Kirk fidgeted a lot.

Hondo took great pleasure in noticing that about the human, since the man had been closed-lipped about practically everything else. Transporters sounded like some kind of miracle to the pirate, and he had every intention of finding out how they worked. Kirk was not being very helpful in that regard, however, having answered all of his questions either tersely, or with queries of his own.

Hondo had the distinct impression that the human was still in shock from his strange arrival, and that once the shock wore off, his panic would as well. It was why the pirate captain was still there despite Kirk's obvious annoyance. To capitalize on that panic. The human's eyes appeared darker than they probably were in the harsh light of Hondo's medical-bay, and his golden shirt was practically glowing. Kirk seemed to be holding himself carefully, almost as though any other position would cause him to spring into action whether or not he wanted to. Yet his toe wiggled, and the hand that Heek was stitching up kept twitching almost involuntarily.

The foreign captain - for all of his bravado - couldn't seem to sit still while the Weequay stitched his hand, and Hondo could tell that the doctor was becoming quite frustrated with his patient. Force only knew Hondo was getting a little frustrated himself, and it didn't help that Pikk kept giggling in his ear. "Captain, I don't think you are understanding what I am offering you here-"

"Captain, I don't think you're understanding that I'm offering nothing here." Kirk snapped, his eyes halting their journey around the room to pin Ohnaka where he sat. "I already told you that rebuilding the transporter technology with nothing but my memory would be impossible. Now I need to find my friends, and you are wasting my time."

Hondo didn't respond immediately, instead observing the way Heek sighed as he pulled Kirk's bloody hand back into position. Kirk seemed slightly apologetic but didn't take his eyes off of Ohnaka's, still waiting for his answer. Pikk's tail swished against Hondo's neck as they met each other's gaze, neither backing down.

"Give me my things, drop me off on the nearest inhabited planet, and I promise you'll never see me again."

"You intrigue me, captain." Hondo admitted. "You do not know where you are, you do not know how our technology works, you do not know what kind of a universe you have transported into, and yet you desire to run from the first help that is offered to you."

"Ohnaka-" Kirk's voice was a warning, but Hondo ignored it.

"Where would you go, eh Kirk? Why would I never want to see you again? I thought we were friends!"

"I can't build a transporter-"

"And you cannot even remember on what basic principles a transporter works?" Hondo laughed heartily, Pikk joining in with his ridiculous cackle. "Please, Kirk, I am a pirate - I know - but I will not be taken for a fool. You are lying."

Heek growled when Kirk went to stand, almost pulling his hand from the doctor's grasp. "I'm telling you I don't know-!"

"And I am telling you that you do not have a very good sabacc face, captain." Hondo shook his head as Pikk continued giggling in his ear. "I am a business man before a philanthropist, my friend, and I have already explained to you my terms. Until you begin recalling things about these transporters, I am afraid that I will not be able to help you find your friends."

"You can't keep me here against my will, Ohnaka." Kirk was standing now, his hand stretched back to where the doctor was finishing with the stitches. With his face tilted up, his eyes caught the light, and for a moment they shone gold.

"Against your will!" Hondo gasped. "Kirk, you wound me! You are my guest!"

"Then I can leave whenever I want?" The human seemed to keep forgetting where his hand was, since he gave a sudden yelp when Heek submerged it into the small bacta-jar. "What in the-?!"

"I must insist that you stay for a while, captain." Hondo grinned as Kirk tore his hand from the jar, only to receive a smart slap from Heek, who grabbed the recently stitched appendage and shoved it back in with a glare that dared the captain to try it again. "I could never send someone as unprepared as you out into the galaxy without at least helping a little."

Pikk was cackling again.

Hondo Ohnaka left the room, certain that his ship's doctor could handle his panicked friend better than he could at the moment. He needed to speak to his crew about their newest member. It was a ... delicate situation, and Hondo didn't need a foolish crew-mate undermining everything he was about to put into motion.

