better, Jim. We won’t let ‘im replace ya.” Bones said giving Kirk’s side a squeeze as an attempt to wake his Captain from his daze. Nothing. No reaction. Kirk, one of the most ticklish people on the Enterprise, wasn’t reacting to a squeeze against his side. He stayed there. Frozen. His eyes still laid on the screen.

“Aye, he’s right.” Scotty said. “If he thinks I’m gonna be thrilled about beaming a scoundrel like ‘im on this ship, he’s got another thing comin’.”

“Frequency,” Uhura said, prompting everyone to look over and breaking Kirk from his trance.

“Rule number one,” Clark’s voice said. “As long as I’m in charge, there will be no more nonsense. That includes: No playing, No banter, No lollygagging, and No tickling.” No one except Clark spoke as Kirk still stared ahead. “Any disobedience will result in immediate punishment.” Jim sat in the no-longer-his Captain’s chair and sighed, rubbing his face. “And Cadet Kirk...get out of that chair!”

***

Spock and Bones decided to stop by Jim’s Quarters and check on the...Cadet. This whole thing had come as such a shock that they weren’t entirely sure if it was real or if they’d somehow been drugged. Their own confusion acted as the only thing keeping them from arguing with each other as they both agreed that the entire situation was, and God help Bones for saying this: “Illogical.”

“Agreed, Doctor.”

“It just doesn’t make any sense. Jim’s a great Captain! Look at all he’s done!...it just doesn’t make any sense, Spock.” They approached the door, which opened, and went inside to see Jim sitting on his bed.

“Jim?”

“I’m fine, Bones.”

“In a pig’s eye.”

“Captain -”

“I’m not Captain anymore, Mr. Spock. If this is what Starfleet thinks is best for the crew, then I’ll step down.”

“Jim, you can’t just -“

“But he’s -”

“Wrong! He’s wrong!”

“I was just -”

“Keeping up, morale. Humans tend to need play to function mentally,“ the Vulcan finished.

“Look, I appreciate you guys trying to help, but I think I just wanna be alone right now,” Kirk said, with a slight hint of anger.

***

The next morning, Scotty reported to the transporter room and started putting the coordinates in the machine. While his face seemed blank, the muscles were tightened just barely enough that someone who didn’t know him might not notice it. His eyes shown fire. The only reason he was gentle with the equipment was because it was part of the Enterprise, his prized possession, and nothing could make him hurt her. But each movement was harder than the last. With each push of a button he clenched his jaw harder; every lever pull, his muscles tightened more.

He sighed and tried to relax his muscles once he saw the yellow, broken up atoms of Clark. Don’t make him angry, he thought, it’ll just make it worse for all of us.

“Lt. Commander Smith.” Clark said as he stepped off the transporter pad.

“Scott. Admiral. Montgomery Scott.”

“Show me to the Bridge, Smith.” He said as he motioned to the door with his head.

“Scott,” he said under his breath and followed Clark into the hall. Throughout the journey, and it was a journey, Clark kept commenting on the ship. Scotty’s ship. He’d complain that the hallways were too tight, that the wall intercom was too “out in the open where people like Kirk can play with it.” Apparently, the quiet rumble from the engines was too loud and Scotty needed to silence them immediately after they got to the Bridge.

Soon he’d started making utterances on every crew member he saw. He’d say things like that they needed to speed up their walking or slow down, that they needed to work harder at their jobs without observing them first. He even told one person that they needed to change their hairstyle.

With each opinion Scotty’s muscles tightened again. He could almost feel himself getting warmer as if steam was about to shoot out his ears like in old cartoons. In fact, he was sure his face was red; but Admiral Clark seemed too absorbed in insulting everything and everyone he saw to notice.

***

“- and Kirk better not be in my chair!” Clark finished as the turbolift’s doors opened and he stepped onto the Bridge. His rant caught the focus of everyone there, even Spock’s. With Scotty mouthing, “Good luck,” the turbolift closed. As Clark began to walk around the Bridge, the crew turned back to their stations.

“You must be Mr. Spock,” he said as he approached the half-Vulcan. Spock rose from his position, eye-to-eye with the man.

“That is correct.”

“Well? Aren’t you going to welcome me?”

“...Welcome.”

“Welcome who?”

“...Welcome...Admiral.”

“Remember it, Eyebrows.” He said and went to sit in the Captain’s chair. “You! Helmsman!”

“Lt. Sulu, Sir.”

“Did I ask your name?! Steer course for Rigel II.”

From that moment on, Clark was as hard as he could be on every and anyone; even harder than he was before. Anyone who disobeyed or didn’t live up to his expectations was punished. His demeaning remarks were starting to affect everyone. His outrageous rules and comments caused people to move slower - Bones could practically see the clouds over their heads pouring rain onto their spirits from Sickbay. Lost in the big and deep woods of depression, they were almost like zombies; except if they had one of his rigorous practice missions. The thought of giving any less than 200% made their stomachs drop, made them turn cold, made them sweat. And those were just fake missions. The thought of getting a real one, made some people freeze, others felt light headed and dizzy, and some actually did faint.

Even “Eyebrows” was affected by him. Spock never showed it on the Bridge or in front of anyone, but the name-calling was upsetting. McCoy would comment on his ears and blood, but he never attacked his face. A person’s face is the first thing someone else sees; the Admiral was judging him just by sight alone - McCoy at least got to know him first.

But Cadet Kirk received the worst of it. Clark had him restricted to his Quarters until further notice. He’d already been in there for days, and still no word.

***

Clark burst into Sickbay to see an unconscious young man on a biobed surrounded by medical equipment, a CMO, and a nurse.

“We’re about to begin surgery! You can’t be in here!”

“There’s someone sick.”

“Ensign Pavel Chekov. Thought it was the stomach flu, but it’s appendicitis - that’s why we’re about to perform surgery. Now get out, this boy’s appendix is about to burst!”

“Perhaps, Dr., if you were practicing procedures properly, he wouldn’t need surgery.”

“Are you suggesting that he is in this state because of me?!”

“Watch your tone, Doctor; remember who you’re talking to. I will stand here and personally oversee you operate to make sure you are up to procedure regulations.” So, McCoy took out the Ensign’s appendix with that overcritical, fussy, dogmatic oaf of a man watching his every move like a hawk. Peering over the doctor’s shoulder with such condescendence that McCoy could almost taste it. He made more comments about how it should be done, but the doctor didn’t listen - he even yelled at Clark to be quiet so he could concentrate - which, as he knew it would, led to punishment. As a result, Clark became much harder toward everyone in Sickbay but McCoy; and if the CMO stood up for anyone, it would only get worse.

He was forced to sit there and watch the dismay and downfall of his medical staff.

When Chekov woke, they were all at his side taking tests, gathering information, and some just caring for him as he just woke up from surgery and was probably in pain. They rushed - their brains and bodies quickly becoming exhausted after a few hours - but too afraid of the immediate repercussions to rest or make a mistake; so they pressed forward with McCoy approving or disapproving their findings.

Chekov looked at the new behavior in the Sickbay and wondered if the rest of the ship was like this. He’d never seen anything like it - to be so fast, efficient, accurate. He was a little jealous that he couldn’t navigate like that. Everything was happening so fast, that he wasn’t totally sure what was going on, but it seemed effective.

This. This was everything he aspired to be since his decision to join the fleet, even before he decided. He didn’t know what Kirk was doing differently, but he liked it. It was like he was in a new world with how things were being run. Maybe he’d get a chance to learn more and learn it faster. Maybe he’d even get a higher rank. And maybe, he’d be able to help people better than before.

***

A few hours later, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura, and Sulu all gathered in the Break Room after their shifts to discuss their situation in whispers. None of them would be surprised if Clark had super-hearing; he seemed to know everything anyway, so why not what they were talking about?

“I can’t take this anymore.”

“We’ve got to do something.” Bones said as he held his aching head.

“And what do you suggest, Doctor?”

“I’m open to any ideas at this point,” Sulu said.

“Aye. I haven’t been able to fix the engine rumble - I’ve got other things to do - so he forced me to reprogram the food synthesizer to reject me. I’m not allowed to eat tomorrow.”

“Might I suggest waiting until Cadet Kirk and Ensign Chekov are released,” asked Spock. “There is safety in numbers. Two additional individuals will be beneficial to our party - especially when they will be a passionate Chekov, and the other, a very angry James Kirk.” A moment of silence followed Spock’s suggestion as they all nodded and agreed that he was right.

“But we will do something?” Uhura asked.

“We have to,” Scotty said putting his hand atop hers.

But none of them knew that Chekov was currently passionate about the wrong thing and that Jim wasn’t angry anymore.

***

After being set free from Sickbay, Chekov took to the Bridge ready to work until he couldn’t anymore - especially in front of the Admiral. He was told what had happened, but not to the full extent as Clark was in the room. All he knew was that Kirk was taking a break, that Clark would be in charge for a while, and that he ran things differently. It didn’t matter though, he hungered to do good and was more than willing to make some changes under Clark to do so.

Upon entering the Bridge, he introduced himself to the Admiral, who immediately howled an order. Chekov got to his station and carried it out as fast as he could. Properly fed, not exhausted, and his spirit allowed him to finish his task not only first, but correctly and in record time too. This Ensign’s capabilities caught the Admiral’s eye.

For the next several days, he tested the Ensign in anyway he could - physically, mentally, emotionally. He’d have him run laps, give him problems to solve, and yell at him when it seemed he didn’t do well enough. He just kept thinking to himself that, in the end, it would all help him on missions. This just pressed the young man to persevere. Instead of getting put down, he pulled himself up to be the best he could be. It seemed the Russian never grew tired or weary; he was always ready for action. He even performed the best of everyone during the practice missions; and Clark was certainly impressed - there was promise of a great leader in him.

However, it came at a cost: Chekov was so distracted by his work, goals, and dream, that he didn’t even notice his friends’ sufferings. He had no idea what Clark was really doing to them. He had no idea that they were so tired and miserable. He never noticed how slow everyone was moving. He never noticed the punishments. He never noticed the grumbling stomachs.

It was made clear to the Vulcan, doctor, communications officer, engineer, and helmsman that they would just have to wait for an angry Cadet because the navigator was not going to help. .

***

Soon, things started happening again. Starfleet assigned them a mission to help an entire race on a different planet - to transport cargo necessary for their survival across the galaxy. They’d even gotten into a couple space battles. Not that that last one was good, but it what could you do? Chekov did even better during this mission than he had during their practices. Clark had even taken him under his wing to train him. The Ensign was even close to going up a rank.

And he was happy. Chekov was finally happy. Missions made him happy. The kind of happy that made him want to sing. The kind of happy that lit up any darkness within him no matter what the source. The kind of happy that made you unaware of anything else going on around you. Then Clark told him that Cadet Kirk would train under him.

“Cadet?”

“Yes, Cadet. Stripped him of his position before I even beamed aboard!” He said with a laugh.

“But why? He’s -”

“Are you questioning me, Ensign?!”

“No, Admiral.”

“...Go get Kirk.”

***

Kirk’s door opened and Chekov stepped inside. It was dark; and trays - some empty, some still had untouched food - sat on the floor and furniture. There was Kirk, laying on his bed.

“...Cadet Kirk?” His eyes fell on the Ensign.

“Chekov?” He nodded and Jim sat up. His uniform was covered in sweat and wrinkled. It looked like he hadn’t changed it in days. He had a beard and his hair was spewed.

“What’s wrong with you? What happened?” He looked at him, such a different man than before. Chekov remembered a bold, brave Kirk - this one seemed frail and broken.

“Clark. He’s kept me here.”

“What?!” Jim nodded.

“I haven’t been allowed to leave. He said that I can’t be a Captain because there wasn’t enough work going on. He said that I endangered everyone’s lives.”

“He said that?”

“And he’s right.”

“No he’s not.” Chekov didn’t know what was happening. How could someone who had made his life so much better, be making this man’s life so much worse? “You’ve done so much good. You’ve never let any of us down. You protect us and aliens and -”

“Then why did Starfleet send him? Why is he torturing my crew?”

“Torturing?”

“He’s too hard on them. They’re exhausted, depressed, hungry.” Chekov stayed quiet, listening to the man. “If they don’t do exactly what he wants when he wants it, or if it’s not good enough, he punishes them.”

“...Are you sure?”

“I can hear the complaints through the wall.”

“Well, why don’t you do something about it?”

“Believe me, I want to. Badly. But I’m powerless. He’s an Admiral...and I’m just a Cadet.”

***

Chekov walked the corridors, pondering what Jim had said. Could it all be true? It couldn’t be, could it? He’d only seen an effective leader who pushed him to give more than he thought he could. He’d seen someone who could help him get to where he wanted to be. Someone who could help him help others. No, this couldn’t be Admiral Clark. It had to be someone else. Something else. And yet...

As he walked, he paid special attention to the people he passed. They were drooped over, dragging their feet, covered in sweat, mouths hanging in frowns. Some tried to massage their own muscles and grimaced at the feeling. Some had tears slowly falling down their faces. He heard growling stomachs. He saw darkness under, and in, their hopeless, bloodshot eyes. Anyone not too depleted to notice him immediately straightened up and moved faster. Despite the pain, the tears, the fatigue, the hunger, they fought to move quicker.

After watching this for an hour, he couldn’t deny it anymore. This had to be Clark - none of this would ever happen under Kirk’s command. But, he wasn’t sure he wanted to stand up to him. He offered him so much, but look what was happening to his friends. But he’d never been happier, but they had never been so miserable. And he was with Clark most of the time - he could do something; they couldn’t. But he was so close to being promoted. And even if he did do something, if he failed, his hopes would be destroyed and he’d end up just like them. Had it really come to this? Would he really have to choose between his dream and his friends? That’s when he heard faint voices coming from the Break Room. He placed his ear against the wall to get a better listen.

“Mr. Chekov has grown rather close to Admiral Clark,” Spock started. Yes, he thought on the other side of the wall. “If we can convince him to assist us in our endeavors, it could prove most useful.” Endeavors?

