It was only hours before the start of Winterfest. Not a holiday that had been celebrated on Vulcan until the Emperor declared that all worlds under the Empire's thumb would acknowledge it. The Vulcans dealt with that decree as they dealt with all of the Emperor's decrees - they performed to the letter, if not to the spirit of the wording of the Imperial command. They used the time of Winterfest to settle their affairs and to prepare themselves both mentally and physically for the New Year - which, as with all things of the Empire, went with the Terran calendar instead of with whatever the calendar of the conquered worlds had been in the past.
As his mother had not been permitted to influence his upbringing, Spock had never participated in the Terran habit of offering gifts. This would be the first year that he had even considered such a thing. As he approached the area where the male junior officers were quartered, Spock pushed those thoughts aside. There was business to attend to first. He motioned to his two bodyguards to stay back as he took the lead, moving with an economy of movement down the corridor.
Consulting his PADD, Spock stopped at the door of the quarters of Lieutenant John Farrell. Tucking his PADD under his left arm, Spock drew his phaser before firmly order the computer to override the lock on the door. Farrell jumped to his feet as the door opened but was unable to respond further before Spock fired. The Vulcan watched impassively as Farrell's body spasmed from being hit, then fell heavily to the deck.
Without looking away from the lieutenant's body, Spock signaled his men, who came forward at once, entering the room and placing restraints on the downed man before dragging him into the corridor.
"Deposit him in the Brig. Leave the restraints in place until after I have interrogated him."
Once his men had taken Farrell away, Spock went over the lieutenant's room. It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. Lieutenant Farrell might have had more than one talent, but subterfuge was not among his skills. The vial was hidden from sight, but not cleverly so. Taking it in hand, Spock made his way to Sickbay.
Captain Kirk was sitting there same as when Spock had left him, sitting by the side of the unnaturally pale and still doctor. The blue eyes looked up as Spock entered the room, both demanding and desperate.
"Have you found anything?"
"I believe so, Captain. Under the circumstances, I will examine what I believe to the poison in the laboratory myself. How are the doctor's vitals?"
"He's slowly losing ground, Spock. Don't take long in finding out what the hell is doing this to him. We can worry about the other details after he's out of danger."
Spock simply gave a curt nod and went straight to the labs. The contents of the vial were puzzling when poured out. Using one of Doctor McCoy's own scanners, Spock ran it over the items which looked like tiny chocolate candies. They reminded him of the tiny candy orbs that McCoy's young sister liked to have added to a dish of ice cream. Nothing showed out of line on the scan, so Spock separated one of the small candies from the rest and carefully crushed it. Crushing it proved harder than he would have imagined which increased both Spock's interest and his suspicions. The next scan clearly showed the poison. And more. Two things were quickly apparent. The first was that, with prompt care, the doctor should recover with no lasting effects. The second was that the poison had clearly not been intended for McCoy.
Walking back into Sickbay, Spock gave the orders to McCoy's head nurse and Chapel snapped to work immediately to get the materials together needed for cleansing the poison from McCoy's system now that they knew what they were dealing with.
Moving back to the isolation area where McCoy was, Spock thought his face was carefully schooled to a neutral expression. However, either his expression needed work or Kirk was simply better at reading his body language than most. The second Kirk glanced up at him, his entire attitude shifted.
"What did you find?"
"Nurse Chapel will be in shortly to begin the treatment necessary. Assuming no other complications hinder that treatment, there is every reason to believe the doctor will recover completely."
Moving to stand by McCoy's bedside so that he was directly opposite of Kirk, Spock clasped his hands together behind his back.
"I have what I believe to be a valid conjecture as to what occurred. Please correct me if I have an incorrect grasp of events. You and the Doctor went into the Officers Mess to share a meal. One of the items on the tray brought to you was a dessert - I believe some variety of chocolate. The meals and drinks would have been scanned as per both of your usual habits, finding nothing. At some point, the doctor removed the dessert from your tray as he often does and you complained about the waste of a 'perfectly good dessert', as you often do. I would assume it was at that juncture that the doctor took a bite of the dessert prior to disposing of the remainder in the waste unit."
Making a note to himself that he and McCoy had lapsed into too predictable a habit concerning mealtimes, Kirk nodded.
"You have the basic facts correct."
Spock inclined his head slightly.
"Then that confirms my suspicion that the Doctor inadvertently saved your life or, at the very least, from a severe reaction that would have come close."
Both men looked to the door as Nurse Chapel came in with a floating cart in her wake that was filled with a large enough variety of implements that Kirk frowned and gave Spock a doubtful look.
"You said he'd be alright."
