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PG-13, Star Trek XI. 10 x 100 words.

... or, Ten People who Were Seduced by the Starship Enterprise, Enterprise/Everyone.



Title: Giving Her All They've Got
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not.
Rating: T/PG-13

Summary: ... or, Ten People who Were Seduced by the Starship Enterprise. 10 x 100 words, Enterprise/Everyone.

Spoilers: Star Trek XI (2009)

Notes: A "Ten Things" experiment, inspired by (and crossposted at) ten challenges (see subtitles) from the Drabble on the Edge of Forever collection.



Pike, Motivation

Every time Christopher Pike passes through Iowa, he stares up at the ungainly bones of the Federation's future flagship, clothing her with hull and starlight in his mind.

She's the most advanced piece of machinery Starfleet has ever designed: a reconfigured heavy cruiser with superior offensive and defensive systems, outfitted with the latest in scientific technology, the dreamed-of assignment for every Academy cadet. (There's a reason so many recruitment tours make a stop at Riverside Shipyards, after all).

But most of all, Enterprise is his. What records she breaks, what discoveries she makes, they'll make together.

He can hardly wait.



McCoy, Phobia

Space, he'd told Jim the day they met, is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence. Nothing he's learned since has ever managed to convince him otherwise.

It's also unexpectedly goddamned beautiful, and Leonard McCoy can't take his eyes off it as the shuttlecraft carves its way up out of Earth's atmosphere.

"Jim, you've got to see this," he breathes, staring out at the stars and the majestic white shape obscuring them. He's feared a shipboard assignment for years, but at the moment, all he sees is splendor.

Maybe that 'emotive imagery' shit isn't a complete crock, after all.



Uhura, Listening

Uhura's heart is still pounding from running through the ship, from supporting Kirk's crazy theory in front of the Captain, as she curls her fingers around the Communications Officer's earpiece.

This is what she's wanted for as long as she can remember. Why she's learned so many languages in addition to linguistic theory and acoustical engineering and every other remotely applicable skill she could manage. To be the listening ear, the mellifluous voice, on the leading edge of Starfleet exploration and diplomacy.

This should have taken years to earn. She shouldn't have this chance.

She's not going to waste it.



Gaila, Survival

"Forget the warp drive," Gaila says, tapping through diagrams on a wall screen. "We can still make Warp Three, and that's all we'll get until we can access the breach in the starboard nacelle. The radiation leaks are a more immediate problem."

"And subspace communications," a technician reminds her.

Gaila sighs and surveys the Engineering crew. Her crew now, with Olson dead and the senior lieutenant critically wounded. She isn't really trained for this-- but neither are the others, and the ship, their ship, is depending on them.

"Radiation first," she continues, decisively. "This is what we're going to do..."



Scotty, Dreams

Scotty stares around the bright, shiny bridge, at the gorgeous, stressed young officers and their gorgeous, stressed young ship, and fair to bursts with excitement.

There are security officers at his back; he's dripping wet; the lad he'd brought with him has taken yon Vulcan apart in a way that suggests there's much amiss with the galaxy at present; and yet-- he's on the Enterprise. And he arrived aboard her via transwarp beaming. He's so full of delight at painfully-deferred dreams suddenly realized that everything else pales in comparison.

"I like this ship!" he exclaims, anticipating further wonders to come.



Chekov, Breath of Fresh Air

Had Pavel not also learned navigation and tactics, he might have been a transporter technician or warpcore engineer. But he loves all the science and technology of movement; and it is all these skills he uses as he plots how to hide the ship from Nero.

He is still very young. And the world, he's learned, is cruel to young ones bright enough to upstage their elders. Almost, he does not expect the others to take his calculations seriously.

Almost. For he is respected aboard Enterprise, he's also learned, 'victor victor' aside.

Finally, he has found a place he belongs.



Sulu, Death-Defying

Sulu's fingers dance over the console, focused and sure. His body still aches from its last-second collision with the transporter platform, but the pain does not distract him; he activates the thrusters just-- so-- and Enterprise answers, parting the clouds of Titan to reveal the arc of Saturn's rings.

There are other things he loves-- the first bloom from an exotic plant he's coaxed to maturity, the weight of his collapsible katana in his hand-- but this! Satisfaction fills him as he signals the transporter room. The helm of a starship-- this starship-- is surely where he's meant to be.




McCoy, It's Not the Years, It's the Mileage

Christine Chapel has been on her feet for more than two days straight when the chaos around her finally slows enough to take a deep breath.

Not for the first time, she wonders where she'd be if she'd won that bioresearch assistantship she'd applied for with Dr. Korby. Somewhere peaceful, maybe; not blood-spattered and exhausted from endless hours of triage, treatment, and organization.

Not draping a blanket around the shoulders of Dr. McCoy, looking worn and older than his years even in sleep, slumped in a chair next to Captain Pike's biobed.

