Captain Kirk re-materialized on the transporter pad at the Deep Space K-7 station. It was large and circular much like other transporter pads that he has seen before. In front of him, there was a man that was most obviously the transporter operator, he was a Starfleet officer, and he had parted brown hair, with a brown mustache. He was only an ensign.
This station was on the neutral zone with the Federation and the Klingon Empire. This would not be a post that Captain Kirk would want. Klingons everywhere; where there are Klingons there are problems. Kirk could only imagine the bar fights, the fights in general, the murder. How many times had people been arrested on this station; and his old friend from Starfleet GinaMarie was stationed here. He felt great pity for her. She was a Lieutenant Commander, who was a scientific officer. She wasn't big, had minimal combat experience, and was bunking with Klingons.
Kirk wanted to talk to her as soon as he could. She wasn't expecting him, Kirk wanted to surprise her, Many people at the academy at the time, thought that they were dating. They squashed such rumors whenever possible, because they were at this point only friends. But Kirk would be interested in a more advanced relationship. He certainly didn't want to spend the rest of the day on this station alone. He was a highly esteemed captain. In command of the flagship of the Federation; the Klingon Empire and the Federation have been on some shaky ground lately, he wouldn't be surprised if there was an assassination attempt.
He was more focused on GinaMarie right then. He wanted to see her so badly, they had communicated through sub-space several times in the last month. On a regular bases since they left the academy. He could picture her now, she was beautiful. But nobody else seemed to think so, when she was smaller in grade school, she had no friends. Kirk and she grew up with each other as well. They went to high school together, they even played at each other's houses when they were really young.
She was teased brutally when they were in high school. Kirk would have done anything if he could go back in time, and help her, defend her. But he didn't, he teased her too. When they got into the academy he wanted to be her friends, to this day Kirk felt bad. But GinaMarie, insisted that it wasn't his fault, and that she was just annoying. But he knew that wasn't the case, everybody in high school must get a reality check at one point, than they will understand there short comings and try to fix them,
Kirk could never figure out exactly why they didn't like her, she was very smart, she cared about science. Science was her friend, her best friend all of her life. She was timid, and had low self-esteem. Kirk tried to give her self-confidence when he could. Try to boost her opinion of herself. Like any good friend would try and do.
But on top of all of her own personal short comings, she was a damn fine officer, she was a good scientist. She should not be aboard a shit-hole space station like this one. She deserved to be on a deep space research vessel, studying, learning, He assumed the only thing to research around this station was Klingon behavior. Kirk wasn't a big fan of Klingons, they really hadn't done anything to him though, yet.
Never the less, he was still able to play nice with them. He went on many diplomatic missions with them, to talk of peace treaties, and many other things. He would have no problem living with them now. The problem was going to be at the bar. When a Klingon is drunk, they start to sing, and when they start to sing with their brothers, they start to get rowdy, and when there rowdy they like to fight. And they don't like Starfleet.
Kirk felt like it was time for him to step off of the transporter pad, so he did. He started walking forward, and passed the transporter operator, nodding to him as he passed him. Kirk exited the door that separated the transporter room to the main courtyard of the space station. He glanced, and he really couldn't believe the size. It was quite large, there were counters with people selling stuff. There were people buying stuff there was side hallways that brought you around to different places. On the opposite side of the courtyard as he was on, there was the turbolift that would take him where he needed to go. Kirk thought to himself what should he be doing first. That was when Kirk noticed a jittery man who was smiling walking up to him. He approached fast, and he extended his hand as he was standing right in front of him. Kirk grabbed his hand and shook it, he assumed this man was some sort of greeter for the space station.
"Greetings! You must be the Captain Kirk we have all heard so much about?" They greater said. He had thick black hair, and was quite heavy, he was wearing some sort of exotic gown.
"Yes, this is him." Kirk said not really knowing what he wanted to say, or what he was supposed to say, he didn't want to ask him where his room is, he figured there were certain pleasantries that had to be addressed first.
