The Enterprise, with its souped-up engines, made it to the nearest starbase in less than two days. There, the Kelvans were duly processed for citizenship in the Federation and Captain Kirk decided not to press charges on them for abducting a starship. "Trust me if Rojan had punched me any harder I would have," he grumbled good-naturedly.
McCoy rolled his eyes. "After you provoked him I'm surprised he didn't," he said.
After speaking to the starbase commander, Kirk made an announcement to the crew. "Due to the technological advancements installed in the ship, we will be staying docked for a minimum of a week to run tests and study this new technology.."
Elle, listening to the announcement, asked Chekov, "Wait, so is this going to affect how fast warp speed works in the future?"
"Well if we can't it working, then no," he said. "We have to study it first."
"Oh, okay."
"Which means," Kirk continued on the announcement, ignoring the fact that all and sundry were listening to him and McCoy banter, "anyone not on the engineering teams can have shore leave."
Elle fistpumped. "Yes!"
Chekov grinned. "Wonderful. There is a Russian restaurant I would like to go to again."
Classes were dismissed for the day and Elle went around looking for someone to take her to the starbase.
"Sorry, Elle, I promised my boyfriend we'd go sailing."
"Sorry, kiddo, I'm on reserve for the engineering teams."
Elle sighed. People were rapidly disappearing into the starbase and the accompanying planet and at this rate she'd have to stay behind on the ship.
Kirk and Spock came around the corner and Elle, dragging her feet, almost crashed into them. "Oop," Kirk said, betraying his midwestern upbringing as he grabbed Elle's arms to keep her from falling. "Where are you going in such a sulk?"
"I'm not sulking," Elle said, trying not to sound like a baby. "It's just nobody's available to take me on the starbase."
Kirk smiled. "Serendipitous," he said.
"Huh?"
"We were gonna hunt down McCoy and see if he wanted to go explore," Kirk said, with all the eagerness that his crew loved him for. "Let's go?"
"Awesome."
Turns out McCoy had actual things to do, so Kirk, Spock, and Elle were on their own. They beamed over to the station. First, they had to go see the base commandant as a courtesy. They made a funny picure, Kirk striding along, flanked on the right by Spock gliding along and Elle on the left, trotting to keep up with their longer steps. She almost lost them in a flood of Star Fleet officers emerging from a VR deck but Spock's dark hair stood out and Elle hurried to catch up.
She hooked her fingers in the braid of Kirk's sleeve instead.
He smiled and held her hand. "Short legs," he teased kindly.
"Yup."
They were admitted to the office after a moment's wait. "Well, well, if it isn't Star Fleet's dynamic duo," the base commander drawled. "You're giving my engineers fits with this new tech you've brought in."
"We try our best," Kirk said, grinning.
"And who's this?" the base commander asked, looking at Elle. "You keep picking up strays, Jim. You trying to make a case for fatherhood?"
Elle didn't like his tone. She distracted him by sticking her hand out. "Elle Wilcott," she said.
He shook her hand and nodded. "Commodore Friesen. How did you get caught up with these crazies?"
She smiled at him sweetly. "I stowed away."
He chuckled and turned back to Kirk'n'Spock.
Elle amused herself by looking at the pics of his family on the shelves. She waved goodbye and followed Kirk out.
"Nice evasion," he told her, amused.
She grinned guiltily. "I mean technically I did stow away. It's the truth, from a certain point of view."
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV, A New Hope," Spock intoned solemnly.
Kirk grinned, delighted. "How do you know that?"
"I asked him if lightsabers could be real. He didn't know what that was so we watched them," Elle replied, grinning.
"Lightsabers are illogical," Spock said.
Kirk beamed at him and slung an arm around Elle's shoulders. "You've made my day," he decided.
Elle saw the souvenir store and paused. "Ooh."
"Let's go in," Kirk decided, tugging her in that direction.
They went into the store which was part curio shop, part bookshop, and part magical sparkly fairy glitter bomb. Elle took a deep breath, glancing at all of the shiny pretty things. She barely noticed Kirk and Spock sharing an amused glance over her head.
