Author's Note
Disclaimer #1: I don't own Star Trek.
Disclaimer #2: First of all: This story is perfectly comprehendable as long as you have seen Star Trek, no need for knowing any of the stories mentioned in the following explanation.
I don't exactly own this story either. Some of you may have read "Personal Log of Leonard McCoy" by Avirra. This story is the fully written version of Year Two, chapters 50 to 55, the sister story to "Distorted Reflections" if you will, and published with the author's permission. Reading those isn't required to understand my story. At one or two points I took small liberties by changing minor facts, a tiny bit of artistic license, but generally I did my best to stay true to the original, including facts from earlier and later in the Logs as well as the "An Unholy Alliance"-series.

Who knew beaming during an ion storm could land you in an alternate universe? Leonard McCoy sure hadn't. And he would have done a lot to keep it that way. But, as faith would have it, no such luck for him. Honestly, he was starting to blame all those incidents on Jim. Wherever that guy went, all hell broke loose in one way or another. And typical for McCoy he would make him of all people his best friend. Sometimes he wondered what crimes he had committed in an earlier live to deserve this.

oOo

Doctor Leonard McCoy had never liked the tingling sensation that spread throughout the whole body when it was de-materialized and re-materialized in a matter of seconds. But it sure beat this. As soon as the image of Cerberus around him vanished, a horrible stretching began. McCoy felt as if something was pulling at every single cell of his body at once. And suddenly a new picture flashed before his eyes. He saw himself, a reflection. Or rather a photograph of himself someone had tampered with. His hair was different and he wore an unfamiliar uniform. But before he could think about this weird hallucination, a pain shot through him the like he had rarely ever, if at all, experienced before. When it stopped as abrupt as it had started, it left McCoy gasping and only barely on his feet.

He needed a few seconds to realize something was different. At the first glance around, everything seemed familiar. It took a second look to notice, things had changed. The transporter room they had landed in just didn't look right. Similar, yes, but the consoles were placed at a slightly sharper angle in proportion to the door and the floor seemed to be two shades darker than it should be. Confused, he took a more thorough look around, trying to determine where he was. Had another ship picked them up, either by chance or on purpose? It wouldn't have been the first time crewmembers had been taken hostage. Damn, not even the first time he had been abducted. But for what reason? They had already saved the children on Cerberus, there was no need to try and force them into doing so anymore. Not to mention the fact that Jim as Captain would never refuse to help out anybody, as long as it was in his power.

In his survey, McCoy's eyes fell onto the other three. Jim, Nyota and Pavel looked as shaken as he himself felt, but that wasn't what worried him. Their appearance was. Nyota wasn't wearing her trademark ponytail and Pavel had stripes on his sleeves. In fact, all their uniforms looked different. The male ones looked like the one McCoy had seen on himself when he had been transported here. And Nyota's... Well, it didn't leave much room for imagination. Even less so than usual. And they all had daggers attached to their belts. Why would something like that be necessary? The thought alone was disturbing.

He exchanged confused glances with the two junior officers while Jim seemed to be fixated on the control panel. McCoy followed his line of sight but before his eyes could reach the people behind the glass wall, they got caught by the plate on the wall next to the doorway. It read ISS Enterprise. ISS Enterprise? And right next to it, where the symbol of the Federation should have been, there was a different emblem. The earth on a dagger. Although it was just a small icon, it somehow managed to look disgusting. McCoy turned around again intending to address Jim but a vaguely familiar voice sounding from the consoles diverted his attention.

"Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy, Lieutenants Uhura and Chekov, welcome back aboard. Any new orders due to the developments planet-side?" The tone of the man speaking was all business, but careful, almost afraid of something. He didn't sound as if he was used to having normal conversations. Poor fellow, McCoy involuntarily thought, must be a lonely life. From his left he could hear Jim answer. If he hadn't known him so well, the slight insecurity mixed with curiosity in his friends voice would have escaped his notion.

"None, Lieutenant Kyle, continue." Lucky thing James T. Kirk was a quick thinker and managed to adapt to practically any given situation in milliseconds. His short answer matched the questioner's tone exactly.

