Part XIV

It seemed to Chapel that Mister Spock and Doctor McCoy were in the midst of another discussion inside of the Vulcan's head, so she left the orderly in charge of Doctor McCoy's body as she moved over to the captain to bring him up to date on what his two senior staff members were up to. Like Chapel, his gaze shifted as if he too was trying to figure out who to yell at. Or if yelling would simply be a waste of breath. Finally, he gave a small sigh.

"There isn't another option that's even a little better, is there?"

"If Mister Spock and Doctor McCoy couldn't come up with another alternative between them, I doubt there's a better one to be found, Captain."

"But if something were to go wrong during surgery, it could affect both of them, couldn't it?"

She paused before meeting his eyes.

"I'd have to say stronger than could, sir. If anything were to happen to Doctor McCoy while they were so closely connected, it couldn't help but affect Mister Spock as well."

Kirk went back to looking at McCoy's far too still body.

"And the reprecussions to the doctor should I deny permission for the surgery to take place?"

Chapel's mouth opened and closed before she drew a deep breath and finally answered.

"The best option for the doctor in that case would be to maintain him in an induced coma for how ever long it takes to relay his body to another neurosurgeon. That is if Doctor McCoy can even leave the planet surface safely."

That stopped Kirk cold and rerouted his train of thought entirely.

"Why wouldn't he be able to leave the planet?"

"Quite frankly, Captain, we have no way of knowing what the device inside the doctor will do. He's ordered me to keep a close check on him during the shuttle ride, but there's always the chance that once a reaction starts, we may not be able to stop it. If distance causes a reaction to build slowly, we could simply reverse course and everything should return back to normal. But if it fully triggers after a certain distance, there's always a chance that, once triggered on, it might not be able to be turned back off. I'm sure that they've considered that as well. The odds would be against that happening since the colonists wanted to keep the doctor here, not kill him."

Taking a deep breath, Kirk's eyes studied Spock. She could almost swear she could hear his thoughts and spoke softly again.

"They aren't doing anything impulsively or rashly. And on the most advanced Starbase or even on Earth, you would be hard pressed to find anyone more competant for performing the surgery than Doctor McCoy."

Chapel paused again breifly.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Kirk couldn't help but quirk a slight smile.

"I thought you already were, but permission granted."

"Trust them, Captain. If you don't, it might be more than their physical presence that you lose."

A noise drew their attention and they turned to watch as the shuttle finished making its way down to the surface. Kirk squared his shoulders, gave a brief smile to Chapel and then headed over to Spock. He found it mildly disconcerting to be looking at Spock but somehow knowing that he was about to speak to Bones.

"Might I assume the two of you have made up your mind?"

"You may. Lord knows I've done stranger things in the line of duty, Jim."

"I suppose you have at that. You aren't going to rush this?"

"Nope. The surgery will wait until we're both confident that we can do everything that needs doing."

The stance of Spock's body changed slightly.

"We will be doing everything possible to place the odds in our favor. Risk-free surgery does not exist, but we will not be taking risks that can be avoided."

There was silence for a moment, then Kirk gestured toward the shuttle.

"Then I suppose that the sooner we get you back on board, the sooner everything will be ready. Gentlemen?"