Work Text:
Of Sea Captains and Starfleet
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
By Susan MM
Standard Fanfic Disclaimer that wouldn’t last ten seconds in a court of law: this is an amateur work of fiction based on characters and situations created by R. A. Dick, David Gerber, Gene Roddenberry, and others (none of whom are me). I’m just borrowing these characters and will return them relatively unharmed or at least suitably bandaged. This is just fanfiction, just typing practice. I make no financial profit from these words.
Of Sea Captains and Starfleet
Schooner Bay, Maine, 1973.
Carolyn Muir frowned as she walked into the living room of Gull Cottage. “I’ve told the kids a hundred times not to leave the TV on when no one’s watching it.” The blonde widow reached for the dial to turn it off.
“No, dear lady, pray leave it on.” She heard a man’s voice out of thin air. “This is one of the better episodes.”
Captain Daniel Gregg’s ghost materialized on the couch in front of her.
“Indeed, ‘Errand of Mercy’ is the episode that introduces Klingons,” he continued.
“I wouldn’t have expected a man of your age to be a Star Trek fan,” Mrs. Muir said.
“Why should I not enjoy a show about a bold captain and his gallant crew aboard a mighty ship?”
“It’s a starship. I thought you died before Jules Verne and H. G. Wells were born.”
“Nay, madam, I’ve spent many a pleasant hour with Monsieur zverne’s scientific romances. Although, I confess, the best of them weren’t published until after my death.”
“Then how did you read them?” she asked.
“Luckily, the ghost at MacGregor’s Bookstore is quite diligent about informing other spectres when they receive new volumes.”
“I didn’t know MacGregor’s Bookstore was haunted. I’ve never seen or heard anything uncanny there.”
“Zebediah is a quiet fellow. He rarely reveals himself to anyone but his descendants.” Captain Gregg admittedly ruefully, almost embarrassed, “Zeb hasn’t my temper.”
Mrs. Muir nodded, but discreetly did not say anything about the captain’s foul temper. He had built Gull Cottage over a century ago and been its original occupant. Mrs. Muir was the current tenant. She had learned to tolerate a ghostly housemate.
“Surely you didn’t think I was the only ghost in Schooner’s Bay?”
“I’ve never given the matter any thought,” she confessed.
Captain Gregg opened his mouth to say something disparaging about female thought processes, then shut his mouth and kept his opinion to himself.
Sea Fever (by John Masefield, 1878-1967)
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
Author's Note
I forget if it’s in canon or merely in fanfic that James T. Kirk likes this poem, but I remember him quoting it. It struck me as something else Captain Kirk and Captain Gregg would have in common.