Acting Captain's Log, Stardate: 2260.43. Lieutenant Sulu in temporary command. The Enterprise has emerged with all hands but damaged, from an ambush by Orion pirates. Following the battle, Acting Captain Spock was taken ill and has been signed off duty by Lieutenant-Commander McCoy. As Acting First Officer Scott is needed for repairs, I have assumed command of the Enterprise until our return dock at Starbase Eight, where Captain Kirk will be resuming his post. We are without warp power and cannot know when that will be. Repairs are in progress. No estimated time of completion at this time.
Kirk stopped the log playback and glared at the computer. Three playbacks had not yielded anything different, regardless of how hard he glared. Sulu's log of the incident which had left him in command, was less than a minute long. Less than a minute, of a description of events so casual, Spock might as well have cried off with a headache. The Captain resisted the urge to call the bridge and ask Sulu if he could define, precisely, the "illness" for which he had usurped the Vulcan.
The ship's reports were of no more use than Sulu's logs. Spock had told him the official version of events and the reports echoed him precisely. The incident on the bridge was on record as an unprovoked attack, showing complete loss of control on the part of the commanding officer, who later submitted to a psychological exam and was signed off duty. The medical logs, in turn, stated the commanding officer had succumbed to intolerable stress levels, to which the Orion battle was the final straw. No log, or report, anywhere, recounted the fact Spock's "loss of control" had saved the ship.
In fairness to McCoy, the medical logs were reasonably detailed. McCoy had logged two separate accounts, one as an eye-witness to the bridge incident and a separate evaluation of Spock's psych exam. His take on the bridge incident was a clear and detached description of events, which matched Spock's explanation almost perfectly. He made no claim that Spock had assaulted anyone, merely that he'd incapacitated Scotty when the engineer had first refused to leave the bridge and then hindered him in reaching the helm. McCoy's report went further in fact, stating that Spock had remained entirely calm throughout. He had even explained how it was only later, once the ship was clear of Orion space and all but drifting, the situation had gotten out of control. Confronted by Scotty and Sulu on the bridge, Spock found his commands were not being listened to.
Anyone else, would have shot down their questions without mercy. If questions in reality amounted to open defiance, especially of the kind which questioned the validity of Spock's command, he should have had them relieved of duty. A lesser man would have done so to Scotty at least, based solely on his performance on the bridge.
Spock did not believe in authority through force. In truth, no real leader did. Authority came from the consent of the governed, unquestionably. But there was a time and a place for consensus. In the middle of a crisis without one's captain, was not it.
Instead of coming down on his mutinous crew like the hand of Titan, Spock had instead, approached them with logic alone. If they were saying his actions were wrong, they were simply expressing opinions which he had not asked for. If, however, they were stating he had posed an unnecessary risk to the ship and crew, then there were two options available to them. They either believed he had acted wrongly, of sound mind, in which case they needed to relieve him, with or without his consent. Or they believed he had acted wrongly, without sound mind and if they had proof, they would need to relieve him on those grounds. He had offered to strike this possibility himself, when McCoy had suggested a psych exam, by submitting without protest.
It was through the exam, Kirk had ended up with four reports stating more or less the same thing. The bridge logs, which had been submitted by Scotty and counter signed by Sulu, stated Spock had put the ship at risk and assaulted a fellow officer. Similar witness statements were given by the rest of the Alpha crew who had been on duty, including Uhura and with the addition of McCoy. When challenged, once the battle was over, Spock had been tested with his consent and found to be functioning under far too high stress levels. The medical logs then stated that when this verdict was given to him, Spock had reacted with aggressive, even violent disbelief and been restrained. Once calmed, he had been released to his quarters, where he was confined, under the auspices of the Chief Medical Officer.
It seemed to Kirk that the results of the psych exam, had given Scotty, Sulu and five additional crew members, permission to assume the far-too-high stress levels it revealed, had been present throughout the incident on the bridge, despite nobody having noticed it. Their stories were more or less identical and frankly, it gave Kirk a bellyache.
... There were two variations. McCoy and Uhura had stated that Scotty had been incapacitated, not assaulted. Their statements on Spock's decisions had been factual, outlining the risk and the outcome, without personal opinion.
The reports were lacking any information at all, on how the decision to confine Spock to quarters had been made, just that he had been after being released from sickbay. Scotty's report went on to explain that with the extensive repair work needed, he had placed Sulu in acting command. This too, was countersigned by Sulu.
Kirk's only other banks of data came from the bridge crew's logs since, which offered or at least, should have offered, a slightly more personal take on events. Sulu's was evidence of how inaccurate that assumption had been.
