When it happened, he'd never really know for certain. It never really clicked. He'd been so focused on his make shift Comms Array, pieced together with siphoned parts from various gadgets they'd all happened to have on them when trouble had found them. Super advanced, and natives who appeared to be in the Hunter/Gatherer stage, were still able to avoid scanners and get the drop on them.

And the equipment failure! Instead of beaming back to Enterprise, they beamed from the circle formation of native mass anger and into a small alcove located on the tallest cliff face on the entire planet. And he couldn't get a single one of their Comms to tune right. No further attempts by Enterprise dampened the spirits of the other men of their party while he'd kept busy. Supplies hadn't beamed with them, leaving them with only the items they had in pockets and in hands, amounting to hardly anything.

At some point, it was decided that one of them (he'd apparently been the only one to grab the tack gear upon their exodus) would scale the cliff. The aim was to either recover the supplies or find food. Not long after, another was gone, supposedly to find a less nerve-racking shelter.

The last thing he was aware of was the loud curse from Strauss, the sound of whistling and the scent of blood soaked eucalyptus.

Voices stirred him, and he groaned, palming his eyes in a vain attempt to calm the pounding behind them. He spired the crumpled remains of the Array, first, and cringed. The destroyed Array and the large, brightly colored arrow at its base, the less than helpful headache and the rock beneath him (which left him feeling stiff and sore), all pointed to a distinct lack of Enterprise.

"Dammit… he's dead too." That had him sit upright in a flash. Jenson and the Mobian whose name he hadn't caught were knelt down a ways off. The two Security Officers were pale (or, in the Mobian's case, a shade lighter), shoulders drooped and breathing irregularly. "We should have brought them with us…"

"What's done is done," the Mobian recovered, surging to his feet and moving over to the Array. "Are you any good with machinery?"

Somewhat affronted at the question, he scoffed. But the kid had stood and was looking only at the Array, seeming to study it carefully. And Jenson answered, cutting off his snarky retort. "I can tune my Broadband, but that thing is too technical given what Mr. Scott was working with. The rocks and arrows look like they severed some pieces, too. I can't touch it. It's way beyond me."

The damage was critical. And Scotty wasn't sure he himself could do anything to fix it. "Sorry lads, I –"

The mournful sigh cut him off, and he stared at the Mobian with a wide-eyes stare, fear seeping at the edges of his senses. "Right. We can't do anything here. Let's head up. When Enterprise finally finds us, we can collect the dead."

"Wait," Scotty called out, brow knitting. "Can… Can ye no' see me?" He pushed to his feet, not looking away from the Mobian, who sauntered past without a glance. "Oi! You!" He cursed not knowing the man's name. "This is a terrible joke," he growled. Only, he paused, heart stuttering at the sight beyond him. Dead. Strauss was gone… an arrow, now broken off out of respect, was embedded in his skull. And beside Strauss…

It wasn't possible! He was alive! He was right bloody here! But as he knelt beside himself in an otherworldly sense of de ja vous and reached out to touch one of the two broken arrows in his doppelganger's unmoving chest, he recoiled at the lack of sensation in his fingers and hand as they passed through.

The Officers were leaving. "Wait! Ya cannae just go! Come back here, that's a bloody order!" He scrambled after as they heaved themselves back up the rope they must have secured to repel down safely. "Please, wait! Somethin's no' right!" His hands passed through the rope and his brown eyes widened with the realization. He quieted, watching them leave without another word.

It was terrifying even as it wasn't. He hadn't been afraid of death… he just hadn't expected it. There was so much that he'd be leaving behind… not to say he had an overwhelming number of people he cared about… but there were some. And he'd had to pull them out of a few messy situations through sheer determination. They'd be fine… he knew it. He just had an insatiable wish to see them once more time and say goodbye.

As time passed, he found himself watching a rather colorful and symbolic sunset. He'd grown up with a few sunsets and sunrises of absolute beauty, but there was something about the alien world and its atmospheric pressures that lit the sky in a mesh of fuchsia, sea green and lavender, swathed against the orange of the normal sky that was breath taking.

The light faded, bringing the darkest night he'd encountered yet on a planet. Nothing changed. He was still dead, laying against the cavern wall, settled beside the equally dead Strauss. Unable to touch anything (and it'd been perplexing to realize that the walls, floor and ceiling were akin to a force field he couldn't feel), there was nothing to do. There was nothing he could do. He was trapped. Gravity, oddly, still applied, meaning he couldn't risk jumping. He couldn't feel or grasp the ledges… there was no way to work on the Array like this… the Transporter wouldn't be able to beam back what technically didn't exist…

Maybe jumping wasn't such a bad idea.

He almost didn't hear the arrival. He'd sunken in beside himself, knees drawn in a way he hadn't done since he'd been in Academy, mind racing so fast he felt truly, utterly blank. It was the word that shook him to awareness. "Damn." Even then, he hardly reacted. His eyes swiveled to the source, however, revealing a slightly battered Sulu. Behind him was a woman in a blue jump suit he didn't recognize. Sulu stepped over almost soundlessly, gravel only crunching as he knelt beside the two bodies. His expression was stoic, if not for the burning surge of something in his eyes.

It moved him enough to find his voice. "Could nae say it better m'self, lad."

"They died approximately twenty-seven hours ago," the dark haired lad said, running the Tri-Corder's scanner over Strauss. "The timeline fits."

"You really think Jos would actually betray us thought?" Another voice… a female voice he couldn't place. "He was loyal to a fault. I'm having a hard time believing it."

The other woman replied, "The facts are adding up. Jos left this cave first, according to his own words. As acting Security Lead, he should have known better. Unless Mr. Scott specifically ordered him to go, which Jos himself denied, as did Jenson, he should have stayed. No one should have left. Not with the apparent progress Mr. Scott was making with that Array." Her eyes swung to the defunct jumble of parts.

"Hunger and stress make a bad combination when in a situation like this, Number One," the mystery woman returned, coming around to see the bodies herself. A very pretty brunette in a red jumpsuit. He'd seen her in Security, making rounds here and there. She exuded genuine remorse that made him look away. Combined with Sulu's unexplainable stare down, he couldn't stomach it.

"Given the events on board in Sickbay, as well as the direct leaving of his team, I am forced to believe he has betrayed Enterprise," Number One continued, now scanning the Array. "He deliberately left his team. Jenson left with an okay from Mr. Scott that he'd only be up to survey the immediate area. Jos left without any such conversation. And when he finally made his way back, he led the natives here."

He cringed, scrunching his eyes shut. This was hardly anything close to what he wanted to hear. A betrayal meant something none of them wanted to fathom.

"We don't know that for sure," the red-clad woman hissed, thinking likely the same as he.

"Enough," Sulu interjected, snapping from his reverie and earning all eyes. "This isn't the time." He flipped his Comm open. "Sulu to Enterprise: We're ready." Just like that, they were vanishing, and he watched it happen sadly.

He didn't care that he blacked out as the particles vanished.

=/=/=

A/N: Something new here! And wow, hasn't it been a while since I started a new fic? Well, in case anyone has actually read my Bio Page, I should qualify this: This is a finished story. I never thought I'd be able to say that, but there we go. I wrote the majority in 2014, and finished it this month. I also just posted this to my account on the Archive (first thing ever over there). The chapters will be uploaded as I see fit (so… if I get antsy, they may come faster, but I plan on every week. These are typed and ready to go). So… enjoy!

I will finish my other works, eventually. I can't push them, because they'll turn out horribly if I do.