Maybe after laying down some new rules, he'd check the Holo-net, just to see if anything popped up about Kirk's lost friends. Hey, for all Hondo knew, they would have a better memory than their captain.

Heek understood what angle his captain was going for, and yet as he treated the human before him, he had to wonder if it would work. It was obvious enough that Kirk was furious and in shock, though the man gave few outward signs of it. He stood next to the bed where he'd awoken, petulantly holding his hand in the bacta-jar. His hand had been trembling slightly while Heek had stitched it, but he didn't appear to be trembling at all any more.

Heek was sure that if he put his hand on the man's shoulder, however, he would feel the truth. The human was still clearly attempting to get his bearings.

It took a few moments of silence, with Heek cleaning up the blood from his small worktable, before the human looked at him. The intelligent eyes still held a glint of anger, but his voice was controlled when he asked, "What is this stuff, anyway?"

"Bacta." Heek had never been one for long-winded speeches - that was more his captain's style - but he didn't want to leave the man stewing. The last thing the panicked human needed was more incentive to punch their captain.

Kirk was silent for a long moment, and Heek ended up pointing at the bed. "Sit down, lad. Yew're in shock." The ghost of a smile painted the man's face, but it seemed wistful more than anything else. He sat down heavily, his eyes going back to the closed door as he sighed.

"You're probably right."

"Oi know Oi'm roight."

"Of course. I'm assuming you're the ship's doctor?" Kirk appeared amused, though his shock was becoming more apparent now that he had been given time to think.

"Heek's m'name." Heek stuck out his left hand as cheekily as he could, and Kirk shook it with his own left hand, balancing the bacta-jar on his knees. "An' Oi've been 'ere wiv Capt'n Ohnaka for a long toime, now."

"Jim Kirk." The human replied, his voice distant, as though his mind was far away. In all honesty, his mind probably was far away, and the fact that he'd been knocked out little more than an hour earlier couldn't have been helping. "Is Ohnaka always like this?"

"Yew're gonna have ta be more specific." Heek admitted, even as he prepped a sedative. The human needed it, and Heek needed some quiet time anyway, after the show from earlier. "Ohnaka's got a lot more to 'im than what yew jus' saw, sure, bu' is 'e always loike what?"

There was a long pause as Kirk seemed to think about it, and Heek wondered if he'd forgotten the question. He finished preparing the sedative, knowing that the sooner his newest ward got some rest, the sooner he would as well. Yet just as he was about to administer it the man spoke.

"Ridiculous."

"Eh?" Heek palmed the hypo, making sure the man couldn't see it when he glanced over, finally meeting Heek's eyes. He looked far too calm.

"Your captain is ridiculous."

"Oi'm no' about ta argue wiv yew." Heek bobbed his head, and Kirk suddenly stood, pulling his hand out of the jar and setting it down. He appeared to have made a decision.

"In fact, this whole situation is ridiculous. Your captain can't keep me here. I'm going to find my friends."

"Whoa, oi don' fink yew're in the best condition ta be runnin' around already." Heek started forward, only for the captain to jump away, his hands making fists at his sides before coming up at the ready. His stitched hand shown with bacta and blood, the stitches stretching as he clenched it, allowing more red to leak through.

"You know what they say: there's no time like the present." Kirk grinned, but it was wolfish. "One of my best friends is a doctor, and you'll have to be more subtle than that if you plan on injecting me with something without my noticing."

"Oi'm sorry, bu' oi can' in good conscience jus' le' yew leave when yew're in this state of moind." Heek frowned as he readied himself as well. The half of him that was a doctor was worried for the recently stitched hand that was bobbing up and down before Kirk in a show of defense, but his pirate half was excited to see where the fight would lead. In the end, the pirate half won out, and he took a swing; with any luck, the man would go down easily.

Heek was surprised when the man grabbed his arm and used the momentum to flip him over his shoulder, slamming him to the durasteel floor behind him. Kirk's move had been fairly unexpected, and so Heek decided to use his new position to his advantage, twisting his legs around to sweep the human off of his feet.

