Diplomatic Encounters, Chapter 7

Bones cursed colorfully and instinctively moved towards Spock's seated form, his fingers twitching involuntarily as his restraints stopped him several feet away. Jim, who was chained between the two, was able to kneel at Spock's side and place a bracing hand on his still-bare shoulder. A quick assessment showed Spock's back had stopped bleeding but the welts glowed an angry red. The crude mark on his chest was still weeping blood as Spock turned his eyes to Jim.

"Captain, I was able to briefly examine the door's locking mechanism as I left. I believe it is possible to, with some time, deactivate it from within, and –"

"Jesus, Spock, I don't care about the locking mechanism right now!" Jim's eyes burned and he shook his head in frustration, glancing back at Bones for a moment. "What did Khralin say? What do they want? And what the hell is that?" He gestured at the cuts.

"He did not seem to desire any knowledge, Captain; although he did mention he had not yet met a Vulcan and was curious about certain aspects of our biology." Spock's voice was calm as ever, but Jim's eyes narrowed as he realized Spock hadn't answered his last question.

"Jim," Bones broke in softly, "I can't reach him. You need to clean those wounds as best you can."

Jim blinked, then nodded and swiftly removed his shirt, leaving his black undershirt on but tearing a strip from the gold tunic. He shifted closer to Spock and began gently cleaning the blood away.

"Spock," he murmured but with firmness in his tone, "tell me what this is."

Jim felt a tightening in his gut as he saw a sudden rush of shame shining in Spock's eyes. With no other change the average person wouldn't have noticed, but Jim had quickly learned to detect the nuances of human emotion escaping his first officer, and he knew that Khralin had struck a nerve with his impromptu branding.

"It is the mark of their regiment," Spock answered tightly. "All his men wear it; he was searching for a reaction from me after the first attempt failed."

Bones glowered, and Jim's visibly hardened with resolve. "This bastard doesn't know who he's dealing with, Spock. He won't win, and he certainly won't be able to outrun Uhura because god knows she's running everyone ragged right now to do their best and get us the hell out of here, yesterday." Spock's lips lifted slightly in a show of comfort and thanks as he thought of Uhura, and he leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes in an attempt to rest and heal.

Spock had fallen into a healing sleep and a sullen silence had once again descended upon Jim and Bones when Khralin returned with four followers this time, to have both conscious men led away with their wrists tied behind their backs. Jim had struggled silently, not wanting Spock to be roused or to draw attention to him, but not willing to go easily either. His glare could have burned a hole in Khralin's back with its intensity as he and Bones were led with a firm grip on each elbow.

They entered a spacious, seemingly multi-purpose room and were dragged to a far corner, where Jim immediately noticed chains hanging from the ceiling. He wondered at these Telonians' fascination with them and stiffened at the thought that to account for such organization, the restraints must be used rather frequently.

In the quick second between having his wrists released and having them reattached to the chain above his head, Jim kicked out with a leg and ducked to ram a shoulder into the belly of one of his Telonian guards. He followed it up with a wicked combination of punches as both Telonians worked to restrain him; they succeeded moments later as one caught Jim in a headlock and the other wrenched his wrists up into the air. Despite Jim's quick attack, the Telonians seemed unflustered, confident that their larger size would allow them to keep their captive at bay.

"Kirk, my friend," said Khralin as he waved his followers back a few paces and stepped in front of Jim, clasping his hands thoughtfully behind his back. Jim narrowed his eyes as he realized Khralin was staying just out of range of a well-placed kick, and worked his wrists back and forth in the tight shackles, searching for a weakness but unsurprised to find none.

"I hate to break it to you, but cutting your terrorist symbol into my first officer's chest loses you any right to call me friend. It's marked you as a dead man as far as I'm concerned."

Khralin laughed, a harsh, short note. "Then I fear you will not be pleased with what I do next. This is for attacking my men." He stepped to the left, where Bones was bound as Jim was. Forming his enormous hand into a fist, he delivered a dead-on punch to Bones' cheek, followed by two in succession to his exposed abdomen. As Bones was gasping in surprise for the air that had been knocked out of him, Khralin's hand snaked out and around his throat, squeezing so that Bones was unable even to wheeze as he was slowly suffocated.

