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“Well, shit,” you said while looking around the bridge of your tiny transport ship.
“What are we going to do now captain?” came the voice of the only engineer you kept on board from under the console they were repairing.
“Sylva, send out a distress signal and hail any passing ships in range. We’re gonna need some help getting out of this one.” Once she gave you an affirmative nod, you leaned back in your chair, thinking about everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.
It all started when you were contacted by a trade shop on Alderaan. It seemed like an easy, routine trip. They wanted you to transport some old antiques from the twenty-first century to their sister shop halfway across the galaxy. But of course, your crew seemed to have a knack for getting caught in dangerous situations.
Only a few hours after you departed, your ship had been attacked by a group of smugglers. Apparently, there was some rare artifact within the crates you had been contracted to move. They came aboard to get what they wanted and in the process they wreaked havoc upon your precious ship, leaving you without defenses and only basic life support systems functioning. Thankfully, most of your crew escaped unscathed, and those who had gotten hurt weren’t in critical condition. Now you were stranded, left to float through open space. All you could do was hope someone would come to your rescue.
——
Three days. It had been three days of sitting and waiting for an answer to the call. Your ship was starting to run low on emergency supplies, it wasn’t fit for long time space travel. If nothing changed, you would be having to make very tough calls soon. You’re pulled out of your thoughts by the voice of your first officer, and communications expert.
“Captain! A Starfleet ship is hailing us,” Sylva tells you.
“On screen,” you respond, coming out of your trance-like state, and try to keep a calm composure as a picture of the other ship’s bridge is broadcasted in front of you. The image of a blond man, with beautiful eyes, is suddenly in front of you. His eyes hold a familiarity in them, the bright shade of blue making you feel nostalgic for a far-off time. But you can’t remember ever meeting this man before. Straightening your back, you get ready to use your most authoritative captain voice.
“I am captain Y/L/N and our ship was attacked three days ago by a group of smugglers in search of an artifact we were transporting for an antique shop. They left us with minimal power and few supplies. We are in critical condition. It would be more than greatly appreciated if you could help us in this time of need.”
As you spoke the man’s eyebrows pulled together in a look of confusion until a realization dawned on him and an elated smile now covered his features.
“Y/N/N, I never thought I’d see you again, let alone stuck in deep space,” his eyes twinkled with amusement as your features had their own turn at being pulled into confusion. “Then again, we never could stay out of trouble.”
“I’m sorry, but do I know you?”
“It’s me, Jim Kirk! I know it’s been a long time but you’d think you’d be able to recognize your partner in crime.”
“No way,” you said, astonishment washing over you as it all set in, “the Jim Kirk I know should be sat in a jail back in Iowa not wearing command gold and captaining a ship, the enterprise no less.” A smirk found its way upon your lips as the words left your mouth. Your crew gaped at you, you had just insulted the fleet’s famous, golden boy when you were desperate for help. Of course, none of them were that surprised, since the day you became captain all formality had been thrown out the window.
“I could say the same to you, weren’t you supposed to be a famous movie star by now?” He fires back at you.
Suddenly, it feels like you’re a teenager again. You remember everything about Jim so vividly now. How you two had become friends during one day in detention, then how you caused mayhem wherever you went together, how your friendship blossomed into more, and how it all ended with you leaving that small town to pursue your dreams. Oh, how time had passed.
“Things change Jimmy,” the nickname slips easily from your mouth, you say it without thinking.
“Yeah, they really do,” he has the same look on his face as you. As if he was recalling everything that had happened between you two just as you had been. “It looks like I’ll have to rescue you again, just like the old days.” His words snap you back to your current situation. No time to reminisce when there’s work to be done, problems to be solved.
“From what I remember it was mostly me bailing you out,” you give him a pointed look, “and that would be wonderful.”
“Of course, anything for an old friend,” his voice holds a certain sadness to it. You can’t blame him when you’re feeling the same way. You had missed your childhood best friend and teenage lover. “We’ll beam your crew on board, and then send over our best engineers.”
“I’ll move them to the transport bay now. I’ll be waiting to meet your crew to show them around the ship and explain what happened before meeting you on the enterprise.”
“Sounds like a plan,” and with that, the call ended leaving you to sit back in your chair and let out a deep sigh. Everyone on the bridge was still looking at you.
“I’m pretty sure none of your ears were damaged in the attack, so that means all of you heard the plan. C’mon, let’s go, we don’t want to keep them waiting.” You order before shooing them out of the room and down the hallway.
“Someone can’t wait to see Jimmy,” your best negotiator, Valentina, said in a sing-song voice facing you as she walked backward.
“What? I can’t be excited to see my friend?” You questioned her.
“Only when your friend is the infamous James Kirk, womanizer galore,” she stuck out her hands motioning as if pointing to the words on a sign. You try to smack her arm but she dances just out of reach. This initiates a chase which only ends with you tackling her into a hug in the transport room.
