Chapter Thirty-seven

"I am a Vulcan...I should be able to understand this."

Growing frustrated Salen continued to stare at the medical computer read outs. The computer was giving him large amounts of information, but he didn't know how to process any of it. He had gathered up Pike, McCoy, and Daniels and brought them down to Sick Bay. Even little Til'ik was curled up on one of the biobeds.

Salen looked over at Pike and sighed heavily. His new father was still locked in his unnatural sleep, but as time passed his heart rate was beginning to decrease. At the current rate of decline he estimated that the crew had approximately two and a half hours before their hearts shuddered to a stop.

"There has to be something on this fucking ship that can help!" Salen snarled in growing frustration.

Salen had learned the vulgar language from Wilson. He had told himself that he would never say the word, but it seemed like a logical use of it at the moment. Unable to control is mounting anxiety he grabbed a read out tablet and threw it at the wall where it shattered. Panting for breath he closed his eyes and forced himself to relax. Pushing himself away from the desk of Dr. McCoy's medical computer he went over to Pike's side. Salen took Pike's hand in his own and pressed it against his chest.

"I do not wish to lose you, however, I can not release Cel'esta." Salen sighed. "I do not believe she will help you in any case. It is more likely that she kept you alive rather than using an instantly deadly poison simply so that she could have you tortured upon return to Romulus. Father...I do not know what to do."

When the beeping of Pike's heart rate monitor dipped noticeably Salen began to panic. He put Pike's hand back down and looked over at the sleeping doctor. Salen narrowed his eyes, the answers were in McCoy's mind, he just had to go get them. Looking down at his hands Salen hesitated. He had never been trained in the proper method of the Vulcan mind meld.

"The last man I touched this way went insane...however they will all die if I do nothing."

Swallowing hard Salen approached Bones. He reached out with one hand and tried to remember how Spock had placed his fingertips on his own face. The meld between Spock and himself had only been five days ago, but it felt like a lifetime had gone by since then. Salen rested his shaking fingertips on McCoy's skin with the lightest touch he could manage. Closing his eyes he worked to contact the doctor's mind.

"Decrease in level of consciousness, dropping heart rate..." Salen whispered. "Doctor, our minds are one. What would you do? What would we do?"

Salen cried out in pain and jerked his hand away as McCoy subconsciously fought against the clumbsy mind meld. Salen reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose against a suddenly splitting headache. Feeling dizzy he quickly pitched forward and threw up. Rubbing the back of his hand under his nose he discovered that it was bleeding heavily. Salen absent mindedly wiped the green blood off on his black shirt. Slowly regaining his composure he gasped sharply.

"Cordazine!" Salen cried.

Scrambling over to the medicine cabinets Salen started tearing through the vials in search of the highly reactive stimulant. When he found the bright red liquid he snapped it into a hypospray. Turning back around he looked at the three men. Cordazine was a dangerous drug, difficult to dose, and deadly when used in the wrong situations. Salen stepped up to one of the bed.

"I am sorry, Til'ik, but you are the logical choice for a test."

Salen adjusted the hypospray to a very tiny dose for the small silver-tail. Salen's dark eyes brightened with unshed tears at the thought that he might end up killing the innocent creature. Having no choice he pressed the hypospray against Til'ik's soft fur. At first nothing happened. Suddenly Til'ik screeched and jumped up, all his fur on end. He looked up at Salen and threw himself at the Vulcan.

At first Salen thought the silver-tail was going to attack him. However, Til'ik just wrapped his tail around his throat with a tight grip and then dove down into the safety of his shirt. Salen smiled and rubbed at the shaking creature under his shirt. Feeling a touch more confident Salen walked over to the next bed.

"You are next, Doctor."

McCoy had a very similar reaction to the Cordazine as Til'ik. He was sent into a pure panic and ended up falling off the biobed and scrambling away. Backing himself into corner Bones struggled for breath with his eyes widened in terror. Salen approached him slowly and knelt down in front of him.

"Doctor, please do not be afraid."

"Sa...Salen?" Bones looked around Sick Bay. "What the hell happened?"

