SO UM THIS GOT LONG and this is easier lmao
SO IM MEANT TO BE WRITING AN ESSAY BUT BRILLIANT (AWFUL) IDEA: It’s an ordinary day when Spock gets a headache, and even though Jim pressures him to see Bones ‘because I want to make sure you’re not getting sick or something’ ‘captain, i’m fine’ ‘i’ll sic nyota on you’, Spock sits in the middle of his quarters, the outline of something - no, someone - fuzzy and colourless in front of him. This figure is blurry for a week, a shadow behind him, and then it whispers ‘hello’.
The figure doesn’t say much after that, seemingly focused on appearing much clearer to Spock, as only a few days after, features solidify into an attractive - by Terran standards - amalgamation of every crewmember in the form of a young woman in silver Starfleet uniform. She goes to open her mouth while Spock triple-checks results sent from the labs, but a beep from Nyota’s console drowns it out. Or, maybe, the beep was her speaking. Either way, the woman frowns.
She instead spends the rest of shift sitting at Jim’s feet, looking up at him with a smile Spock remembers from somewhere. [It comes to him later, as he finishes reports. Ensign Chekov smiles like that.] This woman follows him around, bouncing between the crewmembers and spinning around in the labs, non-physical form useful when she almost collides with an experiment, and instead passes through. Spock ignores her, and she yelps when his hand passes through where her lungs would be.
This woman has existed for a month, a month of silence and inactivity and then Spock finds her sitting cross-legged on his bed, a frown on her face. “Do I bore you, Commander?”
“Excuse me?”
“Do. I. Bore. You.”
“I need some information on who ‘you’ are before I can provide a proper response.”
“I’m your ship, Spock.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m the Enterprise.”
“That is impossible.”
“You drunk dialled your alternate self to bitch about Jim four times in a week, don’t call me impossible.”
After that, the Enterprise still stays with him, but often wanders off to the rest of the bridge crew, and to the new recruits. She sits with Chekov after a transporter incident leaves him bright pink, and waters Sulu’s plants on the nights he crashes. She makes sure that McCoy doesn’t drink too much, and checks on Scotty on the nights when he does. But she always finds her way back to Spock, who sometimes wakes up to her stretching in his quarters.
“You’re the only one who sees me.” She says when he asks about her choice of company. “The only telepath on board, the only one who sees me.”
“Do you wish they could see you?” He questions.
“My bones have been hollowed out so I can carry you across a star-lit void, Spock. Why wouldn’t I want them to see my heart?”
Somehow, they work together. A half Vulcan half Human who’s the only friend of the ship who keeps him, and his crew, alive. She reads his paper-and-ink books, and sings often, in the languages of the crew she carries. When she sings the song his mother favoured, he stiffens, and she stops.
“You may continue.” He says, a moment too late, and she walks over.
“But it hurts you.“
“It will always hurt me. I am a part of an endangered species. Loss will be a constant within my life.”
She rests her intangible hand over his. “Then I’ll be there alongside you.”
One day, Enterprise (“Call me Ennie, Spock. I call you by your name.”) sits him down and tells him that Ensign Varma is showing signs of emotional distress, and she needs him to intervene. When he brings it up with Chapel, she purses her lips, double checks the medical records, and spots the first signs of thyroid failure.
“There’s someone in distress five minutes at warp eight away. Turn about 118°.” They rescue a shuttle of refugees.
“It’s Jim’s birthday today.” Spock invites him to chess.
“Spock, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were omnipotent.” Jim jokes over chess, forgetting it’s his birthday. Ennie sits behind him, eyes wet. She curls up against him, and smiles.
“My Jim.” She says.
Spock says nothing, but agrees.
Her sentience is older now, solid in it’s existence, woven deep into the code which kept her metal hull alive, and nobody had ye-
“Captain, there’s a line of code in this transmission that I don’t recognise.”
“Let me see.”
Jim and Nyota pour over the code, jotting down notes on PADDs and next to him Ennie is shaking. “I’m not ready yet, what am I supposed to do? WHat if something goes wrong? What if something happens and I turn evil? What if I kill the crew by accident? What i-”
“You have inherited Doctor McCoy’s ability to over exaggerate.” Spock says, out loud, and the bridge crew spin to face him.
“What?” Jim asks, and Spock gestures to his feet.
“Simply discussing the end of the known universe with the ship, Captain.”
“End of t- Spock, don’t screw with me right now. There’s something wrong with my girl, and if I don’t figure out what’s wrong then who knows what could happen.”
Spock sighs, and stands. “Captain, Vulcans do not joke. I have been in conversation with the Enterprise for over four months, which has lead to my ‘omnipotence’, as you so called it. I am the only individual on the ship capable of seeing her, due to my telepathic abilities.”
“Have you been flirting with my ship?”
Ennie cackles.
Ennie stands by Spock as the Heads of Department walk in to the emergency meeting, but immediately dances between everyone when they sit down. She doesn’t still until Spock raises one eyebrow at her, and she stills behind Nyota’s shoulder.
Scotty is half asleep, but the mention of his girl has him wide awake, and Ennie laughing.
“Are ye tryin’ to tell me that the ship’s been alive this whole time!? Our ship!? Sentient!?“
“Yes, Scotty. It looks like Mr Spock’s been hiding important information from us.”
“I have not been hiding information.” He states, and Ennie smiles at him.
“Mr Spock, I get that ye didn’t want to be seen like an idiot, but this is the ship we’re talkin’ about. Do you know how many times I’ve had to repair the ship after a skirmish? How many times we’ve come close to losing her? If she’s sentient, I better damn well know about it!” Scotty is red in the face, angry and horrified at the gamble.
“Mr Scott-”
“She’s keepin’ us all alive in this empty hellhole and you repay her by hiding her existence!?”
“Mr Scott-”
“God, this ship has died for us, and you’re sittin there like you’ve got nothin’ to do with this whole bloody-”
“Scotty!” Ennie’s yell is loud, and the room is eerily silent.
“Enterprise?” Pavel whispers, eyes darting around the room, before settling behind Nyota. “Enterprise.”
“Hi, Pasha.” She is only a blur to them, but months of practice allows her to finally, finally, show herself, and the looks on the faces of her crew makes her laugh. “Hi, everyone! Oh my god, you can see me! You can hear me!” She squeals, and squeezes Nyota from behind, who laughs at the tight, surprise hug. She continues around the table, until she reaches Jim. She stops, and rests her head against his chest, and clutches his shirt. “Don’t you scare me like that ever again.”
It has been three months since Ennie “reached her Final Form!” 'I’m not a cartoon character.“, and, like clockwork, the crew for Alpha shift walked onto the bridge. Jim greets everyone with a smile and a nod, and turns to Ennie.
“How are you feeling?”
She smiles. “Pretty good. I’m pumped for some space exploration.”
The crew laughs, and turn to their consoles. Ennie looks at her crew, the odd stuttering of her non-existent heart speeding up as she breathes in the smell of home. “Punch it, Mr Sulu.”
@ravenschmaven this is a brilliant idea and I am in AWE of this writing. It was sweet, and mystical and oh my God I loved it.
Thank you so much for submitting this!
I dunno if I should be picturing @janey-jane‘s Ballarina Enterprise BUT I DEFINITELY AM.
YES. @janey-jane’s ballerina enterprise is perfect for this!
!!!!!!! ohgosh. this is so sweet and lovely and it made my heart burst into starlight. and I completely adore the thought of different aspects of each of the crew manifesting through her. ♥♥♥
(via janey-jane)
