Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek. All the awards mentioned are canon Starfleet awards received by TOS Kirk. I couldn't decide which to give her because Memory Alpha doesn't say what they're for, so I decided, hey, she saved the Earth AND the Federation. It does no harm to give her a few different awards.

SO! Exams are OVER! Hallelujah! I'm pretty sure I at best scraped a pass on Latin, but that's me done with that subject FOREVER! In the future, all translations will be farmed out to ANYONE except me with access to Google Translate, for my own sanity (I never want to hear talk about 'declensions' or 'cases' again).

Don't ask me what Lily's doing her Astrophysics PhD thesis on, I know absolutely NOTHING about science (I blocked all of the memories of Basic Science out of my brain from the trauma).

I'm off to enjoy Spain tomorrow, so this will be my last update until sometime in the latter half of next week. I hope it's a good one!

Published: 28-5-2024

Read, enjoy and review!

Chapter Eleven

Award Ceremony

Three days after the Enterprise returned to Earth, there was a knock on Lily's door while she was in the middle of working on her thesis for her Astrophysics PhD.

Everything was still a mess 'fleet-wide, and term had ended abruptly with everyone who'd been manning the Enterprise (and the survivors from the other, destroyed, ships) declared graduates from Starfleet Academy, though there would be no official ceremony as everyone was focused, naturally, on helping the Vulcans, settling orphans, treating the BBS properly instead of simply triaging it, finding an uninhabited planet for them to colonize and so on. Having debriefed the Admiralty repeatedly during the voyage back to Earth left Lily with no official duties while she waited for her orders, but she was reluctant to return to the loneliness of Kirk farm and Iowa's human-centric atmosphere (ironic, given a major Starfleet base was there).

Instead, she remained on-campus in her dorm and distracted herself by meeting her friends, working to upgrade her Astrophysics degree from an MA to a PhD, and helping with the repairs to the Enterprise. It kept her busy, and being busy let her sleep through the night undisturbed by memories of decaying fields, rotting bodies and "the revolution is successful..." or the fresher sight of Vulcan crumbling in on itself, a hundred million empathetic screams of pain and horror hitting her mind and Ambassador Spock's crippling grief and guilt leaking past her battered shields.

Yes, busy was good.

The knock distracted her from her analysis of the data she was basing her thesis on and she set aside her PADD and made her way to the door. Opening it, she found herself facing down a Junior Lieutenant from the JAG Office, which instantly put Lily on guard. She didn't think there was anything she had done to deserve a visit from the legal arm of Starfleet, but the Four knew Komack hated her and would take any excuse to get her kicked out of the 'fleet. She'd always suspected it, and his aggressive attitude while she was being debriefed about the Nero Crisis had only confirmed her suspicions.

"Lieutenant, can I help you?" Lily asked politely, though warily. Thankfully for Lily's mild headache, the lieutenant had some good mental shields, and her body language didn't seem hostile, though Lily remained on her guard.

"Lilianna Kirk?" The JAG officer replied politely. "I'm Junior Lieutenant Areel Shaw, she/her, with JAG's Investigative Branch. Can I come in to speak with you on a matter related to the recent Nero Crisis?"

"Leh-lianna," Lily corrected, emphasizing the 'eh' sound, as she stepped aside. "Please, come in," she offered. The blonde sauntered past, and Lily briefly glanced at her long, elegant legs.

Lily did love long legs, on men, women and gender-neutrals alike.

Lily quickly shoved that away after a second's indulgence and instead focused on being a hostess, offering the other woman a cup of coffee or glass of water and inviting her to take the chair at Lily's desk. Lieutenant Shaw accepted the offer of a water as she perched on the rickety chair and took a fancy-looking PADD and a datapen out of her bag.

"So, what's this about, Ms Shaw?" Lily asked politely after setting down a glass of water on the desk beside Shaw and sitting at her (late, though that hadn't fully sunk in yet) roommate, Erica's, desk chair after turning it so Lily could face her visitor.

"I'm here on behalf of JAG to take your statement about Nyota Uhura's actions and attitude during the recent crisis," Lieutenant Shaw explained at last. "First Officer Spock submitted a report that recommended she be placed on probation, a request that was approved, due to her twice abandoning her station during the Crisis as well as contacting him using an unencrypted comm that was intercepted, albeit by Starfleet's representative on Delta Vega, Lieutenant Commander Scott. While it turned out to be helpful, as Commander Scott was able to evacuate several extra Vulcans, it's still a serious breach of regulations. We would like to hear your statement as CO during the incidents in question."

"Ah," Lily grimaced. She took a moment to sip her water and consider what she was going to say before responding. "Well, I can't say that I knew about her leaving her post during the Crisis the first time. I was meeting with a couple who had information on Nero when it happened, and by the time I returned she was back at her station. It wasn't until Spock reported the breach of regulation, after the Crisis was over, that I became aware of it."

Shaw nodded, jotting down notes on her PADD. "So she didn't admit to you what she had done at any point?" She clarified.

"No, she didn't say anything," Lily confirmed.

"Hmm," Shaw hummed to herself, scribbling more notes as Lily went on.

"As for the second occasion, it was when Commander Spock and I were about to beam over to the Narada. We were on the transporter pad when Uhura came running in to kiss Commander Spock. I assumed at the time that she had called someone to cover her station while she was absent. It was Mr. Spock who informed me that she had not as well." Lily hesitated, wondering if she should add the final bit.

Lieutenant Shaw gave her a shrewdly assessing look. "Is there something else you want to admit, Ms Kirk?" She pressed.

