Chapter Text
On a Planet Far Far Away
Chapter 1
“Once you have tasted flight,
you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward,
for there you have been,
and there you will always long to return.”
Leonardo da Vinci
Jim sat back in the pilot’s seat of Copernicus, one of the Enterprise shuttles, and turned brilliant blue eyes to grin at Bones. Leonard smiled back at him.
“You excited, darlin’?”
“I am. It’s going to be great having mom on my ship for a whole week! When has that ever happened, Bones? Never is when! And you being able to come with me to pick her up? Icing on the cake! It couldn’t be more perfect.” He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Leonard’s mouth. “All the planets aligned to make this happen,” Jim said, wriggling happily in his seat.
Leonard nodded, his dimples flashing a thank you for the kiss. “Yep, it all worked out real well. Thank the good Lord Med Bay has been real quiet. Christine and Geoff were happy to hold down the fort so I could come with you. Everything fell into place…and the Kirk charm did the rest,” Leonard said, with a small huff of a laugh, giving Jim a sly glance, because, yes, the Kirk charm was a powerful thing, known far and wide across the sector.
Jim’s cheeks pinked at the compliment. “It was great of Captain Ransom to give mom the entire week off while his ship is docked for maintenance and upgrades. I didn’t need to do much persuading either, he told me he didn’t need mom on hand; the entire crew and officers are on mandated leave for the three weeks. The yard dogs don’t want anyone on board. And besides, he said mom never takes any time off, so he was happy to give her leave when I asked her if she’d like to stay with us for a few days.”
“She sure was excited, wasn’t she?”
Jim smiled happily. “She sure was. Sammy is green with envy, but he’s happy for mom. Like he said, ‘she works so damn hard, Jim, she deserves this break.’ Jim was quiet for a minute. “Bones?”
“Hmm?”
“You don’t know how happy I am that mom, Sammy, and me are a real family again, because there were times, especially when I first started at the Academy, when I thought I would never have a family again. I was so angry and bitter. I blamed Mom and Sam for everything bad that had happened to me. I didn’t take any responsibility for my own shitty juvenile offender behavior, but, what’s even worse, I didn’t want to.”
Bones looked at him soberly. After meeting both Winona and Sam, Leonard realized that Jim and his mother were very much alike. Brilliant, charismatic, beautiful, and damn mule stubborn in avoiding their own feelings of heartbreak and abandonment. Sam was more like the George Kirk Leonard had heard about from Pike and others who’d known him.
“I know, darlin’, but after Nero, the two of them reached out to you and to each other, and you reached right back to them too, and in the end that’s all that matters. The three of you worked real hard all those months while we were grounded at the Academy during your family counseling to make it happen. I saw how painful and hard it was for you, how hard it was for all of you to work through all that old anger, guilt, and grief, but the three of you persevered and it was all worth it ‘cause now you’re a family again.”
Jim nodded. “Getting through that family counseling was real tough, Bones. I was bitter and angry, and it all hurt so bad. There were times I didn’t think I could do it, but thank God I had you to help me through it. There’s no way I could have done it without you. I don’t know how you stuck by me through all that mess that was in my head…and my heart,” he added soberly.”
Leonard smiled, dimples flashing once more, trying to lighten the somber moment filled with so many sad, painful memories. “I worked hard at it just like I saw all the Kirks doing,” he paused, “especially a young Captain-To-Be that I sure as hell was gonna’ fly with as his CMO,” he added.
Jim cleared his suddenly constricted throat at Bones’ comment. “Yep, all of us, worked real hard during all those tough months and this is the happy result. We’ll bring mom back to Star Base 7 at the end of the week. It’s a good thing the ship wasn’t that far from the Star Base and all we’re doing are those routine patrols close enough to pick her up.”
Jim, who loved to fly anything he could get his hands on, affectionately patted the console of Copernicus. It was his favorite shuttle, so much so that the shuttle bay crew had humorously dubbed it “The Captain’s Run About”.
Copernicus was one of the newer shuttles on the ship, a medium short-range Cochrane shuttle that could accommodate two flight crew and six passengers. The Enterprise had ten standard shuttles, ten cargo shuttles, and, because Enterprise was the flagship of the fleet, five additional special purpose crafts parked in its shuttle bay. Copernicus was one of those special purpose crafts and was equipped with warp capability. The shuttle’s maximum warp speed, like the other four special purpose shuttles, was warp 4. However, warp speed was to be used only in emergencies. The high cost of dilithium crystals precluded using warp speed for anything else.
