A/N

I'll specify ahead of time that this is based on the proposed Star Trek: Federation series. That said, hopefully can still stand on its own.

Curiosity

"Well, you know what they say. Curiosity killed the cat."

"Who's they?"

"Well, you know…they. As in…people…who said stuff…about…cats…"

"Uh-huh. Of course."

Commander Alexander Kirk suspected that Chel most likely knew what he was talking about. Curiosity killed the cat. He had no idea when that phrase was created, but it couldn't have been an uncommon one. Cats were still around after all, though why curiosity was a murderer, he couldn't say.

You're overthinking it.

Cats. Killing birds with stones. It was no wonder so many species had left the Federation, he reflected – its dominant one had the strangest language in the galaxy. Still, Chel Forlaan and the ektosi were exceptions. An exception that was currently lying on a bed in sickbay, a phaser wound set to keep her there for the next week, but an exception nonetheless. He walked over to the ektosi, wondering what to say. Or indeed, if he should say anything.

"You look…good," he said slowly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you making a move on me?"

"No!" Kirk blurted out. "I mean…y'know…your wound…it…well…you…"

"Relax Alex, I know what you meant," Chel said, still lying there.

"Oh, good."

"Yeah. I know you meant that you think I look good lying down like this."

"Ugh."

Kirk knew he'd brought this on himself. It had been a joke…a joke, he told himself. He shared the surname with the famous Captain James Tiberius Kirk, and yes, as he'd told the crew of this generation's Enterprise, he was descended from him. Heck, the man probably had a thousand descendants by now, spread over the galaxy. Unfortunately, that joke had stayed. Until he became a captain at all, he'd be stuck with jokes coming his way about orion girls, gods not needing spaceships, and being crushed by falling bridges.

And then there was Lieutenant Commander Chel Forlaan. An ektosi, the ship's security ship, and a living embodiment of the phrase that curiosity had killed the cat. Or at least wounded it in a planetary survey towards a possible Scourge incursion on Alpha Draconis. Her curiosity and refusal to be beamed up had resulted in phaser fire, phaser wounds, and jokes about redshirts for some reason. Even if grey was the name of the game in the 31st century.

"You still here?" she asked.

Kirk blinked. "What?"

"You," Chel said. "You're staring at a wall as if it's a bloody wormhole."

Kirk opened his mouth…then closed it. A wall. His comeuppance was a wall.

"So tell me," Chel continued, smirking. "This wall. Does it have any new life? New civilizations?"

"I'm leaving."

"Oh come on Alex," she called as Kirk headed for the exit. "Curiosity! It's why we're all out here, isn't it?"

He stopped in his tracks. Curiosity. And not one cat joke. Slowly, he turned around to the L.C. And for the first time in the last five minutes, she wasn't smirking like the feline, slim, totally not attractive female that she was.

Wait, what?

"Curiosity," she repeated. "That's what Starfleet was about once, wasn't it? Exploring the galaxy? To boldly go where no man has gone before?"

"No-one," Kirk murmured.

"No, no man," Chel said. "That's what Zefram Cochrane said, whether you like it or not."

Zefram Cochrane, Kirk reflected. Born over a thousand years ago, died over half a century ago. The man who'd opened up the stars for humanity. What would he think now, he wondered? To see the Federation reduced to a handful of planets? To see a small, practically defunct Starfleet? To see his dreams unfulfilled?

"Curiosity," Chel said. "I mean, yeah, there's the Scourge, but that's why we're out here aren't we, at the end of the day? To see what's beyond the horizon, and all that?"

Kirk remained silent.

"Well?"

"I…don't know," he sighed. "I mean, maybe…once…but the Scourge…" He blinked, and sat down on one of the chairs by Chel's bed. The Scourge. Once, it had been xindi. Then the klingons. Then the borg. Then the Dominion. Then the iconians. And then…well, it didn't matter. There'd always been something threatening humanity, and the Federation as a whole. Why would the Scourge be any different?

Why say it's about exploration when it's always been about survival?

"So, you know what?" Chel said. "Curiosity may kill us. Heck, it may kill me one day." She let out a small laugh. "But hey, curiosity…it's the reason we're here, you know?"

And she believed it, Kirk realized. Really, honestly believed it.

And for the first time in a long while, he smiled to.

"What you smiling at?"

And the smile faded.

"Nothing," he said, getting to his feet, heading for the door. "I'm, just…glad…that curiosity didn't kill you."

"Yeah," Chel said. "Me too."

"Right." He stepped out into the hallway.

Curiosity. Cats.

Right now, he was pretty certain that one of them would get him killed.