"Finished!"
McCoy yanked on his ear. The echo was unmistakeable. He frowned slightly, then returned to the display screen of his analysis unit, which had worked right for the last 3 hours . "Simulation checks out….sequences match. All I need is a subject to confirm…." He tapped his lower lip thoughtfully with his index finger.
"I thought I heard you shouting something." Sulu appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame. "Shuttle's ready to go." He stepped over to the screen. "No problems since I fixed it?"
"Not a one. In fact, I believe I've found the cure. Everything looks good here." He allowed himself a victory smile. "Those lizards are no match for a Starfleet doctor, let me tell you. They may have cooked up a brutal little contagion, but I have the power of years of medical technology, research, and instinct on my side. Not to mention a heart." He blushed at that, whether from anger or embarrassment at his self-praise, he wasn't sure. "The sooner we fetch Kirk and Spock and get back to those poor devils on the Enterprise with the antidote, the better. I can't even imagine what it's like to be at the mercy of a virus like that…roaming the halls like the undead, being forced to assault people against your own will….and waking up feverish and delirious in sickbay…..pure evil, I tell you."
"Yeah, I know….I've heard the stories. The comms are buzzing with rumors." Sulu looked down at his feet. "Coulda been us."
"Good point. Now that I've finally isolated it, a prophylactic dosage for us wouldn't be amiss, just in case. My hand still smarts." McCoy reached for a clear glass vial and filled it below a tap attached to the unit. He held the green liquid up to the light. "Where did Walker and Rountree take those little ingrates, anyway?"
"Found a cave about two miles from here, Doctor. Still unconscious when they left them." Sulu paused. "Both came back in one piece, sir. I suggested they rest in the back; it was quite a hike."
"Enjoy it while you can, lucky punks," McCoy muttered. "I've been on my feet for nigh on 12 hours…."
An alert sounded from the cockpit of the shuttle. "What's that? One of your jury-rigged fixes giving out?" They shared a smile. How McCoy could sympathize. Many were the times he'd had to improvise some kind of aid with the tools he had at hand. And often they were no better than lances and leeches.
"Hang on, I'll go check. Sure wish Mr. Scott was here." He jogged away towards the cockpit. McCoy opened a box and removed a hypospray. You first, Doctor, he thought. He was just about to swap out the empty vial inside for one with the antiviral agent when a shout made him nearly drop the precious liquid.
Blast it all! He recovered and placed both items on the counter. He followed Sulu's earlier path. "Very funny. I can always make more now, but that's beside the point."
Sulu was seated left of center at the controls, his eyes focused on a monitor. "Come over here and tell me if I'm seeing this right." He yanked on McCoy's sleeve, then seemed to remember that he outranked him and looked over his shoulder. "Sorry….just, please…"
"Don't get your knickers in a knot." He looked at the monitor Sulu seemed preoccupied with. It was a relief map that featured several glowing dots. Three were surrounded by white squares. The others were huddled near some kind of structure. He tapped the 3 white squares in sequence. Kirk. Spock. T'Mar. "You found them. So let's go pick 'em up. What are you waiting for?" He continued to watch the screen and noticed that the dots near the structure disappeared except for three and T'Mar's square. "Where'd they go?"
"Probably inside. There's a building nearby; it could be shielded." The two white squares identified as Kirk and Spock remained on the map. "But something feels wrong about the whole thing. I just can't put my finger on it…"
McCoy watched the dots. They remained outside. No attempt to rescue T'Mar. That is odd. Jim wouldn't leave her behind. Not if he could help it. He watched as several dots spilled onto the field. "Well, this is a fine time for a game of football," he joked. Then he did a double-take. Kirk and Spock appeared to be….running from them. "Shoot, darn it! What's the matter with you, Jim?!"
"I don't think they can. I'm not detecting any weapon fire, Starfleet or otherwise. Whoever those were a minute ago may have confiscated their guns. Which reminds me – I think we have some extra weapons in the back." Sulu was hunched over the screen, staring intently. "Wait….that's interesting." He adjusted the screen's readings. They now had a much better view of the action. McCoy could make out the heat signature of two humanoid figures carrying something resembling a crossbow. One of them shot the arrow. Little red dots exploded over the screen. A small creature, one of many, dropped to the ground, motionless.
