in the captain's chair

It turned out that Scott's physics were far more accurate than his suppositions. Jim and Spock materialized right where the engineer said they should, in the center of the Narada's rambling, multicompartmented cargo bay.

It was not, however, empty.

Half a dozen crew reacted with surprise as the two Starfleet officers appeared in their midst, so close that there was barely time to react. Arriving mentally ready for combat, human and Vulcan lit into their foes with a deadly combination of speed, skill, and desperation. Unlike the Romulans, they had nowhere to go if they went down.

Fortunately, only one of the cargo bay workers was armed. Singling him out, Jim engaged him immediately. Mindful of the difficulty he'd had with hand-to-hand combat atop the drill platform in Vulcan's atmosphere, he made sure to go on the offensive immediately and not let up. Being general crew, this Romulan proved easier to get a hand on than the more highly trained specialist Jim had tackled high above Vulcan. That left Spock to deal with all the remaining Romulans.

( It was difficult to tell, but it was possible that he was pleased. )

[NFB, NFI. Taken from the ST novelization. All done except the epilogue!]

"Captain, they're locking weapons systems onto us."

"Continue evasive, come about ninety degrees! Mister Sulu, try to get us underneath them—if their shields are indicative of the ship's design, they may be weaker along the ventral longitudinal axis. Prepare to fire all weapons!"

( The stream of torpedoes from the hostile vessel was unending... )

[NFB, NFI. Taken from the Star Trek novelization. Jim's going through some stuff now.]

No one knew why the assembly had been called. It was unusual but not unprecedented. Called from their classes, hundreds of cadets streamed across the manicured lawns and free-poured walkways of the Academy campus. It was a beautiful day, the towers of downtown San Francisco gleaming in a blue sky that had been cleared of fog by a light offshore breeze.

( A perfect day for a coronation... )

[NFB, NFI. Taken from the novelization of Star Trek. Warning for: length. More to come a little later.]

Freaking Christopher Pike.

Jim had met the guy once ONCE and the guy would not stop being a thorn in Jim's side. He hadn't heard from the old man since Parent's Weekend so he thought maybe he'd just been forgotten. But no. Today, he'd gotten a letter written in neat script, just checking up on him. Apparently, Pike knew that graduation wasn't too far away and he didn't want Jim to forget about the offer he'd made oh so many months ago.

Jim hadn't forgotten. Jim wished he'd forgotten but he hadn't. It made him a little angry that Pike was apparently keeping tabs on him and knew enough to know that soon, Jim would be done with high school and on his own.

That was just a little too much parental oversight and after reading the letter, crumpling it up and throwing it away, he'd grabbed his jacket and headed off island. The bars were always better on the mainland. He could flirt and be a random person in the crowd. He could drink and probably pass out on a park bench or maybe find a good bar fight.

And freaking Pike wouldn't be able to find him here.

(Jim obviously didn't know Christopher Pike all that well).

[NFB but open, sure.]