When Spock left his quarters, he was the emotionless, logical Vulcan that he always attempted to be. It had taken him a good hour after waking to achieve this state, but it was for the better. He needed to be a Vulcan without the human emotion if he was to save his Captain. And the CMO. He felt a little bad that he had forgotten about the doctor, even if for only a second, but there was nothing for it. He had developed a close relationship with James Kirk, and Leonard McCoy was secondary.
He reached the bridge with several other members of the crew as the shift changed. Uhura was clearly upset, but she was doing her best to push it to the back of her mind. The others weren't as good at it as the communications officer, and it was obvious on their faces that their minds were in a different place. That wouldn't be useful in this situation, but he knew they had less control than he did. And right now, he wasn't even sure he had enough control.
"Mr Spock- Keptin – on board.." Chekov had difficulty referring to Spock as the captain, and always had. The Vulcan knew it was, in part, habit. But the main reason was the true captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise would always be Kirk, regardless of the situation he found himself in.
"Is there any communication from the planet?" He asked calmly, mildly proud that his voice sounded so disconnected and calm.
"No sir." Uhura's voice was almost as smooth as Spock's, and he was proud of the woman. "But there was a message from Starfleet while you were away. They want to know our status."
"Did you answer?"
"I thought it best for you to do so, sir."
Spock nodded. "Put them onscreen. I'll convey the necessary information."
Uhura did her job quickly and easily. Soon Spock was facing one of the admirals of the fleet. He knew he should know her name, but his brain wasn't quite ready to deal with any details yet. So he gave her an impersonal greeting and launched into a summary of the events that had occurred. Her face shifted from neutral to concerned, and Spock remotely answered her questions. He wouldn't remember what was said later, because, despite what he thought, control of his concerns was hard to achieve.
"You are to stand down until reinforcements arrive."
"Admiral, there is no guarantee that the captain will be kept in good health until the reinforcements arrive. In fact, these situations demand the assumption that physical harm will be dealt, and it is our responsibility to keep our captain-"
"Spock, you will stand down." Her voice was hard, demanding. Spock knew that Jim would have some retort for her, some 'smart ass' comment that would make her even angrier. But that wasn't something Spock had ever been able to pick up, so he simply nodded.
"I will stand down."
"Good. I will speak with you when the ships are ready to leave. Be prepared for a long stay."
Uhura shut the communication off before Spock could say anything, and he could feel the anger emanating off of her.
"We can't leave him-"
"We aren't, Lieutenant Commander. We are simply allowing Starfleet to believe we are. We cannot afford to leave the Captain and Dr. McCoy with them any longer than necessary. We will assemble a ground team and we will find the Captain, and I will deal with the consequences when our actions are discovered."
There was silence for only a second on board before a mixture of cheering and shuffling to get prepared filled the ship.
"Jim, stay with me." Bones muttered, nudging his friend's shoulder.
He was concerned. While the major effects of the allergic reaction had disappeared, he still seemed to be having difficulty. His pulse was erratic, and he would drift in and out of consciousness without any warning. He was beginning to think whatever had gotten him wasn't just an allergen, but some kind of native poison. And if that was the case, he was going to have real trouble. The damn aliens had taken all of his medical equipment, leaving him with only feeble attempts at keeping Jim awake and alive.
"Bones, the truth. What's going on?" His voice was quiet, weak, and it scared the doctor. He had seemed fine in the first moments he had been reunited with the captain, but immediately after that his weakness had been clear, and it had only gone downhill from there. They hadn't been checked up on in at least hours, although it was difficult to tell time without a time keeper of any sort. They wouldn't just leave Jim to die, would they? There had to be a reason they'd wanted to kidnap the two, otherwise they would have just killed the humans. Unless this poison was what they'd wanted to test. But there was no way they could have known Jim would get bitten or touched or whatever he had done.
"I'm not sure, kid. Just relax, but don't you dare fall asleep or I'll-"
"Kill me?"
It wasn't even funny, even though Jim smiled at him. He couldn't think like that, not in this situation, not when it was very possible that Kirk would actually die.
"Nah, just throttle you a little."
Kirk chuckled quietly, leaning heavily against Bones. "That'll teach me."
"You bet it will."
When silence met his words, he muttered Kirk's name a few times before realizing the man had fallen asleep. With a heavy sigh, he shook his friend.
"Come on, kid, wake up. Can't have you sleeping on me now." When he was met with no response, he shook a little harder, fear creeping up his spine. "James Tiberius Kirk, you wake up right now." His accent grew stronger as he felt the fear seep into his words. "I'm warning you, you corn-fed hooligan, I'll slap you if you don't open those eyes."
"Be nice." It was hardly a whisper, but it was something.
"Being nice doesn't keep you alive."
There was a moment of silence, and then Jim nodded. "Yeah."
The way the captain said that, without his usual snark, worried Bones. But Kirk opened his eyes, his glazed blue eyes, and met the doctor's. There was hope, at least. He wasn't dead yet.
McCoy glared at the door that refused to budge, and that was the moment that it opened. For a moment, he was lost in a strange sense of confusion, as no one appeared. Was it activated by force of will?
He chased those silly thoughts out of his head, and soon after one of their captors appeared. He carried a strange object in his hands, something McCoy hadn't seen before. He stood, slowly, his eyes never leaving the aliens and his body placed firmly between them and his downed captain. Because dammit, they weren't going to hurt him anymore than they already had.
It turned out he didn't have a choice in the matter. It was easy enough for the alien, large as he was, to throw McCoy out of the way, where he hit the wall and lost his breath. Before he could regain himself, he was pressed firmly against the wall by a second alien's arm. His eyes were on Kirk in seconds, watching as the long fingers held the strange device to Kirk's neck. Kirk seemed to be out of it again, his eyes closed and his face blank. Could they be helping him? But he didn't believe it, not for a second, and he struggled against the hold.
