Twelve

"I'm bored!"

McCoy didn't look up from his PADD. "Shut up, Jim."

"Oh, come on, Bones," Jim sighed and tossed an apple into the air, catching it again before taking a loud bite. "We've been out for six weeks and nothing's happened yet!"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," said McCoy dryly. Shutting off his PADD, he gave Jim a look. "Have you called your mom?"

Jim blanched. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You're bored. Do something useful."

"I could think of a few things which are way more useful than that."

McCoy grunted. "'Course you could."

"What are you working on anyway?"

"Nothin', kid. I'm writing to Joanna."

"How is she?" asked Jim curiously. "Cerberus treating her okay?"

"She hates it," McCoy snorted. "I'm worried about telling her where exactly I am, she's more'n capable of turning up in a stolen shuttle."

Jim chuckled. "Wonder who she gets the adventurous spirit from?"

"It ain't from Pam, I'll tell you that much."

Jim shuddered. "Don't even say the name, Bones."

"Amen to that."

They sat in companionably silence for a while, and McCoy finished writing his message. When he looked up, Jim seemed thoughtful. "What is it, kid?"

"You ever hear from Tori again?"

McCoy blinked. "Victoria?"

"Yeah," Jim nodded, suddenly seeming very interested in his apple.

McCoy frowned. "No, I didn't," Jim winced at his words, and grudgingly McCoy felt the need to reassure him. "But she's okay."

"How'd you know that?"

Heat crept up McCoy's neck in embarrassment. He cleared his throat, but his actions only caused Jim to look more curious. "I checked the database in Yorktown before we left," he admitted finally. "I was working in the hospital for a few weeks before the ship was fixed, so my access codes were still good. She was admitted for some minor injuries after the plaza collapsed, but she was cleared and went back to Earth a couple of days before the repairs to the ship were done."

He braced himself, fully expecting Jim to tease him mercilessly. He wasn't blind – he'd seen his friend throw meaningful glances his way every time he had so much as looked at Victoria More, and when Jim had discovered her contact information in his pocket months ago he'd almost tackled him to the ground.

To his surprise, however, Jim merely nodded, as if that was the answer he'd expected. "I'm glad she's okay," was all he said. Then, his eyes twinkled. "I still have two bottles of that hooch she makes stashed away."

McCoy rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised that you saved it?"

"You know you secretly want some, Bones."

McCoy waved him off. "Maybe later. Go down to the science deck and ask them if they've got something interesting for you to do."

Oddly, Jim's eyes glinted at the suggestion. McCoy frowned, but the captain was already standing up. "Excellent idea, Bones!" he sounded more excited than he should have been. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Search me," McCoy watched him leave in bemusement.

!

"Captain Kirk," Lieutenant Homer greeted him in surprise. "I – what are you doing here?"

"Nothing of interest," Jim shrugged, eyes twinkling as he glanced at the people milling about. The regulation uniform of science blues made it difficult for him to decipher who was who, but nevertheless he smiled at a few people he recognized and acknowledged the greetings of the others. "Just hoping for an update. Can I count on you for the grand tour, Lieutenant?"

"I – yes, of course, sir," stammered Homer, gesturing for Jim to follow him. "Is there anything in particular you are interested in?"

"Let's just start with your most interesting project," grinned Jim. "I always like to have the good news first."

At his words, Homer seemed to lose some of his nervousness. "Lieutenant Carner is doing some fascinating research into the possibility of lifeforms of a sub-human nature on a microscopic level on passing debris."

"You're working with Carner, aren't you?" asked Jim. Homer turned red. Jim chuckled, fully aware that his up-to-date knowledge on other's people's work often threw them off. "I know your research is fascinating, Lieutenant. What else is new around here?"

Grinning sheepishly, Homer gestured for him to follow. "Lieutenant Woodville is a new addition to our crew," he said, leading Jim towards the back of the lab where the sun-room was located. "She is working on the debris as well, but is attempting to trace their origin to better plan a course for the ship to take, towards active life-forms."

"Sounds promising," said Jim, fighting to keep the glee out of his voice. "And how is Lieutenant Woodville? She comes very highly recommended."

Homer shrugged. "Quiet, keeps to herself. She hasn't yielded any concrete results but we're optimistic," they arrived at the entrance of the sun-room, and Homer punched in the intercom code. "Lieutenant, is it possible for us to come in?" he spoke into the built-in microphone.

The answer came a few seconds later. "Of course."

Homer entered another code and gestured for Jim to go first. "She's jumpy," he explained, almost apologetically as the stepped through and he sealed the artificial garden behind them. "Completely understandable. I've found it's always best to let her know we're coming in."

Jim nodded, slightly distracted by his surroundings. He had never been in the sun-room, though in theory he knew it was a chamber conditioned to reflect the climate most suited to whatever the experiments needed. Currently, they were in a pleasant English countryside garden, with rose bushes and creeping vines. The only indication that the sun-room was completely artificial was the slight buzz in the background of machines whirring to keep the simulation alive. A few feet in front of them was Victoria, huddled over a work-bench and meticulously making notes on her PADD as she observed what looked like an empty glass dish.

