Chapter 49 - Coming Apart


"Shut up, Doctor." Sorenson said. "We need to get her out of here. If you think I'm a mess, you don't want to deal with her on this drug." He pushed himself off the biobed, nearly tumbling into the protesting doctor.

"Dammit man, you're going to have another seizure and I don't think that's gonna help any with getting her out, what with the whole damn ship looking for her." McCoy snapped back.

"Then give me a phaser and leave me. I may not aim too well, but I can make enough trouble to distract them when get here, which will be soon since I'm sure she left someone in need of medical attention back near the brig."

"Forget it." Selina said grabbing him by the front of his tunic. "You are getting out. I already have David, my parents and an entire planet of ghosts in my head. You are not joining them. You hate crowds!"

He gently disengaged her hands. "Grey, we're in a sickbay. This place is practically an arsenal. Your doctor here can hand me the right stuff to mix up a few surprises and then you all can slip out through this guy's quarters." He nodded toward the ship's doctor, now sedated on other bed. "Just fuse his lock on the way out." He tried to grin around a jaw clenched against what he was determined not to say. If it looked a little lunatic, he figured that shouldn't be too suspicious right now.

She narrowed her eyes and frowned. "You are fooling no one. You can hardly stand and I am not leaving you here in this condition. If you want me out of here, you had better stop arguing and move." She tied a spare lab coat around her and tucked her hair under a cap, before pulling his arm over her shoulder.

Fafhrd hung his head in defeat, and then regretted it as vertigo made him stumble. McCoy got under the other arm and they began walking him down the hallway as soon as Kirk gave the all clear. A pair of crewmen passed, but didn't question them since no one was looking for four people, especially not two guards and a nurse half-carrying the other prisoner back to the brig. They made it into the lift, and Sorenson slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

"That was too close."

"C'mon, they hardly looked twice." Jim said with a confident air. "Nothing to worry about."

Almost on cue, another alert came over the comm announcing both prisoners had escaped.

"Dammit, Jim!" Bones glared at him. "What did I tell you about not jinxing things?"

"Hey, it'll be okay." Jim said. "We'll just have to be a little more careful, that's all."

"Oh god," Sorenson groaned, "an optimist."

"Amen to that, brother." McCoy agreed gruffly.

He rolled his head toward Bones and hitched a half-grin. "I'd offer you a pessimist's high-five, but I'm afraid I'd miss."

"Just stop." Selina said, kneeling down beside him. "Jim is right. I will listen and we will evade the search."

He reached over to take her hand and missed. Twice. He shook his head. "None of you should have gotten drawn into this."

"Don't feel bad." Jim said, still up beat. "In fact, right now, I'm pretty happy about the opportunity to totally piss off this Maldi."

Sorenson looked up at him with a crooked smile. "That sentiment's how I got into this mess to begin with." That statement was far too true. The drug flooded him with a blissed-out floating sensation.

"Those dithering idiots in 'Intelligence' might have let Maldi get away with god-knows-what if you had not acted." Selina said firmly. "You did nothing wrong." She put a hand on his shoulder and he listed sideways. She caught him, and his head fell to rest against the crook of her neck. Allen was debating with himself whether this was better than the drug's happy feeling, when the sound of a medical scanner derailed that train of thought. He sighed, and she propped him back up, at least far enough to look into his eyes. "Try to stay with us, okay?" She tugged gently on the edge of his beard.

Allen leaned toward her with a soft smile. "I'm so glad I grew this thing."

Jim exchanged a glance with Bones and couldn't quite stifle a laugh.

Selina dropped her hand and arched an eyebrow at Jim. "What?" It was less a question than a threat.

"Nothing." Jim said, suddenly very interested in the lift's position indicator.

Fafhrd looked around, blinked hard, and dropped his forehead to his knees. "Sorry. ...dreams....memories...I - I guess I may be a little delusional after all."

McCoy was shaking his head, pulling a hypo out of his med kit. "I'm going to give you some tri-ox. I don't know that it'll help with that, but improving your blood oxygen levels might help clear your head a bit."

He nodded without looking up as the hypo hissed against his shoulder. After a moment, he raised his head experimentally. He was thinking more clearly, but opening his eyes had not necessarily been a good idea. "You are not going to make it to engineering trying to haul me along. Stash me somewhere and I'll lie low."

"You are in no shape to hide right now, no matter how good you normally are at it." Selina said tightly.

"Then leave me here. I'll get between floors and cross some wires. That should buy enough time for you to drop the shields."

Selina looked at him skeptically. "Fafhrd, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Fafhrd squinted. "Six. No, four. ...two?" He made a face somewhere between a scowl and a pout. "It's not fair asking trick questions of someone overloaded on truth serum."

"How, may I ask, were you planning on crossing wires you cannot see?"

"Asking questions period is not fair. Not that you ever play fair." He closed his eyes, struggling before giving in. "Blast! Being on this stuff is worse than actually having you in my head. I don't know, but if I cross enough wires it will stop eventually, okay?"

"Um, unless you fry the dampers," Jim said, "in which case you'll drop like a rock."

