a/n: Finished reading the novelization of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS by ALAN DEAN FOSTERit's just as good as the movie!

CHAPTER THREE

Nathan stood at an angel to the Engineering Officer sitting on the exam table in front of him. He held the ensign's forearm lightly between his hands as he examined the contact burn that marred the otherwise olive-toned flesh. After deciding the severity of the scorch he released the arm and turned to the supply tray at his side. He picked up a rounded tube-shaped device that filled his palm and pressed the top down with a finger as he held it over the wound.

"A generalized Anaesthetic," he explained, "it will help with the direct pain of the wound. This works better than if I gave you a hypospray injection, because it had none of the undesired full-bodied side effects."

The ensign nodded, as he already started to feel the relief of the medication, the pained squint leaving his eyes.

After making sure that he covered all the wound, he turned back to the tray and replaced the spray device with a similar looking one. Again, he sprayed the wound.

He continued to explain as he worked. "This stuff will make sure that the burn doesn't get infected, and it'll help speed up the healing process." After spraying liberally, he set the spray aside and took a clean bandage from the tray, and proceeded in wrapping the four inch long and two inch wide burn—careful of making it too tight. After making sure it was secure, he looked up at the ensign. "You can go back to shift, Ensign—but I want you to come back if you feel discomfort or pain, alright?"

The ensign nodded his head. "Thank you, doctor." He replied with a grateful smile before jumping from the table and leaving the med bay via its big portal door.

Nathan glanced down briefly at his own blue Starfleet regulation Science Division shirt (so much different from his former Red shirt, something that Leonard had recently corrected—he was devoted to the sciences after all) before he returned to cleaning of the area. Never to leave things unfinished, he sat at an empty station and began to fill out a injury report on the ensign.

He'd only been on shift for two ours yet, and he already had a patient. If McCoy had been on duty at this med bay, he was sure to say that it signalled a busy day, maybe Nathan hadn't been on the job long enough to become superstitious.

"Doctor!" someone called for his attention.

He turned from the console as a med tech and nurse rushed through the portal, a hover bed between them. Nathan quickly forgot about the chart and rushed over to the new arrival. The bed's current occupant was a Yellow shirt. Laid on his side, he was strapped in and struggling. Conscious, but the instant that Nathan saw his glazed and unfocused gaze, he knew disorientated.

"He collapsed in the hall," the nurse explained. "When we arrived, he was stumbling around, talking nonsense."

He ran a quick scan and glanced at the first reading he got. Fever. Nearly higher than he expected it to be.

"Officer, can you hear me? You're in the med bay, you collapsed. I'm Dr. Scott, do you know who I am?" Nathan bent so that he was eye-level and spoke clearly to the man, but it was clear that he didn't care where he was or who was speaking to him; he was in a completely different world for all Nathan could guess. "Alright," Nathan stood back up and addressed the nurse. "Administer a light sedative. We can't help him if he fights us."

"Yes, doctor." The nurse went to a got a hyposray injector with the right dosage; the med tech standing off to the side, out of the way but close if he was needed. The nurse returned and pressed the hypo to the man's neck, they heard the release and it took less than a minute for his struggles to slow before comply stopping as he was chemically knocked-out.

"Okay, lets move him to the bed." Nathan ordered. This time the nurse stepped aside and the med tech helped Nathan move the hover bed over the to exam table, before they released the restraints and transferred the man. Now Nathan committed him to a more thorough scan. "Let's get him some fluids," he said, noting the dehydrations. "And some antibiotics to help him fight the fever. I want a blood sample on record, and let's see of we can confirm whether this is viral or overwork."

The nurse nodded and went to get the fluids and antibiotics. Nathan took a sample of the officer's blood and put the sample in a cooling unit, before he had the med tech help him transfer the man to a private cubicle. He hoped that it wasn't viral, and just a fact that the officer had overworked himself.

"Excuse me, doctor?"

Nathan left the cubicle as the nurse started to administer the meds, to find another ensign waiting, holding an injured wrist in her other hand. Nathan found himself internally raising a brow, he supposed there was some merit to McCoy's fallacy after all.

ST09-OTH - JYaM

Spock was at his scheduled break-time, the time corresponding with the hunger his body felt. The commissary was filled with the quiet din of other Starfleet Officers taking their lunch, as he seated himself at an empty table, his strictly vegetarian meal in front of him. With a solid utensil, he deposited a small morsel into his mouth, and as he chewed found himself in different settings.

The crash was loud and startled him. He heart racing, he barely stopped himself from dropping the dish gripped in his wet fingers. He quickly set it in the rack before turning around. "Dad?" He called out tentatively. He didn't know what the noise was and he was fearful to find out. He was tempted to turn back to the dishes, but he was too scared not to know what the crash meant, even if the curiosity resulted in a beating. His steps were quiet as he came from the kitchen and into the living room; empty. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard a similar noise again; upstairs. Stomach in his throat, he forced himself to go up the steps. He made it to the landing, continued on until he found himself in front of his room. The area wasn't spotless as it should have been, how he had left it. The usually spotless room was now the designated area of a moved night table and a pried loose venthow dad found it, the boy would never know. He felt a pain in his chest as he heart skipped in alarm. His father stood there, holding the precious item that he had secreted there after one of his few unauthorized solo ventures into the outside world. The obsolete medical primer that he had acquired from un-honest means. His father said nothing, staring him in the eyes as he opened it to the middle of the spine, and commenced ripping it in half. A strangled and pained noise left his throat as he watched helpless, as whatever makeshift feelings of hope and dreams for a future that the dear item had coaxed from his dying soul, was torn apart with it. And all he was left with was what he had always felt as his will turned bleak and futilethis feeling was worse than any previous or future beating could instil in him.

"Hey, I'm talking to you."

Spock blinked clear the feelings of hopelessness that threatened to overwhelm him, to find McCoy leaning across the table at him, his gaze filled with concern and annoyance—more so of the latter.

"I apologize, doctor." His voice and expression quickly composed as he looked back at the man who had suddenly and unsolicitedly deposited himself across from him. "I was in the process of prioritizing what preparation needed to be done when we arrived at our destination at the small colonized mining moon of the Class-M Planet Lyssia." He was economical with the truth.

"Right," McCoy said in a tone that clearly stated he 'believed' the Science Officer as he sat back in his claimed chair. "And did you?"

"Yes," McCoy silently watched him. "What was it that you wanted?"

"Oh," he murmured, waving it off. "Nothing important."

"If you don't mind, doctor." The Vulcan gestured to his meal.

"By all means,"

Spock stared at him for a moment before he returned to his meal. His appetite was gone—both from Nathan's memory and McCoy's unwelcome visit—but he ate nevertheless. It would be senseless to deny himself the required energy because of feelings that weren't his own.

Once he was finished, he excused himself without preamble, what an irritation that the doctor had showed up as he was having one of Nathan's memories. If anyone aboard the Enterprise could discover the trouble he was having, other than Nathan, that man would be Leonard McCoy. He needed to be more careful in the foreseeable future.

ST09-OTH - JYaM -ce

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