It was another normal day on the Enterprise, which meant that Scotty had just stopped a warp-core implosion, Kirk was dictating his log entry on how he'd dealt with an alien who thought she was Thor, God of Thunder, and Chekov was gossiping with Sulu about whether Spock and Uhura were going to get married in the spring.
Spock took up position beside the captain's chair and stood at attention, silently calling attention to the fact that he had something to discuss with the captain. Jim reached an appropriate cliffhanger and waved the yeoman with the recorder off. "I'll be here if you need anything else," she said, eyes tracing over him.
"That is the nature of the yeoman's duties," Spock said, before stepping in front of Jim. "Captain, is the log correct in showing you changed the duty roster to relieve Lieutenant Gaila last night?
"Yeah, she couldn't go on-duty, something big came up." Jim paused appropriately, before sidling forward in his chair.
"Something big came up."
"Is the object to which you're referring to your penis?"
"I'm not telling."
Spock held himself even stiffer, as if trying to make up for Jim's lax discipline. "Captain, need I remind you that Starfleet regulation 122B/F specifically prohibits ranking officers fromβ"
"I know, I know," Jim said with his face buried in his hand, "having any fun."
"Actually, it is regulation 466C/Ξ¨ which prohibits Frequent Unreported Negotiationsβ"
He was interrupted by a sound like a foghorn being violated. It went
vworp.
"What is that, mauve alert?" Jim asked Spock, not recognizing the alarm.
"I do not believe it is ours."
A tall blue box materialized on the bridge, between the consoles. Jim automatically leaned to the side to see past it to the viewscreen. He refocused on the TARDIS in time to see Donna Noble and the Doctor emerge, lost in conversation.
"Oi! A lottery ticket?" Donna demanded, giving the Doctor some shoves as he walked out of the TARDIS. "Are you pulling my leg? 'Sorry about the brain damage, ol' chum, here's some pence'? It's not even original."
"I did fix you," he pointed out, meagerly.
"Amy brought me back, with those wizard remembering powers of her." She poked him in the chest. "You ran around like a Chihuahua and felt sorry for yourself."
The Doctor spun away from her, looking round the bridge. "To business! Alright, who did it, which one of you fouled up a perfectly good timeline?"
Bones, who had finished up a nasty argument with Spock over alcohol consumption earlier that day, coughed and jerked a thumb at the Vulcan.
"You!" The Doctor circled around to Spock, ending up leaning over the captain's chair at him (much to Jim's consternation). "You're the one who's going to change the timeline, only you did, so now you won't, but you would've!"
"If you're referring to the incident with the
Narada,
discussion of those events is prohibited by the Temporal Prime Directive," Spock said coolly.
"Oh, how convenient! Because of almost you, all of time and space is going wibbly wobbly!"
Jim gave up on the Doctor acknowledging him. He stood up and pointedly ignored the Doctor in turn. "Guys, would anyone care to guess why a man in a bowtie is cussing me out on the bridge of my own spaceship?"
"He is the Doctor," Spock said, to which the Doctor puffed out his chest a little. "A renegade Time Lord of exceptional age and knowledge who amuses himself by traveling the space-time continuum, helping those in need."
"Space-time continuum, is that what you call it?" Donna piped up, from near the turbolift where she had a nice view of the captain's ass. "That's rubbish."
"Section four of the Temporal Prime Directive deals with the Doctor. It reads, in its entirety, 'Do as he says.'"
The Doctor turned from side to side, smirking. "And the bowtie is because bowties are cool. Alright, little ones, listen closely. Here's how I'm going to save all your lives. All of time and space has a booboo and I'm recommending a heavy dose of Vitamin Tachyon. That'll keep all the Reapers, Vortisaurs, Hunters, and Chronovores from being a bother. But we need an extra-special kind of tachyon, so you're going to have to fly past a black hole, towing the TARDIS behind. I'll be inside, but poke out a bit to grab a jarful. It'll be extraordinarily dangerous, so Donna, you'd best wait here."
The Doctor was preparing to run to his next destination (he liked running) when Spock spoke up.
"The tachyons you refer to would be gamma-tachyons, correct?"
"Yes, that's right, but I still haven't forgiven you for all the causality."
"Gamma-tachyons can be generated by the simple expenditure of injecting focused protons into the warp core's dilithium matrix. To do it safely and correctly will require a great deal of focus. I suggest we begin immediately."
Donna was still eyeing Jim's ass. In her defense, he had had his pants tailored. "Can I still stay on the ship?"
"Yes, yes, of course..." The Doctor fobbed her off to fix Spock with a glare. "That won't be as exciting as being dragged through a black hole, you know."
"It will be safer, and more efficient," Spock corrected.
"But also boring." The Doctor dashed over to put an arm around Jim's shoulder and a hand on his chest. To Donna's ire, he blocked her view. "Come on, Jimmy, Jimbo, Jimboree... you're Captain Kirk! Flying through space, punching out aliens, saving the day, getting the girl. Not that I approve of all that, but it seems to work for you. Don't tell me you have something better to do!"
Donna peeled him off the captain, taking a much closer look at Jim's square jaw and piercing blue eyes. Leaning back against the captain's chair, she thrust out her chest. The Doctor rolled his eyes. Spock raised an eyebrow.