Don't Look Away

Chapter 7

"I will never accept defeat

I will never quit.

I will never leave a fallen comrade

To fall into the hands of the enemy."

Part of the U.S. Soldier's Creed

Aboard the Enterprise

Spock stood by Lt. Uhura's station, he did not hover; Vulcans never hovered, but he stood close by. "Nothing, Lieutenant?"

"Not yet, Mr. Spock."

"Keep trying, Lieutenant, the Captain has missed three check ins thus far. I fear that something is amiss with the landing party."

Uhura wanted to say, "I Know!" but she restrained herself. Spock would never admit to worry, but he was as prone to it as any human, as all the Command crew knew. They would never say anything, so as not to embarrass Mr. Spock, but truth be told, they were all worried.

"Spock to Mr. Scott."

"Yes Mr. Spock?"

"Any progress on locating the Captain and the team with the use of the bio monitors?"

"Nay, Sir. I'm reconfiguring the settings to boost the signal. I should be finished in ten minutes and I'll try again."

"Very good, Mr. Scott."

"Lieutenant Uhura, I have every confidence in your expertise. I would like for you to re-route all the internal ship's communication power, exempting the Sick Bay, along with all the external power from the scanners, to the communications array. Please notify the crew that communication will be out for an indefinite amount of time. I have now become certain that there is a dampening field preventing the Captain from contacting us. Since he has missed three check ins, our plan now is to aim all available location resources to the rendezvous coordinates."

"Yes, Mr. Spock."

"Scott to Mr. Spock."

"Yes, Mr. Scott."

"Mr. Spock. I have rerouted all scanner location power to the bio monitors. Sir, would you like to come to Engineering for the initial scan?"

"I will be with you momentarily, Mr. Scott. Lieutenant, if you have any success with the landing party communicators, please comm me in Engineering."

"Aye, Sir."

"Mr. Sulu, you have the con."

Spock walked rapidly from the lift to the main control panel in Engineering. "I am here, Mr. Scott, let us proceed."

Scotty went to his station. "All right, then, here we go, Sir." He toggled several switches on his board, and several lights lit up. "There they are, Mr. Spock! Looks like all five are fine."

"Coordinates, Mr. Scott?" Spock kept his tone level and impassive, but Scotty knew Spock was just as relieved as he was.

"Here, Sir." His display panel displayed the numbers.

Spock nodded. They were the rendezvous coordinates he and the Captain had set up.

"Excellent work, Mr. Scott. Will it possible to transport them out of the area just with the bio monitor signals?"

"I'm afraid not, Sir. I need their communicator signals. But at least we know where they are, and that they're alive. If we canna' get their communicator signals we'll go down and get them, that we will, Mr. Spock."

"We most certainly will, Mr. Scott. The Enterprise will not fly without her Captain. We must retrieve the team."

His communicator beeped. "Uhura to Mr. Spock."

"Spock here, Lieutenant."

"Please come to the bridge, Sir."

"On my way. Mr. Scott keep the sensors on those bio monitors at all times."

"Yes, Sir."

Uhura was waiting for him impatiently when he walked in to the bridge from the lift. "Mr. Spock, I got a burst from the planet. It was a surge of code, no words but definitely from our team. They are at the coordinates that you specified."

"I see. Very well, Lieutenant. It is obvious that they cannot contact us, therefore as the old Earth saying goes, 'The mountain will go to Mohammed. We must go down to retrieve our team. Have Mr. Reilly prepare a shuttle, one of the larger ones; the Shuttle Picasso would be best I think. I would like you, Mr. Scott and a security team to accompany me. We will need to be armed, so prepare with phasers, phaser rifles and body armor."

Uhura looked at him in surprise. "We cannot be sure what will await us, Lieutenant. The Captain and the team had to flee and go into hiding, so therefore we must be prepared for all eventualities. Please notify Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel to be prepared for possible casualties."

"Yes Sir. I'll see to it."

"We will meet in the shuttle bay in 45 minutes. I will pilot the shuttle and I would like for you act as co-pilot."

