Title: Not Today (1/2)

Author: Still Waters

Fandom: Star Trek TOS

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just playing, with love and respect to those who brought these characters to life.

Summary: The full story behind the events in "Untitled." McCoy pays a heavy price when he refuses to leave a patient.

Notes: As requested, here is the full story behind my snapshot "Untitled", the events of which will occur in part two of this story. I have had bits and pieces of this tale scattered between notebooks and the computer for several months, and it finally came together. For those who have read and reviewed "There Were Days", please know that I have not abandoned the story – I have decided not to post again until the story is completely finished. This is unbeta'd so please excuse any blatant errors. Thank you for your support – May the New Year bring you peace, health, and happiness.

"That's odd," McCoy remarked moments after materializing on the outskirts of Shiforr's capital city.

"What's that Bones?" Kirk asked absently, already moving downhill.

"There's no one here," McCoy said, following slowly, eyes drifting along the surrounding mountain range.

"We have beamed down six point four kilometers from the city Doctor," Spock replied. "The Shiforr government is aware of our need to beam in at this location in order to bypass the planet's magnetic clouds; however their culture only dictates greeting foreigners once. As the council met us here three weeks ago, there was no need for them to do so again."

McCoy shook his head. "I'm not talking about a welcome party Spock," he frowned, "I mean, there's no one," he gestured toward the low, winding path carved into the ascending rock. "I never saw that path empty last time we were here; there were always villagers back and forth from the shrines."

Kirk followed McCoy's gaze, shading his eyes with one hand. "Everyone's probably in the city for the ceremony, Bones," he offered. He paused for a moment before turning back down the hill with a pointed, "Like we should be."

McCoy's frown deepened as he dropped into silence, eyes continuing to watch the mountains as he walked. Kirk and Spock led the way, keeping up a quiet conversation on the upcoming celebration of the new Shiforr government Starfleet had helped organize.

A kilometer later, McCoy's voice broke the conversation. "I don't like it Jim."

Kirk and Spock shared a quick look before turning around. McCoy had stopped a few steps back, squinting up at the sky with his hands tapping lightly behind his back. He rocked slightly on his heels, lips pressed together and quirked slightly to the right, face furrowed in thought.

"Care to expand on that, Doctor?" Kirk asked drily, a hint of amusement playing at the corners of his eyes as he moved back to McCoy's position.

The furrows in McCoy's face deepened. "Something's just not right." His eyes never left the surrounding mountain range.

"Specifics, Doctor," Spock sighed. "Vague, emotionally-based declarations do not make facts."

McCoy's eyes flashed as he whipped a glare at Spock's expectant, raised eyebrow. "And if I had those facts, Mr. Spock, I'd share them," he spat before his eyes softened, angry fire dimming to weary worry. "I'm sorry, Spock," he sighed, unclasping his hands to rub at his face, "it's just….we've been through this. I know when something doesn't strike me right…..and somethin' heah just doesn't," his accent flared as stressed eyes resumed scanning the mountaintops for answers to the churning in his gut.

Kirk's eyes immediately lost all illusion of humor. He knew, many times over, that McCoy's gut was as reliable and accurate as both Spock's logic and his own personal 'red alerts.'

Spock seemed to agree as he bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement. "I apologize Doctor. Please continue." McCoy was correct; they had been through this particular discussion, and when Norman had turned out to be one of Mudd's androids, McCoy had scored something of a victory for illogical, human intuition.

"What is it Bones?" Kirk's voice was low with concern as he stepped closer to McCoy, trying to follow the physician's gaze.

McCoy's staccato bouncing radiated frustration. "I don't know Jim. I can't quite pinpoint it….." He tore his focus from the landscape, meeting Kirk's eyes with an unspoken plea.

Kirk nodded, hearing the silent call for caution in the wide blue eyes. He drew his phaser slowly, not needing to look to know that Spock was mirroring the action. "Phasers on stun," he ordered with resigned, steely preparation.

Spock shifted with Kirk to flank the unarmed physician, taking a place two steps ahead of McCoy. "Ready Captain," he confirmed.

