Disclaimer: I don't own them. Wish I could have at least a temporary lease on them but, oh well.
This is my first attempt at Star Trek fanfiction. If there are mistakes they are definitely mine.
Five year mission in progress
6 months after STID
The bridge was busy but not chaotic, the atmosphere on deck was controlled, all of the crew busy doing their daily assignments. Jim rubbed at his face, he was tired and the area in the middle of the frontal lobe of his skull was aching, a real kind of pain that would make most men cry. He knew he needed something to staunch the oncoming nausea so he signaled Sulu to take the conn and then quietly left the bridge. It was a perfect time to take a break.
Spock and Uhura had taken an early lunch and had yet to return to their posts. He knew they would be returning soon and he didn't really want Spock calling Bones to the bridge. Jim needed to deal with the pain in his head though, his head was actually pounding a rhythm that he recognized as the onslaught of a really bad headache. Possibly even a migraine, he had suffered his share of severe headaches over the years, especially when he was overly stressed or overly tired.
As the doors closed he announced his destination to the turbolift, enjoying the quiet of the small space. He just wanted to get something for the small jackhammer in his head, it was continuing to increase its presence and he knew that a trip to the medbay was inevitable. First though, he would stop by his quarters and see if there was anything left over from a previous visit. He loved Bones as a friend but avoided him as a doctor, mostly due to the fact that Bones was a madhatter with the hypospray, his neck still ached from the last encounter with the good doctor.
The turbolift door opened and he almost made it his room when a voice called out his name, a very recognizable voice, it was Bones. "Dammit!" He muttered under his breath.
"Jim! I need to speak with you if you have a minute." Bones sped up his pace to catch up with the captain, who was keying in the code to enter his quarters.
Jim was about to open his door and enter anyways ignoring the call of his friend but he didn't want any suspicion aroused from the astute doctor. He stopped short and put on his best captain face because the last thing he wanted to do was to alert an overprotective doctor and friend that he wasn't feeling very well. Hell, he would be in medbay before he could even blink an eye if Bones even thought he was ill, stating some sort of code and then saying section something stated that a captain had to maintain his health and it was his obligation to do regardless of what he wanted, blah, blah, blah...He would play it cool instead.
"Bones, what can I do for ya?" he asked, hoping that the doctor was avoiding doing a virtual eye exam on him. He might have lucked out, he thought, as he observed that the doctor held a death grip on his PADD in one hand and and pointing to the engineering deck with the other, all the while looking a little distraught, well, actually a lot more than just distraught, more like down right mad as hell.
" That damned Mr Scott has done it again." Bones whined. "The man is a damned imbecilic moron. He was suppose to order bandages, enough for the entire crew but nooooo, the idiot orders bandanas instead!" the man's hands were shaking with anger as he continued on with his tirade, never lifting his eyes from the PADD in his hand and droning on about life and death things that made Jim's head hurt even worse than minutes before.
For once Jim Kirk was glad that the man was preoccupied with Scottie, maybe he would have to develop a way for his engineer to make more errors that ticked off his chief medical officer. Actually this could work in his favor and he would file this fact away for the future.
"I'll talk to him Bones. No more bandanas. Gottcha." He finally got a few words in and turned towards the door avoiding the glare that the good doctor was now sending towards his way. He was glad for the door to his room opening because on cue, Bones huffed and walked away, still in tirade mode.
As Jim entered and the door slid closed he made his way over to his bed and threw himself across it, face down on his pillow. " Lights off." he commanded and immediately his room was filled with darkness. It felt good just to be by himself in the quiet of the room, his room.
His eyes were suddenly heavy with sleep, even with his pounding headache and he was almost out for the count when a comm interrupted the peace that had enveloped him in his private room.
" Captain to the bridge." Spock's voice called out in an almost emotional voice. The announcement was immediately followed by the screaming sirens and blinking red lights, there was a problem.
The voice brought him out of the light sleep and the sirens caused his senses to suddenly be heightened. He quickly made his way out of his bed in the dark and ran out of his room. He ran down the hallway to the turbolift then quickly entered. He was straightening his shirt as he wondered what was happening on the bridge. Spock's voice sounded urgent and that was never a good sign. He leaned his forehead against the cool wall and scrubbed at his face with his hands, the headache would have to wait. He hoped it would at least.
As the doors to the bridge opened he stood straight and even with the pain that was escalating to new levels in his head he conveyed a firm confidence as captain of the Enterprise. Jim quickly looked over at the screen, an image of an Andorian plastered on the visual. He quickly assessed that this man was the reason for the alerts, an enemy he had dealt with in the past, Arech, an Andorian slave trader.
"Update Mr Spock." he commanded as his second vacated his chair and he sat down, his headache had ratcheted up another notch upon seeing one of his old enemies on the screen.
" He does not need to update you Captain, I will instead. I am giving you and your crew fair warning to stay out of our airspace. It is against federation rules to cross our boundaries or to come any further into our air space. If you do not yield to our direct order to leave then we will be left no alternative but to destroy your ship." the Andorian ordered in his thick punctuated accent, or threatened, whatever it was he was serious as hell and as he made eye contact with the Captain, the look would have been deadly if looks could kill.
Jim smiled, then looked over to his second, "He's bluffing Spock, continue on our course."
