Title: Chasing Shadows - Part 1
Rating: R
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy
Word Count: 4,532 (15,512 overall)
Warnings: political intrigue, angst, hurt/comfort
Summary: When a planet's leader is murdered and Jim and Bones are blamed, they end up stranded on the planet injured and not knowing when they'll be rescued.

Thanks so much, siluria, for the beta. ♥

+++

It was all a political move, he knew. There was no way that Starfleet wouldn't give him, James Tiberius Kirk, George Kirk's son, Pike's golden boy, and the hero of Earth, command of the Enterprise. The admiralty saw fit that Jim and his young and inexperienced crew received low risk missions - a lot of supply runs to New Vulcan from planets willing to donate whatever they could that left Jim bored. Bones had scoffed at him, commenting on how Jim couldn't have expected to be in the thick of a battle all the time, but he was certain the doctor was getting just as twitchy with only routine physicals and Starfleet's mandatory vaccine rounds keeping him occupied in sickbay.

When they received word that the Enterprise was to go to Yaeeaari as Federation representatives for the crown prince's coming of age celebration, Jim wasn't exactly ecstatic but it was better than ferrying cereal grains and livestock, and he wasn't one to complain about a party, especially with free booze involved. The Yaeeaarians were humanoid from the waist up, serpentine from the waist down, and while the current king was pleasant in his dealings with the Federation, Starfleet seemed to think schmoozing the next in line guaranteed Yaeeaari to join the United Federation of Planets once King Ad'Hieh died. Jim figured the Federation wouldn't care if it wasn't for Yaeeaari's crystal mines, which resulted in their advanced laser technology, but he knew he'd been sent to suck up, not to question anyone's motives.

Jim, Spock, Uhura, and a handful of security personnel took a shuttle down after being hailed. Apparently the crystal content of the planet's soil made beaming difficult, Scotty not confident in how the refractive properties of the crystal would affect rematerialization, so they didn't bother risking it. The party wasn't supposed to start for another few hours and the palace's majordomo explained the celebration, the rites, and how they were expected to greet and act around Crowned Prince Og'Hieh and his father. Uhura seemed to be enjoying the way Yaeeaarians elongated their vowels even if she wouldn't be able to put it into practice since it seemed King Ad'Hieh preferred speaking Standard to listening to non-Yaeeaarians attempt his native tongue. Jim was glad the party wasn't set to start until sunset considering how uncomfortably hot the planet was. Spock seemed to be enjoying it, although subtly, his arms not clung as tightly to his sides like he was trying to keep them warm.

They returned to the Enterprise to change, Jim making a ship-wide announcement about expected behavior and proper conduct before heading to his own quarters. He wasn't surprised to find Bones there, waiting for him, unloading a sarcastic comment with an arched eyebrow about proper conduct as Jim didn't bother to hide the fact that he was giving Bones a once over as he'd already put on his dress uniform and Jim really liked the way the material stretched across Bones' shoulders.

The senior officers, some security staff, and anyone else who wasn't scheduled to work or couldn't find anyone to switch rotations with rode shuttles down in dress uniform in waves the hour before the party was set to begin. The prince and the king were scheduled to show up late since only upon successful completion of the rites was Prince Og'Hieh allowed to arrive, his father the only one who could judge what was deemed a success. Queen Og'daalaa was already seated at the high table, looking worried, with Princess La'Kiu, the prince's bride-to-be, beside her.

Jim had been glad he'd addressed the crew about manners before heading down, pleased to see that none of them were staring. The Yaeeaarians, despite their technology, were yet to branch out from their own planet, and with the way they slithered and had long, slender necks and arms with scales and no hair at all, they bore a strange grace that was enchanting and hard not to stare at. Their faces were close to human but in place of a nose were two small slits in the middle of the face and the Yaeeaari were unsettling to talk to until you realized they had clear eyelids and didn't appear to blink. Yaeeaarian clothing comprised of simply a leather vest of different color or embellishment depending on an individual's status. If it weren't for males having a brighter skin tone than the females, gender would've been impossible to tell apart, since all their voices were high and nasally.

Jim grabbed a glass of something light blue from a serving tray, recognizing alcohol but sipping carefully since he had no idea how strong it was.

"How do you know that stuff won't kill you?" he heard Bones' voice coming from behind him.

