Disclaimer: Still nothing.

"Why, Mister Spock?"

Kirk and Spock turned to McCoy, who seemed to have suddenly gained some interest in the discussion and was now looking at Spock expectantly.

"I believe it may provide insight into what has caused your current condition. It may also provide a means of undoing it."

"But I don't know anything about this."

"Perhaps not consciously, Doctor, however your subconscious might hold the answer. Will you permit me to look into your mind?"

McCoy leaned back in his chair, considering Spock. Kirk knew not to say anything, after all, this was not permission he had the right to give. However, he did wonder what would happen if McCoy refused the meld. Kirk didn't see any reason why he would, but if it did happen, their options for solving this mystery lessened considerably. Spock wouldn't force a meld if the doctor didn't want it and there would be nothing Kirk could do to fix it.

Today seemed to be going in Kirk's favor though.

"Alright, if you think it will settle whatever ideas you've got going on, then fine."

Kirk let out a sigh of relief and noticed that a little tension seemed to leave Spock's body as well. Eager for the chance of getting some answers, he smiled at his friends in front of him, looking at them both in turn.

"When should we start then, gentlemen?"

"As soon as possible, Captain. I believe that Sickbay would be the proper setting, that way Doctor McCoy's vitals can be monitored during the meld. I am not sure what effect a mind meld will have on the doctor since it is unclear what I may find once inside his mind."

"Very well then. Spock, McCoy, report to Sick bay and get everything set up. I'll join you in a few moments."

With those words, Spock immediately rose from his seat and walked through the doors without another look back. McCoy moved less quickly, but was soon following Spock out of the doors and down the hall.

Kirk watched them go before turning to the computer terminal at his desk. He had some final checks to do on the station clean-up operation before he could make his way to Sickbay himself.

Sickbay was relatively calm when Kirk walked in about thirty minutes later. There were still some patients from the accident lying on a few of the biobeds, nurses flitting around them as they checked on their condition and scribbling down notes as they went by. As Kirk looked around, he was unable to locate Spock or McCoy in the immediate area.

"Spock? Bones?"

"In here, Captain."

The answer had come from an open door further into Sickbay. Walking through it, Kirk found a room with a single biobed in it. McCoy was currently lying down on it with Spock standing beside him, Nurse Chapel messing with some settings on the monitor. Kirk walked over to stand on the other side of McCoy, facing Spock as the Vulcan turned his attention to the captain and answering his unspoken question.

"We decided that it would be best to isolate the doctor and myself during the process of the mind meld so as not to interfere with the other patients in Sickbay should the doctor come out of the experience with unexpected results."

"Unexpected results, Spock?"

"Captain, it is difficult to predict Doctor McCoy's actions when he is himself. With his current condition there is no clear way of knowing how he will react after the meld has been completed."

The captain smirked as he turned his attention to Nurse Chapel. She moved to face Kirk, though she kept casting worried glances at McCoy as he lay quiet on the bed, his eyes focused on the ceiling.

"Everything's set, Captain. Mister Spock may begin whenever he is ready."

Kirk leaned over McCoy, capturing the attention of the doctor's dull blue eyes as they looked towards him.

"Are you ready, Bones?"

"Yes, Captain. Mister Spock may begin."

Spock walked around the biobed, standing behind McCoy and placing both of his hands along the psi points located on either side of the doctor's head. McCoy closed his eyes as the words to begin the mind meld were spoken.

"My mind to your mind...my thoughts to your thoughts."

Spock drifted through McCoy's mind, finding the utter emptiness and darkness that surrounded him a bit unnerving. He recalled the few times he had melded with the doctor before. In those instances, the doctor's mind had barraged him with emotions and thoughts that were barely held in check by the doctor's will. Looking around now, Spock couldn't feel even the barest trace of any kind of emotion. With no other choice, he delved deeper.

As he searched, Spock could sense McCoy watching him from the darkness. The only reason he could think of for the doctor deigning to manifest himself in his own mind was that McCoy was refusing to cooperate and help him find the answers he sought. It was as this thought entered into his mind that Spock stumbled across the doctor's memories.

A computer terminal, much like one that could be found anywhere on the Enterprise, appeared out of the darkness. Casually walking up to it, Spock began to flick and toggle with some of the switches, a picture jumping into focus on a screen hovering in the air behind the terminal.

"I see you've finally found it."

Spock turned around to face the figure of McCoy that had appeared behind him, taking in the blank expression and crossed arms as the doctor stared at him without a hint of emotion in his being.

"Indeed. You have also chosen to join me it seems."

"Yeah, though I probably shouldn't."

Spock arched an eyebrow.

"Why is that?"

"My presence encourages you to continue."

"Is this a negative thing?"

"Yes and no. It will negate what was done, but in the end, it has to happen. I'm still a doctor. I know what needs to be done, but I can't handle it without help. My memories should lead you straight to the problem."

"Thank you, Doctor. And know that I would have continued whether you chose to reveal yourself or not."

He turned back to the terminal without another word and scanned through the memories, trying to find answers. As he skimmed through them, Spock began to notice some that differed from the rest.