The Captain stepped down from the pad he was still standing on, the other three following behind closely. When they reached the empty hallway, Pavel was the first to speak.

"Vhere are vi?", he asked in a low voice that couldn't quite hide how scared he was. Sometimes, it was only too easy to forget the boy was only 19 years old but on other occasions, he seemed to be even younger.

"I would guess this is the alternate universe, Spock's older self once mentioned to me", Jim answered quietly while continuing down the hallway. "Everything is similar to the world we come from but also different, some things more so, others less. Apparently, the Enterprise is the Enterprise here, too, with Bones being a doctor and me being Captain, but concerning the rest... I have no idea. Congratulations on the promotion by the way." He turned and grinned at Pavel. Although it seemed carefree and certainly had the desired effect on the young man – calming him down - , McCoy could see right through it. Jim was equally worried as he himself was.

"So what do we do now?", Nyota piped in.

"Stay low, for one", McCoy said. "We don't know how things are run around here and, more importantly, we don't know what our counterparts characters are like."

"Exactly," Jim took over the explanation. "This world seems to be harsher than hours, considering how that technician addressed us. And it's ISS Enterprise here, not USS. I can only imagine the I standing for Imperial, instead of the U for United. And in my opinion, Imperial sounds a lot like dictatorship."

McCoy could see Nyota shiver slightly.

"Then how do we get back? I imagine just beaming isn't a possibility?" Her voice showed only the slightest hint of hope, which was immediately crushed by Pavel.

"No, I don't sink so. I azoom, ze two worlds are existing right next to each ozer, like..." he was looking for an analogy, "... like two sheets of paper in ey book. Ze letters can't just transfer from wone to ze ozer, only under very special circumstances. In zeez case an ion storm vile ze same persons in bose worlds are on ze same spot and try to transport at ze same time."

"But that's... That's impossible!" Nyota was shocked.

"No, it isn't. Just highly unlikely. Which is why it never happened before, as far as I know." Jim's voice didn't betray any of his thoughts. "At least not in our reality. Once we're back, you can ask Spock what the odds are, I'm sure he'll love the challenge."

"In case we ever get back", McCoy muttered under his breath.

"Why, Bones, optimistic as always, aren't you?" Jim had obviously pulled himself together completely and taken over command while at the same time reassuring everyone everything would end well in this unique way of his. Oddly enough, it seemed to work on the other two and even McCoy felt slightly better. Someday he'd get to the bottom of this kid's secret. If he had ever met anyone who inspired people to follow him to hell and back, it was Jim Kirk. Granted, you needed to get over the urge to punch him in the face first, but then...

"So, where do you plan on going next? Running around in these hallways won't do us any good." McCoy could practically see Jim coming up with a plan.

"We'll split up." The captain lifted his hand to stop the noises of protest Nyota and Pavel instantly made. "Only shortly. Bones and I will go to the bridge, showing we're back from whatever mission we were on, while you two head for sickbay. We will meet you there, in the CMO's office, after giving word that Bones removed both of you from this shift cycle, same as himself and me. We'll tell the rest of the command crew we aren't feeling too great because of a transporter malfunction due to the ion storm. And that we'll therefore head for Medical, too, so we can get a check up."

Although neither of them seemed to be too happy about the plan, both Nyota and Pavel nodded and left them at the next corner. McCoy wasn't sure if he was imagining it or if they were walking closer to each other than they usually would, trying to draw some comfort from the other's presence in this foreign and probably dangerous environment. If so, he couldn't hold it against them.

Continuing towards the bridge, McCoy cast Jim a glance.

"Do you really think there's any chance we can get through this undiscovered?"

"No, not really. But we have to try at least, don't we?" Now that the others were out of hearing range, Jim let his facade drop slightly. McCoy could hear how worried his friend was. "Finding a way back home will prove to be a major problem. Since we have to beware of this world's Scotty, we don't have free reign in Engineering which will make everything a lot more complicated."

"Did the older Spock tell you anything more about this dimension?" Since Jim sounded so wary, McCoy felt obliged to ask.

He lifted a hand to his face and rubbed over his eyes. "Only that it's far less friendly than ours. He refused to say anymore in order to not influence any possible future events."

"Damn hobgoblin." Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jim turning towards him.

"Hobgoblin?" he asked amused. "I thought our Spock was the hobgoblin."

"Well, damn old future hobgoblin, then." This made the other man snort.

"Honestly, Bones? There were times when you were far more creative with giving out names. Seems you got old."

"Oh shut up." It wasn't that McCoy didn't appreciate his friend's attempt to lighten the mood, he just was too worried for it to work.

To his big surprise, his command worked. For once in his life. Although that probably was due to the fact that they had reached the turbo lift leading to the Bridge rather than his influence over Jim.

"Alright then, let's beard the lion in his den." And with that, they entered the cabin.

When the door opened, a voice sounded from the helm. "Captain on the bridge." It was some unknown Lieutenant manning Chekov's seat. To McCoy's big surprise everyone already present suddenly moved in unison. They all put their right fist over their hearts and then extended the whole arm towards them. It obviously was some kind of formal greeting, an archaic salute. He wasn't sure how to react. Were they supposed to greet back or was it a sign of respect towards the Captain? Not knowing what to do, McCoy kept his eyes on Jim who was standing half a step in front of him. The younger man hesitated for the shortest of moments, then gave a curt nod. McCoy decided to keep still.

Same as in the transporter room, he took a thorough look around. The Bridge seemed pretty much the same they were used to. All consoles were standing where they belonged, the captain's chair in the middle and the huge glass front facing space. McCoy had never liked that view. But next to all the familiarities, there were two exceptions. First, Sulu's face. A huge scare contorted the right side of his features from temple to cheek. The way it looked, McCoy guessed the wound hadn't been treated properly. And second, everybody on the Bridge was human, save a well-known Half-Vulcan.

Spock, who had stood from the Captain's chair to salute, now approached them in a manner even stiffer than usual. Despite their precarious situation, McCoy could only barely bite back a laugh. A goatee adorned the man's normally clean shaven face. It looked utterly ridiculous.

"Did your mission succeed, Captain?"

McCoy didn't envy Jim the duty to manoeuvre through this conversation.

"Yes, it did. But there was an ion storm when we beamed back aboard which left us a bit shaken up." There was no trace of insecurity in his friend's voice. McCoy couldn't help but admire his talent as an actor. "Lieutenants Chekov and Uhura are currently in Medbay awaiting a check up to make sure nothing more severe than a headache was caused. I removed both of them from this shift cycle to ensure there is no further harm done to them. Same goes for Doctor McCoy and myself."

Spock's expression changed the tiniest bit. His mouth pulled a bit tighter and his left eyebrow moved about a millimetre towards his hairline. He seemed concerned, as far as a Vulcan was able to do so.

"Don't worry, Nyota is alright." Jim tried to calm him. Spock's eyebrow rose another millimetre.

"What punishment do you intend to inflict on Lieutenant Kyle?" he asked.

"Lieutenant Kyle?" The question clearly caught Jim off guard and he let his perfect facade drop for a moment.

"The technician currently responsible for the transporters. Certainly, there will be consequences to his failures." Spock's voice lacked all emotion, but McCoy could have sworn, the half-Vulcan was getting suspicious.

Jim noticed, too. "I know who Lieutenant Kyle is, thank you very much!", he snapped back. "And I will think of something suitable."

McCoy could feel his friend stiffen beside him as he agreed to punish a man for something he had had absolutely no power over. This universe seemed to be even darker than expected.

"I will inform you of my decision once we are done with the check ups. Doctor McCoy and I only came up here to fill you in about what happened. We are practically on our way down to Medbay."

To McCoy, Jim's tactic was obvious. Get out of here and away from prying eyes and even more importantly so ears as fast as possible. And before they could raise any more suspicion. Luckily, it seemed to work. At least until: "I will accompany you."

Both men started when Spock moved towards them.

"No, it's alright, we got this. It's only a routine check up Bones will perform on all of us and afterwards the Lieutenants will be sent to their quarters in order to get some rest." Jim hurried to say, probably a bit too fast to be inconspicuous. Another millimetre for Spock's eyebrow. His face started to look real asymmetric now. McCoy wondered if this was to blame on the hurry Jim had spoken in or the unthought use of his nickname. Who knew if this world's Jim had taken to the same stupid habit. If not, this world's First Officer had reason to be seriously suspicious now.

"Spock, you have the conn. Gentlemen", Jim nodded once in the general direction of his counterpart's command crew and turned for the turbo lift, McCoy at his heels. Behind them, everyone on the Bridge saluted.

When they exited it and started moving down the hallway that should be leading to Sickbay, Jim spoke up, keeping his voice low.

"I don't think that went too well. This Spock is even worse than ours was in the beginning."

"No argument there. Damn, what is this world even like? They honestly want to punish that Lieutenant ..."

"Kyle", Jim piped in.

"Right. That Lieutenant Kyle for the ion storm?"

"Seems like it. Hell, I only hope we manage to get through this undiscovered. I don't even want to imagine what will happen when someone realizes we're impostors."

McCoy nodded grimly at that.

While they walked down the corridors, they twice encountered men from Security. Both of them instantly stood straight when they neared and saluted when they passed. Still not knowing what was expected of them, Jim continued to nod in response while McCoy did nothing.

They reached the door marked "Medical" and McCoy almost sighed in relief. At least, this Enterprise had the same blueprints as theirs. Everything else would have made staying undercover a hell of a lot more difficult.

Taking the first step inside, McCoy almost bounced back again. This was nothing like his Sickbay. The main room in its structure looked the same, sure, but every detail was somehow changed. There were more beds with more occupants, each and every one of them strapped down, confined to their biobeds by white thongs. There were no nightstands and no personal belongings. Many of the patients showed a variety of injuries that looked a lot like they were inflicted by another humanoid to a defenceless victim. Like torture, in short. The shudder running down McCoy's spine only increased when he registered the nurses. They didn't smile as his mostly did but rushed from one patient to the next, bellowing orders and using unnecessary force. The shelves contained the usual boxes with meds but also some mean looking tools he had never seen before. Which meant quite something, considering the width of his studies. After another second he made the same observations as he had on the Bridge. Nearly everyone was human, there were no aliens, except for an Orion at the far end of the room. She looked vaguely familiar.

"It's Gaila", Jim whispered. "Remember her? She was Nyota's roommate. Assigned to the Farragut, which was destroyed in Nero's first attack." Sadness tinted the words. McCoy knew, his friend still wasn't over all the destruction and death caused by the mad Romulan, although it had been three years since then.

He nodded. "Yes, I remember. Apparently, here she had more luck."

One of the nurses approached them.

"Captain. Doctor McCoy. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, thanks, Layali." McCoy gave her a small smile. He had always liked her. A smart girl with good manners and a healthy portion of self-confidence when she knew she was good at something, although never arrogant. But right now he just wanted to stay as far away as possible from anyone native to this other world.

She looked slightly taken aback. Her expression confused him but he decided asking would do more harm than good and so he kept silent.

"Actually, if you could tell us where Lieutenants Uhura and Chekov currently are, it would be appreciated." Of course. McCoy had been too overwhelmed by the strangeness of his habitat, he had shortly lost track of why they were here. It took Jim's question to remind him.

"They are waiting in the CMO's office. They said you were to do a check up on them, Doctor McCoy?" The statement sounded more like a question than a fact, as if she needed confirmation for that apparently peculiar declaration.

"Yes, yes, I am", he hurried to confirm. "Have to make sure that ion storm didn't do anything funny to our systems. Jim." He beckoned to his friend and pushed past Layali towards the door which marked the entrance to his office.