"Well than! Let me give you the rundown of the place, to our left there are two hallways, the one closest to us leads to a recreation room. The one farthest will lead to some rooms, two hallways to our right-"The greeter started to babble on but Kirk stopped him quickly, cutting him off.
"Excuse me, I didn't catch your name, but I have been here before many times. I appreciate all of your help, I am only here waiting for my transport, on my way to earth first thing in the morning. Do you by any chance happen to know where my room was?"
"Clayser, my name is Clayser. I would be happy to escort you to your room, if you would like?" Clayser offered Kirk, Kirk could sense the irritation in his voice because Kirk wanted to be brisk and get away from him. Kirk didn't want to be escorted to his room, he knew where it was, he wanted him to tell him the room number, and then leave him the hell alone. But he would never say that. What he really wanted to know, was the room number for Lieutenant Commander GinaMarie Johnson. That's where he truly wanted to go. But something inside him told him that Clayser wouldn't give him the room number of another tenant, which he understood, it would be highly unethical for him to do that.
"No, just the room number, would be great thank you. I really come to this station all the time, I am actually the captain of the Enterprise, who was just docked here." Captain Kirk said hoping Clayser would accept his form of apology by starting a nice conversation.
"Ah, yes I saw them leave. What business do you have to attend to on Earth, Captain?" Clayser asked not meaning to be nosy, but just wanted to make him feel as if he cared about his stay, and what he was going to be doing. Kirk understood fully. There wasn't the hint of irritation anymore, which made Kirk happy.
"I am on shore leave. Going to Earth on vacation, to see my hometown, to just relax, you know what I'm saying?" Kirk said, not wanting to tell him that his real goal was to meet up with an old friend. And to hopefully build a relationship with her.
"Very nice! I do know how nice it is to return to your home planet. How long are you going to be staying?" Clayser continued to inquire, as they both started to walk towards the middle of the place, towards a desk, with a man standing behind it.
"I only get a two week shore leave." Kirk answered honestly to Clayser as they continued to walk.
"That a crying shame! They should be giving you two months captain! You work hard, you deserve time of too." Clayser said, Kirk was trying to figure out if he genuinely cared about him or if he was just bucking for a higher tip.
"Take that up with Starfleet Command! But, aside from that, I actually have an old friend on the station that I will be happy to get back in touch with." Captain Kirk said to Clayser deciding to tell him about GinaMarie, because he seemed like a nice enough person. They were walking very slowly to the counter, so they had time to finish their discussion. You could see the look in the man behind the desks eyes, just waiting for them to come.
"Hahaha! Oh yes? Who is it, maybe I know them. I know most of the people who come and go on this station, I mean I've only been a greeter on this station for ten years!" Clayser gave a hardy laugh, still messing around with Kirk and approaching the desk.
"Um, she is a Starfleet officer, she is a scientist, and she is assigned to this station. Her name is Lieutenant Commander GinaMarie Johnson, have you heard of her?" Kirk asked Clayser, answering his question as to who Kirk's old friend on the station was.
"Oh! Yes of course I know GM she has been stationed here for the last couple years. Nice woman, not to bad looking either. Hahaha! She is a quiet one, she doesn't usually talk to other people unless they address her. Very anti-social, I guess that's why she's not aboard the Enterprise, eh, hahaha!" Clayser said going on a rant about GinaMarie, Kirk knew that he knew her, because only people that are her friends, does she let call her GM. Kirk tried hard not to take offense on her behalf on the things he had said about her. Though some of them were true. He would never say that about his friend.
"Yes, she is a good friend of mine, we attended Starfleet Academy together. We even went to high school together." Kirk told Clayser continuing their conversation about GinaMarie.
"Yes, yes, she is a very kind person. Courteous, very shy." Clayser stooped talking when they reached the counter that they were walking up to.
