.o0o.

Spock had always found his chambers to be adequately spacious, particularly given his sparse collection of decorations and personal items, but they'd begun to feel more cramped since McCoy had joined him. The botanical unit had apparently taken up permanent residence in Spock's quarters, pushed out to the furthest corner to be the least obstructive. They'd had a cot brought in, though the doctor hardly had cause to use it since their sleeping cycles were different enough that they could simply use the bed in shifts. The cot had also made its way to take up wall space.

His quarters were feeling particularly cramped today. McCoy was laying on his bed looking nervously up at Serin, who had come with the supply ship to determine whether McCoy could return to duty without Romulan interference. Kirk was hovering near the bed as well, looking both agitated and hopeful. Spock was seated at his desk, successfully looking less interested in the entire process than he was.

"You think this is gonna work?" McCoy ventured.

"It is unlikely that I will be able to do anything for you that Spock could not, given the circumstances."

"But there's still a chance, right?" McCoy sounded more desperate than hopeful, and Spock could tell that there was still an underlying fear present in the doctor's mind about allowing a telepath access. It was that fear that had Spock returning to his quarters to watch over the process despite their recent argument. McCoy would stubbornly refuse to acknowledge it, but Spock could sense that his presence eased the doctor's agitation.

Serin nodded. "I have had extensive training in healing that Spock has not. It is possible that I will be more successful in addressing the issue than he."

McCoy glanced at Spock, as if the gauge his reaction, but the Vulcan kept his face was immobile.

"How long will all this take?" The captain asked.

Serin cocked his head. "It is impossible to determine with any accuracy at this juncture."

Kirk didn't like that response. "An estimation?"

"It will likely take several hours, Captain." Spock supplied before Serin could refuse. "I suggest you sleep during that time. I will be sure to wake you should the need arise."

Kirk opened his mouth to protest, but closed it thoughtfully immediately after. McCoy was encouraging him with shooing motions and muttering something about not ever getting any privacy. Kirk reluctantly shuffled out the door.

Spock's estimation turned out to be on the low side. McCoy struggled to relax enough for Serin to do his job. Each time Spock moved at all about the room in an attempt to get some work done, McCoy would tense, and Serin would have to start over again. After this happened several times, Spock concluded that the human was afraid to be left alone. Finally, Spock settled himself on the edge of the bed with a PADD, resting his thigh flush with the doctor's arm, so he could be certain that Spock had no intention of leaving. After which, McCoy became more compliant.

Spock wondered at McCoy's strange behavior that had led him to become so aggressive towards him. Like most of what the doctor did, Spock could not find any logic behind it. McCoy had stated that he didn't have any emotions, but they both knew this to be a fallacy. McCoy had, on a number of occasions, been privy to his emotions. Spock determined that it was probable that he was not interpreting the doctor's words properly; it was more logical that the doctor intended to convey the idea that Spock was unwilling to express his emotions. This interpretation also appeared to lack logical continuity. He had made several gestures toward McCoy that Uhura had assured him were unmistakable, yet the doctor had been unreceptive. He was left with the conclusion that it had more to do with his emotions toward McCoy than his emotions in general, and had to admit that he could not name them. He would need to meditate more on the matter.

Kirk returned to check up on them at three hours, and again at five hours, but he said nothing and exited again upon taking in the same drawn positions. At six hours, Spock's foot fell asleep. At eight hours, Spock debated the merits of joining Serin inside of McCoy's mind. At nine hours, Kirk came back and stayed. Spock wondered if he had somehow sensed that Serin appeared to be wrapping up the process as Spock had. However, it was a full thirty minutes before he drew back and straightened.

"It is done."

"And?" Kirk prompted.

"I believe I was successful."

Kirk beat his arm in the air. "So, there's no way for the Romulans to control him anymore?"

"Barring another mind meld, Dr. McCoy should be in complete control of himself."

Spock noted that Serin looked quite drained, leaning forward awkwardly instead of maintaining his upright position, but that didn't stop him from asking the pressing question on his mind. "How can you be certain?"

"Are you familiar with the rasaadya technique?"

"I am not." Spock was reasonably certain he'd never even heard of the technique.

Serin nodded as though he'd expected such a response. "It is an ancient tracking method used to determine where in a mind a person has been. Most healers are taught how to do this when they are being trained, but it is very uncommon as Vulcans innately know where another has been inside their mind. In fact, this is the first occasion I have made use of it. Once I was aware of where the Romulan attacker had been, it was a much simpler task to remove anything that had been left."

Kirk grinned. "We're lucky you thought of it, then." Spock felt similarly relieved by the explanation.

"I cannot take credit for that. It was another healer who suggested it after hearing about Starfleet's problem with the Romulans."

