100. Challenge

100. Challenge

"So you're really against these ideas about upgrading?"

Jim shrugged slightly and shifted in his seat. McCoy and Spock watched as he sipped at his coffee and avoided their eyes. Spock looked at the doctor and raised an eyebrow over his tea as the older man tried again. "I get, especially after that catastrophe, that you don't want total computer take over but you have to admit that in a lot of areas it could seriously ease our way."

"Yes." Jim shrugged again. "I know that but... Look, I agree that if there are computerized ways to save lives and take some of the risk out of what we do then we should be all for it but I just don't..."

Spock and McCoy waited patiently as he finally sighed and took his eyes from his drink. "I don't want it to be easy."

"...You do not wish for the challenge to be removed." Spock realized.

"Yes... I enjoy the extra work." Jim looked at them both and smiled slightly. "I like the idea that what we do is hard and that we have to strive to do our best. I think that's why the human race has accomplished so much in the short time we've existed, compared to other species anyway, and what Starfleet is all about. We fight and strive and try harder when faced with a challenge. I don't like the idea of making exploration easy..." He turned to McCoy. "What if they had an android or computer that could, on its own, diagnose and treat a patient? Would you trust it? Would you really want to put so much in an inanimate object's hands in order to make something easier?"

McCoy stared at him for a moment before smiling slightly. "You've been practicing this, haven't you?"

"Bones..." Jim turned to Spock. "I know it's not really a logical idea but-"

"It may not be logical." Spock said quickly. "But it is a very human thing to say."

Jim smiled widely.

Just then the door to the rec-room burst open and Sulu and Chekov stumbled through the door, laughing and giggling. Both young men looked at their superiors for a moment before laughing again and trying to shut each other up. McCoy was about to ask when Uhura appeared in the door and put a finger to her lips, winking.

They all stood there for a long moment before-

"Dammit, lad! Where the hell d'you get the nerve t-" Scotty stumbled to a halt in the door in surprise. "Ah, Captain. Doctor. Mr Spock."

"Mr Scott, is there a reason for this interesting behavior?" Jim was trying very hard to keep his 'captain face' on but it was hard.

"It seems that Mr Chekov and Mr Sulu over here thought it would be a good jest t' put somethin' in my drink that seems to have turned my tongue green and-"

Over the laughter that both younger officers had collapsed into again, Scotty's voice could be heard swearing violently in his native language; Uhura laughing as well as she tried to haul Chekov to his feet from where he was clinging to Sulu. At the table, Jim, McCoy and Spock all smiled at one another in their own ways, McCoy raising his mug. "Here's to the little challenges that make life fun."

His captain flashed a bright smile. "I'll drink to that."