((The chapter heading is a line from Serj Tankian's Electron.))

Chapter 12

Storm Shines Bright

'I shouldn't have delayed.'

'Get out of my hair, Jim.' Leonard looked intently at the screen, trying to ignore his friend. For all his sympathy, this wasn't helpful.

'If I'd gone at once …' Leonard banged his fist against the table and shot to his feet.

'If you'd gone at once, Stal might be dead. If Stal were dead, I wouldn't have anyone to test with. If you'd gone at once, I'd have something that might or might not do some good, but I wouldn't find out, would I now, before someone else is in as bad shape as Stal. And by then Spock would long be dead. Now what good exactly would you have done?' Jim was gaping at him and his outburst.

'I'd …'

'Jim, it's enough! I need to work. I can't babysit you. Your shoulder's set, you want to keep those bruises, so just take something that'll help you sleep and let me do my job here!' Suddenly calmer, Jim backed down.

'Perhaps you should sleep, too, you know.'

'I can't. Not now. This is almost done. I'll try it on Stal, and whatever the outcome I'll get into bed then.'

'How soon will you be ready?'

'An hour or so.'

'Tell me. I'll be there, too. I'll take a nap before. Promise.' Leonard watched Jim go and shook his head. He was stalling, and he knew it. The compound was ready. Testing once more on the computer would yield no different result than the three times before.

'Lab here, I'd like someone from security,' he said into the intercom.

'Charika.'

'What? Oh, never mind. You tell the guards when Jim comes out he can go right back. I'm getting Stal. Want to help me?'

'Yes. To both.'

'See you there.' Charika had been declared clear of the influence the day before by Durlan. Apparently, whoever had used him had found that he wasn't an ideal target because he was being watched. All the better for them. Leonard hadn't been aware that he had joined the security forces, but it made sense, in a way.

Charika was already at Stal's cell when Leonard got there. 'Stal, you hear me?' Leonard called. The Vulcan looked at him for half a minute before he nodded. 'Look, I've got something that could help you. But I can't guarantee that.'

'Or I'll die.' Leonard swallowed. Stal's lucidity didn't make this any easier. His readings were all over the place, and yet he talked. 'I'll die within the day anyway, or so I was told.'

'I … Yes. Very likely.'

'Then try it.'

'Right. Opening the cell.' Stal came meekly. Leonard had expected him to try to bolt, but he never did. Leonard nodded to Jim, who had returned, and gestured at a biobed. 'I need to restrain you.'

'Yes.'

'Bones, are you sure …'

'Let me do my work or I'll kick you out.' Jim raised both hands and remained silent. 'Listen. I can warn you, at least. You'll feel fear. Intense fear. Try to fight it. Understand?'

'Yes. How likely is it that I'll walk out of here alive?' Leonard had never lied to a patient in his life and he wasn't going to start now, even if the outlook wasn't good.

'I can't give you clear odds, but … your blood pressure is already way too high, and it'll keep rising. I only know that you will die if I do nothing. And this … this is all I can do. I could minimise the risk, but there is no guarantee that it'll be enough.' All this would have been easier when Stal was still his haughty self. Now he was calm and settled and more Vulcan than before, and Leonard felt a deep compassion for the man. When Stal reached out and took his wrist, he swallowed. That he touched a stranger, a human on top of that, was a certain indication that something was very wrong with him.

'If I die, you can tell if it was just that it was too late or if there was something else wrong, can you not?'

'Yes.'

'Proceed.' Hesitating for only a moment, Leonard applied the application. He knew it was no good the moment the heart rate and blood pressure went up. He clasped Stal's hand.

'Hold on, Stal. You're not alone.'

'Could a meld help him?' Jim asked.

'It could help kill whoever melds with him.' Leonard closed his eyes and shook his head. 'I'm sorry, Stal. I'm so sorry.' Slowly, the trembling figure stilled.

'Now … what happens?'

'I've run out of patients. Make no mistake, I'm sure there are more out there, but after Spock and me, no-one at the VSA was attacked. But this time was different. Stal was already half dead, as was patient seven. Vires, she was in better shape. Physically. She might have lived.'

'Give it Spock, then,' Jim said quickly.

'No. Bringing him here will cause stress. It would end just like this. But now I know we're on the right track. I just need to create a sedative that doesn't antagonise the treatment.'

'Why didn't you use one for Stal?' Leonard glared.

