There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship. ~Author Unknown

Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Star Trek.. Shocker, huh?

Chapter One: An Explosive New Friend

Jim and Bones sat in the disciplinary office of Starfleet Academy following a particularly spectacular fight started by Jim with two rather large Security specialists. Bones had finally managed to pull Jim off of them after the latter seemed to think he'd sufficiently beaten them to a pulp, but neither had escaped without injury. Both had faces that were bruised, their chins bloodied from their noses and mouths. Bones glared at the wall, scowling. Jim had his usual grin plastered onto his face, the one that showed he was proud of himself.

"Oh, come on, Bones," Jim said, smacking his companion's shoulder, "Don't be so grumpy!"

The older man looked at the younger incredulously, saying, " And what exactly should I not be grumpy about?! Do you know how much trouble we'll probably be in? We've already been warned twice before! God only knows what they'll do to us. Probably-"

He was interrupted by the door of the office swinging open to reveal a security officer gripping a young woman by the arm, his hand entirely encircling her bicep. She looked even worse than he and Jim probably did. She covered in debris, soot, and possibly ash, looking much like a cartoon character that had recently been blown up. He could just barely tell that her curly hair was a sort of pale strawberry-blonde, complimented by a pair of equally pale (and almost eerie) bluish-grey eyes; she was also rather petite. The girl complained loudly about being persecuted for things that weren't her fault and how nothing really bad happened anyway. As a parting blow, she stuck her tongue out at him before plopping in to the chair beside Jim.

"Haven't seen you around the disciplinary office before… got a name?" Jim asked, turning on the charm.

"Well, I'm not here often… never, actually… I'm usually rather well-behaved," she replied, "And I'm Minerva Black. Minnie. Now, don't tell me… Mohammed Ali?"

Jim chuckled, "No, but close. It's Kirk. Jim Kirk. My friend here is-"

"Sugar Ray Robinson?"

"Again, close. This is Dr. Leonard McCoy. I call him Bones. Say, what's your specialty? Obviously, he's in Medical, and I'm in Command. What about you?"

"Tactical. Weapons engineering and technology mostly. That's how I blew up Chem. Lab 6."

"You blew up a chem. lab?" Bones exclaimed.

"Accidentally! I was experimenting with some new compounds, just a little theory I've had for a while now, and it started to let off this creepy red smoke. Well, it ain't supposed to do that, so I pretty much just sounded the alarm and hit the deck. I think I know what I did wrong though, See, I-"

"-didn't have a professor on standby to help you as you should have."

Minnie yelped, and all three turned to look at the door. The discipline officer stood before them, a rather severe looking, older human woman with steel-grey hair and fierce green eyes. She was rigidly thin and tall: Cmdr. Diane Moore.

"Back again, Kirk, McCoy? Another fight?"

"Well, Jim was fighting. I was trying to stop him."

"Oh, thanks, Bones. Just throw me under the bus, why don't you?"

"I'm only trying to tell the truth."

"Well, at least say that you were trying to save my life or something. I mean-"

"Enough! If you boys weren't so smart, you would have been thrown out already. That's the only reason you're getting second chances and warnings. As for you, Black, you're as smart as these two, and that's saying something. You should've known better than to be doing an experiment like that on your own. Someone could have been seriously injured. I want the three of you to go see Cmdr. Bale. He'll give you your punitive orders. Dismissed. Oh, clean yourselves up first. He'll let me know when you've been to see him."

They all stood and exited. Once in the corridor, Minnie grinned and said, "That went well. Wonder what we'll have to do…"

"Ugh, it'll probably be community service… I hate community service. I've done too much of it already," Jim whined.

"Never would've guessed," Bones replied dryly.

Minnie laughed at that, and the older man's lips twitched into a smirk briefly. They made small talk on their way to the dorms, and Minnie revealed she was a Cadet 3rd Class like them, from South Jersey, and what exactly she'd been mixing in Chem. Lab 6. They stopped outside her dorm (the closest building to campus) where she suggested they meet in half an hour to go to Cmdr. Bale's office. Jim had answered in the affirmative before Bones could even open his mouth. Minnie grinned, waved, and was gone.

"Y'know, I can tell you right now that you won't be getting her pants," Bones said as they walked away.

"What? Who said anything about getting into her pants?"

"Jim… you're always trying to get into a girl's pants. I'm surprised you haven't started flirting the female professors yet. God, you're such a manwhore."

Jim looked at him with his best mock-offended face, dramatically saying, "Bones, you wound me! Do the ladies carry no blame for being so tempting?"

"The Adam and Eve argument? You're pathetic… just… let's get you up to the room so I can clean you up, not to mention myself."

Bones worked as efficiently in the dorm as he did in the emergency room, ignoring Jim's whining and complaining and fidgeting and anything else he did to make things difficult for the doctor. It took a sharp bark from the doctor to make him stop so he would have time fix himself up. One clean uniform later, they were out the door and headed for the girls' dorms. Minnie was waiting for them outside, only her hair still sooty. Everything else had been scrubbed clean, revealing creamy white skin, freckles, and pink cheeks (from scrubbing, presumably). She practically skipped over to them. She smiled the whole way there, but Jim's mood was beginning to wane. Therefore, Bones talked to his other companion.

