Spock slowly opened his eyes hardly a moment after Kirk laid him down. An anvil of pressure pressed down on his chest. Kirk felt his chest loosen at his first officer's opened eyes, but it was incomparable to the hopelessness of the situation.

Spock found himself staring at the ceiling - was he on the floor? He sucked in a sharp breath of air when the stinging of his collarbone became apparent. He blinked away the fog and found Kirk staring in horror to the left of his body. Their eyes met when Kirk flicked his away from the incriminating wound to those of Spock. He felt a chill with the look in Kirk's gaze.

"Have you seen this?" asked Kirk, failing to keep his voice from shaking.

"Seen what, Captain?" he strained. He was perturbed by Jim's despairing demeanor and by the fact they were both on the floor, but then he involuntarily grimaced as another small wave passed through his shoulder. Kirk left his question in the dust and immediately whipped out his communicator.

"Kirk to McCoy."

McCoy had been completely passed out in his quarters, but his eyes shot open at the intonation coming from his communicator. He swung his arm around and slammed it against the dresser, his fingers searching frantically in the dark for the device.

"What is it, Jim?" he spluttered, his mind far more awake than his body.

"It's Spock." His voice broke on Spock's name. McCoy flung himself out of the bed and ran out the door, hopping on one leg as he tugged his boots on.

After he told McCoy where to find them, Kirk quickly stuffed the device away and pulled Spock's neckline down again to look at the violent skin.

"Jim…"

"You passed out, Spock." he explained without taking his eyes off the incriminating shoulder. "Your shoulder…it's…I don't even know."

Spock rotated his head to see for himself. He felt his blood recoil at the sight of it. His chest heaved and he looked back to the ceiling, unable to continue his observation. It was unwelcome evidence of much worse things to come. Another small tremor quaked down his bones. He held his breath as we waited for it to pass.

"You're in pain." Jim could see it as clear as he could see the hideous lesion. Spock nodded, his eyes clenched shut.

"We have to go back." Jim whispered, feeling the despair in his gut magnify.

"We can't, Jim. Do not go back."

Before their differences could resurface, Doctor McCoy came barreling around the corner. Spock was on the floor and Kirk was kneeling beside him, his eyes wet and filled with conflict.

"What happened?!" He demanded as he fell beside them. He whipped out his medical scanner to get a read on Spock, but he froze when he caught sight of Kirk's hands. Or, more importantly, what Kirk's hands were hovering over.

McCoy felt his jaw drop open. The piercing blue lines graphing across the dense colors were startling to say the least, and he found his mind had gone blank.

"That was not there last night…" he whispered to himself.

"Last night?" Kirk shot his head up. "What happened last night?"

McCoy opened his mouth to answer, but Spock interjected as he tried to raise to his elbows.

"It was unrelated, Cap-"

"Unrelated? What the hell happened last night?" demanded Kirk. Fear and anger was rising in his blood. Spock lifted his left elbow to further brace himself, but felt another stab dig into his shoulder. Both Kirk and McCoy leaned forward as he winced, forgetting the topic.

"We gotta get him to sickbay." asserted McCoy.

"Agreed. Come on."

"Don't touch that shoulder, Jim."

Carefully, they lifted him so he was leaning against Kirk, his right armed draped across his shoulders.

"Can you walk?" asked Kirk, not realizing how important the answer to that question was to him.

"Yes."

McCoy walked cautiously to his left, ready to catch him if needed. Spock endeavored to focus on his steps, but his heavy arm was playing against him. Every movement with every step sent unsettling jolts down his insensitive forearm, the prickling of paresthesia splotching down from his shoulder. A ripple of vertigo had seized his mind since he'd hit the floor, and the further they made it towards medical, the more he felt confident in losing consciousness.

Jim felt Spock become more sluggish as they dragged towards the room. It was only down the hall…

As the door labeled 'Sickbay' came into view, Kirk staggered as Spock lost his stability, dropping to his knees. McCoy tried to steady the Vulcan as best he could, however difficult without touching that left arm. He turned down the hall, but looked back down to his side at Spock. He was still conscious, but breathing heavily and looking like he wouldn't make it back to his feet. McCoy whipped back around.

"CHAPEL! Get out here with a shot of asthenia epinephrine, now!" he yelled. Silently grateful for his nurse's efficiency, he saw the woman sprint out the doorway only moments later. Her heart dropped to her feet as she saw Spock. After what happened on the bridge, she never wanted to see him so powerless again.

She raced to McCoy, swiftly putting the hypo in his hand. Without hesitation, he pushed it into Spock's huffing side.

