Ah, my first nuTrek multi-chapter with an actual plot based on something that's not an OC being in immediate danger! It's almost like an episode.. Snap. Anyhoo, this little number popped into my head one day and wouldn't leave, where it grew into this monster that I post now. It is all finished on paper. Converted to type will be the fun part. But before I begin to ramble, here you go... The Plague.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek... blah, blah, blah.. you all know the drill. =]

"The plague was posting sentries at the gates and turning away ships bound for Oran."

The Plague, Albert Camus

"Dr. McCoy, please report to the bridge. The Captain is asking for you."

The Chief Medical Officer looked up from his paperwork upon hearing Uhura's voice over the intercom. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy sighed, rising from his chair, and headed out into the med bay. Thankfully, it was quiet in the large room. He informed Nurse Christine Chapel that he was leaving and that if any trouble arose, she should alert Dr. Winchester.

"Ah, Bones, there you are," Jim said as he stepped out onto the bridge.

"I'm assuming this is important, Jim."

"It is. Uhura, can you play that transmission for Dr. McCoy here?"

"Certainly, captain."

The lieutenant worked quickly and, soon, a female voice filled the bridge.

"Attention, USS Enterprise, This is the CO and CMO of the Starfleet base at Beta Delta. We are requesting the aid of any medical and science personnel you are able to spare. We are facing a medical emergency. I repeat, we are facing a medical emergency and request the aid of any science and medical personnel you can spare. Over and out."

McCoy turned to Jim and asked, "Are we headed to Beta Delta?"

"Of course! We'll be there in about twenty minutes. We're the only ship in the area. Once we get there, I figure you, me, and Spock can beam down to look at the station."

"Alright… The situation must be serious if one person has to be both CO and CMO on a base. That's insanity."

"Well, I suppose we'll find out soon enough."

The two of them fell silent. It troubled McCoy that he hadn't heard mention of what kind of medical emergency Beta Delta was facing. The worst-case scenario was an epidemic of any one of a hundred infectious diseases. They were a rare occurrence on bases, but they were not unheard of. (Most 'epidemics' involved various venereal diseases.) However, the tone of the woman's voice was clipped and tight, as though she were under a great deal of stress, which was understandable given her dual positions on base. Chekov's voice interrupted his train of thought every five minutes, chirping out the time until they reached Beta Delta.

"Mr. Sulu, you have the conn. Spock, Bones: with me."

The doctor and the first officer followed their captain to the transporter pad, where Scotty was waiting for them. McCoy felt himself tense up as Jim barked out 'Energize!' at Scotty, hating the feeling of his molecules being disassembled and put back together. On the pad at Beta Delta, they were greeted by a male being, pale blue in color with silver hair. He promptly rose from his chair and led them out to the CO/CMO. The young woman was short but exuded what could only be described as ferocity. Her dark blue eyes flashed while her crossed arms pinned down some her long, dirty blonde ponytail.

"Stonewall?" McCoy asked incredulously, causing the woman to look at him.

Her eyes got wide as she replied, "Chief?" uncrossing her arms. She then ran at him and threw her arms around his neck.

"Chief, I can't believe you're here! I didn't know you were on the Enterprise! Oh, I'm so glad you're here. Maybe you can figure out what this thing is."

"Wait," Jim said, "You two know each other? How? And who is she exactly?"

"This is Dr. McCay Jackson; we all called her 'Stonewall'. Y'know, like the Civil War general. She interned with me at Starfleet Medical. Always was my favorite."

"Chief likes me best because we have the exact same bedside manner and attitude," she explained, "I was dealing some snotty, wussy rich kid one day. Insisted his finger was broken when I knew it wasn't, and he demanded that I perform several unnecessary tests to prove it. Finally got fed up with him and told him that his 'goddamn finger' wasn't broken and if he didn't get out I'd break it for him. Needless to say he left. Been Chief's favorite ever since. And you are-?"

"Oh, this is Cpt. Jim Kirk, and this is our first officer, Cdr. Spock," McCoy responded.

"Well, pleased to know ya. And welcome to Beta Delta. Sorry we couldn't roll out the red carpet," Stonewall said, "I really appreciate y'all coming. 'Fleet Command was doing jack shit to help."

"Is the nature of your situation that hopeless?" Spock asked.

"Not yet, I don't think. It's pretty bad though."

"What's the problem?"

"Well, Chief… I think I'm dealing with Y. pestis."

McCoy's and Spock's eyebrows disappeared they shot so high; Jim seemed confused.

"Are ya sure, Stonewall? That's pretty farfetched. Cases of Y. pestis haven't been seen in over 150 years."

"I'd be positive if the tests weren't coming back negative. It's confusing the Hell out of us."

"Wait," Jim piped up, "What's Y. pestis? Why're you so concerned, Bones?"

"Y. pestis is bubonic plague."

Jim's eyes went wide as he said, "Plague?! Like… Black Death?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too, " Stonewall replied, "It's all the symptoms of plague. Victims present with fever, pain, buboes, everything. Then, they get septicemic, then pneumonic, then… they die. I've tried antibiotics, anti-virals, steroids, and nothing's worked. There's nothing I can do for these men."

"You mean 'personnel'," Spock corrected.

"Actually, commander, I do mean men. Come with me."

