quantuminferno: You bet there is!

NayNymic: This is as immediate as I could be. :D

Dulzura Letal: Aww. Thank you!

starsnstripies: Haha! True. I really want Kirk to bring that human side of Spock to light. :)

Mark: Thanks for reading the story, reviewing, and only rolling your eyes at me once. :) (Mark, FYI all my other readers, is my awesome husband.)

A/N: Thanks again for your amazing response to this! I'd just like to quickly say that I really love comments—they're like a writer's lifeblood—so I appreciate anything you have for me. Good, bad, constructive criticism (I'm not a Trekkie/Trekker so I need to be corrected on technicalities!), anything. I just love hearing from my readers, and I promise I will always take the time to reply to each and every one of you. I always appreciate when a reader takes the time out to send me a line or two. Hope you like this installment—the next one is on its way!

xx

"Captain."

The voice at Kirk's door sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't be bothered with details. Memories of last night still swam in his head, beautiful as a tangle of seaweed, gently swaying in an ocean current.

"Captain!" This time, the voice was more urgent. It was Uhura.

He grunted. "What?"

"Your presence is required at the bridge."

Before he could reply, a blast shook the ship.

"Shit," he swore, swinging out of bed and pulling his pants on. Disheveled, he sprinted out the door and down to the bridge, sliding into the captain's chair as the Enterprise took another hit.

"Romulans," Sulu said.

"We're out of photon torpedoes," Spock said calmly, at the same time Kirk swore, "Shit—no more photon torpedoes."

The corner of Spock's mouth twitched.

"Fire phasers," Kirk ordered, and the Enterprise opened fire.

The Romulan bird-of-prey retaliated with a plasma torpedo, which Sulu barely dodged. "Captain," he began.

"It is unlikely," Spock's calm voice came, "for us to survive this attack, Captain. We should evacuate immediately."

Kirk didn't even have to consider. Placing the lives of everyone on the ship, including his own, into Spock's capable hands, proved the natural choice. "Spock's right."

Uhura turned in surprise. What? No argument?

"This is James Kirk," came the Captain's voice, ringing out through all corners of the ship. "The integrity of our ship has been compromised. I am ordering an emergency evacuation of the ship. You are to board escape pods and warp directly to Earth. Kirk out."

Sulu, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, and Chekov immediately rose from their seats and headed for the door. Kirk made no move to leave; Spock stood, waiting.

"Captain?" he said quietly.

"I have to stay," Kirk replied. "Defend the pods." He let out a pained chuckle. "Seems I'm resigned to my father's fate."

Without another word, Spock returned to his post.

Kirk turned. "What are you doing?"

"Staying, Captain."

"Spock, you are to board an escape pod. That's an order."

Spock stared levelly at him. "With all due respect, Captain—I refuse."

Uhura was utterly mystified by this point. More out of curiosity than loyalty, she went back to her seat as well. "I'm not going either."

One by one, the senior officers marched back to their posts.

Kirk nodded. "Right then. Chekov, I want you to tell me when the escape pods have all launched and reached warp."

"Aye, Captain."

Kirk's fingers gripped the arms of his chair as another blast hit the ship. "Fire phasers again, Sulu."

With a nod, he fired at the Romulan ship, then put the Enterprise into a sharp tilt as the Romulans returned fire.

"Engineering section has been hit," Scotty reported. "There's no way we're going to save this ship, Captain."

Kirk sighed. "Pike's going to kill me."

McCoy shook his head.

"The last pod has hit warp," Chekov said.

"Alright. To the escape pods. Warp immediately."

"Two in each pod," Spock suggested. "If we split up, our chances of survival increase."

Uhura felt her veins run cold. So morbidly rational.

Sulu slid into a pod, and Chekov followed him. "Scotty, come with us," Sulu said. "There are seven of us."

McCoy climbed into the one beside it as Uhura watched Kirk and Spock enter their own.

"Uhura! C'mon!"

She tore her eyes from the other pod and climbed in after the doctor. As the door sealed, she stared over at the two men, engaged in frantic conversation. Kirk's hand rested on Spock's upper arm. A light turned on in her head—No. No way. Oh, my God.

"Put your belt on!" McCoy stared at her as if she'd gone crazy. "Stay with me, here!"

She could barely process the doctor's command. Every cell of her brain tingled with the shock of what she'd just inferred. Fumbling with the belt, she buckled it just before the pod ejected into space and went to warp.