Chapter Eighteen

Leonard McCoy was honestly considering stealing his X-Wing and going to find Jim when he saw Nyota Uhura straighten in her chair. He went to her station and leaned over the back of her chair, "What is it?"

"Jim!" she whispered, looking at him, her eyes bright, "He's back!"

"About damn time he got here. Is he okay?"

"I think he's okay. That's not all." Nyota smirked, "He didn't come alone!"

"Who came with him?" Leonard frowned, wondering what kind of trouble Jim had gotten himself into on Hoth. Nyota arched an eyebrow but said nothing. Leonard shrugged. What? She coughed.

"Admiral Skywalker?" he mouthed, just a wild guess. Nyota glanced at the doors as they opened and Leonard straightened. Jim came in, held by two Security officers. Kadinski looked like a proud lion. Jim was completely calm, and Leonard knew personally how easy it would be for him to teach Spock a lesson. Spock demanded answers Jim wasn't giving him and Leonard snorted. Using a different tactic, Spock turned his back on Jim and sat down in the command chair.

"Take Commander Kirk to detention and keep him there until I figure out what to do with him."

"Nice try, Commander." Jim said coldly, "Get out of my chair." Uh-oh. Is that what this came to? A dominance-fight on the bridge? And for what it was worth, Kadinski wasn't in a huge hurry to follow orders to detain Jim, Captain's orders or not.

"Excuse me?" Spock didn't seem intimidated at all.

"Oh you heard me!" Jim snarled, circling the chair that was his, by every right, "I said get…out…of…my…chair." Not that Leonard was surprised, but Spock didn't budge. Well, maybe Jim couldn't get Spock out of that chair, but someone else could. The doors opened again and Spock jumped out of the chair in a hurry. Anyone sitting down got up in a hurry, actually. Leonard knew Anakin Skywalker, he knew what the man looked like mad, and he knew that Anakin Skywalker was mad.

"Admiral Skywalker!"

"Commander Spock. It seems you've come a long way since the last time we engaged." Yep, Admiral Skywalker was pissed. He looked around the bridge, silent and tense, and one eyebrow went up, "What seems to be the problem here, Commander?"

"Several rules of conduct have been violated, sir."

"By?"

"Your son, sir."

"Really?" Admiral Skywalker was leading Spock along, and enjoying it way too much. Leonard glanced at Nyota, who had gotten up from her station, and at Jim, who had quietly joined him.

"Yes, sir." Spock didn't seem to understand quite the degree of trouble he was going to be in. Admiral Skywalker looked at Leonard and Jim.

"You say my son has broken rules, Commander. Which rules?"

"It is not so much that he has broken rules, Admiral, but that he cheated."

"On what, precisely?"
"He was banned from service on an active Academic Suspension for cheating on the Kobayashi Maru." Spock said it without thinking. Leonard saw the admiral's eyes grow narrow and reflexively gulped. Uh-oh.

"And, ah, who slapped him with a charge of Academic Dishonesty that landed him a suspension when we needed every able-bodied Cadet Officer we could get our hands on?" Admiral Skywalker snarled, "Commander, what the hell were you thinking? My son never cheated and you know that! For a man who prides himself on being fair and even-tempered, I'd say you're a sore loser, Commander." Spock realized he'd picked the wrong fight with the wrong people, Leonard saw him pale.

"Sir?"

"You hit my son where you knew it would hurt because all he did was a find a legitimate way to beat that stupid little test of yours. Did Captain Pike leave you as Acting Captain?"

"Yes, sir, he did."

"Do you have any experience leading a crew into the heat of battle, Commander?"

"Why would that matter?"

"Just answer the question."

"I am a Science Officer, sir, Captain Pike hand-picked me for the mission to stand as his First Officer."

"That's a lousy excuse for what you did to my son and an even lousier one for what you're doing right now. Commander Spock, you are dismissed from duty until further notice." Well, that was direct. They watched him leave.

"Sir?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"Who will take my place?" Spock looked worried. Leonard hated the Vulcan so much at that moment he wanted to break something fragile. But he was better than that.

"Your First Officer will take your place, Commander. Dismissed." Admiral Skywalker put more than just a little suggestion behind those words. Spock wanted to say something but thought twice about it and left the bridge. Without a word, Jim took the vacant command chair. He didn't have to say a word, Hikaru Sulu got them turned around and back on course to stop nothing short of the Apocalypse.

Not even four hours after replacing Spock as the Enterprise's Captain, Jim Kirk found himself up against an enemy who didn't frighten him nearly as much as they should have. Nero said something about the fame of his James T. Kirk and how Jim would never have a chance to become that kind of man, and Jim had heard enough and taken enough abuse from Nero and everyone else who ever told him he'd never amount to much more than the lawless son of an exile. Grabbing Nero by the wrist, he used a generous application of the Force to free himself and got to his feet as Nero scrambled. He coughed, rubbed his abused throat, and drew his lightsaber.

"My name's notJames Tiberius Kirk, you ass-hole." He snarled, bringing the amethyst blade to life in his hand, "My name is Tiberius Skywalker. You killed my father's brother, you killed my First Officer's people, you destroyed an entire world. You should frighten me, but you don't."

"Humans talk too much." Nero huffed. Jim reacted in a purely reflexive motion when Nero fired on him, deflecting the shot neatly back to the Romulan. It knocked him off his feet, and Jim ran to see if he was dead. Nope, that had been a shot to disable him, not kill him. He belted his lightsaber and got up.

"I'd hate to be you when you wake up again, Nero. That's one hell of a headache you'll have." Jim stepped over the body and stared down Ayel, who did the smart thing and ran. Jim fired one shot from his phaser and killed Ayel before he finally went in search of Captain Pike. When he got there, he made short work of freeing Pike.

"What took you so long?" his former Commanding Officer growled.

"Sorry, I ran into a setback coming to find you." He brushed the earpiece of his comlink, "Skywalker to Enterprise, get us out of here, Scotty!" A moment later, they touched down on the Enterprise. It was only after they'd dispatched of the Narada, this after offering an olive branch to the surviving crew and being denied, that Jim even dared relax. Getting home was a hell of an adventure, explaining himself to Admiral Barnett was just one more bit of fun.