“Yeah he’s close. Too close to notice the rest of us commoners,” McCoy added.

“He hasn’t had a drink for me since before he got sick,” commented Scotty. “Hasn’t spoken to me since then either.”

“He hasn’t even looked at me,” said Uhura. “It’s like I don’t exist.”

“Face it; he’s either forgotten about us or he doesn’t care anymore.” It was Sulu who said it. “Pavel’s not gonna help us.” Chekov turned against the wall and slid down it, mouth agape. That conversation revealed a lot to him. He thought back to the state of those crewmen, to them running from him, then back to their talk again. They thought he chose Clark over them, and in a way he had. That tore it.

Ten minutes later the doors to the Break Room opened revealing Chekov and a sad Jim.

“We want to help,” the Russian said. The rest of them stared as McCoy pulled up a chair for Jim, who sat, and immediately began scanning him.

“He needs to eat. Now.” Scotty gave up his plate, but Jim wasn’t touching it.

“We want to help take down Clark.”

“Eat,” McCoy said to Jim. Still, no one even looked at Chekov.

“Please, I want to help! I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.” Uhura, still not making eye contact, was the first to speak.

“How do we know you haven’t been sent by Clark?”

“Aye; he could be a spy.”

“I wouldn’t have brought him then.” He said and pointed to Jim.

“That’s not good enough,” Uhura said, looking at the ex-Captain.

“Eat, Jim!” Jim stayed put, listening to the conversation as he stared at the floor. He hadn’t looked at the food since it was put in front of him.

“I was supposed to bring Kirk out of his Quarters earlier, but I left him.”

“You let him rot?!”

“No! I just -”

“If you don’t eat, I’m gonna have to force it down your throat!” Chekov paused and turned. He walked to Jim and knelt down to his height.

“Please eat.” The five watched as Chekov picked up a fork and held it out to Jim with such tenderness that he actually looked at it. “I’m sorry, Captain.” The Cadet looked up at Chekov.

“You want to help take him down?” He nodded.

"Yes, Sir.” Slowly, Kirk took the fork, and placed the piece of food into his mouth. The room was quiet when Sulu stood and made his way to the navigator. He looked at his face, down to his boots, and then up again. “I...think he’s telling the truth.” The Russian smiled as Sulu held out his hand toward him. “Will you help us, Pavel?”

“I will.” Sulu pulled him up as he smiled at him. “Do you have a plan?”

“Nothing yet, lad.”

“Unless Mr. Chekov has logically calculated a starting point for one.” They all looked at the young man, waiting for his answer.

“I think I have one, but we’ll all need to help.”

***

The next day, McCoy told the medical crew what was happening and Scotty told the engineers as Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov secretly told the rest of them. Jim stayed in his room to keep things from looking suspicious.

Clark knew something was up. Something had to be. Why all the whispers behind his back? When he yelled at anyone, they wouldn’t tell. When he took away food, they still wouldn’t tell. When he approached Chekov, he was assured that the Ensign was on it, trying to figure it out for himself too. He ran off before the superior officer could suspect him of anything. Clark practically interrogated Jim in his Quarters demanding answers, but the Cadet claimed he had no idea what he was talking about. He insisted he’d only left his room when Chekov took him out for training. This just brought with it a stream of insults: “You shouldn’t be here!” “You were the worst Captain the Federation has ever seen and you’re the worst Cadet too!” “All you’ll ever be is a Cadet! And you deserve even less than that!”

When he caught “Smith” fiddling with some wires behind a small door in the wall in the hall, he wouldn’t confess. He didn’t even show any fear toward the tyrant, but Clark pushed him away before he could finish his work and tried to figure it out himself; not letting the engineer back in. That was bad. Very bad. Scotty tried to run to Chekov and tell him to postpone the signal until he could finish with the wires to the Bridge screen, but it was too late. From over the intercom, he, and Clark, heard it.

“Freedom was invented in Russia.” On “freedom,” people exploded into the halls screaming, running, jumping. Some, including Bones, Sulu, and Uhura, surrounded Clark, slapping him on the back, prodding his sides, yelling playful things at him - the entire crew was doing everything he had banned. He turned in confusion, not knowing how to react. He tried to yell, remove the hands from his being (what were they trying to do?), but nothing produced the results he was looking for. In the confusion, Sulu slipped Clark’s phaser from his belt for safe keeping; and McCoy slammed the door shut, sealing off the wires and almost crushing the Admiral’s hand. He was completely helpless against them. He didn’t know what to do. As they forced him through the halls, he saw Spock, standing calmly, staring at him with one eyebrow up.

“Eyebrows! Pinch them!” He shouted as he gestured at the small crowd surrounding him.

“My name is Mr. Spock. I insist that you refer to me as such.” Already frustrated, Clark submitted to the Vulcan’s request.

“Fine, Mr. Spock! Pinch them!”

“No, Admiral. It is not logical to do so as they are not causing you direct, physical harm.” After answering to the Admiral, Spock walked away an another direction.

***

On the other side of the ship, Scotty ran trying to find Chekov to tell him what had happened, but he couldn’t find him through the chaos. There was so much screaming, jumping, tickling, running, playing that he couldn’t even identify where he was. He was lost in his own ship. It would be impossible to find Chekov like this, and too dangerous to try to fix the wires in the uproar. The best he could do was try to find a turbolift and get to the Bridge.

If he had succeeded with the wires, it would have created a simulation battle on the screen - Phase III. It would’ve shown a Romulan ship attacking the Enterprise and each person would play their parts as they would any other battle; but this battle would have been Kirk’s. No one was to listen to the old Admiral’s commands to prove once and for all that Kirk was a better Captain, and would be a better Admiral, than Clark ever would or could. And their victory would have been glorious.

After a performance like that, even if it was just a simulation, there was no way the Federation could refuse to give him his position back; especially after they all filed a detailed complaint about Clark which happened last night as Phase I.

But without the third phase, the entire plan would fall apart.

***

Jim emerged from his cave as the old Kirk. He’d changed his clothes, shaved, and was ready to fight. He let out a loud laugh as he ran down the halls. The people cheered the appearance of their soon-to-be-again Captain. As he ran, he heard a yell.

“Kirk! Call them off!” There was still a crowd surrounding him and leading him to different places on the ship. They were still jumping in the Admiral’s face, poking him, screaming, dancing - you name it, they were doing it.

“Sorry, Admiral,” he called back, “but I can’t control of them!...I’m just a Cadet!” He pointed at the doctor before he flew down the passageway, leaving Clark with the crowd.

“Phase Three!” Shouted McCoy and he and Uhura kept eyes open for a turbolift along the walls.

As Jim ran, he couldn’t believe the feeling of everything. Of being set free, of the defeat of Admiral Clark in a few minutes, of becoming Captain again, of getting the Enterprise back, of getting his crew back. Pure happiness shown through him like light through a bulb as people continued to cheer him over the screams.

“Spock!” The First Officer turned and saw someone running toward him.

“Captain!” Spock could not deny the gleam of happiness that radiated within him when he saw Kirk like that. Though his face didn’t show his true emotion, he did grab Kirk’s arm. Kirk looked around at the crew, unable to believe their plan was working. Unable to believe his own comeback. Unable to believe his eyes as he looked upon the beauty of their own controlled chaos.

“Isn’t this great,” he yelled over the other screams.

“A most logical means of defeat, Captain.” Kirk just smiled at his comment, the best comment he’d heard about himself since Clark got on their screen. Speaking of which...

“I’ll see you on the Bridge!” Kirk said and ran the other direction.

***

“Sir, look!” Ever since they were defeated, the Romulans searched for the Enterprise. Day and night they looked; never once was the screen unwatched. Never once was there an empty place at the scanner. Never once were their weapons left unguarded. The resentment they had for the Enterprise, and Kirk, only grew. “I think we found them.”

On their scanners lay a small dot. When they closed in on it, they could tell that, from its shape, it was a Starfleet vessel. When they zoomed in, the ship read “U.S.S. ENTERPRISE.” The Commander smiled to himself.

“Warp twelve,” he said. “Prepare the attack.” His First Officer stood immediately and went to their wall intercom, announcing that they had located the enemy.

“Battle stations. Wait for the Commander’s signal.” Throughout their ship, the aliens rushed to their positions, waiting for their leader’s word.

“How do you want to go in, Sir?”

“Cloak on. They will regret ever interfering with Romulan intentions.”

“Engine room,” said the First Officer.

“Engine room here.”

“Cloak on.”

“Cloaking on.” The next second, the ship suddenly blended in with the stars as it became invisible. The Commander chuckled with malice. “Ready or not, Kirk...here. I. Come.”

***

Chekov was on cloud nine as he pranced through the crowd and high-fived everyone who passed. Such a change had taken place. Not even twelve hours ago, these people feared him. They practically cowered before him as they stood up straight and pushed themselves even more beyond the human breaking point. He looked at them as they let loose in pride and thankfulness that they had accepted him as their friend again. Once it set in that they were going to finally be free, he felt so light that he thought he might start to float above the horde of wild people. Suddenly, he saw a yellow shirt in the midst of the party darting toward him.

“Captain! Can you believe it?”

“No I can’t, Mr. Chekov.” He put his hand on his shoulder. “Thank you,” he said and pinched his side. Chekov jerked.”Sorry.” He said as he grinned at the Ensign. But that Ensign had a growing grin himself as he tackled Jim and rapidly poked his rib cage. He wriggled at the feeling but also from trying to avoid getting stepped on. His laughter was high and one of the loudest sounds on board.

The last time he tickled Jim was right after he yelled at him for tickling the crew. While Chekov still had mixed feelings about being tickled himself, he could tell Jim liked it and that he was probably secretly hoping that someone would get him back. So, why not get him back again after everything he’d been through? That being in mind, he dug into his belly and Jim immediately tried to make himself into a ball.

He backed off after a minute, not wanting to overwhelm him too much in their positions, and offered Jim a hand; but he got up on his own. That was when they saw Clark and McCoy, Sulu, and Uhura heading to a turbolift as the rest of their tiny crowd faded into the party. They both took off for the group and squeezed in the lift with them just before the doors shut.

As soon as the doors closed, that was when Clark struck. He swung his arms and kicked his legs to push his captors out. They tried to grab him, but he would send his fist swinging. And he had a perfect aim. Loyal to their true Captain - or in Kirk’s case, his crew - as soon as they hit the ground, they’d force themselves back up, only to dodge punches and eventually take another blow. Kirk went to kick him, but Clark grabbed his leg and threw him to the floor. He grabbed his phaser from Sulu and pointed it at all of them, forcing the officers to step down. Then he aimed it at Jim.

“You did this, Kirk! Call it off or I shoot.”

“He didn’t do it.” Chekov said and stepped in front of his Captain, shielding him from the weapon. “I did.”

“You?” The Ensign stayed silent as he stood his ground and refused to get out of the way of fire.

“Chekov,” Kirk said.

“After all I’ve done for you. How close you were to getting promoted...You could have made a great leader,” he said not breaking eye contact with the young man. “Too bad I’m a better one.” He pulled the trigger and Chekov fell in a heap onto his Captain, unconscious. Jim watched his eyes close. When he looked up, he was met with the phaser a few inches from his face. The turbolift doors opened, revealing Spock at his post.

“Sir -”

“Quiet, Eyebrows!” He turned back to the others and waved his weapon toward the Bridge. “Go on.” One by one they left the lift as Clark followed. McCoy carried Chekov out, placed him on the floor, and bent over him to try to shield him as the doors closed again. He hadn’t brought any of his equipment, this was the best the doctor could do. The Admiral pointed the phaser at all of them, including Spock. “I am an Admiral! I will not lose command! You will obey m-”

Suddenly, the ship was blown back, sending all personnel flying through the air and crashing into everything and each other. Cheering in the halls at the launch of Phase III, the crewmen started getting to their stations to make this as real as possible. On the Bridge, the blast threw the phaser from Clark’s hand, and Kirk quickly scooped it up and held it at him.

“Stay right where you are. That’s an order.” As the doors opened, Scotty ran from the lift and onto the Bridge.

“I couldn’t fix the wires in time before this baboon got to ‘em!” Everyone on the Bridge scrambled to their stations, except McCoy who held the Russian in place and used his hand to cradle the back of his head as he shielded him further. Kirk immediately got to his chair and pushed the button, still aiming the phaser at Clark who didn’t dare move.

“Red Alert. Condition Red Alert. Battle stations. This is not a drill. This is not a simulation. I repeat: this is not a simulation.” The fun in the halls stopped right then and there at that last part. The siren sounded as they all ran the rest of the way to their stations, preparing themselves for a real fight. Another blast sent them flying, but they kept going because now they had two things on the line: Kirk and their lives.

“Uhura, screen up.”

“Yes, Sir.” The Romulan Commander appeared on the screen. He stared at the Bridge crew and noticed Clark staring back as he was held in place by Kirk and his phaser.

“Have a hostage, Kirk?”

“What are you doing to my ship? We haven’t attacked.”

“You’re ship?!” Clark cried.

“But you have, Captain,” the alien started. “You interfered with Romulan intentions.”

“You were going to destroy those people.”

“Not people, Captain. Enemies. And now you fit that category.”

“You saw what our weapons are capable of. We don’t want to have to use them again. If you know what’s good for you, you will cease fire and leave this part of the galaxy. Now.”

“There will be a different outcome this time. You are Romulan enemies; you must die. Goodbye...Captain Kirk.” It was then that the Enterprise took another hit, sending the ship back as the lights flickered.

“Kirk!” Admiral Clark yelled.

“Scotty, damage report.”

“We’ve got some damage to the shields.”

“Bones, how’s Chekov?”

“Alright so far. As good as he can be for someone who just got stunned.” He said glaring at the older man.

“Anything on the scanner, Spock?”

“Nothing yet, Sir.” Another hit.

“What do you mean ‘nothing yet’?! Where are they?! I want them found now!”

“Admiral, if you would be so kind as to shut up.” Kirk said looking at him, phaser still pointed.

