Chapter 8
Jim was ready to beam to the planet. The landing party, which consisted of him, Bones, and Spock, was ready to beam down to the planet. The Organians were ready to meet them. Everything was looking good and Jim had every reason to optimistically believe that they might actually emerge from this mission unscathed. Which would definitely be a drastic change from the usual.
"Ready Bones?" he asked, turning to face the doctor. He just glared at him and Jim bit back a snide comment about his fear of beaming. He would be nice to his CMO just this once. He looked at Spock expectantly, for some odd reason expecting an unprompted response, even if he had never gotten one before. He only waited a moment before concluding that said response wasn't coming.
Jim sighed. "Are you ready?"
"Indeed, Captain. I have been for 3.5 minutes. It is your conversation with Mr. Scott that has delayed us."
Jim rolled his eyes but decided to not take the bait. "Alright then, energize."
The last thing he saw was Scotty's grinning face as he vanished, only to reappear on an alien planet moments later. He gazed around, checking to make sure that both Bones and Spock had arrived safely. As much as he knew that beaming was perfectly safe, some part of Bones's endless rants stuck in his mind, causing an unnecessary and unwanted worry. Once he assessed that they were all fine, he turned to face the approaching man.
"Welcome to Organia," a tall, regal human man said, stepping forward with a respectful incline to his head. "I am Ayelborne, one of the members of the Council of the Elders."
Jim nodded in acknowledgment. "I am Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise. This is my first officer Commander Spock and my Chief Medical Officer, Leonard McCoy," Jim said, gesturing to each of the men as he introduced them.
Ayelborne nodded to each of them in welcome and then turned to head towards the building that was behind him. "Follow me," he instructed, "I will show you to your temporary quarters."
Bones raised his eyebrow at Jim, who, in turn, was equally confused. They had not planned on staying on planet during the course of their negotiations. In fact, Jim had been hoping that they would be able to come to an understanding in the course of one day. Apparently the Organians had a different idea. Meanwhile, Ayelborne was talking about the current condition of the planet. Jim realized with a subtle start that he had completely missed most of what he had been saying, but judging by Bones's bored expression, he hadn't missed much.
In a lull in the conversation, Jim burst in, "We weren't planning on staying overnight on planet, actually."
The Organian looked back at him and raised his eyebrows. "We had planned on you staying for dinner and we decided that it was better for you to remain here after the affair. We were only thinking about your convenience. If we were mistaken, we will gladly rectify the problem."
Jim shook his head quickly, suddenly feeling like an asshole. It would be rude to decline after they had apparently put so much effort into their arrangements. "No," he replied hastily, "I was just confused, there's no problem."
Ayelborne nodded and pushed open the door that led to their temporary quarters. He quickly walked through the hall, pointing out various rooms as he went. At last, after climbing a couple flights of stairs, he gestured to three rooms. Jim panted slightly and came to the conclusion that he might be more out of shape than he would ever want to admit. Maybe Bones had a point about his diet. Perhaps he should try to eat better.
"These will be your rooms," Ayelborne said softly. "There are other people on this floor, so please be respectful to our other guests."
Jim nodded his consent, as did Bones and Spock. Part of him was offended that the Organian thought that they would cause any disruptions, but he decided to not worry about it. They had bigger issues that needed to be addressed.
"Where are the negotiations taking place?" Jim asked, noting the unpleasant twist to Ayelborne's face. It was then that he realized that they weren't looking forward to diplomacy anymore than he was. Or perhaps it was directed at Jim's lack of tact. Well, he figured it was best to get it over and done with.
"I will take you there now," Ayelborne responded, smoothing his features back into a calm mask. Jim was momentarily reminded of his first officer, but he shoved that analogy back to a corner in his mind. "The Council of the Elders is waiting for you."
~*00*~
Jim wasn't entirely sure what had happened at the negotiations, but he did learn that he rarely had a reason to feel optimistic about anything. Ever. No matter how simple the mission originally seemed, something always went wrong or added a complication that had no right or reason to exist.
This is what Jim currently knew though.
1.) The Organians still believed in general neutrality. They had no real desire to join the Federation as they believed that it would cause more general bad than good. No matter how many logical arguments both he and Spock tried and despite the loud, emotional outbursts from Bones, the Council of Elders had politely refused their offer. Repeatedly.
