Title: The Elder and the Young (10/11)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Characters: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Spock!Prime
Summary: Final part of a trilogy; follows The Boy and the Sea Dragon and The Man and the Memory. Jim’s soul is caged, McCoy is dying without a cure, and Spock has hijacked the Enterprise in an attempt to save them both.
Previous Part: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Part Ten

Jim allows the slaps on the back and fierce hugs for some minutes until he calls for order in the briefing room. “While I know I’m a sight for sore eyes—”

“More like a sore on the eyes,” grumbles his Chief Medical Officer as Kirk is pinned by a critical gaze. “Another round of vitamin shots ought to clear that up, though.”

He grins. “Thank you, Bones,” which really means you’ll have to catch me first before you can hypo me. Jim returns his attention to the men and women watching him with relief in their eyes. “We have an intruder aboard. The safety of this crew takes precedence regardless who—or what—we must face. Understand that this creature is extremely dangerous and, more so, skilled at hiding in plain sight. Do not assume the person next to you is exempt, whether he or she is your best friend, your drinking buddy, or your captain.” He smiles, despite the seriousness of his tone. “We’ve been through some tough situations in the past, and this time won’t be an exception; but we survived before and we will again.”

The tension in the room has long-since faded. In its place is a confidence that Kirk tries to imbue into others. If the leader does not have faith, the battle is lost before it has begun. He wants to give his people every fighting chance, no matter how insignificant it may seem.

Simply put, Jim wants to win, and he wants to be assured that there is one less evil in the galaxy to come after those he cherishes.

The First Officer prompts, “We must determine of a course of action.”

“Aye,” agrees the Chief Engineer. “What’s the game plan, Capt’n?”

Jim leans his weight on the conference table. “I have an idea but I’ll need the full support of my staff.”

The look Uhura levels on him clearly reads you’re an idiot if you think that you don’t have our support.

After a moment, McCoy interjects, “Well, spit it out, kid.”

“Bones,” he says, turning to the other man. “Believe me when I say that I hate my idea but there is a chance it might work. The creature is focused on you.” Even the implication of his words is almost painful for Jim to swallow.

The doctor’s face softens in understanding. “So I’m bait.” Then Bones adds calmly, “That’s fair, Jim.”

He isn’t quite sure what “that’s fair” refers to, but there is no time to pursue it.

“Are you sure?” he asks his friend. Will you forgive me for risking your life?

Leonard McCoy nods. “Yeah, I am. Let’s get this son of a bitch off of our ship.”

Jim starts slowly, outlining what needs to be done—and what they don’t need to do. “We know what sets the creature apart from us, lends it more power, so I ask you instead… what makes it similar?“

Spock isn’t happy, though Spock isn’t unhappy either. Of course, contemplates Leonard, a Vulcan would not admit to such emotion in the first place.

“Don’t look so irritable,” he says as he prods his partner with his elbow.

Spock turns his head to stare at the man. “I am not irritable.”

“Right,” agrees McCoy dryly. “Tell me… Why is it that your older self always looks so pleasant and relaxed, yet it’s like someone shoved a stick up your—”

“Doctor,” interrupts the Vulcan. “This conversation is not conducive to our current position.”

He glances around his quarters before answering truthfully. “I’m bored. And I’m nervous. I talk when I’m nervous.”

Spock has that amused tilt to his eyebrow. “This behavior I delineated within a two-day timeframe after the Enterprise left the Earth’s space dock. It is unfortunate that you have yet to learn control over this habit.”

He scowls. “You green-blooded bastard. Next time I’ll ask for Old Spock instead of your self-righteous ass.”

“Let us hope that we do not encounter a ‘next time,’ Leonard.”

That sobers McCoy. He sighs. “Alright, point taken.” Then the man fidgets silently for the next thirty seconds before blurting out, “Why can’t I just wander like an idiot sheep into a dark corner? That thing seems to like it best when I’m alone.” He glances at Spock. “Jim’s idea is a bit cuckoo—you know that, right?”

“The Captain often employs… unusual methods; however, his rate of success is irrefutable.”

He emphasizes his point with a finger stabbing the air. “His rate for ending up in my medical bay after one of his crazy stunts is also irrefutable.”

