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I had every intention of posting this last Saturday…but I've got this AP Exam coming up in History, and I didn't have time Saturday and I haven't been online since for any appreciable time….busybusybusy. But I read through my notes up to the present day, am determined not to think about history again until I sit down for the test, and so I'm posting.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The meeting broke up fairly soon after the mutual decision that they had no choice but to take Kirk into custody and send him to a penal colony, potentially for the rest of his life. McCoy judged, to his regret, that it was too late to go back to bed. So he went to Sickbay instead. It was a quiet morning. Treated a migraine, released one patient, successfully convinced a security guard that bruises were nonfatal, and drank two cups of coffee. A quiet morning. Actually, closer to a quiet hour. Kirk walked in at eight o'clock.
"Good morning," Kirk greeted him, the picture of good cheer.
McCoy glanced at him, muttered something that was probably a relative of 'good morning,' and poured a third cup of coffee. He didn't say anything else.
"Coffee any good?" Kirk asked after a moment, a completely transparent attempt at small talk.
"It's hot," was all McCoy said, as he took a swallow. "Want some?"
"No, thanks. I would like a better topic of conversation than coffee, though. Got any?" Kirk asked, half joking, half legitimately uninterested in coffee as a topic.
McCoy shrugged, and considered Kirk. "You're out early," he said finally.
"That's a little better," Kirk acknowledged. "It's not that early though, almost eight o'clock. I get to the bridge at seven usually."
"So I've heard."
Kirk grinned. "And I thought you said you didn't know what went on on the bridge."
"Sure, hold me to what I said last week."
"Anyway, it can't be that early, you seem to be up and hard at work."
McCoy's eyebrows went up. "Drinking coffee counts as hard at work?"
Kirk nodded his head in amused acknowledgement. "Okay, fair enough. You seem to be up though."
McCoy grimaced. "For the last three hours. That's two hours too long."
"And obviously it's put you in a wonderful mood."
McCoy gave him a look. "It's morning."
"Oh, good."
McCoy blinked. "What?"
"I was beginning to think it was me," Kirk explained.
"Oh. No, not really." Though Kirk's arrival had definitely dampened his mood. It wasn't really Kirk's fault. But he was feeling faintly guilty about what he'd been up early to do, and about the conclusion they'd reached. And he was feeling ridiculous for feeling guilty. And the looming prospects of Romulans didn't help the situation either. He told himself firmly that he was being absurd on several fronts, he should stop it, and, if he couldn't rise and shine, he could at least try to gleam a little.
Kirk, meanwhile, was back to his usual pursuit in Sickbay: poking into everything. "So how are the long-term patients today?" he asked, wandering over to look at the row of biobeds against the back wall.
"If they had daily changes they wouldn't be long-term," McCoy said absently, calculating whether a fourth cup of coffee would be shading into unhealthy areas.
"True enough…" Kirk trailed off and frowned, noticing something. "Wait, we're missing one. Yesterday you had four beds full, today there's only three."
McCoy looked up from his coffee cup. "Hmm?"
"There's one less person here."
"That's right," McCoy remembered, "we did have a change. Finnegan left this morning."
Kirk grinned. "Oh, he finally woke up?"
"Yes, finally." McCoy frowned at Kirk. "Did you really have to hit him with maximum stun? I was beginning to think he'd never wake up."
"He had it coming," Kirk said shortly.
"Knowing Finnegan, you're probably right," McCoy admitted.
"I am." Kirk's gaze drifted on to rest on Lowell's still-unconscious form. "And I see the good captain is still dead to the world."
"You don't just wake up from neural damage. He'll make a full recovery, but I don't have the facilities to treat him now."
"Too bad, it would have been interesting to meet him. Though then again," Kirk reconsidered, "maybe not."
"Matter of opinion, I guess."
"I guess." Kirk turned away from Lowell, dismissing that topic. "So, got a lot to do today?"
"That depends," McCoy said, mind on the Romulans. "Are you planning to wreak havoc with some unheard-of maneuver again?"
Kirk grinned. "That remains to be seen. But I'm not planning on it. If all goes well, we can both have relatively easy days."
It was at that moment, somewhat ironically, that the red alert siren went off.
"Easy day, he says." When Kirk's only response was a smile and a shrug, McCoy frowned. "Shouldn't you be running for the bridge or something?"
Kirk shook his head. "They're overreacting. I'll give you three to one odds we just crossed into the Neutral Zone."
"No deal, you're probably right. I don't think I'd call that overreacting though."
"I would," Kirk answered, walking over to the nearby comm unit. He dropped into a chair, tipped the chair onto its back two legs, reached up and pressed the comm button. "Kirk to bridge. What's the situation up there?"
Uhura answered, and if there was a bit more tension in her voice than normal neither McCoy nor Kirk commented. "We just passed into the Romulan Neutral Zone"—Kirk shot McCoy a satisfied look—"and long range sensors are reporting a Romulan ship approaching."
Kirk frowned. "Time to intercept?"
"Current estimate 25.3721 minutes." No need to say just who on the bridge had calculated that figure.
"Fine, thank you, Kirk out." He flipped off the comm, looking thoughtful. He glanced at McCoy. "I'll have to get back to you on whether you'll be busy or not after I find out whose ship that is."
