"No!" Each of them could hear Scotty's screams as they got off the shuttle and began to make their way through the engineering deck. "I'm not signing anything! Now, get these bloody things off my ship!"

Luna leaned into Jim while adjusting the duffle bag over her shoulder. "I told you he was pissed." Jim turned to her, giving her a tiny smile, starting to feel there was some resemblance of normalness with her.

"Captain!" Scotty shouted again, now going towards the group.

Jim turned to Luna, sighing a bit, wondering what had really gotten Scotty so worked up. "Do me a favor, and run a flight check for me before we take off."

Luna nodded before meeting his lips in a quick kiss. When Luna turned around, Scotty gave her a confused look at the kiss, knowing that only a few hours ago, she was talking about how she was going to have to break up with him. "Mr. Scott." Luna acknowledge him with a nod, hoping he would not give away anything from their conversation earlier.

"Ms. McCoy." He told her with a nod back, getting what she was trying to tell him before she walked past, and that this was her business to figure out.

Jim watched the two, finding the whole interaction strange, but he was going to get to business as best as he could. "Is there a problem, Mr. Scott?"

"Aye, sir." Scotty almost yelled while throwing his hand at one of the Starfleet men who was loading the torpedoes on the ship. "I was just explaining to this gentleman that I cannot authorize any weapons on board this ship without knowing what's inside them."

"Mr. Scott raises yet another point – "

Jim simply handed Spock a PADD, cutting him off, not wanting to hear any more of this. They were going on this mission whether the rest of the crew liked it or not. "Report to the bridge."

Spock immediately took the PADD from him, but was obviously not happy about it. "Captain." He almost whispered it like a swear word.

Jim shook his head at Spock before turning back to Scotty, trying his best to remain calm in a situation he was already agitated with. "Mr. Scott, I understand your concerns, but we need these torpedoes on board."

"Due respect, sir," Scotty began, doing the same as Jim, trying to remain calm. "But photon torpedoes run on fuel. Now, I cannot detect the type of fuel that's in the compartments on these torpedoes because it's shielded." Scotty took a deep breath, practically feeling the Starfleet cadet's breath breathing on his neck. "Now, I asked for the specifications, but he said," Scotty pointed back to him, giving him the cue to speak.

"It's classified."

"'It's classified!'" Scotty yelled to Jim, trying to show him not only why he was annoyed with the situation, but also why this was a bad idea all around. "So, I said, 'No specs, no signature!'"

"Captain." They all looked up, seeing Sulu standing on one of the upper decks. Jim turned his head to the side at that. Did they really run through the check that fast? "Flight check's complete. We're good to go, sir."

Jim gave him a warm smile, not wanting to convey that anything was wrong. His crew had to be prepared for what was in front of them. "Thank you, Mr. Sulu."

"Yes, sir." Sulu told him with a nod before heading back up to the bridge.

Jim looked back to Scotty, taking a deep sigh, wondering how he was going to get past this. "Now," Scotty breathed out, seeming to be more annoyed now than a few minutes ago. "If you'll excuse me, sir, I have a warp core to prime." As Scotty passed by the torpedoes, he noticed Keenser was sitting on top of one. "Get down!"

As Jim watched him walk off as Bones moved towards him. "Jim, your vitals are way off."

Jim felt like he was going to explode if one more thing went wrong. "Report to the med bay." He told Bones strictly before following after Scotty.

Carol approached Bones, one of her brows furrowing as she watched Jim run off. "Does this kind of thing happen often?"

Bones let out a loud sigh before shaking his head. "Way too often for my liking. Everyone's always running around with their…" Bones struggled to find the right word, but the only word he could come up with was the one word that was going to make him sound inhuman. "Feelings."

Carol found herself smiling a little bit. A normal person would have thought the opposite, but Carol liked the fact that his answer was…truthful. "Yes, that certainly does complicate things, doesn't it?" Bones turned back to look at her, giving her a small smile, and she gave one right back. Bones was even blushing. Just for a little bit, though.

"Scotty!" Once Jim caught up with him, he noticed that Scotty was running around like a mad man with Keenser following, and Jim following Keenser, making it a straight line. "I need you to approve those weapons."

They had almost made it to the warp core, Scotty taking a deep sigh at the way Jim was talking like this was just nothing. "Do you know what this is, Captain?"

