'Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven' - Chapter 12
Bones signed off the report from the surgery on Ensign Papadopolous, handing the PADD over to the attending nurse. The lock-down from earlier when the Augments had escaped from the Transporter Room had been released and now it was a case of waiting for more news and possible casualties. The Augments had escaped to the lower decks, and he had been informed that they were likely to be getting their crew back from the Botany Bay at any moment.
“Bridge to Sickbay. Bridge to Sickbay,” a call came in over the comm unit.
Bones walked over to the unit and hit the button to reply.
“Bridge, this is Dr. McCoy.”
“We have a group of Augments heading in your direction,” the voice told him. “Security in pursuit.”
“Lock-down procedures being implemented. McCoy out.” Bones turned toward his staff and noted that some had already started to move and start the lock-down procedures again. “Sickbay lock-down being implemented. Move all patients to the secure rooms. Let’s go, people,” Bones announced before he started toward his office, securing that first and grabbing the little emergency kit he had stored in a drawer there.
When he came back into the main area, it was a hive of activity, all the patients had been removed and the main door had been secured. His staff were securing anything that could possibly be used as a weapon. He keyed in the final code to ensure the double layer of security before walking over to where Chapel was waiting for him.
“All patients secured in rooms Delta and Gamma. No issues reported and all within required parameters,” Chapel reported.
They both turned in shock at the noise behind them to see the doors trying to open.
“Go!” Bones yelled. “Get in and secure the rooms. Don’t come out for anyone unless you get the all clear. I’ll secure this and follow you,” he added when it looked like she was going to hesitate and stay with him.
He pushed her to make her move and she turned and ran through the door and headed for Delta.
He started to key in his code when he heard the doors open. He put in the final number knowing there wouldn’t be time for him to get through. As the door shut, he turned to see Khan and seven of his people standing in his Sickbay.
“Dr. McCoy,” Khan said, spreading his arms wide in a magnanimous gesture. “May I call you Leonard?”
“No,” Bones replied curtly. He had arranged his med kit to hang behind him and he carefully moved his hands so that he could pull out the hypospray and load it up.
“I miss this place,” Khan said, as he looked around and walked toward Bones.
Bones watched him warily, noting that Khan didn’t appear to have a weapon on him, but his men had gotten their hands on some phasers, which were set on kill.
“Otto, take the men into the Doctor’s office, you will find what you are looking for in there,” Khan said as he waved in the direction of the door to the office.
Bones watched as the man called ‘Otto’ keyed in a code and the door to his office opened. They went in, door closing behind them and leaving Bones alone with Khan.
“Now it’s just you and I, much better,” Khan said as he smiled at Bones.
Bones felt a chill creep down his spine at the look of that smile.
“Take what you need and go,” Bones said. “Leave us to care for the injured. Surely even you recognize the need for medical staff.”
Khan’s smile got wider and he stepped closer to Bones so that there was not even a body width between them.
“Do you want me to take what I want?” Khan asked, and Bones was left in no confusion as to what he meant when Khan looked him up and down.
Khan raised a hand as if to touch him and Bones took a step back, fist clenched at his side.
Khan smirked when he saw the fist and let out a chuckle. Bones took the noise as an opportunity for cover and pushed the sedative into the hypospray. He was helped out when they heard another sound, a crash coming from the direction of his office. He hoped that Khan would be distracted enough not to hear the slight click the cannister made as it connected into the hypospray.
“First do no harm,” Khan said to him as he looked back at Bones and then glanced down at the clenched fist.
“You say a lot, Khan, but I don’t think you follow through with it yourself,” Bones pointed out, carefully watching Khan to see what moves he was going to make next.
“You listen to what I say?” Khan asked. “I am flattered.” Khan had dropped the raised hand, but he took another step forward into Bones’ personal space.
“A good doctor always listens to a patient,” Bones replied.
“I don’t want you to think of me as a patient, Leonard. I will need you later for...” Khan was interrupted when a call came through on the comm unit.
“Kirk to Sickbay.”
