Part XXXVI

The first order of business was to get McCoy to Sickbay to get both his pain and withdrawal symptoms back under control. Both Spock and Kirk were irritated that he'd been concealing so much from them, but didn't get into it with their friend considering the amount of pain he was currently undergoing. Spock also noted that the combination of the pain and the medication were also probably responsible for the doctor's paranoia and desire to keep things to himself far more than usual. Kirk conceded that point, but also planned to have a long talk with his friend any way once everything had settled down.

As soon as McCoy was stable enough that he could think clearly again, he insisted that they had to track down whatever Lieutenant Warren had done with the nerve toxins that Doctor Adams had manufactured. It took two days of backtracking to find it, but when they did, Kirk was glad for McCoy's insistence. The toxin had been put into the food replicator stores and been tied to two different Vulcan dishes. Nothing that Spock ate often, but ones that he did eat occasionally. They all breathed easier once the substance was purged from the system and destroyed.

After that, things progressed very quickly. Ensign Sigel announced that she was both ready and willing to give full testimony regarding the plot against Captain Kirk. Considering who all was directly affected by the plot, Kirk requested that Scotty, Uhura and Sulu be the ones to handle the questioning of Ensign Sigel as well as assume the responsibility for sending the transcripts to Starfleet Command. The three agreed to shoulder the task willingly and sent in their reports along with the collaborating evidence that they had available. From the moment the contents of the transcripts were revealed, a shake-up began that was felt throughout Starfleet.

At first, the charges were viewed by some of the Admiralty as a possible smear campaign orchestrated by Kirk to retaliate against the constant criticism that Admiral Komack seemed to pleasure in leveling against him. That thought of how it might look to others had been one of the primary reasons that Kirk turned the questioning over to his other officers. It turned out to be fortunate that he had, otherwise the transcripts might not have been investigated any further. As it was, inquiries were made and, as collaborating evidence started to be found from sources outside of the Enterprise, the case expanded and then snowballed when the press caught wind of the story.

Any hope that the Admiralty had for keeping the situation quiet was blown away by some of the headlines screaming about a cover-up. The blame for the leak to the press was originally put unjustly on Kirk, but it was soon revealed that a civilian secretary for a lawyer working with some of Admiral Komack's staff was the one that contacted the press. She was the daughter of one of the scientists aboard the Enterprise and had been disgusted by what she'd read in a file she had accidentally come across. Her public statement regarding 'cowards sitting safely inside planet-based offices plotting to make the already dangerous job of exploration even more dangerous for the dedicated men and women serving aboard the Enterprise and other Federation vessels' created another wave of headlines that Starfleet would have preferred to have avoided.

No direct connection could be made between Admiral Komack and any of the incidents, though circumstantial evidence looked very damning. It was strongly suggested by the rest of the Admiralty that if anything else turned up while Komack was still on active service that it might do further damage to the image of Starfleet. In order to spare both himself and Starfleet further embarrassment, Komack resigned from Starfleet.

Two members of Admiral Komack's staff were court marshalled - to the men's dismay, it was ruled that, even though they were not members of the crew of the Enterprise, their actions warranted the charge of mutiny against them due to their attempts to overthrow the rightful chain of command aboard a Starfleet vessel. Found guilty, they were stripped of all rank and privileges before being sentenced to a lengthy term in the brig. When the length of their sentence was argued, Admiral Morrow pointed out that since the crime of mutiny was one of the few remaining death penalty offenses remaining in Starfleet, the sentencing had been rather lenient.

Aboard the Enterprise, court marshalls also began. Again, Kirk kept himself, Spock and McCoy from being any part of it beyond as witnesses. The required panel of three officers were, again, Scotty, Uhura and Sulu. The weight of evidence against Doctor Adams and Lieutenant Warren with eyewitness accounts combined with Ensign Sigel's testimony made the outcome of a guilty verdict inevitable. Doctor Adam's charges included mutiny, his attacks on Doctor M'Benga, Nurse Chapel and Nurse Selmon, his attack on and attempted murder of Doctor McCoy and manufacture of the nerve toxin for reasons other than medical research. There were even more charges that Kirk didn't bother to file on him. Lieutenant Warren had many of the same charges with the additions of tampering with the ship's computers, unauthorized accessing of files and sabotaging of the ship's food stores. Both Doctor Adams and Lieutenant Warren were recommended for the death penalty, but due to the close nature of the command crew, Scotty made the motion that the final decision on appropriate punishment would be carried out by an unrelated panel of officers at the next Starbase.

In the case of Ensign Sigel, in return for her testimony and guilty plea, her own sentence was limited to being stripped of all rank and privileges and returned to civilian life with a dishonorable discharge. She would be leaving the ship at the Starbase and given passage back to Earth.

Leonard kept mostly to himself during the two weeks it took them to reach Deep Space Station K-4. It wasn't until all three were transported off of the Enterprise and officially turned over to the local Starfleet authorities that Chapel sent a private message to both Kirk and Spock, informing them that the doctor had finally had a long-overdue breakdown. That didn't surprise Kirk in the least. For all of his friend's bluster, he knew that Bones was the sort of person that would never be able to figure out why anyone would willingly cause serious harm to someone except in defense. It said something for the extent that Kirk was expecting it that he'd scheduled the transfer to take place near the end of their shifts, so it wasn't long between when Chapel messaged them and when they entered Sickbay together. She didn't even speak when she saw them. She simply gave a very pointed look toward the door to his office.

