"Bones, cover my rear." Captain James Tiberius Kirk addressed his chief medical officer and best friend, while suggestively patting his bottom and pretending to intently scour the desert, squinting, shielding his eyes with his hand against the afternoon light.
"Cover it yourself, you damn provocateur." Bones grumbled half-heartedly.
"You know I don't even know what that means!"
"Oh Jesus Christ."
- - -
The U.S.S Enterprise had been on a return trip home when Chekov had detected a strong atmospheric pull hailing the ship. Sulu had attempted to reset their course direction in order to avoid adjacently passing by the planet, which so allured their starship.
"Lets get outta here and go home." Kirk had ordered. After about a minute and with the Enterprise, if anything, closer to the planet, Sulu had swiveled to face the captain's chair scratching his head. "Sir, it appears that the ship has been captured in an outer-orbit ring. I cannot find a means to retract us from this position. Orders?"
"Just land the thing."
"Just land the thing, Captain?"
"Yeah. We'll prowl around and see what this is about."
"Captain, I do believe this would be unwise." Spock stood from his desk and turned around, his hands clasping behind his back and shoulders erect, posture impeccable. "He is regal." Uhura thought, inwardly drooping as she sighed. Spock's eyes met Kirk's and they were both glad to be friendly.
"Yadda yadda yadda, risk and danger and preparations. We'll land, put on our protective gear and check it out. Worst-case scenario, we'll have made a short detour en route home. We'll set phasers to stun, kill if necessary."
"Captain-"
"And this could be the draw of a stranded ship." Kirk jerked his head to the left to pleadingly implore Chekov to agree with him, or in some way support him. Kirk distorted his handsome features into the saddest, most heart wrenching puppy pout he could muster and Chekov melted like soft serve in August.
"Commander, ze keptain iz right. It is our duty to investigate all planets and zis could be a loop call, a pull designed to force us to land; it iz not very kind as we have a current mission to complete but zese sheeps have no respect for common courtesy-"
Spock cleared his throat.
Red faced, "It could also be a trap. I believe zees should be factored into any decision making." Chekov rushed through his ultimatum, embarrassed at himself. He always seemed to demonstrate his age. Whether it was in the mess hall, spilling chowder all over his jumper before Uhura, or his inadequacy at holding his alcohol with Bones in the makeshift bar, "The Enterprise Waterhole!"(Constructed much to Uhura and Spock's chagrin and Kirk's enthusiasm, "Everyone aboard this ship needs a drink or four!"). He often wound up on the floor, or in his bed with no recollection whose turn it had been to cart him there.
He turned back to his work.
"You see Spock? It's our duty. We can't warp away, literally we are unable, and abandon a possible people on this planet. It is not Starfleet's way. Lieutenant Uhura-" He turned his back to Spock, addressing his beautiful, Swahili xenolinguist princess; be damned if he doesn't get her first name someday!, She turns away from her panel, dark mane swishing behind her, gorgeous eyelashes devoid of cosmetics, more becoming because of it, and eyes clear, sharp. So intelligent she was, he felt blinded often, a rare flower undeserving of his roguish tactics; Kirk admits he's shallow. He rips beautiful flowers from the soil, grows tired of its beauty, and walks further along until he finds an even more beautiful flower, twice as perfect as his previous conquest and the new light of this brilliant plant erases any feeling for any of the, now dull in comparison, buds. Needless to say, due to his disarmingly handsome looks he's popular with the ladies, but only the ones he hasn't met yet.
He kept himself at a distance from Uhura. Not that it was difficult.
"Uhura, care to join me?"
"Not if you had the power to singlehandedly fill each orifice on my body with acid should I decline."
"Uhura, have dinner with me tomorrow night?"
"I'm incredibly sorry to have to beg off, but I'm grooming my cat that night."
"Animals are prohibited on this ship."
"Apparently not as one stands before me." Touché. But these brush-offs only endeared her to him ever more, made him want to take her, to have her….
"Yes Captain?" Her voice yanked the cord from the projector and the images halted. She waited patiently.
As patiently as possible when dealing with him, of course. She knew when he appraised her. His eyes left the bridge, left her behind, far beyond ambition. She could see him peeling her revealing Starfleet Uniform from her eager frame as she ran her fingers across his scalp, acknowledging the goose bumps she had created, the power she held. She knew that he often thought of her and the impossible conquest when he stared lopsidedly out the view screen and into the depths of space. She knew all this and allowed it. Played no part in it save her own unwilling appearance, but she gave him these thoughts, these dreams. She called him back to her and tried waiting patiently.
