Kirk, Spock, and six redshirts were beamed down to the planet Pluvarbaro: a planet that consists mostly of rainforests and caves where a starship had crashed. Captain James T. Kirk was given orders to locate the ship and erase all signs of contamination. There had been no survivors and the ship broke apart and had been concealed by sinking into the many deep lakes that made up the planet, however, Kirk needed to ensure that no signs of advanced weaponry could be found and used by the native population.
It was meticulous assignment so Kirk split his crew into four groups of two to scour the land for any contaminants. By dividing his crew, they also had a lesser chance to be spotted by the native people. Spock remained by Kirk's side and Kirk instructed his crew to call in occasionally to stay in touch or in the case anything goes wrong because a rescue team would be in standby in the transporter room.
Kirk and Spock were able to find and destroy several pieces of equipment that fell out of the ship when it crashed, although time grew strained when several times the earth mildly began to shake. Sulu confirmed that the planet had been experiencing earthquakes as it often did this time of year and recommended that they remain on the planet no longer than necessary.
Spock saw a small portion of the engine by the entrance of a cave and went to retrieve it when the ground violently shook. Jim noticed many of the rocks on the roof of the cave begin to slide down so he sprinted and dove into his first officer, knocking him out of the way. In reality, Spock was much stronger than Jim but Jim's reaction took him completely by surprise.
The rocks on top of the cave collapsed on top of Jim and grazed Spock. Most of the impact contacted Jim's head, rendering him unconscious however the continued rock-fall pinned his legs to the ground. As soon as the rocks stopped falling, Spock rushed over and began unburying his captain. Spock knelt over Jim and noted that his ankle had fallen at an odd angle and was certainly broken in addition to the cuts all over his body, including an especially nasty one on his forehead that was bleeding profusely.
"Captain….Captain!" Spock called to Jim. He was afraid to move him because of his severe head trauma. "Answer me…Jim?"
Kirk faintly opened his eyes and moaned; he clearly was in a significant amount of pain.
"Good. Stay with me." Spock flipped open his communicator. "Spock to Enterprise."
"Scotty here—"
Spock cut him off, "I need you to beam two up right away and get McCoy; the Captain experienced severe injuries including a broken ankle and, quite certainly, a concussion."
"Right away sir…energizing."
Spock cradled Jim in his arms as they were beamed aboard the Enterprise.
McCoy was standing by with a stretcher. "What the hell happened down there?"
"I will explain on the way." Spock with guidance from McCoy carefully lifted Jim onto the stretcher without further damaging his limp body. Jim did in fact follow Spock's instruction and remained conscious during this time, however, as they rushed him to the medical bay, his eyes began to drift and stare off into the distance.
As they traveled to sickbay, Spock also informed McCoy of the cave, the earthquake, and falling rocks. McCoy swiftly placed Jim in a biobed and ran him over with a tricorder. Jim, in addition to the cuts, had a concussion, dislocated shoulder, and a broken ankle; they all were repairable, but together they were extremely painful.
Traditionally, he would have administered a sedative, but because of the concussion, he could not allow Jim to fall asleep so he gave him a shot of adrenaline.
Jim's eyes shot open and he began shaking violently.
"Do you think that was wise, doctor?" Spock raised an eyebrow as he spoke.
"I'm sorry, but I can let him sleep. If he sleeps, he might not wake up again." McCoy spoke despondently. His mood changed rapidly, "And if you would please remain quiet, that would be much appreciated. Otherwise, I'll have you confined to your quarters." Spock may outrank him, but as the chief medical doctor, he has the power to enforce his prescriptions.
Spock stood in the corner while McCoy worked on Kirk. Finally, McCoy administered pain medications and let Jim fall asleep.
"Do you plan on staying here through the night?" McCoy wearily asked Spock.
"Yes, in fact, I do."
"Well then, I'll leave you to tend to Jim. You must wake him up every hour and make sure he is able to wake. If he doesn't, call me immediately." McCoy removed his apron, went into his room, and collapsed on his bed, exhausted from the day's events.
Spock pulled a chair beside Jim's bed and sat down in it. Every hour, he regretted interrupting the captain's peaceful resting however he understood its significance; if he didn't they wouldn't know whether the captain was sleeping or dying.
Morning came soon enough and Jim was still groggy. McCoy, on the other hand, was well rested and went back to tending to Jim.
McCoy, the previous day, used the regenerator on the severe cuts and bruises though he still needed to set the shoulder and the ankle so he ordered Spock to hold Jim down while he popped his shoulder back into place. Spock put one hand on Jim's forehead and the other on the center of his chest and braced himself against Jim's writhing body as McCoy reconnected the shoulder.
Next was his ankle. Nurse Chapel held down his head and chest while Spock grasped his torso and legs. As McCoy snapped his ankle back into its proper form, Nurse Chapel and Spock woefully felt Jim's body lurch in pain. A sickening crack indicated that the doctor was finished and had begun wrapping the ankle with a splint for support.
Jim was breathing heavily and his hands were clutching the biobed, but the worst was over and he was finally on the path to recovery. McCoy pried Jim's hands away from the bed and set them by his side as Jim drifted back to sleep.
Spock left to return to his work on the bridge, while McCoy sat down in the chair beside Jim. McCoy looked at Jim and could only admire him. Despite his age, Kirk proved to be a superior captain and consistently put his life on the line to save the lives of the crew. In addition, he failed to believe in a no-win scenario but did not fear death, or at least he hardly ever showed it.
