Chapter Text
What few captains will admit is that behind every good captain is a good crew. A good crew is loyal to their captain and to their fleet. A good crew excels in their respective areas and have enviable bravery and dedication. A good crew can mean the difference between a successful mission and a miserable failure.
I've had the great fortune of having the finest crew in the fleet. My chief engineer was a great innovator and nothing shy of a miracle worker. The fact that me and my crew are alive and the Enterprise is still in one piece is a testament to that.
I was a better captain because of my First Officer Spock. He was credited as being the finest First Officer and the finest Science Officer in the fleet. Being a Vulcan his actions were dictated by logic. His logic dictated that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few or the one. When he nearly got himself killed inside an active volcano to uphold the prime directive he proved that he was willing to live and die by those words.
Spock’s logic and intelligence were invaluable to me as captain and as his friend. I came to rely on him more than I like to admit. His ability to calculate odds and potential outcomes made him superior to every other officer who served under me.
As much as I respected Spock and as much confidence as I had in him I couldn’t help but second guess him. It might have been because of the outbursts he had in the early days or my own arrogance. I should never have doubted him.
We beamed down to an uncharted M class planet near the neutral zone. The planet’s terrain was rocky and mountainous and the weather was consistently cool and dry. Spock had determined with the scanners there was enough precipitation to support life so we began a search.
The landing party that beamed down included myself, Mr. Spock, and Ensign Chekov. We followed Spock’s tricorder readings into a system of caves and tunnels near one of the planet’s oceans. As we got deeper we discovered the tunnels were lit up by this eerie violet glow.
Spock scanned the tunnels and noted, “Fascinating, it appears that these tunnels are illuminated by a phosphorescent mineral that gives off this violet glow.”
I knelt down in front of a pile of black stones each of which gave off this strange lavender and turquoise sparkle. For no reason I decided to spin one of the stones. To my great surprise the stone began spinning until it hovered about ten inches off of the ground still spinning.
“Spock, check this out.”
Spock walked over to where I was and scanned the stones with the tricorder. I spun a couple more of the stones and discovered they would all hover a few inches off of the ground spinning in midair.
“Fascinating,” Spock noted. “The behavior of these stones may be related to the power source used by the life forms we are seeking.”
Spock and I ventured further into the caves while Chekov followed a lead that lead him closer to the surface. Spock was scanning the side of the cave when he announced, “Captain, I’ve found something.”
I examined what Spock had found. Spock continued, “It appears to be a type of writing similar to the cuneiform which was used in ancient Earth civilizations. From the appearance these creatures may be humanoid however are much smaller than humans.”
“Do you think we may run into one if we keep looking deeper into these caves?” I asked.
“I am not sure Captain. We should continue scanning. They may live hundreds of yards deeper.”
I pointed a flashlight into the part of the cave we had yet to venture into. It must have gone on for miles.
“Given the depth of these readings and the length of these tunnels it is very likely the species that occupies them may be highly photosensitive,” Spock explained.
“It would explain why they live so damn deep. They must have good night vision too given how deep these cave writings are and how dark it is down here.”
No sooner did I finish saying that I heard a loud thud come from up above. Spock heard it too because he looked at me strangely. I noted, “I think we’ve got company. Do you think it’s them?”
“Unlikely Captain. The sound seems to be emanating from above and the life signs are leading deeper.”
There was another thud only this time louder and it was quickly followed by another even louder thud. No sooner that we heard the second thud did Chekov come running down into the tunnel, terrified.
“Captain, Romulans!” Chekov shouted. “They will bury us alive.”
“Time to go,” I shouted. The three of us started running and I flipped open my communicator. “Scotty, beam us up quickly.”
“You’re too deep Captain. You’ll have to find shallow ground,” he replied. “The Enterprise is under attack from Romulans.”
“Romulans?” I didn’t have time to process what Scotty said, I just kept running.
We ran as fast as we could up the hundreds of feet of tunnels while the Romulan attacks grew louder and closer. Before long, we could feel the concussions of the explosions. I fumbled with my communicator as we neared a fork in the caves.
“Captain, if we turn left at this fork we’ll have a 65.6% chance of being in range for the transporter without the Romulans being able to pinpoint our location,” Spock explained.
“Turning right will get us out faster,” I replied.
“Captain, the odds of the Romulans…”
“Not now Spock.” I turned right and the others followed closely behind. Before we could even see daylight the tunnel exploded next to us. The explosion pounded me and Spock against the wall of the cave. My head pounded on the rock wall causing spots to appear in my vision.
Spock calmly asked, “Are you all right Captain?”
“I’m okay we need to get out of here.”
Spock grabbed my upper arm as I struggled to my feet. We continued running as the explosions grew closer and the concussions from said explosions became more violent. Finally a blast collapsed the walls of the tunnel and threw Chekov and myself against the adjacent wall.
I collapsed into a pile on the floor. I struggled to stand up before looking at Chekov. “Are you all right?”
“I’m still standing Captain,” Chekov replied.
When I didn’t see Spock a sense of panic rushed through me. I shouted, “Where the hell is Spock?” No sooner did I say this I looked at the massive pile of rock from the collapsed wall with horror.
I darted to the pile of rocks and with my head pounding I began tearing at the rocks like a madman. I didn’t even notice Chekov next to me digging frantically. Before long we managed to unearth Spock’s face and shoulders at the bottom of the pile. A wave of panic shot through me.
With the weight of the rock off of him Spock managed to open his eyes, take in a breath, and gasp, “Jim.” He looked at me pleadingly.