"Cel'esta drugged the crew of the Enterprise with something that only affects mammals with iron based blood."

"That pointy eared sneaky skank." McCoy grumbled. "Salen...were you just in my mind?"

"Yes, Sir."

"I can tell. I have this horrible memory of kissing Cel'esta."

"She tried to seduce me."

"What did you do?"

"I rendered her harmless with a nerve pinch and secured her in the brig."

"I like you, Salen." Bones smiled. "You're a smart kid."

"I am trying."

"You did a better job with Cel'esta than us 'adult folk'." McCoy said seriously.

Salen flushed bright green. Getting to his feet Salen offered his hand to Bones to help him stand. Accepting the offer McCoy got up and took the hypospray from Salen. Adjusting the dosage once again he woke Pike and then went to revive Daniels. Pike forced himself into a seated position and looked around frantically until he saw his son.

"Salen!" Pike cried happily. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Father."

"It's because of him that we're awake, Admiral." Bones added.

"What happened? Where is Cel'esta?"

Salen retold the events as Daniels violently came to. Pike didn't even try to hide his pride in Salen. Without thinking he reached out with one arm and pulled Salen into a warm embrace. Salen tensed at first, but then relaxed and returned the affection. Bones and Daniels came over and helped Pike off the biobed and into his wheelchair.

"Status report, Doctor." Pike asked formally.

"There is only enough Cordazine to treat about five crew members. I believe Salen is correct that without treatment the crew will begin to die in about two hours. We could use Rimazel to help stabilize the rest, should buy us a day or two."

"Use the rest of the Cordazine on Sulu, Scotty, and as many medical personnel as you can. The medical personnel can help you with the rest of the crew. Salen, is this ship still at Warp speed?"

"Yes, heading towards Romulus."

"Admiral," Bones stepped closer "if we are already past the Neutral Zone..."

"Then we might as well go all the way to Romulus." Pike smiled. "Daniels, go find Scotty, I want you both on the bridge in ten minutes. Doctor, give Daniels enough of the Cordazine to wake Scotty, give me enough for Sulu. Once you get the rest of the crew stable come to the bridge."

"Aye, Sir." Both men replied instantly.

"I should return to my room." Salen said quietly.

"Only if you want to. I think you've proven that you're Starfleet material, you can join me on the bridge."

"I would like that."

McCoy divided the Cordazine into three hyposprays and handed them to Pike and Daniels. Salen stayed close at Pike's side as they quickly traveled to the bridge. On the turbo lift Pike looked up at Salen and smiled warmly. Salen tilted his head to the side as he tried to figure out why his adopted father was smiling at a time like this.

"That's twice you've saved my life, Salen."

"Both times I was the one who initially placed your life in a situation where it would be in danger."

"That's not the point."

"What is the point?"

"You've come a long way from cowering in the corner of a Starfleet containment cell in just a few days."

"I still have a lot of growing up to catch up on."

"Indeed. I'm still proud of you."

Salen looked down at Pike and a genuine smile slipped across his face. Pike nodded in approval. The door to the turbo lift opened on the bridge and the pair made their way onto the nearly abandoned bridge. Salen moved Chekov to a more comfortable position while Pike sunk the hypospray into Sulu's neck.

"Ad...Admiral?" Sulu asked confused. "What happened?"

"Long story short: the Enterprise is hurtling through space and we need to stop her."

"Yes, Sir."

"Where are we?"

"Let's see....uh-oh." Sulu rechecked the helm.

"Commander?"

"We are deep in Romulan territory, Sir."

"Is the cloak working?" Pike asked concerned.

"We are about to find out." Scotty informed as he stepped onto the bridge with Daniels. "Admiral, the ship was nudged up to maximum Warp, she's been burning too hot for too long. If we don't drop out of Warp in the next ten minutes we are going to tear her apart."

"Sulu, how long till we reach Romulus?"

"Seven minutes."

"Take us there, standard orbit."

"Are you sure Admiral?" Sulu asked. "If the cloaking device isn't working..."

