Prologue
"Spock, look out!"
The Captain's voice resounded in the clearing. Spock whirled around, and immediately saw the Captain's cause for concern. Slowly advancing out of the brush, ten feet to Spock's right, was a large, wolfish creature. It's fangs were bared, and it's eyes were fixed on the Vulcan as it crept nearer. Knowing that running would not be logical, Spock began to cautiously move backwords, drawing his phaser as he went. But it was too late. Before anyone could fire, the animal sprang. It hit Spock in the chest, knocking the phaser out of his hand and slamming him down against a nearby tree.
Kirk and McCoy watched in horror as the first officer struggled to keep the beast's jaws away from his throat. Kirk fired off a high-stun phaser beam at the animal, and the blast of red hit the target. The creature snarled at the offensive phaser, but gave no other sign of being hit. Kirk didn't know what to do. he couldn't risk a higher phaser setting, the monster was too close to Spock. As he tried to think of a plan of action, an unbidden thought raced through his mind.
"And to think that we had been eager for excitement..."