Yeah... a new Star Trek (2009) story from yours truly. We'll see how far this goes.

Enjoy.

Out of the blue she showed up, all swagger and allure, capturing the attention of anyone she passed. She wore the same cadet red uniform as they all did, but it didn't seem to fit her well. Not in a physical sense, because the uniform was tailor made for her body, but in a metaphorical sense. She carried herself in such a way that the cadet reds just seemed wrong on her, as if she were too good for their basic colors and mostly barren shoulders. And maybe she was, because it was sinfully plain when compared to how stunning she was with her long, honey blonde hair that transitioned into a deep, luxurious brown with curls so perfect wars would be started in their honor. When she blinked, long lashes would sweep across her high cheekbones, framing her upturned eyes, which were the color of the finest cognac. Her cupid shaped lips were painted an immaculate shining crimson, the only artificial color upon her face, as she wore no other makeup. It took only a glance to know that she was tall already, even before the additional two inches her regulation boots afforded her, standing evenly among most Andorian females at a solid 5'9". Her athletic, more rectangular body shape wasn't even unattractive on her, even though her more feminine aspects were lacking in extra inches that would otherwise, if possible, make her more attractive. All of this, of course, she found to be a curse. It was a curse that could, upon occasion, work in her favor, but ultimately she would prefer to have simply gone without such aspects of herself. She was entirely too noticeable in crowds, especially when all she wanted to do was blend in.

Case in point: It was a balmy, breezy day in San Francisco, at Starfleet Academy, when she was first noticed by one of their more gregariously infamous students. James Tiberius Kirk, widely known for the actions of the father that sacrificed his life so that his small family and the crew of which he was newly appointed captain of could live. The impish son of a man regaled as a hero; a son that spent a large portion of his life as a genius level repeat offender in the Midwest. A man who, by merit alone, couldn't simply sit by and let a woman who gained his intrigue walk by.

Stardate: 2256.24

"No way in hell, Jim." Leonard Horatio McCoy hadn't lived with a man who had the libido of a rabbit for two years without being able to tell when he was going to go in over his head. The least he could do for his friend was make sure the poor idiot knew when he was lusting for something well out of his league, because even though it was entertaining to watch Jim Kirk be turned down by a gorgeous woman, it was him who would have to deal with the moping for the next two weeks.

Jim, for all that it was worth, managed to look slightly abashed for having been caught in his ogling. They had chosen to move their usually indoor studies outside because of the wonderful weather, but it was a huge distraction for him. Especially since the only class he had an upcoming test in was advanced warp mechanics, and he knew the material years ago. He was just humoring Bones by pretending to study with him, since the poor old fogey had a pretty difficult xenobiology test coming up. "C'mon, Bones, she's smokin'," he tried to justify, whining in just the way he knew Bones hated hearing. "Why do you always gotta be so hard on me? I'm Jim Kirk, lady pleaser extraordinaire. Or have you not noticed all the women I've had stay the night compared to the number you have?"

Bones exhaled a long-suffering sigh as he rolled his eyes, leaning back against his chair and crossing his arms. "Jim, we've gone over this. Not all of us can afford to be a genius playboy philanthropist. Us lesser beings have to study in order to pass their classes."

The blond was grinning by the time his doctor-friend was done speaking, shrugging it off. "I told you already, Bones. You could go without studying for a few days and be fine. You just stress out too easily."

"I stress out too easily?" Bones demanded in a huff, glaring at Jim. "Please, you were the one who saw a zit, of all things, and nearly lost your collective mind."

Jim bolted upright from his sprawled, relaxed position in his chair at that, glaring pointedly at him. "We agreed to never speak of that."

Bones snorted at that, shaking his head. "You said that, but I distinctly remember not agreeing."

"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt…." A smoky, orotund voice spoke up from Jim's left, prompting the two men to stop glaring at each other and turn to collectively glare at the intruder… who happened to be the same woman Jim had been lustily staring after not long ago.

Jim perked up immediately, adopting his best suave, appealing face as he leaned towards her, one thick eyebrow raised in either question or invitation. "Don't worry about it. You're not interrupting anything important, Miss…?"

Bones elected to not say anything to the new arrival, instead smugly sitting back in his seat to watch Jim try to use his 'charm' on her.

Her rouge painted lips curved into an amused smile as she looked down at him, reaching into the bag slung around her shoulder to retrieve a small, metal, cylindrical container. She sat it on the table in front of Jim. "It's Vice Admiral, actually," she corrected him, her smile widening as Jim and Leonard shared identically confused looks. "Don't worry about it, Jim, Leonard. I've gotta get going anyway. That's for you, Jim," she pointed with one well manicured finger at the metallic cylinder, "Don't try to force it open. It'll open on its own on stardate 2257.04." There was a twinkle in her eyes as she watched them, a fond smile taking over features.

Jim's confused look didn't fade any with her poor excuse of an explanation, his brows furrowing as he picked up the object and looked it over. "Look, 'Vice Admiral'. You feeling alright? Bones here is a doctor, and…."

But by the time he and Leonard both glanced back to where she was standing, she had disappeared. In every direction they looked there was nary a sign of her.

"What the hell, Jim?" Bones asked him as he tried to figure out what just happened, watching as Jim fiddled with the small container in his hands. "That strike you as odd as it did me?"

"Uh, yeah. That was really weird," Jim affirmed, and finding nothing really wrong with the container, he pushed it into his bag. "You think we should report it?"

Bones snorted, shaking his head ruefully. "Yeah, we'll just let them know that a stunning woman walked up to us while we were outside studying, called herself an admiral, gave you a little gift that won't open 'til your next birthday, and then disappeared. They definitely won't think there's anything wrong with us."

Jim's retort was to roll his eyes and stuff the rest of his things into his pack, chuckling a little. "Alright, alright, touche. You've got a fair point. But still, I dunno if we should just not report it."

"Tell ya what, Jim, you wanna report it? Go ahead. But I ain't going to be a part of it," Bones informed him, also packing away his things as well.

As the day waned on, Jim decided to not report the strange incident. It wasn't like anything terrible happened, and as much as he didn't want to admit it… Bones was right. It would be a little fishy for them to report something like that. In actuality, it didn't take very long for the duo to forget about the encounter. What with midterms and eventually finals, it was months until they remembered the woman. It wasn't until the strange, metal cylinder began to hum that they were even barely reminded of the event.