Thank you all for your lovely reviews! I really do appreciate everyone who takes a moment to give me some feedback. XD I have also had a second request for the meeting of Jim and Maelrok, I will get to it. The SarekxAmanda one-shot was finished early this morning *cough go read it and leave a comment cough* and took a lot longer than I thought it would, so I will get to the JimxMaelrok origin story soon. Thanks!

Please forgive typos.

Rated M, I own nothing, and who is ready for some freak-out action?

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Three hours. It had taken her three hours of wandering around in the desert heat to finally find the damn Terran Embassy. Jim was certain she could have passed for a boiled lobster with how sun burned she was. She had eventually given up on finding anyone to help her, or a bathroom with indoor plumbing, and had been forced to relive herself behind an outcropping of rocks. It had been horrendously hot and she now had sand in places even Bones wouldn't like to think about.

Not that she wanted Bones to think about those places, per se, but he was still a handsome man with a southern twang. And, sometimes, that was as sexy as it got. Or it would have been until the devilishly handsome Maelrok, and roguishly good-looking Spock hadn't gotten in the way.

However, the Vulcan was still a sore subject with Jim. And, she wasn't too fond of Amanda right now either.

She had been forced to wait in the lobby when she had crawled out of the unbelievably hot desert conditions. Her skin had prickled at the feeling of a temperate less than 120 degrees. And she could not help but close her eyes to bask in the simple wonder of being cool again. While she waited, they had also given her water and a few cookies to consume until it was her turn to be seen by a caseworker.

It struck Jim as odd that there were so many people at the embassy today, but she shrugged it off like an old coat. She hadn't been around her long so it wasn't fair to even call this a busy day or not. She could feel a faint flicker of some sort of concern or worry, she couldn't exactly tell, but it would come and go like an animal tracing steps around her thoughts.

She was going to ask Bones to look at it.

She hadn't seen Spock outside or inside the Embassy at all, which caused her heart to beat much calmer. She wasn't ready to deal with the man that had married her without her knowledge.

Honestly, Aliens need to come with warning labels. Lots of them with bright red lettering stating that they like to marry the first person that strikes their fancy. None of these species would have made it through one day at an Earth high school.

"Ms. Kirk?" A short and balding man called out through the silence, and Jim snapped her attention to his direction.

She noted he had a plain face, but his continence seemed kind enough, and frankly she was happy just because he wasn't a different species right now.

"That's me," she stated with a weak smile.

"My goodness," he chattered, "You look like you've seen better days!"

She nearly snorted at his obviousness. However, she was inclined to agree with him. She had seen better decades it felt like.

"Mh-hm," she replied noncommittally.

His head reflected the florescent light as he inclined it eagerly. "Well, how may I help you today?"

"I'm afraid I have been separated from my crewmates and I need to get back to Starfleet space."

"Ah-ha, not a problem, come right this way and we will get you all set."

Jim followed where he had motioned to a small desk and chairs separated by a thin partition. Everything about his space was as bland as the man himself, right down to the grey nick-knacks scattered about. She tried to put on a polite face.

Tried, but after so many ups and downs, she was failing fast.

"Alright," he hummed as he tapped along his console with thick fingers, "may I have your information please?"

"James T. Kirk. That's the common spelling of James," she added as an afterthought, "Year of birth 2233, Chief Engineer, active member number XY5910104-Delta."

The man nodded quickly and entered in her information

"I'm sorry Ms. Kirk, but according to our records you are no longer an active member of Starfleet," the caseworker informed her firmly.

"What?" Her sapphire eyes widened to comical proportions at the man's words.

He blinked at her before stating the exact same thing slower.

She wasn't stupid and she certainly wasn't deaf. Jim glared at the man in helpless fury. The records had to be wrong. There was simply nothing else to it. She might have been declared 'Missing in Action' but it had not been long enough for them to declare her dead. And, for crying out loud her Captain could attest that she was very much alive. So, she still worked for Starfleet.

"There must be some kind of mistake," Jim insisted with disbelief.

