I do not own Star Trek. Too bad.
McCoy sat on the ground with a blade of sawgrass dangling off to the side between his lips. He had just sent another load of plants to the Enterprise requested by Sandoval. Already there were about 70 crew members that had been infected by the first batch and had beamed down. Kirk came walking across the pasture, first bewildered by the actions of Mr. Spock, now stunned by witnessing the takeover of two more crewmen, Sulu and LaSalle. Seeing him approaching, McCoy stood up to meet him. A pile of plants lay a mere 10 feet away. There was no confusion as to their destination. Kirk was furious that his orders were being blatantly ignored, and concerned that whatever was taking over his crewmen was being prepared to be beamed aboard the Enterprise. He rushed to McCoy's side to get some answers, but McCoy who had been checking on the status on the plants, turned and with an odd euphoric expression, greeted his Captain.
"Hiya Jimmy boy!" Dr. McCoy placed a hand on Kirk's shoulder. "Now don't you worry, I've taken care of everything. Ya'll just gotta relax; doctor's orders."
A sickening feeling started to churn in Kirk's stomach. Eyeing the plants behind McCoy, he surmised that they were not the first batch that went up.
"How many of those things did you beam up?"
He was shocked to find the number so high. He was also shocked at how quickly their influence had spread. The transporter chief sounded punch drunk, mostly concerned with the plants' welfare, not the dozens of crewmembers he was blindingly transporting down. Everything within his being screamed at him to get back to his ship but he knew he couldn't do it alone. But for now he needed to tend to the ship.
About ten minutes after Kirk had beamed up, Nurse Chapel went to the transporter room to beam down. Isolated in one of the labs conducting some experiments on a vaccine to protect the landing party against Berthold ray damage, she was unaware of what was going on. Dr. McCoy had sent her a message to come to the surface to procure a sample of native plants. Procuring was not what was on his mind, but it would be the easiest way to get her to the surface.
On the planet's surface, Christine was greeted by an overly jovial Dr. McCoy. In his arms, he carried what looked like several stalks of the local flora.
"Awww. Leonard, you shouldn't have." She reached for the specimens that she would be spending the better part of her day studying.
At that moment, the plants exploded their spores right into her face. Bent over at the waist with her forearm against her face unsuccessfully shielding from the attack, moments went by without her moving. McCoy expected her to be grinning most radiantly as she straightened up.
"What the hell!" Grinning most radiantly was definitely not what she was doing!
"Christine?" Completely befuddled, Dr. McCoy just stood there, wide eyed, trying to figure out why his most benign, good natured head nurse, had not turned to an even more syrupy sweet version of her former self.
"You stupid dumbass! What the hell are you trying to pull?" With that she grabbed the now emptied plant pods out of his arms, stepped back, and swung them like a baseball bat into Dr. McCoy's head. The plants exploded upon contact, seeds and leaf remnants alike, raining down about him.
With that Christine turned around and stormed off, an auditory trail of expletives sounding in her wake. The first person that she encountered under the influence of the spores was Lt. Sulu. He was walking across a field with a huge grin on his face. Seeing her, he hastened his pace to meet her.
"Hi Christine. My, you are looking beautiful today." Crooning at her as if she was an angel floating downward, his eyes seemed to melt; a faraway look came over him.
"Are you stoned, Sulu?" Christine's reply cut through the air. Shaking her head in disgust she trampled on. A faint sound of laughter reached her ears, a deep baritone resounding just over the next hill. At first she paid no attention, thinking that everybody was off their rocker to begin with and it just frustrated her more. The commotion became more discernable as she happened upon a most peculiar sight.
There sitting on the ground was Leila Kalomi, and laying his head in her lap was Mr. Spock. They were both laughing and pointing up to the clouds, gesturing at the imaginative figures that they were seeing. Christine looked up at the clouds, then back at the two enjoying themselves on the ground. Obviously this Vulcan had no problem showing his emotions and her blood begin to boil. Years of telling her he couldn't return her affections came to her mind. It would not have been fair to her to endure a life where he couldn't share his feelings with her. Apparently he was sharing a lot more than feelings with this woman judging by the smile on her face.
