"Jim, you don't look so good." She looked at her best friend, "Who called you up here?" He glanced over her shoulder at her first officer and Jim knew she wasn't gonna win. If she was being honest, she felt like crap and Monty did try to get her to stay in bed but she's stubborn. "It's just a cold, Bones. Happens to the best of us."

Bones put his hands on his hips and glared at her, "James Tiberia Kirk, you're sick and I'm your doctor. Now, you can come with me voluntarily and I'll put you in your quarters or I'll hypo you into next week and keep you in sickbay. Pick one." Jim groaned, causing her sore throat to throb, "Fine. Spock, you have the con." Jim pushed herself to her feet and followed Bones to the turbolift.

"You just love this, Bonesy?" Her friend chuckled, "Actually, I don't. You're cranky when you're sick." Bones ushered her into her quarters and helped her pull off her uniform. She pulled one of Monty's t-shirts over her head and climbed into bed.

"This is a mild painkiller for your headache and your throat, a decongestant for your runny nose and a mild sedative so you can get some sleep. I'll check on you in a little bit." Jim nodded and closed her eyes. She didn't even register that he hyposprayed her.


"Hey, lass," Monty whispered as he ran his fingers though her hair. "Hey. How long have I been out?" she asked him with a scratchy throat. He smiled, "All day, it's seventeen hundred. I brought you some soup and something special. Ye need to eat something. I was in here during lunch but ye were out cold." Jim nodded as she tried to sit up, "You're awesome." Her boyfriend chuckled as he helped her, "I know."

"I feel like I got hit by a shuttle. My whole body hurts." Monty laughed, "All the advancements in medicine and there's still no cure for the common cold. I tried to tell ye to stay in bed this morning." Jim took a sip of the tea, "Come on. I had to at least try to get some work done. Ooo, there's scotch in here."

"That's a Scott hot toddy, lass. I can't tell ye what's in it but maw says it'll take the edge off yer cold and make your throat feel better." Jim looked at him, "You commed your mom?" He nodded, "She says hi. I told her ye comm once ye felt better, or got bored."

Jim laughed, "We both know which'll happen first. I bet Spock already did my paperwork." Jim took another sip, "This is really good."

"That means I did it right." Monty was watching her. Jim raised an eyebrow, "What? I know I probably look like crap…" He shook his head, "Yer beautiful." Jim rolled her eyes, "I'm a sick, sweaty mess. I need a shower and a brush and…"

"Still beautiful." Monty pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "You're gonna catch my cold," she muttered. He shrugged, "If ye think that's gonna stop me from kissing ye, lass, yer crazy. Besides, we sleep in the same bed, I'm already exposed. Now, eat. After that, I'll help ye take a shower."

"Mmm, I get Monty and a shower."


It took three days before Bones would let Jim go back on duty. Just in time to answer a distress call and Jim was just restless enough to go along. "You should've stayed on the ship, Jim." She shook her head at Bones, "Fresh air is good for me. Didn't you say that at the academy?" Her best friend rolled his eyes but didn't offer an answer. Jim watched as Spock, Lieutenant Shea and Yeoman Thompson scanned for survivors.

"Captain, I'm picking up two humanoid readings. They're heading this way," Thompson informed her. Jim nodded as a man and a woman slowly walked towards them. She stepped closer to the pair, "I'm Captain James Kirk of the Enterprise, we received your distress call."

"It was very kind of you to respond so quickly, Captain. Now, you will surrender your ship to me," the man told her. Jim looked at him, "That's not happening, Mister..." He gave her a look before pressing a button on his belt; a second later, the woman did the same to Shea and Thompson. Jim realized, instantly, that she couldn't move and if she had to guess, her whole team was immobile.

"I am Rojan of Kelva. I am your commander from this moment on. Any efforts to resist us or escape will be severely punished. Soon we, and you, will leave this galaxy forever. You Humans will face the end of life as you know it."

Bones was right; she should've stayed on the damn ship. She was helpless as the woman collected their weapons, tricorders, communicators and Bones' medkit. Rojan stood next to her, "You are all paralyzed by a selective field that neutralizes nerve impulses to voluntary muscles. We can control you at will. I will now release you." Rojan hit the button and Jim found herself able to move.

