The Stars Above Us

Chapter 13

"Jim!" a voice called. She smiled at Bones before she looked around and spotted two of her favorite people in the universe.

"Dad. Gramps," Jim smiled as she jogged over to the two men. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Came to visit you kids," her dad said as he wrapped his arms about her in a tight hug. "You're hugging again."

"Only special people… which basically means you guys, Pippa and Bones," she said. When she and Bones left for school, she still wasn't up to being touched and the hug she gave her dad was half-assed at best.

"I see," he chuckled as he let her go so Charlie could hug her too. "You look good, kiddo. You too, Mister McCoy."

"Thanks, dad," she smiled. He gave her a look before glaring at Bones. "You talked to Pippa, didn't you?"

"Yep. She said 'hi, kids.' She also told me that you two went on a date," Chris said. Jim and Bones looked at each other. "More than one apparently."

"Please tell me that's not why you came out here," Jim said. She could almost see the protective dad mode in his eyes.

"It's not. We were off planet for your birthdays, so I figured I'd visit and Hoss decided to tag along," her dad shrugged. Jim smiled at the nickname her dad had for his father. Apparently, handing out nicknames was a trait she picked up from him.

"You picked a hell of a day for that," Bones grumbled.

"Today's the Rebel Challenge Course with our ROTC unit. We were heading home to change. I'm sure Commander Irvine won't mind if you guys want to watch," Jim shrugged.

"I don't think she'll mind either, not since half of you will be on the Yorktown with me for your annual training," her dad said. Jim smiled and opened her mouth but he didn't give her the chance to say anything. "Before you ask, you're not on my ship. Leonard is though."

"They're splitting us up?" Bones asked.

"Of course they are," Jim told him as they started walking again. "It's a reality of Starfleet."

"Your folks served together," he muttered.

"Only because they were married," Grandpa Charlie pointed out. "Hell, me and Chris were only on the same ship because of an emergency with the CO."

So, the whole story surrounding her dad's court martial is that Admiral Straczeskie, her grandfather's former CO, assigned her Chris to the Aldrin to keep an eye on the captain. Kamnach, who worked his way up from enlisted to officer instead of attending the Academy, had a reputation as a good commander who never made mistakes in combat situations, and had earned the loyalty of his crew. However, there were those in Starfleet Command who suspected that he was taking the law into his own hands out in the black.

During that last mission, Kamnach ordered an unprovoked attack on a Vestian vessel, and had the official logs altered to provide justification. Kamnach was then relieved of duty by Chris but one of the officers loyal to the captain fired on the other ship anyway. The Vestians returned fire, Chief engineer Chua was killed in the firefight and Charlie ended up taking over engineering. When the ship got back to Earth after picking Jim and her kids up from the Olympus, Kamnach placed the blame on her dad. At some point, Kamnach even tried to use her time on Tarsus against her dad but the brass shot that down quick. The charges against Commander Pike were dropped, he was promoted to captain and assigned the Yorktown. Kamnach was forced out even though it looks like he left Starfleet quietly with an early retirement.

"Don't mention the 'M' word to them, Hoss," her dad groaned. Jim chuckled.

"Why not?" Gramps asked. "They're not gonna run off and get hitched, son. Jim's not old enough yet, anyway." Age of Majority on Earth is sixteen, with the exception of Starfleet personnel and those who've been emancipated.

"We wouldn't do that anyway," Bones said. "Can you let us figure us out before we talk about 'M' words?"

Her dad looked at Bones before he chuckled, "Sounds good to me. We're still gonna have to talk, Leonard."

"Yes, sir."

"They've been gone a long time," Jim muttered. After they got back from the Rebel Challenge Course, her dad asked Bones to show him around. She knew it was dad talk for 'I'm gonna threaten him without you hearing me' but that didn't stop her from being a little worried.

"Yep," Charlie chuckled. "He won't kill him or anything."

"Which one? If you hadn't noticed, Bones is pretty protective too."

"I have noticed that," Gramps said. Jim gave him a look and he chuckled. "That boy loves you."

"What makes you so sure?" she muttered. Bones cares about her, there's no mistaking that, but she's not sure if it's love. Then again, she's not really an expert on this emotional stuff.

"The first time I saw you two together was right after you and the other kids were transferred to the Aldrin. You were still in medical and I went to visit you but he was in the room when I got there. He tricked you into eating."

Jim knew exactly what her granddad was talking about. She's stubborn. The medical staff couldn't get her to eat, neither could her dad or anyone else except Bones. He traded her a story about Georgia for food, if she stopped eating, he stopped talking. Jim was so off her game that she didn't even realize he tricked her until she was almost done with the bowl of soup and cup of gelatin.

"I was being difficult," she muttered. The days after Tarsus were not her finest moments.

"You do that sometimes," he smiled. "After that I watched you interact and I could see it. There's being there for your friend, then there's love and that boy loves you. According to Chris and Pippa, Leonard hacked the ship's communication system in order to get them to listen to him. He comm'ed the colony when they caught him. Captain Dolman made some comment that you might be ignoring him but he was trying to comm Hoshi on the emergency channel you gave him… that got Dolman's attention."

"Wait. Bones hacked something?" Jim asked.

"Said you taught him," Charlie said. She did but she didn't think he was paying that much attention. "You did, didn't you?"

"Just some stuff I thought would come in handy like basic communications hacks. I had no idea," she sighed.

"Now you do. My advice, ignore your dad's over-protectiveness and just do what you feel is right."

"Your turn," her dad said as he sat next to her.

"Don't do anything stupid and don't grow up too fast," Jim said.

"Yep and yep."

"I can't promise one and I have no control over the other," she chuckled.

"Where the hell does the time go?" he sighed. "I can still remember the day they handed you to me. You wouldn't talk, you just played with the insignia on my uniform. Now look at you. Working on your degree and a midshipman. I'm impressed, kiddo."

"Your doing. I'm awesome because you told me I was," Jim smiled.

Her dad chuckled, "I used to think I was doing something wrong…dragging you all over the galaxy."

"Your dad dragged you all over the place and you turned out okay… Captain Pike."

"I still can't get over that. I never thought I'd get it this soon. Forty-three is young for a captain. Not the youngest but still," he sighed.

"Don't tell me you're worried, dad. You got this. You're good at what you do and you're good at letting the people around you do what they do. As long as you lead with the same honor and integrity that you taught me, you'll be fine."

"That's actually pretty good advice," her dad smiled. "I swear, kid, you're gonna be one of those women who drowns oceans."

"Only because my dad believes I can do anything."