"You idiot!" Spock roared as he stormed into the Medical Bay, face flushed definitively green with an exceptionally uncharacteristic display of fury. Kirk, white faced, followed behind him. The Captain had been observing his friend closely since they'd gotten McCoy's call over the intercom. As they'd made their way down the lift, the Vulcan's control slowly but steadily slipped from his grasp as he became more and more angry over the situation. Kirk was immensely glad he wasn't on the receiving end of the green tide of alien fury. He felt a little bit sorry for Downs, and silently reminded himself not to push Spock's buttons in the future – much as he knew he'd forget at a later date.
All faces – except one – turned towards the open doorway in alarm and utter shock as Spock's outburst rang through the air. Commander Downs stood up quickly from his place at the bedside. He looked like he was on the verge of bolting. The air literally crackled with energy.
"Huh?" As terrified as he must have been, Downs decided it was worth it to stand his ground for the time being. He just couldn't think of anything really to say.
"You fucking idiot!" Profanity and anger. Kirk decided he might want to remember about the not poking Spock's buttons thing after all. "What have you done?"
"We're trying to figure that out, actually. And I really didn't do anything but try to –"
"Try to what? Talk to her? Apologize? She told you she didn't want to even see you again!"
"Yes, but –"
"But what? Do you have any idea what you could have done?"
The Commander's face instantly went stony. He'd finished trying to explain himself. "No, but neither do you, Commander Spock. I strongly suggest you take a seat before you hurt yourself – or, more likely, someone else decides to hurt you. From what I saw on the Engineering Deck a few minutes, Lieutenant Johnson would have little trouble frying all of us to a crisp – even in her present condition.
Spock slowly took note of small sparks beginning to form in the air above the unconscious form of the Lieutenant. He withdrew his emotions back into himself – although his face remained set in that uncharacteristic scowl.
Kirk silently noted to himself that Downs might deserve a bit of credit for not pissing himself in front of that stony glare. The Captain waited a few moments to let Spock cool down ever so slightly before drawing himself up to his full height. "Bones." All attention in the room turned to the doctor. "If you wouldn't mind explaining to the rest of us what the hell happened?"
McCoy's usual scowl had been usurped by a growing expression of utter confusion. "Hell if I know, Jim. All my instruments say she's perfectly fine, and then she just about electrocutes herself. And all the computers still say she's absolutely normal. My best guess is it had something to do with what happened on the away mission."
"What happened on the away mission?" Downs's face betrayed his complete cluelessness on the situation.
"Cate had a weird encounter with some sort of glowy ghost thing." Kirk wasn't particularly interested in giving details right then. There was a more important problem to be solved. His gaze switched back to the doctor. "So there was a delayed effect?"
"That's my best guess. But it's still only a guess. I can't seem to get any evidence other than the obvious that there's anything different about her."
"The obvious bein'?" Scotty's green gaze was fraught with suppressed worry.
"She's unconscious, her eyes glow when they're open, and she's shooting lightning bolts out of her body," Downs stated, his flat brown eyes never leaving the oddly still face of the woman in the bed beside him.
"It's the glowin' eyes and the lightnin' that seems to be the problem."
They all ignored the obviousness of the head engineer's comment. None of them had anything better to say. Finally, after a long silence, the resident biomedical engineer gave a heavy sigh as he sat down and rested his head in his hands. The air above Cate seemed to have finally settled.
"I don't think there's anything more we can do right now, Jim. We're just going to have to wait and see for a little while. Downs and I will try to find out more if we can…"
Kirk was beginning to feel more of the pressure of command. He hoped to whatever God was listening that this young engineer wouldn't be the first one to die on this mission. "Whatever you say, Bones. Spock, Scotty. It's time to go. Cate's in good hands here."
Scotty rose without a word and trudged out the door. Spock seemed significantly more reluctant to leave.
"I'm sorry for whatever my part in this is, Spock. You have my word that I'll do my best to make it right. This is more than my job right now. I… She means a lot to me, too."
Kirk thought that was probably the most sincere speech Aiden had ever made. As much as the captain may have joked about the man's budding affections for a single woman, he admitted that Cate had had a large impact on all of them since they'd left port. She was so much more than just a pretty face – and Kirk was glad to know that Downs would give more than his best effort to bring her back to them.
Jim followed the Vulcan, who was once again the vision of apathy and control, out into the rest of the ship and back to the bridge – trying to put her face out of his mind.
Cate vaguely became aware that she was in pain, and that it didn't matter. The struggle within herself was too all consuming for her to be focused on the minor inconvenience of physical agony. The Power wanted to take over – wanted to be in control of what was going on. But it was her body, and she wasn't about to give it up without a fight. In fact, she wasn't about to give it up at all. Failure simply wasn't an option she was going to give thought to. The Power had come to her. She was going to command it, or it could decide to leave. At the moment, she didn't particularly care which.
It felt almost like she was bursting at the seams – like her little body couldn't hope to hold what was now contained within her. Someone was shouting close to her, and she felt the Power bristle in excitement at the energy in the room that seemed so terribly far away. She could feel its blind need to explode in the air, giving violent action to that furious energy that was not her own. She struggled with all her might to control it. When the energy finally left, she felt the Power's disappointment, as she was sure that it felt her relief. For a moment, she had a brief reprieve as a strong sense of regret hung in the air around her. The emotion was puzzled by the sudden shift and retreated for what seemed like barely a moment before the struggle began anew.
Downs bent down to kiss the still forehead of the red clad Lieutenant. "I'm so sorry, Cate," he whispered. He couldn't find the voice to say any more, and he wondered if she could even hear him.