Chapter Three
Once the transporter released her, her legs collapsed under her and Jim fell to the ground in a heap. With the adrenalin fading fast, her reserves were almost gone as well. A sob of relief escaped and it was then that she noticed her whole body was shaking and her face was wet, not with blood but with tears. Curling into herself, Jim let herself cry. She was glad she had set the coordinates for her quarters rather than for the medical center. She needed this moment to collect herself.
It wasn't long before her tears stopped and her shaking subsided but she was exhausted. Wiping her eyes, Jamie dragged herself to the bathroom. The light automatically switched on and the pristine room was the complete opposite of Kirk. Jim peeled off the dirty smock, wincing as it pulled on the scabs on her back. The mirror showed her the true horror. Her left eye and cheekbone was swollen, an angry purple. Her split lip and left shoulder looked just as bad. Turning, she could see her back was a veritable rainbow with a few cuts added in but the real worry was the hand-sized bruise above her left hip. Even her ribs were yellow, black, and blue.
She'd never heard of the training she'd agreed to going to this extreme and resolved to find out before Bones got a hold of her. Jim opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed a few over the counter pain blockers and swallowed them before stepping in the shower. She was too scared for the intensity of a water shower and opted for the sonics.
Finally clean, she limped to her room, grabbed her cadet uniform (opting to add leggings to mask bruising) and her hat and painfully dressed. Jim pulled the hat low and started the trek to Pike's office. The halls were blissfully empty so the walk didn't take too long.
She was about to walk into the reception area when she collided with a solid body. She stumbled and would have fallen had she not been grabbed by two hands. Unfortunately, while the grip prevented her falling, it jarred her injuries. A line of fire shot down her arm and everything hurt.
"Cadet?"
Jim must have made a sound because the man immediately let go and she stumbled into the wall.
"Cadet, you are injured. Why are you not at the infirmary?"
It took her a moment to catch her breath and look up. She didn't recognize the man, no professor. His grey instructor uniform identified him as a professor. She squinted at him, her pain at the unexpected jostling making thinking difficult. He was taller than her and Jim could see the pointed ears and upswept eyebrows underneath black hair.
"I need to see Captain Pike."
His expression turned from curiosity to clear disapproval.
"The Captain is in an important meeting, cadet. He is unable to see anyone including fellow staff members."
"He'll see me." Jim stuck out her chin defiantly and moved to step around the Vulcan but he quickly moved to block her path.
"Unlikely. I must insist you remove yourself to medical. As a superior officer, it is not a suggestion."
Superior, my ass. "I will after I see the Captain. It's important." Even in her head, her argument sounded like a petulant child's but she knew that she needed to get the mystery of her training mission going awry solved.
Jim moved forward again but this time, instead if simply blocking her path, the vulcan grabbed her right arm at the bicep in a steel grip. With his other hand he flipped open his communicator.
"Lieutenant-Commander Spock to medical."
"Medical here."
"I have an injured cadet refusing to seek medical treatment. I request a team be dispatched to the Commandant of Cadets offices immediately. She appears to be suffering from a possible head injury and is unable or unwilling to report herself."
Jim squawked at his ending statement and jerked her arm but his grip held and it caused her ribs to protest the movement.
"We'll send Dr. McCoy to your location." Oh, shit.
"Acknowledged."
Spock pocketed his comm and watched her struggles impassively. She glared back.
"Where did you obtain these injuries?"
"Alaska."
Spock opened his mouth to ask more when voices were heard coming from the Captain's office. Jim perked up when she saw Pike but stiffened in surprise as he was followed by Captain Fitzgerald and another man she didn't recognize. He wore an admiral's uniform and all of them were deep in discussion when they caught sight of her and the Lieutenant-Commander.
Both Pike's and Fitzgerald's jaws dropped open but the Admiral had little reaction. There was a calculating look in his icy blue eyes that made Jim want to shudder.
"Cadet Kirk? How did you...?" Fitzgerald stuttered and Pike stepped in.
"Mister Spock, what is going on here?"
His grip on her arm tightened as he crisply saluted. "I observed Cadet Kirk attempting to make her way to your office and deemed it necessary to stop her as she was in need of medical assistance. She was rather...insistent.