Christine climbed the small hill where the couple oblivious to the approaching women continued their intimate chattering.
"Well, well, well; looky here!" Christine sarcastically chimed. "Who would have thought?"
Spock inclined his head to her and an even wider smile broke out. "Nurse Chapel, it is delightful to see you." He stood up to greet Christine, just as she was drawing back to take a swing at him. The punch landed squarely to his face. Green blood spurted from a split lip. With his hand immediately going to his mouth, his other arm straightened out trying to keep her at bay. Completely caught off guard, an expression of unbelief was plastered upon his now bleeding face.
"You son of a bitch! Vulcans have no feelings huh? You sure as hell don't look as if you are protesting against your nature here, you liar!" Furious at the turn of events, Christine stormed off leaving a bewildered and bleeding first officer staring at her retreating form.
It wasn't that long before Christine crossed paths with Chekov, who was obviously smitten with one of the younger colonists. He was loudly boasting how Russians made the best lovers and all the inventions belonging to his beloved motherland.
Christine called out to them. "Yo Chekov! Why don't you cut the bullshit and get some of that fancy Russian inventiveness involved and tell me what the hell is going on!"
Chekov, thoroughly chastised, shrugged his shoulders in defeat. A totally unimpressed Christine rolled her eyes and kept on walking.
"Yeah, I figured as much."
By the timed Christine had made her way around most of the colony, she was convinced of two things; everyone on this planet and visiting crewmembers were totally out of their minds, and nobody knew why. Nor did anyone seem to care.
Making her way back to the beam up point, she passed Lieutenant Sulu again. He and Ensign Buckingham were jousting with a couple of long sticks. They looked like they were having the time of their lives, laughing while looking utterly stupid. She made her way over the pair, hoping that Sulu would have some idea of the Captain's whereabouts and any orders that were being given. So far, nobody would give up any information, only that they hoped they wouldn't have to leave for a long, long time. Unfortunately she was out of luck with Sulu as well.
"Why would anyone want to leave such a wonderful place as this?" The smiling helmsman looked as if he was high. She could only stare incredulously at him, hoping some sort of realization would come over him and they could all go back to their lives on the big merry ship.
"Uh..so we can eat shitty replicated food, feel the allure of hard, inhuman machinery, and best of all….we can fight all the hostile species out there and hope to hell not to get blown up….what do you think, you moron."
"Hey quiet down young lady, you need to relax and the best way to do that is the way of the ancient Samurai." With that he held up his stick and said "En Garde!" He was sure that this would be the best way to get her out of sour mood. Instead, it infuriated her even more, and she grabbed the stick out of his hand and broke it in half over an upraised knee. Not stopping there, she let a left jab fly which connected solidly with the unprepared helmsman's face. A spurt of blood and a hard thunk, and Lieutenant Hikaro Sulu was on the ground out cold.
"That will teach you not to threaten me, dumbass."
Now Ensign Buckingham, who had been stunned into silence, advanced on the Nurse out of duty to his superior officer. Sneaking up behind her to restrain her, should she turn violent on him, apparently was a colossal mistake.
Sensing another attack on her person, Christine turned around in time to throw a punch at the advancing Ensign.
Making sure neither unconscious crewmember lying on the ground was in a danger, she pulled out her medical scanner and once satisfied with their state she stormed off to find a way back to the Enterprise.
The Captain, now free of the spore's influence, and after a most dangerous if not foolish folly seeking to release the Vulcan from his imprisoned mirth, now set out how to bring his errant crew home.
"Spock, have you finished eradicating the rest of the plants on the ship."
"Yes, Captain, however, I would like to keep one remaining seed pod for scientific study. The effects of the spore's influence to incite a tranquil state of being are a fascinating concept and one worthy of further study."
A lopsided smile formed on the Captain's face as he entertained a fleeting fancy of shipping a whole container to the nearest Klingon battle cruiser.
