Thanks for reading! Please review, I own nothing. Intended for amusement, and not for profit, yadda yadda.
Note: There is some alien dialect in here, it will not be explained now, but in another chapter where I will have James' POV eventually.
OoOoOo
The pull of the turbo-lift momentarily disoriented the Vulcan male as he waited, forever patiently due to his Vulcan heritage, for the doors to open and grant him admittance into the medical bay. His mind carefully reflected over the initial meeting with the Federation shuttle's only conscious member with some misgiving. She had taken a sacred Vulcan farewell and warped it into something other than calmness and logic. She had, he observed, taken great pleasure in rejecting the Romulan.
That at least was logical enough.
Vulcans and Romulans had long ago parted ways when they had fallen to emotion over logic. They were considered amongst the Vulcans as the largest disgrace to the race and they had subsequently settled in a distant star system. One in which Spock had no intention of allowing the rather unusual terran woman and her crew to be taken back to. It fell under the treaty signed by the Federation and the Vulcan high council to protect one another in times of duress. The logical course of action was, therefore, to shelter the nine humans that had now been beamed aboard his vessel. However, Spock understood the need for a discussion on how the humans would be expected to behave under his watch. It was a sense of vague irritation that wove through his thoughts at the knowledge that he possessed very little interactions with humans; his interactions with his mother aside.
It bothered his mind momentarily if all humans were capable of such vulgarity under stress. Spock conceded the point that it might have been a mechanism for coping, which was the logical assumption. He rather thought that such reactions were highly frivolous, if not bordering on inferior. His boots made little sound despite his denser frame as he walked without hurry or artifice down the grey metal hallways. He calculated that the probability of the human 'James' being up to such a discussion at 62.475 %; however, the possibility of such a discussion being received well was approximated at 13.298 %. Spock quirked brows in quiet regard that this seemed to be a situation that tempered on the ludicrous to be rescuing a human from the overzealous advances of a Romulan Sub-commander.
The gentle pressurized swish of the doors as they opened before him alerted Spock that he had allowed his mind to wander nearly carelessly as he stared into the medical bay. The female human had been aesthetically pleasing on the communicator screen with her unusually blue eyes, but nothing more than that. Therefore, he had found himself unprepared for the sudden covetousness that washed over him from seeing her eyes without the barrier of pixilated data the equipment had provided. He shook the feeling away as quickly as it had come letting it fall to the wayside of duty.
He watched as she stood arguing impassionedly with his Chief medical officer over one of the injured men. He noted that her hair was caught up in a pony-tail, which was the Terran vernacular he believed. He acquiesced that it did resemble the Terran animal's hind end in a fashion.
"I understand what you are saying, but, you have to understand that a temperature of 98.7 degrees for a human male is perfectly normal." Her hands lingered in fists upon the tops of her hips. Spock committed the posture to memory, and listened in quiet observation to the exasperated pitch of her voice.
"Am I to presume from your statement that you have been granted a form of medical license?" The Chief medical officer, T'Starla; whose facial features betrayed nothing but absolute calm as she queried the human female, stood impassive next to the pale male human.
The sapphire eyes closed briefly and a look of mortification passed over the human's face with a flush of red. Spock found that to be rather fascinating.
"I do not have a medical license." The woman conceded slowly. "However, I do know the basics of medical training and what is acceptable for my species. Am I to presume that you have a medical license in treating humans, specifically?" Spock felt his lips twitch in a visible display of amusement before he clasped his hands behind his back, and proceeded further into the room. He nodded in greeting to his security staff that stood rather like statures at the outskirts of the room.
He watched T'Starla raise an eyebrow and nod her head in acknowledgement of the human's rather basic logic. "You have raised a valid point, yet, I must seek to remind you that irrespective of said point; I am still the only medical personnel present in the room."
"That is not true," the human interjected, "That man right there is a doctor. " The blond woman stated defiantly.
A stare of absolute silence met the human's comment, and Spock watched T'Starla blink slowly in a Vulcan sign of frustration. "I understand that you need clarification. Very well, I am the only conscious medical personnel within this room that has the full capabilities of treating other members of your species." The tone was neutral except for the small lift that suggested that she was speaking to a juvenile instead of an adult Human.
A noise of amusement burst from the smaller of the two females and she waved a hand toward the pale male on the examination table. "I was aware of that. I was being sarcastic."
