The Enterprise is hit by a particularly bad ion storm. All systems register normal. Unfortunately, there are several crew unaccounted for. And worse, McCoy is among the missing. Prompt by starfleetdicks.
The day had started out peaceful. The halls had been decorated with pumpkin streamers and the crew alight with talks of costumes and parties. Every now and then one of the trio walked past someone explaining Halloween to a fellow crew mate that didn't have anything like it on their planet.
Bones was especially looking forward to introducing Spock and Jim to Jo once the Enterprise made its way back. And Jim was looking forward to getting Spock into a Halloween costume. Once he got Bones on his side it was going to be easy.
His mind on Jim made his way to the bridge. The ship shook causing him to fall. He got up and ran towards the bridge. Everyone on the bridge looked over to him when they heard the doors of the bridge open.
The ship shook again. Jim slide down, not having time to grab anything. He started crawling when the shaking didn't subside. On the screen Jim could see ion storm clouds rumble.
"Keptin," Chehov said once the shaking stopped. "The systems register everything as normal."
Jim stood up slowly and took the Captain's chair. "How can that be possible? Recalibrate the sensors."
The seat-belts activated when the storm made the spaceship tip to the side.
"It's not giving any different readings. The storm shouldn't be there."
"Well it's there alright."
"The storm is indeed visible," Spock said. "And is effecting the ship. Interesting."
The lights flickered and the ship continued to shake.
"We have to try something. Go to hyper speed 10."
"We appear to be stuck," Sulu said. "But diagnostics says everything is fully functional."
Kirk got out his communicator and dialled Scotty. "Scotty? Are you there?"
"Aye, Captain. I'm reading ye loud and clear."
"Can you check on the warp drive?"
"Give me a second!" The shaking had gotten worse by the time Scotty got back to him. Jim didn't know how long Scotty had taken, just that the shaking wasn't letting up.
"There's nothing wrong with the warp drive," Scotty said. "I ran every diagnostic test possible."
"Our sensors must be faulty."
"Everything worked just fine yesterday," Uhura said.
"Try diverting the power from the-" The lights went off.
The ship shook violently, making them strain against their seat-belts. Sulu and Chehov tried everything they could but the system was completely unresponsive. The ship spun round and round until the lights came back on.
Everyone looked around. Spock and Jim were nowhere to be found. A voice sounded over the announcement system. It was Nurse Chapel.
"Dr McCoy? Has anyone seen Dr McCoy?"
The ion storm was still swirling outside but it was oddly calm. Uhura unbuckled her seat-belt and got out of her chair. "I'm going to see if I can find any clues." She had a feeling that she would turn up empty but at the very least she could check how med bay was coping while she was there. Had the ion storm seriously injured anyone?
"I'll keep trying to drive through," Sulu said.
"Me too," Chehov said.
There was no one on the med beds. Uhura wasn't sure whether or not that was a relief. Perhaps no one had gotten a chance to get to med bay.
"What happened exactly?" Uhura asked Chapel.
"I don't know. One minute Dr McCoy was standing between Doctor M'Benga and I, then the lights went off and he was gone. We tried hailing him but there was nothing but static."
"Jim and Spock are missing too. One minute they were on the bridge and then they were gone."
Bones, Jim and Spock awoke slowly. Bones blinked several times, trying to clear the fogginess from his head. He sat up and looked around. Jim and Spock lay at either side of him. Spock and Jim sat up and looked at him.
"Bones, Spock," Jim said. "Do either of you know where we are?"
Bones shook his head. "I didn't wake up long before you did. It's the oddest thing. One moment I was in Med Bay holding onto the counter so I didn't fall during the shaking and the next moment I was here. Wherever here was."
"A similar thing happened to me Leonard," Spock said. "I believe that Jim may have had the same experience."
"Yeah," Jim said. "I was sitting in the captain's chair when the ship started spinning and then I woke up here with you."
The hallway was suddenly alight. Torches lined both sides of the hallway, the fire emitting a glow. High above the torches were banners like the kind they used back in medieval times, alternating between black and orange. The place was made of old stone, reminding Jim of pictures of old castles he had seen.
"Do you think we've gone back in time?" Jim asked.
"I really hope not," Bones murmured. He didn't get many Halloweens with Jo and he would never forgive himself if he had to spend this one struck in a different time.
Jim started to walk down the hallway. "Jim!" Spock and Bones both yelled. They ran after him.
"What else can we do? Just stand there for who knows how long?"
"We should have at least ran some scans first," Spock said. He felt around for his tricorder.
"I don't have mine either."
"And I don't have my med pack," Bones grumbled.
Jim paused for a moment. He pointed behind them before they could ask what was wrong. The only thing Spock and Bones could see was a wall. "There's only one way to go. I wonder if that means something."
"You think someone wants us to walk in a certain direction?" Bones asked. He crossed his arms. "What if we don't?"
"Can we afford to find out?"
Silently Jim turned and continued to walk. Spock and Bones followed after him.
Jim didn't know what they were supposed to do if there a fork in the road or any other type of obstruction but thankfully there wasn't. The hallway just kept curving until it lead them to an open door. An orange glow spilled out from the room. Sighing, Jim walked in. Bones and Spock followed closely behind.
At first they saw the orange light and then it cleared revealing a dining room. A figure with a pumpkin head holding a glowing wand sat at the head of the table. "Welcome! It's been so long since there were visitors."
"Captives you mean," Jim said. "What did you do to the ship?"
"Your ship is fine, gentlemen. Now let's talk about you."