The setting of this fic is inspired by "It Goes On" by Penn Flinn and various fics by Starsinger especially "A Long Road" while the plot was inspired by the discovery of Joanna McCoy's profile in Star Trek wiki which I'm quite shocked.

This fic is focused around Bones. Bones was going to help his daughter Joanna to get over the ordeal which was rather similar to what Jim had faced unknown to him as Jim had "erased his existance" of the records on Tarsus IV.

This fic was also inspired by this fanvideo, "Dirt in my Eyes" (youtu . be / qpH0hSTHkQo) remove the space when you paste the link. It suits Jim nicely. I can't stop listening to the song or watch the video when I wrote my fic.

This is my experiment in writing a Star Trek fic and this fic is unbeta-ed. To be honest, I'm not a detailed person. I admit don't have much knowledge in Star Trek universe. I will simply write whatever came up in my mind. You may criticise my writing or my idea. I'm trying my best. Pardon me if I mess up. This will linked to the "sequel" I'm currently working on which I may not want to post depending on the response of this fic.

Star Trek does not belong to me. I prefer to admire it :)

Chapter 1: Similarities

Dr. McCoy took off running after hanging up his communicator. His daughter had returned to the Earth from Cerberus. She was rescued from the planet where it had experienced a crop failure and Joanna almost starved to death along with the whole of the population resided there.

He hugged his daughter as soon as she was wheeled down from the shuttle.

"Joanna." McCoy was unable to hold back his tears. His daughter was safe and sound back to his arms. He hugged his girl tightly.

"Hush hush. Daddy, I'm fine." Joanna McCoy wiped off his dad's tears with her weak and thin hands.

"I'm not crying." McCoy pushed her hands away and wiped off his tears himself. His ten-year old daughter looked so thin and frail yet was strong enough to console him. He felt ashamed. The truth was he was worried. When the news just reached him, he did not think much about it as Starfleet would do something. It was only when his sister contacted him, he realized how drastic the situation was. Cerberus could well become the next Tarsus IV.

Starfleet was in the midst of recovering from the damage caused by Khan and Admiral Marcus earlier and did not have enough resources to spare to save Cerberus despite McCoy's desperate plea to the Admirals. Not even his Commander, Spock had got through the thick skulls of the brass. He learnt that if he was unable to get through Pike, there was no way others would listen and put up with him with his multiple attitudes and he was of course dismissed from the Admiral's office.

Fortunately, a philanthropist forked out his fortune to help the colony through the crisis. His sister and her husband decided to send Joanna back to McCoy while he was being stationed on Earth as the Enterprise was undergoing repair.

McCoy watched as his daughter was wheeled away to the hospital for a check-up. As he was not assigned to station on the hospital on Earth, he could only let Dr. Boyce take over. After the incident with Khan, McCoy was not exactly in good terms with Dr. Boyce. McCoy as the Chief Medical Officer of the Enterprise was meddling in their work on Earth which he should not be doing. He fought to become Jim's primary physician when Jim was undergoing treatment in the hospital. At the end of the day, they still had respect for one another.

McCoy was on the verge of breaking down. He had been on the emotional roller coaster without any one he could confide to. He could not count on the Vulcan, not yet, and not Scotty. He shut his eyes tightly trying to get a hold on himself when he felt a hand on his shoulder rendering him support. He knew who it was instantly.

"Leonard. She will be ok." His female colleague, Uhura said gently. She had come to see if McCoy needed any help as soon as she heard of Joanna's arrival to Earth. They were glad that the situation had not gotten any worse.

Joanna was being assigned for a special diet to restore the nutrients and weight she had lost during the period she stayed on Cerberus. She was staying with McCoy. McCoy smiled at his daughter as she took off in a swing. She was recovered physically for most part after four weeks of constant supervision by her father and they had gotten closer than ever. Psychologically, it was going to take time.

That was when all the hell broke loose. Spock took on a mission as the whole lot of them could not do much while waiting for Mr. Scott going after Starfleet for resources to fix his girl up other than mission on the Earth itself.

"This is the mission spec. Under the orders by Admiral Archer, we are to contact these eight people, interview them to get their statement." Spock passed his PADD to McCoy.

"These are?"

"The survivors of the Tarsus IV incident who had apparently knew Governor Kodos' face." Spock answered for him. "All eight of them were gathered on Earth some time ago for some reason. I had approved one of the survivors, Lieutenant Kevin Riley transfer to Enterprise recently. He had put up five requests for transfer which somehow did not go through despite his competent credential." He continued. "Doctor, the reason I accepted this mission is because I believe you might be interested after what your daughter had gone through. These people could help Joanna to come to terms of the incident."

Spock was right. Since the starvation incident, Joanna had not ever enjoyed her food no matter what was given to her as a special diet. She was eating really slowly fearing that she would not get to eat again. He did not expect the green blooded hobgoblin to go to this extent to help him. He should really change his mind about him being unfeeling. He shuddered at his memory of his rage during the Nero and the incident with Khan.

"Should I say thank you?" McCoy asked sarcastically.

"I would not reject if it comes from our Chief Medical Officer." He replied nonchalantly. McCoy thought he saw the smirk from the Vulcan noting the slight tilt on the corner of his mouth.

"Damn the hobgoblin!" McCoy forced a smile anyway. "You are aware that I'm a doctor, not an interviewer right?" He "corrected" Spock of his profession once again.

"I will contact them to drop by your apartment. Due to their unique situation, you are to keep this mission a secret among the crews of the Enterprise. The survivors are our only hope to nail Governor Kodos."

"Aye sir!" McCoy replied for the sake of replying and sent him out.

"Send my regards to your daughter".

That night, McCoy put his daughter to bed and kissed her good night after telling her one of her favourite bedtime stories. He was finally able to settle down on his sofa sipping his beloved brandy to read up the mission spec in detail and the profiles of the eight survivors who knew the face of the bastard who ordered the genocide. He could not comprehend how all of them actually survived the ordeal. They had survived much worse than the inhabitants of Cerberus did.

"They were led by a boy named JT whose resilience pulled them through the hardest of time." McCoy swiped his PADD. He noticed that that name did not appear on the list of survivors. The answer was apparent. He felt sorry for the leader. It seemed to him that he had sacrificed himself and disappeared to the stars to ensure that the others will survive just like his first and best friend in Starfleet. Life was never fair.

He could vividly remembered Jim's last moment in the hospital. True, he had revived Jim using Khan's serum. Never did he expect that Jim's condition went downhill and he finally passed away under the sea of stars of the night sky.

"Jim, do you know that there is a boy who is just like you? I'm sure you will be surprised to know." McCoy mumbled to the air as if Jim was sitting right before him taking an apple off his table and took a bite cockily. He would have agreed to the boy's action. McCoy had decided to tell Jim about the boy, JT after he finished the interview with the Tarsus Eight. They would be able to tell him more about JT and he would be able to relate his experience and keep Joanna strong.