"I do not see the logic behind sarcasm," the stoic medical officer replied.
:"I am also aware of that fact," the blond smiled brightly then and Spock was aware that she had seen him. The weight of a strange feeling settled in his chest at the sight of such a display of amicable emotion. It seemed to him a highly illogical thing to even give thought to. He had not known this female for more than 10.761 minutes. His eyes hardened under the strain of suppressing such a foreign feeling.
"Greetings Miss Kirk," the male Vulcan inclined his head out of a show of respect. His eyes caught the movement of T'Starla as she returned to her patients. It was more efficient to administer care to their wounds now that Spock could stop the human female from interrupting.
"Greetings Captain Smock," she stated brightly to his impassive face, and Spock had formed a hypothesis that Miss Kirk was unable to pronounce words correctly in nearly any language.
"My name is Spock," he stated blandly, his form seemed to tower over hers. That was consistent considering Vulcan physiology and Terran physiology respectively. Also, as he recalled from his memories, human females where known to be smaller than the males so therefore, Spock truly did meet the criteria for 'towering' over someone.
She winced slightly. "My apologies, Captain Spock."
He listened half interested to the warmth suffusing her tone and the way a new smile danced on her lips invitingly. 'Humans seem to require the use of apologies at an alarming rate.' He mentally noted for further meditation at a later date.
"Apologies are illogical." Spock stated without warmth or emotion in his tone. The Vulcan watched as a look of disbelief crossed the female's face once again. Her smile fell quickly and she looked around the room distractedly.
"Alright then," she muttered under her breath as she stood before him silent and watching him closely.
"I wish to discuss the events in detail as to your arrival in the neutral zone." He inquired gently. "If you are amicable?"
She looked startled for a moment before, what Spock deduced must have been, Federation training kicked in, and her spine stiffened. "Yes, Sir, of course," Her tone was so flat that Spock nearly felt impressed, however, that was a useless emotion as well.
"You may begin," He stood motionless as the female Terran began her debriefing.
"As I have informed you previously, I am James T. Kirk of the USS Hemingway; a federation scout ship on our way to reaching Deep Space Station Three in the neutral zone. I and my fellow crewmembers were to be taken aboard the USS Enterprise as new senior staff members." Her blue eyes flicker toward his and he held her gaze for a moment before she moved them down to stare at what he can only assume was his chin before she sought his eyes once more. Spock had not understood why her looking at him caused the faintest flush of pleasure to build in the forefront of his mind.
"We were waylaid by a distress signal coming from the gamma sector of the Utlithios system; specifically Kilthious Prime." He watched the faint tightening of the skin around her eyes and mouth which would denote fury. "It was a trap however."
Spock was not surprised by the news in the slightest. He nodded for her to continue with the events as his eyes slowly pursued her appearance and those of her crew.
"We immediately set about Federation procedure, and contacted the originator of the signal. We were begged to come down and help with what they called a 'rogue group of Romulan forces'. It seemed a viable opportunity to strengthen ties with a neutral zone planet and convince them to join the Federation."
"Logical," He stated in response to the driving force behind the apparent misfortune.
She tilted her head at him in curiosity. Her eyes searched his, looking for some sort of answer she must have found for the Human opened her mouth to speak again.
"When we landed, we were beset by the natives, who had also captured a Romulan party using the same ruse. With the perpetrators reversed of course," the human smiled at him again with a small curl of her lips. She seemed weary to Spock's superior intelligence and perception. "We were held with intent to ransom us back to the Federation and the Empire respectively." She scowled slightly at the memory and Spock had come to realize that humans had a fascinating habit of telling a story with their faces as well as their words. "We were held for three days, during their winter months."
"This is the event that Sub-commander Maelrok referred to?" What had provoked him to inquire on the personal subject was unknown to Spock, but he had already let the question out and now he waited for a response.
A sour look crossed the woman's face before she schooled her features back to neutrality. She reflected his own apathetic face in a sense, he supposed.
"Yes. All the prisoners were held together, myself and… the Sub-commander included. The natives had little knowledge of Human and Romulan requirements for survival. We were kept in suboptimal temperatures that forced us to share body order to avoid further injury," She snapped out with force. Spock did not doubt for a moment that the female had garnered no pleasure from being forced to share her source of warmth with the Romulan. Irrationally, he found himself comforted by that slight fact.