"Shea." Jim put her arm up and looked at the security officer, "It's alright." She knew he'd move to protect the team if she didn't stop him and Jim was sure it'd get them all killed. Spock moved to stand next to her, "Fascinating. A neural field?" Rojan nodded at her first officer, "Yes. Radiating from a central projection." She wanted to roll her eyes at Spock, but she couldn't blame him for being curious.

"What do you want?" Jim asked this Rojan person. He looked at her, "Your ship, Captain. It will serve us well in the long voyage that is to come." Jim looked at him, "Voyage, where?" Rojan quickly answered, "To the neighboring galaxy. You call it Andromeda." Jim raised an eyebrow, "Why Andromeda?"

"It is our home," Rojan told her like it was the most simple thing in the universe. Jim looked at her first officer. Spock seemed to be thinking the same this she was. He looked at Rojan, "Why are you here?" The Kelvan explained that he was scout seeking a home for his Empire that would die out in a few millennia due to radiation. Rojan was sent to capture a galaxy that his people could occupy. Jim tried to explain that their galaxy was already occupied.

Of course, that's when he dropped the bomb that the Enterprise was already being taken over using the same field that paralyzed them. To prove his point, someone from the ship commed to tell Rojan that they had control of the bridge, engineering and life support. Jim closed her eyes and sighed. In a fair fight, Monty would've taken an enemy out but this wasn't a fair fight.

"Even at maximum warp, it'd take thousands of years for my ship to get to Andromeda." Rojan nodded, "We will use our technology to modify your ship. It will only take three hundred years." Spock looked at her, "Fascinating. An intergalactic journey requiring only three centuries is far beyond anything that our races have accomplished."

"You made a voyage of three hundred years?" Thompson asked the woman, who had yet to give them a name. The woman shook her head, "Our ship is of multi-generational design. We were born in the intergalactic void. We shall die there during our return journey." Rojan nodded, "Our mission will be completed by a commander who is my descendant."

"There's no need for all this. We can take your dilemma to the Federation. There are hundreds of uninhabited planets that are suitable for colonization." Rojan looked at Jim, "We do not colonize, we conquer and rule."


They needed to get back to the ship, Jim and Bones talked Spock into using the Vulcan healing trance as a way to get some of them back to the Enterprise. Hanar, one of Rojan's associates, checked Spock over as best he could before he agreed to send the chief science and medical officers back to the ship.

Jim sat with Shea and Thompson for what seemed like forever when Hanar took her to see Rojan. "What do you want from me, now?" Rojan looked at her, "We are to board the vessel shortly, I wish you to understand your duties." Jim glared, "My duty is to stop you in any way I can."

"You will obey," Rojan told her. Jim was not impressed, "I will do what I think is right." Rojan stood in front of her, "Captain Kirk, I cannot believe that you do not understand the importance of my mission. We Kelvans have a code of honor. Harsh, demanding; it calls for much from us and much from those whom we conquer. You have been conquered. I respect your devotion to your duty but I cannot permit it to interfere with mine."

Jim just stared at the man. He has no idea who he was messing with if he really thought Jim and her crew were just gonna roll over and be 'conquered.' Before she could form a reply, the woman, who they now knew as Kelinda, spoke to her. "Captain Kirk, what is it that you call these?" Jim looked over as the woman walked towards her.

"It's a flower. I don't know what variation; we have many different kinds on many different worlds." Kelinda nodded as she stepped between Jim and Rojan, "We have something similar on Kelva. We call them shashar."

"'A rose by any other name'," Jim muttered under her breath. Kelinda looked at her, "I do not follow, Captain." Jim offered a small smile, "It's a quote from one of Earth's greatest literary minds, William Shakespeare. 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet'." Like that which we call conquered really means enslaved.

Where Rojan seemed to be annoyed, Kelinda seemed interested in their galaxy. Jim stored that information away for later use as Hanar approached with Shea and Thompson. They were all beamed directly to the bridge on the Enterprise.

"Captain," Monty stood from the command chair, "Are you okay?" Jim nodded, "I'm fine, Mister Scott. Apparently, we've been conquered." Jim put enough inflection into the sentence for Monty to understand what she was really saying. They had to get these intruders off their ship. He glanced over her shoulder at Rojan before giving her a sharp nod, "I best get outta yer hair, Captain."

