The familiar whir of the Enterprise greeted Captain Kirk as he moseyed down to sickbay. Dr. McCoy had commed him informing him that the most recent vaccines were ready for him, allergen-free. It always took the medbay a few days longer to get to Kirk than most when it came to vaccinations due to his various and endless allergies.
Kirk finally reached the sliding doors of the medbay and McCoy's second-in-command, Dr. Alice Walsh, was waiting for him.
"Hello, Captain. Dr. McCoy was just getting your vaccines. He is supposed to take his lunch break right about now, so I hope you don't mind if I shoo him out of sickbay while I administer your vaccines."
"Not at all. It will be nice to be treated by someone who doesn't say 'Dammit, Jim' every time that I twitch." Kirk replied, gracing her with his stunning smile.
As Dr. Walsh showed him to a biobed, his eyes skirted around her form and her face. She was a newer addition to the Enterprise. They added her right before they left spacedock for their five-year mission. Spock and McCoy had interacted with her more than he had, as McCoy picked her out and recruited her, and Spock had ensured that she had all of the necessary qualifications to serve onboard a starship for five years. Despite that, however, McCoy had bragged on her multiple times to Jim during their frequent dinners. A few nights ago Bones went on a particularly positive rant about her.
"Best dammed doctor I've come across in years… specializes in xenobiology, which is not my specialty. She is excellent at treating species she's never come across before, and she has a real knack for handling herself well under pressure in medical emergencies, even if she's in unfamiliar territory. I'm quite pleased that she agreed to join our flying tin can. If we have to be in space for five dammed years, then I'll be glad that she's one of the doctors coming with me After all, she's apparently quite efficient when it comes to dressing down stupid-ass engineers."
It was quite an impressive speech for Dr. McCoy, as most of his rants involved the engineers' or Jim's lack of concern of their welfare. Indeed, Jim had thought for a moment that McCoy had possibly shocked Spock silence. Of course, it only lasted for a moment. Spock swiftly responded by simply stating "I am glad that you have found a doctor whose bedside manner will compliment yours so well."
That of course, ended in McCoy telling Spock to stuff it. In not so many words. And not so politely.
Jim refocused on Dr. Walsh, this new doctor who had apparently impressed the unimpressable Leonard McCoy. She was fairly tall with a mane of dark, luscious brown-black hair. Her eyes seemed huge and luminescent, all while seeming to see straight to Kirk's very soul. To say she was curvy in all the proper feminine ways was an absolute understatement. Jim was jealous indeed that his best friend had the opportunity to work next to this woman every day, while he had to deal with Spock's sharp remarks putting him in his place on the bridge. Sure, there was Uhura, but all she did was help Spock beat up on him.
As Jim was sitting down on the biobed, McCoy walked out of his office with a tray of vials for hyposprays.
"Dr. McCoy, I've got this one. It's time for you to go eat and get some coffee."
"Alice, I'm not sure that's such a good idea. This idiot's immune system tends to go a bit haywire anytime you put a drug in his body," McCoy said, pointing his thumb at Jim.
"Dr. McCoy, you synthesized the proper antibodies yourself to ensure that he would not have an allergic reaction. You guaranteed that it would not make his system go haywire."
"I don't know, Alice…"
Dr. Walsh raised her eyebrow at Bones. "You need to eat and get out of the medbay. Plus, you haven't had coffee in about four hours, and you're about to start biting everyone's heads off if you don't get caffeine in your system." She smiled at him, trying to convince him.
"Alice if something goes wrong—"
"I'll comm you, and it won't even matter. I heard that they're serving peach cobbler in the mess hall."
"Alright! You win! I'm going."
"Excellent, sir. I knew that you'd see it my way." She grinned, watching him walk out the doors.
"Comm me!" McCoy called.
"Now, Captain Kirk, let's get rolling."
"Call me Jim. Any woman who can get Bones out of the medbay deserves a command post on their own."
"You must call me Alice, then. And he's not too hard once you figure out his sweet spots."
"Can you give me lessons then? I'd love to get him to agree to some things the way you just were able to. It would certainly make my life less full of hyposprays."
"Captain, I'm afraid they're trade secrets. Plus, I would imagine that McCoy dresses you down just as much as you need."
"You're not supposed to side with him! You've just started here!"
"Of course, Captain." She replied, imitating docility.
"Here's the first one." She murmured, as she prepped the first hypospray. "Here we go, sir." She shot it in far more gently than Bones ever would.
"You know, Alice, I rather think I like your ability to wield a hypospray much more than Bones's. Maybe I should make you my primary physician."
"Captain, even if Dr. McCoy would allow that to happen, which I assure you, he wouldn't. I'm afraid that I would get in the way of your 'bromance.'"
"It's Jim. And I see that you already have a close read on the ship and how it functions."
