Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newsswing.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.net!prodigy.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!feed3.newsreader.com!newsreader.com!yellow.newsread.com!bad-news.newsread.com!news-toy.newsread.com!netaxs.com!newsread.com!POSTED.newshog.newsread.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut Sender: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: <59.1c1fb0a3.2ee295df@aol.com> From: Istannor@Aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ASCEML@yahoogroups.com; contact ASCEML-owner@yahoogroups.com Subject: New: TOS : A Higher Duty: PG: 22/28 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 311 Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 05:55:19 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.198.142.218 X-Complaints-To: Abuse Role , We Care X-Trace: newshog.newsread.com 1102139719 209.198.142.218 (Sat, 04 Dec 2004 00:55:19 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 00:55:19 EST Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:85916 X-Received-Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 21:55:24 PST (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: A Higher Duty Author: Istannor Contact: Istannor@aol.com Series: TOS Rating: PG13 for violence Part: 22/28 Codes:TOS Summary: This is set during the second 5 year voyage of the Starship Chapter 22 Three days later, the Enterprise was still in orbit around Cygni. They had been ordered to await a Romulan battlecruiser which would escort the Romulan party back to their Homeworld. Ambassador Davis had been up to the Enterprise several times to commend the crew on their successful rescue of the hostages, and to check on the condition of Kirk. Three more ships had joined the Enterprise in orbit. The USS Powell and the Vulcan Accord were both visible through the viewscreen of the Enterprise. The USS Excalibur was due in one standard day. A message from Starfleet command told them that Admiral Komack would be on the Excalibur. They were to await his arrival, for further orders. Spock did not look forward to seeing Admiral Komack again. He knew Komack still nursed an illogical grudge against he and Kirk regarding Spock's first Pon Farr. Komack would be especially livid about the death of his protege and the loss of the Ariadne and somehow,in his mind, it would be the Enterprise's fault.It did not look good. Regardless, they were stuck in orbit with nothing to do, except wait. Spock spent his off duty hours in the sickbay. All the bridge crew had come through to visit the Captain in turns, and while his injuries were healing there was no sign of returning consciousness. Everytime Spock attempted to touch his mind he felt... nothing. At first, he had attributed the lack to the induced coma McCoy had placed Kirk in. However, when the doctor reversed the coma twenty- four hours ago, there still was no change. There was no sense of Kirk, no easy sense of the link they shared. It was as if the Vulcan was looking at a hollow receptacle. Finally, on the fourth day, Spock could take it no longer. McCoy had no explanation for Jim's continued state of unconsciousness. His brain scan showed his brain was functional. It was as if someone had left the house with all the lights on, but no one was in residence. Spock decided to attempt a deep meld. He felt no resistance as he entered the superficial layers of Kirk's mind. He felt nothing. He found himself falling deeper and deeper, and still he felt nothing. No trace was evident of the brilliantly burning life-force, that had always greeted him in the past. He finally had to withdraw. He went so deep; his own life functions were beginning to slow. He flew back out. Despair and grief consumed his whole being. There was nothing, no one he could find. The man he knew was gone. McCoy found Spock, beside the bed, his head bowed in grief, unable to move from Kirk's side. "Spock, what's the matter." McCoy shouted? "What happened?" McCoy knew instantly that something had transpired while he was gone. He quickly surveyed the readings on the monitor above the bed. Everything was as it had been before. "Nothing, I felt nothing. He is gone, Doctor." McCoy reeled back like Spock had hit him. "You're wrong. He's alive." "I tried to meld with him, Doctor. I could find no traces of James Kirk. I tell you, he is gone." McCoy was suddenly furious, fear and pain inflamed his temper. "You're wrong, goddammit." He shouted, closing in on Spock. " I supervised the surgeries. I monitored everything down to the last damn detail. I'm