"Alright, get up, come on Spock." commanded McCoy as he and Jim lifted him back to his feet. A small run of energy settled in his legs, and he found himself walking again. It wasn't far…he could make it.

They breached the doorway and Kirk rotated around, helping Spock to lie back on the biobed. Spock released a breath he didn't know he was holding as the pressure released from his body. His chest moved in short, staggered breaths and he felt his lungs constrict. It didn't go unnoticed.

"What can you do, Bones?"

"I don't know yet." McCoy answered, digging out his supplies. He turned to Spock and inspected his arm, unsatisfied with what he was observing. Expertly, he cut off Spock's shirt in seconds. His heart skipped a beat when he saw he full of the wound in question.

The skin was such a dark color, he almost doubted it was skin anymore. It matted down to the bottom of his ribcage, the lines becoming more aggressive as they reached towards his heart.

"I need a blood sample, Spock." apologized the doctor as Chapel handed him a needle. Spock simply nodded, concentrating on the tiles on the ceiling. He no longer felt the pull of unconsciousness, but rather the tugging of the bones in his arm. His hand twitched involuntarily as McCoy slid the needle into his vein.

"What happened last night, McCoy?" Kirk prodded, his eyes serious. McCoy passed the green-filled needle to Chapel, and turned his scanner to Spock's shoulder. Again, Spock wanted to explain for the doctor but another ridge of agony bolted into his scapula. He pressed his head back against the pillow and clenched his fists as he tried to build a wall against the torture, but it rammed stubbornly against his efforts. The K2 chart began shrieking.

McCoy snatched a hypo from the nearby cart and applied it, but the alarms continued to scream. He could visibly see the fight Spock was giving back, his entire body tense and rigid against the pain. McCoy thought he heard a strained whimper beneath the alarms. He tried another hypo, but nothing could breach the torment that confined him. Hideous shrieks continued to ring from the monitor.

"I need to put him out." he decided hurriedly as Chapel ran back to his side. She dashed a few feet behind them and threw open a drawer, digging for the right one. Rapidly, she gave it to the doctor. He glanced at the label; iophedimentapholic tv'valliuiainiphor. The strongest he could safely give to the Vulcan.

He instantly pressed it into Spock's pale, clammy arm. Almost immediately, the muscles in Spock's body slowly released and he sunk into the bed, his head drooping to the side. His fingers twitched as his eyes slipped closed. With a lasting twitch from his index finger, he fell into darkness and the alarms finally silenced.

McCoy could hear his own heavy, adrenaline based breaths in the acquired silence. Kirk put his hand on Spock's lifeless forearm, staring at his ghastly face. He repeated his question without looking away from the comatose Vulcan.

"What happened last night?" he said through his teeth. McCoy dragged his eyes away from Spock. He looked at Chapel and nodded at her, their silent language needing nothing more. She looked at Spock for a quick moment, then left her CMOs side.

"He had a nightmare…"

"A nightmare, McCoy?" he clarified angrily.

"Yes, but…his heart rate was dangerously high. It affected him differently, physically…but there was no sign of this on my scanner last night…" he trailed off.

"Bones…" Kirk grasped the bedrails tightly. "Why in God's name didn't you tell me that?"

McCoy shook his head, wondering if he had made a mistake.

"He asked me not to, Jim. He said you'd change your mind, you'd go off and get those stones, if you knew. He thought it was caused by temporary traumatic stress…I didn't want to get ahead of myself, jump to conclusions, ya know…"

He tried to rack his head as he looked away from Kirk's angry eyes to the monitor. Spock was dying, but he couldn't pinpoint from where. He didn't know how to help him.

"Well that mistake might've cost Spock his life." Kirk shot as he flipped out his communicator. "We're turning around, but it might be futile at this point."

"Jim! That's exactly why he didn't want me to tell you! We can't go back, Jim, for once I have to agree with Spock. We can't subject civilizations to these creatures. Let me take a look at Spock, I can try and - "

"There's no saving him from this, Bones! Either we turn around right now, or we get to watch him die! Which do you want to pick?!" he yelled, his hand gesturing aggressively to Spock's lifeless figure. "You obviously made your choice last night!"

"Now that's not fair, Jim! I don't want to see him die any less than you do! But there was once a time where James Kirk didn't believe in no win scenarios, and this is a doozy of a no win, Captain! There has to be another option, something we haven't considered!"

"You're right, McCoy, I don't believe in no win scenarios. I'm not going to deliver those crystals like an obedient golden retriever does with a stick, and I'm sure as hell to going to watch Spock die while I take breath! I don't know exactly what we're going to do yet, but I'm not going to let him suffer while I think about it! We're going back, we're turning around, and maybe that goddamn piece of shit can see that and give my first officer his life back. Then, I will think of a plan where we come out on top. You read me?" He glared into McCoy's eyes as he swung his communicator open.