2.) The Klingons had become restless and therefore violent. They seemed to be on the verge of invading Organia and were going out of their way to cause trouble with the Federation. Whether or not it had been intentional timing, Jim couldn't really be sure and he didn't really care. All that mattered was that their supposedly peaceful negotiations had a decent chance of escalating into some kind of violent conflict.
3.) Diplomacy gave Jim a headache. Always had, always will.
Jim groaned as he collapsed against his bed in his temporary quarters. They had been given a brief reprieve in between the negotiations and dinner, so Jim had decided that he should probably attempt to get rid of his headache. He wanted to be at least partially pleasant for dinner. Bones had probably gone off to his own quarters as well and Jim was pretty sure he'd heard Spock mutter something about exploration. There was a decent chance that his mind had just made that up, though.
He had known that coming here would be a waste of time. And while he could understand the Federation's desires to gain Organia as an ally, he couldn't see why they were so persistent. Organia sought neutrality from both the Federation and the Klingons. While it was unnerving to have them so close to the Klingon border, Jim couldn't see the harm in just letting them be.
And now they were in a potentially dangerous situation. He didn't really want to subject his crew to a Klingon attack, especially because it was so unnecessary. If he could have it his way, they'd leave right now, send Starfleet a message: Sorry, we did our best, but they're some pretty damn stubborn bastards, and then readily accept their new mission. However, they were still caught in the diplomatic cycle of 'playing nice' with the super intelligent beings.
Sometimes Jim couldn't help but wonder what the point of being a captain was. He still didn't get to do what he wanted, even if he felt it was right, he still had to get approval to do anything slightly out of the ordinary, and he still had to partake in diplomatic functions, despite what his instincts were telling him. Seriously, being a captain was useless. Except for when it wasn't, which kind of made up for when it was.
Still, Jim thought as he massaged his aching temple, being a captain sometimes has more downsides than not.
There was a knock on his door and Jim sat up, wincing slightly as the room began to spin. Yep, he had definitely sat up too fast. "Come in," Jim called out, cradling his head in his hands. He looked up when the door opened to admit Bones.
"We should probably...are you alright?" Bones asked, taking in Jim's bedraggled appearance and crouched down beside him. Pulling out his tricorder, he began to scan the captain. Jim looked up at him with a disgruntled expression no his face.
"I'm fine, Bones," Jim insisted, pushing his friend's hands away. Bones looked at him skeptically. "Really, I just have a headache."
The next thing he knew, Bones stuck a hypo into his neck and depressed it with a soft whoosh. Jim glared at him. Where did he keep his hypos? He didn't carry around a case of them as far as he could tell... He must keep one in his pocket for the sole purpose of tormenting Jim. He sighed. At this point, it really wouldn't surprise him. "What was that?" he asked with an accusing tone.
"Relax," Bones answered, turning to head towards the door, "it was only a pain killer. Geeze, you can get into bar fights and take punches without flinching but you can't handle a tiny prick from a hypo."
Jim glared at him, but as he felt his headache lessen, his glare started to fade as well. Well, McCoy might be a sneaky bastard, but there was no doubts that he was a damn good doctor. "What do you want, anyway?" he asked, deliberately sounding irritated just to be ornery.
"We need to head down to dinner," McCoy explained. "Where's the computerized robot?"
Jim raised his eyebrows at the new insult, but simply shrugged. Computerized robot? Well, it's not like he hadn't thought it at one point or another. "I don't know," he answered and stood up to follow his friend. "He'll probably meet us there."
Bones just nodded, clearly pleased with himself for inserting his new Spock-insult. Jim chuckled to himself slightly. For all of their bickering, there didn't seem to be any real animosity between the two of them. But then again, Jim was more perceptive of individuals, not so much relationships. He decided that Spock's and Bones's friendship, although he used the term loosely, was probably best left in their hands and left unanalyzed.
Sure enough, when the arrived in the room where the dinner was to be held, Spock was already standing in the entrance of the room, waiting for Jim and McCoy. When he saw them, he raised his eyebrow slightly and followed them to their seats. The Organians were already seated and Jim smiled at Ayelborne before taking his seat across from the solemn men, Spock sitting down at his left and Bones at his right.
