Chapter Three

Uncharacteristic

Dr McCoy had been expecting Jim to walk in with news about Chekov. Instead he got Spock almost running through the doors holding what looked like an unconscious body. Bones jumped back in surprise to let Spock pass. Quickly recovering his wits he rushed through to where Spock had gone moments before. He paused trying to take in what he saw in front of him. Chekov- what used to be Chekov- was lying on the isolation bed. Spock had backed away for him to work but he had no idea where to start. There were so many bruise marks on his chest. It was literally just a mass of bruises and blood. His shirt was completely soaked in blood and was hardly distinguishable as yellow. There were patches of white where his ribs were showing through. There were other visible wounds on him as-well. Spock was looking at him expectantly and he burst into action. Running on total instinct, Bones grabbed a roll of bandages and handed some to Spock. "We need to apply pressure to the wound, I need some help. Come on!" Spock leapt forward and started dabbing a bandage into the mass of blood that used to be the ensign's chest. By the time they had cleaned the wound, Chekov had lost way too much blood. Bones used a machine to stich up the original cuts -which were quite small -before replacing the lost blood. How long had that been? It had felt like minutes but Bones knew it had been longer. Much longer.

"Doctor, I think there may be some more wounds that he has temporarily treated." Spock told McCoy with what almost sounded like concern in his voice.

"I think it's best if we leave him now. He's obviously gone through trauma. Leave him, we'll inform the captain." Spock nodded his agreement as they walked out.

Pavel's eyes fluttered open gently. All he saw for a few seconds was bright white, everywhere. After a few moments, his eyes strayed downwards onto a dark shadow. As it came into focus, he recognised the blurry image of the captain standing over him. Where was he?

"Hello. Nice to see you again!" a familiar voice said with a tinge of relief in it. Pavel felt an ice-cold hand come down on his forehead. It made him realise how hot he really felt. Pain ran through his head and chest as he shot up in the bed. "Whoa! It's alright! Doctor's orders: Don't strain yourself. Personally I'd say that it would be painful for you if you decide to move really quickly."

"Where am I?" Chekov croaked. His voice was cracked and it felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. There was a pain in his the back of his head.

"Well, don't you recognise it?" the captain asked, with humour in his voice. As he slowly turned his head and looked around the room, he saw Spock and Sulu stood in a corner.

"Sickbay?" Chekov hazarded a guess. He gave a weak smile to his captain and got the same in return. "But why-"

"Let me anticipate that question. Why are you here? Well Spock tried to enter your quarters and there was silence so he overrode the door and got in. He found you on your bed with blood pouring out of some cuts on your chest. Someone had bound and blindfolded you as-well. Dr McCoy reckons that if you had been left much longer, you could have bled to death." The information hit him like a lead weight round his neck. You could have bled to death… the words repeated themselves in his head. It didn't seem real. There was no way he had come near to death. He was about to say he didn't think that was right but the look in Kirk's eyes was enough to silence him. Kirk stood up to leave. As he did, he added "Right, I'm probably needed on the bridge by now. I'm coming down later but you need to rest. Can you do that?" Chekov nodded slowly as all three of them left the room.

He couldn't risk staying here, he couldn't risk staying anywhere for long. Sickbay was packed with nurses and patients. Not that that would stop them. They'd happily kill thousands of people if it meant they could transform someone's life into hell. All they cared about was being dominant. As he lay back down he knew as soon as this place was emptied, he was leaving.

Dr McCoy came in and checked on him every hour except sometime near the evening. (He could tell what time it was because of the lights which were kept as similar as earth conditions as possible.) Nurse Chapel came in instead and did the routine check. Chekov asked where McCoy was and his answer was he had been called to the bridge. As she went around her work, she started humming. He half recognised the song, but couldn't put a name to it although he had a feeling he should know it. When the nurse had left, he tried sitting up. The pain that seemed to rip his chest apart was bearable if he didn't move too quickly. He tore off his ragged shirt and pulled a new one over his head. Nobody challenged him as he walked out of sickbay and back to his quarters.

