A Rare and Special Gift

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	A Rare and Special Gift
Author(s):	Sharon Pillsbury
Date(s):	1989
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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A Rare and Special Gift is a Kirk/Spock story by Sharon Pillsbury.

It was published in the print zine Off Duty #2.

Summary

"Kirkʼs status as a kept man while he, Spock and McCoy are stranded after a shuttle crash, causes anger and resentment after their rescue when Spock and McCoy misunderstand his reasons for it."

Reactions and Reviews

As I've pointed out before, I remember stories that have had special meaning for me but rarely recall enough to find them again. So, when I stumble upon one of those special delights, I am thrilled. Sharon wrote this story about 15 years ago and did so in a style that must have been quite difficult to manage. Yet manage it she did. You see, while the story is told in narrative style, it is all in the form of recollections by Kirk, Spock and McCoy of a time they spent imprisoned.

A planet called Dystrada was the site of their shuttle malfunction, and the society into which they emerged took full advantage of them, making virtual slaves of the three Starfleet officers. Their living quarters consisted of a small cabin with slats for walls, offering scant protection from the frigid climate and the damp, icy winds constantly swirling about them. Given a pittance for their exhausting hours in a factory, they were able to purchase only the most meager of rations, with nothing at all left for heat. The living conditions were so deftly described that I have remembered Dystrada all these years. Inevitably, Spock was the first to succumb to the cold and damp conditions, becoming more and more debilitated as their servitude and poverty stretched endlessly. From the vantage point of the present, we see that Spock has recovered following their rescue, but Kirk is withdrawn, thin, and disinteresting in living. He has locked himself in his quarters and allowed life aboard the Enterprise to proceed without his participation. Uncertain of the reason for the lingering depression and at a loss to cure it, McCoy arranges for the help of a Vulcan healer. Bit by agonizing bit, he is able to draw out of Kirk the unimaginable burden he has carried back from Dystrada. Kirk has sold himself to insure the welfare of his friends, to assure they have shelter and enough nourishment to continue. With his body, Kirk has bought Spock's health. From the first a target of the factory foreman, he left Spock and McCoy for what he told them was a better lifestyle. Through the healer, it is slowly revealed that Kirk was in reality demeaned, used and abused.

The means to recovery for all of them makes for a compelling and memorable story. Physical wounds heal much more quickly than the scars left by hurt and misunderstanding. The images of what they endured for each other and the solutions they find together will stay with you for a long, long time.

Angst again. Sharon explores some very deep and raw feelings in this one. Something in the recesses of my memory sent me on a search for this tale of Kirk, Spock and McCoy stranded on a populated planet and practically enslaved. I could remember their squalid living conditions so well, recalled even the cracks in the walls of their so-called shelter. I had to read it again! I suppose this would more closely resemble a caste system than actual slavery but it was close enough for my taste. The planet is miserably cold and damp and while this is uncomfortable for them all, it takes a terrible toll on Spock. Their work in a factory gains them but small compensation, enough for meager housing and paltry nourishment. Even when Kirk secretly gives Spock his share it isn’t enough to restore the Vulcan’s health.

Standing aside like the vulture that he is, the foreman waits for the inevitable. He wants Kirk, and his patience pays off. The only way Kirk can insure adequate food and warmth for his friends is to give himself as payment. Awful as that is, the rift his unexplained sacrifice causes is much more excruciating.

Rescue from the conditions of the planet might seem like the conclusion of such a saga, but it is only the beginning. The wounds each of them bears, while not visible, are just as devastating and more difficult to heal. Slowly, the process begins and it proceeds to a very agreeable conclusion. Worth both the wait and the anguish, I think. As I said at the beginning, this is a premise that managed to remain in my memory in some detail, so obviously it made quite an impression.