An Unholy Alliance : Distorted Reflections

Part 1 - Cerberus

Doctor McCoy's hand was resting in the midst of his sister's curls as he looked over the place she would be spending the next six months. It was expensive - way past his current ability to afford, but that wasn't a worry. This six months of specialized schooling was a gift to Joanna from Admiral Pike, her unofficial grandfather. He had told McCoy that it was a birthday present, but Leonard McCoy hadn't been born yesterday. He had overheard Pike whispering something to Joanna about services rendered which made him wonder even more about the fact that Doctor Philip Boyce was now attached to Pike at the hip and Lieutenant Leslie (who Joanna had nicknamed 'Loser Leslie') had disappeared.

He debated asking Joanna, then decided it didn't really matter. Boyce was one of the few physicians that McCoy held in some esteem and if Pike was going to continue to have a thing for doctors, he would just as soon that attention was fixed firmly on someone other than himself. Looking over, a small smile formed as he spotted Kirk. He knew exactly what their Captain was doing. He was informing the headmaster of this particular school just how many piece of him there would be to spread around should anything at all happen to either Joanna or her guardian Rashea while the two of them were there.

When McCoy saw Rashea, Chekov and Uhura coming toward them, he knew it was nearly time for them to return to the Enterprise. He was pretty sure the fact that Chekov had studied on Cerberus was the overriding factor for Pike picking this school for Joanna. Since Chekov knew the grounds and many of the instructors, he had volunteered to beam down with the group to make introductions and Uhura had also volunteered to make the trip to assist Rashea in handling the paperwork and inspecting where Joanna would be staying. The forms that would have taken McCoy hours (and Kirk days) to wade through had been completed with minimal fuss. Having the necessary adjustments made to Joanna's living arrangements took a little longer, but once it was made clear that Rashea was both governess as well as bodyguard, the two of them sharing a room suite was no longer an issue.

Joanna left his side to give Uhura a hug, then all of them were distracted by the sound of thunder breaking out. A storm seemed to be brewing and not the kind he remembered from Georgia.

Chekov frowned as he gave a long look at the gathered clouds.

"A magnetic storm is coming. Possibly the worst I have ever seen here."

Kirk walked over briskly to join them.

"Spock just contacted me. This ion storm is starting to cause problems onboard. Sorry, Jo-Jo, but that's means it's time for us to go. Odds are that we won't be the ones to transport you back to Earth, but Admiral Pike will handle all the arrangements when the time comes."

Joanna ran to Chekov and Uhura, giving each a tight hug while Kirk had tugged Rashea off slightly to the side for a bit more of an intimate farewell before coming back and giving Joanna a hug as well. Her final hug was saved for her brother, who whispered in her ear.

"Give 'em hell, Jo. Show 'em what a McCoy can do."

"I'll make you and Uncle Jim proud, Bones."

"You already do, kid."

Another peal of thunder broke them up and McCoy gave her a kiss on the top of her head before moving to join the other three.

"Kirk to transporter room. Energize."

McCoy had always been pretty ambivalent about transporters, but this time, he was feeling pain. A drawing and stretching feeling like he was about to be pulled in two. Then he suddenly saw his reflection. No, not his reflection. It looked like him but the uniform was all wrong. A second later, the pain increased ten-fold and then, just as suddenly, it stopped. The doctor fell to his knees, gasping in air as the others around him were doing the same.

Finally, his head cleared enough that he heard the voices of Spock and Mister Kyle, but there was something peculiar about the tones. Why wasn't Spock ripping into Kyle for being so inept at the transporter controls? Then he heard a soft gasp from Uhura, automatically turning toward her and opening his eyes to see if she was injured.

It was Uhura, but not as he'd ever seen her before. Everything from the uniform on her body to her hairstyle was different. A sudden memory from the old Spock made McCoy nauseous as he forced himself to turn his head and then attempted not to stare at a Spock who was fully free of facial hair and also wearing a totally unfamiliar uniform.

Yep. Transporters just zoomed past shuttles on his list of least favorite ways to travel.