"I have contacted medical and they are sending someone."
"Quite right, Mr. Spock. You followed procedure exactly."
Jim could see Spock's chest inflate and a smug look slide across his face at Fitzgerald's words and it made her wish she could stick her tongue out at him. Daddy issues much?
"We'll take over from here." Pike moved forward and Spock reluctantly released her and left at the clear dismissal. The admiral turned to Pike and Fitzgerald.
"I will send Commander Sloane to collect statements and reports regarding Kirk's performance. I am sure it will be an interesting read."
Before Jim could ponder the admiral's words further Pike and her instructor carefully guided her into Pike's office and gently pushed her into a chair.
"Jim, what happened? I've got Albright quitting the academy citing mental distress, reports that you blew up part of the training base. Not to mention you look like you've gone three rounds with a Naarsican!"
The captain looked pale and tired, his uniform was rumpled like he had slept in it. Fitzgerald didn't look much better. His hands were shaking as he pressed a glass of water into Jim's hands.
"I don't know what happened. I know that this exercise went beyond what it was supposed to be. I did what I had to to escape. If they're complaining about me destroying a transporter room then they have no right."
Jim glowered at the water in her hands. "I've never heard of something like this happening."
Fitzgerald knelt next to her and placed a hand on her wrist. "That's because it never has. At least not in my course. And they're not complaining about the explosion. That's the part that makes us nervous."
"They're not saying much of anything."
Jim looked up at Pike who was shutting his comm shut and frowning.
"I'm being ordered to drop the matter by Admiral Marcus." The plastic communicator in his fist creaked as his grip on it tightened. "You too, James."
Both her and Fitzgerald were about to argue when a buzzing could be heard at the door to the office. Pike opened the door to a very irritable looking McCoy and when he saw who was in the office he practically ran to her side, his knees hitting the deck hard enough to make everyone cringe.
"Jim! Good god! What happened?" Without waiting for a reply, he pulled out his scanner and started taking readings. His eyes grew darker with each passing second. He pulled out his communicator.
"Medical? This is McCoy. I need an ambulance to my location a.s.a.p. for transport to Starfleet Medical. This is more serious than what it was originally considered."
"I do not need an ambulance!"
McCoy ignored her as he rummaged in his kit, putting together a hypospray, his lips pressed into a thin line and eyebrows drawn down. He moved forward and she jerked away in irritation. "And I do not need that!"
She swore she heard McCoy growl. "Dammit Jim! You do but I'm gonna attribute your recalcitrant behavior to delirium. You have a fever of 103, inflammation all over, a shoulder that needs to be reset properly before you get permanent nerve damage, broken wrist, broken ribs...should I go on?" Leonard McCoy was in full doctor mode, pushing himself up to his full height which was imposing, to say the least.
"Maybe you should listen to the doctor?" Fitzgerald agreed and Jim turned but her movement was aborted by a sudden sting in her neck.
"Goddammit, Bones! Those things hurt!" She snapped but the pain in her body left quickly...and so did her fight. Her limbs were heavy as McCoy manhandled her out of her jacket and began to lift her shirt at the back. His hands fisted in the material before lowering it carefully and Jim could hear him cursing but it didn't seem to matter anymore.
"'M s'rry, Bones."
She leaned forward and rested her head on his chest. He smelled like Ella's baby powder and it made her relax into his warmth. She knew she was always safe with Bones.
McCoy stroked Jim's hair and felt her relax against his chest. The marks on her body made him physically sick. The fact that someone could and did do that in the name of education was sickening.
He carefully pulled Jim to the ground, laying her on her side with her jacket as a pillow. Pulling off his own jacket, he used it to cover Jim and turned to the toe captains who were supposed to have protected her.
"What. Happened?" He knew he had only minutes before the ambulance was due to arrive but he needed answers. Fitzgerald looked distinctly pale and if he was gonna pass out McCoy sure as hell wasn't going to help him.
"As you know, Kirk's training was changed to a more intensive course." Pike said carefully. McCoy's sight became red and he had to take a deep breath to calm himself.
The paramedics arrived and carefully lifted Jim's limp body onto the waiting stretcher. As they left, he turned back to the two older men.
"Well, I sure hope she passed your test. She paid for that A with her own blood."