also zq's voice is a babe just fyi

• "thank you, ministers & councillors, for your consideration. live long & prosper." no emotion in those words, not even in the last few; but just a hint, perhaps, of a nonverbal suggestion best exemplified by a distinctly human digital gesture with which those on the vulcan high council were not familiar. (02-02 6:00)
• he made a face at her. "i don't hear no very often." she replied politely & without smiling, "then it's evident the universe is out of whack & i have to take it upon myself to redress the imbalance. when i say no, i mean it." a woman who could respond with more than a nervous giggle or an outraged slap; one who could construct a coherent sentence without having to engage in a conference call with friends — he liked her already. (02-03)
• "xenolinguistics." if she expected that to draw a mask down over his eyes, she was mistaken; surprisingly, he didn't blink. "lemme guess: you don't know what that means." "let me guess: study of alien languages, phonology, morphology, syntax, variability in different mediums of oral conveyance, symbology —" he broke off, smiled afresh. "it means you've got a talented tongue." she pursed her lips, regarding him in at least half a new light. "& for a moment, i thought you were just a dumb hick who only has sex with farm animals." he looked away demurely. "well, not just." (02-03)
• "that instinct to leap without looking, to take a chance when logic & reason insist all is lost, that was his nature. it's something starfleet's lost. yes, we're admirable, respectable, but in my opinion we've become overly disciplined. the service is fossilizing."
• "i've got a beartrap memory for promising individuals & i know your history. your aptitude tests were off the charts, every one of them." kirk grunted & felt for a possibly-loose tooth. "what do you do, memorize test results in your spare time?" "i make it my business to know who i might have to work with." pike's stare was unblinking & unsettling. "who i might have to trust with my life. i don't remember everybody's results, only," he added meaningfully, "those that strike me as exceptional. tell me, kirk: do you like being the only genius-level repeat offender in the midwest?" (02-05)
• as the bike cruised along the otherwise empty road, he glanced skyward. blue was beautiful, but empty, whereas the night sky was full of stars. go outside after the moon had set & you could not escape them. his jaw clenched. what else couldn't he escape? until pike had dredged it back up, kirk had managed to escape his past. did he also want to escape his future? (02-06 1:30)
• {kirk} carried no baggage save for unfulfilled expectations. (02-07 1:00)
• "in fact, according to the records, he's not cleared for duty anywhere. it says here that he's —" mccoy interrupted him. "look. we're operating under red alert conditions & i don't have time to argue. i am cleared for duty on the enterprise & starfleet medical regulations state that the treatment & transport of a patient is to be determined at the discretion of his attending physician, which is me. since i'm assigned to this ship, so's he, even if temporarily. check your ranks — medical evaluation supersedes academic dispensation. it's not like i'm trying to sneak my girlfriend aboard. he may be under temporary suspension, but he's not first year, he's a qualified junior officer & they'll find something for him to do once he's recovered. but as the physician providing treatment, i can't abandon him. he comes with me." (03-03 5:30)
• "now listen. i can't sit around & mollycoddle you, i have work to do. i have to secure my portion of this bay for departure, check in with my colleagues, see to it that the techs know where their stations are, & a hundred other details. remember our deal: you're my new candystriper. stay on the medical deck & out of sight as much as possible until we get back in a couple of days, got it? anybody questions your specialty or your training, tell 'em you're an assistant anesthesiologist assigned to work directly with me." he smiled sardonically. "i've seen you put people to sleep just talking about yourself, so i know you can pull this off." (03-05 5:30)
• he & sulu exchanged a meaningful look. it was the first time they had done so; though they had not been formally introduced to one another previously, preparing to embark on a joint suicide mission has a way of forging bonds between the participants on the spot. (04-02 4:30)
• it was the silence that struck kirk. freefalling in emptiness, there was no sound except the familiar pounding of his own heart and the bellows that were his lungs. vulcan was rushing toward them at incredible speed, its desert surface threatening to rise up & smash them flat. falling back on the special breathing exercises he learned at the academy, he fought to regulate his respiration & heart rate. despite his best efforts, they remained high. had he been on board with mccoy in attendance & privy to the relevant readings, the doctor would probably have rushed him to emergency without a second's thought. there was no emergency bay to go to here, he told himself. he glanced over at his plummeting companions. they were the emergency. (04-05 2:10)
• chekov let his fingers fly over the instrumentation. he had done this sort of thing dozens, hundreds of times previously — in simulations. as he worked frantically he was shouting toward the console communicator. "transporter room, come in! this is ensign chekov on the bridge. emergency command override — transfer full control to the forward console." at her station, uhura was also hurriedly requesting, manipulating & entering information. "preparing intercept coordinates, stand by for transfer." the officer who had assumed the responsibilities of the science station when spock had departed now looked up anxiously. "the singularity's expanding. we won't reach minimum safe distance if we don't leave." "SHUT UP!" uhura & chekov responded simultaneously. their reaction was not regulation, but it had the desired effect. (04-12 0:50)
• as more & more patients were treated & discharged, living quarters on the ship became crowded, & her life support facilities increasingly strained. no one complained. when a request was put out for those willing to share their living space with survivors, every member of the crew promptly volunteered. where possible, healthy crewmembers moved in with friends & turned their private quarters over to dazed vulcans. (04-15 1:00)
• as he continued to inspect the progress that was being made by the ship's medical teams, he happened upon the stowaway kirk. having disabled the romulan plasma drill, albeit too late to save vulcan, the junior officer would have been more than within his rights to have retired to quarters. instead, he was here in the bay. at the moment, he was tending to a vulcan girl, murmuring to her sweetly & smiling as he wrapped a slender arm stained with green blood in a self-sealing bandage. (04-15 2:30)