With few other options left open to him, Kirk returned to Spock's quarters. There was little he could say he had not said earlier. It did not strike him as a good idea to explain his discussions with both Sulu and Scotty and people he believed to be Spock's friends, had turned up nothing more than mounting frustration.
Kirk suspected that not saying it, in no way prevented Spock from working it out. He would not have returned with nothing to say, had his day gone well. The captain knew that this pantomime couldn't go on indefinitely. In a few hours Kirk had moved from a disoriented returning commanding officer and concerned friend, to a captain suspicious of foul play in his absence. It was no longer a question of concern for Spock, but of legality. He planned to give the rest of his command crew time to come to him of their own volition. He had made it clear he was confused and in no way convinced by the vagueness of their collective reports.
Instead of getting into to further discussion on the subject, Kirk gestured to the chessboard Spock kept set up in his room. A quirked eyebrow indicated surprise, but not refusal. Spock sat down with what might have passed for interest, or possibly relief.
"Spock…" Kirk broke the companionable silence of their play after a few minutes. "Tell me about the last few weeks, but not the ship, just you."
Dark eyes studied the board, flickering minutely, letting Kirk know the Vulcan was taking in the position of every piece and projecting the outcomes of various moves. Pale, but steady hands moved a pawn.
"I have been here." Spock answered as he waited for Kirk's move.
Well, that was hard to argue with. Not exactly what he'd meant, but Kirk had to admit it was almost certainly accurate.
"Okay. Doctor McCoy has been checking on you twice a day, is that right?"
Spock inclined his head in confirmation.
"Not always in person, but yes. That is standard procedure."
Kirk raised an eyebrow of his own at that little addition.
"For a crewmember on medical leave, yes, but not necessarily in cases of disciplinary action. Did you need medical attention?" He asked, keeping his tone light, despite the brutal directness of the question.
The pause was longer this time, the consideration of the board between them less intense. Kirk could see that if their game progressed along the path Spock seemed to be following, he would miss the rather obvious trap he'd laid. In normal circumstances, he would never fall for such an unsubtle play.
"Yes."
Kirk looked up, surprised. The answer was not what he had expected, but nor was the bluntness of Spock's tone. He supposed they had already covered this, Spock had admitted he was not fit for duty, but he couldn't really have denied it. Suspicion clouded Kirk's mind again and he frowned.
"It's clear enough you need some attention at this point. Did you, at the beginning of the three weeks? Or throughout the whole time?" He pressed.
Spock didn't look up from the board, though his glazed expression belied his scrutiny.
"I do not know. McCoy believed so."
Kirk nodded. He could see no gain in continuing to push him. The confusion of his answers was only worsening the frustration built by the day. It wasn't Spock's fault. It was obvious enough, he was being honest.
"I don't mean to interrogate you, it's just that the various reports and ship logs are missing some details. I er...should warn you, I intend to remain docked until this is resolved."
Spock didn't reply and Kirk didn't blame him. Partly, he supposed it made little difference what the ship was doing, if his situation remained unchanged. There was also the distinct possibility that Spock could not foresee a resolution. His relief at Kirk's return had been apparent, but that did not necessarily mean he thought his own situation would be resolved, so much as improved by the presence of someone he trusted. It was with a pronounced stab of pity, Kirk realised there were perhaps two such people aboard beside himself who claimed that title, both of whom had been present the entire time.
Somewhat to Kirk's surprise, Spock veered away from his trap at the last moment and dumped the captain into a trap of his own, achieving checkmate two moves later. Well, that was one good sign at least.
Since their discussion on his health had finished, Spock had not spoken except in relation to their game. As Kirk laid down his King in defeat, Spock looked up at him.
"Captain-" Spock broke off and stood up as his door chime sounded.
He hit the buzzer to grant entry to his visitor without a word, but something in his demeanour had changed. Kirk could not immediately place it.
"Hi-" McCoy too, broke off mid-sentence on sight of Kirk. "Oh. Hey. I er...need to give Spock a check up." He offered in explanation. McCoy was clearly uncomfortable with the captain's presence, but that was hardly surprising given his ungracious dismissal of his friend from his office that morning.
"Go right ahead, I'll be resetting the board."
Why he wanted to stay, Kirk couldn't precisely say, but a firm tug of reluctance to leave had made itself apparent. Spock was still standing, having not moved an inch since McCoy's arrival. Anger spiked without warning as Kirk realised, Spock was scared.
He doubted there was a force on heaven or earth which could make the Vulcan admit it, but it was plain as day to Kirk. Nerves, tension, uncertainty...all things Spock should not have been able to experience.
McCoy didn't complain, though it seemed likely he wanted to. Instead, he gestured to Spock's desk and requested he sit down. Spock did so, without so much as rolling his eyes. Though Kirk had hardly expected their usual bickering, the sobering evidence of how much had changed was hard to take.
