"He beat it."
Sophie-Anne nearly missed a step, which would have been painful considering how fast the treadmill was going. She slapped a hand down on the emergency stop, and the machine ground to a halt. "What did you say?"
"Kirk. He beat the Kobayashi Maru." Kellis Bolduc explained, chuckling at her shocked expression. Bolduc worked out at training center often, and knew from their years of sparring and running contests that Sophie-Anne was close to Jim Kirk. Now he seemed to enjoy breaking the news, a broad smile spreading across his tan face. "You seem surprised."
"Well, he said he was going to do it, but you know how he is. I don't think failure ever crosses his mind." She grabbed a towel and tossed it around her neck, abandoning the workout she'd just started.
Bolduc punched a few buttons, programming his own run. "I guess some of the higher ups are pretty pissed," he said casually, starting into a light jog. The sound of his sneakers on the belt pulled Sophie-Anne from her mental wanderings.
"Wait, why? He beat it, didn't he?"
"Dunno." Bolduc shrugged, speeding up and turning his attention to the workout. "But knowing Kirk, I'd say his methods were probably pretty unorthodox."
Sophie-Anne was already halfway to the changing room, speeding through a shower and throwing on her street clothes. He must have cheated, there's no other explanation. Dammit, JT. She was was halfway across the quad before her bag began to beep. It took a few minutes of digging to find the PADD buried under a pile of odds and ends, only able to find the device after the call had ended. A message flashed on the screen: I REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THE COMMUNICATIONS LAB.
"Great," she muttered, changing course and entering the enormous stone building a half block down the road. All the other buildings were new, but the Communications Building was a holdover from when the campus had been a university. Spock would be on the top floor, she was sure of it, and sprinted up all four flights instead of waiting for the lift. When she reached the lab it was blissfully deserted, just Spock's dark head bent over a computer display.
He barely looked up when she entered, attention focused squarely on the task at hand.
"You're upset he beat your test," Sophie-Anne said, slipping into the chair to his right. Spock finally stopped tapping on the screen, turning to face her with a single eyebrow raised.
"You indicate that my personal identity is tied to the exam. I assure you this is not the case. It is simply in the interest of academic integrity that I must ascertain Cadet Kirk's method of success. As you well know, the test was designed without a solution..."
Sophie-Anne rolled her chair up to a free console, logging on to the system and pulling surveillance footage from the test to the front of the window. Kirk lounged in the Captain's chair, casually chewing on an apple, and she felt the strong urge to slap him upside the head. Over to one side was Uhura, but in the seat just before Kirk was Leonard McCoy. She felt her heart do an unwelcome flop in her chest, and quickly refocused the screen to exclude him. How had she gone all these years without realizing that her ex boyfriend was rooming with one of her best friends?
"I know how proud you are of that test, even if you refuse to admit it. It's okay to be mad, it's obvious he cheated," she said, not wanting to get into another discussion of human and Vulcan emotions. Truthfully she thought it was a little silly for him to deny his human half, just as it would be to deny he was Vulcan.
Spock turned to her, head tilted just slightly in a way that she knew meant he was irritated. "Perhaps you are allowing your friendship with Cadet Kirk to cloud your judgement."
She couldn't help but laugh, Spock had never approved of what he called Kirk's "Negative Influence", even if he'd only mentioned it once. "JT's not as bad as you think. He's made the best of a bad situation, and he's very smart. Cocky, but smart. Give me your keypad," she demanded, swiping a few commands onto the screen. Sophie-Anne had always been good with computers, it was one of the only things she picked up on easily. Reading was a challenge, it took a lot of the concentration and patience she didn't always have, but computers and mechanics came as naturally as breathing. It only took a few seconds of searching to come up with a solution, written plainly in the interface. "There's your problem, he installed a sub-routine somehow, to alter the conditions. Very tricky."
"To what are you referring?"
"It's right there in the code..."
"No. You indicated that Cadet Kirk, as you put it, made the best of a bad situation. To which situation were you referring?"
"Oh." Sophie-Anne swallowed hard, knowing that if she didn't tell him he'd go out of his way to find out. For someone so in control of his emotions, Spock had a hard time controlling his curiosity. "Well, JT's dad was George Kirk, he was the Captain of the USS Kelvin when it exploded."
Spock was already pulling up the information, "The USS Kelvin was attacked at the edge of Klingon space..."
"What are you going to do? You're going to demand a tribunal, aren't you?" Sophie-Anne asked, and if he heard her he made no move to show he was listening. Finally she grabbed his arm, which made him flinch for some reason. "Just leave his family out of it, okay? He pretends to be all tough, but he's kind of sensitive about the whole thing."
"I only wish to gain more information about the Cadet's background," Spock said, seeming almost offended. She shrugged, gathering up her bag and squeezing his shoulder.
