7 Spock Related Problems (3)

Kirk stood front and center of briefing room A. His eyes glanced over each senior officer in the room. There were only 2 hours away from the planet, and it was time to decide how they were going to handle the situation on Brekka V. However, the meeting couldn't start until Spock arrived. It was unusual for him not to be 10 minutes early for meeting like this, but for him to be the last to arrive was downright unheard off.

"I apologize for being late Captain." All eyes turned to Spock as he entered.

"Not at all Commander. You had a minute to spare." The captain didn't meet his first officer's eyes, keeping them looking straight ahead. Spock took his place beside Kirk though with slightly more room between them than usual.

The crew had noticed the giant shift in their relationship. Instead of eating in the mess with Spock, Jim took his meals in his room or Doctor McCoy's office, conversation between the two was kept completely duty related, and all interaction between the two officers outside of the bridge stopped completely. Even their normal arguments on the bridge had stopped, like they couldn't bother to acknowledge each other's existence.

Leonard McCoy knew better though. He was the first to admit that he didn't like Spock the moment he laid eyes on him. His constant talk of logic and the occasional slight against humans irritated him to no end. However, constant life and death missions with the Vulcan changed his view slowly but surely. The insulting nicknames he had come up for Spock turned into friendly banter. Sure, he was often irritated with the hobgoblin. He was often irritated with a lot of people, but now he was also better at reading what Spock tried not to show. That's why he was the only one to notice that Spock absolutely did not like this current development.

Over the past two days, McCoy had watched the two idiots. While Jim was avoiding Spock like the plague, he would miss the moments Spock tried to reach out. Four separate times, Spock tried to gain his captain's attention. Each time, Jim was out the door before he had a chance to continue. With the additional glances in Jim's direction, it didn't take long for him to figure out that the distance was really bothering him.

Normally, he would stay out of their arguments, but this one had been worse than their usual squabbles. Which was why he had confronted Spock just before this meeting.

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"I am here as you requested Doctor. You said this was urgent." Spock walked into McCoy's quarters, his appearance as immaculate as always, and his expression carefully hidden away behind his mask.

"Sit down Spock." The elder man gestured to a seat at his desk.

Dark eyes briefly stared at the piece of furniture. "The mission debriefing will begin in 30 minutes. I do not have time for—"

"Shut up you stupid hobgoblin and sit down."

Spock raised an eyebrow but never the less complied with the request.

"Now you listen here. I normally don't go and get myself involved in you two's arguments, but when it starts affecting the crew's moral and affecting the teamwork of the command team, I got to interfere."

"Our teamwork has not been affected, and I do not believe that your involvement is—"

"Don't give me that you green-blooded computer. No matter the problem, you two have never acted like this." Spock opened his mouth to say something, but McCoy sent him a death glare, daring him to interrupt him. "What the hell were you thinking, telling Jim that you didn't think of him as a friend? Surely you know how much your friendship means to Jim."

"I was merely telling the truth. I do not see the captain as a friend."

"Then how do you see him? You two have been inseparable since the Narada incident, so you have to feel something for him."

Spock became unnaturally still even for a Vulcan and his eyes looked just to the right avoiding the doctor's gaze. "I do not believe that is your concern Doctor McCoy." His voice was cold, Spock's way of telling him to drop the subject.

Then it dawned on him. The doctor's eyes widened and his mouth dropped slightly. The over protectiveness Spock tended to exhibit towards Jim, the slips of emotion he showed towards him, the convenient interruption Spock seemed to always make whenever Jim was with a woman on a mission. No, Spock had not lied. He truly did not see Jim as a friend. "You—"

"If it is acceptable to you, Doctor, I would find it most amicable if you kept your new found discovery to yourself. I do not wish for him to know nor do I ever plan on act on it." Words seemed to elude McCoy even as Spock stood up. "If you excuse me, I wish to meditate before the debriefing." Spock walked out before McCoy could say anything.

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The revelation on Spock's true feelings had stunned him so much, that it took a good five minutes to wrap around the information. Now, sitting at the conference table and watching the strained interaction between his commanding officers, he wondered if he should tell Jim the truth. As far as he knew Jim was not interested in men, but the truth would help Jim understand why Spock was really avoiding him. If anyone had told him that there would come a point in his life where he would end up trying to help a Vulcan with love problems a year ago, he would have had that person admitted to a psych ward.

"Alright listen up. " Jim placed his hands on the table. "Mr. Spock will brief you on what the planetary situation was before we lost contact. Mr. Spock."

Spock stepped forward, bringing up the report onto the screen. "Before contact was lost, the planet was undergoing diplomatic relations between the colonist and the native inhabitants. From reports, the natives are peace dwelling and live off the land. Formal diplomatic negotiations were in process to make the inhabitants a member of the Federation. From all reports that have been received, there have been no disagreements recorded nor have there been any confrontations between the two groups since the creation of the colony."

Jim nodded. "Due to the relative peace between the colonists and natives, we are not certain what to expect on the planet. Our current mission is to assess the situation and resolve it if we can on Brekka V. The only information we have of the current situation is that there is no communication channels open on the planet, that the planet's defensive field is still active, and that no one has come or gone from that planet in two months. Our only option is to send a landing party down onto the planet via shuttle to deactivate the field stopping transporter capabilities and try to get communications back up. Depending on the situation we might need to supply resources if they are needed or evacuate the colonists.

"We will need to be prepared for anything. The landing party will consist of myself, Doctor McCoy, Lieutenant Uhura, and 3 security officers." Jim turned his eyes to Giotto. "I'll leave the assignment of the officers up to you. I'll trust your judgment on who will be most suitable for the positions."

Spock stepped forward. "Captain, if I may interject, I would prefer to be in the landing party."

"That will not be necessary, Mr. Spock. As you often state, both of us in the landing party is not only illogic but against regulations." He would not meet Spock's eyes as he spoke. Doing so, he saw the surprise on the crew's faces at his comment. No one had ever quoted regulation back at Spock before because no one knew regulations better than him.

"Captain, I insist on being part of the landing party. Having an additional science officer in the landing party has proved to be quite beneficial in the past and has gotten us out of many improbable situations. Keeping me on the bridge will lower our chances of success by thirty-nine percent."

Everyone's eyes were on Captain Kirk, awaiting his decision. He knew he couldn't win. All impossible situations Jim had faced in the past were because Spock had been there. As angry as he was, he could not chance failure because he decided to leave him behind. "All right Mr. Spock, you have made your point. You will join the landing, party. Scotty, that leaves you in charge of my ship. Don't get a scratch on her."

"Aye, sir. Ye can count on me to keep her purring like a kitten." The Scott grinned like a madman and Jim couldn't help but grin back.

"Alright, you have your assignments, landing party I want you ready to depart in exactly 2 hours from now. Giotto, forward me your choices to my PADD, so I can approve them. Everyone, dismissed."