"What?" McCoy sat bolt upright, startled by the sound of the red alert sirens. He rubbed his neck, stiff from lying on the fold out sofa and tried to figure out why he wasn't in Kirk's room anymore. Instead, the smell of stale coffee and half-eaten donuts hovered in the air.
He pressed his hands to his ears, trying to drown out the noise. When Kirk and Spock had headed down to New Vulcan to investigate the cause of Helios Station's mysterious malfunction, he knew it was only a matter of time before sickbay would be full and had therefore resolved to get some sleep. He had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning last night completing paperwork and incident reports, so it wasn't like he was slacking off now.
Jumping up from the couch, all senses on high alert, McCoy stalked over to the comm button on the wall and punched it. "McCoy to bridge. What the blazes is going on? Are we under attack?"
"We're currently attempting to provide defensive support for the colony, Doctor. Several ships are- Yes, sir," Uhura finished, obviously now addressing whoever was currently occupying the captain's chair. "Sorry, Doctor. Things are pretty hectic up here. I'll keep you posted. Is everything ready on your end?"
"Yeah, we've been ready since we got the orders." McCoy grabbed a PADD off of the table and ran down the occupancy list, jolting forward as the floor beneath his feet rocked. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say those blasted Gorn were trying to tear apart the ship with their bare claws. What about Kirk and Spock?"
"Still fighting on the ground."
"Well, tell them to give those reptiles a right hook from-" The ship took a massive hit, sending McCoy pitching forward into the wall-
