Iota Cassiopalae 4 Stardate 2258.46

Scarlett knew something was terribly wrong. She pulled out her pocket communicator and contacted Quinn. "Lt. Quinn, Lt. Fox is engaged with a being that looks like Kirk. She's on level 6. It is urgent that you get to her as quickly as possible."

The antidote was ready and she and Spock watched as Dr. McCoy filled a needle with it.

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Kaia knew that this Kirk wasn't her Kirk. He never would have attacked her...never would have tried to hurt her. But even though she knew this was an impostor, she hated having to fight him. Saehir had been well trained by the Tal Shiar in hand to hand combat and martial arts and she could hold her own in a fight. She needed to get this one down.

This Kirk was stronger than the other Kirk. Stronger and more resilient. He was still ill, from what he did not know but even as her blows landed on him they didn’t really hurt him. Not as they should anyway. She kicked and struck at him. Used her hand as a blade on his throat but it was like his bones were stronger.

When his punches hit her it as like his fists were made of stone. She managed to flip him end over end but he got right back up. She was faster than he was but he blocked her forearm strike with his and then struck her stomach. The blow stunned her and then he rained punches at her chest. She was staggered and in pain and as she tried to fight him off he picked her up and threw her bodily against the wall.

“I love you, but what is love without trust! You, always holding back,” he said angrily as he came to straddle her. He slapped away her hands as his own hands went around her throat. He hadn’t squeezed yet but she knew he was going to.

Kaia fought hard and she moved fast. It was strange for her to be fighting the man she loved like this, even though she knew it wasn't really him. She kicked and punched him, but when he hit her his fists felt like they were made of stone. As he hit her in the stomach she knew she was in trouble. She was momentarily stunned and he began to hit her over and over again. She tried her best to fight him off, but he suddenly picked her up and threw her against the wall. She tied to get up, but he had come over to straddle her. She suddenly felt his hands around her throat. She truly began to think that she was going to be killed by the form of the man she loved. She fought back tears.

"Do you love me now?" Kirk asked with crazed eyes. He was sweating profusely like he had a fever. He lowered his head down to her lips. "I don't hear you!" He said in a dark, playful voice. Then he began to squeeze. His hands were very strong and through she clawed at his hands and tried to pry them off of her neck, his hands continued to squeeze. He felt her legs kicking and her lips began to turn blue. "Die, die, die!!!" Kick said. Nathan had come up behind them and he didn't hesitate to fire. Kirk was hit in the back by the stun setting. He shifted but didn't stop. He was hit again and then again. On the fourth time he keeled over and fell beside Kaia.

Nathan rushed over and fell onto his knees as air rushed through Kaia's throat. She gasped and then gasped again. Kirk hadn't crushed her windpipe at least, Nathan thought. "I need a medical team to my location immediately," Nathan said, "Lt. Fox is injured. I also need a security team for...for The Captain," Nathan said.

The medical team arrived within a minute. 1 Nurse and 1 tech, both women. The tech began to work on Kaia's throat as the Nurse looked over Kirk. "Don't touch him!" Nathan said urgently. "We need a stasis field grav stretcher," Nathan said. "I'll go get it," THe tech said and she took off down the hall. The Nurse shifted to tend to Kaia. "It's going to be alright Kaia. You're going to be alright," Nathan said as he saw her eyes begin to flutter.

Kaia's eyes widened in fear as Kirk's hands suddenly began to squeeze around her neck. She began to panic as she struggled to breathe and she began to thrash and claw at him. Things began to start to go dark when suddenly she heard the distinctive sound of a phaser set on stun being fired. She saw Nathan and heard the phaser fire four times before Kirk's hands loosened around her throat and her fell beside her. Kaia gasped and struggled to get air to her lungs. Her head was spinning and her entire body ached. She was vaguely aware of people around her, but as she looked over at Nathan everything suddenly went dark and she lost consciousness.

The doctor watched as Kirk, his friend's lifesigns grew weaker and weaker. He had a look of obvious relief when he saw Scarlet and Spock enter sickbay. "What is the Captain's status doctor?" Spock asked. "He's dying Spock! I'm a doctor not a miracle worker!" McCoy spat. "Unknown parasites, unknown planets! Space exploration is nothing but death and darkness!" He added as he held a device to Kirk's chest.

"We have a hypo prepared with the parasitic antibodies Doctor," Spock said. "Spock, we don't even know if it will work or what it will do to him. It might help but it might kill him! We don't even know if the dose you prepared with do anything or too much," the doctor said. But Scarlet knew the signs of a dying man when she saw them. She was watching the status screen above the bed Kirk laid in.

