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Chapter One
"Sir, I'm receiving a secure transmission from Starfleet. Captain's eyes only." Uhura spun from her station to face the command chair.
Kirk turned to face her, his wide-eyed gaze meeting hers as an expression of confusion crossed his face. An eyes only transmission? A sense of foreboding swept through him as he stood and wiped suddenly damp hands against his pants.
"Uh… I guess… put it through to Captain Pike's ready room?" Somehow the command came out sounding like a question.
"Aye, sir."
Uhura's hands hovered over her console as she waited for Kirk to disappear into the private office set aside for the ship's captain before transferring the call.
"Wonder what that's about?" Sulu muttered as the doors slid shut behind Kirk.
Less than a minute passed before Kirk's voice sounded through the comm.
"Uhura, I've lost Starfleet. Can you get them back?"
Once again, her fingers danced over the control board.
"Captain, I have Starfleet," she announced in short order.
"Thanks," came his reply.
Seconds later the doors to the ready room slid open. Kirk stood in the open doorway and gestured towards the communications officer.
"Uhura." Frustration colored his voice. "I don't know what's going on but I keep losing them. Would you please just come in here and do whatever it is you do to keep the channel open?"
Uhura stood and smoothed the short skirt of her uniform over her thighs as she moved into the ready room. She sat at the auxiliary comms station and quickly hailed Starfleet.
"I have Acting Captain Kirk for Commander Parsons," she announced.
"This is supposed to be a secure transmission, Kirk." Parsons' image appeared and then faded into a burst of static. Uhura worked efficiently to boost the signal.
"Sir, the Enterprise sustained a fair amount of damage in battle with the Narada." Kirk's reply bore traces of suppressed irritation. "We're having difficulty maintaining a clear signal. Cadet Uhura is here to assist."
Parsons waved a dismissive hand. "Fine. It's nothing the rest of the crew won't find out soon enough." He drew a data pad across his desk and consulted the notes contained therein.
"Fleet shuttles will be rendezvousing with the Enterprise in two days," he announced. "Medical shuttles and personnel will arrive first to evacuate Captain Pike and the rest of the wounded." Kirk's eyes closed briefly with relief. The Enterprise had warped out in response to Vulcan's distress call a month earlier than it's originally schedule shakedown cruise and as a result, it had left space dock without being fully equipped. Supplies, including medical equipment, had been left behind and Bones had spent a good portion of the last few days bemoaning his inability to provide proper medical treatment to all who needed it.
"That's good to hear," Kirk replied, flashing a relieved grin toward Uhura.
Parsons merely grunted in response and continued to review his notes.
"The rest of the crew will board their shuttles as soon as the wounded have been evacuated. The Vulcan survivors on board will leave on separate shuttles and will be brought to an undisclosed location. Commander Spock has requested that he accompany his father and the rest of the Vulcan party."
Kirk and Uhura exchanged twin looks of surprise and then refocused as the briefing continued.
"Kirk, you and the rest of the cadets serving as senior staff – including Dr. McCoy and Engineer Scott – will be the last to disembark."
Kirk nodded in agreement.
"Yes, sir. We'll see the Enterprise back to space dock."
"No," Parsons interrupted. "You won't."
"Sir?" Kirk's expression revealed his confusion.
"As you can well imagine, the press is going crazy down here. They want pictures and that's where your senior staff comes in." Parsons leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers below his chin.
"They want an interview and a story…" Again a burst of static briefly interrupted the transmission. "…where you come in, Cadet."
"Begging your pardon, sir," Kirk said slowly. "We lost the signal there for a moment, please repeat the last part."
"I think you understood me perfectly well, Kirk." Parsons replied. "But I'll repeat so there is no confusion."
Uhura noted Kirk curling his fingers into fists out of sight of the view screen and shook her head at him warningly.
"Your bridge crew and the rest of those serving as senior staff will accompany you back to San Francisco. You will all pose prettily for the press. And then you will make yourself available for interviews – all carefully selected by Starfleet, of course, and not until after you've gone through a mission debriefing and have been briefed by me or another member of Starfleet Media Affairs on what you may or may not discuss with the press."
Kirk drew in a deep breath in a bid for calm.
"Due respect, sir. I spent a good bit of my childhood being trotted out by Starfleet as its poster child for grief and if it's all the same with you-"
"And now, you'll be our poster child for victory." Parsons cut him off.
"The loss of an entire planet and three quarters of Starfleet's graduating class hardly qualifies as a victory," Kirk snarled. "Why me?" he asked tightly.
Parsons slapped his hands down onto the desk and sat up straight. "Kirk, you may be Acting Captain of the Enterprise but you are still a Cadet with no authority once you are off that ship. And you are grossly confused if you think otherwise. This is not a request. This is an order. In the wake of the loss of Vulcan and of so large a portion of your classmates, the Federation is in desperate need of a positive story. You're a hero, son. Deal."
Kirk leaned into the view screen, menace in every line of his body.
"And the fact that I'm George Kirk's son…?"
"Who outmaneuvered and outwitted his father's murderer, destroying him in the process?" Parsons' mouth curved in a self-satisfied smile. "Is icing on the cake." He stabbed a finger toward the view screen. "Two days, Cadet," he warned. "Starfleet out."
The view screen went blank. Uhura sat in silence – unsure as to whether she should leave or stay. She watched Kirk carefully and saw a muscle ticking furiously in his clenched jaw.
"Goddamnit!"
Uhura jumped as Kirk shoved himself to his feet. He flung a PADD across the room where it ricocheted harmlessly off the far wall. He scrubbed his hands over his face and his chest rose and fell in carefully regulated breaths.
Rage, grief and a host of other emotions competed for dominance over his face before he managed to regain control.
He turned his gaze on Uhura and she was struck by the bleakness in his eyes which was at odds with the taut and cool expression on his face.
"You heard the man, Uhura. Please pass the word to all departments." He walked around the table to pick up the data pad he had thrown.
"Aye, sir."
She headed toward the doors leading back to the bridge and paused when he called her name.
"Uhura."
She turned and studied the rigid set of his shoulders as he stared down at the glossy surface of the table beneath his fingers.
"You might want to make sure you get a picture of McCoy's face when you tell him to make himself pretty for the cameras."
A startled laugh escaped her as she imagined the doctor's reaction to the news and she clapped a hand over her mouth. Kirk craned his head around to face her.
"I'll be sure to do that," she promised, relieved to see a trace of his trademark grin twist his generous lips.
She hesitated again as the doors to the bridge slid open.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
He leaned back against the table, struck by the quiet note of concern in her voice.
"I'm fine," he smiled. "Thanks."
They held one another's gaze for a long moment.
"Go," he said, jerking his head towards the door. "It's okay."
Uhura pulled herself to attention in a brief show of respect.
"Aye-aye… Captain."
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TBC