A/N: Some foul language and the taking of the Lord's name in vain ahead...
"Did you hear? Spock and Uhura got back together last night," Sulu announced to his friends at the breakfast table.
"That's not exactly shocking," Scotty replied. "What I'm waiting for is this lad here to get stupid enough to sleep with the captain's sister."
"Vat?" Chekov asked, looking up, wide-eyed.
Sulu sputtered a laugh and said, "You've got it bad."
"Vat haf I got?" Chekov asked.
"You're in love, lad," Scotty told him.
"How-how do you know?" Chekov asked earnestly.
Scotty and Sulu looked at each other and grinned. "It's obvious," Sulu explained. "You light up every time you see blonde, curly hair because it might be her. And you're clumsier than normal when she's actually around. I'm just surprised you two are still keeping this a secret from the captain."
"Vee are not keeping a secret," Chekov argued. "Vee just haf not said anysing yet."
"That's a secret, boy-o," Scotty replied.
"Zen, should I tell zee keptin?"
"No!" Sulu and Scotty answered in unison. Chekov nearly shrank into his seat.
"She is Kirk's sister," Sulu began. "He's not going kill her, court martial her, or make her life miserable."
"So, Mariella should tell zee keptin?"
"No, this is something you and her have to do together," Scotty told him. "Talk to her about it."
Chekov's brow furrowed in confusion. "Vy are you two experts on zis sort ov ting?"
The two other men glanced at each other out of the corners of their eyes. Sulu answered, "Uh…we've learned a lot from the mistakes of others. We're good observers."
"Oh. Zat makes sense. I must go. I haf a limited duty sheeft on zee bridge," Chekov said before standing and leaving the mess hall.
Scotty breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Nice work there, Lieutenant. I'd hate for the boy to think we're full of shite."
"But we are."
"Aye. But he doesn't have to know that."
Sometimes it was just necessary to let go. That was the thing Jim loved about riding a horse. You could let go and trust the animal not to kill you in a fiery blaze. He liked letting go, leaning back, spreading his arms wide and tilting his face skyward. It was a pose he'd seen of a statue of an American Indian when he was little. It stuck with him for some reason. He preferred riding like that than galloping at high speed. That's what motorcycles were for.
Mario, Jim's chosen steed for the afternoon, slowed to a stop. Jim opened his eyes to find himself atop an incline before the river. He hopped out of the saddle and led Mario down the short slope and patted his neck at the gelding drank.
The river was only a few meters wide and flowed calmly downstream. He remembered from his reading on the planet that the river was also only a few feet deep. A well-worn path on the other bank led into the woods.
Smiling, he asked, "What do you think, Mario? Should we be adventurous?"
Mario neighed and bobbed his head up and down. Jim smiled and said, "I'll take that as a yes," before climbing back into the saddle and urging Mario into the water.
Halfway across, Mario stopped and started struggling to move forward. Jim tightened his grip on the reins and said, "Whoa, boy. What's wrong? Are you stuck? I'll see if I can get you out."
He had his right foot almost out of the stirrup when the sound of rushing water hit his ears. He looked up in time to see a foamy wave headed downstream straight toward them.
"Oh, shit!" he yelled before the wave hit and knocked him out of the saddle. Unfortunately, his left foot remained entrenched in the stirrup. He bobbed up and down violently, gasping for air when he came out of the foam. He gasped in as much air as possible and held onto a rock to stay under the surface. He saw the weeds tangled around Mario's leg and pulled them loose. Mario bolted forward. Jim was sure he felt something snap as his foot popped out of the stirrup. Pain shot through the back of his head, and then he knew nothing.
A fire burned in his chest. Only air could extinguish the blaze. He gasped to bring in air only to cough up the fire in his lungs.
"Jesus Christ! Motherfucker!" Jim screamed after he coughed up a lungful of river water.
"I really don't think Jesus Christ was a motherfucker, but that's just my opinion."
Jim looked up to find Carol Marcus leaning over him with his head cradled in her lap. It barely registered in his brain that she was as wet as him. In the back of his mind, he vaguely wondered if he'd died and gone to hell.
"What-what happened?" he asked, shaking and sputtering uncontrollably.
"A snowcap on one of the mountains melted suddenly," she explained. "It caused a flash flood."
"Mario?" he asked, nearly choking on the word.
"He ran off, but he was tagged, so Sam'll find him."
"You? Why…how are…?"
"I take a ride everyday around now," she told him. "I saw what happened."
Jim looked up with her with as much confusion as his weakened state would allow. "You pulled me out?"