I grabbed Spock’s shoulders and pulled as hard as I could freeing him. His uniform was shredded and bloodied from the blast. I pulled one of his arms over my shoulder and raised him to a standing position. He gripped me tightly. After dragging him a few feet I tore out my communicator and shouted, “Scotty get us the hell out of here. I need a medical team.”
“Aye Captain. I’ll have to lower the shields for a split second to beam you aboard.”
A rush of fear came over me as Scotty said that. The transporter beam enveloped us and in the wink of an eye we were in the transporter room with a stunned Scotty looking at us. Spock was unconscious by then and as soon as the beam deposited us he collapsed to the floor. As the medical team rushed to Spock I only managed a couple of steps before my head felt like it was exploding and everything went gray.
I woke up in medical bay not twenty minutes later. One of the nurses was standing over me cleaning a wound on my forehead. “Captain,” she whispered. “You have a concussion from the blast but other than that you’re going to be fine. The Romulan threat has been neutralized.”
“How many crewmen did we lose?” I gasped. My mouth was dry and my head pounded.
“None so far, but we’re trying to avoid that. We have several critically injured crewmen who’ll have to be on medical leave for a while. Sulu has us en route back to Earth.”
“Thank you. What about Spock and Chekov?”
“Chekov is just fine. He’s already been declared fit for duty.”
“What about Spock?”
She averted my gaze and stuttered, “Dr. McCoy will let you know as soon as we know anything.” She gave me an injection and explained, “This will get rid of the headache.”
I looked down at my hands and my uniform which were soaked with green blood. A great sense of guilt came over me. I had ignored Spock’s advice about the tunnels and now I had his blood on my hands.
Hours passed and the medical team ducked my gaze and sauntered away whenever I asked about Spock. Eventually Dr. McCoy came directly from the operating room looking worn.
“I’m amazed he’s even alive Jim,” Bones grumbled. “They’re still working on him. His Vulcan physiology poses a challenge for those who were trained on humans. On a better note he evaded any damage to his brain or spinal cord.”
“Is he going to live or not?” I rubbed my face.
“I don’t know yet Jim.” Bones looked me over concerned and explained. “You on the other hand are free to go. You’ll be off duty for 72 hours.”
“Spock.” I shook my head in distress.
Bones explained, “It’s still going to be hours before he’s out of surgery. Dr. M’Benga is working on him but I have to get back in there. Why don’t you go back to your quarters? Come back after a shower and a change of clothes.” With a reassuring smile he added, “Doctors orders.”
I took in a deep breath. “You’re right, Bones.” I trudged back to my quarters. Several of my crewmen looked at me stunned. As soon as I got back to my quarters I took off my green blood soaked shirt and looked it over before angrily flinging it into a corner.
I climbed into the shower and turned the water on to a near boil and let the water and steam encase me. I thought about the prospect of Spock not being around and broke down and cried. I washed myself until my skin was nearly raw to get the green blood off of me. As soon as I was clean I got dressed and returned to medical bay. By then it was nearly midnight.
Nervously I paced the corridors on the deck of the medical bay until I was summoned back by Dr. McCoy. I had never seen Bones look so tired and defeated. He groaned, “Spock’s alive for now Jim, but I don’t know how long we can keep him going.”
My head spun. “How bad is he?”
“The bomb nearly tore Spock to shreds. I’m amazed you found him in one piece. He was riddled with debris from the bomb some of which pierced his internal organs. Both of his lungs collapsed, he had massive amounts of internal bleeding.”
“Oh no,” I gasped. I covered my face with my hand.
“We’ve managed to get all of the debris out but Spock has a high fever which is the result of a systemic infection. If he’s going to survive he’s going to have to be treated in a hospital with specialists in Vulcans. Zefram Cochrane Medical Center has a Vulcan ward with an Intensive Care Unit.”
My heart dropped. I sighed, “You mean the Starfleet hospital in San Francisco?”
Bones nodded. “We should be back on Earth in the morning. We’ll have him transferred if he makes it that far.” Bones looked down with a look of sadness. “First things first Jim, Vulcans are always aware. Even a Vulcan in a coma knows everything that’s going on around them.”
I nodded in acknowledgement. I followed Bones through the dimly lit medical bay which was littered with the injured crewmen from the blast. Some of the injured crewmen had minor injuries while the most critically injured were behind closed curtains.
When Bones led me to Spock he was nearly lifeless and had numerous bruises and lacerations from the attack. It took several machines to keep him alive and I was stunned by how much gear could be attached to one person. I swallowed hard trying not to break down.
I pulled up a chair next to the bed and picked up Spock’s hand. I wiped a tear from my face. When Bones saw how uneasy I was he laid his hand on my shoulder. He suggested, “Why don’t you go back to your quarters? It’s very late.”
I shook my head and looked up at Bones. “You restricted me from duty for 72 hours anyway. I’m not leaving.”
Bones was clearly misty eyed as he sighed, “All right Jim, just try to keep a lid on it. The third shift staff will be around if you need anything. I’m going to bed.”
“Thank you Bones.” I nodded and Bones wiped a couple of tears out of his eyes as he partially closed the curtains. He sauntered away like he had just returned from war. I heard him try to muffle himself crying.
With Bones gone the only thing I could hear was the rhythmic hiss of the ventilator Spock relied on. Looking at how badly injured he was and how long he had been in the operating room I was forced to realize what a feat Bones had just accomplished as a surgeon.
Unable to sleep I stayed vigilant by Spock’s bed while the nightshift staff quietly fluttered around the darkened medical bay caring for the sick and injured crewmen. I did what I could to straighten out Spock’s hair and smooth out the wrinkles in the Starfleet issue hospital gown he was wearing. I found myself staring at the monitors endlessly hoping for some sign of recovery.