"I thought you were an optimist." he said accusingly. "And it would stop. Eventually."

"And you accused me of being above par on trying to get myself killed." Selina made an exasperated sound in the back of her throat. "'Eventually.' You should have been assigned to JAG."

Allen laughed. "A diplomat accusing me of talking like a lawyer? Ha!" One finger weaved around in an attempt to point at her. "It's your fault, you know. You have no idea how much you helped me not tell the truth to Maldi. Our whole relationship is based on me halfway lying to you most of the time."

Her eyebrows shot up and Fafhrd stopped, eyes wide. He turned to McCoy. "Please, knock me out. I've got nothing to say, and Allen keeps saying it anyway."

"Allen?" McCoy asked, pulling his tricorder out.

"I mean, I, me. Look, I'm not crazy. It's just, some things have been, um, getting a little confused since the overdose." He frowned and looked around. "Please tell me one of you just strobed the lights."

"Faf, please, let me help." Selina reached toward him.

"No." He leaned back, holding his hands up to ward her off. "I know I said you could check in on me until we got out, but you do not want to be in my head right now. Trust me, the place is a mess."

"He's right on that part, darlin'." Bones said, his drawl increasing with his concern at the readings. "I think it's just the drug interaction, but it's gonna take longer than we've got to get that outta his system."

Jim looked at the position indicator. "Bones, is there anything you can do? We're almost there."

"I sure don't wanna try adding anything to that mix." He put a hand on Sorenson's shoulder. "Look at me...um, what name's gonna work best for you right now?"

He bit his lip and his head tipped side to side as though weighing the options. "Strangely enough, I think probably Fafhrd."

"Okay, Fafhrd, do you think you can keep yourself, or selves, focused on what we're trying to do here?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I think I'm all together on the basic objective of getting you guys out of here."

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They made their way toward engineering, Selina steadying Fafhrd as they walked in front of Kirk and McCoy. It might just look to any crewmen they couldn't dodge like the prisoners had been recaptured, although if anyone questioned why they were being taken to engineering, that might be a little hard to explain. Jim was counting on (a) Selina's proven ability as an early warning system, and (b) the likelihood that the sort of people who signed on with someone like Maldi probably weren't the brightest stars in the cosmos.

Outside the door to engineering they paused as Selina listened. "Five inside, all techs and all preoccupied with their work. We will help Len get Fafhrd to a concealed spot. Then I will head for the control panel. You try for the manual override."

"Okay, Captain Chandri." Jim chuckled. "You should have joined Starfleet; you'd be an admiral by now."

"Or court martialed." Fafhrd added quietly.

They slipped in, the sound of their entrance masked by the persistent hum of the engines, and helped Bones get Fafhrd to a spot behind a huge cooling duct. From that position the control panel was on the opposite side of the room and the manual override on the partial deck just above them. However, the ladder was halfway down the length of the deck. Selina looked at Jim, a sparkle in her eye. "Shall we see who can drop the shields first?"

Jim grinned. "What do I get if I win?"

She lifted an eyebrow, then smiled. "Hallowe'en." Her eyes slid sideways to Fafhrd, who clamped his mouth shut and looked skyward.

"You are so on." Jim said. He peered down the wall under the deck waiting a chance to move unnoticed, but glanced over his shoulder when Bones startled. Selina had simply stepped out from behind the duct and was walking slowly and calmly across the center of the room. "What does she think she's doing?" he whispered.

Fafhrd grinned. "Five is about her limit, but they're unarmed, so God help them if they see through whatever she's telling them is really there."

"That is cheating." Jim shook his head and looked up. "Two can play that game. Bones, give me a leg up over here."

"Let me." Fafhrd said, trying to stand. "All this height ought to be put to some use."

"Toppling over seems the mostly likely use right now." McCoy pushed him back down and stabbed a finger at him. "You stay put."

Bones helped Jim reach the railing at the edge of the deck. But just as Jim pulled himself up flat onto the deck, the door to engineering opened and Maldi walked in with two guards, disruptors drawn. Bones flattened himself against the wall, trying to blend into the overhang's shadow, and cursing to himself as he noticed that one of them was a Coeleopt like the bartender in the lounge - no wonder Selina hadn't 'heard' them.

"Well, Ms. Chandri." Maldi said. "It would seem that I underestimated you. I will not again. Mel Ezar here should ensure that you play no more mental tricks." He signaled to the Coeleopt while the other trained his weapon on her. "Hold her."

Selina did not move or reply, other than to lift her chin and look at Maldi in the way she might regard a dead bug.

"When you didn't make for communications, I knew this had to be your destination. It was the only other logical choice. What I didn't understand is why you would bother with someone who was no more to you than your Vulcan's old classmate." Maldi smiled unpleasantly. "But when I learned that you had escaped by projecting an illusion into your guard's mind, I realized there might be 25 billion reasons."

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Jim careful slid along the deck on his stomach, counting on the show on the main deck to keep everyone occupied. What was it about bad guys that gave them the need to dialogue? Whatever it was, he just needed him to keep it up a little longer. The manual override was just a couple of meters ahead. Below Selina was saying "What a fascinating hypothesis." in a voice that suggested it was the most moronic thing she'd ever heard.

