in the captain's chair

Fumes of a far different and more pungent kind attended the interior of the outpost where a relieved Jim had his first welcoming contact with artificial heating since walking away from the transport pod.

"What are we looking for here?"

( The elder Spock was leading him down a seemingly endless corridor... )

[NFB, NFI. Taken from the ST novelization. Takes place shortly after this]

Lately it seemed to Jim as if all he was destined to do was to endure painful falls from very high places.

Vision and consciousness returned simultaneously, though not efficiently, as he struggled to free himself from the encumbering safety harness. He had not gone quietly. At least he had departed the Enterprise secure in the knowledge that sedation had been administered by someone other than Bones McCoy. The good doctor might have disagreed with him on strategy and chosen to side with that pointy-eared usurper, but he had also opposed the need to ban Jim from the ship.

"I can keep him quiet and out of trouble while he's on board," McCoy had insisted.

"With all due respect for your medical expertise, Doctor," acting Captain Spock had responded, "from what I have seen and know of Lieutenant James Jim, short of placing him in permanent stasis it is not possible to do either. And even then I would have my doubts."

( Groaning, Jim pushed himself forward... )

[NFB but open! Jim's managed to jigger the computer into being a communciator through ~ science ~. If you wanna get a call from him, you'll pick up your phone to an unknown number and Jim cursing before he realizes who it was. Taken from the ST novelization.]