Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek.
Chapter One:
Stardate: 2258.179
Jim enters the turbo-lift, PADD in hand, shoulders back and back straight as a ruler. Today was a very important day. The eyes of the Federation were on them, one mistake now would lead to a great deal of trouble. The Enterprise was currently in orbit around Sofrin, an M class planet. They planet had been gripped by a civil war for two years and the ceasefire and peace talks were about to fall apart.
His orders were to form an away team and beam down and aid with the peace talks and keep them from falling apart at any cost. They were being meet on the surface by the Federation's specially chosen team of Ambassador's and would be joining them in the talks. It was more for show than anything else.
Jim was the Federation's golden boy.
Sighing as he steps out of the turbo-lift, he looks down at the list he'd created on his PADD. Himself, Sulu, Uhura and two Lieutenant's and one Ensign were going down to the surface. Both he and Sulu had advanced hand to hand combat under their belts and Uhura was far better than any universal translator. The others were member of security, they were going into a situation that could turn hostile at any moment.
Entering the briefing room, Jim smiles to himself as he sees his command crew and those who would be joining him as part of the away team, were already there and waiting for him. He walks to his seat and sits down. He switches his PADD off, switches on the main screen and picked up the head held controller, bring up a series of pictures.
They were pictures of a cities and landscapes.
"This was Sofrin five years ago," Jim said.
He clicks the hand hold controller bringing up the next series of picture.
"Four years ago tensions began to rise between the two main continents, resulting in a series of attacks," The pictures showed the aftermath of said attacks. The casualties. The survivors. As well as the other damage done. "Over four hundred dead and close to a thousand injured."
Jim clicks the hand hold controller again.
"Two years ago, a planet wide civil war broke out," Jim glances at the pictures and the destruction and pain within them. "After the war broke out, the Federation began searching for a way to return peace to the planet. Talks began and they seemed to be going well… But now, they are on the verge of collapse.
"I'm not going to lie to you, we are beaming down into a very unstable situation that could turn into a war zone at any moment. We are here to try and keep the peace and aid in peace talk any way we can. But there no guaranty we'll be safe. Several embassies have been attacked. If any of you don't want to be part of this away team, now is the time to say so, because once we're planet-side there's no turning back."
)o(
Jim, Lieutenant Sulu, Lieutenant Uhura, Lieutenant Aliberti, Lieutenant Slusser and Ensign Pender enter the transporter room and take their places on the transporter. Scotty stood at controls waiting for Jim to give him the order. Jim glances at his away team before turning to Scotty.
"Energise," Jim orders.
Jim looks round as they arrive at their beam down point. They were at a randomly chosen location outside of the city, to ensure they weren't attacked by anyone angry at federation for their interference with the planet's civil war. The reason they couldn't beam directly there was because the building had a shield to prevent people beaming in and attacking those present or simply beaming in explosives.
Everything seemed to be in order, but Jim couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. A vehicle was waiting for them. Jim nods to his team and they quickly get in.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Sulu asks as the vehicle starts moving.
"Granted," Jim answers.
"I don't like this, sir," Sulu said, looking out of the window he was sitting next to.
"Neither do I, Lieutenant," Jim replies. "But we have our orders. Keep your guard up. Same goes for all of you, do not let your guard down. There's definitely something not right here."
"Sir?" Uhura questions.
"Yes, Lieutenant," Jim answers.
But before Uhura can answer, the vehicle they're in is suddenly flipped into the air as something explodes under them. The vehicle rolls twice before it came to a stop on its roof. Jim groans as he pushes himself upright. A ringing fills his ears, he quickly pulls out his communicator and flips it open.
"Kirk to Enterprise," He yells over the ringing in his ears. "Come in, Enterprise!"
But the communicator couldn't form a connection to the ship, the communicator had been damaged. Jim swears and turns to the door closest to him. He kicks it open and crawls from the battered vehicle. He looks round, slightly dazed. Burning debris littered the road and in the distance Jim could see armed figures approaching. Jim cursed and turns back to the vehicle.
"We need to move!" He exclaims.
