"Thanks for meeting with me on such short notice, Doctor." McCoy sipped on his black coffee, wishing ruefully that he had any sort of alcohol instead.

"Of course, Doctor McCoy," Doctor Jancit sat across from him at the small table in Kirk and McCoy's quarters. He cupped his hand around the warm mug and pushed his glasses back up his small nose and smiled warmly at McCoy. "But," His mouth twisted slightly into a grimace. "I hope this isn't about Captain Kirk's classified sessions,"

"No, of course not," McCoy scoffed and took a nervous drink from his coffee, once again cursing that it wasn't something else. "I'm worried about him, that's all. But no, I wanted to get to know you better. You and Jim are probably going to be seeing a lot of each other, and I don't want us to feel like strangers," McCoy quickly covered up his guilt with southern charm.

"Right, of course," Jancit beamed. "Is there anything you want to know about me?"

"Well," McCoy sighed slightly and shrugged. "Where're you from?"

"I was born on a federation planet just outside of the Yakun system, but I moved around quite a bit when I was younger. I bounced around here and there a while. My mother was Captain of the starship U.S.S. Synodic. Me and my dad kept ourselves busy around the ship. He was a psychologist on board, and I followed in his footsteps." Janict spoke very animatedly with his hands, his glasses slowly sliding back down his nose with every jostle.

"The Synodic, huh? I don't think I've heard of that one," McCoy admitted, leaning back in his chair and setting the mug back down on the table.

"It was a small ship, tasked with simple negotiations here and there," Jancit shrugged. "I'm not surprised that you don't know it. Most people don't. But, her missions actually helped to secure peace between several nations and Starfleet."

McCoy shivered at the word Starfleet, remembering Kirk flaunting himself at headquarters as they spoke. He had invited Jancit over to ease his mind on Kirk's condition, but he made it clear that he was getting nowhere with that. He sighed and glanced briefly at is communicator, anxiously awaiting the check-in call that Kirk had promised him.

"Is there something wrong, Doctor McCoy?" Jancit asked, his childlike eyes swelling with concern.

"Oh, no," McCoy scoffed and reassured him. "I'm just expecting a call from Jim. He promised he would check in." McCoy rubbed his temple.

"Captain Kirk most likely just needs some air right now. He needs some time to figure things out on his own. That is one independent man," Jancit shook his head with a smile. "He's going to pull through what he's going through. And he knows that you're there to support him," Jancit reassured McCoy.

"I'm just concerned how this meeting with the Admiral is gonna go for him," McCoy sighed heavily. He's called after all the other meetings to fill me in, McCoy thought to himself.

"Oh? Which Admiral?" Jancit asked curiously.

"Henyar," McCoy slurped down some more coffee.

"What does Henyar want him in for so soon?" Jancit asked, spinning his mug slightly on the table.

"He actually went in to see Henyar on his own," McCoy admitted.

"Do you know what for?" Jancit asked, spinning the mug again. McCoy narrowed his eyes slightly, confused about what had the man suddenly so fidgety.

"He thinks he has some lead on the bombing," McCoy sighed, leading the young man on slightly, not wanting to expose the whole truth to him just yet. "He's probably just chasing his tail, but he wanted to check it out anyway."

"Interesting," Jancit mused quietly. "If you don't mind me asking, what kind of lead does he have?"

"Are you asking for gossip purposes, or because you think you can use this to help Jim?" McCoy asked, a serious expression stretching across his face.

"I'm just curious, is all. And if I can use it to help Captain Kirk get better, I think that it's best for me to follow up on it. Who knows, maybe I can help you rationalize through this." Jancit smiled warmly, whatever trepidation he had shown before squashed down deep inside.

"Alright," McCoy breathed after a second of hesitation. "I'll tell you what's going on after I get a call from Jim. His meeting with Henyar should be wrapping up soon, if it hasn't already. I want to see if this lead is actually going anywhere, or if it's something that Jim just made up in his crazy head and can work through on his own."

"Fair enough," Jancit replied, and McCoy could see the younger man's shoulders tense up slightly.

"In the meantime, you want to tell me what made you decide to settle down here, and not up in space like your folks?" McCoy asked, picking up his coffee again.

"Oh," Jancit said quietly and looked down at his coffee. "My parents passed away while I was attending Starfleet. It was a botched mission. None of the crew made it out."