"Ooh, look." Elle wandered off.
An hour later, they emerged with three small shopping bags. Elle bought a small holographic snowglobe that had 500 planets loaded on it. Every time you shook it, it came up with a different planet landscape and precipitation native to that atmosphere. It also glowed in the dark. Oh yeah, and she got a necklace with shiny beads from Tau Ceti III.
The captain came away with four more paperback books. And Spock bought a tiny crystalline chess set.
"Could we be any more stereotypical?" Elle asked dryly.
"Only if all four of these books were about sailing ships," Kirk said.
"Touche, captain." Elle strung the necklace over her head and settled it against her collarbone. "Yay! Space jewelry." She tapped at one of the beads with her fingernail. "This doesn't happen to be radioactive, does it?"
"I do not believe so," Spock said.
"Hmph." Elle giggled at the thought of Star Trek Beyond.
They beamed back to the Enterprise for the night. "Tomorrow starts a week-long shore leave," Kirk told Elle. "I was planning on taking a group camping. You want to come?"
"Yes!"
"Great. Lt. Campbell will tell you want to bring. She's coming, too."
Elle liked Lt. Campbell. The Ops officer was always kind and ready to play any video game that Elle wanted. She went to the nearest wall panel and touched the control. "Hey, Alexa," she said. "Where's Lt. Campbell?"
The computer didn't actually respond to the name 'Alexa', but as long as Elle's finger was on the control the computer would answer any question she posed. She was pretty sure that whatever limited AI resided in the Enterprise computer core appreciated being addressed by a name. "Lt. Campbell is on the Rec Deck."
"Thank you."
Elle found Lt. Campbell playing the space version of Paper Mario. "Uh, Lt?"
"Elle, did the captain find you?"
"Yup."
"Good, I made you a list." The lt handed her a PADD with the camping list. "And always bring extra socks and underwear. It takes all the fun out of it if you're sitting there with frozen toes."
"Yes ma'am." Elle took the list and went to go pack. She stacked out the number of pants, shirts, underwear, socks, and replicated two sweaters, a flannel, a hat, and a waterproof jacket. She regarded the stack of things with pride. "Problem," she said aloud. "I do not have anything to put stuff in." All she had was a little fanny-pack which would fit approximately two pairs of socks.
Her cabin replicator wasn't keyed for anything but clothing.
She trekked down to SS&R, Supplies and Requsitions. "Cmdr. Chanax?" Elle asked, poking her head into the den of storage and miscellaneous parts.
"Whatdya need, Elle?" he asked.
"A camping backpack or something like that, that I can carry," Elle said. "Please."
He walked over to the selector. "What color?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhhh, I don't know."
"That's not a color."
"Purple," Elle said randomly.
He input the parameters and a few moments later the replicators spit out an Elle-sized backpack with purple and khaki swirls. "Eh? Eh?" he said.
"It's perfect," Elle said. "Thanks!" She hugged the backpack to her chest and went back to her quarters.
She managed to stuff everything in the backpack and went to bed.
Her alarm woke her up early. She ate a hearty breakfast, grabbed her bag, and marched down to the transporter room chanting, "Camp! Camp! Camp! Camp!"
Captain Kirk's Amazing Camping Adventure Away Team was composed of: the captain, duh. Spock, the Holder of the Space Blankets and Coffee. McCoy, Hoarder of the (giant) Emergency First Aid Kit. Lt. Campbell, Bringer of S'mores. Sulu and Chekov, the Energetic Carriers of the Stuff. Ensign Morelos, Guardian of the Guitar. And Elle, the Smol One.
"All right, everyone, pick a buddy," the captain ordered.
Elle edged over to him. "I pick you."
He smiled. "Good, because I was going to pick you, too."
To Elle's amusement and no surprise, Sulu and Chekov had already agreed beforehand, and the two lower decks grabbed each other before one of the senior officers could choose them. Begrudgingly, McCoy and Spock picked each other.
"All right, let's go."
They beamed down to the planet's starbase hub and from there they rented a hovercraft. Spock and Sulu figured out the native GPS system while everyone else loaded up the shuttle. McCoy made sure to scan all the food items that went into the cargo, grumbling about food poisoning.
