Necessity, the Mother of Survival

By Equine 14, for the prompt: Bones, Chekov and Uhura show quite emphatically that they don't need taking care of.

Warnings: Light swearing (most of it in Russian), injury, and slight angst. But only a little. The only thing I own is the language of the natives, and the little blue branch. (you'll understand when you read it.) The rest is not mine.

1

Ensign Pavel Andreievich Chekov sucked in a deep breath. He wouldn't openly admit it, but being on the Away team was exciting. The thing was, he'd only been on one or two, besides a few simulations at the academy, and of course, the mandatory practice missions on a nearby federation base. But this was the real thing. They were exploring the large, grey and blue planet below them, designated Ahahr-Tukh by Spock. He claimed the mineral content of the silvery chemical element, called Rhenium, was high in the water and ground, making it seem silver. Ahahr-Tukh was the Vulcan word for this element, Rhenium, that Chekov had immense trouble pronouncing with his accent.

CMO Leonard H. McCoy, however, felt that he would rather be fighting with his ex-wife than going on this trip. He hated planet explorations- the team always returned late, hurt, and missing about half or all of their red-shirted team. Somehow, almost no one else seemed to die. He grimaced and prepared for the horrible feeling of his molecules being whipped through the atmosphere. There were no redshirts this time. Who would die?

Meanwhile Kirk just grinned madly, winking at Spock, and holding his phaser. The Vulcan had promised natives. And Kirk always liked natives. Well, usually.

Uhura had argued last night with her Captain. She really didn't see the need to go down to this planet. But Kirk, the devil, had told her about a possibly new language.

"Captain, if it's new, I won't be able to translate it anyway."

"Yes, but you can derive some words from other languages, right? And it would be…. Educational. Right Bones?"

'Bones,' who was arranging hypos, growled, and made a disgusted face.

"See even the doc agrees, Lieutenant. Pack your bags!"

And so here they were. And then, they were gone.

The next chapter, which is much longer, will be up momentarily.