While most of the memories seemed normal, some of the more recent ones appeared fractured or broken in some way, as if the doctor had trouble comprehending them clearly. As he studied the broken memories, Spock came to the realization that the breaks represented a lack of cohesion between the doctor's emotions and the events happening in the memory. As he continued, the fractures gradually became worse until he reached the memory concerning the moment of McCoy's emotional breakdown in his office. This memory was splintered like a shattered mirror, the image being projected barely discernable through the many cracks that permeated it.

When Spock tried to continue past the memory, he was suddenly struck with a mental blow, as if he had just run into a brick wall. The screen that had displayed the memories simply showed blankness, so Spock reached out mentally, pushing against the wall that had been erected around this single obscured memory.

The barrier gave a bit under his probe, but remained strong. Spock knew he couldn't simply crash through the wall with his mental strength. The results of such an action would prove disastrous and harmful to the doctor's mental health.

"Doctor, you must let me in."

The image of the doctor that he had been talking to earlier stepped next to him, staring at him intensely as Spock kept his concentration on the barrier. McCoy's stiff tone of voice showed that he was not going to give in to Spock without a fight.

"Why should I?"

"I wish to understand what has happened to you."

"If I help you take down that wall, I could end up worse than I am now."

"I will not let that happen."

"How can I trust you? How do I know you can help me? I know how you are with things like this. You can't-"

"LEONARD!"

McCoy's mouth slammed shut at the shout while Spock continued in a stressed voice, the effort of keeping constant pressure on the wall beginning to wear down on him.

"I am your friend. I will not leave you until whatever strain you are under is gone. You must trust me to handle this. It is clear you need help and I am giving it to you. No matter what is behind this barrier, I will help you to overcome it. Will you let me in?"

McCoy stared at Spock for a few moments before his image began to flicker. Before he vanished completely, he let out a pained whisper.

"I'm counting on you, Spock."

The second McCoy vanished, the barrier did as well. Spock had to grit his teeth and mentally brace himself under the sudden onslaught of emotions that flooded free from its constraint.

Fear. Despair. Anger. Helplessness. Shame. Anxiety.

Everything vanished from the room except for these emotions. They swirled around Spock as he worked to move through them. He had to find the source.

Suddenly, a figure appeared before him, curled up on the ground. Making his way to it, Spock found that it was McCoy, crying as he suffered under emotions he was no longer in control of. Kneeling down next to him, Spock addressed the doctor in controlled tones, trying not to let the surge of emotions overcome him.

"Doctor, what is causing this?"

McCoy opened his eyes and turned them on Spock, the tears sliding down his face in rivulets, his voice pained and hoarse.

"They're gone, Spock. I can't feel them. They're gone."

"What is gone?"

"Happiness, care, humor. I can't feel them anymore, Spock. I can't even remember what they feel like. It's all gone."

Spock began to put the pieces together with this new information. The doctor's behavior the last week. The emotional breakdown. The sudden lack of emotion in the past day. It all started to make sense, but he couldn't focus on it right then. There was McCoy to work with first.

"Doctor, I need you to focus. Control your emotions."

"I can't, Spock. They're too strong."

"They are your emotions, Doctor. They are the same ones you've always had. They only have as much control as you let them have. You need to channel them. Focus on an available emotion and use it to control the strength of the others."

Spock could feel McCoy fighting for control. He had stopped crying and the emotions swirling angrily in the air seemed to slow, still present, but growing dimmer in their intensity. Sitting up with one hand on Spock's arm, McCoy seemed to draw strength from his friend's presence. The anger and annoyance in the air seemed to grow in strength, beating down the other emotions until they were a weak underlying thrum in the background.

Getting to his feet, McCoy scowled at the air as if he was daring the other emotions to show themselves again. Spock rose as well, using the moment to work on rebuilding his emotional shields.

"Alright, Spock. I think I can handle this for now. It's time you got outta my head."

Spock raised an eyebrow at McCoy's growl, but complied, slowly backing out of the meld and into his own mind once again. As he left though, he knew that McCoy's new control would only last so long before it weakened again. They had to find away to restore McCoy fully before he could be completely whole again.

Kirk watched Spock and McCoy slip into the mind meld. He knew the two men would probably be under for quite awhile so he took up a seat in the corner of the room and turned his attention to the monitor over the biobed. Nothing fluctuated from its norm, so the first step seemed to have gone off without a hitch. Now all he had to do was wait.

As one hour flowed into two, Kirk began to get restless. He was never one for patience and it showed as he paced the room a number of times before finally wandering into the main Sickbay.

He tried talking to a few of the nurses on duty, but they were too busy to give him much of their attention. So he turned to Nurse Chapel. She calmly answered his questions: how Sickbay was doing with McCoy being off duty, how the patients were coming along, and whether or not he could end the diet regimen McCoy still had him on. That last one was still a no. After about thirty minutes, she seemed to have had enough and told him that he was to either leave Sickbay or go sit in the room with McCoy and Spock. Sighing, he turned and trudged back towards the private room.

