Starfleet Chronicles - Leonard McCoy

Chapter Two

Jade arrived at the theatre thirty minutes early. Despite looking everywhere for him, she couldn't find her brother. She was nervous for him but understood why this was being called. Why the hell did he feel the need to cheat? She was spiraling, thinking about what to do if he was expelled. They did everything together. She hadn't even wanted to come to Starfleet in the first place, but now that she was here? She couldn't see herself doing anything else, and it scared her. She was waiting off to the side when she heard her name. She looked around until she saw Dr. McCoy approaching her with a grim expression. When he stopped in front of her, he motioned around them. "This is crazy, isn't it? Have you talked to him?" Jade shook her head no at his question. "I couldn't find him this morning; I looked everywhere. Meaning, he was probably in some girl's dorm ignoring what's going on." McCoy pursed his lips and nodded but didn't say anything else. They stood next to each other in comfortable silence when the man himself walked over, acting like he didn't have a care in the world.

Jade couldn't believe the nerve of her brother as she sat next to McCoy and listened to him argue his reasonings for cheating. When he explained it, she did understand, but there was always a better way of doing things. He thought he was right, so he had to make a point. When Spock brought up their father, she looked at Uhura in disbelief. She looked apologetic, but what could she do? As she became increasingly upset listening to Spock, she felt someone take her hand. She looked up at McCoy, who ran his thumb over her knuckles. She gave him a grateful smile and faced forward again as her cheeks began to heat up. She watched with furrowed brows when Admiral Barnett started to ignore the arguing between Commander Spock and her brother. Something wasn't right, and she looked back at McCoy, who had also noticed. Admiral Barnett interrupted Spock and addressed the entire amphitheater. "We've received a distress call from Vulcan. With our primary fleet engaged in the Laurentian system, I hereby order all cadets to report to Hanger One immediately. Dismissed."

Jade and McCoy stood up, her hand still in his. He gave her a comforting smile and squeezed her hand. "Good luck out there, Jade." She locked eyes with him, and her heart skipped a beat before she replied, "You as well, doctor, be safe." His smile widened as he gently let go of her hand. "You know Jade," he began with an amused grin, "One of these days, you're going to start calling me by my name and not 'Doctor.' We've known each other for more than three years." Before she could respond, he walked away with the rest of the class, leaving her stunned. Uhura ran over to her a few seconds later and grabbed her arm. She began pulling her towards the hanger and whispering in hushed tones. "What was that? I just saw." Jade blushed to the roots of her hair as she giggled and shrugged at her friend. "He just wished me luck, and I returned the favor." Uhura raised an eyebrow and giggled with her. They were stopped from saying anything else as they approached the crowd waiting for the assignments. The Barrack leader walked over and began to announce who was going where. "Fugeman, Regula One! Gerace, U.S.S Farragut! McCoy, U.S.S Enterprise! She watched as McCoy elbowed her brother and whispered in his ear. She tuned back in when the Barrack leader continued. "McGrath, U.S.S Wolcott! Rader, U.S.S. Hood! Welcome to Starfleet and Godspeed." He walked away after that, and another Barrack leader walked up to make her announcements. She saw her brother walking over to him but couldn't pay attention because she needed to wait for her name. "Kirk, Jade U.S.S Enterprise! Petrovsky, U.S.S Antares! Uhura, U.S.S Farragut! Go to your stations, and good luck!" Jade was stunned that she'd been assigned to the Enterprise. It was the newest ship and had all the bells and whistles because of it. She looked over at Uhura, who looked pissed as she waved her roommate off. Uhura grabbed her hand when Spock walked by them and forced her to go with her. As they walked after Spock, they passed her brother and McCoy. James tried to get her attention, but Uhura kept dragging her with her, so she just waved at him. When they finally stopped in front of him, Uhura finally let go of her hand, and Jade began to message it. Uhura ignored her and addressed Spock. "Commander, a word, please?" He didn't look at her as he kept working at the terminal but did respond. "Yes, Lieutenant?" She held nothing back as she addressed him and asked why she was assigned to the Farragut instead of the Enterprise. Jade had to bite back a laugh when Spock caved under Uhura's authoritative tone and reassigned her to the Enterprise.

