Disclaimer: I own none of the Star Trek characters.
Chapter 20
After passing up a chess game with Spock, one James T. Kirk was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling of his personal quarters. It seemed like every time he was able to get some time to himself he would finally have a clear head. Yet, a clear head meant he could look at what he had done previously to cause him to seek solitude.
He thought of his actions toward the crew recently, how he had been yelling and nitpicking at every little thing. Nothing seemed right while he was around others, but when he was alone he realized that everything was fine. Well, fine except for the system problem which was steadily growing worse the longer they couldn't fix it.
Then his mind drifted to the last memories of Chekov on board the Enterprise. The kid had so much talent, so much drive to do good, and how he was forced to leave plagued the Captain's mind endlessly. The kid was smart so there was no way for him to not understand a Vulcan bond and what was expected. Hell, Jim was actually concerned for the little guy when he realized that he wasn't happy with his relationship. Of course, being the concerned captain that he was, Kirk went to Spock to try and find out his side, knowing that Chekov would not complain unless he was tricked into doing it. Everything between the two seemed to be based off of sex, though Spock did seem to be growing attached even if he denied it. Then something changed. Chekov was still the same, but there was a tension that settled around the crew and it was all focused on the poor kid.
He had no choice, but to send him away.
Still, Jim spent many nights sleepless because he tossed and turned thinking about the young Russian. He hadn't known about the restraining order Spock had put on the kid. He hadn't meant to make the poor kid's life and career miserable. With all the animosity, he had thought it would be safer for him to leave. Probably could have explained that better at the time, but he couldn't risk a mutiny on his hands either. His captaincy was shaky at best, the Starfleet Admiralty made sure to remind him that he was only captain because he was hailed a hero and Pike was dead. Low blows.
Rolling over onto his side the blonde sighed and closed his eyes, hoping he would get some sleep before he was needed for the docking at Starfleet Headquarters. Once he was done with his report he would see to getting someone to fix his ship and give the entire crew their shore leave. Including the illusive Bones.
Pavel smiled as he walked into the door of his new job. Leonard had told him that the Enterprise was coming in and that he was given his normal shore leave until a system failure was fixed. So the younger man left his prince and princess in the capable hands of the doctor and walked to work.
"Good morning, Sir," Pavel greeted at he walked past his boss towards the back where he would start working on the repairs left from Saturday.
"Morning, Pavel," the man replied with a wave and smile. He was a short man with a slightly rounded figure and a balding head of salt and pepper hair. Daniel Krinard Jr. was the fourth generation of his family to own and operate this repair shop and he was proud to say that he was the one who landed the Starfleet connection. Anyone from Starfleet would get a discount on repairs. Plus, his staff was knowledgeable on all forms of repairs and trained to cover almost anything imaginable. Thus he occasionally sent someone over to fix a ship every once in a while.
To say Pavel Chekov was a diamond to him was putting it mildly. Genius level smarts and young with smart kids of his own, the own man knew who he would pass the shop to in his will. Providing the Russian continued his employment at his shop until then of course. Being married with kids who were completely uninterested in the shop meant that Daniel needed to find someone outside of the family to give it to if he wanted Brilliant Repairs to last past his lifetime.
"Anything new I should know about?" Pavel asked as he started on a computer.
"Starfleet flagship came in with a strange bug in the system. No one can figure it out from what I hear. Probably gonna get a call either today or tomorrow about it," Daniel mused as he fixed yet another PADD. He seriously wondered how people were able to discover almost every problem imaginable for the things, but were too lazy to do the easy fixes themselves. All well, more money for the business.
"I vonder vhat it could be," the Russian hummed as he finished the computer and moved onto a replicator.
"No clue, but if we do get a call, I'll go in since I'm the only one on duty today that can go."
The younger man gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry, if ze Enterprise vas not docked I vould wolunteer to go."
"I understand; no harm, no foul. I'd rather you not get into trouble and end up having to leave my employment." The elder man left out that he would probably never find someone as perfect for the job as Pavel was.
The old cordless wall phone rang and Daniel answered it with a fond smile. Original working phone that came with the building; he liked to use it as the business line so that he had a number for people to call.
