Chapter Text
“Captain on the bridge!” A voice rang out, every single head lifting in response to watch Kirk enter and sit down with an air of confidence as he crossed one leg over the other.
“Captain, we’ve picked up a distress signal from the nearby planet of Rinus.” Uhura called from her station, before focusing back on her work of tracking the signal as Kirk’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Has medbay been notified?”
“Yes, sir. Doctor McCoy is standing by for instructions.” Chekov answered, before Kirk turned his attention to the helmsman.
“Mr. Sulu, set course for Rinus.” He ordered, watching as the man nodded and flipped a switch before sending the Enterprise into Warp Speed towards the planet.
When they dropped out of warp, they came across complete and utter destruction. The shields were put up as a precaution as they scanned the torn and tattered ships around them.
“Lieutenant Uhura, scan the planet for any signs of survivors.” Kirk said quietly, his gaze focused on the destruction outside their window.
“Three signs of life, captain, but all rapidly fading.” She relayed, and he stood up as he surveyed the bridge.
“Mr. Spock, Lieutenant Uhura, come with me, we’re going to the surface. Mr. Sulu, you have the conn.” He announced, the three leaving as Sulu took his seat in the captain’s chair, sending a message to the medbay to be ready for casualties.
When they beamed down to the planet, Kirk could barely contain the shock at what he saw. Uhura had to restrain herself from placing a hand over her mouth as Spock scanned the surrounding area. “Captain, the life signals are two miles east. We must hurry if we plan to make it in time.”
The three hurried along, side-stepping the debris of an obviously once great city as they placed their sleeves over their mouths to filter out the acrid smoke coming from the burning fires.
The location of the signal was a pile of rubble, and Spock scanned the building to be sure it was the correct one.
“The scans indicate the victims should be right under here,” he stated, setting his bag down as he got to work on pulling bricks and pieces of twisted and charred metal away.
Kirk began helping and they uncovered the first being, but upon checking their pulse, it was revealed that they had already passed on. They dug further and found the second one, a heavily pregnant female, but she too had perished.
Kirk began to suspect they were already too late, but then Spock uncovered the third, a young boy that still had a pulse. The Vulcan immediately pulled him from the rubble and lifted him into his arms as Kirk scanned around once more to ensure they weren’t missing anyone.
“Enterprise, four to beam up, and have Doctor McCoy meet us in the transport room.” Jim sighed as they were surrounded by a yellow light and instantly transported back to the Enterprise.
The blue shirted medical officer was there waiting, and immediately took note of the young boy in Spock’s arms as the other two walked off to write their reports on what happened.
“If I have even a remote chance of saving this kid’s life, we need to go. Now.” Bones grunted, taking the young boy from Spock and disappearing into the hall at a quick run towards the medbay.
Spock stood there, watching his bondmate disappear as his eyebrows furrowed in question. Were they too late?
A while later, the chief medical officer was finally pulling his surgical mask off and moving to wash his hands as a nurse kept an eye on the stranger’s vitals. Hopefully he’d wake up soon, and they could get some answers.
It was a few days before the boy woke up, and McCoy was by his side almost immediately as he began checking over his vitals and scanning to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary.
“Take it slow, kid. Don’t move too fast.” He spoke, surprisingly gentle.
The boy frowned as he opened his mouth before closing it.
“What’s your name?" Bones questioned, watching him with his arms crossed over his chest.
“H-Harec, sir..” he whispered, nervously scratching at one of the bandages on his light blue skin as he blinked quietly. “I..I want to go home!”
The doctor blinked, before staring at the boy silently as he tried to work out a way to tell him gently what had happened...