Chapter 21- In the Army Now

The USS Vico was a scientific research vessel that consisted of a mostly female crew- quite a switch from the Enterprise which was largely a brodeo of men. Even the Captain was a woman and although she was stern with her orders, she was also fair which I had to respect but she was no Jim to be sure. She was always to be addressed by her title or 'Sir' which I thought odd, after all this time Starfleet couldn't come up with gender neutral language? I passed my time helping out with various aspects of research projects that were going on: I measured the growth of plants, was used as a guinea pig for topical antiseptic trials and pain tolerance tests in which I was exposed to extreme cold and heat. I was secretly pleased when I was told that of all the participants that had been studied, I had the lowest tolerance for cold and the highest score for heat. I remembered shivering almost instantly when I was placed in a cold chamber and basking in the delicious heat of what amounted to a warming cabinet. At least I was unique in some way.

In between projects I fielded questions about the Enterprise, but mostly about Jim. Some I answered truthfully, most I dodged and a few I wondered how or why I would know such personal information about him. He may have been fast and loose, but it wasn't like he walked around nude or posted a list of his conquests for all to see. Some of the rumors made me laugh wildly such as the notion that he would force Sulu or Chekov to kneel on all fours so he could prop his feet up or that he was so fierce that he once strangled a Romulan to death with his utility belt.

Once the Vico took me as far as Neptune, a transport shuttle took me the rest of the way to Earth. It was strange looking out the windows at my home planet spinning slowly in the darkness. I noted Africa and the Middle East as I would old friends. I was dropped off in Boston and then to San Francisco by a shuttle similar to the one Pavel, McCoy and I took last time I was here. I arrived late at night and stood in a group of other individuals in the familiar gold, red, or blue shirts while we were assigned to rooms.

I listened to the names being rattled off by a man standing on a platform in the middle of the crowd. I was so tired from traveling that I almost missed my name. "Collins-McCoy, Morgan!" I raised my hand and the man looked at his clipboard with a raised eyebrow. "You are posted on the Enterprise. We will be expecting great things from you, then." I wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but it sounded very foreboding. Some people turned to look at me and whispered among themselves. I didn't know what that meant either, but I was too tired to care. I was in an entirely different area of the campus than I was when I landed the first time and stayed with Uhura, so naturally I was lost. I followed the others assuming we would be housed in the same general area at least. I found the dorm and eventually my assigned room.

If I thought the quarters I shared with Uhura and Pavel were tiny, this was miniscule in comparison. The room was just big enough for two cots, a shared bedside table, shared closet, one small desk crammed in by the door, and a very small bathroom. It was almost claustrophobic. My quarters on the Enterprise were easily six times bigger and far more palatial than this hole in the wall. From the looks of it, I had a roommate and they had already claimed the cot by the window because it was covered in clothing and personal items that had simply been dumped out and the empty bag left on the floor. I hoped that they were just in a hurry and not a slob. I showered quickly because it seemed there was a shortage of hot water and unpacked my meager belongings, placing my picture on my half of the small table by the bed and tried to get comfortable.

My PADD beeped to alert me to an incoming message. I picked it up curiously and opened the messages folder to see an unopened note from a Dr. L. McCoy-USS Enetrprise CMO. I opened it and read with a smile "I hope you got in safe, you should be there by now. It has been quiet so far (holds breath). The crew is all recovered from the disease Jim & co brought back thanks to you & Spock (you don't know how much it pains me to say that). Anyway, just thought I would send you some things that will help you stick to your story since Starfleet thinks we are hitched. Remember, they don't really know anything about you and it will be in your best interest to keep it that way. I am enjoying the book you got- very funny! Well, better go and give the staff the evil eye least they think I am getting soft. Take care. –McCoy"

I opened the attachment and found the picture of us at dinner as well as fact sheet with tidbits that I should know about him should I ever be questioned. He was born in Marietta, Georgia, his father is an internist and his mother is a pediatrician, his favorite color is blue, he once broke his arm when he fell out of a tree trying to fetch a neighbor's cat, he thought about becoming a street performer instead of a doctor just to piss off his parents, he learned to be ambidextrous in med school, hates fish and cheap whisky, and although he did room with Jim at the Academy he NEVER kissed him no matter what Jim said.

I quickly turned the PADD off when the door opened and a blonde with long, curly hair bounced in with an irrepressible smile. "Hello! You must be my roommate." She greeted a bit too cheerily. I could smell the alcohol across the room, but given how small it was that really wasn't much of an accomplishment. "Mary Bowman. You can call me Barbie." She extended her hand to me and I slowly shook it bewildered.

Was she serious?! Did she know that 'Barbie' equated with brainless bimbo?

"Morgan Collins." I replied quickly adding, "McCoy."

