Chapter Ten: Kehil Lay
The surface of Kehil Lay was barren. Snow covered everything, a thick layer of ice like frosting on a cake. There was little use for the planet, McCoy felt. Still the Terran Empire had sent them there so a use must have been found. Although what that was was beyond him.
"How the Hell should I know?" Lieutenant Sulu had snapped at him on the Enterprise.
"I don't know!" McCoy bristled back. "But I did hear you've been sent to join us."
Sulu shook his head. "You should go back to the bottle, Doctor. Even if you were still as unpleasant at least you had a reason for your stupidity."
McCoy looked at the man's smug smile and hit him hard on the mouth. "I'm still as touchy too," he stated and walked away.
Further interrogations of Kirk lead nowhere as well. "I can honestly tell you, old Sawbones, that I do not have a clue."
The Captain did seem as anxious as everyone else ordered down to the planet's surface, everyone except Officer Spock, who was as icy as the landscape of Kehil Lay. The man seemed to be made of the same substance as the cold. Infact he had seemed to grow much colder and distant from their last talk, McCoy had noticed. The old distance known previously had been repaired and reinstated. McCoy knew however that, separation aside, the Vulcan would know if he even looked at anything remotely alcoholic. He was a little tempted to lie about it, though he would never actually drink, the memory of Channing and Deirdre still prominent in his thoughts, but the wrath of the First Officer seemed preferable to his absence somehow.
It seemed crazy to the Doctor that he longed for the man's company. He needed a friend: Someone to care for and talk to. He still looked at Spock with suspicion, and did not like the man entirely finding him too inhuman, he desired his companionship. He felt too old and often times forgotten on the Starship, surrounded by others who were too busy, hating, lusting and destroying. As Kirk had said that long ago night when he had first introduced himself to Spock, there was no room for emotion on a vessel where control and power were worth more than all the compassion in the universe.
The requested corpses were not delivered to him but the injured number grew. The experiments around him unnerved him to the point where he ended up killing quite a few creatures to put them out of their misery, an event too eerily and uncomfortably similar to a painful event from the McCoy's own past. Still the Empire demanded him to take excessively more samples from species on new planets and they instructed him on what he should do to them. Though he felt a coward, McCoy hired two assistants to help him perform the instructions given. McCoy had hoped to be able to help the life forms on other planets now he found all he could do was find an easier way to help end their suffering.
"Have you been neglecting your duties?" Spock had asked once when the Doctor had stepped onto the bridge, several days after Chapel's leaving.
McCoy had looked at the Vulcan. He had searched the depth of the dark eyes hoping to see something remotely human. He had hoped that what had happened between the Vulcan and Chapel, the talk of the Starship for many days and nights after and also an event that had left Spock with a wound on his cheek, a wound that had healed inhumanly quickly, would have softened the alien. Still he could see nothing human at all and snapped "Never," although he knew it was a lie. "All I will say is that you were right to want me to remain here. The way the Empire is getting I think that without me here you would have run into quite a few problems."
Spock had only shook his head and turned back to the monitor he was staring into.
Then the mysterious orders to go to Kehil Lay had come. When he had first been given the orders to go by shuttlecraft to the tiny world he had been relieved but the relief had turned to doubt and finally once again suspicion.
It had been Spock who had told him that he was to accompany the Captain. "I will be going also," the Vulcan informed.
"Misery loves company," McCoy mumbled.
In the tiny shuttlecraft sat a handful of familiar faces. Kirk was there. He was quick and snappish, resenting his own ignorance, concerning what the Empire wanted. Sulu was wearing a scowl on his scarred face. Wilson, a man in a much lower position was present as well. He looked like he was relishing being present while the others were agitated or confused.
Two other Officers were present, one female and one male. McCoy knew that the girl's name was Amy Brown. She was the daughter of a well-respected Admiral. She was one of the rare women in the Empire to have escaped the usual bedroom tactics on her climb to importance and esteem. That climb had been halted for one reason: The man sitting beside her. His name was Toby Argyle. He was much lower in rank and McCoy wondered what purpose he even served on this mission. Often the man and woman held onto one another's hands when they thought no one was looking and McCoy averted his gaze often so they could keep the contact.
"How are your experiments doing these days?" a calm voice asked and McCoy looked to his right where Spock was sitting.
"You read all the reports so why don't you tell me?" the Doctor replied wryly.
The bearded man raised an eyebrow. "I do not wish to embarrass you with a public response. There is no better Doctor in the Empire. Your hesitation in experimenting is your only flaw."
"Ironic you'd say that when the reason why you want me to stick around is so I won't force you into becoming a Vulcan lab rat," McCoy grumbled. "Besides I don't really see how it matters what kind of Doctor I am when it doesn't matter in the end who lives or dies now does it?"
Spock ignored the man's words. "The crew members you have hired to do the work assigned to you are pathetic. They lack the knowledge to perform tests properly It endangers the mission."
The Doctor remained silent, not disagreeing.
