're Not Dead, Jim

When he reviewed the security vids later, Jim would see that Uhura had caught the ambassador and neatly rolled both of them so that they landed with her body providing cover for his head and neck. It was so textbook, it almost looked like a training vid, except for the three Trubese who unaccountably threw themselves over the pair. A split second later, Spock tackled Selina, bearing her to the ground with his own weight just as the centerpiece behind the dias exploded.

However, when Jim picked himself up immediately after the explosion, the first thing he saw through the smoke and general chaos were two Starfleet doctors running from opposite sides of the hall toward the people lying closest to them in the blast zone. He could see someone stirring under what looked like a carpet of Trubese around Uhura just as Costellano reached them. McCoy was heading toward Spock and Selina, who were lying entirely too still.

Jim dashed after McCoy, pulling out his communicator and barking orders as he ran.

"Kirk to Enterprise. A bomb's just gone off at the reception! I want a full sensor sweep of the area and Cmdr. Giotto with a security detail here NOW. Medical teams to stand by to assist. Transport on Mr. Giotto's all-clear. Kirk out."

He slowed as he approached the spot where Spock and Selina lay, looking like tangled rag dolls. McCoy was running a scanner over what he sincerely hoped were not just bodies.

"Bones?"

"They're not dead, Jim."

He fell to his knees beside his CMO. "How bad is it?"

"They're both concussed from the blast and they've both taken some shrapnel from whatever it was that blew. She has a dislocated shoulder and broken ankle. Spock has a couple broken ribs. He took the worst of it." McCoy indicated the Vulcan's scorched and torn back, partially covering his friend's torso. "But there's nothing I can't fix. They'll be okay." Bones gave him his don't-worry-I-got-this look.

"unnnh" Selina's head rolled and she immediately hissed in pain.

"Just lie still there, darlin'." McCoy drawled, his accent growing stronger as he switched to his best bedside manner. "That shoulder's where you took the worst of it. I can give you somethin' for the pain."

"No, please do not." she said, suddenly fully alert.

"Smart lady," Jim remarked.

"Don't pay any attention to this wuss. I can administer a hypo gently." He frowned at Jim. "At least to patients I like."

"I am not afraid of pain," she said through clenched teeth. "I have...nonstandard reactions...to many drugs."

"I see." McCoy put his hypo away. "Well, don't you worry. We'll get you back to sickbay and right as rain just as soon as we can move Spock."

"Spock?" She lifted her other hand and laid it on the Vulcan's head, where it lay halfway across her chest. Despite the doctor's warning, she gingerly lifted her head and surveyed his ruined back. She lay back slowly and closed her eyes. "I would ask you how bad it is, but I am afraid you would tell me."

"Don't you fret. It'd take more than this to get through that tough Vulcan hide," Bones assured her. "I just want to field dress the worst of it and tape his ribs before we try to move him. It's not nearly as bad as it looks, but it's just gonna hurt like the very devil when he comes to."

Spock groaned. "You have remarkable facility for understatement, Doctor." He tried to lift his head and winced. "Nyota?"

"She's fine," Jim said. He could see Costellano trying to force her onto a gurney and waved her to lie down, flashing a thumbs up to show that Spock was okay.

"And Selina?"

"Here."

"Lie still." Bones ordered. "She's fine too, which you should know, being as you're currently in a better position to monitor her heart rate than I am."

Suddenly uncomfortably aware of where his head lay, Spock tried to move. "Lie still." Selina gently pushed his head back down. "If you are uncomfortable, next time try to be a bit less 'valiant'."

Spock grimaced. "I shall endeavor to do so."

"I can fall all by myself." Her voice held equal measures of affection and exasperation.

Spock's lips quirked slightly. "You are welcome."

"And you are heavy," she replied, ruffling his hair. Between the relief that they were going to be okay and the fact that he'd never seen anyone do that to Spock, Jim had to cough to hide a laugh.

Spock tried to shift. "How much longer Doctor?"

"The more you move, the longer this gonna to take," Bones snapped.

"Keep squirming and we're going to start thinking you like laying there," Jim teased. "I know I would."

Spock raised an eyebrow at him, but otherwise remained perfectly still.

"There. All done," Bones declared. "Call the orderlies and let's get him off of this poor lady."

.

.

When Spock awoke in sickbay, he was lying on his stomach and Nyota was there, sitting at his bedside.

"Spock!" she said, relief in her voice.

"Yes." He allowed his lips to tick slightly upward to reassure her. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Tore a tendon in my knee," she indicated the brace on her leg, "but otherwise only a few cuts and bruises. We're all lucky it was a small, low tech bomb. How are you doing?"

