Chapter 7

Well, that guy with the pointy ears, Spock? had been right. The brig didn't have any bars, but Coal had been right as well, he was still locked up. Dustin sat on the ground by the wall, he looked rather calm. Coal wasn't himself. He didn't think he could take being in there too long. 'Perhaps I could melt through...' he thought.

Dustin fiddled his thumbs a bit, "I wouldn't suppose that they would have ipads or something on this super high tech space ship," he said more to himself. "I don't think I would mind being in here nearly as much if I had something to do."

Coal found himself suddenly angry, "We shouldn't be here!"

"Here on the ship, or here-"

"Both!" Coal pounded his fist against what looked like glass, but was obviously much stronger.

"Whoa, It's okay, we'll explain it to them and get out of here soon enough." Dustin spoke with a slightly higher piiched tone then before, apparently alarmed.

"You're right." Coal made an effort to calm himself down. If he went into a fire rage here ... well, he was pretty sure that they would never believe his story then, "I'm just ... this is ... well ... it's irksome. Being in the right but not being believed."

"No kidding."

The doors on the far end of the room swished open and the Captain, Doctor and Spock (who Coal decidedly disliked) entered. "All right." Kirk stopped only inches from the not-glass, "Who are you really and what are you doing on my ship?"

"I'm Dustin Chase, from Utah. What Spock found on me was all true. That missing person report is quite a long story," he smiled slightly. "And I have no idea what I'm doing on your ship." He glanced over at Coal.

"I have no idea what I'm doing here too. I was at home, in bed, I closed my eyes, and the next thing I knew I was here, wearing these strange clothes."

"Same here, though may I add, I was asleep," Dustin frowned.

"So, what's with that strange alloy in your blood?" McCoy, Bones? asked, though it seemed a little random.

Coal shrugged, wondering just how much he should share about himself. "I'm from a different world." He knew that was true enough, and perhaps that was enough to explain any differences he might have. Bones muttered something under his breath that Coal couldn't make out, the only word he caught was physiology.

"But what about you?" Spock turned to Dustin. "The computers say that you were born on earth, yet I have never heard of a human doing what you did earlier."

Dustin looked down at his feet with a shrug. "Well, I didn't quite learn how to do it on earth. But I suppose I've always been a bit of a catalyst."

"Where did you learn it if not on earth?" Kirk asked. "The farthest humans had traveled then was to the moon, and that would have been years before you were born."

Dustin shrugged again, "I couldn't tell you where exactly. We call them bridges, the wormhole things that took us there."

"And who is 'us'?" inquired Bones.

"Me and my friends, I think you'd easily find their missing persons reports too."

Coal had been fine with the attention that had been on Dustin but Spock turned back to him, "How, exactly, are you different?"

"I- I- Well ... I'm immune to fire ..." Coal tried to downplay his ability a bit, not wanting to get on their bad side. He was also struggling to keep his emotions in check. It angered him, why couldn't they just trust him?!!! He knew it was irrational, being a prince and having seen his father deal with affairs of people that might or might not be spies ... but it was much different from the "Spies" point of view. Besides, Cort had always been better at diplomacy than him.

"We will have to check your stories." Coal caught a slight hint of sympathy in Kirk's voice, then the Captain continued, cutting off any questions, "And there's only one reliable way to check."

"That would be?" McCoy looked at Kirk, obviously out of the loop.

"I believe that the Captain is referring to my ability to mind meld, ... am I right in this assumption?"

"As usual." Kirk let slip a small smile.

"Mind meld?" Coal didn't like the sound of that.

"It's exactly what it sounds like." McCoy answered.

"What if I don't want to have him in my mind?" Coal could feel his temperature rising against his will.

"Yeah?" Dustin was obviously just about as comfortable with the prospect as he was, "What if we don't want to be part of it?"

"Then Mr. Spock won't use that method." Kirk looked at Dustin now instead of Coal, "And you will be considered a threat to the well-being of everyone on this ship, and will stay in the brig until we can take you back to Earth to stand trial."

"That's what I was afraid of." Dustin frowned, "I guess I have no choice." Coal on the other hand had turned his back to them, and was struggling to keep his anger under control as sweat dripped down his face."

"I'm glad that you've chosen to cooperate." Kirk nodded at Dustin, "Mr. Cassell? What do you say?"

Coal didn't answer, and was shuddering violently as he fought to contain his rapidly uncontrollable temperature.

"I think there's more to his physiology than just fire immunity." McCoy sounded slightly worried.