"I will offer to do the experiments for you," Spock stated.
McCoy was startled. "Why?"
"Do not think that my interests are for your welfare, Doctor, or for my own," Spock stated.
"Well thanks for your kindness, "McCoy snapped.
Spock continued further ignoring the comment. "I want the tests performed properly and no one has the right credentials but you. Yet you have succumbed to your own frailties. I am a Science Officer remember. I would do them correctly. I would also find it highly rewarding and fascinating to find new discoveries."
"Who wants the fame now?" the older man asked.
"I do not want fame," Spock insisted. "You can have all the acclaim if you want. To Vulcans knowledge will always be beneficial and most rewarding. Although, I'm sure if I willingly accepted your intention to study me you would not hesitate."
McCoy was confused if he should thank the man or hit him. Knowing a fair bit about Vulcan strength, without much studying, he decided on the latter.
When the shuttlecraft landed the crewmembers exited. Only Kirk remained behind.
"What is he doing in there?" Sulu shouted angrily over the wind.
Officer Brown looked warily at Ensign Argyle.
"I suppose you don't know what's going on here either?" McCoy said in a much lower voice than Sulu, relying on the Vulcan's impressive hearing.
Spock remained impassive. "I do not know. If I did I would probably not be permitted to share that information with you."
McCoy nodded, the answer not completely unexpected. He looked around, studying the people around him and for the first time the randomness of the group sent to Kehil Lay struck him.
"Doctor?" Spock said noticing the other man's expression.
"I just… I don't know…" McCoy searched for words he could not find.
Suddenly Kirk stepped out from the shuttlecraft. He seemed different from the pensive state that had possessed him before. His confidence and ruthless humor had returned.
"He knows why we're here finally," McCoy thought and shivered, not from the cold, but from the realization.
"Sulu, Brown and Wilson," Kirk addressed the men and woman. "Follow the reading until you find a Dilithium storage unit. There should be one several feet ahead. There is also a hut there for the local inhabitants. Contact the Enterprise and have them beam aboard the Dilithium. Rest in the hut until further orders. McCoy, Spock and Argyle follow me. The Empire has requested that we contact a group of rebels residing on this planet. They have been resisting the Empire's orders and become violent. We will have to take care of them and talk with them peacefully."
Spock raised a brow and looked at McCoy. The Doctor knew that there was a reason for the Vulcan's reaction but was as oblivious to what it he was to why there were there.
The group divided, Brown and Argyle sharing one look of concern and fear as they were separated.
"Follow me," Kirk said, a smile on his lips that was anything but reassuring.
They walked for a long time and as they did the cold invaded McCoy's heart and body. Even Spock staggered, almost beaten by the cruel wind but conquering it always. When McCoy almost fell into the thick snow the First Officer was there to steady him. No emotions evident on his face.
Continuing on, and fighting the wind, the three men watched as Kirk unexpectedly turned around. His eyes were sparkling with some unknown joke.
"I think this is far enough," the Captain said. He pulled out his communicator. "Scotty? Is the Dilithium there yet?"
"Aye Captain."
"Good. Do as you were instructed then."
Spock and McCoy looked at one another. Argyle looked behind at the footsteps in the snow, markings of each step that had led him so far away from his lover.
The familiar sound of an item being beamed down battled the howl of the wind. It was close to Kirk's boots. As the Captain picked it up, McCoy finally realized what it was. At first he thought that the weapon was aimed at him but knew he was mistaken as the blade of the crossbow threw through the air and found it's way to Argyle's heart. Blood sprayed everywhere obscene against the pure white snow. The Doctor cursed himself for the relief he felt knowing he had never been the target. His eyes found Spock. The Vulcan stood still, the look on his face was unlike anything McCoy had ever seen there before. For the first time there was clear emotion and it was fear. His eyes were that of a child who had awoken in the middle of a nightmare.
As Kirk focused on them, McCoy looked at Spock, concerned that the Captain would see the effect the incident had made on his First Officer but at some moment the Vulcan had regained his composure; the only remnant a bead of sweat on the man's cheek. It seemed absurd to McCoy that it could have been a tear.
"Well now that that's done we can head back now. It's too damn cold here!" the Captain exclaimed. "First you'd better confirm that he's dead though, McCoy. We can't have any trouble."
McCoy bent down to the man. He looked at the young man's face, eyes open and horrified. "He's dead," the Doctor confirmed.
"Thank Heaven!" Kirk exclaimed. "I hate shoddy work. Now let's get going and make it convincing won't you? Admiral Brown worked it out pretty well. He wants us to say the rebels did it. We escaped but poor Toby… Ah Well… It will look like a hostage situation. In a few days he'll disappear and be assumed dead. Maybe Amy will need some comforting. She's not a bad looking girl at all, is she?"
McCoy and Spock stood still staring at the corpse. Kirk came and stood between them. "There is a corpse for you, Doctor. If you can find a way to drag it back to the shuttlecraft without Amy or anybody else seeing it feel free."