"Commander," Daniels interrupted "if the cloaking device isn't working the Romulans will have us captured in minutes no matter if we are seven minutes closer to Romulus or seven minutes further away. We might as well be in a position to save Captain Spock and Jim Kirk in as little time as possible if the cloak is working."

"My thoughts exactly, Commander Daniels." Pike smiled. "You'll make a good Starship Captain one day, Daniels."

"I'm pleased you think so, Sir."

"Okay," Sulu smiled "Romulus it is."

Not wanting to be in the way Salen went over to the sensor station that Spock usually stood at. McCoy arrived on the bridge just a few seconds before their arrival at Romulus. Salen knew how stressed Bones was, he had brushed against it when he was in the doctor's mind. McCoy's emotional side didn't believe that his friends were dead, but the rational part of his mind didn't think they could survive this long. Although he did not understand it Salen was comforted by the fact that McCoy was willing to believe against logic that his friends could still be saved.

"Arrival at Romulus in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..." Sulu counted down.

Everyone held their breath as they dropped out of Warp speed. The view screen was suddenly filled by Romulus. There were at least a dozen Warbirds in orbit around the planet, however, none of them seemed to take notice of the Enterprise.

"Well slap me silly, and call me Dolly." Scotty shook his head in disbelief. "That damn Romulan contraption actually works!"

"It would appear to." Pike added solemnly. "Now how are we going to go about finding our boys on a hostile planet?"

"Beaming down seems out of the question." Bones said. "We'd be killed in seconds."

"If we were lucky." Pike pointed out.

"I don't know about Captain Spock, but Kirk should be easy to find." Daniels said. "He should be the largest life form in the main city with a high concentration of iron rather than copper."

"I don't think the sensors can be tuned that specifically." Pike countered.

"Sure they can. We used to do it all the time on the Darwin when we were categorizing life. It just takes a careful hand tweaking the frequency. I can do it."

"What about Spock?" McCoy asked. "How are we going to find him? There's not much difference between Romulans and Vulcans...well, at least not physically."

"There is a good chance that if we find Kirk, we find Spock." Pike said confidently. "Daniels, do it."

"Aye, Sir."

Salen hoped that Pike truly had the confidence that was in his voice. He moved out of the way as Daniels came over to use the sensor equipment. Everyone stayed deadly silent while Daniels readjusted the sensor configuration to hunt for the only full human on the world below them. Concentrating hard on the readouts Daniels suddenly started looking more like Spock, literally.

"I think I've got him." Daniels jerked at the sound of his voice which had been Spock's. He returned to his own features. "Sorry, I was thinking about how to find Spock, I must have started to change."

"You think you found Jim?" Bones asked.

"Yeah, but there's a problem. If it is him, he's surrounded by a sea of Romulans. Finding Spock will be like finding a molecule of sugar in the ocean."

"Send the coordinates for Kirk down do the transporter room." Pike ordered.

"Admiral...are we really going to leave Spock behind?" McCoy asked.

"I'd rather save one of them than neither of them. As a doctor you should understand that, sometimes in triage it's the best you can do."

"As a doctor I understand, but as a friend..."

"I know. I don't like it either."

McCoy looked desperately to Scotty, but the engineer didn't have any other options either. Salen followed Pike into the turbo lift. Bones, Scotty, and Daniels joined them, leaving Sulu at the con to get them out of there in a hurry if need be. Down in the transporter room Scotty swung into full action.

"Admiral, I've got a lock on a life form approximately the Captain's weight at the coordinates that Commander Daniels gave me."

"Energize."

Salen watched the transporter pad anxiously with the rest of them. It took a moment before there was a swirl of lights that suddenly materialized into Kirk. Landing heavily on the transport pad on all fours Kirk spat a mouthful of blood onto the clean surface before launching himself blindly forward. Clearly expecting to be held back Kirk lurched forward and slammed into the transporter room wall.

McCoy stepped forward to help his friend but balked when Kirk whipped around, barring his bloodied teeth at him and growling like a junk yard dog. Blood ran freely down Kirk's face from a broken nose and severely split lip. He held his left hand close to his chest as if guarding it. Blood from a gash in his temple had dripped into his eyes and was effectively blinding him.