"Nice to meet you, McCoy." She sighed falling on her bed without bothering to move her clothes. I frowned when I realized that she thought 'McCoy' was my nickname. It sounded so strange… "So what do you do, McCoy?" She asked sleepily.

"I am…" Was? Will be? "a counselor on the Enterprise." I answered.

She bolted upright with a smile. "The Enterprise? " She asked almost breathless. "So you know Montgomery Scott? I'm an engineer and it is my dream to someday work with him. He is legendary." She sighed like a school girl imagining her crush and I couldn't imagine her being an engineer. The women that worked for Scotty would eat her alive.

"Scotty is a brilliant man." I conceded with a laugh. "And funny too. He works miracles with one hand and throws back scotch with the other. His people love him although he can be difficult sometimes. He just demands the best of his engineers when it counts."

"Scotty?" She snickered. "So you probably work for Dr. Leonard McCoy in the medical service. I feel sorry for you."

I turned my head to look at her curiously. "Why do you say that?"

She rolled her eyes and huffed. "He is notorious throughout the galaxy for being a blowhard. Only masochists sign up for his placements. I once knew a nurse that worked for him and she said she cried every night for a year because he always yelled at her. What a dick." She paused and her eyes grew wide. "Wait…McCoy…McCoy…oh God."

I laughed to watch her put it all together. "Relax. I do not work for McCoy directly, I actually report to Spock because of the conflict of interest thing. I can tell you that he runs a very tight department, but he is not 10 feet tall and he only breathes fire in a metaphorical sense. He is hard on his interns, but look at what he does: people's lives are at stake and there is no room for error so he does expect the very best from them at all times- no excuses."

"I guess so." She shrugged. "So Spock is your boss? What is it like working with a Vulcan? I heard he never sleeps or blinks."

I laughed out loud at the ridiculous ideas everyone seemed to have about the crew. "He is not an android! He is Vulcan but he is human too." I chuckled. "I have a lot of personal respect for him, he has always been fair and logical yet very supportive. He taught me hand-to –hand combat." I said with some measure of pride.

"You didn't learn it when you went through basic?" She asked puzzled.

I paused considering what I should do and mentally smacked myself for walking right into that one. I would have to be more careful in the future. "I'm actually a civilian." I said slowly, "But after I met McCoy and a position opened on the ship I jumped at the chance and Captain Kirk helped me a little." It was close enough to the truth to be believable.

"Captain Kirk!" She squealed. "What is he like?!" She jumped from her bed and grabbed my arm with a dreamy look in her eye that I found a little odd. Good thing Jim wasn't there to see it- as if his ego needed any more inflation.

"He is interesting: a good man, smart, a little reckless but is devoted to his crew." I stammered. What could you possibly say about him that could live up to his larger than life legend that he seemed to have? In fact, it was a little eerie that the entire crew was so well known, it was like they were the galaxy's rock stars.

"It must be wonderful working for such a hero." She cooed. "He saved the planet!"

"Along with his crew." I corrected. "I wasn't on board when the whole Nero thing went down, but you know that Spock had a lot to do with that as did McCoy, Sulu, Scotty, and Chekov…Jim didn't do it all by himself and even he would tell you that. He is just a farm boy from Iowa."

"Isn't Chekov that whiz kid from Russia?" She inquired. "He's like 15 or something."

I picked up the picture to show her. "Pavel is 17, but I wouldn't consider him a kid. He is smart, but he has seen a lot in his short life that makes him wise beyond his years. He is a very kind, quiet man and I consider him a friend."

"He's kinda cute." She smirked rubbing her finger over his face. "Who's the scruffy homeless guy? He looks kind of menacing."

"That is Dr. McCoy." I smiled. "That isn't a good picture of him, though. He was tired and wasn't feeling well. This one is better." I showed her the picture he sent me on the PADD.

"Oh la la." She commented. "He looks very handsome in his dress blues and all cleaned up. Still looks mean, though."

"Yeah, he hates formal dinners and Pavel ambushed us to take this picture. His hair is shorter now." I stared at the picture remembering exactly why that was and it made me a little sad.

She went back to her side of the room and pushed all of her clothes off her bed and onto the floor with one sweep and fell in. "Well, I am sure you see something in him, but from what I heard he eats babies and from the looks of him has acid for blood. Good luck with that."

I turned out the lights and looked at the picture on my PADD glowing softly in the darkness. It seemed everyone knew the Enterprise and her crew, but they only had vague notions and wild speculations to go on that reduced them to caricatures or blew them up into impossibly large superheroes. They didn't know them the way I did to see that the truth lie somewhere in between. They were just people who had the same fears and hopes as everyone else. The only difference was they had all been thrown together to pull off something truly amazing in one moment in time. After all, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them and the crew answered the call with courage and tenacity. Perhaps that was what made them legends and I missed them greatly.