Medical Log, Stardate 7713.4. I continue to monitor Captain Kirk’s behavior
as he recovers from his injuries suffered on Zandaria 5. I have released him to active duty, under protest,
my own. However, I have an ally on the
bridge who will keep me informed of any problems.
The bridge of the USS Enterprise.
“Captain’s Log, Stardate 7713.6.”
“Five, sir.”
“What, Mr. Sulu?”
“It’s Stardate 7713.5, sir.”
Jim Kirk frowned.
“Really? I thought
that looked like a five on the printout here.
Anyway, Stardate 7713.5, the Enterprise
“The Zandarians, Captain,” said Mr. Spock. “Following their capturing and torturing of
you and three security people.”
“Right,” said Kirk.
“The Zandarians. Their leader
Santias Mark captured…”
Kirk stopped as his first officer had moved over to stand by
his chair.
“Captain,” Spock said.
Kirk adjusted his position in his command chair. His legs ached and tingled, as if he had been
working out for hours, yet he’d only been in Sickbay since beaming back from
Zandaria 5. Either a workout or sex with
a Klingon woman, not that he’d ever done that. He recalled that he hadn’t had
sex in a while, and then thought about Carol Marcus and then a horse in his
uncle’s barn in Iowa
“Captain Kirk!”
Jim looked up from his reverie. His green blooded Vulcan
first officer still remained at his side.
“You have been staring at the floor for ten minutes. I ask again, sir.
Are you well?”
Kirk began to answer, but was stopped by Lieutenant Uhura’s
voice. Spock walked back his chair and
pressed a button on his desktop. Kirk,
relieved that Spock was now otherwise engaged, swiveled his chair to look at
his beautiful communications officer.
“Yes, Lieutenant?”
Uhura batted her eyelashes at her commander, more to see if
he was paying attention, but Kirk was focused.
“Captain, I have Admiral Komack from Starfleet Command. Priority One.”
Kirk nodded. This was
business, finally.
“On Screen.”
The screen that normally displayed the path of the stars
moving by the Enterprise
“Hello, Jim,” he said.
“Admiral,” responded Kirk.
He tapped a finger on the arm of his chair. What was this guy’s first name?
The rear lift doors made the thwocking sound that announced
an arrival or departure from the bridge, as common a sound to the bridge crew
as the beeps and bleeps from the equipment.
But this time Dr. Leonard McCoy stepped out from the lift and walked
toward the science station. Mr. Spock
indicated the Captain. The doctor turned
to listen.
The admiral continued.
“Jim, I need you and the Enterprise
Kirk looked at the screen in confusion.
“One moment, please Admiral.
Uhura, can you clean that up? I
can barely understand it.”
The bridge fell into that uncomfortable silence that Kirk
always could detect as something was perceived wrong.
“Captain, I’m sorry, but there was no problem. It was perfect. I think we all understood it.”
“Really?” Kirk said, not hiding his annoyance. “Crystal
Spock stood.
“Indeed, Captain. The
Admiral was quite specific with our orders.
We are to proceed to the Ledotian system as soon as possible, and join
with other Starfleet ships to confront a massing Romulan fleet of eighty or
more ships gathering at the border.
Correct, Admiral?”
“Very articulate, Mr. Spock.
Did you get that version, Captain?”
Kirk, now wondering what was going on, asked Uhura to replay
the Admiral’s message again. It was as
Spock said.
“Very article indeed, Mr. Spock.”
“Articulate, sir?”
Kirk looked at the young man who was sitting next to Sulu.
“That’s what I said, Mister….Mister.”
God, what was his name? The mop top haired kid?
“Chekov, sir. Pavel
Andreievich. Navigator. I’ve been sitting here three years. And you said article.”
“I made a mistake, Mister Chekov. I am allowed. I am human. And if there is anyone else on the bridge that
has something to say before we go to face the Romulans and try to prevent
interstellar war, please speak up now.”
Leonard McCoy stepped down.
“I will. Captain
Kirk, you are relieved of command. Via Starfleet regulations, as Chief Medical
Officer, I certify you are not fit for command.
Mr. Spock, do you concur?”
Kirk was stunned.
“Bones, I-”
Spock stepped down from his station.
“I concur, Doctor.
Admiral, as you have seen, the Captain remains disoriented and unable to
comprehend certain communications, plus the files you have reviewed from Dr. McCoy and my own
observations, the Captain should not be in command.”
