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Spock's announcement on the Bridge that he was assuming the role of Acting Captain was met by dead silence as Uhura, Sulu and Chekov all exchanged almost discrete glances.
Reminding himself for the tenth time that the ship was too massive for him to attend to all of the crew functions by himself, Spock found that they did seem to accept the situation more at face value when told that Doctor McCoy was in attendance to the Captain and would be unavailable for other duty for the foreseeable future. If he noticed Uhura making a quiet call to Sickbay, he pretended he didn't. A glance and nod from her to Chekov and Sulu returned the tone on the Bridge to normal as Spock settled himself into the Captain's chair.
Steepling his fingers, Spock ignored the rest of the Bridge crew and contemplated the viewscreen. With Kirk dead, it was a shame he couldn't simply take over the Enterprise as would normally be the case for the second in command. However, Spock knew without a doubt that the second Starfleet Command was informed of Kirk's death, Mitchell would be ordered to the command position. Spock had actually enjoyed serving under Pike and could tolerate serving under Kirk, but Mitchell? Mitchell was an insect even for a human and having to serve under him was more than Spock's pride could tolerate. Pike and Kirk at least had brilliance on their side. Mitchell was a toady from a rich family - even by Imperial standards.
He had to face the facts. First Officer was the highest position that Spock could ever possibly hope to reach and maintain. Even so, he knew he would not have reached that rank without Pike's backing. Even if Vulcan-manned Starfleet ships flew again - doubtful considering how few Vulcans were left following Nero's destruction of their home planet - they would not accept a half-human any more than the humans would accept a half-Vulcan in permanent charge.
When he thought through what were going to be his limited options in the future, Spock had to admit that he had, as he had heard McCoy put it once, backed the wrong horse when he had encouraged Pike to retake the Enterprise. In two years, the crew had gotten accustomed to following a young, energetic leader. Pike tended to deliberate long and hard before action - which Spock still preferred himself to Kirk's impulsive actions - but he was learning that human crews grew bored easily if they were used to activity. If there was no current activity on a Vulcan ship, plots would be made, skills sharpened, mediation sought. Humans, at least the lesser ranks, tended to turn on one another like mad le'matya.
Activity on the viewscreen pulled Spock from his musings. A flare from the outer edges of the Hobus star signaled that, whatever weapon it was that the Vengeance had intended to detonate in the heart of the star, that weapon had detonated far short of its mark as the shields of the mammoth ship's saucer section were compromised and the overwhelming heat of the star either melted or evaporated what little the weapon's explosion had left behind.
As the flare faded, Uhura received an incoming message. Uhura turned and spoke, the title attached to Spock's name leaving a sour taste in her mouth.
"Captain Spock, the Klingon Emperor wishes to speak with you."
Lowering his hands, Spock nodded.
"Put him on the screen, Lieutenant."
As the connection was made, a frown formed on the face of Emperor Karhammur.
"Greetings, Imperial Majesty. I am Spock, son of Sarek and currently Acting Captain."
"Where is Kirk?"
"The Captain was injured during the fight between our ship and the Vengeance."
"Then I will speak with the one I spoke with while Kirk was away from your ship - Ensign Chekov."
The insult toward Spock was scathing, but insulting the Emperor of an allied Empire in return was unthinkable. Spock gave a curt nod, then looked to Chekov - who looked as if he would be quite happy if the floor were to open up and swallow him.
"Ensign - the Emperor has requested to speak with you. Comply with his wishes."
"Aye, sir."
Chekov got to his feet, facing the screen.
"Imperial Majesty, how may I serve?"
Karhammur nodded his approval.
"Relay to your Captain that both myself and Empress N'alea send our thanks for his assistance in bringing the threats to our respective territories to our attention. Such will not be forgotten."
Again, Chekov felt a rare moment of gratitude to his father for insisting he take all the lessons on diplomacy seriously.
"I know Captain Kirk will be gratified to know that he was able to be of service to Your Imperial Majesty as well as to Her Majesty. May your enemies run in fear."
The Emperor seemed surprised, but pleased at Chekov's words.