Jim was shouting and thrashing as he tried to regain Khralin's attention, and his stomach dropped as he saw the color drain from his friend's face. Then, as suddenly as Khralin had attacked, he released Bones and stepped back, crossing his arms in satisfaction.

"Bones?" Jim felt his throat clench as he waited for Bones to finish coughing and regain his breath. "Bones!"

"'m alright, Jim," Bones muttered quietly. "Cool it."

Jim was furious as he turned back to the Telonian, completely disregarding Bones' last suggestion. "What's your game, Khralin? You slice up one of my crew and strangle another? And you think that's going to make me cooperate with you?" He left unvoiced the question of why the Telonians hadn't roughed him up yet, considering he was, after all, the Captain and leader of the diplomatic efforts Khralin was attempting to ruin.

"I am demonstrating your helplessness in this matter, Kirk, and will continue to do so until I feel that you are ready to send a message to your compatriots in New Anglion." Bones wheezed as Khralin circled and clapped him forcefully on the shoulder, rattling the chains that bound his arms. Kirk's thoughts were whirling in slight panic as he began to understand where the Telonian was headed. "I wonder, for instance, what you would be willing to do to save your doctor friend here?"

"Save him from what?" Bones growled, earning him a slap hard enough that his head whipped to the side. Opening his eyes, Bones saw Kirk's bright blue ones boring into his, managing to convey a silent message that only he would understand. Of course, Bones would have known Jim was apologizing for what was about to happen without needing to see it, along with a wrenching sense of guilt, in his best friend's eyes.

"Khralin," Kirk began with a deep breath. "You don't want to do this. We can negotiate, come to an agreement – if you harm any of my officers further you will cause irreparable harm to Telonian-Federation relations."

"Is that really the best you can do, Kirk?" demanded Khralin with a sneer.

"You let my hands free and I'll show you the best I can damn well do," Kirk snapped back. "Thought you were supposed to be some kind of seasoned warrior, but here you are chaining up your captives and beating on them while they're helpless. You pathetic coward."

Bones watched in anxious silence, knowing that Kirk was trying to draw Khralin's anger and attention away from him. It wasn't a surprising phenomenon to anyone who knew Kirk well, but that didn't mean Bones had to like the damned tactic. In mere months of service on the Enterprise he'd already patched Kirk up more times than he liked to count.

It seemed Kirk had achieved his goal as a frightening look crossed Khralin's face. He stepped up to Kirk, gripped his blonde hair and pulled so Jim's head was held back at an excruciating angle, ignoring the man's rasping breaths.

"We're going to play a game, Jim Kirk. I will release you from the restraints and you will be able to face my men. If you can take them down, I will let your men go free. But to add a twist, there will be a…consequence, we will say, for every offensive move you make." Bones rolled his eyes and shifted his feet restlessly as he watched Jim attempt to speak, fail to produce anything more than a croak, then twitch his neck irritably in a gesture of acceptance. Khralin released his head and Kirk's throat worked to get his voice back.

"What kind of consequence?" was the first thing he asked, his eyes darting to Bones.

"You will see," Khralin answered as he waved Dumb and Dumber to an open area large enough for sparring, though Kirk knew this would be far more than a simple sparring match. The Telonians removed their weapons and tossed them aside, waiting a few feet apart.

Khralin had pulled a captured Starfleet phaser from his belt and trained it on Kirk as he deftly released his hands. He then waved Kirk forward, watching with a calm grin as Kirk rubbed his wrists and stepped warily towards the waiting Telonians. He quickly positioned himself in such a way that he had a view of Khralin and Bones over the hulking shoulders of his opponents.

"No need to waste my time, Captain," drawled Khralin lazily. "Get on with it."

Bones never ceased to be amazed by Jim Kirk, and it was no exception now as he watched his friend pull on his familiar cocky fighting attitude with ease. Jim dropped slightly into a combat stance and began slowly weaving towards one of the waiting Telonians, careful to always be in unpredictable motion. It was agonizing to keep his mouth shut, but Bones could see from looking at the massive aliens that Jim didn't need any distractions right now, so he watched in unhappy silence.

