McCoy rubbed shaking hands over his face as the creature let out pained hissing noises, the bright light shining through the cracks in the shielding. Kirk was staring at the pod in horror.
The light sequence ended, the monitor at the side still flashing to show Spock's vitals being too high then it let out a piercing alarm as the occupant flat-lined.
"Shit!" McCoy hit the emergency alarm on the wall which would bring a crash team running and pressed the emergency release button on the pod. The shields instantly sprang open, the damaged glass partition following. Spock began to fall forward, McCoy and Kirk grabbed him and lifted him to a nearby biobed as a number of nurses came rushing in with equipment. They began cutting his shirt off as McCoy bellowed orders "Get him out of here" Kirk felt a large orderly approach him "Sir" the orderly moved to block Kirk's vision of the biobed, he re-focused his gaze on the man's face, his name was Harris a small voice noted in the back of his mind…it sounded like Spock.
Harris looked kindly at him "C'mon sir" but Kirk was distracted by the sound of the defibrillator going off, McCoy's voice shouting "C'mon you green bloodied son of a bitch" it went again and Kirk felt a whispering at the back of his mind, a compulsion…suddenly found himself standing by Spock's bed but he had no memory of walking there. He didn't know why but he reached out towards Spock's face. He registered McCoy yelling "Don't!" as his fingers grazed Spock's temple, it was like a jolt of electricity had run through his body he sucked in a shocked breath as Spock inhaled at the exact same moment. He realised that there was silence around him, Bones and the Nurses were staring at him. The Doctor looked at the monitor that was showing Spock's vital signs "What did you do?" Kirk shook his head "I…I don't know…I just felt like, like I had to" Nurse Rhodes looked at the monitor from where she was pressing a dressing on Spock's chest "Doctor, these aren't right" McCoy checked the readings his eyes moving back and forth between them, he reached out feeling for the carotid artery on Kirk's neck, he looked back at the monitor "They match" Kirk stared at the Doctor "Huh?" "Somehow you're supporting him, can you keep it up so I can fix the damage?" Kirk looked at him determinedly "I'm not going anywhere"
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Kirk blinked sleepily from Spock's bedside, this was the second time his head had nearly hit the pillow. He had been sitting here for what felt like hours, it was almost like something was draining him, he yawned. "That's it" Bone's voice came from behind the cover he'd erected so Kirk wouldn't have to see them working in Spock's chest. "Hmmm" Kirk rubbed his face with his free hand. McCoy stepped round the cover to see Kirk and instantly moved forward "Why didn't you say anything" He blinked sleepily up at the Doctor "huh?" McCoy put his arm around Kirk's shoulder to support him and placed his other over the one on Spock's face carefully pulling it away. "Bones no" he struggled slightly. "He's fine now, he stabilized a while ago, I didn't know you were still here" Kirk felt the tingling in his fingers stop as Bones drew his hand away and a warm feeling he hadn't even known was there disappeared from his mind.
The moment the connection was lost he slumped sideways into the doctor in exhaustion. McCoy looked up and called Harris over in a hushed voice "help me with him will ya?" together they got Kirk onto a nearby bed, McCoy checked the monitor but the readings just showed him asleep. He nodded thanks to Harris then pulled a blanket over the captain "You two will be the death of me" he couldn't help muttering fondly under his breath.
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Kirk opened his eyes, slowly blinking up at the dimmed sickbay lights above his bed, the last thing he remembered was…SPOCK! He sat up too fast and felt his vision swimming then hands supporting him "Woah, hold it, deep breaths" he took a few breaths his vision clearing to see Bones in front of him. "Feel better now?" he nodded "Where…?" McCoy moved allowing him to see the bed next to his; Spock was on it, dressed in fresh scrubs and looked to be asleep.
"He ok?" The doctor's face fell, Kirk felt sick "He's not still infected is he?" McCoy shook his head "No that's gone, the treatment worked. I removed the small creature from his spine, the large filament and pods from his chest cavity and repaired the damage it did trying to escape, the only reason he survived as long as he did was because his hearts in a different place to a humans. His body's breaking down the rest and absorbing it" Kirk met the doctor's gaze and noted how on edge he seemed "So what's wrong?" McCoy bit his lip "I said that the light would be damaging if used as it was, I treated him for sunburn on his exposed skin but…" he paused, Kirk shook him "but?" McCoy sighed "The light was too intense, it's damaged his optic nerve, I'll have to run tests once he's awake to find the extent of the damage but…he's blind."
Kirk swallowed in shock and slipped off the bed, walking to Spock "He's blind?" He heard McCoy give a suspicious sniff "The worst part…" there was more? "I got the lab results back from the necropsy of the first creature, I didn't need to use to whole spectrum of light to kill it, seems I just needed to use the ultraviolet end of the spectrum"
Kirk felt ill "Does he know?" McCoy looked sadly at the bed he was leaning on "He hasn't woken up yet, I'm not sure how I'm gonna break it to him". Kirk looked up at him, "I'll do it"
McCoy's face hardened "No you won't, you are gonna go to the bridge and find a way to apply this treatment to the planet to get rid of these things once and for all" Kirk gave him a slight smile "Aye, sir. He won't blame you, you know" McCoy lent on the edge of Spock's bed and nodded "Just don't let this have been in vain" Kirk put his hand on McCoy's shoulder "I won't" Kirk took a final look at both of them and left for the bridge.
McCoy dropped heavily into the chair at Spock's bedside and rubbed his face. 'Do no harm' part of the Hippocratic Oath he had taken stated, he looked sadly at Spock, well he'd broken that, he couldn't help but wonder how many more times during this journey he'd be forced to break it again.