[ST] What Remains 4/6
Going Back
The world might have gone to hell, but for a little while the San Francisco base had been untouchable. The east coast had Safe Haven and the best the west coast had was a fading beacon with Hikaru Sulu in a position he wasn’t ready for.
Still, for a little while it might have been considered a thing of beauty. They were doing good in the world - or at least doing what passed for good these days.
Except in the last three months, everything changed. Jim shot one too many people at the ATL and they were forced underground. Some might call it humility come too late, but it was Sulu just being in over his head. He had no other choice but to turn what was left back to Pike in the hope that he could save them.
And Pike had been gracious. Which was to say that Pike didn’t kill Sulu or order him killed. Sometimes it was worse to live with the burden of knowledge. The best he could do was cut all of the external lines on the base, taking them officially off the grid. Then it was just a matter of restoring the men and women left to who they once were. Not that it made them anything more than ghosts.
But they lived in a ghost world, so it was appropriate.
Together they tried to make the best of it. Huddled together, they searched for meaning in chaos. Not that there was any to find, but there could be routine. At least that still brought some comfort.
Of all of them left behind, Sulu clung onto that routine the most because he was tired. He had gone from being on top of the world to a glorified nurse. A nurse who only had one patient and today Chekov was being exceptionally difficult. Which meant he needed Pike. And he hated needing Pike.
“I can’t get him to take his meds.” It shouldn’t have been such a familiar sigh, but it was. The medication didn’t really help much, but it made the Russian boy genius just a little bit more manageable.
In another time there might have been some smugness, but Pike understood the reality of things. They were all just hanging on. So, maybe Pavel was the only sane one in the bunch - taking McCoy’s unintentional advice, because surely no sane man willingly accepted this as the world.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Pike walked down to bed chamber five. The young man had set up camp in Romeo’s old rack. All of the little doodles and words that Romeo had written there were duplicated and expanded upon around the entire space. No one knew what it meant and any attempt to figure it out never went anywhere. Some things were just better left unknown.
“Two hundred eight bones in the human body and none of them matter, none of them matter except one. One bone more important than all the others. And they need each other, need to find the connections to figure out the way to put it all back together.” Chekov sunk back down in the chamber, running his fingers over the original small drawings.
“One comm message and the world changes, a whole population of people programmed to kill and capture those who didn’t answer the call…and I can’t decide what’s better. What do you do? Answer the call or don’t?” He looked over at Pike. “Don’t answer it. Please don’t answer it.”
Pike let a long suffering sigh escape him as he climbed into the chamber but still keeping a width of space between them, lest he scare him off. “I promise that I won’t answer the call.” Not anymore at least. “Sulu says you won’t take your medication.”
“Man-friend!” He exclaimed. “Except not my man-friend, not really, something’s been wrong with him for a while, something different and no one notices, no one but me, but no one listens to me. No one ever knows what it all means - how many bones do we need? Are there never enough? Never enough. Never, never, never.”
Watching Chekov broke his heart because he had done this. Christopher Pike had personally recruited him, had molded him to be the best, to push boundary after boundary. Pavel Chekov was his best protégée and this was what he had become - a crazed man working himself into a frenzy.
“Perhaps we are not enough, but we have each other and we have our minds. That is all we can hope for.”
It took a moment, but Chekov finally did sit still long enough for Pike to press the hypo into his neck.
The wound wouldn’t heal, but maybe it would stop bleeding for a little while.
“But do we have our minds? I think that I might be losing my mind, and so many things get lost, but they know a way to bring them back, that’s what you did, you knew it too or maybe you didn’t, never could see all the nuances, but there’s more…so much more than just fixing it. We just need to figure out how many bones it takes.”
The speech was only just beginning, but there was a loud knock from the direction of the main floor. And it kept getting louder.
“No, no, no, the roof will cave in if they don’t stop!” Chekov shouted before diving down into the bed, curling up on himself. He probably would have pulled the cover closed if he could.
If there was comfort to be given, Pike might have offered it.
“Just stay here,” he said.
He might not be much of an Admiral anymore because Starfleet wasn’t much of an organization anymore, but he would not desert his post. Christopher Pike had sworn to protect the men and women under his authority and would do so until his last breath.
He didn’t need to ask or give any orders. When he reached the main floor, Sulu was waiting for him with a gun. With him were a dozen former actives armed and ready to fight. “We hold,” he said, “We hold until we have nothing left, do you understand?”
