Captain's Log - Stardate 2261.019
Woke up to find Bones hovering over me with a young girl hanging at his side. I had a massive headache from a gash in my forehead and while Bones was fussing, the girl - Bones calls her Gem - reached over and gently pressed two fingers against my face. I would have swatted her away, but Bones stopped me.
My headache began fading as her head began to bleed, but it quickly healed over. If it wasn't for the blood Bones cleaned off of both of us, I would have assumed I hallucinated it.
It took well over an hour for Kirk to calm down long enough to think sensibly - an hour during which both Security men wisely went back to their guard duties to keep themselves as far away from their volatile Captain as possible.
The planet itself was what refocused Kirk's thoughts. The structure shook as the planet trembled and, as he grabbed onto one of the tables, his eyes fell on the monitor on the other end. Spock had been about to tell him something about what had happened to the researchers. That answer might well be on the monitor.
The tremor only lasted a matter of seconds, so once it had ended, Kirk moved to the monitor and entered the commands that would have it replay the last section that had been watched. When the noise began on the recording, Kirk quickly recognized it as the same sound he'd heard over the communicator immediately before losing contact with Spock. As he watched first one, then the other researcher disappear into a flash of light, he had no doubt that whoever had taken the researchers had taken his men as well.
"Mitchell! Franks! Get down here!
Mitchell was closest so he had reached the bottom of the stairs while Franks was halfway down when the noise filled the small space again. It seemed the affect Franks the worst in the beginning. He froze on the stairs, screaming and grabbing at his head. Another flash of light and the man was gone. Also immediately Mitchell was clamping his hands over his ears and Kirk watched as he disappeared as well.
Knowing he was next, Kirk lurched toward the station's control panel. His plans were to send out a distress signal so that the Enterprise would know there was a problem. His intentions were thwarted when another tremor shook the room and the already unbalanced Captain fell, clipping his head on the table. He was unconscious when the flash of light took him away.
McCoy woke disoriented and found himself laying next to Spock's body. They were both in a small pool of light with nothing to indicate where they were at. Sitting up, he reached over to feel for a pulse on Spock only to involuntarily cry out in pain as his arm grasped tightly when the Vulcan suddenly woke. The bone was broken before Spock came back to awareness enough to realize what he was doing and released his grip.
As Spock frowned at the now semi-conscious doctor, another area lit up and there was a raised area visible. Acknowledging to himself that he was already quite likely to be boothed for damaging McCoy, Spock decided his best move for now would be to get the doctor up off of the floor and then see if he could find anything in McCoy's medkit that might help.
Picking up the injured man with ease, Spock headed for the other lighted area, slowing as he was now able to detect that a body was already on the platform he had seen. His first thought was that it had to be one of the two researchers, but that was quickly proven false when Spock got his first clear look at the body. While the form was humanoid, it was also female.
For once, Spock hesitated. He had no idea whether or not the woman had been brought to this place herself or if she was one of the ones responsible for what had happened. He quickly decided that he would rather question her with his phaser in hand and quickly laid McCoy down.
The groan escaping McCoy seemed to rouse the woman, who moved in exaggerated gestures that reminded Spock somewhat of a dance performance that Nyota had once invited him to see. Seeing Spock, she flinched back, raising her hands as if to shield herself, a move he thought to be highly illogical as her hands would hardly be sufficient to halt a phaser blast. Though he had no way of knowing her age, Spock found himself now thinking of her as a child rather than as an adult.
A second groan seemed to draw her like a moth to a light, so Spock slowly moved further from McCoy to see what she would do. If the girl proved violent, he could blame all of McCoy's injuries on her. Kirk might still booth him for failing to prevent the injuries, but that wouldn't be as bad as the punishment for causing them himself.
The girl moved toward McCoy, settling down next to him and leaning over without touching. One hand hesitantly hovered over him, coming to rest over the broken arm. Soundlessly, she recoiled with her hands tightly fisted as her features distorted with pain. The next moan drew her trembling hand back again, but this time, she actually touched McCoy.
Watching the sequence of events in fascination, Spock was under the impression that the girl would have been screaming if she'd been able to. Another minute and she was slumping by McCoy's side.
Before Spock could return, McCoy was already moving again without any indication of being in pain. As his eyes opened, McCoy looked down at his arm, then over to the girl next to him. When her eyes met the doctor's, Spock was shocked to see an expression on McCoy's face that he'd seen before, but only in the presence of the doctor's young sister. The girl smiled back hesitantly, but the smile grew in strength as McCoy touched her gently.
"Thank you."
Taking a deep breath, Spock moved a step closer. It was disagreeable to have to chose between apologizing to the doctor and facing the Captain, but at the same time, he was embarrassed that his lack of control had caused him to injure a worn ally.
"Doctor . . ."
Before he could get out another word, McCoy waved him off.
"My own head wasn't fully clear either or I wouldn't have put myself in reach of a Vulcan waking up when his last memory was pain. Besides, the little lady here seems to have repaired the damages, so I won't bring it up to Jim if you don't."