McCoy's scanner whirred and still Spock didn't move, didn't speak, neither looking directly at or avoiding looking at the doctor.
"Anything today?" McCoy asked, eyes on his scanner.
Spock shook his head.
"No, doctor." Clearly, they went through the same routine everyday and no longer needed explanations.
"Readings are the same as this morning except your copper levels are even lower."
Spock didn't say anything, staring blankly up at the doctor, as if waiting for an order or request to give him something to do or say in response.
After a moment's pause, McCoy sighed.
"I'll give you a shot today, but if it's the same tomorrow I'll have to start watching you actually eat, rather than checking your meal card."
Still, no response. McCoy finished his check up and administered a vitamin shot into Spock's arm, with a level of gentleness of which Kirk had never dreamed him capable. He had assumed shots had to be given violently in the neck. Despite this gentleness, the action made Spock flinch. It was slight, so slight Kirk wouldn't have noticed had he not been looking for signs of nerves, but he saw it and there was no possibility the doctor hadn't too.
McCoy left with little more than a nod in Kirk's direction.
When the door closed behind the doctor, Spock was sitting at his desk, staring blankly at the bulkhead, arms folded across his chest. There was obvious discomfort in his eyes, but confusion too, as though even he didn't know what he was uncomfortable about. This last, Kirk found far easier to understand than his apparent fear. This… formality, this careful following of procedure which seemed to have infected his entire command crew, was not merely business as usual. It was practiced, rigid… disconcerting. It was hiding something.
As Spock shook himself out of his reverie and stood as if to return to the chess board Kirk had been setting up, the captain found he could not contain his anger.
"I've just remembered I have a meeting…Excuse me, Spock." He requested abruptly, standing and moving to follow McCoy himself. He didn't to stop to see Spock's reaction.
Kirk went straight to his own office, sitting down and clasping his hands together in front of him to restrain the urge to hit the comm immediately. His temper and his much tested patience had absolutely reached its limit. He could accept that he had struggled to entirely understand all that had occurred in his four week absence from the ship, within just one day of returning. He could even understand that his crew were reluctant to fill in the gory details, given the situation with Spock. They were naturally uncomfortable.
What was entirely unacceptable, was that not only did he not have any of the answers he'd looked for, he was getting increasingly worried about his second in command. Nobody was getting to sidle out of answering another one of his questions. Starting, with the doctor who had suddenly developed an ability to actively scare their Vulcan first officer.
"Kirk to Sickbay. Doctor McCoy, report to the Captain's office immediately. Kirk out."
"What is this about?" McCoy asked, striding into Kirk's office twenty minutes later. Kirk didn't question the time taken. Even the captain could not order a doctor away from a patient, for anything less than an even more serious emergency.
Kirk ignored the hostility in McCoy's demeanour, no longer concerned about injured feelings.
"Sit down, doctor." He ordered, in calm but firm tones.
It was his attempt at a gentle warning that he wasn't looking for a friendly chat, in the use of McCoy's title, but whether or not the doctor took the hint, he wasn't leaving without a proper explanation.
McCoy sat, sullen and silent, but waiting expectantly.
Kirk turned his padd towards him, but did not push it forward. It held the medical logs and official statements, as submitted by the doctor after Spock was relieved of command.
"There are some gaps in this, I need you to fill in for me-"
McCoy more or less interrupted him.
"It's a complete report, but I can rewrite it if-"
"I'm not asking you to rewrite the report, I have questions that I need answered." Kirk responded in kind, cutting McCoy off before he could attempt to excuse himself in order to rewrite the same, inadequate report.
"This is not a request, doctor."
If McCoy had missed it the first time, there was no mistaking the formal tone now. The doctor scowled, a bitter, unpleasant expression that gave Kirk an inward shudder.
"Pulling rank on me, Jim?" McCoy sneered.
"I didn't find asking you as a friend, very useful." Kirk snapped back before he could stop himself. He took a slow and silent breath, not blinking, giving no indication he wasn't perfectly at ease with his candid comment. If he had to take the edge off McCoy's inexplicable righteous indignation first, so be it.
"Now look, I'll give you two choices. You can either tell me now and I mean actually tell me, what the hell happened. Or I can call a meeting of all command staff and we'll go through these reports one by one, on the record."
For a moment, McCoy glared at him in open defiance. Kirk was strangely fine with this. Defiance, meant he was refusing to do as requested, which meant Kirk was right. If he was refusing to explain, there was something to explain. As quickly as his anger seemed to flare, McCoy's glare dissipated into a look of wary defeat.
"What do you want to know?" He sighed.
Kirk was willing to reward his acquiescence, with directness of his own.