"I hope you realize I abandoned a workout for you. You owe me takeout." It was only a white lie, and it almost made him smile. She turned to leave, but stopped, the surveillance footage catching her eye again. "Hey, do you know Leonard McCoy?"
He thought a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I believe I have heard of him. From what I understand he is a rather competent doctor. Why do you ask?"
Sophie-Anne fought off a blush that threatened to creep into her cheeks. "No reason. I'll expect my takeout within the next week," she said, and vanished out into the hall.
XXX
"So how long are we going to pretend we don't know each other?" McCoy asked. He'd spotted Sophie-Anne at Kirk's hearing, sitting over with the mysterious Vulcan, but it wasn't until the meeting was interrupted and the cadets had begun reporting for assignments that he'd been able to catch up with her. She'd been standing off to the side with Uhura, chatting quietly, and from the look on her face she wasn't happy to see him.
"I'm going to find Gaila. I'll talk to you later, Soph," Uhura said, eyes wide as she slid out of the way. Talk later, she mouthed as she disappeared into the crowd, and Sophie-Anne nodded. Once she was gone they were silent again, and Sophie-Anne shrugged.
"I don't know what you want me to say."
"You can start by explaining why you're acting like you don't know who I am. Sophie-Anne," he said her name a little more forcefully than he needed to, and she finally met his eyes.
"Of course I know who you are," she snapped, arms crossing defensively. "I was just, surprised, I guess. I didn't realize you were here, the last I heard you had just broken up with Jocelyn and were going to school in Mississippi. I'm sorry, by the way."
At first McCoy didn't know what she meant, truthfully he hadn't really been paying much attention. It was distracting, being so close to her after not seeing her, and he was busy cataloging the changes. She was taller, just a few inches, but any baby fat she'd had in her face had disappeared. Besides that, she looked strong, but considering how often she and Jim worked out it wasn't all that surprising. But worst of all was the way her whole expression was closed off, eyes refusing to spring open for him like they used to. He could feel his face break into a scowl. Is she actually saying she's sorry about my divorce?
"What the hell for? You hate Joss."
Sophie-Anne's eyebrows shot up, clearly confused. "About... the baby, Len," she said, so softly he had to lean in to hear her. Baby? McCoy thought, a sick feeling overtaking his stomach. She doesn't know. When he didn't say anything she sighed. "And you're right, I will admit that when my mother told me you two broke up I might have done a little dance. You deserve so much better than her."
McCoy had to shake his head to be sure he'd heard her say it, and could feel himself inching dangerously close to saying something stupid, so he quickly changed the subject. "Any idea what ship you'll be on?" he asked, knowing he was already failing miserably at the small talk portion of the conversation. Maybe she'd be on a different ship, and they could go back to avoiding each other...
"The Enterprise, I'd imagine."
Or not. "What makes you think that?"
Her lips twisted in a funny smile he didn't quite understand. "Just a hunch. I take it you are too?" she asked, and he nodded. "Well, I'm willing to be civil if you are. There's no reason we can't be professional."
Except that I want to pull you behind that bulkhead and kiss you senseless right now, McCoy thought, covering the desire by rolling his eyes. "Professional, huh? Well, there's a first time for everything." He held out his hand for her to shake, and she stared at it for a moment before taking it in her own. Her skin was strangely cool, or maybe it was just nerves making his palms feel hot and clammy. Either way he shook hands hastily, pushing past her before she could notice how flustered he was. He was a doctor, damn it, not a silly teenager. When he found Kirk standing in line he tried to ignore the smug expression his friend wore.
"You lovebirds working out your differences?" Kirk asked with a smirk, despite the fact that he'd nearly been thrown out of Starfleet fifteen minutes prior.
"Shut up," McCoy replied, wondering how he was going to make it through the next few hours without punching someone.
XXX
Uhura was talking. Chasing him around the hanger, actually, demanding to know why he'd assigned her to the Farragut. Spock was trying to listen to her complaints, knowing they were valid, but had trouble getting the scene he'd just witnessed out of his head. As soon as he'd seen Leonard McCoy shaking Sophie-Anne's hand it had all come back to him at once, the memories and an understanding of just how close the two had been.
"It was an attempt to... avoid the appearance of favoritism," he finally managed, mind still elsewhere. It was the truth, he had been attempting to avoid it, but not for the reasons Uhura was about to read into. For a moment he considered correcting her, but mentally he was somewhere else, tripping through the jungle of a Class-M planet with new Cadet Sophie-Anne Caldwell.
XXX
a/n: so, i'm really trying not to rehash scenes we've seen in the movie because, well, we've probably all seen it or we wouldn't be here. my goal is for this story to fit with the established scenes of the movie itself wherever possible, with a few minor modifications (you'll see what i mean coming up). we're about to enter flashback mode again, this time exploring how spock and sophie-anne first met...