The Andorian was angered and his voice gained a higher pitch, " I am warning you Captain, do not cross me or you will be sorry." The Andorian stood from where he had been sitting and starred down into the screen, a scowl on his face and a seething look that could have been nothing short of evil, the two together added a deadly seriousness to his already enraged demeanor.
" I don't think you are in any position to tell me or my crew what to do." Jim stated coolly, never raising his voice or showing any fear to the man. " The treaty clearly states that this star system is neutral and any retaliation from you or your ship will be met with grave consequences as it will clearly be seen as a treaty breaker. I will not repeat myself and you, Arech, know that I won't." Jim reached down and flipped the screen to the off position abruptly ending the conversation with his enemy. Instead, he watched the ship on the screen and within seconds it moved on, clearing the way for the enterprise to continue onward in its journey.
" How did you know Captain?" Spock asked, amazed at the captain's smooth way of handling the situation.
" Let's just say we've had a few drinks together and a few head butts. He's a sore loser who only wants to bully others. He's all hot air Mr Spock" Jim stood and looked around at the smiles plastered on his crew's faces. His job was done for the time being and all he wanted to do was to make it back to his quarters and actually take a nap.
He motioned for Uhura to kill the alerts to which she quickly obliged. His headache had traveled now to a new place which pulsated behind his eyes causing them to slightly blur. He could not allow the others to see his discomfort so he continued giving orders and watching the screen to make sure that Arech did not attempt to follow.
" Mr Sulu, let's speed her up a bit, put some distance between the Andorian ship and us, warp three and steady as she goes."
" Aye Captain, warp three and steady as she goes." Sulu hit a few buttons and then nodded the confirmation to the captain.
" Captain, maybe it is time for you to take nourishment. You look a little worn, maybe it would also prudent for you to see Doctor McCoy, you might have been exposed to some type of bacterial manifestation. Your skin is pale and you look as if you are suffering from pain." Spock was giving the captain an assessing stare.
Jim knew that he would only make things worse if he argued with his first officer so he nodded in agreement, maybe seeing Bones wouldn't be such a bad idea. " I'll take your advice under consideration, Mr Spock." he then turned and proceeded to the turbolift to go to medbay, he would relent to seeing his friend, his head was really hurting.
Medical Bay
When Jim entered he noted the lack of patients in the medbay, the beds were empty and the room was lacking the busy sounds and the usual verbal explicatives that he was use to coming mostly from Bones and his use of colorful language skills.
He was about to turn and leave, thinking that it was possibly a bad idea to have a bored Dr McCoy examine him, it would be an all out tests to fill his day, when he heard the familiar voice call out to him.
" Jim, what brings you down here? Usually I have to hogtie you and drag you down here." Bones called out from his office, he was already waving his friend over to a biobed, fearing the worse as always, as he moved from his comfortable chair to greet his friend.
" Headache." Jim stated it softly for two reasons, first it hurt his head to speak too loudly and second, he really wasn't for sure if he wanted to tell the doctor he was in pain.
" You're admitting to pain?" Bones asked as a serious look crossed his face. " Nurse Campbell I need you now!" he shouted into the medical area, this must be serious for Jim to admit to anything akin to pain. Then suddenly he was by his friend's side guiding a reluctant captain to a biobed.
" It's just a headache, Bones." He moaned, he knew he had made a mistake, he should have just went to his room and slept.
" Just shut up and lie down. If it's just a headache then I'll give you something that will ease the pain and prescribe rest but if it is something more... then we will deal with it as always." he patted Jim's shoulder and pushed him gently onto the uncomfortable bed. The biobed's incessant beeps started to increase his already pounding headache but Bones could read the signs of agitation and silenced the monitors.
" That better?" he asked as he watched a very sleepy captain nod his thanks.
The tricorder suddenly made it's appearance and Bones waved it like a magic wand over his reluctant patient but soon he was satisfied when he knew that Jim's life wasn't in any immediate danger but he did note the low grade fever and slightly elevated blood pressure.
He motioned for Nurse Campbell to get some medications from the cabinet and then walked over to Jim's side, the man looked like a damned kid when his eyes were closed and it dawned on him that he really was just a kid... a kid who had been through hell and back in his short life span.
" Jim, I'm going to give you some pain medicine, it looks like you have a migraine and I'm going to give you something to help you sleep." He watched as Jim gave him a slight nod in acceptance of his friend's medical care and then exposed his neck for the delivery of the medication. Bones couldn't help but to be concerned over Jim's acceptance of medical treatment. It was very uncaptain like, at least for his captain.
Bones checked the hyposprays then delivered each one consecutively. Jim never flinched, he just slept.
Bones was worried, his friend was acting out of character, he was not use to a compliant Jim or for that matter a Jim who would come to sick bay on his own accord, he would have to watch his friend, something was off.
" Let's get some blood work done while he's sleeping. He won't like it but hopefully it will all be negative and he'll never know." he told the nurse, who was already preparing the captain's arm. It only took a few seconds and she was off to lab with several vials of Jim's blood.
Bones covered his friend with a sheet then walked over to his office and pulled out his PADD, maybe he was missing something. What could he be missing with his friend?
Well, what is the good doctor missing? Is it a medical problem or a psychological one, or both? The boy, excuse me, captain, has been through a lot, including death, beatings, Tarsus IV. Guess I have some writing to do. Thank you for reading, until next chapter...