"Thank you, Mr. Spock." She smiled so radiantly at him that he blinked. Uhura seldom had occasion to fly in a shuttle, much less co-pilot one. "I'll call my relief in right away, Sir."

Spock left the con in Sulu's capable hands. "Keep a close eye for us on our return trip, Mr. Chekov, he told the navigator. It is my hope that once we leave the atmosphere of Beta Niobe we will be able to contact the ship, but if not, you must have a visual on us to open the shuttle bay doors. I hope we do not have casualties, but we must be prepared."

"Ya, Mr. Spock. I will not take my eyes off the horizon."

"Thank you, Mr. Chekov." Spock waited for Uhura's relief and they both took the lift to the armory to collect their weapons and body armor. Scott and the security team were already there, suited up and armed. It only took a few minutes for Spock and Uhura to do the same.

"Let us proceed to the shuttle bay. We will fly directly overhead to the rendezvous point. The Picasso has only one transporter pad, so if we must land to retrieve the team, we will do so. It is my hope that once we are overhead at the rendezvous point, we will be able to communicate with the Captain and beam them up, even if it is one at a time. I would prefer not to land the shuttle. Mr. Scott, what does your expertise tell you? Does the dampening effect only surround the planet, or does it encompass the entire atmosphere of Beta Niobe?"

"Well, Sir, in my considered opinion, it only surrounds the planet else the communicator burst we received and the bio monitors signals could not have been detected."

"That is my conclusion as well, Mr. Scott. Very well, when we clear the atmosphere, Lieutenant Uhura, I would like for you to try and contact the away team."

"Yes, Sir."

They entered the Picasso and Spock went over the preflight protocols with Lieutenant Reilly and with Uhura.

"You're all set, Mr. Spock," Reilly said, through the shuttle comm, from the large transparent shuttle bay office window. "Opening shuttle bay doors now. Good luck, Mr. Spock."

"Thank you, Mr. Reilly."

Spock piloted the Picasso out and away from the ship and began his descent to Beta Niobe. Uhura opened her communicator channel and kept a close eye on their coordinates. Picasso descended smoothly through the planet's outer atmosphere and was soon hidden by the clouds orbiting the planet. Spock kept the shuttle undercover of the clouds until he reached the coordinates that he and Jim had agreed upon.

"We are now directly overhead the rendezvous coordinates. Any communicator traffic, Lieutenant?"

"No, Sir. No traffic of any kind," Uhura said.

"Very well, I will begin our descent. Mr. Scott please man the transporter and the shuttle phasers in case we are in need of them."

"Aye, Sir," Scotty said, moving forward to access the transporter and phaser array toggles.

They began their descent until they came over a large wooded area, there Spock glided down and put the shuttle in hover mode. He nodded to Uhura.

"Lt. Uhura to Captain Kirk, come in Captain." She heard static over the communicator and then, "Lieutenant Uhura, this is Frank Giotto. We read you loud and clear."

On Beta Niobe

Jim and Giotto sat side by side with both communicators. Jim's idea was to join the devices together to make their output more powerful. It was not difficult, but it was delicate work and entailed taking both communicators apart and wiring them together. As they worked, Jim kept a close eye on Bones. He could feel the heat radiating from Leonard's body as they worked. He ran the tricorder over hin and saw his temperature was still very high. The hypo had not helped for long.

"Frank you keep on working, I'm going to try to get more water into Bones," he said. "I can't give him any more meds to get his fever down, it's too soon."

"Captain, when I was a kid, my mom used to sponge my face and torso with cool water when I had a high fever, or put me in a cool tub."

"Good idea, Frank, my mom would do the same for Sam and me."

Jim got the water carafe from Carver and used his boot knife to cut a piece off the bottom of his uniform shirt to use with the water. He made a small pad, wet it, carefull not to waste a drop and knelt facing Bones. He felt his face and forehead; he was burning up. Jim bit his lip worriedly and met Giotto's eyes. "He's burning up, Frank. We've got to get that communicator working and Bones to Sick Bay." He lifted Bones' shirt up and saw that the rash was a deep reddish purple and had spread to the sides of his chest and abdomen.

