Before the story starts, I should mention that all of the main characters will have a chapter from their point of view at some point and will be involved in the story, not just the people I put under 'characters'. Also, I should mention that OCs will be involved. It's kind of hard to run a starship with just the command crew. No worries, though. None of the original characters present will be romantic interests for any of the main characters.

On to chapter one!

-X-

Chapter 1: Mercurial

Dealing with James Tiberius Kirk would require patience and maturity, Nyota knew that. Yes, she knew it… but her mood was not a good one. Earlier that day they had honored those that had fallen in Khan's attack on the Enterprise and San Francisco. The weather had honored them too; a barely noticeable mist fell on the scene during the minute-long moment of silence. Now that the ceremony had concluded, there was a noticeable release of tension from the crowd that had returned to the base. Even though the sky was still cloudy, everything seemed a bit brighter. The dark uniforms that seemed so heavy and stiff just an hour ago were now light and people could finally breathe. Everyone's backs were unbent and shadowed eyes now looked up and around at the faces that surrounded them. Honoring the dead was a solemn occasion, but the upcoming mission made everyone remember that it didn't need to be depressing.

Nyota was not depressed. She was also not happy. She was damn annoyed.

The halls of Starfleet were packed with visitors and dignitaries from all over the world and every corner of Federation space. And when the halls were that crowded, she naturally had somewhere else to be. She considered every short cut and every bypass imaginable, but in the end she decided that the only option was to push her way through. Despite knowing her bad mood had something to do with her aggressive decision, she still went through with it and managed to get flipped off in almost every way known to mankind. Of course, she tried to ignore it and just continue to fight her way through the pack of people, but some of the ways other cultures indicated being royally pissed off were a bit crude. Disregarding them was more difficult than she had anticipated and by the time she reached her destination she was glowering at everyone.

Dealing with James Tiberius Kirk would require patience and maturity. Yes, Nyota knew that… and she didn't care. So, she just threw open the doors to the meeting room and stalked over to her chair between McCoy and Spock. Judging by the look on everyone's faces, all of them had a similar experience in the hall and all of them shared an equal amount of dread about the meeting. The Captain had been in an especially bad mood the past week and it was starting to rub off on the rest of them. She heard the door click shut behind her and then glanced around the room. At least she wasn't the last person to get there; there were two empty chairs.

The clock above the solitary window filled the space with echoing clacks. No one seemed to want to talk over it, but soon enough the silence was shattered. The breeze hit the back of her neck half a second after the door flew open. The sound of it bouncing off the wall and slamming shut again was accompanied by muttered Russian curses, some of which she hadn't heard before and filed away for later use. Obviously, Pavel had arrived. When he walked around the table she couldn't help raising an eyebrow at his appearance; he had had a harder time getting there than the rest of them. His grey shirt was wrinkled and his hair was a disaster zone, pushed up on one side and hastily flattened on the other. Pavel's face was bright red as he sat down in his seat across from her and Scotty and Hikaru were smirking book-ends on either side of him. Shifting in his seat, Pavel once again tried desperately to flatten his hair, but it was apparent to all it was a lost cause. After a while, everyone lost interest in his flustered appearance and went back to what they were doing before he came in. Namely, staring at the wall, the clock, out the window, and in basically every direction except for directly in front of them.

"You'd think – since he called the meeting – he'd be the first one here!" Scotty groused, startling everyone out of their reverie. There was no need to indicate who "he" was; there was only one empty chair left and it sat at the end of the table, presiding over a dim screen embedded in its surface. No one thought Scotty's indignation merited a response; since when had James T. Kirk been on time for anything? Next to her, McCoy just pulled on the edge of his shirt and moved in his seat.

"There were a significant amount of people in the halls when I was on my way here. Most likely the Captain has found himself waylaid by the same situation," Spock intoned. Nyota glanced to her left and let her mouth twitch into a smile at the sight of her boyfriend. "Boyfriend" was such an immature term, but it was the only one that didn't indicate much more than would have been accurate. "Lover" had too much physical contact in its connotation and "fiancée" was entirely inaccurate (even if it meant a larger sense of commitment) since they had no intention of getting married. Spock looked over at Nyota just at the same time as she did and nodded. To anyone who didn't know him, his expression didn't change. But to anyone who did know the half Vulcan, they could see there was just a slight upturn to the corners of his mouth when he looked over at her. That made her a little bit happier, but after those few precious moments of stillness, the door burst open for the final time and in stalked the Captain. He started talking before he even made it two feet into the room.

