-Chief Medical Log, Stardate 24331.7- The Captain decided to go on an away team to Vidia II. Spock noticed some odd fluctuations in the geological patterns on the planet. The Captain decided to send an away team to investigate, and of course, he had to tag along. Dang him, why can't he just listen? Apparently, he sniffed some blasted flower, and now he's passed out in the Sick Bay. He's unconscious, but he's fine. I swear, when he wakes up, I might find that blasted flower and shove it up his adventurous nose. - End Log.-

Bones shook his head exasperatedly. He sighed, and counted to twenty, a coping mechanism for dealing with people who tested his patience, but specifically Kirk and Spock. They're a horrendous combination, certainly. They egg each other on. I wonder if Kirk would accept another resignation letter…

Bones decided not to finish his thought. He finished counting to twenty, took a tremulous breath, and read the report on the physiology of the flower that Kirk decided to stop and smell. The little plant was a strange little thing. It seemed to have no pollen, no way of procreation that he could see, but since he could find nothing wrong with the captain, Bones thought it would simply be a waste of time to thoroughly examine a "blasted flower".

He dropped the PADD, which made a satisfying clunk on his small desk. He opened his mouth wide and yawned; he was not expecting to have to spend so many hours in the Sick Bay today. He thought the day would be normal, and he cursed himself for being so stupid. After all, there isn't even a "normal" on the Enterprise.

Remember that time that the whole crew went insane, and Sulu was running around shirtless wielding a sword, challenging anyone he came across to a duel?

Bones shivered, and hoped that there wouldn't be another epidemic for at least another week. He got up from his chair and walked over to Captain Kirk, who looked indignant even in his sleep, and checked his readings.

"Breathing, blood flow, neural activity… It all seems good." Bones muttered, and looked up from the monitor to Kirk. There wasn't any reason to keep him unconscious… unfortunately. Walking over to the medical supplies, he prepared a hypospray, and approached Kirk's bedside.

"I'm getting too old for this." he sighed, but before he could inject the hypospray's contents, Spock entered the room. Bones cringed inwardly and put on his best acting face.

"How is the Captain?" Spock asked diligently, without a scrap of worry in his voice, but somehow he still managed to sound slightly concerned.

"He's fine, the incompetent fool," Bones replied dryly. He waved the hypospray in a small circle, and Spock's eyes followed the movement. "He's just unconscious. I was about to wake him when you arrived."

"Of course. Continue." Spock said, and walked over to the bed and poised his arms behind his back. Bones glanced at Spock, rolled his eyes, and then pressed the hypospray into the side of Kirk's neck.

They waited expectantly, but Kirk did not awaken. Bones muttered something incomprehensible under his breath and walked over to the medical supplies to prepare another hypospray.

While his back was turned, however, Kirk's eyes flew open. Spock, who was still patiently watching the captain, raised his eyebrows for a second in surprise.

Kirk's eyes focused on him, and his lips tightened.

"Captain-" Spock started to say, but before he could, Kirk shot his hand forward and grabbed Spock's arm. His hand brushed skin for a moment, and then he released Spock and closed his eyes again.

Spock stood speechless, confused, but he tried again.

"Jim?"

Captain Kirk did not open his eyes. Bones came back with another hypospray to see Spock talking to his unconscious patient, his arms no longer behind his back but on the side of the bed, his back slouched.

"Spock, what the heck are you doing?" he said angrily, pushing Spock back a few feet.

"Doctor. The Captain was awake."

"Awake?"

"Yes, Doctor. The Captain was awake. He touched me, and then closed his eyes."

"He touched you?"

"Was I unclear?"

Bones sighed. "No." he leaned over the bed and injected the hypospray into Kirk. This time, Kirk awoke faster. He opened his eyes slowly, and gradually sat up, straight as a board.

"Doctor," Captain Kirk said, nodding his head politely. "I feel unharmed. Am I able to return to my duties?"

Bones sputtered. "Well, yes, but I would like to examine you."

"Is that necessary? I ought to leave."

"Well, I guess not-"

"Thank you, Doctor. I will contact you if I feel unwell." Kirk stood up, expressionless, and walked out of Sick Bay with his back ruler-straight.

Bones looked inquisitively at Spock, but Spock just raised one eyebrow and exited, straight backed and head up.

Bones counted to twenty, growled mild profanities under his breath, and followed them both onto the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge!" Chekov exclaimed as Captain James T. Kirk entered the bridge. He was greeted by his senior officers' smiling faces. He tilted his head in thanks and then worked his way to the captain's chair. On his way there Nyota Uhura turned around in her seat and whispered,

"Captain, are you alright? You weren't in Sick Bay for very long, and you seem a little pale…" she trailed off, and blinked in confusion, for Kirk was acting strange. He was listening to her concerns with a businesslike attentiveness, his arms behind his back, and his face unmoving. Uhura's mouth parted slightly and her eyebrows drew together.

"Thank you for your courteous concern for me, but I assure you, it is unneeded." Kirk tipped his head again at his bridge crew.

He crossed the room quickly and sat in his chair. Kirk took a short breath and relaxed his shoulders.

"Is the away team report prepared?" the captain asked loftily, and when no one responded, he turned around in his seat to look inquisitively at the ensigns behind him.

Just then, an ensign entered the bridge tentatively. The door hissed closed behind him, and in his hands he held a PADD. The ensign was a bit puzzled to see the entire bridge crew staring at him, but he came to the bridge to give Kirk the report, and that was exactly what he was going to do. He raised his chin a bit and walked to the captain's chair.