"Mr. Cassell?" Kirk spoke up again, trying to get Coal's attention.

"I. ... Don't. .... Want. .... Anyone. ... In. ... My. ... MIND!" Coal's voice had been rising with every word, and he'd heard Spock say calmly,

"Captain, he is smoking."

"I can see that Mr. Spock."

He burst into flame on the last word, turning towards the glass angrily as Dustin inched away from him, obviously trying to get a safe distance from the fire.

"You do remember that I'm in here, right?" His voice shook slightly and he coughed as he tried to breath through the quickly thickening smoke.

"He's on fire Jim!" McCoy sounded horrified, and Kirk took only a moment to get over his shock.

" Turn on the water in the brig!!"

Spock had walked a few feet away and had been talking into a strange device, and now he returned, "I already took the liberty of contacting Mr. Scott, Captain. He should already be-"

He was interrupted mid-sentence by the water turning on in the brig.

"Hey!" Dustin called, "I exist you know!"

"Well done Spock." Kirk smiled, proud of his Second.

The water only served to make Coal angrier. Flames still licked him, just not as high as before, and steam erupted all around him instead of smoke.

"Captain, it seems as though water is not enough."

"It seems that you're right." Kirk looked almost at a loss for what to do.

Coal was sick of looking at them through the now water-beaded not-glass, and now he walked up to it and pressed his hands against it, beginning to melt through.

"We should just gas him." McCoy sounded slightly panicked. Coal's hands broke through to the other side just at that moment.

"Too late, it would leak into here." Kirk pulled out his phaser, but surprisingly, Spock took action first. A press of a button and the not-glass disappeared, causing Coal to fall forward. Spock then grabbed his flaming shoulder, and with a quick pinch, he was out like a light.



Coal woke up groggily, trying to recall what had happened.

The first thing that he noticed was that he was laying on a bed in the med-bay again and he didn't feel so hot. Literally. He felt drained. It didn't take him long to remember what had happened, and when he did, he immediately understood why he didn't feel so great. He had drained himself in his anger. Fantastic. They probably hated him now. So why was he in the med-bay again and not in a cell?

"Good to see you're awake." McCoy's voice came at the same time as a door swished open.

"Good?" He looked at the doctor in disbelief.

"Spock mind melded with you while you were unconscious which gave us all the answers we needed. We know that you're on our side."

"He ... what?!" Coal was, to say the least, angry. He could already feel the smoke coming off of him.

"Whoa now, none of that again." McCoy frowned, "He didn't invade you're privacy. Spock does a lot of things wrong, but mind-melding isn't one of them. And I don't want to have to find you more clothes. Plus, aren't you a little too weak to do that right now?"

"Yes." Coal, settled down as the Doctor explained. "So where's Dustin?"

"He's touring the ship with Spock and the Captain."

"Oh. ... Is the ocean pretty this time of year, or is this really a ship of the stars, like Dustin guessed?"

"Ship of the stars." McCoy's gave him a coy look, then, seeing his uncomfortable look, he softened his gaze, "I don't particularly like it either, but don't worry, ... it's safe enough."

"Enough?" Coal inquired, that word didn't sound all too promising.

"I try not to think of what would happen if something were to go wrong, if the ship were to get a hole, per se."

"What would happen if it were to get a hole?"

"I won't bore you with all the medical facts," he said, immediately trying to change the subject. "So, are you feeling better? Would you mind if I were to look you over, give you a physical? I promise not to stick any needles in you. Not yet anyways, I should probably give you and that Dustin immunizations, your bodies aren't accustomed to the microorganisms from this place and time. "

"But you promise not to do them right now?" Coal still wanted confirmation.

McCoy nodded, "Now let's just see how you're doing. Make sure you didn't drain yourself too much."

"How are you going to do that?" Coal settled back onto the bio-bed, unsure whether or not he should be scared.

"With this," the doctor held up a strange device. "It," he paused a moment to think of how to word it simply, "Sees inside you and monitors your vitals. It will tell me how you're doing. It gives me the information I need to be able to get you back to normal. The only problem is, I'm not quite sure what normal for you is. But rest assured, I've been in situations like this before," he added quickly. "I won't do anything rash again, I didn't know your circumstances before."

Coal nodded, "Okay." Dr. McCoy scanned him, and checked his monitor.

"Okay, You're still pretty hot."

"That's normal." Coal spoke maybe a little too quickly.