Kirk knew he could take these bastards down. It'd be tough, but he'd been through worse, and with far more alcohol in his system to boot. He shot the closest one a crooked grin and tapped his chest before spreading his arms wide.

"Come on, sweetheart, daddy's waiting," he goaded, and tossed a wink in for good measure just as the Telonian growled and sprang forwards.

Kirk ducked the swinging arm and lashed out with a punch of his own, swiping his opponent's cheek before dancing away lightly. His head whipped sideways as he heard a dull noise followed by a muffled gasp; Khralin had delivered a sucker punch to Bones' left side.

"Bones – " Kirk began anxiously as he suddenly realized the implications of Khralin's "consequences", but cut himself off to hurl himself sideways before a Telonian fist could impact with his face. He ducked and rolled, springing to his feet a safe distance from the first Telonian but found himself forced to throw an arm up to block an attack from the second, who had apparently decide to speed things along.

He grunted and fell back a step at the brute force in the blow, his arm a blinding mass of pain from taking the hit.

"Jim!" Bones' voice seemed more angry than pained, which was a good sign – for now. "Don't be distracted, just take the bastards out!"

"Shut up, Bones, I'm concentrating," Kirk shot back, his eyes darting for weaknesses as he spun and landed a kick to one of the Telonians, doing his best to ignore his peripheral vision as Bones was struck in the chest. "Just tell me when, goddamnit!" With adrenaline and fury running through his veins and the harsh buzzing in his ears, it was slightly easier to accept that for every hit he landed on his opponents, Bones would take one in return. He hoped to god Bones would understand that "when" meant when he couldn't take any more hits, and that the only reason Jim was allowing this to happen was that he had a chance to get his men sent free. There was no way in hell he'd let that opportunity pass.

A minute later, Jim allowed himself to think that things were going relatively well. He could sense one of his opponents weakening and knew he could drop him with a well-placed hit, which left just one more. A glance at Bones showed he was holding up alright, but blossoming bruises caused a surge of guilt and made Jim even more determined to end this as quickly as possible.

With a high-kick to the face, Jim crowed in triumph as one Telonian went down in an unconscious heap. He retreated for a moment to catch his breath and size up the other, but his attention was drawn again to Bones as his friend let out a surprised yell of pain and jerked away from Khralin; Jim knew immediately that wasn't a reaction to a punch. He could see even from meters away that Bones was struggling to remain quiet. His limbs jerked uncontrollably and he was gasping for breath. Khralin, meanwhile, was holding a long, thin object, the end of which was crackling with restrained electricity.

"Khralin, what the fuck –" Jim was cut off in horror as Khralin pressed the object to Bones' skin again, causing an agonized cry that pierced Jim to the core. Bones slumped in his restraints, barely conscious, as Khralin turned impassively to face Jim.

"I've raised the stakes. It's up to you to guess how much more the good doctor can take before his heart gives out completely." He glanced appraisingly at the remaining Telonian, who seemed ready to go a few more rounds and was wearing a cruel smile. "I don't mean to interrupt, of course. You may continue."

Kirk snapped his gaping jaw shut and turned slowly to the advancing alien. His body was positively vibrating with tension, fists clenched and eyes narrowed. He'd known the instant he heard Bones' raw voice how this was going to end, and every fibre of his being screamed against allowing their captors to win this way.

"Fine, princess, let's see what you've got," he taunted, stepping forward with a grin plastered on his face. He'd be damned if he'd let Khralin see him looking beaten, and he was glad that at least Bones was too far gone to witness the beating he was about to receive.

The Telonian stepped forward and matched Kirk's careless grin before delivering an uncontested blow to Kirk's solar plexus that knocked him bodily to his knees. Immediately, he tried to get up, but a hand gripped his hair and dragged him gracelessly across the floor, before a flurry of kicks and punches rained down. It took all Kirk's willpower not to resist, went against the very grain of who he was, but he'd be willing to do almost anything to not have to hear Bones in pain like that again. It was his CMO's disapproving gaze that swam in his vision as the world went blissfully dark and his aching body reached the relief of unconsciousness.