"The report, Captain." the ensign said, and stepped back, waiting for Kirk to sign the PADD unconcernedly and give it back to him.

For some odd reason, the captain did not give it back to him this time.

"Thank you, ensign." Kirk said, dismissing him. The ensign was even more puzzled, but he didn't want to upset the captain, so he exited the bridge, but not without looking back once or twice.

As the door hissed closed with the ensign's departure, another door slid open and Spock entered the bridge. He saw the bridge crew looking at him, and he delicately raised one eyebrow at their illogical curiosity. Spock strode to the science station and peered into the sensor readings. He shook his head; the sensors were still jumbled. He sat down in his chair and patiently waited for the captain's orders.

"Spock, are the sensors able to read the planet's surface?" Kirk asked, but his gaze did not stray from the report.

"Unfortunately not, Captain. The planet's strong magnetic field is creating a dampening field that the sensors can't penetrate."

The captain nodded affirmatively and turned his eyes to the viewscreen, which was showing the Enterprise orbiting Vidia II.

"Continue orbiting at our current distance, helmsman." he told Sulu. Sulu nodded and turned to the front and tapped a few buttons, and stared at the viewscreen, and then did nothing.

Spock was watching the Captain because he thought-when Kirk turned from him-that his ears were just slightly… pointed.

McCoy entered the bridge in a foul mood.

Dang it, Jim, just let me help you for goodness' sake. Or so help me, I am going to take a hypospray and knock you and your green-blooded hobgoblin friend out and DRAG YOU ALL THE ALL THE WAY to Sick Bay myself, or my name isn't Leonard McCoy!

He was seething when the door slid open to the bridge. He counted to twenty, failed, and stormed past communication, where Uhura was listening to subspace frequencies, past the science station, where Spock was turned around in his seat and was staring at the captain, and finally he walked down to stairs to stand directly next to the captain's chair.

"Jim," he snapped angrily. "You must come back to Sick Bay. I need to run more tests, and you ran away before I let you go."

Jim Kirk spun in his chair, his face uncharacteristically pale. "Doctor, I must ask you to call me 'captain', and not by my first name."

"For the love of…" Bones whispered under his breath. "Captain, you must come with me to Sick Bay."

"On what terms?"

Bones grit his teeth. This conversation is becoming intolerable. The Captain is acting more and more like… His eyes flicked over to Spock, who was looking at their exchange with a subtle interest.

"Your behavior," he said in response to Kirk's question. Bones looked around the room. "Wouldn't you all agree that the Captain has been acting odd?"

He was answered with a chorus of affirmative mutterings and a couple of head nods.

Kirk looked around the Bridge with surprise. His eyes scanned every person on the Bridge, who were looking at him with unnecessary concern, until he came across Spock. His gaze stopped at the sight of the emotionless Vulcan, and Spock elegantly lifted one eyebrow.

"Captain, I agree that it is logical for you to be examined. While enjoyable, your sudden likeness to a Vulcan is quite unusual." Spock lectured, and his dark eyes flicked over to McCoy, who- for once- was looking at him with quiet gratitude.

The Captain faced the viewscreen. "Very well, Doctor," he stood up. "Spock, you have the-"

"Actually, Captain, I would like if Spock would come too. He was there when you first woke up."

Kirk nodded, and Spock rose from his chair.

"You have the bridge, Sulu." he announced, and got out of the chair. He joined Spock and Bones, who were waiting for him by the door. Together they exited the Bridge.

At Sick Bay, Doctor Leonard McCoy was performing a physical on the Captain. Spock was watching over his shoulder, and watching a bit too close for comfort. Spock and Kirk were both discussing logical nonsense with each other when Bones finally became fed up.

"It would be logical to send another away team to examine the geological activity occurring on the planet. Out tricorders recorded intriguing data, but unfortunately not enough data was collected to form a proper hypothesis." Kirk told Spock, who nodded agreeably.

"I concur. However, perhaps you should consider sending someone other than yourself as the leader of the landing party."

"What has brought you to that conclusion, Spock?"

"Captain, you are currently in Sick Bay…"

"Would you all shut your blabbering mouths!?" Bones snarled. He waved the hypospray threateningly in Spock's face. "And you! If you don't give me space to work, I will sedate you!"

Spock stepped back a few paces to give him more room, but did not seem to take McCoy's threat seriously. McCoy reluctantly put the hypospray down and continued his tests.

"Nothing." Bones sighed. "The brain scans check out, and his physical health is nearly identical to the last time I've examined him." he said this to himself, but Spock, who was in the next room, tilted his head toward him when he spoke. McCoy was almost certain that Spock had heard him. The doctor cursed the Vulcan's acute hearing while he re-examined the tests results, but to no avail. There was just nothing wrong with Kirk.

Kirk was waiting for Bones when he walked back into the patient's room. He and Spock were having a pleasant, logical conversation about Vidia II, and Bones nearly shuddered in disgust.

"Alright, Captain, you are fit to return to your duties." McCoy said grudgingly. Kirk rose from the bio-bed and nodded. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, and now that he noticed it, it immediately got on Bones' nerves. "Captain," McCoy added. "Please don't smell any more flowers, alright?"

"Doctor, it would be illogical to come onto physical contact with any unknown alien organisms. I assure you, my away team will take all precautions necessary." With that, Kirk turned and left, walking briskly.

Spock and McCoy watched the Captain walk away, and then Spock turned to the doctor.

"Well, doctor? The test results?"