Jim turned, deciding that the drink seemed to be similar to wine despite having a chalky quality to it he couldn't quite explain. "I'd like to think the computer's entry on Yaeeaari would have mentioned something along the lines of local delicacies and spirits being poisonous to humans."

"I'd be less concerned if there were any way to predict what your body will and won't react to." Bones crossed his arms, doing a damn good job of looking unapproachable. Jim hadn't really considered the possibility of having an allergic reaction to whatever was in the wine, but he suspected that Bones had managed to hide a hypospray and a few canisters somewhere under his uniform. He hadn't looked happy when Jim told him to leave the medkit on the Enterprise, that they didn't want to look like they were expecting something to go wrong during the celebration.

Jim grabbed Bones by the arm, pulling him close to whisper in his ear. "I can name at least one thing in the room my body will react to," he said with a grin, laughing when Bones pulled out of his grasp and made a comment about Jim being no better than a horny teenager before making his way through the crowd of Yaeeaarians and the Enterprise's crew. Yaeeaarians stood taller when they were standing fully, so he didn't have to go very far before Jim lost sight of him.

Feeling something ghost by his hand, Jim turned and made a concerted effort not to jump in surprise at the female Yaeeaarian, identifiable as such by her drab red coloring, reminiscent of dried blood. Her tongue was peeking out from behind her teeth, smelling him. It took Jim a second to register that this particular female Yaeeaarian was Princess La'Kiu, and he needed to address her as such. "Does your wife not share your taste for yosuuo?"

Jim's brows knitted together. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, I'm afraid I don't understand. I'm not married."

The princess's tongue flicked out again, briefly. "Both of your pheromone levels peaked in each others' vicinity. Are you not mates?"

Once he figured out La'Kiu was talking about Bones, Jim had to put a concerted effort into forcing down his laughter so he didn't insult the princess. "Yes, Princess, we are, but Doctor McCoy is not my wife," he clarified, making a mental note to taunt Bones about this later. "He's, well, a he." From the way the tip of her tail was vibrating, it seemed like La'Kiu thought she'd embarrassed herself and was going to try and leave before she said anything else. Jim, feeling bad, tried to ameliorate the situation. "If you don't mind me saying so, Your Highness, it must be difficult for Yaeeaarians to determine a human's gender."

"I feel horrible for insulting your doctor," the princess said, seeming calmer. "Let me offer you, the both of you, guest chambers for the night, as an apology. Yaeeaari is most beautiful in the morning, as the sun rises."

"We'd be honored," Jim replied, putting on his most charming and gracious smile. They were spared from any further strings of pleasantries and apologies by the majordomo announcing that the king and the prince had arrived, sending everyone to their assigned seats as tradition dictated that the king was supposed to stand and sit taller than anyone else in the room. He sat between Spock and Bones, the latter catching the way the princess nodded at Jim before she sat. "You'll find out later," he promised, knowing that now they had a prince to impress and the Federation to represent.

+

By the time the party was deemed over at some time that Jim couldn't figure out (Yaeeaari had thirty-two hour days if the Earth standard of time was applied, so what time it was and what time it felt like didn't align at all), he was staggering a little from alien wine and feeling blurry from all the politicking of the evening. King Ad'Hieh had declared that he was to retire for the night, which was the Yaeeaarian way of politely kicking everyone out of your house.

Jim went through the pleasantries to the royal family as the Yaeeaarian guests and his crew filed out of the palace, the shuttles getting loaded up for their return to the Enterprise. The majordomo then showed Jim to the room the princess had gifted him for the night, but he didn't go inside, as curious as he was about what a guest room in the Yaeeaarian palace looked like. He'd find Bones first, and Jim hoped the doctor hadn't already left without him.

Jim found Spock outside, watching the shuttles take off with his hands clasped behind his back. It was significantly cooler at night, Jim was surprised to note. There was condensation on the rocks, the air moist like it was raining but there were no drops. "Bones and I have been invited to stay through morning," he said without preamble or any attempt at formality.

"It would be unwise to reject their offer. Doctor McCoy has procured one of the shuttles' emergency medkits to treat Ensign Ross for an adverse reaction to the Yaeeaarian wine."