Kirk sighed. "All right. Eyes open," he said, meeting McCoy's distracted nod before leading the way down the hill.

Five minutes later, as the mountain range curved to the right and the arid landscape became a labyrinth of fallen rocks, they found the first body.

"Jim!" McCoy hissed, pointing toward a crumpled figure alongside a cracked boulder.

Kirk put a restraining hand on McCoy's arm. "I see, Bones," he kept his voice low, squeezing McCoy's arm tightly in an unspoken 'don't even think about moving yet.' He glanced at Spock who nodded once before moving smoothly forward with Kirk, searching the surrounding area as McCoy moved slowly between the protection of the raised weapons, eyes only for his potential patient, hands already running along the tricorder in preparation for the first scan.

"All right Bones," Kirk nodded McCoy forward as they reached the still figure. McCoy fell to his knees at the man's side, hands reaching for Shiforr pulse points even as the tricorder whirred through an initial assessment. McCoy looked down as the scanner beeped, brows furrowing, before leaning forward to turn the Shiforr onto his back.

Kirk peered over McCoy's shoulder to the tricorder readout. "Bones," he said, voice soft with sad curiosity, "he's dead."

"And that same machine said you were dead after I gave you that neuroparalyzer," McCoy retorted, falling into silence as he gently eased the Shiforr back. His mouth tightened at the dark stain on the abdomen, the ragged hole half-covered by a post-mortem patch of blood-thickened, sandy gruel. His hands began moving through a systematic assessment. Another minute passed before McCoy sat back on his heels with a sigh. "I'm sorry Jim," he glanced up apologetically. "We didn't have much data on Shiforr anatomy to put into the scanners to begin with, so I couldn't trust…."

Kirk shook his head, cutting off McCoy's apology. "My fault, Bones," he insisted. "I've known you long enough not to question how you handle a patient," he smiled ruefully, "and, as you just pointed out, machines can be wrong." He tossed a sidelong glance at Spock. "Right, Mr. Spock?" he grinned mischievously back at McCoy.

Spock gave a long-suffering sigh. "Captain, there are more pressing matters at hand."

Kirk forced himself to sober. "Of course, Mr. Spock," he nodded, unable to completely extinguish the sparkle in his eyes.

"It would be illogical to pursue years of medical education only to defer to a computer," Spock finally pointed out, almost as an afterthought.

Kirk smiled in memory. "Practical, Captain? Perhaps. But not desirable. Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them."

McCoy raised an eyebrow with the same memory. "I think that's a compliment," he mused with a shrug, pulling himself to his feet.

"Simply a fact, Doctor," Spock corrected, dark eyes shining briefly before tightening back into focus. "What is your assessment?" he asked.

McCoy straightened. "Tearing, penetrating trauma – even if the weapon hadn't shredded his heart, the resulting hemorrhage alone would have killed him."

"Most likely the spear carried by Shiforr warriors," Spock extrapolated.

"Agreed," McCoy nodded.

"And whoever killed him took it," Kirk noted, circling the rock, looking for the dead Shiforr's spear. "All right, let's keep moving," he decided, pressing on through the open desert ahead.

Another turn in the landscape yielded four more bodies in the same condition. McCoy straightened up from the shade of the blood-soaked boulder with a weary sigh. He squinted in the harsh midday sun. "There's another," he pointed to a prone body far from the meager shade of the mountains and frequent rocks. "Dammit Jim, what in blazes is goin' on here?" he scrubbed a hand across his face, the resulting streak of blood-thickened sandy sludge a stark contrast to flashing blue.

"I don't know," Kirk murmured, before straightening slightly, voice strengthening as he vowed, "but I intend to find out."

McCoy laid a gentle hand on Kirk's arm before trotting slowly out to the next body.

Kirk looked back down at the dead Shiforr warriors. "Thoughts Spock?" he asked, waving his phaser arm around the red-stained rock.

