madimpossibledreamer

         The Engineering Ensigns don’t seem as intimidated of Chapel (or, really, the Medbay staff) as they should be.  As Captain, that’s a problem that’s just begging to be corrected, so as per his duty Kirk decides to step in.
         Keenser shakes his head, eyes flickering wildly, which Jim knows is a sign of disbelief, which Scotty echoes a second later.  “She didn’t.”
         Jim grins and nods.  “Oh, she did.  I was pushing myself too hard, according to her, and she said she didn’t need me driving myself to collapse, particularly with the whole communications delay thing.”  There’s a few protests that immediately spring up.  He waves them off.  “Hey, that’s physics, plus the damage we sustained.  You’re miracle workers, but I don’t expect you to magically shrink the cosmos or anything.”
         “Well, that’s all well anyway,” Scotty decides dismissively, taking another drink from his flask.  “We don’t need the Klingons living in our pockets, do we?”
         “That’s…a really good point, actually,” Jim decides, shuddering a little.  “Coming from someone who’s sometimes a little too reckless to another, thank you for considering that before you warp the fabric of space-time.”
         “Still, did she really have Spock nerve-pinch you rather than let you go be Captain?  After what happened the last time?” one of the shy Ensigns, Peters, asks nervously, and Jim…
         Well, that hadn’t even occurred to him.  “I—uh.  I guess I was too tired to think about it,” he admits.  “Maybe she thought the threat would intimidate me more; I don’t know.  She’s fast with her hypos, but maybe she didn’t think she’d be fast enough?  I am pretty good at doing things I shouldn’t.”
         Probably not the best example to be setting, but hey, it’s not like they don’t know what they’re getting already.
         Scotty whistles.  “Now, that’s a fierce little lassie and no mistake.”
         “I wonder why she didn’t get her Doctorate,” a female Illyrian, who’d chosen Allisandra for its meaning, wonders quietly.  Not striving for the best, Jim recalls, would be odd to them, from what little he’s read.
         “I wanted to have a better idea of what I wanted to do research in for my thesis,” a voice answers, and only Kirk is able to mostly suppress the urge to jump through the roof into the next Deck.  “You lot make great guinea pigs.”
         Jim rolls his eyes.  “Rude,” he responds, with little offended inflection.
         “I’d watch out for M’Benga and his sense of humor.  It’s very odd, but certainly more pronounced than I’d expect for a doctor that interned with Vulcans,” she continues, smiling sweetly and waving at the lot of them, several of which look more than a little scared.  “Oh, come on, only my hyposprays bite.  Besides, I heard a rumor about Betazoid dramas…?”
         “True, but they got the dates wrong,” Jim responds.  “That’s tomorrow.  Anyway, I’m going on shift soon, so…have fun, gentlebeings.  Don’t catch anything on fire.”
         Chapel manages a wave, already deep in conversation, and one of the Ensigns, Qiang, tackles him, giggling, as he tries to leave.  It doesn’t delay him too long, so he doesn’t scold much.  Just another day in Engineering.

( removed in the interest of continuity )