"Jim.. Jess.. You gotta look at this," Leonard McCoy said as they looked out of the shuttle window.
"This is it guys," Jess said excitedly. She couldn't believe it. She was leaving the Academy and headed straight into the Engineering section on board the Enterprise.
Leonard reached across the seating area to take her hand, momentarily ignoring the ship out the window, or the whiny Jim beside him.
"Listen, darlin', it looks like things are going to get pretty hectic pretty fast up there. I've got to get Jim to sickbay and hidden before the Vulcan or Pike see him."
"What are you going to do? Once you have him on board?"
"I hadn't really thought through that far."
"That's not like you, Len."
"Yeah," he said, glancing at Kirk and rolling his eyes as the man held up his hands in front of his face and counted his fingers. He turned back to Jessica. "Yeah, I know. You should have seen how pitiful he looked. And even if I think what he did was crazy, don't you think he deserves to be up here as much as we do?"
Jess smiled and reached over, gently placing a hand on Leonard's cheek. "Yes, I do. You're a good friend Leonard McCoy. And a good husband."
He chuckled. "I've only been that a few minutes, you may change your mind real quick."
"Wait… did I hear you say husband?" Jim said, still sounding drunk from the side effects of the shot Bones had given him.
"Yeah, you did." Leonard said, sitting back in his seat. "It's a long story, one you'll hear later."
"Actually," Jessica said with a snort laugh, "It's a pretty quick story. Really quick actually."
Leonard smirked. "Yeah, well, if we tell him now, he'll probably forget anyway. We can explain later, once it doesn't feel like we're walking into our imminent deaths."
Jessica sighed. "You know, we still have to work on your positivity."
"I'm positive this is dangerous, darlin'. So you be safe, and we'll catch up as soon as we can."
She nodded just as the shuttle was touching down in the starship.
"Lt. Jessica Patton, reporting for duty, sir."
"Lt. Patton," the chief engineer stopped in mid run to greet his new assistant. "Chief Engineer Olson. When the Captain told me he'd pulled you back over from the Farrugat, I could have kissed the man. You were a damn good cadet and we both wanted you on this ship. Welcome aboard. Now, pleasantries aside, let's get to work, the ship's taking off in a matter of minutes."
"Aye, sir!" Jessica said with a nod and followed him. She had no idea she was being watched so carefully through her Academy years, no idea that Pike was fighting with another Captain over her assignment. Of course, she also had no idea she'd walk aboard her first ship assignment as a married woman.
The Red Alert alarm sound blasted in Jessica's ears and soon after the ship was jerking about.
"What the hell are they doing to my ship up there!" Olson shouted as he ran to another console and checked hull integrity.
"Patton, I'm headed on the away team, the ship is yours. Treat her right."
"Sir! You—you're going to leave me here? In charge?"
"That's right. I am. You can handle it, Lieutenant."
"Jess, are you alright?" McCoy said when he noticed her come into Sickbay looking out of sorts. She didn't immediately respond, so he bent slightly to look in her eyes. "Jess, are you injured?"
"I—I'm sorry," she said as she shook herself out of her distant thoughts and saw how busy the Sickbay was. "You—you have all these patients, the Vulcans and the crew. I—I'll come back later."
"Jess, answer my question. Are you injured?" He said as he looked her over again. She shook her head, but he saw in her eyes that while she might not be physically injured, she was hanging onto the edge of a breakdown. "Come with me," he said, guiding her towards the CMO office—his office now. "Nurse Chapel, I'll be right back," he called over his shoulder.
"Aye, sir."
As soon as the doors slid closed, he pulled her into his arms. Almost immediately she started shuddering as she gasped through sobs. "Hey, hey there darlin', it's okay." He gently whispered to her as he ran his hand over her hair.
"Len, he's dead. Olson is dead. I'm left to run engineering, all those crew, I just—"
"Shh, hush now," he said as she kissed her forehead. "You're gonna do brilliantly. We both will. We just gotta find our footing."
She pulled back and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Puri, too?"
He nodded.
She sighed. "I'm sorry, this is pitiful, me up here crying to you. I should be down in engineering taking care of the ship. And you've got patients to tend to."
"You don't have to apologize, sweetheart. It's nice to know you want to come to me when you're hurting. I wish I could do more, but I just can't right now."
"I know," she said as she wiped at her eyes and took a deep breath. "Thanks for taking a minute for me, though. Guess you probably weren't expecting having to handle an emotional mess of a wife as one of your first husbandly duties."
