Anyway, here goes. This takes place after "Letting Go," and alludes to "Victoria's Secret" and the Star Trek episode "That Which Survives." Enjoy!
Note: standard disclaimers apply.
This story is written in loving memory of DeForest Kelley, who crossed the final frontier on June 11, 1999--he played one hell of a doctor and we hope he's having a blast playing phaser tag up in heaven with Gene Roddenberry. We miss you, Bones.
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Detective Ray Vecchio stretched out as much as his beleaguered body would allow in his hospital bed.
The bullet wound in his back made it near impossible to sleep, so the nurses allowed him a mild dose of morphine to dull the pain. He could feel the pain dissipate as the seconds passed. His mind, though, had only moments of clarity left before the medicine had its full effect.
Damn Victoria, he thought to himself. Why the hell did she have to come back into Ben's life and tear it up like that? Why did it come to where I had to shoot him and he had to shoot me? His mind wandered to another question. Why didn't Benny let her go when they met for the first time? Then neither one of us would be in this dump.
No, wait--it was Dr. Carter who shot me. I jumped in front of Benny to save him. Oh brother...
The morphine was taking its effect. His last look was at his best friend, lying in the bed next to him. He concentrated on his face as he drifted off into a much-welcomed sleep.
-----
"Vecchio, wake up!"
"What?" Ray was still sleepy.
A loud hissing noise cut through the air, accompanied by a strange sensation on his right arm. Ray felt himself coming to slowly. Standing above him was a middle-aged man in a blue shirt, holding an odd contraption that looked to Ray like a syringe, but lacked a needle.
"What's going on?"
"You suffered a phaser blast to the back defending sick bay from the Romulans a few days ago," said the man.
Sick bay? Ray wondered.
"Ray?" Constable Benton Fraser turned to the cranky doctor. "Doctor McCoy, will my partner be all right?"
"Dr. McCoy?" Ray snapped out of his dizzy state and looked around. This was no ordinary hospital room. This place looked like something he'd seen on the Sci-Fi Channel. Three beds, monitors above each. A television sat on the desk in the other room. Not an IV machine in sight. Even more alarming was that Fraser was walking around like the incident with Victoria had never happened. "Where in the hell AM I?"
"He seems a bit disoriented, but he'll snap out of it in a few seconds," said Dr. Leonard McCoy.
"Transporter room to sick bay." The voice of Captain James T. Kirk came over the Comm system. "Bones, are Fraser and Vecchio fit to join the landing party?"
"We'll be down there immediately, Jim." Dr. McCoy gave Ray a final once over with the medical tricorder. "McCoy out."
-----
Capt. Kirk, Sulu, and D'Amato were waiting in the transporter room when Dr. McCoy appeared with Ray and Fraser in tow.
"I can see we're all here." Capt. Kirk gestured for everyone to get on the transporter pads.
As Ray stepped onto the transporter, he wondered dully why everyone--even himself--was wearing the standard Starfleet uniform while Fraser was still wearing his red serge uniform. He also wondered how he could walk around without any hint of pain so soon after the Carter/Victoria mess.
Kirk gave the order. "Energize."
As the transporter chief set the controls, a beautiful woman suddenly appeared in the transporter room.
"What the..." Ray's voice trailed off.
The woman walked over to the transporter chief and touched him on the shoulder.
The chief immediately let out a scream of inhuman pain and torment. The woman, however, did not relinquish her hold on him until the screaming stopped.
Kirk, McCoy, Fraser, Ray, Sulu, and D'Amato couldn't do anything--they were already locked in the transporter beam. All of them knew, however, that there was no way the chief was alive.
-----
The landing party touched down on the planet having witnessed the horrible scene.
"What the hell was that?" asked Ray. He could see that all the others were asking themselves that same question.
Kirk whipped out his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise."
No answer came.
"Kirk to Enterprise, come in!"
Still, there was no answer.
"Spock, do you read me?"
"It appears, Captain Kirk, that something must have happened to the ship to render us unable to communicate," said Fraser.
"I'm well aware of that fact, Fraser!" shouted Kirk.
"So what do we do now, Captain?" Ray asked.
Kirk thought for a minute. "D'Amato, I want a reading of the vegetation on this planet." He was silent for a while. Then, "Sulu, go with him."
"Aye, sir." D'Amato and Sulu left to carry out Kirk's orders.
Dr. McCoy walked up to Fraser and examined him closely.
"May I ask what you are doing, Doctor?" Fraser asked.
The doctor looked over Fraser for a minute before turning away.
"Doctor McCoy?"
Dr. McCoy scrutinized Fraser for another minute. "Are you sure you're human?"
"Absolutely positive. Why?"
"You sound and act just like Mr. Spock."
"Is that a bad thing?"
Dr. McCoy gave a disgruntled sigh. "Try working with him."
