Red 19
She adjusted her collar for the third time today. This darn dress uniform itched something fierce and everything seemed to be taking forever. Everywhere she looked she saw dress uniforms most of them were higher ranking. She was wondering if they had called out everyone in Starfleet for this.
She spotted Spock and his father standing next to a group of what looked like admirals. They were deep in conversation so she simply nodded in their direction and continued on her way in search of Kirk. She hadn't seen hide or hair of him since they parted ways last night. The speech had literally taken all night to write and she wasn't even sure she could remember half of it. She inched her way around another group of people in uniform.
With the exception of a few of her instructors she didn't recognize anyone here. She inched her way around another group of people who were talking to a nervous looking cadet. They were acting parental so Sam assumed they were his parents. She moved steadily through the crowd until a voice stopped her. She turned because the voice sounded familiar.
"Hershey?" said Sam
The man nodded and smirked at her.
"Well if it isn't the girl of the hour, I just wanted to congratulate you before everyone else gets the chance, you did good kid" said the man
Then he raised his hand in salute. It took Sam a moment to realize he was saluting her and another few seconds to figure out why. The look in his eyes was pure respect and it floored her for a few minutes. She slowly saluted him back and he nodded to her. Someone called his name and he turned to face them. She frowned when Hershey motioned the person over. It turned out to be a kid about ten or twelve and a woman.
"Aria, Deven this is the young woman I told you about, Captain Morningstar" said Hershey
The woman linked her arm through Hershey's and eyed Sam critically. Sam looked embarrassed.
"Lieutenant actually, I was only an acting captain I haven't quite earned that rank yet" said Sam
Hershey snorted
"Well from what my Evan says you should be, hopefully the rest of this group will recognize that soon, I'm Aria by the way this little guy is Deven" said the woman. She rested her hand on the boy's shoulder and smiled warmly. The kid, Deven was staring at her rather openly.
"Deven don't be rude say hello to the nice woman" said Aria
The boy tilted his head and nervously licked his lips before asking
"Did you really save the world?" said Deven
Sam grinned down at him. The kid had a point, when you put it like that she did actually save the world.
"Yep and I flew a starship upside down too" said Sam
The kids eyes widened in awe. He looked from his parents then back at Sam "really?" said Deven
"Really kiddo, I was there remember" said Hershey
The kid considered it for a minute then his whole face lit up with a huge grin
"Cool!" said Deven
Aria chuckled and ruffled his hair.
"I don't know where he got that phrase from, it seems like everything has dropped in temperature lately" said Aria
Sam chuckled
"Naw just the really interesting stuff" said Sam
She turned and spotted a brunette head jumping up and down in an effort to see over the crowd. Sam smirked
"It's nice to meet you both but it appears I have to rescue my midget of a best friend before the crowd swallows her" said Sam
Hershey chuckled when he looked in the same direction Sam had been gazing in and must have spotted Alex's bobbing head. Hershey nodded in her direction and Sam took her leave of them and made her way towards her friend. She walked past another group people and was promptly tackled by her squealing friend into a bone breaking hug.
"Alex…crushing...not ...breathing" Sam gasped
Alex reluctantly released her and Sam gulped in oxygen.
"Oh my god I can't believe you did that, what the hell were you thinking?" said Alex
Sam gave her a confused look because Alex wasn't making any sense.
"About which part?" said Sam
"Kirk, really you couldn't find anyone better to spend the week with than Starfleet's' man whore" said Alex
Sam frowned at her.
"He's not that bad Alex, and it was closer to two weeks" said Sam
Alex snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah right, he'll just break your heart mark my words" said Alex
Sam wasn't sure where this was coming from. Truthfully she expected to be chewed out for the life risking part not her choice in boyfriends. It made her feel bad for Kirk, because he had shown a very caring side of himself over those weeks and she didn't think Alex was being fair.
Alex was staring at her with a strange look on her face.
"So?" said Alex
"So what?" said Sam
Once again thoroughly confused by her friends behavior. Alex sighed in exasperation.
"In bed, is he any good?" said Alex
Sam smirked when visions of their vacation and last night flashed through her head. In her opinion good didn't even come close to Kirk's skill in the bedroom.
"In a word, Damn!" said Sam
She gave Alex a look for emphasis and then nodded in the direction of an approaching blond head.
"Really? That good?" said Alex
Sam nodded just as Kirk stepped out from behind, from what looked like one of the admirals that had been on his expulsion panel. Kirk was laughing and the man looked to be in a good mood as well. Sam and Alex looked at each other
"Isn't that?..."said Sam
"Admiral Kozack, yes" said Pike
"Wasn't he on?..."said Alex
"Cadet Kirk's tribunal, yes. He seems to have swayed the man in his favor though" said Pike
Sam was worried that Kirk would still be kicked out despite what he had done against Nero.