"Caring for you is one of my top priorities, Jess—whether we'd been married or not," he said as he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.
She smiled and hugged him one last time. "Ditto. If you need a break, you know where to find me."
Hours later, Jessica Patton found herself on the bridge, having been called there by Acting Captain Spock.
"Have you confirmed that Nero is headed for Earth?" asked Spock.
"Their trajectory suggests no other destination, Captain," replied Uhura.
"Thank you, Lieutenant."
"Earth may be his next stop, but we have to assume every Federation planet's a target." Kirk spoke up from where he sat in the Captain's Chair.
"Out of the chair," Spock warned.
Jim rolled his eyes and stood up.
"Well, if the Federation is a target, why didn't they destroy us?" Chekov asked.
"Why would they? Why waste the weapons? You know... we obviously weren't a threat."
"That is not it. He said he wanted me to see something. The destruction of my home planet," Spock spoke up again.
"How the hell did they do that, by the way? Where did the Romulans get that kind of weaponry?" Leonard was standing beside her observing the conversation till now.
Jessica finally piped up as well, feeling they were finally starting to get around to the part of the topic she might have some insight on. "I don't think 'where' is the right question. I think 'when' is the question we have to ask."
Spock's eyebrow rose, and Jessica worried that perhaps she'd spoken out of turn. Instead of chastising her, he encouraged her train of thought. "Continue, Lieutenant Patton."
"That ship, its weapons, the drill, and whatever they used to turn the planet into a black hole. It's unheard of in this time period. It's so far removed from current reports of Romulan, Klingon, any alien technology. I don't think it came from this time."
"Precisely my thought, as well. The engineering comprehension necessary to artificially create a black hole may suggest an answer. Such technology could theoretically be manipulated to create a tunnel through space-time."
"Dammit man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist. Are you two actually suggesting they're from the future?!" Leonard's eyes were wide with disbelief.
"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Leonard rolled his eyes. "How poetic."
The conversation didn't last much longer before Kirk had gotten himself into hot water with Spock and was promptly ejected—not just from the bridge—but from the ship entirely.
Jessica was working in the depths of Engineering when she heard the distinct sound of a transporter beam humming into the room nearby. What the… she thought inwardly before cautiously exploring.
"Turbine release valve activated," the computers voice sounded overhead
Jessica came around the corner just in time for the release valve to open, dumping water and a man out onto the floor.
"You alright? You alright?!" He shouted as he ran over to the man.
"My heads buzzing, and I'm soaked, but otherwise I'm fine!" The other man exclaimed.
Jessica cleared her throat, now soaking wet, and rather ticked off at the man she recognized before her. "Jim Kirk, what have you done?" She growled out just as security officers appeared.
"Sorry, Jess, gotta go! I'll explain everything later!" he shouted back towards her as he ran away.
"Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott reporting for duty, ma'am."
Jessica Patton spun around to find the man who'd fallen out of one of her tubes earlier standing before her, now dried off and in an engineering uniform. She sighed, still frowned, though inwardly she was giddy at getting to meet him. "Lt. Commander, you outrank me—in Starfleet rank and in years of experience. There's no way Montgomery Scott is reporting to me, sir. The position of Chief Engineer of this vessel is yours."
"Lieutenant, I've heard all about your stellar work at the Academy, and how you've handled this beauty since she was thrown in your lap. Don't sell yourself short."
"Be that as it may, sir, the position is yours. I won't have it any other way."
"Well, far be it from me to argue. Besides, we haven't got the time, pretty soon we're going back into the fray with that Romulan beast of a ship and we're going to need everything this ship can muster."
"Then let's get to work, sir."
"Kirk to engineering. Get us out of here, Scotty!" came across the intercom into the engineering section.
"You bet your arse, Captain… but Captain, the gravity well has got us!"
"Go to maximum warp. Push it!" Kirk called out again.
Scotty growled. Jessica was close by, assisting with pushing the engines as far as they could, but so far they were having no success. "I'm giving her all that she's got, Captain?"
"All she's got isn't good enough. What else you got?"
"Captain, I—" Scotty started to yell again, but Jessica interrupted him.
"Scotty, wait! The core! If we eject the core and detonate, the blast could be enough to push us away!"
Scotty's eyes went wide at the thought but couldn't argue. "She's right, captain. It's all we've got. I cannae promise anything, though!"
"Do it, do it, do it!" Kirk yelled.
"Go!" Scotty yelled to her.
"Yes, sir!" Jessica yelled back as she punched the button.