Bones clicked shut his suitcase. It was January Tenth and he was back on campus. And he was leaving again.
Everyone was back from their winter breaks and now all the sophomores were leaving. Most already had, he, Spock, and Jim were some of the last ones to go.
"Come on, Bones, we'll miss our transports." said Jim. Bones picked up his bag and followed his friend. They met Spock in the Starfleet headquarters' docking bay.
"I thought you'd left, Spock." said Bones.
"The shuttle I will be heading to the space dock on was delayed." explained the Vulcan. "I thought you were going to New York by teleport."
"I was, but they've had so many people in and out of there lately, something blew out, and they offered to have me shuttled instead of waiting. Personally, I'd preferred a shuttle to having my atoms scrambled."
"James Kirk, report to shuttle five for departure in ten minutes." flat-toned the computer.
"Have I ever mentioned how annoying the computer voice is?" said Kirk. "I mean really. I-it so-und-s li-ike thi-is." he gave McCoy a friendly slap. "See ya this summer?"
"Maybe. Bye, Jim. Stay out of trouble. "
"Yes sir, Doctor McCoy sir! Bye, Bones. Goodbye, Spock."
"Goodbye, James."
"What, no Vulcan salute?" asked Jim jokingly. Spock offered him the Vulcan salute anyway.
"Peace and Long Life." Jim rolled his eyes.
"Live long and Prosper. And Rock and Roll! Bye, see you this summer! I'll write! Probably." and he ran for his shuttle.
"Gonna miss him?" asked Leonard.
"To miss someone is to have and adverse emotional reaction to their absence, which I am not capable of." said Spock. "I will however, be aware of his absence, and more aware of how he effected me on a daily basis the past two years."
"Yeah, I'll miss him too. I guess I may even miss you slightly, around the edges."
"Spock to Shuttle Two for immediate departure." intoned the computer.
"Bye, you Pointy-Eared Hobgoblin." said McCoy. Spock put up his free hand (one was holding his suitcase) in the Vulcan salute
"Peace and Long Life, Leonard. Although with your manner of speaking, peace will be a difficult pursuit for you." he turned and walked away. Bones laughed under his breath and walked to a window and saw a shuttle flying away. Shuttle five probably.
I guess I'll miss them both. And more than around the edges.
Jim had to keep reminding himself not to look around. He might be a cadet, but he didn't have to gawk. Even if The Amazement was, well, amazing.
"Cadet!" Jim whipped around. A tall, thin man with light blond hair and dark blue eyes with a commander's uniform walked up to him. Kirk stood at attention.
"Sir!"
"At ease." Jim relaxed. "I'm Commander Jason Pryne, first officer."
"Hello, sir."
"Where are you heading?"
"My quarters, sir."
"Do you knowwhere they are?"
"...Yes." Commander Pryne chuckled.
"Come on, Cadet, let's get you settled in." Kirk followed Pryne down the hallway.
This is going pretty well. Thought Kirk.
Bones left his new quarters. This place was so different. At Starfleet headquarters there was enough space that the tallest building was only three stories. And back home it was a similar story. But here, everything was built upward. The building he was in was fifteen stories high, and it wasn't even where he worked! he had to take a turbolift down to the ground floor every morning, and then walk a few blocks to work, in another ridiculously tall building.
Twenty minutes later Bones was being shown around the hospital where he was going to work.
"You'll be working under Doctor Braith." said the nurse who was showing him around. "according to this, you're authorized to work as a nurse if need be.'
"Really? No one told me that. I assume I'd be confined to cleaning, secretary work, watching surgeries. Stuff like that" said Bones. He was thinking, Yes!
"Apparently not. My shift starts soon, I need to go. Report here at Eight hundred hours tomorrow morning. I trust you can find your way out?"
"Yeah. Um, question?"
"Yes?"
"Are there any other cadets here?" he asked.
"Just one, she's not at the hospital though, she's in the command track."
"Oh. Thanks. Bye." Bones walked out after the nurse and headed in a different direction.
This'll be fun. But no one my age? Really? I'm going to be bored to death after my shift! Maybe I will have to write to Jim, just for something to do. Or am I allowed to go around the city? I wonder.
Spock was having similar experiences to his to friends. Simply getting settled in and learning about his new posting.
He had been passed over for working a the base in New Berlin, however science division on the base he had been sent to instead was roughly 52.32 percent of the base, an impressive percentage that made it more than satisfactory.
He knew his duties and when he was allowed to leave the base, not that he intended to. Currently he was sitting in the Mess Hall going over his new schedule. Some one sat down across from him.
"Are you Spock?"
"I am."
"I'm Commander Clark Winnaar. Head science officer." Spock looked at the man. He had very dark skin and very short hair. He had broad shoulders, was probably not very tall when standing and a large smile.
"Sir." replied Spock.
"You all settled in?" he asked. "Like your quarters?" Spock placed his accent as Jamaican
"They are satisfactory."
"Good! You know where to report to tomorrow?"
"Chemistry laboratory three, Seven-Thirty hours."
"Good, Get some rest tonight, I had my training here too, loved it. But it was lots of work, they won't let you slack off at all."
"I would not 'slack off' even if it were tolerated."
"That's what I like to hear." Winnaar stood up. "Goodnight, Cadet Spock. And welcome to Mars."
"Goodnight, Commander." Winnaar smiled broadly and left. A few minutes later Spock returned to his new quarters.
This place is interesting. Fascinating even. I hope I will be able to be of use.
I've already decided the next chapter will consist almost entirely (if not really entirely ) of letters. If you want to see a certain letter from one person to another, tell me in a review or a PM. Thanks for reading!