"We will escort your vessel to the edge of Romulan space, then go our separate ways. vay' DaneHbogh yIchargh, young Chekov."
As before, as soon as the Emperor finished speaking, the connection was cut. Chekov drew a deep breath and looked over to Uhura, who looked rather impressed. Knowing what Chekov wanted to know, she translated for him.
"I'm sure the meaning is multi-layered to the Klingons, but basically he told you to conquer what you desire. A Klingon way of wishing you good fortune."
Spock was studiously ignoring that interaction as he turned to Sulu.
"Mister Sulu, prepare to follow the Klingon vessel out of Romulan territory."
Whatever Sulu's feelings were toward the Vulcan, pissing him off further didn't seem wise.
"Aye, sir."
In Sickbay, McCoy had forced himself to get something to eat and drink as he watched the tribble devour the replicated bread he'd laid down for it. Kirk wasn't going anywhere and McCoy wanted to make very certain that his head was clear before he began his calculations. Once he was half-way through his meal, he pulled out his oldest PADD, making sure it wasn't connected to any of the onboard computers. What he was about to work on wasn't going to be accessible to anyone but him.
Reaching a hand over, he lifted the tribble briefly to reassure himself once more that it was solid. The purr from it caused a smile to form as he put it down next to the bread again. The amount of serum he used as related to the size of the tribble then looking for a ratio between the weight of a tribble and the weight of a grown man? Damn. It was going to take a lot of serum for this. Fortunate that he had a renewable source of blood.
Speaking of which, his source of blood was far too far away and that wouldn't work at all. Reaching for his personal communicator, McCoy activated it.
"McCoy to Scott."
"Scott here."
"Clear to talk?"
"Aye. What is it that you need?"
"Just how much precision can you manage on a teleport?"
"How much precision are we talking and to what end?"
Once McCoy explained what was needed to Scott, the two men bounced ideas off of one another until they determined the scenario most likely to succeed.
"It won't be a easy thing for you and dangerous as well."
"It just needs to work. You have no idea of the stakes I'm playing for, Scotty."
"No. And likely better for my continued health if I continue to have no idea, eh?"
"At any rate, safer for you since you'll still be on the outside of this ward where the hobgoblin is. Let's do this. I have no idea how much time I have to make this work before Spock decides to come clean with the crew."
"Right you are, laddie. Are you ready? There's not much I would be able to do to help you if he gets the upper hand on you."
"Ready as I'll get. Computer - suspend quarantine seal for five minutes then reestablish full lockdown."
~Acknowledged. Suspension beginning now.~
"Alright, McCoy. First thing I'll be sending you is the gear you need. You'll have just three minutes to get ready then I'll sending Khan in just before the seal locks the area down again."
"Let's do this."
McCoy wasn't worried so far as protecting the rest of the ship was concerned. Khan wouldn't be able to get out of the isolation ward any better than the brig once the lockdown protocols took back over. Collecting the rifle Scott beamed in, he swiftly made the needed adjustments. It was a good thing he was already well-versed in it, even so, he barely had it ready before the first signs of the transporter effect showed.
Bracing himself, McCoy stood at the ready and waited for that brief window of opportunity that would come between the transporter effect ending and Khan regaining his movement. Then he smiled as the figure became plain - Khan's back was to him. McCoy smiled and mentally added another bottle onto the amount he owed Scott.
Khan was just starting to move when McCoy fired, the old fashioned projectile striking the Augment squarely in the thickest part of his gluteus maximus muscle.
Whirling around at the sting, Khan snarled as he reached around behind and yanked the dart free.
"I will ram this up your -"
The stumble when he started to move surprised Khan and interrupted his threat as McCoy simply backed a bit further away with a smile.
"No, I don't think you will. I doubt you would even be able to reach me before the paralytic takes full effect and, even if you manage that, I'd guess that your lungs freezing up will take a bit of the pep out of your step. Now, if you want to save both of us trouble, you'll use the little time remaining to get to the biobed because I'm going to have to ventilate you to keep you alive in the very near future."
