Date: 13 Sep 2013 19:28 Title: Into the Lion's Den - part two
I'm not sure what I was expecting here. Some alien plot perhaps or some form of twisted reality maybe.
This is so much more emotionally fulfilling. While I'm not familiar with the stories that have come before, the Kirk/Spock bond is not a difficult one to imagine. We already know that this relationship transcends traditional friendship and in a way you do a fantastic job here on focusing on the odd man out who is left on the outside looking in, even though he is as much a part of this as Kirk and Spock, and if I'm not mistaken, has known Kirk longer than his Vulcan first officer has. Not sure if that's just a thing from the new movies or if this is true in the TOSverse as well.
A terrific character study, easy on the action but heavy on poignancy.
Author's Response:
Thank you, kindly. The mystical bond between these three men is what captivates me about TOS. Yes, this tale is more emotionally driven due to that. It's immediate predecessor, 'The Ties That Bind' is much more of an action/adventure tale, and does deal with the first time the nature of the mental bond between Kirk and Spock is revealed to McCoy. Hopefully it's just as poignant, but for different reasons.
Date: 13 Sep 2013 19:20 Title: Into the Lion's Den - part one
It's a tough, short live for redshirts on the Enterprise, isn't it?
Spock and McCoy pull through but clearly more is going on here between everyone's favorite triumvirate than a shuttle crash they barely survived.
The way you capture these characters, especially McCoy is spot on, almost as if we're watching an episode in another TOS season which we were so sadly denied.
Author's Response:
Yes it was, although Knowles was the only true 'redshirt' - Andreyo was the navigator and Chowdiah the yeoman from Communications assigned to log the mission. Thanks for the comment - I was going for an episode feel here.
Date: 10 Aug 2013 04:17 Title: Into the Lion's Den - part two
I'd have to say that I'm with McCoy here on this one. You can have all of the love in the world for someone, but there's a huge vulnerability there, too. And not neccessarily the given kind, the kind you earn with time and word and deed. Given what I know of your storyline, I can sort of see where and how this is going.
As an aside, McCoy's voice was well captured here and definitely enjoyable to read.
Author's Response:
In the series McCoy was a lot of things, but I don't think there was ever any doubt that he was an astute judge of character, especially where these two men were concerned. Good to kniow I captured that well.
Date: 10 Aug 2013 04:05 Title: Into the Lion's Den - part one
It really is good to see McCoy being all canny and saavy like that. He did what he could and using the placebo effect was a particularly nice touch. I have a feeling this story will soon get more emotionally frought soon, but aside the twinge of mystery, it reads like a very well-timed and well paced action/adventure tale.
Author's Response:
Thanks, Steff. Glad it worked for you.
Date: 07 Jul 2013 20:20 Title: Into the Lion's Den - part two
Man oh, Lil black dog, this story acts as such a tie to so many of the other stories, binding together the themes and the arc of the Bond between Kirk and Spock but also fully exploring the ramifications on McCoy and his own intricate link to these two men. A truly fascinating piece especially as you did not shirk the moment of McCoy confronting Kirk about the bond. It was something that instory had to happen and you handled it deftly - with all the heated words and yet wary caring restraint shown by McCoy and Kirk in the conversation. Really well handled. Wonderfully realised and a nice sense of completion to proceedings rich with all the richness and potential to develop it further.
Author's Response:
Again, this started out as an answer to a free write about technology, but then took off with a mind of its own, wriggling its way into my personal canon. And McCoy, being who he is, just couldn't let his concerns about the bond go unsaid to Jim. He's said his piece to each man now, and can only sit back and see how things unfold. And sorry to say, his concerns were spot-on. Things unravel in the worst way imaginable in 'Six Degrees of Separation.'
Date: 07 Jul 2013 19:01 Title: Into the Lion's Den - part one
My you do like to injure your Spock and McCoy for that matter LBD. I suppose canon did this often enough too so you are in character and setting with being so mean to them. ;)
What a catasrophic mission from the very get go here. The horror and death toll is enormous and shocking to be honest. With TOS and especially with your pieces you get a real sense of how dangerous a life it is, how fragile space vessels are and how brave are those that serve on them without even stepping into danger's way.
I love seeing McCoy as leader and seeing him do everything in his limited powers here to do something to help. Even so far as to offer a placebo to offer a sense of relief, a sense of comfort to a dying officer. That's heartbreaking - seems cold in one sense and yet because it is McCoy we know it cost him greatly to walk having offered any actual medical aid.
We see McCoy truly limited, by injury, lack of medical tools and supplies and hampered by being on his own. A true sense of horror and agony is gotten from McCoy here. (of course, given recent jokes on the forum about McCoy being an interloper who is not a real doctor makes sense even here too - cruel traiterous thoughts I know)
I love seeing McCoy. I love seeing his grit, his frustration, his black humour and his concern for Spock in all of this and then to end his guilt and sorrow at being only able to so little. And the niggling doubts about Kirk amid all of the concern and what it is that is working in Kirk in all of this.
Author's Response:
Guilty as charged. I have been putting the boys through Hell of late. ;-) Unfortunately, that seems to be the best way to get at their underlying feelings toward one another. When all is hunky dory they've no reason to express that affection, and are downright averse to doing so, so blame them, not me. ;-)
Yes, the death toll was shocking but I was thinking of plane crashes now, especially with the smaller, civilian craft, and how rare it is for anyone to walk away unscathed.
Glad you picked up on McCoy's frustration. The original prompt was Trek Tech, and this started out to show that while McCoy is the one who complains most vociferously about technology, he depends on it much more than he'd care to admit. Given the injuries to the various crewmembers, there was nothing he could do without it - the wounds went beyond splinting a leg or doing CPR on a heart that had stopped beating. A futile effort if the patient has bled out internally, or has lungs so damaged they couldn't oxygenate blood if circulation were restored.
Date: 11 Feb 2013 09:51 Title: Into the Lion's Den - part two
Great second half! I appreciate that you explored Bones' tension regarding the bond, but didn't entirely resolve it. Well done.
Author's Response:
Yep - and it's not his place to, either. He said his piece about his concerns to Spock in 'The Ties That Bind' and to Jim in this one. Now it's time to butt out and let those two knuckleheads sort it out for themselves. Bet he wouldn't have done that, though if he knew what a mess they'd make of things in 'Six Degrees.'
Date: 11 Feb 2013 09:38 Title: Into the Lion's Den - part one
I love this first part! I love how there's already been action and tension with the crash and Spock's injuries, but just when you think that should be resolved--Kirk shows up to the rescue, Spock gets his medical treatment--you know there's still something that isn't quite right. So, going into part 2, we get to look forward to more knots untangling. YAY!! I like how we get all this from McCoy's POV, too--I like seeing how such an astute observer is reading the relationships involved. His characterization is great, too--very true to character, especially with his regrets that the other crewmen died and his intuition that something's off with Jim. Thank you!
Author's Response:
Yeah, kinda weird how that happened. It started out as a tale about McCoy's love-hate relationship with technology, and while that underlying theme is there for most of the piece, it morphed into an addition to my personal canon about the growing link between Kirk and Spock. Like I said before - they tend to take off wiith a mind of their own; I just hang on for dear life. ;-)