0Title: Masters of Fate (2/4)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek TOS
Characters: Kirk, Spock, McCoy
Summary: Long ago, Kirk and McCoy were given a chance to glimpse the red string of fate connecting them. Lately, they have been wondering if what they saw might not be the full picture.
Previous Part: 1
The officers’ lounge holds a cheery air for quite some time after a recent return from shore leave. Even personnel who may out of habit avoid each other can, in passing, dip their heads toward each other in a congenial manner. The chatter is lively, the crewmen relaxed, and the entertainment and drinks bountiful.
“Gentlemen, good afternoon,” greets Uhura as she takes the last seat at a small high-top table. She smiles at one of the men, Chekov, who grunts a welcome over a glass of something no doubt suited to his mood.
Lt. Sulu pauses in picking at a basket of snacks. “Did the tour go all right?” he asks.
“As expected.” Uhura attempts to weigh the pros and cons of partaking of the snack basket, the greatest con being the diet she should adhere to. “Were we ever that intimidated?”
“I’m intimidated every day,” Sulu retorts, and they all laugh. “But,” he admits with a shrug as the amusement fades, “when I was newly assigned here, I shook in my boots for weeks.”
Uhura nods, recalling, “You were quiet on your first visit to the Bridge. I assumed you were shy.”
Chekov scoffs. “Sulu, shy! Ridiculous!”
Sulu winks. “Not anymore. What about you?” he questions the young man.
Chekov leans forward to insist, elbows now planted firmly on the table, “Who would be intimidated? This is the best ship in the Federation!” Pride is unmistakable in his voice. “We should be honored to serve Keptin Kirk.”
Sulu makes an assenting sound before he grins at Uhura. “I say we’re lucky if the new batch of recruits stays scared. One of them might turn out as cocky as Pavel!”
“Ah, one of Mr. Chekov is plenty enough,” Uhura agrees. She softens the remark with a gentle pat to the back of his hand, and Chekov rolls his eyes, clearly knowing companions well enough to take the fond teasing for what it is.
“Speaking of ways to scare juniors,” she goes on, caving to the moment and filching one of the snacks, diet be damned. “The Captain was waiting for us at the end of the tour as usual. He was just about to start the welcoming speech when the ensigns—so thrilled to see the famous Captain Kirk—tripped over each other while trying to recite every commendation and honor ever awarded him.” She pauses there. “And well, you know how the Captain can be when that happens.”
Sulu’s eyes dance. “He tucked tail and ran, didn’t he?”
She snorts, shaking her head. “Not far! He was caught by the collar, so to speak.”
Chekov’s face lights up with curiosity. “What happened?”
Uhura drops the two words that in essence explain it all. “Doctor McCoy.”
“Ah,” Sulu mutters wistfully, “to be a fly on the wall in that corridor. Who ended up more embarrassed, Kirk or McCoy?”
“It was a tie. First, McCoy dragged Kirk right back to the circle of eager ensigns and really egged them on by asking which Academy professors include our captain’s escapades in their teachings. Then Kirk, reaching a point where he had endured as much fawning as he could, finally turned the tables—”
Uhura lets the sentence hang a moment, Sulu and Chekov starting to chuckle in delight.
“—by declaring his career couldn’t have made a tagline in any academic lecture, much less a whole lesson, if not for the talents of his crew.”
The three lieutenants preen a moment over that.
Then Uhura finishes, “A crew who of course included the very esteemed and galactically renowned medical officer, Leonard H. McCoy. Oh, didn’t they know about Dr. McCoy pioneering the frontier for the medical sciences? Had they ever been told just how many times McCoy has saved him and the crew from certain doom?”
Sulu nearly chokes on a pretzel, he’s laughing so hard.
“By the time the Captain had very warmly introduced the doctor to the crowd, Leonard was so red-faced I thought I might have to comm Sickbay for an emergency blood pressure reliever.” Uhura sighs, eyes twinkling. “The ensigns were charmed, of course, and they looked like they couldn’t decide which one of Kirk or McCoy was more impressive. But by then, those two were aggressively blasting compliments at each other like fully charged phaser cannons. McCoy eventually bowed out and stormed off to hide in his office.”
