Note: I'm not fully done with this story. Have a chapter and a half to go before fully done. I'm starting to upload it now, because I feel I need motivation to finish the final parts. This story does have a plot, and will not be one of those, "goes on forever." Should have about 5. Like I said, I'm not quite done with 4 yet, though I do have everything thought out. Please, help me finish it by making me feel bad for not having it done, and making you suffer!
Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy grinned foolishly as he exited the drab bar. He strolled whimsically down the dusty streets of the Federation colony Polar, named for its dynamic shifts in temperature depending on the time of day. The USS Enterprise was currently orbiting around around the planet in space dock for some much needed repairs. After the way she had been chucked around the Neutral Zone like a basketball during the final minutes of a championship game, it's a wonder they'd even reached a friendly solar system. The Romulans claimed that no information regarding a Starfleet training exercise had ever reached their obnoxiously pointy ears. "Fat chance," McCoy had snorted. There wasn't an excuse too unbelievable...too risky to deter even the smallest scumbag in the universe from trying out their skills, if they could be called that, against the legendary Captain James Tiberius Kirk.
So, after the inevitable brawl with four enemy vessels, the crushed tin can of what used to be a flagship had proudly mustered its way to the closest space dock. Proudly and ridiculously, the Chief Medical Officer had informed his commanding officer after docking. This would cut back on the ship's surveying schedule for weeks! Not that he minded though. According to the ship's logs and the rapidly fading supply of sleeping pills, the USS Enterprise was desperately overdue for shore leave on any planet. Even the barren wasteland of Polar would suffice!
McCoy had originally beamed down with a landing party consisting of the crew's Chief Engineer and First Officer. Fully aware that he and Montgomery Scott shared similar views on what constituted leisure time, the first stop on their schedule was the nearest pub. "It'll only be a wee lil' drink, Mr. Spock," Scotty had assured him, but being a Vulcan, the First Officer had politely declined and vanished in order to conduct research upon Polar's history and culture. It wasn't a stretch, however, to assume that Mr. Spock had already calculated Scotty's "wee lil' drink" resulting in an enormous hangover. In record time, Mr. Scott found himself under the table. The doctor chuckled as Scotty's burning cheeks and thick accent resurfaced in his memory. He had drunk a bit too much himself though. Opening his communicator to have the unconscious Lieutenant Commander beamed back aboard the ship was an extremely difficult task after a few shots of Romulan Ale. It was one of the few perks of being so close to the Neutral Zone, and McCoy decided, an appealing temptation. After all, Mr. Spock was nowhere to be found to lecture him on the rules and regulations regarding illegal beverages. Besides, after some fumbling and a little concentration, he'd been successful in contacting the transporter room.
Now McCoy was just appreciating a breath of fresh air. It was refreshing to no longer be cooped up like a caged dog, even if it was just a standard mining planet. Why anyone would ever want to live on a planet whose surface was scorching hot during the day and frozen like a pop sickle at night would forever remain a mystery to him. Most miners received more zeros at the end of their paychecks than the Chief Medical Officer had seen in his entire career. They weren't known for being picky as long as those zeros stayed steady, however, even Polar wasn't the safest and most ideal choice for the miners either. There had been dozens of deaths on Polar due to hypothermia. There were endless tales of idiots who'd wandered out into the sands. Whether it was out of drunkenness or arrogant illusions of invincibility, every case ended with the victim getting lost long enough for the two suns to sink, and with them, the warm temperatures.
The doctor's musings were interrupted by the eerie feeling that he was being followed. He turned around. No one was there. He sighed, but after adjusting his eye level downward, McCoy jumped a little. A big lump of brown fur stared up at him with glossy, periwinkle eyes. "You gave me quite a scare there," he drawled, stooping over to give the dog a soft pat on the head. "Next time, sneak up on Mr. Spock rather than me."
