History Literature / DoctorsOrders

* PunctuationShaker: Lampshaded. The first Federation survey team sent to a certain planet reported that one of the three sentient species there was called the ;At, but forgot to explain how the semicolon should be pronounced. At the beginning of the book, the Enterprise crew generally pronounce it as a click; later on, Uhura says that it's probably more of a glottal stop.

[[quoteright:197:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_doctorsorders.png]]

* CharacterDevelopment: Kirk refuses to take "the aggressive colonizer" approach to trying to get the ;At, having learned better.

* WorthyOpponent: At the end of the book, the Klingon captain says that if all ship's doctors are like [=McCoy=], then he should seriously consider having his own medical officer killed. [=McCoy=] replies that, based on his own diagnosis of the Klingon captain's medical condition, he should have his doctor killed anyway - either his doctor is so incompetent that he isn't able to diagnose the captain's clear signs of illness, or his doctor ''has'' diagnosed it and is already trying to kill him by providing substandard care. Knowing Klingons, the second possibility is more likely.

* CallForward: Starfleet is cracking down on Captains going down with landing parties, as it will be in Picard's day.

* EmbarrassingNickname: The planet's ''official'' listing in Federation Star Charts is "1212 Muscae IV". Most of the crew, somewhat to Spock's puzzlement, refer to it as "Flyspeck".
* KlingonPromotion: Invoked by [=McCoy=] when the Klingons want to know where Kirk is. Not wanting to explain the situation to an enemy, [=McCoy=] instead claims to have killed him in a duel and taken command. Kirk is later informed of his own 'demise' by the very baffled Klingon Commander.
* LanguageEqualsThought: It's mentioned that the Orion Pirates' word for "stealing" translates into English as "getting paid".
* LostInTransmission: [=McCoy=] is initially relieved when the Klingons start jamming subspace communications and interrupt a tongue-lashing he's getting from Starfleet Command, until Spock points out that based on what the admiral was saying he was just about to relieve [=McCoy=] of command (and since the order was never actually ''received'', Spock can't carry it out).
* TheMaster: Inverted with the Master of the ;At, who is a stand-up guy and pretty charming; except for the complications ensuing thanks to his virtually kidnapping Kirk.

* TemptingFate: Kirk justifies leaving [=McCoy=] in command because: (a)it is funny; and (b) a captain has considerable leeway on assigning command as long as the situation doesn't seem too complicated. He really should have known better...

** Discussed at length when Kirk decides to put [=McCoy=] in command - Kirk points out that while it is true that there is a chain of command, as Captain he has wide latitude to decide who to give the conn to [[TemptingFate in situations where there isn't likely to be any trouble]].

* TemptingFate: Kirk justifies leaving Mc Coy in command because, a)It is funny b) A captain has considerable leeway on assigning command as long as the situation doesn't seem too complicated. He really should have known better...

* TemptingFate: Kirk justifies leaving Mc Coy in command because, a)It is funny b) A captain has considerable leeway on assigning command as long as the situation doesn't seem too complicated.He really should have known better...

* TimeZonesDoNotExist: Averted. Temporary CO [=McCoy=] is woken up in the middle of the night due to a communication coming in from Starfleet that have to be responded to upon receipt.

* TheMaster: Inverted with the Master of the ;At, who is a stand-up guy and pretty charming.Except for the complications ensuing thanks to his virtually kidnapping Kirk.

* EmbarrassingNickname: The planet's ''official'' listing in Federation Star Charts is "1212 Muscae IV". Most of the crew refer to it as "Flyspeck".
* KlingonPromotion: Invoked by [=McCoy=] when the Klingons want to know where Kirk is. Not wanting to explain the situation to an enemy, [=McCoy=] instead claims to have killed him in a duel and taken command.

* TheMaster: Inverted with the Master of the ;At, who is a stand-up guy and pretty charming.

* WorthyOpponent: At the end of the book, the Klingon captain says that if all ship's doctors are like [=McCoy=], then he should seriously consider having his own medical officer killed. [=McCoy=] replies that, based on his own diagnosis of the Klingon captain's medical condition, he should have his doctor killed anyway - either his doctor is so incompetent that he isn't able to diagnose the captain's clear signs of illness, or his doctor ''has'' diagnosed it and is already trying to kill him by providing substandard care.

* TheMaster: Inverted with the Master of the ;At, who is LawfulGood and downright charming.

* YouAreInCommandNow: [=McCoy=] is given the con during a First Contact mission as part of a joke by Kirk. Then Kirk disappears into a temporal anomaly, a Klingon warship shows up, and Starfleet regulations won't allow [=McCoy=] to hand over command to any line officer until relieved by Kirk or Federation brass. He's not happy. Hilarity and awesome ensue.

-->Think again, Commander. This is ''Enterprise''. She is more than one man, though that one man may have made her famous--or among you, infamous. She is four hundred thirty-eight people--to whom you're an interesting enough problem, but one that we're long used to solving.

When Dr. [=McCoy=] grumbles once too often about the way the USS ''Enterprise'' ought to be run, Captain Kirk puts him in charge while Kirk beams down for what is supposed to be a routine diplomatic mission. Then Kirk disappears, and [=McCoy=] (forbidden by regulations to relinquish command) is stuck in the hot seat overseeing a rapidly deteriorating situation that quickly acquires unexpected Klingons and goes downhill from there.

**
--->'''[=McCoy=]:''' If you use that tone with me again, my boy, I'll open your ship up like a sardine tin, and later on I'll fish your corpse out of space and thaw it out and stitch it back together the old-fashioned way, with a needle and thread, and then I'll use your guts for garters.
**
--->'''[=McCoy=]:''' Think again, Commander. This is ''Enterprise''. She is more than one man, though that one man may have made her famous--or among you, infamous. She is four hundred thirty-eight people--to whom you're an interesting enough problem, but one that we're long used to solving.