Captain's Log - Stardate 2261.033

With the Vians dead, we freed Bones. His medical uniform was in tatters, but outside of milder than expected wounds to his wrists, we couldn't find any injuries. Going back to examine the Vian bodies, Spock noted they had injuries to their wrists consistent with the chains and conjectured that Gem had transferred Bones' injuries to them. Good for her.

Spock was able to use the device again to take the four of us to the surface. Scotty sounded relieved to hear from me - sounds like there was a problem in my absence.

Gem had settled down to the floor, breathing deeply and showing signs of exhaustion. Kirk gave her a genuine smile which she returned before directed her gaze to McCoy. Nodding as if she had spoke, Kirk turned to Spock.

"Put down the toys for now and help me get him down."

Kirk held on McCoy as Spock found the way to lower the chains and continued to hold him as Spock undid the shackles, which were now coated with blood. Picking up McCoy's tricorder, Spock used it to examine the doctor.

"Why is he unconscious, Spock?"

Spock didn't speak until he finished running and examining the results of the scan.

"While I am not a medical practitioner, it would appear that, while Gem was able to heal the doctor's wounds, she does not have the ability to regenerate blood. The Doctor has lost a great deal, approximately a quarter of his circulating blood volume. He is fortunate that she was able to stop his blood loss at that point. Had the loss gone to over thirty percent, the Doctor would likely be suffering from a massive circulatory collapse by now."

Checking the tricorder readings again, Spock looked back to Kirk.

"Assuming no further injuries, Doctor McCoy should recover completely, though he will recover far sooner if we can get him to the Enterprise so that his staff can replace the lost fluids."

Kirk gave a glance back over toward the bodies of the Vians.

"Conjecture as to what Gem did?"

Spock lowered his tricorder and gave Kirk a speculative look.

"You seem to be moving easier, sir. The pain from the bends is no longer an issue?"

"No. I feel fine now. Did she . . . do you think she was able to give the Vians my injury?"

"That is my belief. The Vians both show signs of injuries that correspond to the areas where Doctor McCoy's uniform is torn. The most telling is the injuries to their wrists that appear as your shackle wounds did. Since it is highly doubtful that either of the Vians were ever shackled themselves, the wounds could only have been transferred to them from Doctor McCoy."

"So, they injured Bones and she fed those injuries back to them. Good for her. I had no idea she could do something like that."

Gem was keeping close to Kirk as he carried McCoy. Spock considered her for a moment before speaking again.

"I do not believe that the young lady knew herself that she could do that, Captain."

Gently lowering McCoy to the ground, Kirk looked at the two control units.

"Maybe not. She never struck back at the Vians while they were hurting her. Did your adjustment hold?"

"It did. We should be able to make use of it again to reach the surface."

Gem knelt at McCoy's side, taking his left hand into hers. Knowing Kirk's tendency to dislike others showing undue attention to McCoy, Spock decided he needed to make sure of the Captain's wishes where the girl was concerned.

"Who do you wish taken to the surface?"

Reaching up to brush Gem's bangs to the side, Kirk didn't bother to look towards Spock as he answered.

"All of us. The corpses of the Vians as well. There may be others of their species that we could come across one day. I'd rather know more about them before that day."

"Yes sir. And what about the other bodies?"

Turning his head, Kirk looked at the tubes still holding the remains of Linke, Ozaba, Mitchell and Franks.

"Leave them. All we would do is consign their bodies to the Black. Let the nova take care of that."

"Very well. I should inform you that after the Vians had removed yourself and Gem, the Doctor and I attempted to contact the Enterprise. The ship was still out of range."

Remembering the sudden wind storm on the surface, Kirk frowned.

"Can you aim that thing to take us to the research station? If there isn't too much interference from the solar radiation, we should be able to contact the Enterprise with the station equipment even if the ship isn't back in orbit yet."

"That should not present any difficulty, Captain."

"Good. Do it."

With another flash of light, the group appeared in the research station. Spock noted that this trip had been the one to overload the control unit, leaving it as little more than a paperweight. However, he still had possession of the second unit that Kirk had tossed him and he fully intended to take it back to the Enterprise for a thorough study.

"Spock, see if you can find a spot to store the Vians for now while I get Bones settled."

Without waiting for his First to acknowledge him, Kirk picked McCoy up and carried him into the sleeping area. After laying the doctor down, Kirk turned and took a long look at Gem, who had automatically followed him. Her weariness was easy to see and Kirk coaxed her to lie down beside McCoy. She was asleep before Kirk managed to cover them with a blanket. One thing he knew from personal experience with blood loss was that McCoy would chill easily. Between the girl and the blanket, he should stay warm enough.

Once finished, Kirk remained standing by the bedside for a minute before nodding to himself. As an empathy, there was still, of course, the possibility that she had used her powers to form a bond with McCoy, but if she had, it didn't seem to be more than the bond he knew McCoy would have formed without her urging. No, she wasn't a threat to his relationship with the doctor, any more than Joanna or the nurses were.

Content with that observation, Kirk left them to their sleep and went to find the station's communication panel. He was pleased to see that Spock had completed the task of moving the Vians somewhere out of sight.

Adjusting the setting on the transmitter, Kirk settled down into the chair in front of the panel.

"This is the Minara II station for the ISS Enterprise. Come in, Enterprise."

Repeating the same call three times, Kirk heard a response. It wasn't clear, but some of it could be made out.

"Captain? Good . . . you. More fla . . . had a wee prob . . ."

One thing Kirk noticed was Scott's tone. He sounded relieved which immediately made Kirk wonder who would need to be boothed when he returned. Assuming, of course, whoever had caused a problem was still alive to bother with.

"You're breaking up, Scotty. Tell me how long before you can pick us up."

"If . . . damned . . . stays settled . . . Chekov?"

There was a pause, then the answer came back.

"Latest was a small . . . should be clear . . . be there in . . "

It was difficult to keep the frustration out of his voice, but Kirk managed.

"Repeat time frame."

"Four hours . . . another flare."

"Unless the ship is in immediate danger from a new flare, come in and get us. Understand?"

"Aye . . . at once, sir."

Spock entered the area in the middle of Kirk's conversation and frowned slightly.

"Is the Enterprise returning now or in four hours, Captain."

Tempted to kick the panel, Kirk gave a rare sigh.

"As you said once before, a very good question for which I currently do not have a very good answer. Get everything downloaded off of the computers now. We need to be ready to go whenever they get here."