Chapel was remaining quiet until she noticed that she was on the receiving end of a very pointed stare from the Vulcan. Normally, Doctor McCoy was a buffer between the Medical staff and the Command staff, but that wasn't currently an option. All the more reason to get him back on his feet as quickly as possible. Swallowing to get a grip on her nerves, she was pleased to find she could speak without a tremble in her voice.
"He will be, Captain. Now that Commander Spock has identified the substance, we can clean it from his system and then repair the damage it caused."
Ever observant, Spock noted the slight tremor in the nurse's hands that he deduced was due to her nerves at being under the intense scrutiny of the Captain. Knowing that it would be far more advantageous to the Doctor's health if Chapel weren't distracted, he took it upon himself to take care of the situation.
"Captain, if I could speak to you in private?"
There was an obvious reluctance on Kirk's part. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew McCoy trusted Chapel more than any other nurse, he would have refused. Instead, he gave another look to McCoy before rising and exiting with Spock. Chapel took a deep breath once the pair was out of sight and then turned her focus fully on McCoy, her hands now moving steadily and smoothly as she began to work.
To Kirk's annoyance, Spock stayed both silent and one step ahead of him until they entered a nearby briefing room. Once they were both inside, he raised a brow as Spock turned and spoke - not to him, but to the ship's computer.
"Lock this door under the vocal command of First Officer Spock. All monitoring devices in this room are to be disabled until the order to unlock the door is given."
~Vocal authorization confirmed. Door secured and monitoring devices disabled.~
Moving over to one of the chairs, Kirk dropped into it, eyes firmly on Spock.
"You think I was the target?"
"I am as certain of it as I can be without reading the crewman's mind. He also cannot have been working alone."
"Explain."
As a start to his explanation, Spock laid the vial with the remaining candy-like objects on the table.
"The outer shell of the items inside the vial are just thick enough that a cursory scan would not detect any abnormality. However, once the shell is cracked or dissolved, the inner contents are easily detected."
"So someone figured out a way to get past Bones' scanner. That's not commonly known technology."
"Am I correct in assuming that Doctor Puri, as his sponsor, had access?"
"Not only access, but Bones made one for him. One for Pike as well."
"I took the liberty of pulling the inventory of the items recovered from Doctor Puri's quarters that were packed up following his death. The inventory was extremely detailed, but nothing that could have been that type of scanner was noted as being among his things. Considering the destruction onboard, it could have been lost, however, I consider that a large assumption to make in light of recent events."
"So your hypothesis is that someone took advantage of Puri's death to steal his scanner and used that to create a poison that could fool it?"
"It is the hypothesis that makes the greatest amount of sense. And also why there had to have been involvement by more than Lieutenant Farrell. He does not possess either the scientific background or the intellect to have come up with this on his own."
'That still doesn't explain why you think I was the target."
"No, but there are two other substances inside these shells beyond the poison. I believe you will recognize them easily from the analysis."
Spock handed his PADD to Kirk. He saw immediately what Spock had seen. Neither of those substances would do anything to McCoy, but both were ones that he had allergic reactions to - swelling in the case of one and shortness of breath in the other. All three combined would have had a high possibility of turning fatal before McCoy could have analyzed and neutralized the effects.
"I would also add that anyone desiring to poison the Doctor would not have chosen cake as the medium when it is hardly a secret that he does not often indulge in sweets, but when he does, his dessert of choice is far more likely to be something containing fruit such as a pie."
Retaking his PADD from Kirk, Spock glanced at the readout again before adding another comment.
"That is also the reason the damage to the Doctor will be minimal. He only took a bite of the dessert instead of eating it in its entirety. Therefore, he did not ingest as much of the poison as was intended. How much of the cake would you estimate that he ate?"
"A bite. Less than a tenth of the slice, I'd guess."
"Then if we assume that the ratio of poison to cake was consistent throughout, the odds would have been highly against him surviving long enough to receive effective treatment."
A short, almost inaudible laugh drew Spock attention. He could not imagine what he had just said was in any way humorous, so Kirk's reaction was puzzling. After a moment, Kirk noticed Spock's scrutiny and correctly guessed the cause.
"No - it wasn't really anything you said, Spock. I was remembering something Bones said to me recently - not for the first time. He said I'd be the death of him. I very nearly was this time."
"With all due respects, Captain, while I know that the Doctor can be quite . . . volatile in his reactions at times, I do not believe that he would lay the blame for this incident on you."
A soft dinging sound from the chronometer in the room drew the attention of both men.
"Not with serious intent, no. Two hours until Winterfest. Hard to believe he and I were arguing about while we were eating."
"Arguing, sir?"