The group nodded and Pike pushed his way to the front. He would be the first man down if it came to that. He owed these people that much. Fingers ready to pull the trigger, Pike watched concrete fly, crumbling the wall that had given them the illusion of safety for a little while. Dust kicked up, but no one faltered they all waited.
There was a firm kick and chunks of rock came tumbling forward. As the dust settled Pike saw the two last people he ever expected to see again - especially together.
“You sure as hell know how to make an entrance.”
Jim laughed, stepping over the remains and into the barracks. Pike wondered if it was just as strange for him to be back here as it was to see him barging down on them.
“And you sure know how to pull down a welcoming party.” Jim came to a standstill, McCoy following in behind him.
Pike shook his head. He challenged them to do the impossible and of course they went and pulled it off. Although whether or not that would be a good thing for him still remained to be seen.
“Stand down.”
The crew lowered their guns, but no one moved. All of them were transfixed at the two men standing there. Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy - gods among men even for those who were part of the program. They were the alpha and the omega.
Jim walked past the group, ignoring the strange looks. It wasn’t really anything new. People often stared. “Hey, is Dr. Chapel still around?” He asked turning back to look at Pike. “I have something I need her to look at.”
McCoy rolled his eyes. “If by something you mean a gashing wound you won’t let me look at, I’d say you damn well better find a doctor in this house or take your chances with me.”
“She should be in her office,” said Pike.
Jim might have said thanks, but it was lost to the commotion as the group finally broke. The magic was over.
Only McCoy and Pike remained.
“I thought you were dead.”
“Don’t you know, Doctor McCoy? No one ever really dies anymore.” Pike sighed and holstered his weapon. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t try, and you know, I have been saving my last bit of whiskey on the off chance that you ever would make it back.”
That was enough of invitation for him as he took Pike’s lead. Pike’s office was a fragment of what it had once been, but then again, they all were. Still, he went through the motions as if nothing had changed.
“I’m surprised to see you and Jim together.” Pike handed McCoy a glass - funny how it always came back to this.
“Isn’t that what you told me to do?” He took a ship, savoring the burn because it reminded him that he was alive. It was just about the only way to be sure these days. “Find him, so he could save your sorry asses?”
“Honestly?” Pike punctured his question with a sip. “I was hoping he would kill you. You’ve always been a dangerous man.” Even in a world where nothing was what it seemed, Pike remained an honest man. It was something that McCoy appreciated.
“Yeah, well, we’re in the company of dangerous men - and women for that matter.”
Pike had nothing to say. So McCoy walked the perimeter of the office. It felt a lot smaller now. This was the office where one man made empires fall. Now he kept pictures of them on his walls. There were dozens of people he didn’t recognize, their jacket photos scattered along with all sorts of familiar faces. Nyota Uhura laughing in her cadet reds a lifetime ago. Not far away was a service photo of Spock from some award ceremony. Chapel was there, her complexion perfect as it had been once, sitting at the lunch table with him. McCoy didn’t remember that picture being taken, didn’t even remember that day. But there was proof of it.
They all looked so young, but none more than Jim. The kid was breathtaking, dressed in a worn leather jacket and just fully comfortable in his own skin. That was the picture of a man who knew who he was. It was a man that McCoy could have fallen in love with. He pulled the picture from the wall, needing to hold it in the hopes that it would spark the memory he didn’t have.
“As for Jim and me, who knows what we are, but we’ll burn or rise together.” That was how it ought to be - no matter what. McCoy tucked the photo into his pocket, hoping that would be enough.
Back down on the main floor, a small group of former actives had gathered outside of medical hoping to catch a second glimpse of Jim Kirk. Jim sat on top of a non-functioning bio-bed waiting for Chapel to return with the equipment she needed.
“Do you think I’ll live, doc?” His wound was nothing more than a three-day-old gash. Normally he wouldn’t even have felt the need to get it checked out, but it wasn’t clotting properly and that worried McCoy.
“I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” she said coming back into the main bay. “Although I don’t think I’ll be able to do much besides clean and patch the wound. We’ve been off the grid so long half of the equipment doesn’t work anymore.”
She set up the dated suture kit right next to him. “So this might hurt, but I assume you don’t want anything for the pain.”
“Nah, the pain lets me know I’m alive.”
