Oh My! I am so touched by all the reviews. Let me clarify two things here. One: No Jim is the Chief Engineer, not the captain (it will be a plot device later, just trust me on this please). Two: I do not have a beta so please understand that I try to comb through it once or twice for my own mistakes, but I don't catch them all (even with spellcheck….*sigh*)
I own nothing, rated M, enjoy! Thanks for those who review! I update faster when I see them XD
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Jim was beyond confused and irritated. She had no inclination as to why there suddenly seemed to be some conversation between the two males she was not privy to. It made little sense since she had been relatively certain it had been about her. Her ponytail tickled at the back of her neck and she scratched the spot out of need for a distraction from her thoughts. 'It seems Maelrok just doesn't give up. I would almost admire that if it weren't for the fact he seems intent on making me some sort of sex-bondage slave….thing' She was forced to scrunch her nose up in distaste at the thought. It was not that Maelrok was unattractive or anything, he was indeed quite striking, it was simply the fact that Jim took exception to someone shooting her ship out of space for a date.
She had decided that men made very little sense irrespective of the species. She still liked them; after all there were very few things as eye-catching as a fine male specimen. The feminine aspect of her personality took a moment to consider such fine examples. Her thoughts wondered over to the Captain of the Vulcan vessel and she felt her mind take a considerably naughty turn. 'Down girl!,' she chastised herself for the mental images that could be considered anything under the Terran sun except professional. Incredibly fun and a bit kinky, but not professional while a Romulan Warbird was threatening to blast you into individual atoms.
Jim turned slowly to glance around the room. Her blue eyes landed on several pairs of security personnel and the sight of Bones taking over for the Vulcan Medical officer. 'T….T'something; it had to do with a fruit I think. No? Maybe; oh hell I don't know," Jim had thought idly while assessing just how she might have been able to get to a place where she could be of much more use than just standing around looking pretty. Though, many people had commented to her that she was able to do that without any effort really. Still, Jim was highly intelligent in her field, a tad of an airhead out of it, she conceded, but in her element she shone more brightly than any other person in the Federation.
She concluded that it was high time to do what she had been notoriously best at; getting to the engineering room or more specifically to the warp drive because she had several theories for a new type of drive but the chance to observe Vulcan technology up close was too tempting of a chance to pass up. Also, she mused without humor, if she did not give this ship a little boost like she had with the USS Hemingway the craft would not be able to out maneuver the Warbird.
She had spared a thought to simply asking outright, however, she did not believe the Vulcans would consider her request 'logical', and it was always easier to apologize later than ask permission. The woman pondered idly if that was not a particular reason she had never made the rank of Captain. Resolute in her decision Jim walked over to the Vulcan medical officer. 'Whose name I swear I will remember later…ugh…this is going to bother me all day now,' her mind stated archly. Jim schooled her features into a mask of complete seriousness to achieve her most likely inappropriate goal.
"Pardon me? I need to use the bathroom." She smiled politely at the otherwise stern looking Vulcan woman who stared back at her blankly. 'That really must be a Vulcan thing'. Jim thought with mild irritation.
"I am unfamiliar with this term 'Bathroom' in standard. Explain." The Vulcan demanded tonelessly, but Jim could have sworn there was a flash of curiosity in those dark eyes. She mentally shook herself and tried to recall her locker combination from her days at the Academy to verify that she had not, in fact, suffered some sort of concussion. Jim knew that even if she had she would refrain from telling Bones because as lovely as her neck looked decorated with needle puncture marks, she simply did not feel up to asking for such special treatment willingly.
"Bodily waste elimination facilities?" She attempted again while trying her hardest not to blink at the Vulcan as if she were some sort of mental-unstable Andorian on leave.
"I do not comprehend why you must inform me of your biological urges," The medical officer stated and Jim felt her jaw slacken for a moment. 'Was that a joke? At my expense?' She narrowed her eyes for a moment before giving a too bright grin.