"Bones enjoys the hoopla of the season. I'd be as happy ignoring the whole thing."
As Kirk fell silent again, Spock attempted to fathom what might be running through Kirk's mind but was, as usual, not in the least certain. He allowed the silence to remain for five minutes before breaking it.
"Captain? Lieutenant Farrell is in the Brig awaiting interrogation. Your orders?"
"Let him stay there for now. Interrogation will wait until after Winterfest. Make sure no-one has access to him that hasn't been thoroughly vetted by you. I want him in perfect health. You didn't grow up celebrating Winterfest any more than I did, did you, Spock?"
"Admittedly not, Captain. However, if you desire to know how the season is traditionally dealt with, I would suggest you consult Lieutenant Uhura. Part of the study of linguistics includes learning about various customs and celebrations."
The look on Kirk's face slowly shifted to speculative.
"Send her here. In the meantime, I want you to go back to Sickbay and keep an eye on Bones. He trusts Chapel, but if she has to leave his side for any reason, I don't want him unprotected."
"Yes, Captain."
Spock saw no need to inform the Captain that returning to Sickbay had already been his intention. While Doctor McCoy was often a source of puzzlement and frustration, he had also proven himself time and again to be a valuable ally with a focus that even a Vulcan could admire. Pike had been correct in his assessment of how formidable a team that the three of them made.
After sending the order to Lieutenant Uhura to meet the Captain, Spock began thinking about the scanner that McCoy had designed. An ingenious device and one that could likely be made more efficient if he and McCoy merged their talents. Upgrading it would also prevent a repeat of a similar poisoning.
Entering the area, it was easy to see that the treatment was already doing the job. McCoy's eyes were open, if still a bit unfocused. When McCoy glanced toward the door, a frown formed.
"Spock?"
"Correct, Doctor."
"What happened?"
McCoy's voice was raspy, but the fact that he was using as few words as possible said more about how sore his throat was than the sound did. Ignoring the glare from Chapel, Spock came closer to McCoy's bedside.
"You intercepted an assassination attempt against the Captain. Unintentionally, I presume, since had you known of the poison, you would not have consumed any of the cake yourself."
McCoy's eyes closed and he gave a soft sigh. Whatever comment he might have been inclined to make, his throat forbid it. As the Doctor dozed off again. Spock took a seat beside the biobed, not moving or commenting as Chapel continued the course of treatment.
The sound of Kirk and Uhura's voices reached Spock, but neither of them entered the area where McCoy was resting. Chapel exited briefly only to return with an ill-concealed look of amusement on her face. The soft noises that Spock occasionally heard roused his curiosity, but not enough to cause him to leave McCoy's side.
McCoy woke again and Spock began telling him about how his scanner had been circumvented. He also spoke of the possibility of working on a new version of the scanner together. From McCoy's reaction to that, that project would be starting in the near future. Spock was continuing to fill McCoy in when Kirk came back into the room, looking inordinately pleased with himself.
"Good to see your eyes open again, Bones. Chapel tells me that the main part left of your recovery is lots of rest. If you want, she's agreed that you can do the resting in your quarters as long as someone is with you to monitor you. Would you like that?"
McCoy's voice failed him again, but the emphatic nod was answer enough. Chapel quickly disengaged the machines he had been attached to, then Spock and Kirk assisted in moving McCoy onto a gurney for the short trip to the CMO's quarters.
A gasp escaped as McCoy got his first view of his room. There weren't a large number of decorations, but those that were there were reminded him of a Terran winter, all white, blue and silver. Spock could easily spot Uhura's moderating influence and silently approved.
From the way he was taking it all in, it was plain that McCoy also approved. His eyes never left the display as they settled him down on his own bed. Kirk ordered the main lights dimmed which left the room in a bluish glow. After Chapel left, Kirk settled down next to McCoy. If it weren't for his hearing being better than a human's, Spock wouldn't have been able to hear their exchange.
"I . . . thank you, Jim."
"Hey, least I could do for a guy that took poison for me."
"Wasn't intentional, y'know."
"I know. Still, Merry Christmas, Bones."
Spock's brow rose slightly. The Emperor had removed the holiday Kirk mentioned and replaced it with Winterfest. It was considered an act of sedition to celebrate Christmas. Then again, wasn't sedition really what their team was all about? Recalling that both men had urged him to use their given names when they were in private, Spock had the computer lock the door to McCoy's quarters before speaking.
"Jim. Leonard. Merry Christmas."
McCoy couldn't speak above a whisper, but he gave the Vulcan a tired smile as Kirk reached out and gripped Spock's arm briefly. Sedition? Why not? They were all in this together - Emperor beware.