"As long as we don't end up in the middle of the ocean, it will be okay," Chekov said.
"That was one time, Pavel," Sulu griped, the back of his neck turning red.
Elle stifled a giggle.
"Okay, y'all load up and buckle in," McCoy ordered, shooing people in.
Elle got the cool swivel seat behind the cockpit and strapped in. Ensign Morales double-checked her safety harness and gave her a thumbs-up.
"Here we go," Kirk said, sliding into the pilot's seat.
Sulu sat in the copilot's seat. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive, sir?"
"Nope."
Elle saw Sulu wince. "Yes, sir," Sulu said, resigned.
They took off from the ground probably faster than they should have, the g-forces pressing them into their seats.
"Dang it, Jim, I don't want to have to realign everyone's spines!" Bones hollered from the back.
The captain just giggled (yes, James T. Kirk does giggle) and leveled out their course. "20 minutes to the campgrounds!" he declared.
Elle swiveled around to face the others. "Ensign Morelos, what can you play on your guitar?"
"Lots of things, I suppose," he replied. "Spanish songs, Mexican songs, some acoustic versions of electric guitar, and a few popular ballads."
"No country," Campbell said.
Morelos grinned. "One country?"
"No."
"No country," Morelos promised, resigned.
The shuttle ride zipped by and Kirk smoothly landed the shuttle. "And you were worried," he teased McCoy as they filed out of the shuttle.
"I'm still worried," McCoy griped. "The one thing worse than deep space is deep wilderness."
"Deep time," Elle said dramatically, doing equally-flamboyant jazz hands.
McCoy bopped her on the nose. "Don't even think about it."
She hugged him. "Don't worry, Bones, it'll be great!"
"Oh well, if you say so," he drawled, picking up his backpack. "Lead on, captain."
Kirk consulted the map and pointed in one direction.
Spock raised his eyebrow.
Kirk consulted the map again and sheepishly turned it upside down. He pointed in the other direction.
Elle choked on a giggle and hid behind Lt. Campbell.
They hiked a well-maintained path and came up to a clearing surrounded by majestic purple trees, their feathered branches reminding Elle of weeping willows. Except, you know, purple. Another trail led away from the campsite towards the river, and the last trail meandered towards the central campground site where the park services department watched over everything.
Elle helped Sulu, Kirk, and Campbell set up the tents and the other team supervised food storage and investigated the trail. Chekov came strolling back a few minutes later. "We picked the right one," he declared, pleased. "It is shallow enough to wade out in one spot and ze current is not wery strong."
Elle fist-pumped. "Woo!"
Morales snagged the back of her T-shirt before she could run off. "Hold it, señorita," he warned. "You promised, no going anywhere alone."
She grabbed his hand. "Well, come onnn."
McCoy chucked a bottle of sunscreen at them. "Put this on," he ordered. "We don't need sunburn to ruin this trip."
Elle obediently sprayed the fine white coating over her exposed skin and then tossed it to Kirk. "Here, captain."
Morales finally allowed himself to be tugged down the trail, the captain trailing behind them.
The river was perfect. Elle dipped her toe in to test the water. Not freezing cold. She stripped off her T-shirt and shorts, revealing her swimsuit, and ran into the water. She dunked her head under, shook the water out of her face, and turned around to face the others.
Morales stuck his hand in the water and retreated, shuddering. "Ugh, no, that's too cold," he said. "How did you do that?"
"I grew up with the beaches of the Pacific Northwest," Elle taunted. "Cold as ice! This is nothing."
"How nice for you," Morelos grumbled.
Chekov and Sulu raced past the captain and Morelos standing on the bank and jumped into the water. "Not too bad," Sulu declared, coming up for air.
"Not as cold as Russia," Chekov added, splashing Elle playfully.
She shrieked and splashed him back.
"Hey, wait, no splashing!" Morelos begged as he slowly inched into the water.