tellin' you that you're wrong. He's alive. Whether or not you and your damn Vulcan mysticism can touch his mind, doesn't mean one plug nickel to me. If you haven't sensed him, then you just haven't gone far enough. I am not giving up on him, and I'll be fried before I'll let you do it." "I have gone as deep as I am able to go, Dr. McCoy. I sensed nothing." At the end Spock heard his own voice rising. He clamped down forcing his voice at least to return to normal. "I can not go any deeper, Leonard." "Then, you Goddamn well better get some help." McCoy took in a deep breath and slowly let it out through his clenched lips. "Spock," he said at a much more reasonable tone. "You told me that you and Jim have some type of link. Wouldn't that link tell you if he were dead?" Spock grabbed at that idea like a life preserver tossed to a drowning man. "Yes, I looked for that first.I don't feel any force pulling back on it." "Have you ever felt a broken link? How about when you broke up with that bitch on Vulcan?" "That was not the same. What T'Pring and I had was transferred to other foci, not broken, so there was always a ...pulling back on the other end." "So look again. Is it or is it not still intact? Maybe there isn't always a damn force pulling back." Spock looked inward where he could still feel the lightest wisp, almost a feathery trace, of the link that had called him back from Kolinahr. "It is intact, but terribly faint." "Then," he took a sighing breath, "my friend, I suggest you go ask that woman, Therenna,to help you with whatever the hell it is you do, before you declare him dead. Because, if you give up on him without doing everything in your power, we both will never get past it." This human never ceased to surprise him. Spock stood and stared at him for a long moment. "Thank-you, Doctor." "Just get the hell out of here, and go ask the woman. She is probably so head over heels in love with Jim, that she'll beat you back down here." He turned to mumble, "How in the hell does he do that, anyway? I still can't figure that one out. Maybe we can bottle it and sell it ... make a fortune." McCoy wandered off, more to hide his embarrassment and to allow Spock to compose himself, than from any need to be elsewhere. Spock found Renna in her quarters. The Romulan party had decided to stay on the ship until the transport arrived, versus taking another chance on the planet's surface. M'arenn and the boy had found a second home with Uhura. The communications officer took open delight in sharing her time and her music with M'arenn, who she found to be an accomplished musician in her own right. Jus had found a drinking and story telling partner in Scotty, of all people, and they both took turns, attempting to outdo one another, with far out and fanciful tales of Scottish and Romulan origins. The crew reaped the benefits during their off hours, as they sat enraptured and outraged at turns by the successively larger, amusing, fabrications each of them created, for their own amusement. Renna had alternated her time between the sickbay and spending time with the Vulcan. She had found him to be a source of reassurance and strength, which she was sorely in need of. That day, she had decided to stay in her cabin for some quiet time with her own thoughts. The Vulcan's voice at the door was no stranger to her, but the poorly hidden fear and despair was a shock to her system. "Spock, has something happened?" "I need your help, Renna." "Anything." She walked over to him willing him to not tell her what she most feared. "I attempted a meld with Jim, today. I could not feel any sense of his mind, even though I went as deep as I was able to go, unaided. I require your assistance as an anchor. With your additional mental skills aiding me, I may be able to find some spark, some remnant of Jim, and bring him back. Without that, I do not think he will ever awaken." Spock felt himself holding his breath. He consciously willed himself to breathe. "Of course I will help you, why did you even doubt my answer?" "This is not without risk to us both, Renna." Renna's smile evoked a ghostly response from Spock. "What better do the two of us have to risk all for, Mr. Spock? As your Captain is wont to say, what is life without risks. He risked all for four people he hardly knew, because he decided we were worth it. I could not do less for him and live with myself. Enough talk, let us do what we need to do." When they reached the sickbay McCoy was waiting for them. "What do you need?" "Just two chairs, and if you could stay and monitor us that would be adequate, Doctor." Spock replied. "No