A Relentless Pursuit (Star Trek: Jim Kirk/OC)

Chapter 18

Four months later...

Farrah Pike sat outside a conference room waiting to speak to members of the Academy Board.

She had been called down here about twenty minutes ago and she wasn't sure of the reason.

But waiting had given her time to think of what had happened in the four months since they returned to Earth from defeating Nero.

Firstly, as soon as they had landed on the docking bay where the Enterprise was going to undergo all the necessary repairs, her father was rushed to the hospital.

He had woken up briefly in the shuttle on the way there, and Farrah had refused to leave his side when they wanted her to stay. She told him about what happened while he was under sedation, and what Lenny had told her about his legs.

On the shuttle he had tried to move them but found he couldn't do it. He had started having a an anxiety attack and the medics in the shuttle had to sedate him again to calm him down.

She didn't speak to him again until after he'd had his surgeries. Apparently he'd had a Centaurian slug shoved down his throat, and it had started to eat at his spinal cord. When the doctors had informed her of this she had wanted nothing more to find Nero and kill him herself, but he was already dead so she had to find other ways to deal with the anger and hatred she felt for Nero, for all Romulans it seemed she had put at fault.

And her father was still alive, healthy as he could be after that ordeal. He was for now confined to a wheelchair but he was slowly beginning to be able to take slow steps again but not enough that he would be able to get around very far.

The surgeons had done a wonderful job on his spinal cord with the only fault being that he would most likely walk with a cane for the rest of his life.

She had hated feeling so helpless while on the Narada and Ayel was choking her. So she had signed herself up for another further Advanced Combat class at the Academy that she would take until the Enterprise was shipped out again.

She had been assigned to the Enterprise as Chief Tactical Officer permanently. Just as many of her fellow cadets who had been on the Enterprise were given their positions permanently as well. She was especially happy when Nyota had told her she was assigned to the Enterprise as Chief Communications officer permanently as well.

The two of them had mourned the loss of Gaila together. A funeral that was held on Earth, as Gaila loved it so much her parents had it there. The two of them had the chance to meet some of Gaila's Orion friends who had made the journey. And they had gotten to meet the many people who had known Gaila.

The worst part, at least to her, was that there had been no body, just as there had been no body for any of the other people either. A fact Farrah had to accept may happen to her at any time.

It could happen to any of the officers who willingly walked on a Starship as it journeyed the galaxy.

Another thing that made her smile slightly was her relationship with Jim. After that sudden kiss they shared on the Enterprise while it made its way home they hadn't spoken until back on Earth.

Jim had come to sit with her at the hospital once he was done speaking with the Starfleet Academy about what had happened. He came and sat down in a chair beside her and took her hand. They didn't say anything to each other but him just being there brought her comfort.

Some time after her father was well on his way to being healed, Jim had knocked on her door and asked her on an actual date.

She'd said yes and the next week he had pulled up at her building in a new motorcycle as the last one he had given away. She wasn't sure what to expect on the date, he wouldn't tell her what they were doing only that it was a surprise.