'I did. But as you may have noticed, it didn't work. Not because of the treatment but because of his condition. I didn't want to do it that way, but I'll have to knock him out. Didn't want to risk it because then they can't defend themselves. Might backfire, but since Spock's revelation that letting go makes it better I don't think so.' He sighed. 'So I'll just render him unconscious, and then he should be fine. I'll have to see what kind of substance I can safely combine with the other two, and then we can get started.'

'And how long will that take?'

'Not as long as this,' Leonard said vaguely. 'One of us only just managed to come up with a theoretical approach how to sedate them. God, if my name ever shows up on a report on this mess, Starfleet will strike me off and give me a really ugly nickname out of the depths of history. This is all wrong.' Jim shook his head.

'You have no choice, Bones. You said it yourself, your alternative is standing by and shrugging. Stal and patient seven were both dying and you know it.' Leonard took a deep breath.

'Yes. I still hate it. I don't know. Jim … go to sleep. Really.'

Ϡ

With nothing else to do, Jim admitted defeat. He had assumed he'd fall asleep the moment he lay down, but he had no such luck. Jim lay tossing and turning, unable to rest. He tried to sense Spock, tried with all his might to get behind the shield that was there for his protection. When some of the terror behind it started leaking, Jim felt a nudge of fear. Then something struck him. He didn't want to stay here. He wanted to find a small house near a body of water. That was odd.

There were a hundred possibilities why his brain would conjure up such a romantic setting. But there was a reason why he was a good leader, and that reason was his almost infallible instinct. He had always trusted it, and right now, that instinct told him that the place was real. He was all but on his way when he decided it was probably wise not to go alone.

At the VSA, no-one would challenge him as long as he didn't run into Bones. He knew that if he called someone down from the ship, he'd get them into a difficult situation. T'Kray was too likely to take matters into her own hands if he asked her, so that left one more option. Charika had informed Blanik about his lectures, so finding him was easy. The young man looked a little confused when Jim told him he was pretty much setting out into the blue, but he agreed to come. Jim had made it very clear that this was not an order. He didn't want to use his command for what could be an embarrassing stunt that led nowhere. Charika, for one, wouldn't judge him.

This time, they walked. The same impulse that told him where to go also let him know it wasn't too far. The sun was already setting and the temperature bearable. Jim had grabbed enough water for them both and a medkit just in case. He had also grabbed two phasers and passed one to Charika. 'I trust you know how to fire them,' he said.

'Sure. I just hope I don't have to.' Jim smiled.

'Me too.'

'What precisely are we doing here, James?'

'Ah. I wondered if you'd ask.' He pursed his lips. 'This is going to sound very strange.'

'I grew up with people that can rejuvenate others with a weird ritual. How much stranger can it get?' Despite himself, Jim laughed.

'True. Well, here it is. Spock went into the desert because he was called there. But the order he got was something else. None of us knew what, but I think … I think that I know. You know we're linked?'

'I know what a bond is.'

'Yes, raised by a Vulcan and all that. Stupid question. And I think … I sense the order he got through our bond.'

'But he's fulfilled it.'

'It's also keeping him there.'

'Perhaps it is because you haven't followed it yet, and the two of you are almost a unit.' Jim halted abruptly and stared.

'I'll ask him that when he's well again. It sure sounds plausible. But then … me going here might allow him to leave. Once I reach my destination, that is.'

'It might. Or not. What do you expect to find?' Jim had a good idea what, or rather whom, he would find, but for now, he kept it to himself.

'Perhaps the source of the problem. Charika, this could be dangerous.'

'That's what they told me when I said I want to go into space.'

'Point taken. Be prepared to fire if you have to defend yourself. And be prepared to run if I order you to.'

'I thought this isn't official.' Jim frowned.

'Listen here, I …' Charika laughed.

'I'll do what you tell me. I'm just trying to calm myself.' Jim patted him on the back.

'You'll be fine.'

Ϡ

At long last, Leonard's resolve had crumbled. He'd asked T'Kray to keep an eye on whoever was taking over for him and fallen into bed at Sinek's. He was woken abruptly by a tug at the bond. Gentle as it was, it tore him from sleep. T'Kray needed him at the VSA, and apparently she needed him there now.

A look at the chronometer told him he had slept for five hours. Not enough, but better than nothing. He was intercepted by T'Kray at the entrance. 'Sinek is dead. He said he wanted to do some research with a combination of agents that might work together. He did. He used them on himself.'

'He did what?' Leonard demanded. 'What the hell is wrong with you people? Do you all have a bloody martyr complex? First Spock, now Sinek. Spock has an excuse, at least.'

'So does Sinek. He must have had a reason to believe that he would be all right.'

'I'll find out. I'll start right now.'