"They must've heard you." Sulu smiled. "Let's roll. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to see us." He stood up and moved to the pilot's chair. Pressing a sequence of buttons, he initialized the flight sequence. "Hey guys, buckle up. We're getting out of here." He activated his belt.
"Ready when you are." There was a click of seatbelts and the comm link shut off.
McCoy fastened his own restraint and raised an eyebrow at the snow flying outside before returning his gaze to the display. "Sure we can make it through that blizzard, Sulu?"
"You mean those flurries? Piece of cake," Sulu assured him, never taking his eyes off the windshield. "I've flown blind through nebulas before. Sensors down." He continued to steer the craft. The shuttle bounced on air currents, not that far from the ground before rising higher and soaring off the cliff into the open air.
"Yeah, well,…." Kirk and Spock were now surrounded by dead things. Three live Gorn were perched on a staircase nearby, but they weren't moving. The captain and first officer had paused in the middle of the arena. Both seemed to be returning to resting vitals. Good…. "Son of a Gorn….I think they did it…" The slightest of movements from the top of the screen caught his eye. "What the…" He watched in stunned silence as a massive beast chased them around the grounds. Gornzilla, basically… Both raised the crossbows and shot the creature, but to no avail. He saw the giant Gorn run over and grab Spock in its muscular arms. "I can see it now; "cause of death; extreme cuddling". C'mon, you green-blooded ghoul; think!" At that moment, Spock raised his right arm and cracked the creature on its head with the crossbow. The startled Gorn dropped the half Vulcan, half-human on the ground, holding its head. "Yes! Spock 1, Gorn 0!"
Kirk, meanwhile, was busy bending over to the right. The wounded Gorn leapt up with a massive boulder. Spock stood and ran over to Kirk. He repeated the captain's actions. "What are you going to do now? Hip check him?" They split up and ran to opposite sides of the arena. The Gorn charged like a raging bull towards Kirk. He rolled out pf the way just in time; at the same moment Spock fired his crossbow. An explosion as the arrow hit the Gorn in the chest.
"Exploding arrows…." McCoy shook his head. "Just when I thought they couldn't get any more gruesome…" Kirk fired an arrow, hitting the creature in the leg. Another explosion. Several more direct hits and 3 minutes later, the giant bully breathed his last. McCoy looked out the window. The shuttle rattled.
"We're taking fire!" Sulu shouted.
Not again….
"How bad?"
"Not very. Guys with guns, basically." He pressed a few buttons. "Got one of 'em!" Sulu returned to the flight controls.
"Anything I can do?"
"You can keep watching them. It's hard enough flying and shooting at the same time."
"Gotcha." He held onto the console ahead of him, white-knuckled, trying to make sense out of what he was seeing. One of the three Gorn remaining still had a firm grasp on T'Mar. Two more walked out onto the scene, flanking a hovering object the computer identified as "undesignated drone." A drone? Now what?
The drone grabbed Spock's arms from behind, obviously catching him off guard. One of the guards wrapped his arms around Kirk, holding him back. A spiny prominence extended from the drone, piercing Spock in the back before releasing its grip on him. The Vulcan stumbled to the ground. Kirk finally broke the guard's hold, dropping to his knees. One of the Gorn clubbed him in the head. Both officers lay prone, face down in the dust. Jim! Spock! "Hurry it up, will you? They just got clobbered!"
"Give me a few minutes….these cliffs are narrow with several outcroppings. You wouldn't want me to crash, would you?"
"This is serious, man! The longer they're unconscious…with a blow to the head like that…." He shuddered. Oh, Lord….
"You can monitor them from here, can't you?" Sulu turned to him. "I'm sorry, Doctor. We'll get them back. I promise."