“More damage to the shields.”

“Re-calibrate the scanner, Mr. Spock,” Kirk said

“What?!” Kirk nodded at Spock who turned back to his scanner and readjusted its settings.

“Sir, I am picking up on Romulan lifeforms.”

“Mr. Sulu, aim and ready phasers.”

“Aye, Sir.”

“On my word,” Kirk said.

“Now! Fire now!”

“Hold your position, Sulu.”

“Kirk, if you want to stay in Starfleet-”

“Fire!” Their lasers jetted out into the stars and made contact. The Romulans held onto whatever they could grab for dear life as their vessel shook.

“Hit,” Sulu cheered.

“Lucky shot.”

“Scotty, warp eight.”

“Aye, Sir.”

“Sulu, port.”

“Helmsman! Go starboard!” The ship started moving left as the Romulans fired again, missing the beams.

“Fire!”

As the Romulans underwent another blow, pieces of their ship began to fall off the walls and ceiling. Engines and equipment damaged, their lights flashed on and off, and they endured injuries. A fatal hit broke their cloaking device, leaving them exposed, completely out in the open.

“Commander,” said a Romulan, “we can’t take much more.”

“Fire,” their Commander yelled. They blasted their rays at full power, completely taking out the Enterprise’s shields.

“Shields out,” Scotty yelled. “One engine out. Damage to the matter-antimatter unit. Lads in engineering are trying to fix it, but that unit’s sensitive -”

“The point, Mr. Scott!”

“One more hit from them and we’ll blow up.”

“Drop the phaser, Kirk! If I don’t take command now we’ll all die!” Kirk adjusted his aim, bringing the phaser even closer to Clark.

“Don’t you move. Mr. Sulu, on my count. Scotty, prepare warp twelve.”

“I don’t know if she can -”

“She has to!” Kirk said, watching the other ship as it approached. “Ready...now!” He shouted as Clark yelled “No!” At the exact same moment, both ships fired. The beams parallel to each other and so close that it almost seemed that their colors mixed into one. “Go, Sulu!” The helmsman pulled up, just barely out of the laser’s range. The other suffered a full blast.

The inside of the Romulan ship began to burn, the walls and ceiling continued to fall apart from irreversible damage, and the Romulans had no way of fighting back. One more attack from Kirk would surely destroy them..if their ship could hold out that long.

“Scotty. Go down to the Transporter Room with a full security team. I want the Romulans beamed aboard.”

“Yes, Sir,” he said getting up and into the turbolift. As soon as the doors closed, Kirk looked back at the screen and the collapsing ship. Clark took the opportunity and tackled Kirk. The others stood to attack the Admiral, but Kirk called them off, ordering that they stay at their posts. On the floor the two wrestled, rolling on top of each other, each one struggling to get the upper hand.

***

In the Transporter Room, Scotty beamed the Romulan crew aboard as fast as they could be. He had his censors locked on the ship, but they were all moving inside, trying to avoid the fires and falling metal. And boy it was hard to hit a moving target. A few at a time they were beamed up, until only the Commander was left.

“Sir,” a Red Shirt at the scanner said. “We have ten seconds before that ship falls apart completely.”

“Then we better get ‘im up in nine.”

“Eight.” Scotty tried to get his coordinates locked on their target, but he kept moving. “Seven.”

“Hold still!”

“Six.” He made a sharp turn. “Five.” He sped up. “Four.” He turned around. “Three.” He slowed down again. “Two.”

“C’mon!”

“One.” The ship broke down and was now just bits and pieces floating through space.

***

Kirk received a punch in the head, sending him down. Clark took his phaser back, once again, and aimed it at the young Cadet’s head.

“You’re a fool, Kirk,” he said. “A fool to bring Romulans aboard, and a fool to think that you could outdo me. That win was lucky, but...your luck has run out.”

“Sir, screen -”

“Bring it up,” Clark yelled. Uhura looked at Kirk who nodded. She smiled, for she knew something Clark didn’t.

“Yes, Admiral.”

“Clark!” A man with white hair in a red, shiny uniform, decorated with his insignia and six medals, yelled on the screen. Clark looked up and his jaw dropped. It was the highest man in the Federation, Fleet Admiral Jones.

“I think you’ll see, Admiral,” Kirk said with a smirk, “that my luck hasn’t run out.”

“Care to explain why when I send you to take command and retrain Kirk, I get over four hundred detailed complaints calling you a dictator and tyrant at three o’clock in the morning?! And how about why you have a phaser at Kirk’s head!” He retracted the weapon and continued to stare, speechless, at the screen.

“He also intentionally stunned one of my men when not under any direct threat or attack,” Kirk added and pointed to Chekov. That got Clark to speak up.

“That’s a lie!”

“Well,” said Jones. “Let’s ask the Vulcan. Vulcans can’t lie, is that correct?”

“That is correct,” said Spock. “As is Kirk’s claim.”

“Dr. McCoy, take Chekov down to Sickbay and let me know of any injuries sustained during the fight.” McCoy nodded and took Chekov, still unconscious, out.

“What fight?” Jones asked.

“Moments after Clark attacked Ensign Pavel Chekov, Fleet Admiral, we had a little issue with some Romulans. I took over Command and he tried to deflect the orders I gave to my crew.”

“That’s a lie too! I led us to victory!” The doors to the turbo lift opened to reveal Scotty, three Security Officers, and the Romulan Commander.

“He insisted that he see you, Sir,” said Scotty.

“You may have won today, Kirk. You may have destroyed my ship,” he began. “But this is not the end. We will be back to take our vengeance -”

“Gentleman, would you please escort our guest to the Brig along with the rest of the Romulans?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Sir?” Scotty asked.

“You can stay, Scotty.”

“Thank you. I don’t want to miss this.”

“Actually, Mr. Scott,” the man on the screen said. “I will have to ask you to bring Admiral Clark to the Transporter Room and beam him into my office.” He said eyeing the older man. Scotty wore the biggest grin he could muster.

“It would be my pleasure, Fleet Admiral.”

“And of course if he tries anything, you will be sure to notify me.”

“Aye, Sir.” He turned to Clark. “After you...Admiral.” They both disappeared behind the turbolift’s doors.

“I’m sorry you all had to put up with him; believe me, there will be punishment.” Kirk only just managed to not smile at the beautiful irony. “And Kirk, I believe you’ve earned the privilege of command again.”

“Thank you, Fleet Admiral.”

“Jones out.” The screen went black and there was a silence on the Bridge. Kirk pushed the button on his chair.

“Attention Enterprise, this is your Captain speaking...mission accomplished.” There was a collective cheering throughout the ship at the official return of their Captain. Many of them had never felt this kind of happiness before - the happiness of freedom after a long imprisonment. Scotty chuckled at the excited screaming.

“‘Tis a beautiful sound, is it not?” He asked and waved as he personally beamed Admiral Clark off his ship.

***

The Sickbay was quiet as Chekov woke, his friends waiting at his bed. Upon seeing them, he sat up.

“How’re you feeling?” Kirk asked.

“Fine, Captain.”

“You took quite a tumble there, Mr. Chekov,” said Bones.

“What happened?”

“When we all got in the turbolift, Clark starting attacking us,” started Uhura.

“We tried to fight back, but Clark took the phaser off me.”

“He held it at the Captain and said that he did it,” Bones said. “Threatened to shoot ‘im if the whole thing wasn’t called off.”

“Then you stepped between Clark and myself and confessed that it was you. After that, he stunned you.”

“That two-faced, egoistic, rat! When I see him I’ll -”

“Then it is most fortunate, Mr. Chekov, that none of us will be forced to endure his presence any longer.”

“Aye.” Chekov jerked his head toward Kirk.

“We won?” Kirk grinned.

“Freedom really was invented in Russia.” Chekov planted his fist in the air as he let out a breathy laugh and fell back onto the bed. “It didn’t go exactly as we planned, but we won. Thank you, Chekov...for everything.”

“Aye, lad. You were a real hero and if it wasn’t for you, he’d still be here!”

“Hear, hear.” Bones said as he poured seven glasses of brandy and started passing them out. “A toast.”

“To Chekov,” Kirk said.

“To Chekov, I’m sorry I doubted you ” Sulu agreed.

“And to having that Clark out of our hair,” Uhura said relieved.

“I’ll drink to that one too,” said Scotty.

“And to our Captain,” Chekov said.

“Vulcans do not partake in the consumption of alcohol. However, I will honor these accomplishments.“ They clinked their glasses and each took a drink as they sat there talking, laughing, and relishing their freedom.

After an hour of celebrating in Sickbay, Chekov, Uhura, Sulu, and Scotty decided to turn in for the night and walk back to their individual Quarters together. Chekov’s was last but as soon as the doors opened, he felt complete bliss. He sighed to himself and jumped into bed; he was more than ready to rest and get back to work tomorrow to make even more positive differences. And as Chekov heard laughter coming from the hall, he smiled to himself because he knew everything was good.

#http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/politics/difference-between-admiral-and-general/#https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/11404/how-do-starfleet-sensors-actually-work #https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Romulan_Commander_(Balance_of_Terror)#https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat_positions #some dialogue is directly from Star Trek TOS #I love making references like those #googled ranks #a little bit of ticklish!chekov #ticklish!jim #in The Enterprise Incident Chekov uses the scanner to find Spock aboard a Romulan ship #now in this story Spock uses the scanner to find Romulans aboard a Romulan ship #The Enterprise Incident #Star Trek: The Motion Picture #Balance of Terror #Balance of Terror references #Possible The Enterprise Incident references - I can't remember

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annoyedfanfiction · 5 years

Text

Spock x reader (5) --> italics are Vulcan

tw: injury, swearing, death mention

“I told you not to send a team!” Jim’s angry voice snapped through the medbay, though you noticed the tiredness lilting at its edges. “Lieutenant Y/L/N is not a team Captain.” Spock spoke calmly, but there was a deep fear echoing under it. “Nor did I send her.” “Well, you didn’t stop her either,” Jim snapped, and you squinted your eyes open, pain and memory coming flooding back to you. “Would you prefer you’d died over there, Jim?” Bones snarled, and you could hear his tricorder beeping as he ran it over a patient. “You’re both alive.” “Barely!” he answered. You could almost see the pout. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” you groaned, not even trying to move. “Both of us have been worse off than this in Iowa, Jim. And you and I both know that no one and nothing would or could ever stop me from coming after you.” “You’re awake!” You heard scrabbling to your left, then Spock and Bones both protesting.

“Don’t injure yourself in the medbay. I’m already in the bed beside you,” you scolded, as Jim’s face swam into your vision. He smiled, softly, at you, and you moved your uninjured arm up to grasp his hand, grinning back. “How many times do I have to save you for you to learn this self-sacrificing bullshit isn’t going to work, brother?” He rolled his eyes, laughing, before Bones ushered him away, instructing Spock to ‘take the idiot back to bed if you insist on hanging around my medbay’. “Welcome back to the world of the living,” he said, drily, reading through the stats on your biobed. “Gave the lot of us quite a scare there.” “Please, Dr McCoy,” you smirked, mischievously. “If you can defy death, you can manage a simple shot wound.” He glared down at you, but the fondness in his eyes melted the heat too much to drop your smile. Giving up, he sighed, tapped something on the monitor in front of him. “Let me know if the pain gets worse,” he said, as he began to move away, “I’m trying to keep the painkillers as low as possible, but if you’re in pain we’ll have to up the dose.” You reached for the little control panel on the side of the bed and propped yourself up, feeling the bandages around your chest tighten. Spock and Bones both stood beside Jim’s bed, interrupting their whispered conversation to glance over as your bed whirred into life, then looking back as Jim said something that caused Spock to fall entirely silent for several beats.

You narrowed your eyes at them as the conversation ceased, and Bones moved away to another patient. Jim looked over at you, grinned, nudged Spock and hissed something at him. “James,” you warned, raising an eyebrow at him. “What are you torturing the poor Commander with now?” “I don’t torture him!” Jim protested, as Spock turned to you, with a polite nod. Jim shoved him from behind and he began to move towards you. “I cannot promise I will be the best company,” you smiled, softly, to him. “However, I’d like to think I’m better than that.” You gestured to Jim. “Hey!” “Are your injuries bothering you too much, Lieutenant?” Spock asked. You tilted your head, watching him curiously. There was a nervousness behind his eyes that you hadn’t seen before. “They’re not so bad,” you smiled, gently, twisting your own fingers together, the memories of your actions on the bridge filtering through your mind. “I did not mean to offend you with my actions earlier. I apologise for putting you in such situation, especially in front of our colleagues.” He faltered, furrowing his brow. “You did not offend me, Lieutenant,” he stated, mildly confused. “I must admit, Commander, that I worked very closely with Ambassador Selek on New Vulcan,” you offered, wondering if he had only now noticed that you could read his expressions. “It has made it easy for me to interpret your thoughts and emotions based on minute changes in your expressions.” “I am aware,” Spock stated, calmly. “That was not the source of my confusion.” His comm beeped, loudly. “I must return to the bridge. I am glad to see you healing, Lieutenant.” He strode out of the hall, leaving you staring after him in utter confusion, as Jim yelled exasperatedly after his retreating form.

“So, kissing on the bridge, now?” Jim teased, as you and he rested in his quarters a week later. Bones had reluctantly discharged you both, provided you shared quarters for another week to keep one another under supervision. “Emotions were running high, okay?” You flushed, banging your head back against his headboard. “I didn’t mean for–” you waved erratically, “–whatever this is to happen.” Jim chuckled, softly, and leaned back beside you. “I thought after so long with Vulcans you’d realise they’re all a little constipated about showing their emotions,” he said, easily. “Oh he showed what he was feeling pretty clearly,” you sighed, closing your eyes. “I’m not sure if you could tell, but he was practically radiating discomfort.” “That’s because he was very much out of his comfort zone,” Jim responded, immediately. “He’s not exactly someone to immediately read signals that you like him. In all likelihood, the first time he thought you looked at him romantically was before you left the bridge.”