"Okay, none of us want to be here, so we'll make this as short of a meeting as possible. First off, thanks for helping me with crew approval. I actually managed to get it in on time yesterday, no thanks to the Admiralty and their due dates." Kirk fell into his chair with enough momentum that it spun all the way around before he managed to catch himself on the table to halt it. "Now why did they put god damn swivel chairs in a meeting room? I don't get it. If you need to see something, turn your chair. Chairs should not turn accidentally," he griped. While he continued to mutter to himself he turned on the screen in front of him and flicked through the crew files. "There were only two questionable candidates, one of which was expelled from the mission because of past discipline issues. Thank you, Chekov, for bringing that to my attention. The other was fine and I approved personally. Everyone should have gotten the final roster by now and can check over who is now working under you. Don't ask me why they waited until two days before the mission to get this to us, I asked and they decided to 'refrain from answering'. Any questions?" No one spoke. Next to her McCoy shifted in his seat some more. "Good. Next order of business – " and it went on like that for a while. They covered new manual override codes, new water policies for extended missions, official shift assignments, ideas to help stymie cabin fever before it started, and a few unpleasant topics such as new bathroom policies.

About a half hour later, Jim reached the end of his Starfleet mandated rant. "And finally, the Admiralty called me in a few days ago, as several of you noticed," the Captain swept his eyes over the room, and Nyota schooled her expression. Jim had come out of that meeting seething and his mood had only marginally improved over the intervening week. The only time he had really overcome his bad temper was when he gave his speech at the rechristening of the Enterprise. Nyota, along with the rest of the bridge crew, had decided that they'd had enough of Jim's behavior. So far everyone but Leonard had done their best to call Jim out on his mood, with varying results. After the meeting it was finally McCoy's turn and he had threatened that if his method didn't work he might actually drug Jim into a good mood. No one was one hundred percent sure he had been joking.

Jim gave a snort at the expressions of innocence and confusion that his crew had donned and continued, "I'm sure – since so many of you have approached me about this – you are all wondering when I'm going to get back to the old James Kirk you all know and love." He paused for laughter or groans of exasperation, but neither was forthcoming. "Oh come on, normally that would at least merit a sarcastic comment! I can't have been in that bad of mood!"

"Yeah, you could have. And, yeah, you have been," McCoy said. At the Captain's affronted expression he continued, "Jim, I want to have a word with you. Now and in private." There was a moment of tense silence before Kirk nodded.

"Fine. You're all dismissed." Nyota stood up and exited the room behind Spock. Scotty, Pavel, and Hikaru all filed out behind her, Hikaru pulling the door closed just as Nyota heard Jim say, "Okay, Bones. What do you want?" The halls were beginning to clear so the Enterprise's senior command crew congregated next to the entrance to the meeting room, getting as close to the wall as they were able so they wouldn't block traffic. Nyota was about to make her goodbyes when suddenly she could hear shouting, "For God's sake, Bones, I'm fine! Why are you all so hung up on this? I'll be back to normal on the mission, so what does it matter what I'm like right now? Just give me some room!" There was more muffled shouting after that and then Jim exploded out of the conference room, tossing the door to the side and stalking off down the hall. Nyota looked behind her and saw McCoy exiting the room at a more sedate pace.

"Obviously… that could have gone better," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. When he turned to walk away, Pavel dashed over to join him. Hikaru snickered and Nyota shot him a disapproving scowl.

"Why were you two laughing at Pavel when he came in for the meeting? He was just a bit rumpled; I'm sure we all were," she stated. In tandem with Scotty's and Hikaru's widening grins, Nyota's tone grew angrier.

"Yeah sure, we were all a little out of order," Scotty affirmed, looking like a cat in the cream.

"But not for the same reason!" Hikaru announced. The two of them started to laugh only to be cut off when Spock started to speak.

"You were in the meeting room and could not possibly know the reason for Lieutenant Chekov's appearance." The pilot and engineer only laughed harder. "Unless, of course," Spock said, now eyeing the two officers in front of him, "you are aware on information Nyota and I are not." Scotty finally cracked under the gaze of the first officer.

"Pavel has a girlfriend!"

Nyota felt herself smile. That was about the only good news she'd heard all day. 'Good for Pavel,' she thought, 'he deserves someone special.'

"Do you know who it is?" she asked. It occurred to her that she should probably make an appearance at this girl's room before they left on their mission and make sure that she knew that doing anything to break Pavel's heart would result in swift and severe retribution. It would be a complete coincidence, of course. Nothing would tie the Enterprise bridge crew to the sudden disappearance of a bunny called Snuffles or a stuffed bear named Fuzzy. Nothing at all.