"Damn it, why can't you just leave him alone?" His snarls didn't seem to have any effect on the aliens, but he continued nonetheless, completely helpless aside from his remarks. "He's already sick, can't you see that? He needs real medical attention, which he could get if you let us go back to our ship, you... you..." Insults failed him, an unusual occurrence, but he was preoccupied by the device at Kirk's neck, where a small needle was pricking the skin and something was probably being injected.
Kirk's eyes flew open as his body tensed, and for a moment nothing happened. Then the captain began seizing, and try though he might McCoy couldn't get away, couldn't help. So he watched helplessly as the Captain shook on the floor, and then blood was wetting the man's lips. Clearly he'd bitten something, and Bones could only hope he wouldn't choke on a piece of his tongue, that it had just been a cheek or a small cut.
When they'd apparently deemed the Captain had done himself enough damage, another injection. Kirk went absolutely still, lax, completely unconscious if not dead.
McCoy wasn't let go until one of the aliens had left the room, and the other was gone before he could do anything. Not that he would have. He rushed to Jim's side, checking for the pulse that had to be there, it had to be, he couldn't watch the captain die again. He wouldn't. He wouldn't be helpless again.
He was helpless. But that wasn't the point.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he found the pulse, even though it was weak and faint. It was there. A check of Kirk's mouth told him the bleeding was just in a cheek, and while it should have stitches there was little the doctor could do except lay the captain on his side so the man wouldn't choke on his own blood.
And he waited. There was nothing he could do, except check Jim's vitals every few minutes and pray that Spock had figured out where they were, and how to rescue them.
"Spock, don't be stupid." Uhurha whispered, her voice begging to yell. But she was keeping careful control, because the rest of the crew as just around the corner and they shouldn't hear the fight.
"Lieutenant, you should watch the tone you take with your commanding officer." His voice was void of emotion, and it seemed to make the lieutenant angrier.
"You're just going to get yourself killed! Do you know where they are? What we're facing? What if the same thing that's happened to them happens to you?"
"I suspect I will be relieved of my command, and Lieutenant Sulu would take command."
"We know nothing about them, give it a little more time-"
"We have learned nothing new in the time we have taken already, and every second could be critical for the captain and Chief Medical Officer. It is not logical to wait any longer."
"Logic is going to get you killed-"
"It would not be logical if death were the primary outcome. Lieutenant, I believe you have samples of the communication to interpret, which could be helpful in our understanding of the species. It would certainly do more good than arguing about the outcomes of an unknown scenario."
She glared at him for a moment, and then huffed and left to do what he had suggested. He had expected that. She was angry, and scared, and unable to do anything to help. She would be alright, once she focused on what she was good at.
Spock took a deep breath. Jim would be alright, once Spock managed to find them. He had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, which was easy enough to ignore when his orders weren't being questioned. Soon he regained control, and joined the ground team in the transporter room. They weren't crew members he was well acquainted with, because he wasn't sure he could spare them. The enterprise would be in danger so long as it remained close enough to the planet to beam them down, and he had no intentions of letting Kirk come back to a wounded ship.
Ensign Mia Carpenter was the only one Spock was acquainted with beyond name and position on the Enterprise, and that was only because she was also part of the Science team. She had volunteered to accompany Spock almost immediately, and as she was one of three who were responsible for her job, she was an easy choice. She had experience in hand to hand combat, was decent with her phaser, and was at times as good as a Vulcan in keeping a hold on her emotions. The other two were red shirts, usually deeply entrenched in engineering and generally unknown to others aboard the Enterprise. Lieutenant Seth Henley and another Ensign by the name of Jacinto Catlow. They talked quietly to each other, stopping only to give Spock the necessary greeting.
"Don't go gettin' yerself caught, ya hear? I cannae keep beamin' ye crazies down to a hostile planet."
"You will not be beaming anyone else down, Scotty. If we do not return, you are to wait until the Federation sends reinforcements. Do not lose anymore from this crew, and do not allow the Enterprise to suffer any unnecessary, irreparable damage."
"Don' ye think that's better fer Sulu tah hear?"
Spock didn't answer. He'd given Sulu the run down. He'd told him he was not to go after them, no matter what happened. But it wouldn't hurt to have another trusted crew member with the same orders.
Scotty beamed them down to the exact location that they'd lost track of McCoy and Kirk. Immediately Spock began searching the ground, noting the footprints in the marshy ground. There was the imprint where it appeared both the doctor and captain had fallen. Surrounding them were large footprints, much larger than any of a human. Clearly these were the aliens, and from the footprints they were very tall, with eight toes on each foot and no need for shoes or other foot protection.
"Ensign Carpenter, what do you make of this?" He asked, gesturing to the ground. She took one look and met his eyes.
"They were knocked out and taken, Lieutenant Commander. By aliens that clearly have the advantage in size."
Spock nodded. "We will follow the path they have made for us. Set phasers to stun until we have more information."
He received the confirmation he expected and began the trek to find the captain. They hadn't gotten far when they began to hear the sounds of conversation, the same language that Uhura had been unable to decipher. Phaser up, Spock crept carefully forward, his team following a few feet behind. A small hill was all the stood between Spock's team and the creatures who had presumably taken the captain and medical officer, and while he was sure his comrades were coursing with adrenaline, he felt remarkably cool and unconcerned. He had no choice but to get information on the captain from these creatures. He had no fear of them, no concern that they would catch or overwhelm him.
As he stepped out of his cover, his phaser held in front of him, he thought maybe Uhura had been right. Maybe he wasn't thinking logically. But it was too late as he got his first look at the aliens that had inhabited this planet under the Federation's radar for who knew how long.