“You mean when I kissed him,” you deadpanned, closing your eyes. “On the bridge. In front of our colleagues. And then ran off with no further explanation.” “Ok, that may not have been your best idea,” he conceded. You opened one eye to glare at him. “But he knows how humans are. When tensions run high, poor decisions are made. He probably just thinks you were panicking and don’t like him that way, which is how he likes you, so he’s avoiding making it awkward.” “I think it’s pretty awkward when we’re literally not speaking,” you pointed out. A tugging that had lurked at the back of your head since you’d left to rescue Jim made itself known again as you said that. “Face the facts, Jim, he’s probably avoiding me because I made him uncomfortable but he doesn’t want to hurt my frail human feelings.” Jim growled, exasperatedly. “Why won’t either of you believe me when I say you’re both hopelessly in love with each other?” A knock at the door punctuated his sentence, and you clambered to your feet to answer it. “Ah, Lieutenant.” You almost wished the floor ate you alive. “I was just looking for the Captain. I can come back later.” He turned, but you grabbed his clothed wrist, making him look back at you, raising an eyebrow. “I was just leaving, Dr McCoy wants to see me in medbay,” you lied, stepping out the door to allow him to enter. “Jim’s inside.” You scurried away, as quickly as the aching in your chest allowed.

“What t’hell are you doing, wanderin’ ‘round on yer own?” Scotty scolded, as you rounded a corner and almost ran directly into him. “Spock needed to talk to Jim,” you mumbled, quietly. “I was going to wait in medbay until they’re done.” Scotty rolled his eyes and took your arm, leading you towards the medbay. “Ye cannae avoid him forever, lass,” he pointed out, shrugging. “Oh, not you too,” you groaned, as the medbay doors swished open in front of you. “Why am I the only one who’s accepted that Spock hates me because I put him in a very uncomfortable and inappropriate position in front of the crew?” “Before Jim dragged me onto the bridge to fight with Spock, I honestly didn’t think the man was capable of hatred,” Scotty responded, shrugging. “If he can still tolerate...if he can still see Jim as his best friend, even after all the shit that went between them, then I highly doubt there is any chance of him hating you.” “Hatred or not, I make him uncomfortable,” you responded, stubbornly, as Bones approached. A sudden jolt of surprise flew through you, and you frowned, wrinkling up your nose.

“What’s wrong? Where’s Jim?” Bones demanded, frowning. “Speaking to Spock,” you muttered, as Bones pointed Scotty and you towards a biobed. “Oh, so you ran away again.” There was almost a smile on Bones’ face. “I’ve never seen a man so in love and so utterly lost by your complete avoidance of him. It’s a dire situation when the Vulcan comes to the one man on board known for a less successful love life than his for advice.” The medbay doors swished open, but only Bones bothered to look up. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” you sighed, rolling your eyes. You pressed your fingers to your temples as the tugging grew adamantly more aggressive. “I’ve had this conversation three times, with three different people. Spock doesn’t like me, and he most certainly doesn’t love me. I just make him uncomfortable.” “It appears there has been a misunderstanding between us, Lieutenant.” You honestly could’ve dropped dead at that very moment, as you glowered up at a smirking Jim with such force that you would’ve taken him with you if you had. “Scotty, Bones, I hear we’re needed on the bridge.”

#spock x reader #commander spock #s'chn t'gai spock #jim kirk #aos #star trek

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per-ineptia-ad-astra · 5 years

Text

Star Trek Gold Key #30: Death Of A Star

Our story begins with an old woman doing something mysterious, which on its own wouldn’t be terribly foreboding, but of course, we can’t possibly start a Gold Key comic with anything less than imminent danger lest the readers feel they haven’t gotten their money’s worth, so she’s also about to explode. Or so Kirk tells us, anyway. How he came to this conclusion I’m not sure.

[ID: A comic splash page titled STAR TREK: DEATH OF A STAR PART 1. A narration box at the top reads, “Trapped on a veritable keg of cosmic dynamite, Captain Kirk and the Star Trek crew become an unwilling captive audience to the most shattering spectacle in all the galaxy: a star going nova! But the natural cataclysm takes on tragic overtones when a mysterious old woman’s life is mystically linked to...a strange cosmic force!” In the foreground Kirk and Chapel are holding their arms out, facing away from the camera and looking toward Spock and an old woman wearing orange and yellow robes, who is touching Spock’s forehead; swirls of red and yellow are spiraling away from the old woman. Chapel is saying, “Captain! What is happening to her?” Kirk is saying, “I’m not sure, Nurse, but I think she is going to explode!”]

Kudos to the narration box up there for its use of the excellent term “a veritable keg of cosmic dynamite” although “But the natural cataclysm takes on tragic overtones when a mysterious old woman’s life is mystically linked to a strange cosmic force!” sounds like a sentence that someone started out saying without knowing quite how it was going to end.

So, what’s the Enterprise crew done now that’s somehow resulted in an old woman spontaneously combusting? It begins, as usual, with a captain’s log. “Our mission,” Kirk tells us, “is to study and record, from a safe distance, the final death throe of the star Isis. According to our calculations, this gem of space has only 48 hours before it explodes, destroying everything for billions upon billions of cubic miles. Fortunately, its solar system is uninhabited!”

So a star is due to go supernova and they’re going to park somewhere at a safe distance and watch the fireworks. Cool. How close is a safe distance? At least billions upon billions of cubic miles away, apparently, since, sure, we definitely measure astronomical distances in cubic miles. I sure don’t know how far back you have to stand from a supernova to avoid getting turned into a cloud of nicely toasted atoms, but apparently the material being ejected from the star can travel at speeds up to 10% lightspeed, or about thirty thousand kilometers per second. Exactly how fast the various warp factors are is all over the place, but we know warp one is lightspeed. So the Enterprise can outrun a supernova, if it gets going in time. Let’s give a generous safety estimate and say it takes a minute to go to warp. At thirty thousand kilometers a second, in the space of that minute the ejecta, or in scientific terms, the Big Hot Cloud of Death, could travel about 1,800,000 kilometers, so theoretically they’ll be safe if they hang farther back than that. For comparison, one Astronomical Unit, defined as the average distance from the Earth to the Sun, is about 150 million kilometers. Astronomically speaking, they could get within spitting distance of this star and call it a safe point. I mean, they probably shouldn’t. But they could.

Anyway, while they’re hanging out waiting for the show to start, Sulu suddenly reports that he’s getting “readings of humanoid life-forms from Isis III!” Spock is dubious.

[ID: Two comic panels. In the first, Kirk is sitting in his captain’s chair saying, “What do you make of that, Mr. Spock?” Spock, standing next to him with his hands on his hips, is saying, “Highly unlikely, captain! Earlier, and much more thorough sensor scans suggest no such signs of life!” In the second panel Kirk is saying, “But you don’t deny that these readings are genuine?” and Spock replies, “Most likely a malfunction in the system, captain! The chances are 87.663125 to 1 in favor of it!”]

love Spock’s pose in the first panel there

Kirk isn’t having it. “When that ‘1’ may be a human life, I consider the odds even!” he declares, somehow jumping to the conclusion that because the life signs are humanoid they must be human, even though practically everybody in this galaxy is humanoid. Point is, he intends to check this out, so he tells Uhuru to get a fix on the sensor readings. Which is not her job, and also, not her name.

[ID: Kirk half-turning to Uhura, who is sitting at her station, and saying, “Lt. Uhuru, get me a fix on those readings!” Uhura says, “Roger!”]

THIS IS THE THIRD TIME, GUYS, COME ON IT’S JUST NOT THAT DIFFICULT

Kirk then orders Sulu to set a course for Isis III. Spock quite sensibly points out that even if the sensors are right and there are people down there, they can’t evacuate a whole planet in the forty-eight hours before the star blows. Kirk isn’t having that either.

[ID: Kirk pointing at Spock, whose ears are drawn abnormally large in profile, and saying, “We can try!” Someone off-panel is saying, “Captain?”]

“Captain, that statement is so ludicrous it made my ears stand up straight!”

So last issue, the scanners reported no life signs, so they sent a landing party down to check. This issue, the scanners are reporting life signs, which Spock says must be a malfunction, so they’re going to send a landing party down to check. I’m starting to wonder why they even bother scanning for life in the first place if they’re so determined to go down and check anyway.

Meanwhile, Uhura has a report on the upcoming planet. I’d question how she got sensor data at the communications station, but as this panel demonstrates, whoever drew this clearly never saw the actual bridge set, so perhaps it’s a bit much to expect whoever wrote it to remember what everyone’s jobs are. Or their ethnicites. Not only is Uhura white once again, they didn’t even color in her earring separately, which results in a somewhat disturbing image.

[ID: Uhura, colored with a pale Caucasian skin tone, looking out over the bridge, where Kirk is sitting in a bright pink chair, and in front of him two helm officers are sitting at a control panel. A viewscreen is visible at the end of the bridge, with several computer screens below it. Uhura is saying, “Class M planet, sir! Capable of supporting human life! Sensors indicate a massive life-force, suggesting a large population! I don’t understand how Federation probes could have missed them!” Her large hoop earring is colored the same as her skin, making it appear to be part of her ear.]

Man, gauges got kinda extreme by the twenty-third century.

Uhura goes on to report that she has a fix on the life signs, but it’s weird, because “All the life-force is emanating from one spot as if the entire population were on the head of a pin!” “Perhaps that’s why your earlier probes missed them, Spock!” Kirk comments. “They’re either midgets...or angels!” Spock then starts to give the odds against this before Kirk cuts him off. Yes. Hilarious.

Kirk tells Uhuru (sigh) to get ready to beam down with him and Spock, and to inform Chapel that she’s coming with too. “She has proven to be of invaluable assistance on past missions!” he explains, and I use the term ‘explains’ loosely.

The unorthodox landing party is soon ready to beam out, although that might prove to be difficult because apparently a terrible transporter accident has fused the bridge and the transporter room together.

[ID: Two panels. In the first, Kirk, Spock, Uhura and Chapel are standing on the transporter pad, with Sulu and Scotty looking at some screens in the foreground. Kirk is saying, “Sulu, how much of a safety factor do we have?” Sulu replies, “24 hours, sir!” In the second panel, Kirk is leaning in and saying, “Scotty, I want you to wait precisely 23 hours, 59 minutes for us and then warp out of her immediately!” Scotty, who is sitting at what looks like one of the bridge stations, says, “Aye, aye, captain!”]

WHERE ARE WE

So...unless it took them twenty-four hours to get that landing party ready, they still have forty-eight hours before the sun goes nova. I’m not sure exactly what Sulu’s ‘safety factor’ means, but I’m guessing he means the buffer of extra time they’ve allotted to make sure they can get out of there before things get really dangerous. Which means Kirk is telling Scotty to leave...one minute before they have twenty-four hours before the sun explodes?

Having left those baffling instructions in their wake, the landing party beams down, and has the perfunctory exchange of comments.

[ID: Chapel, Uhura, Spock and Kirk standing against a dull purplish-gray sky with some foliage creeping into the panel on the right. A narration box says, “Soon…” Chapel is saying, “Wow! I’ll never get used to that sensation!” Uhura says, “Nor to the sight of a new world! Amazing! That sky!” Spock says, “Atmospheric conditions are caused by pre-nova solar activity!” Kirk says, “We’re not here to sight-see!”]

Wow, that sky. Breathtaking. Incredible. I’m in awe.

After reminding everyone that they are not here to sight-see, they’re here to save a WORLD! Kirk asks Chapel where they should be going, since their landing site is mysteriously devoid of all the people they were expecting to find there. Chapel says she doesn’t know because the atmosphere is scrambling her equipment. Dang Federation technology gets scrambled the moment you take it out of the packaging.

Uhura and Spock then have a baffling exchange in which she comments that she “feel[s] like we’d been plopped down on a “Doomsday Earth” movie set!” and Spock replies “For all intents and purposes, we have, Lieutenant!” I’m not sure if Spock understands what a movie set is. Or possibly I don’t understand what a movie set is, or at least what a “Doomsday Earth” movie set is. Ultimately it’s irrelevant though, because the conversation is cut off by Spock getting attacked by a giant cloud of spray cheese.

[ID: A tall panel in which Uhura is yelling, “Look out!” and pushing Spock out of the way of a beam of yellow energy strikes down from the sky in front of him with a “PHFFAZZZ!”]

Kirk declares that “Whatever we do, we better get out of HERE, fast!” and takes off running, but Spock grabs him and pulls him in the other direction; turns out that somehow in the past five seconds or so that Kirk was occupied, the rest of the landing party found a path. Which Kirk is pretty sure wasn’t there before, but there’s no time to deliberate on that, with more spray cheese energy bolts on their tail.

[ID: Kirk, Chapel, Uhura and Spock running through some woods with bolts of energy striking all around them, making “PAHZAZ!” “PHFFFZING!” and “PAHZOWIE!” noises.]

“Don’t ask, captain! Just keep moving!” Spock says. But Kirk, of course, isn’t going to let a little thing like running for his life distract him from asking questions. “I don’t like it, Mr. Spock!” he declares as they charge through the bolts. “This path from nowhere! These bolts just missing! It’s as if someone were herding us somewhere! But where?”

Fortunately we don’t have long to wait for the answer to that question, because in the very next panel Chapel points out a rather attention-grabbing landmark up ahead.

[ID: A full page containing mostly one large panel with two smaller ones, inset at the top and bottom. In the top panel, Chapel is pointing into the distance and saying, “Perhaps there, captain!” while Uhura, behind her, says, “Goodness!” In the main panel, the landing party is looking through a tangle of trees towards a large angular pyramid-like building with two flights of steps leading up to the top and a door inset under an archway in front. A yellow triangle with an eye symbol in the middle is hovering above it. Uhura is saying, “What is it, captain?” Kirk says, “I was just going to ask Spock that!” Spock says, “It appears to be a religious temple!” In the bottom right panel, the group has gathered around the door of the building. Uhura is saying, “It reminds me of ancient temples to the sun!” Chapel is saying, “Captain! My sensor’s going crazy! There must be an army inside there!”]

alright, who summoned Bill Cipher

I appreciate that Kirk’s first reaction to seeing this thing was going to be asking Spock, who has exactly the same amount of information about it as Kirk does, what it is. Which I’m not sure is a great idea in this case, because Spock’s over there leaping to some big ol conclusions. Sure, that could be a religious temple, but it could just as easily be a tomb, a dwelling, a government building, hell it could be an artfully decorated grain silo. There’s no way to know just by looking at the outside of it! Geez, keep this guy away from archaeological sites.

