The air was ice cold and sharp. One would say it bit on your skin. Jane has been through much worse though. It wasn't hard to climb out of the hole the pod melted in the ice. The drakoulias and hengrauggi was the hard part. Those animals were both predators and lot faster than humans. Jane somehow managed to escape them both and was chased into a cave where she had encountered someone very impossible.

Yet when the elder Spock showed her the explanation through the mind meld, it all made sense. And the sheer quantity and strength of the emotions she got from him almost knocked her to her knees.

"Going back in time, you changed all our lives."

"Jane…we must go. There is a Starfleet outpost not far from here."

"Wait. Where you came from…did I know my father?"

"Yes." Spock confirmed. "You often spoke of him as your inspiration for joining Starfleet. He proudly lived to see you become captain of the Enterprise."

"Captain?"

"A ship we must return you to as soon as possible." Jane shook her head but followed after the older Vulcan anyway.

Montgomery Scott, it appeared, was yet another person the elder Spock was familiar with and by the looks of things fond off. Jane could see why. The Scotsman may not have all the marbles straight but if his engineering experiment strewn across the floor was anything to go by; the man was a genius in his own right.

"You know, going back in time, changing history…" Jane spoke as they climbed on the transporter pads to be beamed to Enterprise. "That's cheating."

Spock nodded with fond smile. "Trick I learned from an old friend."

Did he now?

"Live long…and prosper." Spock said, Jane and Scotty disappearing in a twirl of white light.

It was no fun to break Spock. There was no joy in it. Just vast emptiness. It didn't take her to say much to make him snap. It was enough to mention his mother and he was done. She had seen what an enraged Klingon looks like. She had seen what enraged Andorian looks like. But nothing could have ever prepared her for an enraged Vulcan. Maybe because they looked so stoic and emotionally removed that even she, someone who knew better than to label Vulcans as emotionless robots, could not fathom to ever picture them as nothing else but that. Jane felt no pleasure in taking a seat in the captain's chair. Solely the instinctual duty she felt for Earth and Federation.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing…captain." Uhura spat as she came to stand next to the chair.

"To your station lieutenant." Jane growled out darkly before pressing the button for ship wide announcement to let the crew know they would be engaging Narada very soon.

"Keptin Kirk, keptin Kirk."

"Yes Chekov?"

"Based on zhe Narada's course from Vulcan, I have projected that Nero will travel past Saturn. Like you said, we need to stay invisible to Nero or he will destroy us. If Mister Scott can get us to warp factor four and if we drop out of warp behind one of Saturn's moons, say Titan…"

"Mhmm…"

"Then the magnetic distortion from the planet's rings will make us inwisible to Nero's sensors. From zhere as long as the drill is not actiwated we can beam aboard the enemy ship."

"Aye that might work." Scotty cut in, still drying his head with the towel. "Yeah, it's a stretch but it could." Sulu agreed.

Leonard however looked doubtful. "Now wait a goddamn minute! How are you kid?"

"Seventeen sir." Chekov stated proudly. "How old are you, Doctor?"

"Old enough to shave," McCoy shot back. "And when I shave, I'm only holding whiskers in my hand—not the fate of worlds."

"Bones, he's right." Jane cut it before potential escalation. "Doctor—Mister Chekov is correct."

Everyone on the bridge turned simultaneously toward the bridge's entrance where familiar but definitely far more collected and professional looking person stood. "If Mister Sulu can maneuver us into position according to the dictates expressed by Mister Chekov, and relying on Mister Scott's expertise in calculating transporter delimitations, I believe I can be beamed aboard Nero's ship, steal back the black hole device and if possible, bring back captain Pike."

Jane shook her head. "Yeah, that's too much of multitasking even for you Mr. Spock."

"Romulans and Vulcans share common ancestry. Our cultural similarities will make it easier for me to access the ship's computer to locate the device. Also, my mother was human. Which makes Earth the only home I have left."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"I would cite regulation but I know you would simply ignore it."

Smile stretched her lips. Who knew Vulcans could be sassy?

"See, we are getting to know each other." She clapped him on the shoulder on the way to the turbolift, not really giving him time to respond.

