Title: A Starship Runs on Loyalty
Characters: Spock, various
Rating: K+
Word Count: 100 each
Warnings: Mentions of racism, basically, nothing else
Summary: There exist, unfortunately, some people in the world who are too vital to their positions to be booted from them due to inexcusable character traits such as xenophobia. When the Enterprise is ordered to escort one such individual back to Earth, the admiral discovers to his shock that James Kirk's crew is just a little protective of their First Officer...
A/N: I'll be posting these two at a time. Admiral Bryce belongs to me (despite the fact that I don't want him); all other characters belong to whoever the lucky entity is that owns old school Star Trek. Title is from one of my top ten favorite episodes, The Ultimate Computer.
The admiral's arrival was tense, but even a man complacent in his own position was not foolish enough to blatantly comment upon the race of the flagship's First. A snide remark and refusal to acknowledge Spock until Kirk turned an interesting shade of magenta were the only visible manifestations of his bigotry – and until something more tangible the captain could do nothing in reprimand.
That didn't stop Kirk from turning and making an elaborate I-will-choke-someone-to-death-watch-me-and-learn gesture before following Bryce's retreating form from the room.
Spock thought it worth the minor annoyance, to see that particular expression on the Captain's face.
Dinner that evening, Kirk was at his brilliantly entertaining best, though the dark circles under his eyes had McCoy's careful attention. Spock himself refused to be baited but also refused to permit his captain's attention being monopolized.
Janice Rand owed Mr. Spock several times over, for his intervention on occasions where, intentionally or unintentionally, she'd been a little too encouraging to young crewmen; so tonight, when the admiral criticized inter-racial marriages, she accidentally spilled a decanter of water over his dress-uniform.
It was fortunate that Bryce's yowling covered the stifled snicker she heard from the Captain's end of the table.