Spock simply nodded, more relieved than he would ever admit out loud. The three of them had a very viable partnership, but the balance was delicate as Spock knew that, should push come to shove, Kirk and McCoy would back one another over him.
McCoy wasn't paying attention to Spock and his reactions though. He was studying the girl. Slowly bringing around his tricorder, he showed it to her and her open curiosity about the device made him chuckle. Since he was at ease and showing the tricorder to her, she didn't pull away when he turned it on and used it to scan her.
"No vocal cords and no signs of her ever having any."
Keeping his distance, Spock nodded.
"I had suspected something of the kind. She has not made a single noise since our arrival, even when she was in pain."
Turning his head to look at Spock, McCoy consulted his readings again.
"Pain? Why was she in pain?"
"It was not my doing, Doctor. At least not directly. When she made contact with you and mended your arm, she seemed to be in agony. Then it passed and she collapsed by your side where she remained until you woke."
Feeling the doctor's concern toward her, the girl moved nearer to him and seemed pleased when McCoy put his arms around her - again, the move reminded Spock of the interactions with Joanna he had witnessed.
"She. We can't just keep calling her that."
One brow canted as Spock continued watching them both.
"Indeed? Then what do you suggest?"
Looking at the crystals that decorated the flowing and filmy tabard that she wore, McCoy shrugged.
"I think I'll call her Gem."
The second eyebrow joined the first.
"Gem?"
"Better that 'hey you'. Besides. it fits her."
Before Spock could comment, a flash of light nearby drew their attention. In the pool of light they had originally been in, a familiar figure in Command Gold was laying far too still.
"Jim!"
McCoy didn't hesitate to run to his side, Gem close behind and Spock following the two of them more warily. It was now plain that Gem hadn't brought them there, but someone had and whoever they were, they commanded technologies that Spock had never encountered before.
The first thought to run through Kirk's mind as he woke to a pounding headache was that he must have gotten into a fight. Hearing McCoy's voice, brought his mind back to what had actually happened.
"Easy, Jim. You're with us. Wherever we are."
As the blue eyes opened, Jim's next words died unspoken as he saw the delicate looking female at McCoy's side who was looking at him with open curiosity. Seeing the look on Kirk's face, McCoy smiled as he brought up his tricorder.
"Jim, this is Gem. Gem, this is our Captain. I don't know if she actually understands anything that I'm saying, Jim, but talking to her seems to help her stay calm. She's a skittish little thing. Now hold still while I check to see what kind of damage you did to that thick skull of yours."
While McCoy was frowning over his readings, Gem shifted closer to Kirk. Always wary with an unknown person, Kirk watched her closely and moved to swat her away as she reached for his forehead. When McCoy blocked his hand, the blue eyes narrowed.
"It's alright, Jim. Let her touch you. Watch."
The girl had drawn her hand back, but looked to McCoy. When he nodded in encouragement, she gave him as unsure smile then reached out again, gently pressing two fingers against Kirk's forehead. She grimaced, but then took a deep breath and maintained her connection.
To his shock, Kirk found his pounding headache was rapidly fading. As he started to question what was going on, he saw a wound appear on Gem's forehead. Mesmerized, he reached out and touched a finger to the wound. Drawing back, the blood on his fingertip told him that it wasn't an illusion even though a minute later, the girl's head wound disappeared,
"She's an empath, Jim. So sensitive that not only can she feel our pain and emotions, she can draw them into herself.'
As she slumped from the exertion, McCoy gathered her close again to support her and Kirk felt a pang of jealousy. He remained still however as McCoy pulled a wipe from his kit and used it first to clean the remaining blood from Kirk's forehead and then Gem's. It was his movements that caused the jealousy to be replaced with a speculative look. The attitude McCoy had cleaning up the girl reminded him of watching McCoy treating Joanna for a skinned knee.
Unwilling to voice his concerns that the female empath might be using her powers to manipulate McCoy, Kirk sat up. Something was missing. Something was wrong, but what?
"Not so fast, Jim."
'No need to fuss, Bones. The pain's completely gone. Not even a trace of the headache."
Then what he was missing clicked.
"Where are Mitchell and Franks?"
Spock spoke up.
"We saw your arrival, but we have not seen either of them, Captain. Perhaps they are still in the research station."
"No, they aren't. That . . . sound started again. Both of them disappeared before the tremor hit. I was thrown against the table and that's the last I remember before waking up here."
"Well, that explains the dent you had in your head."
McCoy ran another scan over Kirk, then showed him the comparison between the two reading.
"You had a skull fracture and a severe concussion."
Holding the tricorder and examining the readings, Kirk sounded incredulous.
"And she fixed that? By taking the injuries onto herself?"
"That she did. Wonder if she'd like to join my nursing staff? But right now? Healing you seems to have taken a lot out of both of you. Come over here. You can settle down and rest a little while Spock and I keep watch."
"I'm not that tired."
"Fine then, take a nap while we try to figure out what's in this darkness around us using our tricorders. You don't have one, so you may as well rest up so that you can take the lead when we find something."
Finding nothing to really argue against, Kirk grudgingly agreed and headed for the indicated platform as McCoy scooped Gem into his arms and carried her.