"Spock is having a breakdown. I can't tell how far progressed it is but you don't need a medical degree to see it. What, exactly, is wrong with him?"
McCoy had winced at the term, but he nodded slowly at the question.
"He isn't eating much, losing weight, copper levels too low. All classic signs of a breakdown." He admitted, voice quiet.
"Why?" Kirk pressed.
"I'm not inside his head, I don't know." McCoy replied, with a touch of returning irritation. "He lost command, that wouldn't be easy for anyone."
"He didn't lose command, Bones, you signed him off." Kirk corrected gently. "I know your report says he shows signs of irrationality that along with the incident on the bridge, prompted you to relieve him from duty. What were these signs of irrationality?"
McCoy looked away.
"I...had to sedate him twice, during his assessment."
Kirk knew this. It was in McCoy's report, although it was hazy on the time span. The doctor had not made it clear the two sedative shots he'd administered had been within the assessment itself. His prior knowledge didn't make it any less uncomfortable to hear aloud.
"Why?"
At the calm sound of Kirk's voice, McCoy looked up and stared the captain right in the eyes.
"He got quite worked up at some questions, then he lashed out, badly, security had to hold him down. His stress levels were through the roof."
Kirk felt his jaw clenching. He had asked for direct answers and he was getting them.
"Okay…" He breathed, forcing himself to sound convinced. "Alright. But here's what I don't understand. From Spock's recounting, he didn't do anything wrong on the bridge, so regardless of the result, I'm at a loss as to why he ended up in a psych exam in the first place."
McCoy's eyes narrowed, studying his captain as though searching for accusation in his questions.
"You've read the official reports. They make the incident on the bridge pretty clear don't they?"
"They make it clear there was an incident and that the result was a question mark over Spock's ability to command." Kirk agreed readily. "What they don't make clear is why. There are certainly comments to the effect he was making irrational decisions, but there are no hard facts to back this up at all."
"That's hardly a fair judgement." McCoy argued, leaning back in his chair, arms folded across his chest. He looked like a petulant teenager, but the need for a barrier of some kind at least, Kirk could understand. "Irrationality is a subjective call, but one made by every crew member on the bridge that day."
"Then you think Spock's lying." Kirk concluded. The words sounded ridiculous. They clanged through his office as though something heavy had been dropped onto the desk between them.
McCoy absolutely glared at him. This time, Kirk didn't really blame him. He had backed him into a corner and was putting words in his mouth. He waited for the response he knew such an accusation would achieve and indeed, deserve.
"No, Captain, I do not." McCoy stated with blistering calm. "I think, based on my medical degree, that Spock is unable to view events objectively and is therefore offering a skewed viewpoint. For that, he can hardly be blamed."
But you have no excuse. Kirk finished the unspoken accusation silently to himself.
"That's a fair enough point, doctor. Which was, all I was asking for this morning." Kirk stated flatly. He met McCoy's half confused, half annoyed gaze as his deliberate manoeuvring of their discussion reached it's final point. Why, if they were all so convinced of their own positions, were his officers so reluctant to give the captain straight answers?
"Now explain this to me. If your medical logs, your opinion now and indeed, Spock's state of mind, all show a genuine medical problem, why is he confined to quarters?"
There was a long, long pause as the two friends stared at each other, both trying to work out what the other was thinking. McCoy sat forward, lessening the gulf between them and fixing Kirk with an intense stare.
"What is it you're really asking, Jim? Clearly, you think someone has done something wrong here, but while you're asking me for straight answers, you're not actually being all that direct yourself, are you? You're not telling me who you think has messed up here."
Kirk could have ordered him to stand down. He could have had him officially reprimanded for the lack of respect in his tone, the insubordination of his question, but the thought did not so much as brush through his mind.
"That, Bones, is because I don't know. I don't know anything, for certain, about what has happened in the last three weeks. I have asked for explanations and been given nothing more than irrational defensiveness in response. I want to resolve this without going on the record before I know what is going on the record. Spock was relieved of command on medical orders and had been under arrest ever since. Now I am asking, what I'm missing, because there would seem to be a contradiction in there somewhere."
"Meaning either I wrongly certified him or someone else wrongly charged him, is that about it?"
"Meaning no adequate explanation is given in any of the dozen reports I've read, either from the bridge or the medical exam." Kirk just about resisted the urge to raise his voice. McCoy knew exactly what he was asking and why. If any other officer had been put in the position Spock was in, McCoy would the first to be on his high horse about the unfairness of such drastic measures. Kirk could not and would not, believe McCoy could be so obtuse, because it was Spock. While it was never exactly crystal clear to witness, Kirk knew McCoy and Spock valued each other. They were friends.