Jade and Uhura rushed to the shuttle, which led them to the Enterprise. She sat down in the aisle and looked over to see her brother not looking so hot and McCoy trying to fight off laughter. She leaned over as the shuttle began to take off. "What the hell happened to you, Jimmy?" He just groaned, causing her to snicker. McCoy leaned over and winked at her, saying, "It was the only way to get him on the ship. Glad to see we'll be serving together, Jade. Now I don't have to worry so much." Jade couldn't stop the brilliant smile that blossomed at his words. "Come on, McCoy, you and I both know that I'm not the Kirk you need to worry about." He grinned at her and turned to the window. When she looked over at Uhura, she found her friend smirking at her. "Oh, Ny, don't even start." This just caused her to giggle. She gasped at the sight when they broke the atmosphere and made their way to the space station housing the starships. It was beautiful to see all of the ships docked. "Damn, that's a thing of beauty, Ny. I can't wait to get into the engine room, I've heard the Enterprise is like none of the other ships." Uhura grabbed her hand and nodded.

"I can't believe we're going out there six months early. You know it has to be bad for them to send us up here." Jade scoffed and glared at her friend. "Ny, don't give me that crap! You're already a Lieutenant in your third year! Most of us are still Cadets." Uhura rolled her eyes. "Jadey, don't do that; you'll make Lieutenant without trouble. I know your test was scheduled for next week, but you probably won't even have to take it now. This is basically a field test, so who knows what will happen."

When they docked, they entered the Enterprise's loading dock and began to separate. She stopped Uhura, McCoy, and her brother. "I'm heading to the engine room to find Chief Olson. Let's agree to check in with each other regularly, okay?" Uhura smiled and nodded before walking away. McCoy patted her shoulder with a soft smile. "I think that's a great idea, Jade. I'll make sure your idiot brother checks in with you, too. Good luck down there. hopefully, I don't have to see you in the med bay this trip." Jade returned his smile before making her way to the engine room. She walked over to the small group of people milling around and stood at the back, awaiting instruction. A man walked to the front and greeted everyone. "Afternoon, everyone, I'm Chief Engineer Olsen. Normally, we'd review the specs and stations, but we just don't have the time. I will assign you to your stations, and if you have any questions that the computer can't answer, come and find me. Now, where is Cadet Kirk?" Jade was jolted at her name being called first but quickly recovered and walked forward. "I'm cadet Jade Kirk, Chief." He looked over at her, and his mouth opened in surprise. That was the typical reaction when they saw her. Being a girl in the Engineering field was rare. He nodded at her as he spoke. "You'll be with me, so just stay here while I assign everyone else."

When he was done giving out the station assignments, he walked over to where she was. "So, you'll be with me and act as my right hand. I've been sent your test scores and recommendations, and I gotta say, it's impressive by anyone's standards. You'll make it to Chief Engineer one day, and I want to help." So, just like that, Jade was thrust into the deep end and began working side-by-side with the Chief to prepare for takeoff. Once they were in warp, they had some downtime as they just needed to check levels were steady. When the PA system kicked on, everyone stopped what they were doing to listen to Ensign Chekov. "May I have your attention, please? At 2200 hours, the telemetry detected an anomaly in the Neutral Zone. What appeared to be a lightning storm in space. Soon after, Starfleet received a distress signal from the Vulcan High Command that their planet was experiencing seismic activity. Our mission is to assess the condition of Vulcan and assist in evacuations if necessary. We should be arriving at Vulcan within three minutes. Thank you for your time."

Jade froze at what he said. Lightning storm in space? That couldn't be the same thing, but it was the only thing that made sense. She glanced over at Olson and got his attention. "Chief! I have information for the Captain regarding what we're heading into. It's imperative; permission to go report it, sir?" Olsen looked at her, alarmed, but nodded and waved her off. Jade ran as fast as she could before she found Uhura at her station. "Ny! You were telling me the other day about a distress signal from Klingons, right?" She was startled by Jade's sudden appearance and nodded. Before she could continue, her brother ran up with McCoy; he looked just as distressed as she felt. "Jade! I knew you'd get this too; we have to tell them!" McCoy looked at Uhura, who just shrugged her shoulders. "Uhura! The transmissions from the Klingon Prison planet. What exactly was said?" She interrupted because Jim's hands looked like balloons, but he kept going. "Look, who is responsible for the Klingon attack and was the –"They couldn't understand what else he said because he started slurring. Jade rolled her eyes and touched Uhura on her shoulder. "Ny, was the transmission Romulan?" Jim nodded and pointed at Jade, and Uhura regained her composure. "Romulan? Yes!" With that, the four took off for the turbo lift to head to the bridge. They were headed straight into an ambush.

When the lift opened, Jim didn't wait for permission; he just ran onto the bridge at full speed, leaving the rest of them to follow. "Captain! Captain Pike, we have to stop the ship!" McCoy was yelling at Jim to stop, but he wasn't listening. Jade was also on the full-speed-ahead mission; they had to stop the ship. Pike stood up, extremely annoyed, and looked at all four of them. "Kirk, how the hell did you get on board the Enterprise? Jade, I'm disappointed at this behavior; you're better than this." McCoy stepped forward and tried to take responsibility. "Captain, this man's under the influence of a severe reaction to a vaccine. He's completely delusional, and I take full responsibility." Jim ignored McCoy and interrupted.