"Attempts to interfere with our mission…" Jim rolled her eyes and cut Rojan off, "You'll kill us, we know. Lieutenant Commander Scott is the only person who knows this ship better than I do. You want this to work, than he has to be allowed to do his job. I've already got one senior staff member in medical." Rojan nodded at them and Monty left the bridge after giving her hand a quick squeeze, picking up her hint to go to sickbay.

Jim was 'allowed' to sit in the command chair, not that she was really in command anymore. Rojan was looming near her and one of the Kelvan women, Drea, was at the helm. Chekov did his job but Jim could tell the kid was thinking about a thousand things at once and so was Sulu, wherever he was. It was just like her crew to try to come up with some way to help. Rojan ordered their speed up to warp eleven. Drea notified them that they had an hour to the barrier.


Jim told Rojan that she was going to check on her first officer and joined Monty, Bones and Spock where they were working in Bones' office. Jim sighed as she stepped into the room, "Please tell me you've got something." Monty looked at her, "Aye, we do but yer not gonna like it." Monty and Spock figured out that they couldn't destroy the source of the Kelvan's paralyzing belts. Spock looked at her, "We have prepared another option, Captain."

"Which is?" she asked them. Monty looked at the floor before his eyes met hers, "We're heading into negative energy space. I can flood the matter/antimatter chambers with positive energy." Jim sighed, "When we cross over the barrier, we'll explode." He touched her shoulder, "Aye, lass."

Jim sat in the chair behind Bones' desk and picked up a holo from Thanksgiving during their second year at the academy. Her mom was off planet, Chris was on a training cruise and Sam was with Auri's family. Mama McCoy instructed her son to bring Jim and Gaila home with him. Jim loved her best friend's daughter from the minute she got there. The idea of never seeing her again… of never seeing anyone again hit her harder that she thought it would. Especially since she died already.

"I was looking forward to being a big sister," she paused, "If we don't stop them, they'll just come back and take over our galaxy. I'm not convinced that they won't kill all of us once we get through the barrier. You guys really think this is the best option?" All three men gave her a nod. Jim offered a small smile, "Now you all agree on something, figures. Okay, I'll give the order."

Before they got a chance to think about it too much, Jim was called to the bridge. Bones gave her a real smile, "I hate this." She chuckled as she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, "I know you do." Jim walked out of his office.

"Looks like I'm breaking that promise, again," she muttered to Monty as they stepped into the turbolift with Spock. He shrugged, "Living near the shipyard is overrated. I guess I'll just have ta find ye in the afterlife." Jim nodded, "I'll meet you at the bar." He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, "I'll be there." Monty stepped away from her just as the doors opened to the bridge.


It didn't work. Jim gave the order to Monty and she watched him input the commands but nothing happened when they passed through the barrier. The look that Rojan gave her told Jim that the Kelvans figured their plan out. He didn't even seem fazed by it, like he expected them to do something. It was just the first part of his one-two punch.

"We shall begin neutralizing procedures." Jim stood from her chair, "What the hell are you talking about? You said you wouldn't hurt anyone if we cooperated. You said you needed us." Rojan looked at her, "There are far too many of you to guard. And the food stores are not adequately supplied for such a long journey. Most of the personnel aboard the ship are non-essential to this mission."

He stepped around her and pressed a button on his belt. Small spherical objects appeared where Hannity, Hadley, Leslie and Winters were sitting, their bodies were gone. Jim's heart broke when Drea did the same thing to Chekov and Uhura. She almost cried at the sight of her friends turned into these small white balls. "Stop this… stop killing my crew."

"They are not dead in this form. Is it not preferable to the explosion your officers attempted to cause? This will be easier if you were to comply."


"This is it? Four of us?" Jim asked as she walked into the galley and found Monty, Bones and Spock sitting at a table. Bones gave her a grim look, "They went through medical and turned my staff into those… things. Christine…" He stopped talking and she couldn't help but feel guilty that Monty was sitting next to her. Spock seemed out of sorts without Uhura, too.

"We'll figure this out. They stopped our first plan but…" Jim stopped talking when the door to the room opened and one of the Kelvans, Tomar, entered the galley. He walked over to them and gave the group a look. "Why are you eating this… bulk material for sustenance? We have found that these contain everything you need." He held up a small pouch with, what Jim assumed were some kind of nutritional pills.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it," Bones told the Kelvan. Tomar seemed to take interest in their food so Bones got him some. Tomar sat at another table and began eating.

