Jim ran to get on the bridge while Bones and Uhura followed him as close as they could while screaming out his name to stop. "Captain!"

Luna turned around the second she heard his voice, making her stand up right there as he hurried towards Captain Pike. "Jim!" Then her dad came running in right after him. Oh no.

"Kirk!" Uhura too? Oh god, they were all going to get fired.

"Captain Pike," Jim began once he finally reached the captain's chair. "We have to stop the ship."

Pike stood up once he saw him, looking so disappointed once Luna joined them. "Kirk, how the hell did you get on board the Enterprise?"

Once Luna reached him, she grabbed his arm, making him look at her. "Jim, what the hell are you doing?"

"Captain," Bones began while getting in front of Jim. "This man is under the influence of a severe reaction to a vaccine."

"Bones," Jim butt in, complaining as Luna turned to look back to him, looking him over to make sure he was okay.

"He's completely delusional."

"Vulcan is not experiencing a natural disaster!" Jim finally yelled to bring the conversation back to what he originally came here to tell them. "It's being attacked by Romulans."

"Romulans?" Pike repeated while shaking his head, finding it hard to believe Jim would actually do this. "Cadet Kirk, I think you've had enough attention for one day." He then moved his glare to Luna and Bones. "McCoy's," he turned to Luna at the pluralization of their last name, hissing it out like a snake. "Take him back to medical, we'll have words later."

"Sir," Bones stressed, looking to his daughter in fear before looking back to the captain. "I assure you my daughter had nothing to do with any of this."

"I don't care right now." Pike shot back, spitting it most out at Luna. She gulped before looking down. Well, it was a nice day as middle seat. "Get him back to the medical bay."

"Aye, aye, captain." Luna finally spoke, but Jim wasn't going to let this go, and he wasn't going to get Luna in trouble.

He stepped up so he was on the same level of Pike who was going to the captain's chair, panicking Luna even more. She took the step after him while tugging on his arm, trying to ease him down. "Sir, that same anomaly – "

Spock then stepped up, making Luna roll her eyes. He just had to get involved, didn't he? "Mr. Kirk is not cleared to be aboard this vessel, captain – "

Jim wasn't going to let him win, though. Not after everything he took from him. "Look, I get it, you're a great arguer I'd love to do it again with you soon."

"I can remove the cadet – "

"Try it!"

"Jim!" Luna yelled right back. Sure, she hated Spock just as much as him, but he could not talk to a commander like that.

He then turned back to Luna, deciding to snap on her. "This cadet is trying to save the bridge!"

She didn't even blink at how he snapped on her. She just looked at him, deciding to be reasonable rather than condescending. "By recommending a full stop mid-warp during a rescue mission?"

"It's not a rescue mission." He gave Luna a quick apologetic stare before turning back to Pike. "Listen to me. It's an attack."

"Based on what facts?" Spock challenged. Luna shot him a dirty glare before Jim looked back to her. She gave him an encouraging nod, ready to hear what he had to say. She told him he believed him in the simplest way, and that gave him the only thing he needed to continue.

He turned back to Spock, ready to feed him all the information he had. "That same anomaly, a lightning storm in space that we saw today, also occurred on the day of my birth. Before a Romulan ship attacked the USS Kelvin." He then turned to Pike, knowing if anyone knew what he was talking about, it was him. "You know that, sir. I've read your dissertation." Jim then turned back to Spock, ready to continue, making Luna smile a little bit. She looked down, trying to hide her smile from the commander, but she just couldn't stop it. "That ship, which had formidable and advanced weaponry was never seen or heard from again. The Kelvin attacked a place on the edge of Klingon space. And at 23:00 last night there was an attack. Forty-seven war birds destroyed by Romulans, sir. And it was reported that the Romulans were in one ship, one massive ship."

Pike moved closer to him, getting right in his face. "And you know of this Klingon attack how?" Jim looked over at Uhura, practically pleading for her help with his eyes.

"Sir, I intercepted and translated the message myself." Luna turned her head to the side. How did Jim know about what Uhura found last night, though? They hated each other. "Kirk's report is accurate."

"We're warping into a trap, sir." Jim cut in. "The Romulans are waiting for us. I promise you that."

Pike looked back to Spock, waiting for his thoughts on this, Luna looking to him too. Spock noticed Luna's look as she threw her hands in the air, waiting to find out if she had to stop the ship mid-warp or not. "The cadet's logic is sound. And Lt. Uhura's is unmatched in xenolinguistics. We would be wise to accept her conclusion."

Pike's eyes then drifted over to communications, not daring to move. "Scan Vulcan space. Check for any transmissions in Romulan." Luna ran back to the middle seat after his orders, prepping the helm for the stop.

