A/N: Warning, if you don't like genderbeding, turn away now. I like pretty much everything I find in this fandom, I'm not a picky one. So I decided to try to write a genderbent Kirk because I've seen people do all kinds of versions and pairings so I thought to put my two cents in. Like it, don't like it, let me know. Flames are laughed upon. So, this starts in the first movie and will go into STID and beyond. Main pairing obviously fem!Kirk/Spock and the rest will come when I think of it. R&R
Life sucks. That is however sole subjective opinion of Jane Tiberia Kirk, bouncing round her head as she made her way into the Shipyard bar currently filling up with newly enlisted cadets. Maybe it was just that. Those smiley faces, all excited to rush through Academy so they can go out in space and explore. When would the realization that their dreamer ideas do not quite meet the reality? Oh, she had no doubt that exploring the unknown was fun and exciting.
It was also very dangerous and had great potential for one to get killed. And then there's the family you leave behind like her mother did. They were good now, friendly even but Jane could not say she had that typical mother-daughter bond with Winona. Jane had seen the utter bad side of one's family members being in Starfleet. Her father with bleeding heart and strong sense of duty, sacrificed himself so others could live and escape some crazy ass Romulan and her mother rarely stayed on Earth longer than two months before jumping back to her ship.
That left Jane and her older brother Sam with Winona's second husband, the drunken Frank. What went through her mother's head when she married that asshole Jane did not know but she did know that Winona divorced him before Jane had returned to Earth completely broken, changed and missing fifteen pounds a healthy thirteen year old of 5'3'' should have had.
Blinking away the horrible memories, she dumped her ass on the barstool and hit right with the good stuff much to suspicion of the bartender but she cared less about what his limited brain could come up with. Deciding she needed a distraction, the perfect opportunity made itself known in the form of slim, dark skinned female cadet looking over the bar's menu; giving around the air of grace, intellect and probably unavoidable pole in her ass. Either way, she looked like a perfect candidate to get winded up by Jane's smartass, flirtatious comments.
She did not expect some five shmucks coming to Uhura's so called rescue, asking her if the townie was bothering her. Uhura tried to laugh it off but Jane still needed distraction and the other three cadets seemed to be protective zealots. She did not expect however that Cupcake would swing the first punch right in her nose just like three of them did not expect to be beaten by a woman that was respectably inch shorter and slimmer than them.
By the time the Starfleet captain that looked familiar to her from somewhere meddled in and broke up the fight, Cupcake's friends were nursing dislocated shoulders and possible mild concussions from being slammed into the bar pole and Cupcake was sporting one very bloody nose and bruised ego.
"Outside. All of you. Now!"
And just like that everyone scrambled out of the bar, leaving Jane alone with the captain and Lew the bartender who just sighed and started to clean up the glassy mess.
"If you'll excuse me Captain Starfleet, I'm gonna hit the bathroom." She told the man and without waiting for his reply, she marched away to get a piss and find a med kit to wrap her bleeding knuckles and put a stop to the bloody nose stream.
"This every night occurrence here?" Christopher Pike asked the bartender whilst ordering a drink.
"No. But it happens almost every time Kirk wanders in Riverside."
The word 'Kirk' fired up Pike's attention. He thought he was looking at a familiar face but until the bartender spoke, he just could not summon up the name.
"Kirk? That's Jane Kirk?"
"Yeah…I don't why she does it though. It always ends up with bleeding knuckles, noses and badly bruised egos. I have no idea where she learnt how to fight but one has to admit she's good. It's as though she comes in here for distraction."
There was more to the story, Pike was sure of it but the bartender would not say more. Just that Kirk was not an every night regular and more came here for fights than drinks. Pike thanked him, took his drink and went to a small terminal in the back to access Kirk's file.
And he could not believe what he was reading. The young woman was by all that was filed a genius. A genius with a nice record of violent altercations and reckless endangerment of her own life. Where the hell did it go wrong in her life so she threw herself in any possible danger without any thought of the consequences for her bare life? For a second, he wanted to smack himself for posing this question, of course he knew when her life went to hell, minutes before she was born but still.
