Across the Universes [Martha, James]

[axe_kicker]

Martha tried not to clutch her PADD too tightly while she waited for the shuttle to arrive. It wouldn't do to betray her excitement at being given this responsibility; it was essential that she be taken seriously as an officer, especially by the latest arrival.

But she was excited. The days since her arrival at Starbase 69 had been a whirl of

Comments

[gold_ambition]

James wasn't sure what would be waiting for him.

Being denied access to the Enterprise, thanks to that Kirkalike fucker he guessed, meant he'd had to take three different shuttles several days out of his way to get there. There was even less to do on crappy shuttles than on starships or Vulcan colonies, so James was not in the best of moods. On top of that, he hadn't seen Tina in what felt like an age, and no matter how stupid he told himself he was being he missed her.

Then again, arriving meant an end both to boredom and the absence of Tina. So that mitigated his sour mood somewhat.

Anyway he hadn't had much choice, either of destination of mode of travel, so here he was, disembarking with a couple other people who had taken one look at him and moved to the other end of the craft. There was a young woman wearing a red uniform and an expectant, earnest expression under the fake authority she had slapped over top.

Maybe he could walk by.

[axe_kicker]

For some reason, even though his age had been noted on his file, Martha had still been expecting to see a young Kirk, the one whose face had been all over the news for a few days.

But after that first startlement, she recognised him all the same. He was older. Harder. Well, given the details in his file, that made sense.

"James Kirk?" she called, only a shade too loud with eagerness. "I'm Ensign Martha Landon. I need to take just a minute of your time. I'll be as brief as possible - I know you must want to settle in soon."

[gold_ambition]

His alarm was easily covered with a friendly smirk--well, for a certain value of friendly. He stopped, turned to face her, charm hopefully still working through days of travel.

"Ensign Landon," he repeated. He reputation had preceded him. Along with a description. "Well, well. They do know how to set out a welcome committee here. I think I'll like it."

[axe_kicker]

Martha frowned, her initial momentum derailed. "Oh, did no one tell you about the security briefing? It's a standard condition for anyone with certain citations. I'm sorry, you should have been informed."

She smiled. "But it won't take more than a few minutes, and if you'd like, I can show you to your quarters afterwards. Because so much of the station is still under construction, it can be a bit tricky to find your way."