"Kirk, please come back and talk to me sometime, maybe we can get a drink. This man here, will give you the room, and the password. Take care friend, give my best to GM!" Clayser said, leaving Kirk with the man at the counter, probably not staying with him because he had noticed another person come aboard the station, and it was his job to greet them. Kirk focused his attention on the man behind the desk.
"Kirk, James Tiberius, I told the station I was going to be her." Kirk said really asking for his room number.
"Yes, Captain Kirk, we have been expecting you. Your room is on deck five, section two, room number five twenty nine. Enjoy your stay." The man behind the counter told Kirk and he went back to his console, Kirk knew they weren't finished he hadn't given him his password.
"Oh, yes I almost forgot, your room password is, Kirk Gamma Beta Tango three two. Enjoy your stay." Kirk nodded to him, as he went on continuing his work. He caught the hint of a French accent. He dismissed that though and began walking towards the turbolift.
Kirk entered the turbolift and was thinking about GinaMarie. He looked up and spoke to the turbo lift, "deck 5." Than Kirk was off to the deck where his quarters were.
The turbolift door swung open and Kirk started walking in the corridor. He looked up and saw the sign that said, "Section 1," he needed to get to section two, so he started to walk. Once he was settled in his quarters, he is going to go to GinaMarie's quarters.
He kept walking, Kirk didn't know what he wanted to do first when he got to Earth. But, first he wanted a cup of coffee. A cup of hot coffee, would be great for him right now. Kirk was walking until he reached the sign that said, section two, he knew he was close to his room. He kept walking and he saw the room number, "529," that was his, he walked up in front of the door.
"Computer, open door." Kirk said knowing that he was going to have to input the password that he was given.
"Password required." The computer spurted back at him.
"Kirk, gamma, beta, tango, three, two." Kirk recited his password exactly as the man behind the desk had told him.
The door opened, and Kirk entered. He observed the room, and it was excellent, almost like they would give a nice ambassador. He doubted that he got any special treatment, captains must surly come through this station all the time. Kirk looked around at the replicator, the lounging chair. Even a desk with a console on it. A whole dining room, this was going to be a nice stay. Hopefully a stay with GinaMarie in it.
Kirk walked up to the replicator and just stared into it, admiring the modern technology loving the time that he lived in. He was thinking about what kind of coffee he was going to have, normally he had black coffee, but he was in the mood for cream and sugar. Or maybe even a latte, or even a cappuccino. It was his shore leave, he needed to treat himself. Kirk had never tried an espresso, that's what he wanted was an espresso.
"Replicator, one espresso." Kirk said, not knowing about cream or sugar, he wasn't sure what people put in espressos, so he figured he would try it normally. The replicator materialized a small glass with a seemingly thick black liquid in it. Kirk picked it up and walked over to his desk, it was silver like most of the things in this station, right behind him was a large bay window where he could admire space, and he liked to stare into space. Unlike his good friend Bones, he loved space.
Kirk started to mess with the console, not sure what he wanted to do, but he wanted to talk to GinaMarie. He took his first sip of the espresso, it was quite thick almost like syrup, but it wasn't, it was good, it was very strong, there wasn't much liquid in it.
He looked at the console, and decided to talk to the computer. He hoped the computer would tell him where GinaMarie was staying. Where her quarters were.
"Computer, what is the location of Lieutenant Commander GinaMarie Johnson's quarters. Are they on this deck?" Kirk asked the computer hoping that there wasn't any kind of privacy barriers in the computer.
"Lieutenant Commander GinaMarie Johnson's quarters are located on the fifth deck of the Deep Space K-7 station. The fourth section, room 544." The computer said to Kirk's great pleasure. He was very happy that they quarters were even on this deck. Kirk started to think if she would be happy to see him, happy that he was there. She had to have liked him, they were such good friends, and hopefully she wasn't on duty. That would not be good. Kirk decided to wait another half of an hour to think about what he was going to do.