McCoy studied him for a moment longer. His blue eyes softened under Kirk's penetrating stare, the passion with which he questioned was after all, typical of his command style. Then with equally little warning, McCoy glanced off to one side, attention fixed on the bulkhead.
"That is something you need to take up with your command crew, sir."
Kirk would not deny he was bitterly disappointed. They had been getting somewhere, he was certain of it. McCoy had not even denied the lack of consistency in the reports given. He had been conspicuously careful to lay zero blame with Spock too, which was something of a far cry from the near-hysterical accusation he'd levelled at him that morning. Still, it was done, McCoy had made his decision. Kirk wasted no time, before issuing an order that all of the involved crew assemble in the briefing room at the start of Alpha shift the following day. He was done asking. Now they would all go on the record with whatever claims they had to make.
The question which plagued the captain through the night, was not whether his meeting would have the desired effect - it could not fail to do so. The question instead, was of whether or not he should request Spock's presence. Part of him was certain, the crew would struggle to make the same evasive claims they'd made to Kirk, to the Vulcan's face. It was a part of him he didn't particularly like, because it meant he had drawn his conclusions ahead of their explanations. This, however, he could not truly deny. He had told Spock he believed him and he did. That did not preclude the possibility Spock's honest testimony was, nevertheless, flawed.
Perhaps, in the interests of a fair hearing for all, he should leave Spock out, for now. Besides, the situation did not seem likely to be comfortable for him. He would begin, with the four crew members whose reports stated Spock had taken an unjustifiable risk.
Getting all of the command staff together very rarely boded well. It warned of a state of emergency, or of a coming annoyance, such as a visiting dignitary. Their board meetings were rarely comfortable for this reason, but Kirk did not remember another time when the atmosphere in the briefing room had been quite so tense.
The team all sat glaring silently at the table before them, or at the captain. Their obstinate attitudes seemed plain, even before he'd had the chance to ask them anything. Though Kirk was not above changing it, he felt he'd made the right decision regarding their missing officer. If McCoy alone had caused a visible display of nerves, he did not wish to put Spock in the position of weathering this stony faced front.
Irritation rippled through him. What exactly they could have to feel so injured about, thoroughly escaped him. Once they were all seated and settled, Kirk sat in front of their combined glare and gazed back at them with his most practiced outward serenity.
"Okay, so you will have noticed our departure from Spacedock Eight has been delayed, this is because I have not yet been thoroughly debriefed on my three weeks of absence here."
He glanced around the group in search of a response of any kind. When they continued to simply stare at him, he sighed heavily and sat back in his chair, staring around at them all in disbelief.
"Now why wouldn't any of you have a response to that? That is quite important information and you're all just staring at me like it means nothing."
A slight stir, in which the group glanced at each other for the first time, was the only outward response he got to even that.
"Nothing?" Kirk asked, trying to swallow the rising tide of frustration, aware he could and would get answers, however long it took. "Nobody bothered if we just stay docked indefinitely?"
This last was intended as sarcasm, but of all things it finally broke through to one of his staring audience. Scotty broke the silence with an uncomfortable mutter.
"With all due respect, Captain, we have all submitted our reports. It's not a question of not being bothered, but of what exactly you're accusing us of."
Kirk wouldn't really have minded if the sum content of his words had been to sing the Scottish national anthem, such was his relief at getting a response from someone.
"Thank you, Mr Scott."
He took a breath and glanced around the table once more, lingering the longest over McCoy, who was looking back at him almost expectantly.
"Do you all seriously think the information contained within your reports, was enough? You're honestly telling me you thought I wouldn't have any questions, returning to find my first officer confined to quarters?"
"No." Scotty spoke up with forced calm. "We expected those questions to be answered by our reports. After three weeks of limping back here, Captain, we didn't expect to be criticised for the quality of our paperwork."
"Well that is a relief, because it is very much not the quality of your paperwork which is under question at this moment, lieutenant."
Scotty got to his feet and Kirk barked before any coherent thought could pass through his mind.
"SIT DOWN."
Well, there it was. The last pretence of calm flown. He held Scotty's venomous stare, returning a much fiercer, longer-contained glare of his own. The engineer lowered himself back into his seat, without another word.
"Now I have had just about enough of this." Kirk growled, fury coursing through his veins.
"Things go wrong when strangers are firing at your ship. Bad, unexpected things. Any officer, even Spock, could lose control and you would be congratulated on your assumption of your duties, for removing a commanding officer who was a danger to this ship. Nobody would be accusing you of anything at all, if you had just all answered the questions put to you, instead of becoming defensive in the face of standard procedure queries."
Kirk paused for long enough to let that damning reality sink in.
"Now, I have no choice but to question what it is you're all so defensive about."
The silence to follow was thick as fog in the small room. Not bringing Spock had definitely been the right decision.