"This planet has long been divided between the Shiforri and Shiforra tribes," Spock recalled. "This new government brings two groups with a significantly violent history together under one, integrated society. It would appear that there are those who do not agree with such a change."

"A coup?" Kirk asked. He paused, looking around again before adding, "Or just going back to the way things were?"

"The latter, I should think," Spock said, "however, we require significantly more information than we have at present."

Kirk nodded, glancing toward McCoy's crouched figure in the distance. He squinted hard against the sun, noting McCoy's sudden rush of movement. "Looks like Bones might have someone we can ask," he pointed toward the slight movement of the Shiforr's arm and McCoy's subsequent reach toward the warrior's abdomen. "Come on," he jerked his head toward the physician's location.

McCoy had just turned the seemingly deceased Shiforr onto his back when the warrior's arm moved weakly. McCoy dropped the tricorder onto the sand with a muffled curse regarding its usefulness and began his hands-on assessment. "Easy son, let me see," he soothed, taking the Shiforr's arm in a light grasp and laying it back at the warrior's side. He probed the jagged wound gently, trying to see past the thick sandy sludge caking the site. The Shiforr coughed weakly and the wound exploded, showering McCoy's hands with a surging tide of hot blood. "Dammit," McCoy muttered, applying pressure firmly with one hand while rooting in his kit for pressure bandages with the other. "I'm sorry," he apologized as the Shiforr tossed his head weakly at the pressure. "I'm a doctor….a com'apoa," he recalled the native equivalent. "I know it hurts, but I need to slow the bleeding," he explained, throwing a pressure bandage to the wound under his saturated right hand. He set the tricorder for a chemical comparison scan and began digging for a hypo of fibrephyton. "I'll give you something for the pain just as soon as I figure out what'll actually work for you," he continued, glaring at the tricorder as if he could speed up the scan by force of will alone.

A shadow fell over him. "Why do you speak to Shiforri in such a manner?"

McCoy started, cursing himself for assuming the shadow was either Kirk or Spock. He squinted up to find a Shiforra warrior, feet light and ready on the dry earth, each hand grasping a solid, heavy spear. "What manner?" he asked distractedly, eyes flying to the beep of the tricorder.

"You speak as the com'apoa do," the Shiforra said.

Spock's eyes, accustomed to the harshness of Vulcan's sun, saw the warrior approach McCoy before Kirk could squint the distance into renewed focus. "Captain," he pointed ahead.

Kirk began to run.

"Captain, if you approach a Shiforr warrior in such a manner, he will feel threatened," Spock hurriedly put a hand out, stopping Kirk mid-stride.

"Spock, that warrior has two spears," Kirk realized nervously. "Bones is unarmed. If the Shiforr attacks….."

"Something he will be more likely to do if surprised by a running assault," Spock pointed out.

Kirk growled under his breath before taking up Spock's quickened, but even step.

"That's because I am one," McCoy pointed out, grabbing the fibrephyton and injecting a dose just above the wound. "All right son, that's to help slow the bleeding. Now, let's see what we can do for the pain," he focused back on his patient.

"You will look at me when I speak, outsider," the Shiforra demanded.

"Look, this man is bleeding to death," McCoy reminded the Shiforra, "and I can't treat him without looking at him."

The Shiforra shifted, raising a spear and pointing it at McCoy. "Let him bleed," he growled.

McCoy spared a look up. "Excuse me?" his eyebrows climbed.

"He is Shiforri," the Shiforra said as if that were explanation enough. "He will die as the others did on my spear."

McCoy's eyes narrowed. "I understand that your two tribes don't get along, but I'm not going to just let this man die."

The spear moved closer to McCoy's throat. "You will leave him," the Shiforra pronounced with slow, stern clarity.

"Spock!" Kirk shouted, watching the Shiforra raise the spear against McCoy. He aimed his phaser.

"Captain, we are not yet within phaser range," Spock said, dark eyes flashing with mirrored concern.

McCoy glared at the Shiforra briefly before reaching back for the next hypo. "I will not," he replied, echoing the warrior's tone.