"daddy they aren't going to go through with his expulsion are they?" said Alex Sam gave her a worried look and silently wondered how Alex always seemed to be able to voice her thoughts before she had a chance to voice them.
"As far as I know no, I believe there is talk of pardoning him" said Pike
Sam noted he was currently in a wheelchair of sorts but hadn't thought to ask Alex if it was permanent.
"Pardoning who?" said Kirk
He broke off his conversation with the admiral to go speak to Pike.
"You dipshit, your collars crooked" said Sam
On reflex she reached out to fix it and Kirk smirked at her. She fixed it and noticed the mark she had left on his neck, it was no wonder he had worn it like that.
"Thanks babe but it itches that way" said Kirk
He readjusted it so the marks were hidden. Pike and Alex looked on with knowing expressions.
"So there pardoning me?" said Kirk
Pike made a face.
"Well sort of you're still going to be stuck dirt side for a probationary period, but at least they aren't kicking you out" said Pike
Kirk looked at the ground and she could tell he was trying to process what he had said. She couldn't tell how worried he was about it because Kirk had always been hard to read. He seemed to snap out of it rather quickly and people were starting to make their way to seats.
"Guess it's show time" said Kirk
He motioned for Sam to go ahead of him. A woman with dark hair was making her way towards them both and Kirk seemed intent on avoiding her.
"We'll catch up with you guys later" said Sam
Someone had already started the music so they bid their farewells and made their way toward the stage. Sam swallowed nervously. Butterflies had settled in her stomach and she had the urge to throw up. She slowly climbed the dais and took the seats that had been prepared for them. People were still sitting down so she watched them instead of the commandant at the podium. She tried desperately to remember what they had written last night, while the man talked about why Starfleet had been founded and what its mission was.
"To boldly go where no one has before, no truer words have ever been spoken. Nor commendations been granted as swiftly as those earned on the field of battle. On that note I wish to introduce you all to the heroes of the hour. Lieutenants Morningstar and Kirk please step forward" said the commandant
Sam swallowed nervously and stood on shaky legs. Kirk looked incredibly relaxed and she wanted to slap him for not being the slightest bit distressed by all this. He smiled at her glare and she quickly plastered a matching one on her face as she stepped forward. They stood at attention in front of the commandant. Someone from the sidelines handed him a box. The man opened it and Sam noted the two rows of pips, two gold and one black.
She mentally went through the ranking system. Lieutenant commander they were bumping them up to the same rank as Spock, which meant command. The man turned towards them both. The man was smiling at them both, no scratch that he was beaming at them like a proud father. She could guess that he was proud of them, in fact a quick glance at the rest of Starfleet command confirmed that quite a few felt the same way.
Sam wasn't sure how to respond to that, because she had never done anything that garnered this level of acceptance or even positive feelings. She caught Kirk's eye and his grin made her relax further.
"Before I award these commendations these two have more than earned, I am going to take a few minutes to tell all of you a little about these two officers in front of me" said the admiral
Sam focused on his name tag which said Cheseke and she wondered absently if it was pronounced cheese cake.
"Cadet Kirk came to us with rather large shoes to fill, his late father George Kirk was responsible for saving the lives of nearly his whole crew during his short stint as captain, one of our admirals saw his son adrift and essentially lost in his father's shadow. That man convinced him, actually them both, into joining Starfleet where ironically he was just as much of a troublemaker here, that he had been out there" said Cheseke
Sam firmly resisted the urge to giggle. Kirk was glaring at the man and it was too amusing for words.
He moved through the crowd. He knew he shouldn't be here and that he was only putting her in danger just by being near, but he had to see her. The second he saw her in London he couldn't put her out of his mind. She was real when all this time he had thought she was merely a figment of his imagination. That there was no way she could have survived like he had.
Back then he had thought she was some latent part of him that was still innocent, something his mind conjured to deal with his imprisonment, at least until she had let them out of their prison. He had searched for her back then and never found her. Somewhere between her home and Las Vegas she had simply vanished.
He knew she had been real back then because he saw the photos on her parents table. He spoke to the two ingrates that dared to call themselves parents, and even sat in her room for an hour after he had lost his temper with the stepfather, in an effort to calm down, the mother had still been sobbing and holding the man's broken body as he had left.
He felt the anger start to rise and quickly quelled it. This was her day and he refused to ruin it. Tracking her down had been absurdly easy and he thanked the gods that none of his rivals had survived to this day or she would have placed herself in some very real danger simply by meaning something to him.