The three men of the Enterprise shared a look before quickly following Stonewall. The curls at the end of her ponytail bounced as she walked, swishing slightly in the breeze. McCoy looked around the base. The buildings were mainly Starfleet general issue: big, shiny, metal, and cold. However, a few locals seemed to have moved in to operate some shops for the Starfleet personnel. These building looked much like log cabins with oddly rounded corners. He then looked beyond the buildings to see the reason for this strange architecture; the tree trunks had slight curves in them. The leaves glistened a jewel-toned purple, contrasting the yellowish tint of the sky. The base itself was enormous. McCoy spotted several personnel on various forms of transportation, ranging from bicycles to ATVs to motorcycles to actual cars. Spock asked about them, and Stonewall responded, "Oh, it's just because the base is so big. The hangars are the furthest buildings from everything, and a lot of people work there. These are just the quickest way to get there. Otherwise, it's a half-hour walk. Saves time, y'know. Ah… here's my office."

A sheet of laminated paper was taped over the original nameplate and read 'Dr. McCay Jackson-Chief Medical Officer and temporary Commanding Officer' in large font. Stonewall pulled out an old fashioned key for the door.

"A key?" Jim asked, "Really?"

"This key is smarter than your average key," she replied, "To use this key, you have to be the one to whom it was assigned. It scans your thumb as you turn it and sends an electronic message to unlock the door. It's some pretty fancy stuff, really. Anyhoo… come on in, boys."

McCoy swore Jim snorted. He happened to know that Stonewall was twenty-four… maybe twenty-three… something like that. The older doctor caught himself chuckling as he looked around her office. It was an eclectic mess of medical equipment (including multiple anatomical posters), posters of witty and/or historical quips, several thick books on medicine and tactics, and a variety of papers and PADDs strewn about the room. She unceremoniously shoved some things off of a couch and the chairs, earning a raised eyebrow from Spock and another snort from Jim.

"Now then… what did you mean earlier? When you said 'men'?"

"I mean that this disease is the man-hating, feminist, Amazon-woman, militant lesbian of diseases."

Jim damn near fell out of his chair. Both Spock and McCoy gave him a dirty look, but Stonewall just chuckled at him. He apologized once his laughter subsided about a minute later, saying, "Sorry…I've just never heard anything put quite like that before."

"Not a problem," she replied, "but it's the absolute truth. So far, the only personnel that have come down with the disease are male. There are about 5,500 personnel on base. 3,700 or so are male, and nearly 700 have fallen ill so far. 573 of those have died. That's an 82% mortality rate."

"It is, in actuality, closer to 81.857%," Spock corrected again.

"Eighty-two is close enough for me. Unfortunately, we can't find anything that it could be. The best idea we have is bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague, and I think I've found something to back that up. Here-" she handed a sheet of paper to McCoy, "-this is a sign-out sheet for our research lab. Sample A534 is labeled 'Plague-Strain 23' and was signed out by someone called 'Albert Camus'. It's currently missing. Also, the fact that it existed is the only knowledge we have of it. No make-up, no vaccine, nada."

"Did you look for this 'Albert Camus' guy?" Jim asked; he received a death glare.

"Oh yeah, 'cause that's so not the first thing I did," she answered in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "There's no one on base by that name and never has been. Albert Camus was a 20th century novelist and playwright from Algeria. One of his novels was called The Plague. It was about a small North African city called Oran that became overrun with bubonic plague brought by rats. The city was quarantined and cut off from the rest of the world."

"What happens at the end?"

"Plague dies out on its own, and the city gets let off quarantine. Happy ending overall, I'd say. I've checked all personnel from North Africa, and none of the four have the proper clearance for that lab. I've also run blood tests on all my medical staff to see if they had it, but many of them don't have access, either. Those with access all have alibis for where they were. On top of all that, the security footage for that period of time has disappeared."

"Are you positive? Have you searched through all of the databanks and histories?" Spock asked.

"I put my best guys on it. Got jack squat."

"Can we see where the men have been quarantined?" McCoy asked, "Where are they being held?"

She shifted in her seat slightly and said, "Well… we ran out of room in the med bay, so we converted one of the smaller shuttle hangars into a quarantine area."

"A hangar?! You're using a shuttle hangar as a quarantine?!" McCoy responded loudly.

"What else am I supposed to do, Chief?" she half-shouted back, "They were sickening by the hour! We didn't have anywhere else big enough to hold them all! You would've done the same thing if you were in my position!"

McCoy fell silent and pursed his lips; she was right. He just hoped he'd never have to face down the bubonic plague on an epidemic scale. All it took was a glance to tell that Stonewall was stressed. She was paler than he remembered, with dark bags under her eyes and a pronounced slouch. Her uniform was wrinkled and had a couple random stains. It was clear that she slept in it on more than one occasion. Her stomach rumbled half-heartedly in the awkward silence. McCoy changed the subject.

"How are you holding up under all this, Cay?" he asked softly.

She chuckled darkly, noting the use of 'Cay'. McCoy only used it when they were speaking one-on-one on a subject or when he was trying to make a point.

"Well, I guess I ain't holding up to well, Leonard," she replied, "I eat once a day, sleep maybe four hours a day if I'm lucky, and I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off every day trying to figure out how to stop this goddamn plague from killing everyone on base. I'm tired and stressed as fuck. Other than that, I'd say I'm far better than some would be."

"Yeah, I'm sure you are. Come on, Stonewall… I need to see what we're dealing with here."

She let out a heavy sigh before rising from her chair and beckoning for them to follow her. She led them out to a small car and drove them over to the shuttle hangar in silence. Female personnel were coming and going in a steady stream. A table by the entrance held masks and gloves.

"You two had better stay out here," Stonewall said to Jim and Spock, "It's pretty bad."

Neither of them answered her, instead silently donning the gear and following her inside.

"Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world; yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise."

The Plague, Albert Camus

So that's the first chapter of The Plague! Be sure to review and let me know what you think! I hope to put up the second chapter soon!!