As soon as Jim had reached the bridge, he knew things were not going to be as relaxed as usual. Even though Chekov's replacement had already worked this shift for five days, the andorian being present still filled the air with icy tension. Jim sat down in his chair and immediately wished he had stayed in sickbay for longer. He felt like he was walking toward the edge of a knife blade. Ambassador Drogaff walked onto the bridge with a stern expression. He feigned surprise poorly when he saw the new andorian at the navigation post. "Captain?" he asked sweetly "Where is your usual navigator? I was hoping to have a talk with him."

"He was unfortunately taken to sickbay five days ago." Jim replied. He didn't even try to disguise the coolness in his voice.

"Ah well. I will go and see him there then." The ambassador still spoke gently and Jim couldn't tell if his tone was genuine or fake. He suddenly put two and two together. They seemed to hate each other in the office, Drogaff then forced a court-martial and now, he wanted to talk to him. He could be the attacker… Jim thought quickly before speaking.

"Ah erm well, you can't because he's got a contagious fever and I wouldn't want you to get it. Its life threatening." The ambassador's face fell dramatically. He walked calmly out of the bridge and into the turbo lift without speaking again.

The rest of the day passed quickly without any action. It was nearing the time when gamma shift would be starting when there was a blinding flash and plumes of smoke came pouring out of the navigation console. Both Sulu and the andorian were sent flying backward with cuts to their heads and arms. Jim rushed in and was aided by Spock. Thankfully neither person was seriously harmed although they did seem a bit drowsy. Lieutenant Uhura quickly used the ship-wide intercom to contact Dr McCoy. When he reached the bridge, the two seemed fine with only a few minor cuts and burns. By the time he had finished dressing them, Bones looked about ready to hit someone. Speil, the andorian had given him nothing but grief over a small cut on his forearm. Apparently andorian skin was more sensitive and so it hurt more. Bones had ignored his whines and carried on with his job. Engineers stormed the bridge to fix the console as the people who were on gamma shift entered.

As the crew piled out of the bridge, they received a message from sickbay. Nurse Chapel's voice came over the intercom softly "Sickbay to Dr McCoy. You are needed here immediately."

"I'm on my way now Nurse." Bones replied. As the turbo lift stopped to let the doctor out, Jim pushed through as-well much to everyone's surprise. When the doors had closed again Bones looked across at his friend with a quizzical expression.

"I told Chekov I'd see him again later. Besides I want to ask him if he knows who could have possibly attacked him."

"Jim, I am your oldest friend and I can tell exactly what you're thinking. Ever since that court-martial, you've not liked the ambassador. Are you seriously thinking he attacked Chekov?"

"Bones, we have established two things here. One, the two Klingons and Chekov know each other. Two, none of them are going to tell us why, or how. We need to do a little investigation of our own." Jim looked across at his friend as they turned into sickbay. They were greeted by the nurse who looked like she thought they were going to kill her. "Are you alright Nurse? You look like you've been crying." Jim asked politely. The nurse dropped her head into her hands and her shoulders started quaking. "What's the matter?" they both asked.

"It's completely my fault! I did the routine check on Chekov and then carried on doing the paperwork in the office."

"Yes. So what's so bad?" Bones asked genuinely concerned but confused.

"Well, I went back at the next hour and…" her face dropped as she found herself unable to carry on. "And, and he's gone!"

"What do you mean he's gone?" Jim asked bewildered by the nurse's hysterical manner.

"I mean, he has got up and walked out of sickbay." Chapel said, now taking deep breaths to calm herself down. She looked up at them with a worried expression. "I should've been able to hear him. I certainly should have realised when the monitor showed nothing."