"Nothing good comes from trying to hide. Having to tell the command officers of the flagship of the fleet this, is mind-blowing, but you know what, I'm just going to lead by example and tell you how things look from my perspective. I am aware and have been aware as much as your data dumps could inform me, of the battle against the Orions. A battle from which the ship emerged with all hands, only structural damage. Nobody said anything at all, about a change of command. This is understandable, only essential information in an emergency. I would have thought that on my return to the ship, the situation with Commander Spock would have been the first thing anyone thought to explain, but even that could be forgiven, it is a little bit awkward after all. I could have accepted your individual reluctance to give me anything more than by-the-book lines and wait for me to read the ships logs. I'm not happy about it, but I could have understood."
Kirk took a breath and looked between the four unhappy faces staring back at him.
"I have now read every log and report relating to the Orion incident and I have three quite serious questions remaining. First, is why Spock's decision to incapacitate an officer who was acting against his orders on the bridge, was even questioned, let alone resulted in a psych exam. Second, why when said psych exam found him to be both highly stressed and volatile, explaining his actions on the bridge and rendering him unfit to command, was he placed under house arrest? Thirdly and this is where I really come unstuck, is why nobody saw fit to tell me, or to do anything at all about the fact he's genuinely unwell and has been left alone and confined for three weeks."
Kirk's look discouraged them from saying Spock had not been alone. Medical check ups and guilt filled greetings did not count as company.
"I would have thought concern for the welfare of another officer, should have outweighed any discomfort any of you felt in talking to me." He finished, accusation and disappointment heavy in his tone.
On other days, he would have expected his obvious displeasure to prompt remorse from his team, but he knew better than to expect anything along those lines now. They were too far backed into the corner they'd built for themselves and Kirk knew, they were more likely to lash out than surrender.
Of the gathered crew, only McCoy looked anything other than uncomfortable.
It came as no surprise, when Scott was the first to break the deep and tension-filled silence.
"A commanding officer has the right to take any action they feel necessary to maintain order and discipline under their command, up to and including imprisonment in the brig. It does not include assault, captain. Spock's actions were questioned, because they were illegal."
The image of a soaking wet Scotty ducking and running through the ship's engineering deck flashed through Kirk's mind. Illegal hadn't seemed to mean much to him then.
"Having been on the receiving end of Spock's nerve pinch, I know it's annoying as hell but it doesn't hurt. In fact it's the least violent way to incapacitate I have knowledge of. He did the same to me in almost exactly the same situation. He was wrong then, but he was still within his rights. I tried to change his course on his bridge in a emergency. On both occasions he followed procedure, a request to leave the bridge before any physical efforts were made. No action was ever taken against him, nor could it have been."
Scott shook his head.
"This wasn't like Vulcan. Then, rightly or wrongly, he was trying to protect the ship. In this case he put the ship in unreasonable danger. It is the duty of the second in command to stop any such action on the part of the captain."
"True. Any other comments?" Kirk asked, glancing around at the other three.
"That's how it happened." Sulu spoke up. "Spock's plan was reckless beyond belief, he wouldn't listen to anyone else, even though Scott was right. Scott tried to block Spock from the helm and he attacked him."
Kirk waited. They were having their moment to say their piece.
"...And nobody sees a problem with this sequence of events?"
There was a long, uncomfortable pause, before the doctor obliged him. McCoy sounded more than a little bit reluctant and Kirk had no illusions he was doing it to soothe Kirk's aching need for information.
"A commanding officer has not only the right, but an obligation, to remove by any means necessary, any attempt by another to control the bridge in an emergency situation."
The quote was not entirely accurate, but it was close enough. Kirk looked to the other three beside McCoy, awaiting a reaction. He was aware of, but choosing not to comment on the silence from Uhura.
"What were we supposed to do, just stand by and watch while the ship was needlessly placed in danger?" Scotty demanded, making no effort to hide or control his anger.
"According to regulations, yes. Do you imagine that's what I'm concerned about?" Kirk growled back with biting sarcasm.
That rather took the wind out of their sails. It did seem odd, after all, that Kirk of all people was upset at a break in regulations. The four officers were left simply staring at him. Kirk couldn't quite comprehend the possibility they really didn't see the problem with their position.
"Do I really have to spell this out for you?"
"Please do, Captain." Came the voice of the hitherto silent communications officer.
Kirk turned and positively glowered at her. They should have known this, even had the acting captain been some faceless official. That Spock was their crew mate, their friend and they still couldn't see where they'd gone wrong…
"You opposed your commanding officer. That is your right. You tried to stop him, that is not your right, but may have been your moral obligation. You failed to stop him." Kirk looked between the four faces staring back at him, aware his expression must have been close to pleading. "...Spock put his plan into action against your efforts. And the ship didn't lose a single crew member."