The Starfleet life kept him occupied and last time he saw Winona, she was physically and mentally drained, incapable of being friendly and warm. Jane was mere month old at the time he visited the Kirk family house. He should have kept a better attention on Jane because it seemed a lot of happened in the mean time and none of it was good. It also troubled him that Jane's file prior to her fifteenth year of life was full of holes and redactions. He wondered why that was.
The young woman sauntered back into the bar, swiping a glass of beer and unceremoniously sat at the nearest empty table, flexing her right hand that was wrapped in bandage. She was taller than the average woman, some 5'7'', had her mother's light blonde hair and her father's piercingly blue eyes, looking obviously bored with the world. She needed a challenge, that much he could tell. Maybe, just maybe he could pull her in. From what he could see in front of him and what he read, she could make such a Starfleet captain that could put Archer way down in the history books footnotes.
"I couldn't believe it that it was you when the bartender said your last name." Pike smiled a bit.
"And who am I captain Pike?" Jane asked quite acidly, it was obvious that the young woman in front of him had no respect for authority or Starfleet for that matter.
"Your father's daughter."
She just rolled her eyes at that.
"For my dissertation I was assigned to USS Kelvin. Something I admired about your dad, he didn't believe in no-win scenario."
She snorted.
"He sure learnt his lesson." Jane remarked dryly.
"Well, depends on how you define winning. You're here aren't you?" Pike asked.
"You know that instinct to leap without looking, that was his nature too. In my opinion something Starfleet's lost."
That much was true. Starfleet needed captains that would take their missions with eager challenge and outside of box thinking.
"Why are you talking to me man?" Jane asked, clearly getting annoyed by every passing second.
"Because I looked up your file while you were fixing that mess on your hand and nose." Pike pointed to her wrapped knuckles. "Your aptitude tests are off the chart so what is it?"
"You like being just genius level repeat-offender in the Midwest?"
"Maybe I love it."
"So your dad dies, you can settle for less than ordinary life. Or do you feel like you're meant for something better? Something special." Pike stopped a bit there. "Enlist in Starfleet."
"Enlist?" She sounded shocked and amused at the same time. "You guys must be way down your recruiting quota for the month."
"If you're half the person your father was Jane, Starfleet could use you."
Use you. Damn straight they use people. They used her dead father. And she was screwed up because of it.
"You can be an officer in four year; you can have your own ship in eight." Pike continued, he was not going to be shot down by the girl's sarcasm. "You realize what the Federation is, don't you? It's important. It's a peace keeping and humanitarian armada…"
"Are we done?" She cut him off sharply, making it quite clear that she did not consider Starfleet peace keeping armada at all.
"I'm done." Pike said calmly and stood up. "Riverside shipyard. Shuttle for new recruits leaves tomorrow 0800."
She just raised her glass to that and took a sip.
"Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes." The way her eyes flashed dangerously, meant that she had low tolerance for those who kept reminding her of what her father did. "He saved eight hundred lives, including your mother's and yours. I dare you to do better." He finished and left.
If there was any George Kirk in that bored, angry with the universe woman, she would not back down from a challenge. Pike just hoped there was enough at the Academy to keep her occupied if she did join. People like her got easily bored.
Jane could feel anger bubbling up inside her. How does he dare to presume he knew anything about her? The way he was looking at her, she knew that he knew that she did not back off from the challenge. She paid for her extra drink and left. The bike she owned took her to the shipyard where her eyes watched the Starfleet's flagship that was still under construction. It was something mystic about it that called her in. And with that her mind was made up. It brought smile to her lips when she saw Pike's surprised face when she turned up.
"Four years?" Jane asked as she walked past him. "I'll do it in three." She added confidently and walked inside.
"I have no doubt kid." Pike murmured softly and climbed in the shuttle as well.
He just hoped she would not get in bar brawls often. Hoping for none was foolish. But maybe that number could be kept on low rate.