The Shiforra placed the spear under McCoy's chin and forced his head up. "He is Shiforri and you will not help him."

McCoy administered the pain medication with a soft explanation to the rapidly fading Shiforri. He stood up with slow, barely controlled anger. "I don't care who or what he is," McCoy was desperately trying not to shout in deference to his decompensating patient. "I'm a doctor and I am going to treat that wound." He moved to kneel again.

"Those who treat the enemy shall die like the enemy," the Shiforra growled, tracking McCoy's movement with the spear, keeping him firmly at the end of the tarnished metal point as the physician resumed his place at the Shiforri's side.

"Then kill me," McCoy growled back with a defiant glare, applying another pressure bandage to the Shiforri's wound. "Kill me or let me save this man's life."

Kirk watched McCoy sink back to his knees and resume his treatment.

The Shiforra shifted…..

…And all thought of careful approach was thrown away.

Kirk began to run at the same moment Spock took off.

They weren't going to make it.

The Shiforra lunged. With the spear in his right hand, he impaled the injured Shiforri.

With his left, he impaled McCoy.

The warrior thrust the spear deep into McCoy's abdomen before angling the weapon up and to the right.

All was silent but for the faint echo of Kirk's panicked shout.

"Let this be a lesson to those who treat the enemy," the Shiforra shouted as Kirk and Spock ran at him. He kicked McCoy off the spear, plunged the weapon alongside the other spear in the Shiforri's abdomen, and stood in ready challenge.

Kirk lowered his phaser, clenched his fists, and ran at the warrior. A strong grip held him back.

"Go attend to McCoy," Spock said firmly.

Kirk's eyes flashed, a host of emotions and desires raging for control.

"Captain, I will deal with the Shiforra," Spock promised, the icy undertone a very human promise. "See to McCoy."

Kirk finally shook himself back to his senses, nodding once before sprinting to McCoy's side. He skidded to his knees, frantically waving aside the resulting cloud of dirt to get a better look.

"Oh, Bones," he groaned.

McCoy lay flat on his back, gasping weakly, blue eyes wide and cloudy with shock, reaching weakly for the wound. Kirk swallowed back bile as blood shot up from the ragged hole, pulsing in time with McCoy's racing heart. The physician finally succeeded in moving his hands to the wound where he tried to put what little strength he had left into staunching the flow.

Kirk gently moved McCoy's hands and pressed his own hands over the wound, shuddering at the rush of bright, warm blood through his tight fingers.

"Harder," McCoy's thin voice croaked.

"What? Bones?" Kirk asked breathlessly, leaning over his friend's face.

"Need to push harder," McCoy struggled to focus. "Ar…." He bit back a cry. "Arterial bleed," he finished, screwing his eyes shut tight against the agony.

Kirk pushed harder, biting back a cry of his own at McCoy's anguished groan.

"Where's Spock?" McCoy gasped, eyes opening briefly to track the area.

Kirk looked up at the sound of phaser fire, just in time to see Spock lower his weapon as the Shiforra crumpled to the ground. He resisted the wildly irrational urge to laugh. It wasn't like he'd thought that Spock would fight the Shiforra…..except…..well, maybe he sort of did. The simple logic of a phaser on stun hadn't even occurred to Kirk at that moment. Spock verified that the Shiforra was incapacitated before sprinting to McCoy's other side.

"Here, Doctor," Spock replied.

"Damn Vulcan ears," McCoy whispered between gasps. His rapidly dulling eyes shifted between Kirk and Spock before he came to a decision and spoke again. "Jim…..keep pressure. Spock…..five ccs fibrephyton….close to the wound as you can….." he broke off with a rattling wheeze.

As Kirk threw his full weight behind keeping his best friend's blood in his body, he suddenly realized what McCoy was doing. The physician knew he was rapidly losing consciousness and that they couldn't contact the Enterprise or beam out from their current location due to the planet's magnetic clouds. They would have to return to the beam-in site which was just over a kilometer away. Ever the physician, McCoy was dictating a treatment plan – his treatment plan – and delegating the tasks appropriately. He knew that Spock was more comfortable with administering hypos and setting calculations, and despite that fact that Spock was physically stronger, he knew that Kirk would divert his raging emotions into an even greater strength, funneling it into hands that so desperately needed something to do.

