Title: Doctor's Logs 20 Author: Istannor Series: TOS Part: 1/1 Rating: [PG 13] Codes: Violence and ritual cannibalism(Really) Summary: McCoy's mouth gets him in trouble. Disclaimer: These are the characters of Paramount and Viacom, they own them I only check 'em out from the library. I promise to bring 'em back. Doctor's Logs 20 Stardate 2025 I am dictating this from my own Biobed in sickbay. This is the first time I have been my own customer, and I now realize how good my staff is. They saved my leg, and probably what little sanity I have left after our escapade on Charon. Charon, I should have known something was wrong with a planet named after the gate to hell. Someone should've sealed the damn gates with all the inmates on the other side. They let everyone else out of sickbay except me and Jim. Jim is in isolation until we can be sure he can tolerate light and exposure to regular germs, since it turned out that he was the one that had the most exposure to the dear people of Charon. He wasn't hurt worse than they could fix, but they refuse to give me the details. I can't say myself because the last thing I remember is his face telling me to hold on. I can remember telling him not to blame himself, that it wasn't his fault, it was mine. I could see he didn't believe it then and I doubt that he believes me now, but it's true. The people of Charon are very efficient. The people of Charon are very frugal. The people of Charon are fucking cannibals. There, I've said it. Goddammit, they are cannibals and they eat their dead and I was going to be damned if I ate the flesh of a dead person. That is recycling gone one damn step too far. How was I suppose to know how I would react to something like that? It's not something that comes up in a quiz in Starfleet medical. Excuse me, Leonard McCoy, what would be your reaction to the ritual eating of a dead person for a religious ceremony in their memory? Would you: one, sit down and chow down; two, barf; or three refuse adamantly, insult your hosts and get everyone thrown in the hoosegow for offending the culture of an entire planet? This is me talking, you know it was number three. I think I could have taken it, maybe, if it had been an adult, but it wasn't. It was the twelve year old nephew of the Charon Emperor. He had died in a freak accident and we were just in time to celebrate his passing with a banquet. Main course, nephew. I balked, Jim tried to get me out of trouble, and they ended up putting the whole landing party in detention. The Federation Envoy was spared the indignity, because he ate up. Shoot. How do I get into these messes? I was filled with righteous indignation as they led all five of us to the cells. Spock was on board the ship where Kirk had left him. We knew the banquet was going to involve meat and Kirk didn't want Spock to have to be put in the position of having to refuse. Nobody told us what kind of meat it was, so the rest of us went down there like stupid cows. I was boiling mad and ranting at the top of my voice when we got to the cell about the indignity of it all and the stupidity of Starfleet. Jim hadn't said a word after they told us we would be detained other than to request that they let him speak to his ship. They refused. He asked the envoy to contact Spock and followed the guards out of the banquet hall down the long corridors until they led us to a large room that was barred on all sides. They locked the doors and left us there to fume. At least I was fuming. Kirk was quiet, and the rest of the crew was watching him. We had Sulu, Ensign Glover of Cultural Anthropology, and Lt. Jacks of Communications with us. Finally, I quieted down and realized that my big mouth had gotten us in trouble. Jim was sitting over against the wall looking out the window like it was a Sunday in the park. I started feeling like a fool, but I still didn't think I could do what they wanted me to do, so it was a dilemma. I walked over to Jim and sat down beside him. "I got us in a pickle." "You could say that." I waited for something else to follow, but nothing did. "I'm sorry." "About what, Doctor. Making a fool of yourself, embarrassing your ship, the Federation, or me? What in particular or you apologizing for? " "Jim, you can't honestly tell me you were going to participate." "When in Rome..." "You are a heartless bastard." I was livid. Kirk turned to me and suddenly I felt about one centimeter tall. "You are correct. I am a heartless bastard because I would have eaten the ritual flesh of an already dead child to assure his place in heaven as is the custom on this world. That ritual consumption would have spared us being detained and while I may not agree with their beliefs, I would have honored them in their own house as long as it did not risk my ship or crew. I most probably would have then quietly returned to my cabin and thrown up for the entire night. You, however, decided to stand on your own beliefs and risk yourself, my crew, and the prestige of the Federation. You are right, I am heartless." He said every word softly that I was the only person to hear them, and then he turned to look out the window again. We didn't talk to each other for the rest of the day. He made sure the other crew was comfortable and then he called one of the guards in and asked to speak to the Emperor's Liaison. They took him away and we waited anxiously for him to come back. I knew I really screwed up bad and by then I had figured it out that the man I had called a heartless bastard was our best hope to get the hell off the planet. I never said I was completely emotionally mature. When Jim came back in, he made us gather round. "Gentlemen, it seems that our disruption to the ceremony has endangered the immortal soul of a member of the Imperial family. We are required to make amends for our grievous error and everyone will play their parts precisely to the letter. " He looked straight in my face. "Do we understand one another?" What do you think I said? "Good. The Enterprise will not be allowed to beam us out. This is a full-fledged member of the Federation and we are bound by their laws and customs while on their world." I knew that, but I can be stupid, so I needed to hear