"Sir, I'm not sure I can distinguish the Romulan language from Vulcan."

"Uhura can." Luna spoke, turning around in her seat. She then got a slightly dirty look from both Pike and Uhura, realizing she had spoken out loud rather than in her head.

She quickly turned around to face the helm again as Pike turned to look to Uhura. "What about you? Do you speak Romulan, cadet?"

"Uhura. All three dialects, sir."

"Uhura, relieve the lieutenant."

Uhura had to blink for a moment. This was the least she expected to happen on her first day. "Yes, sir."

He then turned around to one of the other lieutenants on communications. "Hannity, hail the USS Truman."

She put her earpiece closer to her ear before looking back to the captain and shaking her head. "All the other ships are out of warp sir and have arrived at Vulcan, but we seem to have lost all contact."

"Sir," He turned back to Uhura who was working her equipment, but also pushing her earpiece further into her ear as well. "I pick up no Romulan transmission or transmission of any kind in the area."

"It's because they're being attacked." Jim finally spoke.

The captain sighed as everyone turned to look at him, all waiting on some kind of orders. "Shields up. Red alert." He moved to sit in his chair, and everyone went into action.

Spock and Jim stood on opposite sides of Pike just as Luna began to slow down the ship. "Arrival at Vulcan in five seconds." She reported before counting down.

That's when they were hurled out of warp, and surrounding Vulcan was scraps from the other Federation ships. Luna threw her hands to her mouth, thinking of everyone on those ships. Rachel. Gaila. "Emergency evasives!"

That's when the ship was hit on the right, everyone almost being flung out of their seats by it. "Damage report."

Luna had to physically pull herself to sit upright to look at the helm screen so she could report. "Deflector shields are holding!"

Sulu, Luna and Chekov were trying their best to get the ship to steady while Pike worked on making sure the ship was still operations. That's when they were hit again by more debris. Luna actually fell out of her seat that time. "Luna!" Jim yelled before trying to hurry to her side, but he fell that time too.

"Full reverse." Pike commanded. "Come about starboard, ninety degrees. Drop us down underneath them, Sulu."

Bones finally made it to Luna, helping her up just as Jim got to her. "I'm fine." She spoke, but they weren't going to let her go. "I'm fine." She assured before looking to her father. "You have to go back to medical. There's going to be a lot of people hurt."

"Are you sure – "

"I'm fine!" She yelled back at him before pushing him towards the exit, just like he had done to her back on earth. Bones wasn't going to leave her though. Not now.

That's when the three noticed how quiet the bridge got. They turned to the windshield, their mouths dropping at how huge the Romulan ship was. "Captain, they're locking torpedoes." Spock reported.

Jim and Luna gave each other a panicked look before she hurried back to her spot. "Divert auxiliary power from port nossel to forward shields." That's when the Romulan ship fired. Everyone was ducking down, knowing a lot of their people were dead or going to be dead if they took another hit.

"Sulu, McCoy, status report."

"Shields at 32%." Sulu reported, his voice just as panicked as you would expect in the moment.

"Their weapons are powerful, sir." Luna stressed while turning around to look at him. "We can't take another hit like that."

"Get me Starfleet command."

"Captain." Everyone turned to look at Spock as he spoke. "The Romulan ship has lowered some kind of high energy pulse device into the Vulcan atmosphere. Its signal appears to be blocking our communications and transporter abilities."

These guys just didn't know how to quit. "All power to forward shields. Prepare to fire all weapons."

Just as they were about to give that ship all they had, Uhura stood up from her spot. "Captain, we're being hailed."

They all looked to her with confusion before looking back to the front screen as the captain of the Romulan ship appeared. "Hello."

Luna took deep breaths while looking at him. She already wanted to claw his eyes out. "This is Captain Christopher Pike, to whom am I speaking?"

"Hi, Christopher, I'm Nero." Luna turned her head to the side at that. He acted so calm. Like he was just talking to someone he had met on the side of the street. Something was off. She couldn't place what exactly was going on, but something was off.

"You've declared war against the Federation." Captain Pike continued. "Withdraw and I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romulan leadership at a neutral location."

"I do not speak for the empire." There was silence before Nero decided to speak again. "We stand apart as does your Vulcan crew member. Isn't that right, Spock?"

Everyone slowly turned their heads to the Vulcan on board. Spock slowly stood up before moving to the camera he could be seen on. "Pardon me, I do not believe that you and I are acquainted."