"I'm just glad I'll have my Chief Medical Officer back." Kirk commented. "Why don't you take a break; you look exhausted." Spock wordlessly prepped the cot against the wall as Serin stood. He then returned to the edge of the bed. McCoy still had not roused. "Seems almost too good to be true." Kirk went on. "I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Spock's brow furrowed as he tried to piece together what shoes had to do with anything. Human expressions were almost as perplexing as their arbitrary acronyms. He looked down at Kirk's feet, which earned him a devilish smile. His PADD beeped.

"Lieutenant Uhura has sent both of us a message. She's discovered an outgoing message from the Enterprise in Romulan. She's included the coordinates."

Spock flipped his PADD around so the captain could inspect it. He quickly came to the same conclusion as his First Officer. "That's in Romulan territory." Kirk blew out a long sigh. "Was she able to stop it from going out?"

"Negative." Spock typed a quick response to Uhura, requesting a translation of the outgoing message. "We need to inform Captain Baker."

"She's the one who sent out the message!" Kirk exclaimed, remembering only at the last second to lower his voice. He glanced quickly about but both Serin and McCoy were fast asleep.

"We cannot be certain of that yet. However, in either case, it would be ill advised to forfeit good relations with the acting captain."

Kirk frowned, struggling with himself. "Fine. Tell Uhura to pass that information along. What did the message say?"

Spock reread the translation. "Eleven hours."

"That's it?"

"That is all."

"Eleven hours to what?"

"I do not know."

"Well, that gives us ten hours to figure that out and stop whatever is supposed to be happening."

The PADD beeped again in Spock's hand. Spock let his eyebrow rise. "It's a message from Captain Baker requesting our presence in the debriefing room."

Kirk looked slightly infuriated. "What's her game?"

"Perhaps, Captain, there is no game." Kirk didn't respond, just left the room with heavier steps than were necessary. Spock followed him silently to the debriefing room. Kirk was clearly not pleased with him, but Spock found himself siding with Baker. Of them all, her actions were the only ones that had been consistently logical since she came on board.

Baker and Stark were already sitting at the table with Uhura when they entered. Kirk wasted no time. "I would like to reinstate Dr. McCoy as the CMO of the Enterprise."

Baker bit her lip. "I assume it was the Vulcan healer aboard the supply ship that cleared him?"

"It was."

Baker shook her head. "Then I can't agree to that. He is our prime suspect at this point."

At hearing Serin being declared a suspect, Spock unthinkingly felt over the link to McCoy, who was currently alone in the same room with him. He fought the urge to return to the room. McCoy was still asleep, and Serin had done nothing that concerned him yet. "Of what is Serin suspected?" Spock asked instead.

"We intercepted an outgoing message straight into Romulan territory. Since this is the first of these messages we've encountered, and it only happened after Serin came aboard, we obviously want to start with him." Stark filled in.

"Uhura?" Baker prompted.

"The message said nothing more than 'eleven hours', which we don't really know what that means. My best guess is that it's approximately the time it would take our ship to reach the coordinates the message was sent to going at warp 9. So, we're thinking it might be some sort of homing beacon, of some sort."

Spock considered this a remote possibility but had no other reasonable conclusions to draw with so little evidence. "We should be able to locate the transmitter, which may lead us to the culprit."

"That's what I was thinking." Baker agreed quickly. "Uhura, I'd like you to work with Mr. Perez and Mr. Scott to create a locator for that transmitter. It had better be on the double, since we're on the clock here."

"Aye, sir." Uhura's eyes locked onto Kirk's, as if waiting for any contradiction before leaving. Kirk only gave a quick nod.

"Stark, I want you to take a team down to the supply ship and see if you can locate that transmitter faster than they can build a locator." Baker continued to shout orders.

"Yes, sir."

Baker then turned to Kirk and Spock. "I was hoping we could all go down and talk to Serin ourselves to see if we can't figure this out."

"I don't think it's Serin." Kirk proclaimed. "I think it's foolish to put all our resources into that one possibility."

"I'm not going to order a search of the entire ship until we have that locator finished. Otherwise, we're wasting our time there, too." Baker stated firmly. "Spock, would you be willing to meld with Serin and make sure he is who he says he is?"

Spock could not fault her logic so far. "If Serin is willing, I shall." If anything, Kirk almost seemed offended by his response, but Spock didn't like the doubt that Baker had placed in his mind, not when he'd just allowed McCoy's mind to be tampered with so completely.

"Is there anything else, Captain?" Baker addressed Kirk in a daring tone.

Kirk took the challenge. "I'd like to re-interview your man in the brig."

"Fine." Baker agreed quickly, "I'd like to interview Dr. McCoy again."

