A/N: Out of all of the stories that I have written, I believe that this one warrants an introduction to explain why I have added a character that seems to be unimportant to the overall plot idea. My idea behind this story is to have Spock and Jim's prerelationship and relationship analyzed, observed, and aided by someone who is very close to Jim: specifically a family member. I briefly thought about bringing an existing family member into it instead, but I did not like the idea so I created Skylar Kirk. I'm sure that some of you think that the introduction of her as Jim's sister is unnecessary to the story and I'm sorry you feel that way, but I like the ideas that I had involving her specifically.

That being said, this story will mostly be told from Skylar's point of view (occasionally with Jim and Spock's thrown in). Don't be fooled, this story is still KirkXSpock all the way with some OCXOC stuff that will occur in later chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of the characters, places, or the Enterprise. I just own the original characters and the plot that I came up with.

Please enjoy the first installment of A Shot in the Dark!

A Shot in the Dark

"You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn't depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family."
-Trenton Lee Stewart

Chapter One: A Familiar Face

Captain James T. Kirk had a headache: the "my head is about to explode" kind, not the "wow, my head hurts a little" kind. The blonde groaned and rolled over in his bed to look at the digital clock. Jim made a noise of distress when he saw that he was late to his shift on the bridge, jumping up quickly before immediately groaning at the pain that the sudden movement had caused. He rushed to the sonic shower, taking what he was sure to be the fastest shower in his history-maybe in the history of humans.

Jim didn't even bother to dry off before throwing on his regulation gold shirt and black pants before making a mad dash to the bridge, attempting to ignore the ever growing headache.

"Captain on the bridge," Sulu said when Jim made his entrance.

"Captain, are you well? You are 7.2 minutes late. We are scheduled to arrive at Star Base 214V in approximately 1.6 minutes," Spock commented as Jim sat down in the chair.

Jim ignored the strange feeling in his stomach when his First Officer raised an eyebrow slightly in a very Vulcan display of concern, blaming all strange bodily functions on his developing headache-gone-migraine. The Vulcan was still staring at him as Jim massaged his temple irritably.

"Approaching Star Base 214V. Estimated time to dock: three minutes," Chekov said, his accent causing him to stumble slightly base identification.

"Captain, should we not go to the transporter room to greet the new crew members?" Spock asked, snapping Jim out of his haze of pain.

"Of course, Spock!" Jim said cheerfully as he launched himself out of the chair, "Sulu, you have the conn."

Bones was already waiting with four people when the two arrived in the transporter room: two in blue and two in red.

"You're late," Bones acknowledged grumpily, "You hand them over to me for a medical exam as soon as you introduce yourself."

"Sorry, Bones," Jim answered good naturedly before looking at the first woman, in the science blues, "Welcome aboard the Enterprise, I am her captain, Jim Kirk, and this is my first officer, Spock."

"Doctor Marie Bennet, a pleasure to meet you captain"

"Doctor? Doctor of what exactly?" McCoy asked gruffly.

"I am a psychologist. Since you never know what a crew might experience on a five year exploration of space- especially since an exploration of this caliber has not been attempted yet- the admirals thought you would need someone of my expertise along for the ride," she answered with a calm smile, "Other than that, I'm here to assist in the medbay however Dr. McCoy needs me."

"Well doctor or not you still need a physical exam and inoculations."

"Of course, Doctor."

"Nice to have you aboard!" Jim said cheerfully.

He turned to the next woman in blue and froze.

"Captain?" he heard Spock inquire.

"Skylar?"

"It is good to see you, James," the woman said with a smile.

Spock tensed slightly, only noticed by Skylar who was facing in his direction, "You should not address your captain so casually."

Skylar's broad smile widened, reminding Spock suspiciously of someone else. When he finally took in the dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes, Spock came to the same conclusion that his captain was just now informing him of.

"Spock, this is my older sister, Skylar Kirk. She's the only one who calls me James," Jim pouted at his first officer.

"I am a xenobiologist, specializing in humanoids, but I do take a special interest in Vulcans," Skylar said cheerfully, in a very similar tone that Jim had.

"Skylar!" Jim whined, "Don't flirt with my first officer!"

"Oh, James, I'm not flirting with him. I can already tell he is taken by another," she smiled directly at the Vulcan before excusing herself to be examined by Dr. McCoy.

Spock mentally flinched when she brushed against him and was struck with a powerful thought projection. Good luck. He is stubborn. Sorry for the contact, but you needed to know that I support you.

"Fascinating," Spock said, mostly to himself, as he watched the woman leave for her checkup with Dr. McCoy.

Skylar looked back in time to see her brother tug on his first officer's hand to get him to do something. After that, she rounded a corner and could see no more of the pair.

Jim has fallen just as hard. He just hasn't realized it yet.

"So, you're Jim's sister. He never told me about you," Bones said with a frown at the woman who hopped up on the biobed.

Skylar quieted immediately, "Jim doesn't like to dwell on memories of our home life and I don't either. I couldn't always protect my baby brother. I went to the academy when I was young; Jim isn't the only genius in our family. I haven't seen him for a very long time. I always tried to contact him, but our step-father prevented it."

Marie put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder, "You have the next five years to catch up."

"You're right," Skylar grinned, reminding Bones instantly of the same grin that Jim always had.

"Why do you call him James when you're around him but not now?" Bones asked as he prepared a new clipboard for the woman.

"Because it bothers him," Skylar grinned wickedly, "I don't always call him James when I'm with him. Just when I want to bug him."

Bones took the medical exam as an opportunity to discover the similarities between Jim and Skylar. Both of them had dirty blonde hair- granted Skylar's fell to her midback and was held up in the messiest ponytail Bones had ever seen on a full grown woman. Her eyes were the same electric blue as the beloved captain's, even possessing the same mischievous spark.

"Well Bones, how do I check out?" Skylar asked with a lopsided grin.

"Why are you calling me that?" he snapped as he rummaged through a medical drawer for the hypospray he was looking for.

"Isn't that what Jim calls you? I like it," she answered, "What are you looking for?"

"I have to give you a hypo for the inoculations you haven't had yet."

In an instant, Skylar was immediately off the biobed and flying out the automated doors of the medbay. Bones blinked slowly as it dawned on him that the woman wasn't there when he looked up at the sound of closing doors.

"Dammit Jim. Now I know where you get this from."

The only response he got was a chuckle from Dr. Bennet.

Jim stared at the food replicator, his pain addled brain trying to decide what exactly he wanted to eat and how to get the machine to give it to him with making the least amount of noise as possible.

'Hello, Jim!" a female voice said cheerfully, making the captain wince.

Skylar took one look at the expression on her brother's face and frowned, "How long have you had a headache? Why haven't you been to see Bones yet? How bad does it hurt?"

"How did-?"

She smiled, "I'm your older sister, James. I just know these things. Now come on. I'll take you to the medbay."

Jim groaned as his sister took his arm, "Will you stop calling me that?"

"Nope. Would you rather me call you Tiberius?"

A/N: And that's the first chapter/introduction. Thoughts? What do you think? Please review! Your reviews sustain me! I plan on updating this story once a week on the weekend (Sunday will probably be the day I usually update on). I'm really excited about this story so stick with me! I think you will enjoy the ride :)