"It's not our fault you grew up in Mazatlan with hot water, dude," Sulu said, his eyes glinting. "Besides, you know the best way to get used to it is get-dunked!" He and Chekov pounced on the hapless ensign and dragged him into the water.
He shrieked like a two-year-old and came up spluttering. "No fair!"
All four of them turned to look at Kirk, still standing on the bank and watching them with a smile. His smile dropped when they started to grin. "Oh, no, gentlemen, I do not have my swim trunks on," he said, backing away from them. "Don't even think about it."
Elle saw Spock coming up the trail and hid her laugh behind her hands. "Hey Spock! Do it for the vine!" she yelled.
Spock frowned at her. "I beg your pardon?"
Kirk whirled around so fast at the sound of his first officer's voice that his shoe caught on a loose rock and he tripped backwards. He yelped and grabbed for Spock's arm to balance himself. Spock was already reaching forward and when Kirk's weight was added so suddenly both of them overbalanced and fell into the river with a splash.
Everyone gaped at their two senior officers, soaking wet in jeans and flannels, Spock looking like a particularly miserable cat, and started to howl with laughter.
Kirk splashed Elle good-naturedly. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," he said, and peeled off his soggy flannel. He threw it onto the bank and followed it with his two boots.
They splashed and swam around until McCoy and Campbell came and joined them. McCoy rolled his eyes at Kirk and Spock. "Really?"
"They fell," Sulu said helpfully.
"You are not allowed to catch your deaths of cold," McCoy threatened.
"In that case I will return with dry clothing," Spock said, not-eagerly-because-that-is-an-emotion. He squelched out of the water and headed up the path.
"Bring me back my swim shorts!" Kirk hollered.
"Yes, captain," came the reply from the trees.
Elle floated lazily on her back and stared up at the deep blue sky. It was starting to tinge orange at the horizon. She wiggled her toes in the water and smiled as a dragonfly-ish creature skimmed over the water and zoomed away from her.
Spock came back a few minutes later, dressed in what seemed like three layers of clothing, and tossed the captain his swim shorts.
Kirk went and came back, and now that everyone was properly attired and they had an impartial referee, they decided to play water chicken.
"Someone's gonna poke an eye out," McCoy grumbled.
Kirk boosted Elle onto his shoulders and they squared up against Chekov and Campbell. Campbell was larger but Elle was smaller and harder to hold on to. Elle used one of the moves Giotto had shown her and knocked Campbell half off Chekov's shoulders.
"Winner!" Sulu cheered.
"Nice move," Campbell complimented her.
"Thanks!"
They splashed around and dunked each other until the sky began to blaze sunset. "Dinnertime," Kirk announced, shaking his hair out like a dog and spraying water everywhere. "Let's go, team!"
Elle shuffled out of the water and Spock handed her a towel. "Thank you." She bundled up in it and put on her sandals.
They dripped merrily back to the campsite and changed. Kirk started the campfire and McCoy put on some baked beans.
"We should have pancakes for dinner," Elle said.
"Mm, that's the best," Campbell agreed.
They had vegan pancakes for Spock's peace of mind and chowed down.
Elle slapped at her leg idly. "The skeeters are out," she said.
McCoy shrugged. "Well, we can't have sonic repellents because of the Elven One here, so you get a spray."
Elle reluctantly went downwind and sprayed herself with mosquito repellent. At least it smelled like mint and not chemicals. She sat back down. "Yuck."
"Better than space malaria," Kirk reminded her.
"And that's the tea, sis," Elle said absently, raising her fork to her mouth. She noticed everyone staring at her. "What?"
"That's a new one," Kirk said, smiling.
"YouTube," Elle muttered through her pancake. "It means yup."
"A unique phrase," Spock said, and they left it at that.
"Who wants marshmallows?" McCoy asked, holding up a metal canister.
"You, Doctor McCoy, are offering us blobs of pure sugar?" Kirk teased, mock-aghast.
"This is purely for the psychological benefits," McCoy said. "It's your business if you make yourself sick eatin' too many."
"And that's the tea, sis," Chekov murmured to Sulu, who promptly choked on his coffee.
A/N: So Star Trek got their predictions of the 21st century right on, didn't they?