Jim took a moment to inspect her. The glasses he still wasn't used to seeing were lying next to her PADD, and she looked remarkably like her old self, if he could ignore the black hair. She was wearing the regulation blue uniform dress that he had heard her complain about often; it was too short, clingy, overtly sexualizing and completely impractical in case of emergencies. He made a mental note to have a memo sent around that female officers were welcome to wear trousers, if they preferred. Of course, Victoria had already found a way around the rules, and was wearing a long, white lab-coat over the dress, with a pair of high-heeled black pumps that Jim was sure did not belong in a science lab. He added her shoe choices to the long list of things he wanted to talk to her about.

Victoria looked up just when they were practically on top of her, and schooled her look of surprise remarkably well. Jim waggled his eyebrows at her, knowing Homer couldn't see his expression. Her lips twitched.

"Captain," she greeted, standing up and saluting, a little sarcastically. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Isn't it?" said Jim brightly. Homer looked slightly confused at their familiarity, so Jim decided to amend the situation. "How are you settling in, Lieutenant? I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to properly meet."

"That's quite all right, Captain," said Victoria. She pushed her glasses further up her nose. "And I'm settling in well, thank you."

"Great. Good to know. Lieutenant Homer's been telling me about your research," he glanced down at the glass dish, his curiosity genuine. There was a pile of dust on it. He raised an eyebrow. "That looks fascinating."

Victoria snorted. "It's more fascinating under a microscope," she told him, sitting back down and opened her PADD. "I was just coming to find you," she told Homer, handing him the tablet. "I've got something you should see."

Homer nodded, looking through whatever was on her screen. Victoria waited patiently, giving Jim a look that clearly asked him what he thought he was doing. Jim pretended not to notice and merely grinned.

Homer cleared his throat when he was done reading. "Permission to be dismissed, Captain?"

"Of course," Jim raised his eyebrows as the man practically ran from the room. "What the –"

"He's gone to tell Commander Spock we're heading into an asteroid maze in less than six hours and to prepare evasive maneuverers so the ship doesn't crash," said Victoria. She almost sounded bored.

Jim's eyes almost bugged out of his head. "What?"

Victoria shrugged. "I told him there was a possibility the debris were from two asteroids that had crashed together further ahead of us because of the varying make-up of the dust, but he didn't take me seriously. He's very convinced that little germs living on bits of rock are more important than keeping the ship whole," she rolled her eyes. "I told you demoting me was a mistake."

Jim gaped at her. "Do I even want to know how you figured that out?"

"I'm good at my job," said Victoria simply. "You might want to get to the bridge, Captain. You can finally have some fun now."

Jim felt like Christmas had come early. "You want to come watch?" he offered. At her look of hesitancy, he tried wheedling. "I bet you want to see the look on Spock's face when I tell him you came up with the theory that there was a maze weeks ago."

Victoria's lips twitched. "I'll race you."

!

"Bones!"

McCoy sighed and opened his comm. "McCoy here. What is it, Jim?"

"We've got possible asteroid debris coming up ahead in the next few hours, you ready to have some fun?"

He wanted to punch someone. "What part of hurtling through nothingness with rocks that could break through your only source of oxygen is fun for you, kid?"

"That's the spirit!" Jim was almost cheering. "You want to come to the bridge and watch Sulu kick some ass?"

"Damn it, man, did you comm to invite me to watch a ride to the death?"

"It was one of the reasons," replied Jim joyfully. "Just thought I ought to tell you there's a possibility you'll get some injuries because of the ride, the wonderful Dr. Woodville has estimated we need to switch to manual to pilot through this."

McCoy's eyes pricked up at the name. "Dr. Woodville, eh? Is he behind this?"

"Woodville's the resident geosciences genius, yes, Bones."

He rolled his eyes. "I'll pass on watching, I've got a medbay to run here. Enjoy yourself and don't get us killed."

"That's the plan. Kirk out!"

McCoy put down his PADD, curiosity piqued. He had seen Woodville's file. In addition to massive injuries sustained in the collapse of the Yorktown plaza, the man had a series of older injuries dating back to the fleet's time in the Laurentian system during their own showdown with Nero. He had heard stories about the medical practices that had taken place on those ships, and that's what had made him wary in the first place. Woodville's injuries were too unique, too goddamn awful for him not to be flagged in the systems as a danger to fly out into space. McCoy had run the name himself through databases twice. Though each time he had come up clean, but the niggling curiosity in the back of his mind was getting annoying.

Giving up, McCoy pushed himself away from his desk and strode out of his office purposefully. He made a beeline towards Nurse Riley as soon as he spotted her familiar blonde head.

"Doctor," she nodded respectfully, looking up from her PADD with her usual, bright smile. "What can I do for you?"

McCoy leaned against the wall next to her and took a deep breath. "Tell me everything you know about Dr. Woodville."