Ch 24: Emergency

"Dead? What do you mean he's dead?"

McCoy rolled his eyes at Kirk. "What kind of question is that? He's dead! He's expired, he's croaked, he's kicked the bucket, he's no longer with us…I can go on, but I think you get the point."

Kirk shook his head. How could Robert be dead? "What's the cause?" He took a look at Azrael and swallowed hard. "Spock didn't…he didn't kill him, did he?!?"

McCoy shook his head. "It's hard to say. I don't see any signs of trauma, but that doesn't mean much. If Spock killed him, there could be internal damage or some kind of marks underneath his clothing. We'll have to get him into sick bay and perform a scan to be certain." He looked at Kirk, sad to see the worry on his face. "If Spock has killed him though, I don't think I need to tell you what that means…"

The captain closed his eyes. He really didn't want to think about the consequences of his First Officer killing a crew member. Wounding a crew member to the extent he had to Azrael didn't bode well, but if he really had killed Robert, their relationship issues would be the least of their problems.

Opening his eyes, Kirk pulled out his communicator. "Scotty! We've got a medical emergency! We need the medical team and the security team sent to the transporter room! Once they're there, beam us up!"

Uhura walked into the transporter room and spotted the sleeping Scotsman. She had been walking down the hall when she heard his loud snores and was drawn to him. There he sat at the console, his head resting on his arms and his mouth hanging open. At the corner of his mouth was a small puddle of drool that soaked into his sleeve. She crossed her arms and shook her head, smirking. It wasn't very professional to sleep on the job, but Scotty had been working really hard the last few days, so she let him rest.

Her mother would always tell her that even if she and her siblings were little monsters when they were awake, once they fell asleep they turned back into little angels. Staring at the usually very lively, very peculiar Mr. Scott as he slept, she finally understood what her mother meant. Embraced in the serenity of sleep, Scotty's facial features softened, his eyelashes gently pressed against his rose colored cheeks.

Without realizing it, she had drawn closer to him and was bent over him. She couldn't explain it, but she had a sudden desire to kiss him on the cheek. Just as her lips came within centimeters within the cherub-like cheek, a transmission came in from Kirk.

Scotty! We've got a medical emergency! We need the medical team and the security team sent to the transporter room! Once they're there, beam us up!

Uhura flew up just in time to avoid her head colliding with Scotty's as it flung upward. He looked around frantically as he tried to get his brain to work again. He spotted Uhura and gave her a confused look. He didn't remember her being there when he fell asleep…

He shook his head and began to focus on the task at hand. Since she was here, she could alert the medical team while he alerted the security team. "Uhura!" he shouted. "Go get the medical team an' bring 'em here! Hurry!"

She nodded stiffly in acknowledgment and flew out of the transporter room, her long legs springing her forward in a graceful movement that reminded Scotty of a bounding gazelle. Pushing the thought of Uhura's lovely legs out of his head, he pressed the intercom on the console and screamed into it. "Security team, get ta tha transporter room immediately!"

Even though Kirk had instructed him to wait before beaming them up, his instincts told him it was better to get them back up now and deal with whatever comes up afterward. His hands moved to the controls and got a lock on the five crew members. It was easier than usual to lock in on them because they were standing together in a giant mass instead of separately. Scotty's eyebrows knitted as he wondered why they were so close together and began to think the worse.

He pushed the slider up on the console and watched as they slowly began to rematerialize on the transporter pads. Only Kirk and McCoy stood on their own two feet. Kirk held up Spock and Azrael on either side of him; McCoy held Robert in his arms like a groom would hold his bride. It was worse that Scotty had imagined. Both of the security officers and Commander Spock were injured.

Surveying the mostly empty transporter room, Kirk snapped at Scotty, "I thought I told you to beam us up after the teams had arrived!" Flustered, Scotty replied, "Well when ya asked ta have both the medical team and security team here, ya spooked me! And by tha look o' things, it was more important ta get ya all up here than ta wait fer 'em!"

Uhura and the medical team arrived as Scotty finished his sentence, quickly followed by the security team. As soon as Kirk saw them, Kirk shouted, "Medical team, get Azrael to sick bay! Security team, take Spock to the brig!" Everyone in the room, including Scotty, stared at Kirk in disbelief. One of the security officers asked, "Put Spock in the brig? But…why? He's injured!"

Kirk shook his head. "No, he's not injured; he's sedated. Doctor McCoy had to use a sedation hypo on him because he attacked Azrael." A few gasps were heard from various officers. Uhura glared at Kirk. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, I was there!" Kirk screamed. He didn't have the patience to deal with Uhura's attitude at that moment. A medical officer meekly asked, "What about Ensign Robert sir?"