The man frowned down at his console before typing a few items into it. He glanced up at Jim and back at the screen a few times. He shook his head negatively.

"No Ma'am I'm sorry, but it says right here that you were officially resigned from your position aboard… the … USS Enterprise, and you transferred to the… Vulcan Science Core."

She felt her jaw drop in shock.

"No," she stated slowly with her voice increasing in volume, "that cannot be correct. I never resigned from Starfleet, and I was never made aware of a transfer to the Vulcan Science Core."

The man drew his brows together in concentration.

"It says here that it was made official yesterday."

She had been unconscious most of yesterday! There was no possible way that she could have…

'Spock,' her mind supplied suddenly and Jim nearly saw red,' who the HELL does he think he is? Does he have any idea how long I waited to get on the Enterprise? Does he know what an honor that is?'

"Oh." The caseworker bleated quietly.

"Oh?" Jim had the feeling that 'oh' was not good.

"I'm afraid I cannot help you Ms. Kirk," he informed her with a crestfallen expression.

"What? Why can't you help me?"

"It also says here that you citizenship for Vulcan was approved two days ago. And, that means your Terran citizenship has been terminated.

Her sapphire eyes narrowed at the man as if she would kill him at any moment if he so much as breathed the wrong way.

"Terminated?" Her voice was a soft hiss of displeasure, "Check it again. I am a citizen of Earth. Not Vulcan."

He tapped away at his console once more giving Jim a worried glance which she readily ignored.

"I apologize, but it says you are a Vulcan citizen and I cannot do anything for you."

"This is preposterous; I can't be a Vulcan citizen. I was only married to a Vulcan resident yesterday!"

The man brightened noticeably.

"Congratulations!"

Jim nearly growled like an angry cat in his direction. "Don't congratulate me."

"Uh… yes Ma'am," he placated quickly as his eyes darted around for some form of help, "but I still can't help you."

Her blonde hair dipped in front of her eyes, and she gave him a smile that nearly oozed insincerity.

"Oh, you'll help me because I want to file a claim for asylum."

The man's Adam's apple bobbed and she watched it in distraction.

"You can't claim asylum, because you rescinded citizenship. Asylum is only for those seeking to become citizens that never have been one."

Jim counted to ten and neatly folded her hands on top of his console with a touch of insanity blazing behind her bright blue eyes.

"May I use your communicator?"

OoOoOo

Jim nervously typed in her password for a secure communication and held her breath as she prayed silently that it would still work. After three hours of arguing with the Terran embassy that she was still a member of Starfleet, even though she actually wasn't, they had finally caved enough to let her use a public communications terminal. Even though they considered her a 'Vulcan' citizen on 'Terran' soil, which pissed her off to no end, they allotted her only twenty minutes to call and get this mess straightened out. Any longer and she would need official visitation papers.

Fucking bureaucracy!

Her blond hair was practically matted with the number of knots in it, and she had not seen a shower in far longer than she would have liked. Therefore, she was actually slightly happy that she was yelling at human bureaucratic lackeys instead of Vulcan ones because her smell alone would have had her barred.

She hummed in the back of her throat both to clear it and to keep the worst of her nerves at bay. This was not going to be a pleasant briefing by any stretch of the imagination. She tried to smooth the worst of her knots down, and wiped at her face in a poor attempt to groom herself quickly.

A petite brunet flashed on screen and Jim nearly scowled at her neat and sweet appearance. She felt like a giant sack of kitty litter warmed over and this unknown woman looked like she had just stepped out of a beauty parlor. Even for Jim, this seemed unfair. She wanted a shower, and cool water, and she wanted Bones to yell at her and make everything ok damn it! Hell, she would even take Maelrok at this point.

And that was saying something.

"Thank you for contacting Star Fleet headquarters, this is Becky, how may I help you?"

It took all she had not to scowl outright at the other woman.

"My name is James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Active duty officer XY5910104-Delta and I need to speak to a member of the admiralty right away," she prided herself on keeping her tone just above frosty. Jim knew she really couldn't afford to upset the receptionist or secretary whatever the hell that woman was, since she had less than twenty minutes to get some help.