"No, we don't know who it is." Hikaru's scowl told Nyota all she needed to know about his opinion on the matter. "We don't know anything about her. We don't even know if it's a 'her' or not. It could be a girlfriend, could be a boyfriend. It's basically Schrödinger's friend-of-indeterminate-gender. "

"Well that doesn't help narrow it down any," she muttered and started to think about a way to find out who this mystery significant other was.

"If you don't know who this person is, how do you know they exist? What evidence do you have of Lieutenant Chekov's being in a relationship at all?" Spock asked.

"If you don't know, don't ask," Scotty said, nodding sagely. "I was thinking about swiping the lad's phone or Pad when he wasn't looking. I'm sure if Hikaru can't guess the password Spock or I could hack it somehow."

"You will kindly leave me out of this," Spock said. Despite his dour tone, there was at least a hint of a smile there. "I will see you later, Nyota." He kissed her forehead – she was perfectly willing to admit she liked it when he did that – and then walked down the hall in the same direction as McCoy and Pavel.

"Alright then Mr. Stick-in-the-mud," Scotty said to Spock's receding back, "I'll hack it. Nyota, you can be the distraction. Hikaru, you grab the phone. I think our best chance is to get him now. Come on!" Scotty said, rallying his tiny army and marching off in the wrong direction. Hikaru and Nyota just looked at each other and shrugged.

"He'll catch on eventually," Nyota said and lead the way in the correct direction. They caught up to Pavel surprisingly quickly, just after passing McCoy coming back the other way, muttering about leaving something in the conference room. The young navigator was leaning against the windows that paneled one side of the hallway, staring at the jagged black skyline. The grey wall behind him and his slate colored uniform were illuminated by the soft, cool light that filtered through the clouds. His hair, still ruffled but now largely back in order, seemed dusty and pale. The whole scene was monochromatic, but in a romantic, dream-like way. At least, that was what Nyota thought until she saw his face. Pavel looked somewhere between confused and sad; he was tense and distracted and didn't hear them walking down the hall, despite the echoes that accompanied their footsteps. When she reached out to touch his arm he jumped in surprise.

"Nyota!" he exclaimed. "I'm sorry, you startled me. I was just thinking."

"What about? You looked like you just saw someone kick a puppy," Nyota asked, concerned. She walked to Pavel's left side to lean up against the window as well and position him so Hikaru was behind him. She almost didn't feel right about taking advantage of Pavel's trust like this but… she wanted to know who this mystery person was so she could know whose butt to kick should Pavel ever get that look on his face again.

"Not a puppy, exactly…" Pavel trailed off and then muttered in Russian, "Maybe a mean old dog who likes sticking people with hyposprays. But not a puppy."

Nyota inhaled sharply and then suddenly realized that Jim and Pavel hadn't been the only ones a little bit off during the meeting today. McCoy had seemed a little out of it, too. He had kept fidgeting. She wondered why she hadn't realized something was wrong with him.

"Leonard? What's wrong with Leonard?" she asked as Pavel's eyes widened. He must have forgotten who he was talking to. Forgotten she could speak Russian. Pavel opened his mouth to speak but Nyota cut him off. "Don't you dare say 'nothing'. We both know that's not true."

"I won't go into specifics, but…" the young Lieutenant seemed torn between telling her and keeping his friend's trust. "There was a family member that the doctor invited to the launch Thursday," Pavel never had gotten used to calling Leonard by his first name, or even his last name, "And he only invited this one person. But they can't make it, and Doctor McCoy said that he's sure they could have if they'd really wanted to." Behind Pavel, Hikaru gave a little wave and pocketed Pavel's phone. Nyota had to say she was surprised; she hadn't even seen him take it and she had never expected sleight of hand to be Sulu's thing. "Anyway, he says he's not that upset about it, but it's obvious he is. He went ahead and sent them a ticket, even though he knows it won't be used. I feel really badly for him and I want to help. Do you have any ideas?"

"No, I'm really sorry Pavel." Hikaru put a hand on his friend's shoulder and smiled, "I'll sleep on it and let you know tomorrow, that work?" he asked, stepping away.

"Sure, I guess."

"Sorry, Pavel. I can't think of anything, but if it's bothering you that much I'm sure you will," Nyota said, leaning over and giving him a hug. The halls were almost deserted by then so she could afford to be a little unprofessional. "I'll see you Thursday," she said and started walking after Hikaru. She wasn't quite sure, but there might have been a little bit of hurt in Pavel's expression as she turned away.