"Vulcan is not experiencing a natural disaster. Sir, it's being attacked by Romulans." Pike all but rolled his eyes, and it scared Jade. Was he not going to listen to reason? Pike faced them, his hand on his hip. "Romulans? Cadet Kirk, I think you've had enough attention for one day. McCoy, take him back to medical; we'll have words later." McCoy nodded and said he agreed, but Jade couldn't stay silent. "Sir, please, that same anomaly-"Spock interrupted her, and she was seriously irritated by his behavior. "Sir, Mr. Kirk is not cleared to be aboard this vessel, and Ms. Kirk should be in the engine room." She lost track of what they were saying because Kirk and he started to argue. Spock said he wanted to remove them from the bridge, but Jim snapped. "Try it! My sister and I are trying to save the bridge!"

Spock looked at him, completely incredulous. "By recommending a full stop mid-warp during a rescue mission?" Jade held up a hand to the Commander, and Kirk continued. "It's not a rescue mission. Listen to me; it's an attack." Spock interrupted again, not letting the Captain speak. "Based on what facts?" At this question, Captain Pike raised an eyebrow at them, waiting for an answer. Jade stepped forward and addressed everyone calmly, trying to diffuse the tension. "That same anomaly, a lightning storm in space that we saw today, also occurred on the day of our birth." She said, motioning between herself and Jim, then looked back at the Captain. "Before a Romulan ship attacked the U.S.S Kelvin. You know that, sir, we read your dissertation. That ship, which had formidable and advanced weaponry, was never seen or heard from again. The Kelvin attack took place on the edge of Klingon space, and at 2300 hours last night, there was an attack. Forty-seven Klingon warbirds destroyed by Romulans, sir." Jim nodded and patted Jade on her shoulder as he took over. "It was reported that the Romulans were in one ship, one massive ship."

Captain Pike looked between them, now understanding the severity of what they were trying to convey. He sighed and nodded before saying, "And you know of this Klingon attack, how?" Both Jim and Jade turned behind them and looked at Uhura for assistance. She took a deep breath and addressed Captain Pike on their behalf. "Sir, I intercepted and translated the message myself. Their report is accurate." Jade turned back to the Captain, trying to remain calm. "We're warping into a trap, sir. The Romulans are waiting for us; I promise you that." Pike looked over at Spock for his opinion. He looked at Jade's face before nodding to Captain Pike. "The Cadet's logic is sound. And Lieutenant Uhura is unmatched in xenolinguistics; we would be wise to accept her conclusion." After taking Spock's statement to heart, Pike looked at his communications officer. "Scan Vulcan space. Check for any transmissions in Romulan," he ordered. The communications officer sighed. "Sir, I'm not sure I can distinguish the Romulan language from Vulcan." Pike nodded and walked over to Uhura.

"What about you? Do you speak Romulan cadet?" Uhura nodded and said, "Uhura. All three dialects, sir." Captain Pike nodded and said, "Uhura, relieve the Lieutenant." Jade smiled as Uhura got the opportunity she deserved and walked over to the communications station. The helm began speaking to the Captain, which wasn't good news. "All the other ships are out of warp, sir, and have arrived at Vulcan, but we seem to have lost all contact," Uhura said. "Sir, I pick up no Romulan transmission or transmission of any kind in the area." Jim sighed and looked over at her. "It's because they're being attacked." Captain Pike returned to his chair before saying, "Shields up. Red Alert." When the alarm began wailing, Jade grabbed Jim's hand. He squeezed it as he looked over at her. "We're going to be fine, Winnie." Their helmsman, Sulu, announced their arrival in Vulcan and began to bring them out of warp.

