Thirty minutes went by and I stand on the observation deck looking out into the deep space. Space is black with sparkling stars and planets decorating it. I watched as a comet went by the giant window. The comet's flames were blue with a clear to black middle. It's amazing to think hundreds of years ago before Star Fleet launched into space protecting those around us the people didn't know they could live on different planets and in space. Well that goes for other species as well. I heard a curse behind me which made it my cue to turn around to look at the incoming visitor. I clasped my hands behind my back before speaking, "Captain you are late."

He held up a finger wagging it towards me, "You see I had trouble..."

His words started to die off his lips as he had to quickly grab the items in his arms before it fell on the floor. I raised an eyebrow taking note of the blanket and picnic basket. My booted feet walked towards him before grabbing the basket. I held it up, "A picnic? I thought we were going to have a discussion."

Jim's crooked smile graced his lips as he moved towards the giant window. He puffed out the blanket before placing it on the ground. He explained, "Neither of us ate yet so why not?"

He went over to me grabbing the basket and my hand to lead me to the blanket. I would take my hand away from his grasp as I knew where the blanket was but somehow his hand is warm and comforting. I noticed the captain was in a new uniform with slightly wet hair. He took a shower. He sat down opening up the basket releasing my hand. Jim noticed I didn't sit down. He gestured to the spot across from him, "Sit. Enjoy this."

I stayed standing stiffly not sure where he is going with this. I spoke, "Captain I do not think this- Is that M'lu?"

Jim smiled wide, "Is that what it is called? I asked the replicator to make a Vulcan dish and this is what popped out."

"Jim took a bite of his chicken salad sandwich, "He might not know."

I snorted, "Spock? Not knowing? Highly doubt it. The man knows everything and all things."

I took a bite out of M'lu and nearly spit it back out. I swallowed it hard. Placing the plate on the blanket, I shook my head. With my free hand I placed it on my lips to hold back any wretching. My voice came out hoarse, "That's not M'lu. Definitely not. It has the taste all wrong."

Jim frowned, "I'm sorry."

I shook my head, "It's not your fault. It's whoever programmed the food replicator's fault for not researching this enough. I may need to reprogram the food replicators."

I looked up meeting his eyes, "With your permission of course, captain."

The captain of the Enterprise nodded, "Course, course. I want you to be comfortable."

I added, "And Spock."

He nodded quickly, "Yeah, Spock as well."

He covered himself quickly of his mistake. Jim looked inside the basket before asking, "Vulcans are vegetarians, am I right?"

I answered, "Yes we are."

He frowned and I knew what that frown means. There aren't any more food in the basket that I could eat. I piped up, "I am okay with food for now, captain. I'll be okay. If you're hungry, eat."

Jim placed his sandwich down shaking his head. Jim spoke, "It wouldn't be right for me to when you have nothing to eat yourself."

I asked, "What was it that you want to talk about?"

Jim wiped his hands off with a napkin before placing it on the side. He responded, "You seemed to be taking the cadets as well as ensigns well under your wing."

I scoffed, "It's only natural for one with a senior position or someone who has more knowledge to help those around them."

Jim nodded, "Sure, sure."

I narrowed my eyes, "What are you hinting at, captain? I already told Spock I will not teach again as I want a challenge."

Jim held up his hands in defense. He nervously laughed, "No, no. Well... So you know the young Russian kid on the bridge?"

I slowly nodded drawing out my answer, "Yeeess..."

Jim let out a hard sigh, "He asked me if he could on his off times to help around engineering. He seemed interested to learn more about the ship since he is tactical."

I drew up the conclusion, "So you want to ask me if I would take him under my wing to show him the ropes, am I correct?"

Jim nervously smiled before nodding. I bit my bottom lip looking out of the window. Jim's eyes drew to the gesture. I turned back to him after a moment of thought and immediately he moved his eyes back to mine. I sighed softly, "Alright if that is your order to give then I shall proceed. I would not mind helping out Pavel."

The sandy haired man raised his eyebrows, "Pavel?"

I nodded, "Yes that is his first name. I taught him at one point and he became fast friends with Hikaru."

Jim spoke in disbelief, "Hikaru?"

I raised one eyebrow nodding, "Yes your helmsman, sir."

He bit inside of his cheek, "You speak of their first names but you wouldn't speak to Scotty as Scotty and you knew him longer."

I shook my head, "On contrary captain, I knew Hikaru longer as in my cadet years I visited his grandmother's garden when he was starting college. And his grandmother and I got along well."

He opened his mouth to speak but I continued, "Pavel was my student as he was interested in engineering. Unfortunately Hikaru weren't in any of my classes at the time. Mr. Scott is a colleague of mine in retrospect. He is very much my best friend if anything."

