Chapter Text
"Spock!" Kirk shouted loudly against the howling, biting wind.
"Spock, don't you dare leave me now, you hear me? Spock!"
The level of sheer panic that had suddenly crept into his normally steady tone took James T. Kirk by suprise. Panic was not in his nature, he thrived under pressure, excelled when faced with a no-win scenario and seemingly laughed in the face of death but now he was faced with the very possible imminent death of his first officer...his friend and for the first time in memory he was completely and utterly lost.
The mission had begun routinely enough. The Enterprise was sent to the Setarian System in order to determine the viable nature of the mineral gammacite-b recently discovered on the ice planet Setar VI. Nothing glamorous, nothing too exciting, just one of the many mundane missions that her crew had to deal with from time to time.
Specialist Lt. Gordan and her team of four stood on the transporter pad, all set to beam down to the planet's surface and begin extracting samples for analysis later back in the ship's well equipt labs.
"Good luck Lieutenant," her Captain wished, "and be sure to keep in regular contact, Mr. Spock informs me that the surface conditions are due to disimprove considerably within the next two-point-four hours," he cautioned, "endeavour to collect all the samples you need before then."
"Aye, Sir."
Gordan's muffled reply was barely audible through the thick layers of her survival suit. James Kirk smiled reassuringly at the young officer, it wasn't her first away mission but he still felt uneasy every time a landing party left without him. McCoy had teased him about it at first teased...hell the man had actually made clucking noises! Mother hen indeed! He only shut up when Kirk threatened to send him on every single away mission.
"Hey no fair," was the suitably chastised C.M.O's sulky reply.
"Energise Mr. Scott," Kirk ordered his chief engineer.
"Aye Sir, energising now," Montgomery Scott complied.
Within seconds each team member disappeared in a shimmering halo of light.
Back in his quarters, Jim Kirk sat at his desk taking advantage of the lull in activities to catch up on some 'paperwork'. He read through reports from his various section chiefs, sanctioned a number of requisitions due for retrieval at the next star base and completed his log. He had just finished his entry when the door to his quarters chimed.
"Enter," he called softly.
The door swept open smoothly to reveal the tall slender frame of his Vulcan first officer.
Jim smiled.
"Spock, how can I help you?" he asked while gesturing for his friend to come in and sit down.
Spock complied wordlessly and sat opposite his Captain. Only then did he remove the data pad from under his left arm.
"Captain, do you wish to avail of this time to continue with the crew evaluations?" he enquired.
Kirk leaned back, sighed, ran his right hand through his hair and then used it to roughly knead out some of the tension building up at the back of his neck. Reports, requisitions, crew evaluations, Star Fleet was all just one big bureaucratic behemoth. Even though he'd been Captain of the Enterprise now for almost a year, he was still catching up and just when he thought he was finally making a dent in the pile...another load would fill it's place.
His Captain's weariness and reluctance was not lost on Spock. Just because Vulcans were not prone to expressing emotion didn't mean they could not read it in others and he considered himself to be quite adept at reading this particular human.
"Perhaps another time Captain," Spock suggested and then made to leave.
"No, no, sit down," Kirk reached out, "it's all right, we'll go through them now, no telling when another opportunity will come up. Just let me get something to drink first."
Kirk got up and walked across his quarters.
Spock simply nodded.
"Of course Captain."
Kirk sighed again as he stood in front of the replicator, raising his hands head level.
"Jim, Spock, its Jim remember...am I going to have to remind you of that every single time we're alone together," he asked exasperated.
"We are both still on duty Captain, it would not be appropriate," the first officer calmly stated.
"Really...well maybe you'd care to explain why you called me Jim before when we were both still 'on-duty'?" Kirk demanded lightly. The events of the Nero incident, still relatively fresh in his memory.
A solitary elegant raised eyebrow was his only reply.
"Uhhuh...thought as much, you're never gonna admit it are you?" Jim shook his head, rolling his eyes.
Spock started to speak but was halted abruptly.
"Forget it Spock," Jim turned to face the replicator again. "One black coffee, hot, no sugar."
The computer complied and a few seconds later he slid back the panel and retrieved a steaming hot cup of coffee.
"Care for anything Spock?"
"No thank you," the Vulcan replied without looking up from his data pad.
Jim smiled, sipped on his drink then raised his own eyebrows and wondered if he would ever really get to know this man...no, he corrected himself...this Vulcan, in front of him. Elder Spock certainly seemed to think so and that they were destined for great friendship of course he was basing his assertions on events grounded in an alternative reality. Was it really too much to expect that things would work out the same in this reality? despite the odds, Jim Kirk really hoped so.