Kirk declares that they’re going inside the temple, since that’s quite obviously the intended way to advance the adventure. Chapel protests that they might be walking into a trap, but Kirk says they don’t have much choice—the path they came by has disappeared again. Oh, so this is definitely a trap, then. Kirk orders them all to put their phasers on stun and aim them at the door, presumably intending to stun the door into submission. But before anyone can fire, the door opens on its own.

[ID: Two panels. In the first, the landing party is gathered around the doors, which appear to be opening on their own, while a voice from within calls, “WELCOME! BEINGS OF EARTH...AND WATER!” Chapel says, “That voice! Like a light in my head!” In the second panel, we see through the doors to where an indistinct robed figure is sitting in a tall chair surrounded by curtains, saying, “Enter the temple of the sun! Home of the sun-god incarnate! Enter crew of the Enterprise!” Someone offscreen says, “Incredible!”]

Huh.

Foregoing all thought of this being a trap, Kirk strolls on in through the door, the better to put his hand to his chest dramatically and say, “You—you know us???”

“You are not the only ones with “eyes,” captain!” the robed woman replies, in a rather disconcerting use of quotation marks. “I saw you out there...watching! You were curious about me, so I, in turn, am curious about you!”

Kirk asks if she’s aware that she and the rest of her people are in some serious danger, but she’s not fazed in the least: “I know that my time grows short! As does everyone’s and every thing’s!” “But you don’t have to die!” Kirk says. “We can save you! We can take you aboard our...boat in the sky! And take you to a safe place!” Smooth, Kirk.

The woman only says that she did not summon them there to save her. “You wished to see me die,” she says, “I give you your chance!” This thoroughly baffles everyone in the landing party, since last time they checked no one summoned them here at all. Evidently they’ve missed something.

[ID: Kirk approaches up the steps towards the woman sitting on the throne, who is draped in a yellow cloak with a red head covering. Kirk is saying, “Look, I don’t know where you got the idea we came to watch you die, but maybe the rest of your people aren’t so eager! Where are they?” The woman says, “Alas, they left but moments before you arrived!”]

Or we could just decide the old woman is the one who’s wrong, that works too.

Kirk asks where all these people left to, and the woman points off somewhere and says, “There! From whence they came!” Helpful. Kirk wonders if this means they’re all dead and buried and the woman is the last of her race, but Chapel says she’s still picking up a huge amount of life-force from around the temple, more than one person could account for. I’m still trying to figure out how the heck their sensors are quantifying ‘life-force.’ I mean life signs, I could understand life signs, I could understand detecting, say, heartbeats or respiration or a thermal signature, but apparently Chapel’s just straight up got some kind of aura reader over there.

Kirk—very dramatically—asks the woman just who she is. She tells him.

[ID: The landing party stand in a line looking at the woman, who is extending her hands upward and saying, “I am the warmth! I am the light! I am the giver! I am the protector! I am Isis, the god of the sun!” Kirk is thinking, “You’re also a warp four loony!”]

Nice, Kirk, very diplomatic thought bubble there. The use of ‘warp four’ there also implies a scale of looniness that goes up to at least seven.

Kirk asks Spock what he thinks of Isis. Spock refrains from giving any rankings of looniness, only speculating that perhaps she was left here as a sacrifice. So we’re just dismissing the god theory out of hand, huh? Ordinarily that would be considered a reasonable enough decision, but you guys have already met several beings who may not necessarily have been divine from a theological standpoint but sure had enough power to make that pretty much a moot point. I’m just saying, if I’d personally encountered folks like the Metrons, the Thasians, Trelane and his parents, etc, I’d at least take a minute to hear out anyone else who told me they were a god, just to save any nasty surprises down the line.

But instead, Kirk tells Chapel to stay with Isis—not for any particular reason that he feels like explaining—while the rest of the party goes out to look around some more. “The other inhabitants must be around here someplace,” he says as they walk outside, “and we are going to find them!”

Uhura points out that the path is still gone, but this doesn’t bother Kirk. Not because it is usually actually possible to walk through woodland without a path (sometimes unpleasant, but usually possible) but because hey, they’ve got phasers, so they can make a path. He tells the other two to set theirs to ‘heat blasts. I didn’t realize that was an option for phasers.

[ID: Spock, Kirk and Uhura firing their phasers into a copse of trees with a ‘PHFFFIZZZZZLE!’ Kirk is saying, “Fire!” Spock says, “Captain! Nothing! Our phasers don’t fire!” Uhura says, “I think….we’re being….surrounded.”]

And evidently, I was right about that.

I don’t know what Uhura thinks is surrounding them that requires such heavy use of ellipses, but Kirk yells for everyone to get back inside, then throws his phaser at a tree for good measure. But once back inside, they find Chapel passed out on the floor. Uhura, who is not a nurse or doctor, and is using no tricorder or other medical equipment, nevertheless manages to instantly identify the problem as sunstroke. Kirk is so distraught by this that his hand starts mutating.

[ID: Kirk gesturing towards Spock with one arm bent in an unnatural position to put his hand on his head, his thumb inexplicably large and also at a wrong angle. Kirk says, “What’s going on around here??? Has this world gone crazy! Beam us out of here, Spock! Now!” Spock says, “I can’t captain! Solar flares are interfering with communications to our ship!”]

you okay there buddy

“I fear we are trapped here, Captain!” Spock declares. Oh, what a surprise.

[ID: A splash page titled STAR TREK: DEATH OF A STAR: PART 2. It shows the Enterprise orbiting a planet with a bright sun in the distance. A narration box at the top reads, “Captain’s Log, supplemental: While the Enterprise orbits helplessly overhead, due to interference from the near-nova sun, we are trapped on a planet marked for doom! Our desperate search for Isis III’s mysterious inhabitants has only led us to a strange old woman! But now I have a more immediate concern than saving the lives of the inhabitants—namely, saving the lives of the crew and myself!” Below that a smaller narration box reads, “On the Enterprise...” Two speech bubbles are coming from the Enterprise, one reading, “Are you sure about these figures this time, laddie?” and the other one, “I’ve checked and double checked everything, Scotty!”]

Part two begins with Scotty harassing Sulu in an exchange so generic you could probably stick the dialogue into a good half of all TOS episodes with barely any variation. “I hope you reach the captain before it’s too late for all of us!” Scotty says, to which Sulu replies, “I’m trying but something down there is interfering!” Having established this very important bit of information about what the people back on the ship are getting up to, we immediately leave them behind again and get back to the planet.

Kirk helps Chapel up, or at least, he kneels beside her and says, “Are you feeling better, nurse?” Yes, Chapel says, she’s fine now, but she doesn’t know what happened—she just fainted. No worries, low blood sugar happens to the best of us.

But Kirk isn’t satisfied with that. “You!” he shouts at Isis. “You’re behind all this, somehow, aren’t you?!” Unconcerned as ever, Isis replies, “You have come to record my death! So be it! But on my terms!”

Rather than make any effort to engage with her to figure out what she means, Kirk declares that this whole thing is hopeless-- “trapped on a sinking ship with a lunatic!” That’s what I love about Kirk, he’s so sensitive and respectful. But Spock has had an idea. Maybe, he says, when Isis said her people were “down there” she meant it literally. Perhaps they’re underground, in some sort of shelter. Wait...you mean, it’s possible that Isis could actually have meant what she said? I dunno about that, man. I mean, what she said didn’t immediately make sense to us, so I’m pretty sure it must be total nonsense.

But there’s not much else for them to do, so Kirk has Uhuru (sigh) and Chapel stay behind to try and get “some sense out of Isis” while he and Spock go looking for some kind of passage or tunnel around this joint. It takes all of one panel before Spock locates the incredibly obvious switch on the wall that opens a secret door.

[ID: Kirk and Spock standing in a long stone corridor, facing the wall. Spock is pressing on a large panel engraved with a triangle-eye symbol, which makes a CLICK! He says, “Captain! Come quick! I believe I have found a way to our “Lost Isisians!” Between him and Kirk a door is opening in the wall with a ‘HYMMMMMMMM MMMMMM’.]

For an extremely loose definition of ‘secret’, anyway.

While Spock and Kirk are off making their Perception checks, Isis, having finally gotten rid of that annoying guy who keeps shouting at her whenever she tries to say anything, leads Uhura and Chapel out on a walk in the garden, because “There is much yet to say and little time to say it!” As they head outside, some mysterious lights appear.

[ID: Chapel and Uhura flanking Isis, each with a hand on her back, leading her down a path through some greenery. A line of sparkling orbs is snaking around the three women.]

That’s probably fine.

Meanwhile, Spock is showing off his discovery to Kirk, when suddenly...uh, actually, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here. I guess either the switch opened up the door in the wall and then a second door in the floor underneath them, or else they both just tripped and fell through the first door.

[ID: Three panels. On the top left, Kirk and Spock are looking at the door opening into the wall. A narration box leads, “Suddenly, while Mr. Spock investigates...” Kirk says, “What is it, Mr. Spock? What have you found!” Spock says, “Very simple, Captain. This “eye” seems to operate some kind of…..” On the right, a long panel shows Kirk and Spock falling into an abyss, Spock yelling, “...TRAP DOOOOR!” while Kirk yells, “WE’RE FLOATING! SPOCK!” On the bottom left, Kirk and Spock have landed in a cave. Spock says, “Though the odds were against it, there must have been a second passageway below our feet!” Kirk says, “Odds or no odds…..”]

What do you mean, the odds were against it? Spock, I don’t know if you’ve been playing too much Oblivion lately or what, but the architectural features of most buildings are not randomly generated. People either put doors in places or they don’t, there’s not just like a 30% chance of a trapdoor spawning in any given location.

But regardless of how the passage got there, they’ve clearly happened upon something significant. Or, as Kirk puts it:

[ID: Kirk and Spock look out through the cavern at a large underground city in the distance. Kirk puts his hand on Spock’s shoulder and says, “You’ve hit the jackpot, Mr. Spock!”]

Any hopes of locating a friendly NPC and getting some exposition about this weird place are quickly dashed, though, because closer examination reveals the city to be a thoroughly abandoned ruin. As they explore, Kirk wonders once again where everyone went, and why they left Isis behind. Luckily, Spock happens to stumble upon a room that has exactly what they need.

[ID: Three panels. On the top left, Spock is beckoning Kirk into a room that contains a pile of tapes and other junk in the corner. Spock says, “Perhaps these will tell us, captain!” Kirk says, “What have you got there, Mr. Spock?” In the right panel, Spock and Kirk look towards the tapes, each with a glowing spot on their forehead. Spock says, “They appear to be history tapes, captain!” Kirk says, “I can hear them, see them inside my head!” In the bottom panel, the light on Kirk’s head projects an image of a planet in space with a sun shining in the distance and a triangle with an eye hanging above the planet. A disembodied narrator says, “At first there was only “the eye”, Isis!”]

Well that’s an unorthodox method of data storage.

The tapes go on to explain how Isis—represented here by an Eye of Providence for some reason-- created life on the planet, inasmuch as the word ‘explain’ can be used to mean ‘somehow made things even more confusing than they were to begin with.’

[ID: Four panels. On the top left, a red sun is shining above a jungle, with the pyramid floating above it all. The narrator says, “And ISIS looked down on our world and saw that there was no light!” On the top right, the pyramid floats above the planet with a stream of tiny yellow eyes falling from it onto the planet, while the narrator says, “So Isis seeded the earth with her eyes!” On the bottom left, the eyes fall onto the ground, and a fuzzy red humanoid figure emerges from the earth. “And there-in rose up a people called Isisians!” On the bottom right, the figure looks up at the sun, which now has the pyramid in it. “And when they looked up there was light! For Isis now lived among them!”]

I’m...assuming this is some kind of metaphor, but it might make just as much sense either way.

Anyway, the Isisians (try saying that one three times fast) built the temple to house Isis, who proceeded to stay there to be with her children on the planet. Everything was great for a while, but “all things must pass! Even peoples! Even suns!”

[ID: A panel showing several figures gathered around the temple as the pyramid jumps up into the sky while the narrator says “And thus it came time for Isis to return to the sky, taking with her the gifts of life and light!”]

“alright my children it’s been fun but I gotta bounce byyyeeeeee”

The narrator (do you think they got some famous Isisian VA to do this?) concludes by relating that “in the twilight of our race, we have groped blindly underground to make this our final resting place! Yet we are not bitter! We are sad! For one day Isis too must give up the eye and pass! Thus ends our story! Thus ends our race!” So, what, they recorded their entire history and just left it laying around on a tape in some random room before they all went extinct? Were they intending for someone to come find this someday as a last record of them or did they just do it for kicks?

Well, anyway, Kirk is impressed. “Am I correct in assuming, Spock, that we have heard the legend of a people long since extinct?” he asks. “25 million years extinct, Captain, if my estimate is accurate!” Spock replies. Your...your estimate? Your estimate based on what, exactly? Did you just look around the city and go “hmmm yeah this looks about 25 million years old” or what? Also, that is one hell of a sturdy record tape that’s still fully functional 25 million years later. Can I get one of those anywhere? Cause I’ve had this harddrive for like five years and it’s starting to go on me.

Back up on the ship, Sulu is being pointed at so dramatically he’s having to lean back to get out of the way.

[ID: A panel showing the Enterprise bridge, with a narration box reading “Meanwhile, on board the Enterprise...” Scotty is pointing dramatically at Sulu, saying, “Still no luck, Sulu?” Sulu, only his head visible at an awkward angle in the corner of the panel, is saying, “No sir!”]

