DREAMS OF YONNY

"Doctor, are you sure?" Captain James T. Kirk asked his Chief Medical officer. He had hoped to hear at least a little bit of uncertainty in the doctor's voice.

"Yes, Jim, I'm sure." The defeat was in his voice as well as his eyes as Doctor Leonard McCoy looked down at his deceased patient.

"Damn," Kirk swore under his breath. "So this means..."

"We quarantine," McCoy finished for him.

Kirk merited his friend and crew mate a scowl, he hated it when anyone did that to him.

Despite the dark moment McCoy chuckled lightly. "Sorry, bad habit."

Looking down at the lifeless form on the bio bed Kirk said, "I will notify his next of kin." He looked back up at the doctor. "Start the quarantine." Then he abruptly left the sickbay.

McCoy didn't look forward to the work ahead. The decontamination of four hundred plus crewmembers would take hours, especially when most of his own personnel were down with flu like symptoms, which had nothing to do with the problem at hand.

"So----what'd you find out?" Yonny asked him as she looked at his face to get an idea if the captain had freaked or not.

He turned to the temporary head nurse of his sickbay and smiled. She was a bright spot in this gloomy ship; not that he didn't like or miss Christine, she was a good friend and he missed her while she was on a six-month leave from the Enterprise. But Yonny was...so different...a definite bright spot. McCoy wanted there to be much more between the two of them while she was here... but...

"Leonard?" She asked when she realized he hadn't heard her. She stood there with a data padd in her arms across her chest. Blonde hair and blue eyes, she stood just as tall as him.

He blushed slightly at her scrutiny. If she only knew what he was thinking. "Oh, uh," he said, not sure what to say.

Yonny laughed and shook her head. "I asked what the captain had said. Did he freak or what?"

"Captain Kirk does not "freak" as you say. He takes things pretty calmly... usually."

"Ah," Yonny nodded. Kirk had seemed like a stone statue to her. Not much emotion there, she had thought. But that was good for a captain she figured. Now the good doctor, he was different. She got on with him from the start and she was beginning to like him very much. "So, a quarantine like we thought?"

McCoy nodded, then told two other med attendants to prepare the body for transportation to Aridia. The body would have to be decontaminated also before leaving the ship.

"Did you know him?" She asked, seeing the grief in his eyes.

"No, not personally," McCoy said. Each young man or woman could have been a son or daughter to him that had been killed. It hurt him each time he lost a patient and crewmember like this. Meaningless deaths, they angered and saddened him.

Yonny's heart constricted at the compassion he felt for his patients. She blinked back tears and took a deep breath to compose herself. She had only been on the Enterprise for three months while Lt. Christine Chapel was on leave. Yonny didn't know how the other nurse had not fallen head over heels for this man she worked with day after day.

McCoy took on last look at the young man before he was taken to the morgue to be prepared for his final trip home. "Damn," he muttered and walked away. Not wanting to think of all the work ahead he concentrated on Yonny. When she had first come aboard he was awestruck by her uniqueness and instantly he was attracted. Kirk, it seemed, didn't share his interest, much to McCoy's relief.

"Okay," he turned and smiled at her. "Let's get those shots ready, shall we?"

Yonny smiled back mischievously. "Only if you promise me a shot of your Earth's Brandy when all is said and done." She had taken a bold step, she felt, almost asking the doctor out.

McCoy brightened at that. It was the first time she had let down her guard with him. Now he had something to look forward to later. The past months she had seemed so...how should he put it...by the book, maybe. So strict and going by the rules. Maybe to impress him? Well, she did. He looked at her, she wasn't by all means a beautiful woman but she had a sexappeal that over road any kind of outer beauty. And beauty was, as they say, only skin deep. Yonny's went all the way to her bones. "You got yourself a deal." He turned away but looked back. "And I'll hold you to that young lady!" He said with a wink.

"Yes, sir!" Yonny saluted him and got busy with the vials of the antitoxin for the crew.

Indioutomox was what McCoy had finally found out. Lucky for them it was curable and not as catchy as he had been told. Most of the Southwestern half of the planet had suffered many deaths before the Enterprise had come to help. Not knowing the planet was infested Kirk had sent down a land party to investigate the SOS they had received. When they had returned to tell of the plague it was too late for Lt. Swale. The rest could thank their lucky stars they were not of Aridian decent. The disease accelerated in Swale because of his unusual high metabolism rate for his race. Though he appeared to be in his early twenties he was actually in his early forties.