"So, Minnie, what made you want to study weapons and such? It's not exactly a common field to find women in. It's not even too popular for guys."

"Yeah, there's only two other girls besides me in the program, and they're both graduating this year," she explained cheerfully, "It's quite fun, though. We study all sorts of tactics and weapons from way back in the late 18th century up through current technologies and strategies. It's mainly just Earth and her main allies and enemies. I can identify over fifty types of firearms and other weapons used in the major Earth wars up through the 22nd century. Then we made the switch to photon and phaser tech. I know specs on incendiaries, bombs, missiles, and rounds… anything you can think of, really. My father did the same thing. So did his two brothers, and my mom's three brothers, both my grandfathers, seven of my eleven male cousins, and one aunt. Blacks and Maggiacomos have a storied tradition of serving in the military since the American Civil War in the mid-1800s."

"No kidding! I had ancestors in the Civil War," Bones replied.

"Really? For the South, I presume?"

"Actually no. They were for the Union." he answered, "I presume yours were for the North, too?"

"Yup! Lived in the same South Jersey area for every generation since. You should hear the stories that were passed down about the Secession of 2106! Separated North and South Jersey… oh, the people of South Jersey were never happier!"

She managed to achieve the same proud grin Jim often wore, which made Bones smile. He then told how his family was involved in the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud in the late 1800s. His branch of the family moved from Kentucky to Georgia sometime in the late 1970s, where they lived ever since. Several of those who came before him were doctors and surgeons, and some were even medics and corpsmen during wars. He did not mention Jocelyn or Joanna. Jim had pouted the whole time, causing Bones to wonder if it was because of what was about to happen or because Minnie wasn't expressly talking to him. Outside Cmdr. Bale's office, Jim put up a small fight about going in first, finally conceding to go in alphabetical order between Minnie and Bones. Cmdr. Bale sat behind his desk. He was a large black man with a closely shaved head and honey-colored eyes that betrayed nothing.

"Cadets 3rd Class Black, Kirk, and McCoy. Am I correct?"

"Yessir."

"Let's see, Kirk and McCoy… you've both already had two warnings for fighting prior to this, for which Kirk seems to be responsible. However, McCoy, you should be able to rein him in. You seem to be a very capable surgeon and adult. You've had to have dealt with bigger problems than a bozo starting fights. Now, Black, I know some of your family members. You know better than to do dangerous experiments on your own. Even a senior cadet would've been better than being alone. It's a matter of safety.

"Despite these issues, I have to say that the three of you have by far the highest marks I've ever seen in this office. You all have book smarts, but you're not using common sense. That is why you are being punished. I'm going to go easy on you this time and just give you some community service hours, five a week for three weeks. That is the absolute least I can do. Now then," he tapped on the keys of the computer in front of him before continuing, "I'm going to have you three volunteer at local afterschool program for some inner city kids. Tutor them, be a pal, teach them self-defense, whatever. Just keep them off the streets and don't teach them how to be delinquents. Understood?"

"Yessir."

"Good. You'll take a shuttle Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1500 hrs. You're all done classes by then. Dismissed. Don't miss that shuttle."

Jim was first out the door, and he was pissed.

"I don't believe this!" he fumed once outside, "Why couldn't we… feed the homeless? Or look after abandoned cats and dogs? Why'd it have to be kids?"

"Got something against kids, Jim?" Minnie asked as they flopped under a tree.

Jim didn't reply; he just pursed his lips. Bones sighed, lying out beside him. It wouldn't be so bad. He liked kids. He'd even done a stint in pediatrics during his residency. Hell, he had one.

"You don't seem to be too upset about out punishment, Minnie," he remarked.

The young lady propped herself up on her elbows and said, "I'm not. I love kids. I used to babysit my cousins when they were little. Haven't done it in years, though… I'm excited, really."

As she lay back down, Jim muttered, "You're so weird," earning himself a punch to the arm in retaliation. Bones laughed. These two would be fun. The death of him, possibly… but fun.

Strangers are just friends waiting to happen. ~Rod McKuen, Looking for a Friend(Thank you, Carolyn.)

Notes: A Cadet 3rd Class is a sophomore at the Academy. 1500 hrs is 3pm.

I figured Jim wouldn't have had much experience with kids, and if he did, it sucked. I thought it would be funny to have Bones's ancestors be a part of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, and I got my info on that from Wikipedia. I also figured with names like James Tiberius and Leonard Horatio, how weird can Minerva be? Finally, South Jersey is a great place to live. North Jersey gives us a bad rap. (Apologies if I just offended someone..) So, I had us secede from them! Now then, reviews make me as warm and fuzzy as a Tribble, and they'll let me know if I should fix anything :) More to come!