Star Trek: Uncharted Territories

Chapter Seven

"I am merely curious as to why you were on the ground a moment ago. It seems illogical to be sitting during a time like this."

Bones suppressed an eye roll, "Yes sir, I understand that completely. Now, do you need something from Sick-Bay?" Bones turned to face Spock full on.

He shook his head once, and turned and walked silently away. McCoy reentered the Sick-Bay, and checked on Toney. She was cleaned before being laid to sleep under the healing dressing, and her small face was battered and bruised. Her long brown hair was strewn around her in an unkept way, and one of the nurses was brushing it with a sterilized brush. She reminded Bones of Hadley, how sick and pitiful she looked whenever she arrived on the ship.

"Status report?" Asked Bones, grabbing his PADD.

"Liver is back in functioning order, so is the digestive system. She is recovering, Dr. McCoy. Her pulse is still uneven, but not as slow as yesterday." The Nurse said, looking up.

"Very well. Go to the mess hall and eat, Nurse. I'll sit with her." Bones dismissed, and she reluctantly left the Sick-Bay. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the company of Toney.

Bones sat down next to her, much like he did when Hadley first arrived. And like when she did, he spoke to her. "Hey Toney, I'm Dr. McCoy. It looks like you're recovering very well. You're lucky, you know. My partner Hadley carried you to safety. She's counting on me to keep you safe, so whenever you feel like waking up, you just wake up. Does that sound okay to you?" Bones murmured quietly to her.

He heard the beeping on the comm. and hurried over, pressing the button. "McCoy here." His voice sounded dead, emotionless.

"McCoy, it's Kirk. We're about to land on this planet and recover two kids who said they've been trapped. Get this, 9 years. Are you coming down with us?"

"I can't leave Toney, Captain."

"Very well, we'll bring them to you."

That happened three other times in the next week, and by the time they had a good trail to follow, they had collected 8 kids, not including Toney and Imogene and the other kids from the cave. They were keeping them near the holodeck, where Yeoman Trisha Wolfe was keeping a close eye on them. Bones had given them all thorough examinations after they were washed, and nothing was seriously wrong with them.

Even Toney was getting better. She had started staying awake for longer periods of time, and even could eat solid foods by the 7th day. Bones took the dressings off her, and administered daily shots instead. She was nervous around the water, so Spock brought her a cup of milk everyday per Bones's request. She was also very shy, and hardly spoke to Bones despite his many attempts.

"Bones!" Kirk ran into the Sick-Bay, startling Leonard.

"Captain." Bones stood quickly, setting Toney's book down he was reading to her.

"Can we speak in your quarters?"

"Yeah, of course. Excuse me a moment, Toney." Bones stepped out of the Sick-Bay and walked to his cabin, stepping inside with Kirk right behind him.

"We're hot on a trail. The last boy we picked up even gave us a name."

"A name?"

"Of the scientist that has been kidnapping kids for the past 20 years. K'aDohata." Kirk pronounced the best he could.

"K'aDohata." Bones repeated. "Did they know why he was taking them?"

"Yes, get this... He was kicked out of the Klingon Science Institute because he was caught doing illegal experimentation on the Elders. Turns out he has this bad disease, and he's been trying to find the cure. When he started the experiments on the kids, though, he got carried away. He was curious about how other life forms reacted to the drugs his researchers had created. He's not working with the Klingon, in fact, if he ever showed his face in their territory again they'd blow them out of the sky, the whole crew of them."