Several hours passed and he thought of what might happen if Kirk really did die for once and then tears formed in his eyes so he shook the thought out of his head.
Spock returned and inquired, "How is the he, doctor?"
When McCoy looked at Spock, his eyes were still red from when he began tearing up. "He's fine, just sleeping for now. When he wakes up I'm going to try solid food. I want him to heal quickly and then I'll assign him to a lot of bed rest. He is not to return to work for a while. I don't want him doing any reading or difficult thinking either."
"I completely agree, doctor. I will ensure that he complies with your orders."
Kirk began rustling in his sleep and McCoy shot him quickly with a sedative and Kirk drifted back off to sleep.
"Doctor, if I may, I think I have something that would be more effective than your medication." Spock offered a hand and McCoy understood to which he was referring.
Spock placed his hand on Jim's freshly-regenerated forehead and began his mind meld, pushing peaceful thoughts into his head. This also gave Spock insight into exactly how much pain Jim was tolerating, which turned out to be more than he expected.
He released the mind meld. "I think that will help him. In addition, I would recommend another pain suppressant. The captain is still experiencing a significant amount of pain, in contrast to the amount of pain he showed."
McCoy injected another pain suppressant and then stood to watch Jim for a moment before leaving to return to his room. He did not sleep; he only lied down and stared blankly at the ceiling. He didn't know what he would do if Jim died.
For starters, he could never walk into a bar without thinking about him. There will eventually come a time when Jim cannot be mended or he would be too late to save him. Tears slid down his face as he thought of it and without meaning to, he had fallen asleep.
He was woken up by Spock. "Sir, the captain is awake and he's attempting to leave the bed."
McCoy jumped out of bed and witnessed Jim doing exactly that; he was sitting up, trying to ease himself onto his good foot, while wincing at the pain in his shoulder.
"Stay!" McCoy ordered as he found a hover chair. "Now before you go wandering aboard the ship, I need to see if you're healing. Take your shirt off." He obeyed and McCoy quickly checked the pink spots of new skin before McCoy found a dark bruise that race down his back.
"Where the hell is that from?" Jim merely shrugged and McCoy scoffed, "You should really be more careful. Now you're allowed to go to the mess hall but you are not cleared for work."
Jim slipped his shirt back on and McCoy and Spock eased him into the chair. McCoy adjusted the chair so his foot could stay elevated.
McCoy continued, "I'm letting your shoulder and foot naturally heal for today so it is set properly and I'll use the regenerator tomorrow morning. The rest is up to you. I don't know if you want me to use my regenerator on that bruise of yours but let me know by tomorrow because I'd like to do it all at once."
Jim simply nodded and they began their way to lunch. The look that McCoy gave to people prevented them from stopping to ask how their captain was doing, which Jim was grateful for; he hadn't eaten real food in a while.
He was wheeled right up to an empty table and McCoy and Spock let him to get their food. Sulu came over and informed him that they completed the mission and had already started to their next destination. When Spock and McCoy returned, McCoy shooed Sulu away because he had not cleared Kirk for duty.
They ate in a comfortable silence and when they were finished McCoy wheeled Jim towards the sickbay.
"Please, could I sleep in my own bed? You know how much I hate those biobeds."
After only a moment of thought his expression softened and he responded, "Sure, kid."
He moved Kirk all the way to his room and he said, "Don't move." He turned to Spock and said, "I trust that you'll keep him from doing anything stupid," and he left.
He returned with his tricorder and several hypos which he laid out along the federation-issued desk.
McCoy and Spock lifted him from the chair and laid him on the bed. Kirk couldn't help but moan as the action of laying back pulled at his newly-healed skin in addition to putting extra pressure on his bruise.
McCoy grabbed for a hypo when Kirk said, "No that really isn't necessary. I'm fine."
Well, if you're not going to tell me the truth about your condition, Spock?"
Spock nodded in acknowledgement, stepped closer, and placed his fingers along his forehead. Kirk immediately felt a wave of relief as his heartbeat slowed and his expression softened.
Spock assessed his captain, "His back is giving his a tremendous amount of pain in addition to another bruise on his upper thigh."
"Thank you." He excused Spock and he proceeded to strip Kirk down to his underwear without disrupting his other injuries.
Kirk felt violated in a way but was still affected by the soothing feelings in the mind meld.
After all the pain was suppressed with medication, Kirk drifted to sleep as McCoy slipped a blanket over him and sat back down in the chair.
They remained like this through the rest of the day and long into the night.
When Jim woke up, McCoy was preparing the regenerator. In fact when he woke up he noticed that all his pain was gone. He sat up easily and asked, "What happened?"
"Sorry, I couldn't stand seeing you in pain so I went ahead and fixed all of your injuries. I would recommend that you sleep in today, but as I have no reason to demand it, I'm sure you won't follow a recommendation."
Kirk gave him an innocent look and attempted to stand again with more success. Spock came in and McCoy handed him two hypos: one sedative and one pain suppressant. "These are to be used the minute something goes wrong and if something does happen, call me immediately." Spock stored them in a case that he slung around his shoulder and nodded in agreement.
"In that case, let's get going." Kirk swiftly left the room and noticed that Spock followed extremely close behind with the medicine. Probably just to catch me if I fall, Kirk thought.
He entered the bridge, Chekov announced his arrival, Kirk took his place in the Captain chair and everything felt right again.