Scarlett knew the moment she looked at Kirk that he was dying and that if they didn't do something and do it now that they were going to lose him. She looked at Dr. McCoy as he questioned them about the antidote.

"Doctor, either we can try something now, or we can stand here and watch him die. We have only minutes at this point. I am confident in this antidote and I need you to administer it now," she said as she handed him the hypo.

McCoy turned toward them and took the hypo spray. He had a dubious look that seemed more of a glare for both her and Spock. He moved back over to Kirk and pressed it to his neck. The hypo injected the antibodies.

Nothing appeared to change at first. And then things began to rise. His heart rate, blood pressure, everything. McCoy sighed a sigh of relief. "It appears to be working," McCoy said in a flat tone.

"Excellent doctor, let me know if that changes,:" Spock said as he went up to Kirk. Spock put his hand over Kirk's and gave it a gentle squeeze then turned and stepped past everyone and moved out of sickbay toward the turbo lift.

Scarlett stood next to Spock as Dr. McCoy injected the antibodies into Kirk's body. She held her breath anxiously as she waited for any signs that it was working. Then, to her relief, Kirk's vitals began to improve. She knew then that he was going to be alright. She watched as Spock approached Kirk and put his hand over his. He appeared to give the Captain's hand a squeeze before turning and heading out of sickbay.

Just at that moment, Lt. Quinn brought Kaia in. She was unconscious still and a nurse quickly directed him to place her on one of the beds. Scarlett looked at Quinn in alarm. "What happened?"

And then they brought in the 'other' Kirk on a grav gurney. He was inside a stasis field and they brought it beside another one of the beds then shifted him onto one. McCoy had them remove the gurney and then once they were clear he erected a force field around the bed.

IOnce the 'other' kirk was detected by the bed, his vitals had come up and they were very different than what a human's should be. "What in god's name is he?" McCoy asked to no one specific. He didn't look long though before he moved over to Kaia and began to work on her. "Nurse, bring the dermal regenerator. And give her 20ccs of axonol and 30ccs of vasokin," McCoy said. "Yes doctor the nurse said and prepared the hypos for him.

Scarlett's eyes widened when she saw the other 'Kirk' brought in. She glanced between the two Kirks, but the moment the new Kirk's vitals were brought up she knew he wasn't human. While Dr. McCoy went over to treat Kaia, Scarlett pulled out her communicator. 

"Spock, could you please come back to sickbay?"

When Spock came back in she could see his visible alarm and curiosity about what he was seeing. "So, what I'm about to say is going to sound crazy, but that's what we've been dealing with today. We know that the planet is made up of parasites. When we first landed on the planet Kirk touched the soil. If the soil is a living thing maybe it was able to take on Kirk's shape."

"Perhaps these parasites can mimic a larger life form. Change themselves down to the DNA level," Spock said. "Fascinating, they may require more study," Spock said. "But, we must remember, it was us who were trespassing on their world. I do not recommend we go down there again. Can you, work with what you have Scarlett?" Spock asked.

"I absolutely do not recommend that anyone else go down to the planet's surface," Scarlett agreed. She looked over at the fake Kirk. "I believe so. I will take some samples to try and confirm what it is we dealing with."

Samples were drawn from the fake Kirk and over the next few hours Scarlett studied them in the lab. Finally, she called Spock, Dr. McCoy, Commander Turner, and Lt. Quinn to the lab. Elyse had been brought up to date on what was happening by Spock and Dr. McCoy. 

"So, I've studied the samples taken from the fake Kirk and it does appear that the form is completely made up of a parasite. These parasites can mimic larger life forms, clearly in great detail. Knowing that this creature is dangerous we cannot allow it to remain on the ship. I could give it a dose of the antibody and that would kill it, but I'm not certain that killing it is the right answer. As Spock pointed out earlier, we were trespassing on its world. My vote would be to beam it back down to the planet's surface, but my vote is not the only one that matters here."

Elyse was quiet a moment as she considered everything Scarlett had just said before she spoke up. "I agree that beaming it back down to the planet's surface is the right thing to do."

Nathan was there as well as the other higher end officers. "I disagree, we'd be subjecting him too a lifetime of solitude. Whoever or whatever he is, he was a mistake. Since he's dying now, I say let him die. It would be cruel to leave him on a world alone," Nathan said. Some of the other officers gave their opinions and some went one way or the other. The decision was up to Spock.

Spock looked at the officers and at the Doctor. "Well, I.." He began but the fake Kirk had woken up. Kaia, who lay beside him woke up to. Kirk sat up but his color was wan and he looked worse, more sick than he had before. "Kaia..." He said and he reached out toward her. His hand touched the force field. It flickered and he jerked his hand back.

