Chapter 3
The Enterprise had been orbiting Loyan for hours now. Jim and his security detail had reported in just a hour ago. Jim was deep in the throes of galactic negotiations which obviously meant that he was sending secured messages to Leonard's personal PADD.
Leonard rolled his eyes at Jim's last message.
The seas are so green here. They remind me of your eyes. ;)
"Your daddy is ridiculous, Jo," Leonard said fondly to his daughter. She grinned up at him, flashing the small number of pearly white teeth she possessed. "Can you say, 'Daddy', Sweetheart?" Leonard prompted the little girl.
Unbeknownst to Jim, he had been trying to get Jo to say 'Daddy' as her Christmas gift to him. However, it seemed Joanna was just as stubborn as both of her daddies. He had yet to get her to say anything even remotely resembling 'daddy'.
With Christmas less than a week away, Leonard was starting to get desperate. The baby handprint keepsake ornaments, that Uhura had showed him when she caught him trying to get Jo to say 'daddy', were starting to become more and more appealing. He guessed in some manner he was equally as stubborn as his husband and daughter.
His PADD lit up again. Leonard reached for it. He rolled his eyes at Jim's latest message.
Remember spring break of '57?
In hindsight, he did remember that March fondly. It was their second spring break at the Academy. After the bear fiasco in Yosemite the year before, he swore up and down he would not spend another spring break in the great outdoors with Jim Kirk. The sneaky bastard that Jim Kirk was took that to mean that spelunking wasn't 'outdoors'.
"Technically it's indoors, Bones," Jim explained easily when he appeared in their 'shared' doom room with the gear and tickets on the next shuttle out of San Francisco.
So for a week, Leonard found himself traversing through the deep caverns of New Mexico with Jim Kirk.
Those caves have nothing compared to these, Bones. It's like an underground stellar map.
'The rest of us have to work, Jim.' Leonard typed back.
This is work. It's called exploration, Bones. Remember, we're also explorers. Jealous? ;)
"Unbelievable." Leonard rolled his eyes.
What does it mean if I can just picture you rolling your eyes at me?
Leonard laughed. 'I think it means we're getting old, Jim Kirk, with grey hairs and all'.
I do not have grey hairs, old man.
'Whatever you say, Jim'.
TTYL, we're dropping again.
Leonard rolled his eyes as he set his PADD down. Only Jim still used the lingo of two hundred years ago. It had taken Leonard a long time to become accustomed to seeing 'LOL's and 'FYI's appear on his PADD. He wasn't even going to acknowledge Jim Kirk's emoticon faces created out of punctuation marks.
He turned his attention back to his paperwork.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Leonard always thought when it finally happened it would have started with a 'shit storm' like with Khan, Nero, or even the Doomsday machine. So when the Enterprise suddenly went on 'red alert', he nearly split his pen in half from just how startled he was.
A mixture of Jo's screams, she hated 'red alerts' almost as much as he did, and the blazing sirens from the klaxons nearly caused him to miss the flashing of his com link. He pressed it hastily.
"McCoy here."
"Doctor, please report to the bridge." Spock's stoic voice filtered through. Before Leonard could question anything, the connection terminated. Leonard wasn't sure if it was a faulty connection or Spock didn't want to discuss it over the link.
His mind immediately wandered to Jim. As he grabbed his medical tricorder, his fingers brushed against his personal PADD. As Jim's last message flashed on the screen, he realized it had been hours since their last communications. A horrible, sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.
He scooped up Jo, pressed her to his chest, before hurriedly rushing out of his office as quickly as possible. His nurses and orderlies were already preparing for the potential onslaught of patients. He nodded at M'Benga, who although took opposite shifts from him always reported to sick bay during emergencies, as he exited sick bay. Although they rarely worked together except during emergencies, they had developed their own system of communications. There was very little they needed to say to each other for the other to understand.
He made it to the bridge in record time. As the turbo lift doors opened, he halted in place. Although nothing was smoking, and a quick glance around indicated that nobody seemed to need medical attention, he noted the tense atmosphere in the room.
Rand was the first to approach. She held out her arms for Jo. Leonard shook his head, and she stepped back for him to pass by. He crossed the room quickly to Spock's side who was sitting in Jim's chair. He had his legs crossed and his hands were tightly clenching a PADD. Leonard took his place on the left behind the chair.
"Doctor."
"What the hell is going on?" Leonard barked. "Jim said this was a routine 'first contact'."
"It was."
Leonard narrowed his eyes. "If we're going to play riddles…"
"Commander, we got his bio signs."
"Bio signs..." The words died on his lips as the readings appeared on the view screen. He didn't need his fancy medical degrees to know something was horribly, horribly wrong. "Get him out of there, damn it," Leonard cursed.
"It's not that simple, Dr. McCoy."
"Damn it Spock, spit it out man."
"Leonard," he hadn't even heard Uhura approach them. Leonard immediately detected the slight tremble in her normally strong voice. Uhura was one of the strongest women he knew.
