Training cruises were not supposed to go like this, at least not in theory. The USS Farragut was responding to a distress call when a bunch of Orion marauders decided that they were a better prize then the small transport vessel that the Starfleet crew tried to rescue. Jim had a front row seat to all the action because she was on the bridge when everything went tits up. Fortunately, Jim knew what she was doing and the captain let her man the tactical station during the crisis. They fought off the Orions and ended up destroying their ship. It was the aftermath that wasn't as fun.
The ship was a mess, there were plenty of injured crew members all over the place and damage that would take forever to fix. She knew she'd have to stop by medical at some point since her best friend was in there somewhere working his magic. Bones was the grumpiest medical professional you'll ever meet. He gets away with his atrocious bedside manner because he happens to be one of the best doctors you'll ever encounter. The southerner blushes when she says that and Jim always notices the smirk when he thinks she's not looking.
Jim made her way to Engineering and looked around. A mess of twisted metal, exposed wiring and people running around, she tried to stay out of the way in her search for the person in charge but ended up bumping right into an engineer. "Sorry, Lieutenant Scott." The man looked at her, "Do I know ya, lass?" Jim shook her head, "No, sir. You're the aide for Admiral Archer's Advanced Relativistic Mechanics course. I'm scheduled to take it next semester." He nodded, "Right. We're a bit busy down here, lass. What can I do for ye?"
"Actually, I was wondering if I could help." The disheveled engineer looked at her as if she lost her mind. Anyone else would've been offended but she was used to looks like that. Part of it came from being a dead hero's daughter, another part of it was that she was at the top of her class and last, but not least, she was the Captain Christopher Pike's pretty, blonde protégé. If people bothered to read her file they'd know she was a genius. She followed him as he started walking, "You command cadets think ye know everything. Are ya trying to impress the captain or something, lass?"
"No, sir. I have a master's degree in Plasma Dynamics and Warp Theory. We took a bit of a beating and Engineering had the most injured, which means you could use some people down here that know what they're looking at. The warp core is down and impulse is sputtering, we have an hour left on that engine... tops. We have blackouts all over the place and the only thing that's not damaged is auxiliary life support. My section leader told me that I had to ask the acting chief engineer if I wanted to help, I'm guessing that's you, sir. I have no idea if Captain Garrovick even knows I'm down here."
Scott stopped by the warp core and sighed, "I could use a hand with the antimatter injectors. Can ye handle that, Kirk?" Jim bit back a laugh; she could fix those in her sleep. "Yes, sir."
"Heard you had a bit of excitement out there." They got comms back that morning and Jim finally got the chance to comm home. Of course, she contacted Pike. Jim looked at him through the vid-comm, "Nothing we couldn't handle, sir. We should be back in a few days as long as Scott keeps us in one piece." He chuckled, "Who?" Jim explained the acting chief engineer to her mentor. "Sounds like the kind of friend you'd make, kid." She smiled, "Was that a jab at my friends?" Pike shook his head, "No, I'm on that short list. At least, I think I am."
"I should hope so. You and Bones are the only ones who put up with me. I don't know if I'd call Scott a friend, I'm sure he just tolerates me because I'm a good engineer and we're in need of those around here." That earned her a laugh from the Starfleet captain that pulled her out of a dingy bar in Riverside two years ago. "Maybe. Look, I gotta get back to work, kiddo." She chuckled, "Me too. No rest for cadets on training cruises." Pike chuckled, "Just do me a favor and stay out of trouble." Jim shrugged, "I'll do my best, sir."
"Not half bad for a command cadet." Jim smiled from her spot under one of the power converter control panels, "Got something against command cadets, sir?" He chuckled, "It's Scotty when we're down here. And the answer to yer question is no. I'm just trying to figure out how someone with a knack for engineering ended up picking command."