Kirk let the heavy implications hang in the air for a minute.
"When was the last time we left a firefight with zero casualties?"
"That was...luck, Captain-" Sulu started.
"Try to remember who you're talking about here." Kirk rode over him. "You know very well, luck had nothing to do with it."
"No, it was a calculation, as it always is." Scotty interjected, venom in his tone. "A calculation that told Spock we could lose the entire ship, or we could lose none. All or nothing, in an emergency. The ship was crippled, Captain. If we'd been attacked on our way back to base we'd have been helpless. It was logic of a kind, but it failed to consider any single possibility beyond his own arrogant assumption he could break the rules of combat. It was pure luck we got back here unharmed. The risk and his actions to put it into place, convinced us something was wrong. We were right."
"So you had a confrontation, once the ship was clear." Kirk continued. Not a question. This much he knew from the reports.
Scotty looked away suddenly, shame colouring his features.
"That was not my proudest moment I do admit. I said some things I shouldn't have done. It wasn't Spock's fault, pressure gets to the best of us."
"What did you say?" Kirk pressed, allowing a note of gentleness to enter his voice.
"A lot about having him charged with assault, possibly proving he'd endangered the lives of the crew etc. As you might expect, Spock didn't get angry or pull rank. He just asked what I would have him do."
Scotty looked to McCoy. This was where he'd stepped in. Kirk waited patiently. McCoy took a deep breath, clasping his hands together in front of him, clearly thinking over what had happened next.
"I think we can all admit, emotions were running a little bit high." He spoke at last, with admirable calm.
"The problem was dual edged. The crew were not on the side of the acting captain, this can be a dangerous situation. In this case, the captain - Spock - was not willing to defend his position with disciplinary action, as you would have done." McCoy nodded at Kirk.
"Spock didn't tell anyone they didn't get to argue with him. He just pointed out the options available to those of the crew who opposed him. This could have led to quite serious difficulty, but if Spock's decisions had been influenced by stress or another problem, that's a medical issue not a command issue."
Kirk processed this slowly. McCoy seemed to be answering a question he had not necessarily asked, but it was certainly a more lucid link between the argument on the bridge and the psych exam than he'd gotten so far.
"I see, so you thought, to diffuse the situation on the bridge, which put both the acting captain and the bridge in a difficult position, you should at least rule out the possibility of a medical problem."
McCoy nodded. Odd, his mood changed so quickly. The doctor was giving information far more readily than Scotty, Sulu or especially Uhura, quite against their previous conversations. McCoy also seemed somehow displeased, at his own explanation. This was making less sense by the second.
A quick glance around the others suggested equal confusion. Having appeared uncomfortable, even angered by the explanation given by the doctor, which hovered perilously close to saying they had been about to mutiny, they appeared entirely nonplussed by the conclusion which accused them of nothing.
"Is that, a fair summation of events?" Kirk asked the other three.
"Yes, Sir." Scotty replied. He glanced down at the desk, embarrassment clear in his expression. "And...Spock agreed to an evaluation without complaint. It's not...look, I was angry at the time, really angry, but I don't hold a grudge and I don't think Spock is responsible."
"Sulu?" Kirk asked, turning to the man who had ultimately taken command.
Sulu was already nodding along with Scotty's explanation.
"Exactly. Spock is… brilliant, and for the record I would never have been part of a mutiny against him."
"None of us would." Scotty agreed with fervour. "If the psych exam had proved he'd been thinking straight, we would have had to accept we disagreed with his actions but there was nothing we could do, unless...reported him."
"I'm glad to hear you didn't intend on mutiny." Kirk spoke with some inward indignation. He hoped only satisfaction at this more detailed account, showed in his voice, because he wasn't finished.
"Now back to the important part. Why in hell didn't you tell me this when I first got back on board and why did you have him confined to quarters?!"
"To protect him..." McCoy blurted out. He immediately bit his lip and flushed bright red. Kirk was staring, confusion alone holding back the tide of anger beginning to bubble once more.
"...The psych exam, didn't just show a problem it made it worse. Nobody suffering from high level stress problems wants to hear it. To Spock, failing to function under pressure shouldn't even be possible. He took it very badly. I thought...confinement to quarters would be for the best."
Kirk glared at him. McCoy could not, surely think that so weak explanation could excuse the abandonment of a distressed crew member.
He told himself not to lose him temper. They were getting somewhere, slowly but surely. He was having to bleed information out of his most trusted crew members, but they were getting there.
"And nobody wanted to tell me this because..." Kirk prompted, instead of shouting at them as he wanted to.
Sulu shrugged, in a gesture of defeat more than question.
