"His report of the incident on Terafirm Nine when there was that fault with that blasted transporter." McCoy looked from Scotty to Spock and then to him, "Making us go first."
"If memory serves the report he wrote was basic. It simply gave his observations and then his reasoning for making up you beam up with the Captain and me beam up immediately after you with those rare specimens,"
"He named all the crew he thought needed, four hundred and twenty-nine," McCoy looked at Spock and then at him again.
"He did not think of himself as needed so there is your four hundred and thirty, Bones." For a moment he saw the fury at what had been done flash in the blue eyes before he looked at Spock as he tried to remember what it was that was niggling at the back of his mind, "On that report he stated that his missing would not impact on the efficiency of the ship but that,"
"The Science Officer and First officer was not expendable." Spock had kept looking at him and he had seen the pain and guilt so many could not see about those dark eyes, "I believed that the specimens would prove to be a very interesting study and knew the transporter would not take them and Randell's weight and Randell knew it as well. He told me to get the specimens to the ship and then beam him up. There were a few problems with the transporter while he was transported which resulted in Randell being in Sickbay for a few days with repertory difficulties. The specimens have proven to have many more beneficial properties that I had calculated they would."
"The lad joked about that, saying how in his family they were the proud, the few, the expendable as had been the case for generations."
Slowly he had again approached the bed and the young officer who had been sitting with his hand on Randell's hand as he had placed his earlier started to stand but he motioned him to sit. Carefully he touched Randell's throat, felt the faint but steady pulse, then had turned and looked first at Scotty then at Spock, "No! No one on my ship, in my crew is expendable. No one."
There was the light then that voice. "You have almost passed the test, Captain Kirk. You and your crew are worthy of travelling in our space. With the care we have seen shown towards him and the substance we will leave you, Doctor McCoy, that you inject directly into his heart, your officer will make a full recovery. You, Doctor McCoy, must inject the full contents in one treatment, in one movement His body will react violently to the substance as it momentarily shocks the whole body with a series of waves of pain. It soon passes with a brief period of lucidness followed by a fifteen to twenty of your hours sleep. During those hours of sleep your monitors will show you he is returning to full health. His wounds will heal in your normal time as will his other injuries. There will be no permanent damage. As promised on completion of the test we will supply your Engineering Department with the advanced dilithium."
A moment of silence then, "If you look out your viewer you will shortly see our ship. We knew you would be interested in what could be your great-great grandchildren's future if your kind will stop killing one another and work together."
The stunned silence said more than words could. The craft was easily five times the size of the Enterprise. It slowly changed from a recognizable space going craft to a sphere , to a triangle, to a square, to a long rectangle, and seemed to split into blocks attached to each other by two cylinvers. One moment it was visible then gone, reappearing as flickering then flashing lights before becoming a solid form that seemed motionless then started spinning before it vanished again. Kirk looked at Spock and saw total wonder. When he looked at Scotty he saw his Chief Engineer's disbelief turn into fascination.
"The one in the other room who willingly accepted what we did to him for your sakes is a fine example of your kind. Had our founding peoples not realized that the survival of our founding races depended on accepting one another, as he realized that your survival depended on him, we would not have continued and advanced as we did. He showed that there are those of your kind who will willingly face an unknown danger and possible torture and death for others which our founding peoples did. Care for him. He thinks of you all as family and this ship as home. Thank him for what he gave us. Let him know it was necessary."
A flash of near blinding light then nothing. No, he realized as he stood, still with his eyes closed. Not nothing, the sound and feel of his ship had returned. He felt a hand on his shoulder slightly tighten.
"Bridge to Sickbay. Is the Captain there?"