A/N: Surprise! I'm uploading two chapters in one day! I really don't want Abibliophobia to riot and explode, or the keep the rest of you hanging terribly. My good side feels guilty. So here is what you've all been waiting for! It puts the 'H' in H/C (just warning y'all). What happened on the planet in Vilsa? Read on and find out... and then review please. Looks like you don't have to wait a couple days.

Warning: Not exactly for the faint of heart.

The attack came up quickly. One minute he and Radner were closing up a patient, and the next they were flat on their backs as the whole building shook as if it was a tuning fork.

"What in the blazes-! Nurse! Hurry and get the sealant on the windows, we need to keep them intact so the dust doesn't get in the operating room!" While she ran off to do that he finished closing the Nekati and managed to put restraints on him. When the building shook again both he and the patient lurched, but at least the patient remained on the bed.

"Doctor!" Radner screamed, sprinting from the windows. "There's-"

There was a violent boom. McCoy couldn't remember much but he found himself halfway across the room. Radner was next to him, coughing violently, though he couldn't hear it. He couldn't hear much of anything aside from the ringing in his ears. Dazedly he looked back across the room. A hole had been torn into the far wall.

He tried to get to his feet and only half-succeeded. On his knees, he helped Radner up into a position that eased her coughing. Slowly, his hearing returned.

There were figures. They had come through the hole in the wall. They eyed the surgery area and spotted them. "Starfleet! The ship people!"

"Take them."

McCoy only caught the last part, but it was enough. He tried to scramble to his feet but his legs were still shaky. He did manage to get in front of Radner, for all the good it did. They just wrenched him up and then reached for her.

Their grips were firm no matter how much they struggled. He was able to leave a shiner on one guy's chin, though. Then they propped him on a truck with a bunch of other Demetrians and kept him there by pointing about 50 guns at his chest. He saw Radner loaded onto another truck, and then a second prisoner was pushed in beside him and they took off.

When they left Pentarii, he knew things weren't good. He had no idea where his communicator was; it probably flew off of him when the bomb hit the hospital. He couldn't see Radner anymore. He looked at the prisoner next to him. It was a Nekati… his name escaped him.

Further off in the convoy he glimpsed someone shining gold. Hope soared- maybe it was Jim beaming up Radner. That meant they might locate him, too.

He noticed the sky glittering.

It occurred to McCoy that they had passed under Vilsa's dampening shield. Well, Jim wouldn't be beaming him up just yet. But he would survive until then.

The truck finally stopped at what looked like an old jailhouse. He and the Nekati were ordered out and shoved inside. They walked through close, constricting walls of the labyrinth before stopping in front of a solid door. Someone opened it and they were marched inside the cell.

There were several sets of chains along the walls. The Nekati was chained up on one side, while he was chained against the back; they were both sitting down with their arms a bit above them. Apparently, their captors didn't want them too close to each other.

There were a few more harsh grunts from the Demetrians before they were left alone. It would've been pitch black were it not for a single, bare light bulb in the middle of the ceiling. McCoy shifted in his chains, testing them out.

"Don't expect us to get out by ourselves," the Nekati called. "We'll need outside help to get rid of these cuffs."

McCoy stopped squirming. "How do you know?"

He shrugged. "Standard prison chains. They're made to keep someone in place- literally."

McCoy sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Do you know how long they're going to keep us here?"

"'Fraid not," he said mournfully. "So, I'm Shiak, by the way."

"McCoy."

Shiak nodded his head. "Well, it's nice to meet you, McCoy, despite the unfortunate circumstances."

He snorted. "You got that right."

The door suddenly creaked open. McCoy was surprised that someone was seeing them so quickly. Normally he'd have to wait hours before some alien would show itself, but it had been mere minutes. Three Demetrians walked in, two flanking one. He saw Shiak tense.

The middle Demetrian regarded him. At last he spoke. "I have never personally met a human from Starfleet, and am unsure what to make of you. I am informed that you were recovered from a hospital. Are you a doctor?"

"Yes," McCoy said crisply. He watched the Demetrian.

"How interesting." He didn't do much else than rock back on his heels.

"Tornilv," Shiak hissed.

The middle Demetrian turned to him. "Don't say anything," he said indifferently, cutting the Nekati off. "I don't want to hear it."

Shiak was trembling with hatred and anger. "But I will have my say-"

Tornilv took a gun from one of the guards, and shot him.

"What the hell!?" McCoy shouted, unbidden, as Shiak's body slumped against the wall. "What was that for? He didn't do anything… to warrant shooting for crying out loud!" he strained against the chains.

Tornilv returned the guard's gun and then walked up to McCoy, crouching down so that he was at eye level.