“That’s what I thought. Well, Jim, for the next few minutes you’ll be sure of that then.” She tried to use a pinch of humor to hide her apologetic tone, but it didn’t work.
As she started, Jim fought the urge to tense up knowing that would only make it worse. He took a deep breath in and let it go. He had an audience now and he couldn’t disappoint them. If Jim Kirk were meant to be unbreakable, for them, he would be.
“You know, I can’t believe you’re still here.”
Chapel paused, looking up at him - she reminded him so much of a McCoy. “Where else would I go? I’m afraid of open spaces.”
Jim looked at her. For a moment he imagined the possibility that she still didn’t know.
“They may have created me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not needed here.”
She was stronger than he was. All he ever felt about his lot in life was anger - bright, hot righteous rage that wouldn’t rest until it was over. Christine Chapel had accepted what she had become and found a way to use it productively. Jim Kirk sometimes recklessly killed people, but he never claimed to be perfect.
“All that could change if we succeed. Not saying the world won’t need doctors, but just not like this.”
“I figured as much; Pike always said if anyone could take back the world it would be you.”
Jim laughed. Christopher Pike was the source of most of his anger. Pike had used him. He had dared him to do better, knowing full well what that meant. And now Pike hoped he would save the day.
“This has nothing to do with the Admiral.”
Chapel raised an eyebrow at him.
“You act so much like him.” He hadn’t meant to say that.
“I am him, well, the parts that they thought were useful, but I’m not him, not in the way you would want.”
Jim looked away. He hated that when it came to Bones he could be so easy to read. Or how persistent the rest of the world was in pushing them together. He wasn’t a damn panda and while he might have forgiven McCoy that didn’t mean he was ready to let him back in again. More importantly there was work to do.
“I want you to come with us.”
“Is this the part where you tell me your big plan?”
Jim grinned. He raised his voice so the lurkers could hear. “This is the part where I tell all of you to get in here so you can stop doing a poor job at eavesdropping.”
Chapel was nearly finished with dressing his wound and he could give his speech while she worked.
“Spock, Uhura, Scotty, get your asses in here too. I need you all.” He couldn’t do any of this without them. “You all know it’s a different world out there, I’m not here to tell about the horrors out there or that there’s almost no humanity left. You know that. And you might have heard of places where people can die the way that they are born. You might think that I’m here to lead you back to Safe Haven, but that’s not my purpose.”
The whole crowd deflated in front of him.
“I am here to make the world like it once was because there might be a Safe Haven now, but it won’t last. We have a way to reset the world, to bring everyone back to who they should be. We can destroy the tech so that people everywhere can die the way that they are born. However, I can’t do it alone.”
They all perked up that. They might have been former actives, but they were still soldiers ready to fight a war and that would always fall in line behind this man.
“In order to do this, I need to steal Enterprise.” That alone was no easy task. It might be in dock at San Francisco High with a strict no fly lockdown, but it was still the flagship of a dying Federation. It had a lot of power as a symbol and that was not the sort of thing the people in charge would simply let go of.
“None of this is going to be easy, and I know a number of you still feel some lingering loyalty to me because your programming said so, but this is not an order. You can choose to leave and I’ll have someone shepherd you all to Safe Haven. Or you can volunteer to stay and stand by me in what will be both the last and first hour of man.”
Jim nodded and Spock set into action. He drew a line right down the middle of the medical bay, which earned quite the glare from Chapel.
“Volunteers on my port, and all the sane people to starboard.” That earned a small chuckle, as the crowd sorted themselves out. People would go where they wanted and Jim didn’t hold it against them. He had meant it - those getting out of here were the sane ones. The world might not be perfect out there, but they would have a chance.
“Alright, those leaving, go get your stuff and meet Rand by the door, she’ll be taking you to Safe Haven. Everyone else, listen up to Spock, Uhura and Scotty for further instructions.”
Chapel shook her head. “You are something else, Jim Kirk.”
The crowd around them started to disperse, leaving only a few stragglers behind.
“Don’t I know it.” He flashed her a smile. “So, do I get a clean bill of health?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but you’ll do.”
“Thanks, doc.” Jim jumped off the table with a little bit too much force and winced.
“You need to be careful!”
He waved her off. “I don’t even think that’s a word.” As he walked out of the medical bay, he saw Pike sitting on the steps. He had placed himself directly in between where each of the groups were meant to go.
“That was some speech you gave there.”