"One moment please," the perky woman responded brightly as she typed in Jim's information and Jim wanted to reach through the console to choke her, "Alright Ms. Kirk, you are being redirected. Have a pleasant day!"

Jim hadn't had enough coffee for this. Her heart and head were pounding. It felt like there was a small animal batting curiously at some part of her brain.

And it made it itch, which was really an odd feeling.

She raked an unsteady hand through her knotted hair out of habit and sore when her fingers tangled in the thick mass. She was tired and hungry. To make matters worse she smelled, and had nowhere to go except back to her 'husband' Captain Spock.

While part of her could see the benefits of wedded bliss, because that growling thing he did was hot as hell, she was not up for sacrificing her entire career to a man or his planet. She never agreed to transfer to the Vulcan Science Core and she sure as shit never agreed to change her citizenship.

A stogy older man filled the screen after a few moments and Jim couldn't help but straighten her spine out of reflex.

"I thought I must have misread my screen," he started sardonically, "because Active Officer XY5910104-Delta, also known as James T. Kirk is infamous for her cutting-edge warp core innovations."

Jim winced internally at the criticism for she had a bit of a reputation for 'researching' things that tended to blow up and leave Star fleet with a rather heavy bill in damages. However, she could argue that it was the price of genius. However, she was not willing to correct the only tangible means of her salvation off this heated rock of a planet.

And she had liked Vulcans before this too.

"Thank you Admiral, Sir," she started placating, "I wish that this were more pleasant business-"

"When people state that they need to speak to me 'right away' I have found it is never pleasant business, chief engineer Kirk," he quipped sarcastically.

Well fine, but he didn't have to be a completely humorless dick about it!

Jim grinned to keep herself from scowling at him. "That's funny Sir," and she knew it really wasn't. "However, the fact of the matter is-"

"Out with it already, I don't have a lot of time to spare Kirk, I am a busy man."

Her blue eyes closed once before opening again to keep the last shreds of her patience in check.

"Sir," she stated forcefully, " Approximately three weeks ago myself and the eight other members of the scout vessel the USS Hemingway were captured en-route to the USS Enterprise docked in Deep Space station Three by a distress signal coming from the gamma sector of the Utlithios system; specifically Kilthious Prime. While being held we engaged in contact with Romulans that were also being held prisoner."

Jim glanced up to see the pinched look on the Admiral's face. Clearly the others had not been able to send a report to Starfleet yet, it happened during dire situations of where no secure channels were available.

"Continue," he barked after her prolonged silence.

"Yes Sir, shortly after meeting with the Romulans, we devised a plan of escape that lead to both parties going their separate ways. However, one of the members of the Romulan crew- Sub Commander Maelrok- became infatuated with me-"

Jim grit her teeth at the Admiral's snort of dismissal. She had a bit of a reputation about that too.

"This lead to the USS Hemingway being attacked by a Romulan Warbird under the direct command of the Sub Commander," Jim noticed that the Admiral was flaring his nostrils in anger and his beady and hawkish eyes flashed under the florescent light.

Jim drew a shaky breath and continued with her debriefing as Starfleet had trained her to do, with professionalism and detail.

"With the help of Captain Montgomery Scott, who later was injured along with the other eight crewmembers, we were able to escape via emergency pod and left to float for several days. I managed to keep the injured parties alive through stasis and the basic medical kit supplied in the pod. We were rescued from further assault by the Vulcan craft T'Maiti."

Jim swallowed a nervous lump in her throat and fiddled with her fingers a bit; all while looking directly at the slowly enraging admiral.

"Once aboard my fellow crewmembers were treated for their injuries, all made a complete recovery. However, while aboard the Vulcan craft we were once again attacked by the Romulan Warbird-"

"In Neutral Space?" the Admiral thundered and his slightly jowled cheeks shook in outrage.