"Lieutenant, do you detect any transmissions surrounding Planet X?" Uhura clacked and clicked and used her thin fingers to push her earpiece closer to her ear and chewed her lip. "She ought to have the volume increased." Spock thought.
"Negative, Captain. It is silent. Even our own transmissions seem to be dampened." Kirk turned his back to her and scratched his chin.
Spock was decidedly disinterested in the whole affair. As he spent more time among humans, he slowly began to override the immediate response trigger. Kirk's complete lack of regard for regulations made his quotations useless. No, he did not cite regulation #24567: "Any undetected pull in gravity must be reported immediately to Starfleet. Await arrival of Starfleet Officer. Do not approach planet, moon, or star until further instructed." No, he did not mention this. Instead, he looked at Nyota as she wistfully watched Kirk.
"We will be landing on this planet within the minute, Captain." Sulu reported. "We have landed." Sulu blessed the man who had called in sick the day the Enterprise had answered a distress call from Vulcan. He had previously been assigned the U.S.S Andromeda; not a bad ship, but not the best, as he felt he deserved. Hell, Sulu played it cool. He knew it. Psshhhhh, black hole sucking him in? He's on it. Scary, Romulan dude attacking him with a sharp primeval sword? Fencing training saves the day. Fencing had been a mandatory extracurricular and he was thankful for it now. "I'm not cocky." Sulu thought to himself as he adjusted the speedometer, "I'm just self aware."
"APPROACHING PLANET X. LANDING TIME 30 SECONDS."
Spock finally escaped from the bridge after much harassment from Kirk. He briskly reached the end of the first hallway and abruptly entered a small storage closet. He turned away from the door and the slits permitting him a glimpse into the sterile corridor and exhaled. He had been holding his breath all morning, a human idiom. Not literally, of course, for if he were to do that his consciousness would allow him only four minutes before his body slackened, his eyes closed, a thunk would sound as he hit the linoleum, he could possibly obtain a head injury and be taken to the medical bay where he would be forced to rest for at least three days; he meant the phrase to be an "expression". Spock's demeanor was still sober and dry; the changes within him were barely noticeable to the naked and untrained eye. His fatigue and frustrations had possibly become more apparent……..
"Captain, do not approach this planet without the blessing of Starfleet Base. It would be most unwise."
"Commander, chill out."
"I am not chilled."
"I can see that."
"You ordered me to chill. I can place myself in a freezer and allow my blood to crystallize and air flow through my body to stop if this will aid our ship in any way."
"Don't be melodramatic."
"Landing on a planet whose inhabitants we are completely unaware of is not the logical choice. This is an impulsive decision which could potentially place the entire bridge in danger. You more than anyone ought to know that the safety of the crew is the top priority." Spock's dark eyes flicked to Nyota's. She caught his gaze levelly. She licked her lips and held his now stare; the appropriate time for an accidental brush of the eyes had been bypassed by two seconds. The corner of her lips tugged up and he looked away. She was reaching out to him in response to his own gesture. He worried for her, illogically, and she read him clearly. He pulled his jacket sleeve down uncomfortably and Nyota knew she had broken through his tight-lipped, buttoned up representation. Uhura knew he was awaiting the proper release, which when released she understood could be anything but proper. She could be the kink in the machine, opening the floodgates; chaos always presents itself packaged in disarming beauty. She craved her vision of an animalistic Vulcan.
"Sir, ze planet atmosphere contains a much higher level of nitrogen, veech iz deadly to humans. Tests are currently underway and within ten hours ve vill safely have the "ok go!" Chekov excitedly reiterated, whirling away from his station. Chekov was proud to provide this information after his wish washy dictation earlier. He smiled brilliantly, clapping his hands together, bopping his head and Kirk bit his tongue from complaining about the wait time. Yeah, he was bummed to be on the ship with virtually no tasks for ten hours. Then again, since he, and the rest of the crew operating from the bridge, were irrelevent to progress, he might wander down to the Watering Hole and get a little drunk. Maybe convince Uhura to walk him home, feign wasted and really lead her behind closed doors; Captain to her greatest fantasies.
Uhura coughed.
"Ok gang. Your all dismissed. See you all back here in approximately ten hours!" Everyone shuffled out to sleep or drink or make love or do whatever it is they do when not working. Uhura and Spock clasped hands when they reached their own hallway. Giggling, Nyota pulled Spock to herself and kissed him deeply, suggestively, and shut the door.
I feel something great is going to come out of this story. I spend great deals of time rewording, empathizing with my characters; this story is my baby. The greatest reward, besides my own pride, is plenty of reviews. So please do just that! I always respond and I love debating and conversing with you guys! Always open to writing together too. Please read on and review……