Lily sighed and gave in. "As I'm sure you are aware from my file, I'm a strong empath," she stated. "As a result of losing so much of his clan, including his wife, Mr. Spock's shields were, naturally, compromised. I must say that he felt very uncomfortable when Uhura was kissing him. I asked him if he wanted to file a sexual harassment charge and he denied it. Apparently they've been in a relationship for a short while now, but all the same, he really wasn't comfortable with her kissing him at that time...whether it was because he was still reeling from his wife's death or he just dislikes PDA, I don't know. Either way, I found her disrespect of his wishes concerning, especially as she continued kissing him even when he failed to return the gesture."

"I see," Lieutenant Shaw looked as troubled as Lily felt about her explanation, and she scribbled yet more notes in her PADD. "And the unsecured comm? Did you authorize that?"

"No," Lily said firmly. "I only learned of it as we were escaping the singularity, when I asked if we had a line to the shuttle containing Commander Spock and the Vulcan Elders, at which point Miss Uhura assured me she had kept in contact with the commander throughout the disaster. Again, it was only when Mr. Spock reported it that I learned she was using her personal comm. Miss Uhura did not inform me at any time of any of her regulation breaches, and frankly I was too focused on the matter at hand to notice them myself. That's on me, of course."

"I see," Ms Shaw repeated. "Is there anything else you want to comment on?"

"Yes, actually," Lily sighed reluctantly. "I want to say that I suspect my being in command of the ship is probably part of why Uhura behaved the way she did. She's always resented me for whatever reason, and I don't think she was able to take really take me seriously as a superior officer. I think she would do very well under someone she respects."

The problem was, of course, that not everyone was going to get along with all their coworkers or supervisors, and it was especially bad for a Communications Officer to be so blatantly judgemental and resentful of a superior. A Starfleet officer had to be prepared and willing to work with and under all sorts of people, whether they personally knew them or not, without letting feelings get in the way and affecting their attitudes. That Uhura hadn't been able to fully do so during such a major crisis wouldn't look good on her record.

"I see," Lieutenant Shaw stated yet again. "Anything else?"

"She projects her emotions a lot," Lily answered. "I don't know if it was intentional or not, but I know through a mutual friend that she did decently in Mental Shielding, but there was no sign of that at all during the three weeks we were on the ship together. Frankly, it made it hard to be on the bridge with her because she was constantly projecting negative emotions."

Lieutenant Shaw pursed her lips. "Understood. Thank you for everything, Miss Kirk. You've been very helpful."

Lily nodded silently as she rose to her feet, hoping she hadn't just ruined Uhura's career. She may not like the woman, but Lily was serious when she said that she thought the Kenyan woman could flourish under the right CO. If Uhura could just get past her habit of assuming the worst of people and thinking so highly of herself, she could become the badass but kind linguistic genius Lily had seen in Ambassador Spock's memories.

A few days later, Lily was sent an email ordering her to put on her dress uniform and go to the Solkar building. There she found herself faced with the entirety of the Admiralty, including its two newest members, Lelianna 'Derex' (a random but common Betazoid surname her older counterpart had taken as an alias, while the Ambassador was now known as 'Selek', Spock's 'cousin') and Chris Pike, who had been informed of his promotion but hadn't had the ceremony yet, so officially, he was still a Captain.

Lily wasn't sure if he should be up and about yet, but he had been discharged two days ago, though he needed a wheelchair to get around (it was a toss-up whether he would need it for the rest of his life. Medical opinions were split.).

A bit nervous at the possible implications of the entire Admiralty gathering to meet with her, Lily saluted sharply before going into parade rest when Archer told her to be at ease.

"Lelianna Estelle Kirk of the Twelfth House of Betazed, you have performed above and beyond the call of duty during the recent Nero Disaster," Archer announced.

Lily relaxed as it became clear that she was not going to be disciplined for some unknown reason. Lelianna and Chris were beaming like proud parents as Archer went on.

"During the Disaster, you kept your calm and maintained order among the crew, saving the lives of hundreds of Vulcans who would otherwise have died if not for your intervention," Archer continued. He stepped closer and opened a slim black box. "Then you went up against a deadly threat that wiped out the crews of seven ships, counting the USS Kelvin in 2233, and you defeated him with no extra casualties. As such, you are hereby awarded the Starfleet Award of Valor, the Grankite Order of Tactics, the Karagite Order of Heroism, the Preantares Ribbon of Commendation and the Starfleet Medal of Honour." With each award announced, the referenced medal was placed on her chest, alongside the Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry that she had received after the cloud creature mess last year (though, given how badly that mission had turned out, she had never felt it was deserved).

Lily couldn't help but smile in pride. As far as she knew, nobody else in the history of Starfleet had ever received so many commendations in one go. She'd have traded the awards for the lives lost in an instant, obviously, but given the circumstances, it was impossible not to be proud of herself. She had come up with the plan and led the mission that had saved the Earth, along with probably every other planet in the Alpha Quadrant, if not the Federation, after all. Surely some pride was warranted?

"We have one final award for you, Miss Kirk," Archer stated.

Lily blinked but stayed quiet, waiting expectantly.

"You have shown yourself to be the sort of captain Starfleet needs, a woman who lives up to her parents' legacies, particularly her father," Archer informed her. "Therefore you are hereby ordered to report to Captain Christopher Anson Pike for duty as his relief as Captain of the United Star Ship Enterprise."

Dazed with shock and disbelief (were the Admiralty seriously elevating her straight from being a cadet to being an actual Captain, and of the flagship at that?), Lily made her way over to where Pike was looking at her proudly. She saluted to him sharply.

"Sir, you are relieved," she said, going into parade rest again.

Smiling at her warmly, Pike inclined his head. "I am relieved," he replied ritualistically, before adding in an affectionate voice, "Congratulations, Leli. You deserve this. You're gonna change this whole galaxy, just you wait and see."

"No Chris," she argued in a low voice, smiling back at him. "Just you wait and watch me."