"No, Mr. Spock. I'm sorry but I think we will leave it to the research teams that will no doubt follow. My concern is to make sure that the crew will not come to danger when we implement the device. Are you sure that the frequency is set at the optimal range? I don't want any of my crew to turn into sadistic killers; I only want enough of the effect to throw off the influence." He absently rubbed his still hurting and swollen jaw.
"Captain, as Humans are impossible to predict concerning strong emotions, I can only say that it should produce an effect that would generate a state between mild annoyance and moderate aggravation. Each individual's response to those feelings may vary."
"Ok, I know. Well let's get to the transporter room to start beaming up crewmembers as they call in. Uh…is Ms. Kalomi alright?"
A fleeting expression of regret, followed by one of betrayal crossed his feature before speaking.
"I believe Ms. Kalomi will make a full recovery." His reluctance to show any concern for her belied his distain in both of their behaviors.
As Mr. Spock adjusted the transponder frequency one last time, an anxious Captain paced back and forth in front of the pads, hoping that there would be an immediate result and his wayward crew would come sulking back. He already knew that he would not punish anyone for his or her actions, for he had also fallen under the deceptive euphoria that had almost destroyed his ship. Sensing Mr. Spock's gaze, he stopped his rumination.
"Are we ready, Spock?"
"Yes Captain. Broadcasting on all frequencies, now."
Eleven hours after the first broadcast, all crewmembers and colonists were accounted for. With the exception of a few more serious medical interventions, almost all of the crew were pronounced fit for duty. However, if one were to look at the crew at first glance, it would seem like they had just come from the biggest bar brawl known to man. Every other person either sported a black eye, swollen lip, or some other unmistakable sign of fighting.
Dr. Marcus DeVaul, ship's dentist, had been working nonstop on reintegrating missing or broken teeth. Thankfully due to the advances in dental care in the 24th century, they were now able to replant teeth and hold them in place till the bone regenerator cemented the roots back into the jaw.
A formal debriefing was scheduled for 0700 the next morning as many of the senior crewmembers needed to gather information and their wits about them before facing their Captain. In the meantime, the grapevine was on fire. Everybody had some juicy story to tell from the escapades of an uninhibited crew to the astonishing behavior of their first officer. But one item of fancy kept cropping up on the buzz list; a seemingly unaffected, un-blissful, unaccommodating nurse who was hell bent on righting everyone's attitude and subsequently kicking their asses. The new buzz was to gather info on just how many had come into the swinging radius of her fist. And the Captain and Mr. Spock were absolutely astounded at what they had learned. And as if the universe had landed on its side when the offences had piled into a large stack for the briefing, the first officer confessed who the culprit of his still swollen and bruised lip was.
The morning came and as the senior officers trickled in, the Captain and Mr. Spock secretly wondered at just how each black eye or swollen face area had been received. After the preliminary questions and statements were taken, the meeting became more informal.
The Captain began first. "Like I said during the formal proceedings, no one will be charged for the altercations they were involved in while under the influence, but to make sure that the ship runs smoothly, I need to make sure that no one is holding a grudge against another crewmember."
Dr. McCoy half mumbled out his response, "Jim I could never harbor ill thoughts against Chris…."
"Chris? As in Christine Chapel?" Kirk was stunned. He couldn't imagine the head nurse turning against her superior and friend.
All eyes shifted to the embarrassed Doctor.
"Yes and it was my fault. I tricked her into becoming infected and she called me on it." He absently put his hand to the side of his face that was still purple and swollen and deeply scratched from the sharp spines of the spore plants that were batted against his head.
The Captain's eyebrows were up. "I see. I hear that our normally sweet nurse had turned almost violent under their influence. The opposite of us, would you say doctor?"
"No that isn't it at all! In fact I think that what the spores did to all of us was to unleash a hidden fantasy that we held of ourselves. For most of us, it was to throw of the constraints of responsibility and duty and just let go of ourselves and be free."