"So who's first on the list?" he enquired, back to business.
"Ensign Rodriguez. Maria, botanist," Spock supplied.
"Ok then, let's start with..."
The Captain's words were cut off by a sharp sounding beep.
Kirk hit a button on his desk.
"Kirk here."
Lt. Uhura responded anxiously.
"Captain we're receiving a distress call from the landing party, it seems there's a medical emergency, they're requesting Dr. McCoy's assistance...the message is very garbled Sir, the storm seems to be getting a lot worse, it's affecting some of our instruments."
Jim stole a quick glance at the ship's chronometer in his desk, a little over two hours had passed.
Damn it! he thought.
"Understood Uhura, notify Dr. McCoy, have him meet us in transporter room two.
"Aye, aye Sir," she acknowledged, the channel then went dead.
"Spock you're with me," Jim ordered as he abandoned his cup on the desk beside his first officer's data pad. Crew evaluations would have to wait.
A slight diversion along the way to get kitted out in the necessary survival gear, then they met up with the medical officer who was already suitably attired.
McCoy had grabbed a fully stocked medical kit packed with what ever he could possibly need to render first aid at the scene anything more serious would be dealt with back on the ship.
"Jim, Spock," the Doctor quickly acknowledged their presence in the transporter room. "Do we know the nature of the medical emergency?"
"No Bones, not yet, they had some difficulty getting through, it would seem Mr. Spock's weather predictions have come to fruition," Kirk explained.
Spock simply looked as if there could be no other outcome.
"I see, we'll we best get down there, then I'll know what I'm up against," McCoy stated quietly, resigned to the fact that he would once again be subjected to a transporter beam.
"Captain it may be best if I just beam down the good doctor," Scott suggested, "the storm is releasing massive electrical charges into the atmosphere, communications are severely disrupted, I canna be sure I'll have the signal strength to beam ya all back up."
"Understood Scotty, do your best," Kirk replied then made his way onto the transporter pad putting an end to any further protest from his chief engineer, he was quickly joined by Spock and McCoy.
"Aye Sir, nothing less," Scotty assured.
"Energise Mr. Scott," the Captain ordered.
"Aye Captain, energising now," Scotty complied.
His body felt the familiar tingle of the transporter beam as it surrounded his being. The functional yet warm transporter dissolved before his eyes only to be replaced by a nightmarish environment.
Setar VI was raging war against its uninvited human inhabitants. Vicious ice winds tore at his body, he was almost blown over as soon as he materialised but the sudden appearance of a steel grip on his arm allowed him to steady himself. His coloured visor was almost instantly covered with large flakes of snow and he had to keep wiping it in order to make out the landing party. His first few breaths were uncomfortable, even through the protective fabric of his suit, the cold was indescribable, he had never experienced anything like it in his life.
Kirk, Spock and McCoy struggled against the wind and made their way towards the landing party huddled together surrounded by various pieces of scattered Star Fleet equipment.
Jim decided instantly that he'd let the good Doctor tend to the medical emergency, then he was going to get his people the hell away from this God forsaken rock.
As the trio approached the landing party at an almost slow motion pace, Kirk was able to make out the diminutive form of Lt. Gordan hunched over two crew members both lying against a large storage container.
"Report Lieutenant," Kirk shouted above the tempestuous winds hell bent on drowning out every human sound in the vicinity.
She struggled to stand up against the forces raging against her slight frame and in the end she grabbed hold of a fellow team member already standing to her left in order to steady herself.
"Captain," she replied as loudly as she could, "both Crewman Downes and Ensign van der Burgh have sustained injuries."
She turned to face the other members of Kirk's landing party. One person carried a medical kit slung over their shoulder.
"Dr. McCoy?!" she bellowed, just to be sure.
Bones pulled away some of the protective shielding revealing his face. Gordan smiled, relieved that her team members would be seen to.
"Tell me what happened," the doctor instructed as he made his way over to the two injured personnel.
Quickly the six able-bodied officers gathered around the two wounded men, their combined bulk acting as a make shift shield against the harsh, unforgiving elements.
"Sir, both men were carrying the container of mineral samples back to the beam up site when Crewman Downes slipped on the ice, unable to support the weight of the container alone, Ensign van der Burgh also lost his footing and hit his face against the panel," Gordan explained as succinctly as possible.
McCoy knelt down beside both men. He struggled for a moment with the opening of his medi-kit, the bulky yet necessary gloves made it awkward to access the opening clasp. He soon retrieved his scanner and medical tricorder and began scanning the young Crewman.