Jim narrowed his eyes. He is not understanding the explanation. Jim pointed out, "If he is your best friend then Scotty would suffice."

He isn't wrong. My lips drew a frown, "You are not wrong captain."

Jim pressed, "Then call him Scotty like you should call me Jim."

I bit inside of my cheek. I spoke, "I should start calling him Scotty. I am sure he would be thrilled as he was before."

I stood up feeling the time went by, "If you don't mind captain, I should inform Chekov of the arrangements. I'll take him under my wing after his shift."

Jim was about to say something but I was already heading out of the room. His words died on his lips, "It's Jim."

My heart thrummed against my lower right ribs. I don't think I would be able to call him his first name. I headed to the nearest computer. I pulled out the panel speaking, "Computer find Pavel Chekov."

"Searching for Ensign Pavel Chekov."

The panel spit out words across the screen showing his location. Recreation room on deck twenty. I placed the panel back heading my way to the lift. I do wonder why the captain tried to get me to say his first name so casually. I knew I should of done it with Scotty years ago especially what we went through. Captain Pike had his hands full when we traveled throughout the United States. We were younger then and trouble always found us when we went for drinks.

Brunswick, GA

Scotty asked if I wanted to check out this local club that he heard some locals talk about. I agreed to go with as it seemed interesting. It had robot fighting as well as a dance floor near by. I personally wanted to watch the robots fighting and see what the contenders used on their robots. The engineering side of me seemed intrigued and excited to watch. We were relieved of our duties an hour ago. The red haired scotsman and I finally got into the club. My curled hair was pulled in a pony tail. Scotty yelled over the music, "The robot arena is over there!"

I watched him point to a tall cage looking area. Scotty grabbed my attention before I move ahead without him seeing a plume of smoke rise, "I'll get us some drinks. Whisky?"

I nodded. I called out to him before he left to the bar, "I'll be at the arena!"

I saw him nod to my response as he turned his heel to go to the bar. I headed to my destination. I squeezed past a couple people to get upfront. I nearly had my face pressed on the wired fencing. My eyes shined bright as I watched the new contenders roll out onto the playing field. Already on the ground there are scorch marks, deep cuts and dented concrete. I felt two presences behind me that was coming close. A dark tone was created when he spoke, "Looks like there is a woman all by herself."

I side-eyed the man who spoke on my right. The man on the left moved closer to my person speaking, "Yeah. You don't know whatcha lookin' at are ya girly?"

I raised my eyebrows at the name. I turned my attention back to the arena as the chain saw arm tried to go through the opponent's body. I spoke pointing to the one that doesn't have a chainsaw, "That robotic body is titanium. Clearly it is stronger than the other's body which is from a grade A steel. Titanium is stronger than most steels. Unfortunately for the one with the chainsaw, it will have some difficulty to rip through."

I then pointed to the one with the chainsaw, "However the chainsaw equipped is industrial and it should rip through the titanium if given the chance. I believe the grade A steel-."

The man on the right placed his hand on my bare shoulder turning me around hard. My back bounced against the fence. If I could survive my once bonded, I could handle a couple thugs. He growled, "No need to be a little smart ass, girl."

The left man reached up touching the point of my ears. I responded by slapping his hand away, "Do not touch me."

The man on the left spoke, "She's an alien."

If they didn't notice my ears when they first walked up, then I am sure their eyes need to be checked. Right hand man smirked, "I wonder what an alien woman would be like."

I challenged, "I like to see you try."

His hand whipped up to my chin grabbing it hard. My jaw clenched. He forced my chin towards him yanking me off the fence. His brown eyes, darker than most, stared into my hazels as I glared at him, "I think it'll be easy."

I growled, "Men like you deserve to be in an off-planet prison."

He released my chin bringing his hand back. He backhanded my face. I ran my tongue over my teeth tasting the heavily metallic blood. My teeth bit my cheek hard enough. I informed the men, "You just hit a Star Fleet officer. I could and will have you arrested."

A familiar voice called out, "Lass, there you are!"

My eyes met Scotty's. Of course the two men turned their attention to him. He sipped on his scotch, "I see ye made some friends."

He noticed my bruising cheek. He could see the light green blood coating my bottom lip. He felt the atmosphere as he walked up. I answered the scotsman, "Yeah, I did, Mr. Scott."

The left man pointed to the red head, "Is he your boyfriend?"

Scotty joined the group, "Nae, but I am her friend who will protect her from arses."

The left man grabbed Scotty by his shirt. I was able to reach up and nerve pinch the man. He went down like a sack of potatoes. Scotty still held onto our drinks. The right man who slapped me grabbed my arm hard. I could feel it bruising. I winced and felt a lump start to form. I cannot have a relapse. Not right now. The last man standing demanded, "What did you do to him you bitch?!"