"We had written our reports. Better you read those, written at the time, than heard us trying to explain, surely?" He offered. Nobody had anything else to add.
Just when Kirk thought he'd broken through the veil of feigned ignorance, they'd somehow set it right back up again.
"Not when I ask you for an explanation!" Kirk snapped, looking straight at Sulu. It was him, after all, who had avoided answering even when Kirk really had no idea what was going on.
Sulu squirmed visibly in his seat. He was struggling to look the captain in the eye.
"I'm sorry, sir. I explained that there had been an incident, I didn't want to go into detail. It wasn't me on the receiving end, I didn't sign Spock off, but I had been left in command." Sulu looked away and for the first time, Kirk actually felt some sympathy.
"Thank you, lieutenant. I understand." Kirk took a breath and looked to Scotty. "Sulu was left in command, because you were needed in engineering, correct?"
Scott nodded.
"Yes, the ship was in a bad way and...our science officer was out of commission."
With a sharp nod, Kirk turned at last to the silent fourth witness in the room. It was time she contributed to proceedings.
"Lieutenant Uhura, you said you'd tried to check on Spock's progress. Tried, implying, you were unsuccessful?" He asked.
"At first, yes. He was quiet, but nothing else. Then he asked me not to come back." She spat, glaring at the captain. Kirk didn't blame her, she must have been in absolute turmoil, but he could just not understand how she could be so calm, so willing to damn her partner.
"See this...this, is where I'm really struggling." Kirk let out a heavy sigh. "I understand everything you've all said, I wish you would have just said all this without me having to more or less beg, but I get it. Things went wrong and I wasn't here, you're probably angrier about that than you're willing to say too."
A few averted gazes let Kirk know he'd hit the nail on the head there. He didn't mind. It was his job. He didn't always have to be on the bridge, or leading a team, or even there for a mission. But in an emergency, the crew looked to their captain, whether he happened to be there or not.
"That's all, completely understandable. But Spock isn't. He was signed off for stress, stress nobody saw a sign of before the Orion attack. Would you describe his condition now, as stress, doctor?" He didn't really expect an answer, they had already discussed their shared opinion of what was wrong with Spock. "Uhura, when he asked you to stop visiting him, did you not wonder if there was something quite serious wrong?"
"Yes!" Uhura more or less shouted. A sudden silence descended on the room. "And I couldn't do anything about it, because you weren't here!"
In her case, Kirk supposed, that was true. Uhura couldn't stop Scotty or Sulu taking command, she couldn't even really cite regulations because they weren't stupid, they knew while their conduct was questionable, they had answers at every step. Hell, they had a medical form stating Spock was unfit. Still, Kirk's problem remained the same. It was not what had happened, things happened. It was that nobody else seemed to feel Spock was the focus of this problem. He was a wreck and Kirk couldn't tell if they'd even noticed, let alone cared.
Sulu and Scotty, he could understand. Kirk knew how he'd felt on taking the captain's chair after forcing Spock to resign his commission and it wasn't good. He didn't feel like a captain he felt like a complete and utter bastard. He'd done what he felt he had to and history had vindicated his decision, but he couldn't look back on that day and not feel guilt. If Kirk hadn't been so unable to deal with Spock to begin with, maybe reason, instead of a vicious attack, might have achieved the same goal. Sulu and Scotty had their reasons too and, well if they were right, Kirk could still understand their feeling guilty.
The other two, McCoy and Uhura...why did they have anything to say to Kirk at all, that wasn't concern for someone they were supposed to care about? The uncertainty in Spock's eyes when McCoy had come to check on him. Kirk would never have believed the doctor capable of causing such a response. Let alone to cause it and yet, ignore it.
"He miscalculated, to his cost."...Uhura had said. Was that it? Was that all she had to say? Not, something catastrophic happened and now he might be having a breakdown, how do we help him?
"Alright." Kirk spoke at last. He heard a note of defeat in his own voice he didn't like. "Understand," He continued more firmly. "The gaps in reports, verbal and written, cannot be ignored. I will now need to fully investigate the time I was gone. If I find misconduct of any description, including in treatment of an officer since the incident, having given you all more than enough opportunities to come forward, I will not be showing leniency. If I do not, then I'm afraid we're looking at leaving a man behind. Dismissed."
Kirk's calm reason had managed to reassure and satisfy Scotty and Sulu. They nodded their understanding, exchanging looks somewhere between uncertainty and relief. Uhura too left quietly, not looking at Kirk nor displaying any signs of anger. For a brief period somewhere in the middle there, it had looked like Kirk had the doctor on his side. His explanation had been the only one which seemed halfway complete and was giving with very little pushing. As McCoy stormed out, returned completely to his state of inexplicable anger and leaving as little opportunity as possible for Kirk to get him alone, it appeared not.