Spock had concluded that after this meeting he would need to meditate upon these strange quirks of emotion. Further investigation into the situation was halted by the strange tenor of a male groan. Spock noted that the woman jumped, and whirled around, to rush to the side of an unidentified male member.
"I feel like last night's scotch dinnae agree wit' me." T'Starla had already proceeded to the formerly unconscious male with a tricorder scanning madly as her dark brown Vulcan eyes betrayed no sign of emotion.
"Captain!" Spock turned out of reflex to the title as the Terran female smiled joyously at the red haired male. The same strange tightening that had occurred when the Sub-commander had stated ownership over the female returned with full force. The Vulcan male seriously considered staying in the medical bay after the guests had been brought back to relative health. It seemed probable that he had contracted some form of sickness.
"Kirk? Is tha' yue?" Spock saw the man push himself up slightly on his elbows to blink blearily at the blond woman who seemed to practically vibrate with excitement. He decided that she would benefit from learning not to express her emotions quite so obviously.
"Yes sir." 'James responded brightly. Her hand snaked out to touch his arm lightly, a bit hesitantly, and Spock froze at the display of affection. It was not overly intimate or scandalous; however, any touch to a Vulcan was reserved for family, friends, and lovers. Spock felt a swell of irritation at the idea of the last. His eyes switched between the two and he found the likelihood of a romantic involvement to be highly improbable. The Vulcan male still did not find any necessary reason for the female to be so close to her captain.
"You are not the Captain?" He asked aloud to Kirk, who glanced back at him with mild surprise on her face as the thought had struck him instantly that he could not recall her status.
"Oh, no. I'm sorry; it seems I neglected to mention I am the Chief Engineer." Spock blinked twice out of the startling lack of comprehension his mind had. The very thought of this rather…cataclysmic female being in charge of a warp drive made him shudder inwardly. Even though he had found no similar problem believing her in charge of an entire crew, it was the idea of her tinkering with time and space that caused the Vulcan pause.
"Apologies are illogical," Spock replied for lack of anything else to say.
The risen Terran male glanced at Kirk, who shrugged at him in a non-verbal communication that Spock found primitive. "I'm the Capt'n. Montgomery Scott," the man offered a rather battered hand from across the room to the Vulcan who merely raised an eyebrow in distaste. Spock stared back at the two sets of eyes that peered at him expectantly. The captain 'Montgomery' recovered first, and coughed slightly. The Vulcan Medical officer moved around the pair, and Spock felt a tinge of relief when Kirk removed her hand from her Captain's arm. Unease colored the man's tone. "Forgive me if I have offended yue. Our residen' Xenobiologist is… speakin' of which; where is Lt. Uhura?" The strange accent of the man, so different from the female Kirk rippled across Spock jarringly.
He watched as James snapped her gaze to the prone form of the other female terran, who laid motionless on a different medical bed. "She is alive, Sir," her tone was soothing, and even helped Calm both Captains, though Spock would never voice the fact aloud.
"The others?" The male asked urgently.
"Alive as well, Sir," a beaming smile of warmth eclipsed the woman's face and Spock stared for a moment longer than logically necessary. The sounds of someone shifting alerted the Vulcan captain to the awakened state of yet another male terran; who had already smelled suspiciously of antiseptic and Tirvarili flu vaccine.
"Bones!" The exuberant cry caused Spock to wince slightly at the loud outburst. He noted that T'Starla had also twitched out of reflex at the sheer volume of the cry. He watched James dart over to the original male he had entered to see her arguing with T'Starla over.
"Jim? Am I in hell?" The man named 'Bones', 'a highly unfortunate name to place upon one's offspring' Spock thought idly, blinked owlishly at the woman above his face.
Her laughter poured out over the otherwise stoic medical bay. Spock felt a dull throb center around his heart at the sound. "Yes Bones, it's me and no, this is not hell; it is the Vulcan Ship…T'Maiti." she spared a grin over in his direction, and Spock felt his lips twitch to life in response. It was highly unbecoming of Vulcan behavior.
"Isn't that close enough?" the man asked dryly and Spock watched the shock morph into embarrassed anger as James hissed at him.
