Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. I do not even own TOS (The Original Series). However, I do own this story, and I own Ragar. He is influential, sure, but...he's mine. Thank you.
Alrighty (takes a deepbreath)...this is my first Star Trek: TOS ficcy. I am especially infatuated with the ChapelxSpock pairing. I think it is, well, sweet and tart at the same time. I mean, come on - a nurse, her heart ripped out by a man who went machine (Roger), falls in love with a man who is the embodiment of conflict. He is vague, she is blatantly obvious. He is intense, dark, mysterious...she is down-to-earth, fair, and she wears her heart out on her sleeve. But enough of the banter...you came here to read a fic, not the author's note! Let me present to you...Oddysey! Enjoy!
Oddysey
Chapter One
At first, it just started out as a routine surveillance round. Kirk received the order to go to the new sector, so without so much as batting an eye, he did so. They made their rounds precisely on time, warding off the Klingons and the Romulans, covering every inch of space. But the Enterprise wasn't built for surveillance - it was built for battle. So imagine how fed up Captain Kirk - a patriot, a soldier, a general - was by about the fourth month of cruising sector 88 and not going through one blessed battle. They hadn't even gotten into an argument with a Romulan yet, or bumped hulls with a Klingon warship. Kirk was growing more restless, anxious and bored with each passing minute.
Which made him irritable.
"God above, can't you get anything right, yeoman?! It was 0700 hours, not 0707 hours!!! That's seven minutes difference, yeoman!! Seven minutes difference!!!"
Yeoman Rand quickly excused herself from the bridge with a soft, "Yes, sir," as she dove for the turbolift, praying that the tears would only fall after the doors swished safely closed behind her. Everyone on the bridge stared in astonishment as Kirk fumed to the boiling point.
"Is it too much to ask for a little more efficiency and accuracy around here?" Kirk said, "We're on surveillance! SURVEILLANCE!! It's not like there is a battle going on!!"
"Captain," Spock tentatively but calmly stood from his post, "Are you...unwell?"
Kirk sighed. "I don't know, Spock." He fidgeted in his chair for a minute. Silence as thick as smog laid upon the bridge, with only the normal hums and whirs of the ship to cut it. "I probably should go and apologize. That wasn't called for."
The Vulcan came close to an empathetic smile, but managed to restrain himself. "I suggest you report to Sickbay. You have not been yourself, and left alone, this-"
"Yes, yes, I know, Spock," Kirk waved away his logic as if it was a bug, got up for a moment, and went for the turbolift.
"She's yours,"...then he disappeared behind the fluorescent orange doors and was gone.
"Bridge to Sickbay," Spock spoke into the armrest of the captain's chair.
"McCoy here."
"Expect Captain Kirk to report to Sickbay. Complete a full psychological check on him when he is there."
"You got it, Spock."
"First Officer out."
Yes, it started out as a routine surveillance round. Tempers flared, and restlessness ensued, sure. But the snowball had just begun to form.
"I dunno, Jim...you just seem stressed. Or anxious. Or both!" Dr. McCoy threw up his hands in defeat. "I'm a doctor, not a cockamamie psychologist. Maybe you should try and rest awhile."
"I've had it with rest, Bones," Jim said, standing up. "That's all we've done for the past four months, is rest. I'm sick and tired of Starfleet brandishing my ship to ward off pests. We need to take action, get back in the game...do something important."
"Starfleet seems to think that us doing surveillance here is important," McCoy quipped.
Jim scowled. "I'm going to try to get through to Starfleet, see what's going on," he said, then squared his shoulders. "I can't take it anymore! I'm not a watchdog." Captain Kirk left the sickbay.
Nurse Chapel came into the scene with a tray of labs. "I've run some tests on these, Doctor...nothing unusual yet."
"Good," said, Dr. McCoy, sitting down and musing, "I hope it stays that way."
It was the end of her shift - 0600 hours. Nurse Chapel leaped from her chair to her feet and gathered her things to lock up in the lab - a tray littered with the labs drawn hours earlier from Captain Kirk's body. She took some final notes, put the things away, and bumped into Dr. McCoy on her way out.
"Good night, Doctor." She cordially pardoned herself.
"Have a good night, Nurse. And," He said with a wink, "Say hello to Spock in the mess hall for me. I'll be there shortly."
Christine blushed at this, and bowed out the door. She hurried to the turbolift, head bowed so that no one would see the redness on her fair face. Just the mere mentioning of his name had such an impact on her - she barely noticed another person make their way into the turbolift after her. She excused herself, brushed the hair out of her face as the doors swished close in front of her, and spoke (a bit shakily) "Deck 4," into the turbolift intercom.
"It was pretty slow today in Sickbay," She said, calming her nerves. "How abou-"
It was Spock.
He looked steadily into her eyes a moment - he seemed almost amused at how quickly a blush a bloomed onto her cheeks, or how he had made her breath catch in her throat in mid-sentence, or even that her pupils had dilated and could not revert themselves from his. She wasn't sure why, but she could have sworn that if he was fully human, he would have been laughing right now.
This made her look back at the ground.
"Besides from Jim's outburst at 0707 hours, yes, things were 'slow' on the Bridge, as you say," He replied. The coolness with which he said it made her wonder if his logic was cool enough to quench her love for him.