Nodding to Spock, the Doctor continued, "For you Spock, the hidden desire to throw off the tight Vulcan grip of logic and see what your human side was like."
"I think for Chris, her normally compliant, shy demeanor and drive to please everyone was turned on its head. What we saw was a woman who saw through all the bullshit and called us all out with no hesitation."
"I know that I should have never teased her. I'm sure Ensign Buckingham is going to have quite a shiner." Sulu, whose nose was twice it's normal size, timidly freely confessed.
You could hear the jaws drop around the table.
Kirk obviously shocked again stood, "Gentlemen, I think that we can put away any misunderstandings over the naivety of our capable head nurse and it would do us well in the future to remember that just because she plays to our egotism, bravado, and silliness, she knows EXACTLY who we are. Dismissed."
As everyone made their way to the door, it opened and there stood the nurse in question. For a second everyone froze as if they were unsure of the newcomer. Then as if an unseen force parted the group down the middle, a wide berth was given.
"Nurse Chapel?" Kirk braved, being as no one else dared to make a sound.
Christine shifted her eyes to one side of the room and then to the other. "Uh, sorry Captain to interrupt but I thought the briefing was over and I needed to give Dr. McCoy the lab results before I leave duty."
"No problem nurse, we were just leaving."
As they all shuffled out of the room, Christine waited patiently to one side looking at the floor. She knew that she was a main topic of discussion by the way the Captain had looked at her. Dr. McCoy was next to the last to leave. He held out his hand and without hesitation, Christine dropped the square into his hand. She then turned to leave, but surprisingly the last person in the room thought otherwise.
"Nurse Chapel, will you please remain? I would like to have a word with you."
"Yes Mr. Spock."
Dr. McCoy looked back with a strange look on his face but kept on walking, leaving the two by themselves. The pneumatic doors closed behind her and she stood facing the first officer. Something had changed her, he sensed. It was like she had exposed her anger and disappointment in the crew during their time on the planet. There was no way that she could take it back; the words, the actions; only to acknowledge that all was out in the open. She knew he sensed the change as well, but no longer had any fear of rejection, for this is who she really was deep down and she no longer wanted to keep up the pretence.
"Mr. Spock, I can only say how sorry…" she had begun, but he held his hand up to stop her.
"I am not asking for an apology Miss Chapel nor am I going to bring any kind of charges or reprimand upon you. I had thought about what you had said on the planet surface and I feel I do need to explain."
Christine just stared at him. Her first thought was to tell him not to bother that she was out of line and it was none of her business about his relationship with Miss Kalomi, but something else took over. No she thought to herself, he did need to explain and she found herself becoming angry.
Sensing her changing mood, Spock quietly begun.
"You said that I was a liar. You felt that since I had told you I had no feelings to share and then saw my actions on the planet, that it was only you I could not express myself too. However, you are wrong. My nature, my Vulcan nature that is, is complex and complicated. We strive to follow logic. I have always strived to obtain this to the best of my ability; however the spores were able to strip away any control that I had. The truth is that Vulcans do have extremely strong emotions and passions. We strive to restrain our passions which at one point almost destroyed my race. My words to you were true, that I couldn't be the emotionally expressive person you wished me to be."
Christine looked at him for a moment then spoke. "I never asked you to be emotional, in fact I never asked you to be anything but who you were."
"I must confess, Christine that I thought you to be emotionally weak, never standing true to your beliefs. I will say that I have definitely changed my opinion of you. You behavior on the planet, while being exceedingly unbecoming of an officer, was true to your beliefs in every sense."
He shifted his stance nervously and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
"One could say that you were the only one acting out of truth at all. I find that very impressive and your, as humans say 'no holding back', behavior very stimulating."
Christine's expression softened.
"Well for the record, I do apologize for hitting you."
"And off the record?" Spock looked at her very daringly.
"You deserved it."
One eyebrow rose. The small smile still there, "Miss Chapel," he began.
Christine braced herself for what she thought would be a stern berating, if not a warning. She squeaked out of quiet, "yes sir?"
"Would you care to have brunch with me?"