It wasn't long before food was served and they began to eat, small talk falling amongst the table. The Organian's intelligence was more than apparent and Jim couldn't help but feel like the information that he'd gotten from Starfleet regarding this species was a drastic understatement. Claymare, one of the Council members, was especially intelligent, and made no secret of it. Most of the time, Jim felt like he was showing off his vast mental superiority to his first officer, and more than a few times during their conversation, Jim had noticed Spock stiffening at what he probably perceived as his own mental failings. Jim made a mental note to reassure his first officer that not every species could obtain an infinite knowledge of everything after they completed this mission. Plus, if Spock were any more brilliant, Jim had a feeling that he would be even more insufferable than he already had a tendency to be.
"Your species physiology is remarkably similar to that of humans," Bones said during a lull in the conversation. His tone suggested that this had been something that had been on his mind for a while.
Claymare inclined his head slightly and said, "This is not our true form, Doctor."
Jim looked up sharply, slightly confused. If that wasn't the Organians' true form then what was? And how did they manage to change forms? Were they some kind of shape shifters or maybe they were part chameleon?
Part-chameleon? Really? That was ridiculous. This entire situation was ridiculous. Jim felt his flight instinct kick in again but he suppressed it. However, he was going to send Starfleet a strongly worded letter outlining how they needed to give more details about what they would be facing in upcoming missions. Jim was getting tired of these surprises.
"We are so intellectually evolved that we have, in a sense, transcended our physical bodies," Ayelborne explained, noting the confusion that was present on all three of the officers' faces.
"They are unnecessary, but we do attempt to take the form of whichever species is visiting us. It is less disconcerting for our visitors and it is no real trouble for us," Claymare continued.
"So you're shape shifters?" Bones persisted. Leave it to him to demand the simplest explanation.
"In the barest sense, yes," agreed Ayelborne.
Jim nodded, comprehending what the Organians were saying, but an air of confusion remained. He suspected that his confusion stemmed from a lack of experience with this particular species, or any species even remotely like them. Being able to transcend his physical body didn't sound particularly appealing or necessary. Then again, if he lived as long as they did, he would probably get bored with his physical form as well. Although he suspected that it had absolutely nothing to do with boredom.
The rest of the conversation followed without incidence or surprise. Jim wasn't surprised, as the Organians seemed to be a very private people. Before long, the plates were cleared away and the three men excused themselves from the table. Jim was determined to leave as early as possible the next morning, the bad feeling in his gut having increased over the short amount of time they had spent on the planet.
The three men walked up to their rooms and bid each other goodnight tiredly. Jim walked into his room and collapsed on his bed. He was so exhausted that he barely managed to pull his boots off before he succumbed to a deep sleep.
"Spock, come with me," Jim urged, shaking his first officer awake. Spock's eyes snapped open and darted around before resting on Jim.
"Has something happened?" he asked, his voice sounding muffled as he pushed himself up on the bed. He blinked a couple of times to adjust to the darkness of the rooms and began to fumble around for his boots. He seemed very disoriented for a Vulcan.
"Yes," Jim whispered, turning to give him some privacy, "it's an emergency, you must come with me."
Spock straightened up, finally appearing like his normal self. Jim reached over and grabbed Spock's wrist, pulling him towards the door in haste. Spock raised his eyebrow in confusion but allowed himself to be yanked around.
"What is the emergency, Jim?"
"I can't tell you yet. We have to wait until we're somewhere they can't hear us."
Spock looked like he might protest, but before he could say anything, Jim opened a door and shoved him down the stairs that were behind it.
"Jim, what-"
Jim awoke with a start, breathing heavily. Something was wrong, horribly wrong. That dream had seemed so real, as if it had been happening. But it wasn't possible, because he was this Jim Kirk, in bed, not the Kirk who had dragged his first officer out of bed for an emergency. He had to go find Spock. He had to make sure he was okay.
When he was pulling on his boots, he realized how ridiculous he was being. It was just a dream. There was nothing to worry about. Dreams didn't mean anything. He had absolutely no reason to be concerned.
But he was still going to check. He didn't care whether or not he looked like a fool. He cared way more about Spock than he did his pride. Plus, there wasn't a chance in hell he'd be able to go back to sleep unless he made sure he was okay.
Grumbling slightly under his breath about how ridiculous he was being, he stumbled towards his door and down the hall to where Spock's temporary quarters was. At least he would have something to laugh about later with Bones. He was sure that his friend would get a kick out of his midnight panic.