Spock says nothing because, undoubtedly, to deny Leonard’s claim would be illogical. Score for me, McCoy congratulates. He toys with his glass of water. “Do you think—” Because he can’t say what he really wants to, he skews his real question. “—that Kirk can help?”

At least Spock is practical enough to not pretend he doesn’t understand McCoy’s question. “I do not know.” The Vulcan pauses. “But it is my hope that he can.”

Watching Spock sit so still, too motionless like he anticipates trouble to bombard them at any second, Leonard feels a keen sympathy for his friend. “You’re too hard on yourself, Spock.”

Spock merely looks at him.

“I mean it,” he says, leaning forward on his elbows. “Sometimes I think you only close out the day once you’ve determined how well you’ve met some elusive standard that no one but you would hold you to.” He stumbles over his thoughts for a moment. “Trust me, I know what it’s like to see only flaws in your work, to… to second-guess yourself. When someone dies on my table, it feels as if I’ve been gutted. What did I do that cost a man his life? Could I have been faster or smarter or just plain better at my job—?”

“Leonard.”

He holds up a hand. “Let me finish, okay?”

Spock’s head moves minutely in acceptance.

“What I’m trying to say is that a man often punishes himself more harshly than any justice system could—and just as often, when it’s someone like you—someone genuinely dedicated, brilliant, kind—self-recrimination is simply pointless.” He smiles softly. “I always wanted to tell you that, and well… now’s as a good time as any.” In case the plan goes to shit and I don’t get to talk to you again.

Spock has that air about him that means the Vulcan wants to respond but is uncertain of what the situation requires. Leonard is about to tell Spock that it’s okay, no words are necessary, not between friends, when Jim bursts into the room.

“Bones!”

How in the Hell Jim can be up and about after his body has been comatose for a couple of months is beyond Leonard. But when the kid says he’ll accomplish something, he damn well proves his point every time.

Jim’s eyes do a quick darting motion as Kirk points the phaser in his hand at several shadows along the wall.

“Yes, Jim?”

“Bones—that thing, it’s after you!”

Leonard wants to roll his eyes. He really, really does. Except rolling his eyes was expressly forbidden by a knowing and sneaky Kirk. “That so?”

“Come with me! We’ll take you to a safe location—the Ready Room. Spock,” barks the Captain, “attend Doctor McCoy.” An extra phaser is tossed onto the table. “If you see anyone acting suspicious or out-of-character, shoot to kill.”

Hell, don’t overdo it, Jimmy.

Then again, this creature would agree whole-heartedly with the philosophy of “shoot to kill.”

“Understood, Captain,” answers the First Officer. “If you will, Doctor McCoy, please precede me and remain within a suitable range of my person.”

They frog-march out of Leonard’s personal quarters, Jim all the while ranting about evil soul-sucking monsters, their evil plans to kidnap and snack on amicable doctors like McCoy, and how the Chief Medical Officer must be protected.

“—don’t worry, Bones, I’ve got your back—” Kirk is saying as he glares at every ensign how looks askance at the trio passing by.

“Keptin!” Chekov skids from around a corner, wide-eyed and babbling.

“What is it, Chekov?” demands Jim.

“It’s been spotted, Sir,” the young man relays as he immediately straightens and salutes. “It’s Sulu, Sir!”

Leonard bites the inside of his cheek.

That’s when Hikaru Sulu himself rounds the turn of the corridor with an arm hooked around Nyota’s throat to keep her from getting loose. The woman spits and claws his arm. McCoy winces.

“Sulu?” says the Captain with grim surprise, turning his attention to the dangerous-eyed man.

Pavel quickly steps to Jim’s side and levels the phaser in his hand at Sulu.

“Sulu,” Kirk repeats again. “What… is this?”

The man laughs, then bares his teeth in a way that would look menacing to any untrained eye.

“Give me McCoy,” Sulu replies lowly.

Jim shifts on his feet. “No.”

“A trade, then.” Sulu’s arm tightens around Uhura’s neck. “A life for a life. What will it be, Captain?”

Jim raises his phaser and aims. Sulu shifts Nyota until she is directly in front of him. Then he sneers.

