Chapter 1: The Assignment
Isara
Two years later
It had been a long two years. There was one less planet in the sky. There was one more Commander Spock. The USS Enterprise had been launched, seen battle, and been repaired long before it had been officially christened. Jim Kirk was a Captain (my face twisted at the thought), and here I was, finally finishing med training. It was odd that Starfleet still used caps and gowns for graduation day, I mused as I once again surreptitiously blew the tassel out of my face. You would think that, after all the advances we'd made, we could have had something less… encumbering. I had already tripped twice.
My thoughts were interrupted by the band blowing one long note as they began "Pomp and Circumstance." I twisted the cap from my head and tossed it into the air. I followed its progress with my eyes, then lost sight of it as my gaze was drawn to the sky. It was a beautiful evening, bands of pale pink and purple streaking the deepening blue, and a smattering of stars was just visible if I squinted. Tomorrow we would all receive our assignments, and before too much longer I would be up among those very same stars. A burst of adrenaline rushed to the ends of my fingers and filled my chest.
It wasn't very long afterwards that I was assigned to the Enterprise. It had been decided that I needed a nice safe training job before I was a medical officer on my own (I rolled my eyes when I saw the order), and would therefore be training under- guess who?- Dr. McCoy. At least I would be with someone that I knew and liked.
I thought back to the long past year without him there. He and Alanna had both graduated a year ahead of me, so I had a new group of friends, but I wasn't really as close to any of them as I was to Bones (I had picked up on Kirk's nickname for him) and my old roommate. When we had been together on campus, the three of us spent weekends and evenings going to holoscreenings, exploring the San Francisco night life, and bringing hot food to each other when Bones and I were on duty in the infirmary. The fun stuff wasn't every day, of course, and it happened less and less as the finals for our separate classes approached. But it was enough.
Bones and I met originally over Kirk's rudeness, but we soon discovered that we had lots of common interests. On top of that, he was able to talk to me about his fear of flying (which I unfortunately laughed at the first time he told me, thinking that he was joking) and I was able to talk to him about my unfortunate relationship with Jimmy before Starfleet. We were close in the way that friends are when they can only see each other occasionally but enjoy their meetings none the less.
Now I was, for all intents and purposes, alone. Sure, I received long and regular updates from Alanna, now First Officer on the USS Bradbury. I had only heard from Bones twice- once to say that he loved the position, Kirk was improving, space was amazing, his fears were getting better, etc. etc. The second was a brief letter of the "Hey, don't panic, I'm not dead" variety after the Nero incident. I decided that, though he seemed to have moved on from our friendship, we could still get along working in the same med bay.
The Captain was an entirely different issue. I supposed that it would be easy enough to avoid one man on a ship that size, but I was going to have to face him sooner or later. I felt silly then for reacting to him; he had been just a stupid boy with no idea of my past. There were certainly worse men wandering around the world. Unfortunately for me, this particular one had hit me at a bad time, so I was nervous about confronting him (especially since I suspected that I would have to apologize). I decided to cross that bridge when I came to it.
The hugging thing continued too, though it wasn't as funny after all of my friends left. The sign remained on my door, there were still misunderstandings about it being a euphemism, and people still came to me for hugs when they needed them. It was just one of those things that don't seem odd until you look back on them because you're so used to them.
The next couple of days were a whirlwind. The Enterprise came back into port, Kirk was demoted, and before I had any chance to say "hi" to Bones, John Harrison bombed the London branch of Starfleet. Then came the shooting at Starfleet headquarters itself. I had never come into close contact with Admiral Pike, but the shock of his death still rocked the entire campus. In all the commotion someone forgot to change my assignment, so by the time Kirk had been re-instated I was on board the Enterprise and ready for launch.