Jim paused, turning around to look at him. “What can I say? I learned from the best.” To think once upon a time he respected and revered this man.
“Have you decided what you’re going to do about me yet?”
He chuckled. After everything, the man still thought about himself. It was endearing. “What do you think?”
“I imagine you’d like to kill me.”
“I would.”
Jim watched Pike carefully for his reaction. All he did was sit up a bit straighter, but didn’t once look away. The man had balls, sizeable ones, if Jim was any judge.
“However, if I was going to start shooting people today, you’re not at the top of my list.” He had other plans for Pike. “No, I am going to give you a much harder job. I’ll fix what we did to their heads, you fix the rest of the world.”
He patted Pike on the shoulder. He would give him something to think about before he left. Jim had other things to worry about.
It felt good to have people moving about this place again. They were actually going to do it. Scotty had a team working to automate the majority of the systems on board Enterprise, while Spock had a smaller team working on the pulse. That left Uhura and Sulu to set up the plan to physically steal the ship and he wouldn’t want anyone else on that job.
That just left McCoy.
He still didn’t know what he was going to do with him. It was all just so complicated and none of it made sense. Yet he sought the other man out.
McCoy was in the kitchen. Trust him to want to eat at a time like this. Still, there was something comforting about the sight - McCoy puttering about the kitchen making nothing more special than a sandwich.
“You gonna just stand there and watch?” McCoy didn’t turn around, didn’t even look up from the delicate art of making a proper sandwich. It wasn’t often he had actual bread to do it, so he wasn’t going to mess this up. He might not have been enhanced like Jim was, but McCoy had a few skills of own. And Leonard McCoy always knew where Jim Kirk was.
“I might,” he said. The smirk was clear in his voice. The smug bastard.
“Never took you for one to just watch.” McCoy finally glanced up at him and for an instant it felt like they had been here before. No, it felt like this was how it was supposed to be. “The least you can do is appease me and eat because I bet you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.”
Jim plopped down in the chair on the other side of the island. “Aww c’mon on, Bones.”
“I’m serious, Jim, eat.” McCoy cut the tuna fish sandwich in half. He passed the slightly larger half to Jim and waited for the other man to take a bite before he started eating. “How is everything going out there?”
“Good,” said Jim. “Well, as good as can be expected. Spock finally got through to Chekov and they’re finalizing the delivery system. We should be underway by oh-six-hundred.”
“God, to think in a few hours this might just be over.” His shoulders relaxed just a little, letting go of years of tension.
Then Jim laughed and it all came rushing back. “You think that in a few hours the world’s going to be all better?”
McCoy set down his sandwich, shaking his head. “What I think is that you’re scared. After tomorrow your fight ends and then you’re going to have to be where you are for a long while and it terrifies you.”
Jim smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes. It never did when he was being like this. “I hate when you pretend to know me.”
“God damn it, Jim.” He pushed his sandwich plate away, standing back up. “We could all be dead in a few hours! Can’t you just stop this bullshit and let me in for once?”
McCoy hoped that would be enough, that they could stop this game, but Jim wasn’t done playing yet and he was the one who called the shots. He started pacing, playing with the idea of leaving and not letting this go any further.
“I’ve let you in a few times.”
But of course, Jim had to push. Push, push, push, until there could be nothing left, that was what he did.
“Be serious, Jim.”
“I am.”
He pressed his eyes closed, hands tight in fists at his sides. McCoy took a deep breath in and out, before he was able to look at Jim again. “Alright, fine, but what happens when you’re sure we’re going to live?” As soon as he said it, he knew it was the wrong thing to say.
“What do you think happens?” It had gone from easy enough to deal with deflection to war. So McCoy shrugged it off and tried to leave. Jim stopped him, grabbing his arm and forcing them to make eye contact. “No, c’mon, you’re my handler, tell me.”
McCoy hated that word, hated what he did, what he was forced to become for Jim. And more than anything else, how it still hung between them.
And now Jim was too close, closer than he had been in months, years even - he didn’t really know how to make sense of his time in the attic. But there was Jim, inches away from him. It would have been easy to end this with a kiss, except that didn’t fix anything. “I think you’ve got dozens of people living inside that head of yours and you’re still the loneliest person I know.”
Jim blinked, mouth opening and immediately closing. The great Jim Kirk was speechless.
