My first fic - lemme know (constructively) what you think.
I just love the 'verse - I don't lay claim to anything in it.
A Captain and a Vulcan walk into a bar…
It was almost anti-climactic, last week they were racing around at warp speeds and saving Earth (and tragically unable to save Vulcan) but this week three new friends were sitting in a quiet bar just outside of San Francisco's Chinatown. Sulu, a San Francisco native, had thought that this would be the perfect place to knock back a few drinks and give everyone a chance to relax.
"Another vodka, lad?" said Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, late of Delta Vega and now serving as the Chief Engineer on the USS Enterprise, to a bleary-eyed youth slumping in his chair.
"No tank you…I tink I am already hung over."
"Och, now what kind of man are you that you can't take another wee dram of vodka…'tis not like it is something strong, like whiskey."
Sulu chuckled to himself at the outrageous accents his crewmates had, accents that had gotten broader throughout the night, no doubt because of the copious amounts of alcohol that had been consumed.
Scotty beckoned for another round, vodka for Chekov, whiskey for Scotty and a beer for Sulu and in a moment the bar's only waitress had brought it over.
As she sat the drinks down, a newcomer to the bar spoke up "Put those on my tab and I'll have what he's having." The man was older than the others and spoke with an accent that placed his origins in the southern part of what was still referred to as the United States, even after the united government of Earth was formed. He was pointing at the now-empty shot glass that Scotty was holding.
"McCoy, I always knew ye had good taste…and I'll take another too…on your tab"
As the waitress walked back to the bar, McCoy sat down with the others.
"Any word from Jim, yet?"
At the mention of their newly appointed Captain's name, Chekov tried, rather unsuccessfully, to straighten up in his chair.
Sulu held out his hand to steady Chekov lest the boy-genius fall to the floor and replied, "Well, he said that Spock had invited him to a wake for his mother, but that it should be over by about now."
"I would think that a Vulcan wake would be a dull affair…now Scots, we know how to throw a wake." Scotty said as he started to stack his shot glasses into a pyramid.
"Not a Vulcan wake," Sulu said, "Spock's mother was human…it's for the human side of his family."
"Well," said Scotty as he drank Chekov's latest shot of vodka and use the glass to finish off his impressive tower of barware, "then I suppose the lovely Lt. Uhura will be with them."
"Why would you think that?" McCoy leaned in towards Scotty, his eyebrow arched as he spoke.
"Seeing that Spock and she are, ahem," Scotty looked around dramatically and lowered his voice, "intimate. If ye know what I mean."
"Uhura and that cold-blooded sonovabitch?" McCoy said with genuine surprise in his voice.
"He didn't seem so cold-blooded when I beamed he and Jim over to Narada and Uhura sent him off with kisses and tears." The Scotsman smiled at the memory of the sight, "That lass could send me off to my doom anytime - as long as she kissed me first."
The waitress brought over two more whiskeys and set them down in front of McCoy and Scotty. Chekov was singing quietly to himself in Russian.
"I suppose that their business is their business," Sulu took a swig from his bottle, "but isn't that really against Star Fleet regulations…I mean, Commander Spock doesn't seem to be the type to break rules."
McCoy downed his shot in one motion and in an expansive voice said, "The heart, even one that pumps green blood, wants what the heart wants."
Scotty snickered, "I am not sure it was his heart that was a-wantin' the lass."
"Well, whatever the reason, I am sure they won't let it get in the way of their duty."
"Let what get in the way of whose duty, Sulu?"
Sulu almost did a spit-take as the female object of their conversation came up behind him.
"Uhura, we didn't know if you would meet us here, I mean with the wake and um, well, your schedule and…uh…want a beer??" Sulu was verbally backpedaling and could feel a hot blush on his cheeks, a blush that he hoped Uhura would attribute to the beer he held in his hands.
"Not a beer," the lovely lieutenant said, "but I will take a Cardassian Sunrise. And what wake are you talking about?" A frown etched itself in her full lips as she thought about all the lives lost in the past week, including her Academy roommate, Gaila.
McCoy, whose experience with dealing with the fair sex was at least equal to that of all the other men at the table combined, well at least Sulu and Chekov, cleared his throat and decided that a change of topic was in order, "Well, my dear, your drink is on me if you can get Chekov to quit singing."
Uhura laughed a very musical laugh as she sat down between Scotty and the drunken Russian, "I don't know if I want to work that hard for my drink, Doctor."
"Doctor was my father's name, please, call me Bones." McCoy sketched a courtly bow in his chair and continued, "That's what all my close, personal friends call me."
"Close, personal friends, like Jim Kirk?" she said a little archly.
"The Captain? He is here?" Chekov mumbled, stopping his song as he looked blearily about for his commanding officer.
"Yes, Chekov, he is here and he would like you to stop singing." Uhura quickly said.
"Aye aye, Captain!" Chekov said as he tried, unsuccessfully, to salute and then laid his head on the table.
"Voila! No more singing! Bones, you owe me a drink." Uhura smiled as McCoy again beckoned the waitress to their table and ordered everyone, minus the now softly snoring Chekov, another round.
"You sound as if you don't like our new Captain." Scotty chimed in, "I think he's simply brilliant! Why without him showing up on Delta Vega, I would still be there. It was serin, serindip, errr…fate that brought him to me."
"Well, fate aside," McCoy said as he looked directly at the xenolinguist, "you should give Jim a chance, he might be a bit brash but he is a good man, and a good friend."
"I'll take your opinion under advisement, Bones." Uhura nodded her thanks to the waitress as the brightly colored Cardassian Sunrise was placed in front of her and she took a sip.
Twenty more minutes of conversation passed between McCoy, Scotty, Sulu and Uhura. They covered wide-ranging topics such as warp coil configurations, the best sushi bar in the city, how big Chekov's hangover would be in the morning and the chances that the Cardiff Giants had in this year's World Cup when the door to the bar opened and three people walked in.
Even out of their Star Fleet uniforms, two of them were immediately recognized by the group. James T. Kirk, the youngest Captain of a Constitution-class starship in fleet history was wearing dark blue, traditionally cut suit with a white shirt and an understated tie and standing next to the Captain was Commander Spock wearing a dark grey suit of similar cut to Kirk's. The third person, however, was unknown to the group. Although, by the way she was holding Spock's arm, she was quite well known to him.
Her honey colored hair was tumbled about her shoulders in loose waves and she was dressed in a very fashionable sleeveless black dress that ended well above her knees. In the low heels she wore, she stood about five foot eight and she looked to be in her early twenties. As the trio stood in the doorway, she reached up, and with a gesture born of familiarity, ran her hand through Spock's hair, gently ruffling his severe cut so that it gave a bit of softness to his face. She said something that the group at the table couldn't hear, but it made Kirk laugh loudly as Spock favored her with what might have been a micro-second long grin.
McCoy and Scotty looked at each other and then at Uhura and then at the woman holding Spock's arm. "My God, man," Scotty whispered to McCoy, "how does Spock land all the lovelies?"
"I have no idea, but I think we might have a fight on our hands that will make what we went through last week look anemic." Bones whispered back to Scotty as Uhura's eyes went hard and her hands gripped her glass tightly as Jim, Spock and the gorgeous young woman strode towards their table.
END CHAPTER 1