A/N: I'm a latent Trekkie and flipping proud of it, man.

I don't write slash. Just so you know.

Disclaimer: Star Trek and all related are property of whoever owns it now (it's definitely not me).

Thrusters on Full

"This assembly calls Captain..."

Admiral Barnett paused for the briefest of seconds before continuing, as though relishing how it sounded to once more put the title 'Captain' in front of a name that ended in 'Kirk'. A Captain Kirk who hadn't died twelve minutes after assuming command. A captain who hadn't saved just eight hundred lives, but that of his crew, the six billion on Earth alone and many more lives within the Federation itself.

It was music to Spock's ears.

The temporally-displaced Vulcan was hovering on the balcony walkway above the assembly hall. He wasn't eavesdropping, per se, as this was a public venue. And he certainly wasn't one of those news reporters that Starfleet had been doing their damndest to keep off Academy grounds so the heroes of the day could recover and mourn in peace as needed. He was just an old, old friend who felt as though he was finally seeing closure at the end of a long journey.

And perhaps, he was precisely that.

He and Kirk had been friends for nearly thirty years. Barely a blink for Spock, but that was half of Kirk's life. At times, it felt like half of Spock's life as well when he counted not just the friendship of James T. Kirk, but the friendships he had forged with his crewmates as well.

They had all faded out, one by one. Dr. McCoy had lived to see the launch of the Enterprise-D under the indomitable Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Retired from his duties as captain of the Excelsior, Sulu had spent the rest of his days with his wife and family. Both Uhura and Chekov had passed on quietly in the countries they loved. At last check, Scotty had still been puttering around the Academy, putting the fear of Scotsmen into the cadets, grumbling about how things were back in his day and hoping that no one else got stuck in a transporter's pattern buffers because it wasn't nearly as fun as it sounded. But even he had been slowing down, his age catching up with him even as he tried to drink it back.

To see them here, youthful and alive, so much potential still before them... It made Spock's heart both hurt and swell with joy. There were new worlds out there. New lifeforms and new civilizations and new, new everything. All brand-new and waiting for a brand-new Enterprise to discover.

With a brand-new Captain James T. Kirk leading the charge.

"I relieve you, sir."

"I am relieved."

"Thank you, sir."

Overhead, as history was made and the future reasserted itself, the aged Vulcan nodded to himself, proud and contented.

"Thrusters on full."