Scotty used my whisky to bash it on the man's head. It didn't seem to do anything harmful to the man other than made him wet and I'm down a whisky. He dropped me before swinging a fist towards Scotty. Unfortunately it hit. That ignited something in the scotsman as he threw a punch back. Soon we started to gather a crowd and some workers rushed to the scene as the two men fought against each other. Broken glass laid across the floor. I ducked down from a swinging punch from the unknown man. The police rushed in with Captain Pike on their tails. I caught sight of the captain and immediately tried to reach for the taller man's shoulder. I could not reach it so I went to do the next best thing. I started to pull the scotsman away from the man. The police started to grab the burly man. Scotty tried to wrangle out of my grasp but I held onto his arms tight. I called out to him, "The captain is here."

I never saw him lose his fighting spirit so fast till now. The head police of that group asked, "What is going on here?"

Captain Pike stood beside the higher ranking cop with his arms crossed. He looked disappointed. I released the scotsman. He fixed his shirt and wiped the blood from his lips. It smeared slightly. Scotty answered, "The two men were harassin' my friend here and assaulted her."

The man tried to wrangle free form the police's grip but he failed. He snarled, "That alien bitch hit my friend!"

Captain Pike answered before I could, "She did the Vulcan pinch on the man. He has been deemed unconscious and not harmed. Vulcans only do it in self-defense. I can assure you my lieutenant commander would not use it just when she pleases. Am I correct, Lieutenant Commander Sara?"

At the sound of my rank, I stood up straight placing my hands behind my back. I clasped them together. I nodded, "Yes, captain. Vulcans only do such technique if it is absolute necessary. The unconscious man was about to harm my fellow officer. I only did what I thought would be right."

The higher ranking officer turned to Pike, "I am only giving your officers a warning. Next time if they cause trouble, self defense or not, I will cart them to jail."

Christopher Pike nodded in understand, "Understood. Now may I take my officers back to the hotel? We are due to another recruitment fair tomorrow across the state."

The officer nodded. Pike turned to us. He tilted his head gesturing to the door, "Let's go."

Scotty and I nodded, "Yes, sir."

The three of us left the club. As we were walking, I asked, "How did you know we were here, sir?"

Christopher answered, "A kid who came to the fair today had one of my cards. He called when he recognized you two. Now let's get you two cleaned up. You two look like a mess."

I looked over at Scotty to see his clothing was desheveled. He looked over at me seeing my off-the-shoulder top hung ontop of my shoulders baring the top of my jeans. My hair was out of its ponytail and a large green bruise left its mark on my cheek. Dried green blood stained my lips. Scotty's lips and nose were coated in still glistening blood. Scotty moved close to me before putting an arm around my shoulders, "Are ye okay?"

I nodded, "Yeah I am. Are you okay, Mr. Scott?"

Scotty's lips turned into a big smile, "I got to give that big lug a thing or two for what he did to ya!"

Pike couldn't help but smile. He knew the two officers were behind him so they wouldn't be able to see it. The captain is glad he was able to make the two good friends considering their interests. The two would be inseparable.

The doors swished open to the recreation room. There I saw the young Russian playing a game of chess with the one and only helmsman. The two of them are inseparable. I headed to their table. I watched as Sulu moved his knight forward up. He looked up noticing my presence, "Oh Sara, what are you doing here?"

I cleared my throat, "I am here for Pavel."

At the sound of his name, he sat up straight looking up at me. He pointed to himself, "Me?"

I nodded, "There is no other Pavel Chekov on this ship. I bear some news to you."

Sulu leaned in as it would improve his listening skills. I continued, "The captain came to me and requested I would take you under my wing in the engineering room. He wants me to show you around and help teach you things since you have curiosity about the Enterprise."

Chekov's face brightened. His lips widened into a smile. He jumped up from his seat before wrapping his arms around my torso. Chekov spoke in excitement, "Spasibo! That's exciting news to hear!"

His words went from Russian to English. Chekov asked, "When can we start? Now?"

I laughed shaking my head, "Tomorrow after your shift. Meet me in the engineering room. I wanted to come by and tell you of the news."

Sulu commented, "That is exciting, Pavel."

Chekov released me before sitting back down. I gestured to the chess game, "Do you mind if I watch you two play?"

Chekov and Sulu shook their heads. Sulu spoke, "Grab a chair and sit."

I did just that and watched the two play their chess game before it is time to head to my quarters. I have a long day as we are heading back to Earth to report our mission directly.

Russian translation: Spasibo is thank you.