The maneuver worked and the man fell, but not before throwing a solid punch at Heek's face, catching him in the nose. When Kirk hit the ground, Heek readied the needle once more, and injected it as quickly as he could into the man's shoulder. He got an elbow in the gut for his troubles, but as Kirk rolled away he knew that it was only a matter of time before he won the fight, now.

"Doctors ..." Kirk gasped as he pulled himself to his feet, Heek doing the same across from him. "You're all the same ..."

"Oi'll take tha' as a compliment." Heek gave a tiny bow, throwing the empty needle cartridge onto his worktable and putting his fists up. "Yew sure yew don' wanna sit down, Jim Kirk? Take a breather?"

Kirk responded by punching him in the face again, kneeing him in the gut and then hitting him in the back to slam him into the ground. Heek grabbed at the man's ankles, jerking them back just as he made for the door. Kirk hit the floor with a grunt of pain, and his boot heel slammed into Heek's poor abused nose. Blood finally gushed out, even his hardened skin unable to take that amount of force twice in a row.

Heek responded by pulling at the foot until the boot came off, Kirk giving a strangled cry as he somehow lurched away and pulled himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the one that was still booted. He knocked Heek's worktable down, and the Weequay was forced to roll to avoid it landing on him. The bacta jar hit the ground, bacta spilling everywhere as they both looked at one another for a moment. Then Kirk was making for the door again, leaving Heek to stop him by launching himself off of the floor into a flying tackle.

He wrapped his arms around the writhing human, and he could feel him getting weaker. This time Heek was expecting it when a pointy elbow got free and turned his head before it reached him, leaving the captain with a torn-up elbow, courtesy of his chin-spines. "'re yew done now?" Heek gasped around his bloody nose, thoroughly sick of the situation.

Kirk mumbled something unintelligible in response, his gasping breaths slowly calming into something less frantic.

"Didn' quite 'ear yew, wot did yew say?" Heek asked it cheekily as he let go, pulling away to roll the human onto his back.

"Sp'k ... cangiffway ... f'dration ..."

Heek shook his head as he easily lifted the smaller human up, carrying him back to the bed.

"B'nes ..."

Heek sat back down at his workbench, looking at the disaster that was now his med-bay, then back at his newest charge. The man's elbow was bleeding and he'd managed to split his hand open again. Heek was fairly certain that he'd twisted the human's ankle when he'd pulled it as well.

Why did Hondo always do this to him?

"Wonderful."

I'm so sorry for the long wait I forced you all to suffer through. I've loved each and every response to my fic!

Thank you so much for your insight, E! I love the culture shock idea, and so I've begun to integrate it already. You're completely right that combining these two universes is fairly difficult due to the differing technology, so yes, I've been trying to avoid the whole "Star Trek/Star Wars has better tech" debate. It just makes it so much simpler for me.

Not Naboo eh, I'm confused as to whether you're frustrated with my writing, or with the Clone Wars as a whole, but I assure you that Doctor McCoy is basing all of his knowledge only on his own universe and what he's seen in less than a few hours in this universe. If I had him arrive in Star Wars and love the Jedi with no prior knowledge of them, it wouldn't just be out of character, but it would be bad writing. I'm endeavoring to make the reactions as realistic as possible. I can promise that Bones won't hate the Jedi so much when he gets to know them.

A Mysterious Hooded figure, I'm glad you like it so far. You're part of the reason that I've found my will to continue! All of that story talk reminded me that I have readers who are waiting on me. So thank you for your kind reviews! Haha, I know that Artoo and his Threepio comment perhaps seemed out of the blue, and you're right. Sometimes the realistic stuff makes less sense, but I've always been a slice of life type of person *shrug* what can I say? Thank you for your feedback, though. I'll be sure to look for those typos and correct them. :)

My finals are over, and I'm sure that Christmas break will offer me the opportunity I need to get this going again. I know that there are people reading it, so I should probably write more often, and I will. I'll try not to get distracted by any other new fandoms, cross my heart and hope to die!

Thanks for waiting!