Chapter 2
"James Tiberius Kirk, Christopher Pike wants to see you now."
Newly recruited Kirk looked up and towards the door from his seat in the waiting room. He had been waiting for hours to hear his name spoken. He didn't care that the attendant who called his name used his full name nor the fact that he said it in a sarcastic manner. He was just thankful that he might finally be able to receive his assignments and start feeling like he belonged in the Star Fleet Academy.
As Kirk strode towards the door, he could feel himself walking much more stiffly as if having an erect posture would make him more presentable. He knew that people viewed him as the 'rebel that skidded by'. He wanted to change people's perceptions on him, and he figured that acting professional in any capacity might change that.
Kirk was led through the hall and to a door that stood slightly ajar. Being polite, he rapped a fist on the door. The friendly bellow of 'come in' greeted his ears as he slipped past the door to see Captain Christopher Pike seated behind his mahogany desk. Pike took a second to look up at Kirk, but once he finally did, he gestured towards a seat.
"I won't keep you long. I realize you have work to do, especially if you plan on doing what your father did in three years."
Kirk walked with leaden strides towards the chair before sitting down. He flexed his hands out on to his thighs, surprised that they had already become sweaty. He was nervous beyond a shadow of a doubt, and couldn't remember a time previous to this when he had been so nervous.
Pike shifted some papers on his desk and soon rose and handed one to Kirk.
"Here is where you will start your training. I have all of your classes and locations drawn out in a map just so you don't get lost."
"I won't get lost," said Kirk slowly, smiling slyly up at Pike who just chuckled.
"Don't get too cocky, Kirk."
"Is that leaving me permission to be cocky somewhat then, Captain?"
Kirk felt himself relaxing as he felt Pike feeding off his sarcasm and allowing him to bounce back with witty rebuttals. He had tried to be proper, but it just wasn't in his DNA. He was wired differently than the others. Pike smirked at Kirk and shook his head.
"As I said, Kirk. Don't be too cocky. You might think that you know everything, but there is still a lot you have to learn."
Kirk bowed his head slightly to acknowledge that he heard and absorbed the knowledge that Pike had just bestowed on him before rising from his seat.
"Shall I go now, Captain?"
"Wait, one more thing."
Pike let out a small groan as he rose from his chair and strode towards the closet. He threw the door open before turning slightly to observe Kirk.
"You look the same size as your father..."
He dug in the closet and withdrew a red Star Fleet uniform with the lapel and all. He crossed the small expanse of the room to give it to Kirk with a soft smile, locking his eyes on his.
"Wear this with pride, son."
Kirk gave him a soft smile back as he took the uniform and held it tight to his chest. That had been the first time that a man had ever referred to him as a 'son' in a pleasant light. For one split second, it felt like his long lost father was looking down on him, proud for this new step he had taken in his life.
"Scotty!" shouted Bones as he reached the engine room, peering through plumes of steam in his search for the man.
Clinks and clangs answered his call, along with muttered curses. Bones followed the trail of sounds along the metallic bridge, jogging down the few steps that stood between him and Scotty as he worked on repairing the core.
"Scotty!" repeated Bones, trying to say his name a tad louder.
That did the trick this time. Scotty jumped at the sound of his name before whipping around to see Bones standing there with both brows raised and his hands up.
"How many times do I have to call your name before you answer? I don't really feel like playing a game of 'Marco Polo' with you."
"Nor do I..." remarked Scotty as he dragged his arm across his red and sweaty face, "But next time, don't call me out like a dog, yeah? Besides..." He jerked a thumb behind his back at the sputtering core. "She's pretty loud and I'm on a time schedule. I told the Captain that I would have her up and at 'em in an hour or so. Why are you down here, McCoy?"
"I am here because I'm freezing."
"Eh?" asked Scotty; both brows shooting skywards in confusion. "What do your personal problems have to do with me?"
"Is your tampering with the core affecting the temperature in the ship?"
Scotty shook his head as he looked down at the watch on his wrist, cursing at the lack of time he had left. He bent to retrieve some tools from the toolbox on the floor before answering Bones.
"No. My work has nothing to do with the temperature of the ship. Did you happen to check the temperature gauge?"
"Yes, of course. I checked it before I made the long trek down here."
"Well then, what did the gauge tell you?"
"It told me that the rest of the ship was at a normal temperature, while the medical bay had a temperature that proved worthy of starting an ice age."
Scotty rolled his eyes as he found the tool he wanted, withdrawing it from among the others.
"Perhaps there is a draft. This ship isn't exactly in its glory days anymore."
"You talk as if the Enterprise has one foot in the grave. It was christened not too long ago, Scotty!"
"I don't know what you expect me to tell you, McCoy. I don't work miracles. Put on a coat if you're cold."
Bones muttered under his breath as he turned and started to walk back towards the medical bay to check on Kirk. As he was leaving, he heard a loud bang followed by Scotty's not so quiet yell. He paused at the exit to the engine room with a small smirk before leaving. He felt that coming down to figure out why it was cold was a miserable waste of his time.
The shooting and yelling was ringing in Kirk's ears as he lay on his stomach on the ground; hands over his ears. Shards of glass lay all about his body like snow, reflecting the trauma going on above him. As soon as the initial shots had died down some, Kirk sprung to his feet. The room's lights had turned a ruby red to indicate the danger floating outside the window. They had come to engage in a civil meeting to lay out a plan of action to capture Khan after the devastating bombing this morning. Before any of them really realized it, they were being shot at.