"My dad started out in security and went tactical, my mother is the engineer. I could've gone either way, or with computer programming. I'm at the top of my survival strategies and tactical analysis classes, I'm also the assistant instructor in advanced hand-to-hand combat and the treasurer of the xenolinguistics club," she shrugged, "I could've even picked something completely random."
"That sounds like quite the dilemma, lass," he told her sarcastically. Jim chuckled, "Not really. I picked the two I loved most. My focus is tactical and my sub-focus is engineering. Pike thought I was crazy but he signed off on it." Scott nodded, "We could always use good engineers." She smirked, "We could also use commanders who understand what's under the hood."
"You know what… I'll give ye that one, lass. I think the basic engineering requirement needs to be overhauled." She chuckled, "No kidding. So, what about you?" Scotty smiled, "Ever heard of the Aberdeen Solution?" She nodded, "Yea, it was published in the 'The Encyclopedia of Engineering Development and Design' when I was like four." Scotty chuckled and it clicked. "Oh my God, you're that Montgomery Scott."
"Guilty as charged." The Aberdeen Solution was an engineering feat that Scotty solved when he was fifteen. He constructed seven separate field generators to simulate the multiple interlocked shields of a group of Klingon warships, disproving the Perera Theory by proving that photon torpedoes would not cause an interruption of shield cohesion when precisely placed and detonated at the junction points of the field. He made a bunch of people –including Starfleet- look like idiots.
"I don't know if it's more impressive that ye know what the Aberdeen Solution is or the fact that ye were four when I wrote it." Jim shrugged, "School was boring and I flew past those idiots. I spent a lot of time reading." Understatement of the century since there was no real point in her going to school. Jim tested out of a lot of stuff and graduated from high school when she was twelve.
When her mother was planet side, Jim watched her and learned everything she could. When her mother was away, Jim had her nose in a PADD or an old school book. Sam, her brother, would give her anything he could get his hands on. She remembers when he found a stash of old Kurt Vonnegut books with their father's stuff. Their mother got teary eyed and told them to take care of the books. Jim still has them; Slaughterhouse-Five is her favorite. According to her mom, it was George's favorite too.
"I get that, lass." He explained that he graduated from the University of Edinburgh when he was sixteen and enrolled at Starfleet Academy a year later. His first tour wasn't on a ship, he was made an associate engineer at the San Francisco Shipyards until he took orders on the Republic. "I was supposed to go to the Riverside Shipyard when we got back but I got tapped for Archer's class."
The placement of the San Francisco Shipyard Annex at Riverside was in deference to her father, since Riverside was his hometown. Jim used to hate that place; like she needed more reminders that her father was dead. Eventually, she got over her dislike when her mother took orders there and stayed on planet. She actually likes it now, sitting outside the gate and watching them build the latest ship was one of her favorite pastimes.
"Because of the Enterprise? Now, that's a ship." Scotty gave her a look, "You've seen her?" Jim nodded, "It's Pike's ship and he's my advisor. Plus, I grew up in Riverside. I hung out at the yards all the time. The guy that was in charge of the build is…" Scott cut her off, "A jackass. I served with Marcello on the Kensington. What he do?"
"Oh, nothing much… literally. The ship is behind schedule. The warp core should've been installed already but they had to pull the assembly apart because Lieutenant Commander Marcello and his people screwed it all to hell. I don't think I've ever seen Pike so pissed. Marcello is an idiot. People would kill for his job and he blew it. Hell, I could build that ship with my eyes closed and still do a better job."
"Enterprise is one well-endowed lady. I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles if you'll pardon the engineering parlance." Jim chuckled, "Considering that Pike is looking to replace Marcello, maybe you will. Restart the sequence for me, please." Scotty hit the commands and the system restarted, correctly this time. "Good job, lass. That's one less thing I have to worry about." She smiled as she looked up at him, "Is that why you're following me around?"
"Just making sure you don't break my ship, Kirk." She caught the smile he tried to hide and smirked, "Roger that, sir."
AN: Don't own 'em