"I don't have time for a lecture, Scotty." Jim pouted.

"Do you know what this is?" Scotty asked again once they had made it.

"It's a warp core." Jim sighed out, the two now standing face to face in front of the warp core while Keenser just stood in between the two, watching closely.

"It's a radioactive catastrophe waiting to happen. A subtle shift in magnetic output from, say, firing one or more of six dozen torpedoes with an unknown payload could set off a chain reaction which would kill every living thing on this ship. Letting those torpedoes on board the Enterprise is the last straw!"

Jim just continued to keep his steely composure. "What was the first straw?"

"What was the..." Scotty had to keep from yelling in his face about how the first straw was all he had done to Luna in the past few days. "There are plenty of straws." Scotty took a moment to compose the professional reason this was the last straw. "How about Starfleet confiscating my transwarp equation? And now some madman's using it to hop across the galaxy! Where do you think he got it from?"

"We have our orders, Scotty!" Jim's emotion was starting to break through, and this one was of distress and anger.

"That's what scares me." Jim gulped a little bit, worried that in some way, Scotty was right. "This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers."

Jim clenched his teeth before speaking. "Sign for the torpedoes, that's an order."

"Right," Scotty nodded, keeping his face as serious as he could manage. "Well, you leave me no choice but to resign my duties."

Jim broke his steely expression by scoffing and shaking his head. He didn't want Scotty to go, but if he wasn't going to keep with the mission, there was nothing he could do. "Come on, Scotty."

"You're giving me no choice, sir." Scotty yelled right back, trying to show he was standing his ground for this one.

"You're not giving me much of a choice." Jim really wanted to keep him, and if he sent Scotty off, he would never hear the end of it from Luna.

"I will not stand by – "

"Will you just make an exception and sign – "

"Do you accept my resignation or not?!"

"I do!" Both Jim and Scotty looked surprised at those words coming out of Jim's mouth. So, Luna was right. John Harrison really had changed Jim. "I do." Jim whispered it that time while bringing his head down. He couldn't believe he was actually sending Scotty away. "You are relieved, Mr. Scott."

Scotty took a deep breath, and looked up at the catwalk above him. He didn't even have time to say goodbye to Luna. That's when he looked back to Jim. He took a deep sigh before leaning forward, and giving him one last warning before he left. "Jim," Jim looked up at him, saddened by what he had just did. "Take care of Luna." Jim nodded like that was an obvious. "I'm serious. She needs you to be who she fell in love with right now, not a military captain." Jim nodded slowly, knowing Luna was going to be pissed about what he had just done. How the hell was he going to tell her? "And for the love of God, do not use those torpedoes."

Scotty then handed him his PADD, followed by Keenser who did the exact same before following Scotty out. Jim just watched the two, feeling a heaviness in his chest, and the nervous butterflies in his stomach. How could he tell Luna that he just sent her best friend off the ship?

Jim had changed into his yellow shirt, and began ascending to the bridge, but Uhura was hurrying after him. "Captain!" Jim didn't even look back to her, he had become so lost in his thoughts, he didn't even want to communicate. Once she had caught up to him, though, she stayed right by him. "I'm so sorry about Admiral Pike."

"We all are." Jim answered quickly.

Yes, Uhura and Jim had started out rocky. Up until last year, their relationship was mostly just the two tolerating each other. Now, they actually considered each other close friends. There was a lot of assumptions one had about the other, but after they all took on a Romulan from the future, you're kind of bonded for life about that crazy life experience. And Uhura knew something was going on with Jim. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, thank you, Lieutenant." The two got into the elevator, and only seconds passed before Jim finally blurted out what was really wrong. "Actually, Scotty just quit."

Uhura quickly snapped her head to him, her eyes wide. Wow, now she knew why he was acting like that. "How are you going to tell Luna?"

Jim let out a small helpless chuckle while shrugging his shoulders. "I really have no idea." Uhura opened her mouth to begin giving him some advice, but Jim just continued to talk. It was like he hadn't talked to anyone in days. "And your boyfriend's second-guessing me every chance he gets." Jim then looked at Uhura, realizing he shouldn't have been talking to his Lieutenant like this. "I'm sorry, that was inappropriate. It's just sometimes I want to rip the bangs off his head. You know, maybe it's me. I – "

"It's not you." Uhura quickly said before Jim could start rambling again.