"Nothing. He is perfectly healthy. If it weren't for his behavior and pale skin, there would have been no reason to examine him." Bones closed his eyes and massaged his temples. "The only remaining test is the micro-cellular scan, and that will done in two hours."

"Interesting," Spock commented. "I will leave you to your duties, then. I must return to my own."

McCoy rolled his eyes hard at Spock's retreating perfectly positioned back. He counted to twenty, and then forced his eyes back to his work. There has to be a clue here somewhere…

Behind him, the plant sample began to twitch, and slowly, ever so slowly, it began to lean in his direction.

"Captain to Bridge," Kirk said into his communicator, walking briskly toward the transporter room. "Mr. Chekov, put together an away team, myself included. Have them meet me at Transportation Room One in ten minutes. Beam us to our previous coordinates." he stopped walking for a moment to snap the communicator closed and place it on his belt. He resumed his course, but then he began to feel faint. Kirk held his hands to his face and leaned on the wall. For a couple of seconds, all the Captain could feel was pain, but then it ceased.

Kirk raised one eyebrow, but decided the event was not large enough to mention to Doctor McCoy. And so, he walked to Transporter Room One with no problems.

However, if you happened to be an ensign, and you happened to look in the hallway that Kirk was occupying, like Kate Miligrew, you would have a lot of problems. Ensign Miligrew was walking the hallway on her way to Engineering when she saw Captain Kirk. Since she had heard some strange rumors about the Captain, she decided to follow him. She saw him lean on the wall and cover his face, and when his straightened back up, he turned his head to the side. When his head turned, she could see his ears, and they were… pointed? Her eyes widened, but the image did not go away. Captain Kirk's ears were pointed like a Vulcan. Miligrew slowly backed out of the hallway and took out her communicator.

"Ensign Miligrew to Doctor McCoy," she whispered.

The away team beamed to the surface. The planet's surface was very bare. It was a desert, with very few plant and animal life, and most of the things that did manage to survive were tough and bitter.

Kirk and five other people beamed down to the surface. One of them, a Vulcan lieutenant, was a geologist, and began to investigate the geological activity on the planet. Two others assisted him. The other two, who were redshirts, stayed with Kirk.

Kirk began to walk in a random direction, saying that he would stay in contact with the geological team. The redshirts followed him. As they kept walking, they came across a large rocky terrain. Kirk stopped.

"We should split up. This may be a good place to check for geological activity. Use your tricorders to scan for any anomalous readings." The redshirts, who were both still ensigns, were not very fond of this plan, but neither of them wanted to upset Kirk. They both nodded in agreement.

"Good," said Kirk. "Bransyson, go right. Suhen, go left. I'll go straight."

They all moved in their directions. The ensigns took out their tricorders, but Kirk did not. In fact, he did not even come to the planet for the planet's strange tectonic patterns. He was still walking as a Vulcan would; perfectly disciplined, but he was walking at a fast pace.

Wherever he wanted to go, he was going to get there pretty fast indeed.

The plant jumped in its case.

McCoy, who was running some tests on Kirk's micro-cellular scan, did not notice it right away. He was frustrated with the results of the scan. They were just about perfect except for one small detail. There was something very odd about the structure of his cells. It was as if… he was missing some parts of his cells, something important. Or the cells had something extra.

McCoy scowled loudly, hung his head back, and started to pull his hair out angrily.

Dang it, Jim! What the heck is wrong with you? Some green-blooded goblin possess you? Did Spock put another mind meld on you? Ensign Milligrew called in earlier saying you looked like-like a-

Bones stopped. His thoughts caught, and he stopped his breath. He looked back at the monitor, which was still showing the micro-cellular scan.

"Like a Vulcan." he muttered, looking at the results, and sure enough, the scan started to make sense.

Somehow, Kirk was turning into a Vulcan.

His jaw clenched, and he tried to count to twenty, but he couldn't stop thinking about how he would deal with two Vulcans on the ship when he had serious problems with the one on board. Although he was panicking a bit, he knew that he could revert Kirk to his original DNA. The Captain still had enough of his human DNA to counteract the transition his cells were going through.

The plant jumped in its case again.

McCoy looked over at it sharply, surprised. He had almost forgotten about the plant. He watched inquisitively as it jumped toward him again.

"Ah. Of course," he said in revelation. "The bloody plant."

Bones turned back towards the monitor and began to tap the screen furiously. A small prideful pricked the sides of his mouth.

Captain Kirk strode forward at a fast pace. He gracefully flitted over the rough terrain, over rocks and cliffs, across flat boulders and precipices. Kirk never ran out of breath, and never used his tricorder.

He walked for a long while before he came to his destination. Kirk rounded a corner of a boulder and stopped. He planted his feet together, and his hands clasped dutifully behind his back.

In front of him, a meadow of gnarled plants resided, their vines twisting on each other, and small purple flowers peeked out of the ugly plants.

One by one, each of the plants leaned toward him.

Kirk took out his communicator and called everyone. "Away team," he said evenly into the device. "I believe I have found something of importance."

Bransyson and Suhen received the communication. They both told the Captain that they were on their way and they began to walk towards Kirk, tracking his comm signal.

The Vulcan lieutenant and his two ensigns also received the communication. They all responded and began to walk towards Kirk also.

The whole landing party arrived at Kirk's location in only ten minutes. They all surrounded Kirk and waited. When Kirk did not speak, the lieutenant said,

"Captain? What is the problem?"

Kirk raised an tilted eyebrow and took out his tricorder.

