The Captain's Chair: A short story

“I’m gonna miss this chair. From here I have seen so much. Ushered in peace, and navigated through the treacherous waters of war. From here I have seen friends die.” He smiled ruefully, “It was a chair, very much like this one, where I discovered who I really am. To think, everything this chair has seen, and it’s being left to gather dust in a museum. I was sitting in that chair when you and I first met, old friend. Do you remember? Of course you do, that brain of yours doesn’t forget a thing, does it? You know, the only time I was ever truly sad sitting here was when I thought I had lost you. I remember coming back up here after your funeral and sitting down. I couldn’t get comfortable. Nothing seemed right, and my mind… my mind would not focus on anything. I felt no joy feeling that surge of power as we began to move. The wonder I have always held of the stars was lost without you.”

                He turned away from the chair and walked to navigation console, leaning forward on it, with his hands firmly planted. “Bones said I went a little crazy after you died, and I guess I had to have been a little crazy. How else could’ve I stolen the ship to come find you? Sitting in that chair again, high with the hope of finding you, I was excited again. I was happy to be in that chair, to be home again. And being on that planet, with you by my side as it was destroyed; I didn’t feel an immense sadness. The old girl had done all I had asked of it—it brought you back to me, old friend. Even in that rust bucket we took from Kruge, that chair felt right because you were by my side again.”

                He smiled, honestly this time. “I’m going to miss this chair. It was far more comfortable than the first one.” He turned to his friend, who was standing off to the side watching and listening with his hands behind his back. “Well, Spock, aren’t you going to say anything? I know the chair won’t mean as much to you, but the ship, and the name, must mean something to you!”

                “I have never understood the connection that humans make to inanimate objects, as a Vulcan. However, the human part of me does feel a longing to stay. It is, however, illogical to miss a starship. It is far more logical to miss the people I have spent time with on this ship. The human side of me will reminisce about Chekov’s unsubstantiated claims of Russian dominance in classic literature, while the Vulcan side of me will urge me to continue on and not live in my past.” Spock paused, and looked over at the science station, his science station. “I will, however, miss the opportunities that my position on the ship allowed me. And you, Jim. I will miss you on the day that we part for the last time.”

                Jim Kirk smiled at his old friend, “Bones would say that that would be damned illogical for a cold-blooded, pointy eared bastard like you.” Kirk laughed at his own joke, while Spock merely raised his eyebrow quizzically. “Don’t worry Spock, it’s going to be a long time before we part ways. I’m heading out for the shakedown cruise with the Enterprise-B, and then I’ll be back doing god knows what. Do you remember what you said to me while you were dying? ‘I have been and always shall be, your friend.’ I mean to hold you to that.” Kirk clapped his hands and headed towards the turbolift, “Now, I have to get ready for that shakedown. I’ll see you when I get back, supper that night?” Kirk smiled as he entered the lift, knowing that he had many more years to spend with his friend.

                Spock stood by the captain’s chair, a place he had so often stood before, and looked around the bridge, one last time. He remembered the banter between Sulu and Chekov. He remembered Uhura’s professionalism, and the way she would shake her head at the antics that went on around her. He remembered Scotty’s determination to this ship. And most of all, he remembered the way that Bones, Jim, and he would talk; the humans laughing at some joke while he stood beside them, never fully understanding why something was funny, but never feeling like he was the joke. Spock would miss this ship. It was just something he would not admit to Jim. Not yet. Perhaps when Jim returned.

                But Spock would not see Jim again.