It was a Starfleet Operations rule set in stone, that at least eleven shuttles must be maintained at peak operational status at all times, but Scotty, being Scotty, had every single Enterprise shuttle and all the shuttle pods at optimum status…always! Scotty made sure they all carried the maximum amount of emergency food and water rations for each designated passenger, a minimal armory kept under lock and key, and two emergency power couplets for contacting the ship in case comms were disrupted or destroyed.
“Yae never know, Jim lad, when they might be needed. ‘Tis always best to be prepared,” was Scotty’s mantra. About this, Jim and Scotty were in total agreement. Redundancies were SOP on board Jim’s ship.
Jim opened communications. “Kirk to Enterprise,”
“Enterprise here, Captain,” came Uhura’s voice.
“Lieutenant, patch me in to Yeomen Rand, please.”
“Aye, Sir.”
“Rand here, Captain.”
“How are plans coming along for mom’s visit, Janice? I didn’t get a chance to speak with you before I left. Are the guest quarters ready and tomorrow’s dinner reception on schedule? We’re almost at Starbase 7 to pick her up.”
“Everything is right on schedule, Captain. Your mother's cabin is ready with fresh flowers courtesy of Mr. Sulu, and Chef is finalizing the menu you selected. All bridge officers, plus Mr. Scott, Dr. M’Benga, and Nurse Chapel have accepted your invitation, depending of course, on how busy the Med Bay is during Beta shift tomorrow. I’ll have the mess staff set the tables in the Officers Mess tomorrow afternoon with the good china, linens, crystal, and silver.”
“Excellent. I’m sure mom will enjoy visiting with everyone, and I want you there as well, Janice.”
“Oh, but Captain, I’m not an officer!”
“You’re not an officer, Janice, but you work just as hard as any of my officers, and I want you there. I’ve spoken to my mother about it, and mom said she would enjoy visiting with you, and,” Jim looked at Bones who was nodding his head in agreement, “Dr. McCoy agrees with me. End of story.”
“Oh, well then, thank you, Captain. I’ll be very happy to attend.” Janice’s pleasure was evident in her voice.
“Good. Talk to you later. Kirk out.”
“Good idea that, Jim. Janice deserves a little fun now and then. If it wasn’t for her you’d be up to your knees in alligators in no time. Your administrative duties and paper work from the Admiralty would swamp you.”
Bones’ comment was nothing but the truth. Janice was the most efficient and highly organized person on Jim’s staff. She was so good at what she did, she even rivaled Spock. She was meticulous about Jim’s calendar, and kept him on task and on time with all his departments’ weekly, monthly, and quarterly paper work, his many meetings, his Admiralty briefing schedules, and his weekly ship’s status reports to Admiral Jameson. He’d be lost without her organizational and editing skills and he dreaded to think about her possibly leaving Enterprise someday for another posting.
Len peered out the shuttle’s large view screen. “Not much to see out here, is there. Pretty much empty space except those few planets we’ve flown by. Have to say they didn’t look like much from what we could see on the sensors.”
“Not quite empty, Bones. Those few planets we saw have been classified as class L, quite barren, although some contain arable land and others are able to support indigenous flora and fauna. Their atmosphere is breathable for humanoids, but no sentient life forms have been discovered on any of them,” Jim added. “From long range preliminary scans, some were deemed to be dangerous to humanoids because of the aggressive wild life which roams freely, or so several Fleet Science ships have reported,” he paused. “One report said they’d scanned huge wildlife, Delta Vega size.” He shuddered at the memory of his encounter with the giant beast there.
Len grimaced at that recolation. “Stupid Spock,” he muttered. He was never going to forgive Spock for marooning Jim on that ball of ice with the hengrauggi and other dangerous predators. That things had turned out all right, was in no way due to Spock.
“Not worth terra forming I’m thinkin’,” Leonard said, changing the sore subject. “Would take far too many credits and too much man power to get those kinds of planets up to snuff. Starfleet and the Federation have enough on their hands supporting the class M planets that are already being terra formed.”
Jim nodded his agreement. “Yeah, it takes a hell lot of a lot of credits and man power to terra form, even lush class M planets.”
A comfortable silence descended inside the shuttle, broken now and then by desultory conversation as they traveled the few hours to the base.
“Look! There’s the base, Bones! We’re heeeere!” Jim sing songed happily.
