Hello! And a very warm welcome to my latest story! This is a Star Trek Story that I've been working on since seeing the first JJ Abrams film earlier this year! Do enjoy, review if you want to and you know the rest!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or anything you recognise. It belongs to Gene Rodenberry and the 2009 and 2013 films belong to JJ Abrams.

Starlight

Chapter 1: Invincible:

It started in a bar in Iowa.

"To us!" said my good friend Jeremy, raising his glass and clinking it against my own, "The future Pilots of Starfleet!" I laughed at that and sipped my drink. We were actually doing it. Heading off to join Starfleet and travel the universe. I ran a hand through my dark brown hair and sighed. We were starting a new life. We were growing up. We were living.

Nyota Uhura, a girl I'd met briefly, walked past and we smiled at each other. She walked up to the bar and out of sight and I finished my own drink before setting it down on the table.

"You know what we should do?" I said to Jeremy.

"What, Roxy?" His tone was cautious, as it always was when I came up with ideas.

"We should do shots!" Jeremy laughed and shook his head.

"No, Rox," he said, "No way in hell. Last time we did shots was a disaster. Or don't you remember?" he raised his eyebrow at her and I grinned at him.

"'Course I remember!" I laughed. I did not remember. At all. Jeremy just shook his head again. "It was fine, wasn't it? Come on, Jer, it's our last night of freedom, we'll only do a couple. It'll be fun!"

I knew I was starting to wear him down when there was a shout from across the bar. A group of Starfleet cadets had started beating up some farm-boy. I grabbed Jeremy's hand and pulled him out of the booth and we joined the circle quickly forming around the fight. The farm-boy, although he was a good fighter, was not standing up too well against the four cadets. If you ask me, four on one is ridiculously cowardly. I cringed as they threw him down on a table and punched him repeatedly in the face, my hand covering my mouth.

Then, a loud whistle rang out through the bar and we all turned to see Captain Pike stood there with a disgusted expression on his face.

"Outside, all of you," he said. We all quickly rushed out of the door behind him and everyone began to make their way home or to the bus stops. I pulled out my communicator and sent a message to my dad telling him to come and pick me up and take me back to the hotel we were staying in.

"I could give you a lift, if you want," offered Jeremy as he pulled on his jacket and nodded at his moped.

"Nah, I can wait, don't want to break your bike on it's last night with you." He bid me farewell and I told him I'd see him on the shuttle. Captain Pike came out of the bar a little while after Jeremy had driven off and nodded at me the other few cadets that were still waiting around.

I was still waiting around when farm-boy came out, by that point I was the only one left. He spotted me and sauntered over.

"Well, hello there." I looked him up and down and smiled a little.

"Hey, farm-boy," I replied shortly.

"Now tell me why, after all your spacey friends are gone, are you still here?" He was pretty easy on the eyes, I guess. Certainly not unattractive. He had sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes set in a well-structured face, even if it was bloodied up right now. His lip was split and he had a cut just above his eyebrow which I guessed was from the bottle that he'd had smashed over his head.

"Oh, I was waiting for you to come out to tell you that I'm madly in love with you," I deadpanned and his eyes lit up a little so I burst out laughing.

"Not nice, space-girl," he said.

"Roxy," I corrected him. "My name's Roxy Carrol." I offered him my hand.

"Jim Kirk," he took the hand but instead of just shaking it he brought it to his lips and kissed it. I snorted a little and he grinned.

"That s'posed to be charming?" I asked with a smirk.

"Hey, I'll have you know I'm very charming!" he said indignantly. "I'll even offer the lady a lift home." He gestured to the remaining motorbike and I laughed.

"What is it with you boys all offering to whisk me away on your motorbikes?" I asked and he looked a little confused but laughed anyway.

"Can I take that as a yes?" something else was implied in his tone and he was very close now, directly in front of me, but I didn't step back.

"No," I shook my head, "but you're cute. Ask me again when you're sober."

"I'll hold you to it, space-girl," he stepped away and towards his bike.

"I don't doubt it, farm-boy." He kicked the engine of his bike into life and roared away just as my dad pulled up. Shame I'd probably never see Jim again.

~0~0~0~

It was only because of my parents that I actually managed to get to the shuttle on time, despite my insistence that I was perfectly on top of things. My long brown hair was tied back in a pony-tail today and I fiddled with the seatbelt wrapped around my middle. Jeremy, as always, was sat next to me on the shuttle.

Jeremy was my oldest friend. Seriously, I'd known him from the cradle. We did everything together. He was tall with black hair and he was like my brother. We didn't even mean to join Starfleet together; but we did, by accident. One day, when I was about to tell him I wanted to join Starfleet to become a pilot, he told me exactly the same thing.