He moved a shoulder experimentally. "Much improved. They have determined the device's composition?"

"Cobbled together from common maintenance supplies on the base. The explosion came from a reaction when they were forced to mix. I guess that's why security didn't catch it."

"Fascinating," he said starting to get up. "I shall be interested to read the full report."

"Whoa there!" She put a restraining hand on him. "The doctor said that if I let you get up there would be hell to pay."

Spock made a small derisive sound in his throat and continued to move.

"Lay down Spock." Selina's voice came from the bed behind Nyota. "Or I shall assist the doctor in designing said hell."

He paused, but did not lie back down.

"Don't make me conspire with those two," Nyota warned.

Spock relented and sank back onto the bed. "So, you have taken the Doctor up on his offer of employment?" he asked Selina.

"On a temporary basis. In exchange for a promise not to medicate me." From his prone position he could just see her profile. Her eyes were closed, and her face carefully controlled. She was clearly managing the pain in her bandaged shoulder in her own way.

"More's the pity," McCoy said as he came in. "I could certainly use someone to make you listen on a full-time basis."

"I thought that was my job," Nyota said.

"You're too easy on him," McCoy said, with a grin. "He needs a minder who isn't so enamored of him."

"And may I inquire whom you have enlisted to mind Selina?" Spock replied. "Her reputation as a recalcitrant patient far exceeds my own."

"Nonsense," McCoy scoffed. "Once I explained that I needed someone here to keep you from checking yourself out and returning to duty, she's been a model patient."

"Indeed?" Spock lifted an eyebrow. "Fascinating."

"Len has proven a worthy opponent," Selina said ruefully. "But now that you are convinced to remain, I am free to report to the ambassador." She began to sit up.

"Oh no you don't!" McCoy moved to block her. "You're in no shape to leave either."

"I am capable of making that determination myself," she challenged. "And I am not Starfleet. You do not have the authority to prevent me."

"But I do." Ambassador Pak appeared in the doorway. "You are to remain until the good doctor has determined you are sufficiently healed."

"There is much work to be done and I am not in need of medical supervision."

"There are five of us. We can survive a day without you." The ambassador smiled at her. "But I would prefer not to have to survive longer. Next time, trust me to drop on my own."

She shook her head. "You do remember what happened to Mahmoud? He lives only because the Graptar was a lousy shot. When I yelled 'weapon', he looked up and said 'Huh?' I will not make the mistake of trusting my friends' safety to their own reaction times again."

She lay back and closed her eyes. "I do not even have to look at you to know that you have raised that eyebrow, Spock. I was the one who identified the threat, so the situation is not the same."

Nyota laughed when both of Spock's eyebrows went up. "She has a point. If she hadn't called the warning, the ambassador and I wouldn't have been on the ground under a protective covering of Trubese. How are they, Ambassador?"

"Quite well. As it turns out those robes they wear seem to have properties similar to enhanced Kevlar, but with considerably lower mass and greater flexibility. They are woven from a native plant fiber and we are adding the material to our list of trade interests. However, I am sure they would be gratified if you were pay them another visit to thank them. Just don't be too effusive," he warned. "They may become tempted to test the gratitude of Lady Fortune at the gaming parlour and we are trying to contain the delegates on the ship for security."

"Do we have any information on who is responsible for planting the explosive?" Spock asked.

"Not yet. Both parties of course suspect each other, and the nature of the bomb is such that even a low tech society could have produced it. However, if the chemicals involved were taken from station stores, starbase personnel may have been involved.

Selina believes that when she heard the decision to detonate, it came from a human mind."

to be continued...

Cmdr. Giotto is identified as the head of security in the TOS episode The Devil in the Dark. I always thought the security chief ought to have been given a bit more of a roll considering how many of his redshirts Kirk goes through on away missions. And in case anyone thinks Spock should have been in worse shape after taking the brunt of a close range explosion, let me remind you that in The Apple, he actually gets struck by lighting and is up and moving with no obvious ill effects within a few minutes.

Having weird reactions to drugs is possibly the one thing I share with Selina, other than a vicious sense of humor (my fondness for Spock is definitely not sisterly). It certainly has its downside, but it did keep me from experimenting with anything illegal in my youth. In my case (fortunately) most analgesics are okay, but still I share her tendency to avoid all drugs (other than caffeine) as a matter of principle.

Thank you to all those who have reviewed and commented. Definitely fuels the plot fires in my head.