Bones looked at Khan, who was glaring at the comm unit. Bones thought about the likelihood of him being able to make it over to it. Khan was too close and probably too quick for Bones’ liking.
The door to his office opened and Khan turned in that direction. Bones took his chance and ran toward the comm unit. He never made it. Only three steps in and he was grabbed, spun around and pushed solidly back into the wall, so close to the unit but impossible for him to do anything about it. Khan had both of Bones’ hands pinned, gripping so tight that Bones thought he might break a few bones if he kept squeezing. He concentrated on holding onto the hypospray in one hand while he tried to get his legs free to kick out or do anything.
“Khan?” Bones heard one of the Augments ask.
“This one is mine,” Khan replied, his eyes dark as he stared at Bones. “Leave us.”
The only thing that filled Bones’ vision was Khan’s face as he pressed his body full onto Bones’, shoving him back further against the wall. Every move Bones made to try and get a part of his body free was met easily by Khan.
“Kirk to Sickbay,” they heard again come over the comm unit.
Bones struggled harder, trying to get free. “Jim,” he said as he turned his head to look at the unit and not at Khan.
Khan didn’t like that and he gripped harder, making Bones cry out.
“He can’t help you,” Khan whispered, his lips ghosting over the sensitive skin of Bones’ ear. “Only you and me here.”
“Kirk to Sickbay.” Bones could hear the minute change to Jim’s tone, indicating that he was worried but trying to hide it.
“He’ll be here soon and with help,” Bones hissed back.
Khan let go of one of Bones’ wrists and brought his hand up to grip at Bones’ neck in a parody of a caress.
“But will he find you in one piece?” Khan whispered.
“Bones, I’m on my way!” Jim’s voice came through the unit.
Khan had let go of the wrong hand, Bones realized. Khan had let go of Bones’ hand that was holding the hypospray. While Khan was concentrating on Bones’ face, Bones took his opportunity. He twisted his shoulder to move Khan away a little and brought the hypospray up quickly and jabbed it into Khan’s neck.
Khan grunted at the force of the injection and Bones had a flash of warning before he was shoved away hard. He crashed into the nearest biobed. His arm connected first but Khan’s strength was such that the bulk of the force was taken on his side. Muscles pulled at angles they were not designed to go in, but mercifully he didn’t feel any bones breaking. His vision went black for a moment as he collapsed onto the floor, his head probably had hit it or the bed on the way down, he wasn’t sure. When he blinked again, it was to see Khan’s feet directly in front of him. He looked up.
Khan wavered slightly on his feet as he stood over Bones. “What did you give me?” he asked, his tone making it more a threat than a question.
“A sedative,” Bones told him.
“It won’t stop me,” Khan said, leaning down menacingly over Bones.
Bones looked over at the main door, hearing a code being entered from outside.
“It’ll slow you down for a bit and he can stop you,” Bones promised as he nodded in the direction of the main door.
“I will deal with you later. I would like nothing better to stay, Leonard, and finish this conversation.” Khan had leaned over more fully so that he was almost nose to nose with Bones. “But it shall wait.” With that, Khan straightened up and headed in the direction of Bones’ office.
Bones put his right hand around his ribs as he slowly pushed himself upright. The door to his office was closed and he could hear muffled voices from within.
“Bones! Bones!” Jim yelled. “I’m out here with a security team. Let us in!” There was some thumping on the door which caused the Augments to go silent in his office. Bones walked over to the control panel and started the procedure of lifting the lock-down. He wasn’t sure what Khan had done to get the door to open in the first place, but he was going to try his regular code and see if it would work. Jim’s captain override should have worked, but Bones wasn’t a computer specialist and didn’t try and think too hard about it at the best of times.
He had one hand braced on the wall to help hold himself up while he pushed in his code. The door whooshed open and Bones turned his head to watch as Jim rushed in, brushing against the door in his impatience to get inside. Waiting for an adequate space to open for him to come through wasn’t a Jim thing to do at all, Bones thought.
“In there,” Bones said as he tilted his head toward his office.
“How many?” Jim asked as he rushed over to Bones’ office door. The door refused to open for Jim, so he moved his phaser into his left hand while he punched in a code. The first code didn’t work.