Spock expected Kirk to protest at this, but he just grunted and left the room. Spock followed Baker out of the debriefing room and then led her to his own quarters. McCoy was just coming awake, so he sent a silent message for the doctor to be prepared. Baker went immediately to him, sitting in the same chair Kirk had dragged near the bed just a few hours ago. Spock hoped his room would soon lose its appeal and return to a rarely visited state.

Serin was still asleep in the cot. He was clearly quite exhausted from his recent task; Spock had to rest a hand on this shoulder to wake him. Keeping half an ear for the conversation between McCoy and Baker, he explained the situation and his orders in concise, clear language, and Serin nodded. "I understand the situation and agree that a mind meld might be the swiftest way to remove myself from the list of suspects and allow the search to progress quickly."

Spock had already expected such a reaction, but Baker looked up sharply from questioning the doctor and eyeballed Serin for the first time. Ignoring her, Spock placed his fingers along Serin's face in a practiced manner and closed his eyes. The other Vulcan's mind was open and receptive to him and Spock found himself slipping deeper into his mind. Memories from Serin quickly flooded over the connection: memories of a boyhood spent on Vulcan trying to curb an insatiable curiosity, memories of following in his mother's footsteps to become a Vulcan healer and being rewarded for his diligence, memories of debating between the Vulcan Science Academy and Starfleet and choosing neither for one was too rigid and the other was too alien, memories of meeting Spock and McCoy and being instantly fascinated. Serin's particular interest in McCoy gave him reason to pause, but Spock could find nothing amiss in his intentions, so he withdrew.

He was relieved that Serin was who he'd said he was. If Serin caught the feeling, he didn't comment on it.

Baker had already finished talking to McCoy and they were both looking on in interest.

"Serin is not the culprit." Spock declared. McCoy did not process any strong emotion at this. If anything, Spock could sense a disappointment in him.

"Thank you." Baker acknowledged, nodding her head. "When he is rested, I would like him to look at the other Romulan victim." Baker then went to the comm unit and called off Stark's search, who protested the abrupt end, but agreed to the command.

Scotty commed almost immediately after, addressing both the captains and proclaiming that he had something they should be able to use right away.

Spock moved beside McCoy. "You do not seem pleased."

"I'm still confined to quarters." McCoy grunted.

"For what reason?"

McCoy held out his hand with the Indyrin seed still planted firmly in his palm. "According to Baker, I'm still compromised."

Spock nodded gravely. The Indyrin seed's growth had concerned him as well, but he had not expected Dr. McCoy to admit to its presence. Baker must have discovered it on her own. Spock glanced at the chronometer, 9.2 hours left.

"Now, unfortunately, it only had a short range of about five feet. I figured, with the time crunch, you'd rather have something less effective now than more effective later." Scotty explained as he demonstrated how his contraption worked.

"Good call." Kirk agreed, patting the engineer on his shoulder. "Let's start with the highest ranking officers and work our way down." He continued, looking pointedly at Baker.

"I think that's a great idea." She returned, leading the way down the hall toward her – McCoy's – quarters. Spock trailed after the group, trying to determine what the strange feeling in his stomach was related to.

Scotty ran a scan over the whole room, then worked his way systematically around the room. The device remained silent. "Nothing's here." He announced.

"Why don't you check again?" Kirk suggested.

Scotty glanced over at Baker who only shrugged, like it didn't matter to her either way. Scotty ran the scan again. It was still negative. Spock noted that Kirk did not relax any.

Next, the group crowded into Kirk's quarters and watched as Scotty ran the scanner around the room. Near the desk, a shrill beep was emitted, like a smoke detector running low on batteries. Kirk's jaw dropped; Spock's eyebrows lifted; even Baker seemed surprised. Scotty shook the device a little and tapped on the screen. It emitted another screech. Scotty rifled through the top drawer and produced a small, circular transmitter of alien design. He held it up for everyone to see.

"What the-"

"Check the rest of the room," Baker quickly cut him off.

Scotty hesitated but did as he was commanded. The search yielded no further results.

Baker took a deep breath. "Captain Kirk, I am hereby confining you to quarters until we can sort this all out. I will be posting guards outside the door."

"I'm being set up." Kirk argued, folding his arms across his chest tightly.

"That may be true." Baker stated slowly, "But I have to go where the evidence takes me."

.o0o.

A/N: This chapter was supposed to go someplace else, but that apparently didn't happen. I appreciate all the reviews which are diligently flooding in with buckets of joy. There appears to be a growing movement for a mpreg story following this one. I'm generally not interested in mpreg stories, but I'll admit the suggestions are certainly intriguing. I may yet be convinced.