it again. "Each of us will have a task. They have stipulated that none of the tasks will necessarily threaten our lives or compromise Federation security. Each of them is from a part of their Book of Souls, and we must finish each task for the child's soul to cross over since we rejected his offering of his flesh." "These are the tasks." He held out sheets of parchment. "I need to decide who is best for which task, so look them over and tell me where you think your strength lies." Let me cut to the chase. There were five tasks muffled in words of mumbo jumbo, but it came down to a show of: 1. Loyalty 2. Bravery 3. Intelligence 4. Spirituality 5. Self- sacrifice I had no idea how to show those things to people that didn't know us. I think that is when it really hit me how much trouble I had bought for us. To everyone's credit, no one said a word of complaint to me, then or since. We were busy trying to figure out how to demonstrate what we were to the Charons, but it turns out they were the ones with the plan. They came in and got us all the next morning and led us out to a giant field. Two guards grabbed each of us and led us off by ourselves. I found out what happened to everyone else much later after I woke up in sickbay to find myself still alive. Sulu they led to a clearing and tied him to a stake by a chain on his waist. They gave him a stick and left him there alone. They told him, if he failed his test, they would kill everyone in the landing party. They took Ensign Glover to a carved out basin and sat her in the middle of it, and told her if she left, her Captain would die. They took Lt. Jacks into a cave where a flame in a metal holder flickered dully in the dark. They told him that it was the flame of faith, and if his desire was great enough, it would burst forth; if it died, so would we. They took me back to the banquet hall and told me to eat, or leave. It was all the same to them, they said, but if I left they would eat the flesh of my Captain. Jim still hasn't told us where they took him or what they said. Sulu fought in that field for four hours. They sent five men against him until he could barely lift his arms to fight. He remembers the final blow coming down towards his head, but he knew he was going out first and he had failed. He saw a blur and the blow never fell. He woke up on the ship. Ensign Glover stood in the middle of the basin as it filled up with ice cold water. She stood there when it hit her waist. She stood there when it hit her chest. She stayed there when she had to begin to tread water. She stayed there until she felt the cold seep out the last of the strength from her limbs until she felt herself sink into the water. She says she remembered being happy because she knew she had not failed. She woke up on the ship. Lt. Jacks sat in the cave for hours trying to have enough faith to make the flame burst forth. Nothing happened, then he said he felt a presence in the cave with him. He looked around to see something shaggy rearing up out of the dark to the side of the flame. He wanted to run, but he knew that if he ran, we would all be killed, but he thought if he died, we might be killed, too. He said he never wished for anything harder than he wished for that flame to flare, right then. It didn't. Whatever it was, started shuffling towards him from out of the dark, and he didn't have any weapons. He couldn't leave and he couldn't fail, so he did the only thing he could think of, he ran and grabbed the flame. It burned the mess out of his hands. He threw it at the thing coming at him out of the dark and hit it dead center. The fur on the beast burst into flames and sent the thing careening around the cave in pain. It hit him a glancing blow and knocked him unconscious. He woke up on the ship. My story is simple; at least at first it was. I swallowed my pride and ate. I was feeling very self-congratulatory while I waited for the marching band, but nothing happened. Everyone just sat and watched me eat, and then they turned their backs on me. I had no idea what to do, so I got up and wandered from the room to find Jim and the others to let them know that I had saved our bacon and it was time for us to get the hell off the planet. No-one would tell me where anyone was. No-one would help me contact the ship. They treated me like I was invisible. I walked back to the clearing where they had led us the first time and called but no-one answered. That is when I heard the screaming from the cave. The creature was in so much pain that its bellows were loud enough to lead me to it. I found it dead outside the cave; its fur was still smoking. I ran inside to see if anyone was in there and that is when I found Jacks and Jim. Jacks, I could see was unconscious, but I couldn't find any major injuries. Jim had a knot the size of my fist on the side of his face and was covered in blood. It was dark in there and I think I panicked. I pulled Jacks out and then I ran back in to get Jim. He was stirring a little but I was afraid to let him move under his own steam, so I kept begging him to let me pull him out. I had checked his neck and back for signs of fractures already and I needed to get him out where I could see him. That was the only thing on my mind. I needed to see him and find out where the blood was coming from. My mind was completely on my task when I felt the first searing jolt of pain in my leg. That damn thing wasn't all the way dead. It clamped down on my leg so hard I thought I would die right then. My scream must have brought Jim up from the last of his daze, but I was too busy trying to not get eaten to notice it. All I remember is when the pressure on my leg let up, Jim's face came into view and told me to hold on. I woke up on the ship. Spock has come in twice to speak with me to debrief me. Neither time has been cordial. Uhura, Scotty, and my special friend from engineering have all been in. When I asked them where Jim was, no one would tell me at first. I was pretty out of it for a few days, but I can remember telling them to go get Jim, and tell him it wasn't his fault. They have promised me they will let me see him tomorrow. Spock won't talk to me about Jim at all. What have I done?