McCoy and Kirk shared a solemn look. Taking a deep breath, McCoy said, "He's dead." This time everyone in the room gasped. McCoy continued, "We aren't certain at this time what the cause of death is, but right now it's likely that Spock may have killed him."

"NO!" Uhura screamed. "I don't believe it! Spock would never kill someone, especially not a member of his own crew!"

Kirk glared at Uhura, earning an equally violent glare in response. Fiery blue eyes were pitted against brooding dark chocolate eyes. No one in the room moved or even dared to breathe. McCoy broke the silence, shouting, "For God's sake, you can all ponder the issue later! Get Azrael and Robert to sick bay and lock up Spock!" Everyone besides Uhura snapped out of their trance and began moving. Two medical officers carefully took Azrael from Kirk's left shoulder and began carrying him to sick bay. One of the stronger security officers took Robert's body and followed them. The remaining two security officers took the unconscious Spock and carried him to the brig. Scotty, knowing that his job in the transporter room was done, left the room. Giving one final look at Uhura and Kirk, McCoy shook his head and left the room to assist his medical team.

Now alone in the room, Uhura took a few steps closer to Kirk. Raising a slender hand, she slapped Kirk across the face. The look she received in response would have sent any other woman running, but not Uhura. She was fueled by contained rage and contempt for the blond-haired captain, and it was about time she let it out.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" she rumbled. "You steal Spock away from me, you lure me into your room and seduce me, and now you're throwing Spock into the brig? What the hell is going on in that empty head of yours?!?"

"You know, if you were anyone else, I'd be throwing you in the brig for insubordination!" Kirk screamed. "First of all, I didn't steal Spock away from you, okay? He came to me and told me he loved me. I didn't seduce him, I didn't convince him you were a bad match for him, I didn't do anything except for accept him for who he was, which is more than you've done might I add. Secondly, I didn't lure you into my room and I sure as hell didn't seduce you! You're getting your facts all screwed up because you don't want to admit that you voluntarily kissed me! And third, you didn't see Spock almost kill Azrael, so don't try and tell me I'm wrong for locking him up!"

Uhura's jaw clenched as Kirk spoke to her, but she was not at a loss for words. Before she could open her mouth though, Kirk continued his rant. "I don't know when you got it in your head that I don't know shit, but let me tell you something. I don't appreciate you getting in my face and questioning my decisions, and I sure as hell don't care for you acting like the victim because Spock dumped you!"

"I am the victim here Jim!" she shouted. "I leave for two weeks, two weeks, and in that time you manage to disillusion Spock into thinking you're better for him than I am!"

Kirk had lost it. He had a dead ensign whose family he'd have to notify, a badly injured lieutenant who could be near death himself, and a first officer under arrest and possibly insane. Romance drama was the last thing on his to do list, and he certainly didn't want to deal with Uhura's sulking.

"I did nothing! Okay? I come back from Iowa and find him sitting in my room! Next thing I know he's got me backed into a corner and is forcing his tongue down my throat! Then I find poetry that he wrote about me! All I did was come back early from my shore leave. That was all I did! Anything having to do with how he feels about you came straight from him, not me! So instead of trying to use me as a scapegoat, why don't you just come to terms with the fact that Spock didn't want to have a relationship with you to begin with and get the fuck off of my back?!?"

Uhura staggered back as Kirk towered over her. However, as she moved back, Kirk followed. He was far from done with Uhura. No, he had much more to get off of his chest. "Now, I'll admit, it was pretty stupid of me to offer comfort to the girl whose boyfriend dumped her for me. Yeah, that was a bad choice on my part. But that doesn't change the fact that you were the one who kissed me. That was a choice you made all on your own, so don't give me that load of seduction bullshit. I don't really care if you refuse to be held accountable for your actions, but I'm not going to tolerate you putting all the blame on me!"

Uhura's back hit the wall of the transporter room, making it painfully obvious that she had run out of room to retreat. She regretted even bringing anything up to him, but it was too late for her regrets. Kirk was pissed. Slamming his hands on the wall on the sides of Uhura's head, he lowered his voice. To her surprise, it was shaky and unsteady.

"Right now, the man I love is sitting in the brig. The man he pulverized is probably barely clinging to life as we speak. Another man is dead and I have no way of knowing if it's Spock's fault or not. Even if Spock didn't kill him, I can't just ignore the fact that he deliberately assaulted a crew member. The only thing that I think can save him from a court marshal is proving that he's insane, and I think the argument for that will be sounder than I'd like."

"Early this morning, Spock forcefully mind melded with me. He found out that McCoy is in love with me and he went after him. He…he choked him and flung him across the room." Uhura's eyes widened when she heard Kirk's words. She had thought she had seen strange marks on McCoy's neck; it surprised her to find out they were not only finger marks, but finger marks made by Spock. Eyes now very moist, Kirk pulled the bandage on his neck off. Uhura gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. The bite mark Kirk revealed from underneath the bandage was now swollen and puffy. The wound glowed a dark red against Kirk's tan skin. "You see this? He gave this to me this morning in the elevator, and it wasn't because he was over enthusiastic. He did this on purpose to mark me."

