I do not own Star Trek although I religiously watch the movies and the original series. Hope you like it!
Kirk slumped in his chair awaiting communications from the Starfleet when Uhura announced the arrival of a message. The message contained the Admirals' instructions to investigate the planet Bizirik and locate the space vessel that had disappeared about a week prior. Several attempts at communicator were made however none were ever successful. They were needed to determine the cause of the disappearance and rescue any survivors. Jim sent his acknowledgement and ordered the change of course.
As they neared the planet, the lights of the ship flickered and a call from Scotty revealed that something in space had latched on to the ship causing the engines struggle to stay at warp speed.
Kirk winced as he felt something prod his mind. All of a sudden, his head erupted in excruciating pain as the object attempted to take over Kirk's and certainly was not being gentle about. He fell out his chair and began writhing in pain on the floor when McCoy was called and injected him with a sedative. His pain subsided but his mind slipped into unconsciousness also.
His body was carried by Spock and Sulu to sickbay while being analyzed profusely with McCoy's tricorder. Physically, there was nothing wrong with him, but mentally, his head had felt as if someone took a match and set in on fire.
Kirk began regaining consciousness and sat up. The mental battle was over and the real Kirk had been shoved into the recesses of the mind while the foreign attacker gained full control.
Kirk stood up and looked over at McCoy who was standing a few away, staring strangely at him. "What the hell happened?" McCoy asked.
"I don't know, but I'm better now." He began to walk out of sickbay when a hand clamped on his shoulder. "I did not clear you yet." McCoy said.
"That's not necessary. I am fine." he said defiantly and walked out of the room before another word was said about it.
Initially, his plan had been to gain control of Kirk, both mind and body, however Kirk had a more powerful mind than he anticipated so he settled on the body and a few stray memories that gave him knowledge of Kirk's behavior and the names of his crewmates.
He entered the bridge and took his seat comfortably, ignored the concerned looks of Sulu, Chekov, and Spock.
"Chekov, before we reach Bizirik I was given orders to stop at the small planet of
Pamilya."
Spock was the first to speak, "I don't recall you ever discussing any new orders, sir."
"It was a private message, but it truly is imperative we obey them, it was an order. There is a small town that was ruthlessly taken over by the Klingons. We need to rescue them."
Chekov nodded and changed the course settlings.
Seconds later they arrived at the planet Pamilya and Kirk went down to the Transporter Room.
"I will beam down alone but I will stay in contact. Standby to beam up, this shouldn't take long."
"Captain, are you sure? This is very unlike you to not allow even a security team to assist."
"I will be fine and please await my return."
He took his place on the transporter, heard Scotty say, "Energizing," and he was beamed down.
He appeared in the middle of the town and stepped off to the side to say hidden. He quickly made his way to a small, old house with broken windows and a missing door.
He climbed up the small set of stairs into the house and entered the home. Once inside, he navigated his way to the cellar through a series of trap doors where he found his wife and kids huddled together in the dingy room.
"It's me." He proclaimed and his wife sprinted over and hugged and kissed him.
"I've made arrangements to get you all out of here." He glanced around and realized no one else was in the cellar. "Where is everyone else?"
"They were all killed. We're the only ones left."
Kirk felt pain in his head when the real Kirk resumed the fight for control of his body. Kirk shook off the pain, grabbed his wife and kids and began executing his escape plan. When he got to the main floor he called up, "Scotty, beam us up now. There are four people—"
Klingons barged through the front door and began firing and his wife ran off and huddled with her kids into a corner. One beam made contact with his shoulder, knocking him onto the floor. He returned fire and killed them all with his phaser before they took another shot. His wife ran back over to him and helped him to his feet when they were all beamed up.
Once he reached the ship, Kirk separated from the body, giving the real Kirk back the controls. The body collapsed on the pad as the wound began to bleed out.
As the creature returned to his wife and kids, Scotty called down to medical while Spock prevented his captain from moving and further damaging himself. Kirk remained conscious but was exhausted from his battle of control with the creature and was sweating profusely.
McCoy quickly came with a stretcher and medical kit and analyzed him on the spot. McCoy assessed that he had a shoulder wound and was burning up for unknown reasons so he lifted him onto a stretcher and rushed him to the sickbay.
Once he transferred Kirk to a biobed, he staunched the bleeding of the wound with sterile pads and used a hypo to bring down his temperature.
Spock came in and had figured out what really happened to Kirk on the bridge and explained it all to McCoy: Kirk's odd behavior, the added mission, and the extra person that was beamed up in the Transporter Room.
