Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five - Solution Found

It had been two days and the Council Members were still sedated in sickbay. Bones had been keeping them in the private room that Jim was always in whenever he was injured. The morning of the third day found him standing outside of Jim and Spock’s quarters waiting for them to answer the door. The door opened to reveal a tired looking Jim holding Grayson.

“Bones,” he said on a yawn. “What do you need?” He stepped back to let his friend in.

“I think I might have found an answer to the problem we discussed three days ago.”

“Really,” Jim said as he walked over to Spock and switched boys. He walked over, sat down and started feeding Sarek.

Bones averted his eyes not wanting to see his friend this way and also so Spock didn’t go all primitive on him for looking at his mate. “Yeah, I figured that we could discuss this with Council Member Etrim, Omal and the Admirals.”

“Sure. Spock honey could you call them?” Jim asked looking up from Sarek at his husband.

Spock nodded and went over to the comm. After a few minutes he came back and told them that they were on their way, they sat in silence and waited for the others to show. Spock handed Grayson to Bones as he went and got ready for the day. Bones bounced the boy on his knee and spent some time cuddling with him. “I talked with Scotty about having the procedure done.”

Jim looked up from Sarek, “Really?”

Bones nodded without looking up, “Yeah, we wanted to have our own children. We decided that before we left the planet that I would undergo the procedure.”

“You guys thought this through?” Jim asked. He knew how emotional painful it was for Bones not to have his daughter with him. 

“We did. This is what we want.”

“It’s permanent you know.”

Bones snorted, “No kidding, Jimmy. I read everything and talked to Sam. I want to do this and Scotty is supporting me on it.”

“Well, as long as you are sure about this then I’m here for you.”

“Thanks, kid,” they looked up when the door chimed.

“Time to get the show on the road,” Jim said and answered the door. He came back with Omal, Etrim, Chris and Jon and they all took a seat. Jon took the seat at Jim’s desk and brought it over. Since Jim’s quarters were larger he had two couches but it still wasn’t enough seating for everyone. Chris since everyone knew was in a relationship with Jon, sat on his lap. Omal took the other chair and Etrim sat on the couch with Jim but put as much space between them as possible. Spock came out and Jim stood up so Spock could have his seat on the couch while he sat on his lap, still holding Sarek. Once the seating arrangements had been taken care they looked at Bones.

“So Spock has told us that you have a plan,” Archer said as he wrapped his arms tighter around Pike.

“Yes, I was thinking about what the parasite said to us before we knocked it out.”

“Go on,” Pikes said as he leaned back into his fiancé.

“He had said that they could not be removed without killing the host.”

“Indeed,” Spock said.

“Well, if you kill the host then the parasite will remove itself and go looking for a new host. What if we stop their hearts long enough that the parasites leave and then restart them?” Archer suggested.

“Admiral, that is very risky. It is possible to do, but there is no guarantee that it will be a success and if not then we have a dead Council Member to explain,” McCoBones said to them.

“Indeed, do you have any other suggestions, Doctor?” Spock said to him.

“No, but you believe that if we perform this procedure then it will cause the parasite to evacuate from the host?” Bones asked him.

“Yes, Doctor. The parasites will be vulnerable without a host thereby easier to catch.”

“As much as I want more information on them, I think it best to kill the parasites. If we try and fail to capture them, then there is a chance that they will try to use one of the crew or even Jim as a host. Capture is too risky,” Pike said. At the thought of Jim or the kits being in danger, Spock tightened his hold on his mate.

“Indeed, Admiral Pike. That would be the most prudent course of action.”

“How long will it take to set this up?”

“Two hours,” Bones said as he shifted a fussy Grayson in his hold.

“Council Member Etrim, do we have your permission to perform the procedure to save your fellow Councilmen?” Jim asked him.

“Yes, Captain. If this is the only way to do so then go ahead.”

“Alright, so we will all meet in sickbay for this in two hours. Agreed?” Pike asked as he looked at them all.

“Agreed.” They all said.

“Good, until then gentlemen.” Pike stood up from his fiancé’s lap and they both left Jim’s quarters.

Bones stood up and gave Grayson back to Spock, “See you guys in two.”

“Thanks, Bones. See you.”

“Indeed, Doctor,” Spock said as he took Grayson.

Omal and Etrim stood and bowed to them both. “If you wish, you can leave the boys with Nyota. She said she will be off duty by then.”