"Is it like that with everyone where you come from?" he asked, still scanning the monitors, and tapping on something.

Coal shook his head, "No, but it is with me."

"Can you tell me why?" Genuine curiosity shone in McCoy's voice.

"I was born like that," Coal felt a little uncomfortable disclosing details about his life to a stranger, but the doctor seemed honest enough. "It's heredity, but only I got it, my two brothers don't." He didn't feel inclined to elaborating on what his brothers could do though.

"So, it's normal for you to start on fire as well?"

"When I'm mad," Coal admitted. "It's harder to control."

Dr. McCoy glanced at him. "Do you mind showing me?"

"Uhh ..." Coal shifted on the bed, uncomfortable, "I guess so." He held out his hand, putting his index finger higher than all of the others. A small flame started on it, then proceeded to jump from finger to finger. Even though it was a small flame, he was tired, and had to stop sooner than he would have liked.

"I hate to say this, ... but that was, ..." McCoy had a twisted ironic expression, "Fascinating."

"Did I just hear you say something was 'fascinating'?" Spock asked, walking into the room with Dustin behind him. The door swished closed.

McCoy scowled, "I use that word once, and you happen to be here to hear it. Where's Jim?"

"On the bridge. May I inquire what it is that you find fascinating?" Spock asked, in a rather monotonous voice.

"This boy," McCoy said with a gesture to Coal, "He can do a bit more than his display earlier in the brig."

All eyes were on him, so reluctantly he demonstrated the same thing he'd shown McCoy. "Fascinating," Spock intoned.

"Ugh ..." McCoy's irritated expression got a little bit exasperated, "Why me?"

Coal was having a hard time deciding whether the two officers were friends or not. He hadn't contemplated it long when the medical bay was flooded with a flashing red light and an annoying alarm.

"I had better head to the bridge," Spock stated.

"What should we do with these two?" McCoy asked.

"We can come." Coal started to get up, but stopped at the look McCoy gave him.

"Yeah right. You're staying right there till I'm sure that you're not going to faint from exhaustion."

"I'm not that tired!" Coal protested.

"Yeah right!" McCoy gave a long, forced yawn as Spock left the room. Coal yawned just after. Twice.

"That's what I thought." McCoy smirked.

"Hey! That's not fair, yawns are contagious," Coal protested further, yawning again.

"That is true," Dustin said, yawning himself.

"Yeah, I don't care, you're staying where you are. Besides, if Spock were here I'm sure he'd recite some regulation we'd be breaking by letting you on the bridge."

"What regulation could I possibly be breaking?" Coal protested.

"No fire hazards on the bridge." McCoy deadpanned.

"I wouldn't be a fire hazard," Dustin pointed out, receiving a glare from Coal.

"I never said you would be." McCoy nodded his permission, and with a cheeky grin at Coal, Dustin ran out of the door.

Coal frowned, "That's not fair."

"Hasn't anyone told you life's not fair?" McCoy asked. "You're staying here."

"Really I feel fine enough, but you're planning on heading to the bridge, right? Perhaps it would be best if I was with you so you'd be able to keep me under personal observation."

"Nurse Chapel is very capable of that."

Coal glowered, "I'm going to throw a tantrum that knocks me out," he threatened.

McCoy rolled his eyes, "Fine, kid, if you want to come that bad, then come on."

Coal grinned victoriously, and followed McCoy out of the room.

"What's going on?" McCoy asked as they reached the bridge.

"There appears to be some sort of ion storm clouding our sensors. It is quite unusual, I have never seen anything like it."

"Oh, come on Spock, we've encountered ion storms before," McCoy countered with a slight grimace.

"Yes, but this one is quite unlike last time. But while we're discussing it, may I suggest that no one messes with the transporters."

They all nodded in mutual agreement. Coal felt like there was something important that he was missing, ... Some inside joke. Obviously something to do with transporters, but he didn't even know what those were!

"Well I daen't know, Mr. Spock, I think I'd enjoy seein' you with a beard again," Scotty joked. Coal hadn't noticed him before now. The others chuckled a little.

Captain Kirk was laughing as well but stopped at a look from Spock. "Okay, let's turn back to the matter at hand. Why don't we allow Spock to continue his analysis of the storm cloud?"

"Thank you, Captain. As I was saying, this cloud is different, and I think it may prove more of a threat. It is composed of a strange gas that is not found on our periodic table." Coal could feel Dustin perk up a little at that.