“Give McCoy to me, or this one—” Nyota makes a sound of rage and says “Bastard!” “—won’t be worth trading for in another five seconds.”

“Jim…” Leonard tries to interrupt, stepping forward. “I’ll go with him—”

“No. I’ll handle this. Spock, you have your orders.”

The Vulcan nods, wraps a hand around Leonard’s arm and propels the man in the direction that they were headed.

“But Jim!” cries McCoy over his shoulder. “Jim, damn it, let me help—!”

Sulu, upon seeing that Kirk is willing to sacrifice Uhura for the doctor, snarls and pitches the woman away from him. He breaks into a run. Jim shouts, takes off in pursuit with Chekov on his heels. That is the last Leonard sees of them.

Spock’s grip on his arm is actually very light, but McCoy stumbles along like a reluctant puppy. They travel this way for some time, Spock leading and the doctor apparently not given a choice except to follow until they are close to the Bridge. Leonard can make out the Ready Room just some distant away. He jerks, breaking Spock’s hold on him, and plants his feet.

“Now wait just a damn minute—”

Spock turns on him, saying something like “Doctor—” which grows sharp and in the next breath transforms into “Down!” The Vulcan moves like lightning to push him aside; in that instant, Leonard feels a tingling along his shoulders and knows who stands behind him. He hits the wall with bruising force, Spock’s sudden display of strength unaccounted for and unstoppable. There is only a moment between a cry of his own and a glimpse of Spock’s face before Leonard watches his friend get batted into the opposite wall like a gnat.

The Vulcan’s head cracks resoundingly against the wall and Spock slumps to his knees. McCoy is already crawling across the floor, thinking Shit, what the Hell are we doing? Fuck, Spock, please be okay…

A booted foot catches his side, knocking the air from his lungs and flipping the man onto his back.

Not-Spock looks down upon his sprawled figure, lifts an eyebrow and remarks slowly, “Humans are stupid, McCoy. I suggest that we discuss this matter further—” Those pitch black eyes flick over to the unconscious Vulcan and back again. “—in a more private setting.”

He automatically cringes as a strong hand lifts him upright with ease. Fighting, which McCoy does only half-heartedly, earns no reprieve from the stone wall that is a Vulcan—or a Vulcan imposter.

The doctor is silenced by a crushing hand against his throat when he cries out for help.

“No, McCoy,” he is told. “You must pretend that all is well,” a voice whispers in his ear. Then a voice in his head repeats All is well.

Leonard is pivoted like a doll, forced to walk down the hallway—this time by a true enemy—and into the Ready Room. He puts distance between himself and the monster the moment he is freed.

The creature orders “Seal the room.”

“I can’t,” he answers feebly.

It shoves him to the panel by the door. “You have the authority.” Leonard’s upper arm aches where it digs its fingers into him. “Seal it!”

He doesn’t argue. He locks the outside entrance with his pass-code, thinking that Jim will be delayed that much longer with overrides.

“Good.” With a wide smile (damn, how Leonard hates seeing that evil grin twisting Spock’s mouth), it speaks a little more calmly than before. “Now we have time.” The creature circles him, and Leonard puts his back to the wall. “Tell me, McCoy, what game do we play?” It is amused.

“Game?” he manages roughly, his throat sore. “I don’t… understand. How did you—Sulu—”

“There is a fool—” it says slowly, as if sorting through facts that are at best ridiculous, “—who is me and whom Jem-me chases.”

Leonard shakes his head. “What did you do with my friend?”

Not-Spock frowns at him.

“Sulu,” he spits. “You said you’d hurt one of my friends—and, I swear to God, if you don’t tell me what you did to him—”

“Hikaru Sulu is untouched.”

“You lying sack of shit!” Leonard thumps his fist against the wall, hearing a hollow sound and knows he stands in the right spot. “Where’s my friend!”

“McCoy.” That straight-backed Vulcan body paces in a half-circle. The creature seems to come to some decision. “The man called Sulu is irrelevant.”

It steps in close. When a hand lifts to touch him, Leonard swallows hard. “Kill me already, would you?”

That hand drops. He is scrutinized.

“You treated me falsely,” it tells its prey. “You cannot go unpunished.”

His laugh is short and bitter. “Death is a pretty permanent punishment.”