Good thing she hadn't. Clearly, she's indispensable here.



Spock, Emotionally Compromised

The older half-Vulcan's advice echoes in Spock's mind as he walks out of the shuttlecraft bay: Do what feels right.

Illogical. 'Right' has variable connotations; would not joining the Vulcan colony be the correct, appropriate, socially acceptable thing to do? Was it truly just and proper to acknowledge prior commitments instead, as the other hinted?

To Starfleet. Enterprise. James Kirk. And Nyota.

A familiar stab of pain disturbs his circulatory functions at the thought of leaving, and he inclines his head thoughtfully in remembrance: Your mother would say, do not try to.

Kaiidth. His father will accept this, as well.



Kirk, Unity

Jim grins, rising from his chair as Spock, last of the crew to report, requests permission to come aboard.

Their exchange feels like the final piece of a puzzle snapping into place, one he hadn't even known he was assembling. From that first barbed exchange with Uhura, first 'pep talk' from Pike, first drink with Bones, first glimpse of her looming out of the dawn mists like the doorstop of Destiny-- triumph by tragedy, they've built something greater than the sum of its parts.

His name is James T. Kirk, and they are the USS Enterprise.

May the galaxy tremble.

-x-

(x-posted to [livejournal.com profile] st_reboot)
Page 2 of 2 << [1] [2] >>

Date: 2009-06-07 07:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] feanna.livejournal.com
This was so cool! And I love Pike (he was totally badass) and Gaila (I want to see her and Scotty working together) and everybody else is just a given (Kirk, you own me, especially after this movie!).

The last line brings back discussions of the movie where we came to conclusions like:
They're all genius and badass and they're going out to destroy the galaxy and if we're lucky they're just going to set it on fire.
Or for Spock: Sending the Enterprise is totally the Federations way of saying: Do what we want or Spock will END you. (PS: The rumors are all true).
And many other awesome comments were made.
(Though I have recently learned that bad boy Jim did exist in the bookverse before he was straightened out by his father when he was 16.)

And they're all so YOUNG, but determined. Uhura's segment reflects this perfectly.

Date: 2009-06-08 02:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] feanna.livejournal.com
Yeah, starfleet is totally going: WHAT HAVE WE DONE???!!!! (And Pike is laughing really loudly inside, because he totally knew.)

Date: 2009-06-08 06:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] taraljc.livejournal.com
I love this SO HARD. I kept thinking I'd told you this, but apparently I did not. But YES. THIS. Especially Pike (my heart just breaks for him) and Gaila.

Date: 2009-06-09 04:04 am (UTC)
ext_47: a wolf looking at reflection in a lake (ST [XI] -- Uhura)
From: [identity profile] silverblade219.livejournal.com
These are great glimpses of all of the characters.

I have been really enjoying all of your Star Trek fics, so I'll be friending your journal

Date: 2009-06-10 02:24 am (UTC)
ext_15529: made by jazsekuhsjunk (sonelle - scotty)
From: [identity profile] the-dala.livejournal.com
Oh, now this is a neat trick! They're all wonderful, but I love the last especially, and Scotty's for the wonderful voice, and Pike's breaks my heart. This:

the ungainly bones of the Federation's future flagship, clothing her with hull and starlight in his mind

is a gorgeous image.

Date: 2009-06-13 01:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mithen.livejournal.com
Fantastic stuff. You capture the love of the ship itself in a visceral, wonderful way that the movie kind of failed to do for me.

first glimpse of her looming out of the dawn mists like the doorstop of Destiny

That's such a gorgeous line!

Date: 2009-06-18 02:34 pm (UTC)
ext_177533: corn field with big blue sky (spock/uhura)
From: [identity profile] ladytory.livejournal.com
This is a fabulous collection of drabbles. I loved Uhura, Scotty and Kirk the best- those brought tears to my eyes. I especially like the insight into Scotty's sheer excitement about where he is and how he got there.

And final one is practically poetry.

Wonderful!

Date: 2009-06-20 02:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] reveilles.livejournal.com
Oh, this rocks, every single one of them. I even looked up "Kaiidth" and discovered that it was perfect. Thanks!

Date: 2009-06-25 02:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] reveilles.livejournal.com
No, you didn't need to footnote it. The fact that you didn't prompted me to go look up a Vulcan dictionary, where I was delighted to discover that you were using an officially approved-of word that meant exactly what it ought to. :)

Date: 2009-06-21 03:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gelsey.livejournal.com
May the galaxy tremble. Amen.

Wonderful.

Date: 2010-03-11 05:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rubynye.livejournal.com
Fly, kids, fly! This is *absolutely gorgeous*.
I'm so glad that, looking for something else, I found these stories of yours.
Edited Date: 2010-03-11 05:41 pm (UTC)
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