He only made it four steps though when the power flickered and dimmed. Kirk paused and frowned up at the lights. A minute passed and then the power flickered again and died. He waited a moment, but when it became obvious that the power wasn't coming back he quickly walked over to a comm unit and slammed his hand on it. Nothing.

So ship communications were down too. Damn.

Just then his communicator chirped.

Well at least something works.

Flipping the device open, Kirk looked around Sickbay. Emergency lighting was on, but the nurses were fluttering over their patients and checking equipment, finding what still worked and what was shut down. Like his communicator, most handheld devices seemed to still be working, but things like the biobeds were completely dark.

Kirk's mind settled briefly on Spock and McCoy before assuring himself that they'd be fine. If anything Nurse Chapel would make sure to look in on them when she had the chance.

"Kirk here."

"This is Lieutenant Fowler in Engineering, Captain."

"Where's Scotty?"

"Mister Scott beamed over to the station, Captain. He wanted to oversee repairs there."

Of course.

"Alright then Lieutenant, can you tell me what happened to the power in my ship?"

"Well, sir, we're not su-"

An explosion could be heard over the line and Kirk's whole body tensed, prepared to spring into action.

"Lieutenant? Lieutenant Fowler are you there?"

There was no answer and Kirk cursed as he shut the communicator.

"Nurse Chapel!"

Nurse Chapel looked up from the work she was doing when she heard him call her.

"Yes, sir?"

"An explosion went off in Engineering and I can't get a response. I need you to send some medics down there now."

Chapel simply nodded and set to work, calling on two nurses to gather their equipment and follow her. The doors weren't working either so they had to help Kirk pry open the doors from their closed position before all four set off quickly for Engineering.

Spock opened his eyes to a dark room. The emergency lighting dimly lit the room and his eyes quickly adjusted. Removing his hands from the doctor's face, Spock moved to the empty chair sitting beside the biobed, patiently waiting for McCoy to awaken while he finished reestablished his mental barriers, his face once again smoothing into the unemotional state he kept it in.

It didn't take long for McCoy to begin rustling around on the bed. Groaning, he raised a hand to his head and opened his eyes. He froze for just a second before his eyes moved around the room, settling on Spock beside his bed.

"S-Spock?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"What's happened?"

Spock noted that the doctor seemed to have chosen fear as his emotion of choice for this situation.

"I do not know. Like you, I have only just come out of the mind meld."

And like that, the fear was gone.

"Damn it, Spock , it was just a simple question. You didn't have to go and be all smart-assed about it."

"I was not trying to be, Doctor."

The doctor's emotions flipped again.

"I know. I'm sorry, Spock, I didn't mean it. I can't believe I said that to you. And you just helped me too. You must think I'm horrible, behaving like what you did didn't matter."

"Doctor. You must remember what I said in the meld. Control your emotions before they become too much to bear again."

McCoy nodded mutely, sadness etched onto his face as he rose from the bed and dangled his legs over the edge, staring at the floor.

The doors to the room slid open with a scraping sound and both men glanced over. Spock's eyes narrowed at the sight that greeted them.

Standing in the doorway were three tall, cloaked figures. From what Spock could see, not a single piece of flesh was left uncovered; all three wearing identical pieces of black clothing and gloves, their faces shrouded by the hoods of their cloaks and a black cloth that covered their nose and mouth. He stepped in front of the biobed, placing himself between the figures and McCoy.

"Identify yourselves."

None of the figures spoke. Instead, they stepped quickly into the room, the lead figure heading straight for Spock while the other two hung back near the doorway. Spock met the being head-on, dodging around the figure and raising his hand to deliver a nerve pinch. The cloaked figure responded quickly, turning and deflecting Spock's arm while slamming a punch into his abdomen, causing the Vulcan to stumble backwards in pain.

Without giving Spock time to recover, the figure pushed him against the far wall, pinning him with an arm against the throat while motioning to his accomplices near the door. The two moved away from the door, heading directly for McCoy as Spock struggled against his opponent's strength, his free arm reaching up and around towards the neck. Settling on the area, he delivers the pinch, and is silently shocked when it has no effect, the figure simply shrugging it off and pressing his arm harder into Spock's throat, effectively choking the Vulcan.

McCoy, summoning all of his anger, grabs the chair still sitting beside him and drags it over the biobed. Hefting it over his head, he quickly moves away from the grasp of the other two figures and brings the chair crashing over the upper back of the one holding Spock. The two McCoy had dodged before grab him from behind and drag him away as he struggles against their hold. A pressure on his shoulder and the hiss of a hypospray is all that alerts McCoy that they've injected him with something before he blacks out.

The being pinning Spock to the wall momentarily loosens his hold following McCoy's attack and Spock uses the opening to grab at the cloth covering the figure's face. Tearing it off he gazes at the person underneath just before the figure quickly backs away, rejoining his companions. Before Spock can react, the assailant whips out a handheld controller and presses one of the buttons, leaving Spock unable to prevent the three figures and McCoy from vanishing in sparkling beams of energy.