Road to recovery

Author's note: Aaand here we go, the final bit! 10k words gosh I've never crossed into the 5 digit range before (okay I'm cheating a little the 10k words probably includes my ramblings too haha). I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I have writing this!

A big thank you to the following reviewers: Vana Valie, elektrum, Kaedn Miles, fireicewriter42, TheMasterofFanfic555, DarkRed101, DancingInTheDark85, TK2013, Rhirhi, mi guard, Hanabatake, MelliaBee, Whovianeverlark17, and the anonymous reviewers. And of course, not forgetting those who favorited/ followed my story!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything!

Epilogue

A few months later.

"Dress uniforms," grumbled McCoy, "I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to withstand this."

"We haven't even started, Bones," replied Jim as he fixed his cap.

It's been a year since everything happened. A year of patching up friendships, physiotherapy and coming to terms with what happened.

He's ready again.

"You sure you're up for this?" asked McCoy, looking at Jim seriously. Spock was apparently siding with McCoy on this one, because he surreptitiously blocked the only exit available for Jim.

Jim mentally notes to himself that he needs to talk to Spock about ganging up with McCoy against him.

"Oh come on, Bones, it's merely a ceremony. It's not something I haven't done before."

I want this. I want to be present to receive the Enterprise personally. To be Captain again.

McCoy relented.

"Alright. But you're not allowed to push yourself, you hear me? Anything wrong, you raise your hand and I'll be there. I've spoken to the ceremonial officers already, I'm attending as your officer, but I'm also registered as your primary physician, so I'll be..."

"Oh relax, Bones! Here, have some bourbon," said Jim, as he mysteriously produced a bottle out of thin air... which was then snatched by McCoy.

"You're not allowed to have any. That's for me and my frayed nerves. No small thanks to you and your Vulcan shadow."

"Doctor, I am not a shadow."

"Yeah you're not. You follow Jim tighter than a shadow would."

Spock gave McCoy one of his you-illogical-humans look.

Jim laughed.

"Captain Kirk, please."

He stepped on the stage and saw them: his comrades, his friends, his buddies.

His family.

McCoy. Spock. Uhura. Scotty. Sulu. Chekov.

Together, the seven of them have braced the impossible, succeeded where others would have failed. He couldn't have done it without any one of them, and he's not going to leave any one of them behind in the next five year mission.

Jim took his place on the podium.

"There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves."

Vulcan was destroyed by a vengeful Nero... but to militarise and defend the Federation, Marcus revived and used Khan to start a war, becoming the very villain he sought to defend the Federation against.

"Our first instinct is to seek revenge when those we love are taken from us."

He had started this for Pike, plunged into this whirlpool without thinking, determined to catch Khan despite Scotty's and Spock's clear reservations.

"But that's not who we are. We are here today to rechristen the USS Enterprise, and to honour those who lost their lives nearly one year ago."

I will never again forget the lives I carry on my shoulders.

"When Christopher Pike first gave me his ship he had me recite the Captain's Oath, words I didn't appreciate at the time. Now I see them as a call for us to remember who we once were, and who we must be again."

We are not military. We rule with compassion, not with strength. We make contact with new civilisations, to build friendships, to promote equality for all.

"And those words?"

"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her five year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

To the next five years, with the Federation's greatest ship and the best crew in the entire galaxy.

-The End-

P.S. I must say, I never understood that Captain's Oath thing-shouldn't it be more general than just about the Enterprise? So I attempted to explain things a little, and I hope it worked out!

Reviews and comments are, as usual, very much appreciated.