"I'm so sorry," McCoy leaned towards the man. He instinctively reached out to put his hand on his shoulder, but he repressed the reflex. "What happened?" He asked soothingly, remembering the small voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like Kirk telling him to 'work on his bedside manner'.

"They had just finished negotiating the peace between Starfleet and a powerful adversary, but someone double-crossed them and they got caught up in the cross hairs." Jancit sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to depress you," He quickly shook off the sullen expression and put on a happy face again. "I stayed down here to finish what they started. I knew that psychology was the means to diplomatic victory."

"Very insightful," McCoy nodded at the young man. "I couldn't agree more. I know that Jim's silver tongue has gotten us out of our fair share of sticky situations," He chuckled, trying to ease the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"Manipulation can have a powerful effect on people," Jancit reasoned. "But it can only take you so far. I admire Kirk for taking action when he needs to."

"Speaking of Kirk, I can't believe that he hasn't called yet. That little bastard." McCoy grumbled, staring down his communicator, as if doing so would send chills down his friend's spine and make him pick up the communicator. "Anyway, speaking of Henyar, was he your first big client? I can't imagine you having many more, especially at your age." McCoy tried to shift the conversation.

"My first big client, yes. I've been helping people since I was little, but I've never met a man quite like Admiral Henyar before." Jancit said and took a sip of his coffee.

"What do you mean by that?" McCoy asked, a terrible feeling gnawing at his stomach. He nonchalantly checked his watch. Kirk was much too late. This meeting was taking him too long. Something was wrong.

"It's a patient confidentiality thing," Jancit shrugged. "You understand."

"Of course," McCoy assured him, though he desperately wanted to know more. "But you don't think that Jim's in any kind of danger, do you?"

"Of Henyar? No." Jancit hesitated to say, and something clicked in McCoy's head.

"Oh my God," He breathed, frozen to his seat. "Henyar's the one," He clumsily stood up, his heart beating out of his chest. "Henyar's behind everything with the Klingons," His head started to spin.

"Now, Doctor McCoy, please calm down a second," Jancit stood up and put his hands up in an attempt to soothe McCoy.

"Henyar's behind this, and you knew," McCoy came to the sudden realization. "You're his shrink. He told you," McCoy's thoughts swirled quickly through his mind as everything came together. "Why didn't you tell any-" He froze as the final pieces clicked into place. "Your parents. They negotiated with the Klingons. They were the powerful adversaries," He breathed and something in Jancit snapped. His eyes went from childlike wonderment to cold and unforgiving. "Henyar double crossed your parents. They killed your parents," McCoy breathed. "But you didn't know that, did you? Not until he confessed out of guilt," McCoy continued, and Jancit pulled a concealed phaser from his pocket and aimed it at him.

"That's enough." Jancit said coldly.

"You wanted revenge. You needed to show Henyar the error of his ways. So you set up a trap. You set up the bombing. You wanted everyone to see how the Klingons could kill, like they killed your family. But most of all, you wanted the truth to come out about Henyar. And you thought that there was no other way to do that than to start an all-out war." McCoy whispered in disbelief, remembering regretfully that he had left his phaser on the end table by the couch. "You think that if Starfleet can so easily double cross their own, that it should be ripped apart."

"Look around you, Doctor McCoy," Jancit hissed, his hands shaking with passion. "All of this? All of Starfleet? It's built on deception. It's built on keeping secrets and telling lies that gets its own members murdered. Do you really think that's something worth having around?"

"So you think that it's better to let thousands of innocents die for nothing?" McCoy narrowed his eyes at the younger man.

"It's not for nothing, Doctor. It's for the birth of something new. Something better. You may see the Klingons as ruthless, but they live by a set of morals, and that's more than I can say for Starfleet. The war will be long and bloody, but what'll emerge when compromises are made? The blend between the best of the two ways of life? That's worth more than the lives that'll be lost. That'll prevent the lives lost in future back-handed efforts by Starfleet. The ends always justify the means, Doctor McCoy."

McCoy gulped as he stared down the barrel of the man's phaser. Jancit's hands shook as his finger drew closer to the trigger. McCoy knew that there would be no reaching the man now. He only hoped that someone would reach him in time.