"I'll have you know," he said calmly, not the least ruffled. "That I don't like loud people. So watch your tongue."

McCoy's voice quieted, but if anything was more forceful. "You don't go around shooting people because they're noisy! Hell, if everyone did that there'd be no one left! Don't you care?" He glanced back at Shiak. Dead so quickly, so casually. "Did you even know his name?"

"Yes," Tornilv said, bored. "He was my brother."

For several moments, all McCoy could do was gape at the man. He was aghast. "Have you no feeling?" he exploded, unable to contain himself. "He was your BROTHER! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Doctor," Tornilv sighed. "Shut up."

And he took out his gun, pressed it to McCoy's forehead, and fired.

Click.

It took a full ten seconds for McCoy's brain to unravel the mystery that he was still alive. It took him another ten seconds to realize that the gun had merely clicked. Dimly he realized that Tornilv was laughing.

"Fun trick, isn't it?" the Demetrian asked, grinning. He spun the cylinder. "Only one bullet in here. The odds constantly changing whether or not it will be in the chamber that fires." He spun it some more as McCoy fought to quell his trembling. The adrenaline rush had been astronomical and he was still trying to come down from it.

Abruptly, Tornilv snapped the cylinder back in and fired at McCoy's chest all in one move. McCoy shouted and jerked, before realizing that the gun had only clicked again. Tornilv resumed laughing. He could barely hear it over the blood rushing in his ears from his pounding heart. He was shaking violently now from his stretched nerves.

"Not that one," Tornilv sang, so he placed it under his chin and pulled the trigger before McCoy could yank his head away.

Click.

"God…" McCoy gasped, every sense on overdrive. His mind was still reeling. Suddenly he broke out in a cold sweat and he felt like he couldn't breathe. There was a huge weight on his chest and he couldn't breathe! He wasn't going to get out of here alive. Not with this madman! He was going to die. He could feel himself hyperventilating, and a clinically detached part of his mind wondered if he was going into shock. No, it wasn't shock… he was having a panic attack. Why was he having a panic attack? He'd never had those before. God, he had to get calm, he had to calm himself. He needed to even out his heart rate and control his breathing-

The gun pressed against his temple and there was a "BANG!"

Good God.

He didn't know if he passed out or what, but when the room focused again he was barely conscious of anything outside his screaming mind. He was alive. Had the gun gone off? No, no, Tornilv had merely pointed it at him again and shouted 'Bang'. McCoy closed his eyes and took in a shuddering breath. He couldn't take much more of this.

Tornilv sat back on his heels and watched him. "Hm," he mused. "Apparently Starfleet men aren't as strong as even the Nekati. This is a lot of fun, but I don't know how long you'll last." He tapped McCoy's knee and the doctor jerked, sucking in a huge breath. "Yeah, you wouldn't last long."

'God, why?' McCoy wondered, no real thought in it. It'd been maybe several minutes but it felt like several years. He felt raw.

One of the guards approached Tornilv and whispered something in his ear. The Demetrian nodded and rose.

"Well, Doctor, I'd love to stay, but I don't like other people's small talk and I have things to do. There is a good chance we won't see each other again. In that case, good-bye." He walked to the door with the guards. Then, as if as an afterthought, he turned around and fired his gun.

A bullet shot from its muzzle.

McCoy yelled and was still shaking when the bullet bounced on his head after striking the stone wall high above him. The door closed, though Tornilv's laugh still seemed to linger in the room.

God, he was too old for this. He slumped against the back wall and tried to stop shaking. He tried and tried and couldn't and it frustrated him, infuriated him that Tornilv could wield power over him that easily. He tried not to look over at Shiak. McCoy closed his eyes and tried some more to calm himself. He was alive. He lived, and he had been through worse. He'd been threatened and tortured before. Why was this so devastating?

McCoy gritted his teeth. 'Dammit, man get a hold of yourself. So you just went through a round of Russian Roulette. You can add that to your list of interesting experiences. Just calm that heart rate…' damn, just what had him so worked up?

The simplicity the casualness. Normally, aliens toyed with them, let them know they were going to die. Tornilv had a cruelty unsurpassed. He shot his own brother without a backwards glance! And then BAM! McCoy's life could've ended just like that. No warning. Whatsoever. That bothered him, and he raged that it frightened him so much.

What kind of a man could kill like that? Didn't Tornilv care?

Those two thoughts wouldn't leave him. He was angry at Tornilv's disregard for life, and angry at himself for completely freaking out. Dammit, you've been through worse, you've been through worse and you survived it…

Some time later, Carimend's men burst into his lonely cell.