kalokagathia - a Star Trek Story [on hiatus]

Chapter 3 : "Bones"

"she found the colours to paint him where the world had left him only grey."

A message on her communicator startled Cass awake, buzzing next to her. She lifted her blonde head, her eyelids still heavy and let out a groan as a slight pain from last night's escapades and an emerging hangover. Her hand knocked something that made a clanging sound when it hit the table, waking her companion. It was a glass bottle, a whiskey bottle. She let out another groan, this one intentional. She flicked open her communicator, squinting to examine the message.

Its 0700, where are you? It read, from captain Pike. Cass cursed, seeming to sober up rather quickly as she straightened in her chair. She was somewhere she didn't recognise, her Starfleet cadet shirt strewn over the floor by the doorway, along with a dark jacket. Cass rubbed her eyes and saw the still drowsy face of Jim Kirk.

His face was still a mess from the fight last night, as Cass imagined hers must be.

"Told you that you shouldn't challenge me to a drinking competition." She said, heading over to the door and grabbing her shirt.

"I thought I won that?" he said, although he hardly seemed sure about it. Cass shook her head, laughing lightly.

"Well you didn't." she said bluntly, doing up the zipper on her shirt, "and I don't suppose I could get a lift, farmboy?" she said, tilting her head to the side, her curls falling over her face.

"Where to?" he asked, leaning up on one of his elbows. Cass looked at him incredulously.

"Riverside shipyard?" she said, as though it were obvious, because quite frankly, it was, "has all that drinking affected your memory?"

"Well, maybe not the drinking," he said, smirking at her. Cass raised her eyebrows again.

"Nothing happened," she said, "so are you gonna give me a lift or not?" he smirked at her again.

"I could be persuaded to. . ." Cass pursed her lips again as Kirk grinned. They both knew she didn't have any other options if she wanted to get there on time and save herself from the wrath of the captain. She moved herself closer to him, closing the gap between them.

"If you tell anyone, I'll frickin' kill you, understood?" she said, a faint smile the only indication she wasn't truthfully angry. Kirk just smirked at her before pulling her lips down to his. . .

Cass climbed off the motorcycle, brushing dust the dust off her uniform that had accumulated there. They had only just made it with five minutes until the shuttle was supposed to depart. Let's just say she didn't intend to ride on one again anytime soon.

"Remind me to never ride with you again," she said, barely glancing at Kirk, fascinated by the shipyard. She'd seen plenty of them in the years she'd moved around, even just in the time she'd spent in Starfleet, but they still fascinated her. She spotted the captain waiting by the shuttle, and a small smirk appeared on Cass's face. She looked over her shoulder, and saw Kirk flick the keys to one of the workmen.

"It's yours," he said, before walking over to her.

"Four years," he said, addressing Pike, "I'll do it in three," he walked onto the shuttle, and Cass walked up to the captain.

"One Jim Kirk, signed, sealed and delivered," she said, enjoying his slightly stunned look on his face before joining Kirk in the shuttle. For some strange reason he was waiting for her. This was the first time Cass had seen him looking out of his depth somewhere, in his grey shirt with stains of last night's fight and black jacket.

Cass pushed past him, hinting at him with her eyes to follow. She walked past Peterson and his lackeys, having to hold back a smirk at the look of contempt they gave both her and Jim. Her eyes caught Uhura's and she smiled, walking over and sitting down opposite her. Uhura raised her eyebrows at Cass, and she gave the dark skinned girl an almost imperceptible shake of her head. She pulled the straps of the harness over her shoulders, buckling it in the centre.

Kirk struggled with the buckle on his, causing Cass to hold in a light laugh. There was something else that was making her laugh though.

"James," she said, leaning closer to him with a mischievous look in her eye, "you have lip gloss on your neck." Kirk's eyes widened slightly, scrubbing at the neck of his shirt with his sleeve. Cass glances at Uhura, and can see her try not to smile. Kirk follows your line of sight, noticing the smiling cadet.

"I never did get that first name," he says, and Cass laughs. At least that's enough to get Uhura to shut up. Cass was about to say something else but a rather heated row started in the area they had just come from. Her blonde head turned to face it, a quizzical look on it as a rather scruffy looking man with dark hair, and a woman in a Starfleet uniform walked around the corner.

"Take a seat," she said sharply, her tone cutting through the air like a knife.

"I had one in the bathroom with no windows," he argued back.

"For your own safety sit down,"

"I suffer from aviaphobia," he said in his slightly southern accent, "it means a fear of dying in something that flies."

"For your own safety sit down or I'll make you sit down!" he seemed startled into silence, practically falling into the seat next to Kirk.

"Thank you," she said simply, walking off down the rows of cadets and to-be cadets. Cass looked at Uhura, but the dark haired girl was now ignoring her.

"I may throw up on you," said the scruffy guy to Kirk, who'd been watching it with as much interest as Cass.

"Charming," Cassidy said her lip curling.

"I think these things are pretty safe," Kirk said. Scruffy scoffed.

"Don't pander to me kid." He said, fastening his harness, "one tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds." Cass raised her eyebrows indignantly as he continued, "Or a solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. Or you could be sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles. See if you're still so relaxed whilst your eyeballs are bleeding." Cass rolled her eyes. What was the likelihood that any of those things happening? "Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence." Cass openly laughed at that comment.

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but Starfleet does operate in space. I mean, the word star sort of gives it away." He looked at her almost as incredulously as she had at him.

"Yeah, well I got no where else to go. Ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I've got left is my bones." He lifted a silver flask to his lips, taking a swig before passing it to Kirk. Raising his eyebrows, Kirk took a swig as well before handing it back.

"Jim Kirk," he said, introducing himself.

"McCoy, Leonard McCoy." Cass snapped he fingers at them, holding out her hand for the flask. He handed it to her begrudgingly. "What's your name, Blondie?"

"Cassidy Ryann," she replied, taking the silver object and grinning as the harsh taste of the liquor burnt her throat. She handed it back to him.

"Thanks, Bones."