Jane was unable to suppress a grin when Sulu informed them that they were in position above Titan and were not detected. "Really?" Scotty sounded pleasantly surprised. "Fine job Mister Sulu, Mister Chekov. Well done."

"Mr. Sulu. If you think you have the tactical advantage, you fire on Narada even if we are still on board. You cripple her and it gives you a position to strong arm any potential negotiation in case we fail. That's an order."

"Yes, ma'am." Sulu's reply was somewhat hesitant but firm. "Otherwise we'll contact the Enterprise when we're ready to beam back."

"Good luck." Turning on her heel, she barely managed to restrain herself from stopping short and gaping like a crazy person when she saw Uhura and Spock embraced, whispering to each other. So it was more than having hots for the teacher.

"I will be back."

"You better be. I'll be monitoring your frequency."

"Thank you, Nyota."

Jane cleared her throat. "If you are done making doe eyes at each other, we should get going. We are on a tight schedule."

"Doe eyes?"

"I am certain Nyota will explain it to you when we return." Uhura glared at her without any real heat behind it. "Okey-dokey then. If there's any common sense in the design of the enemy ship, I should be putting you somewhere in the cargo bay. There shouldn't be a soul in sight.

"Energize."

Although Jane considered herself well versed in several martial arts, fighting against a Romulan is like punching a brick wall. In the end, she could acutely feel her bruised knuckles as she searched for Pike. And he looked even worse than she did.

"Captain, the enemy ship is losing power. Their shields are down, sir.

"Hail them now.

"Aye.

"This is Captain Jane T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Your ship is compromised. You're too close to the singularity to provide assistance, which we will provide.

"Captain, what are you doing?

"You show them compassion may be the only way to earn peace with Romulus. It's logic, Spock. Thought you'd like that." Jane replied as if it was obvious.

"No, not really. Not this time."

Even with his ship falling apart, Nero was glaring at them. "I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times. I would rather die in agony than accept assistance from you."

It took everything in her willpower not to shrug. "You got it. Arm phasers, fire everything we got."

"Yes, sir."

"Sulu, let's go home!"

For few seconds, she allowed the pessimistic thought about them being blown up to creep in her mind but once the explosion pushed the away, an honest, relieved smile danced on her lips and the way the bridge crew was giving her relieved smiles and nods, she could tell she earned all the approval she needed.

Once the adrenaline wore off, Jane had become keenly aware of the numerous injuries on and in her body. She was pretty sure three of her ribs were cracked and spleen was most definitely bruised. By no way was she a doctor but it would not be the first time she had these types of injuries. Closing her eyes for a moment to gather whatever energy she had left, she slowly rose to her feet and started walking towards the turbolift. "Mr. Spock, you have the conn."

"Captain?"

"I don't know about you commander, but I went through several rounds with Romulans and they are just as strong as Vulcans so my ribs are not exactly whole anymore. Plus, McCoy is going to kill me if I don't check in and I want to know how captain Pike is."

Though his face returned to its typical stoic expression, his eyes bore many questions and curiosity. She however was in no mood or shape to answer any of them. "Therefore you have the conn."

"Understood." The door slid shut and Jane let out a slow breath, her hand gripping the railing to keep herself upright.

She greeted people left and right with small, tight smile as she walked, cataloguing everything. The med bay was a functional chaos and definitely understaffed but for some reason, Jane suspected Bones's serious attitude to be the cause, there was no real crowd and everyone was tended to at leisured pace." Looking around, she approached the nearest nurse and asked for CMO's location.

"He's in the back in the intensive care unit checking on captain Pike." The nurse who identified herself as Christine Chapel replied, her eyes studying Jane's beaten up appearance closely. "If you need medical assistance for your numerous bruises and cuts, I can-"

"Thanks but I have a good number of allergies, including to most common sedatives and such so I'll just wait for doctor McCoy to come out. You got any place I can instead of standing in the middle of the med bay?"

Nurse Chapel shows her to a biobed that had been previously occupied by already discharged crewman and walks away to continue with her work. Jane somehow managed to get herself up on the bed and almost screamed when one of her ribs, for which she had previously thought were only slightly cracked, shifted and pressed into her lung. Immediately it became harder to breathe and she hoped Bones would come out soon.