"There is a human life sign in the field." he said, indicating the long stretch of land that the gnarled plants inhabited. The away team's eyes widened and they checked their tricorders.

"You're right!" one of the ensigns said in surprise, and then his bushy eyebrows drew together. "But there is some interference. I can't tell where the life signs are."

"Everyone, spread out. Help me search the field; I want to find the source of the lifesign."

Kirk watched as everyone nodded at him or murmured affirmation, and then he plunged right into the heart of the twisting meadow.

Suhen stepped hesitatingly into the field. He was a bit worried. Suhen used to read plenty of horror novels when he was younger, and now he was beginning to regret his decision. The thick plants wrapped around each other hungrily, and they had wide spiny leaves that towered over his head. He swallowed hard as he crept through the underbrush. Dark shadows were sprawled eerily across the ground, and he tried not to notice that the plants seemed to lean toward him.

His hands shook as he looked down at his tricorder again, but then remembered that it was pointless. The life sign that the tricorder was reading kept jumping around, as if it was teleporting, but it was only a result of the interference on the planet.

"Why did we have to come to this…" Suhen flinched as a spiny leaf touched his shoulder.
"... ugly planet, anyway? It's hot, has too many earthquakes, and its geological patterns aren't even that interesting." he said to the vines, his voice tremulous and brittle. "Oh, let's just go down to this planet and investigate why it has a strange magnetic field!" Suhen mocked, kicking a root. The root twitched, but Suhen was too busy ranting to notice. "I'm sure there is nothing dangerous down there even though our sensors can't penetrate it!" he licked his lips as he noticed they had become dry. "No! Captain Kirk is the best! It was such a great idea to come back to the planet when a plant knocked him out earli-" Suhen's foot hit something soft. He nearly screamed out in surprise, and snapped his gaze towards his feet.

Under his foot was a… hand. Suhen screamed and jumped back, but the hand wasn't severed. It was connected to a torso, legs, and a head. He closed his mouth-which was agape-and walked to the body. The person was wearing a gold Starfleet uniform. Suhen blinked, confused. He leaned over the body and squinted at the person's head, but it was covered by leaves and dirt. Suhen swept the leaves away and turned the head towards him. He gasped and released the head.

It was Captain Kirk.

Captain Kirk walked casually in the eerie forest. He felt his ears, which were now completely pointed, and his eyebrows curved up instead of down. Green blood trickled out of a cut on his hand.

When he made it to the middle of the forest, he pressed his hands to a plant and closed his eyes. He began to murmur listlessly, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Kirk smiled, his eyes still closed.

Any minute now.

Bones was frantically working in his office. He had called Spock down for some blood tests because he had a 'hunch'. Spock watched intently as McCoy darted between monitors, PADDs, and his desk. He kept muttering to himself under his breath, and Spock said nothing because it was evident that Bones was onto something important.

After a quarter of an hour, McCoy looked over to where Spock was sitting silently, and jumped. He had forgotten about the Vulcan's presence.

"Spock. You can go." The Spock nodded once and began to leave, but then turned back.

"Doctor, what have you discovered?" he implored.

McCoy sighed visibly as he gazed at a display screen. Without removing his eyes from the text, he said, "Spock, I do not have time to explain everything, and I would appreciate it if I was left alone."

Spock left Sick Bay with a face that clearly said fair enough.

Bones lost the passage of time as he worked, but he was so close to a solution.

He looked at the plant sample in its case, and watched as it tried to touch him through the glass. As he placed his hand on the case, the plant touched its spiny leaves on the glass.

"Little devil." Bones whispered.

Suhen screamed. The scream rattled his vocal chords, and he reeled backward. With his eyes wide in fear, he scrambled away from Kirk's body. His back thumped against a large stem, and the plant swelled as if it was breathing. Suhen did not notice the plant, however. He was quite preoccupied with the matter on hand. He steadied his breathing and looked back at Kirk, who was laying quite still on the ground. Suhen crept apprehensively to Kirk's side, and he took the Captain's hand. He checked for a pulse, and sighed in relief when he felt the life-confirming pound of Kirk's pulse.

He took out his communicator. "Ensign Suhen to l-landing party." he stuttered, still shaken. "I have found the life sign. You'd better come here. You will all want to see this…" Suhen stared at the fallen Kirk. He ended the call and tore his eyes away from the unconscious captain. An idea sparked in his mind. Suhen took the communicator again.

"Ensign Suhen to Doctor McCoy."

Perhaps the doctor will know why there is two Kirks here. One is walking around with pointed ears, and the other is here, right at my feet.

During his call, a flower pod was sensing Suhen's heat signature. It was twisting along itself, moving slowly towards him until the large pod was right behind him.

The pod opened and exploded in a puff of pollen.

For a single moment, everything seemed to freeze. The plants were frozen still, the ensign's panicked breath was still on his lips, and Captain Kirk's chest was stuck in upward position.

Of course, that was all in a split second, but to Suhen, it seemed to take forever.

Suhen fell. He was unconscious before he hit the ground, only feet away from his captain.

The plants crept their way towards the two, wrapping their think vines around their limbs like the way a child holds his mother's hand.

Within minutes, Suhen and the Captain were completely buried beneath the vines.

Kirk smiled devilishly. His hand was still placed on the large plant in the center of the field. He continuously muttered under his breath, and his hands twitched on the plant's stem. His eyelids were closed, but his eyes were rolling about as if he was in REM sleep.

One down, four more to go.

The Vulcan lieutenant stepped carefully through the thick shrubbery. He made sure to place his feet between the plants' roots. The Vulcan did not agree with walking through potentially unsafe flora, but he respected the hierarchy of command, so he obeyed. He was going to try his best to avoid any physical contact with the organisms, however.

The two ensigns crashed through the brush behind him, tripping on wide roots, and shying away from the wide leaves.

"Sir?" an Andorian ensign asked. One of her eyes was blackened; she must have tripped and fallen on her face. She rubbed her head as if she was in pain.

"Yes, ensign?" the Vulcan answered. He ducked under a hanging vine.

"I'm sorry sir, this is a bit unprofessional, but does it look like the plants are moving?" she implored nervously, and she flinched as her antennae brushed up against a sly leaf.

"I am acutely aware of the situation, ensign. I am certain the Captain has a purpose for sending us in here."

All at once, all of the group's communicators went off. They all looked around and then took out the communicators. The device hissed and crackled before ensign Suhen's shaking voice came through.

"Ensign Suhen to l-landing party." he paused and swallowed audibly, seemingly to calm himself down. "I have found the life sign. You'd better come here. You will all want to see this…" the ensign trailed off, and then the transmission cut off.

The lieutenant took out his tricorder and put the communicator back on his hip in one smooth move. His sharp eyes scanned the device before shaking his head.

"I still can not read any static life signs. However, Ensign Suhen transmitted his position to us. It is approximately 204 feet in that direction." he pointed to their left. "I must bring to your attention that we will have no way of knowing what we will encounter there, so be on alert."

With a few uneasy nods, the group turned left and headed in Suhen's direction.

The group traveled for twenty minutes before they came across Suhen. He and the captain were lying on the ground unconscious, and the vines of nearby plants were wrapping around them like anacondas. Strangely, Captain Kirk was looking a lot like himself; he bled red from a cut above his eyebrow, his ears were round, and his eyebrows curved down. The Vulcan was a bit perplexed by this.

The ensigns beside the emotionless lieutenant gaped at the distressing scene. One of them started forward with the intention of wrangling the vines off the two, but the lieutenant held him back with one disapproving hand.

"Do nothing. I will contact the ship. We have a medical emergency."

"But it's Captain Kir-"

"Do I need to repeat myself, ensign?"

The protesting ensign fell silent. He stared concernedly at the smothering vines covering the two Starfleet officers.

As the Vulcan tried to contact the ship, Bransyson suddenly burst in from the thick brush, his light hair in a tangled heap on his head. He had a large cut on his forehead from running through the forest.

He sighed in relief when he saw the rest of the away team, but then his smile faded as he noticed that Kirk was gone. Then his eyes flicked down and widened as he saw Kirk and Suhen encompassed in vines.

He screamed.

The Vulcan spoke, ignoring the young ensign. "I can not reach the ship. It is odd. We were able to contact Suhen not very long ago." he told the rest of the group, who were understandably not listening to him very well. Bransyson was having a small breakdown only a few feet away.

"Marik, sir?" Bransyson asked tremulously, trying very hard not to panic.

"Yes, ensign?" the Vulcan replied.

"Why are the Captain and Suhen wrapped in plants?"

"I do not have enough information to form a correct hypothesis."

Bransyson sighed heavily. "Right," he said bitterly under his breath. He grimaced in pain and wiped the large cut on his forehead with his sleeve.

Marik cleared his throat. "Ensign Bransyson, please exit the field. I believe that these plants are creating a scattering field that is blocking our communications. Contact the Bridge and request reinforcements. We will attempt to remove the indigenous plants from the Captain and Suhen."

Bransyson nodded once and reluctantly plunged back into the dense eerie forest.

Lieutenant Marik and his two ensigns struggled with the vines covering the two. Even with Marik's Vulcan strength, the vines didn't move; in fact, it seemed that the vines tightened the more they would tried.

Slowly, stealthily, an ambitious plant began to extend its pod, moving so smoothly that even Marik, a sharp eyed Vulcan, could not see it.

The group ceased their futile efforts, puffing heavily. Marik took out his phaser.

"Stand back." he advised, and aimed at a vine not directly connected to a limb. He fired.

The plant hissed and recoiled its vine. The others looked surprised at the success that Marik had, and looked expectantly at him. Marik nodded once, and the group took out their phasers and began to wear down the vines' strangle-hold on their crewmates.

Unbeknownst to them, the stealthy plant behind them did not stop its slow progress towards them. As the away team tried to free their trapped people, the plant stretched its ugly bulbous pod, tirelessly reaching its gnarled hands to the humanoids.

Pffft.

The pod released a shower of dull grey particles, covering the team.

The whole group gasped in a breath in surprise, and before they had any time to react, they fell unconscious in a heap.

As soon as they fell, the plants took the opportunity to spread their vines over all them once again.

Bransyon dashed through the dense foliage. He was fine when he was with the entire away team, but once they were gone, he reverted back to his former state of constant panic.

It was his first year out of Starfleet, and he decided to start out as Security because he craved the excitement. He yearned for some adventure after doing nothing for four years except study. Now, he could feel nothing except regret and senseless panic, even if it pumped his veins with adrenaline.

I am only twenty-two. I can't die. I can't die here. I just can't. It wouldn't be fair.

Still, he looked at his blood-red uniform with suspicion.

He broke the border of the forest, and the plants behind him seemed to reach their hanging vines in his direction as if missing his presence.

He took out his communicator.

"Ensign Bransyson to Bridge." he said, breathing heavily.

"Bridge here, Ensign." Chekov's accented voice replied. "What is happening? I haven't been reported to in over an hour!"

"Sorry, sir, but the plant field was blocking our communications."

"Plants? Ensign… what are you talking about?"

"Chekov, Lieutenant Marik asked for reinforcements. Captain Kirk and Ensign Suhen were attacked by the plants. We need some help getting them out."

"Attacked? Ensign, tell me what is happening… slowly."

"Yes, sir, but please hurry. I don't know how long Suhen and Kirk have, and I know that the others can't free them on their own."

McCoy rushed from Sick Bay to the Bridge. He got into a turbolift and arrived on the Bridge puffing.

"Chekov!" he exclaimed, waving a PADD violently in the air. "I've got something you might want to see."

The new away team were apprehensive. They knew everything about the mission, but knowing the basic facts did nothing to dissuade them from their anxiety. They were worried, and had a right to be. Kirk was in danger, after all.

They were transported to Vidia II's surface, and began to walk to the plant field, as their orders dictated. Suddenly the leader of the new away team got a communication from Doctor McCoy, who gave them a whole new set of orders. They were very strange orders, but Chekov advised them to listen to the raving doctor, so the away team had new orders. There was a shower of gold particles as the Enterprise beamed down several long objects.

The leader distributed the objects between the two ensigns and himself.

The away team walked away- even more apprehensive than they were before.

The plant field was ominous from a distance, but it was absolutely terrifying up close. The plants were darkly colored and their trunks were as large around as a man's waist. The trunk had large spines as large as the new away team's forearms.

The leader raised his lip in disgust as he watched the nasty foliage move like sleeping snakes. It was as if the forest was alive, twisting and turning like the legless reptiles.

He had always hated snakes.

But they went into the forest anyway. They were Starfleet officers, and they did not have to liberty to be afraid. The ensigns clenched their hands around the long objects they were holding.

It took them a long time to locate the rest of the away team. Bransyson met them, and he was trying to direct them to where he thought the away team was, but every single plant looked the same. He didn't actually know where they were going.

After several tangles with the plants, they finally burst through the dense brush to the small clearing where the rest of the away team was.

At least, Bransyson thought they used to be there.

The entire team was nowhere to be seen; the only thing there was a large pile of vines several feet high.

"Do you think they are in there?" a nervous ensign asked, her hands fingering the device in her hands.

"Yes." said Bransyson firmly, but he didn't feel as confident as he sounded. The leader of the new away team nodded.

The leader stared at the squirming pile of vines for a couple seconds before he was able to snap himself out it. He shuddered before turning to the ensigns.

"You," he said, pointing at one of the ensigns clenching an oblong device. "Hand me that, would you?" the ensign quickly obliged.

"But what is it?" she asked as soon as she gave it to him.

"It's a flare."

"A flare?"

"Yes. It was used by people on Earth when someone would get lost. It would shoot into the sky and explode, and anyone around would know about where they were."

The ensign still looked perplexed, but the leader knew he didn't have more time to waste. He pointed at the other ensigns, who were holding machines also. He handed them another device he was holding, a device that had the appearance of a cylinder.

"Set these up around...that." the leader said, gesturing at the lump of reptilian-like vines.

"Yes sir, but what are they?"

He sighed. "Pattern enhancers."

"What ar-"

"I'll explain later!" he bit out. The ensign looked apologetic and scurried away to help Bransyson set up the pattern enhancers. There was a bit of shuffling as the ensigns tried to stick the ends into the rough dirt before they discovered that the enhancers had stands that pop out when needed. The leader tried to contain his frustration as he prepared to launch the flare. He typed something into the flare with fast, stabbing movements.

"Done here, sir!" Bransyson announced.

"Good." the leader hissed. He tapped the screen of the flare and started the ignition sequence.

To Bransyson's right, something moved. He whipped his head around and stared into the dark foliage, trying to see what had moved.

From the blackness beyond the clearing stepped a haughty person with tilted eyebrows, pointed ears, and a slightly green complexion.

Bransyson jumped back in surprise, and then gasped as he recognized the Vulcan.

"Captain?" he asked hesitantly.

The leader looked over and his eyes widened. His hand hovered over the flare.

"Ensign, come over here now." he said sternly. A note of fear hung around his voice.

"But, sir, this is Captain Kirk!"

The leader slid his eyes over to Kirk's haughty face, and his eyes tightened. His hand twitched towards his phaser on his belt.

"No. No, it is not."

Bransyson's mouth opened to form an O. He started to back away quickly, but Kirk was already moving. He brought his fist around and hit Bransyson in the temple in one swift move. Bransyson crumpled. Vulcan Kirk sprinted to the leader, but the leader managed to get his phaser out. He fired at Kirk, but went awry it hit his shoulder. Kirk stopped to gaze at his phaser wound. He stood up straighter and rolled his shoulders.

As the leader watched, the wound knit itself together in a matter of seconds.

Before he could fire again, Kirk had knocked him out too. As soon as he dropped, the Vulcan turned to the two remaining ensigns, who were frozen in panic.

As Kirk locked his fierce gaze on the two, they snapped themselves out of their paralysis. One turned tail and started to run away, and the other just backed up, her pale grey eyes staring defiantly at Kirk. Vulcan Kirk lept at them, but his foot became caught on a stray vine.

The girl grabbed her fleeing partner's sleeve as their attacker struggled to his feet.

"The flare," she whispered. "We need to get to the flare." The ensign nodded and swallowed hard.

"I'll go right. You go left." he whispered back at her, and they both nodded and prepared themselves, because Kirk was back on his feet.

He launched himself at them, and they split, running like the devil himself was chasing them, and for all they knew, this fake Kirk really was the devil. The woman went left, leaping over obstacles and keeping her phaser out. She panted hard, and her heart beat so fast that she could hear nothing else. She came to the place where the flare fell, and she looked at the ground, but the flare was nowhere to be seen. Her heart thumped faster as she frantically looked around for the flare. Perhaps the vines took it. She peered into the mass of vines and saw a glint of silver hidden inside. She smiled.

Her companion was less fortunate. Kirk decided to follow him, but the ensign could not her his quiet footsteps, so he took precious time to sneak a look over his shoulder.

Kirk was on him before he had time to scream. The Vulcan broke his arm with a sickening crack, and then swung his arm hard and hit his face on the cheek, snapping his neck to the side and rendering him unconscious.

Kirk looked over at where he thought the woman was, but she was gone.

One left, but where did she go?

The woman reached her hand into the vines. She groped around, digging deeper until her arm was in to her shoulders. The vines kept wrapping uncomfortably around her arm, but still she searched. Finally she felt a hard edge, and she smiled widely. She grasped the flare and ripped her hand out, slapping the vines away.

She looked down at the flare's screen. She stood up, studying the screen.

It looks like I need to just press this button.

Her hand hovered over the electronic button nervously. She had never fired a flare before. What was she supposed the do? She shrugged off her apprehension and pressed the button. What did she have to lose?

A timer appeared on the screen, and she frowned down at it. Did she have time for a flare to go off in thirty seconds? Was there a way to speed it-

Kirk spotted her and attacked her from behind, knocking her out with a sharp movement. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell. The flare dropped from her hands, landing upright in the mass of vines.

Kirk smiled, an action that looked slightly preposterous on a Vulcan's face, but then, this Kirk wasn't really Kirk or a Vulcan at all, was he?

He laid a proud hand on the vines and nodded. As he looked over at the plants, pleased, a silver glint caught his eye.

He had only a second to contemplate the strange device sitting in the vines before it fired.

It went off with a soft pfft and launched a bright red light in the sky.

Kirk watched the flare with the red light reflected in the whites of his eyes.

"Sir, we have seen the flare." Spock informed Chekov. "It is over coordinates 204 mark 3."

"About time," Chekov muttered. He opened a channel to the engineering room. "Mr. Scott, this is Chekov. Transport everything in coordinates 204 mark 3."

"Aye, sir."

Scotty beamed the coordinates into the transportation room and got a… mess. Severed vines laid limply like dead fish, stacked on top of each other like a living snowbank. Hands, feet, and heads poked out of the stack. Scotty's eyebrows drew together.

As Scotty was staring quizzically at the chaotic scene, Chekov entered with Spock very close at his heels (Spock being someone who has no sense of personal space).

"What in sam hill is that?!" Scotty demanded, a crazed look in his chocolate brown eyes. Chekov opened his mouth as if he were about to respond, but before he was able to, Bones stormed into the transporter room with all the ferocity of a rabid dog.

"Get back." he growled. He walked over to the pile of dead vines and began to pull them away. He dug like a madman, the vines flying like uprooted dirt behind him.

As he continued to dig he began to uncover limbs. A hand became an arm, a shoulder, a face (Suhen's), and then a torso-

Something stood up from the back of the pile. Everyone jumped back a few paces. The figure teetered on its malformed feet, but still managed to turn around.

The figure had pointed ears, tilted eyebrows and pale, pale skin. And it was melting.

Before everyone, Captain Kirk melted like old wax. His skin became greener and greener, his ears drooped down to his shoulders, his fingers blended together until he had no fingers at all, his face elongated to cartoon-like proportions, and his legs wavered as if they were made of molasses.

Kirk's asymmetrical mouth opened wide. He limped towards the McCoy, his jaw moving up and down as his body melted around him. Soon he was only a foot away from Bones' defiant face.

"B-b," Kirk warbled. "Bring me h-home, Bones…"

His body lost its form and fell to a puddle on the transporter room floor. The puddle darkened from a light green to a brown like a leaf in fall.

Scotty spluttered. "Are you going to explain that, Bones?" Spock raised a regal eyebrow at his burst of emotion.

Bones ignored him. "Sent a maintenance crew to clean this up," he suggested. "And help me take the away team to Sick Bay."

"Why am I here?" asked Chekov, confused. He stared at the scene in front of him and shook his head. Bones never explained anything until the last possible moment, it seemed.

"To watch." McCoy replied. His voice was muffled by the sound of him yanking Suhen from the pile. "I'm going to need some help." he glared at Scotty and Spock, who hadn't moved an inch from their spots. He sighed heavily and opened his communicator and called a maintenance team. "I'll explain everything when I've stabilized my patients."

"Are we allowed to leave, then, Captain McCoy?" Spock asked. His voice remained emotionless, but still Bones thought he heard a note of sarcasm behind his words.

"Yes. Fine."

Everyone except McCoy left even more confused as they had been before they arrived at the transporter room.

The maintenance crew helped Bones carry the away team to the Sick Bay. There were seven in all, and they took up most of the bio-beds. McCoy got to work as soon as they arrived. He called extra nurses to assist him. He worked nonstop for a hour before he was finished. He walked to a wall and leaned against it, counting to twenty and sighing repeatedly before taking out a communicator to alert the Bridge that he was ready.

Chekov, Scotty, and Spock walked quickly down the corridor. They entered Sick Bay to see Bones waiting for them. He motioned for them to come in, and he showed the away team on the biobeds.

