Science Officer Margory Mallory, astrophysics specialist, could barely keep her composure. Here she was at last—on the Enterprise! The flagship of the fleet. As soon as the shuttlebay docking cycle completed, she'd actually be meeting some of the crew that she'd seen and heard so much about over the vids. Her mouth was dry and her fingers shaky as she ran through the final shutdown sequence.

A variation in the Lao-Tse's schedule had required her to come ahead alone in a shuttlecraft. Maggie didn't mind; piloting gave her something to do besides fidgeting herself to pieces with nerves. When she had seen that gleaming white hull rise up from the depths of space, her heart had gone all anyhow. That was the Enterprise, champion of the Federation, and it was coming to meet her. Maggie hadn't been this excited since the day she'd received her Starfleet commission.

"Docking cycle complete," her comm panel announced. She smiled at the voice. Pavel Andreievich Chekov, she thought, although he hadn't introduced himself—but who could miss that accent? With everyone on Earth taking such pains to correct their regional accents, Pavel's thick intonations were breath of fresh air. Soon she would be up there—on the bridge with him! Her grin peeped out, despite her nerves.

Anxiously, she glanced at her dim reflection in the shuttle's forward screen, and raked her fingers through her short, red hair. Maggie, baby, you never got anywhere in this life based on your looks. Stop worrying about it now!

Pavel's boyish voice continued, "Safety interlocks engaged. You may exit your wehicle."

Maggie's trembling finger almost missed the comm button. "Acknowledged. Thank you, Navigator."

There was a pause, and then a tentative answer. "You're velcome."

Rats. Pavel sounded puzzled. Maybe he hadn't expected her to recognize his voice. Maybe she wasn't supposed to know that he was the chief navigator of the Enterprise—but was she supposed to have lived under a rock? Surely he knew—all of them must know—that their faces had been all over the nets for two months now.

Oh, well. She just had to be herself—and not screw up, of course. She chewed her lip. She was well aware that she was taking over from Commander Spock. Commander Spock! The idea nearly blew her away. She wondered if Captain Kirk would expect her to be a supergenius like him. Granted, she was no slouch, but she wasn't a genius and was the first to admit it. She liked working with geniuses; adored it, in fact. But in the end, she was just a relatively talented human being who wanted to pursue a career in space. Surely there would be room even for the likes of her aboard the Enterprise.

She ran through her exit checklist a second time after the shuttlebay repressurized—she was rattled enough that she suspected she may have made some idiot mistake—but everything was in order. She took a deep breath, then popped the seal on the hatch.

The Enterprise's shuttle bay was comfortably similar to the Lao-Tse's—yet it was just different enough to be slightly disorienting. The cargo pods were stacked in the left corner instead of the right; the technicians who had already scurried into the bay to do their post-flight checks all had unfamiliar faces.

And there was an unusual noise—someone... shouting? Maggie furrowed her brows. There had been very little shouting aboard the Lao-Tse. Maggie rounded the aft end of the shuttlecraft, heading for the ship's inner doors.

She cleared the craft and stopped. Standing there, not six meters in front of her, was Captain Kirk. Her heart gave a little flip. He looked just like himself! That is, he looked like he did on the vids. Only this was real. He was here, now, right in front of her, head canted to the side as he stared into space, looking very... bored, actually. Yes, that was a definite look of boredom. Or maybe it was weary patience; Maggie couldn't tell.

Apparently Kirk had need of patience. As soon as she'd rounded the corner, Maggie had noticed the source of the shouting. It was an older, dark-haired man, and he was ranting into Captain Kirk's ear.

"...medication!" he was saying. "Every civilized being in the Federation understands the importance of medication. Where would we be without antibiotics, vaccines, analgesics—where? Yet he just throws it all aside, throws it all aside!" His hands waved wildly as he made his point. "I swear, if he doesn't die on his own, I'm going to kill him!"

Margie was a little hesitant to approach; this seemed a rather serious discussion. Yet the captain's bored expression and the complete disinterest on the part of the passing technicians encouraged her. She took a step forward.

Her movement drew Kirk's attention. His eyes darted her way, and he straightened up and gave her a smile. It seemed he was as relieved to see her as she was reassured by his welcoming response.

