0Title: An Ominous Setting (#28, The Drabble Bin)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Characters: Kirk, Spock, McCoy
Summary: Sometimes the warning is in the name. AOS, gen.
“Ghostwood,” says McCoy in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”
“One should not consider such a name amusing, Doctor,” Spock rejoins without taking his eyes off his scientific tricorder, “given how explicit the locals were with their opinions about the rather violent happenings in this area.”
McCoy turns to the man on his other side with a roll of his eyes, inviting him to insert a joke into Spock’s levity. But to the doctor’s dismay, Jim Kirk simply unclips his phaser from his belt and tilts his head to the treeline just ahead.
Leonard has a moment to rethink his position, and the resulting realization makes him quiver with a feeling far less welcome than humor. He finds he can only swallow hard and say, “I didn’t sign up for Starfleet to be a ghost hunter.”
Jim and Spock trade a look around him he wishes he couldn’t easily interpret, but he is aware that to men like them ‘ghost’ just is just another term for ‘unknown’. To Leonard’s knowledge, not a damned thing that ought to be frightening has ever stopped his two friends from pushing ahead.
Unfortunately, scary things also rarely keep McCoy from following in their wake, because his level of stubbornness is no less than theirs even if his common sense is better.
“Ghostwood,” he repeats the title given to the dense line of trees, now starting to emit a thick fog although the sun has barely completed its descent below the horizon. “Just great. How many spooks are in there, do you think?”
Finally, a hint of a smile cracks Kirk’s even expression. “We can handle it.”
Spock looks up from his device. “I have completed the alterations, Captain.” As if to show off this fact, the tricorder spits out a high whine, sounding suspiciously like it has just identified some anomalous electromagnetic field activity in the very near vicinity.
Leonard shifts on his feet. “I don’t like this,” he has to say, just for the record of course.
“Ah, Bones.” Laugh lines crinkle at the corners of his captain’s eyes. “We’ll protect you.”
That is what McCoy is most afraid of. Many of the insane, heart-attack-inducing things Kirk and Spock have tried over the years are always done out of protection. But Leonard’s not foolish enough to think he can tell them to take care of themselves first.
He steps toward the woods before either man and throws back his shoulders in the pretense of arrogant confidence, pulling out his own phaser and cranking up to what he hopes will be an effective stun-that-ghoul setting. He drawls, “I’ve got dibs on the first ghost.”
That sets Kirk to laughing. Spock merely raises an eyebrow as he generally does when he thinks humans are doing something inexplicably strange.
Kirk knocks shoulders with McCoy as he marches past, taking the lead of their small party. “Watch my back.”
Leonard huffs out, “Of course, Captain,” though a familiar warmth steals through him and makes him momentarily forget the chilly temperature around them.
“Indeed,” echoes Spock next, who then seems to decide to keep just one step behind McCoy’s pace instead of level with Kirk like usual.
Leonard shoots the Vulcan a grateful look when he isn’t paying attention, knowing it means Spock is of a mind to watch Leonard’s back as well as Jim’s. Spock would never outright admit to the sentiment behind the decision and Leonard is feeling gentlemanly enough not to call him on it under the circumstances.
With determined strides, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy hit the border of trees and meet the fog, which quickly engulfs them. Only the wispy outline of the three-pronged figure they make hangs momentarily visible in the air. Then even that much is whisked away into the upcoming adventure.
-Fini
Related Posts:
- Stay With Me (#29, The Drabble Bin) – from December 29, 2023
- Beyond the Call of Duty (#27, The Drabble Bin) – from September 24, 2020
- Have You Heard…? (#26, The Drabble Bin) – from September 20, 2019
- Who Wants to be a Doctor? (#25, The Drabble Bin) – from May 13, 2019
- A Tale of Some Debate (#24, The Drabble Bin) – from February 25, 2019