Time had passed, nearly forty five minutes, and Kirk was standing outside of Room number 544, which was GinaMarie's quarters. He was standing there, Kirk had his hand up about to press the alert button, to show her that someone was at the door. But, for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was nervous, James T. Kirk was nervous, talking to a woman. He never had problems with woman. Especially woman who were like GinaMarie, generally not appealing. Kirk felt terrible for even thinking such a mean thought about his friend. He loved her, no matter what, he would always be her friend. Kirk mustered the courage to push the button, but before he could, the door opened by itself. On the other end of the door was GinaMarie.
She had long dirty blonde, ginger mixed hair that was brushed and ran down to just below her shoulders. Her blue eyes were large, and bold with surprise to see him. Her short stature was noticeable, but not a problem. She was shaky, almost scared to see him. Kirk couldn't determine if it was because he was just standing outside of her quarters, or if she was just scared to see him in general. He hoped for the latter, or none at all.
"James?" GinaMarie said to Kirk. To hear her voice was wonderful, he hadn't seen or heard her in person for so long. It was weird, she never called him James, she always called him Jim, and it must have been out of shock to see him. Also, Kirk was glad to see that she was surprised in a happy way, and didn't find it creepy he was there. At least, that's what he inferred from her tone.
"GM! It's been so long." Kirk said not knowing what do, so went for what seemed right and they shared a large hug.
The hug seemed to last longer than the usual hug. Kirk was still wearing his yellow command uniform from the Enterprise. GinaMarie was wearing a standard blue science division Starfleet uniform.
"Kirk, I've missed you so much…I…Just…I don't know." GinaMarie said, getting choked up not knowing what to say, so she just squeezed Kirk harder.
"I've missed you too, GM, how have you been?" Kirk said with the cool head that he usually had, completely unlike how GinaMarie was talking.
"I missed you Jim!" GinaMarie said repeating herself. She knew it and everyone else knew how awkward of a speaker she was, but it didn't bother Kirk, he thought it was cute if anything.
"So do you have some time to catch up?" Kirk asked GinaMarie wanting to catch up with her and talk to her.
"Um, I go on duty eleven hundred hours, I have a couple hours." GinaMarie said. Kirk noticing that she was stuck with the night shift, of where ever she was stationed. Kirk just stood there for a few moments, waiting for her to invite him in, which she had neglected to do. Not out of disrespect, but out of sheer nervousness.
"Oh, yeah follow me." GinaMarie said, turning around and disappearing into her quarters. Kirk followed her in, and noticed her quarters were identical to his, just lived in. She walked over across her room, to her dining room table and sat down. Kirk noticed that she was wearing black socks that every officer was issued. She was sitting down, wanting Kirk to sit at the opposite chair to chat but not making it obvious. Kirk took it upon himself to seat himself in the chair adjacent to her own.
"So, why is such a wonderful scientist such as yourself stuck with the night shift?" Kirk said attempting to flatter her.
"Thanks, but no. I am on the night shift, I work in a lab, I mostly just do side stuff. I basically am the relief pitcher to the main scientists." GinaMarie making the ancient earth analogy to baseball, which brought out the tomboy of such in her.
"Well that's not fair, I should see what I could do about getting you your rightful position. Like chief science officer, on the bridge, main shift." Kirk said, he had every intention of doing it, but he didn't think they would care honestly about his recommendation.
"No, please, it's fine. One day, I'll get out of here. It's scary, Klingons are violent, they hurt people, and when you're a tiny little shit like me, they…pick on you a lot." GinaMarie said explaining to Kirk what the Klingons treated her like.
"Maybe you need somebody to talk to the Klingons." Kirk said with an offer tied into that statement somewhere. GinaMarie was becoming more and more flattered as he kept insisting to help her.
"Yeah, maybe." GinaMarie said smiling to Kirk, not exactly propelling the conversation, but Kirk didn't mind.
"So do you have a boyfriend, yet?" Kirk asked hoping they were good enough friends for her not to feel intruded by him asking. He had talked to her recently, he knew she didn't have one. But he had to ask anyway.
"No…" She said with a hint of regret in her voice, Kirk could tell that she was sad that there was nobody in her life, at all.