He covered the wound back up and stared at Uhura, whose eyes sparkled with tears yet to fall. Holding his own tears back, Kirk said, "I have no idea if the Vulcan in the brig right now is really Spock or someone else, but when you find yourself becoming jealous over the fact that Spock and I are in a relationship, remember what he did to me and ask yourself if you'd be able to deal with it half as well as I have."

Moving his hands away from the wall, he left the room before his tears could fall. Left alone, Uhura leaned back against the wall and began to cry. It seemed all she did nowadays was cry. She hoped that would eventually change.

McCoy stood over Azrael's body, monitoring his vitals. They were dangerously low, but it was still possible for him to pull through. Each slow, shallow breath put him on edge as he worried if the next one was going to be the last. He had done all he could, the rest was up to Azrael. McCoy shook his head slowly. He didn't know Azrael personally, but as he did with all his patients, he felt a bond with him. The man's life hung in the balance and relied on his expertise to avoid being snuffed out. Though they had just met a couple of hours ago, he found himself hell bound and determined to do all he could to keep him alive.

The door opened behind him, drawing his attention away from his patient. He saw Kirk, but didn't take a single step away from Azrael's side. Kirk's eyes moved from McCoy down to Azrael's motionless body. Standing next to McCoy, he asked softly, "How's he doing?"

"Not good," McCoy replied. "He had a lot of internal bleeding from Spock's blows and his spine was cracked, as well as a few ribs. He'll be lucky if he'll be able to walk when he wakes up...if he wakes up. Breathing is his biggest obstacle right now. If the cracked ribs weren't bad enough, Spock used damned near his whole strength to choke him. If I hadn't sedated him when I had, his neck would have been crushed. Tonight is going to be the real determination of whether he pulls through or not. I've done all I can medically; now we just have to see if he has the will to live."

Kirk sighed heavily. He felt guilty for what had happened to Azrael; the life form reading on McCoy's tricorder had completely taken his attention off of Spock, defeating the entire purpose of keeping him in their group. Sadly his theory of the planet being similar to early Earth was correct and all the life in the water was barely in a multi-cellular form. It would be centuries before they could see any real evolution of the life forms. The plant life could be more closely researched by the botanists he arranged to have sent down to the planet though. Perhaps they'd find some rare plant Starfleet hadn't discovered, maybe find some medicinal herbs or safe to eat vegetation.

That reminded Kirk of Robert. "Were you able to determine the cause of death for Robert?" he asked. McCoy nodded and brought Kirk to the side of the room where Robert's body lay on a medical table. His skin had turned a strange bluish green tint, something that Kirk recognized to be extremely unusual. McCoy's analysis confirmed his suspicions. "I did a full scan on his body and found no physical damage other than some bruising on his back. However, that was not the cause of death, though it did aggravate his condition. Coursing through his veins was a highly potent toxin that spread from his stomach. It seems the ensign ingested something that grew on the planet that was extremely poisonous."

"So you're telling me he died from eating some poisonous fruit?" Kirk asked. McCoy nodded. Kirk shook his head in disbelief. "How could he have made such a stupid mistake like eating unidentified food? Jeez, you don't even need to be trained about that! That should be common sense!"

Regardless of the ensign's horrible taste in food, Kirk was happy to know that Spock hadn't killed the misfortunate ensign. That at least made his job a little easier. It was going to be difficult to find a tasteful way of telling his family that their son had stupidly chosen to eat a foreign fruit from a previously unexplored planet, but it was a lot less difficult than saying his First Officer had beaten him to a bloody pulp. He found himself hoping even more that Azrael made a full recovery so that he wouldn't have to send that notice to his family.

"So," McCoy said, snapping his friend out of his thoughts. "Now that we know for certain that Spock can't be labeled as a killer just yet, what are you going to do?"

Kirk took a moment to think then said, "I'm going to visit him in the brig. The sedative should have worn off by now. I'm going to talk to him and see what's going on with him. I don't know what I expect to find, but depending on what I hear and see, I'll be able to make a more educated decision. I think you're right – I don't think that we're seeing the real Spock right now, but I want to be sure before I take any further steps."

"What are you going to do if you're right though?" McCoy asked. "If you weren't able to snap him out of it by now, he might be beyond your reach."

Kirk looked at his friend and placed a hand firmly on his shoulder. "If I can't snap him out of it, I know who can. After all, who knows you better than yourself?" He removed his hand and walked out of sick bay. McCoy pondered what Kirk could mean by that before following after him.