“It will never be said our ship tours are boring,” Sulu states. “I hope you informed your charges that Kirk and McCoy actually get along.”
“Like a lock and key,” she responds. “Everyone will figure it out soon enough anyway. You know McCoy never stays mad at the Captain for long.”
“And Captain Kirk even less so,” adds Sulu. “I think it bothers him more than McCoy when they’re at odds.”
Uhura sends a drink order to the wait staff through the table’s menu system. “I can count on one hand the number of times they’ve been truly angry at each other and not use all my fingers.”
“With a friendship like theirs,” Sulu says, “why risk it for the sake of drama?”
“You said Keptin Kirk and Dr. McCoy had met before the Enterprise commission,” Chekov says to Sulu. “Were they always so close?”
“That’s an interesting question I wish I knew the answer to. But probably so. It wasn’t by chance that McCoy was picked to replace Dr. Piper as Chief Medical Officer. McCoy applied when the position came open of course, but I heard Kirk is the one who ultimately swung the vote. It was a promotion for Dr. McCoy.” Sulu chews another twist of pretzel thoughtfully. “With Kirk being a new investment—the youngest officer in history to make captain, that is—Starfleet Command probably wasn’t opposed to letting him have a few familiar faces aboard his ship.”
A mutual acknowledgment hovers unspoken over their group until Uhura’s drink arrives.
No one can deny that McCoy is Kirk’s man and vice versa. The men share the kind of closeness usually found between family members. In a way, theirs is a friendship which could naturally cause envy in others, especially with one of them being the highest-ranking officer on the ship. But the transparency of the relationship and the sense that nothing untoward or fairly favorable is gained by McCoy being the best friend to Kirk keeps simple envy from turning to resentment or distrust. It is well-known to most that neither man’s good character would allow for even the slightest appearance of favoritism.
But this may also be deterred by the fact both Kirk and McCoy are men easily affronted when offered praise and rewards they don’t feel have been earned, which also tends to make them judicious and overly cautious in a professional capacity. It’s how the crew knows when the situation warrants rank and not just the fond repartee between Kirk and McCoy. But beneath every interaction, whether ship’s business or not, is a clear mutual respect; and even when the men are at odds, that naturally eases them back to reconciliation and preserves the closeness they seem to cherish so dearly.
Uhura lifts her glass in a toast. “To the Captain and Dr. McCoy,” she says. “May they have years more of embarrassing each other in front of our juniors!”
“Hear hear!” calls Sulu as Chekov knocks back his drink in agreement.
Kirk and McCoy’s first encounter held a thread of destiny beyond their comprehension. But at that time, it disguised itself as nothing more than another day on the job. Often, one of them will recall the event with surprising clarity and a good-natured joke tossed somewhere in-between.
The tale starts like this:
In his late twenties, Leonard Horatio McCoy is already disillusioned with the universe. He has been assured by professors and colleagues alike that he is a rising star in the medical sciences. But so what? And why would any good-sensed fellow—never mind a rising star!—be stranded on this horrible little colony, his last clean shirt well on its way to a disgusting state, listening to a man barely out of a cadet’s uniform give him a history lesson in farming of all things?
“Less talking, more shoveling,” Leonard snips under his breath, fully convinced that his companion is just pretending not to hear him.
The young fellow is no slouch though, sweating far more than Leonard is while he attempts to unearth the equipment buried by yesterday’s sandstorm. Working and talking.
Finally, Leonard gives in to his aching back, pitches the ancient hand-hoe aside and drops to the ground, stirring up yet more dust to add to the hazy cloud hanging over their heads. “I can’t do this anymore,” he complains. “I’ll die.”
The junior pauses to take in McCoy’s miserably hunched figure. “Dehydration will kill you before hard labor does.” Then he goes back to scratching doggedly at the dry earth.
“Who’s the doctor here!” snaps Leonard. “Take a break before you keel over!”
And oh ho, Leonard definitely hears that murmured comment! But, truth be told, the gist of it is accurate and well-known among McCoy’s friends and colleagues: his bedside manner is a tiny bit lacking.
And this is yet another example of why Leonard doesn’t bother with a good bedside manner.