One had a white sheet covering it.

McCoy stood in the middle of all the beds. "Captain Kirk never came up to the planet," he started. Scotty's mouth dropped, but a quick look from Spock prevented him from commenting. "The thing that came up was a reproduction of him," McCoy sighed. He grabbed the plant sample from the surface of a nearby table. The plant inside was dead; it had turned the color of autumn leaves. "This plant has a strange characteristic. I have never seen anything like it. You see, normally plants reproduce by pollen or asexual replication, but this one seems to replicate anything it encounters. It releases a pod of spores that overruns a person's systems through their lungs. They lay there, conveniently asleep while the spores use the person's bloodstream to grow. After about an hour, the seedlings crawl out of the host and grow." he sighed again. He set the plant down on the table and swung his hands at his sides. All of a sudden, he looked ten years older. "It seems that the plants absorbed the host's DNA, and maybe even their memories. The problem is that the plants never encountered any complex beings like us. The biggest thing they replicated were rodents, which is how they would spread themselves around. The replicas would walk themselves over to new areas and sprout roots. But they never encountered sentience before. They had no idea how to deal with it."

There was a moment of stunned silence. Even Scotty, the indignant Scot, stayed silent. Spock seemed a bit…proud of McCoy's analysis.

Chekov looked taken aback. "But why did Captain Kirk's clone look like a Vulcan?"

"He said the Captain touched him. The plant could have absorbed his DNA and mixed it into an awful hodge-podge of human and Vulcan tendencies."

Another silence followed. Scotty and Chekov stood around awkwardly in the silence, their eyes darting around the room until they landed on the biobed with a white sheet hanging on it with a note of finality. Chekov's eyebrows drew together when he realized the implications of it, and he looked worriedly at Bones, who was doing his best to avoid everyone's eyes.

Bones closed his eyes. This was his least favorite part about being a doctor.

"Ensign Suhen didn't make it. He was strangled by the vines after he fell unconscious. I wasn't able to get to him in enough time," he looked at the floor. "He's dead."

The bridge crew stood solemnly beside the seven bedridden officers, one of them dead. Chekov, him being only twenty-one, wondered if he would ever get used to seeing his friends die. Scotty pursed his lips and thought about how young the energetic ensign was, and how unfair it was for him to meet his end. Bones was desperately dreading having to give Suhen's parents the news. And Spock felt nothing at all, but still understood what the others were feeling, and so said nothing.

McCoy didn't let the quiet last for very long. He picked up a PADD from the edge of a medical cart. He scrolled through the data on the device.

"The rest have stabilized. They will be alright in a day or so. Kirk was under the influence for a while longer, so he will be out for longer," Bones informed them. "I put the rest of the information in my log, if you would like to look at it."

They nodded, relieved that no one else was hurt and that their loved Captain was unharmed. They all turned to leave, and Bones told them that he would keep them informed. As they exited, Spock said gingerly, "Mr. Chekov, considering the circumstances and ship regulations, I think I should take command."

Chekov's answer came immediately and without complaint. "Yes, sir."

The next two days passed without incident. The Enterprise left Vidia II and marked the dangerous plant life on their maps. They sent their logs to Starfleet.

The away team slowly got better. Some people, like the lieutenant Marik and the Andorian female got right back to work, but some others like Bransyson didn't. Bransyson mourned. He mourned for his friend, Suhen, who helped him through his Starfleet entrance exams, and then helped him study for every single exam in Starfleet. He could hear Suhen's excited laughter whenever he tried to work, and it haunted him. It was going to take him a long time to heal, but Scotty took the young ensign under his wing. He was going to be alright.

Kirk awoke on the third day.

He shot up like a phaser beam one evening, scaring the living daylights out of the nurse standing vigil. He fired question after question at her while she fumbled around with the communicator.

When Bones finally arrived, Kirk was standing stubbornly as the nurse tried to coax him back to the biobed.

Kirk saw Bones. "Bones! Would you mind telling this young lady that I am fine and I am fit for duty?"

Bones shook his head and took Kirk by the shoulders and sat him on the bed. He was about to tell Kirk that he needed rest when Kirk launched into an elaborate and puzzling tale.

"Bones, I could hear what those plants were thinking. I think I had a connection with my clone. I could almost see through his eyes. Bones, it was a bit hard to understand it, but I think it was scared and confused. But most of all, it wanted to bring as much people to the surface as possible so it could use them as hosts. On the bridge, it was so afraid. All it wanted was to go… home."

Bones snorted. Kirk whipped his head around to stare him deep in his eyes.

"Your clone was a terrible Vulcan," Bones commented teasingly. Kirk made a gagging sound and frowned hard, but he couldn't keep a straight face.

"I swear on my grave, Leonard McCoy, if you mention this to anyone, I will personally jettison you into space." he smiled impishly.

"Now remember, Captain, I'm a doctor. I could keep you in the Sick Bay for eternity if I felt like it."

"Truce? You don't mention my Vulcan illness to any important people, and you allow me to leave Sick Bay."

"Fine…" McCoy pressed a hypospray to Kirk's neck. "But Spock and I will never, never let you forget."

"No!" Kirk moaned, flopping back onto the biobed dramatically. Bones laughed. It had been a long couple of days, but Bones was counting his lucky stars that Jim Kirk was back. The alternative was the green-blooded emotionless Vulcan Kirk, and Bones would choose Jim Kirk, the drama queen-the idiot who smelled alien flowers without a second thought- over a second Spock any day.