McCoy recalls a time when Jim helped him through a tough situation. Now he might have to return the favor.
I do not own Star Trek.
Big Brother Part 8
While the ship was headed for the Laurentian system to meet up with the fleet, I had lots of time to think. Sick Bay had been cleaned up as much as was possible, without going into spacedock. The Vulcans had been given quarters and were doing whatever it was Vulcans did, especially in their current situation. I thought of Jim down on the ice planet Delta Vega. How would he survive? Could he make it to the Federation outpost before the elements got to him? That damnable Vulcan on the bridge hadn't even acted like evicting Jim from the ship was a hard decision. If only I could file a report that would get him removed from command. But then where would we be, without a captain or first officer?
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I remembered one time, while we were in field training, one of the most terrifying exercises for me had been a jump from a ship in high orbit over Earth. We weren't going to be sky diving exactly, because we'd be jumping from the upper stratosphere, slightly over 150,000 feet, in a oxygen suit. Once we entered breathable airspace, it would be an easy fall to Earth, with a parachute, of course. No one had ever died in the exercise, or so I heard, but I froze up. I was so scared, I decided then and there, I was leaving Star Fleet and not looking back. Jim noticed my fear and tried to calm me down. He said it was like a ride at a theme park. I laughed at him. Not like any ride I'd ever been on, I said. But he never gave up on me. Encouraging, cracking jokes. I don't know what I would have done without the kid being there. Wasn't he afraid of anything? Maybe a lack of good sense explained his bravado. In any case, I was grateful for his presence.
Aviophobia was very real to me, and I managed to get through almost two years of the academy without confronting more than the usual spaceflights in vehicles that Jim reassured me were flare proof, comet proof, pretty much anything that could kill us proof. So now, in order to pass year two, we had to...jump, from a ship, very high up. I felt the bile rise up in my throat. Do not throw up, Leonard, do not throw up.
We were suited up, and waiting our turns to jump from the segregated airlock at the rear of the shuttle. A big burly NCO was standing there to make sure there were no cowards aboard. One by one, cadets exited the relative safety of the our vessel, when I noticed it was Jim's turn. Being the brave sort he was, or maybe the word was reckless, he yelled some sort of amusing epithet, and ran for the door which was open to space. I dared not remove my helmet, with no atmosphere in the open airlock. I started to panic. It was my turn, and I couldn't move. I heard the beating of my heart in my head, and the accelerated breathing in my helmet.
"McCoy, go!" I heard through my intercom, the booming voice of monstroid back there. "I said go, now!"
I stood there, unable to move one inch. "I can't," I yelled back.
He came forward, grabbed me by the airtank, and shoved me out the airlock. Blackness filled my vision as I free-fell down to Earth. Thank god for gravity, or I'd be floating off toward Saturn. I screamed as I fell, until I felt myself slowing and the air rushing by. The sky went from black to blue, and I saw the small figures of those who'd gone before me. As I could make out features, rivers, trees, and buildings, I screamed out for joy. I was alive! The suit had worked! I'd survived!
Later, when everyone was back on solid ground, Jim and I hugged each other, glad to be alive. I told the kid I was grateful he'd been there. Seeing him do so effortlessly, what it took a burly academy officer to get me to do, made me respect him all the more. We survived the worst nightmare I could ever imagine. And the one good thing that came from that jump was, I didn't suffer from aviophobia anymore. It took being tossed out an airlock by a huge, angry-looking non-com to cure me.
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I was in Sick Bay, when someone knowing Jim and I were roommates at the academy, called me to let me know he'd been found. It was probably against protocol, but I thanked them for telling me. I decided that I might be needed on the bridge, assuming Jim would be taken there. There, or maybe the brig. I got there as fast as I could run, before slowing and slipping onto the bridge. Jim was brought there, looking none the worse for wear. Spock, as acting captain, interrogated my friend, and some guy who was with him. We all stood around, watching the scene unfold in front of us. If I didn't know better, I would say that Captain Spock was exhibiting anger. Controlled maybe, but still there. Jim, for whatever reason, was taunting the Vulcan. As it turned out, his companion was Star Fleet.
I folded my arms and bit my lip. What the hell was Jim doing? It was as if he was purposely trying to get Spock mad. He kept at him, getting in his face. I wanted to stop him, but I didn't know what he had in mind. So I waited. I exchanged glances with Sulu, Chekhov and a few others. None of us knew what to do.
Before I knew what was happening, Spock had jumped Jim, attacking him head on in a fury I'd not expected from a human, let alone a non-emotional Vulcan. I wanted to step in, but I felt that these two had to iron out their differences, one way or another. Sometimes it took a fight between enemies, for those enemies to become friends. If they didn't kill each other in the process.
The bridge crew watched, stunned. No one moved. Jim seemed to be trying to avoid any major damage from Spock, but he wasn't really fighting back. If he survived, I'd have some patching up to do, that was for sure. Spock had him by the throat, threatening to cut off Jim's oxygen supply. Finally, after what seemed like hours, a voice cut through the chaos.
"Spock!"
A second passed, two seconds...when Spock released Jim's throat, leaving red marks behind. Jim was coughing from his throttling, but otherwise seemed ok. I couldn't wait to ask him what the hell he had been doing.
Captain Spock stood in front of me, informing me that he was relinquishing command, and that I should make note of it in the ship's log. Then he left the bridge, all of our eyes following him.
The stranger piped up about how he liked this ship. Who was he anyway? I recalled the outpost on Delta Vega. Maybe Jim had brought him back with him, however he had made it back here. Questions popped up in my brain, but I would talk with him later. For now, all I could say was...
"Congratulations, Jim. Now we've got no captain, and no goddamn first officer to replace him."
He responded without looking at me. "Yeah, we do."
Sulu clarified for the bridge crew. "Pike made him First Officer."
I watched as Jim settled into the center seat, making himself at home. I said something, which he took as non support of his new position . He should have known I would support him, but the situation was just so bizarre, what did he expect. I wanted to see to his injuries, but he had no time for that. He made an announcement to the fact that Captain Spock was no longer in command, that he was, and that his orders were we would attempt to follow the enemy ship and intercept it before it reached Earth.
I had been in Sick Bay for much of the events in our encounter with the enemy ship, so I wasn't really up to speed on what was going on and whom we had been fighting. But whatever was going to happen, I knew Sick Bay was ready. I only hoped that it wasn't going to be needed much.