Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.

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Rosie, still in the dark about Jim being on the ship, had finished her safety checks of the ship's main engineering equipment and was currently standing at her designated console on the bridge. Knowing she had the time, she was checking the functionality of a few more non-standard systems from the screen there. However, her actions were interrupted by Captain Pike. "Moure," he called over to her from his chair in the center of the bridge, "go wait for me in the ready room. I'll be there shortly. I want to talk to you."

"Yes, Captain," she felt her face heat up with some embarrassment at being singled out like that in front of the rest of the bridge. She closed down the windows that were displaying the engineering systems and quietly made her way over to the ready room. Alone, she paced back and forth through the room for a few minutes.

Then Captain Pike entered, shutting the door behind him, segregating himself and Rosie away from the rest of the bridge. "This is all classified," was all he said in a stern voice.

"Of course."

He clasped his hands behind his back and walked over to the view screen that was displaying the space dock, just outside the ship. He was quiet for a few moments. "This is the starship," he began in a hushed tone and looked over at her. "The one you have the classified project installed on." He phrased it as a statement, but he was looking for her to respond.

"It is, Sir." Rosie knew exactly what he'd been implying. "I wouldn't be serving on the Enterprise if it wasn't installed on her. It would be somewhat silly for it to be on a ship without me, since I'm the only person who can use it."

Pike nodded, content with her answer. He remained quiet again for a few more moments, processing information. "And no one is aware of it, correct?"

"No," she answered honestly. Pike was asking about the classified project she'd worked on when she was seventeen. It had been considered a failure and forgotten about after only she and her ex were the only two who'd been able to use it. "Starfleet was aware the prototype was built, but not that I installed it myself while the Enterprise was being built. The only people that know it's here are you, me, and Commander Lukas." Rosie winced, having to say the name out loud. "Although I guess since Lukas doesn't exist any more according to Starfleet records, only you and I know."

Pike looked sympathetic. "I wish I could tell you what happened to him," he placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "I wish I knew. It bothers me too that he just vanished like that. I know you guys were close." Rosie nodded silently. Pike hadn't known the extent of her and Lukas' relationship, only that they'd been friends. "Also, I'd like to thank you."

Rosie's head jerked up, searching the captain's face for some sort of reason for that. "What are you talking about?"

"For speaking up about the Kobayashi Maru incident. For trying to clear Kirk's name." The older man laughed a little when Rosie seemed even more shocked. "What, you think I didn't know about that? Everyone does."

"Oh. Well," she shrugged, "it didn't seem to matter. No one cared."

"I care," Pike told her. "And I appreciate it. It was really honorable of you. Not many people would go straight to Starfleet and say it was their fault. When I recruited Kirk three years ago, I thought maybe he'd change being at the academy. But he hasn't changed one bit."

"No, no he hasn't," Rosie agreed with him.

"Guess I should've figured he wouldn't change. Recruiting you didn't change you much either." Rosie remembered the day Pike had shown up on her and her mother's doorstep. The day her mother had been fleeing from for Rosie's entire life. The day her life changed forever. "He's brilliant, he truly is," Pike continued on, "But arrogant. Impulsive. He's made more enemies than friends at Starfleet. That's for sure." Pike nodded towards the information access screen on the wall. "It's all documented. They've been looking for a reason to throw him out since he arrived. Anyway," Pike began walking towards the door back to the bridge. "Take as much time as you'd like in here. We're not leaving dock for at least another twenty minutes." He was smirking, trying to tell Rosie something without telling her. He walked out the door, but stopped, turning back around. "Oh, Moure," he called to her from the doorway, "I'm glad that you've found a friend in him. It's nice to see you smile again. It's been too long." And before she could reply, he turned away, the doors to the ready room sliding shut behind him.

It only took a few moments of Pike being gone before Rosie dashed over to the access screen. She hit a few buttons, swiped a window, and she was in a file on Jim, looking at the documentation Pike was talking about. Arrogant. Egotistical. Insubordinate. The documents in the file went on and on, depicting Jim as a horrible person intent on destroying everything Starfleet stood for. "No wonder they didn't care that I created the program," Rosie mumbled aloud to herself as she continued to scan the file on Jim and his behavior.

It didn't take long for her to make up her mind. If they weren't going to treat him fairly, she wasn't going to let them have any leverage. She knew the system used to document things about cadets quite well, having helped develop the most up-to-date version of it that was currently in use, and with a few taps of her fingers, the worst of the information stored about Jim was gone from the database forever.

Yes, she knew Jim was an arrogant, idiotic jerk sometimes. Most of the time, actually, she thought to herself. But she knew him well enough to know that it came from his intelligence, his inquisitiveness. That was what compelled him to be that way. She knew Jim was great, and now she knew Pike believed in him too. There had to be a way to show people Jim was much more than the façade he threw up around himself most of the time.

Rosie cleared the screen and hurried back out to her post. Pike gave her a knowing smile as she reentered the bridge. She passed Spock as she was heading back to her console, and she could've sworn he glared at her as she went by.

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Rosie had triple checked all of the engineering systems she wanted by the time the Enterprise was ready to leave space dock. She watched the view screen in front of her, entranced as it showed the space dock slowly slipping from view, the black of space and its small specks of stars taking its place, as the huge starship turned in the direction of Vulcan.

"The fleet's cleared space dock, Captain," the Asian man at the helm announced. Rosie could see the rest of the fleet in the view screen, in front of the Enterprise, all poised to take off at warp speed.

"Set course for Vulcan," Pike replied, turning his seat around to face the view screen now.

"Aye, Sir." He tapped a few buttons. "Course laid in."

"Maximum warp. Punch it."

The man pushed the silver lever forward. Rosie watched anxiously as all the ships around them catapulted into warp, vanishing in the blink of an eye. But the Enterprise remained stationary. Everyone on the bridge glanced over accusingly at the young helmsman. Rosie looked at the readings on her screen, determining the problem in just a moment, but decided to remain quiet. He was young, clearly still a cadet, and he deserved a few moments to figure it out for himself.

"Where's helmsman McKenna?" Captain Pike asked, clearly annoyed.

"He has lungworm, Sir. I'm Hikaru Sulu."

"You are a pilot, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then why aren't we moving, Sulu? Is the parking break on or something?"

"Ah," Sulu laughed nervously, "no, Sir. I'm not sure what the problem is." He muttered on as he looked around the console for some sort of answer. "I'll figure it out."

"Have you disengaged the external initial dampener?" Spock butted into the conversation. Jerk, Rosie thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. He could've given him a minute to think.

Sulu didn't reply to that, simply tapping a few more buttons on the helm. After that, he announced, "Ready for warp, Sir."

Pike smiled, ready to get underway. "Let's punch it," he repeated the phrase.

This time, when Sulu pressed forward on the lever, the space ahead of them seemed to stretch and twist as the Enterprise took off at maximum warp.

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A/N: Thank you all for reading! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter :)