Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek... Oh wait! ... No, forget it.
Author's note: English is not my first language, I'm sorry for the mistakes that are in this chapter. Happy reading!
-Perhaps we should go.
McCoy lifted up his head, which seemed so heavy, to look into the Vulcan's dark brown eyes.
-No way I'm leaving him there, he answered angrily.
But he knew Spock was right. They couldn't stay here for long.
The doctor watched without seeing his Captain lying on the ground, all bloody and messy and broken.
Jim was going to die right now on this stupid planet just because he, Bones, couldn't shut his mouth up.
Suddenly, all the noises around became more and more loud as the shock of the sudden attack passed away. Everything seemed to be clearer than normal, which Spock found really strange, because blood wasn't supposed to be that red, especially when it comes out that it was the Captain's blood. The life-liquid in Kirk's veins wasn't brighter than the others victims lying all around, but it really seemed to be. McCoy took off his communicator and asked abruptly, feeling a little bit dizzy:
-Entreprise, come in.
No answer. Spock looked around to see that the natives were coming more and more near their place. He felt a little urge to put some great distance between him and them. He saw Ensign Chekov running to catch up Sulu and another crewman to take shelter. But there was no shelter. Where they were standing was as dry and neat as the deserts of Vulcan. There was no place to hide. The savages of Gyramos VI had really well planned their attack. Spock turned his gaze back on McCoy:
-Doctor, I never asked you to leave the Captain behind. I just said that we must go if we do not want to be killed in the next few minutes.
Bones just rolled his eyes at his own reaction and motioned to take Kirk under the left arm, Spock helped him with the other.
Kirk made no movements. He didn't even groan in pain. His head was still and his eyes were closed. He looked dead.
Don't you think of that, you moron, Bones reprimanded himself. Jim's gonna be alright.
But when the two of them began to run as fast as they could, Spock literaly lifting up the captain so that just the left foot touched the ground, and that Jim was still making no effort to wake up, Leonard caught himself fearing that his Captain would maybe never open his eyes again.
-Entreprise, come in.
Nothing.
-Entreprise, damn it! Scotty? You there?
-Doctor, if you didn't get an answer the first time, I doubt that someone is going to answer you the second-
-Shut up, snapped Leonard, his useless communicator in his hand. I'm trying to get us rescued if you haven't noticed. Entreprise?
Spock rose to his feet, fully aware that further discussion would be a waste of time. He looked out to the natives' position, a little bit worried, despite his interior Vulcan's voice that keep reminding him that "worry" was an human emotion. They had been running for the past few minutes when the night suddenly came. The natives, unable to determine their position in that ink liquid, decided to stop the attack and just stand there, big fires burning to see if anything would move and shoot if necessary. Spock and McCoy had found a sort of a big field of rocks standing in no proper order, just like they had fallen from the sky and ended up like this. Spock was not naive; he knew that rocks couldn't fall from the sky, the rocks were surely there due to an earth-quake or came from the mountains that he could guess were a little bit further from their position.
The Vulcan turned his gaze to the others big rocks that surrounded them: he could see other members of the crew standing here, even trying to run furter to find a better shelter. The precariousness of their position left no doubt. On one side, there were the angry savages and on the other side, there were the mountains. Spock knew they couldn't run forever.
His attention was driven back to the doctor when he no longer heard his voice calling the Starship. McCoy was now by Kirk's side, trying to get a response from him, but failing. His state was critical and the Captain needed advanced medical help right now. The doctor had his little first-aid kit on him, but it was clearly not sufficient. The power of the mysterious weapons of the natives was really destructive, just like old Earth guns, but in worse. The captain's abdomen has been injured and from as far as the doctor knew, pieces of the kind-of-bullet were spreading in his body. If he could not get real medical help within hours, Jim would die.
-Mister, we must pass that force field if we want to check in with the science team on your territory, said Captain James T. Kirk, a friendly smile on his face.
They had just beamed down, after receiving a distress call from the aforesaid team, but something blocked their transporter range. The furthest they went was the council room, which was now occupied by the chief of the council, Saandall, and the landing party for the mission: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Ensign Tyler, Engineer Ricky, Yeoman Parlus and Chekov.
The chief just stood there, his dark skin contrasting with his bright tunic.
-I'm sorry, I can't. Your science team would appear to be in the war Zone.
Now, Jim's face was full of concern.
-War Zone?
Here we go again, though McCoy, rolling his eyes.
-Yes, the war Zone, answered Saandall, frowning. You see, a lot of the natives don't like how we, the council and I, rule the colony. It has been separated in two groups: us versus them.
The old man took a few steps forward, looking really worried and scared:
-They called themselves the "Somaryg", which is Gyramos backward. They have taken control of all the south of the territory and treated us with dangerous weapons that they made themselves. It has been more than two months now.
-The south of this colony? asked Spock, raising an eyebrow. This is where the Starfleet command post is.
-Well, I think it's better for us to hurry, maybe the're still time for rescue the science party from this, said Kirk, hopeful.