Jim smirked at Spock's phrasing. At least someone on his crew got to have a little fun tonight, although Jim doubted Ross was currently enjoying himself. Jim had been on the receiving end of Bones' treatments for drunkenness enough times that he himself probably could've attended to the ensign. "Well, better out than in." He continued before Spock could ask about the phrase. "Leave a shuttle - I want to take the scenic route back. Try not to break my ship until I return."

Spock seemed to ignore him, which Jim took as a sign that the Vulcan was starting to understand sarcasm and that he'd have to find a new way to ruffle Spock's feathers. More confusing idioms, maybe, he thought as he walked by the three remaining shuttles, looking for Bones.

Jim found him in the second shuttle, putting a tricorder and hypospray back in the medkit. Bones looked up when he heard Jim's footfalls on the metal entry ramp. "Do I need to sedate you as well?"

"I think the princess might be offended if we don't make use of her gift." He grabbed Bones by the arm, more or less dragging him back to the palace. "We need to go to more worlds where you're mistaken for my wife."

"What!?" Bones' tone was incredulous, Jim not even needing to look at his best friend to know that the man's eyebrows were halfway up his forehead.

"From their point of view, human gender is difficult to distinguish." They reentered the palace, and aside from the servants cleaning up, it was entirely empty, everyone else having already left or gone to bed. "They're like, I don't know, peafowl - the males all bright and flashy, the females all, well, boring."

"You certainly know how to sweet talk a man, Jim. Maybe I'll sedate you anyway just to save my sense of self-"

Jim stopped the tirade by abruptly pushing Bones against the wall, pressing tight against him. His mouth went right for the spot below Bones' right ear, licking and kissing until he felt and heard the low groan that meant he had Bones' full and undivided attention. "I wouldn't keep you around if I thought you were boring," Jim placated, pulling away so he could go back to dragging Bones to the room.

"That's reassuring," was the doctor's response, but at least he sounded amused instead of irritated.

When they got to the room, Bones let out an impressed whistle and Jim was pretty sure his own mouth was hanging open, but it was the nicest room he'd ever seen. The Yaeeaarians certainly knew how to treat their honored guests. The floors and walls were rock like the majority of the planet consisted of, but all the furniture and even the windows were carved from the crystals that made Yaeeaari such a high priority planet to the Federation. There was a table along one wall with food and more wine, and with the way the moonlight was filtering through the windows and onto the stone floor and walls, the room glittered like they were looking at space itself. There was even a tub embedded in the floor, although it was more the size of a small pool, and water had already been drawn. The planet was so hot during the day that the ground warmed up, the heat diverted to the tub in a way that it was steaming, a Yaeeaarian-made indoor hot spring. The other most noticeable thing in the room that was drawing Jim's attention was the bed - the mattress thick and inviting with blankets the deep violet that had represented the Yaeeaarian royal family for centuries.

Always one to take advantage of a situation, Jim started to take off his dress uniform, leaving the pieces in a pile on the floor. "Jim..." he heard Bones start, but the captain wasn't going to hear any of it.

"I plan on getting in that water, Bones, and I don't want to hear about the risk of heavy metal poisoning because of whatever's leeching in from the rock or how this is a spawning ground for bacteria and there's no way to know that the few antibiotics I'm not allergic to will even be effective." Down to his underwear, Jim paused to look at Bones, feeling sheepish to see the other man standing there, holding out his flask, an eyebrow arched like he possibly thought Jim was losing it. He took the flask with a muttered, "Thanks," savoring the familiar taste of the bourbon before returning it to Bones. He then stripped the rest of the way and slowly eased himself into the water with a pleasurable sigh. Jim closed his eyes, feeling his muscles relax, and grinning slowly when he heard Bones sliding into the tub next to him. "How do you think I did today?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"You were a polite and charming son of a bitch," Bones replied, reaching out through the water so his fingers ghosted over Jim's ribs. Jim lifted his arms, resting them on the edge, to brace his body against the side of the pool, stretching out his legs to wrap them around Bones' waist, pulling the doctor close and pleased to find that he was also completely naked. Jim could feel the water between them get even warmer, causing him to shiver involuntarily. "But you knew that already, you ego maniac."

Jim rocked his hips, pleased with the resulting groan, and before he could make a comment, Bones was kissing him, devouring him, trapping Jim against the side of the pool, leaving him unable to move his arms without risking hitting the back of his head against the smooth stone edge. He squirmed helplessly, shoulders straining, as Bones worked his way down Jim's neck, stopping to nibble at the captain's collarbone. Bones' lips and hands were so sure in his ruthless attack on Jim's nerve endings that all he could do was hold on, Jim strategizing what he would do once he got them over to the bed until he felt a hand reaching between their bodies, and then all plans were put on hold as coherent thought fled.