"Well, we're not." Luna, Sulu and Chekov each turned to look at each other in panic at his sinister voice before looking back to the screen. "Not yet." Luna then turned around to look at Jim, giving him a panicked face before looking back to the screen in a huff. "Spock, there's something I would like you to see." He gave Spock one last nasty smile before looking back to the captain. "Captain Pike, your transporter has been disabled. As you can see by the rest of your armada, you have no choice. You will man a shuttle. Come aboard the Narada for negotiations." Chekov turned to give the captain a scared look before turning back to Nero. "That is all."

He cut out the transmission, and everyone turned back to look at their captain who was slowly standing up and walking down the steps. "They'll kill you, you know that." Jim finally spoke.

"Your survival is unlikely." Spock spoke in agreeance.

Luna then stood up, just as scared as the other two. "Captain, we gain nothing by diplomacy. Going over to that ship is a mistake."

"I too agree." Luna had to blink a couple of times. Was the Vulcan actually agreeing with her? "You should rethink your strategy."

He looked to all three of them before nodding in thought. "I understand that." He then looked to the rest of the bridge. "I need officers who've been trained in advanced hand to hand combat."

No one spoke up until Sulu slightly raised his hand. "I have training, sir."

"So do I." Luna spoke as she stepped forward.

"McCoy," Pike chuckled out while shaking his head. "I don't need you out there if you don't know what you're doing."

Luna's mouth dropped, completely offended with what he said. She was actually about to give him a piece of her mind until Jim jumped in front of her, deciding to speak instead since he could only imagine what was about to come out of that mouth. "Sir, she's a good fighter. Good enough to beat up the person who was trying to steal her purse, all while drunk." The entire bridge turned to look at the two, Luna shutting her eyes. She would have really appreciate it if he didn't include that last bit in there. "I've seen it, sir."

Pike let out a sigh before nodding. "McCoy, Sulu, come with me. Kirk, you too. You're not supposed to be here anyway." Both Luna and Jim looked to each other, kind of excited before hurrying after them. "Chekov, you have the con."

Chekov looked around at his empty space before letting out a kind of stressed sigh. "Aye, Captain."

Bones looked to the two as they began walking out of the door. "Be careful." He urged, the both of them nodding before the door shut. Bones then began to grind his teeth while shaking his head. "Damn kids are gonna give me a heart attack."


Spock, Sulu, Jim and Luna followed Pike as they moved into the lower engineering decks. "Without transporters, we can't beam off the ship. We can't assist Vulcan. We can't do our job." He then looked back to Jim who was the closest one to him on his right. "Mr. Kirk, Mr. Sulu, Ms. McCoy and Engineer Olson will space jump from the shuttle." Luna was stunned a little bit, but she kept walking. "You will land on that machine they've lowered into the atmosphere that's scrambling our gear. You'll get inside, you'll disable it then you'll beam back to the ship." Luna nodded, trying to keep track with everything he was saying, but honestly, she was freaking out.

"Mr. Spock, I'm leaving you in command of the Enterprise. Once we have transport capability and communication back up, you'll contact Starfleet and report what the hell's going on here. He then turned around to look at this team he had assembled before speaking again. "And if all else fails, fall back and rendezvous with the fleet in the Laurentian system." Spock nodded, ready to do whatever the captain needed him to do.

"Kirk," Jim immediately stood at attention, waiting for what orders he had to give him. "I'm promoting you to first officer."

"What?" Both Jim and Luna asked it at the same time, making Pike smile just a little at that.

"Captain?" Spock spoke, bringing both Jim and Luna out of their little shock. "Please, I apologize. The complexities of Human pranks escape me."

"It's not a prank, Spock." Captain Pike still had that amused look on his face. "And I am not the captain, you are." He then turned back to the rest of them, nodding for them follow him. "Let's go."

Sulu went first, but Jim and Luna stayed back to give Spock a kind of smug smile. Even if Jim had no idea how to be a First Officer, he had managed to piss Spock off. And that was a good thing to both Jim and Luna.

The two followed Pike and Sulu into the elevator, Luna moving onto the captain's left to be able to ask him a question. "Sir, after we knock out that drill, what happens to you?"

He gave her that amused look again she was really starting to get annoyed with. It's like he loved being in constant danger all the time. "I guess you have to come and get me." He then turned to look back to the ship's brand new captain. "Careful with the ship, Spock. She's brand new." Spock raised an eyebrow at him before the doors to the elevator closed, and he was left with just the ship.

The three got dressed in huge, bulky suits, meeting Olson on the way into the ship. Luna turned to Jim automatically to help him with his seatbelt, but he was already doing it. It struck her weird. On every single aircraft they had been on together, she had always buckled his seatbelt. And that was the moment she first realized it.

Jim then turned to look at Olson, ready to do business with him. "You brought the charges, right?"