After reviewing her purchases it was a simple matter to insert a tracking device into one of those charm bracelets she had been looking at and add it to her packages without the clerk noticing. Now he knew what dorm she was in and what her routine was, now all he needed was a few minutes alone with her. They gave the indication to sit down and he sat with the group of parents a few seats behind Admiral Marcus.
It took all of his self-control to not just simply stroll up and snap the man's neck. It would be so easy considering how oblivious the man was to his presence. He took a deep steadying breath and turned his attention towards the stage. Kirk gave Cheseke a wry look as the man extolled some of his less than stellar moments for the crowd.
"but he made up for all of that a few days ago when he proved that he more than embodied what it meant to be a part of Starfleet" said Cheseke
Kirk gave the man an incredulous look because that had actually sounded sincere and Cheseke was known to be one of Kirk's harshest critics.
Without missing a beat Cheseke turned to Sam next. After that not so glowing account of Kirk's antics she wasn't sure if she wanted the man to say anything about her at all. Cheseke smiled at her and Sam nervously grinned back.
"Truthfully no other cadet has surprised me more than cadet Morningstar. A young lady who has been in the commandant's office no less than twenty eight times" said Cheseke
He glanced her over and she smirked because she knew he was checking for dress code violations.
"most of those were for dress code violations, only two of those were for something more serious and yes I am referring to the pot laced laxative brownies you provided for the council meeting, shits and giggles indeed" said Cheseke
Sam let a giggle escape but it was swiftly covered by the audience's laughter.
He laughed right along with the rest of them, that was definitely something his Samantha would do. He was still smirking, when he noticed Marcus had not found that amusing at all. The man must have been on the receiving end of that one.
"she said one time that she felt like she didn't belong in Star fleet because she couldn't conform, I promptly tore up that copy of her resignation letter she had given me and fast tracked her into the command program, because that is precisely what makes a great leader. It isn't the ability to follow, but rather those who have the courage to make their own path, something cadet Morningstar has in spades" said Cheseke
"Which brings me to the special treat we have for this evening, Admiral Marcus wished to do the honors for this one" said Cheseke
He promptly swore and made sure he was firmly behind the taller of the two men sitting in front of him and pulled his hood down low. Marcus climbed onstage and took the podium from Cheseke
Marcus nodded towards Kirk and smiled at Sam. He clenched his hand into a fist and firmly resisted the urge to run up on stage and beat the crap out of Marcus for even looking at her that way. Marcus was all smiles as he turned towards the audience.
"We have come here today to not only honor these two heroes but also to immortalize one of them. Never in the history of Starfleet has this honor been bestowed to a cadet and to truly appreciate what we are talking about we have arranged a short film in her honor. Today we enter a new flight pattern into Starfleet's handbooks, ladies and gentlemen I present to you the Morningstar maneuver, flown for the first time by its namesake cadet Morningstar" said Marcus
A screen had slid down behind him and the audience hushed because the screen was now filling with stars. Sam turned to watch the recording.
On the screen you could clearly see the Nerada and the reliant. Sam realized this recording must have been taken from the Enterprise's cameras. She watched as the smaller and more nimble Reliant slid under the Nerada rotated in midair firing all of its weapons at the Nerada as it did so. Then went upside down directly over the top of the larger ship deftly avoiding the Nerada's guns and scoring multiple hits. The reliant then avoided the enterprises guns at the same time by barrel rolling flipping and going near vertical just to keep firing at the enemy.
The reliant flipped back over for a second time went inverted again and then fired the final shot. The screen faded from view and the audience slowly came out of its trance. Off to the side of the stage one by one a group dressed in Starfleet uniforms stood up and clapped. A couple wore badges that said raptors on their sleeves. Even Kirk looked impressed and his soft muttered "damn" confirmed it.
"nowhere have I ever seen someone fly like that, even in species born with wings, and according to her ships flight logs she did that with only her sensors for visibility" said Marcus
"Not that she'd use the view screen anyways if she had one" someone from the raptors yelled out.
Marcus nodded towards Sam with a look of profound respect on his face.
"Now without further ado, Lieutenant Kirk please step forward" said Marcus
Kirk did so and Marcus pinned two pips to his collar, he spotted the hickey and gave Kirk a scathing look until kirk nodded in Sam's direction. Marcus frowned when he realized what Kirk was implying.
"Lieutenant Morningstar" said Marcus
Sam stepped forward and the man pinned her pips onto her collar.
"Ladies and gentlemen may I present to you commanders kirk and Morningstar" said Marcus
"Now I'll leave them to say a few words" said Marcus
The man vacated the stage and retook his seat right next to a blond girl.
Khan sat back up, his eyes had been riveted on the screen just like everyone else. Sam was truly an exceptional pilot, the likes of which he had never seen. He was impressed and that was something that happened rarely.