"Don't flatter yourself," she replied. "You'd already drifted to the bank...mostly."
Shooting, debilitating pain in his left side met him as he tried to sit up. Carol gently pulled him back down and said, "I think Mario trampled you. You probably have a few broken ribs."
"I-I-I can't breathe," he gasped between coughs.
"Help is on the way. Just hang on."
She shook at the sight of Jim's blood on her hand. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he shivered in shock.
"Tell Mariella…I'm sorry," he gasped out.
"Don't say things like that," she told him, shaking him to keep him from slipping out of consciousness.
"You know, you're beautiful when you're not screaming at me," he rasped with a stupid smile.
Carol grinned in spite of the situation. She shook him as his eyes closed and blood flowed from his mouth. "Don't do this! Don't do this!" she screamed. "Jim!"
"It's a good thing you were there. He would have drowned right there in the river if you hadn't given him mouth-to-mouth," Bones said.
Carol looked down at her shoes. "It doesn't seem to have done him much good," she replied sadly.
"He's alive," Bones said simply before turning away from her. He walked toward Spock and Uhura and sighed before saying, "He's unconscious and therefore unable to command his ship. You're in command now, Spock."
"Thank you, Doctor," Spock replied flatly.
"Yeah, I guess," Bones muttered before walking back into the patient ward where they were keeping Jim.
Spock turned to Uhura and said, "Preliminary reports indicate that the snow cap did not melt naturally. The minister has agreed to allow Starfleet its own investigation. I must return to the Enterprise, but—"
"Yes, I will," she answered, cutting him off. "I'll stay here and contact you the moment he wakes up."
"Thank you, Nyota," he said quietly before excusing himself.
Uhura watched as Chekov rushed in and immediately wrapped his arms around his distraught girlfriend. One of his hands tangled in her blonde curls as he pressed his lips to her forehead and then whispered something in her ear. She wrapped her arms around more tightly around his midsection. The young lieutenant drifted toward the scientist staring uncertainly into the captain's room.
"They're a cute couple," Carol said, motioning toward Chekov and Mariella. "He doesn't know, does he?"
"No," Uhura answered, shaking her head. "They haven't told him yet. I don't blame them. I'm not sure how he's going to react either."
"You know why he nearly drowned?" Carol asked rhetorically. "He freed his horse instead of letting it die in the river. What was his reward: a concussion, broken ribs, cracked tibia, and a punctured lung. He can be a son of a bitch, but he doesn't deserve this. He was just trying to do a good thing."
"He can be annoying as hell, but he's a good man," Uhura told her. "You should give him a little more credit."
"I should leave," Carol said suddenly. "He's your family, not mine."
She rushed out of the infirmary before Uhura could stop her. She found herself straightening up when the Vulcan ambassadors walked into the room. Since Chekov and Dr. McCoy were otherwise engaged, she took it upon herself to greet them.
"Lieutenant Uhura," T'Pol said first, "Admiral Nathanson is highly concerned about this situation. Is your captain's situation improved at all?"
"He's alive," Uhura answered. "That's really all we know."
"We have heard rumors of sabotage," the male Vulcan Uhura knew as Tos said.
"Commander Spock is launching an investigation to find out if that's true."
"Please keep us informed," T'Pol asked her. "The loss of the flagship's captain could be…problematic in the current political climate."
"I'll certainly do that, Ambassador," Uhura promised.
As the Vulcans turned to leave, Uhura heard T'Pol ask, "What effect would the loss of James Kirk have on the universe?"
"It would be too disastrous to consider."
Uhura gulped and stared hopefully at her captain when she heard Tos' reply.
"I'd say the problem is it's been smashed to smithereens," Scotty said as he ran his tricorder over the remains of a device on the top of the mountain.
Had Spock been human, he would have rolled his eyes at the engineer. Being half-Vulcan, he simply fixed Scotty with a stern glare. Scotty cleared his throat and continued, "It wasn't an accident. I was situated in such a way that naturally falling rocks wouldn't harm it. It didn't explode from the inside either. None of these components are scorched in any way. They're just smashed."
"I've got a rock over here looks like it could have done the job," a science ensign announced from a few feet away. "There's no moss and it looks like it's been chipped recently."
"Look for DNA," Spock told him. "Mr. Scott, do you have any idea what this device was before it was, as you say, 'smashed to smithereens?'"
"Well, judging by the design and some of the components, I'd say it was some sort of environmental control device," Scotty replied. "It's similar in design to that terraforming device they've got in the basement. I'd say whoever terraformed Midian III placed these devices to control the weather and what-not afterward."