“You,” he barks louder, “are as stubborn as the day is long! When your physician says to quit workin’, that means quit workin’!”
“The days are short on this planet, Doc, and the equipment isn’t going to unbury itself,” comes the gruff answer. “Orders are to be back in the compound by dusk.”
If Leonard had the energy, he would get up and whack the kid over the head with his own shovel. (Then grudgingly heal him afterward. Leonard may not be a saint but he is a humanitarian.)
“You can’t ignore a medical order—” He squints at the young man a moment before remembering what the commander of the station had called him. “—Mr. Kirk.”
Kirk looks like he will ignore a medical order if the mood suits him.
Leonard climbs to his feet with an exaggerated groan and hobbles for show, just until Kirk leans forward out of alarm to correct his wobbly gait. He snatches away the other man’s shovel the moment he can, skittering back out of range with glee.
“Y-You!” shouts Kirk, red-faced in an instant. “What’s the matter with you!”
Leonard tosses the shovel among the cacti, sobering. “I’m overworked and on the way to heatstroke. So are you. We’re done here, Lieutenant.” He gestures in the direction of the camp in the distance.
“No,” Kirk insists, a stubborn set to his mouth. “We have to a job to finish.”
Leonard crosses his arms and meets his stare. “Well, I’m not leaving you here to be foolish, and the only way you can get to your shovel is by going through me.” And those dangerously long, sharp cactus needles. Nobody would tussle with those, Leonard feels certain.
Kirk starts for the cactus patch like a crazy man. Realizing his miscalculation, Leonard scampers in front of him and waves him back with a loud “Don’t you dare!”
Kirk makes a grab for the doctor like he would gladly put Leonard flat on the ground for his audacity to have common sense—but then the man releases a gusty breath just short of touching him and drops his arms back to his sides, half turning away.
It surprises Leonard, who expected Kirk to come at him. Relief floods him. The hypospray hidden in Leonard’s pocket is a better defense than most people realize, but it also means Leonard would have to carry an unconscious Kirk back to the post’s commanding officer—and explain why. Certainly, the scenario isn’t appealing for multiple reasons.
“Your explanation to my captain better be thorough,” Kirk tells him as if reading his mind. “He doesn’t appreciate anyone ignoring his orders.”
“I’ll be sure to give you credit for not decking me,” Leonard drawls. His glance at Kirk reveals something else a bit surprising: the angry tension in Kirk seems softened now.
Kirk’s shoulders tremble a moment before going rigid again. Then he marches ahead, from the dig site, his pace quick.
“What’s so funny?” Leonard demands, catching up to him.
“You,” Kirk answers, shrugging a shoulder. “You’re a funny sawbones.”
“I’m an old country doctor who uses modern technology. Sawing bones is barbaric.”
The young man huffs, no longer hiding his amusement. “Like I said. Funny.”
Leonard can’t accurately judge that remark as a compliment but seeing Kirk’s thin-lipped smile, Leonard decides there is no point in continuing to make a fuss. “So,” he presses instead, “why are you the one saddled with digging in the middle of this horrid desert?”
Kirk sighs. “I guess you could say I caused some trouble yesterday.”
As the lieutenant launches into a description of what that trouble was, Leonard finds himself approving of the young man he sees beneath the serious facade.
Then Kirk glances at him, prodding, “And you? What did you do?”
Leonard hums momentarily before replying, “Would you believe me if I said I never cause any trouble?”
Kirk looks even younger when he laughs. “If there is one thing I learned about you today, mister, it is that you can find trouble easily enough.”
“Oh?” McCoy cocks an eyebrow. “Why, darned if you aren’t right! I found you!”
Their laughter rings out across the landscape.
“McCoy,” Kirk says when the laughter settles, squeezing Leonard’s arm in an unexpected show of friendliness. “Call me Jim.”
“Jim-boy,” Leonard responds immediately, “I think you’re all right too.”
I sat on this chapter a bit because the second half didn’t jive well… but will fix it this weekend. Up next, Spock!
Related Posts:
- Masters of Fate (4/4) – from July 1, 2023
- Masters of Fate (3/4) – from September 7, 2021
- Masters of Fate (1/4) – from May 5, 2021