Jim turned to look at her, his arms still crossed from earlier. "It's not? Wait, are you guys... Are you guys fighting?"

Uhura turned to him, completely annoyed with the situation. "I'd rather not talk about it, sir."

"Oh, my God!" Jim exclaimed, eyes now wide. "What is that even like?"

Uhura opened her mouth to refute what he had said, but the elevator doors opened, and Spock was standing right there. Uhura watched him as she walked to her seat, deciding not to say a word to him, or show him any emotions. All Spock could do was watch her. Jim took this opportunity to tease Spock since he couldn't do it often. "Your ears burning?" Spock looked after him, feeling his jaw want to drop, but he wasn't going to give Jim or Uhura that satisfaction.

"Captain on the bridge!" Luna turned around right when Chekov said that, offering Jim a smile, but he didn't give her one back. He just kept walking, avoiding all eye contact with her.

Jim made it to Chekov, leaning down so Luna wouldn't hear what he had to say. "Mr. Chekov," Chekov quickly glanced at Luna before looking back to Jim, wondering why he was talking to him before the flight and not her. "You've been shadowing Mr. Scott. You are familiar with the engineering systems of this ship?"

That caught Luna's attention enough for her to look at her boyfriend while his back was turned from her. He never did that, and even if he did have to talk to Chekov or Sulu, he had never fully blocked her view of what was going on because he understood she was in charge of this area. Now, he was blocking her knowledge of what was going on in her area. "Affirmative, sir." Chekov answered after a long pause.

"Good." Jim gave him a bright smile before nodding to him, and clapping him on the shoulder. "You're my new Chief. Go put on a red shirt."

Luna completely straightened up at that. What the hell did he mean by "new Chief"? Where the hell was Scotty? "Aye, Captain."

Chekov ran off to follow his captain's orders, and because he really didn't want to be around when Luna was mad. Jim turned around, locking eyes with Luna. "Captain," she began as Jim moved away from her. "Captain," she just simply followed him, knowing there weren't many places he could go so close to flight. "Captain, why is Chekov in engineering. He is the best navigator I have."

"Ms. McCoy," Jim sounded impatient when talking to her, making everyone's ears turn in that direction at the rare public fight between the two. "This is my ship, and I decide who goes where."

"Where is Scotty?" She asked the question so harsh that it almost sounded like she spoke it through her teeth.

"Not on the ship." He told her blandly, still avoiding eye contact with her at all costs. "Now if you could please get back to your station and fly us to our specified destination, Ms. McCoy."

"Jim," His first name cut through the air of the bridge, making everyone go stiff. "Do I need to remind you that Scotty is one of your best – "

"AND DO I NEED TO REMIND YOU, MS. MCCOY," That time, everyone turned to the couple, but no one jumped as hard as Luna did when she heard him yell. "THAT I AM YOUR CAPTAIN, AND I AM COMMANDING YOU TO FLY THIS SHIP."

Right when he was done yelling, he stared at Luna, realizing he just publicly yelled at his girlfriend in front of their whole crew. He moved a step toward her, but she went a step back. "Yes," her voice was shaky, and everyone's eyes were still glued to the situation going on between their Captain and Second Officer. "Captain." That word cut even deeper than the others as she backed away from him, and angrily sat down at her seat, refusing to look back at the Captain.

Everyone slowly turned their heads away from the two, getting back to work. Jim then sunk down into his chair, feeling the guilt and anger with himself begin to eat at his chest. He had just pushed her further away when he should have been pulling her closer. Isn't that what Scotty just told him to do? Luna, she had made it up in her mind that after this mission was done, so would be her relationship with Jim.

MisfitCarter: Haha yes Bones and Carol! I'm so excited for it! I feel like Carol is so underappreciated. They will fix things eventually! I promise even if it doesn't seem like it after this chapter. I'm sorry you had a crappy week, love, but I'm happy I could make it a little better. Thank you for your review!

Love. Fiction. 2018: Thank you, love!

Rebootfan: It's totally fine! I'm in college too, and I know how it can get! Take your time and make sure you get everything taken care of, I'll still be here!