If he allowed his Human side any reaction he knew it would be one of annoyance as from how Scotty had answered his hail let him know another was there. "I trust you were not singing of the muckin' o' Geordie's byre."

There was the briefest of silences then that familiar brogue, "Aye, Mister Spock. I was about to sing it yet a lad who was here is leaving now." Before Spock could think of a response he heard, "The lad's gone, Sir. What do you need doing?"

"It would be most helpful if you could prepare the shuttle bay tor the recovery of an unknown craft that emitted a distress signal."

There was a pause and then the familiar brogue, "Aye, I'll have it ready for the craft and the care of them in it. Standard decontamination set," there was a moment's near silence and Spock heard three clicks and could tell the man was working as he spoke, something he was used to seeing Scotty do when things needed doing in a minimum of time, "now, Sir. Is it?"

"To say exactly what the craft is or exactly what might be in it is only speculation. It is imperative the craft not be opened until myself and a medical team is present."

Again there was a pause before, "Understood, Sir. I'll let ye, and ye alone, know when it is aboard and decontaminated. Scott out."

Although he seldom would admit it to his Human friends, Spock could imagine just what the Chief Engineer would be doing in preparation for the craft and how curious he would be about the contents. In that hesitation after he said that the craft was not to be opened until he was there with a medical team he knew the man well enough to know that Scott would have deduced the likely nature of the ship and possible contents. He also knew that the man would not only follow procedure and that of the engineering department only he would know of it being aboard.

From where he stood watching the four others Doctor McCoy could tell that his friends were all thinking the same as he was even though they all would know that it had been too long since the explosion for there to be survivors. Jim had said that all the systems were failing. "All" meant life support. The only thing that made it bearable was knowing Jim Kirk had not been alone. Despite how saddened he was McCoy smiled as he tried to picture what it would have been like for Jim to deal with Craig Stennor. There was no doubt that he was a good, almost great all-around officer as he could fit into relief positions in all areas of the ship and yet the man never sought permanent placement nor promotion claiming they were both far too limiting and soul-destroying. So many times he had heard Jim say he did not know what to do with him but would not want to be without him in so many situations saying how Stennor reacted without seriously thinking of the outcome.

Eighteen point one minutes after the communication with Engineering Sulu tried to be calm when he said, "Sir, craft within range now."

"Thank you, Mister Sulu. Lieutenant Uhura, open hailing frequencies at highest gain."

As she touched the right switches Uhura said a silent prayer then half-turned and said, "Hailing frequencies open at highest gain, Sir."

Calming the Human elements in that momentarily threatened to influence his tone and words and trying not to think of only hearing the static with the repeated tapping of that old code Spock flicked the switch which would enable anybody on the craft to hear him, "This is First Officer of the Starship Enterprise. Unless you notify us that you are not in the need of assistance we will beam you aboard our ship in three point one nine standard minutes. Spock out."

The minutes seemed to take longer than just three point one nine standard minutes as the five looked at one another that damned static was all they heard.

Very slowly Spock reached out and depressed the button that patched him through to Engineering. "Mister Scott, we are about to put a tractor beam on the unknown craft and bring it to your empty bay."

"I'll be awaiting it, Sir. There will be plenty of room if it be larger than," Spock could identify only too well the Human emotions the Chief Engineer was dealing with, "larger than one of our shuttle craft."

"Thank you, Mister Scott, I would expect nothing less from you. Spock out."

Although the other four on the bridge at the time saw how the Vulcan sat fully back in the command chair and for a moment closed his eyes and let out a long breath none of them commented. Each of them was fully aware of the pain he was in but would never admit to, each of them wanted to ease what the next few hours, and days, and knew how much harder it would be for him. Aware of what would be needed Chekov moved the ship into the best position for a tractor beam and waited till the Vulcan opened his eyes again,

"Ve are in position for a tractor beam, Sir." The dark eyes looked at him and after so many years of working with the man he saw the silent thanks.

"Mister Scott, initiate a tractor beam on that ship. I will be down shortly." It had not been a surprise that as he stood Sulu took the chair. By the time he got to the turbolift he realized he had not said anything after he spoke to Scott. This was not just a crew, he looked at the three and knew they were family. He did look at McCoy who stood looking at him.

"You are not facing this on your own." McCoy had said it softly enough that they both knew the other three would not have heard the words but they would have known and fully understand why he was going with Spock. When Spock nodded slightly McCoy turned and looked at the others, "We will let you know."

When they arrived at the bay and saw it was the craft the captain had taken it was clear that the Chief Engineer was bewildered as he all but spluttered, "I nae understand it as there is a clicking that I cannae say what it is and," he looked from Spock to McCoy then back to Spock, "one very faint life form and possibly, just possibly another but I'd nae sure of the readings."

Before McCoy or Scotty could stop him Spock bolted up the three steps and stopped only when he was standing at the open door looking at, at, at. He remembered seeing images from old Earth around the last quarter of the twentieth century when the Human medical field was experimenting with using tubes as forms of life support and yet he could not remember them being anything like what was before him. While he stood trying to decipher what exactly he was looking at McCoy pushed past him, quickly kneeling down by two bodies entwined and tangled in tubing.