With her eyes closed for couple of minutes, she failed to see the good old country doctor approaching but she did hear his heavy footsteps. "Good, I didn't need to drag you from the bridge." Bones muttered, hands immediately reaching for the tricorder. "Nice to see you too Bones. How's Pike?"

"Well, it was a bitch of a surgery, especially in half torn med bay but I managed to get some sort of parasite that was latched onto his brain stem. From all the tests we managed to do, it doesn't seem to have done great deal of damage but he will have temporary paralysis."

"For how long?"

"I can't answer that kid, it depends on his body's ability to recuperate and will. But from what I read in his medical file, he won't spend long confined to wheelchair. Something you two share." His eyes widened. "Good God woman, how are you still conscious?!"

"Adrenaline. I promise I came down as soon as it was possible to leave." The pain in the ribs flared again. "I think one of my ribs is poking at my lung."

"Two actually and your right lung is almost pierced. Lie down slowly, we'll take care of that first so I don't have to deal with a collapsed lung and internal bleeding as well. It's enough that half of your body is deeply bruised."

Somehow she managed to lie down without piercing her lung and without even realizing it really sailed off to dreamland before her friend even returned. "Reckless fool." Bones groused good naturedly upon finding his friend passed out on the biobed and set off to work on her injuries, shooting her with high dose of sedative along the way to make sure she would sleep for at least a full day.

He was quite confident that Spock could keep things running for a day and she would be no good to them for trip back if she collapsed from exhaustion. After making sure the various regenerators did their jobs, he attached nutrition IV to her and moved to his temporary office to get some shut eye. After everything that had happened, they all well deserved several hours of sleep to recuperate.

The distance between Earth and Saturn was only 8.54 astronomical units or 0.0001 light years. It was rather minute distance they had to cross. However, as only impulse engines were available and the primary fleet far away in the Laurentian system, it would take the battered Enterprise in total two and a half days to get back to Starbase 1 or 2.47 days according to Spock as he had informed her once she woke up from day long slumber thanks to the conniving old country doctor she had few not so pleasant words with.

Surprisingly Spock came to Bones's aid, pointing out that it was in poor behavior of a Starfleet officer to collapse from over exhaustion and untreated wounds. That is why she found herself cleaning up and changing uniforms in med bay with Bones and Spock waiting to give her the rest of the updates before she had to face the HQ after they were stalled by the latter, stating she was unconscious and recovering; and that he was operating at sufficient capacity to run the ship in the meantime. "How are we with food supply commander? And do the Vulcans we are transporting need anything besides food and peace?" It was the first thing she asked the moment she stepped out of Bones's temporary office.

"We have sufficient amount of food supply and lieutenant commander Scott has been successful in keeping the food synthesizers operating at nominal level. The Vulcan survivors do not require anything that has already been secured for them. I have however taken the liberty of reminding the crew on interaction with Vulcans."

"Good because I really do not need to sort out a social misunderstanding on top of everything else. I want you and lieutenant Uhura to work on casualty list for the Enterprise and see if you can clear few channels for Vulcans to use so they can communicate with couple of Vulcan colonies that do exist."

"Yes captain." Jane looked at her best friend. "Bones, you guys need anything here?"

"We can manage for another eighteen hours with the supplies we have Jane. Just make sure to tell that crazy Scottish engineer that we need the power here because I have few critical patients on life support."

"Alright. I'm going to my quarters where I expect to have a marathon discussion with Starfleet Command. And whenever that finishes, I'll make quick round to engineering to make sure Scotty is not experimenting too much and keeping the ship together. You two call me if you need anything and Bones, I want you to notify me when Pike wakes up again."

Both men replied 'understood' at the same time before the trio parted to go about their own duties. On the way to her quarters, Jane informed Uhura to call the command and tried to mentally steel herself for the unpleasant barrage of questions and insinuations she just knew would be thrown her way. While the first part was something she fully expected, the other part already irritated her immensely.