+

Jim was jolted awake by a knock at the door. He waited to hear another before carefully extracting himself from Bones, knowing it would take a lot more to wake the other man since being a doctor seemed to ingrain in him an ability to get as much sleep as he could before getting called in for the next emergency. It took Jim a moment to remember where he was and then to find his pants and undershirt before making his way over to the door. He still had no sense of the time, but the sun wasn't even close to rising yet since he couldn't see the haze that would form on the horizon before daybreak.

It was the majordomo, looking twitchy with the way he kept flicking his tongue out, smelling the air. It didn't take very long for Jim to learn why. "King Ad'Hieh is dead."

"How?" Jim was impressed at the calmness in his voice when it felt like at least six thousand other thoughts were flying through his head.

"Wound in the center of his thorax consistent with a phaser wound. You and the doctor need to come with me now."

Jim had wondered how long it would take in his Starfleet career before he ended up imprisoned. And Pike thought he had been wasting his time in and out of Iowa's prisons and drunk tanks. "Are you arresting us?"

"No, Captain," the majordomo hissed insistently. Jim noticed the use of his rank, this time; he was trying to show respect. "But you understand that they'll be sending guards here soon to do just that. I'm here to get you out before they come for you. The timing is no coincidence."

Of course it wasn't. The only thing keeping Yaeeaari from joining the Federation was King Ad'Hieh. Someone else had wanted the king dead and wanted it to look like someone in Starfleet was responsible, like they'd stop at nothing to get the Federation what it wanted. "Give me a minute," Jim said, stepping back into the room to wake up Bones. He shook Bones' shoulder, getting incoherent mumblings in response as he collected Bones' uniform and the rest of his own from the floor. "The king's dead and they're looking to set us up for it."

"Right - because it would've just been too easy for things to go well."

Jim didn't like the idea of sneaking around the castle unarmed with the possibility of encountering guards who would be hostile towards two escaping Starfleet officers who were accused of murdering their king, but he hadn't been allowed to bring it as the whole point of the mission was to ameliorate the Yaeeaarian impression of Starfleet and the Federation. The only thing on them besides the clothes on their backs was the medkit Bones had taken from a shuttle to treat Ensign Ross, and Jim doubted even Bones could wield a hypospray fast enough for it to be a useful weapon.

It seemed like they had been walking through winding corridors that all looked exactly the same for nearly two kilometers now. At one point the hall had angled down for so long that Jim wouldn't doubt if they were underground. These tunnels were likely used, Jim guessed, to get from building to building in the middle of the day without being out in the scorching sun. At night they were empty, and cold enough that Jim could just make out his breath every time he exhaled. The majordomo was moving so slowly, like he was afraid of making even the slightest noise or drawing any attention with a sudden motion.

Another five minutes of walking in silence and there was an incline and the majordomo halted quickly. "The first door you'll see goes directly outside. Your shuttle is still intact and waiting where it was left. I can't take you any further - it's in my contract as the king's majordomo to be loyal to him and only him. They'll execute me if I am seen helping you, even if they're swayed to believe your innocence." The majordomo pulled something out of an internal vest pocket and pressed it into Jim's hand. It looked like an over-elaborate flashlight. "This is a sesslaaa - a Yaeeaarians phaser, if you will. I hope you don't need to use it." He nodded at Jim and then Bones respectably before slithering off back in the direction they'd come from.

"You awake yet, Bones?" Jim asked, studying the weapon in his hand.

"Adrenaline may have more of a kick, but I think I'll be sticking with coffee in the morning, thanks." Jim motioned for Bones to stand on one side of the door as he went for the other, pointing the sesslaaa away from both of them as he hit the button that he hoped turned the thing on and was rewarded with a clicking sound as the crystals within it aligned. "Do you know how to use that thing?"

"I'm a fast learner," he responded, not really answering Bones' question but smirking at the eye roll he got in turn. Jim raised a finger to his lips, motioning for Bones to be quiet, before he slowly pushed open the door, peeking out with the sesslaaa held out in front of him and swinging it in an arc with his body, looking for a target. No one was outside and the shuttle was about half a klick away. He knew Bones was behind him when he could feel the doctor's breath ghosting at the back of his neck. "Get to the shuttle and start the take off sequence. I'll cover."

