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McCoy’s bones felt heavy, weighed down by the day’s events.
He should have known that a routine planet inspection would be anything but. The amount of times the word ‘routine’ could be used to describe any of the Enterprise’s missions McCoy could count on one hand.
They’d beamed down onto the planet - himself, since there were reports of people needing medical attention, Uhura for translational purposes, and two red shirts for security reasons.
Within fifteen minutes, the redshirts were dead, Uhura was frantically trying to explain how this was just a little misunderstanding as Leonard McCoy was strung up, completely nude and open for everyone else to see.
It wasn’t that he was ashamed of his body. He knew there was nothing to be ashamed of. But to be put so firmly on display, Uhura struggling to convince them that he hadn't lied, trying to explain human gender and trans people and McCoy just sort of…gave up. He’d been taking hormones since he was twelve, was one of those textbook trans cases - known since he was little and stuck to his guns. Majority of the crew didn’t know because it was his damn business and they didn’t need to know he had a uterus and no dick unless they were screwing him, and that was the job of James Tiberius Kirk and James Tiberius Kirk alone.
The planet’s inhabitants seemed to be getting more and more hostile towards Uhura, jabbing their pointy staffs in his direction, and he wished he could do more than just hang from his wrists, rope burning as they cut into them.
Uhura said something that seemed to completely aggravate them, and before Leonard fully knew what was happening one of their staffs came down hard across his back.
He gritted his teeth, determined not to let a sound pass his lips and Uhura kept on talking.
Why don’t they just beam us up, McCoy thought, although he knew that it was an hour until check in and they would have a hard time locking onto him without any sort of communicator.
Uhura seemed to have lost her argument with the aliens, getting shoved to her knees by McCoy’s feet. In a big, booming voice, the alien began to speak.
“They are saying that the Federation has lied to them. They have had their trust betrayed by the lie you embody, and demand that we and our leaders be put to death.”
There was more booming, and then suddenly communications with the enterprise were being demanded.
McCoy didn’t think it was possible to feel more humiliated than he already was, but when the view screen flicked on he felt like curling up and dying.
The whole fucking bridge crew could see him. The whole fucking bridge crew.
Kirk’s face went pale, and he jumped to his feet.
“Spock, reroute communications to my private quarters,” he ordered. The alien nearest to Uhura grabbed her hair and growled menacingly, and she quickly barked out a translation.
“They say that if you attempt to censor this communication, they will execute us on the spot.”
McCoy was not quite seeing how this was a bad thing.
“What do they want?”
“Retribution. They are offended by the lie they believe Doctor McCoy presents, and wish for his life, my life, and your life in return. They also…they also plan on returning Doctor McCoy to what they refer to as his ‘natural state’.”
He refused to do anything but glare at the aliens holding them captive. If he did anything but, he was sure his brave façade would crack, and he couldn’t do that. Not in front of the bridge crew.
“Can anyone get a lock on Doctor McCoy?” Spock asked in the background as Kirk frowned.
“Do they want me to beam down to execute me?”
“They say you must do so or else they will blast the Enterprise out of the sky.
“Just beam Uhura up and run, Jim,” McCoy growled, and Jim looked furious. Properly furious.
“Shut up, Bones. You know I could never do that.”
“Jim…”
There was movement, and suddenly he was being clubbed across the back again. This time, he was sure some ribs broke. Kevin Riley, sitting in the navigator’s chair, looked like he was going to be ill. The kid always had such a bleeding heart. Sulu, who was siting in the other chair, just looked like he wanted to get down there and murder every living thing he could get his hands on.
“They have ordered that you beam down within the next half hour, captain, to witness the Doctor’s restoration and be put to death along side him. Failure to comply will result in a hostile attack on the enterprise. Between you and me captain, I think the enterprise could take two or three hits before being out of operation - you could easily outrun them.”
“I’m not leaving you and Bones behind. Tell them I’ll be down in half an hour.”
The vid screen went blank, and McCoy sagged in relief. Already his position was putting strain on his shoulders. The aliens milled about, every now and then giving McCoy a whack if they thought he or Uhura were trying to communicate with each other. McCoy could still see the communicator Uhura had strapped to her, knew that if they could just manage to get close enough together for the enterprise to distinguish their life signs from everyone else, it’d be fine.
That didn’t seem like it was going to happen any time soon.
Eventually, Kirk beamed down amidst them, Cupcake by his side, the two of them shooting down as many aliens as they could as Uhura leapt to her feet and roughly grabbed McCoy, pressing them close together.
“Enterprise, four to beam up!” she yelled, and McCoy felt the familiar, terrifying feeling of being divided into atoms in one spot and rebuilt in another.
They collapsed on top of each other, McCoy letting out a grunt of pain as he heard Kirk call for medical.
“Make…make sure they bring some clothes for me. Please, Jim.”
His captain looked furious, but he nodded, relaying his request before he pulled him into a tight and somewhat painful hug.
“Don’t ever do that again!”
“It was your damn lack of cultural checks that put us in that position in the first place.”
“Bones…”
McCoy could already feel the ship taking off, so much faster than anything should really move. He was loaded onto a stretcher, taken to his own medical bay, and could swear he felt the pitying stares of the entire crew.
“Of all the ways to come out,” he grumbled, head flopping back.
When he was released for duty a week later, declared physically and mentally fit, he was surprised to see Hikaru Sulu at his office door.
“What do you need, Lieutenant?”
"Testosterone. I'm also trans. And, well, someone stole my testosterone hypos and I don't particularly want to tell security or the captain or anyone, since I'm officially listen as male on all my documents and well, you know how it is."
He certainly did. Without a word, he prepared a hypo of testosterone and injected it into Lieutenant Sulu's neck.
"You know, in the olden days they used to inject this stuff into your butt," McCoy said, smiling slightly. Sulu nodded.
"I'm always glad for our hypos when I read some of those old reports. Thanks, Doctor McCoy."
"It was no problem, Lieutenant. And if anyone gives you any problems whatsoever about this, me and the Captain have your back."