Star Trek Into Darkness Page 0,31

arm. Concern replaced exasperation as he lowered his voice.

“The hell you are.”

For just an instant, McCoy saw something unguarded and real in his friend’s face. Sorrow, perhaps, or regret, or both. Then the instinctive cockiness returned full strength as Kirk shrugged indifferently.

“You wanna examine me? Examine me. But not until we’re under way.”

McCoy sighed heavily. “And the point of giving you a checkup when we’re already halfway to who knows where would be what?” His frustration threatened to boil over. “I may do it anyway, just to satisfy myself.”

Kirk had to grin. “Satisfy yourself about what? Whether I’m crazy or not?”

“No, I already know the answer to that one.” He gestured. “C’mon, move, Captain. You’re holding up the queue.”

With a nod to one ensign and a word to another, Kirk checked himself onto the shuttle. McCoy was right behind him, but delayed in order to examine the first ensign’s eyes, which struck the doctor as unnaturally dilated. While the two of them argued over what the ensign might have ingested or imbibed the previous night, Kirk wandered deeper into the compact vessel. He was not surprised to find his science officer already seated and ready for liftoff.

“Status report, Mr. Spock?”

“I am pleased to report that I am well, Captain, and that I have completed all appropriate pre-departure—”

“Not you,” an exasperated Kirk muttered. “I can see your status well enough. I meant the ship.” He slipped into the empty seat near the Vulcan.

“The Enterprise should be ready for departure by the time we arrive. I anticipate no delays in leaving orbit.”

Kirk nodded approvingly and would have continued but was interrupted as McCoy arrived laden with a handful of medical instrumentation.

“Hey.” Kirk leaned to one side in his seat as the doctor, utilizing a small scanner, commenced his examination. “I said you could do this once we were under way.”

McCoy replied without lifting his eye from the device he was passing across Kirk’s face. “Technically, as soon as the last door closes, we’re officially under way. You want to lodge a complaint about my reasoning, file it with Starfleet Medical once we return.” The device slid downward. “In the meantime, open your mouth and stick out your tongue so I can scan your teeth.”

As a reluctant but defeated Kirk complied, Spock embraced the opportunity to convey something he had meant to say ever since they had left Marcus’s office.

“Captain. I would be remiss were I not to thank you for requesting my reinstatement to the Enterprise. While I could as easily have remained with Captain Abbott’s ship or requested assignment to another vessel, my preference is to serve aboard the Enterprise in the company of a crew with whom I am already familiar.”

McCoy spoke without looking up from his work. “If you’re going to say something about ‘familiarity breeding contempt,’ I may be forced to make a note in your official medical record.”

“I would not think of doing such a thing, Doctor. The very notion leads me to suggest that after you are through examining the captain, you might consider examining yourself for symptoms of paranoia.”

“It’s not paranoia if the object of one’s concern is omnipresent.”

Ignoring this, Spock returned his attention to Kirk. “It would also be remiss of me if I did not now strongly object to our mission parameters.”

Turning away from the new device that McCoy was pressing to his neck, Kirk glared at his science officer. “Of course it would,” he said dryly. “Consider your objection so noted.”

“There is more.”

“And he thinks I’m paranoid,” McCoy muttered, but under his breath.

“While I harbor only the ultimate disdain and contempt for the individual known as John Harrison, and desire strongly that he receive the punishment due him, I must point out that there is no Starfleet regulation that condemns a man to die without a trial—no matter how egregious his offenses. On a completely different matter of concern, I must say again that preemptively firing one or more torpedoes at the Klingon homeworld goes against every—”

McCoy removed the reading device and gaped at Kirk. “Wait a minute. I was told this was a priority operation, but—we’re firing torpedoes at the Klingons?”

“No—technically, yes, but no. Because we’re actually—look, Bones, it’ll be explained in detail once we’re at warp and clear of Earth’s system.” Angry at himself for having disclosed a portion of their still-secret mission, Kirk muttered an irritated response to his first officer. “Look, you yourself said the area’s uninhabited. And there’s only going to be one casualty. And in case