At another time, McCoy might have been proud of himself, but right now he just needed to put space between them. “You know, forget it.” He stepped back, shaking his arm free. “You go do whatever it is you need to do and I’ll do the same.”
The whole thing with Jim just left his head a mess.
Everything felt more difficult now, but maybe after this was over they could finally sort themselves out - figure out. At this point, McCoy didn’t even care if they still had a future together. He just knew that they couldn’t keep going on the way they had been before. It was too much.
Hopefully there would be time for that later. Now, belly half-full, he made his way down to medical to do one last thing before he was ready to go.
The medical had seen better days, but the basics were still there as was Dr. Chapel. There wasn’t any other place in the world she wanted to be. Nowhere else was safe, but it was also how she was programmed. And there she was doing exactly what he would have done in this situation - packing her trusted medical equipment so she would be ready when they headed out in a few hours.
“Christine Chapel, as I live and breath.”
She looked up, a soft smile on her face. Even distorted by her scars she was still beautiful. “I’ve been wondering when you’d make your way back here.”
“What can I say I’m a creature of habit?”
“I know.”
McCoy paused. It was strange for him still, remembering that she was him - or at least the best pieces of him.
“And I also know that you’re stalling, so you better just ask me for what you need.”
“God, I never thought I would be asking for this.” He scrubbed his face. “I need to get back in the chair and I’m guessing that Chekov doesn’t go up there anymore.”
Chapel stopped what she was doing, studying him closely. “You’re right, he doesn’t go up there anymore.” That earned her a glare, but it was expected. “But I can help you.”
McCoy nodded. “I need you to update my wedge.”
“Just let me finish up here and we can head up to the room.”
Taking a seat, he let her get back to work. He could have tried to help out, but he knew that it would not have been welcomed. This was something she needed to do herself.
The problem was the more time he got to sit there, the longer he began to doubt if this was the right thing. Going into that chair, by choice, was against everything he stood for. But it was the end of the world - there wasn’t really much place for morals or conscience.
A few minutes later she led him back up to the imprint room. Even when he worked here, he didn’t particularly like going into this room when he didn’t absolutely have to. He couldn’t imagine it was any better for Chapel, but there she was going along with this crazy plan with him.
She went right onto the computer and powered up the system. “I take it you remember how this works?”
McCoy pulled his wedge from the wall and loaded it into the back of the chair. The only surprise was that it had been so easy to find. “I sit down in the chair, it hurts like hell for a few seconds and then it’s over.”
“Those are the basics.” She looked up from the monitor and over at him, needing to see it for herself. “Now, you’re sure about this?”
He took a deep breath in and climbed into the chair. McCoy wasn’t sure of anything anymore. “It’s the best option we have.”
“Alright. Just hold tight.”
Once he was in the chair, the back reclined so he was lying flat, his head surrounded by the florescent halo. His body automatically tensed. It might have been a different chair, in a different place, but the fragments of memories he had about this were far from pleasant.
Clamping down on his jaw, he promised himself he wouldn’t scream. That would just bring more attention to what they were doing and he didn’t need anyone else to question him.
He hadn’t counted on the system causing a light show up in the lab.
“That should be it,” said Chapel.
McCoy collapsed back down in the chair, pressing his eyes closed. A second later the chair was moving back to the upright position.
“Now this is a sight that I never thought I would see again.”
At the door stood Nyota Uhura, arms across her chest, teasing smile on her face. At least someone could find this purgatory amusing.
“Yeah, well, someone will need to be able to keep guard, thought I might as well volunteer before one of you idiots got the bright idea.”
“Leonard McCoy, the virtual man.”
McCoy glared at her. He didn’t need to give her a response. She already knew what he was going to say. It was something he had kept saying for a long time.
“I take it Jim doesn’t know about this, then.”
He was just about to open his mouth, when who but Jim Kirk popped up right behind her. That was just his luck.
“Doesn’t know about what?” Jim asked.
“This one is all yours,” she said stepping out of the way.
“Bones?”
There was nothing friendly in that tone. That was Captain Asshole talking loud and clear there.
“Hello Jim.”
“Don’t ‘hello Jim’ me, what are you doing?”
“I would have thought that was pretty obvious,” he said, finally climbing out of the chair. He didn’t need to be there any longer and it was only bound to bring about more questions he didn’t have the patience to deal with.
At least it had been done.
“Well, other than being a big damn hypocrite.”