He helps Sulu to his feet and points to the nearby treeline. Sulu nods, pulling out his communicator and takes cover, Ensign Pender crawls out of the vehicle next, with Uhura not far behind. As Ensign Pender helps the dazed Uhura over to the treeline where Sulu is waiting, Jim turns back to the vehicle.
The armed figures were getting closer with every passing second.
"Come on, Lieutenant's!" Jim exclaimed urgently. "Move!"
Lieutenant Aliberti pulls herself from the vehicle, blood streaming down the side of her face from a nasty looking head wound. She stumbles and Jim grabs hold of her arm to steady her. She looks round with a confused expression, before her gaze settles on Jim. She squints at him, before raising a hand to her head wound.
Jim quickly leads her over to where the others are waiting and Sulu guides her over to a fallen tree and sits her down as she almost falls over. Running back to the vehicle, Jim kneels down and reaches for Lieutenant Slusser and pulls him clear of the vehicle. They had just gotten to their feet, when Lieutenant Slusser suddenly pushes Jim backwards, causing him to fall.
Jim can only watch as Lieutenant Slusser falls to the floor, dead, as he takes a shot directly to the chest.
He had pushed Jim out the way.
But Jim didn't have long to contemplate that, as another shot hit the ground close to his ankle and he wasted no time getting to his feet and running for the cover of the tree line, but not before grabbing the phaser from Slusser's belt. He had a feeling they'd be needing the extra weapon.
"Run!" Jim orders.
)o(
Captain's Log:
When we arrived planet-side, myself and Lieutenant Sulu knew something was wrong… There was just something about the situation that didn't feel right. And we were correct. We were caught up in an attack, I can't yet tell whether we were the intended targets or not. Myself and the away team now find ourselves running for our lives none the less. We've already lost one life today, we can't afford to lose any more. All of us have sustained injuries, with Lieutenant Aliberti's being the worst. To make matters worse, none of our communicators are working… We're trapped planet-side, in a hostile environment, with no way to contact the Enterprise.
)o(
"Sir," Lieutenant Varfell said, turning in his seat at the communications station on the bridge. "The away team have failed to check in and I am unable to form a connection to their communicators."
Spock, who's sat in the Captain's chair, turns towards Lieutenant Varfell.
"Contact Ambassador Howden," Spock orders.
Lieutenant Varfell quickly did as he was ordered and moments later Ambassador Howden appeared on the view-screen in front of them.
"I am Commander Spock-" Spock began to say, only to be cut off.
"I hope you are contacting me to apologise, Commander," Ambassador Howden said, her face stern. "The failure of you Captain to arrive on time, has made the Federation appear incredibly foolish and unreliable in the eyes of the Sofrin people."
"The Captain and the party accompanying him, beamed down over three point two five hours ago, Ambassador," Spock replies. "Based upon your reaction, it has become clear they have not arrived."
With that Spock ended the call and hit another button the arm of the Captain's chair.
"Red alert," Spock said.
Lights begin to flash and alarms began to sound, as red alert was announced throughout the ship.
"Bridge to Lieutenant Commander Scott," Spock said in the chairs intercom.
"Scotty here, sir," Scotty answers.
"The Captain and the away team have failed to check in and have gone missing on route to the embassy," Spock tells him. "I need the coordinates they beamed down to."
"Aye, Commander," Scotty replies. "Ah will send 'em through right away, sir."
"Lieutenant Varfall," Spock turns to the communications station. "Have a security team sent to the transporter room immediately."
"Yes, sir," Lieutenant Varfall nods.
Spock stood up from the Captain's chair and quickly made his way towards the turbo-lift, which opened to reveal an annoyed looking Doctor McCoy.
"What the hell is going on?" McCoy demands.
"The Captain and the away team have failed to arrive at the peace negotiations and appear to have gone missing on route, Doctor," Spock answers, stepping past Doctor McCoy and into the turbo-lift.
"Jim's missing?" Doctor McCoy said.
"Indeed, Doctor," Spock said before the turbo-lift doors shut, leaving McCoy on the bridge.
"Transporter room," Spock orders and the turbo-lift begins moving.