-Captain Kirk, the post that you are referring at is way past the neutral zone. Stepping in their territory would just end the cease-fire that occurred a week ago. I can't let you do that, said the leader of the council, suddenly raising his voice, more frightened than anything.
-Well, Saandall, I have my orders. Perhaps we will be able to talk with them and buy peace in some way, offered Jim.
The leader just laughed, but his smile didn't reach his eyes:
-They are savages.
Kirk turned to his first officer, smirking a little:
-Well, I think we have seen worse, don't you think, Spock?
-Indeed, Captain.
The chief looked at Spock, who had raised an eyebrow and had locked eyes with his captain, then back to Kirk:
-You will be killed! I can't let you do that!
-I'm sorry. I have my orders.
-Your orders are to investigate the fate of the scientist party and rescue them if possible. I can assure you that they are probably dead by this time!
Kirk locked his gaze on his.
-I don't think so.
He flipped his communicator on, reaching the Entreprise and advising Scotty of their intentions. Saandall just stood there, looking defeated as the landing party was leaving.
-I guess I can't do a thing about it, right?
McCoy just gave him a little smile and whispered:
-We're talking about Captain James T. Kirk, here. Don't take it personally.
-Run… Run, fast, if you run, they won't catch us.
-Damn it, Jim, relax. Calm down, everything is all right.
McCoy whiped the sweat away from Kirk's forehead. It had been a few hours where they had taken shelter when suddenly, Jim had fever. Really bad, delirious fever. He was whispering horrible things and Spock had to hold him more than once because he was moving like he was possesed. At least, he wasn't screaming.
-My fault… They're all dead… Dead, dead-
-Doctor, is there a way you could make the fever stop?, asked Spock, from a little further where he was, standing still, not looking at him. If Leonard hadn't known the Vulcan better, he wouldn't have detected this little desperation in his voice. Bones shivered. If Spock was desperate, then they could all go to Hell.
-M'working on it, here. What's up with the ship? Could you get Scotty or Uhura?
-No one answered.
They were silent for a minute, the two of them in the dark. The sun would not rise for a couple of hours. Suddenly, the Captain stopped whispering weird stuff for a couple of minutes. He went quiet just long enough to make Bones swear like a sailor. Then, his eyes opened slowly and he groaned something:
-Sp… Spock.
The two men leaned over their friend to hear him better.
-Bones, Spock, I… What hapenned?
-You were shot, now stay still, said McCoy gently, holding his friend back on the ground as Kirk was trying to get up.
Kirk gave him a dizzy look. He looked terrible. McCoy just wanted to go away and scream. Instead, he managed to smile weakly.
-Where… where are we?
- I don't know for sure, but we are fine now.
-Caves… I saw caves when we…
The rest was cut by a horrible cough from Jim that seemed to last forever. It was like he wanted to cough his lungs out. Spock gave a Vulcan-worried look over Jim's body. Leonard just shook his head, trying to focus on his friend. Finally, Kirk was able to talk again.
-Just a few kilometers away, I saw caves… On the… on the map… The… hanging on the… wall…
He closed his eyes, looking really tired and ten years older.
-Forgive me, he whispered, and he was back to unconscious.
Spock and McCoy stayed in silence for a moment, looking at Kirk, worried in their own way. Finally:
-I think we should get moving fast, said Spock, still looking at Jim.
McCoy could barely see his face in the darkness (so think about treating with Kirk in the night. With no lights. Freaking impossible, yes, but he was trying whatsoever, killing his poor eyes gently) but he kind of saw determination into Spock's face that he'll do whatever to save James' life.
Bones just nodded, flipping on his communicator:
-Chekov? You there?, he whispered.
When they had crossed the war zone, the Captain ordered them to maintain silence radio if they were in any bad situation, unless they were sure that the "savages" weren't going to hear them. McCoy didn't know if they were save.
Damn, they were far from safe, but he had to do something.
Even if the communication was off with the ship, it worked perfectly via crew members.
-Doctor McCoy? Is that you?
The accent was unmistiakeable.
-Yeah, listen Chekov: the captain here said that he saw caves around here. Can you scan a little and confirm?
-Aye, sir.
There was a silence. Then:
-Yes, sir, the Keptin was right, there's caves just about twenty minutes from here, at the base of the mountains.
-Good, thank you. Now, who is with you?
-Sulu, and Ensign Tyler, sir. The rest of the landing party… I… I think they were killed.
McCoy closed his eyes, in shock. That meant they were five left from eight.
Well, that was just awesome.
-Okay, Chekov, just take the rest of the group and meet us there in twenty minutes.
-Aye aye, sir.
The doctor shut his communicator off and turned to Spock:
-We better get moving then.
The Vulcan nodded, then took gently his captain in his powerful arms and, silently like a cat, he started to move, half walking, half running, straight to the direction of the mountain. McCoy followed, deeply worried.
They looked like a strange creature in the – oh so dark – night, with no moon, no hope, nothing.
So? What did you think? English is not my first language, so there might be some (a lot) of errors in there. Please, don't be shy to point them to me so I can improve my writing.
If you review now, I'll send to you Kirk's awesome green shirt via e-mail :D
Girafe13