"Does it really matter?" McCoy asked, tone growing more serious. "You're here to talk to Romulans. They're Romulans."
"I'm here to talk to one Romulan," Kirk corrected. "My contact. If it's his ship on the sensors, not a problem. If it isn't his ship…" He shrugged. "Problem."
"What difference does it make though? One Romulan or another, I'm sure they'd all be happy to take the Enterprise."
"Sure. Any Romulan would be happy to take the ship and kill all aboard," Kirk agreed. "But if we want to walk away from this, it better be my contact we meet up with."
McCoy gave him a long, searching look. "We? Or you? Because I don't expect to walk away from this, whatever happens."
Kirk blinked, and the front legs of the chair thumped solidly to the ground. "What?"
"People who go to the Romulan Empire don't come back."
"They do today," Kirk said promptly.
"Do you really think your contact isn't going to be very interested in taking 400 Starfleet crewmembers captive?"
"I don't care what he's interested in, everyone's leaving. Everyone. No captives, no one dies."
McCoy looked at him thoughtfully. "You really believe that, don't you?"
"Yes, I really do," Kirk said firmly.
"Hmm. Well, it's a nice idea." It was a nice idea. And it was a nicer idea that Kirk really didn't plan to hand them all over to the Romulans. Even though he probably wouldn't have a choice. Nevertheless, the tension on McCoy's end of the conversation lessened considerably.
"It's not just a nice idea, it's the truth."
"Mm-hmm."
Kirk sat up straighter. "I mean it."
"I know you do," McCoy said, "and I'm glad you do. But it's not likely to make any difference. Starfleet who go into the Romulan Neutral Zone don't come home."
Kirk leaned forward and locked eyes with McCoy. "Today they do. I give you my solemn word on it. No one dies. Not today. I swear it."
McCoy smiled, successfully ignoring Kirk's solemnity. "Do you really expect me to take you up on that?" he asked lightly.
"Up to you." Kirk stood up. "I'm going back to the bridge."
"Mind if I come?" McCoy asked suddenly.
Kirk blinked, puzzled. "Sure, but…why do you want to? I thought you didn't spend time on the bridge."
"I don't," McCoy affirmed. "But I want to see your Romulan. I hear they look like Vulcans."
"He's not my Romulan, and yes, they do."
"Must've given the Constellation a turn when they made first visual contact last year."
"Must've," Kirk agreed as they left Sickbay, en route to the bridge and confrontation with the Romulans.
A confrontation that will occur…next chapter.
Cyrogenie: Stockholm Syndrome? This sounds fascinating, but for the life of me I can't place what it is… And yeah, it would be nice if Kirk stayed, but like Spock said, Starfleet would be somewhat perturbed.
Fool of an Elf: Hehe, POTC references are fun to occasionally make. And I sent off the picture, hope you got it!
PearlGirl: No more on Nemesis? Aye aye, shall do! And no one's saying Kirk hasn't had lots of girlfriends. He just hasn't mentioned any to McCoy, which is why McCoy is puzzled that the April code sounds familiar. I have no idea why Paramount killed him. Well…something about finishing the old series once and for all and making Picard the definitive Trek captain. Whatever. Like that could happen. Legends—and heroes—never die, bridges regardless.
Unrealistic: Definitely Kirk's likeable, only a Klingon would disagree. And even they respect him. No comments on the ending. I would love to hear some of your options though! Who knows, maybe you've guessed it.
GypsyGirl: I think McCoy has to know about Spock's being half-human, for medical reasons. Likewise, for medical confidentiality reasons, he's not going to use it in an argument. He'd rather attack Spock's Vulcan logic anyway.
MySchemingMind: I hate to think you used up needed brain cells trying to figure out the code, when it all comes down to the simple fact that I didn't know when Robert April became captain, took a guess, and was apparently off by two years. I'll make a note to remedy that as soon as time permits. And y'know, I don't know what happened to Sam. I don't think Jim knows either. My best guess is that he went out to settle on whatever colony he was on in the regular universe, and died just like he did in the regular universe. Next question being, what happened to Peter, which is one of two options. Either he died because Kirk wasn't there with the Enterprise to save him and the other colonists, or some other starship captain stepped into the gap and he survived. And maybe it's strange that I don't know, since it's my universe, but I really don't know. Maybe that makes sense. Maybe not. Anyway…of course McCoy wouldn't overlook the chess game. That would be very un-McCoy-like.
Mzsnaz: Hehe, I liked that line too. They don't have much of a plan, but they're working on it. As for Lowell, well, like McCoy keeps saying—medical treatment and he'll be fine, no facilities right now.
Alania: It's not that Scotty's necessarily more worried about the ship…it's just that, well, he's Scotty and he loves the ship. Like Jack would be heartbroken if the Black Pearl sank, even if the crew all survived. And yes, Bones did almost say Jim. Good eye.
Samantha: Now…is this the Spock you know who's advocating action, the Spock you know who's meticulously reasoning his advocacy of action, or both? The "voices" were spot on? I'm pretty sure I know what you mean, and thank you!
'tis all. More soon.