Star Trek Into Darkness Page 0,36

nature of a mission, insubordination could not be tolerated. Not even from Montgomery Scott. He had given his chief engineer a direct order, and it had been rebuffed. Despite what he believed, it was Scott who had been the one with choices. In contrast, Kirk had none.

Lieutenant Uhura fell in step alongside Kirk as he made his way toward the bridge. Around them, commotion was turning to order as more and more of the crew reached their stations and settled into departure mode.

“Captain, I’m so sorry about Admiral Pike.” She was eyeing him intently. He did not return her stare.

“Thank you for your concern, Lieutenant. We all are.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine, thank you, Lieutenant. Just a lot on my mind. The usual pre-departure concerns.”

He increased his pace, and she had to walk faster to keep from being left behind as they stepped into the turbolift.

Once he was sequestered in the lift with his chief communications officer, something prompted Kirk to unburden himself.

“Actually, Scotty just quit. As if that wasn’t bad enough, your boyfriend is second-guessing me every chance he gets.” At the look on her face, he was sufficiently abashed to add, “I’m sorry, that was inappropriate. But he’s so damn cold and removed and above it all. He’s as affected as anyone else by what happens, but he doesn’t bat an eye. Just occasionally raises a brow. Sometimes I just want to rip the bangs off his head. Sometimes I think our minds are on exactly the same track, and then when I look around, I’m heading one way and he’s going the other. I can’t have a first officer who’s always secondguessing me.”

“Isn’t that part of his job? Isn’t that the reason there are first officers? If all he has to do is say ‘yes’ to every one of your decisions, you don’t need an intelligent second-in-command for that. A small machine with an endlessly repeating verbal loop will work just as well and won’t argue with you.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Kirk snapped. “What I mean is—oh hell, maybe it’s not Spock at all. Maybe it’s me. I’m still new at this. I mean, I doubt it’s me, but maybe it’s me.”

“As long as it doesn’t affect your usual unshakable confidence.” When he didn’t respond to her gentle dig, she added tiredly, “It’s not you.”

“It’s not?” Her tone moved him to think of something besides himself. “Wait—are you guys in a fight?”

Turning away from him, she focused her attention on the turbolift wall. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Do you guys fight? How does that work? Do you take a swing at him and he responds with five minutes of logical disquisition on why your primitive physical reaction was irrational and unproductive? Or do—?”

Before he could finish, the doors opened to reveal none other than the first officer of the Enterprise.

“Ears burning?” Kirk ventured pleasantly.

In response, the science officer eyed the captain uncertainly, but said nothing.

Time, Kirk told himself as he crossed the bridge to Chekov’s station. He was always running out of time.

“Mr. Chekov. I know that you’ve made it a project of yours to shadow Mr. Scott and his work.” He smiled encouragingly. “A genius like yourself gets bored easily.”

The young navigator looked pleased, but a tad bewildered. “Uh, thank you, Keptin.”

“Admiral Pike himself once called you a whiz kid.” Kirk turned momentarily nostalgic. “I had to look up what that meant. Anyway,” he continued brightly, “I gather that it means you’re familiar with the engineering systems of this ship.”

“Affirmative, sir.” Chekov indicated his station and its abundance of readouts. “It’s not that Navigation isn’t fulfilling all by itself; it’s only that in my spare time—”

“Your spare time has been put to good use. You’re my new chief engineer. Go put on a red shirt.”

Chekov hesitated. “Keptin, when I said that in my spare time I—”

“Are you reasonably familiar with the Enterprise’s engineering and drive systems or not?”

“Reasonably familiar.” Chekov murmured something to himself, then rose. “I suppose I have to answer in the affirmative, Keptin. But before I move to Engineering, may I ask what happened to Mr. Sco—”

“No, you may not.” Kirk’s response was quick and unyielding. “Report to your new duty station, Mr. Chekov. If anyone in Engineering has any questions about your move, you may refer them directly to me.”

“Aye, Keptin.”

“And Mr. Chekov, one more thing.” The ensign paused expectantly. “On your way to Engineering, I need you to stop in the cargo bay. There’s a load of new torpedoes