"Stop it. You will be nice." A quick slap on the man's chest had him groaning in pain. "Oh! I forgot, I'm sorry," her hands came up in a placating gesture, and Spock wondered at how it was probable that this lone woman had kept the eight other survivors alive for any amount of time. It was his hypothesis that she exceedingly forgetful, and if he was not mistaken, clumsy as well.
"Stop trying to kill me you damned woman!" Bones cried out in agitation and Spock suspected a touch of amusement as well; perhaps even relief.
"I do not think that such an action would have ended your life prematurely Mister Bones," Spock stated emotionlessly at the overly dramatic logic of humans.
Those sapphire eyes stared at him a moment before more rounds of laugher ring out over his intelligent reprimand. "Now you have pointy-eared hobgoblins calling me 'Bones'," grumbled half-hearted at best and Spock tilted his head to catch the last part of the statement.
"Yes, but I like Captain Spock so you play nice with the other children Dr. McCoy,"
Spock heard the teasing tilt in her voice, and his chest constricted over her words. It was highly fallacious that his mind repeated the recently pronounced phrase. 'I like Captain Spock'. He shook himself mentally from such unproductive thoughts. His Katra swirled oddly inside his mortal body as the spoken phrase twirled inside his thoughts with the subtlety of an ionic storm.
"Captain," the somber voice of S'Stelendos broke through the sparked chatter of the Humans and Spock directed his attentions to the communication.
"Proceed Commander," his stoic voice replied nearly loftily.
"We are being hailed by the Romulan Warbird; they are most insistent to speak with you."
Spock felt a welling of aggression pool in his thoughts. There was a flash of understanding that he did not want this Sub-commander to pursue the blond female that reached her hand forward to help the injured doctor upward. Spock felt his total emotional control waiver under the sight of her small hand within the grasp of the male 'Bones'. Her gaze sought his as she heard the words of Spock's first officer.
"Patch it through to the medical bay," Spock responded apathetically while his eyes held the sight of the human woman. He watched her straighten and walk toward him as he moved to the screen located in the Chief Medical Officer's station.
"I believe you are attempting to leave with something that belongs to me." Spock arched a brow at the fury barley contained within the Romulan's voice as the familiar visage filled the screen.
"You are laboring under the false impression that anything on this vessel belongs to you. I shall provide you enlightenment," the Vulcan stood rigidly as the heat of the presence of the female James as she came to stand behind him, "There is nothing here that belongs to you, or by proxy, to the Empire."
The similar looking alien glanced over Spock's shoulder to the inquisitive but fierce expression on the face of James. "Dear God, What part of 'no' don't you understand?" Spock blinked as Kirk practically shoved him out of the way with a well-placed hip-bump. Her eyes flashed with such aggravation that the Vulcan was paralyzed by the exotic look of it.
The Romulan looked equally as taken aback as Spock felt before he composed himself and stared quite seriously at the Chief Engineer. "You should not defy me in this Jim."
"It's James to the likes of you," she snarled and her hands were back on her hips. Her posture straightened to its full height and she glared down at the screen before her as if it had offended her parentage. "And you have no claim over or to me. I am not yours Maelrok. I never have been, and I never will be. Get that through your thick Romulan skull."
"You are acting like a child, Jim. I'm not as if I am going to take your life," the Romulan replied smarmily with his teeth bared in a menacing manner.
"No, you are not. I know that because I would take death over being your consort," she flashed a wide grin to Maelrok; who growled lowly over the communication line.
"I am assuming that you are still a tad…cross over previous events then? That would explain why you would make such bold claims." Spock had not appreciated the tone of voice the Sub-commander was using with his guests.
Spock watched James' eyebrows shoot to her hair line. "A tad cross?" The medical officer's station shook as both her hands slammed down on either side of the screen. "We helped you… I helped you and your men escape from the natives of Kilthious Prime, and you shot down our ship! If that were not bad enough, you then proceeded to attack our emergency shuttle to the point where we had to limp around blindly in space for five days!" James exclaimed in outrage and betrayal. "I am not cross with you, oh no, I am royally pissed off!" Her finger punched the disconnect button and Spock watched the screen go blank.
He turned slightly to stare at the Chief Engineer whose breathing had become slightly erratic. "I had not concluded my business with the Sub-commander," He stated to her blandly.
The blonde woman craned her neck to look at him. and a faint flush painted her cheeks a rosy hue. Her hand, the same one that had disconnected the transmission, came up in a dismissive gesture. "Don't worry, he'll call back….he always does," she muttered under her breath with disquiet.