"Well I'm sure that won't be for long. A beautiful woman like you, must turn every head in a bar." Kirk said to her, watching as her cheeks blushed and she became greatly nervous.
"Yeah, I wish…" She said becoming more and more sad. Kirk didn't know if he wanted to ask her to eat dinner with him. If he did ask her it would cheer her up, or he could get rejected, and ruin a friendship. It was the question that every man that has a friend that is a girl that he wants to become more, is faced with.
"Well, do you have anything interested planned for you and your colleagues at the lab, on this action packed night?" Kirk asked trying to flatter her but he wasn't sure how he was doing that through that question, but never the less, it was his intentions.
"Nope. Like usual probably just cleaning beakers, and cleaning up the shit-hole that the real scientists left behind." GinaMarie said with clear displeasure for her own job, in the laboratory that she was assigned to.
"What possesses you to insinuate that you aren't a real scientist? GM, you are one the most qualified scientists I have ever seen." Kirk said knowing that she was flattered. Her face was completely read and she was looking down at the table avoiding eye contact.
"I...I...they…just, real scientists don't clean beakers all night." GinaMarie said putting herself down yet again.
"You have to start somewhere GinaMarie. In the future, I see you on covers of books, that speak of the great contributions you made to the warp theory science, you will be more prominent then Zephron Cochrane!" Kirk said over exaggerating a little to himself, but who knew, she could turn out like that. Kirk could tell that she was starting to get more comfortable with him, like she was when they used to talk because, now she was just laying back in the chair, comfortable staring at him.
"Yeah, the closest thing to a book cover I will ever come to, is if I fall asleep on a warp theory text book." GinaMarie said starting to smile at the joke she had made. Kirk started in a hardy giggle as well, because it was in all fairness very humorous.
"You must be on book covers everywhere then, huh GM!" Kirk said jabbing at her again, followed by both of them chuckling deeply.
"Oh god Jim, you haven't changed a bit have you." GinaMarie said happily, because she didn't want him to change. She loved him just the way he was, they would stay at each other's dorm rooms at the academy and just talk and joke around, study, all night long. Kirk missed those days, things were so much simpler. The only thing he had to worry about was school and GM. Now he has hundreds of lives in his hands, every day, it was a very stressful yet rewarding experience.
"Oh, GM, I try." Kirk kidded again now they were both leaning back in the chairs having the time of their life, not thinking bout Starfleet, no work, just them.
"Want a beer?" GinaMarie asked Captain Kirk. Kirk hardly ever drank, but if he did ever want to drink, it would be with his friend GinaMarie,
"I would love one!" Kirk said accepting GinaMarie's offer to get him one. She stood up and walked to into the other room, and approached the replicator. She looked into its alcove and spoke to it, "Two beers, light, and cold." She said and the replicator did the very same thing, and in front of her in the alcove was two beers, in glasses. She picked them up and walked back to the table that Kirk was sitting at. She set one drink by him and one by her. And she just started staring in his eyes once more.
"Thank you very much GM." Kirk said gratefully taking a sip of the ice cold beer, which he could go for right now on his much needed shore leave.
"Never a problem for you, Jim." GinaMarie spoke to Kirk, and he took what she said as a compliment.
"Why thank you. Hey! Do you remember when we got so drunk the night before our third year finals?" Kirk said beginning to reminisce over good times that the two of them had had over the years. Specifically when they were in Starfleet Academy together.
"Yeah! We didn't wake up until the day after, to take the exams late!" GinaMarie joked back. The story was, they were so scared and nervous for the test, they decided to try and drown their nerves away. And, well damn it did a good job. They neither of them could recall what had happened that night. They were blacked out for the whole next day, just to wake up first thing that morning to take the exams, hung over as all hell. Never the less they both passed them with flying colors. It wasn't surprising they studied all the time, just so they could get an excuse to hang out with each other, so they did learn the material well.
