McCoy rocked on his heels and tried to smile, "You have to know that you look like you need a few minutes before you talk with their medical specialist to have something to eat and a cup or two of strong coffee."
"Bones, I don't,"
"Want to make me make it doctor's orders, so why don't we just go and grab a bite to eat and then you can come back here and I will get back to Sickbay?"
They went and while Kirk played with his food McCoy was pleased that he at least drank his coffee. He was also pleased that the multivitamin he had added to Kirk's cup was undetectable. The way the captain was just moving the food on his plate let McCoy know that it still was not time to tell him what he wanted to. He knew the man too well to know how he would react and right now they both needed clear heads, they needed the facts. He nodded to himself as he thought how he could be very wrong and that it was better to wait till they had all the facts.
While Jim Kirk sat in the Briefing Room he wondered about how Spock was doing, what Officer Ganner was doing, and what he really expected to gain from the coming discussions. He knew there was a possibility they would never know what had really happened down there but he was sure going to do all he could to get the answers to all he wanted to know. There was enough for the official records but there were far too many questions for him, starting with that Blarnock.
A man walked in with his hand extended, "Captain Kirk, I am Doctor Edward Barret and I want to thank you for evacuating us as well as taking such great care when your team evacuated the medical center as we had two immobile patients in as well as a new-born and her mother."
Kirk felt a quiet strength in the man's handshake, "Glad we could help. My Chief Medical Officer mentioned that there was some Blarnock missing from your medical supplies and that the supply log was missing. Can you explain that?"
Genuine surprise was on the man's face. "There is no reason for them to be missing. The log is always the first thing in the cabinet, you know at a glance what there is and where it is and the staff know to indicate when and for what patient anything was used so that we can double check later on if need be. Blarnock is a muscle relaxant that we do use occasionally but not recently. Only a few weeks ago, before the first inklings of what was to happen, we got new supplies and disposed of the old packs. In Humans and most other humanoids it has been found to be the easiest to administer and is used as a muscular relaxant for the limbs, but in the likes of Vulcans it is more difficult to administer and largers doses are required and, instead of relaxing the muscles it causes a temporary paralysis of all the limbs in a short period of time and extremely severe spasm attacks of all voluntary muscles for several hours which is why it is contraindicated for use on them."
"You saw the team in the medical center?"
"Yes, there were five of them. Four of my staff were there as well, they were taking care of the patients. There were two of your men who seemed to be in a bit of conflict, an older stockier man who I would have thought should have been in control and a younger man with the bearing of a senior officer just sort of watching, trying to direct but the older man seemed to be more in control. The younger one pointed out to me that I would do best to help with the woman and her newborn as that was not something often encountered on a starship. I recall seeing him and the older man by the medicine closet and the younger one walk away while the older man and two of the others uncoupled it from the wall and carried the whole thing away."
"The younger man just walked away? He never went near it again?"
The man had looked at Kirk, "You do not suspect one of your own people of stealing muscle relaxant, do you? There were stronger medicines in it that would have totally relaxed them. It is not worth much on the black market of any known planet."
"So apart from those who removed the closet you did not see any others go over to it?"
"No, just those three and I am not too sure how long they were there all there as my attention was really on other things but I do know that the young one moved away and the older man had to carry most of the weight which, to me, seemed wrong."
"I would have thought the same and I am sure you had a lot to keep your eyes on. Like I said, we are glad to have been of service. Thank you for your time."
Kirk was standing to shake the man's hand when he stopped, "Just one more questions, if you don't mind."
"Certainly."
"You said you disposed of the old stock of Blarnock. Did you have a special facility of that, the disposal of old medicines?"
"There was a site down the other end of the beach where we put things to be destroyed. We just did not get around to properly destroying it or a few other medications we had there to destroy but we were not overly concerned as none of them have adverse reactions to healthy Humanoids. If there was a big enough and strong enough tsunami all that would be spread all over the place so it is just as well the planet is destroying itself. Be a helluva mess to clean up."
After the man had gone Kirk sat for a moment with his head bowed. "In Vulcans it causes a temporary paralysis of all the limbs in a short period of time and extremely severe spasm attacks of all voluntary muscles for several hours." echoed in his mind. With the packs most likely caught up in the water there was a possible way of it getting into Spock as McCoy had said that there was clear evidence that the debris in the water had be around them. The doctor had said the place the Blarnock had been placed for destruction as down the beach. It would have been in the water, that water Spock and Walker had been in. He would have to ask Bones about any marks on both of his patients as he had mentioned there were lacerations.
The thought of Spock being in that water, around what was waste from a chemical desposal site, made Kirk face the very real possibility that the Blarnock could have, would have been there and in the swirling and tumbling of the water. It was possible that the Blarnock could have got into Spock's system by accident. It was possible. It was feasible. It was, oddly, better to believe than what he had been thinking.
