Chapter Two: Earthbound and Down:
It took just under seventy-two hours to return to Earth, with Scotty really pushing the Warp Core to work its hardest; during that time Jim was confined to the Medical Bay, quiet and contemplative which took Bones by surprise.
His thoughts were a jumble, while he had tendered his request for Khan's trial to Starfleet, there was a large part of him which had never believed they would accept, or even acknowledge it, everything Khan had done, all the pain he had caused, all the suffering and death he'd left in his wake, it would have been easy to understand them signing it off as a no chance.
While he'd initially planned to have Khan released into his custody if the trial had concluded as he'd wished, he was now not even sure he could bare to look at the man again. Pike's blood was on his hands, the blood of hundreds was on his hands. Was Kirk any different if he simply allowed him to live a life he didn't deserve.
And yet, he couldn't help but consider the positives. Though unlikely, he somehow had good memories of working along side Khan, for however short a time it had been. There had been a sense of kinsman-ship, of understanding, the superhuman had obliterated the Klingons who'd threatened his away party on Kronos; he had surrendered into their custody without a fight; he had allowed Kirk to punch the shit out of him without retaliation; he'd given up information willingly to aid both their causes, information Kirk would have never survived without. They had fought side by side on board the Vengeance, to say nothing of their ship to ship jump, and the fact Khan had saved him from becoming little more than a pretty smear on the side of that huge Star Ship.
There were so many things Khan had done right, so many things he had done properly and with consideration of those around him. It was at times hard to believe that the man he had flown through a debris field with was the same one who had opened fire on an unarmed room of officials. Maybe that was the problem though, Khan was so superior that maybe he was able to weigh his conscience openly, take a life and save a life, commit a crime and commit an act of charity. Forever keeping his conscience in the balance.
Or maybe he was thinking too deeply on it.
Jim looked around as he heard the deep thrum of metal clanking as the Enterprise docked at the space station above Earth; he slid off the bed he'd been resting on and quickly changed into his uniform, glancing around at Bones, he saw the man was still tending to an engineer with minor burns.
"I'm going on ahead to the shuttle, Bones, if Spock comes looking for me let him know I'll be there." he called out, waving a hand lazily as he beat a hasty retreat from the Bay, without awaiting a reply.
The walk to the shuttle bay felt longer than it really was, perhaps it was his reluctance to leave the Enterprise, his real home and the knowledge that all he was getting in return was injections; blood samples and prodding. His thoughts weighed heavily as he boarded one of the shuttles, taking to his usual seat and buckling up silently.
He accepted a few calls of greeting from some of his crew, ignoring others as the shuttle slowly filled with people. The Captain contemplated going to visit Iowa when his tests were completed, seeing his mother again in the flesh for the first time since joining Starfleet. Then, with an inward groan, he decided that dealing with his waste of space step-dad was far too much effort, and resolved to simply give her a call instead.
As he closed his eyes to relax, a shiver of icy cold fingers ran down his spine, he opened them again to see what was happening, and jolted in his seat, seeing a pane of frozen over glass in front of him, almost like it was pressing close to his face, restricting and suffocating. Then it was gone, and in its place, another of his blasted headaches.
"What the hell is going on with me?" he muttered stiffly, glancing around the shuttle, he was relieved when it seemed none of the crew had seen his moment of madness.
It was at that moment his Vulcan friend stepped into the vessel and took the seat to the right of him, "Captain, I feel it would be wise to point out that you should not have left the Medical Bay without dismissal from the Doctor." were his opening words of this particular conversation.
"Yeah, well I fancied some fresh air and a good seat on the ride home." the blond replied coolly, still a little on edge.
"These seats are allocated to specific crew members, no one was likely to take it from you," the Vulcan contradicted, "And I find it difficult to believe that you wanted 'fresh' air on a space station which uses artificial oxygen in its' life support systems."
"For God's sake Spock, just leave it!" he snapped abruptly, shooting a glare at the man before he instantly felt bad for it, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to have a go at you, I'm just... I have a lot on my mind right now. Just... Give me a break. Please?"
Spock stared at him for a long moment, inwardly debating whether or not he should question his Captain's ability to function while having a lot on his mind, before he decided it would quite possibly earn him a broken nose and missing teeth, "Very well, I shall give you 'a break'." he responded curtly, getting comfortable in his seat.