"Oh, yeah." He spoke in a thick accent, grabbing Luna and Sulu's attention with how excited he sounded. "Can't wait to kick some Romulan ass." Luna and Jim both turned to look at each other, sharing a slight eye roll before leaning back in their seats. Damn red shirts were always the same.

Luna then turned to look over at Sulu, remembering a question that had popped into her head back on the bridge. She had never actually seen Sulu as a fighter before, so it was hard to see him as having experience in combat. "What kind of combat training do you have?"

"Fencing." He said it with such a confident nod, it almost made Luna crazy.

Her eyes went so wide, and she couldn't believe she had volunteered for this mission. "What did he just say?" Jim asked when Luna finally found the strength to turn away from Sulu despite her growing anger. "Did he just say 'fencing'?"

Luna shut her eyes while nodding in confirmation. "We're all going to die."

"Pre-jump." Pike announced from his seat as pilot.

Luna took a deep sigh before putting on the helmet, really, really hating the fact that she volunteered for this now. "We're approaching the drop zone." Pike finally reported. "You have one shot to land on that platform."

As Luna stood up, she could feel her heart rapidly pounding in her chest. She had never been afraid of heights before. She wasn't her father's daughter in that form, but the fact that if they even made one wrong move, they would be incinerated or miss their target and get smashed on impact, that was scaring the absolute hell out of her.

They all lined up, grabbing on the bars above them to hold them steady until they were ready to drop. As Pike talked, it all kind of moved in slow motion. She turned to look at Jim, and just by sheer happenstance, he turned to look at her in the same moment. They actually let go of the bar with one of their hands in that moment and gripped each other's hands, knowing they needed each other's support more than anything right now. "Good luck." And with that, the door opened and they went free falling through space. All they could hear as they fell was the sound of their own breath and the pounding of their hearts.

Back on the bridge, Chekov was monitoring the group as they fell. "Entering the atmosphere." He reported before looking back to Spock. Bones was in the medical bay, working, but he also had a direct line to the bridge open so he would be able to hear all of the reports on the team. "Approaching the platform at 5800 meters."

"Kirk to Enterprise." Spock looked up at the voice with a deep sigh. He really felt uneasy about James T. Kirk going along with this mission. "Distance to target: 5000 meters."

They all kept going back and forth, telling each other how many meters they were away until Sulu finally spoke. "2000 meters. Pull the chute."

Jim and Luna both did as he said, Luna feeling her breath catch in her throat at the pull back. And for a split moment, she got to look down at Vulcan. It was beautiful…and she was not going to let it get destroyed by some mad man.

When Luna looked down, though, she noticed Olson was still falling. "Come on, Olson." Jim spoke, already annoyed with the guy after knowing him for a total of five minutes. "Pull your chute."

"Not yet! Not yet!" Luna rolled her eyes. These damn red shirts. They just didn't know when to quit.

"Olson!" Luna hated the fact that she sounded like a mother, but this was getting dangerous. He had to pull his chute. "Pull! Your! Chute!"

Just when Olson was about to crash into the platform, his parachute popped open, but he was still going too fast. He slammed into the platform and continued to tumble off. Right when it finally seemed like he had a grip, his parachute got caught, and his whole body got sucked into the fire underneath the platform, incinerating him instantly.

Jim's eyes got wide as Luna gasped and Sulu screamed out his name. Jim began to breathe even heavier as he thought about what would happen to the three of them when they landed. Back on the ship, everyone stood there with dropped jaws at the sight. "Olson is...gone, sir."

As the three reached the platform, they began to panic, wondering how they were going to land, and if they were going to join Olson anytime soon.

MisfitCarter: Hahaha I'm so glad you fangirled over it! Also, thank you love, it's so nice to know that I can think of you all as friends rather than readers. Love ya!

rebootfan: Yay! I hope you had an awesome birthday! Luna telling off Spock was probably one of my favorite things to write EVER! Also, I'm gonna be slower at updates because I have college and another fanfic so I'm sorry about that. A more realistic time frame for chapters coming out is two weeks from the last update.

Ziggy55: I decided very early that Luna and Spock were going to have that annoying older brother/younger sister relationship where I hate you, but we're also kind of friends and I love you. Luna has an optimistic personality and I love that about her. She's mostly just happy to be there on the Enterprise. I knew you would like that line! Haha thank you for the compliments.

ImsebastianstanButter: SO AM I!

Love. Fiction. 2016: Thank you so much, love!

Just to let everyone know, it's probably going to take me about two weeks to get a new chapter out. As I've said before, I've got a lot going on in my personal life right now, and a huge investment to think about in the next few weeks (I'll tell you guys more about it when it becomes more concrete) but I also feel bad for not getting these out to you guys as quickly as I usually would. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter even if it left with a kind of cliffhanger. Love you all!