Jim patted Bones cheeks lightly. "Bones, wake up. Can you hear me, Bones?" He got no response. He patted Bones face and neck with the wet cloth then patted his face again with his hand. "Come on, Bones. You've slept enough, wake up for me, please." Again he got no response.

Jim lifted Bones' shirts up to his chest and ran the wet cloth over his chest and abdomen. The damp cloth was getting warm, but Bones shivered he was so hot. Jim knew he had gone past sleep now, and was unconscious. He wrung the cloth out again and wiped his face, forehead, and torso again. He looked at his chronometer. To hell with it, he had another 30 minutes to go, but he was going to give Bones another hypo to bring down the fever. This was dangerous, the fever was way too high at 104.2

Jim opened the med kit again and got another hypo with the red label. There was only one left after this one.

"How's it going with the communicators, Frank?" he asked as he loaded the hypo spray.

"I'm having a little bit of trouble doing this without tools, Captain. The boot knife point is just a little too thick. I have to be very careful and not rush."

"Understood, Frank. I'll help you in a minute, just let me sponge Bones down one more time and give him this round of medicine." Jim looked at the flushed face of his CMO. He ran his hand gently through the soft fine hair on Bones' forehead and sighed. How did Bones do this? Take care of all of them, the sick, the injured, the almost dying, the homesick kids, the lovelorn ones. He took care of them all and did a fantastic job. What would Jim do without Bones? What would the Enterprise do without the best doctor in the Fleet? Jim hoped with all his heart that he'd never have to find out.

He pressed the hypo to Bones' neck, waited a full 2 minutes, then ran the tricorder over him again. Good the fever had gone down two degrees, 102.4. He checked the med kit again and found a soothing salve. He lifted Bones' shirts and spread a thin film of the salve over his stomach and torso. He didn't know if it would do any good, but maybe it would keep the rash from spreading any further.

He put the hypo and salve back in the med kit and went back to Frank. "All right, Frank, let's do this. Bones is very sick, I'm afraid of what will happen if we can't get him back to Sick Bay."

Giotto nodded grimly and handed Jim the communicator. "I just need that one wire, Sir. My fingers are just too broad, maybe you can do it. I don't want to ask Bardoli or Carver, they don't have any experience with this kind of thing."

Jim took it from Giotto and looked at the connections critically. The wire was tucked down in a very small area. He would have to work it out of the tiny crevice and do the same with the other communicator then splice the two together. He hefted the knife in his hand and turned it on its side and gently inserted it below the wire. He brought it up very slowly. "When the wire comes up high enough, Frank you use your knife and pull it all the way out." Giotto watched carefully and gently pulled the wire out. They both gave a sigh of relief. "Now the other communicator," Jim said and carefully did the same thing.

"All right, Frank, we're ready. When the two wires touch, it will hopefully be enough to boost the signal through the dampening field. If I know Uhura, she won't have left her station after the first missed check in. They'll know we're already here and come pick us up."

"How will we know if they heard us, Captain?" Giotto looked dubiously at his Captain.

"We won't, Frank, but I'm confident this is going to work," Jim assured him. "I'm also hoping that Scotty is able to detect our bio signals."

Jim turned his head as he heard Bones mutter words he couldn't make out. He was delirious from the high fever. They had to get the hell off this planet fast.

He nodded at Frank and the Security Chief touched the two wires together as Jim held both communicators. The two wires sizzled and sparked into a small burst of flame; the two communicators flashed once and then went dark.

"Okay," Jim said, "That's fried them. Thank goodness Carver and Bardoli still have theirs. Now we wait."

He looked at his chronometer and saw that it was still a couple of hours until dawn. If Spock was coming he hoped it would still be dark, but their rescuers would come. Of that he was sure.

"The three of you get some rest, Frank. I'll keep watch over McCoy. You need to eat something too," he nodded to Carver and Bardoli who were standing guard. "I bet those kids are hungry. When I was that age, I was a bottomless pit," he smiled as he remembered his mother's constant attempts to keep her two boys and their friends from 'starving to death.'