)o(
Jim holds up a hand and Pender stops, behind her Sulu who was supporting Aliberti, also halts. Uhura moves past the two of them to stand beside Pender. Scanning the area ahead of them, Jim signals the others to take cover and they quickly do so. Jim kneels down in the undergrowth slightly ahead of where the others were hiding and watches.
It doesn't take long for a couple of planets native intelligent species to come into view. They were humanoid, but that was where the similarities ended. They looked like they belonged at the bottom of Earth's deepest oceans. They were herding what Jim knew to be the planets version of the Earth cow.
Jim waits until they have vanished from sight before he moves.
"We could have asked them for help, Kirk," Uhura said as she appears at his shoulder.
"We could have," Jim agrees. "But we have no idea whose side they may be on or if they're even on a side at all, Lieutenant."
"That doesn't mean they'll harm us," Uhura argues.
"We have no idea who it was who attacked us, Uhura!" Jim exclaims. "Right now, we have to assume everyone wants to kill us. Once the Enterprise finds us, and we have more information, we can risk talking to the locals, but until then we keep to the wilderness and avoid confrontation at all costs."
"He's right," Sulu agrees with Jim. "They could have reported back to those who attacked us."
"And even if they didn't," Jim adds. "Rumour would spread that they had seen us, where they'd seen us and what direction we had been heading in. We've already at a disadvantage. We don't know this planet, they do."
Suddenly Aliberti vomited from where she stood with Sulu supporting her. Jim quickly gestured for Sulu to sit her down and he knelt before her, being careful not to kneel in the pool of vomit.
"She need medical attention," Uhura snaps. "We all need medical attention! We need their help."
"Do you think any doctors here have ever treated a human before?" Jim asks, as he tilts Aliberti's head to the side to see her head injury better. "We are miles from the city and even before this civil war started, the human population was almost none existent."
"They could at least give us supplies," Uhura points out.
"Are you doctor, Uhura?" Jim replies. "Do you have any idea how to treat Aliberti's injury? Or any of our injuries for that matter? Because anything we do at this stage could do more harm than good. The only thing we can do right now is keep our wounds clean and in Aliberti's case, stop the bleeding if it doesn't stop on its own."
"She losing a lot of blood!" Uhura exclaims. "She needs medical help!"
"And she'll receive it when we're back aboard the Enterprise, Uhura!" Jim said, trying to keep his voice from rising in volume. "It is also a head wound, they bleed a lot more than other injuries do. At the moment all we need to worry about is the concussion and the risk of infection if we don't keep the wound clean."
"They can help us, Kirk," Uhura insists. "They'll have clean water."
"Lieutenant Uhura!" Jim finally snaps, there was only so much of her second guessing everything he said, he could take. "Shut up, that is an order."
"That's an abuse of power, Kirk," Uhura answers, almost sounding smug. "They're right, you are too immature to be Captain. Why Admiral Pike ever gave you the Enterprise is beyond me."
Jim heard Sulu hiss out a breath, as he pinches his nose and takes a deep breath. It was no secret Jim and Uhura hadn't gotten along at the academy, but Jim had hoped since Uhura had become a part of his crew, that the dislike she had for him had finally faded away and they could get along with each other without resorting to name calling and trying to drag each other through the dirt at every opportunity.
"How dare you?!" Ensign Pender comes to Jim's defence. "He is our Captain and he is the best Captain in the 'fleet without a doubt! If it wasn't for him, Earth would have been destroyed!"
"He risked the lives of the entire crew," Uhura points out. "He wasn't even sure we'd be able to defeat Nero!"
"So, what? He shouldn't have even tried to save Earth?" Ensign Pender glares at Uhura. "He should have let billions of people die, without even trying to save them?"
"That's enough!" Jim said as he gets to his feet. "Uhura, if you want to go after them and ask for help, be my guest, just remember you'll be on your own. We won't be here when you get back. I've already lost one crewmember today, I'm not willing to risk the lives of the others just because you disagree with me, Uhura."
)o(
McCoy enters the transporter room as Spock and security team were preparing to beam down. He had a basic medical kit in one hand.