Kirk pulled a small gun from his side belt and made his way towards the windowed hallway, hoping to get a better shot of the person responsible for this chaos. As he raced towards the hallway, another series of shots sent him flying off his feet and hitting the wall square in the shoulder. He winced at the pain as he came back down to the ground. He gripped his shoulder for a second as his eyes scanned about the place. That's when everything seemed to move in slow motion. For lying in the other room, on a small sofa, was Captain Christopher Pike.
As if he had tunnel vision, Kirk released hold of his throbbing shoulder and ran to Pike's side. As he knelt by Pike's side, the shouting increased along with the floor vibrating shooting. Bones stood off to the side; a look of utter sorrow etched onto his face. As Kirk turned to look up at Bones fleetingly, he saw him shake his head slowly. Tears threatened to erupt from Kirk then as he faced Pike, whose every breath seemed to be coming to him in more ragged breaths. Pike looked at Kirk as blood started to appear at the corners of his lips.
"Kirk...don't go giving up..."
"I won't..." Kirk whispered in a quivering voice, leaning over Pike so he could see him better. One of his hands reached out in a trembling fashion to latch on to his breast pocket. "You don't go giving up either. You can make it, Captain. Just hold on..."
"Kirk..." Pike's eyes glistened with tears as he focused on Kirk's face as tears silently fell from his eyes. "It's time for you to be the Captain again, son..."
Kirk hiccuped from the force of the tears as the blood fell from Pike's mouth in a red river. Kirk's grip on Pike's breast pocket grew tighter as the sorrow and anger flooded through him all at once.
"No! NO!" screamed out Kirk as Bones leaned down towards him to try to comfort him.
Before Bones could get the chance to though, Kirk sprung to his feet; the anger and sorrow making a wild look appear in his aquamarine gaze. He bent to grab a larger weapon off the ground that had somehow become discarded there in the fray. Bones tried to reach for Kirk to stop him, but Kirk wasn't going to be stopped. Not now.
"I'm going to kill whoever did this..." growled Kirk under his breath as he ran with a fiercer determination than before to the windowed hallway.
As he had thought, as soon as he entered the hallway, he had a clear view of the ship that was shooting at the building. He pressed his back against a pillar once as he felt the vibrations of shots being peppered towards the building once more. He closed his eyes for a second, gathering up the courage and telling himself that he was doing this for Pike, before flipping into view from his hiding place. He aimed the gun at the ship and took a shot, watching as the glass of the window shattering in a thousand different directions.
The shot made contact with the ship and caused the ship to start making whining noises as an engine started to die. As it spun in a slight spiral, trying to survive off of one engine, Kirk peered towards the driver's seat. He had to know who was responsible for this terror. As the ship's driver window spun into Kirk's view, he noticed the ice cold face of a man staring back at him before disappearing as he was beamed away. Kirk panted after the man vanished and the ship crashed, leaning out the window slightly to see the fiery rubble that was left. As Kirk drew himself back into the building to help plot out the next move, he couldn't get those man's eyes out of his head. They seemed to have burned their presence into his mind. Kirk was glad for this fact though. He wanted to remember every detail of the man so he could be the one to drain the life from those eyes just as he had done to the man that had changed Kirk's life for the better.
Kirk jerked himself awake after having recalled that dreadful moment in his dream. He focused his gaze up at the ceiling as he tried to even his breathing. No one seemed to be in sight at that moment. Not even Bones. Kirk was thankful for that though. He didn't want to admit to anyone that he had been plagued by his dredged up memories. Captains weren't suppose to let themselves be so emotional while leading the charge.
Emitting a small groan, he forced himself to sit up, placing a hand to his head. A small part of the headache still pricked at his head, causing just enough pain to make him uncomfortable. Before he could get up to find more medicine to take, Bones reappeared in the room, looking disgruntled. Seeing Kirk sitting up and fixing him with a weird look, he quickly strode over to him.
"How long have you been up?"
"Not long," replied Kirk. "Head still hurts though..."
"I can't administer you another dose yet, Kirk," said Bones softly as he reached out to place his hand on Kirk's shoulder to force him to lay down again. "Try to sleep more and I'll give you more when you can have it."
"Where did you go?" asked Kirk as he laid back down, not bothering to fight it.
"I went to see Scotty. That was a mistake."
"Why did you go see him?"
Bones paced to the other side of the room to retrieve two of the emergency blankets from the corner. He went back over to Kirk's bedside and draped one over him before taking up residence in a nearby chair and wrapping the other about his shoulders.
"Lets just say, you'll need the blanket."
Kirk smirked softly as he allowed himself to close his eyes. The blanket was making him warm, which was making him feel sleepy again. As he began to drift off to sleep once more, he tried to temporarily push aside all thoughts of Khan and Pike. He had to rest. He'd be no good in avenging Pike's death if he couldn't even keep away a headache. He never had a chance to meet his real father, so he never had a chance to let him down. Kirk's last thought before he finally fully submitted to sleep was that he wasn't about to let his second father, Pike, down. No matter what the cost.