"Alright. See you Thursday," he called after them. When Nyota turned back around she saw him return to staring out the window. When she and Hikaru turned the corner back down the hall to the meeting room she couldn't help but say something.

"Pavel looks the same as he did before… before… you know… what happened. You remember," Nyota whispered, leaning closer with every word so she could be heard.

"Yeah. You're right… I'll check up on him tonight, make sure he's okay," Hikaru paused and then said, "You know, I might not wait. I think I'll just go ahead and check on him after we're done with the phone."

"That might be a good idea," Nyota said, an icy block sliding around in her stomach. "He promised not to, but…"

"Yeah, I get it, okay?" Hikaru hissed and ducked into a meeting room to his right. Scotty was already in there, feet propped on the table and leaning back in the black chair at the end of the table.

"Ah! Hikaru! Got my message. Good. Now let's see that phone!" He reached out and snatched the proffered phone. "It's too bad he's going to have to trade this in for a standard issue communicator while he's on board; this is one slick little computer." Scotty pressed a few buttons in a certain order and the screen turned a bright blue with a rotating line of white in the upper left hand corner. Several lines of code flashed on the screen before returning to almost plain blue. Scotty laid it down on the table and swiped down the device's side. A holographic keyboard appeared on the table to the right of the phone and Scotty typed several lines of code in a few seconds. For a moment, the screen turned black and Nyota thought they were in. But that was before the white light of the hologram keyboard flashed red and the blue came back on the screen with the words 'NICE TRY' written out in big letters. Scotty tried at least six more times to crack open the phone, only to have more and more mocking phrases thrown back at him. One time the entire message was 'HA HA,' followed by a winking emoticon.

"Damn it! What did that kid do? I've never been so insulted by a robot!" Scotty shouted, throwing his hands in the air. He returned the phone to its normal screen and then tossed it to Hikaru. "Here, try and guess the password. I give up." Nyota peered over Hikaru's shoulder as he typed in password after password – some of which Nyota recognized as navigational equations – and let out a growl of frustration when the eighth code was rejected.

"You guys made it seem like this would be easy," Nyota said, stepping back and crossing her arms.

"Now why would I make it easy for someone to get into my phone?" Nyota jumped and whipped around to look at the door. Pavel stood there, holding up his Pad. "I have an alert system," he said. "When someone tries to hack into one, I get a message and coordinates on the other." He walked forward and took the phone from Hikaru. Pavel's frown wasn't angry or disappointed. It was softer than that; it was more sad than anything else. "If you wanted the password you could have just asked. It's not like I have anything on here to hide. What were you looking for anyway?" Pavel sat down two chairs down from Scotty, looking at them all with heavily lidded eyes.

"We were looking for information on… the 'significant other' that Hikaru and Scotty say you have," Nyota said, moving to the chair next to Pavel. She suddenly realized it would have made a lot more sense just to ask him about it. Yeah, she was spending too much time around Jim and Scotty. "I'm sorry we tried to snoop and didn't ask you first."

"It's okay. Why did you want to know about Taylor?"

"We just wanted to make sure you didn't get your heart broken. We were just going to make sure…" Hikaru hesitated, "Taylor… understands that messing with you means messing with your friends, too, and we do not tolerate anyone breaking your heart."

"Why don't any of you think I can take care of myself?" Pavel sprang to his feet. "I'm perfectly capable of handling my own personal life, thank you very much for your concern! And just so you know, you guys aren't such great friends! You snoop on my phone, treat me like a child, and it only took you six months to catch on I was dating someone! And on top of that, Taylor and I broke up yesterday because of the mission, so you're a day late to threaten anyone!" Pavel stomped out of the room muttering in Russian.

"Shit," Hikaru breathed. He jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room. "Pavel! Pavel, wait!" Hikaru followed Pavel down the hall and their voices faded except for the occasional staccato leap in volume.

Nyota put her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. Pavel, Leonard, Jim, and probably Hikaru were all going to be in a bad mood at the start of the mission and she was the one who was going to have to referee until they found a way to sort out their issues. This was not going to be an enjoyable week.

"Wait, hang on!" Scotty exclaimed from his place at the end of the table. Nyota looked up questioningly. "If they supposedly broke up yesterday, why'd he come in today looking like he'd been dragged through a stable?" he asked and stared at the door. Nyota's brow furrowed. Whatever was wrong with Pavel, a bad break up did not appear to be as high on the list as it was a few minutes before.