It had taken nearly twenty-four hours to inoculate the entire crew. Both Yonny and McCoy had non-stop.

"So, I think it's time you owe up, don't you?" He asked her while they were cleaning up.

Yonny was washing her hands and was only thinking of her bed and a soft pillow. She was so tired. Confused she looked at him feeling puzzled then she remembered.

McCoy could see it before she even said it. An excuse was on her lips. "I'm just as tired as you," he said. "What we need is a drink to relax us." He walked over to her looking at her beautiful hair. Golden hair. It was the color of sunshine and honey he thought. He remembered looking up something to do with her race, at the time wanting to know everything he could about her.

She sighed and threw her towel into the recycle bin. "Ok," she said. "Let's go!"

McCoy smiled and put out the crook his arm for her to take. As they walked he recalled reading in the computer about her race. The golden hair was something all had and it made him remember a song from Earths 20th century. Something about sister golden hair, but he couldn't recall it at the moment. He had the computer look it up for him and then play the song for him. It was then he decided Yonny was his "golden hair surprise" as the song put it. But he didn't consider her a "sister", that was for sure. She was his golden hair surprise and the phrase "a woman sure can be a friend of mine" fit well. After a horrible divorce, McCoy was not ready for the alter, yet.

They walked into the officer's lounge and they sat down, both looking at the crowd that was there. "Apparently we must have given everyone an adrenalin shot. It's an ungodly hour for all these people to be up and about." He thought about his next question for a moment, not sure how she would react. "Would you like to have a drink in my quarters?"

She smiled, "Sounds good to me."

McCoy breathed a sigh of relief then led her to his domain. Yonny looked around when they walked in just to see if she could find out more about him.

"I'll be right back," he said. "Sit down and relax."

When he left the room she didn't sit, she wondered and looked at some pictures he had on a small shelf. It was of a young girl from about the time she was five till probably about now, estimating that time with the Starfleet uniform she was wearing. Her dark brown hair and brown eyes were very striking. It was apparent she was related to Leonard somehow.

"That's my daughter, Joanna," he said coming up behind her.

Yonny turned and smiled. "I kind of figured. She does look a lot like you. Such sweetness in those brown eyes of hers."

McCoy blinked and then blushed which only made Yonny smile more. She took the glass of liquor from him and took a drink. "And this is called?"

"It's Earths Brandy, like you asked for." He said and took a swig of his own.

"It's as good as I thought, better than our Meurgetta," she said.

"Meurgetta?" McCoy asked wondering.

"It's a liquor like this but not as good. More please?" She held out her glass to him and he was surprised she had drunk it so quickly. He filled her glass again.

Yonny edged closer to McCoy. When both had finished Yonny took their glasses and set them down.

"Yonny, I…" McCoy started to say. But she didn't let him finish; her lips met his and gave him a kiss that knocked his socks off.

"Is that what you were wondering about?" She smiled coyly at him.

"Yes," was all he said as he took her face in his hands and kissed her again. Soon the kissing was not enough and McCoy led the way to his bedroom.

Later Yonny awoke to find Leonard sleeping soundly. She looked down at him feeling things she hadn't in a long time. Wondering what she would do when it was time to leave, that was something she didn't want to think about. Quietly she slipped out of the bed and got dressed. She kissed him on the forehead before she left.

Kirk sat in his chair looking at the screen in front of him. He clicked his log button on his chair. "Captains Log star date 15 24 38. It seems there is more trouble brewing down on the planet below. Star Fleet has asked for a landing party to assist with the problems. Seems they are upset with the way things were handled with the inoculation. I've asked Dr. McCoy and his head nurse Lt. Yonny LeyBard and two security guards to assist them. End log."

He sat for a moment looking at the planet rotate in front of him. A feeling of dread came over him, but he wasn't sure why. Shaking his head he got up and headed to sickbay to talk with McCoy rather than talk through the intercom.

"Jim!" McCoy said as his captain and friend walked through the door. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Doctor," Kirk greeted cautiously, trying to feel him out, wondering what was up.

"We just figured out the cause of the outbreak, it was so simple," McCoy sounded as excited as a child getting a bag full of candy. Lt. LeyBard stood beside him, standing just to be there but not intruding. She watched McCoy like a mother watches her child when they just received praise for something they had done well. Such pride she had for him. Kirk's eyebrow rose in curiosity.

"Well, that is good, Doctor," Kirk said. "Your going to need it when you two go down and explain why you used the procedure you did. For some reason they seem to feel you broke some kind of religious belief of theirs. I assured them you would explain why you did what you did."