Shortly following this explanation, the creature came into the sickbay and inquired about Kirk's condition.
"He'll live, don't worry, he's had worse," McCoy's usually sarcastic tone was replaced with dark underlying sound. He was furious that an imposter had taken the place of his best friend and he had hardly noticed the difference. When he glanced over at Spock, he had a good feeling that Spock felt the same way.
"I'm very sorry to cause him such excruciating pain, but my family was suffering and I needed him to help them. I was desperate." The creature looked guilty for his actions and was clearly afraid of what would happen to him.
"Attacking a Starfleet officer is against regulations and you will be held accountable for your actions," Spock stated.
"Please, sir. I have a family to take care of." The creature slowly backed out of the room.
Spock moved in pursuit when a hand touched his arm. Kirk weakly opened his eyes and said, "You're intentions were sensible however I must ask that you must never speak a word of this to anyone. I don't want to be taken over by everyone who wants to save their people."
"Thank you, sir, I promise!" the creature exclaimed and left the room.
Kirk slowly sat up in the bio bed and saw that McCoy and Spock were looking at him curiously. "Didn't either of you recognize that it was me in my body?"
McCoy looked down at the floor while Spock remained calm. "I believed sir that there was something off and when the transporter came in with an extra person, I came to explain it all to Dr. McCoy."
"I can't believe it. My two closest friends can't recognize an imposter." Kirk slowly made his way his feet and strolled out.
He walked onto the bridge and returned to his chair with Spock following closely behind. Kirk ordered, "Set our course for Bizirik; we have to pick up those survivors. Hopefully, it isn't too late."
Chekov responded, "I already did sir; we should arrive in approximately five minutes."
"We're approaching the planet any second, sir," Chekov reported.
"Good, then landing party on standby: Spock, McCoy, and two redshirts prepare to beam down." Kirk left the bridge and stopped by sickbay to grab medicine to stop his headache before heading down to the Transporter Room. Everyone else was already in the transporter so he took his position and they were beamed down.
His head spun when they reached the planet; the air felt thin although according to McCoy it was, in fact, breathable as long as they didn't have to do any long distance running. The planet had a dry climate and the ground was scatter with boulders on the sandy ground.
A gunshot struck the sand about a foot in front of him causing him to flinch. The ground were about to take off running when cloaked figures appeared from all around them and surrounded them.
"Who's your captain?" one of the tallest of them stood and asked.
Kirk stepped out toward this figure. "I am."
The crowd closed in and several figures grabbed from multiple sides, preventing him from escaping, and carried him to the tallest one. The figure, in one swipe of his hand, knocked Kirk unconscious and commanded his people to carry him back to their village.
After seeing Kirk crumble to the ground McCoy exclaimed, "No, Kirk!" He moved to charge at the tribe when he was held back by Spock who didn't need to explain that any action against the tribe in their current predicament would be highly illogical. The leader called to his tribe to bring Spock and McCoy along and dispose of the rest. The tribal men responded immediately and neatly snapped the necks of the two redshirts leaving their bodies in the sand. Spock and McCoy were each grabbed by two people and carried to the village where they were imprisoned in a cell with the unconscious Kirk.
McCoy removed his shirt, rolled it into a ball, and positioned it under Kirk's head, while he instructed Spock to raise his feet. McCoy conducted several other old-fashioned test including breathing and heart rate. Although Kirk's breathing was faint his heart rate was normal. He checked again several minutes later and began performing CPR when his breathing stopped.
The leader of the tribe walked up to the cell and asked, "Is your captain awake?"
An irritated McCoy answered, "No he isn't. He's hardly breathing and I have no idea how serious his condition is because you confiscated my medical kit."
"I will have one of my people bring you your kit; however you will be monitored closely. If you have lied to me in an attempt to escape, I will kill you all without a moment of hesitation."
One figure left for a minute, returned with the medical kit, and tossed it into the cell. McCoy caught it and hastily opened it to assess Kirk further.
He found that Kirk had a mark in his brain that most likely came from his forced mind meld earlier today. In addition, the injury the latest blow caused was minor internal bleeding. He used a hypo spray to stop the bleeding however the brain injury could not be treated with what he on available. He needed a different hypo spray in the medical bay.
He administered another hypo spray that caused Kirk to wearily open up his eyes. "Where am I?"
"Hey Sleeping Beauty, we're currently locked in a cell by the very people we were intended to save." His voice was thick with sarcasm as he spoke.
"Great," he muttered and began to move to a sitting position. Spock lowered his feet to the ground while McCoy eased him up.