"Kaia..." He said softly. As if no one else was there.

Kaia had slowly regained consciousness. Her neck was bruised and her throat was tender, but thankfully her windpipe had not been crushed. Her body also ached, especially her chest and stomach from where she had been hit extremely hard. She began to realize that she was actually in sickbay. She could hear some voices talking and then she suddenly heard Kirk's. However, as she looked over she saw that there was a force field around him and knew then that this was the fake Kirk. She didn't understand what this fake Kirk was or where it had come from, but after what it had done to her she was more than a little fearful. 

"Leave me alone."

The fake Kirk coughed and he slumped back to his chair. His life signs weren't changing that much but he certainly didn't look well. His eyes began to droop as he looked at Kaia. His hand reached up once more and then it fell as he slumped against the side of the bed. McCoy moved quickly through the force field with his tricorder. It, like the bed, just couldn't read him. One thing was clear though he didn't need a tricorder to tell him, the man was dying.

"Spock, we need to do something," Elyse said. "He's..." She began but McCoy broke in. "It doesn't matter now...he's dead," the doctor said in a solemn, bitter voice.

Everyone was quiet after McCoy announced that the fake Kirk was dead. Scarlett sighed a little. She was conflicted on how she was feeling about everything that had happened, but at least it was over and they knew that no one else was infected. A decision was made to beam the body back down to the planet's surface to become one with the planet again. The stasis field grav stretcher was used to transport the body to the Transporter room. Scotty beamed the body back down to the planet's surface while Spock, Scarlett, and Nathan watched. After it was done, the Decon team came back to the Transporter room to decontaminate it again. Then, Scarlett went to fill out her scientific report about everything that had happened.

While she was making her report her door chimed. When she said enter, Spock was there and the door swooshed closed behind him. "Lt. Wright, I...wanted to tell you that you acted...appropriately. I mean...you did well today," Spock said. "Scotty and Nathan were able to get a few plant samples for you and they've been quarantined until the doctor can be certain that they will not harm the crew," he said. "They're quite beautiful, the plants," Spock said. "All in hues of violet and blue. You'd like them I think," Spock said.

Scarlett was in the middle of her report when she heard the door chime. After giving permission to enter, she looked over and saw Spock there. She looked at him when he told her that Scotty and Nathan had acquired a few plant samples for her. She nodded a little when he told her that the samples were being quarantined for now. She was quiet a moment before looking at him again. "Are you...well Spock? Nathan told me that you were quite upset this morning and smashed your fist into his desktop screen. I also happened to overhear Dr. McCoy talking about a medication. I understand that you and I are no longer together and that it is none of my business, but I do still care about you and want to be sure you're alright."

Spock's eyes widened in outrage but only for a moment. What she said hit far to close to home for his liking. What was happening was a part of the nature of a Vulcan Male, but it was a very private matter. And as long as he had everything, the meditation, the medications and the rest, he would get through this. The problem was, he was in love. His meditations were always filled with thoughts and feelings for Scarlett. How much harm would there be to just tell her so and be done with it? If she wanted to be with him, was that a crime? Many Vulcan's would think so. And it would give truth to the rumors which he very much did not want. Nor did she.

"I'm fine Scarlett," was all he said. And he had said what he came to say. But there was just one more thing. He had been dreaming of her lately. Strong, passionate dreams. He recalled an intimate moment when her beautiful, white blonde hair dangled down onto his face. The moon was out and it glowed in the pale light. He stepped toward the door then stopped.

"In the distance as shadows slumbered.
Crystal displayed from a house grown cold.
As the stars cradle divine creation,
Innocence is bathed in the moon's pale glow."

He said in remembrance of that night and then he stepped through the door.

Scarlett was still in love with Spock, but she had decided to respect his wishes and maintain only a professional relationship between them. They had to work together after all and she didn't want to drive him further away. She began to realize that she might have made a mistake in what she had said, but she couldn't take it back. She sighed a little as she watched him start to leave. She had turned back to her report, but as she heard him begin to speak she turned back towards him. His words were beautiful and made her want to feel his arms wrapped around her again. She missed their intimate moments together...his companionship. She missed him. 

She watched him go and she sat there for a moment before she turned back to her report.

Kirk grew stronger every day and every day they drew further and further away from the Iota Cassiopalae system. Spock had no issue working double duty, especially with Scarlett and Elyse there to help. He made Elyse his XO and so her responsibilities had gone way up in a short time.