'Please look at T'Lin first. She was brought in and is unconscious.' They had stepped into the VSA's lab. T'Lin occupied one of the biobeds there. Leonard gave the monitor a cursory glance.

'Healers' job. I don't touch broken bonds. Not my line of work.'

'Len.'

'No, T'Kray. I don't know what to do with her. I could do more harm than good, I could do something unethical by forcing her to live, and I won't.' Reluctantly, T'Kray nodded.

'You're right. But if I make contact with her, you will?'

'Go ahead.' He waved an orderly to his side. 'Prepare Sinek for an autopsy.' He rubbed the bridge of his nose and watched T'Kray hovering next to the poor widow. The contact was short. 'And?'

'She does not wish assistance.'

'Thought so. What'll happen to her?'

'Depends on the depth of their bond. I couldn't say.' Leonard shuddered. 'You were aware of the possible dangers of a bond with a Vulcan, Len.' He shook himself and walked towards his bondmate.

'Yes, I was,' he said gently. 'And if you asked me right now if I'd do it again, the answer would be a loud and clear yes.' He smiled vaguely. 'Not that you need telling.' He let go of whatever barriers he had and a smile formed on T'Kray's face. 'Now let me see what killed Sinek. Perhaps it wasn't for nothing.'

Ϡ

The small house looked exactly as Jim had seen it in his mind's eye, as far as he could tell in the dark. Jim strongly suspected that Tilak had made this place his residence. Perhaps he could control everything from here, monitoring his progress somehow. Jim had faced worse things than one rogue Romulan who seemed to be acting alone.

Approaching the house from an angle where he had some cover was the best they could do here. That they walked couldn't hurt either. The closer they drew, the more the house looked like it had been abandoned a long time ago. One window was broken, all others half blind, and the rendering was crumbling where the wall was exposed to the harsh winds. Considering that they were in the middle of nowhere, that was to be expected.

Gesturing to Charika to stay behind, Jim crouched low and scuttled closer. He was listening intently, cataloguing every small noise. There was the soft sound of the water, disturbed slightly by the wind. There was some sort of scuttling sound, off towards the water, certainly not made by anything larger than a rat. From the house there came nothing, no hint that anyone was in there.

The sun had already set completely, so there was a chance that Tilak was asleep. But they hadn't seen any light at dusk, so he was either aware of them – however that was possible – or maybe not present.

When Jim reached the door unchallenged, he gestured to Charika to follow. The young man made very little noise. He had spied for T'Kray before, so he knew what he was doing. Carefully, Jim tried the door. It opened without sound or resistance. Almost afraid of breathing, Jim slipped inside, keeping his back to the wall. Charika followed his example, looking to the other side.

In here, the dark was even more oppressive. They waited until their eyes adjusted enough to let them move without crashing into any objects. Judging from the furniture, this was a living room. It was relatively large in proportion to the house. Any other rooms had to be small enough to take in at a glance. An open doorway lay to their right on the far end of the room. The wall in front of them, opposite to the entrance, had no door. The one to their left was closed. Jim leaned close to Charika and whispered, 'Wait here. Watch the open door.' He approached the closed one to get a better look. From their perspective, it opened to the inside. Good. Casting about for something, Jim found a metal jug of water. He drained it and placed it cautiously on the ground before the door. No matter how carefully someone opened, they would hear it. Charika grinned when he returned.

The next room was the bedroom. It seemed completely empty. Charika gestured under the bed. Jim realised that looking would be dangerous, placing him in a vulnerable position. Not looking would be folly. Giving his companion a meaningful look, Jim dropped to his stomach and pointed his phaser at the dust bunnies. He shook his head at Charika and they returned to the living room.

Jim put the jug out of the way, and they opened the passage. Behind it was a bathroom and it was just as empty as the rest of the house as far as people were concerned. However, the room itself had been transformed dramatically.

Vulcan bathrooms were a very simple affair. This one's facilities, including the sonic shower, were still accessible, but on every spare inch except for a small space to move there were things that belonged into a laboratory. 'What the hell is that?' Charika asked, his voice normal now they had established that they were alone.

'I'd say that this is where Tilak cooks his drug,' Jim said drily. He leaned against the wall and sighed. 'Damn him, where is he?' Charika shrugged.

'Perhaps we should just wait. He might come back.' Jim nodded. Charika was right, of course, but somehow he didn't think so.

'I doubt it. But we'll search the place at daytime. See if we find where he went.' He narrowed his eyes. 'I'll get him. I'll get him, and when I do, he'll be really sorry.'