NIGHT 54: West Wing, North Hall 1-A
[From here.]At least if he couldn't soothe anything else, he could soothe the flashlight. While it seemed to rebel by flickering a few more times, the light stayed steady otherwise. So now, on top of attempting to supply himself with blood so he didn't randomly select a new victim and get stabbed between his ribs again or set on fire, he had to
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And maybe also ignoring the matter of something going on between his doctor and his first officer... except of course, being the captain, Kirk couldn't. The Head Doctor- former Head Doctor's appearance in the Sun Room might have been priority intel, but Kirk hadn't forgotten why he'd ordered them both to endure his delightful company tonight.
"I'll tell you in a minute," he said to Bones, fully aware that this was pretty maddening on his part, and not caring. Kirk adjusted his stance by a fraction so he could stare the science officers down with his best imitation of Pike's effortlessly authoritative disapproval. "Both of you. But first, I want to know what happened last night."
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What was with tonight? First the trapped flashlight and then the stubbed toe, now Spock's arrival. The fact that he had managed not to arrive late to this meeting was negated by Spock choosing to show up just that minute, which meant Jim was going to do the responsible thing hold off continuing his news until he sorted his officers out. All this on top of what the meeting was actually for.
He was convinced that, short of a serious injury, this night couldn't get much worse.
Spock was the ranking officer here, but McCoy got the feeling Kirk wasn't asking just him. The problem was that he didn't remember much of last night, and what was slowly coming back, and what he was piecing together, was something he didn't want to talk about. The more he prodded at that jumble of memories, the nearer he was to figuring those blank spots out. It would mean he'd be closer to uncovering something that he suspected he didn't actually want to know about.
I think I'd rather take the court martial, he thought. Rigidly, McCoy clasped his hands behind his back. He looked anywhere but Spock. "I told you, Jim. I assaulted Spock. I'll accept any disciplinary actions you decide to take."
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Spock soon received his answer. His tense posture contrasted with the way he normally carried himself, and there was no denying that he seemed quite eager to close the matter. But claiming that he deserved disciplinary measures because he'd assaulted Spock was oversimplifying the matter. The Vulcan subtly narrowed his eyes at McCoy before turning his attention onto Kirk.
"If someone must take responsibility for what occurred, sir, I believe it should be me," he calmly spoke. "When we entered the morgue on the second floor, we discovered what appeared to be human blood dripping from the ceiling. I agreed to separate in order to simultaneously investigate the morgue and one of the autopsy rooms for more information. It was then that Dr. McCoy encountered a creature that, from my understanding of the situation, induced a hallucination."
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It was Bones. Kirk understood feeling confused over whatever the creature had done to him, but surely he and Spock would've touched upon on the creature attack during breakfast, food fight or no food fight. Afterwards, there was no reason Bones couldn't have told him about being affected by one of Landel's eldritch horrors, but the doctor had stayed oddly cagey throughout their conversation. And now, jumping to accept punishment before Spock could even explain... The Leonard McCoy he knew had a strong sense of honour and responsibility, but that didn't explain it.
Guilt did. But why feel guilty when you weren't to blame?
There was an obvious argument to that, but Kirk forced himself not to pursue that line of thought - for now. This wasn't the time to just stand around. "No one's getting... disciplined," he sighed. "But we're not having a repeat incident either - tonight, we'll have to avoid getting separated." He gave Spock a pointed look there. He couldn't get mad at them, really, for splitting up - Kirk would've agreed to the same under the circumstances - but he was sick of feeling like he wasn't getting all the information. If something else happened, at least one of them would see it.
Kirk gestured ahead with his flashlight. "Let's move. Whoever's not talking, keep an eye on the rear." The exit to the rec field was on the other end of the hallway, and Kirk walked swiftly towards it, being sure to check carefully for an ambush. Assured that at least the next ten feet weren't hiding giant frog monsters, he glanced over his shoulder to Bones. "What do you remember about the creature?"
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Vulcans had a hard time lying, but they knew how to avoid that by not outright lying in the first place. They just chose not to mention certain details. But he'd only seen them do so when they had a logical reason for it, and taking the fall for their fellow crew didn't fall under that. Spock had nothing to benefit from by doing so here.
They could have a whole debate on whether it was lying if by omission, but he found it hard to drum up any enthusiasm at the idea. He wasn't entirely certain why Spock hadn't mentioned it. Spock was all about the facts here and he had deliberately neglected to give all of them. What was he doing? He had to have some reason. Spock always did.
Some part of him wanted to confront him on it, but not right here. McCoy was fine just saying it to Jim, but if Spock had neglected to mention it, he wanted to know why first. Kirk seemed ready to accept their report and move on. The doctor, on the other hand, was still of the mind that he shouldn't get left off with not even a slap on the wrist. Just because he'd been hallucinating at the time didn't mean he wasn't to blame. Maybe under other circumstances but not here. He hadn't told either of them, but he remembered knowing it was Spock despite the wild terror. It hadn't been some random phantom he'd conjured up. The fact that he knew it had been Spock and had tried to stab him anyway made him just as guilty as if he hadn't been affected by that animal.
The worst part was that some part at the back of his mind still thought he'd been right to try it.
McCoy fell in behind Jim out of habit as he started walking. It looked like he only wanted the basics on the creature. That was safe enough. He obliged. "It looked like a large snake with a single red eye in it. It left behind some black residue with a strange smell to it. I remember it being nearly silent. My guess is that it's usually an ambush predator."
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As the ranking officer, what happened last night ultimately fell on Spock's shoulders, and he'd been prepared to accept responsibility.
Of course, Kirk wasn't eager to issue discipline or punishment to either of them. Indeed, he likely recognized there was more to the situation than what met the eye. If this conversation went at all like his exchange with McCoy this morning, Kirk would soon find that there was a lot about last night that McCoy was unwilling to divulge. While there was also a possibility that they wouldn't get so far in their discussion, Spock intended to speak to Kirk privately about the matter once a better opportunity presented itself.
In the meantime, Kirk's decision to stay together was sound. As long as they were uncertain as to the exact nature of "Project 2911", they needed to remain on guard. Since Kirk had been directly involved in this morning's events, Spock believed their captain might become a target of whatever the Institute planned to unleash onto them tonight. As he fell into step beside McCoy, Spock took care to ensure that they weren't being followed, but also remained aware of Kirk's movements and words in case he noticed something amiss.
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Besides, it wasn't as if they were being totally uncooperative with him yet. Bones answered his question readily, and in detail. A surprising amount of detail. True, Starfleet officers were trained to be observant and log small details into their memories, given that they were often sent to explore new worlds and deal with unprecendented situations. He would've expected no less of Bones... had he been thinking clearly. Kirk had thought that whatever had happened had seriously messed with the doctor, which was why he'd let it go until now - but unlike during second shift, there was no I think or it's all kind of fuzzy or better ask Spock here. Bones had been the only one to see the creature, anyway.
And if he remembered enough to comment on its attack strategy, then he could answer Kirk's next questions: "So what happened? That is... did it attack you, or was it the residue, or what? What were the effects like?" They'd reached the door, and Kirk pushed it open without a second thought, same as the handful of other times he'd crossed this way. It was unlocked, as usual.
[to here]
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