The Healing (Star Trek: TOS story by Sharon Pillsbury)

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

It was published in the print zine Way of the Warrior #2.

Summary

"After crashing on an unknown planet, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott are inprisoned by the inhabitants, but more problems are created when Kirk is sexually tortured by the leader and Spock kills the man before they escape."

Reactions and Reviews

This story has both wonderful moments and flaws. Scotty's tender treatment of Kirk, and the scene in which Kirk and Scotty talk about their victimization on Andresi 7 represent wonderful moments. As for flaws, I consider it highly unlikely that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty would all be on a shuttle together. There might be some mission requiring all of them, and I'm willing to be convinced on that point, but Sharon gives us no explanation at all. For this reason, I consider the situation less than believable. I also have trouble with the way Spock took such thorough advantage of Kirk's vulnerability to resolve Kirk's trauma into a K/S relationship. Sharon makes a convincing case for the idea that Spock was also traumatized due to his mental link with Kirk, but this only means to me that they should have gone much slower than they did. Their problems shouldn't all be solved by K/S. Seeing K/S used as a cure-all leaves me feeling very skeptical about the story.

A very unusual first time story in that it starts towards the end and then goes back over what has taken place to cause the situation which is described at the beginning. It starts with McCoy and Kirk having an interview in his office where he is trying to get Kirk to talk about a recent very traumatic event. Kirk is being his usual self and insists he is fine, but it was obviously very traumatic, so that he is unable to talk about it to anyone, especially not Spock or even McCoy who even threatens to certify him unfit for duty - with no effect. The characterisation here is very good especially McCoy and Kirk who are just as expected. McCoy is in turn both compassionate and tough, prepared to push Kirk further than he is comfortable to go for the sake of his eventual recovery.

Unfortunately, the interview is interrupted as they are called away to answer a distress call which results in Kirk being propositioned by one of the rescued passengers. Lydra of Benecia is a well known beauty who decides to express her personal gratitude to Kirk by trying to seduce him, something which he is in no position to take advantage of at the moment and his reaction to her is well described and typical of someone who has been in his position. We then learn that Kirk, Spock, Scott and McCoy were in a shuttlecraft which crashed on a remote planet and were taken prisoner by the planetary ruler Ryek, an extremely cruel and sadistic man who took a shine to Kirk. Of course, Kirk decides he cannot allow his friends to be threatened, so he agrees to go with Ryek as long as the others are left alone. Many weeks later Kirk reappears, having been obviously tortured and drugged, and tells them that he has agreed to stay behind so they can leave which provokes consternation in them all, especially Spock who is unable to control his reactions as seeing Kirk meekly agreeing to stay with his abuser in order to purchase freedom for himself and his companions - his reactions at the time are very well described and although they ultimately result in their being able to escape this is not without a price in terms of his relationship with Kirk. Although at the time the story started Kirk and Spock have just started to acknowledge to themselves just how much they mean to each other, neither has taken any further action to advance their relationship for fear of losing the friendship which they both value. Unfortunately, after what took place on the planet, Kirk is shutting Spock out so he does not realise that Kirk is not dealing very well with what happened, and their relationship has deteriorated almost to non existence. The rest of the story deals with how Kirk gradually tries to recover from such a devastating ordeal - one which has had its effect on all four of them. They all try in their different ways to help their Captain recover -without much success. Of course, ultimately it's down to him and Spock to resolve the differences between them which has some slightly unexpected results as they both come to fully comprehend how much they mean to each other, especially when Spock confides in Kirk that there was a link forming between them before this incident took place - a link which was broken during the ordeal.

The characterisation of both Kirk and Spock is very good here - as I was reading, I could well imagine Kirk reacting the way he does and also the way in which Spock shuts himself down emotionally because he has problems coming to terms with the whole incident and in particular the actions he took at the time and the way this made him feel. I also liked the way in which this author described the way in which the rest of the officers all rally round and try in their own way to help each other accept what happened on that planet - Scott takes Kirk pub crawling while on shore leave - which is his own preferred way of dealing with the emotional trauma and when Kirk looks like he's going off with a woman he meets there, it's up to Spock to devise a unique method to get Kirk to go back to the ship with him - something which finally leads to their being able to start communicating again. While this is a very dark story in parts the ultimate triumph of good over evil makes it a worthwhile read.