STAR TREK: COURSE CORRECTIONS, PART 10
Jim Kirk pulled on a fresh duty
uniform top and took a quick drink of his coffee. It had grown cold since he
finished breakfast but that didn't matter. It was a good morning. There was
nothing like getting a good night's sleep and waking up to good news. M'Benga
had reported that Perez was doing well. Starfleet sent a message that the
Vendresi had already contacted them opening up diplomatic relations, thanks to
the Enterprise
helping defend them from the Klingons. The Organians, per their imposed treaty,
were even leveling sanctions against the Klingons. That was a surprise. Since
their initial contact with the Organians, they had been oddly quiet and Kirk
worried that perhaps they had grown disinterested in keeping the
Federation/Klingon conflict at bay.
The door
chimed and Kirk allowed admittance. McCoy entered. Although he had changed
uniforms, he clearly still had not slept.
"Good
morning, Bones."
"Morning,
Jim, I see a good night's sleep has done you some good."
Kirk
shrugged. It takes more than a good night's sleep to get over losing an
officer, but he had to keep moving forward, he'd be crippled with hesitation
and doubt if he kept looking back.
"You
look like you could use one," Kirk replied.
McCoy
waived him off and tried to make a joke of it.
"Well,
Jim, if you had my superior constitution, you could probably function as well
as I do on no sleep."
"Short
changed by genetics, was I, Bones?" Kirk replied with a smile.
McCoy
smiled back but it quickly faded.
"Jim,
ah, I'd like to talk to you about the future."
Kirk could
see his friend was serious.
"What's
up, Bones?" Kirk asked as he sat on the corner of his desk.
"I
hear Nogura is the new fleet commander, and I hear he is offering promotions to
commanders of deep space missions and I wanted to warn you not to consider one
of those offers when you're in one of the moods you were in last night,"
McCoy said has he paced in a circle as large as the small quarters would allow.
"You're
right, Bones, on both counts," Kirk said, "Nogura had already
contacted me long before it became official yesterday. When we get home he
wants me to take over as Head of Starfleet Operations."
"You
told him to shove it, right?" McCoy asked hopefully. "I mean you are
going to push for another deep space mission, right?"
"Bones,"
Kirk began, "I'm tired. I'm tired of being responsible for four hundred
and thirty souls. I'm tired of making decisions that alternate between the
mundane and life-and-death with no in between. I'm tired of constantly moving
on and never putting down roots."
"Oh,
give me a break, Jim," McCoy countered. "If you think you're tired of
being responsible for four hundred and thirty souls, wait until it's twelve
times that. Every time something happens to a ship, you'll blame yourself for
sending them there."
"That's,"
Kirk paused before continuing, "actually quite fair. I will do that."
McCoy
blinked. Clearly he didn't expect Kirk to give in so quickly.
"But
it's a change and I need that right now. I need..." Kirk trailed off.
trying to find the right words.
"A
course correction?" McCoy asked.
"Yea,
Bones" said Kirk, his face brightening, "That's a great way to put it."
"How
committed to this 'course correction' are you?"
"I have already recommended a commander
for the Enterprise."
"Yea,
about that, Jim. Spock isn't interested. He's wanting a 'course correction' as
well. He's going home to Vulcan."
"I
know, and because of that I recommended Captain Willard Decker to take command
and oversee the refit under Scotty."
Kirk could
see McCoy working to recall the name. He knew when he got it because his eyes widened.
"Matthew
Decker's kid. Jim are you crazy? Decker lost his mind out there," McCoy
said.
To be fair,
Kirk knew he hadn't seen Matt at his worst when he was aboard the Enterprise, but
the events where quite out of the ordinary. Matt was a good man.
"Will
is not his father. He's fast track brilliant, and already captain of a small
ship in the Delta system. I have already requested that you, Scotty, Sulu, and
Uhura be assigned to the refit team. And Chekov will be his Chief of Security
when he gets certified and hopefully Chapel will have finished Medical
School by then."
"Jim,
the Delta system is like playing in the back yard. It's not a real test for a
captain," McCoy said, "The worst thing that could happen in that
solar system is that a crewman might pick up an STD
on Delta IV."
"That's
why I want a core of solid, experienced officers I know and trust with him out
there."
McCoy took
a seat and let it all sink in.
"You
knew about Spock, Chapel and Chekov?"
"Bones,
I'm the captain, when I don't know something about my ship and crew, then you should
worry," Kirk said with a smile trying to lighten his friend's mood.
"Jim,
I've been thinking about this all night," McCoy said, "and for a long
time I thought it was about you. Don't get me wrong. You're making a mistake
and you'll regret it. Maybe before you get that nice big office in San
Francisco or maybe a year or two after you get there,
but you'll eventually realize it's a mistake. But somewhere along the way, last
night I realized the reason I was so fired up was that it really is about me.
This ship has become home to me and I don't want to lose it. All I have back on
Earth is my father's house, but it's not home. It hasn't been for years."
"Bones,
I'll be honest. Men like us don't have families, we have this," Kirk said
pointing casually and randomly above his head indicating the Enterprise.
"However, don't think you're losing your home because you're not. I'm
asking you to stay," Kirk said.
"I
can't, Jim. Because, while this is home, You're the one I trust to bring us
back safely. It's what you do. Without you in the center seat, this ship it's
just like dad's house, just a place and not a home," McCoy said.
"Bones,
when I tried to talk Spock into taking command, he pointed out that life is
change," Kirk confessed. "If
we stayed, things would be stagnate. With Will in command, the change would be
good for you and the others. The dynamic would be different. Not better or
worse. Just different."
"In a
fit of anger last night, I told Scotty I would leave the fleet if you took that
promotion. I was only half serious, because I never thought it would happen.
You were meant to be out there," McCoy said.
"Don't
feel trapped into making a decision due to an idle threat, Bones," Kirk
said.
"I'm
not. I think I just realized, that I need to build my own home. You see I was
basing it on our relationships and this vessel. But now I realize that you
can't do that in this line of work. I need to put down some of those roots you
mentioned earlier. So I'm going to go to dad's house, hang out my shingle and
build relationships in a community that doesn't travel at warp speed. I'm going
to deliver babies instead of stitching up men hacked up by Klingon swords. I'm
going to look at swollen tonsils instead of phaser burns. I'm going to get to
know farmers, and storekeepers and their families instead of engineers and
scientists. I'm going turn that house into a home and my roots will grow deep."
A long
silence seemed to hang heavily in the room, until Kirk finally and sincerely
spoke.
"I
hope your new home is a happy one, Bones."
"It's
something I really should have done a long time ago, Jim," McCoy said,
"I've been running when I should have been building."
After
another silence, McCoy mercifully tried to break the tension by clapping his
friend on the shoulder and lightening his tone.
"Well,
Jim, we're acting like we're saying good bye now. We still have several months
before we get home and, after that, Georgia
is just a few seconds away from California
by transporter. You can stop by any time."
"You're
not going to come to San Francisco?"
"Hell
no, Jim. Once this mission is over, I'm never stepping foot in one of those
blasted atom scramblers ever again."
Kirk
laughed and so did McCoy.
No one knew
what the future held, Jim Kirk just hoped that all of his crew, especially
Bones and Spock, would be happy in the next phase of their lives, with their...
How did Bones put it?
"Course corrections."
THE END
No comments:
Post a Comment