He held up a hand to his companion. "Hang on a second, Bones."

"Bones" flung his hands in exasperation. "Oh, sure, fine. It's only your First Officer's life at stake. Nothing urgent there at all."

Kirk's expression didn't change from his initial look of relieved welcome. If this was a life-and-death situation, he was certainly taking it calmly. He stepped forward to meet her. "Ensign Mallory. Welcome to the Enterprise."

She pulled up at attention before him. "Permission to come aboard, sir."

"Granted." He turned toward his companion. "Bones, this is our new science officer—ready to assume her duties, I imagine."

Maggie nodded, while "Bones" ran a hand through his ruffled hair. Maggie studied him; he looked familiar too, now that she was closer to him.

"Bones" ignored her, addressing his remarks to the captain. "I suppose that means you want to continue this conversation later."

Kirk said neutrally, "If you want to continue this conversation, later would be better, yes."

"Fine." Bones did face her then, distractedly shaking her hand. "Ensign Mallory. Welcome aboard. You seem like a pleasant, well-socialized being." He shot a fiery glare at the captain. "It will save me the trouble later of having to wring your neck."

Maggie stared, but Bones was clearly still irritated with the captain. "See you later," he snarled at him, and marched out of the bay.

Kirk sighed. "And that was our chief medical officer, Dr. McCoy."

Maggie felt bewildered. "Does he often threaten to wring people's necks?"

Kirk shrugged. "It keeps him happy." He tilted his head towards the doors that McCoy—Bones—had just disappeared through. "Shall we?"

Maggie looked at the bay doors suspiciously. "Is it safe?"

Kirk chuckled, which set her unexpectedly at ease. They meandered through the doors at an easy pace, Kirk nodding absently toward the technicians as they exited.

"Sorry about the fireworks. You caught us at a bad time."

Maggie was puzzled. "Weren't you expecting me?"

Kirk chuckled again, which had the effect of almost magically dissipating her anxiety. "It was your arrival that caused the blowup."

Maggie blinked. "Sir?"

"No, it's nothing you did." He put a hand on her back to guide her toward one of the branching hallways. "When the technicians prepped the bay for your arrival, they discovered a few... gifts, that my First Officer had left behind when he took his shuttlecraft out the day before yesterday."

"Gifts?"

"Our gifts to him—contributions to his expedition. Apparently Commander Spock felt he didn't have room for them aboard his shuttlecraft. Shortly before your arrival the prep team found them stuffed in a locker in the shuttlebay." Kirk smiled sardonically; he seemed torn between amusement and something else. Regret? "Anyway, Dr. McCoy didn't react kindly to finding his carefully assembled medical kit stowed away under a laser beacon and a pair of heavy boots."

"Oh, my." Maggie wanted to chuckle, but wasn't certain she understood the situation well enough. "Was it really a life-threatening decision? I mean, would Commander Spock have been better off if he had taken the items aboard?"

"Spock is... well, you never know how it is with Spock. He has his own way of doing things. He'd probably calculated to the milligram the maximum payload he was willing to carry and, when our presents didn't map into his little equation, he discreetly set them aside." He continued to look thoughtful.

Maggie's heart pounded. She had heard about the former... disagreements between Kirk and his First Officer. She said carefully, "You don't agree with his choice?"

"Hey, it's his vacation. He can do what he likes." Kirk threw off his preoccupied mood, and gave her a reassuring smile. "So, what do you want to see first, your quarters or the bridge?"

Maggie smiled. "Do you mean I have the captain of the Enterprise as my personal tour guide?"

"Hey, it's not every day I get an addition to my bridge crew. You deserve a little personal attention, don't you think?"

Maggie felt a warm glow suffuse her. She liked the way he said that: an addition. "Addition," not "temporary replacement". She began to think she might do all right during this assignment after all.

She didn't attempt to hide her eagerness. "The bridge, please."

Kirk laughed. "I knew you were a woman after my own heart." He bowed toward the nearest turbolift. "After you."

The door opened, and Maggie was nearly run down by a middle-sized man who bounced out of it, whistling. He pulled himself up short just in time to avoid a collision, grasping Maggie's arm as she stumbled back.