"Where are the facilities? That is what I was asking." While the human understood that making snarky comments at a Vulcan was most probably as effective as yelling at a wall, it soothed some of her rather frayed nerves.
"One such location is 5.678 feet down the hall on the left side as you walk north of the ship." The reply was instantaneous, and Jim allowed a look of disbelief to spread over her features. 'So this species has to say everything in 15 words or more?' Jim reminded herself firmly that this was a ruse and to show some manner of self-control.
She had to stop herself from girting her teeth and to force a smile that did not look like an angry shark circling its prey. "Thank you."
"Thanks are illogical," the Vulcan replied and Jim twitched, "We are also about to engage in a battle situation. You are not permitted to leave this room." The Vulcan turned away from her dismissively and the human gripped a nearby table to keep from screeching. It turned out to be a fortuitous action for the ship lurched sharply and the lights changed in color as an alarm sounded. Jim could only hear the recording of some statement she could not make out as it blared over the whole of the ship. She realized in that moment that she would have taken at least one other language besides Klingon.
She watched as those that had not braced themselves were flung to the floor rapidly, and her eyes caught site of the door through which the captain had left. She grinned wickedly to herself as she launched over the prone form of the Medical officer and toward the door.
"You are not permitted-," a male voice floated out from behind Jim as she dashed to place her hand on the button with a foreign symbol.
"Yeah, I heard you," She called out sweetly as the door opened quickly. She gripped the portal as the ship lurched once more. The violent shaking caused her to lose her footing and sprawl on the floor out in the hall. "Fucking Romulans," Jim muttered as she picked herself up and scrambled down the way.
As she continued forward she realized that she had not thought this out all the way. She could not read any of the Vulcan signs, and her face reflected her puzzlement. She paused to test a few doors only to find living quarters and what she assumed where recreational areas. Her exasperation grew as more explosions riddled the decks above her and the concussive force knocked her around. Jim then decided that testing every door just might be the way to go about this.
After four more hits from the Romulan vessel, and having tried nearly every door to what she knew was a turbo-lift, Jim was ready to scream in absolute frustration. She had ridden the blasted turbo-lift around six or eight floor because she had not been able to read a single symbol. Finally, after being slammed around the closed confines, she had stumbled out into a random floor that had Vulcans running to and fro. They glanced at her briefly before returning to their duties.
'This looks promising,' she thought as one Vulcan went flying right past her with sparks of electricity in his wake. She walked carefully to where the man had been ejected from and her eyes widened at the most gorgeous sight of her entire life; the Vulcan warp core.
"Why hellooo baby! You and I are going to have some fun," she crooned sexily to the pulsing mechanism. Her eyes landed on the console which appeared to be damaged beyond repair. Her gaze flickered up to the matter/antimatter reaction assembly with some amount of glee racing in her veins. She watched the slow pulse of the antimatter containment fields with some misgiving. She was a chief engineer and could tell from sight alone, even if she couldn't read the damn language thank you so very much; that the magnetic fields were failing fast.
Jim quickly scanned the room, which was hard given the number of Vulcans running around to different stations, for the injector coils. She knew that those coils were key for compressing, and streaming, the antimatter into the dylithium articulation frame. After that she was reasonably sure she needed to get into the warp plasma conduits to the warp engines. Jim twisted and wove through the moving people as she spotted the coils. Her grin widened into a full smile. She fiddled with the tool kit she kept on her belt at all times for just such emergencies. Jim snorted at the cocky reassurance only she could give herself in understanding that she was the best that the Federation had to offer.
"Kroykah," someone shouted from across the room and Jim waved her empty hand at the noise.
"Sorry, I only speak standard or Klingon. Take your pick." She set about adjusting the rate of pressure being set into the coils at large. The room was a sweltering temperature and even though the whole of the ship seemed hotter than any vessel she had ever been upon; Jim knew that it was starting to reach unhealthy temperatures, which was a sure sign of imminent system failure.
