Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Stark Trek.

Snow ice and wind were proving to be a notorious enemy as Jim's fingers began to slide off the rim of the cliff he was dangling from. His hands were numb inside his gloves, the thermal jacket and pants torn from the slide down the rocky hill until he halted his descent at the cliff, clinging to the edge with frozen finger tips. The com at his waist rang and Jim grunted in disdain at his inability to answer the device. He wiggled his fingers to get the blood flowing and slowly began the arduous task of pulling his body up to the ledge. His legs flailed in the air, unable to reach the cliff that sloped into the mountain. The com's ring continued to echo through the valley below, a thunderous roar coming from cascading ice and snow across the way. Jim glared over his shoulder at the falling snow with anger and a slight hint of fear before renewing his pull up onto the ledge. His hands ghosted over the snowy ground, searching for purchase and finally finding it in the shape of a small crack in the rock.

"That could be problematic," Jim murmured his face screwed up in concentration. He dug his fingers into the small fissure and began to pull himself up. He only stopped when his arms shook with the effort and the cold. His chest and shoulders now rested on the snowy plain, rising and falling heavily with each breath he attempted to take. Jim pulled himself up onto the ledge fully after regaining his breath and sighed in relief. He dusted himself off and stood up taking stalk of the cuts and bruises covering his body. "Not too shabby..."

The com rang again and he picked it up absentmindedly as he watched the snow cascade down the other side from the echo's vibration against the mountains. "Kirk here."

"James Tiberius Kirk, I am going to kill you once we find you. Then save you again and kill you!" McCoy snarled over the com link.

"I haven't been gone that long have I?" Jim muttered looking around in bored. "Besides, Spock was taking care of the negotiations with the Hielo people."

"And they went on without a hitch. Barely noticed you left and since we have been done for a good three hours we have been starting to wonder if you fell off a cliff finally!"

"Who won?"

"I did Keptin!" Jim could hear the smile on Chekov's face through the Ensign's gleeful, humming voice.

"Not the point, Jim!" McCoy snarled. "Where the hell are you?!"

"I'm-" Jim inhaled sharply, his words being lost to the wind as the crack that had saved his life, lengthened and deepened, the whole rock edge he was standing on crumbling away.

"Damn it. Bring up his life signs," McCoy snarled over the shoulder of the ensign in control of the med station on the bridge.

"He's unconscious and his core temperature is falling, slowly but falling," The ensign announced. McCoy glared over his shoulder at the communications officer standing in place of Uhura who was on the planet with Spock, two more science officers and several security personal.

"Get in touch with Spock," McCoy glowered, turning back to the Ensign in front of him. "Keep an eye on him. If he doesn't wake up in the next hour or his temperature drops below 27 degrees alert me."

"I have Commander Spock," McCoy ran over to the com station.

"Spock,"

"You wished to speak to me Dr. McCoy regarding the Captain?"

"Yeah. We found him for all of five seconds before the transmission cut off. He said something about falling off a cliff,"

"Is he injured?"

"He's unconscious and probably somewhat injured but it's minor," McCoy replied. "The real trouble is if his core temp gets too low."

"Dr. McCoy," He turned to the officer calling him. "There's a snow storm building near the last known location of the Captain."

"Did you hear that Spock?"

"Yes. Please transfer me to lieutenant commander Scott," Spock answered. "We have finished conducting our scans."

"Do what he says," McCoy walked away. "Tell Scotty I'll meet them in the transport room."

"You're gonna have to trek your way to 'im," Scotty said from his seat at the transporter controls. "The storm won't allow me ta set you down at the last transmission's location. Maybe 5 kilometers away. Once ya get down there either you're gonna have to trek back through the storm to another location or you're gonna have to wait it out."

McCoy, Sulu and Spock were gearing up for the frozen climate, all three carrying extra packs of snow gear. McCoy growled as he checked his medical case for the umpteenth time. "Yeah. Yeah. Great, Scotty. Just make sure we have those com lines open."

"The lass is on that," Scotty answered. "Her and Chekov too."

"So we'll be back in no time at all," Sulu readjusted his retractable sword against his pack.

"The probability lies on a longer stay than you may believe, Mr. Sulu," Spock announced as they took their position on the transporter.

"Taking into account the fact that Jim is accident prone?" McCoy snickered.

"It is a great part of my calculations," McCoy smirked at the slight quirk to Spock's lips. "Energize, Mr. Scott."

895

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