"Jim, I..."

"Just go!" He didn't want to give Bones the chance to say whatever he was thinking. He'd known since they first met that Bones' brain seemed to keep a catalogue of worst case scenarios, and Jim didn't need to hear his fears that they were running out of luck at any moment when guards would come bursting out the doors. Jim didn't want to think of what could happen if they were caught - the king's murder left everything unstable. Would the prince still want Yaeeaari to join the Federation if they said they were responsible for his father's death? Would they be executed to send a message to the rest of Starfleet to leave the planet the hell alone?

The entry ramp was lowering when three guards came outside, surprising Jim with the low numbers and looking surprised to see Jim there themselves. He bet that they were sent to destroy the shuttle and hadn't counted on him being there. They stared across at each other for a heartbeat before one of them noticed that the shuttle was running, yelling something in his native tongue at the other two as they lowered their staffs and, shit, Jim realized that the staffs were just significantly longer versions of the sesslaaa he held. Two shot at the shuttle while the third shot at Jim, who dropped to the sand and rolled before rising to a knee and taking aim for one of the guards aiming at the shuttle, taking the first shot too wide but the second hitting the guard below the waist, where the serpentine part of his body began. He screamed, and the other two started yelling, their cries echoing off the stonework of the castle so loudly that Jim had no doubts that they were calling for backup and that it wouldn't be long before they arrived. He couldn't tell if the guard had been killed or not, but he spun around and started running for the shuttle, shooting over his shoulder to keep the guards ducking for cover as he zigzagged across the sand, throwing himself up the ramp and barking at the computer to close it before he was even fully on board.

"Buckle up, Bones," Jim said as he plopped down in the pilot's seat, securing his own safety harness and registering the way Bones was eyeing him over like he was trying to make sure he wasn't bleeding from anywhere or suddenly missing a few key organs. "You get in touch with the Enterprise?"

"All the damn crystals on this rock are keeping the signal from getting through. I think-"

Jim had just gotten the shuttle off the ground when a blast caused it to shudder. Something wasn't right, and based on how pale Bones' expression suddenly got, he could tell, too. Jim spun the shuttle around, none of the readouts saying anything was wrong so he wanted to see what they'd hit him with. Four more guards had come out with two weapons which, from the looks of them, were Yaeeaarian cannons.

"Why are we still in atmo, Jim?" Bones' voice was strained, and as much as his aviaphobia had improved during their tenure at the academy and since, getting shot at by highly specialized alien lasers wasn't exactly helping his stress levels, to say the least.

"We're going, we're going!" he yelled, pulling on one throttle to increase acceleration and the other for altitude. The firing increased, the shuttle jarring when impact was made, and then there was another blow and the shuttle was spinning, one of the lateral stabilizers blown. Jim had to overcompensate the steering to the starboard side to keep it from veering. One last shot from the Yaeeaarian royal guards had their engines destroyed, their speed dropping as gravity pulled them back toward the planet. Jim could see a mountain range looming out of the desert in the distance, and he quickly calculated how much distance they were gaining versus how much altitude they were losing versus how far the mountains are. If he did this right, they could make it. He glanced over at Bones, gripping the arm rests with white knuckles and his eyes squeezed tight. "You trust me, right, Bones?"

"Not gonna matter much if we're both dead." Bones' tone was sharp, stubborn, which was all Jim needed to hear. He wouldn't know what to do the day Bones rolled over and gave up on him.

With as much control as he could manage in the dying shuttle, Jim aimed at the mountains, attempting for a softer landing but not having enough power left to keep the shuttle from crashing into the rocky face nose first, the force jarring the shuttle so it dropped onto its port side, sliding them down the side of the mountain before hitting a ledge at a forty-five degree angle that stopped them dead with the crunches and shrieks of crumpling metal as the shuttle collapsed in on itself.

The last thing Jim noticed before passing out from the pain of being crushed between his seat and the console was that Princess La'Kiu had been right - the planet was most beautiful at sunrise. All the crystals in the rocks and sand reflected the light like millions of prisms, casting an aura of kaleidoscopic light across its surface and reflecting back into the sky.

Part 2 - Part 3