“Unsatisfactory.” Leonard shivers, hearing Spock’s voice. “I want—” It tilts its head and blinks as a thoughtful Vulcan would. “I want to peel your soul from your body.”

Leonard envisions a fork digging into the muscle of the oyster and prying it from its shell. His stomach churns with nausea because that’s what he is to this thing—a tasty treat to be devoured.

And it won’t have the decency to put him out of his misery first.

“Will you scream?” it asks curiously.

He clamps his mouth shut.

“You will,” he is assured.

The locked door rattles, someone hitting it, at the same time that a voice says from behind the imposter, “Any attempt to harm Leonard would be an unwise action.”

Not-Spock spins around to stare at Selek, who meets its surprise with a calm lift of an eyebrow.

Good old Vulcan hiding in the bathroom trick; Leonard sometimes wonders at Jim Kirk’s brain.

“I recommend that you desist; you shall meet an ill fate if you do not.”

Spock, ever the diplomat.

The creature takes a moment to comprehend that an elder Vulcan is warning it off. Then it smiles and says, “You cannot damage me, Spock.“

“No, but I sure as hell can.”

It glances at McCoy, sees the phaser he holds, then the gaping hole of a storage compartment built into the wall next to Leonard, and goes still.

Leonard is distantly surprised that the phaser is steady in his hand. He releases a breath. “Thing is, you ugly overgrown bastard of a lizard, you got something that makes you vulnerable.”

“McCoy.” It says his name without blinking, with cold, fathomless eyes and, in them, a glimpse of an Abyss.

“You got a real, fucking body.”

“You would not kill me,” are the slow words.

Several things flash through Leonard’s mind in that moment: the lost echo of Bones, of his friend torn into mere fragments of a soul; of another friend with troubled eyes and a steady voice as the Enterprise is directed into warp on a rescue mission that will cost too much; men, lying empty of spirit in his medical bay; and last of all, himself—touching a mirror and not recognizing his own face.

“This time,” he answers, “I don’t have a choice.”

The phaser is his hand jumps at single press of the trigger.

Spock’s face ripples, becoming something else—with hard discolored skin and sharp bones—right before it is engulfed in a blinding red glow. There is no scream of terror; nor of rage. Everything is simply silent—and then empty of a monster.

Leonard drops his arm and his phaser clatters to the floor. He thinks he should be numb, thinks that yeah, maybe he is. Then Selek captures his nerveless fingers and the message comes to him like crystal clear stars in a night sky.

Be at peace, my friend.

Selek’s mouth is saying, however, “I grieve for thee, that this task was yours and not mine.”

“Yeah.” His chest trembles with a laugh, perhaps a sorrow too. “Jim’s gonna be pissed, but I—” His shoulders hit the wall with a thump. “—I had to be the one to do it.”

“I understand.” And Selek does, McCoy can see that.

There is a grating of the door as it slides open with ample help and a man jumps into the room, followed by several others—Scotty, Chekov, and Sulu. They are armed to the teeth. Leonard closes his eyes as he says, “Welcome to the party.”

“Bones?” His name is said sharply. Then Kirk stares around the room, before turning to Selek. “You… did it?”

Selek meets Leonard’s eyes. “It is done,” answers the Vulcan.

Leonard nods his gratitude. He turns to look at Jim, who has his phaser still in hand and is staring at McCoy like he sees something that he can’t quite decipher.

“You okay?” asks his friend and captain.

“Is Spock okay?” counters the doctor.

“He has a hard head. He’ll be fine. Chapel put guards on him to keep him stationary. He’s not happy.”

“Then I’ll be fine too, Jim.”

It doesn’t matter if the man believes his words or not. Leonard hears the ring of truth in them and simply knows that, yes, he will be okay.

The doctor pushes away from the wall with the words, “I need to take a look at Spock.”

Jim doesn’t argue.

One part left. Is it over? Hell no.

Next Part

Related Posts:

• The Elder and the Young (12/12) – from February 24, 2011
• The Elder and the Young (11/12) – from February 23, 2011
• The Elder and the Young (9/11) – from February 11, 2011
• The Elder and the Young (8/?) – from February 7, 2011
• The Elder and the Young (7/?) – from February 1, 2011