"Kirk to Sulu. Turn around right now, get us back to that star cluster. Warp factor 7."

After a moment more than average passed, Kirk heard Sulu's affirmation.

"Yes, Captain."

He clicked it shut and stuck it back to his hip. He leaned on the bedrails and hung his head, taking in a deep breath. He tapped the top of his toes against the floor nervously.

"I deliberately asked you to tell me if anything happened to him." he said in a low voice, his head still hung towards the floor. McCoy swallowed and stared at his feet. He shook his head.

"It was important to him that I didn't. You know what I'm talking about, Jim…you yourself take every word out of his mouth to heart. Once he says something somewhat logical, there's no arguing with him. When you cross brains with Spock, he'll cut you to pieces. Every time." He gravelly echoed what he heard Sulu once say: it was a statement so true, he'd never forget it.

Kirk rubbed the back of his neck and sighed heavily. He tapped his toes against the tile again and looked up to the doctor.

"Bones, since when do you ever listen to a thing he says?" he asked, his voice more gentle.

"Well I can promise you I never will again." he replied as he waved the scanner over Spock for the sixth time. Kirk exhaled through his nose and placed his hand on Spock's good shoulder.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I've never seen anything like it, Jim. He is dying," Kirk tightened his grip. "but I can't tell why. His bones look fine, his organs are functioning…that blood sample is my last hope at this point. This…this design…" He hovered his finger over the raised, jolting blue lines across Spock's bruise. "It's unnatural…nothing of the body can cause this."

Kirk nodded, his head clearing from the anger and fear. He had never felt such trepidation as when he watched Spock fall to the ground for the second time. A very real part of him had been convinced the Vulcan was dead as he crashed down, completely unprovoked.

"When will that anesthesia wear off?"

"For him, probably a couple of hours."

"Call me immediately when that happens. I have a crew to make amends with." He strode past the doctor and left. McCoy looked after his departing figure. His emotions budded with anger, guilt, and disparity. He sunk into a nearby chair and held his head in his hands, his fingers gripping his hair. He wasn't sure how much more he could take before he lost his mind. Chapel walked silently over and placed a soft hand on his shoulder. He reached up and placed his hand over hers, feeling a comfort in her presence.

"There's nothing else you can do, Leonard."

"That's what's bothering me."

"It's out of our hands."

McCoy shook his head and tightened his grip on her hand, looking on to the Vulcan. "He was in trouble last night, and I didn't tell Jim because he asked me to keep quiet. He's right, Christine…I may have killed him."

"Leonard, you know Spock even better than I do. He can be very compelling and convincing, sometimes. Don't blame yourself for that. 'Even the most outrageous consequences can be a correlation of necessary events.'" she quoted.

"What the hell does that mean?"

She smiled sadly. "It just means that Spock knew what he was getting himself into."

McCoy laughed dismally. "The problem is, that damn fool doesn't know what's good for him. He tosses his life aside like any normal person would do with a browned banana." He looked at Spock's still face. "He doesn't treat his life with the logic he treats everyone else's."

— — —

Kirk was met with the concerned, knowing faces of the bridge crew members. There was only one reason they would be turning back to that star cluster.

"Commander Spock?" ventured Uhura. Kirk shook his head.

"Open the main channel, ship wide."

"Receiving, sir."

He cleared his throat and sat up in his chair. He opened his mouth and looked at the faces around him.

"Crew of the Enterprise…this is the Captain speaking. We're back on course for the star cluster, as it's been made apparent this starship and her crew have been credibly threatened against. We're fighters, and there's absolutely no talk of obeying the demands of the alien race. However, to further prevent the death of this ship and her crew, we will be making head to the cluster until a break is seen in the case. Report to your department heads for any further questions, and let's fight this son-of-a-bitch. Kirk out." He popped his fist against the transmitter, deactivating the channel.

"Is he dead, Captain?" dared Scotty with a tremor in his voice. Kirk bit his lip and shook his head.

"No, of course not. It takes a lot more than this to get rid of our Mister Spock. But, he is incapacitated at the moment." He looked down, thinking of how his friend's skin had blanched before collapsing.

"Vatever it takes, Keptin." avowed Chekov. A fire was lit in his eyes. He had a profound respect for Science Officer Spock and something akin to that for the ship, too. They all did. "Ven they threaten one crew member, they threaten the entire ship."

"And the ship knows how to bite back." Sulu finished.

Kirk looked to his left and to his right, meeting the eyes of every bridge officer. His eyes landed on the empty spot of the science station.

"And bite back we will." he promised.