"I know what you mean, Doc," said Ray.
"Ray, I'm not that bad," said Fraser.
"Yeah, Benny, you are."
The communicators beeped. Kirk turned his on. "Kirk here."
"Captain, it's D'Amato. I have the readings you want."
"Go ahead, D'Amato."
"The vegetation on this planet shows high amounts of chemicals which would prove highly toxic to humans, if not fatal," said D'Amato. "I also discovered something that is rather interesting. The rocks on this planet are made of an alloy that normally does not occur in nature."
He was distracted by Sulu's voice over the communicator. "It's her, D'Amato."
"Who are you?" D'Amato's voice was rife with panic.
"I call myself Losira." The female voice on the other end alarmed the rest of the landing party.
"What do you want from us?" asked Sulu.
"D'Amato..."
"You're crazy! I don't--"
D'Amato's words were cut off by a sudden, prolonged scream.
"What was that?" asked Ray, but he already knew. He immediately started off in the direction that D'Amato and Sulu had gone in.
"Vecchio! Stand fast!" shouted Kirk.
"But--" Ray halted in his tracks and shuddered as the screaming came to a halt.
Sulu's voice came over the communicator a minute later. "Captain."
Kirk answered again. "What is it, Sulu?"
"D'Amato is dead."
-----
An hour later, when they had finished burying D'Amato, Kirk and his crew began piecing together the puzzle.
"You mean to say that there's a woman out there who can kill us by simply touching us?" asked Ray.
"It would appear so, Ray," said Fraser.
"Not necessarily," said Sulu. "Losira came close to touching me, but she was mostly concentrated on D'Amato."
"How do you know that, Sulu?" asked Dr. McCoy.
"She saw me as well as D'Amato, but she didn't pay attention to me." Sulu paused. "She called for D'Amato, not me."
"So you're saying that this Losira can only hurt the person she is most concentrated on?" asked Ray.
"Apparently so," said Kirk.
Ray began to feel even more ill at ease. He could not shake the idea that something bad was about to happen.
He looked around at everyone. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen this before. Ray, Kirk, and Sulu were wearing gold shirts, Dr. McCoy was wearing his blue medical tunic, and Fraser was wearing...
It dawned on Ray. His red serge!
Ray knew he had seen this before--in god knew how many episodes of Star Trek! He knew enough to know that any member of the landing party wearing red...
"Ben..." A different female voice jolted the landing party out of their reverie.
Fraser stood up. He heard the voice, so melodious, calling to him.
The source of the voice revealed itself. It wasn't Losira, but to Ray it was even worse.
Victoria.
"Ben..."
"Victoria..." Fraser got up and headed toward Victoria, despite the vehement protests from the landing party.
Ray was incredulous. What the hell is Victoria doing on this planet...Suddenly the answer hit Ray like a ton of bricks.
LOSIRA!!! Ray was stricken with panic. Oh, my god, that bitch is going to do more harm to Benny than Victoria ever did!!
"Benny!!" Ray yelled at his friend. "Stop!"
"Come with me, Ben!" Victoria/Losira chanted.
"Are you out of your mind, Benton?" yelled Dr. McCoy as Fraser headed toward Victoria/Losira.
"Come with me!"
"Fraser, stand fast!! That's an order!!" yelled Kirk.
"You'll regret it if you don't!"
Like he'll be able to if he's dead, thought Ray, but knew the situation was hopeless. As Fraser embraced Victoria/Losira, he let out an excruciating shriek of pain.
Ray put his hands over his ears to block it out. He knew even his best friend wasn't exempt from the secret law governing Star Trek.
The shrieking stopped after a minute, and Losira disappeared. Ray had had enough. He had long suspected this was a dream, but he was not more certain of it before than he was now.
Dr. McCoy was kneeling over the fallen Mountie, tricorder in his hand. He looked up with a look of resignation on his face.
"He's dead, Jim."
"That does it," said Ray. "GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!"
-----
"GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!"
His eyes flew open. He was sitting upright in the hospital bed, wide-awake. He was not aboard the Starship Enterprise, much to his relief. He was back at the Cook County Medical Center.
"Ray?" A tired voice caught Ray's attention.
"Is that you, Benny?" Ray asked.
"Of course," said Fraser, who was in the hospital bed next to his. "Is something the matter?"
"No, Benny," said Ray, relieved that his best friend was alive and okay. "But can I ask you a favor?"
"Go ahead."
Ray shuddered at the thought of Fraser dying again because of his red serge. "Could you wear your brown uniform from now on?"
"I will make an attempt at it."
"Please. I'd appreciate it."
"If you can keep Diefenbaker away from the donuts when we go back on duty."
"Deal."
"Thank you kindly."
THE END
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Wasn't this absolutely, positively demented??! Feedback welcome at pezpusher@hotmail.com--please, don't send me any otters!