"How ya feelin' kid?" he shouted lightly at the impossibly young man. This kid couldn't have been much older than Chekov, there were times when he felt like the oldest person on board the Enterprise.
"Stupid Sir," came the embarrassed reply.
The Doctor smiled, feeling sorry for the kid, sure enough it wasn't the best way to garner your Captain's attention...not that Jim would hold it against the youth...hell accidents happen even to the best of us.
"I think it's just my left ankle Sir," Downes added helpfully.
Bones concentrated his scan on the joint and sure enough the tricorder registered the presence of broken bones and swelling in the immediate area.
He reached into his bag and pulled out a hypospray, adjusted it slightly then leaned into the young crewman, pulled aside his hood and injected him painlessly in the side of the neck.
He looked up at the concerned face of his Captain.
"Just a break Jim, a few minutes with the knitter back in sick-bay and he'll be right as rain, I've given him something to ease the pain and reduce the swelling until we're safely back, I'd really like to cut away this boot but the poor kid would probably end up with a blasted case of frost bite," the Doctor reported then moved quickly towards his next patient.
Van der Burgh's injury was a little more obvious. Flecks of blood, now completely frozen, adorned the side of the storage box while some more blood had escaped from a split lip and when the poor guy attempted to smile, he was missing an upper incisor.
Bones shock his head and tried not to smile at the injured Ensign's misfortune. Once again he ran his scanner over his patient's body, when it revealed nothing he concentrated on the man's face. Sure enough a hair line fracture of the lower mandible registered on his tricorder. He dolled out the same pain relief treatment, stood back up and made his report.
"Nothing serious Jim," he shouted into his Captain's ear, "another one for the knitter and maybe the dentist...both will be fit for duty in a few hours."
"Good to hear Bones," Kirk responded happily.
"Spock," he turned to his first officer, "contact Scotty, tell him we're ready to beam up and have an anti-grav lift ready for Crewman Downes."
"Aye Captain," Spock complied, reaching inside a pocket to retrieve his communicator and flip it open.
He used his left hand to try and offer his voice some protection from the wailing winds.
"Enterprise, Spock here, respond," he instructed neutrally.
His call was met with crackling static so he attempted contact a second time, his efforts were soon rewarded.
"Aye Mr. Spock, Scott here, I can barely here ye, can ye boost yer gain Sir?" Scotty enquired anxiously.
The message made its way to Spock's ears, not in it's entirety but none the less his was able to make the general gist.
"Negative Mr. Scott, I am already at maximum, landing party of six ready to beam up, instruct sick-bay to have anti-grav lift on standby," he advised, raising his voice again in the hope that Scott would hear.
Static...then.
"Say again Mr. Spock," the chief engineer requested, growing more frustrated with his instrument panel as the seconds past.
His deft fingers flew over various dials and buttons in an effort to boost signal strength. "Say again, please."
Spock could suddenly hear Scott's worried plea and quickly repeated his message.
"Aye Mr. Spock I read ye now, stand by for beam up," he advised.
"The Captain is ready and waiting, I advise no further delay, communications is becoming increasingly difficult," Spock recommended, his tone even despite their precarious situation.
"Understood Spock," Kirk nodded and waved in case his first officer was unable to hear his response.
"Lt. Gordan get you team ready, only take what's absolutely necessary," he ordered, then turned to his chief medical officer.
"Bones, you'll be going back with the landing party, Spock and I will wait for the next beam out."
"But Jim what if Scotty can get another signal...good God man it could be hours...you could both freeze to death," he exclaimed in alarm.
As if to accentuate his point, a massive flash of electrical energy flared high above them in the atmosphere.
"Your patients need you Bones," Jim grabbed the Doctor by the shoulders, "we'll be fine, Scotty'll get us both up safely," he added reassuringly.
Not entirely convinced, Bones grumbled something unintelligible, Kirk couldn't make it out...which was probably for the best.
"Here," McCoy shouted as he thrust his medi-kit into his Captain's arm, "at least hang onto this just in case."
"Thanks Bones," Jim nodded and smiled, "now get over there, that's an order."
McCoy reluctantly stood beside the five other crew members.
Kirk signalled his first officer.
"Spock to Enterprise, now Mr. Scott!" he shouted into his communicator.
Bones stole a quick glance at Jim and Spock as the blasted beam enveloped him and prepared to tear him apart molecule by molecule. His final thought as he left the surface of Setar VI was a prayer that he would see his friends again soon.