"Ta' ghobe,'" the same Vulcan yelled and Jim spared a glance over to the male. He looked, for a Vulcan, very upset with her tinkering. She laughed that he also spoke Klingon, granted 'Do not' was not exactly a fluent phrase.
"I know what I am doing…mostly," she waved brightly at him while her head was bent in concentration. The heat of the spark from her calibration tool in her hand caused her palms to sweat and she longed for a shower in the worst way. She knew that her changes were not to Federation regulations, or standards, but she doubted the Vulcans would truly mind at this time. Then again, they were Vulcans, and Jim understood next to nothing about them but she didn't plan on dying here either, and set off for the next destination. Her sapphire eyes took a moment to see that with the improvement of one of the coils, not exactly the Federation method but she did not see how her modifications would matter at this point, to see the fluctuations of the magnetic field were lessoning. She also noted that there was more shouting in Vulcan and while she might not understand the words the undercurrent of start relief in their tones was obvious. 'Yes, yes, humans are that awesome.' She thought glibly in her head.
Three more stations and the damage from the Romulan ship continued on. Jim was growing rather irritated at the length of the battle. She had always thought that Vulcans would have been able to blow anyone else out of the water for all of their logic and air of superiority. She laughed to herself, but she did not fail to notice a few heads turn in her direction accompanied by raised eyebrows. Jim therefore felt no compunction about the one or two Vulcans she shoved from their terminals to tinker with the influx of Mater over antimatter; which was not to say that she did not secretly enjoy it either. She had discovered that Vulcans were slightly irritating.
The stood watching her in quiet contemplation, as they had for the past few minutes, and Jim snapped at the weight of the eyes. "You there! Get back to work." The Vulcans nodded almost in unison and returned to their individual stations. Jim was no amused. 'For crying out loud they did not even freak out like a normal race!'
OoOoOo
Spock surveyed his options with all due intensity as he faced down a rather crafty Romulan Warbird. He noted that it had the tenancy to cloak and de-cloak in intervals only long enough to fire a few torpedoes before disappearing from the radar with astounding efficiency. Spock was further inclined to find the Romulans a distasteful race. The Captain understood that his shields had filed and only the most defensive of evasive maneuvers kept them from being torn to pieces under the heavy handed attacks. He also logically concluded that The Sub-commander wished to incapacitate them so that he would be able to capture James alive. The thought had not sat well within the Vulcan's keen mind.
Spock had begun to prepare a mental game of strategy in his head; however, all calculations lead to the same route of inevitability in which he and his crew would lose. It was not a matter he wished to ponder farther than necessary.
"Captain?" S'Stelendos' voice cut through his darker musings and Spock turned his eyes deftly to his First Officer.
"Yes, Commander?" He asked tonelessly while all around him lights and warnings blared. Spock knew that their reserve power would be eaten through quickly after the reports of the damages to the warp core had flooded in like a typhoon.
"Our warp energy is…climbing." Spock noted the easement of the lines around the other Vulcan's face with denoted surprise and disbelief.
"Explain," He commanded in surprise which did not filter past his eyes.
"The discrepancies have ceased and reserve power is being diverted off to main power. The shields are coming back up to 20.344 %...38.714%...51.289%, and still climbing Captain." They shared a single eyebrow raise of outward inclination toward emotion.
"Unexpected," Spock stated lowly and his gaze turned back toward the main screen where the Warbird was perched somewhere in the vastness of space for him to find and incapacitate.
"Captain, the calibrations have reset and we are operating at…," S'Stelendos turned toward him with surprise lurking in the depths of his dark eyes, "We are operating at 150%, sir."
Spock could felt he palpable shift of the air at such a ludicrous statement. "That is highly unlikely, Commander. You must allot for the variable of damage. Run the calibrations again." Spock ordered softly and watched as his Commander reentered the sequence into the console. Spock could see the answer glaring back at him from where he stood.
"Holding at 150% , sir," the neutral reply was meshed with stark wonderment.