When they dropped out of warm, Jade couldn't help the gasp that escaped at what they saw. Pieces of the starships were floating everywhere, and they were going to collide. She braced herself on the railing when Captain Pike shouted for them to make emergency evasive maneuvers. The ship shook harshly as they made their way through the sea of debris. She glanced over at Uhura, who looked just as scared as she was. She felt someone grip her other hand, and she looked over to find McCoy staring straight ahead as he interlaced their fingers. Jim looked over at her and then down their hands before smirking and raising an eyebrow. Jade didn't respond; she just laid her head on Jim's shoulder. He let go of her hand and put his arm around her to calm her. "I'm telling you, Winnie, we're going to be okay, I promise." She nodded and stood back up, trying to be brave. When the Romulan ship came up on the screen, her breath hitched. These were the bastards who murdered their father. Spock spoke up from his position. "Captain, they're locking torpedoes." Captain Pike responded calmly as he began ordering what to do. "Divert auxiliary power from port nacelles to forward shields." When the torpedoes hit, they were all knocked around, and she could tell that damage was done. "Sulu, status report!" Pike called to him. Sulu was punching buttons on his panel when he responded, "Shields at 32%. Their weapons are powerful, sir. We can't take another hit like that!" Pike ordered to be patched to Starfleet Command, but Spock interrupted. "Captain, the Romulan ship has lowered some kind of high-energy pulse device into the Vulcan atmosphere. Its signal appears to be blocking our communications and transporter abilities." Pike gritted his teeth as he ordered all power to be put to forward shields and ordered all weapons to be prepared to be fired.

However, another wave of weapons didn't happen; Uhura stood up and said they were being hailed. Before she could respond, a Romulan man's face appeared on their screen. "Hello." He said as if he hadn't just destroyed an entire fleet of federation ships. Captain Pike addressed him with all the dignity and cockiness of a Starfleet Captain. "I'm Captain Christopher Pike. To Whom am I speaking?" The man nodded and seemed to mock him as he said, "Hi Christopher, I'm Nero." Jim and Jade stared at the man who they knew to be responsible for the destruction of the U.S.S Kelvin. Pike glared at the man and said, "You've declared war against the federation. Withdraw, I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romulan leadership at a neutral location." Nero scoffed and shook his head to the negative. "I do not speak for the Empire; we stand apart. As does your Vulcan crew member. Isn't that right, Spock?"

They watched Spock stand up, confused about why he was being addressed this way. "Pardon me, I do not believe that you and I are acquainted," Nero smirked and tilted his head as he responded. "No, we're not. Not yet. Spock, there's something I would like you to see. Captain Pike, your transporter has been disabled. As you can see by the rest of your armada, you have no choice. You will man a shuttle and come aboard the Nerada for negotiations. That is all." With that, Nero cut the communication, and everyone turned to look at their Captain. When Captain Pike stood up, she feared that he would actually listen to what Nero said. Jim spoke up, unable to hold his tongue. "He'll kill you, you know that." Spock glanced at them and nodded. "Your survival is unlikely." Jade couldn't stop herself from pleading with the man who had become a father figure to her and her brother. "Captain, we gain nothing by diplomacy. Going over to that ship is a mistake." Spock stepped closer and spoke his agreement. "I, too, agree. You should rethink your strategy." Captain Pike held up a hand. "I understand that." He glanced around the bridge and sighed deeply before addressing them all.

"I need officers who've been trained in advanced hand-to-hand combat." Jade hesitated, but when Helmsman Sulu raised his hand, she also had to raise hers. Jim looked at her like she was stupid, but she shook her head. He knew her skill and couldn't object. Captain Pike looked at Sulu and said, "Come with me." He looked over at Jim and Jade before nodding. "Jade, I've seen you fight; you're coming too. Jim, you're not even supposed to be here, so let's go." Pike told Chekov he had the conn as Spock joined them on their trek to the shuttle bay. As they walked towards the shuttle, Pike began giving instructions. "Without transporters, we can't beam off the ship, we can't assist Vulcan, we can't do our job. Mr. and Ms. Kirk, Mr. Sulu, and Engineer Olsen will space-jump from the shuttle. You will land on that machine they've lowered into the atmosphere that's scrambling our gear. You'll get inside, you'll disable it, then you'll beam back to the ship. Mr. Spock, I'm leaving you in command of the Enterprise. Once we have transport capability and communications back up, you'll contact Starfleet and report what the hell's going on here. And if all else fails, fall back and rendezvous with the fleet in the Laurentian system. Mr. Kirk, I'm promoting you to first officer." Jade beamed at her brother for the honor of the promotion. He seemed shocked and spoke of his confusion. Spock, too, was confused and said, "Captain? Please, I apologize; the complexities of human pranks escape me." Captain Pike seemed amused by both of their reactions and winked over at Jade before responding to Spock. "It's not a prank, Spock. And I'm not the Captain; you are. Let's go." Before they got onto the shuttle, Jade walked over to Spock. "Captain, please tell Lieutenant Uhura that I'll be fine. She's going to worry about me." Spock's lips twitched at her request before he bowed slightly and said, "I'll tell her, Ms. Kirk. I have no doubt that you'll excel at this assignment, but please do take care." When she got into the lift, she heard Kirk asking what would happen to Captain Pike. He sighed and looked over at her. "Well, I guess you'll have to come and get me. Careful with the ship, Spock; she's brand new."