Both men looked at Starbase 7 through the shuttle window. It looked similar to other star bases they’d been to on different missions. All bases were standard Federation construction, but this base was smaller and more utilitarian looking. It was primarily an Engineering base, a repair hub out here in this part of the sector. It’s main purpose was to repair, upgrade, and refit smaller ships, not the huge Constitution and Constellation size ships which required enormous engineering bases like Mars Planitia or San Francisco Space Central to service those giant ships. Winona’s Science ship, The Equinox, was much smaller in size, a Nova class vessel with a crew of 75-100, and thus its refit could be done on Starbase 7.
This Starbase had very few luxuries or amenities to offer visitors. The Engineers and officers who worked on the base lived in modest base housing and formed a tightly knit community who supported each other. The enlisted staff lived in dormitories where everyone had their own room. Officers’ families were allowed on the base and there was a primary school for the younger children as well as on-line school instruction for the older students. There were a few shops, restaurants, grocery stores, gyms, and a couple of parks for the crew, officers and their families. The Fleet staffing rotation for Starbase 7 was a two year posting for enlisted personnel, and a four year posting for the Engineers and officers, unless someone requested to stay on longer.
“Who is in charge, Jim?”
“Commodore Ian Carmichael. He came up the ranks and started as an engineer himself. Knows his business and has a sterling reputation. Too bad Scotty couldn’t come with us, they would’ve enjoyed each other, Carmichael is Scottish too.” He glanced at Bones and grinned. “Incomprehensible Engineering talk and warp equations and such.”
“Probably with a thick burr too,” Len smiled. It was well known among the crew that when Scotty got excited about an Engineering topic, his burr thickened more and more as he talked.
Jim opened the shuttle comm. “Starbase 7, this is shuttle Copernicus from the Starship Enterprise, Captain James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard McCoy, pilot and copilot. I’m here to pick up Commander Winona Kirk.”
“This is Starbase 7, Captain Kirk. Please proceed to your designated docking station. Transmitting coordinates now. Welcome to Starbase 7, Captain Kirk. Commander Winona Kirk is waiting for you in the main docking lounge with Commodore Carmichael and Captain Ransom, sir.”
“Thank you, Starbase 7. Proceeding to docking station, going sub light now.”
Jim carefully brought the small ship in to its designated parking spot and waited impatiently for the bots to attach the giant umbilicals. After the loud thump indicating they were securely tied down and getting Space Central’s permission to disembark, Leonard grabbed his Med bag and flung it over his shoulder. He never ever went anywhere with Jim Kirk without it. It was fully outfitted with every possible med and instrument he could cram in it.
“Just a minute, Bones.” Jim turned to face him, grabbed Bones by the shoulders, pulled him in, and gave him a long searing kiss.
A wide eyed, dazed Leonard asked, “Not that I’m complainin’, but what was that for?”
“Might be a while before I can do that again.” Jim flashed him a very self satisfied grin.
“Infant!” But Jim saw Bones’ lips curl up in a tiny smile.
Jim tugged at his gold uniform shirt, and the two men stood waiting while a long gantry was attached to the shuttle by enormous magnetic clamps. The gantry light shone green, and they opened the shuttle door and stepped out to walk straight up to the observation lounge where Jim’s mother was waiting.
And there she was, Commander Winona Kirk, her small uniformed figure flanked by the two tall men standing beside her, Captain Ransom and Commodore Carmichael.
As protocol dictated, Jim and Len saluted the base Commodore first, then Jim offered a warm hand to Captain Ransom with a murmured “good to see you again, Captain,” and finally, turned to his mother.
“Mom,” Jim’s blue eyes shone with happiness as took her into his warm, strong arms and gave her a tight hug. It had been too long since he’d seen her in person. He was happy to see she looked fit and healthy, her honey blond hair still without any grey in it, her face smooth and unlined except for the faint smile lines around her blue eyes. Jim had inherited those smile lines from her, as had Sam.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Winona whispered in his ear as she hugged him back tightly. “I’m so happy to see you and be with you on your beautiful ship. Are you doing all right? And you and Len?”
“We’re doing great, mom, and we’re so happy to have you on board for a whole week!”
She turned to greet Len, and also received a smiling tight hug from him. “Jim’s beside himself, he’s so excited about your visit,” he whispered in her ear.
“Me too,” she whispered back, before drawing back to Jim’s side.
