76. Rescue

76. Rescue

Kevin Reilly put an arm around Ensign Peters shoulders and rubbed her arm soothingly. Next to him Ensign Green gritted his teeth and scratched at his cast irritably.

"I think I want to punch these jerks' smug faces off."

"Easy Matt." Kevin sighed and rolled his shoulders to ease some of the tension. "They're our superiors after all."

The three young officers looked over to where the Commodore and Ambassadors were situated. They'd formed almost a ring around Captain Kirk, who kept his gaze fixed firmly on the ground, at parade rest. To most it looked like the man was being respectful and withdrawn but anyone who knew him could see the fury boiling under the surface. Kevin felt the shoulders under his arm begin to shake and quickly squeezed his friend soothingly.

"Holly, it's okay, he's going to be fine."

Green snorted. "He broke about seven different laws to get us out of there and disobeyed a direct order from his superior officer."

"He does it all the time." Kevin argued. "Remember the Galileo Seven? Or when François got sick during that meteor shower? Hell, there was that whole detour to Vulcan and no one even knows what that was about…"

"Still…" Peters sniffed and leaned more against Kevin. "He shouldn't have risked so much."

The young man smiled as he watched their captain bow to the men. "Yeah, well, that's Jim Kirk for you; no man left behind."

Kirk looked them over, arms crossed and an appraising look in his eyes. "Everyone alright? That looks like a nasty break, Green."

The younger man jumped slightly at his captain's interest but shook his head. "Doctor McCoy says it'll heal quickly."

"Good. Well, no more wandering off, alright? No plant samples are worth three good officers."

Peters piped up as they all nodded their heads. "Thank you for coming after us."

Kirk grinned broadly. "Always. Come on, back to the ship. Time to tell Mr. Spock that his plan worked."

Kevin blinked. "Sir? The Commander was part of the rescue operation?"

"Of course." The captain was smiling even wider as they all made their way through the base. "Last thing Spock wants is to lose a couple of excellent science officers."

The three younger people looked at each other behind his back, eyes wide. Kevin grinned and whispered, "I told you, no man left behind."