Nevertheless, she thought that doing this sooner rather than later would be beneficial for her nerves. Ordering coffee from the replicator, she sat down at the small desk and waited for the call to connect. The screen came alive a minute later, showing the relieved but tense face of admiral Richard Barnett. Internally she sighed in relief. At least it wasn't Marcus. That man gave her the creeps. "Captain Kirk, I am glad that you are finally conscious."

"Thank you sir. I'm afraid my rumble with the Romulans hand to hand broke my ribs. At the very least."

"Yes, doctor McCoy had already given us the full rundown of captain Pike and your injuries. Now, Commander Spock has already given us full report. If you are ready, we can begin."

"I am."

"Please start with the moment you realized that you were warping into a trap."

"Well…"

Her brain was tad bit fuzzy from the whiskey currently circulating in her body, courtesy of her ATT instructor commander Tinel, but her current condition suited her fine for the conversation she dreaded a bit for the last week and a half. That is how long it has been since the destruction of Vulcan, secondary fleet in its orbit and Narada's destruction near Saturn. In space of days they went from students to officers and back to students.

It was amazing how quickly people could bounce back from utter disaster to daily routines. The courses still had to be finished though little leeway was given to people being late with their assigned homework or skipping a simulation. There was not much time left until graduation, another month and that was it. The senior year was decimated and less than a quarter of the entire senior student body survived the entire event so the junior year that was less but still significantly affected would graduate with what was left of seniors. It was unbelievably happy yet tragically sad fact to take in.

Taking a left turn on the seventh floor corridor of Starfleet Medical, Jane came upon her best friend who had been working shift after shift since they returned with no regard for his free time really. He was one of the best doctors in Starfleet and flat out refused for someone else to treat Pike, even doctor Boyce was nicely sent away despite the fact the older doctor knew Pike longer. "Right on time kid. He's been awake for good four hours now."

"Is he finally lucid?"

"Yeah. This was expected though Jane, he had a parasite chewing on his brain stem. Admiral Barnett and few of the other bigwigs were here to talk to him so he won't shout too much. Just don't get his blood pressure too high; I'd like to flush out the sedatives from his system."

"Right." Jane sighed before slowly walking into Pike's room. The man was too still for her taste even if she had never seen him do something incredibly athletic, it was clear to her that he had been in perfect physical condition for a man of his age until week ago.

"Finally Kirk, I thought I would have to order you to come here."

Jane dragged a chair to sit close to his bedside. "You mean when you were lucid enough to do so." Pike shot her a weak smile before he got serious. "So…captain huh? I distinctly remember promoting you to first officer."

"If you're looking for an apology…"

He waved his hand dismissively. "I know better Jane. I can't really criticize you for saving billions of lives though your way of taking command from Spock is much to be desired. Not to mention the half dozen protocols you broke."

"Oh? And how exactly should I have proved he was emotionally compromised?" Jane bit her lip when she realized just how sharp her tone was but Pike had no real answer to her question. "Look, he and I already put that in the ground so leave it there, yeah? Besides, isn't my out of the box thinking what you recruited me for?"

Pike sighed. "You're such a pain in the ass."

"But you like me anyway."

"Have you been drinking?" He suddenly asked, catching the faint whiff of whiskey in the air. "It's barely noon and you have classes."

"I had ATT this morning and it was Tindal's idea to go for a drink instead of a class. Not that you can call Pamae and I a class."

"Jesus…" His eyes closed as her words sank in. "Yeah, it was indescribably depressing when two of us showed up so we spent last two hours drinking and barely saying a word."

"Jane."

"It's fine, death seems to be constant companion of mine so I've learnt to deal with it."

'You shouldn't have had to learn to deal with it when you were a kid. That's what later years of life are for.' Pike shook his head and leaned back into bed. "McCoy says I'll be walking again in six or so months."

"Well, if he says so than it's true. He doesn't sugar coat things."

"No, he doesn't. The man has terrible bedside manner."

"He's not doing it to be liked."

"True. I was also told that the Enterprise will be ready to fly again in about two months if that engineer you found on Delta Vega is to be trusted."

"Oh he can be trusted when it comes to all things related to a ship. I think he's in love with the Enterprise." Jane chuckled a bit.