“Eight, including Khan,” Bones said.
Jim stopped and stared at him for a moment.
“Good,” Jim growled as tried another code.
“Dr. McCoy?” one of the Security team asked him, implying if he was alright.
“I’m fine, Ensign,” Bones said.
Then the door to the office whooshed open and Jim and the security team entered.
“There they are!” Bones heard from his office, shortly after he heard his outer door open.
“Chase them,” Jim ordered. “I need to check on Sickbay.”
Bones leaned against the biobed as he wondered about Jim not chasing after Khan.
Jim walked back into the main room, holstering his phaser. He put a call into the Bridge from the control panel by Bones’ office door.
“Security team on Deck Seven is tracking eight Augments, one of those is Khan. Put a tracer on that grouping.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” the Bridge officer confirmed.
“Sorry Bones, your office is a mess.”
“Why aren’t you going after him?” Bones asked, still confused about why Jim was standing in front of him.
“Because I need to talk to you first. They can trace that group and I’ll catch up to him later. Where’s your staff, Bones?” Jim looked around the empty Sickbay.
“In the secure rooms,” Bones replied testily as he stepped around Jim to have a look toward his office. Jim was right, there was furniture pulled over and items strewn across the floor.
“And you aren’t in there because?” Jim asked.
“‘Cause I’m not. Khan and his people broke through the lock-down.” Bones didn’t want to look at Jim’s face, knowing he wouldn’t be hiding his annoyance at finding Bones in the line of fire. “You might want to look into that.”
“Best way to do that is for you and some of your staff to come with me,” Jim said, laying a hand on his shoulder.
“Huh?” Bones asked as he turned his head to look at Jim. Today was just one confusing statement after another.
“I have Scotty and the others from the Botany Bay in the Transporter room. We need some laser scalpels to break the bonds on them and they need to be checked over.”
“Well why didn’t you say so?” Bones asked as he walked away from Jim, over to pick up his discarded hypospray.
“I just did,” Jim mumbled under his breath.
“Well come on,” Bones said as he started to walk toward the main doors.
“Bones!”
“What, Jim?” Bones turned on his heels to glare at Jim who hadn’t moved from his spot. He was still standing there, head cocked slightly with that smile that infuriated Bones regularly on his face.
“Fall over and bump your head?” Jim asked.
Bones flinched at the question from Jim. “I’m fine,” he declared.
“Well then, you might want to let your staff know it’s all clear first, before you head off. I know you are good Bones, but I would like more than just you to help me with the other crew,” Jim said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Fine!” Bones said as he threw his hands up in the air and stalked back past Jim to punch in the all clear.
“You might also need a laser scalpel. Are you sure you are okay? They didn’t hurt you?” Jim asked.
“I’m fine. Khan wanted to talk. The man likes the sound of his own voice even more than you do, and I didn’t think that was possible,” Bones complained as he leaned back against the wall. “Got one already.”
“Huh?”
Bones smiled as he realized it was Jim’s turn to be confused by the turn of conversation.
“Laser scalpel. Already in my med kit,” Bones said as he patted the kit.
“Any reason why your hypospray was lying on the floor,” Jim asked.
“Got Khan with it,” Bones replied.
Jim smiled. “Atta boy! What did you stick him with?”
“Tried a sedative, made him a bit woozy it seemed, but then you came. Don’t think it will last too long though.”
The door to the side rooms opened and as Bones thought, Chapel was the first one through the door.
“Chapel, I need you. Treaber and Hends with me. Get the medkits and join me and Jim in the Transporter room. M’Benga, get everyone else back in their spots and send the orderlies into my office. It got a little ‘disorientated,’” Bones ordered his staff, not giving them time to ask questions.
Chapel opened her mouth, ready to ask a question and she was shrewdly looking him over. “I wasn’t in there and I’m fine, now get to it people.”
“C’mon,” he said to Jim as he headed out to the corridor, leaving behind his staff who he knew would be working efficiently and diligently to return the Sickbay to it’s nearly former state.
oOo
Chapter 13 this way