Why fix what isn't broke?
Just an old fashioned form of communication. No need to replace it with something new just because it was old.
Pavel puttered in the back, getting the high priority items fixed and marked appropriately. Each item had a card taped to it with the customer's name, arrival time, device problem, and a color coded sticker. Red was for high priority, orange was medium priority, pink was low priority, yellow was incomplete, and green was finished. There weren't too many red stickers, so Pavel would move onto the last one after the replicator before starting on the orange stickered cards since there were no yellows."
"Pavel, I'm heading out to a customer, high priority. Security system glitch making it so the scanner doesn't recognize the residences of the home. If Starfleet calls or has someone stop by, take down the information and I'll take care of it when I get the chance," the boss called as he gathered his things and ran out the door.
"Vill do!" the blonde yelled back. He finished the replicator reprogramming, tested it, and then placed a green sticker on the card. Next on the list was a company issued PADD that had erased all of the contact information without prompting. After he would work on medium priority things based on how long the item had been sitting in the store. Thankfully there were enough intelligent people working at the shop that most devices were fixed in under three days.
The office phone went off and Pavel walked over and picked it up while continuing to work. Raising quarter Vulcan children that were extremely curious helped one learn to multitask accurately.
"Brilliant Repairs. How can ve fix your day?" What a fun twist on the shop slogan of "We'll fix your day."
"This is Captain Kirk, I was told to call this number so someone can take a look at my ship."
Pavel felt his heart freeze at the voice of his old captain. Shaking his head, he grabbed an index card and wrote down the young captain's name, the ship's name and time of call.
"Vhat is ze problem vith your ship?" The young parent cringed at his still noticeable accent which he was pretty sure would never go away.
Listening to Kirk list off the problems and his theories as to the actual cause of the problems, Pavel wrote it all down on a sheet of notebook paper.
"So how soon can you get here?" Kirk asked.
"I am sorry; I am not allowed to do zis job for you. Our only available technician left on another call a short vhile ago. I vill give him your information vhen he returns and have him call you vhen he is on his vay over," Pavel responded with a pounding heart.
"What do you mean you can't come over? You have to know something if you work there."
"For your information, Sir; I am forbidden from vorking on Starfleet ships."
There was silence for a few moments in which time Pavel finished fixing the company PADD and placed a finished sticker on the card. He had even recovered all of the lost information.
"Sir, are you still zere?" he cautiously asked when the silence finally got to him. With Lyusya and Vitaliy talking he had grown accustomed to some kind of noise at all times.
"You wouldn't happen to be Pavel Chekov would you?" Damn that smart man.
"Vhat gave it away? Ze accent?" he asked with a bit more venom than he had intended. After all, when the day was done, Kirk was a paying customer.
"A little bit, yeah. Damn Spock and that restraining order. What would I have to do to make it so you could come and fix the Enterprise?"
Pavel blinked at the wall opposite from where he leaned on the counter. He certainly hadn't expected that.
"Commander Spock vould have to be off Starfleet premisise until I vould be done. Zough I vill still have to vait for the other person to come back. Zis sounds like it may need more zan one person to look at it." It was also convenient that the old phone came with an old answering machine which recorded any jobs that came in while they were gone. There was also a drop off box in front of the building and cards for people to fill out if they were able to drop the broken device off.
"I'll be able to do that. Give me a call when you're about t leave. Oh, and Chekov?"
"Yes?" What was the older blonde going to say now?
"I'm sorry for how things worked out. I sent you away to get you away from the rest of the crew thinking you would be safe. You have to believe me when I tell you I had no idea Spock had filed a restraining order." The Starfleet Captain's voice sounded like a plea.
A vicious part of Pavel wanted to tell the other to shove it, but forced himself to think things through before answering. "I understand your reasoning, but I do not forgive your actions. Someone vill call vhen ve are about to leave for Starfleet Headquarters."
As he hung up he heard about half of his last name being called out of the hearing part of the phone. Sighing Pavel went back to work, waiting for Daniel to come back so they could talk about what to do.