Scotty proceeds to explain to Sulu, who presumably already knows all this, that “Ya got tah raise ‘em, laddie! When the captain beamed down we told him he had twenty-four hours! But that was a mistake! That blasted star could go at any minute according to our new figures! If we stay, the whole ship’s in danger! If we go….” That’s all in one panel, by the way—there’s barely room for his head left under the speech bubble.

Having delivered his exposition, there’s not much left for Scotty to do but tell Sulu to keep doing what he’s been doing. Meanwhile, we’re told that Spock and Kirk “returned to the surface via the transport tube.” Ah yes, the transport tube. The transport tube that was definitely clearly established before that panel. That transport tube. Oh, and Uhura tells them she no longer wishes to change Isis’s mind.

[ID: Spock, Kirk, Uhura and Chapel standing in front of some trees and bushes, while Isis stands in the right corner. Kirk is saying, “You what??” Chapel says, “We no longer wish to change her mind, captain! We respect her right to die!” Uhura says, “She has a kind of nobility, sir! A soul! I have a tremendous empathy for her!”]

What, did you not think she had a soul before?

Kirk, apparently, takes quite a hard line on the whole right to die debate, because he immediately accuses Isis of bewitching his crewmembers. “See if you can reason with Isis!” he tells Spock, having made absolutely no attempt to reason with Isis. “I give up!”

Spock says he’ll try, but “logic rarely works on humans!” He then confronts Isis on how she earlier claimed that her people left just moments ago, “Yet there have been no humans on this world for millions of years! How do you explain that?” Which is an odd thing to say, considering that the images of the Isisians we saw were quite clearly not humans, yet Spock’s first statement rules out the idea of him using ‘human’ as a catchall term for sapient lifeforms. Evidently Spock’s definition of ‘human’ is ‘everybody in the galaxy that’s not a Vulcan.’

“So you have heard the legend of Isis?” Isis says, still as unperturbed as ever. “What do you think of it?” “An interesting folk tale!” Spock replies. Evidently this was not the right answer.

[ID: Spock and Isis stand in the background, Isis with one hand on Spock’s forehead, as she says, “Your logic is a cage, Mr. Spock! Come closer and let me set you free!” Red and yellow swirls are extending out from her in all directions. In the foreground, Chapel, Uhura and Kirk are watching. Uhura says, “Captain? What’s happening to her?” Kirk, leaning away in alarm, says, “I don’t know! It looks like...yes! That’s it!”]

What? What is it? What’s happening? Is she...no, she couldn’t be...

[ID: A tall panel showing the pyramid of Isis at the top with red and yellow light/flames emanating from it as the four landing party members float in the air. Isis says, “Farewell! Kirk says, “ISIS IS EXPLO...”]

Hmm, still not sure what’s going on. Could we get that confirmed one more time, please?

[ID: A panel on the Enterprise bridge, with a narration box reading, “On the Enterprise...” Sulu is standing up from his helm panel, saying, “The planet is exploding right now, sir!” Scotty rises from his own chair and says, “Then it’s...”]

cool thanks

Before Scotty can get the bagpipes out for a funeral dirge, our brave heroes are whisked onto the bridge, remarkably unexploded. For another few seconds, at least.

[ID: Three panels. On the top right, a narration box reads “At that exact instant...” above Chapel, Uhura, Kirk and Spock appearing on the bridge in a flash of light. Scotty, in the foreground, exclaims, “Captain Kirk! Spock!! Uhura! Chapel! How??” Someone in the landing party says, “Oooo! What’s happening? Am I dreaming?” On the bottom left, Scotty throws out his hands towards Sulu, saying, “Sulu! Warp eight! Immediately!” while Sulu says, “It’s...too...” On the bottom right, Sulu yells, “...Late! Ugh!” as explosions rock the bridge with ‘OOF!’ and ‘EEEEEEEEE!’ sounds and the helm shorts out with a ‘BZZZZT!’]

well maybe we would’ve had time if Scotty hadn’t stood around shouting the names of every single person in the landing party

And then the planet explodes. Hang on, I thought it was the sun that was exploding? Man, supernovas are confusing.

Luckily for the Enterprise, it turns out supernovas are also remarkably like hurricanes.

[ID: A large panel showing the Enterprise caught in a stream of energy from the pyramid of Isis as rocks and flame explode out from it. A narration box at the top reads, “The Enterprise is buffeted like a paper airplane in a hurricane as the force of a billion atomic bombs washes over it! Yet, like a hurricane, there is a place of calm in the center of the violence and the Enterprise, as though guided by some unseen protector, rides out the storm...in “the eye” of the hurricane!”]

Or, to put things less poetically:

[ID: The Enterprise bridge filled with smoke, a narration box reading “Suddenly...” Scotty, looking up with a stunned expression, says, “It’s a miracle! We’re saved! We’re in some sort of space pocket!”]

is that like a hot pocket

Unconcerned by the smoke now filling the bridge, Scotty asks Kirk what happened down on the planet. “I’m not sure, Scotty!” Kirk says, speaking for the audience. He asks Spock what he saw when Isis touched his forehead. Spock replies that he “felt...er...admiration, captain! And I saw things...inconceivable things! And I saw that a star had taken on human form in its final hours, so that it could talk to us!”

“You mean that Isis really was Isis?” Uhura exclaims. “It does explain a lot of things, lieutenant!” Kirk says. “Like how she could use the planet’s resources against us! And how she was able to block communications!” ...does it explain those things? Can stars usually control planets? Did I miss that episode of Cosmos?

As the Enterprise flies off, Kirk wonders if this means that stars really are living beings. “From what I glimpsed, captain, they may be more “alive” than we are!” Spock replies.

[ID: The Enterprise flies away with star-filled space on its right and a blue sky with a large sun on its left. A speech bubble from the ship reads, “Mr. Spock, next time we’re in the vicinity, remind me to have a long chat with our “lucky ole sun”, will you?”]

I dunno man, it didn’t go super well when they tried it in that Doctor Who episode.

And so ends another issue, with yet another planet destroyed. There’s not gonna be many planets left by the time this series ends. At least they didn’t start any wars on this one first, although I’m sure if there had been more than one person down there they would have found a way.

#star trek #star trek gold key #recap tag #star trek gold key recaps #GK 30 Death of a Star

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startrek-writings-for-the-soul · 5 years

Text

Intuition | Reader insert

Part 1/?

Words: 1684

You woke up with a terrible sense of guilt but you couldn't possibly have messed up after only a minute into being awake. It wasn't a vision, no voice, no pictures, nothing exact. And now you were scared for the future. After sitting up and turning the lights on, you looked around for a fire. Okay good, no fire. You thought to yourself. Everything seemed fine but you couldn't go back to sleep, and so you got dressed for work and made your way down to Engineering.

"Scotty please, I just want to make sure I didn't screw anything up." You pleaded.

He gave you a look and turned back to his work, mumbling something about how you would've known if something had gone wrong.

"Your shift doesn't start for another three hours! Get some sleep." Scotty said from his desk.

"You don't understand, I had a feeling." You retorted, continuing your search.

"One of your predictions again?" Interest peeked, he got up and walked over to you.

"Well, yes, but no. It was just a feeling. But, it was insanely real." You said looking up at him from where you crouched to inspect the work you did on a console the night prior.

"A feeling of...?" He inquired.

"Guilt."

"Guilt?"

"Just... Either I've done something terrible or I'm about to." You replied with a sigh. It was clear that this was stressing you out.

"Alright lass, but you better not give yourself a hard time or anything." He warned before heading back to work.

You nodded to yourself and went about your little inspection, but everything seemed in order. So it wasn't a fatal mistake at work...

"Kirk to (Y/L/N)" The sound of Jim on the comm startled you.

"(Y/L/N) here."

"Report to the bridge for a briefing."

You hesitated for a moment before remembering your away mission today. "Yes sir."

The landing party was to consist of yourself, Bones, two scientists and two security officers. As was typical, you were only there for emergency purposes. It made your job less exciting but you were happy to switch things up every now and then.

You made your way to the bridge and saw none of the other members of the landing party were there yet.

"Permission to enter the bridge?" You asked upon arrival.

Jim nodded and waved you over, "Check this out." He stood up and revealed a small metallic device.

"Is that... A camera?" You asked tentatively.

Spock replied for him. "Indeed, to be more specific, it's a monitoring device. We would like you to wear it during the away mission. It's only to test them out."

"Makes things easier to document and stuff." Was Jim's explanation.

"Alright, how does one wear it?"

"Like so." Spock took the small device from Jim and grabbed a cup of water that was waiting next to the Captain's chair.

"Wait, it's a pill?" Suddenly you weren't so sure you wanted to 'wear' it.

"Yes, but it's not permanent. It was eventually transmit all data to our systems and... exit." Spock explained.

You shrugged and decided that was fine. You quickly swallowed the device, cringing at the taste. "Nasty... is that all sir?"

"Yes," Jim nodded and you started to turn away before Spock cleared his throat and Jim piped up.

"Oh right, uh, don't tell anyone. This is a confidential experiment for now. Bones knows about it just in case, but, no one else. Okay?" He said, looking a little nervous.

He must have sensed your suspicion because he put a hand on your shoulder and began walking you to the turbolift. "Don't worry about it."

After your shift you reported to the transporter room for the away mission. There was a final briefing and all six of you were beamed down to the planet. After some wandering around the scientists decided where they wanted to collect samples and you had a seat to wait out the long and uneventful mission.

"Hey darling, you look glum." Bones observed, coming over to sit next to you.

"Just waiting for something to break or an attack or something fun to happen." You said with a tired smile which made him laugh.

"You look too sleepy to handle an attack." He scoffed.

"I'll have you know that I'm very much alert right now." You clarified.

"Yeah, right."

You were about to say an epic comeback when one of the scientists asked for you to come look at his little sciencey-machine thing.

"It's readings are off the chart, it says we're standing right in the middle of a level 8 radioactive zone!"

"Mine says we're in a cave?"

The complaints started piling up about strange readings and you figured faulty wiring and good ol' age had to do with it. After having a look however, you realized there was nothing wrong with them. Panic set in. And then...

"Fuck." You whispered, turning on your heel with their machines in hand and shouting to them to, "Stay right where you are!"

"(Y/N), what the hell are you doing?!" You heard Leonard's voice shout from a distance as you sprinted through the dense entanglement of bush and trees.

"Just, stay there!" You shouted back, hoping he heard and hadn't decided to come after you. This was your big mistake, it had to be. Or, it would have been, but you smiled to yourself, knowing you just avoided something catastrophic.

You came to a clearing of rock and tossed the devices into it before jogging back to watch the explosion. Ten seconds went by and nothing happened.

20...

30...

You scowled at yourself for being so paranoid, the devices weren't going to just, explode like you had thought originally. Feeling silly and somewhat embarrassed, you grabbed their dumb computers and started to walk back to the team. Along the way you were coming up with excuses as to why you left, tell the truth and make a fool of yourself? Never.

A feeling again. Red hot, burning, searing guilt. A sensation like no other, so overwhelming you collapsed to the ground and held back the tears. "Help...!" You tried to say into your comm, hoping anyone would hear you. Instead, it seemed to echo you.

"Help! Help! Oh my god, what the- (Y/N), are you there?!" It was Bones. And something was wrong.

"B-Bones..?" You managed to get out.

"My god, you need to get back over here. We need an engineer for God's sake!" He basically yelled.

"Just- tell me what's happened?" You tried saying without strain. The pain just kept coming in like waves, crashing into you and leaving you near tears. And then you realized, this guilt, it's happening. Right now, and you couldn't do a thing but warn him.

"....(Y/N)!.....hear..me?.....there!?..." You could barely hear his voice anymore.

"Leonard, please... You need...to....leave!"

Everything went blank.

The next time you awoke was on the bridge, and something cold was pressed against your right temple. You looked up at Scotty, and saw his lips moving. He was talking to you, but you couldn't hear anything. The object he had placed against your head was making a droning like noise, you assumed it was a tricorder. Why would he have a tricorder pressed to your head?

A headache brought itself to life in your head and you groaned, looking up to be calmed by the stars. Except, there were no stars, instead the screen was showing... Itself? And as you moved your head, the picture changed as well.

"Oh my god." You whispered and tried standing up. A sharp ringing attacked your ears and you felt Scotty force you back into your seat.

"(Y/N), you need to stay seated. This'll be over with in no time and then we'll get ya sent down to medbay." He explained quickly.

"What- what's going on? Where's the crew!" You demanded, your hearing coming back.

"(Y/N), please stay calm." Your Captain said, crouching down in front of you. "We saw everything and already have a rescue team going to help. I knew these cameras would cone in handy! Good call, wouldn't you say? Scotty's just making sure that the camera didn't short out or something and cause, well whatever it is happened to you down there."

"Oh." Was your only reply, realizing that the screen was showing what you saw. You felt weird about it.

"Any ideas as to want that was?" Spock chimed in, his face showing genuine interest.

"Yeah, it was guilt." You mumbled, hoping that made sense.

"Guilt?" Scotty asked. "Like what you felt this morning?"

"Yes, but, this wasn't just a mental feeling. It was physical too. Something amplified the feeling. Turned it into pain." You tried to describe. All three men looked confused and unsure what this meant.

"Just to make things clear," you added. "It's not unusual for me to get something like this. Normally it's followed by a picture or something to explain itself, but this time was different."

"Like, predictions." Scotty explained. "And I'll tell ya right now, they are never wrong."

A pain in the back of your neck caught Jim's attention as he reached behind your neck not to check or comfort you but to allow a small device with gangly tendrils to climb out and onto his hand. It seemed to fall asleep, the small box's little red light going dark and it's wiry tendrils going limp. Jim handed it oh so delicately to Spock. Both were wide eyes and attentive. They really cared about the stupid camera. Scotty was kind enough to hell you up and press a damp cloth to the back of your neck.