/

"So," Kirk shifted as he watch Henyar's fingers curl around the trigger of his phaser. "Now what?"

"Now, you're going to die." Henyar snarled.

"Not as fast as your reputation is going to die," Kirk shrugged and Henyar hesitated for a moment. Kirk stretched his head up to the ceiling slightly and revealed the small device that peeked out just above his shirt's neckline. "This was one helluva confession, by the way." Kirk folded his arms across his chest, and several Starfleet guards came rushing into the room, their phasers aimed at Henyar.

"Lower your weapon, Admiral." One of the guards instructed gruffly, and Kirk offered him a smug smile.

"You heard the man, Admiral." Kirk smirked.

"You've made a big mistake, Kirk." Henyar hissed and began to lower his weapon slowly.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Kirk said snidely, and Henyar raised his phaser suddenly, releasing an energy pulse into the air. Kirk felt his breath leave his body as the bolt hit him square in the shoulder and he toppled to the ground. He could hear the security guards scrambling to stun Henyar as he raised his weapon to fire again.

"Captain, are you alright?" One of the guards knelt down beside him and asked with hurried concern.

"Yeah," Kirk gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tightly. "Yeah, help me up." He grabbed onto the guard's shoulder blindly and tried to pull himself up.

"We've called in a medteam, Captain. They're going to be here soon for you." The guard reassured him and Kirk's eyes snapped open.

"Alright," He breathed out sharply, trying to suppress the scorching pain in his shoulder. "Did you call in Doctor McCoy?"

"I'm not sure, they called whoever's on duty," The guard admitted and Kirk fumbled with his belt, trying to find his communicator.

"Fine," He breathed. "I'll call him myself." He flipped it open with one hand and struggled to sit himself up. "Bones," He spoke firmly into the communicator. "Bones," He repeated as the communicator simply continued to ring. He sighed in frustration and struggled to turn the dial over. "Spock," He said, a little more quickly than he had spoke McCoy's name.

"Spock, here." Spock replied and Kirk breathed a sigh of relief, letting himself slip back down the wall. He set the communicator down on his chest and pulled the small device from his neck, tossing it to the side.

"Spock, Henyar's in custody. We got a full confession." Kirk grunted, trying to sit up again. "Thanks to a couple favors I called in to some friends on the security team, they were listening in to my conversations with all the Admirals."

"Captain, are you alright?" Spock asked quickly as soon as Kirk had stopped talking.

"I'm fine, Spock," Kirk grunted as he pushed himself up along the wall some more.

"The Captain's been shot, commander," The security officer blabbed, and Kirk shot him a merciless glare.

"Yeah," He mumbled after a pause. "What he said."

"Are you alright?" Spock pressed.

"I'm fine," He grumbled. "They called in a medteam already, but I couldn't get a hold of Bones. Have you heard from him?"

"Doctor McCoy informed me that he had invited Doctor Jancit over for coffee," Spock explained.

"Well, can you do me a favor and tell him to get off his ass and stop consulting with my shrink? I've got a hospital to get to," He groaned as the guard helped him to sit upright against the wall.

"Of course, Captain." Spock responded.

"Any news on Luna?" Kirk asked as the door to the office opened up and a medteam came flooding in.

"Not as of now," Spock said briefly, as he heard the medteam begin to stir up commotion in the room. "I will bring Doctor McCoy to the hospital."

"Awesome." Kirk grumbled and one of the nurses snatched his communicator from his chest.

/

Spock walked quickly through the halls of the living quarters, his heart pounding a little fast for his taste as he trucked ahead. It was strange that Doctor McCoy had not answered his calls. As he walked briskly through the halls, he thought of Kirk sitting alone in the hospital, a place that he had rarely been to without his CMO. Spock knew that the Captain was not fond of hospitals, especially when there was no one there to ease his nerves.

He rounded the corner and knocked politely on the door to McCoy and Kirk's quarters. He tapped on the door, which unexpectedly creaked open with his touch. He instinctively reached for his phaser, raising his weapon and pushing the door open slightly to peer inside. To his dismay, the room was empty, save for two spilled cups of coffee on the table, and McCoy's phaser laying precariously on the edge of it.

/

Here you go, fresh new chapter! Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you stick around for more. Thanks again for reading!

-buckminsterbarnes