"Ji..."

McCoy didn't get any further. Hearing the voice gave Kirk a direction to attack in. He knocked Bones to the ground and was on top of him in seconds. His frenzied state didn't leave room for processing the concept of friend versus foe. Terrified of the violent human Salen backed away. Scotty and Daniels rushed forward and pull Kirk off the doctor before he could do any real harm. They were forced to keep him restrained as he surged forward in a struggle for freedom.

"Spock!" Kirk cried in a raw voice. "Spock!"

"Easy, Jim, calm down." McCoy said gently putting his hands on Kirk's chest. "It's me, McCoy, your friend. Can you tell us where Spock is?"

"Bones?" Kirks asked in disbelief as he tried to blink the blood out of his eyes.

"Yes, Jim."

"You're safe on the Enterprise, Kirk." Pike added. "Where is Spock?"

"They're killing him! Near the palace..." Kirk panted. "You have to send me back, I can't leave him behind..."

"How far were you from him when we beamed you aboard?" Daniels asked.

"I don't...I don't know, five hundred yards, maybe six." Kirk tried to free himself again. "Let me go!"

"Jim, stop it, you're losing a lot of blood..." Bones fretted.

"I don't care!"

Kirk seemed to lose his strength for a moment causing Daniels and Scotty to ease their hold on him. With renewed life Kirk tore himself free of his captors and pushed McCoy back to the floor. Pike instantly maneuvered himself between Kirk and the transporter controls. When Kirk got too close to Pike for Salen's comfort the Vulcan rushed forward. He put himself between Pike and Kirk. Kirk went to forcefully move Salen out of the way. Defending himself and Pike Salen reached out and gently never pinched Kirk, dropping him to the floor.

"Jim!" McCoy cried in alarm.

"I did not harm him." Salen said quickly.

"It's okay, Salen," Bones knelt next to Kirk to take his pulse "it needed to be done."

"Scotty, help Dr. McCoy get Jim down to Sick Bay." Pike ordered morosely.

"Admiral, we can't just lea..." McCoy trailed off. "I'm sorry, I...I'll take care of Jim."

Without another word McCoy and Scotty lifted the battered Kirk up to take him to Sick Bay. Salen felt his heart breaking as he watched Pike stare at the blood stained transporter pad in defeat. Pike closed his eyes as tears slipped down his face.

"I'm so sorry, Spock." Pike whispered. "There is nothing I can do, maybe if I could walk..."

"I can walk, Sir." Daniels said as he stepped forward.

"It doesn't matter, Daniels. This is the 'no win' scenario that Kirk refuses to believe in." Pike reached up and covered his eyes with one hand. Salen put his hand on Pike's shoulder in silent support. "Daniels, please tell Sulu to get us home."

"But we know where Spock is within a five hundred yard radius."

"We can't pinpoint him. Someone would have to go down there..."

"I'll go."

"No, Daniels," Pike said firmly "the Romulans will kill you in seconds."

"Not if they think I'm one of them."

"We don't have time, I know you can change your face but that's not going to be enough..."

Pike stopped as Daniels weld his eyes shut and slowly began to change. Sweat started to bead against his skin as it gradually became greener, something he'd never tried before. His brow started to arch as his hair bristled and became longer before becoming so short that it disappeared. With a cry of pain he fell to his knees as he forced the tips of his ears to become points. Panting for breath he snapped his eyes open, revealing them to be clouded over with blood. As the blood cleared his once blue eyes were now as black as midnight.

Breathing easier Daniels got back to his feet. As he got up a delicate lace work of tattoos surfaced around his eyes and back over his now bald head. He pulled off his Starfleet shirt and offered it to Salen. Understanding Salen took off his black shirt, exsposing Til'ik who chirped, and gave it to Daniels. Daniels pulled on the simple black shirt. Shaking with the effort of the massive change Daniels looked down at Pike with a murderous glare.

"How do I look, Admiral?"

"Like one of them..."