The leader strolled in then and said, "Oh good, he's awake."
Two of his minions opened the cell and dragged a thrashing Kirk out of the cell. Kirk was forced into a nearby tent and tied into a chair.
The leader walked in and took a seat opposite him. Guards stood by the opening of the tent but the leader paid no notice as he addressed Kirk. "Sorry for such measures, but you are foreign to our land you must understand our concerns."
"I do, but I believe your actions are unnecessary; my people come here in peace and yet you have killed two of my people and captured the rest, like criminals." Kirk struggled against the restraints to prove his point.
The leader made no motion to loosen the restraints, but said, "What is your business here?"
"I was given orders to survey the land and locate a space ship that disappeared about a week ago."
"Well, a dozen of our men were killed when another group of your kind came before. I assume that is the ship of people you are referencing. They were all put to death for their actions. This is why we have no toleration for your kind. Convince me not to have the rest of your people killed."
Kirk was taken aback by this information; there were over 300 people on that ship that were murdered. "I can offer you a position in the United Federation of Planets; however I will need my two officers." Kirk doubted that the council would admit this tribe but he had a plan.
"What do I gain from joining this union?"
"For starters, you will never have to worry about facing an attack alone. If you are ever attack, we will come to your aid and fight alongside you and your men."
The leader looked skeptical but called for his guards to bring in Spock and McCoy.
Meanwhile, the leader continued to talk to Kirk about their history, fighting battles with other invaders alone but had turned his attention to the back of the tent. Kirk used this opportunity to loosen the rope tying his wrists to the arms of the chair. The guards returned with Spock and McCoy in tow, deposited them in the tent, and returned to their position by the exit.
He glanced over at them and hoped they knew what he was planning: attack now that they had a fair fight of 3 to 3.
"Go!" he yelled and he escaped the chair as Spock and McCoy sprang into action; Spock rendered one of the guards unconscious with a nerve pinch and McCoy had the upper hand with the second guard, however all motion stopped when the leader had Kirk by the neck. Kirk struggled to get free but his feet were dangling off the ground and he couldn't breathe.
More tribal men from outside the tent stormed in and restrained his two officers when the leader let Kirk fall to the ground.
"That was a sad attempt at escaping. I'm sure a Starfleet captain can do better. You amuse me. Which is why I will grant you a chance at freedom: you will be pitted against my best fighter. If you come out as the victor, you and your officers may leave however if you lose, you will be dead I will kill your friends and every rescue party that comes to investigate your disappearance."
"I accept your offer."
"It wasn't an offer. You would've faced my warrior whether you 'accepted it' or not. You see, you have no chance, but I would find it entertaining to see you try."
Kirk was led to the center of the village where there was a round, flat area, encircled with boulders about 500 meters in diameter. Kirk was pushed into the circle and saw a large, burly tribal man make his way into the same circle. They were each given a spear, although the leader had been sure to inform him that his warrior could've killed him with his bare hands.
Kirk was nimble and quickly dodged the warrior's attacks. His plan was simple: wear out his opponent. Unfortunately, the quality of air made it difficult for him to breathe so he actually wore himself out instead.
Finally the warrior landed a blow with his fist that knocked Kirk off his feet and onto his back. The fall broke his spear into two separate pieces. Kirk was knocked unconscious and now laid motionless where he fell.
The leader broke out in laughter, "See how weak these people are, and they wanted us to sign up for their protection!"
The warrior approached Kirk to deal the final blow when Kirk leaped up, grabbed an end to his spear, and jabbed it into the warrior who dropped to his knees and then landed on his side, dead.
The leader roared in outrage, "Seize him!"
Guards leaped into the circle, but Spock and McCoy had escaped their captors so they joined their captain in the middle. Together, they fought their way out of the circle and because Spock used his nerve pinch for most of them, no tribal people were killed in the process.
They raided the leader's tent, found their communicators, and had Scotty beam them up. When they reached the Enterprise, Kirk dropped to his knees in exhaustion and exclaimed, "Thank goodness for fresh air!"
Since the man-made concoction of air on the Enterprise was far from 'fresh air,' he received several odd looks from the people in the Transporter Room, although McCoy simply laughed to himself and said, "Okay, let's go down to sickbay and get you checked out."
He helped Kirk to his feet and led him down to sickbay where he treated his headache and the broken ribs he sustained with his battle with the warrior. Then he allowed Kirk to return to his quarters with orders for bed rest, which he did not object to.
Once Kirk entered his room, he fell onto the bed full clothed and went to sleep.