The door wasn't locked, so Kirk entered without any preamble, Spock close behind him. The office was dark, but before he could bring up the lights, he heard Leonard's soft voice.

"Computer - lights up five percent. I prefer it dark right now, if you two don't mind. Just try not to break yourselves or the furniture on your way in."

The dim lighting allowed them to manuever closer to where the doctor was sitting. It took Kirk a moment to put together that he was on the small bed that he tended to use to grab a nap on during extended shifts or after a particularly brutal surgery. Kirk settled down to McCoy's left side and Spock immediately sat to McCoy's right. There were a few moments of pure silence before Spock ended it by speaking in a low tone.

"Now that they are no longer onboard, we should see to scheduling the rest of the surgery that you require. Or am I mistaken in my thought that their proximity was why you have delayed the rest of the procedure?"

"No. You aren't wrong. Before they were rounded up, I guess it made sense, but after? Guess I just didn't like the thought of us both being in such a vulnerable position while they were still close by."

Kirk eased an arm around McCoy's shoulders.

"Considering the amount of things that have been thrown at you since we were ordered to Vestoria? I can't say that a little paranoia was unjustified, Bones. I just wished you'd kept the two of us informed."

"Be honest with you, Jim? I'd convinced myself that I was all worked up for no reason. Matter of fact, I was on my way to ask the two of you to meet me so I could tell you that when I got ambushed. Considering they messed with the food stores, I guess it was just as well that I never made it to you."

"Just keep in mind that if anything like this ever happens again, we face it and fight it as a unit."

"If anything like this ever happens again, I'm resigning my commission and finding a backwater planet to hide on."

"The odds against a similiar circumstance occurring again are -"

"Don't want to hear the odds, Spock. If we were going by odds, I doubt they were favorable for any of this happening in the first place."

Spock paused at that, then inclined his head slightly.

"I have to concede that point to you, Leonard."

The hand on McCoy's shoulder gave it a light squeeze as Kirk began to grin.

"Well, that's behind us now and there's a few things I want to tell the two of you. First, we have been authorized for shore leave and we should be arriving at our destination in five days. Second, both of you are off the duty roster from now until then. I want you to do whatever is necessary to get the surgery needed done. It would be best if you were recovered enough so that you are both able to enjoy at least part of the shore leave."

To Kirk's surprise, there was not even a hint of argument and he noticed that Bones and Spock were exchanging a glance.

"Well, I know I need a serious nap."

"A longer than usual mediation period would not be out of place if you would care to join me."

"Sounds good, Spock. So we rest up and then operate tomorrow afternoon?"

"I know of no reason why that would not be acceptable, Leonard."

"It's a little disconcerting to hear to two of you being so agreeable."

Both Spock and McCoy turned to look at Kirk.

"You are never happy, are you, Jim? If the two of us are having a friendly little debate, you complain that we're arguing and if we agree, you complain that we make you nervous."

"Indeed, Jim. You seem to have illogical expectations for our behavior toward one another."

Eyes narrowing slightly but with a hint of a grin on his lips, Kirk looked from one to the other man.

"Are you double-teaming me?"

McCoy managed to pull off a credible innocent look as he turned back toward Spock.

"You know, I think paranoia just might be contagious."

"Current evidence does seem to support that hypothesis."

Shaking his head, Kirk got back to his feet.

"I know when I'm outnumbered. I'll leave you gentlemen to your rest - I have a ship to run."

"Not right now you don't, Jim - you just got off shift. Come with us to the mess. I'll probably sleep a little better with some food in my stomach. Spock?"

"This is generally the time that I have a light meal myself."

"In that case, I'd be delighted to join you. After your rest, remember to let me know when the surgery will take place."

"Will do, Jim. And that reminds me - I promised Chris that me and her would go get plastered once everything was over. I should be off the pain meds and able to indulge by the time we start shore leave. Care to join us?"

"I wouldn't miss it. Gentlemen, shall we?"

As Kirk moved through the door first, Spock turned to McCoy.

"Plastered?"

Chuckling tiredly, McCoy rose up off the bed and started to follow Kirk.

"Well, I could have said we intended to get drunk as skunks, but I don't reckon that would have made a lot more sense to you."

Spock rose, moving to the doctor's side.

"No, it would not. The English language has evolved a great number of peculiar turns of phrasing."

"Well, just look at it as a gift. Means me and you won't run out of things to talk about."

"That is unlikely to ever be a concern of mine, Leonard. After our meal, would you care for me to assist you in reaching a deeper level of sleep again?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd certainly appreciate it. I haven't sleep all that well lately."

"No trouble at all."

As the three men left Sickbay - Kirk slightly in the lead with Spock and McCoy a step behind him and side by side - Christine paused briefly to watch them. Instead of being split apart as the plotters had intended, the command trio was still together. The relationships had changed perhaps, but their bonds seemed that they were going to be even stronger than they had been before.

All of which meant that life onboard the good ship Enterprise was well on the way back to normal.