----------
Once you finished showing the group of five engineers around the ship and given them a break down of the attack and what their weapons looked like you left them to their own devices. Taking out your communicator you sent a message to Sylva alerting her that you were ready to be beamed aboard. A few seconds later the warm glow of light encircled you and you were on a ship you’d never seen before, the only thing you recognized being a familiar face.
“C’mere Jimmy let me get a good look at you,” you said extending your arms out as you walked to him. You grabbed his forearms before over exaggeratedly checking him out.
“I could say the same thing to you,” he looks you up and down a smirk on that ridiculously handsome face of his. “Ya know, I waited a long time for a movie starring you to come to theaters, but it never happened.” You take a deep sigh in, you knew he was gonna ask.
“Yeah, about that,” you let go of him instead, going to rub the back of your neck, “I was going to acting school but had to head home two years in. You know how my grandma wasn’t doing so good?” He nods in understanding, a sympathetic look taking over his features. “Well she got worse and I had to move back home and take a job there so I could help pay her medical bills. I started working at that old thrift shop down the road from the high school. That lead to me learning a lot about antiques, which lead to me becoming a specialized trader, and that eventually led me to be a specialist on this ship. The previous captain took me under his wing before he retired and left me his baby and crew.
“But enough about me. I need to hear how they got the Jim Kirk I knew to join Starfleet, not drop out, and then willingly take on responsibilities,” you shift the subject off of you.
“That is a story to share over some drinks,” you’re about to accept his invitation but he continues before you can even get a word out, “but you’ll need to get checked over by a doctor first.”
“Jim, I’m fine!”
“Then why were you limping off the transporter pad?” Damn, he noticed. Even after all this time you still couldn’t hide anything from him.
“If I go, do I get the first glass?” At his small smile and nod, you gesture for him to lead the way. You follow close behind him as he takes you down the winding corridors of the enterprise. It’s such a sharp contrast from your tiny ship that held only twenty people.
“Bones! We have one last crew member for you to look over before you can leave,” Jim says to the back of a brown-haired man. As he turns around he starts to say something but stops when he sees you.
“Leonard?” “Y/N?” You say each other’s names at the same time.
“When you said you were a doctor I thought you meant on planet,” you say.
“And when you said you oversaw trade deals I thought you meant in a store,” he shoots back leaning against a cart and crossing his arms over his chest while quirking an eyebrow.
“Wait, you two know each other?” Jim asks incredulously.
“Yeah, we met on Risa. It’s when we were on shore leave there for a week,” Leonard answers for you.
“So, she’s the beautiful girl you spent all weekend couped up with, ravaging inside of your apartment instead of hanging out with me?” Jim looks shocked and mildly offended at his realization.
“Yes,” Leonard looks as if he’s going to continue but you cut him off before he gets a chance.
“Wait, you told him about us?” You give him an annoyed look.
“Sorry darlin’, I had no idea you were ‘first love’ Y/N from the middle of nowhere Iowa or else I never would have said anything,” he apologizes, shrugging his shoulders.
“It’s okay,” you’re about to continue when someone else enters the med bay not only causing you to realize you were having this conversation in a very public place but that you were familiar with the new face as well.
“Captain, I have the maintenance plan for the shi- Y/N?” The Scottish lilt you had grown accustomed to stopped as he looked over at you.
“Hey, Monty,” you send him a small wave and an even smaller smile. As if this couldn’t get any more awkward.
“You also know Scotty?” Jim questions you eyebrows raising in disbelief.
“Yeah, we, uh, we dated for a few months,” you confess to him, and Leonard. Both men look to Scotty for confirmation and with his nod, all they can do is look between the both of you, mouths agape in shock.
“Ay, lass, it’s good tae see ya. How’s Malvin been doin’?” With all three men’s gazes on you, you can’t help the blush that comes crawling up your cheeks. It feels as if you were placed into an episode of a twentieth-century comedy show they played on tv.
“Malvin is the snake I got while Monty and I were together,” you quickly clarify before anyone can get the wrong idea, “and he’s doing great. He’s so big now, almost four feet. Malv is staying with my sister until I get back, but it seems as if that’s gonna be longer than expected now…,” you trail off.
“Oh, right! Captain, I have the plans my engineering group detailed for me after takin’ a look a’ the poor thing. It seems tae be that the ship will take a’ least two weeks tae repair.” Scotty says while handing Jim the PADD. “Sorry lassie looks like you’ll be stuck with us for awhile,” he finishes as he turns to you.
"Well, being stuck here is better than being stuck in space," you tell him before turning to Leonard, "so, uh, about that physical?"
"Oh, almost forgot, follow me darlin'," he ushers you to a biobed, hand reflexively placing itself on the small of your back, and closes the privacy curtain behind you.