The Chief Medical Officer resumed his walk only to peer over his shoulder and discover that the dog was still following him. Its tail wagged back and forth gamely. McCoy halted and whirled around. The dog accordingly halted its pursuit, falling back on its rump. "I'm afraid you have me confused with someone else." He frowned and scouted his surroundings for a moment. A woman in a dull green dress passed by. "Excuse me?"
She stopped, cocking her head back in question. "Yes?"
"I'm sorry to bother you, Ma'am. But do you by any chance know-?" His sentence was cut short as a fierce growl erupted from behind him. The dog made a vicious snap at the woman, who fearfully jolted back in anger.
The woman's eyes flared, leading to a quick slap to McCoy's face. "Learn to control your dog, Mister!"
"It's not my dog, dammit!" The Chief Medical Officer shouted, equally mad, as the woman stomped off. She was either out of hearing range or didn't care because no response came as she disappeared into a store.
McCoy whirled on the aggressor, still rubbing his stinging cheek. The dog, a chocolate labrador he noted, had returned to its stupid lanky self, it's long tongue hanging out of its mouth. "What was that for?!"
The labrador twisted his head in bewilderment, wondering what on Earth he'd done to get yelled at.
"You sure are lucky God gave you such a cute face."
McCoy was taken aback when the dog picked itself up and moseyed on over, affectionately rubbing his head against the doctor's leg, big eyes pouting. "All right, all right! Apology excepted," he muttered, scratching the mutt's floppy ears. "Where did you come from anyway?"
The doctor frantically searched all over Polar's capital city and practically Kingdom Come with his newly found companion. He desperately needed to find the dog's owner. But each time McCoy even got so much as near another living soul, the chocolate labrador became completely protective, growling and snapping at anyone within inches of him. Needless to say, this didn't exactly help the Enterprise Officer make new friends. Only when alone with the doctor did the dog revert back to its harmless, silly appearance.
McCoy had given up and eventually led the dog to the outskirts of the capital so that the labrador wouldn't frighten anymore people. "Look dog," McCoy called, picking up a small rock amidst the endless sand. He waved it around for a minute and made sure that the dog's eyes were fully focused on the rock. "Fetch!" The doctor hurled the rock with all his might.
The chocolate labrador took off after it, its tail doing a dance in excitement. McCoy immediately turned, planning to run as far away from his companion as he possible and beam back to the ship, when a loud bark shattered his hopes from behind.
The doctor slowly turned to see the dog tilting its head mindlessly at him, a grin lingering on its occupied mouth.
McCoy dropped to the sand in defeat. "Why couldn't you pester someone else? What's so special about me?" He asked aimlessly, not expecting a response. The dog plopped down and dropped a large rock in front of him. The doctor groaned, exasperated. "That's not even the same rock!"
McCoy's was suddenly overwhelmed by a violent chill. It was getting colder, and Polar's suns were beginning to fade out of view. McCoy picked himself up off the ground and took out his communicator. He pondered over the dog for a moment. He realized he was glad it hadn't fallen for his trick. At least not with the temperature starting to drop, and quickly. "I guess I'm going to have to take you with me," he decided with a grumble. "Can't let you freeze to death out here just because you've gotten lost from home." He flipped open his communicator with a click. "McCoy to Enterprise. Come in Enterprise."
"Enterprise, Lieutenant Kyle here. I was beginning to worry about you, Doctor. You're the last one to report in. What's been keeping you?"
"Trust me, Lieutenant, it's better that you don't ask. Two to beam up."
"Two?"
"I wasn't aware that you couldn't count, Lieutenant," McCoy said, his voice dripping in sarcasm.
"Sorry, Doctor, but it's just… your signal is coming up with only one other life form in the vicinity...Well, it's not human." The young engineer explained.
"I wasn't aware that the number two was only used for humans either, Lieutenant."
"Yes, Doctor. I'll have you up in a jiffy."
McCoy glanced once again down at the dog. He was loyally at his side as though he'd always been there, that same damn snicker still present on his furry face. "Snickers. Humph. That's what I'll call you. Snickers."