"Hey! Don't get all upset over it. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while. It's not really your fault is it? Even if you had realised sooner, what could you have done eh? Running out of sickbay to find him by yourself wouldn't have helped. What if there had been a disaster hmm? Then Dr McCoy would've been relying on you down here wouldn't he? You did the right thing." Jim spoke softly to the nurse while Bones went off to look if Chekov had left anything; an indication of if his disappearance was intentional. When Christine seemed to be calmer, Jim straightened up. Using the intercom, he set up a ship-wide search for Chekov, but he had a feeling that Chekov would easily evade the search.

Spock had left the bridge for his quarters and had just arrived outside his door when he heard the order to search for Chekov. Spock frowned, thoughts whizzing through his mind. He silently sighed before backtracking himself toward Chekov's quarters. As he reached the door, he strained his ear and remained silent. There was no sound from within the room. Spock headed off toward Jim's quarters. He wanted to know what had happened. It might give an indication as to where Chekov had gone.

Chekov had reached his quarters easily enough, but upon his arrival, he realised that sooner or later, somebody would come looking, and he had gone straight to the most obvious place. Pavel quickly looked around the room. There was nothing here that hadn't been before. At least he hadn't come yet. Glancing behind him for the last time, he turned and went back out of the room. He ran through the ship ignoring the pain in his chest. He reached a Jeffries tube that nobody used anymore and clambered down it. It brought him out exactly where he wanted to be. The lower decks didn't have any security which meant that anyone could get in and hide down there. However, he reached the doors and Mr Scott was there. He turned round as the ensign stopped short.

"Chekov!" he cried out. For once, there was actually joy in his voice instead of worry or relief. "I thought you were in sickbay. What are you doing here? You know you're not supposed to be down here!" completely ignoring Mr Scott's questions, Pavel replied:

"I need to go in there. Please." He looked up into the Scottish man's face. His eyes told him that Scotty didn't trust him.

"Why do you need to go in there laddie?" his voice was full of mistrust as-well.

"Please! I can't be seen! I need to go in there!" it was a desperate attempt and Scotty was starting to piece together the puzzle.

"You're supposed to be in sickbay aren't you?" he asked, staring at Chekov with eyes that demanded an answer. Pavel glanced nervously over his shoulder before trying to walk past. He could hear someone coming. "Oh, no you don't laddie!" Scotty said as he blocked Chekov's path. Acting on instinct, he twisted Scotty's arm onto his back and then punched. At the same time, Pavel kicked into Scotty's knee caps and pushed him forward. Bones cracked as Scotty fell and Chekov realised what he had done. He backed away into the room as Scotty writhed on the floor in agony. Now he really had blown it. He was asking for a court-martial now. How could I be so stupid? All I needed to do was make a cover story and he would have let me in. Now I've just busted his knee and wrist and left him screaming on the floor. Why? Chekov thought as he backed across the room. He walked into the wall and sank to the floor. He wrapped his arms around his knees and started shaking uncontrollably…

Curse Chekov for knowing his way around the ship so well! Jim thought as he went down the same corridor for the fifth time. He had wondered around the ship absent-mindedly for the past two hours looking for the Russian ensign. Now he was actually quite worried as to his where-abouts. "I'll look down here, you look down in engineering." He murmured to Bones. Bones nodded before heading off to engineering. Jim really was worried now. The whole ship had been looking now for two hours, he should have at least being seen by now. As he went up the corridor he walked past Sulu. "Any luck?" he asked hopefully. Sulu shook his head before carrying on walking. Jim sighed as he took another step.

Bones seriously doubted Chekov would come anywhere near engineering. Scotty was down there and everyone knew that Scotty could find anyone as long as he knew they were in engineering. But still he carried on. He was nearing a bend when he heard a strange noise. It sounded like someone crying in pain. He picked up speed as he rounded the bend. He was stopped in his tracks when he saw Scotty lying on the floor, with one arm holing his knees. His eyes settled on the doctor and a look of relief came into his face. "Doctor, I think he's broke my knee, I can't move it." Bones looked down at his knee and saw what Scotty meant. He called a medical team and waited until they'd taken Scotty to sickbay before entering the room that he had been in front of.