She didn't dare follow that train of thought.
"McCoy said to tell you 'hello'," She said, trying to grasp at bits of sanity. She was always so collected, but he always tore her down with just a glance, a word, a touch. "He said he would be in the mess hall shortly."
"Very well. I will be there as well. And as for you, Nurse...?"
"I have some things to attend to that are more important than eating at the moment," She said. Like regaining my sanity, She thought. "But thank you."
The doors swished open. It was a glorious relief for Christine, who forced herself to walk steadily out of the turbolift. "Goodbye, Spock," She said, waving as the doors were closing.
Once they were fully closed, she ran.
"I don't know how he manages to do that to me, Nyota!" She said, pacing. Although Lt. Uhura and Nurse Chapel weren't the best of friends, Nyota was the first person to have picked up on Christine's feelings for Spock, being a perceptive person. Christine admitted the truth to her, and ever since she had been her confidante, the person to whom she could spill whatever was on her mind concerning him. At the very least, it helped to know that someone else was listening to you, responding to you, when it felt like a certain other hybrid wasn't (need we mention...?). "He's just...I don't know...he's such a mystery!"
"Isn't that part of his charm, honey?" Uhura said, smiling. "Now stop pacing my floor and calm down. Let's go to the mess hall and get something to eat."
Christine glared at her. "Haven't you been listening to what I just said? He's in the mess hall!"
"That isn't the end of the world, Christine."
Christine just sat down and hung her head.
"I know you want to see him again, Christine."
She looked up, here eyes red and rimmed with tears.
"Of course I want to see him again!" Chapel said, beginning to cry. "I love him with all of my heart. But it hurts to know that he cannot return emotion. I cannot ever tell him how I feel. It's like everyone else on board knows but him! Even if he did see me as more than a Nurse, he'd never do anything about it!" She sat there, sobbing for a minute. "I love him so much...I want to ease all of his hurts, his fears...but I'll never be able to be so close to him, never able to care, to nurture...to nurse..."
"Hun," Said Uhura, looking straight into Christine's face. "I've got one thing to say to you. One day...you are going to have to tell him. Lay it all out on the line...tell it to him straight. You get my point. You just can't keep something like this under wraps without injuring yourself. At the very least, you'll know that you've done a good deed to him by telling him. Now, why don't you go to your room and get some rest and some food? You look like you need it."
And so, Christine went back to her quarters, ordered herself some hot soup, and downed it. She quickly fell asleep, dreaming of herself, Spock, the turbolift, and Vulcan Plomeek soup.
Nyota went down to the mess hall shortly after Christine's visit, contemplating all that was said. You know, it's very interesting the predicaments that Christine's heart gets her into, Uhura thought. First, she is engaged to a man who became an android and acquires himself an android geisha - her words, not mine - and then, she falls in love with a man who is not even much of a man...a hybrid of human and Vulcan! She smiled to herself, remembering her first year on board the Enterprise. I remember I first liked him myself as well, but...I suppose it was Captain Kirk who was always in my heart. Although Sulu and Chekov...they're a pretty cute pair, too...speaking of...
"Hey, Uhura...want to get some coffee with me? I'm going to dinner." Sulu stopped Uhura in the hallway, smiling.
"I was just headed that way myself," She said with a smile. Then again...Sulu's the only one who even seems interested...
She took the arm that he offered her, and they chattered on awhile, talking about this and that. "You know," Sulu said, looking deep into her eyes, just shy of entering the mess hall, "I just have to tell you...you're the only person that I've known on board this ship who actually encourages my interest in botany."
"I think it's a good hobby," She said, smiling as they sat down. "And hobbies always keep you from being-" She subtly pointed to Spock at her left, "-like that."
Sulu laughed heartily. Spock seemed to frown a table away. "I do not understand why my endeavor to be logical is a source of amusement for you two."
"Oh Spock, don't take it to heart. Just enjoy your meal." Nyota said, laughing.
"Very well," he said. And that was the end of all discussion for quite some time.
"Of course I don't like it!" Kirk shouted into the com center, emphasizing his words with a detrimental punch to the desk. "We're sitting here, drifting in space, scaring away enemies from a sector that is just beginning to be explored. You've demoted us, yes, demoted!"
"You're going to be demoted even more if you continue to talk like that," Ragar said, then calmed down. "I can't do too much, Jim. There is one other assignment, but-"
"I'll take it."
"I know you will," Ragar said, half-smiling. "Do you remember that mission where you...ah, I see...were going to survey Pollux IV?"
"Vaguely, yes. We were grabbed by an energy field in the shape of a green hand, and-"
"Yes, yes, the report says it all. Since you have said you will accept, this is your new mission..."
Kirk soon found out why no one else had taken this mission.
Oooooh, a genuine cliff-hanger! Not my best work, but...
Well, the first chapter is always the worst, as they say. I know personally it is harder for me to think of a beginning to a story than an ending. If you liked it, please Read and Review (R&R is good for the story, and honest critique helps out the writer). If not, then do what you want. Stay tuned for Chapter Two, coming up!
Rhana the Frog (because it stands for Fully Rely On God)