Jim was surprised when Spock surrendered, but decided he would take whatever he could get, resting back again only to then groan aloud as he watched Bones get aboard, instantly subjecting him to several pre-flight checks.
"Now Jim," the doctor began as he settled into the seat on his left, "You are my patient until we find out what is happening to you, and are able to solve it. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Bones." he said through clenched teeth as a scanner was pressed on his face.
"Let me explain exactly what that means, for the record. If I say no physical exertion then you stay in bed, or sit down, or don't move around too much. Got it?"
"Got it." he glared.
He persisted with his explanation, "So, no running; no jogging; no walking over long distances; no raising your heart rate; no raising your pulse rate; no sports; no training; no going out drinking and above all... No sex."
The blond yawned mockingly, "Got it, fine, whatever, I don't care that much... Wait... Did you say no running?"
"What an ideal time to remember your sense of humour, Jim, I am serious." Bones recorded his pulse rate, "Don't forget I have the power to strip your command from you if you go back on your word."
Kirk scoffed and rolled his head to the side so he was looking directly at the man, "Bones, I said I got it. I'm not going to back out on this, I want answers as well."
"Yeah well... I'm a doctor not a mind reader."
"And for that we are all eternally grateful." Jim sighed deeply.
As soon as the shuttle was filled they, along with all the other shuttles, departed from the space station on a premeditated flight path to San Francisco, to Starfleet's Head Quarters.
For the life of him, Jim couldn't understand quite why Bones and Spock were as worried as they were, surely it was a good thing he had resisted the radiation from that sun, other wise he would be very dead. Again. But going to HQ, waking Khan up, all these tests he was expected to lay back and accept... It felt like overkill. In the back of his mind, he knew it wasn't. It was entirely logical.
He shook him self mentally, deciding to simply stop thinking about it. Whatever was going to happen would happen regardless of his feelings on the matter, and if there really was a problem with Khan's blood it would be better to find out now and have it sorted out, instead of being crippled by it in a fight somewhere down the line. It was a simple as that. It would be fine.
The shuttles landed fifty minutes later, instantly unloading its passengers; Kirk, Spock and Bones were among the last to get off and although he desperately wanted to return to his Federation supplied apartment room and hide, he allowed himself to be escorted to the Starfleet hospital by his two unlikely body guards.
He was guided to the fifth floor of the hospital, which was specifically for high ranking officials of Starfleet, and was currently near deserted apart from a security detail and a bustle of medical staff; he was stowed away into a side room at the very end of the wards and forced to change out of his uniform and into an unflattering, itchy gown.
He was then left, laid on the bed in complete silence while the professionals, namely Bones, decided all the tests they were going to be running on him. He had briefly overheard some details about blood tests, urine samples, brain scans, CT scans, MRI scans and a prostate examination. Needless to say, none of them sounded overly pleasant to him at that exact moment. Despite that, he would keep his word to Bones; the best he could hope for was an attractive nurse taking his bloods... And an undying hope that they were kidding about the prostate examination.
They hadn't been joking, Kirk recalled miserably as he curled up under the covers of the hospital bed, bruised and aching. It had taken hours for them to run their preliminary tests, taking blood cultures and numerous other recordings, and by the end of it James Kirk was exhausted like he had never been before in his life. All the prodding, the poking, the jabbing with needles, the probing of his prostate. Admittedly, he was used to a lot of demand for his body, but this was ridiculous!
He looked around as he heard the door open and let out a moody grumble as he saw McCoy and Spock enter. Their expressions gave nothing away, but they both had convincing poker faces, even if one of them was unable to lie. He sat up gingerly, reclining against the raised back of his bed and slung his arms over his knees, waiting for someone to break the ice.
When it became apparent neither of his visitors wanted to speak first he got impatient, "So, just so we are all on the same page... That is the last rectal examination anyone is ever giving me Bones, I mean it, if they try again I will break their fingers."
"Understood," the doctor chuckled weakly before his face turned serious, "Jim, we've been running a lot of tests-"
"Oh believe me, I'd noticed." he scorned.
Bones glared in response to the interruption but then continued, assessing the data on his PADD, "We don't have any conclusive results from what we've seen today, we can only confirm that the radiation you absorbed has definitely triggered some form of reaction from Khan's blood, we just can't be certain to what extent at the moment."