Spock looked down the mountain. His brow furrowed as though he was thinking quite hard.
"Penny for your thoughts, Commander?" Scotty asked.
"Mr. Scott, how long after the destruction of that device would the snow start melting?"
"It'd be pretty quick if the conditions were anything like they are right now," Scotty answered. "It's warm up here for the top of a mountain."
"Still, it would take a few minutes to reach the main body of the river," Spock thought.
"Aye, sir. What's your point?"
"Even though Captain Kirk's horse was tagged, it is unlikely this device was destroyed as part of an attack on him personally," the Vulcan explained. "The timing would have had to have been impeccable if not impossible."
"That's true," Scotty agreed, "but then what was the point. The Midianites say this won't have much impact on their ecosystem."
"Sir, I ran the DNA I found through the Federation database," the ensign said, handing a PADD to Spock.
The Vulcan glanced at it and replied, "Are you absolutely certain about this?"
"The DNA strands were intact, Sir."
Spock handed the PADD to Scotty and said, "We need to return to the ship as soon as possible."
Scotty's eyes widened when he saw Isaac Chase's picture and DNA profile staring back at him. "Great Scot," he mumbled in shock.
Jim felt like there was an elephant resting on his chest. The incessant beeping in his ears told him he was in an infirmary. His sister was curled up on the couch underneath a blanket. Uhura was on the other side, her head resting in her hand. To his left, sitting in a chair was a sight he hadn't expected at all.
"Dr. Marcus?" he asked, his voice extremely hoarse.
"Yeah," she answered. "I thought I'd give your sister and the lieutenant a break. Your first officer is out chasing a lead."
"Does he know anything?"
"He preferred not to share his conclusions until he has all the facts," Carol replied a hint of a laugh in her voice.
"That sounds like him," Jim groaned. "Why are you here?"
"I told you. I wanted to give you sister a break."
"That's bullshit," he told her flatly. "Why are you really here?"
Carol sighed and said, "I wanted to make sure you were all right. Dr. McCoy didn't sound too sure earlier today."
Jim smirked. "You mean you actually care?" he asked incredulously.
"Contrary to what you think, I'm not a heartless bitch," she hissed. "I have feelings. You're an amazingly good person. You nearly gave up your life for a defenseless animal, and when you thought you were dying, all you wanted to do was apologize to your sister for not being there for her. How could I not care about someone like that?"
He genuinely smiled and said, "Do you want to have dinner with me?"
Carol's eyes widened. "You're asking me on a date? You're in a hospital bed."
"So?"
She threw her arms up in surrender. "Fine. We'll do it sometime after you can walk and before your ship leaves."
"Deal," he replied, grinning.
"Jim?" Mariella asked, sitting up on the couch. "Jim, you're awake!"
Uhura's head slipped out of her hand and she was immediately awake. "Hey, Captain. Glad you're awake. I have to call Spock."
"I should go," Carol said, smiling.
"I'll see you later."
"Yeah, I guess you will."
"Are you sure about this?" Jim asked his first officer.
"I checked the DNA myself," Spock informed him. "The sample belongs to Isaac Chase."
"It doesn't make sense," Mariella said from her place at the end of Jim's bed. "We think Isaac's working for the Klingons. What motive would they have for destroying an ancient weather control device?"
"I believe Mr. Chase's motives may have been personal," Spock explained. "He was seen forty-eight hours ago in a small town twenty kilometers from here. Apparently, he argued with a merchant who refused to buy goods from him. When the river flooded, it damaged a power station, and the town was without power for nearly twelve hours. Most of the shopkeeper's inventory was destroyed."
"Still doesn't make sense," Mariella told him.
"She's right," Jim agreed. "If Isaac was out for revenge, he would have just burned the shop down. There has to be another reason. Find out what else was connected to that power station. Our answer has got to be in there somewhere. And try to find Isaac. He may still be on the planet somewhere."
"Understood, Sir," Spock replied before quickly leaving the room.
Jim attempted to smile at his sister. "Your birthday is tomorrow."
"Some birthday," she mused. "My brothers are apparently trying to kill each other."
"It'll be okay," he told her, taking her hand. "I promised you a dress. Do you think you can wait a couple of days?"
"Yeah," she answered. "Do you think you'll find Isaac?"
"No," Jim replied flatly. "He's not a complete idiot. Whatever he was up to, he got off the planet as soon as he was finished. I have a bad feeling about this, baby girl."
"I know. So do I."
A/N: I thought the sculpture Jim thinks about was real, but I can't find it anywhere, so it's possible I just made it up through years of cowboy and Indian art. Hope you enjoyed it.