"Anyway, I wanted be the one to tell you this and you are not to share it with anyone until your graduation."

"Yees?" She drawled, curiosity dancing in her vivid blue eyes. "When Enterprise is ready to go again, you'll be commanding it.

One blink. Two. Three. Four. "I'm sorry what?" Jane rubbed her face. "I thought I only drank two glasses."

"You're not hearing wrong. Command cadets are in short supply and the entire disaster has us spread thin at the moment. And the command didn't really know how to award you besides giving you the Enterprise."

"I said I'll finish Academy in three years. Not jump from cadet to captain."

"No but then again how many cadets can you name that saved billions of lives on their first real mission?"

"It was a joint effort." Pike smiled widely this time. "And then there's you selling yourself short and shifting all the praise to others. Obviously you know how to value your crew and from what Spock and other seasoned officers reported, you handled command like you have been doing this for years. So it wasn't really difficult to agree with the board."

"You people are crazy."

"No more than you apparently. Now get going, I'm sure you have afternoon classes. And I suggest you start working on your crew roster and such. Paperwork is aplenty in captain's position."

"You are a devious man captain."

Pike snorted. "Get lost."

"Sir, yes sir."

"This assembly calls Captain Jane Tiberia Kirk." With practiced ease, the called person descended from her spot in the formation to the podium, unable to hide her smile.

It was the first time in a month and change that there was a genuine reason to do so. "Your inspirational valor and supreme dedication to your comrades is in keeping with the highest traditions of service, and to reflect utmost credit to yourself, your crew, and the Federation, it is my honor to award you with this commendation." She straightened up as he pinned the medal on her cadet red uniform. "By Starfleet Order two-eight four.. five..five, you are hereby directed to report to Admiral Pike, USS Enterprise, for duty as his relief."

There was barely any of the original color now admiral Pike had in his hair. The trauma turned it completely gray however in Jane's personal opinion, he wore it very well. "I relieve you, sir."

"I am relieved."

"Thank you, sir."

"Congratulations, Captain. Your father would be proud." The crowd erupted in cheers and applause second later as she turned to face them.

She drank in their faces, some or most of them would be her crew. Again. Though everyone looked genuinely happy, the bridge crew, except for absent Commander Spock; had various degrees of disbelief mixed with joy and Bones looked like he just wanted to send everyone to have their heads checked. She finally got the chance to speak to the doctor in person once everyone dispersed to go about their duties or homes. "Total insanity!"

"Thanks Bones, I feel all warm and tingly inside."

"Congratulations kid but seriously? Isn't this just a bit jumping the shark?"

Jane shrugged. "Look, I told them they were crazy but on the other hand, when I sat down in that chair it felt like I have done that million times before. Not really sure how to describe it."

"You drank anything?"

"No, my friend, I am surprisingly sober."

"I suppose I am tagging along on the tin bucket?"

"That is completely your decision." Jane replied. "But I do want the best and I am hoping most of the previous crew that graduated to return. No use in trying to fix what ain't broken." Just to make sure to get her message clear, her bottom lip stuck out and her eyes crinkled, giving the best 'lost puppy' expression.

"Damn it Jane!" Bones threw his hands up in the air. "That ain't fair."

"So long as it works, I won't refrain from using it."

"Infant."

"Grumpy teddy bear."

"Do you two need a room?" Both turned their head to the source of the voice, lieutenant Uhura. "It's not like that and you know it." Jane stated. "What can we do for you?"

"I just received this." She waved her personal PADD she apparently carried everywhere. "Did you time it?"

"I don't leave anything to chance. By the way, is that a 'yes'?"

Uhura smiled widely. "Of course it is. You've sent this to everyone who was on the Enterprise, didn't you?"

"Like I told Bones. If it ain't broken," Uhura finished for her. "No sense in fixing it."

"Yeah. The only one I'm not sure about is Spock though that is understandable, I guess."

"Yeah, he has a lot on his mind."

Jane immediately picked up on the uncertainty in the Uhura's tone. "Hey, you wanna grab some drinks? I'm buying."

"How long have you been waiting to ask me that one?"

"A long time."

Slight shake of the head. "Fine, since you're buying."