A/N: Written for the great_tales LJ comm Valentine's Day challenge; 142 words and about love for something that isn't sentient. Many thanks to Captain Facepalm for beta, advice, and encouragement!
During our first five-year mission, when a strange infection brought all the hidden emotions to the surface, I said to Spock,
"Love... you're better off without it, and I'm better off without mine. This vessel...I give... she takes. She won't permit me my life-I've got to live hers...I have a beautiful yeoman, but I'm not permitted to notice her...I'm the Captain. Now I know why ships are always called 'she'. If I could only have a beach to walk on, a few days without braid on my shoulder."
More than a quarter-century passed since. It is a strange relationship, that of a captain and his ship...I loved her as much as I ever loved a woman, certainly been more faithful to her, and now I've just sacrificed her for a friend...what does that say of my love?