2Title: Not As It Seems (#16, The Drabble Bin)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Characters: Kirk
Summary: The Enterprise appointments seem topsy-turvy, and Kirk is momentarily confused.
Previous Drabbles: The Old Four | Those Neighborhood Hoodlums | Trapped | A Cage of His Own | Of Perky Starfleet Bottoms | An Hour Past | War of the Bots | The Best Substitute | Surprise Meeting | Little Help | Dreaming | The Tower | Brother | It’s Complicated | With Close Friends
“Bones, I need your—Bones?” said the man with a data padd in hand as he entered a familiar room.
“Yes, Captain?”
Jim Kirk looked from the person perched behind the desk to the desk’s nameplate and back again. “What you are doing here?” he questioned with some confusion.
Spock lifted an eyebrow as if to say where else would I be? “This is my office, Captain.”
Jim’s gaze dropped to the nameplate again that proclaimed Spock to be the Chief Medical Officer, and he scratched at the side of his head then shook it as if to clear up any doubts. “Doctor—I mean, Mister—no, that’s not right…Commander?” He held up the padd in his hand. “Have you read this report on the Gibraltar?”
A speaker beeped on the edge of the desk and Spock answered it with “Spock here.”
“Doctor, we need you in Exam Room Three,” one of his nurses said.
“On my way,” replied the Vulcan, who stood up. To Kirk, he said, “I do not believe that report is related to Medical, Captain. Perhaps the matter would be better discussed with the ship’s First Officer.”
Jim blinked. “Right,” he agreed and started to turn away, only to turn back. “Do you have plans after…?” Abruptly he stopped himself. “Never mind. See you on the Bridge.” The man blinked again, looked as though he wanted to comment on something else but shook his head instead.
Spock had blinked too and reluctantly followed the odd remark with “My clearance does not extend to the Bridge, sir.”
Jim just gave a nod and left.
“Captain on the Bridge!” announced the officer manning the Engineering and Security station as Kirk stepped out of the turbolift onto the upper platform and determinedly headed towards his command chair.
The man checked his stride when a voice called from behind him, “Jim!”
Jim turned, placing a hand on the headrest of his chair, and said with relief, “Bones, there you are.”
“Where else would I be?” countered Leonard McCoy, who then ran a critical eye over his captain. “You feelin’ all right?”
“I’ve must been sleep-walking,” Jim said. “I thought you were in Sickbay.”
“I’m not sick.”
“I know but… oh, never mind. All I want is to sit down.”
Leonard lifted a shoulder in half of a shrug. “No one’s stopping you.”
Jim huffed and sat down, placing his data padd on the chair’s armrest. As he anticipated, Leonard came over to stand beside him. He drummed his fingers against the padd and let silence stretch out between them for a minute. When nothing came of it, he grudgingly asked, “Are you just going to stand there?”
“Come again?”
“Do you have something to report, Bones, or are you just decorating the side of my chair?”
Leonard stared at him. “…My apologies, Captain.”
The man quickly returned to the Science station.
Jim massaged his temples and sighed. “Mr. Sulu, set a course to intercept the Gibraltar.”
The man sitting at the helm pivoted around to look at him in surprise. It was Chekov.
“Mr. Sulu’s in Engineering, Keptin,” Chekov said.
“What’s he doing there?” Jim demanded.
The person sitting next to Chekov—Lieutenant Uhura—turned around as well, then, as did several others on the Bridge.
“Capt’n,” questioned Chief Communications Officer Montgomery Scott as he removed his earpiece, “are ye feeling a’right?”
“Apparently,” muttered McCoy, who remained hunched over his science controls and occasionally prodded at a button.
Jim looked at the concerned faces around him and drew in a small breath. He said, “I’m fine,” and forced himself to believe it.
“Mr. Chekov, lay in the course.”
“Aye, Keptin.”
It was some time before his officers stopped sneaking glances at him and Jim was able to relax. He didn’t know what kind of dream he had had the night before, but he decided it must have been a strange one to affect his perception of reality so thoroughly.
However, dreams mattered little when one was awake.
Jim settled deeper into his chair, crossed his legs, and felt himself return to normal. He picked up the padd on his left and re-activated the screen. The report he wanted to discuss came up.
“Bones,” he said, “what’s your analysis on the Gibraltar situation?”
McCoy stood up. “Not good, Jim—not good at all. Hell may sooner freeze over before they let us board their ship and confiscate their cargo, legal rights notwithstanding. I hope you’re ready for a fight.”
Jim smiled despite himself. “I’m always ready for that.”
His First harrumphed. “Don’t remind me. I knew I made a mistake when I doubled up with a Command track at your behest.”
Jim chuckled. “Maybe I made the mistake of appointing you second-in-command.”
“Damn straight you did!”
This time they both laughed, and any lingering tension on the Bridge was dispelled.
-Fini
Related Posts:
- Stay With Me (#29, The Drabble Bin) – from December 29, 2023
- An Ominous Setting (#28, The Drabble Bin) – from May 4, 2021
- Beyond the Call of Duty (#27, The Drabble Bin) – from September 24, 2020
- Have You Heard…? (#26, The Drabble Bin) – from September 20, 2019
- Who Wants to be a Doctor? (#25, The Drabble Bin) – from May 13, 2019
LOL you must have had a lot of fun mixing and matching all these characters in other roles…. Jim is still Captain and Bones is still ‘Bones’ in both name and personality “Hell may sooner freeze over before they let us board “
Yup, I like to think that the career does not make the man. In other words, our Bones is still himself no matter the position! But isn’t it funny to imagine Spock as a doctor?