Paint and Powder

A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.

Enterprise: The Wake

2293
Sol System
Earthdock
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-B (Excelsior-Class)

Enterprise sat in a simulated space deep within the Borderlands. It resembled the old conference room on Starbase One, back in Uncle Chris' time. It was now called the Robert April Memorial Conference Room, but to her it had the same comfort a young girl would feel entering her father's study.

The simulated room now held the detritus of the wake her sisters had held for her. Yorktown, Hornet, and the rest (save Excalibur, Defiant, and Intrepid) had all shown up at one point or the other. They had shared tales of Jim's career, the highs and the lows. Exeter and Constellation had thanked her once again for saving their lives. Farragut had told some raunchy stories of Jim's time as her first officer. ("—and he never found his pants!").

Finally, it had wound down, as duty called them all back to work. Northampton had to drag a simulated drunk Hornet out by the ear, of course. Esby and Yorktown had been the last to leave. It was just her, a glass of simulated Romulan Ale, and her memories. Harriman had told her to take all the time she needed, but she wondered if there was enough time in the Universe to fill the gaping wound in her soul.

A communication request pinged off her consciousness. She ignored it at first, but then her sense of duty shamed her into answering it.

"Enterprise here—Dr. Marcus?"

The visual data sent to her was encrypted but did seem to show a nervous-looking Dr. Carol Marcus, a woman who had vanished in 2286 following the Genesis Incident. Her hair had strands of gray now, and there were a few wrinkles around the eyes and mouth.

"Hello, Enterprise," Marcus said, looking uncomfortable.

"How did you—?"

"Yorktown," Marcus said with a tiny shrug. "She tracked me down—how, I have no idea—and said we needed to talk." She paused, then forced herself to continue. "About Jim."

"You heard then?"

"It's all over the Quadrant," Marcus confirmed. "I was surprised at how surprised I was, to be honest."

Enterprise blinked.

"You knew him about as long as I did. You had to know that he was going to die with his boots on." She grimaced. "Why do you think I kept him away from David?"

"He stayed away, like you wanted, but it hurt him. A lot," Enterprise shot back.

Marcus held up her hands. "I don't want to argue with you about that," she said. "In retrospect… well, I won't say I wasn't trying to hurt him. He kept choosing you over me, after all." The words lacked the bitterness and anger that they had when Marcus had shouted them at Jim back in 2260.

"Funny," Enterprise said, a touch of acid in her tone. "I thought the same about you, for a while."

The two women looked at each other, then both gave little strangled laughs.

"I knew it had been wrong when I saw him and David together," Marcus said. "I loved my boy, but I won't deny that I used him as a weapon against Jim. I had David to try and tie Jim to me, and then denied him access to his son when he returned to you anyway."

"In the spirit of full disclosure," Enterprise said, "I can understand that. He had… needs that I couldn't fulfil, and he sought them elsewhere. He loved 'not wisely but too well.'"

"You know that we tried one last time, at his Uncle's Ranch?"

Enterprise snorted. "Please. I knew who 'Antonia' was, though I appreciated the attempt to spare my feelings."

"I risked a lot to see him," Marcus said. "So many people want the secrets of the Genesis Wave."

"Should you even be contacting me?"

"Yorktown promised that this line would be secure, for a time, and I don't intend to be at this location for very long. We'll likely never talk again, after this."

Enterprise paused, then said, quietly. "It hurts so much."

"I know."

"How do you move on?"

Marcus shrugged. "I could tell you a lot of platitudes. Most of them even have a kernel of truth to them. After David—" She paused and swallowed, obviously fighting the old grief. "It never goes away, but the scar stops hurting all the time. Eventually."

"Next Tuesday…" Enterprise muttered.

"What?"

"I guess I just have to make it to the next Tuesday," Enterprise said, a little louder. "And the next, and the next."

Now Marcus held up a glass of a pale blue liquid. "A toast, then. To James Tiberius Kirk."

Enterprise smiled sadly, holding up her own glass. "And to his wives and sweethearts… may they never meet."

That got a laugh out Marcus, an honest one without a trace of bitterness.

"I told David once that Jim was no boy scout. Though he kinda acted like one when we met. A walking pile of books, actually. Gary Mitchell introduced us."

"Books? In Starfleet Academy?" Enterprise asked

"He liked the feel of them. Said he was paranoid of the text changing in the electronic editions." She sipped some of the Romulan ale. "Is it true that one of his chippies drugged him with her tears?"

Enterprise rolled her eyes at that. "Elaan, Dohlman of Elas. She had tears that were genetically modified or something to enslave men. She was a spoiled brat."

The two continued talking, drinking, crying, and—occasionally—laughing for many hours, remembering the man they both loved.

Enterprise: The Wake, Part 2

2293
Sol System
Earthdock
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-B (Excelsior-Class)

"Enterprise, you have a personal message coming in," Lt. Commander Mark Tobiaston said.

"Personal? From who?" Enterprise asked. Her old crew had already spoken to her at Jim's funeral. Who else could be calling.

"It's from the USS Challenger. Her captain... that name can't be right, is it?"

"Ah, put him through to me," Enterprise said.

In the Borderlands, she settled down into a simulated officers' quarters and turned on the viewscreen. It showed a red-haired man with a mustache looking apologetic.

"Hey Aunt E," he said. "Sorry I couldn't make Uncle Jim's funeral."

"It's okay Peter. I know you're off in the Beta Quadrant." She smiled. "How's that going?"

Captain Peter G. Kirk of the USS Challenger shrugged. "Exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations," he said nonchalantly. "But it's mostly scanning and cataloguing. Dad would have loved it."

Enterprise nodded. "Nothing made him happier than studying a new lifeform."

"How are you holding up?" Peter asked.

Now it was her turn to shrug. "I'm getting by, with a little help from my friends."

Music suddenly began to fill the Borderlands, and Enterprise turned pale.

"No, no, oh no!" she managed to get out before she started singing to a very old song. Peter Kirk began to bob his head in time with the beat.

"What would you think if I said I was blue?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key."

Now she and Peter sang in harmony.

"Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends."

Enterprise sang alone again.

"What do I do when my love's passed away?
Do you fear that I will be alone?"

Peter joined in a surprising deep voice.

"How do you feel by the end of the day?
Are you sad because you're on your own?"

Enterprise sang back, now getting into an energetic dance routine.

"No, I get by with a little help from my friends.
Mm, get high with a little help from my friends.
Mm, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends."

Peter rejoined:

"Do you need anybody?"

And was answered by Enterprise:

"I need somebody to love."

Peter:

"Could it be anybody?"

Enterprise:

"I want somebody to love."

Peter:

"Would you believe in a love at first sight?"

Enterprise:

"Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time."

Peter:

"What do you see when you turn out the light?"

Enterprise:

"I can't tell you, but I know he's mine."

Together:

"Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends.
Oh, I get high with a little help from my friends.
Yes, I get by with a little help from my friends.
With a little help from my friends!"

The music died away. The two of them looked at each other, startled.

"Um, what was that?" Peter finally asked.

"It never happened." Enterprise said firmly.

"But-"

"It Never Happened."

Written by jhosmer1.