Bones stepped in tentatively as the doors slid open. He got to the middle of the room and still couldn't see Scotty's attacker. He hoped to god they wouldn't find Chekov in a similar state. It never occurred to him that Chekov could have attacked Scotty. There was a sudden sob from the corner of the room. Bones frowned as he approached. Why would someone be crying? He looked down and saw Chekov hunched in the corner, face buried in his knees which had his arms wrapped round them.

"You!" He screamed at the unsuspecting ensign. "You did that to Scotty for no reason! What is wrong with you?!"

He looked down at Chekov as he leapt out of his skin with fear. He hadn't known the doctor was there. He backed into the wall as Bones lunged at his throat. He was hauled to his feet by the collar of his shirt. The fury in Dr McCoy's face was inescapable. Chekov couldn't bring himself to look into his eyes. "Answer me!" the doctor shouted in Chekov's face. "Why?! What has he ever done to you? Tell me now!"

Pavel quivered and shook his head blindly. When Bones realised that meant "no I won't tell you" he was slammed into the wall twice before the rough hand on his collar let go and he slumped to the floor. "I want an answer! You will answer me now Chekov!" They both looked sideways as the door opened again and Spock and Jim walked in.

"Bones! Bones, what's going on?" Jim asked bewildered as he took in the scene. Chekov was practically hugging the wall, not daring to move with his hands sheltering his head. Dr McCoy was standing over him, looking like he was ready to release hell itself.

"I'll tell you what's going on!" He growled, not taking his eyes off Chekov. "I've just come down here and found Mr Scott outside this room with both his knee caps broken and his wrist snapped. Then-"

"I didn't mean to hurt him that much!" A small voice blurted out from the floor.

This just seemed to enrage the doctor even more. "You didn't mean to do it!?" he shrieked "You didn't mean to do- what sort of an excuse is that?" Chekov flinched at every word that came out of McCoy's mouth. Spock swiftly nerve-pinched the doctor before he seriously hurt Chekov or himself.

"What exactly is going on ensign?" Spock looked expectantly at Chekov who was still quivering on the ground. He looked up at Spock as if he expected to be killed.

"You ordered a ship-wide search so I had to hide. This is the best place because no-one comes down here."

"That does not account for what happened to Mr Scott." Spock told him.

"I really didn't mean to- I just- I'm sorry." Chekov stuttered.

"That does not account for Mr Scott's injuries." Spock said.

"Well, I needed to get in and he wouldn't let me so…" he trailed off. It was needless to say what happened next. Jim stepped forward and slowly crouched down so he was on the same level as Chekov. From here, he could see the tearstains, worry and dread on his face.

"What I want to know is why you bunked out of sickbay in the first place." The captain spoke softly to him in an attempt to calm him. The young Russian looked up into his face. He was frowning slightly. "Well? Is there a reason?" the older man asked. He watched for any reaction from Chekov but only got a sharp nod before Chekov tucked his head under his arms. "Right. Tell me. Now!" Chekov's eyes searched his captain's face desperately after his head had come back up. Jim sighed and turned his head to the side. "Don't tell me. You can't. Why do you insist you can't tell us? Don't you realise that we just want to help? This is just so stupid! Damn it! You have already been attacked! Don't you want us to find your attacker?" the captain sounded exasperated. Chekov lowered his head again as the captain rose and walked across the room. "Leave him Spock. He doesn't want our help."

"Captain, are you going to leave him here?" Spock asked. He was expecting the captain to come back to his senses because of his question but instead he got something none of them expected.

Jim walked back toward them and picked up Bones. "Alright. I won't leave him here if it upsets you Spock. He can spend the night in the brig. That decision is final." He spoke in a hard tone and Pavel knew that it wasn't going to get nicer if he protested. He stood up shakily, and followed Spock to the brig in silence...

