"Stop resisting. You must accept that the girl is not your responsibility. What happens to your captain, however, does depend on you. And you don't want unnecessary bloodshed. Make the right choice."
Was he right? Was there really no way out this time? Valdis insisted that Ariella's death would not be on McCoy's hands.
'I can't save her,' he thought, grief for her and her family tearing a fresh wound in his heart.
But he just couldn't give up and betray the sweet little girl who had just taken a risk and saved his life. McCoy swallowed his inner turmoil.
"If you want to get to her, you'll have to do it over my dead body. I'm not just going to stand by and let you do this." In response, Valdis stabbed the knife into Kirk's shoulder, and he screamed.
"The next place it's going will be across the neck. I didn't want it to come to this, but you've forced my hand." Kirk's eyes widened, and McCoy started to sweat despite the cold. He felt nauseous at the idea of his best friend being killed like that right in front of him. The other option was unbearable too. The only life that was ever acceptable to offer was his own, but that was not an option this time. Kirk worried for his friend; either outcome would destroy him.
'Where are you, Spock?' he thought anxiously, then froze as Valdis brought the knife up against his throat. McCoy was nearly hyperventilating, holding onto the bars so tightly that his knuckles were white.
"Time's up," Valdis said, and was about to carry out his threat when there was the sound of phaser fire. He lowered the knife and turned to see what was going on, and the next shot stunned him to the ground. Kirk smiled at the rescue team of Spock and a few security officers.
'There's no no-win scenario.' At least, not as long as you had a brilliant crew. Spock confiscated the keys and the bloody knife, then freed Kirk, who covered his shoulder wound with his right hand.
"Any other injuries, Captain?" Spock asked, looking curiously at the jar containing red blood.
"Nothing too bad, Spock." It hurt, but not nearly as bad as the pain inflicted by the unknown weapon. One of the security officers let McCoy and Ariella out next. McCoy felt lightheaded and giddy with relief.
"You cut it a little close, didn't you, Spock?" Spock raised an eyebrow as he took in the doctor's condition. He was notoriously emotional, but rarely looked like he was desperately trying to hold himself together, and he was not unused to life-threatening situations. Besides that, there was evidence of strangulation from the hoarse quality to his voice and fingerprint shaped bruises on his neck. He had probably feared for the captain's life, but this was hardly the first time. Spock would need more information to understand the doctor's emotional state.
Ariella was a little wary of the strangers, but she figured they must be safe if they were Dr. McCoy's friends. The doctor knelt down and gave her a shaky smile.
"Don't worry. We'll get you home now."
She reached over and hugged him. "It's okay." 'She's trying to comfort me?' It was getting harder for him to hold back tears, and one escaped against his will. 'Deep breaths, McCoy,' he told himself. He needed to calm down, or else he was going to faint or have a breakdown, which would both be very embarrassing scenarios. He looked over at Jim, injured but alive, and relaxed slightly.
Security kept their phasers trained on Valdis; he would likely wake up soon. The captain decided that they needed to get Valdis to the authorities first, then take Ariella home.
"Not you, Jim," McCoy protested, rising back to his feet. "You need to get to sickbay."
"So do you. Alright Mr. Spock, I trust you and the security team can manage without us."
"I guess this is goodbye," McCoy said, addressing Ariella one more time. "You were really brave, you know. You saved my life earlier. Thank you."
She looked away shyly, then hugged him again. "Goodbye, Dr. McCoy."
"Take care, sweetheart," he said, and disappeared in a transporter beam with the captain.
After being checked over and their wounds tended to, Kirk and McCoy sat on sickbay beds, wrapped in heated blankets and eating soup.
"Jim, next time there's an away mission on a cold planet, you can count me out." Kirk pretended to give him a stern look. "Okay, okay. I'd appreciate it if you considered counting me out."
"Are you okay, Bones?"
The warmth and food took the edge off any residual nerves, but he was starting to feel the full impact of emotional exhaustion.
"Just tired. What about you? You're the one who almost got your throat slit because I–" He couldn't finish the thought out loud. It was his worst fear that one of his friends would get killed out there, dead before he could do anything to save them. 'The situation could have been prevented if I wasn't so useless at fighting.' Kirk got up and sat down next to McCoy.
"Nothing that happened down there was your fault. Everything turned out alright, you did the right thing, and I'll be fine."
McCoy sighed. How many more of these close calls were they going to have before one of them actually didn't come back?
"I'm gonna go gray before I'm fifty." Kirk grinned and squeezed his shoulder.
"At least it wasn't all bad– I think you made a little friend. She really warmed up to you."
"She's a sweet girl. She'll do fine, I'm sure," McCoy said with a smile and a yawn.
Once Spock was finished on the planet, he stopped in sickbay to check in with the captain and the doctor, but found both of them asleep. Before he left, his gaze lingered for a few seconds on the sleeping forms of his friends, one or both of whom could have died that day. The thought was always disquieting. Spock was sure they would be fine after some rest, and they would always return to the Enterprise alive whenever there was anything he could do to make sure of it.
A/N: And that's the end! If you want to know how Spock found out where they were, based on past experiences, he figured they must be locked up somewhere with no means of communication, and the most likely culprit was the man they went down to the planet to meet, even though he claimed to have no idea where they went. When Spock found the abandoned dungeon, he knew that had to be a good bet.