Brothers first

AUthor's note: As many of you doubtlessly know,today is Star Trek's 46th anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Star Trek!*claps*

As a result, I figured it would be fitting to publish the first chapter of the main Story in the ASTCE-verse, the one that gives it it's name, today. I rushed it a little, so I want to hear your ideas to improve it in reviews.

Also, you might wonder why I published it as a crossover between TOS and Other Star Trek. It's because this installment features characters from most If not all of the TV shows, though TOS is the main one.

Anyhow, enjoy!


It was a wonderful night in the small town called Enterprise. Wonderful for staying out late, that is!

At least, James thought so. Which was why he'd done exactly that. It was now past midnight, and he was still out with a girl in spite of the fact that it was Wednesday night. In spite of Leonard's attempts at a curfew, James pretty much came and went as he wished. It wasn't as though Enterprise was crime-ridden or anything. If anything, it was one of the safer towns, save the few crime-ridden areas around the edges. However, he was sensible enough to not go there. He simply did his homework at the local Diner and drove through the town with the girl of the night.

Yes, the girl of the night. James had nearly unlimited charm, and combined with his fondness for girls and his tendency to flirt meant that he had had a steady supply of girlfriends. However, he had yet to find a girl with whom he'd been able to stay with more than three months. For some reason, he (and she, whoever she happened to be at the time) just drifted apart after that.

"So, what's our destination? Are you taking me home or what?" asked his date of the night, one Natasha Friedman, in a bored voice. He had a strong suspicion that they were running out of steam as a couple. Mainly, this was because she was rather possessive, insisting he spend every night with her and eat linch at her table every day. However, the facts that the two of them had very little in common hardly helped.

"Yeah, we'll go to my place," he agreed, silently deciding to figure out what to do to save their relationship later, and revved up his car's engine. His family, one of the more well-off ones in Enterprise, was one of the few which owned two cars. While neither of his parents were in town that often, oftem traveling for some work-related issue or other, the two cars were still both used quite liberally by the boys. This one, a bright red vintage convertible his big brother had messed with to make the engine one of the most fuel efficient any of the boys had ever heard of, happened to be the one he preferred. Thus, he always used it on dates. And on pretty much anything which only involved two people.

As soon as he got home, he climbed out of the car and circled over to Natasha's door, where he opened it and offered her his arm. No one could say James wasn't a gentleman. As a matter of fact, it was one of his many attractive features.

As Natasha was taking his arm and smirking, James chanced a look at his home. It was a fairly nice place, with enough room for him and his six brothers to be comfortable, although they used all the available space. He dearly loved #1701, the home he'd known for all his life.

Looking through one window, he realized that a light was still on. This particular light was a lamp at the table in the small breakfast nook. Someone was still up at this inordinately late hour.

He walked into his home, Natasha hanging on his arm like a very large purse.

"So what are we going to do, Jimmy?" she asked him in what she believed to be a sensual voice. He put a free finger to his lis, not wanting to wake anyone else up.

"How about sandwiches?" he suggested (in a quiet voice) as an excuse to get to the kitchen (and the adjoining breakfast nook). He wanted to see exactly who it was who'd remained awake to wait for him. He had a pretty good idea of who it was. Although all of his brothers loved him, Only three members of his family were devoted enough to him to do something like that, and two of them were old enough to realize how stupid it would be to wait for him like that. Besides, he was hungry, as he often these days. Ah, the joys of being a teenager.

"What? But we already ate," she replied, obviously nonplussed.

"Yeah, three hours ago," he pointed out as they crept through his living room. Indeed, they had eaten dinner at the Enterprise Diner at 9:00 after finishing their homework. "How about just some small sandwiches?"

"Whatever," she sighed. "Come on, let's go."

At this point, they'd reached the kitchen. And absolutely no one was there. James wondered if Leonard had simply left a light on or something. He absent mindedly indicated for Natasha to sit down at the breakfast table and turned to get the things for a proper sandwich.

And then, Natasha screamed.

James whirled around to see a figure wearing a hideous mask emerge from under the table. The mask even gave James the creeps with its shaggy head, sunken black eye sockets, a complete lack of pupils, and a mouth shaped vaguely like a vacuum nozzle without an attachment. James could nearly see the thing putting its mouth on his hand, leaving angry red marks and sucking him dry of-whoa. He quickly pushed his mind back to the present, wondering where that random tangent of thought had come from. That happened to him a lot, come to think of it.

Where was he? Oh, right. The ugly creature. Or rather, the supposedly hideous creature. James calmed right down when he realized it was wearing yellow footed pajamas. No monster in their right minds would do that. However, he knew who would.

"Calm down, Natasha. You, take that mask off," he ordered. For some reason, people listened when he gave orders. Natasha sure did. As did the monster, who removed its mask to demonstrate that it was not a monster after all, just a boy with dark hair from the 60s and a remarkably innocent expression. Still holding the scary mask, he walked up to James, his footed pajamas deadening any sound his small feet might make. Soon enough, he was standing right in front of James, who knelt to meet the little one. For a moment, the two simply looked at each other. Then the younger boy threw his arms around James' neck, who wrapped his own arms around the boy as he stood up.

"Hey, Pavel," he said with a grin. The aforementioned boy, who was in fact his adopted brother Pavel, grinned widely in response and dropped the mask, then buried his head in James' neck. Although the seven-year-old never spoke, James understood him as well as if he were a little chatterbox who would say what came to his mind.

"You two were in cahoots to scare me," Natasha sounded angry now. "You and your freak of a little brother."

Pavel froze. James turned slowly to face her. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me! You and that little freak decided to pull a prank on me!"

"Calm down," James pleaded. "It was just my brother being silly. We didn't plan this and he meant no harm."

"I can't believe you're siding with him! Fine, I'm going home." Scowling, Natasha flounced out.

"Over-emotional much?" Kirk remarked softly. Pavel was trembling like a leaf in James' arms. James held him close, furious how she'd insulted his brother-until he realized Pavel was shaking with laughter. Although he didn't talk, Pavel certainly could do things such as laugh or cry. Therefore, Leonard had deduced he was capable of speech, and that his being mute was psychological rather than physical. Why this psychological mutism occurred in the young one was totally unknown, though they had theorized a great many possibilities.

Gently, James set Pavel down and collapsed onto the floor in laughter. The two laughed their heads off for about two minutes straight until Pavel sat up, brushed his dark brown bangs out of his eyes, and smiled at his older brother. James soon got a grip on himself as well.

"She got the short end, huh?" James said with a smirk. "She'll have to walk home and lost her boyfriend." Pavel gave him an inquiring look. "You really think I'd stay with someone who called my brother a freak?"

Just like that, the smile faded off Pavel's face. He was often judged as such for his silence, and few things hurt the child more deeply. Just a harmless joke had ended up with a nasty insult.

"Hey, we both know it's not true, right?" James drew the child close once more. "She's the freak, not you. Just put it out of your head." Slowly, Pavel relaxed and gave James a light grin.

"Let's get to bed, Pavel," James suggested, figuring the seven-year-old must be exhausted and would be able to put the incident out of his mind. However, said seven-year-old had other ideas. Pavel shook his head and gave his older brother a pleading look.

"Yes, we have a chance for some peace and quiet away from the other five. But we should both get to sleep."

Another pleading look.

"…fine. But only five minutes."

Pavel grinned widely.

"How about some warm milk? And some small sandwiches?"


Author's note: Can you find the Reference to The Man Trap, the first episode of TOS to air? Let me know in a review and thanks! Reviews fuel this verse, you know.