Chapter Text
So, the mission had gone as wrong as it could have gone- aliens being less than hospitable despite the promise of exemplary hospitality turning into prisoners, chains, and torture- but Spock had managed to successfully incapacitate Jim’s captors and rescue the captain and his chief of security along with him.
Jim sat in his quarters even now, contemplating the events that happened even after he finished his log. Commendations to Spock and the head of security, Giotto, for taking a hit meant for his captain, all that. But what was really bothering Jim was the rescue itself. There was no doubt that it would be Spock coming to save him, but the way it happened left him a bit miffed.
Several hours had passed since they were captured by this planet’s dignitaries. It was supposed to be a quick, easy mission to convince another race to join the federation. It wasn’t even a first contact mission, as the USS Valiant had already logged three successful missions of contact and short negotiations with them. Apparently that was the only federation ship these aliens were willing to associate with, as Kirk and his guard were almost immediately captured and taken into a small, dark room.
Kirk had tried to talk his way out, but it didn’t work. It only made them tie the ropes tighter on his wrists and pull his arms higher over his head. He struggled as they left, asking Giotto to try to get loose as well. They didn’t succeed, and an hour later a large figure entered the room. A humanoid male, roughly six feet tall and with muscles like a bull. He stalked slowly into the room and headed for Jim’s head of security.
“Leave him be!” Kirk shouted at the man, successfully gaining his attention. He stepped towards Kirk instead, his large skull tilting to the side in curiosity.
“You are willing to take the punishment instead, then?”
Surprised, Jim nodded quickly, talking over Giotto’s shouts of protest. “Yes, yes! Leave him alone! I’m the captain, they only follow my orders! Punish me instead.” The being contemplated this for a moment before nodding as well.
“Very well, human. I will comply to your wishes…” He paused, looking between the two humans and smirking, “But you will not last long. You are smaller than your companion. Your efforts will be in vein.”
Jim swallowed thickly as he outwardly put on a mask of confidence and captainly bravery. “Just try me.”
Another hour passed and the alien left, smirking and covered in Jim’s blood. Jim panted, hanging there from the ropes. His hands were tied together tightly, but his legs were not. He had long shallow cuts down his bare chest and down his legs as well. His pants were still on his body, but they were in shreds where the knife had been against his skin. None of the cuts were very deep, and the bleeding was not much to worry about, but the stinging was killing him.
Mind over matter, mind over matter, mind over matter! He blinked up at the dim room again, devising another way out. Before he got very far, however, the door burst open and Spock ran into the room, phaser ready.
“Spock!” Jim shouted with renewed vigor, once again struggling against the ropes. Spock stood there and blinked at Jim for a moment, raking his eyes over him. A moment later, he still hadn’t moved. “Uh...Spock?” Jim tried again.
As if slapped, the Vulcan jerked back to attention and then immediately raced over to untie the ropes. If Spock’s hands were a little shaky, Jim wasn’t going to mention it now.
After his hands were freed, JIm helped untie Giotto. Spock flipped open his comm, ready to hail the Enterprise when another two beefy humanoid guards burst into the room. Before Jim could react properly, the one nearest Jim and Spock pulled out some sort of electric weapon from his waistband and aimed at the Captain. Giotto lunged in front of his Captain, taking the hit, his body reacting as if it were electrocuted. Taking the opportunity of the guards’ momentary distraction, Spock was able to brandish his phaser and stun them both.
Kirk quickly knelt down and felt for a pulse, sighing in relief when he easily found one. “He’s stunned, but okay I think. We need to get out of here fast.”
“Three to beam up, Mr. Scott.” Spock murmured into his comm. “And have medical on standby.”
After they had all gotten back onto the ship, Bones had snatched him up, along with Giotto, and rushed him to medical. But Spock had refused to look at him.
Now, back in his quarters, he was beginning to see oddities in the events that he hadn’t first noticed. The pause when Spock entered the prison cell was not uncommon, as Jim could chalk it up to an assessment of wellbeing. Spock was simply checking over his wounds and calculating the severity of his injuries. But could he not just as easily asked a simple “Are you okay?”
He knew he may be overthinking things, but he couldn’t help but consider Spock’s usual quick, Vulcan reflexes being outdone by Giotto, or the fact that he had refused to look him in the eye upon their safe return. As all of this was very unlike his sharp, quick-thinking first officer, he felt the need for a bit of concern.
Before he could contemplate the matter further, his door chimed in indication of a visitor. “Identify,” he called, hoping it was not a hypo-wielding doctor with a grudge. He was pleasantly surprised to hear a woman’s voice instead.
“Uhura, captain. I have information from headquarters.”
He allowed her entrance, raising an eyebrow as she hurried in. “Uhura,” he smiled, “are the communication devices all over the ship down? Or is my Communications Officer turning into a carrier pigeon?”
She flushed a bit, but didn’t back down, instead seating herself on a chair near his desk. “Neither, Sir. I’m off duty and the information wasn’t dire. I wanted to check on my Captain’s well-being, so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.”
“I see,” he grinned cheekily, “So if we are on such close terms, does that mean I can start calling you Nyota?”
She threw her head back and laughed, “I don’t suppose you are ever going to let that go.” Shaking her head, she flicked the end of her ponytail over her shoulder and straightened back up in her chair before continuing, “In all seriousness, sir, I thought you should know the reason you were imprisoned. It turns out that while the USS Valiant has had some successful contact missions, they failed to mention that their own away teams never consisted of human males. Your appearance, and Giotto’s appearance, was not what they expected and it frightened them,”
JIm let out a frustrated groan and ran his hand through his hair. “So what the hell made them torture me? I get locking away the bad new thing on the planet, sure but did they have to rip up another one of my uniforms?”
Nyota sighed and glanced over his fresh command golds he had changed into. “I suppose they were trying to intimidate you.” She placed her hands on her knees before rising from her seat. “The USS Valiant has been contacted and is expected to make this right themselves. I’ll leave you to rest now, Captain.”
He shook his head, waving her off, “Yeah, yeah, rest. See you tomorrow on the bridge, Lieutenant.”
Once the door closed, Jim sauntered over to his bed deciding he was tired after all. “Computer, lights at 5%,” he yawned. Flopping back onto his mattress, he let his eyes fall shut. For the moment, he forgot all about Spock and his strange behavior.