“Thanks, Omal. Let her know we will drop them off on our way.”

“Of course, Jim. See you in sickbay.”

The door shut on the two Betazed. Jim turned to Spock, “I hope the hell this works.”

“I as well. I as well.”

They turned their attention to their boys and tried to distract themselves until it was time.

**********

After dropping the boys off with Uhura, they made their way to sickbay and a hopefully good outcome. They walked in to find everyone already there. Carol and M’Benga had been called in to assist with the procedure; Pike was going to be there as well also armed with a phaser to help Spock and Jim kill the parasite as it came out. They figured that they could study the dead parasite and see if they could find a way of avoiding this in the future.

Bones wheeled Ograi in first and the others followed him into the surgical room. They were in there for about ten minutes when they heard Pikes phaser fire twice, then twice more. Suddenly Itaada sat up on her bed screaming. Her eyes were still closed meaning she was not conscious. Suddenly something shot out of her mouth and onto her blanket. The others were still in dealing with Ograi and Archer whipped out his phaser. The parasite had two long tails coming from the top of its head and six legs that ended in hooks. It scuttled quickly down towards Itaada’s feet and leaped onto the floor. It started moving towards Jim; Archer fired, he hit the parasite head on but it still kept going. He fired again as Spock grabbed Jim out of the things way, it hit the parasite again this time it took off two of its legs. They all backed away from the creature and Spock whipped out his phaser and they both fired twice more before the creature stopped moving. Spock fired a few more times to make sure the thing was no longer alive. He knew that it was dead, since he could no longer sense it but he was still angry that it went after his mate. Jim came over and started to rub his arm and send calming waves through their bond.

Spock  put away his phaser, moved over and grabbed a lab specimen bag and tongs. He walked over to the unmoving parasite; he picked it up and sealed it in the bag. He set them down on a tray table and moved back over to his mate. “T’hy’la, are you alright?”

“Yes, thanks to you and Dad.”

“Damn those things move fast,” Archer said wiping a hand over his face.

They all turned as the door opened and Bones was wheeling Ograi out with Pike behind him holding the other parasite in a specimen container. “We heard phaser fire, is everyone okay?” he asked.

“Yep, when you shot yours, Itaada shot up screaming and hers popped out. It went after Jimmy. Took four hits to kill the damn thing,” Archer had moved over and was standing there with his arm around his son’s shoulder.

“You okay, Jim?” Pike asked him.

“Yeah, I’m good. Dad and Spock saved me.” He leaned into his dad’s embraced and smiled at his mate. He pushed as much love and gratitude through their bond at him. He could feel the relief and love flooding back at him.

“Well, that’s something. Now they are both parasite free, I can just allow the sedative to wear off.”

“You’re right, Bones. Maybe when they wake, we can get more information from them,” Jim said. He watched as Spock took the other specimen bag and set it with the first.

“I will take these down to the lab, Captain,” he said to his mate.

“Of course, Commander. Let me know what you find,” he slipped back into his role as Captain and straightened up from leaning on Archer.

Spock nodded and grabbed both bags and left. Once he had left sickbay Jim leaned back against Archer.

“You really okay, Jimmy?” Archer asked him, his brows forward with concern.

“Yeah, dad.” He rubbed his hand over his face, “Never been so scared before. All I could think of was if it had gotten to me, would it cause me to hurt someone.”

“Well kid, it’s over and now all we have to do is wait,” Pike said as he walked over to his boy and wrapped his arm around him as well. “We’ll protect you, son.”

“Thanks, mom,” Jim smirked.

“Brat,” Pike said affectionately. “We’re going to head down and contact Starfleet and talk to them about this possible new threat. At some point we may need to go to Betazed and have a look to make sure there aren’t more of these things.”

“Right. I’m going to go get the kids and have some tea to calm myself down. Good job, guys. Omal, Etrim; would you like to come and have some tea?”

“Of course we would, Captain,” Etrim said and Omal nodded.

“We’ll fill out some reports and let you know when they wake,” Bones said as he and the others moved Ograi back to his biobed.

“Later, Bones,” he said and they walked out of sickbay. Archer and Pike nodded to the doctors before making their way back to their quarters and another call to the other Admirals; life was never boring on the Enterprise they thought. 

Vulcan translation:

T’hy’la - friend-lover-lifelong companion, blood brother/sister; soulmate; soul-brother/sister