'Gas burns, right?' Coal thought. 'I wonder if I could just burn it up?' He tentatively reached out his hand, and focused on the gas on the screen. He tried for at least a minute until McCoy interrupted him.

"What are you doing? You're sweating like you just ran a marathon!"

"Why won't it burn?!!"

Dustin started laughing from right next to him. Coal glared, Dustin seemed like a nice kid, but that was rather rude.

"There's no oxygen on space," he explained, "Fire needs oxygen, just like us, to breathe of sorts."

McCoy nodded, "That's one way of putting it. It takes a little more to start a fire, and that cloud isn't composed of the right elements."

Coal nodded a little dejectedly, "Too bad... wait, so it would be possible to start a fire?"
Dr. McCoy nodded, "I believe so, but don't hurt yourself kid. Otherwise we're going right back to med bay."

"I'm not that accident prone ..." Coal pouted, "I might not be the most careful child in my family, but I'm definitely not the most reckless either."

"Who is?" Dustin looked intrigued.

"My twin brother."

"Two of you?" McCoy looked perturbed.

"He's nothing like me at all!" Coal looked affronted, "All you have to do to know that is see him. From a distance too. Oh, and actually there's three of us, triplets. And what's annoying is my mom doesn't know who was born first."

McCoy shook his head, "Your poor mother."

"Bones," Kirk broke into their conversation. "What do you think?"

"Wait, about what?"

"I believe the Captain is referring to what we were discussing while you were talking to those two and not listening."

"Oh really Spock?" McCoy asked sarcastically. "Now what would that be?"

"That would be the Ion storm." Kirk's face showed amusement.

"What about it?" McCoy was now impatient.

"Should we wait it out, or try to forge through it?"

"I don't know! Waiting it out sounds safer!"

"Doctor, the sooner we leave the Ion storm, the less likely it is to affect our ship and maybe even our crew." Spock interrupted.

"The chances of that are minimal." McCoy scoffed, "And even less likely if we don't move!"

"The chances of us running into an Ion storm are somehow higher on this ship than on any other, I am not sure why, but I'm sure that you'll agree as soon as you take into account our history with Ion storms."

"Are you saying that we have worse luck on this ship than others?" McCoy raised an eyebrow, mirroring Spock's.

"It would seem so, if by your definition of luck you mean less trouble."

"Yes, isn't that everyone's definition of luck?" McCoy asked.

"I do not believe that is the definition of-"

"Hey, I'm a doctor not a thesaurus," McCoy countered Spock. Coal had now developed a theory that the two enjoyed arguing.

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand?" Kirk asked. "The Ion storm."

"Keptain," a young man spoke up. Coal had noticed two people in yellow at the front of the room, at a desk sort of thing. The one who spoke was young with curly hair and a strange accent. The man sitting next to him had brown skin and a darker coloring of features.

"Keptain," the young one did again. "Ve have a bit of a situation. Ze Ion storm, it's moving, sir."

"Thank you, Chekov. At least one person isn't having attention troubles." Spock raised an eyebrow and McCoy looked ready to interject. "I wouldn't suppose it happens to be moving away from us?"

"No, sir, it's moving straight for us, sir."

"Fascinating," was Spock's comment.

You could practically hear McCoy's eyes roll, "Isn't this where we run?"

"I believe that moving away would be prudent." Spock amazingly agreed with the Doctor.

"Well!" Kirk slapped both of their shoulders, to which McCoy lost his balance for a moment, and Spock remained unmoved, "Can't argue with that! Mr. Sulu! You heard them, full impulse away from the Ion storm."

"Yes sir." The darker skinned man at the front's fingers flew across the board in front of him, and after a few clicks and beeps, the storm on the screen was moving farther and farther away.

"Keptain!" Checkov shouted, his young face suddenly alarmed, "Zere is a sheep coming from ze other side!"

"What is it?" Kirk looked alarmed, causing Coal to forget laughing at the young man's accent.

"Eet looks ... Klingon!" That made everyone in the whole room alarmed, and Kirk's next orders were almost drowned out.

"Head straight into the Ion storm Mr. Sulu, full impulse!" Coal definitely didn't miss the look that the ever calm Spock gave to the easily ruffled McCoy. And the only word for that look was ... smug.

"Jim ..." McCoy's grumpy face turned towards his Captain once more, "You know what that Ion storm could do."

"I was there too Bones." Kirk looked at him seriously, before a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, "And you've gotta admit, my outfit on that other ship was pretty sweet."

