Title: Asclepius Revisited
Author: Still Waters
Fandom: Star Trek TOS
Disclaimer: Not mine. Just playing, with love and respect to those who brought these characters to life.
Summary: 76 McCoy episodes. 76 McCoy-centric reflections, codas, and missing scenes.
Notes: While watching the scenes where McCoy, DeSalle, and Jaeger beam down to the planet to look for Kirk and Sulu in "The Squire of Gothos," I noticed that there were several interesting differences in how and when each of them held a phaser. Using that as a central point, I wanted to explore some of those little, largely nonverbal, indicators of McCoy's character, using the POV of Trelane's parents as they reviewed the events of the episode. Dialogue quoted from the episode does not belong to me. As always, I hope I did the characters justice. Thank you for reading. I truly appreciate your support.
15.
Trelane: "But I haven't finished studying my predators yet!"
Trelane's parents: "This is not studying them…they're beings, Trelane. They have spirit. They're superior."
Trelane's parents reached into the space surrounding Gothos and began shifting time, replaying the events that had unfolded when their disobedient son had proved, once again, that he still lacked the maturity to be left on his own. In order to come up with a suitable punishment, as they had promised Captain Kirk, they needed to study not only Trelane's actions, but the actions and minds of the life forms he had transplanted onto his newly crafted world.
Their son was correct that the species he had forced onto Gothos was one with a predatory history. However, had he been mature enough to properly study his pets, he would have realized that there were always variations within individual members of a species. Imagine the ideas the Captain and his crew would have formed about Trelane's species had Trelane and his cruel antics been their only interaction with what was, in truth, a species with complexity far beyond a human's comprehension. Had they not shown up to discipline their son in the end, the miniscule and poorly chosen sample size of Trelane himself would have given the Captain's species little to no data on the true breadth of what they were.
It was while studying the actions and inner thoughts of the three men sent to the planet to search for their missing crewmembers, that Trelane's parents saw the first individual variation. When the one in gold, DeSalle, found Trelane's castle, he raised his weapon – a phaser, his mind told them – at the discovery and shouted for the two men in blue. The ones called Jaeger and McCoy ran to his side, but while Jaeger had a hand on the phaser at his hip when he reached DeSalle, McCoy's hand rested on the medical device called a tricorder instead of the weapon with which he too was equipped. When they started walking toward the castle, all three men had their weapons drawn as they were no doubt trained to do. DeSalle led the way, phaser steady in his right hand, laser beacon for communication with their ship in his left. Jaeger brought up the rear, phaser in his right and left hand unhindered. But McCoy in the middle was quick to reach across his body and remove his tricorder from his right side, crossing the device in front of his phaser's path, and gripping the assessment tool in his left hand for easy access; the sign of a man with an inherently different, nondestructive focus.
When they entered the castle, McCoy was the first to lower his phaser, maintaining hold of the tricorder as he looked around with wide eyes followed by a soft, "In the name of heaven, where are we?" There was no anger in that statement. No threats or profanity-laced fear, no raised voice behind raised weapons. Just a hushed question to an abstract comfort his species called faith.
DeSalle continued to lead the way, his and Jaeger's phasers at the ready, until DeSalle's sharp exclamation announced the discovery of their missing shipmates. It was then that McCoy took the lead, the other two men hurrying to maintain the one they called 'doctor' in the middle. McCoy's phaser was immediately abandoned to the holster on his hip in favor of his medical scanning equipment, personal protection far from his mind with patients to attend to. And so, with McCoy focused on the health of their newly found crew, Jaeger and DeSalle flanked him with phasers drawn, safeguarding the five of them while the physician worked.
It was all quite interesting to watch. Yet the most telling moment was soon to come. For when Trelane caused the castle door to close of its own accord, followed by his materialization at the harpsichord, all three men turned to the new presence. Trelane's dramatic entrance aside, his sudden appearance, in light of the abduction of their crewmembers, would have posed a clear, grave threat to such a foreign and predatory species. DeSalle and Jaeger, amazingly, did not fire their phasers in immediate retaliation; a testament to the discipline of their species' baser characteristics. But both men kept a firm grip on their weapons, aiming them at the threat. While McCoy….McCoy turned to the threat, gave it the focus it demanded, but never once shifted the medical instruments out of his hands in favor of the weapon at his side.
Perhaps he trusted his companions to protect him; trusted their aim and so determined that he didn't need his weapon. But Trelane's parents could see inside his mind…and the truth was that reaching for the phaser never even occurred to him – because the instrument he used to safeguard others was already in his hands.
Yes, this one called McCoy was quite a subject. He may have come from a predatory species and carried a weapon on his hip, but he was far from a predator. Instead, here was a being who valued assessment and healing over destructive protection in his hands. A man whose lips spoke quiet words baring a personal comfort in faith rather than loud boasting or sharp threats fired from primitive fear.
Yes, Trelane would be punished, but he would also be taught. Because had he truly studied his predators, he would have seen that this McCoy was far from such generalizations.
A scientist could learn from his subjects; a child from his pets.
And Trelane could learn something from the spirit of this being called McCoy.