"Scotty, have two emergency teams get down here while two beds are set up for fluid replacement. Don't be just standing there, Spock, get over here and help me sort out these tubes. They're both alive; Jim's signs are far stronger than Stennor's. Not seen anything like this since doing the history of Earth's medical achievements in the mid to late twentieth century, it looked barbaric then and this looks worse than that. It worked back then and looks like it still works although very barbaric. Just never seen anything like it up close like this. Direct slow blood transfer and modified respirator for Jim."

Almost fearing what he would feel Spock reached out and briefly placed his hand on Jim's forehead and felt the flash of recognition followed by a deep pain. Briefly he closed his eyes and concentrated on reassuring his friend that he was there, that they were on the ship, and that McCoy was with them. There was a familiar acknowledgement and he felt Jim relax and heard a change in the clicking. Clicking. He looked and saw a most ingenuous use of so many broken pieces to make something that would have helped Jim breathe. From how McCoy was crouched he was unable to see all the damage that Stennor had sustained but from what he could see he had protected Jim and most likely saved his life.

McCoy had allowed his Vulcan friend to be with Jim as soon as he had finished working on him, reassuring Spock that all that Jim needed was a lot of sleep and stillness. He had only stayed a moment, long enough to see how cautiously the Vulcan reached out and placed his hand on Jim's forehead and it was as though both men relaxed as he saw a decided change in the Vulcan's posture and there was a marked improvement in the readings he was getting on Jim. Only having known and studied the Vulcan for so long enabled him to see the flash of annoyance as the medical team stepped in to take the bed Jim was now on into the special care area.

"You can go in and be with him once they have him set up, Spock. I've got to take care of Stennor now so it will be good for you to be with him."

McCoy had thought he would be prepared for what he saw of Stennor's injuries but found he had to close his eyes for a moment when he realized that the man had done all of the deep injuries to the interior of his chest by himself, when he realized the risks Stennor had taken, and when he thought of the pain he would have been in. He knew he would have to find out the answer to so many questions later but for now he had to repair the damage as best he could. As he worked he marvelled at what Stennor had used in place of proper medical equipment, at how he had used things he would most likely never have thought of even trying to adapt.

After just over three standard hours from when he started working on Stennor McCoy walked to where Spock stood looking at Jim. "Whatever Stennor did saved Jim's life. We will have to wait to hear from Jim exactly what happened and what Stennor did to him and to himself. Stennor is in an induced coma and there are some serious injuries and internal indications that he gave Jim a very massive blood transfusion, that he damaged his hands and arms working with very hot metal, and that he strained his body beyond the point it could bear. He's in for a very long and extremely hard fight this time, perhaps too long and more physically and mentally demanding on him than he can endure let alone survive." McCoy paused when he saw just the slightest hint of an emotion flash across his friend's usually unreadable face, a flash of what humans would consider guilt or blame as he looked at Stennor.

Cautiously he reached out and placed a hand on Spock's crossed arms, "It is too soon to know for certain about him but with Jim there is slight blood loss and a few bumps and bruises. He seems in fairly good condition and should only need two or three days here for observation, then a few days when he can be monitored by both of us, then back to full duties. You can stay with Jim. I'll go update their medical records and have a small meal brought to us. I'm going to keep an eye on Stennor for a bit longer. He needs to know he is not is this fight alone."

As he walked into his small office McCoy realized how well that blasted Vulcan had been reading him, how he still could not hide too much from that man. Spock had seen the external damage to Stennor and would have some knowledge of what the different external signs reflected. He also knew how Spock would feel he owed so much to Stennor and would, like him, fight to keep Stennor with them. He nodded, that blasted Vulcan knew, as he did, how if those powers that be found out what he had done to save Jim that both of them would be used as a study patients, with Stennor never allowed out of.. . No, he would not allow that to happen.

While McCoy was gone Spock walked back into the room Jim was in and looked at his steady breathing then walked into the intensive care unit and looked at Stennor and the monitors that reflected his struggle. He walked up to the bed and looked down at the man, "I know McCoy will not allow you to be kept as an object of study should your injuries mean you must transfer off the Enterprise. Rest knowing that should you be unable to remain on the Enterprise I will arrange for you to be granted sanctuary on Vulcan. My parents would welcome you and protect you."

As he stood looking at Stennor Spock knew he had looked at Stennor's record when he had first come aboard and could not recall him being anything to do with medical or engineering. Knowing that Jim was sleeping and that the medical crew would be watching both men he knew he had to know more and knew what he needed to do and that it would take him no more than nine point two five standard minutes.

