James Tiberius Kirk moaned pitifully.

Bones was by Jim's side in an instant. Running the tricorder over Jim to make sure everything was alright. Breathing a sigh of relief when the tricorder beeped that all was well, he waited for Jim to come fully around.

"Hey kid come on, lemme see them baby blues eh?" he knew he sounded gruff, even to his own ears, but Jim deserved it.

"Whaaaat hap'nd?" Jim slurred.

"You passed out idiot...what were you thinking running yourself ragged like this? Come on kid, you've gotta take it easy. When is the last time you have properly rested?!"

Jim opened his eyes fully, flashing back to clutching the sink for dear life as the spun around him. His vision grayed on the edges and spots danced before his eyes as his knees buckled and the ground rushed to meet him, then blackness. He had been running himself down, he knew that, but as captain sometimes that is just what you have to do. They were in the middle of touchy negotiations with a federation planet that was on the verge of getting kicked out. That meant that he had to endure dinners and meetings and peace talks, he was exhausted.

He sat up slowly, testing to see if the dizziness persisted, it didn't. He was glad for that. Bones must have pumped him full of the good stuff.

"Can I go now Bones?"

"Can you take care of yourself?"

"Yes Bones, leave me alone I can take care of myself."

"Obviously."

"Don't get snarky with me Bones...who brought me here anyway?"

"Your Yeoman, Carmichael, found you and got you here."

"Carly got me here?" he said standing up.

"yeah, no clue how she knew something was wrong. She's something else."

Several days later...

They were surrounded...again...surprise surprise...

GREAT...as if this day couldn't get any rougher. Kirk thought as the klingon punched him hard in the ribs, for the eighth time, it wouldn't have hurt, if they were not already broken. He had mouthed off to the lead official, anything to keep the attention off of his already injured or unconscious landing crew. In truth he was much worse off than any of them, but he was ignoring the part of his brain that told him to keep quiet and do the smart thing, he called that the 'spock conscience.' He knew he had a major concussion, a dislocated shoulder, a dislocated knee, six broken ribs, and a fractured collarbone...at least that was what he could catalog...oh yea and the fact that his spleen was basically hanging out of his abdomen, yea that hurt. His yeoman Carly was being beaten and he was worried that she wouldn't last much longer, she looked on the verge of collapse. Of course, only he would be able to see that, because he knew her very well. She wasn't even supposed to be part of the party. She was simply there as an interpreter since Uhura fell ill with Andorian flu. Somehow she wouldn't so much as cry out, instead she taunted the guards to get the attention off of the more injured members. She didn't flinch when the hit her or yelled. She never once lost her cool, collected demeanor.

He stifled a yell as they hit him over the head again, they let him drop to a heap of bleeding, wheezing, concussed and barely able to move, shell of his former self. He could feel the tug of unconsciousness, it was so appealing, there was so much pain. He had no idea where the Enterprise was, or if Spock could even get them out of this one. He could vaguely hear them move onto Chekov, who was suffering from a broken ankle, a concussion, and a major gash that would require some stitches. To his credit, he kept his screams under wraps and refused to beg for mercy, even though anyone in his position would have. Kirk tried to get up, he really did, but he couldn't make his body obey his brain, stupid concussion and blood loss, oh and probably shock setting in.

TBC