"I'm not a porcelain doll," Leonard snapped out. "What the hell happened?" He mentally cursed himself when Jo let out a sob. She gripped a portion of the fabric of his uniform. He absently rubbed her back and pressed her against his chest.
"It seems the Loyans took the captain exploring thru their vast caverns…" Spock started. It was only due to their years of association that Leonard registered the fear that was masked in Spock's voice.
A fear, a deep fear cascaded through Leonard's body. It was akin to the one he had felt when he realized how many hours had passed since Jim last sent him a message. He had attributed it to whatever the Loyans were showing him which captured his attention. However, in hindsight, Leonard should have realized just how absurd that was.
"There was an accident, a seismic anomaly through the tunnels that the Loyans took the captain through. It shifted the landscape. We just managed to get the captain's signal back."
"What are you waiting for? Beam him up," Leonard snapped.
"Leonard," Uhura said kindly, almost too kindly. Her tone of voice was the same as the neighbors' when his daddy first got sick. He flinched when he felt Uhura's hand on his shoulder. She never called him that on shift. It was always doctor or 'Dr. McCoy'.
"The meteor that hit us earlier knocked out some of our sensors."
"But you have his bio signs," Leonard waved his hand feebly at the view screen. He wasn't good with engineering or transporter science. He always left that to Jim, Scotty, or Spock, but he had taken the basics as an elective to humor Jim at the Academy. It was enough to increase his distrust of them even more.
"It seems the admirals were not… truthful…" Leonard detected the menace in Spock's voice. Time and experience had made even loyal Spock distrustful of the top brass back on Earth. "It appears there were ulterior reasons for having us visit this planet. Loyan doesn't just possess civilizations that are wrap drive capable. Its caverns contain minerals and elements that could revolutionize the Federation. Our earlier collision with the space debris and the minerals contained in the Loyan caverns are disturbing our sensor readings. The captain's bio signs are bouncing among nine hundred thousand possible areas. Without a definite object to lock on it…" Spock trailed off.
With one hand, Leonard creased his forehead. He didn't firmly grasp everything that Spock was saying because damn it he was a doctor not a scientist, but he knew enough to know that it didn't brood well. The bio signs that were flashing on the view screen were alarming. Jim was hurt. There were all the indications that he going into hypothermic shock.
He tightened his grip on Jo. She whimpered pitifully even though she wasn't even a year old. She was just as good if not better at reading people's emotions than Jim was.
"Commander!" Hawkins' voice cut through the tense atmosphere. Leonard hadn't even noticed the other communicator officer on the bridge. Usually Uhura worked solely at the communication's console.
"Lieutenant," Spock acknowledged.
"I have the captain."
"Patch him through." Leonard noted the urgency in Spock's voice.
"Yes, sire," Hawkins responded quickly. Leonard watched as the young lieutenant fumbled with the controls before finding the correct button. He wasn't Uhura, but he had come a long way since that initial mission that resulted in the destruction of Vulcan.
Leonard grimaced at the static that filtered through the systems. His breath hitched at the sound of Jim's raspy breathing.
"Captain," Spock broke the silence. "This is Spock."
"S… Spock?" Jim's voice was so faint, so distant.
"There appears to have been a cave in."
"Oh… yeah…" Jim coughed.
"Our earlier collision with the meteor and the Loyans caverns are disturbing our sensors. The Loyans are trying to help us…" Spock nodded at Uhura who had returned to her post. She was furiously talking into her head piece to who Leonard could only assume to be the Loyan high command. Uhura returned Spock's nod. "However, they do not possess sophisticated mining equipment."
"Wonderful," Jim muttered. The irony present in his voice was as thick as molasses.
"Captain, if at all possible, please describe to us your surroundings."
There was a long, pregnant pause. "It's so dark and cold, Spock. I can barely see my hands."
"Remove all areas that are close to the surface or with connections to the surface," Spock stated. At that moment, Leonard noticed that on the view screen next to Jim's bio signs were thousands of faint red dot on a grid. At Spock's words, a few hundred red dots disappeared off the screen. However thousands more glared tauntingly back at him, all the possibilities and only one was Jim. Leonard had never tried finding a needle in a haystack, but he could only fathom this was a close approximation. He pulled Jo close to his body. Her baby scent grounded him.
Jo cried at.
"Jo?" Jim asked questionably. His voice was getting softer and softer.
"We're right here Jim," Leonard responded quickly.
"Bones," Jim whispered. His voice was thicker. His breathing was getting shallower and raspier by the moment. He could go into shock at any moment. There was also no indication that Jim was on anything stable.
Damn it, they were running out of time.
He watched Uhura's furious muttering before she pressed more buttons and more red dots disappeared. However, Leonard knew it wasn't enough. There were too many possibilities left, and Jim didn't have nearly enough time.
"We're going to get you out of there Jim," Leonard stated with more confidence than he thought he possessed.
Jim laughed. It was quickly followed by a fit of coughs and more static. Leonard could only surmise that Jim was holding his communicator extremely close to his lips. "Just like the Alps right?"