"Oh lord! Third year at the academy was the best! There wasn't a day that went by when we weren't studying together, that's why you became one of my best friends, and you are one of the nicest, sweetest, kind-hearted people I have ever met in my life." Kirk said going out of his way to compliment her. GinaMarie was stunned that he would say something so nice, but she wasn't good at talking, and was terrible at accepting compliments, so she gave the most blushed smile she could. And tried to steer the conversation away from that.
"Remember your friend, Leonard, who used to study with us some time. He was an asshole had a chip on his shoulder and wanted to be a doctor. I thought he would be the worst at it, because a man like that had to have terrible bed-side manor." She referred to Bones of course, Kirk wasn't going to jump to Bones' defense, because he knew that pretty much everything she was saying was true.
"Yes! Bones!-"Before Kirk could continue his sentence GinaMarie blurted out first cutting him off.
"Yeah Bones! That's what you called him!" GinaMarie interjected, taking a couple more gulps of her ice cold beer.
"Yeah! He is actually the chief medical officer on board the Enterprise. The ship I command. He is actually become a damn fine physician, and a trusted friend of mine. I would do anything for him. If anything were to happen to him, I don't know what I would do." Kirk said with a weird chill going down his spine.
"Really? I still can't get over that, Captain Kirk, I could always see Cadet Kirk but Captain Kirk, is a stretch, what's next Admiral Kirk?" she joked kidding not letting him answer before she jumped into her next sentence.
"Bones, I would like to talk to him again, if it ever is possible. He may have been an asshole, but he was definitely the life of the party. I loved to drink with that guy!" GinaMarie screamed, gulping down the remainder of her beer. GM was right Kirk thought; Bones was a great guy to drink with, he was one of the funniest men he had ever met. The life of the party was an understatement for what Bones was.
"Yeah! I'll tell him you said hello. I wanted him to come on shore leave with me. But he was too busy, and had no more shore leave days." Kirk said to GinaMarie emphasizing that he wished he had someone to spend his vacation with.
"Oh yeah? Where are you going for your shore leave vacation?" GinaMarie asked Kirk, with genuine care.
"I'm going back to Earth for two weeks, I don't know what I'm going to do there, but I am going there." Kirk responded to GinaMarie.
"Oh…that sounds like it should be a great deal of fun then." GinaMarie said, Kirk could tell she was thinking long and hard about something. Kirk wanted to invite her to dinner, in his quarters, but he didn't know how to ask, or what to say, or if he was even in a position to ask her to have dinner with him.
"Yeah I expect it to be. I want to go back to Iowa, I loved it there I could never get over the smell, you would have to go there to know the smell that I'm talking about." Kirk said trying to explain it to GinaMarie.
"Jim! You forget I'm from Iowa, for god's sake we went to high school together. I am well aware of the smell you are talking about, and that is an understatement, that smell is one of the best's ones in the world. I haven't been to Iowa since I left for the academy, my parents are still there." Kirk forgot she had lived there, and wasn't going to go any farther talking about her parents, he knew about the testy relationship that she had with her parents. They didn't help her grow up, they never gave her any of the attention advice or anything that she needed growing up as a woman. But, it all came back to bite them in the ass, when their beloved daughter that they didn't seem to care about went off to be in Starfleet, and to boot hasn't been there to see them in that many years. It was almost sad, he would do anything to let her see her parents, you need a strong relationship with your parents, and he wished that he had the opportunity to get to know his parents. But he didn't. And he didn't want other people to be robed of the experience like he was. Maybe she would come with him to Earth, it was a farfetched idea, and he would not mention it.
"Duh! I don't know where the hell my mind is today! I'm serious, I'm going to sleep well tonight I need it!" Kirk said joking around.
"Yeah…" GinaMarie said as she watched Kirk guzzle down the rest of the beer that was in his glass filled with ice cold beer. He was going to do it, Kirk had actually mustered himself to ask her to eat dinner with him, and that is all he had to do, was do it, it wasn't that hard, he knew it wouldn't be.
"GM, would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"