"I'm coming with you, Spock," McCoy said, determined.
"Doctor, such a course of action would be unwise," Spock answers.
"Damn it, Spock," McCoy snaps. "Jim is down there and he may be in need of medical attention!"
"Should we find the Captain and the away team, they will be beamed back aboard immediately," Spock replies. "Where they can receive medical attention should they need it."
"I'm coming with you," McCoy said and his tone left no room for argument.
Spock inclines his head and McCoy nods curtly.
"Sir," Scotty suddenly said from where he was sitting at the transporter controls. "I cannae beam you down… There is something inferring along the planet's surface, I cannae beam you through it, sir."
"How localised is the interference, Mr Scott?" Spock questions.
"A ten mile radiance from the beam down coordinates, sir," Scotty answers.
"Could a shuttlecraft pass through this area without it affecting the controls?" Spock inquired.
"I dinnae, sir," Scotty replies.
"Keep monitoring it, Mr Scott," Spock orders. "If there is any change, alert me immediately."
"Aye, sir," Scotty nods.
"Spock," McCoy exclaims. "We can't just leave them down there!"
"There is nothing we can do at this time, Doctor," Spock said. "To take a shuttle to the surface now, would be unwise and hazardous to all who go. Until we know the affects the interference will have, all crew will remain aboard."
"So you're just going to leave them down there," McCoy demands. "They could be dying, Spock!"
"Doctor McCoy," Spock turns to face McCoy. "I will not endanger the crew unnecessarily. If the Captain and away team are still alive, they'll have to wait until we can reach them without endangering more lives."
"You're a real cold-hearted bastard, you know that," McCoy glares at Spock as he left the transporter room.
Spock did not grace the remark with a reply.
)o(
"We need to find somewhere to stop for the night," Sulu said, as he stops walking to catch his breath.
He and Jim had been taking it in turns to support Aliberti as they made their way through the forest. They'd been walking for hours and covered many miles, but it was beginning to get dark. Jim glances towards the sky and the slowly darkening forest around them, before nodding.
"Anything we should avoid sleeping next to, Lieutenant?" Jim asks.
"Sir?" Sulu replies, confused.
"The plants," Jim answers, gesturing around them. "You're a botanist, aren't you?"
"I am, sir," Sulu smiles proudly.
"So, what should we avoid?" Jim asks again, as they carry on walking.
"I don't know," Sulu answers honestly. "All the document I could access on the native flora weren't very detailed… And those which were, no human's had come in contact with them, as none of these plants grow in the city."
"Useful," Jim said.
Sulu let out a nervous laugh and Jim grins at him, even Aliberti gives a small smile. Behind them, Pender and Uhura were walking apart from each other, as Pender still hadn't gotten over the disrespect Uhura had shown their Captain.
"What about over there?" Sulu asks, nodding over to a small, sheltered grove a few feet away.
"Perfect," Jim replies.
Sulu helps Aliberti sit down as Jim glances round. Hopefully if anyone passed them during the night, they wouldn't be seen. But someone would be on watch at all times anyway, Aliberti would need to be monitored during the night to make sure her condition didn't get any worse during the night... Not that there was much they could do if it did.
"Here," Jim hands Slusser's phaser to Pender, as he notices both she and Uhura were shivering. "Use this to heat some rocks."
"We should save it," Pender tries to refuse.
"You won't survive the night if you don't," Jim argues. "You already shivering and the temperature is just going to carry on dropping."
"Thank you, Captain," Pender nods.
"Any time," Jim winks.
"Unbelievable," Uhura mutters.
"Did you have something to say, Uhura?" Jim demands.
"Of all the times to try and make a move, it has to be now, doesn't it?" Uhura sneers at Jim. "She's your subordinate, it's against regulation."
"You could just admit you jealous," Jim taunts, knowing it'd only wind Uhura up more.
"In your dreams, Kirk," Uhura snaps.
"It's going to be a long night," Sulu mutters to Aliberti.
)o(
Hey, I hope you enjoyed the start of this story. Until next time,
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.