"Whoa, lass. Steady on!" He gave Kirk a rueful grin. "Sorry, Captain. I keep forgetting how crowded this ship can be, even on the lower decks."

"That's no problem, Mr. Scott," Kirk said equably. "I'm pleased to see that you're in a good mood—or haven't you heard?"

Mr. Scott—Montgomery Scott, Maggie thought, recognizing him from the vids—threw back his head and laughed. "About Spock's little trick? Aye, I heard it." He shrugged. "I shouldnae worry too much. He generally seems to know what he's about—in some universes more than others."

The odd remark had Maggie look at him keenly, but his attention had been captured by the captain. She glanced Kirk's way to see him assuming a casual expression—but it seemed she had just caught the tail end of what might have been a hard look from him in Mr. Scott's direction.

"Oh, he'll be all right," said Mr. Scott dismissively, just as if there hadn't been an awkward pause. "It's a long shot he'd need the laser beacon anyway. The shuttle has a built-in homing device; that'll guide us to him through almost any surface conditions. He'd only need the beacon if he wanted to contact us away from the shuttle and needed a booster to pierce local interference, which you must admit is an unlikely occurrence."

"Yeah. I don't think Spock picked a deserted planet for his vacation because he had a pressing desire to talk to people."

"Aye." Mr. Scott shook his head, and then perked up. "But—look at me, forgetting my manners." He reached for Maggie's hand. "You must be the new science officer."

"Margory Mallory," she responded, shaking.

Mr. Scott cocked his head. "It's almost a poem, that."

Maggie laughed ruefully. "I know, isn't it awful? My parents must have been in an alliterative mood that day." She gave him a wry smile. "Call me Maggie."

"Aye, I will, and it's a pleasure to have you aboard. Are we meeting your expectations so far?"

Maggie hesitated. "Uh..."

Mr. Scott shot a concerned look at the captain. Kirk said carefully, "She ran into McCoy before she got ten steps off the shuttle."

"Right after..?"

"Yeah."

Mr. Scott winced. "I'll wager he wasn't exactly singing for joy."

"Try caterwauling."

"Ouch. Still, it won't last long. He'll be his sweet self again before... That is, after..." He exchanged a lengthy look with Kirk. "Well, after we get him good and drunk."

Kirk smiled and turned Maggie's way. "Try not to worry about it, Ensign Mallory. People's first few minutes aboard the Enterprise aren't usually so dramatic."

"What are ye telling the poor child?" Scott cried. "Have ye no integrity at all?" He turned toward an astonished Maggie with a serious expression. "When I first beamed aboard the Enterprise, lass, I materialized inside a cooling tank. Spent my first 60 seconds rushing through the hydroshafts heading toward the turbines."

Maggie looked wide-eyed at Kirk, who only shrugged. "It's true."

"I'd ha' been chopped to bits if the captain here had'nae opened the release valve. Fell 15 feet onto my face, but my looks are no worse than they were, so there's no harm done."

Margie's gaze shifted from one to the other, uncertain whether to believe them. Kirk's embarrassed manner rather led her to believe that the tale, unlikely as it sounded, was true. She began to feel lucky that she'd arrived by shuttlecraft.

Scott turned back toward Kirk. "So don't ye be telling stories to people about how calm it is aboard the Enterprise. It sets completely the wrong expectation."

Kirk seemed torn between amusement and mild annoyance, but he nodded solemnly. "Thank you, Mr. Scott. I will take your remarks under advisement."

Scott nodded as if satisfied, and then turned back toward Maggie. "Be sure to let me know if you need anything—changes to your quarters, special equipment, anything o' that nature. I or one of my lads will be happy to see to it."

"Why, thank you, Mr. Scott."

"Well, I'd best be moving along." He winked, and started jauntily down the hall. "Enjoy your first day, lass!"

"I am already. Thank you!"

Kirk smiled and inclined his head toward the open turbolift. "Would you like to do the honors?"

Maggie felt giddy as she preceded him aboard. She took the grip and ordered, "Bridge." The sudden acceleration sent the butterflies in her stomach dancing.

The bridge of the Enterprise. At any moment, she'd be there!