"Spock," Jim called out softly as he knocked on his door. He didn't want to disturb the other people in the surrounding rooms, and he knew that Spock was a very light sleeper. He probably woke up the second Jim left his room because of the quiet creak in the floor.
He waited for a minute impatiently, straining his ears for any sign that Spock was moving around. He knocked again, this time with a little more urgency. "Spock, it's me, Jim," he called out again. "Let me in."
He waited another minute before the worry began to creep back. Spock was far too efficient to have not already answered and he didn't believe for a minute that Spock would have slept through his knocking. Something was wrong.
He pushed at the door and found that it opened without a problem. Spock never left his door unlocked. Jim entered the room quietly and looked around. The bed was unoccupied and unmade. Spock never left his bed unmade. Something was terribly wrong.
Desperately, Jim tore through the room, just in case Spock was meditating under his bed or fell asleep in the shower. He was willing to believe anything at this point, as long as it led to the recovery of his first officer. But he came up empty.
Jim stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. He needed to take a moment to relax, to not panic. He was the captain for a reason and he needed to employ his levelheaded attitude now. Panicking wasn't going to bring Spock back and he needed to think of the correct course of action. And also an answer to the question why. What was the motivation in taking Spock?
"Bones," Jim called into his communicator. "Bones, Kirk to Bones."
"Goddammit Jim, this better be an emergency," his voice came over the communicator a moment later, sounding drowsy.
"Spock has gone missing, Bones," Jim replied, and was disappointed to note that his voice still had a frenzied tone.
"What in hell are you talking about?"
"Bones, just meet me in my room," Jim snapped, and cut the communication before his friend could respond. He knew that he would come, albeit he wouldn't be happy about it. Jim didn't care. He was far too unsettled by his dream to even consider any alternatives to Spock's current location.
Jim headed back to his own room and only had to wait a couple of minutes before Bones burst into his room, mumbling under his breath about idiotic captains who can't keep track of their first officers. Which Jim didn't think was entirely fair. He hadn't lost Spock, he just had no idea where he was. Or if he was okay.
"What's this nonsense about Spock missing?" Bones muttered, collapsing in a chair across from Jim. He clearly didn't think that this was anything to be worried about.
"I checked his room and he wasn't there."
Bones looked at him expectantly, clearly expecting a better reason for being forced out of his bed in the middle of the night. "And...?"
"Well, he wasn't there," Jim repeated, as if it were obvious. If Spock wasn't there, that meant he was somewhere else. And that somewhere else, according to Jim's gut feeling, was dangerous for the half-Vulcan.
Bones just sighed. "That green-blooded hobgoblin is probably just gathering data or something."
"No, you don't understand, I had a dream," Jim said lamely, knowing that it sounded even more ridiculous out loud than it had sounded in his head. "Spock was tricked into following me somewhere...but it wasn't me."
McCoy was looking at him as if he'd very much like to drug him with some kind of sedative. He knew that he sounded crazy, but the dream had just seemed so real. He couldn't just dismiss it, especially with the mounting evidence: unlocked door, unmade bed, missing Spock. Sure, it wasn't concrete evidence, but Jim knew Spock better than that. There were some things that Spock just did, probably without even realizing that he was doing it. Plus, Spock would probably find it illogical to wander around at night, knowing about the rising hostilities between the Organians and the Klingons. Especially since Jim had explicitly warned Spock and Bones to be on their toes. Not that Spock had likely understood the euphemism, but he still didn't think Spock would wander off in the middle of the night.
"Jim," Bones began, "it was just a dream. If you need something to help you sleep-"
"No, I just need to find my first officer, preferably in one piece and breathing."
Bones looked like he was going to start protesting again, but something in Jim's tone must have convinced him that something really was wrong because he stood up with a sigh and headed towards the door. "Dammit Jim, let's go. Pointy-eared bastard can't be too far."
Jim smiled slightly and followed him. Bones was a good friend, despite his cynical disposition and constant complaints. They would find Spock who would probably just be analyzing the landscape or something and he would be fine, Bones would complain loudly, and they would all go back to bed and laugh about it later. Well, Jim would laugh about it later. Spock didn't laugh, and Bones had lost too much sleep to ever view the incident with humor.
What a shame things weren't ever that easy.
A.N.
Thanks for the continued support guys. I just wanted to see if there was anything that anybody wanted to see happen or if anyone had any suggestions. Anything? Thanks for reading guys!