"Vulcans do not worry." The reply was automatic.
James stared at him for a long moment before a playful grin twisted on her lips. "So Vulcans don't worry, they don't joke, and they don't feel happy? Tell me, is there anything Vulcans actually do?" She quipped lightly.
"The volume is too numerous for me to state in full satisfaction at this time," Spock stated apathetically while internally he marveled at the mercurial nature of this female.
"Captain," the slightly harder voice of S'Stelendos floated between them. James looked down at the communicator with a touch of amusement.
"Proceed Commander," Spock replied.
"We are being hailed once more by the Romulan Vessel." Spock inclined his head toward James in a slightly mocking gesture. He watched her smirk lightly in response.
"Patch it through to the Medical bay," He commanded neutrally.
"Affirmative Captain," the sound ceased, and Spock waited for the Sub-commander to flash on the screen again.
"Humans are an incredibly rude species to continuously hang up on people that are speaking with them," the waspish snarl accompanied a furious glare that had been leveled directly at James.
She snorted beside him in amusement. A fictitious look of concern wove over her features. "And Romulans are exceedingly obtuse to continuously chase after someone who has rejected them no less than 22 times."
"You are incorrect. It is 21 and one-half times," Maelrok replied tersely.
"22. You and I both know that even though we were interrupted by the Kilthious rebel leader it still counted," James insisted stubbornly. Her arms crossed in front of her lean frame and she appeared to attempt to bore holes into the Sub-commander, in Spock's highly intelligent opinion.
"21 and one-half," the Romulan reiterated leaning forward in his chair slightly.
"You conniving little bas-," James began only to be cut short by Spock's cold baritone while he sought to salvage some modicum of intelligent refusal.
"I have considered your earlier request and I will not comply with such an erroneous proposition," Spock interjected smoothly and his Vulcan features stood out starkly next to the fully human female at his side.
She nodded at him in vast approval before turning back to Maelrok. "Exactly! What he said," she pointed quickly to the Vulcan, who felt the stirrings of amusement at her antics once more. 'It is highly disconcerting that my human side is showing this rapidly when faced with other humans.' Spock thought quietly.
"That is unfortunate news. You leave me no choice but to attack your Vessel." The male raised a hand to ready a command.
"But this is a cease fire zone!" James gasped at Spock's side and inched subconsciously toward Spock for support. The Vulcan's mind whirled with the nearness of her, the scent of her fear as well as the way in which instinct demanded she seek him for protection. It was mildly overwhelming as emotions battered at the walls of his control. Spock was unable to prevent the 1.113 cm shift forward, and nearer, to her. His fellow crewmembers as well as the Romulan Sub-commander had not missed the protective act.
The Romulan snarled at the Vulcan menacingly "iIekil'eirh ahh iudaiht kjumnaihsou"
"Ahht inhssth iekil'eirh a'e" Spock remained impassive in the face of the other male's nearly blind rage. His own emotions boiled at the thought of a challenge over a female. It was barbaric but called to some part of him that had been long forgotten.
"Hveolhaonn htaodt'ia'rhoinnie," the Sub-commander cockily announced.
"Hveolhaonn srreafvabhaeu taeth , ahht htaodt'ia'rhoinnie aekiraekaelhta' iudaiht a'e," Spock shook his head minutely at the insistence of the Romulan.
"t'hea akifvi," The ominous warning hung between them as they fought a silent battle of wills to test the other.
"Excuse me? Hi, human in the room." James looked quickly between Spock and Maelrok, Spock could feel her unease and surmised that she did not understand Romulan. "Could someone tell me what is going on?"
"That is not your concern Jim." The Romulan continued while glaring at Spock with ill-concealed hatred behind his equally dark eyes.
"Indeed," Spock nodded once in agreement.
James threw up her hands with exasperation. "SoH QeH jIH" (You anger me!), she muttered in irritation.
"I also speak Klingon," Spock informed her with a raised brow and neutrality seeping from every pore.
"As do I," Maelrok responded with amusement back on his features.
James rubbed her fingers to her temples and took a few calming breaths. Spock cut the communication, and swiftly left the medical bay with three confused humans, and a score more of Vulcans in his wake. The thrumming in his blood did not stop, but increased as he headed back to resume command of his ship.