problem, you guys just do what ever it is you do and get him back here. I promise not to talk about your ears for a whole month after this is over, Spock." "It would be pointless to make guarantees that you are unable to keep, Doctor. I would not want to burden your already overtaxed psyche too greatly with such a promise." "You pointy eared, smartass, hobgoblin... " He sputtered. "I don't have time to cut you down to size right now, but I'll get ya. Here are the chairs, sit yourselves down, and get to doing your stuff. In addition, Ma 'am, don't you mind Spock, he may be a long-winded, egotistical son of a bitch, but he is..." He looked at Spock and weighed whether saying this would give the Vulcan too much ammunition for future wars. "The best damn friend a person could wish for." He leaned over with a loud stage whisper. "But, I'll deny I ever said that, if you dare repeat it." "Your secret is safe with me, Doctor." Renna leaned over and gave him a light peck on the cheek. This human's feelings were all surface, full of caring and love. She longed for the comfort of staying with them all. It could not be, but the dream was intoxicating. Spock and Renna took seats beside each other and began their meld without preamble. Spock felt the cool swish of silk and the fragrance of flowers as he sank into Renna's awareness. She welcomed him as a brother, with joy and easy familiarity. "I know you already, My Spock. All that you are was written in Jim's mind. One can not love him without loving you. Come taste of me, so that you may know me. I will be your anchor and your strength. I will not fail you." Spock melded and blended their minds. He was somewhat awed at the strength of her skills. She was a far stronger telepath than he. "Perhaps you should search, and I will anchor." "No," He could feel her sad minds smile. "He will come for you, but not, I fear, for me. We did not have the opportunity to bond deeply enough for him to respond to my call. He would journey back from death's door for you, Spock. We both know that to be the truth. Go, and bring him home." McCoy stood and monitored their readouts on the biomonitor. He had all of them entered into the computer so all three life functions were in front of him on the screen. His eyes did not leave the monitor. He assumed the sound of steps that approached from behind him, was one of his staff, perhaps Chapel. It was with true surprise, that he heard the outraged roar of an unfamiliar male voice calling his name. "Dr. McCoy, what the hell is going on here? Get that damn Romulan away from them. Are you all out of your minds? What would possess you to let the Praetor's sister play around in the mind of a Starfleet Admiral? Stop this now, Doctor." Scotty and the rest of the Admiral's entourage entered behind him. They must have beamed aboard with Scotty's permission, and come directly for the sickbay. Komack was a bull of a man, and there was no love lost between he and the command crew of the Enterprise. Ever since Jim had disobeyed direct orders to take Spock back to Vulcan for his Pon Farr, his ritual arranged marriage that failed to be consummated after his intended rejected him for another, Komack kept a burr under his ass, about Spock and Kirk. "Did you hear me, Doctor? Do whatever you have to stop this, now." McCoy walked over to him slowly and deliberately. "You are in my sickbay. You are interfering with my medical decisions. If we still are in Starfleet, Admiral," he emphasized the last word, "my medical decision stands, and the only person who can countermand it is the CMO of Starfleet. Unless Admiral Juran is with you I suggest you get the hell out of my sickbay, Admiral." "Doctor McCoy, you are treading treacherous ground, perhaps traitorous. I suggest you follow my orders." "Scotty, what are Starfleet regs for removing unruly and disruptive people from the sickbay on the orders of the CMO?" McCoy did not even turn to Scotty to look for his answer, he already knew, as did Komack. "Never mind, Mr. Scott, I know the regulations as well as anyone. You will pay for this, Doctor." "Don't threaten me, Admiral. It never pays to piss off a doctor. Stay or go I don't give a damn, but if you attempt to interfere again, I will have Mr. Scott place you in the brig. Do we understand one another, Admiral?" "Heard and understood Doctor. Watch your back." McCoy's quiet rage gave even Komack pause. "I don't need to Admiral Komack, Jim and Spock will do it for me and you know what happened the last time you crossed them." Komack was speechless. 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