"Patch me through to the Engineering bay. Continue on course out of the neutral zone." He needed to comprehend how such a strange anomaly could have occurred. His mind was afloat in curiosity; a human emotion he needed to suppress to the will of cold logic.
He raised both eyebrows in disbelief as the screen displayed his crew members at their stations. A sea of black haired individuals and the sight of a bright patch of blonde who had her back turned to the communication screen. "This is Captain Spock., I require a status report," he stated slowly while he pondered what had transpired while he had been occupied with keeping everyone alive.
He watched as the Terran female turned toward him. "Greetings, Captain," she grinned at him and Spock could see that the second in command of the Engineering team was staring at her as if she were a fascinating species of Mammalia that had never been discovered.
"Chief engineer Kirk. I specifically remember leaving orders with the security team in the Medical bay that you and your crewmates were not to leave until the threat had passed." Spock noted that a look of amusement crossed her features for yet another time in their brief acquaintance.
She cocked her head to the side and looked at him for a moment. "Is that Vulcan for 'what are you doing near my warp core'?"
"Indeed." He blinked at her blunt turn of phrase. The meaning of her statement had not been lost upon him and Spock glanced back at the main screen to see a lack of active combat.
He noted that the flashing lights ghosted over her hair and gave it several different shades in an optical illusion. "I was fixing it."
"You?" He left one brow raised in query.
"Yes, me. I believe I already told you I was a chief engineer." Her tone was sardonic and she looked vaguely insulted that he had called her capabilities into question. Spock however, felt that it was his right to inquire as captain of the ship she was on.
"You are well versed in Vulcan technology?" He was sure of her answer before she opened her mouth to reply.
She winced. "I know my way around a warp core," she offered tentatively and Spock was not amused.
"That was not my inquiry." He stated sternly.
"I know." She replied in a deadpan manner and Spock consented to let the matter slide for now.
"How did you accomplish 'fixing it' as you stated?" Logic dedicated he find out how she had accomplished such an unheard of task. The sheer capacity it would have taken to modify alien technology with little preparation nearly had his thoughts confounded.
"Um….you know what? I'm not at liberty to say." Her eyes glanced away from his quickly and Spock noted she had a marked interest in the toe of her left shoe.
"'Not at liberty to say?'" He repeated unfazed.
"Yes?" She supplied hopefully and he felt his eyes harden in reprimand.
"May I inquire as to why?" He attempted to gain the useful information once more.
"Uh…well….my modifications are not exactly approved by the Federation just yet." She trailed off and stared at him with an expression of sheepishness.
"I require clarification." He knew he could not have interpreted her words correctly.
"The thing is…that is to say….I am working on a new type of Warp drive that will place the Federation above the current level of technology." As she spoke he watched her posture straighten and her eyes met his in a fierce sort of passion that caused Spock to scrutinize her features for.
"You?" He asked more of himself than her.
"Yes me. Why do you keep asking that! I know what I am doing." She threw her hands up in exasperation and Spock felt his lips twitch at the display. "It is part of the reason that Maelrok is so dead set to capture me. He wants me for my mind and my body." Her eyes tilted upward and a contemplative look settled over her feature. "That would be sweet if it weren't so creepy."
Spock did not like that Maelrok was after her mind as well. To a Vulcan, the mind was a very intimate and fascinating thing. He felt a surge of possessiveness race through his veins. It was illogical, but he wished to know more of her mind for himself.
"He is aware of your…capabilities?" Spock intoned with politeness.
A grim look molded over her face. "Unfortunately."
"That would indeed explain why he is so aggressive in his pursuit if you." He stated and found that it was indeed logical now, the level in which the Sub-commander was willing to stoop to obtain a lone Terran female.
She looked nonplussed. "Look, if you want to get out of here I suggest you continue what you are doing and let me work in piece. That is all I need from you." She continued blithely and Spock felt a moment of shock as one of his crewmembers flew backward with a large arch of electricity from a nearby console. He watched as James winced and smiled up at him. "And a medical team. I also need a medical team. On second thought, never mind, I'll get them." She turned toward a nearby Vulcan. "How do you get the Medical bay on this thing? Is it this button?"