The four officers noticed that Tomar took an immense amount of pleasure in eating chicken and mashed potatoes. Spock told them that the Kelvans weren't humanoid and were in 'shells' in order to use the Enterprise. Their physical forms read as perfectly human, textbook even. Spock theorized that the difference between their natural bodies and their humanoid bodies was affecting their sensory perception.

"Like Kelinda and the flowers. She seemed entranced by them. If we do it right, maybe we can overload their senses. I might have an idea for Kelinda but the others…" Jim whispered. Monty smiled, "Oh, lass. It's a good thing we put that still together." Monty stood up from his seat and walked over to Tomar and offered him something to wash his meal down with. Saurian brandy.

While Scotty worked his Scottish magic on Tomar, Bones decided to try his luck with Hanar and Spock worked on Rojan. Jim managed to get Kelinda alone and talked to the woman about her family. She told her old stories and the most normal stuff.

Talking to her mom on the comm all the time. Lunches with Chris when the ship was home. Goofing off with her brother. Shopping trips with Gaila. Waking up in the morning in Monty's arms. Singing songs with Joanna. Finding fun ways to annoy Bones. Sulu teaching her how to fight with his sword. Working on random projects with Chekov, Tom and Kevin.

"Why do you do all these things?" Kelinda asked her. Jim smiled, "They're my family. The people I love more than anything in the universe. I honestly couldn't care less about what we do, the important part is just being with them. I almost died… a few times. I don't take my time with them for granted. Rojan is so consumed with his mission that he's missing the whole point of living."


"Have I ever told you how much I love yer legs? They're so smooth and they just go on and on and on." Scotty was as drunk as she's ever seen him. Drunk and a bit touchy-feely. She smiled, "Monty, did you get it?" He kissed the palm of her hand before placing the small device in it and placing another kiss to her fingers. "Of course, lass. Anything ye need from me is yers."

Jim's heart melted; that was too sweet. As much as she wanted him to see this through, Monty was no good to them drunk. She sighed, "Go back to our quarters and go to bed." He wrapped his arms around her waist, "Are ye gonna tuck me in?" Jim chuckled, "I wish. I promise to come cuddle with you once we deal with the Kelvans."

"Ye better," he muttered against her lips. Jim could almost taste the Romulan ale on his breath. Damn, she was saving that for his birthday.


Jim walked in on a fight between Rojan and Kelinda. She looked at her officers, "What happened?" Bones looked at her, "She wants to know why he doesn't love her. Why he doesn't love any of them. Why he's loyal to a people he's never known, following three hundred year old orders."

"You!" Rojan yelled at her, "You did this to her." Jim chuckled, "Where I come from, women have their own minds. Her mission was to study us, all I did was answer her questions." It was becoming clearer by the second the Rojan has lost control over his people. Jim chuckled, "You've only been with us a few hours, imagine how your race will be in three hundred years. Your descendents will be alien among their own people when they arrive at Kelva. Your mission was to find a new home, so find one."

Spock stepped forward, "We can still take the problem to the Federation. It is a chance to make your own destiny. An automated vessel could be sent to Kelva with a Federation proposal and you can live out your lives on a vibrant world." Rojan considers them for a moment before he agreed to give Jim her ship back. Jim orders them to turn around before she tossed the device at Bones. "Restore the crew, Doc."

"What are you gonna do?" Bones asked. Jim smiled at her best friend, "I'm gonna go take care of Monty. You don't wanna know how drunk he got getting his hands on that thing."


Monty groaned against her side, where he was cuddled up. Jim smiled as she ran her fingers along his neck. "Tha feels good, lass. How long was I out?" She sighed, "A while. We're back in the Milky Way galaxy and we dropped of the Kelvans on the planet where we picked them up, they named it Kelva Prime. Brass is giving us some shore live. I decided that Risa was perfect."

He kissed her side, "Hmm, shore leave. Just us and the clear waters of Risa… sounds like bloody heaven, lass." Jim chuckled, "Wait until you see the bikini that Gaila made me pack." Monty looked up at her, "Maybe ye should just show me now." She smiled, "Maybe I will."