"Hardly, sir. I just try to pay attention."
Jim watched her as she prepared the next hypospray. She seemed to only be using her right hand, which wouldn't be unusual except for her clumsiness with it. She seemed to have difficulty locking the vial into place properly. That's when he noticed a slight bulge on her left hand under her—oddly enough—sweater. The air was perfectly warm for average Earth temperatures in the medbay. There should not have been a reason for her to wear a sweater in the medbay. Additionally, that bulge was very strange. Maybe some kind of jewelry—but no. It wouldn't have that particular shape. What about an ornamentation—but no. Starfleet wouldn't allow ornamentation on the wrists where it could get caught and break delicate machinery. It would have to be a brace or stabilizer of some sort. She wouldn't have that unless there was some sort of incurable injury, in which case Spock would have notified him or some sort of recent injury.
"What happened to you wrist, Alice?" She flinched at his question.
"Just an accident, sir." She replied, eyes avoiding his.
Jim would have let it go if it weren't for his sense that she was hiding something.
"What sort of accident?" He queried, searching her face.
"Just jostled around a bit in engineering while I was working with some men from the security department." Alice answered, eyes shifting from her work.
"Oh. Understandable." He replied, looking for some further response from her. She seemed to let out a breath that she must not have realized she'd been holding.
Something had happened, then. Something bad. If she was wearing a brace, it likely meant that someone had broken her arm. There was no other reason for her to wear one. Anything else could have been repaired without the extra support. Jostled around a bit, indeed. Jim would not have hazing or fighting on his ship among the crew members, especially not with someone who his CMO valued so highly.
As Dr. Walsh—Alice finished up her work with the hyposprays, Jim plotted how best to bring up his question with her. Just as she was putting away the last vial Jim sprung.
"So, Dr. Walsh, would you like to tell me who attacked you in engineering when you were 'just jostled around?'"
She spun around, her mouth dropping open. "Why would you say a thing like that, Captain?"
"Dr. Walsh, you may be able to pull the wool over Dr. McCoy's eyes while he's occupied with all of his patients, but it is my job to notice details, not just with patients but with all crewmembers. Now, you didn't answer my question."
"I—"
"Dr. Walsh, did someone attack you?"
She looked down, staring at the tiles. "I cannot answer that question, Captain."
"And why not?"
"Because I will not report anything, but I will not lie to my Captain either."
Interesting, she values honesty, Jim thought, while continuing to watch her face.
"Why will you not make a report."
"Because, sir, there are some things that you must simply handle by yourself. This is one of them. Reporting this will only make things worse."
"I can understand that."
"There are just some people onboard this ship who don't like that I'm here. And they are trying to intimidate me into leaving. But I won't. I like the staff here. I love working under Dr. McCoy. He's taught me so much in just a few short weeks. I've also worked too hard for too long to get to this position. I'm not going to go away just because of a few bullies."
"I can respect that, ma'am. However, I would tell you that you don't have to fight them alone."
"With all due respect, sir, I do. They won't learn the lesson not to mess with me, otherwise. They'll just say that I need you to stick up for me."
"You misunderstand me. I can teach you things that will help you fight them when it comes to it. Tricks to use if you are small or outnumbered. They'll give you an advantage in a fight like the one I'm sure that they're bringing to you."
Her mouth hung open again, shocked. "Captain, you'd do that for me?"
"Of course. I take care of my crewmembers, and bullying is not tolerated on this ship. I will stop it in whatever form I need to."
"Captain, are you sure? I know that you're a very busy man."
"Dr. Walsh, you are well on your way to becoming very important to my CMO and best friend. You already are helping him take better care of himself. That means I will help you. You are too valuable to him, and therefore too valuable to me to let this slip by. And to be honest, we need good doctors on this trip. Five years in space is a long time, and I want only the best with me."
"Thank you, Captain. I must ask one thing of you, though. Please do not tell Dr. McCoy."
"Why? Surely he must know already. He must have fixed up your arm."
"I fixed up my arm, sir."
Jim's eyes widened in shock. "Surely that must have been painful and difficult."
"Of course, sir, but it's better than McCoy losing his medical liscense."
"What?"
"You know Dr. McCoy, Captain. If he found out, he likely would march down to security and infect every single one of them with Andorian shingles just because they messed with one of his own, sir. Unfortunately, that illegal for medical practitioners to do, sir, and I do not particularly want Dr. McCoy to go to jail and lose his medical liscense. After all, who would then chase you up and down the ship ordering you to get your physical done if he wasn't there?"
Jim cracked a smile at her all-too-accurate depiction of Bones. "Alright, Dr. Walsh. It's a deal. Meet me at 2200 to run drills?"
"Aye, Captain. Thank you for everything."
The medical bay door slid open revealing a caffeinated Dr. McCoy. "Thank him for what? Being a god dammed infant?"