"Me too," said Giotto. "What about you, Captain."

"I'm not really hungry, Frank," Jim said looking at Bones. He was too worried to eat.

The three security men sat down and opened the duffle; there was fruit and crackers, and they ate hungrily. Jim sat by Bones, put his arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer so Bones head would rest on his shoulder and not on the hard rough bark of the tree. Jim could feel that his fever was climbing again. As soon as the three men finished eating, he would sponge Bones down again; he'd also try to get him to swallow some water. Jim remembered his field training; all Star Fleet personnel were taught how to make an unconscious man swallow to keep him hydrated, and that's what he would do. He would only give him the last hypo as a last resort if the fever got too high.

The three men finished their snack and Jim asked for the water carafe. He shook it gently. It was still half full. The three security men would not drink, Giotto told him, the doctor needed the water much more than they did. Jim nodded and sponged Bones down again, concentrating on his chest, torso and neck.

"Frank," Jim said quietly. "I want you to back track the way we came and see if you hear any signs that they're out there searching for us. This forest is so dense that I haven't even heard an animal since we got here. Don't go too far back, though, in case we hear from the ship."

Giotto got up, said a few words to his men and silently walked the way they had come. Bardoli and Carver flanked Jim and Leonard and stood silently heads and eyes scanning all around them.

Giotto came back quickly, as silently as he had gone, and sat by Jim. "Nothing, Sir. Everything is quiet. I went to a small clearing and I could see the sky, it's still pretty dark, so it's not dawn yet."

Jim nodded. "Bardoli, let me have your communicator. I'm going to try the ship again." Jim flipped it open; "Kirk to Enterprise, come in Enterprise. Kirk to Enterprise."

He almost dropped the communicator he was so startled when he heard Uhura's voice. "Enterprise here, Captain."

"Uhura! You can hear us?"

"Yes, Captain." Her voice was amused. "You're coming in loud and clear."

"Uhura, we need an immediate beam out. Dr. McCoy is very sick. He seems to have contracted the same illness that the children of this planet have. He's burning up with fever. Have Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel stand by the transporters."

"I'm sorry, Captain." Spock's voice came over the communicator. "We are not on board the ship. We are in the shuttle Picasso and I surmise we are directly above you. Ship's sensors could not penetrate the dampening effect, so we had to use the shuttle to retrieve you. This forest is quite thick, but we can detect your bio signs clearly. Picasso only has one transporter pad, so we will have to beam you up one at a time."

Jim sighed. He hated to expose anyone else to whatever was making Bones so ill, but it couldn't be helped.

"Very well, Mr. Spock, but Dr. McCoy is unconscious. I will have to hold him up next to me for the beam out. We'll notify the ship to implement quarantine procedures. Better be safe than sorry."

"Yes, Captain. Stand by."

"Frank, I'll have to beam up with the doctor, then you three will be beamed up one by one."

"Don't worry about us, Sir. You just get the doctor on board."

Jim leaned down and hauled Bones into his arms. He was deeply unconscious and limp against Jim's body. Jim kept him upright pressed against him and he could feel the heat radiating from the dictor's body. He nodded to Giotto.

"Mr. Spock, the Captain is ready for beam up."

With the familiar silvery whine of the transporter in his ears, Jim and McCoy materialized on the Picasso transporter pad. Two security guards were there immediately to take McCoy and they carried him to the back where they lay him down gently on a make shift bed made from a pile of everyone's shirts.

Jim made sure Bones was comfortable, then went forward and clasped Spock on the shoulder. "Mr. Spock, good to see you. Let's get our men on board and get out of Dodge."

"Yes, Captain."

Jim saw that Bardoli and Carver were already on board, and waited impatiently until he saw Giotto materialize. "Go, Spock! Warp us out of here and back to the ship. Uhura, as soon as we leave the atmosphere notify medical to implement quarantine protocols for all of us; after that I'm going to get to the bottom of this First Contact fiasco of a mission."

"Yes, Captain."