Aviophobia (Leonard McCoy)

21. Space Jump

Less than thirty seconds passed while Leonard and Kate held onto each other, but it felt like a lifetime before they heard Jim say, "Bones, Kate, Scotty's on that ship and has taken them down for right now.  I'm headed your way to talk to Khan."

Leonard pulled away from her enough to kiss her before resting his forehead on hers and saying, "I wasn't kidding earlier, we need to find a different job."

Kate laughed and shook her head as she pulled away from Leonard, and was startled to see Khan staring directly at them.  She glared over at him for a moment, which seemed to prompt him to say, "You can rejoice in your momentary safety, but Marcus's ship will come back online and he will pick up where he left off."

Kate felt Leonard grab her hand and he began to pull her away from Khan.  She followed along willingly, not really wanting to spend much more time with him.  There was something deeply unsettling about how much attention he was paying to her, and she was growing tired of having him in med bay.

Leonard got them far enough away and said softly, "He may be right, but if he's not we've still got to figure out what we can about him."

Kate nodded and they both went back to the machine that was running tests on Khan's blood.  As they sat there for a moment, Kate thought about the consequences of how quickly his cells regenerated and asked, "Leonard, do we have any tribbles left on board?"

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why on earth would you want one of those again after what happened last time?"

Kate shook her head and explained, "Not a live one, I know Scotty got rid of them, but did we save any of the ones that had died while we were studying them?"

Realization crossed through Leonard's features as he nodded and said, "We do, I'll go grab one," then rushed off to a different part of med bay.

As Kate sat there waiting on him, the doors to med bay opened and Jim came through.  He briefly acknowledge her, then went straight to Khan and said, "Tell me everything you know about that ship."

Khan answered bluntly, "Dreadnought class.  Two times the size, three times the speed.  Advanced weaponry.  Modified for minimal crew.  Unlike most Federation vessels, it's built solely for combat."

While Khan was speaking, Leonard had joined her again, dead tribble in hand.  She punched a few buttons on the machine to stop the tests that were running so they could get access to Khan's blood to inject it into the tribble, both of them paying attention to what was happening between Jim and Khan.

Jim took in what Khan said, then said in an emotional voice, "I will do everything I can to make you answer for what you did," then finished softly by saying, "But right now I need your help."

Khan raised an eyebrow and asked, "In exchange for what?"

Jim sighed before saying, "You said you'd do anything for your crew.  I can guarantee their safety."

Khan scoffed, a sarcastic smile filling his face, as he said, "Captain, you can't even guarantee the safety of your own crew."

A dark look crossed over Jim's features, but Kate was pulled back toward the task at hand as the machine running Khan's blood test started beeping loudly.  Leonard pulled out the sample as she handed him a syringe that he could fill with Khan's platelets.

As Leonard inserted the needle into the tribble, Jim called over to them, sounding frustrated, "Bones, Kate, what are you guys doing with that tribble?"

Kate turned to face him and said, "The tribble's dead, so we're injecting Khan's platelets into the deceased tissue."

Leonard sat the tribble down and finished explaining, "Khan's cells regenerate like nothing we've ever seen, and we want to know why."