McCoy bit his tongue holding back his laughter. “That’s rich coming from you. Romeo became aware and what did you do? You started asking for specific upgrades and now what are you?” He crossed his arms over his chest. McCoy wasn’t trying to be righteous. He just wasn’t going to burn for this either.
“I am exactly what you created!”
There were a dozen of good responses to that exclamation, but none came. What could he say that hadn’t been said before? What would undo or fix anything that was happening?
When it came down to it, it was true.
McCoy had created Romeo, had watched him become something more and then had let that technology turn on its head. All he could do was enter into a Grade A pissing contest with Jim Kirk.
Next to him Uhura sighed. “Len, why don’t you just tell him?”
“Stay out of this!”
Chapel walked over to the back of the chair. “This whole thing is ridiculous! You two more than anything else.” She pulled the data wedge out of the socket. “All we did was update this.”
McCoy flipped his head around to glare at Chapel.
“And you thought I didn’t need to know about this?” When no one answered, he turned to the one person who he hoped would know. “Nyota?”
“Hey, don’t look at me, this is all them.”
It wasn’t quite a lie, but it certainly wasn’t the whole story. Still, it was clear that this was going to fall on McCoy’s shoulders and Jim wasn’t going to leave until he knew exactly what was going on. Sighing he looked back at Jim. “It’s a failsafe, just in case the pulse doesn’t work, we’re creating a way to monitor the tech.”
“And that required your brain map?”
“YES!” He shouted. “It all started with me and it better damn well end with me. I don’t even get why you care, half the time you’re just looking for a reason to kill me.” And the other half of the time, they both just wanted to let that tension explode into passion that had gone ignored for too many years.
“Is there anything else I should know about?”
“No, there is nothing else, are you happy?” Of course he wasn’t.
No one of the five people gathered around the chair was happy. They were demigods around their alter. The chair was a false god that created a religion to destroy the world. It was more trouble than it was ever worth. It just took well over a decade to know that.
“We should take it apart before we go.”
All eyes turned to Jim. And he shrugged. Everyone in the room was thinking the same thing. They couldn’t leave any of the tech behind.
“Hell,” said McCoy sighing, “I’d rather just blast this place and all the others into nothing.”
Jim smirked. “Being a little dramatic there?”
He didn’t think so. It was pretty much the only way to guarantee that nothing could be salvaged. There was still the issue of the data out there on the network, but Scotty said he had an idea to take care of that. “Just dismantle the thing, I don’t even want to look at it anymore.”
Jim walked over to the open overlook and called down. “Hey Spock, we could use you up here for a little project - one you might like too.”
From below Spock quirked an eyebrow high, but still started up to the imprint room.
“There’s the classic Romeo, no sense of tact or subtlety at all.”
“Hey, tech head, you totally love it and me.” Uhura rolled her eyes. Love wasn’t a word she would assign to Jim, but there was some sort of fondness there.
Between the five of them, it wouldn’t be too difficult to take apart the chair. It might even be therapeutic. Spock didn’t say anything, but Jim could see a sort of glimmer in his eye. He wanted this as much as any of them did. They might not be able to fix everything the technology broke within them, but perhaps they could exorcise some of their ghosts.
“I hate to break up your party here, but I can’t let you do that.”
Matthews and Finnegan stood at the door with Joanna in a chokehold in Matthew’s arms.
“Joanna!” McCoy shouted. It wasn’t the right thing to say or do as Matthews tightened his hold. She was struggling to break free, but he was at least three times her size. She didn’t have a chance.
“Finnegan! Matthews!” Uhura snapped staring down both of them. These were her people. “What the hell do you think you are you doing?“
In response, Finnegan pulled out a gun and aimed it at the girl.
“See, you may want to save the world, we just sort of want to rule it,” said Matthews. “And you getting rid of the tech doesn’t help us.”
“What my friend is trying to say is, upgrade please.”
McCoy didn’t know what to do. He had no damn control over any of it. All McCoy saw was the gun and a girl who should have a long full life in front of her. His life was the one that was already forfeit, not hers. So he just snapped. It was all he could do in the hope that a moment’s distraction might give Jim enough time to think of something better.
“You are kidding me!” McCoy paused as Matthews pulled Joanna closer. In his peripheral he could see Jim and Spock inching into a better position to take the two men out. “Do you have any idea what the tech does? What it has done? God damn it!”
“Wrong answer, doctor.”
Then Finnegan pulled the trigger.
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