Office Dent walked in and stood at attention while Kirk thought over what Doctor Edward Barret had just told him. Just looking at the young officer Kirk felt a twinge of sentimental reflection and could remember the few times he had to stand before a commanding officer unsure of what was expected."Relax, Officer Dent, all I want to hear is what you saw on the planet that is not in your report."
"Sir?"
"Just tell me what happened down there."
"Well, I was on the third team to beam down and started by assisting Mister Spock with the evacuees who were waiting and then went with Officer Ganner to ensure that all the buildings were cleared. Once they were all cleared I assisted with getting the evacuees to the beam up site and helped getting the evacuees ready. I was working with Officer Walker. There was a woman with three children who was having some difficulty. I saw Officer Ganner watching Mister Spock, saw him looking around as though looking for something, then he came over and asked me to assist the woman with her children and to do so quickly and without drawing the First Officer's attention. As I was picking up her twins I saw Officer Ganner go rapidly over to the First Officer and grip his arm I found it unusual as when all new crew come aboard the Enterprise we are informed we are not to touch him as Vulcans do not like physical contact. To see an officer as senior as Officer Ganner gripped him like that seemed unusual and I could not and still cannot think of any reason for it as we had the situation under control so there was no urgency or need to grab his arm to get his attention.."
"Did you see what happened after he grabbed Mister Spock's arm?"
"Not much, Sir. I had my arms full with crying twins and was concentrating on getting them to the Enterprise. I saw Mister Spock say something to you and that was all. I could not believe it when I heard that he and Angus were lost."
"Mind telling me why you could not believe it?"
"Because we were all there, all the buildings had been checked and cleared, and had all the evacuees in the one area. I do not know Mister Spock went away from the group but I do know that Angus would, if he had even the wildest of suspicions that something was not right, have gone after him. I do know that he was to return to the ship with you, the First Officer, and Officer Ganner."
"What were your feelings about Officer Ganner?"
"Permission to speak off the record, Sir?"
Kirk smiled, "All of this is off the record. I am trying to figure out just what happened prior to the accident."
"Personally I would trust a Klingon before I would trust Officer Ganner. With a Klingon you know what to expect. Officer Ganner is too changeable. He makes you think he is a crew member like the rest of us then he acts as though only the command crew matters. He is total rules and regulation. Cannot see him ever doing or saying anything to jeopardise his rise through the ranks. He is far too careful about what he says or does, far too guarded. He's often said he will be the youngest Admiral with the cleanest record of how he got there."
"You sound as though you doubt that?"
"I'm not sure, Sir. I just keep hearing my mother saying that the room might look clean but just check under the rug as that's where some sweep the dirt."
Kirk smiled, remembering his mother had similar sayings when he and Sam said they had cleaned the house. "And your thoughts on Officer Walker?"
"Like I said, Sir, if he had even the wildest of suspicions that something was not right, he would find out why and try to make it right. There was absolutely no duplicity about him at all, what you saw and heard was all Angus. To him the crew was family and all were equal. Oh, he accepted that there were senior and junior officers but he treated them the same. I noticed down there how Mister Spock did not mind Angus calling him just Spock but Ganner would always make it a point to publicly correct him and tell him that it was Mister Spock and that he was Officer Ganner not just Ganner. I mean we were rushing to get those people to safety and he had to lecture Angus like that about rank and in front of the evacuees? I'd seen it on the ship too, the way he would insist that ranks be used even off-duty."
"How did Officer Walker react?"
Dent smiled and shook his head, "He did tend to annoy Ganner more as he would not stop what he was doing to listen to him. He would answer and say Sir but he kept helping the evacuees and let Ganner talk to his back."
"Thank you for your time. Dismissed."
For a long time after Dent had gone Kirk sat alone in the briefing room trying to sort it all out. While the evidence all indicated that it was just a freak accident with Spock being in the water down by where the Blarnock had been dumped his mind kept going back to only one person and one reason. He had to admit that the man's history did not indicate such actions such as Kirk was thinking to succeed. Such an action as Kirk was thinking would have ruined what the person was after, would make all he had done till then worthless. Although he wanted to believe that the Blarnock could have gotten into Spock's system while in the water there was something in him that thought otherwise. There had to be something else, somebody else, and the thought that anybody on his ship would so anything like he was thinking infuriated and sickened him.
When he had calmed enough he walked to Sickbay and sat just looking at Spock as he slept.
This had been yet another time when he had thought he would never be going this, he knew one day it would happen. One day either he would not come back or Spock would not come back. One day was not this day. Not this time.
