"Bones, it's only eleven hundred. They aren't due until sixteen hundred," Kirk reminded the doctor.
"I knew I should've brought a communicator," McCoy grumbled, completely ignoring Kirk's comment. "I should've brought at least a medikit. But no, you just had to make that remark about no one getting hurt, didn't you Jim?"
Kirk looked up, a fake innocent look on his face. "Who, me?" he asked.
"One of these days, you'd think I'd learn..."
Kirk paused. "Bones, shh. Listen."
The two men stayed motionless, listening hard for whatever Kirk had heard. For a few seconds there was nothing but silence. Then from farther off, they heard two distinct, accented voices.
"Admit it! Ve're lost!" the familiar Russian voice ranted.
"All right then, we're lost. But we're making good time," the Asian-American voice replied.
McCoy shook his head, amused. "Chekov and Sulu, of course. Figures they'd get lost without a communicator as well." He raised his voice. "Sulu, Chekov!"
"Doctor McCoy, is that you?" Sulu called back.
"Yes, over this way!" Kirk shouted.
Five minutes passed, and then the two men stepped out of the treeline. Chekov looked rather annoyed, and Sulu was trying to look innocent. "Good morning, Admiral!" Sulu said as they crossed the clearing.
Kirk didn't bother trying to stand up, and remained seated on the rather large boulder near the base of El Capitan. "Good morning, Sulu," he said. "What brings you two all the way out here?"
Chekov glared at Sulu. "All thanks to him, ve got lost in the voods all night. Neither of us brought a communicator, either. You vouldn't happen to have one, vould you?"
"Sorry Chekov, I'm afraid not," McCoy said. "And it's all thanks to Jim. I knew if we didn't bring one, we would need it..."
"Bones, would you quit complaining for once in your life?" Kirk asked.
"Hell, why should I? If you hadn't been climbing that mountain without safety equipment, we wouldn't need to be picked up early!"
Kirk chuckled. "You're acting like I'm going to drop dead any minute. I'll be fine, Bones. It's not like I actually hit the ground when I fell..."
"Yeah, and you were damn lucky Spock was there to catch you. Do you have any idea how far you fell?" McCoy grumbled, jabbing a finger at him.
Kirk made a show of looking up the mountain and squinting at the top. "Hmm...I'd say about from that vertical crack," he replied, motioning to a spot almost at the top of the cliff.
"Actually, it was two point six meters lower than that, Admiral," Spock said as he descended on his hoverboots. He nodded slightly in the direction of Chekov and Sulu before looking back at McCoy and Kirk. "I was unable to determine the location of the shuttle or the rendezvous point. However, I have learned that the shuttle will come to our location in one point five three hours."
Sulu glanced at Kirk, then McCoy, and then Kirk again. "Did I miss something?"
~~~~~~~
Exactly one point five three hours later, the shuttle roared overhead. It dropped to the ground a few meters from the five men, and the back hatch opened. Uhura stepped out into the clearing, and a look of infinite relief swept across McCoy's face.
"About damn time you people got here!" he grumbled, hoisting his camping gear onto one shoulder. "What I wouldn't give for a real vacation..."
"I trust you brought a medical kit?" Spock asked. "The Admiral has been minorly injured."
"Why does everyone insist on making this a big deal?" Kirk protested from where he sat on the rock. "It's just a sprained ankle..."
"It's back in the...never mind," Uhura broke off as McCoy stomped back out of the shuttle, carrying the medical kit. She shook her head, amused, as the doctor went about fixing the problem.
Five minutes later, Kirk walked into the shuttle on his own two feet. McCoy looked immensely pleased with himself, probably for proving to the Admiral that he wasn't invincible. The six former Enterprise crew members took their seats, and the shuttle rose into the sky.
Kirk frowned as he noticed where the shuttle was heading. "Why are we going into orbit?" he asked Uhura. "I thought we were heading back to Starfleet Headquarters."
"New orders, gentlemen," Uhura said, trying to hide her smile. "We're being given a brand-new ship, just out of Spacedock."
Chekov sighed. "Vhat ship is it?"
Uhura smiled broader. "You just wait and see for yourselves."
The shuttle soared above the atmosphere of Earth, bringing the large metal structure into view. Obstructed by a skeletal framework of the docking area for newly-built ships, they could only see the familiar standard Constitution-class design.
"Another Enterprise wanna-be," McCoy groaned. "What kind of lame name does this hunk of junk have, anyway?"
The shuttle looped around the framework, entering from the "front" section. It drifted over the upper saucer section, just as the illuminators came to rest on the registry number and name...
NCC-1701-A.
The U.S.S. Enterprise.
~~~~~~~
The shuttle docked smoothly, and Kirk was greeted by an over-excited Montgomery Scott. "Admiral! I think Starfleet finally came out with somethin' worthwhile! She's exactly like the old girl, but with one major difference."
"Oh? And what's that?" Kirk asked, looking curiously around.
Scotty groaned. "Nuthin' at'll works right." He shook his head. "They gave 'er to us half-finished, an' ah'm still workin' on fixin' th' main computer. Not 't mention the warp engines! I should have 'er ready for ye in about a week." He walked away, muttering something about those 'damn fool engineers at Starfleet' and 'no respect for a lady...'
Kirk chuckled. "Well gentlemen, shall we have a look around?" They stepped into the turbolift, and the computer came to life.
"L-l-level?" it stuttered in an obviously bugged voice.
"Bridge," Kirk answered a bit warily. Then under his breath he added, "I hope."
The tubolift, thankfully, hummed to life and within a minute they were deposited on the bridge. However, only one of the doors decided to open and it changed its mind halfway through about moving.
Kirk forced the first door all the way open with a bit of difficulty, and couldn't manage to get the other one so he merely slipped through the gap. "Doesn't anything work on this ship?" he complained, dumping his camping gear on the deck next to his new chair.
The chair.
Kirk paused as he saw the Captain's chair, sitting in the middle of the bridge just where it should be. The silver metal was polished, the black padding was fluffy and shining, and all the comm switches were glowing 'ready' green. Slowly, hesitantly, he touched the arm of the chair lightly with one finger. It felt new, unused...born again.
Kirk decided he knew exactly how that felt, as he paused to note his reflection in the polished comm panel. Thirty years younger within a week. An old ship retired, a new one brought in to carry on her namesake. A younger copy of that which had gone before.
A faint smile crossed his lips as he thought about those things. New...young...reborn...am I thinking of my ship, or myself?
"Jim?" The Doctor touched his shoulder. "You okay?"
"You know, I'm more like the Enterprise now than I ever thought I'd be," he said as an answer. "The old version is gone, and the past once again comes back to face its foes."
McCoy sighed. "Dammit Jim, if you're not careful, one of these days you're gonna become a poet."