"We?" Lt. LeyBard spoke up.

"Yes, as soon as you two are able you need to transport down to the planet." Kirk nodded and then left.

In the transporter room McCoy and Yonny stood next to the two security officers as the transporter operator did his magic and sent them down to the planet.

As soon as they materialized they were greeted by an angry mob, something not expected. If it weren't for the security guards McCoy and Yonny wouldn't have made it to the medical building across the street.

Entering the building McCoy yelled angrily, "Would you mind telling me what the hell that was all about?" The first person he saw was who got his wrath.

"I apologize, sir," the tall thin man said. His white flowing gown tended to give him a feminine look. "My people are very emotional."

"No kidding," Yonny said as she looked out the window at the yelling crowd. We saved their lives and they repay us this way, she thought to herself.

"So what is it you want from us? We just saved your people from a deadly outbreak and you treat us this way? I don't understand." McCoy wanted out of here, he felt uneasy.

"I do apologize, sir," the thin man said again. "We have arranged for a counsel meeting with you and our advisors. When you explain why you performed the procedures you did all will be right again." He turned and walked to another room. "Follow me, please."

Yonny, McCoy and the security guards walked behind the man and into a large room. It reminded McCoy of a church on Earth. It was full of people, all wearing the same kind of gown as the man they followed in.

The negotiations went well, McCoy thought several hours later when they were walking out of the coliseum and into the bright hallway were they had come in earlier. The elders seemed satisfied with McCoy's explanation of his procedures and promised to tell their people and bring order to their faith again.

Yonny breathed a sigh of relief that it was over. "I was impressed with your speech, Leonard," she said with nudge to his arm with her elbow.

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty good too, and thank god, they did too," he said with a nod in the direction of the coliseum. They stepped out into the courtyard, McCoy was about to flip open his communicator and have them beamed up when a group of people came forward. The Enterprise guards, Ensign Harris and Alue, were suddenly tense and on guard, ready to reach for their phasers if need be. Yonny instinctively stepped closer to McCoy as they approached.

"You!" One of them said and pointed to McCoy accusingly. There were about ten or so of them, and they surrounded the Enterprise group. "Are you the one to bring blasphemy to our world?" The man stood in front of him.

"Now listen here, we came to help, not cause problems," McCoy began, but suddenly two of them had taken Yonny. The guards had their phasers out and pointed at the men who held her captive. "What the HELL?" McCoy yelled.

"Leonard…" Yonny's eyes were wide and fearful.

"Those who bring blasphemy must die," the man said and to McCoy's horror Yonny's eyes widened in shock and pain. She fell forward into McCoy's arms, a knife in her back and blood was on his hands.

All hell broke loose after that, the Enterprise guards opened fire and McCoy was barely aware of more people coming out of the buildings, apparently this time to help not hurt the Enterprise crew. He was suddenly in the transporter room with Yonny in his arms, not knowing how he had even gotten there.

"Beam them directly into sickbay," McCoy heard Kirk command when he surveyed the situation.

LATER

"Doctors Log Star Date 15 24 40. Captain Kirk has notified the family of Lt. Yonny LeyBard as to her death. She died in the line of duty…" McCoy stopped there, he couldn't go on. Tears came and he clicked off the log entry. He cried for a long while then got up and went to his cupboard. Taking out the bottle of Brandy he took a glass and filled it, drinking it down. He sighed deeply then walked back over to the computer to finish his log entry.

The door chimed and he was startled. "Come," he said after a long while, knowing whom it more than likely was.

"Bones," Kirk said as he walked in. "I'm sorry. I know you and Lt. LeyBard got along fairly well… I'm sorry…" he ended lamely, not knowing what else to say to his friend.

"Thanks," McCoy said without emotion. "The Lord givith the Lord takith away." He turned to look at Kirk. "Isn't that the way it goes?" He sounded bitter.

"You liked her a lot, I take it." Kirk knew the look when he saw it. It was hell when life took such a nasty turn.

"You could say that," McCoy said. He stood there for a while and could feel Kirks scrutiny. He laughed harshly. "Don't worry, I'll be alright."

"If you need anything, you know where I am," Kirk said, then quietly stepped out of the room.

McCoy sat on the edge of his bed. "Computer."

"Working." Came the mechanical reply.

"Play disk 185alphabetaH." He sat back on the pillow and listened to the song "Sister Golden Hair" and closed his eyes. He would hold on to his memories and his dreams of his golden haired Yonny.

THE END