Kirk swallowed again as Spock administered the injection. "What about pain Bones?" he asked thickly.

McCoy shook his head weakly, eyes already closing. "Fibrephyton clots locally….." he began to explain, voice fading to nothing.

"Pain medication must be carried through the bloodstream to be effective," Spock picked up the explanation softly.

Kirk looked down the blood still pulsing around his hands and struggled to keep his emotions in check.

McCoy's nod was the barest shift of his head. The blue eyes were almost completely clouded, but Kirk could still see the truth there – the verification of Kirk's realization, the knowledge that he would soon be unconscious, and beyond that….the knowledge that he wouldn't wake up. McCoy was a doctor – he knew in excruciating detail just how long he had with an arterial bleed and abdominal trauma. He wasn't going to make it to the beam-out point…..and as his eyes shifted slowly between Kirk and Spock once more, Kirk saw the final truth that nearly shattered his control.

McCoy was saying goodbye.

"You hold on, Bones," Kirk's growl shook as he willed more strength into his blood-soaked hands.

Spock's eyes shone with barely concealed emotion.

"Bones," Kirk choked.

McCoy rallied to meet his friends' eyes one more time. He locked gazes with Kirk, struggling to bring the face into focus through the fog of hemorrhage. He smiled weakly before shifting his gaze to Spock. "Every…..ten…..minutes…." his eyes flickered to the empty hypo in Spock's hand before sliding closed, his body sagging into unconsciousness.

Spock straightened with sudden, renewed purpose. He prepared another fibrephyton hypo and reached for McCoy. "Jim," he said with soft urgency, "I will carry McCoy to the beam-out point."

Kirk looked up, eyes red with raw anguish. "Spock?" he asked, brow furrowing.

"The fibrephyton can be given every ten minutes," Spock clarified McCoy's last words.

A hopeful smile touched Kirk's grief-stricken face. "He's going to try," he nodded down at McCoy.

"Indeed," Spock confirmed the interpretation of McCoy's explanation of the anti-hemorrhage medication. "But time is of the essence."

Kirk gulped down a breath and shifted back on his heels so Spock could scoop McCoy into his arms before resuming full pressure on the wound as they began to run.

"It's a lot slower," Kirk huffed several minutes later as the beam-out point came into view, glancing down at his blood-caked hands.

Spock's eyes quickly moved from relief to worry. Kirk cursed softly under his breath. He reached for McCoy's carotid.

The dead don't bleed.

Spock's eyes snapped into tentative relief at Kirk's shaky breath.

McCoy was still, somehow, hanging on.

Spock laid McCoy on the ground as they reached the beam-out point, administering the second dose of fibrephyton as Kirk shifted one hand off McCoy's abdomen to send an emergency beam-up signal to the Enterprise.

"Almost there Bones," Kirk whispered roughly. "Just hold on..."

TBC

Notes:

- Spock and McCoy's discussion regarding Mudd's android Norman and McCoy knowing when something doesn't strike him right refers to the episode "I, Mudd."

- McCoy's reference to giving Kirk a neuroparalyzer refers to the episode "Amok Time."

- The remembered quote regarding Spock's feelings on computers refers to the episode "The Ultimate Computer."

- The planet and native people are referred to as "Shiforr." There are two major, divided tribes – the "Shiforri" and the "Shiforra." The native population are generally referred to as "Shiforr" unless one knows exactly which tribe they belong to, in which case the correct tribal designation is used. In this case, the natives are called "Shiforr" until the Shiforra warrior makes a statement that clarifies which tribe he and the injured native belong to, allowing the crew to properly define them.

- Yes, McCoy would be out of luck with such injuries today, but this is Star Trek and the medical team will clarify some of the future factors that gave him a chance at making it that far with an arterial bleed :)