"Affir-," Spock watched the screen go blank.
Humans were fascinating creatures that would require his further observation at a later time. He shifted his mind back to the task at hand of avoiding the Romulan Warbird.
OoOoOo
Jim waited patiently for the screen to flicker to life as the face of an unknown Vulcan filled the screen. "I need a medical team to…" She turned to look at the Vulcan to her right out of understanding that she had forgotten what they called their Engineering bay. "Where are we?"
The Vulcan blinked at her. Something she had come to realize was akin to human surprise, before responding in full neutrality. "Deck five the Engineering bay."
'Well at least they call it the same thing' She mused without humor at how easily she was able to get herself into dangerous or problematic situations. She tossed the helpful Vulcan a smile of appreciation. "Thanks."
"Thanks are-"
"Illogical, yeah I remember that now." She hurriedly turned back to the screen. "I need a medical team to the Engineering bay please." She turned back to the unknown Vulcan. "Are 'pleases' illogical?" She asked out of genuine curiosity.
He inclined his head to her. "They are…acceptable."
"Thank God for small favors," she muttered to herself.
"Thanks are –," he started in a monotone fashion.
"Illogical. Yes, alright, I get it." She said in exasperation as the Vulcan on the screen said nothing nor showed any signs of outward emotions, Jim felt like she was talking to an overly polite wall when the Vulcan male nodded discreetly at her.
"Request received. You shall receive aid based upon severity of injury and resources." The screen Vulcan stated over the outburst and Jim frowned lightly at the reply. It was far too impersonal for her tastes. Jim watched with mute surprise as Bones' face came on screen.
"What do you think you are doing out of the med bay?" He snarled at her with agitation written in every line on his face.
"Saving the ship?" She blinked back at him owlishly, and attempted to disarm his fury with a sweet smile .She noted that he flushed but still looked irate. 'Well there goes plan A,' she thought impishly.
"You are supposed to stay in the Medical bay until I give you a clean bill of health. Just because we are on a Vulcan spaceship does not change the rules I clearly outlined for you months ago," he explained patronizingly as a father would speak to a willful daughter.
"But bones!" She exclaimed in mock horror, "You also likened me to an antibiotic during that discussion." Her cheek dimpled as she grinned at him winningly. "Remember? You said that most people were like 'Broad-spectrum antibiotics'. They work alright in a number of areas and most times that is just fine. But I- I am a 'narrow spectrum antibiotic', used for a specific purpose. That purpose being fixing or modifying warp cores and I am damn good at it! So really, I had to come down here and help because you told me it is what I am made for Bones."
"James T. Kirk," Bones hissed with venom as he pushed the Vulcan more out of the way to stare at her through the screen, "You get back to the Med bay this instant or so help me I will make you rue the day you were born."
Jim laughed as the monotone voice of the Vulcan Medical officer floated through the communication line. "That statement fails to meet even the most basic requirements of logical thinking. "
"Oh be quiet you hobgoblin," Bones snapped back with color high on his cheeks.
"I do not know this reference. Explain," the disembodied voice of the Vulcan female caused Jim to laugh harder.
"Ok Bones, I'm on my way. Kirk out." She gave a mock salute to her friend and fellow crew member. The warp core had stabilized and her improvements must have taken a notable effect for the Captain to seek out what had happened first hand. That gave further validation to her theories on how to optimize the energy output and even gave her new ideas on how to enact energy transfer from some sort of plasma power grid. Jim mulled over the newest ideas as she turned back to the more helpful Vulcan to her right. "Could you point me in the direction of the Medical bay?"
"I do not see how pointing will accomplish anything other than wasting time," the Vulcan stated and he raised two eyebrows at her.
Jim looked around confused for a moment, as if the Vulcans would burst out into laughter and tell her they had been joking. The Vulcans had to be acting coy on purpose. No one could take so many things at face value. Right?