The bridge crew merely sat in shock at what could be called
mutiny, or a coup, considering that Starfleet was in on it. They were each considering their options, or waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Kirk started to get up from his chair, but was restrained by
Spock. McCoy reached over to Kirk with a
hypospray. The Captain resisted but
Spock moved Kirk’s body toward the injector.
“Jim,” McCoy chided. “It’s for your own good.”
Kirk railed against the people betraying him right up
through the Admiral. He had heard “It’s
for your own good” too many times on too many worlds. He felt the spray enter him.
And then he opened his eyes.
On the bridge. Crew around him. Spock and Bones, the latter with a mild
grin. On the screen, Admiral Komack. The bridge was making all its normal noises.
And he had a headache.
“I know,” McCoy said. “Headache, right? Get some coffee into
you. The pain will disappear by the end of your shift, and you’ll be fine.”
The crew returned to business, letting out a group sigh. You never knew on this starship.
“Bones, what was-“
“Jim, I told you that you had not recovered fully from the
neurological torture the Zandarians inflicted on you. You may have felt fine, you sure told me that
enough, but there were levels in the brain that had not been treated. Every minute you were not in treatment,
lesions were moving through your brain destroying the myelin that allows
communication between your brain and body.
Your body ached, you couldn’t remember names and found communication
difficult, and you were over reacting.”
Spock nodded.
“Indeed, Captain. You
called me “Pointy Ears” at our last meeting.”
Kirk pondered that.
“I apologize, Spock.”
“Not necessary, Captain. In fact it made me quite anxious to speak
with Doctor McCoy to see what could be done.”
“Anxious?” McCoy asked. “An emotion, Spock?”
“A concern for the proper functioning of the ship, Doctor,
expressed in your primitive human language.
We contacted Admiral Komack, and he agreed to assist.”
“Jim, I really was concerned, “the Admiral said. “The Enterprise
“And me being stuck up overbearing Jim Kirk, you knew I
would do anything to keep this chair,” Jim said.
“It is where you belong, sair,” said Mr. Scott.
“So, no emergency?” Kirk said to the screen.
“Oh, the Romulans are there, but it’s their territory. Now if the Enterprise
The screen returned to the path of streaming stars. Spock returned to his station.
Kirk turned to his doctor.
“Bones, what was that? What was really happening to me?”
The Doctor sighed.
“The Zandarians use the mind control on their people and
their enemies, to make sure they had fewer enemies. You and the security staff were the first
humans they tried it on, and it gave you all a neurological disorder that as
close as I can pin it down acted like a disorder that was on Earth for many
centuries. Multiple Sclerosis, but a
very fast moving version. Progressive, it was called.”
Kirk nodded.
“I think I had a relative with that. A great-great aunt or something.”
McCoy uh-huhed.
“Yes, it was easily treated but the large pharmaceutical
companies of the time made more money treating and then inventing more symptoms
than finding a cure. It took the third
world war to put a stop to that. Whatever
was left decided to work for the benefit of all. They still made money but had all new
challenges. MS was forgotten. Until
today.”
“Until now,” Kirk said.
“Security staff, how are they?”
“You know, Jim, I was amazed. Here was a group of red shirted security
people beaming down with you, and none of them died. They all got the hypospray like you did, and
are fine. It was so easy to cure,
treating the brain as a separate organic being.”
McCoy slapped his Captain on the side, and for some reason
said “Buckle up!” and headed for the lift.
Kirk said for a moment, while the crew waited.
“Did I take naps?” he asked. “Here?”
“Yes, sir,” Sulu said, “every few hours.”
“They were from five point five four to twenty eight point
thirteen minutes in duration,” added Spock.
Kirk sighed.
“And how long has this been going on? Seems like time was
sort of off.”
“Seventeen days, three hours, twenty six minutes since we
departed Zandaria 5 and Dr. McCoy noticed the symptoms. You have been rather
uncooperative.”
Kirk rubbed his forehead. He should have been removed from
command weeks ago.
“My apologies, ladies and gentlemen. But right now, I feel
great. Mr. Spock shall we go wave the
flag?”
Spock considered that.
“There is no air in space to assist in the flag waving,
Captain, but perhaps if the Romulans know the flagship of the Federation is in
the area, they will remain on their best behavior.”
Kirk agreed.
“Mr.Chekov, come around to 92.62.7. Mr. Sulu, warp four. Let’s go.”
A yeoman came over and gave the Captain a coffee, just the
way he liked it.
It was all just the way he liked it. He was fortunate, his era was fortunate, that
the diseases of the past that caused so much suffering to countless millions
would remain there. In the past.
The Enterprise