It took less than two minutes to access Officer Stennor's records. As he read the notations the Vulcan realized that the man was obviously highly skilled in many fields but that search and secure was his main field, that he had, in fact, turned down a senior ranking as an instructor to remain on a starship saying that he was best suited for where it mattered, where it was real and where he could learn more and give more while testing and honing his own abilities and skills. In the seven years he had been on the Enterprise there were fifty-four missions Stennor had been on where he had located senior crew when technology had failed and a further seventy-one where general crew had been found. It was clear he had been injured several times before but Spock was certain that none had been as serious as this. He knew that not many officers would last long in the search and secure field as one had to be aware of so many random possibilities and have to rely only on their skills and knowledge and not equipment. The officers in that field could locate others and keep them safe but were not usually overly skilled in actual advanced rescue and recovery medical procedures. Most, ninety-four percent to be exact, of those in rescue and recovery had no substantial emergency medical training to the level Stennor had shown on several occasions. If Stennor had not. . . Kroykah! He stopped himself. Stennor had taken action that would have been almost instinctive for him to take.

For less than eight seconds he mentally debated the wisdom of what he was about to do then turned and quickly accessed Stennor's medical file. It was as he had suspected, McCoy had not told him the complete truth. Stennor had, McCoy had noted it was possibly due to handling hot metal, severely burned his hands and arms, most of his major muscles showed severe straining, there were ten cracked ribs, a severely dislocated shoulder, cracked pelvis, four vertebrae needing realignment, and unusual bruising to his abdominal area with serious damage to major organs in the abdomen as well as chest and pelvic region. The truth of what had taken place was also there in McCoy's own words. "The patient had made a respirator that kept Captain Kirk breathing and also designed and implemented a slow drip transfusion system using basic gravitational pull to give blood to Kirk to replace the blood he had lost although it placed himself in certain risk of severe blood loss. It was clear that he had established the dual system to sustain Kirk till proper medical care could be arranged and positioned him so there would be no further physical damage to Kirk." There was also notation of the possibility of permanent loss of use of his arms due to sustained severe muscular and nerve damage. For a moment Spock closed his eyes as he realized Stennor had paid a high price to save Jim's life. He quickly stilled his anger at McCoy for not being totally honest with him before, for not telling him of the full extent of Stennor's injuries, he realized it was because of the man's high regard for him and an awareness of what was between him and Jim that he had not been exact. McCoy had given him enough information for him to know Stennor was in serious condition without going into detail. He flicked to Jim's file and noted Jim had some burns on his legs and chest, a few minor. . .

"Thought I told you we had to wait till Jim woke to find out what happened."

Slowly Spock turned and looked at a clearly annoyed Doctor McCoy who was looking at him very levelly. "I was interested in what your initial findings were, Doctor. Your term fairly good was vague."

"Now I don't know what happened and till I do all I can say is that whatever did happen Stennor kept Jim alive. If I were to guess I would say that something out of the ordinary happened where Jim was pinned under something and Stennor got him clear of it. But that is just a guess." McCoy set down a tray with two plates and two mugs, "We both need this. Three bean salad and citrus square with that Vulcan herbal tea for you and a meat pasta and boozed apple square with black coffee for me. No arguing, Spock. We need it."

For a few minutes they sat in silence, a silence of a long friendship that had shared so much. Just for a moment did they look at each other and they knew that after so many shared meals where the quiet ease the enveloped them said more than words could.

As he finished his herbal tea Spock looked again at McCoy, "Mister Scott is presently thoroughly going over the shuttlecraft as we speak, Doctor. Knowing the man's thoroughness I am certain if there is anything to find he will find it no matter how small or insignificant seeming the item is. I agree that something out of the ordinary did happen and it had to do with the craft. Jim said there was an explosion. The possibility of that happening is,"

The intercom buzzed and it was Uhura, "Is Mister Spock there?"

McCoy looked at the Vulcan who nodded, "He's right here."

"Sir, may I meet with you in your quarters?"

The Vulcan looked at the Doctor and raised an eyebrow as it was most odd for her to ask such a question, "Lieutenant, may I ask the reason?"

"It is somewhat a personal matter, Sir. If you like Doctor McCoy should be with you." Almost as one they looked at each other, something was wrong as her language skills were such she would not have used like with should.

"We will meet with you in my quarters in nine standard minutes, Lieutenant. The doctor and I will finish our meal and meet you there. Have you had,"

"Thank you, Sir but yes, I have had had something to eat. I will meet you two there."

"She does know Jim is aboard and going to be fine, doesn't she?"

"I notified her, Chekov, Sulu, and of course Mister Scott already knew. Why do you ask?"

"Just something about the way she was talking, guarded."

"Agreed, unusual for her."

They did not have long to wait in the Vulcan's quarters before Uhura arrived and looked first at McCoy then stood straight and looked at Spock as she held out a disc, "I know it is against regulations to record personal messages but this was from an unknown and unauthorized private communicator aboard the ship. I thought earlier I had seen a flicker that indicates a private communicator aboard the ship being used but it was just a momentary flicker so I ran a diagnostic to see if there had been any fault and it came up negative. I," just for a moment she bit her bottom lip and glanced at the floor then looked back into the dark eyes about which she saw no judgement, "I knowingly set the system to record any private communicator use. When it flickered again I immediately tracked who was using it."