"ARE YOU REALLY TALKING ABOUT OUTFITS?!!" McCoy's face had turned completely red, "That can't be the only parallel universe out there!"

"Well Bones, looks like we're about to find out." Kirk turned and faced the storm again.
"Captain, we're being hailed!" A dark skinned woman who had been making faces the whole time, but nevertheless remaining quiet now spoke up.

"Onscreen." Kirk's face was set in stone. The screen flickered, and then suddenly, instead of an Ion storm, there was the dark face of something obviously not human.

"Hello Kirk." The figure on the screen growled, "Your reputation precedes you."

"You have me at a disadvantage." Kirk's face still hadn't moved, "It's a pleasure to meet you ..." He paused, obviously waiting for a name.

"T'hann. And It's no pleasure, I can assure you of that. I have chosen you as an example. I will destroy your ship, and everyone on it to show the Federation that they are beneath us."

"Why?" Kirk's cheek twitched slightly.

"Because your Federation says that they are peaceful, but we know better, they will turn on us and attack us ... we will not let them take us by surprise. So you either surrender, or die."

"Right, because both of 'em are gonna be so much fun." McCoy muttered darkly.

"You'll have to catch us, and I don't think you wanna mess with the Ion storm just ahead." He nodded at the Dark skinned woman, who pressed a button and T'hann's face disappeared. "Sulu, keep full impulse ahead, shields up!"

"Yes sir!"

Suddenly the whole ship shook. "Ze sheep, sir, eet's following us into ze storm," Chekov shouted.

"Sonuva-" Kirk exclaimed.

"Captain," Spock spoke coolly. Coal was beginning to wonder if he felt anything, he'd been so emotionless this whole time, except when it came to the doctor. "The Ion storm has jammed our torpedoes, as I expect it has theirs. I suggest we focus more on the storm."
Kirk nodded, "Chekov, where are they?"

"I don't know, sir. The storm is blocking our sensors."

"Well then, I think we can assume they're flying blind as well," Kirk nodded. Coal could tell the Captain was rather practiced at situations like this.

"Jim! Jim!" A voice came from the chair that Kirk had been in a little while ago.

"Scotty?" Coal knew that he'd recognized the voice, but couldn't remember the name until Kirk said it.

"The Generator sair, it's off again! An' this time your nae goin' ta replace it! I'll take care of tha' but it's gonna take time!"

"The Generator?" Coal spoke quietly, remembering the feeling of power from before.

"Damn it!" McCoy and Spock had been having a quiet argument, but it finally escalated into audibility as the Doctor became frustrated, "You pointy-eared hobgoblin! We don't need to help the Klingons!"

"I did not say that Doctor." Spock raised an eyebrow, "I merely suggested that we find them, as, being Klingons, there is a 90% chance that if they find us first, they will still try to attack." Coal looked at Kirk, to see what he thought of the order.

"He's right Bones, we should find them first. And you're right too, we should help them."

"That's not what I said!" McCoy protested.

"Dustin." Coal spoke quietly, getting the other boy's wandering attention.

"Yeah?"

"Can you do anything about that storm?"

"I could try ..." Dustin looked unsure, "But I'd feel safer with that Generator going."

"I can do that." Coal gave him a hard look.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Coal hoped he sounded confident, as he didn't feel that way at all.
Dustin bit his lip, and Coal knew he fell a little short on confidence as well. But then Dustin spoke up for him,

"Coal thinks he can fix the generator."

Everyone looked at them a little surprised, having forgotten about then amid the turmoil. Kirk dismissed it immediately with the wave of a hand, "No, it's too dangerous."

Coal was about to say something in argument but he didn't have to. McCoy spoke up, "I don't know, Jim. His physiology differs from ours. I think it might not kill him."

"It's still too risky," Kirk replied a little obstinately.

"Captain, you seemed to think that the crew's safety was worth the risk before," Spock said.

"And, other than dying for a while, you're still here," McCoy pointed out. 'Wait,' Coal thought. 'The Captain died fixing the generator? What?!'

"I'm saying, Jim, that he might actually make it."

Coal nodded, "Yeah, I have to try, right?"

Kirk closed his eyes for a while, with his fingers on the bridge of his nose. Finally he nodded, his hand dropping down, and opening his eyes. "Okay, Scotty, take Coal to the generator and see what he can do."

"Aye, sair," Scotty said gravely.

"And maybe we should see what Dustin could do about the storm," Spock observed.

Dustin tapped his fingers nervously, "Okay."

Author's Note

Wow. This one is huge.