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James Kirk was not a stranger to transporter accidents, but this was a new situation. He was expecting to arrive in the conference room at McKinley Station. Instead, he was standing on a ledge in knee-deep snow on Mount McKinley. “Not funny, Scotty.”
Flipping open his communicator, Kirk attempted to contact the Enterprise. “Kirk to Enterprise. Come in Enterprise.”
Kirk looked around as he waited for a response. The sun was setting, and he needed to find a protected place to wait for his crew to respond and retrieve him. “Kirk to Enterprise. Scotty, respond.”
Facing the silence from his communicator and the cold wind that had begun to blow, James Kirk set about to find a sheltered place to weather this new storm.
Pansy was in a hurry to get to the meeting, and she knew better. Traveling by Floo was bad enough when she wasn’t running behind. Grabbing a handful of green powder and stepping into the Floo, she spoke where she thought she wanted to go.
“Bloody hell, I don’t remember snow inside McKenna Hall,” Pansy mumbled to herself as she pulled her wand out of her pocket. “Lumos. What in the name of Merlin’s beard.”
Pansy looked around the cavern her wand cast light into. “This is NOT McKenna Hall. I am in so much bloody trouble. AHHHHH!”
“Can I help you?” A strange man in a gold shirt and a smirk spoke from the corner her wand had just illuminated. “James Kirk, at your service. You appear to be as lost as I am. From what I could see before the sun set, we are somewhere on Mount McKinnley. I take it that this is not where you intended to be.”
Pansy put her hand to her chest, trying to steady her racing heart. “No bloody way am I on the side of a mountain. I have a meeting in McKenna Hall. Bloody Floo, never gets it right. Pansy Parkinson, by the way.”
“The pleasure is mine, Ms. Parkinson.” Kirk executed a small bow and pointed to the glowing rock behind him. “Care to join me by these hot rocks? I will have to use my phaser to warm them again soon, but you are welcome to sit with me and share the heat.”
Pansy looked at the snow-free area around the glowing rocks. It was cold in this cavern, and she hated to be cold. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to share warmth with a stranger until she could figure out how to get home.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt. Any clue on how we can get out of here?” Pansy smiled as he dusted off a boulder for her to sit on. “I don’t think I have a spell strong enough to undo this Floo disaster and I probably don’t have a job to go home to either after I missed this meeting.”
“I’m not sure what a Floo is, but, if I can get my crew to respond, I may have a way to help you get home.” Kirk sat on the boulder beside Pansy. “Are you okay? You are shivering.”
“I’ll be fine.” Pansy could feel her teeth chatter as she tried to answer. “Just don’t like being cold and these rocks aren’t as warm as I expected. I just hate being cold.”
Kirk pointed his phaser at the rocks and fired three quick bursts. The rock began to glow brighter, and Pansy could feel the air become slightly warmer. “Stay here. I’m going to the mouth of the cave to see if I can get a message to my crew. We’ll figure out a better way to stay warm when I get back.”
Kirk watched her slide closer to the glowing rocks as he walked toward the mouth of the cavern. Flipping open his communicator, he tried again. “Kirk to Enterprise. Come in Enterprise.”
“Captain, where are ye?” Kirk could barely understand Scotty’s question through the static. “I donna know what happened. Trying to get a lock on yer position.”
“Scotty? What happened?” Kirk turned the knob on his communicator to try to get a better signal. “I am on a mountain side in the snow. I don’t know where you thought you were supposed to be sending me, but there is a big difference between Mount McKinley and McKinley Station.”
“Aye, Captain.” Scotty’s voice was clearer as Kirk got closer to the mouth of the cavern. “I’ve got your signal now. Stay there so I can lock on and beam you back.”
“How long will that take?” Kirk began to shiver as he stepped into the wind outside of the cavern. “It will be two to beam up.”
“Two to beam up, sir?” Scotty’s question did not surprise Kirk. “I thought ye said ye were on the side of a mountain? It might take more than a few minutes to get you back on board.”
“Let’s just say that I’m not the only one that has had trouble getting where they are supposed to be today.” Kirk chuckled in spite of the cold situation. “I’ll explain when you get us back on board. She might need some help getting home.”
“Aye, Captain.” Scotty replied. “Wherever you are standing right now give me a good signal to lock onto. Get your lady friend to join you, and I will let you know when things are ready.”
“Thanks. Scotty,” Kirk closed his communicator and looked back into the cavern. “I have a feeling she is not going to like having to wait in the snow…”
“Wait in the snow?’ Pansy’s question came from closer than Kirk had expected. “I like the sound of getting off this mountain, but not the sound of standing in the snow to do it.”
“It shouldn’t take Scotty long to get a lock on us now that he knows where we are.” Kirk held out an arm to Pansy. “Care to join me? We can share body heat until Scotty gets the transporter ready.”
“Might as well.” Pansy shrugged and tucked herself under Kirk’s shoulder. “He better not take too bloody long to get us out of here. I hate being cold.”
Kirk wrapped his arm around Pansy as she settled against his side. “Would it make it better if I promised to warm you up before I sent you home?”
Pansy felt heat rise in her skin as she watched a sly smile grow on Kirk’s face. “Sounds like an interesting proposal. Let’s see how warm you can keep me until your friend gets us out of the cold?”
Kirk bent his head down so that his lips were inches from her. “I have a few ideas of ways we can keep warm.”
Pansy didn’t feel the transporter pull them apart and up to the ship. All she felt was the warmth of Kirk’s lips as he kissed her and warmed her from the inside as they huddled together to wait for their rescue.