“Captain, Dr. McCoy, I thought we could all have an early lunch, or brunch really, in the Officer’s Mess before you return to your ship. Do you have time?”
“Absolutely, Commodore. It will be a pleasure, Sir. Breakfast was very early this morning!” Keeping a tight arm around his mother, they followed the Commodore to the Officer’s Mess.
A round table set with a linen table cloth and nice, but plain china and silver was set in a corner of the mess and the five officers sat down. “I hope you enjoy the meal,” the Commodore commented. “I thought Terran comfort food would be a good choice for today,” he smiled at them. “Baked chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, sautéed green beans, tea, and coffee with apple pie topped with ice cream for dessert.”
“Perfect choice, Commodore,” Leonard told him, while Jim, Winona, and Captain Ransom nodded their agreement with pleased smiles.
“Our fresh food is brought in weekly on cargo freighters, and our chef and his staff do a fine job of feeding us. Of course any of my staff who have their own homes and families usually eat at home. We have a commissary where they can purchase groceries and other needed items.”
The servers brought in the platters of food on a trolley. Winona raised an inquiring eyebrow at the Commodore who nodded and handed her his plate. She served everyone and they fell to with pleasure.
“Delicious,” said Captain Ransom. “Our chef is pretty good, but this food is excellent, Commodore. You’re lucky to have such a fine chef.”
“I am.” The Commodore smiled, and Leonard looking at him, thought that like all good commanders he was pleased when someone praised one of his people.
After satiating some of their hunger, conversation became general, catching up on Fleet gossip, and the latest rumblings about the Klingons, Romulans, and Cardassians. Dessert and coffee brought the leisurely meal to an end.
“You will excuse me,” the Commodore rose from the table, “but I must get back to work. A pleasure to finally meet you, Captain, Dr. McCoy. Safe trip home,” he added.
“Thank you for your hospitality, Commodore. See you in a week’s time. Maybe I can tear my CE, Mr. Scott, away from the ship to come with me when I bring mom back. He’d enjoy seeing your engineering set up here.”
“It would be my pleasure, Captain. Mr. Scott’s sterling reputation precedes him. I’d enjoy the chance to talk with him. Commander Kirk, have a pleasant stay with your son.”
“Thank you, Commodore.”
“I’ll walk with you, Captain, and see you off.” At the gantry Captain Ransom shook hands all around. “See you next week, Commander Kirk. Relax, enjoy yourself, and forget all about work for a week.”
“Thank you, Captain. I plan to,” Winona said, smiling happily.
Jim led the way to the shuttle. On the gantry, right by the open shuttle door, were the things Winona was taking to Jim’s ship, three stasis bins and two duffles. Jim eyed everything with wide eyes. “Mom, are you sure you brought everything you want to take to the ship? Aren’t Fleet officers supposed to travel light?”
Leonard snorted. “Jim, Fleet Officer or not, women never travel light, you should know that by now.”
“Leonard McCoy, that’s a very sexist remark,” Winona scolded, but then she dimpled. “But true nevertheless.”
Jim hefted the biggest bin on his shoulder and entered the shuttle, Leonard carried the two smaller ones, and Winona brought in her two duffles.
The three bins and the duffles were put in the small cargo hold and Jim eyed them curiously. “What do you have in those bins, mom, and in stasis, no less?”
“I can’t tell you, it would spoil the surprise,” she teased. “You’ll have to wait until we’re on the ship, and maybe a couple of days after that.”
“Mommmm….” There was a definite whine in Jim’s voice with accompanying puppy wide pleading blue eyes. “I bet Sammy knows, I bet you told him when you commed him. You know I can just ask him.”
Leonard laughed out loud. “Win, you know that Jim has never been able to curb his curiosity…about anything!”
“Well, he’ll have to curb it this time, Len. Sam won’t tell him a thing. I planned this as a surprise treat and it will remain a surprise. Jim will just have to deal with all the suspense.” Her eyes brimmed with mirth as they met Len’s.
“Guys, I’m right here,” Jim huffed.
“Indeed you are, sweetheart, and I can’t tell you how happy I am about that. Spending this extra time with you is a gift.” She patted Jim’s cheek gently. “Shouldn’t we get started, Captain Kirk?” She asked him, eyes twinkling.
“Yeah, okay, but you two are the worst! We’ll be taking off now, Mom, so you sit behind Bones and me, so we can talk while I’m piloting.”