Leonard rolled his eyes when Spock shot him a questionably look. He couldn't believe he had almost forgotten about their summer in the Alps. "Yeah Jim, just like the Alps."
Just like the Alps.
Jim was right. He had found him then. He would find him again, and this time he didn't need to do it alone. Everyone on the bridge was working furiously to find Jim. He realized that as he saw the bridge crew working furiously at their consoles doing things that Leonard couldn't even possibly imagine.
He tightened his grip around their little girl. She twisted her head around and let out a cry.
"Jo?" Jim's voice sounded confused as if he forgot she was there.
"Damn it, Jim. Hang on," Leonard curse out. He gently rubbed Jo's back. He wondered if she understood. He wondered if she would even remember Jim.
God...
He had never been much of a praying man, but at that moment, he wished there was a god out there that could save Jim.
"Trying Bones. It's so cold, so dark. Is this what you thought space was like?"
Only Jim could think of such trivial things in a time like this. "Not any more, Jimmy." Leonard managed to choke out. "Not anymore."
"That… that's… good."
"Jim!"
"Wha…"
"Talk to me darlin'… talk to me about your Christmas plans." It was the first thing that came to mind; however, at this moment it was the furthest thing that he cared about.
"Really?"
"Yeah, Jim. Tell me about how you're going to make it snow."
"And the ice rink, Bones. The ice rink…"
And Jim kept talking and talking. There wasn't much substance in what Jim was saying and by the end Jim was beginning to repeat things. Leonard wondered if Jim realized that.
"And the ice rink, Bones. A… ice rink…" Jim muttered.
"That's real nice, Jimmy." His words caught on his throat.
"I'm so sorry, B… Bones."
Leonard wondered what Jim was apologizing for. It was something he rarely did. However, when Leonard looked around the room, he saw the tears cascading down Uhura's chocolate brown eyes. They were mirrored on Chekov's. Even Spock looked subdued, defeated. He realized the crew had stopped working.
"We're going to get you out of there Jim."
Jim laughed. It wasn't his usual full belly laugh that traveled to his blazing sapphire eyes.
God, had it only been a few hours that they had all been enjoying breakfast? That Jim was telling him how beautiful Loyan's beaches were? A few hours since the only thing that mattered for Jim was how Scotty was going to freeze the Enterprise's pool in time for Christmas?
"Bones..." Jim chided. His breathe was raspy. He didn't need to look at the bio readings that were being displayed on the view screen to know that Jim was running out of time. He pressed a kiss to Jo's forehead. Her fine blonde hair brushed against his lips.
He steeled his resolve. He had once fought death to bring Jim back to life. He wasn't going to lose him now. Not now, not now that they finally had a baby, a family, and years to look forward to.
"Damn it Jim. Don't you dare give up! We're going to figure it out, and we'll get you out of there." Leonard cursed out.
"It's so cold, Bones, so cold."
"His thermal readings are dropping, Doctor." He could detect the urgency, the fear in Spock's voice.
"Damn it Spock, I know that." Leonard snapped. He had recognized the sign long ago. He flinched when Jo let out another wail. He didn't know anymore why he refused Rand when she first volunteered to take Jo off the bridge.
He stumbled, and Spock gently pressed him into Jim's chair. Leonard wondered when Spock had vacated it. It had been a long time since Leonard sat in it.
He pulled Jo, who was starting to look more and more like Jim every day, close. She looked up at him with her sapphire blue eyes, tear stained and red, but blazing and burning. So much like Jim's, that Bones couldn't help but let out a strangled cry. At that moment, he could almost understand why and how Winona abandoned her boys.
"Bones," Jim voice filtered through the com links. He heard Jim sputter and gasp. In the background there was a sound. He turned to look at Spock. The half-Vulcan was staring at the view screen. He could see fear in his normally stoic brown eyes.
Did the Vulcan with his superior hearing not hear it? Was he grasping for straws that didn't exist?
"Take care of Jo."
"Jim!"
"Bones, I love you… so much."
"Jim!" Leonard screamed. At that moment, the bio signs that up till that moment had been beeping on the view screen ceased. "Jim!" He screamed again and again.
The sounds on the bridge, Jo's cries, the static coming from Jim's communicator, it all became muffled except for that one sound, the one in the background.
It sounded like rushing water.
"Water!" He gasped out.
"Doctor?" It was Spock's voice. He looked up to see the hobgoblin hovering overhead. God, he never felt so delighted to see the green hobgoblin than at that moment. He loosened one hand from Jo's back and gripped the sleeve of Spock's shirt with a strength he didn't even realize he still had left.
"Rushing water…"
He saw the realization appear in Spock's eyes. At that moment he was glad for all the years they had served together. Those words were enough for Spock to understand. Spock reached down and pressed down on the com link button.
"Mr. Scott, did you hear that?"
"Aye Commander, transporting on your command," Scotty's voice filtered through.
Spock looked at him once. Leonard nodded before pulling himself out of Jim's chair... Jim. He would fight heaven and hell for his husband. As he left the bridge, the last thing he heard was Spock shouting 'now Mr. Scott, quadrant B10'.