Being part of the crew of the USS Enterprise is like being part of one big family; everyone knows everyone, despite the fact that there are around four hundred people on board; you're enlisted for babysitting duties at the last minute and you don't even get paid, but you don't really mind. Little clips depicting life on the Enterprise.

1: We're Here for You

Life aboard a star ship could be very hard, especially when you had family on Earth. It was even harder if they were on another ship because you were constantly worrying about them.

Dr. McCoy has a daughter in Georgia. Even when he's on shore leave he doesn't usually get to see Joanna. Everyone knows that his ex-wife, Jocelyn, is the reason he's so bitter. She got full custody of Joanna, and she gets half of his salary in child support. He doesn't feel bad about giving the money to Joanna, but he's deeply suspicious that it doesn't get spent on his little girl.

Captain Kirk has a brother, but he doesn't know where he is. For all he knows, Sam could be dead. Sam tried to protect Jim from their abusive step-father, but at the age of sixteen, he ran away and hasn't been heard from since. There's not a day goes by that Jim doesn't think about his long lost brother.

Ensign Chekov enjoys the independence of life aboard the Enterprise. He's the baby of his family, with four older siblings - two brothers and two sisters - and he sometimes feels smothered by them, but there are always those days when all he wants is to be at home, playing chess with his sister, Irina, while his mother makes dinner and his father gives out about current affairs and his other siblings shout. On those days he goes to the comm. room and talks for as long as he can before he has to get back to work.

Commander Spock has a human family on Earth. He doesn't know his aunt and uncle very well - he's only met them a handful of times - but he worries about them. His father would tell him it is illogical to worry about people he hardly knows, but perhaps that's one of the best reasons to worry about them. He promises himself that next time he has shore leave on Earth he will visit them. When your family is that small, and you're the only reminder that Amanda Grayson ever existed, you can't really ignore them.

Lt. Uhura has a brother on the USS Valiant. She can't even remember how long it's been since she saw him; their shore leave hardly ever happens at the same time.

Mr. Sulu worries about his elderly grandmother. She's almost a hundred years old, and she's always in and out of hospital. Hikaru's main worry is that something really bad might happen and if she doesn't make it, he wont be there.

Despite this, they all know they're not alone. Bones knows from his monthly comm. calls that Joanna misses him just as much as he misses her, if not more. Jim doesn't know where his brother is, but he likes to think that Sam Kirk thinks and worries about him too. Pavel knows that his mother misses him so much that she sometimes sets out an extra plate of food at meals then cries when someone points it out to her, and Irina misses having a worthy opponent for chess. Spock knows that his human family think of him, and his cousins are both proud to have an cousin relatively high up in Starfleet. He knows his father worries about him a lot, even though he doesn't show it, because Ambassador Spock told him when he was on board for a while a month ago. Uhura calls her brother almost every night, and can tell from his voice that he misses her. They send each other pictures of their friends and the planets they visit. Sulu gets calls from his grandmother every day, and some days she cries so much that she sets him off.

Everyone knows that they aren't the only one on the ship with someone to worry about, and whenever anyone feels homesick, there's always a shoulder to cry on. For Bones it's Kirk; for Kirk it's Spock or Bones, whoever is at hand; for Chekov it's Sulu, and vice versa; for Spock it's Uhura, again, and vice versa. They have movie nights and talk about their worries to those they feel closest to.

No matter how homesick they feel, everyone always has someone to talk to and comfort them.

So, what do you think? The next instalment will be about children on the Enterprise, bit of a spoiler for you. Reviews are love, but no flames please, they're hurtful.