Chapter 18: Explosion

McCoy heard the commotion while he stayed frustratingly in the Sickbay. His first impulse was to find out what was going on, and if he was needed, but he calmed this, knowing that there was no way he could leave the room, and the knowledge that Kirk was not there, alone and unprotected. Especially not with the amount of people who seemed to be in on the security codes.

"McCoy to the Bridge," he finally tried, curiosity mounting, to make contact with Spock and find out what exactly was going on.

When all he received was silence, the Doctor tried once more, losing his temper more and more as the attempts failed.

"McCoy to the Bridge!" he finally screamed into the intercom.

"I hear your calls, Doctor, but I am unable to answer them," Spock's cool voice suddenly filled the room. "Needless to say you shall find out what is happening fairly soon."

"That will have to do, I guess," McCoy mumbled, not pleased at all.

"Yes it will have to," the Vulcan replied before his voice was gone and McCoy was left frustrated and alone once more.

It was much later, and only after a large explosion was heard outside the Enterprise, one that shook the ship dramatically for many minutes, and as McCoy was making his way towards the door, disregarding any previous orders, that Spock entered the Sickbay with a wounded man draped over his shoulders.

"Now, Doctor, I can give you the information you requested," Spock said as he walked to one of the beds and dropped the man, neither gently nor harshly, onto its surface.

McCoy was about to question the First Officer but the state of the patient stole his attention completely away. The man was dying. From several slashes on his face and body wept blood that would not stop. He seemed to have been through some horrible torture.

"Who the Hell is he?" McCoy asked not being able to completely identify the man past all the wounds.

"His name is Lieutenant Bailey."

McCoy thought for a moment. He did not fully recognize the name even more than he recognized the man now in his current condition. There was only some distant sting of a memory. "How did he get into this miserable shape then? Was he near the bomb?"

"No. He was the man who supposedly planted it," Spock stated. "We were told of its presence fortunately by an Ensign he had become close with."

"This friend," McCoy asked. "What was in it for them? Other than their life?"

"Do you really need to ask me?" Spock raised an eyebrow.

McCoy shook his head. It was obvious that whomever it was would no longer be merely an Ensign and as formerly without power.

"Am I to treat him then?"

"Yes."

"Why?" McCoy asked confused to the reason. A traitor's life would not be considered important to save.

"I need to discover if he is truly guilty or merely innocent."

The human considered this for a moment. "You didn't do this to him then? I thought it might have been your 'investigation' into the matter."

"No. This is the work of Lieutenant Commander Scott. He reached the man first. Bailey was already unconscious by the time I arrived. He would have been dead if I hadn't found him and interrupted the interrogation."

"So it's important to you to find out if he is innocent?" McCoy queried. "Is it for your own personal feelings?"

"You fail to understand me, McCoy. Emotions do not have anything to do with it. If I am to file a report, whether or not he lives or dies, it will make all the difference for its accuracy, when the Captain returns," Spock stated. "We reached the explosive only moments before it would have done its damage. There would have been no ship for Kirk to return to otherwise."

"Would that have been all that bad?" McCoy asked.

Spock fixed him with an inquisitive stare, one which the Doctor now matched.

"I am beginning to wonder if you are not only sentimental but suicidal as well," Spock said. He seemingly chose to ignore the answer, however. "Tell me if you cannot save him, Doctor."

McCoy watched as the Vulcan strode to the Sickbay doors.

"Why?"

"There is one way I can find out for sure if he is responsible. I will not be able to perform the method if the man is dead."

It took only a few minutes between the time McCoy informed Spock that he could not save Bailey's life until the moment the Vulcan once more appeared in the Sickbay.

"I did all I could," McCoy stated but the words seemed weak and only reminded him of his failure. He comforted himself with the knowledge of what miserable fate would have awaited the man, anyway, if he had been guilty and had survived.

McCoy watched as Spock walked to the dying man. The Vulcan carefully placed his hand on the side of Bailey's face. The Doctor soon realized what was soon going to happen. What Spock had been intending to do if the man would not live. It was the first time McCoy had seen it done while in a Vulcan's presence and he cursed his own anticipation.

Spock concentrated, his hand firmly clutching onto Bailey's face. Soon both men's faces contorted in pain and a vast wave of emotions.

Suddenly Spock wrenched his hand away from contact with the man. It was only shortly before McCoy, reading the signals, watched as Bailey died, gone off to whatever world lay beyond death.

It was a fair time later that Spock was able to compose himself and speak. "He did plant the bomb. It seems he was still angry over Kirk's decision to kill Balok and the agreement and willingness of the rest of the crew to follow orders. Bailey had been through great pain ever since that event occurred. He made it his task to exact revenge. He had been growing weary of the Empire for months. Balok's death was merely the catalyst for his actions."

McCoy suddenly remembered the event and Bailey. It had been a short time after the Enterprise's launch. Kirk had stumbled on the alien, Balok, and his ship. Though he had been hesitant to destroy it initially, and though he had run to its aid, it had been a ruse. Once discovering the true childlike form of Balok Kirk had destroyed the alien and taken the small ship for the Empire to examine.

Bailey had been aboard the landing party. In comparison to Kirk, he had had initially wanted to kill it. However upon seeing it, apparently the man had changed his mind, feeling some bond or attraction to the alien.

"He died with the memory of you stomping around inside his brain the last thing he'll ever know," McCoy said. "I hope he finds some peace out there to make up for that."

"So do I, Doctor," Spock said. His words had never sounded more sincere than they had been in that moment.

When the Vulcan reached the doors he turned around but did not meet the Doctor's eyes as he spoke. "I do not enjoy his feelings still lingering inside me. I do believe that the Empire would not support such feelings either."

McCoy did not know what to say. It had not been the first time. It would not be the last.

Several days later a call came to the bridge. Spock heard McCoy's voice, agitated on the other end and impulsively knew it was a call only to be heard within the safety of the Captain's quarters.

"I am alone now McCoy," Spock told the Doctor.

"Spock," McCoy stated, the tension in his voice clear. "I think you should know…"

"What is it Doctor?" the Vulcan asked after a silence.

"It's Captain Kirk," McCoy finally answered. "He's back. And he is very pissed off."

(Note: I plan on doing a separate story detailing Kirk and Nan's 'adventure' at some time in the future. :) )