"Yes Sir, all of this occurred in Neutral Space," Jim replied unwaveringly, "I was able to create a rough, but working, shared power-grid through the use of dylithium crystals and plasma. "

Jim watched the admiral's eyes widen in shock and quite possibly delight.

"I had only read reports on your possible theories, most of which the top scientists called 'ludicrous'," he leaned forward in his chair in anticipation, "but you say you got one working?"

Her blonde hair, though dirty, moved from behind her ear as she nodded.

"Yes, Sir," her chest puffed with pride despite the tense situation, "I am proud to say that it is fully functional and will change the face of the warp core as we know it. The possibilities are truly endless."

The Admiral leaned back in his chair, the picture of pompous self-assurance which caused Jim to wonder just how he was ever able to gain his position because he was grating on the nerves.

"That is good news Chief Engineer Kirk, I expect the prototype to be given to Starfleet main base by the end of the week," he stated as he leaned forward to disconnect the transmission.

"Admiral!" She called out in a tone that emphasized her distress. "There is a problem with accomplishing that."

The man paused and stared at her with his dark but beady eyes. "I'm waiting."

She gulped nervously and for the first time drew her gaze away from him in shame. "The parts belonged to the Vulcan craft T'Maiti , and I was unable to secure it," she hedged a glance at him, "Sub Commander Maelrok attacked the Vulcan vessel, as I have said. However, he was willing to cease fire in exchange for me."

The admiral held a distinct look of surprise. "I can't help but notice that you look… healthy enough and are calling me from the Terran embassy on Vulcan, Kirk."

Jim bit her lip to keep from giggling in hysteria. "You notice correctly, however, I was able to escape and get myself back on the T'Maiti. My injuries were treated and I was taken to the surface of Vulcan while my crewmembers remained ship-bound."

Jim took a deep but steadying breath.

"It has come to my attention that somehow I have been reassigned from Starfleet and the USS Enterprise… to the Vulcan Science Core… and I have also come to find out that I have in advertently married the Vulcan Captain of the T'Maiti… Admiral."

Her heart froze in her chest as deep laughter echoed back from the screen.

"Now I know you are kidding. I am glad to see such a stressful ordeal has not robbed you of your sense of humor," The Admiral smirked knowingly, "Telling me that James 'Temptation' Kirk has gotten married? It's almost funny, really, but a waste of my time and yours Kirk."

Jim grimaced at the condensation in his tone, but also at the very real fact that she was not joking. However, it did not escape her notice, which was commendable, that even the Admiralty knew of her unfortunate nickname. This had only started due in no small part to that damn pushy Klingon bastard.

And, once more, none of it had been her fault.

"I… I'm … uh, not joking, sir," she finished lamely and was unable to look at him directly.

They were both quiet for several moments as the Admiral registered her words.

"Again, Kirk?" He hissed in outrage.

Yeah… again.

"If I may, sir-"

"You may not Engineer. What were you thinking?" The man thundered across the communication hub.

"Well-," Jim started.

"That's right! You weren't thinking. You couldn't possibly have been thinking if the end result is you being resigned from Star Fleet and reassigned to the Vulcan Engineering Core!"

He wasn't taking this well, she observed sagely.

"Sir, the thing is-," she attempted again.

"And now what is very likely the most advanced power grid in the entire galaxy is in the hands of the Vulcan High Council," his spittle landed on the screen and Jim watched him turn an impressive shade of puce.

"Uh…"

"This means that I, and all of Starfleet, now have to enter into prolonged negotiations for our own technology because you had to build it with parts from a Vulcan craft!"

Yeah, about that…

"Sir, there is one other tiny, insignificant really, thing I need to tell you," She winced as she spoke words that sounded false to her own ears.

The Admiral fixed her with a chilling stare and the loudest creak could be heard as he gripped the edge of his desk in frustration.

"Yes, Former Chief Engineer Kirk?"

Jim coughed once uncomfortably.

"My citizenship to Earth has also been revoked... Admiral? Admiral!"

Startled sapphire eyes watched as the man fainted dead away before the screen.

That could have gone better.