You'd think as best friends we should know these kind of things but Jeremy and I rarely talked about the future. We were so similar it was scary but I wasn't really surprised. Before you ask, no, Jeremy and I have neer had anything more than a platonic friendship. And neither of us has ever wanted more than a platonic friendship. Contrary to popular belief, you can be friends with a boy without one of you falling in love with the other. But he looked out for me always, pretended to be my boyfriend when i got hit on by creeps, helped steer me away from bad decisions in my love-life - something he found he had to do increasingly. But he was sweet about it, he never judged me or questioned me and he was the most important man in my life other than my dad. And I was selfishly happy that he was coming to Starfleet with me.

I was pulled from my thoughts when a loud thunk came from the entrance to the shuttle and I turned in my seat a little and spotted farm-boy.

"Oh my god," I whispered. Jeremy heard me and looked over his shoulder.

"Is that the guy from the bar?" he asked me and I nodded my head. "What's he doing here?"

He was properly in the shuttle now and he spotted me and walked over. Sitting down in the seat next to me, he looked up.

"So, Roxy, can I ask you out now?" he grinned and I smirked back.

"I'm still not one hundred per-cent convinced you're sober, Mr Kirk."

"You two know each other?" said Jeremy and I shook my head while Kirk said,

"Sure we do!"

"He attempted to chat me up last night just after you left," I told Jeremy and he laughed. "Hey! You're not supposed to laugh, he's a public menace!" I whined. Jeremy just grinned at me before turning to Kirk.

"Jim Kirk," said the man, reaching across me to shake Jeremy's hand.

"Jeremy Miller," replied Jeremy. I crossed my fingers and scrunched my eyes tight shut.

"Please don't be friends, please don't be friends, please don't be friends," I repeated until Jeremy hit me over the head lightly. "Dude!" I protested, "Don't hit a girl!"

"Oh, don't be a baby," he said as Jim fumbled with his seat belt. Looking up I noticed him spot Nyota Uhura and grin.

"Never did catch that first name," he called out to her. She smiled slightly and I looked up at Kirk, giving a disbelieving shake of my head.

"You're such a flirt," I said.

"Only for you," he grinned.

"That doesn't even make any sense! You can't say that to someone after immediately flirting with someone els-" Just then there was a small commotion from the direction of the bathroom. We all turned to see a man being led out by one of the flight attendants who was telling him to sit down.

"You need a doctor?" said the woman with an angry expression on her face as she led him to the empty seat next to Jim.

"I don't need a doctor, damn it, I am a doctor!" he protested angrily. He had a southern accent and dark brown hair, roughly the same shade as mine.

"You need to get back to your seat," the woman ground out with little patience.

"I had one in the bathroom, with no windows!" he insisted, Jeremy and I exchanged a glance but I looked away so to stop myself giggling. The woman was having none of it.

"You need to get back to your seat now," she said

"I suffer from aviophobia," he said, "It means fear of dying in something that flies." Well, that's a touch dramatic. And why on earth was he going to space if he suffers from aviophobia?

"Sir, for your own safety, sit down, or else I'll make you sit down!" The woman commanded glaring at him.

"Fine," said the man shortly, huffing down into the empty seat next to Jim. The woman nodded at him before moving on. The man looked over at Jim and me who were looking at him. "I may throw up on you."

"I think these things are pretty safe," said Kirk in a good natured attempt to reassure him, and no doubt to avoid being thrown up on.

"Don't pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in 13 seconds." Well, he was cheerful if nothing else. "A solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. And wait till you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian Shingles. See if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but Starfleet operates in Space," Kirk said wryly. I put a hand to my head and began massaging it as I felt a headache coming on.

"Don't have a lot of choice," said the grumpy doctor, "the wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I've got left is my bones." He pulled out a battered silver hip flask and took a swig before offering it to Jim. Jim reached out his hand but I leaned over him and grabbed it, taking a sip of my own before handing it back to Kirk as the man chuckled.

"Jim Kirk," said Jim, offering him his hand.

"McCoy, Leonard McCoy," said the doctor. I leaned across Jim again who gave a muffled protest as I offered McCoy my own hand.

"Roxanne Carrol,"I introduced, using my full name and batting my eye-lids.

"You told me it was Roxy!" Jim grumbled as he pushed me back into my own seat.

"Same thing!" I said, leaning my head against the back of my seat as Captain Pike announced take off.

"No it's not!" Jim whined. I just laughed, closing my eyes.

"Anyway, only my dad calls me Roxanne." McCoy just shook his head at us and gripped the armrests of the seat as the shuttle rocked a little in the take-off. I glanced towards one of the windows to see the ground sinking away below us and smiled. The shuttle was still rocking a little as we rose through the air and I hummed in thought as it finally became steady.

"That was bumpy," I mused and Jeremy rolled his eyes while Jim looked at me in confusion. His eyes were a very bright blue in the dim light of the shuttle. They were sparkling with mischief and a little bit of scepticism at my comment.

"You could do better?" he scoffed and I just gave him a look and raised my eyebrows. I heard Jeremy chuckle behind me because, although he couldn't see my face, he knew I looked extremely offended at Jim's words.

"Honey, I'm gonna be one of the best pilots Starfleet has ever seen."