Once inside, he let out a relieved breath. "Dammit, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep up with this charade!" That earned him worried glances from both Nyota and Pavel, who were sitting in the chairs in front of the desk. The neatly tidy desk. Not a single stray PADD lying around. McCoy assumed, if he tested the surface, he'd find traces of disinfectant. Horrible thought. He was all for perfectly clean workspaces when it came to patients but his desk? No, he needed to see that he spent time there, otherwise he wouldn't feel obliged to care for all the paperwork coming with his position as CMO.

He shook his head to clear it and concentrate on the situation at hand again. While he had been lost in thought, Nyota had stood up.

"Captain, what are we going to do now? We can't hide in here forever, to find a way back home we need to have access to at least the transporters, don't we?" She looked questioningly at Pavel who nodded eagerly.

"Yyeas, ve do. I sink, ve vill need to reverse ze process by bypassing ze localization circuits and amplifying ze parameters for personnel transport somehow in order to get back. And I zink, ze pattern buffer needs to be reprogrammed, too. But I am not sure zat is even possible. Not if ve have to work wizout Mr. Scott and trying not to get coght. It vill be like crossing zrough the whole neutral zone sending out every signal possible wizout the Klingons noticing."

"Great!" McCoy groaned. "Why is it always us, having such luck?" His voice dripped with sarcasm. "Stuck in an alternate universe where everybody is to be assumed hostile and without a real way back home."

"Chin up, Bones. I'm sure, Chekov will manage, he always does." The young man blushed at his superior's compliment. "For now, we have to find out what our counterparts are like. I'm afraid we already drew more attention than is good and maybe knowing their personal history will help us understand them better. Bones, you do the check up on all of us while I hack into the system to get our records. I want to be sure we didn't suffer any long term damage we aren't aware of yet, due to this switching universe thing."

The quarter of an hour later, McCoy had finished the examinations without any results. Apparently the only harm done was them being in an assumably hostile environment. At least something. He had been afraid there could be some damage on a cellular level. Luckily, the only things out of the norm were his own elevated blood pressure and Pavel's elevated heart rate. No need to worry there. After he had completed the exams, he had shortly taken the time to record a few comments for the CMO's log. There was no knowing when he'd get an opportunity again.

Meanwhile, Jim had used his considerable talent for semi-legal activities to get access to the ship's mainframe. After reading their files, his forehead showed more creases than a Klingon's. Nyota, who was standing behind him, glancing over his shoulder to read for herself, twitched uneasily.

McCoy, just finished recording on his tricorder, looked at them.

"What is it?"

"Our origins are mostly the same, but the stories of our lives..." Jim sounded hesitant. "Well, let's just say Pike pulled you out of prison, Bones, and you have an unhealthy fascination for poisons. Some competitors of Nyota's mysteriously disappeared along the way. My name is connected to more than one inexplicable death, although nothing could ever be proven. And Pavel's files are nearly blank. As if someone had tampered with them." He suddenly stopped.

"Jim?"

Looking over his Captain's shoulder, Chekov answered instead. "Admiral Pike eez still alive heer", he stated. "Oh." A sad expression took over his face. "But Lieutenant Hendorff and Lieutenant Marcus are not, seer."

"Sounds like this is some twisted evil version of our world, don't you think? Not just parallel but kind of reversed", McCoy said.

"Like a mirror", Nyota observed. "A distorted reflection."

"Oh great, I hope we don't attract attention because our counterparts here are all lefties." McCoy couldn't hide his weariness.

"I do not think your handedness will be of much concern." All four of them jumped at the unexpected voice coming from the door. Spock stood there, a hoard of security officers behind him and a murderous expression on his face.

A/N:
I hope you liked this first part, the next should follow within the week, not sure when exactly.
Two and a half things before you leave:
I'm not a native speaker, so please point out any mistakes I made so I can correct them and learn from them.
I know, it's too late for that one but still: Please don't laugh about my attempt at writing Chekov's accent. I never tried using a Russian accent before, not even in my own language, much less in English :'-D
If you have the time to leave a short review, I'd be delighted. As someone once said "Reviews are how fanfiction authors get paid."