"Good….yeah, okay… right." He scanned their bodies. So wired you can't even remember to- He saw them both stand up, dazed. Saw them walking towards each other, Spock's stride purposeful, Kirk's, hesitant. Saw Kirk raising his fists to protect himself. Then the familiar parry and jab of a boxing match. What on earth?
Spock. There was significantly more red in his heat signature than there had been a few moments ago. Mostly in his head and spinal column. He watched in real time as the heat colors continued to spread evenly through his body. What? Wait a minute….of course! He scanned Spock for a toxin that was becoming very familiar to him...and found it.
He swore loudly and pounded the dashboard. Sulu jumped. "They infected him! And now he's going to kill Jim if we don't stop him!" But how? Shoot Spock to save Kirk? He'd kill me….wait a second….
"We'll be there in a minute! I can't do any better!" The shuttle took more fire, shaking. Sulu fired back, and stones flew up, peppering the exterior. "Doc-"
But McCoy was already out of his seat. He held onto a wall as the shuttle rocked and banked right, then kept going, grabbing the vial as he passed. I hope it's still there… If his memory served him right, this was the same shuttle that science team had taken to the fourth moon of Beldar IV to tranq and tag all those feral catlike creatures they were studying.
He passed Walker and Rountree, who looked up briefly at him. Walker opened his mouth as if to chastise him for walking around when the shuttle was in flight. "I'll thank you to shut your trap, Eddie. Our captain's starting to rub off on me." Walker paused before closing his mouth again. "You too, Bart. If you know what's good for you." They settled back in their seats, relaxed, as though they got shot at in flying coffins every day.
He knelt on the floor next to a storage hold and opened the door. A long black rifle lay inside, tucked carefully in navy blue foam. He slipped it out of the hold and checked the ammo. A single dart remained. Thanks, careless science officer. Only one. So this shot has to be perfect...
He pressed the talk button on his comm. "Think you can turn this thing around, Sulu?"
"Why? What you got in mind?"
"I'm going -" He popped the dart out of the rifle and removed the vial - "-on a little-" took the vial of Gorn virus antidote out from between his teeth- "-turkey shoot." - and attached it to the dart, replacing it in the rifle with a click. "A turkey named Spock, to be precise. I'd appreciate your cooperation."
"Can do."
"You're a good egg, Hikaru." McCoy unlocked the door, his hands shaking. "Are we there yet?"
"Almost...one more arch and we'll be in position." McCoy could hear explosions thundering below the shuttle. "You ready?"
"Are you kidding? I was born ready..." But even as he said it, he wasn't so sure. Got to do this on the first try...for Jim's sake. He felt the ship dip low and rotate as he pressed the button to open the back hatch. Cold air whooshed through the door. The ground below seemed a million miles high, even though it was probably only a few feet. Focus...forget where you are...try not to think about falling out and breaking your neck...
He gulped. Looked down. Saw Spock bent over Kirk, his hands wrapped around the captain's throat, squeezing the life out of him. No time to deliberate, Len... Hold your breath...aim...allowing for the wind...fire!
With a schpeet! the dart shot out of the rifle barrel, directly at Spock. It hit him in the back of the neck, surprising him. He reached behind his head to touch the impact point, falling backwards as he did so. Kirk was rubbing his neck and gasping, relieved to finally be able to breathe again. They both stood up, a little dazed. That's to be expected. He lay the rifle aside, and scanned them with his tricorder. Jim's O2 sat was coming up nicely, and Spock's temperature was going down. The toxins were leaving his system rapidly. I'll want to see them both in sickbay later, but now's not the time. We've got to get the heck out of here...
McCoy pulled a crate from the hold next to him. "Dropping you a little care package," (As though it were clean underwear and homemade brownies...ha ha) "See if there's anything in there you can use!" No kidding, genius. He shoved the crate over the edge and it landed with a soft thump in the dirt. They ran over quickly to retrieve his "gift".
McCoy eased back on his haunches as the back door slid shut. He stood up slowly, his legs tingling from adrenaline and circulation returning to them. That, Len my boy, was probably the most important shot you'll ever take...