Chapter Text
Stardate: 3271.86
Today was a very unusual day for the bridge crew. Why it was unusual, is that it was 12:00 and everyone was on the bridge all except the captain, who has not been seen all morning, not even in the mess hall or the rec room.
There were constant worried glances at the captain’s chair, as if a ghost was sitting there watching them all.
‘Uhura, com the captain,’ ordered Spock, who was also concerned.
The lieutenant nodded and pressed the intercom.
‘Bridge to Captain Kirk, come in captain???’
Nothing, just a buzz.
‘Captain Kirk, respond?’
Still no response.
‘Uhura, try asking the doctor if he’s seen the captain.’
Uhura nodded again, and she messaged the doctor.
‘McCoy here?’
‘Doctor, have you seen the captain at all recently?’
‘No.’ McCoy replied gruffly.
‘Isn’t he on the bridge?’
‘It is obvious that he is not, Doctor, as we would not be asking you otherwise. An illogical question as per usual.’
(I don’t need to waste time telling you who just bent over Uhura’s shoulder to make that comment).
‘Alright, jeez. I’ll go to his quarters and check on him’.
‘Thank you, Doctor’.
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McCoy’s POV
‘The things I do for them,’ I sighed, ‘and do they ever thank me for it? No. It’s always McCoy to the rescue, or McCoy do this, or McCoy do that. Let’s let dear old McCoy deal with all our problems, while we just sit on our fat backsides and do nothing.’ I sighed again, as I stepped inside the lift. ‘I should have a pay rise.’
I called for deck five. Then headed for my best friend’s quarters.
I rang the doorbell (well the buzzer).
No response.
‘Jimbo?’
Nothing.
‘Computer, where is the captain?’
“Captain Kirk is in his quarters.”
I called his name again, but when there was still no response, I used my doctor’s override.
I stepped into the captain’s quarters and paused when I saw the captain sitting on his bed, with his head in his hands, his fingers digging into his scalp, muttering something.
‘Jim?’
Jim looked up, then quickly jumped up, as if he’d just touched electricity.
‘Oh, hi Bones, what are you doing here? How may I help you?’
‘Jim, what’s wrong?’
‘What? Why would anything be wrong? I am totally fine’.
He gave an obviously nervous laugh and put on an obvious fake smile.
‘Jim, when a person uses the word “totally” in a statement, it is generally not true. You are not fine.’
Jim carried on insisting he was fine, but it was obvious he was getting flustered, as he was wringing his hands, and he didn’t even look like he knew what he was saying.
I was just about to use my ultimate secret weapon on the captain, just when the bridge decided this was a convenient time to com me, to ask me about the captain.
“Bridge to Doctor McCoy. Have you found the captain?”
I swear to God, one of these days I am going to strangle that hobgoblin.
Jim suddenly became a lot more flustered.
‘Oh Damn…The bridge…I should be on the bridge…’
Before I could stop him, he was out like a shot, and I have to say I have never seen him move that fast before, which concerned me even more. James T Kirk is not alright at all.
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Uhura’s POV
The captain came rushing onto the bridge, and jumped into his chair, looking rather flustered. He didn’t look himself: his hair was dishevelled, as if he’d been pulling at it; his eyes were blood shot; and his zipper was undone…But everyone thought better not to say anything.
‘Captain, are you okay?’ I ask gently.
‘I’m fine, lieutenant,’ he said slightly hoarsely. Of course I was not convinced, but I decided to leave it for now.
Even Mr. Spock noticed that something was up. But he was less mindful than me:
‘Are you sure sir? Because I have noticed…’
‘I said, I’m fine!’ Kirk suddenly snapped, slamming his fist into his seat, which made everybody jump.
He suddenly realised what he’d done, and sheepishly apologised, and looked straight ahead at the stars, with his head in his hands.
We all fell silent after that.
Spock and I couldn’t help staring at the captain with concern. We were obviously thinking the same thing. The captain noticed our stares and looked our way.
We turned back to our consoles; I sent a message to Spock.
“I believe we are both thinking the same thing about the captain”.
Spock didn’t take too long to respond.
“If we are both thinking that the captain is in distress; then yes, we are”.
“What do you suggest we do?”
“I do not know lieutenant, perhaps after our shift we could stop by his quarters and question him”.
“Agreed”.
We continued with our shifts for the next 4 hours. Nothing drastic or exciting happened, meaning no one physically died, we didn’t bump into any Romulans or Klingons, or anything hostile. Starfleet made a big blunder with us, they sent us fourteen lightyears into space, to sort out a distress signal which came from Delta IV, which turned out to be a false alarm. Kirk looked like he was going to have a fit. McCoy came up and began roasting Starfleet.
Five seconds later Kirk’s PADD beeped, and when Kirk looked at it, he froze and I swear I saw his nose flare, and he looked even more tense than before. He then looked up and scanned everyone, before abruptly leaving the bridge.
McCoy looked shocked.
Sulu tentatively went over to the chair as if it were a sleeping dragon, as he was not entirely sure if he had the authorisation to take the con.
Spock and I stared at each other in great concern. Whatever just came up on the captain’s PADD, might just have something to do with what is clearly upsetting him.