"So you're no better off than we were on the Enterprise?" he huffed, "Great, glad to know I've endured all that shit, for nothing."
"Not entirely." Spock murmured, taking a moment before he spoke again, "We now know for certain that to get definitive answers we will need to wake Khan from cryogenic sleep. We have no alternatives now, we need to run the same tests on him, compare the results and see what we can find from it. We have confirmed with the Admiralty Board that this needs to happen."
Jim swallowed hard, "I see. I don't suppose you've considered just asking him if he knows anything that would help? Once he has woken up I mean."
"You think he would give us a straight answer?" Bones snorted, "Not likely. I think it will be a miracle if we wake him up without anyone getting hurt, let alone having anyone talk to him."
"What if I was the one to ask him?" the blond murmured hesitantly, "Think about it... Anytime there was any interaction he spoke to me, he wouldn't talk to anyone else directly unless I had started the conversation, he answered my questions."
"Are you out of your mind?" Bones hissed, "The last time the two of you were anywhere near close enough to talk, he tried to kill you. Or have you conveniently forgotten that fact?!"
"He didn't though! He transported me back to the Enterprise and..."
"Tried to blow us all up! That is so much better!" the doctor got to his feet so fast his chair fell to the floor with a clatter, "Under no circumstances are you to go anywhere near him once he is awake, Jim. I will get the answers we need to help you. You are going to stay here, where it is safe."
Jim, while taken aback by the venom in the other's voice, was unwilling to give up, "Bones, just hear me out... If there is a chance we can get the answers we need by talking to him isn't that worth it? Saving us the time of running test after test to get a result he could tell us about himself. You could prove or disprove him with the science if you really needed to."
"No!" Bones snapped suddenly, taking a deep breath to get a grip of his emotions, "There will be no discussions, Jim, none. When he is woken up from cryosleep he will be under armed guard every hour of the day, and if I ever get a scent of an idea of you sneaking in to see him, I will section you. Because it would be insanity. You would literally be insane to try it. Am I making myself completely clear now? I am not willing to lose you for a second time. So for once in your life... Do as I say."
The Captain was surprised by his friend's tone and meaning, sitting back slowly and looking him over, there was no humour, no joke, no hidden meaning. Bones was serious.
"Alright." he said quietly, "This is your hospital, your grounds... Your rules. I'll play by them."
"Good. Thank you." the older man seemed to take a few moments to calm down, glancing at Spock before he left the room, clearly not willing to stay and risk a similar conversation repeating itself.
McCoy closed his eyes as the door to Jim's room clicked shut behind him and he held his PADD closely to his chest, taking several deep breaths as he forced his panic and anger back down where it belonged. The overwhelming urge to sedate Kirk dying down slowly.
He made to move, attend to other duties, but stopped outside the room beside his friend's eyes darting up reluctantly to look through the glass panel in the door, his gaze meeting the frigid cold, penetrative stare of a murderer and a war criminal. He felt his entire body clench in response, tension piling up as he found it increasingly hard to break eye contact.
A hard lump formed in his throat and he finally dragged his eyes away, walking stiffly down the corridor. Dammit he hated lying to Jim, hated hiding the truth, but he knew what he was like: a dog with a bone. There were things he was better off not knowing.
Like the fact Khan had been brought to the hospital and woken not long after they had boarded their shuttle, or the fact that he had not attacked a single man, woman or hobgoblin and had instead been fully cooperative. But most importantly, Jim didn't need to know that Khan's first recorded words after coming around had been "James," and that since that moment he had remained seated perfectly still, and utterly calm on his bed, allowing all manner of tests to be performed on him without question.
Bones had never seen the man so calm, it transcended even his stay in the Enterprise's brig. He was so calm, so still, like a statue. Or like a snake waiting for the perfect moment to sink its' fangs into the weak, fleshy part of its prey.
He could feel those eyes follow him down the corridor, a figment of his imagination of course, but the man gave him chills and not in a good way. He didn't want him in the hospital, he didn't want him in San Francisco, he didn't want him near Jim. But he didn't have any alternative. This was for Jim's sake after all. Everything was for Jim now.
That didn't make it any easier though. In fact it made him very uncomfortable. So uncomfortable, in fact, that he could throw up.