Jim waited next to his friend in sickbay. He knew what it felt like to have been Vulcan nerve-pinched. He knew that when Bones woke up his neck would sting like hell. He wondered if he was being too harsh on Chekov. His mind was arguing with itself. You made the decision on the spur of the moment. Was it the right one? Of course it was the right one. I tried being nice and helpful, if he doesn't want it, then he gets what anyone else would get. It won't be one night he's staying in that brig. He sighed and rubbed his head as Bones woke up.

"What the- Jim, what happened? I heard you saying something to Spock and then… what did you say to him?" Jim looked across at his oldest friend. He was now certain his decision had been right.

"I told Spock to leave Chekov and he didn't think it was logical to leave him there so, I erm," Jim faltered.

"What did you do Jim?" Bones prompted.

"I was angry with Chekov so I ordered Spock to put him in the brig." The doctor's mouth fell open in shock as Jim finished his sentence. "Look, I've got to be honest; he does deserve it after what he did to Scotty." He hastily added as he stood up and rushed out.

Bones looked after the captain, completely bewildered by his behaviour. The job was certainly taking its toll on everyone. The next time we get to a planet, I'm authorizing shore leave for everyone, no matter what! The doctor thought absent-mindedly as he got up and went to check on Scotty.

Meanwhile…

Spock led the way in silence and halted only when they reached the brig. He picked up the key and unlocked the door. However, he couldn't bring himself to open it. It is logical to do this, but this is not like the captain. Perhaps he is under stress. Spock thought to himself. Inside, his emotions were trying to reach the surface as he swung the door open. He watched as the young ensign walked calmly into the brig and he shut the door and locked it. As he walked away, he realised he'd left the keys there. He turned round and scooped them up before setting off for his quarters once again. He reached his quarters just as the captain charged into him. Jim didn't even stop to say sorry before he was on his way again. Odd, Spock thought as he walked into his Vulcan designed room. It is most unlike the captain. He needs more rest.

Chekov walked quickly to prevent the pain in his knee and chest from reaching its climax before it died down again. As they reached the brig he stopped for Spock to open the door. He heard the lock click, and expected the door to swing open immediately after but Spock paused for a few seconds before opening the door. He walked in calmly and listened to the door slam behind him, shutting him in complete darkness for the night. He heard Spock pick up the keys and then walk off. Something like electricity shot through his knee and he collapsed onto the floor in a heap. He gasped in pain. Why had that happened? He glanced down at his knee. It had twisted itself sideways and had locked. There was no way Pavel was going to be able to do anything about it. The best he could do was get to sickbay as soon as he was let out. If only the captain hadn't been so angry, he would have seen sense instead of sticking me in this dump for the night. I wonder why he wants to help so much anyway, and how he tolerated my punching that hard-headed idiot half-brother I've got. Pavel thought as he tried to move toward the rest bunk. It was only now he started to look around the small room. The rest bunk was about the right size for a child and it had been dumped unceremoniously in the corner of the small, smelly cell. He knew hardly anyone had been in this brig, but if they ever had, they had been left in here for weeks without any way to be hygienic. He realised that the captain would go back on his word and would leave him in here for longer than one night. He screwed up his face as he tried to move his knee toward him. A shadow fell across the only source of light- the keyhole. The door clicked open and the Klingons walked in. His face fell in horror when he saw what they were carrying. He could barely see their faces but he could see that they were grinning evilly at each other. He tried in vain to back away from his step- family but they kept at him.

They kept backing him up like two collies herding sheep until they reached the wall. Now Pavel knew he was trapped. There was no way to escape, not with his knee how it was. "What do you want from me?" he asked wearily. He got no reply, not that he had expected one. Instead he got both Drogaffs running at him. They pinned him to the wall of the cell and wouldn't let him move. When he spoke again, one of them- he couldn't see which- punched him in the stomach until he was bent double. They then tumbled him into some sort of bag and quickly tied the end before he could do anything about it.