"Slap on a bandage and you'll be just fine." He said, giving you a small smile. Together you walked to the lift, ready to go back to your quarters and rest. Before the door closed you glanced at the screen. It was replaying the moment you went unconscious Jim stepped into your view, a scowl on his face as he stared you down, the door closing off the interaction.

"Scotty, where is the crew now?"

"Med bay?"

End of part 1

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

Text

February 13: Star Trek Beyond

Some attempted thoughts on Star Trek Beyond.

So first it was bad lol. It is the worst. I thought maybe it would be less the worst than I had previously thought but it really, really is just irredeemably bad.

Trying to keep up with what was actually happening and talk in the group chat was too difficult and I now feel very exhausted lol. And I’m not even sure what I watched.

I liked Jaylah a lot, including her back story, characterization, “house,” traps, and cool mirror tricks.

I also like Kirk in that emergency uniform with the jacket unzipped.

That’s it! That’s all I liked.

In the past I’ve also said I liked the Spock and Bones parts but I honestly wasn’t a fan of them either this time around!

None of the characters felt IC and none of the relationships felt true or were compelling. Which is particularly egregious given that the alleged theme was strength in unity.

The movie was especially lacking in K/S content or even K & S interaction, which obviously didn’t please me. And it’s definitely the worst Kirk characterization I’ve ever seen. There’s no excuse for that either because it’s halfway through the 5YM, which means he should be pretty close to TOS Kirk--yes, he has a different set of experiences, so there’s going to be some variation, but there’s comparatively less excuse for a radically different characterization than in STXI and STID. They should have had Shatner read the script and make notes lol because whatever else you might say about him he KNOWS Captain Kirk.

Like, he (Kirk) lacked humor and charm and, often, confidence. He had moments when he was very smart and moments when he had a commanding presence. But he had just as many moments when he was whiny or bored and his Captain’s log??? I deserve financial compensation for every time I’ve listened to that. Bored of space?? No, this man is bored when he’s stuck on Earth. He stagnates in desk jobs. He is an adventurer and explorer before he’s ANYTHING else; if you don’t get that, you don’t need to be writing Star Trek.

Also, as I have frequently complained, I’m tired of him having no internal conflict or emotional complexity past his father issues. First reboot movie: dealing with his dead father’s memory and his step-father’s abuse. Fine, that makes sense for how they set up the AU. Second reboot movie: entirely motivated by the need for Manly Vengeance upon the person who killed his father figure. And for this redundant story line (in many sense) we had to lose Pike? Third reboot movie: you’d think he’d finally be ready to move on to other conflicts but actually no this time he’s sad about his birthday and having a longer life span than his...you guessed it!! father!! Yet again.

What else has ever motivated him? Legitimate question.

The destruction of the Enterprise was truly horrific. Long, boring, unwarranted, and without any emotional punch. As if it were just any ship! No, she’s a character in her own right and she’s not to be sacrificed like that but please tell me again how Simon Pegg is a true fan who brought the franchise back to its roots?

B said he did like that they split up the crew into unusual units but I have mixed feelings about it. I don’t entirely disagree, but I don’t think they did a lot that was interesting with any of those separated units. Uhura and Sulu are a cool pair (but this would have been a good opportunity to include Sulu’s semi-canonical crush on Uhura but whatever... a different rant) and they almost did some interesting stuff with them. There were glimmers of a caper in that story line and times when I could tell they were straining especially hard to make Uhura, their Sole Female Main--now that they cut out Rand, Chapel, and even Carol Marcus--into something Feminist and Interesting. But it didn’t quite gel for me. Like, Uhura would be having almost interesting dialogue with the villain and holding her own...and then she loses track of her colleague and has to watch that person die, thus undercutting everything she just said about unity and seeming to prove the villain’s point. Is she competent or not?

Bones and Spock are a pair I care about and like but again I think their canonical relationship in TOS is more interesting than STB showed. I personally read them as like...reluctant best friends who originally just had one person in common, and then realized they also like each other too, but they’ll never really say it. They understand each other but pretend not to. They have fun with the barbs they throw at each other. They both deeply love Jim but in different ways. They enjoy their intellectual debates. (That’s one thing that was definitely missing from them here! The intellectual debates!) So again, there was something there but not enough.

And Kirk and Chekov just happened to land near each other; nothing was done with that relationship per se. They really aren’t people who have much of a relationship in TOS so there’s not a lot to work off of but then on the other hand there IS an opportunity to create something new. Maybe I’m being too harsh and too vague but it just didn’t gel for me. The only specific K and C moment I remember was that supremely un-funny joke about Kirk’s aim as he sets off the “wery large bomb.”

But like there are possibilities.. they’re both pretty horny and Chekov is a whiz kid and Kirk is also very smart and has always been smart... Like in other words people Chekov’s age don’t end up on the bridge crew, in either ‘verse, without the Captain’s say, so even though he’s TOS!Spock’s and AOS!Scotty’s protege, Kirk is important to his life. Something with that maybe??

I’m upset that Spock’s individual story line was about whether or not he should go off and make baby Vulcans because, again as I have complained many times before, that was a conflict he faced and resolved in ten minutes two movies ago, and it doesn’t make sense to me for him to bring it up again now just because the Ambassador is dead. Like... the Ambassador told him to stay in Starfleet!! “Ah, yes, I will honor him by doing precisely the opposite of what he wanted me to do.”

Also--if they had made his motivation different or gone into it more, I would have been more into it. Make it about New Vulcan! Say there’s news from New Vulcan that it’s not doing well. Or what if T’Pring got in contact with him? Or what if we used this as an excuse to bring in Sarek?

This is part of a larger point for me which is that STXI set up a really cool AU and STID tried to do something with it--a little hit or miss, but it tried--and instead of pushing even more at the AU and developing it more and doing more with it... STB just ignored it! Was that part of what Paramount was warning about with making it “not too Star Trek-y?” Was it SUPPOSED to be a movie you could watch without having seen the last two? If so they did succeed but like.. .why? They made the supremely ballsy move of blowing up a founding Federation planet two movies ago and now they’ve just forgotten about that and all the reverberations that would necessarily have?

But of course we got a call back to Kirk being a Beastie Boys fan so.... Guess it was Deep all along.

We all three agreed that the core story of this film was potentially interesting but could have been done as a 50-some minute episode of a TV series rather than a whole-ass 2 hour movie. First off, cutting or cutting down the action sequences would have shaved off half an hour easily.

I’m frustrated in large part because there are certain things that are interesting here. I do like the concept of the crew being pulled on to an alien planet by a ship of former Federation crew, from the early days of the Federation/deep space flight, who were presumed missing but are somehow still alive because they have turned into aliens/used alien tech to prolong life, and who have also captured other aliens, like Jaylah, for the main crew to interact with. All of that was cool.

I would even be okay with these old Federation crew being villains but I don’t think that’s necessary or even the most interesting take.

But...first of all, as my mom pointed out, Krall was basically Nero in his illogical motivations: feeling aggrieved because someone who couldn’t help him didn’t help him and then just maniacally wanting revenge. It made more sense to me with Nero in a way. Maybe that was because he was better characterized, maybe it was because his anger was more personal (the loss of his wife), maybe--probably--it was because he was angry at Spock and Spock had actually promised to help, so there was some kernel of logic in his sense of betrayal, even if it was out of proportion etc. Also, Nero’s mania was portrayed as mania--we were all supposed to recognize that the strength of his emotion was warranted but his logic was deeply flawed. I think we were supposed to think Krall had some kinda... real criticism of the Federation, but in fact he doesn’t! He’s wrong! So like if he’d been angry with the Federation for abandoning him but the narrative and the other characters explicitly recognize that he’s wrong--the Federation tried but he was just doing something very dangerous and he recognized that danger on signing on--that might have been more palatable to me.

I’m not sure I’m making sense here entirely or explaining myself as well as I could.

I just don’t entirely get Krall’s beef with the Federation. I don’t get that whole “being a soldier and having conflict makes you strong and having people you can rely on and connections and community makes you weak.” That seems pretty obviously false. It also doesn’t really seem, not that I’m an expert, but particularly in line with military ethos either.

BUT the idea that he had a life that was comfortable to him as a soldier and then the Federation comes in and forms Starfleet and says, actually, we’re going to pull back on the soldiering and up the diplomacy and the exploration and the science--yeah, I could see that. I DO think Starfleet is military but even if you must insist it’s not, it’s clearly based on and formed from the military, and it has certain military functions. So obviously the first people to join or be folded into Starfleet probably were more explicitly military.

So he’s one of those people. Now he’s supposed to be a scientist and a diplomat and an explorer and he doesn’t like that. He’s given this very prestigious and interesting mission and jumps at it. Starfleet warns him, you might go beyond where we can reach, we might not be able to help you. That’s fine. But then when his ship is stranded and he is lost, he gets angry--maybe somewhat irrationally, but understandably--why?? Why did the Federation do this to him? What was even the point? When he put himself in danger before, at least he knew why. But just flying around space for the hell of it, and this is the cost? So that’s what creates his anger.

I thin this could be tied into Kirk’s diplomacy at the beginning--if the scene were written to not be a comedy bit where Kirk looks like an incompetent buffoon and is completely disrespectful the whole time. He’s good at this job and we should say it. But we could emphasize that this IS a diplomatic mission often, just as often as it’s a military or scientific mission. Maybe we could include other bits of their missions, too, to play up the variety of things they do and roles they play.

Another thing I think could be interesting, going back to my point about Spock, Vulcan, and using the first two movies and expanding on the world building... what if Spock wanted to leave Starfleet for better, more well-defined reasons, and we used that? Paralleled the two? Connected the two?

Because I think Vulcan in the AOS verse is very interesting and the movies didn’t do nearly enough with it. First, we have the Romulans showing up way earlier, at least visibly: in TOS, no one knew what they looked like or their connection to Vulcans until Spock is in his late 30s. In AOS, it happens not long after he’s born. So he’s growing up probably with more anti-Vulcan racism floating around the Federation. THEN Vulcan is destroyed. Now it has nothing and it needs to rely on the rest of the Federation, which must be both humbling and frustrating to many Vulcans, on top of the extreme tragedy of losing everything. Most of their population, a lot of their history, their manufacturing, their scientific facilities, their resources, their animals, literally whatever else you can think of that a planet has--all gone. Now all of the survivors have lived some period on an alien planet, by definition, and they’re probably very dependent on the Federation not just to set up the new colony, but to replace all of the resources--natural and Vulcan-made--that they lost. And they’re a founding Federation member, Earth’s first contact. They’re especially important. And now they’re weak, and reliant on others.

So maybe Spock, early on, hears from New Vulcan and they’re not doing well. Maybe we hear from Sarek or T’Pring (...I’d just like to see reboot T’Pring). Maybe it’s not about, or just about, having children, but about being from an important and ancient family, and being seen as a hero for his part in the Narada mission, that makes him want to go and help rebuild their government (taking his mother’s place perhaps? she was on the High Council) or their scientific facilities, or the VSA, or their space travel capabilities--you know Vulcan had space ships of their own, outside of Federation ships. This would be the perfect place to showcase that tension between wanting to be independent--out of pride, out of fear, even--and needing help, because Vulcan could not survive without the Federation, probably less than 10 years out from the original planet’s destruction.

And then you feed it back into Krall.

So I could see like... well the tension, and then Krall comes in, and he's angry that the Federation "abandoned" him, but we actually explicitly address this. Maybe Spock gets to interact with him and say "I get it. You had a life and a mission and a purpose that was comfortable for you. Then the Federation came in and changed everything. A lot of my people are also feeling upset for similar reasons. But here's why actually you're wrong."

So anyway as you can see I’m smarter and more interesting than Simon Pegg.

I also hated, speaking of writers of this movie, the gay Sulu thing and HEAR ME OUT on this. It’s homophobic. His husband doesn’t have a name? Might not be his husband at all? Looks like he could be his nanny or his brother? As B said “at least grab his butt or something.” That was the most sanitized, no-homo depiction of a gay person I’ve ever seen. He’s gay (see, progressives and queers! gay! you like that right!) but DON’T WORRY STRAIGHTS--he’s in a monogamous relationship and has a child, he’ll show nothing but the most platonic physical affection with his male significant other, and the plot point will be so minuscule you’ll need a microscope to detect it. Also, we’ll throw in a no homo joke about two male characters not wanting to hug and we’ll make sure Kirk and Spock interact as little as possible, because we know they give off Big Queer Vibes every time they’re together.

Yes the last point is a little unfair but can you blame me for being angry about all the “look how hip to the times we are” back-patting that went on in 2016 when canonical bisexual Kirk is RIGHT THERE and we could have had ex-boyfriend Gary Mitchell instead of Unnamed Nanny??

Also Sulu is a hella random choice because again, like... he may not have had an s.o. in TOS but nor was there any indication he was gay. So it seems a LITTLE like they picked him because (1) his original actor is gay and gay people can’t play straight people duh so probably Sulu was Gay All Along I mean did you not get vibes???; and/or (2) asexual Asian stereotypes preclude giving Sulu any kind of love interest, male or female, that is actually... sexual, outright romantic, anything.

Anyway I can’t remember if I had any other thoughts, but I’ve said quite enough I think.

I miss Kirk so much... real Kirk... even my version of AOS Kirk who is probably not even characterized that well but at least I worked with love!!!

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek #2021: fandom thoughts #star trek aos #anti-beyond

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v-thinks-on · 5 years

Text

We Know That We Need, But Not What - Part 2

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“Not a trace of the Romulans, as far as we could tell,” Scotty reported as Kirk relieved him of the captain’s chair.

Kirk nodded. “Set course for outpost five - I want to get to them all.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I believe we’re closer to outpost seven now,” Sulu said.

Kirk tensed, but he knew better. He kept his voice level as he answered, “Thank you. Plot the most efficient route, helmsman. And I want to check on any Federation planets along the way.”

“Yes, sir.” Sulu complied.

The story on outpost seven was the same as on six: “We haven’t seen any Romulans, but I don’t know who else could be scattering the sensors and breaking into our computers.”