The dart clattered to the floor as McCoy continued to watch impassively as Khan opted to fight the quickly escalating effects. As was inevitable, Khan fell. McCoy waited until a blue tinge had started to show in his lips before moving to assist. With the strange physical makeup of the Augments, he couldn't be sure how long the effects would last, but he wasn't planning to dawdle with what he needed to do.
The dense body weight made moving Khan to the biobed a little tricky, but McCoy was strong enough to manage him on his own. He immediately snapped on the sterilization field and started the ventilator. Khan was of no use to him dead.
Adjusting the biobed readings to alert him of signs that the muscles were starting to function again on their own, then immediately began a series of surgeries on the Augment. It took about an hour before he was satisfied, but then McCoy remembered and pulled his communicator back out again.
"McCoy to Scott."
The voice coming back across with thick with both brogue and irritation.
"Left me damn well hanging long enough, ye great pillock. Everything is alright then?"
"Yeah, sorry, Scotty, but I had a limited time to work with."
The brogue slacked a bit as the annoyance also dropped out of the engineer's tone.
"Right then. Alarms been raised about Khan being gone from the Brig and the bloody Vulcan knows now that the Augment is with you."
"You alright yourself?"
"Aye. I told him it was under orders from you and that I assumed it had been cleared up the chain. He didn't care much for it, but he didn't argue it either."
"I doubt he'll be very happy once Spock figures out he can't get in here."
"I daresay you're right about that, doctor. You sound worn to a frazzle. Try and get some rest. You're on your own in there, after all."
"Good idea. I can't do anything but wait for four to six hours, so might as well grab a nap. I'll check in with you again tomorrow."
"Do that. Scott out."
Chuckling, McCoy took another glance over the biobed reading, then straightened the area before picking up the tribble off of his desk. He started toward the cot he had set up when the comm unit went off.
"Spock to Doctor McCoy."
Since Spock couldn't see him, he didn't even bother to refrain from rolling his eyes as he moved over to the unit.
"McCoy here. Something I can do for you, Captain?"
"You will explain to me why you have had Khan removed from the brig."
"Protection of the crew. I took a blood sample from our Augment friend and found some elements that I couldn't explain. Until I can isolate them and determine whether or not they might be a threat, I've put him into quarantine - along with myself since I've already been exposed. Oh, you might want to have Chapel give the technicians that have had watches over the Brig area checked over. I think they were far enough away that their risk of catching anything is negligible, but better safe than sorry."
Spock had chosen to contact McCoy from the Ready Room and was now appreciative that he had. His initial plan had been to order McCoy to remove the quarantine order, but now?
"How long will your analysis take?"
"Impossible to say right now. I'll need to run tests, grow cultures. I'm dealing with a complete unknown here. You're a scientist - you know as well as I do that cultures can't be rushed or the results are skewed. Who knows how many tests I'll have to run to even get a lead? With his super-human genetics, what he has might not affect us at all or it could mow us down like a plague."
"As CMO, you should have assigned this to less vital personnel."
That was an angle that McCoy hadn't expected and he laughed.
"Didn't seem too worried about that detail when you stranded me on Delta Vega. Doesn't matter though - who would I have assigned this to? We have researchers and we have doctors - I'm the only one I know of onboard that's both."
The connection went quiet as Spock considered what the doctor had just said. The argument was logically sound and it was true that if there was something to be found, McCoy was the one most likely to discover it. There was another detail that needed to be covered.
"What of Captain Kirk?"
Not knowing who might be listening in, McCoy answered that carefully.
"Catching a plague of some sort is the least of the Captain's worries. Don't worry, I have them isolated from one another and I'll be following decontamination protocols with sterilization fields."
Silence fell again as Spock could find no reason not to allow McCoy to continue on. This would also be his opportunity to see how well M'benga worked out as the lead doctor in Sickbay.
"Very well then. I will expect reports on your progress."
"When I have progress to report, I will pass it on."
"That will be sufficient. Spock out."
As the connection ended, McCoy took a deep breath, then chuckled as the tribble purred. A nap now and then he could begin his work. One thing he hadn't lied to Spock about - there was no rushing this.