"More than a hypothesis, I think." Maldi said with a nasty chuckle. "Why else would you elect to follow him to his ship? A woman of your charms probably didn't even need your unique talents to obtain the information from him, although I imagine you still need his help to retrieve the money for you. Tell me, where is he?"

Selina smiled slowly. "Somewhere you will not find him."

"I think you will tell me, one way or another." Maldi held up a hypo. "My doctor was unable to assist, so I had to guess at the dosage. Given Erik's capacity for resistance, I decided to error on the side of too much rather than too little. It would be a shame, though, to see such a lovely creature driven as mad he. So I will give you one more chance. Where is he?"

"That will not make me tell you." Selina said, trying to twist against the multiple arms of the large Coeleopt.

"We shall see." Maldi advanced toward her with the hypo.

Several things happened at once. A yell came from behind Maldi as Fafhrd threw himself around the duct, arms spread wide to encompass whatever images he saw as Maldi. Jim yanked the manual override and then threw himself over the railing to land on the guard holding a weapon on Selina. She brought her heel down on the Coeleopt's foot, and used his reaction to turn him to fall between her and the other guard, whose weapon discharged wildly, cutting through the Coeleopt's upper carapace. Bones stepped out and fired his phaser on dispersed stun, dropping the five techs that were moving to join the fight.

Just as the buzzing hum of transport beams filled the bay, Maldi threw Sorenson off and stood, the emptied hypo still in his hand. Fafhrd's eyes rolled up in his head as he fell to the deck, still.

Selina screamed and an unexpected tidal wave of rage engulfed Jim. He threw himself at Maldi, bearing him down with his hands clasped around his neck. He was only vaguely aware of the sound of feet running toward him and Spock's voice ringing out "Hold!" in indisputable command, followed by "S'lina! Kroykah!"

Almost as suddenly as it had hit, the rage subsided and Kirk slowly pried his fingers from Maldi's neck. The man was alive, but a few minutes more and he might have choked the life out of him. Dear God, was that how Spock had felt when he'd provoked him to anger on the bridge? Jim shook his head and looked up. Bones had been standing over them, but was now leaning over Sorenson busy with his med kit. Four security men seemed to be shaking off the same emotion that had overwhelmed Jim and were now securing the weapons from a semi-conscious guard and a dead Coeleopt. Nearby, Spock was kneeling beside Selina, one of his hands spread across her face, and his own expression just barely controlled.

Jim moved next to McCoy. "Bones?"

"His heart stopped. I had to give him cordrazine. Damned if I know how that's going to mix with the rest, but he's breathing again. I think we better to get him to sickbay if I'm gonna keep him that way."

Jim flipped open his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise. Two for emergency transport, direct to sickbay. Key on McCoy's signal." He stood back as the beam took doctor and patient away.

Kirk staggered to the wall comm. "Attention all hands. This Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise. You have been boarded by Federation forces and we hold Maldi prisoner. This vessel is forfeit on grounds of smuggling and abduction. Lay down your weapons and surrender peacefully."

He sensed Spock's presence behind him. "Are you well, Captain?"

"Yes. I think so." He realized he was nearly shaking with reaction. "Was that from her?"

Spock nodded fractionally. "It may be advisable to dispatch medical teams. It is probable that the effects of her lapse in control have extended beyond this compartment."

"Lapse in control? That was...intense." He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't think I've ever felt that angry before. And it wasn't even me."

"You were drawn into a close link with her mind quite recently. It is possible that you were therefore also more strongly affected when she allowed her shields to fall." Spock was looking at him almost curiously. "I do not fully comprehend human anger. Her temper is considerable, but I did not know her reaction was beyond normal bounds. If you believed you had seen McCoy murdered in front of you, and others could feel your response, would what they experienced be less intense?"

"No. Probably not." Jim pulled at the back of his neck, looking over to where she sat in an attitude of meditation against a bulkhead. "Is she going to be okay?"

" 'Okay' is a highly subjective term." One eyebrow arched slightly upward. "She has suffered a telepathic shock from the backlash of shutting down the feedback from her own rage. I have assisted her in regaining her control." Spock looked downward, his brow furrowing, "I believe that she will be able to maintain it, whatever the outcome for Mr. Sorenson."

Kirk reached a hand out, and barely stopped himself. "Spock?"

"I will also be 'okay', Jim."

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AN: Cordrazine is from TOS, a powerful, if somewhat tricky, emergency cardiostimulant - it saved Sulu, but an overdose lead McCoy to temporary insanity in City on the Edge of Forever. Insanity features in many TOS plots, whether induced by drugs, sickness, device, alien encounter or just the human condition.

Much earlier in the story we learned that Coeleopts produce a field that interferes with telepathy (at least live ones do). Kroykah means stop (as in immediately!) in Vulcan.

RL has been pretty crazy and it seems themes of unraveling in various ways have invaded my writing too. But as some things come apart others knit together.