After Kirk signed off, Spock remarked, “Captain, it is illogical to waste time searching for the Romulans when we know where they have been already and are likely to return.”

“We don’t know that, Commander,” Kirk snapped before he could stop himself.

“It is only logical.” Spock sounded exasperated with his foolishness.

“I’m not going to wait around an outpost until the Romulans happen to show up! We’re here to patrol and gather information and that’s what we’re going to do,” Kirk insisted.

“You are allowing your emotions to interfere with your reason.”

“Your opinion has been noted, Commander.” With that, Kirk turned to face forward and forced himself to take a deep breath. A little more calmly, he ordered, “Mr. Sulu, onto the next outpost.”

If Sulu and Chekov exchanged a glance, Kirk pretended not to notice.

On their way to outpost four, they stopped by a Federation planet, where they were greeted with a less than warm welcome: “No, we haven’t seen anything. If the Romulans were up to something we’d know it. We don’t need a Federation warship interfering with our business.”

“We’re here to help,” Kirk attempted, but to no avail.

Even Spock put in, “It is not logical to refuse our assistance.”

Kirk shot his first officer a warning glare and faced the planet’s head of state on the viewscreen, “If you don’t want our assistance, so be it. We’ll be in the sector if you change your mind, otherwise, you can deal with the Romulans directly.” He signaled for Uhura to close the channel and ordered the helm to continue on their way.

“Jim,” Dr. McCoy cautioned.

Kirk shot him a warning glance too.

Dr. McCoy frowned. “A word, Captain?”

Kirk let out a huff of air and his glare faltered. “I know,” he admitted, “You’re right.” Even though Decker was gone, Jim was still competing with anyone and everyone who questioned his authority, and they both knew it.

“You bet I am,” the doctor retorted.

They continued on to the next outpost. No outpost or Federation planet had much more to report than Kirk had already heard. Some detected more disturbances and others less - all of the incident reports were uploaded into the Enterprise computers - but the Romulans had left no concrete evidence of their presence behind.

Kirk called all the senior officers for a conference. Once they were all gathered around the table he declared, “I want answers.”

“All of the glitches and strange readings are probably not a coincidence,” Chekov concluded.

“Thank you, Mr. Chekov,” Kirk replied with a sardonic smile. “Anyone else?”

“They could be leftover from V’Ger,” Uhura suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Scotty said with a shake of his head. “Nowhere else has reported aftershocks like this.”

“The only logical conclusion,” Spock put in, “Is that Romulan vessels have crossed the Neutral Zone and are trespassing on Federation space.”

“Vessels?” Chekov exclaimed. “You mean more than one?”

“Yes,” Spock replied. “I do not believe that only one ship would be capable of causing all of the disturbances reported; multiple disturbances have been reported at distant outposts in exceedingly close succession. Furthermore, if the Romulan Empire truly intends to take advantage of the Federation’s temporary inhibition, it is highly unlikely they would send an invasion force of a single ship.”

Kirk crossed his arms over his chest and took a step toward Spock. “You think this is the beginning of an invasion?”

“Given our knowledge of their history and culture, I find any alternative highly unlikely,” Spock replied. “Unlike humans, Romulans do not allow themselves to be ruled by their passions, but they harness them with warlike notions of duty and glory. They will take any evidence of weakness as an excuse for violence.”

Kirk gave him a skeptical look, but let the insult to humanity slide as he turned the possibility over in his mind. At last he asked, “If you’re right, what would they do next?”

“Once they have ascertained the Federation’s weakness, they will launch a full assault, prioritizing ostentatious prizes such as outposts,” Spock answered.

“What I don’t understand,” Chekov remarked, “Is if they wanted to take an outpost, why wait for a starship to arrive to defend it?”

“Maybe we’re the ‘prize’ they’re after,” Sulu suggested.

Scotty nodded. “Aye, the Enterprise would be worthy.”

“You haven’t picked up anything on the sensors?” Kirk glanced between Chekov and Spock.

“No, sir,” Chekov replied.

Scotty peered at Kirk, as though he could see the gears turning in his head. “What is it, sir?”

Kirk shook his head. “Just a hunch.”

Spock’s eyebrows rose in disbelief.

Before anyone else could question him, Kirk said, “Meeting adjourned. Return to your stations.”

Kirk followed the others out of the conference room and back to the bridge.

When his shift was over, Kirk returned to his quarters, but he had more important things to do than sleep. He sat down at the table and ordered, “Computer, I want all the incident reports from the planets and outposts along the Neutral Zone.”

The next day, they continued going from outpost to outpost. Kirk sat on the bridge, attempting to read more technical manuals as he waited. But somehow as the hours had passed, he started to feel like he was wading through thick, hazy soup, even though the bridge had been nothing but quiet all day - but maybe that was the problem.

He read the sentence again as though he would understand it better after another attempt. It was something about dilithium storage, but what he couldn’t tell. He hadn’t really understood the rest of the paragraph either and he was considering starting the whole section again, or maybe better yet, giving up the whole thing as a bad job.

Finally, he put aside his reading and rubbed at his face to try to wake himself up a little, but he only succeeded at stifling a yawn. He could feel the bridge crew’s eyes on him, even as they worked at their stations. He knew Spock could hear his every move with those sharp Vulcan ears.

Kirk just needed to get up and do something. “Spock, you have the con,” he declared, and took a turbo lift down to engineering before anyone could protest.

“Captain, what’re you doing down here?” Scotty exclaimed at the sight of Kirk meandering around the engines.

Kirk gave him a smile. “I’ve been doing some reading and thought I might see the dilithium crystals for myself.”

“Certainly, sir! I’d be happy to show you around,” Scotty said.

“If it isn’t too much trouble.” Kirk gestured for him to lead the way.

“Why the sudden interest in the engines, if you don’t mind my asking?” Scotty remarked as he started across a catwalk, Kirk following close behind.

“A captain should know his ship better than anyone,” Kirk replied, a little more seriously than he had intended.

Scotty nodded in understanding. “That’s what you’ve got us for,” he reminded Kirk.

Kirk grinned, but he was only half joking when he said, “I should be able to run her all on my own if I have to.”

Scotty glanced back at the captain, his skepticism clear, but he didn’t argue.

Kirk followed Scotty around the engine room, asking about anything he could possibly need, until his chief engineer was needed elsewhere. When Kirk was left to his own devices, he continued on a self-guided tour, trying to identify everything mentioned in the manual just in case.

Kirk waited at the entrance to the ship’s garden. He half expected Spock not to show up. Kirk had no logical excuse for the invitation and there were many more important things they could have both been doing with their time.

But sure enough, just as the hour was about to change, Spock made his appearance. He was still in his pale blue uniform, and when he stopped at the door, he stood at attention, his hands clasped firmly behind his back. Kirk suspected nothing would ever suit Spock quite as well as the old science blues, but the sight of him still made Kirk’s heart leap a little.

Kirk offered Spock his arm with a smile.

Spock gave him a skeptical look - Kirk lowered his arm - but he allowed Kirk to lead him inside.

Kirk had chosen the gardens because they were quiet and peaceful. They passed a few officers here and there, enjoying the greenery on their off hours, but for the most part, the two of them were alone.

Kirk stooped over to smell a bright orange flower in full bloom and held it up a little for Spock to share in its sweet aroma. Spock looked bemused by the gesture, but there was a softness to his expression. Kirk could not help but smile back, the flower forgotten. If he ambled a little closer to Spock as they continued walking, he doubted anyone would mind.

Kirk’s eyes wandered about the alien flowers and trees from across the galaxy, but he never lost sight of Spock at his side. Spock watched him in return with a hint of something almost like a warm smile.

Kirk glanced around to make sure there was no one else in sight and let his hand drift toward Spock’s, his first two fingers extended in the Vulcan way.

But their skin never touched. Spock slipped away as though it was entirely coincidental, as though it were perfectly natural for the two of them to walk with a couple of feet between them. He appeared preoccupied, idly admiring the leaves of a tree. When he turned back to face Kirk, Spock’s gaze had turned passive, as though he were watching him from some distance.

Kirk withdrew his hands behind his back. He tried to force his voice light and neutral. “I just realized there’s an urgent report I still need to get to. I should go.”

Spock turned to face him and gave a shallow nod in understanding. Kirk did not miss how Spock’s gaze had hardened - Kirk reflexively readied for a fight.

“I advise that you take the opportunity to rest,” Spock said. “You have been showing signs of stress and fatigue since you have resumed command.”

“That’s a nice idea in theory, but I don’t have the time,” Kirk snapped.

Spock looked unconvinced. Still, he offered, his expression almost smug, “Is there any way in which I might be of assistance?”

“Following orders would be a start,” Kirk replied before he could stop himself.

Spock raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. His lips were set in a firm line.

Kirk shook his head and let out a sigh. Finally, he looked back up at Spock and said, meaning every word, “It’s more than enough just to have you back. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Spock seemed to regard Kirk with some curiosity, as though he was some strange creature, which maybe a human was to a Vulcan.

“I am grateful I was able to return in time,” Spock remarked at last and left it at that.

Kirk hesitated. “I should go.”

Spock made no move to stop him.

Kirk went straight down to sickbay to see if Dr. McCoy couldn’t find a cure for his ills.

He found Bones in his office. The doctor smiled at the sight of him, but that quickly faded as he saw Kirk’s sheepish expression, and gave way to a wary glare.

Kirk let out a sigh.

“First Decker, now Spock,” Bones remarked, “I see things haven’t changed a bit.”

Kirk shook his head. “It’s not about that.”

Bones gave him a look that said it certainly was. Still, he said, “Well, don’t leave me in suspense.”

“It’s Spock,” Kirk explained. He hesitated. “Maybe you’re right; I’m still... getting back into things. And I thought Spock was back to normal, but maybe he’s still figuring it all out too.”

Bones nodded along as though he’d expected as much. “You want to know something? I’ve had Spock in here a few times since he reappeared out of the blue in the middle of the ‘V’Ger incident.’ You want to guess how all of his readings have been?”

Kirk had a guess - he had noticed how gaunt Spock had become - but there was so much he didn’t know about Vulcan physiology or what Kolinahr entailed.

Bones didn’t wait for an answer. “I don’t know how he’s still standing. That ritual of his is more than just getting rid of emotions, that’s for sure. He described it as riding himself of all desires, apparently including hunger and thirst.”

“But I thought it was over,” Kirk protested, his eyes narrowed as though if he looked hard enough he could see the explanation written on Bones’s face.

Bones shook his head. “A lasting side effect apparently,” he said with a grimace. “I couldn’t convince him otherwise, but maybe you could get through to him. If not, I don’t see how I’ll have a choice but to declare him unfit for duty.”

“I can’t let that happen,” Kirk said reflexively. “I’ll try to talk to him, though he hasn’t been listening to me either.”

“Good luck,” Bones said. He gave Kirk a sympathetic pat on the arm - Kirk immediately stiffened at the touch.

Bones just shook his head.

Kirk glanced around his quarters yet again, just to make sure everything was in place: the lights at a comfortable fifty percent, the table set for two with a flower from the garden in the center - nothing too much, just a little touch. It wasn’t supposed to be anything formal, just a captain and his first officer eating together.

Kirk let out a long breath and adjusted his low cut white shirt, wishing for hardly the first time that he was back in command yellow, but the new uniforms were the least of his problems.

He glanced around again, just to be sure.

Precisely on time, no sooner, no later, there was a chime at the door.

“Come in,” Kirk answered, maybe a little too quickly.

The door slid open to let Spock in. His eyebrows rose as he took in the scene before him.

Kirk tried to flash Spock an easy smile as he waved him inside, but it felt strained and seemed to do little to win the Vulcan’s confidence. So, Kirk let his expression fall and tried to lead Spock to the table, which bore a small sampling of Vulcan delicacies - or the closest replicated approximation.

Spock did not follow him. “This is not a briefing,” he remarked dryly.

“I thought, while you were here,” Kirk attempted to deflect with a gesture at the table. He hoped Spock found the strong scent of all the alien spices enticing.

Spock’s lips curved downward in a definitive frown. “Your behavior is highly illogical. Our relationship cannot return to what it was.”

“Why not?” Kirk demanded. “There’s nothing un-Vulcan-”

“You are attempting to engage me in a human romantic relationship despite my request to the contrary, is that not correct?” Spock demanded. His voice was level, but there was a sharpness to it.

“Why does it matter if it’s human or Vulcan?” Kirk exclaimed. “How do you feel?”

“What I feel is of no consequence,” Spock retorted.

“Then you’re just like V’Ger!” Kirk pounded his fist on the air for emphasis. “Isn’t that what you said?”

“You misunderstand,” Spock said as though his tangled web of logic should have been easy to unravel. “I am aware that attempting to rid myself of emotion was a mistake. Emotion is an essential part of my being like a necessary bodily function. However, that does not mean I must allow it to dictate my actions like a human” - he said the word like Kirk might have said “Klingon.”

“You’re human too!” Kirk took Spock by the shoulders even though he knew he shouldn’t. “I know we humans make mistakes - I know I have. But I’m not so sure the Vulcan way is any better.” He met Spock’s eyes once more and let his hands fall back to his sides.

“I acknowledge that I am half human and that there are even advantages to human philosophy. However, just because I am of human heritage does not mean that I have any obligation to behave according to your principles. I have evaluated both the human and Vulcan ideologies and found the former to be inferior - you cannot argue that it has served you well. Therefore, I see no reason to indulge in your human customs.”

“Spock,” Kirk began, but any words that could follow caught in his throat before he even thought of anything to say. He tried to meet Spock’s eyes, but they were sharp and cold. For all Spock’s indifference, Kirk could feel his raw resentment.

“If there is not actually any matter of ship’s business about which I should be briefed, I will take my leave.”

When Kirk did not respond, Spock gave him a sharp nod, turned, and left.

#v writes #Star Trek: The Original Series #Spirk #Star Trek: The Motion Picture #We Know That We Need

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