DISCLAIMER - I OWN NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS, PLANETS OR LOCATIONS, EXCEPT FOR MY OC ANNA.
STARDATE 2nd November 2259
In Anna's lifetime she had never been as happy as what she was. She was married to her T'hy'la. Her brother was a Captain after saving Earth. She was in her dream position on board the Starfleet flagship, surrounded by her friends and family. To her, it couldn't get any better. But unfortunately it could get worse. A lot worse.
The 2nd of November means it has been one year and nine months since the incident with Nero and in that time she had spent seven months of it on board the USS Enterprise. James had proven himself to be a great Captain long term and not just in a bad situation. While tensions between James and Spock were sometimes slightly uneasy, they were getting along. Anna had even once called them friends.
Anna at that very moment of time was stood in the back of a shuttle, helping Spock put on a heat resistant, fire proof suit. He wasn't making it particularly easy for her. The fact that Sulu kept moving the shuttle to keep it up wasn't helping her already poor stability. They were flying above and slightly in an ash cloud. Both Sulu and Anna had told James that the shuttle wouldn't be able to maintain the altitude for very long but James was determined to save this planet from the active Volcano.
She knew that at that very moment James and Leo were probably running for their lives as they attempted to get the indigenous life forms that live on the planet of Nibiru out of the freezing device's danger zone.
Anna attached the necessary pieces around Spock's body just as a transmission from James came through the open comm. "Kirk to Shuttle One. Locals are out of the kill zone. You are clear. Repeat. Spock, get in there, neutralise the volcano and let's get out of here."
Sulu expertly manoeuvred the shuttle into the ash cloud, directly above the Volcano as Anna continued to connect everything together on the suit. Once in a stable position, Sulu unfastened his safety belt saying, "We have to do this now! I told the Captain the shuttle wasn't built for this kind of heat"
Sulu stepped to the back of the shuttle among Anna and Spock and began pressing the button necessary ready for the wire that will be attached to Spock so they could pull him back up.
"Captain, did the indigenous life forms see you?" Questioned Spock as Anna struggled to attach two parts together on his back.
"No, Mr Spock, they did not." James replied, as Anna finally managed to get it attached together before moving back round the front, making sure the neck of the suit was attached together properly.
"The prime directive clearly states there can be no interference with the internal development of alien civilisations." commented Spock, causing Anna to smile and shake her head before turning to grab the helmet to the suit.
"I know what it says! Which is why I'm running through the jungle wearing a disguise! Now drop off your super ice cube and let's go! Kirk out" Kirk yelled back.
Anna quickly placed a hand against Spock's cheek saying "You're good."
Spock nodded before leaning down onto one knee in front of his device. He opened it up, just as Sulu yelled "If we're gonna do this, we've got to do it now! This ash is killing our coils"
Anna quickly placed Spock's helmet over his head as he stood back up, making sure it was secure. "You sure you don't want me to go instead? I mean it's going to get pretty toasty in there" Anna asked, knowing full well she didn't mean it. Not only did they not have the time but she hadn't a clue of how to detonate that device. She just smiled at the frown that came up on Spock's face.
"That would be highly illogical as I am already outfitted..." Spock started, but Anna just could keep a straight face and let him finish, "Spock, I was kidding"
Anna reached up placing a quick kiss onto Spock's helmet, looking him in the eyes just so knew how much she loved him. "You got this. Be safe"
"Guys! We have to go! Now!" Sulu yelled from where he was once again strapped in to the pilot seat.
Anna quickly attached the wire to Spock's suit. "I'll see you in ninety seconds"
Anna hurried to the co-pilot seat, closing the door in-between them and Spock as she did. She sat down in the co-pilot seat, pushing the lever that dropped the floor below Spock's feet. She watched him disappear anxiously.
Anna watched the screen which showed how far he had dropped, when a screen in front of Sulu started flashing, more importantly the picture of one of the engines started flashing.
"I can't hold this position. Spock, I've got to pull you back up." Sulu said, directing the last half through the comms to Spock.
"Negative. This is our only chance to save this species. If this volcano erupts, the planet dies" Spock replied, making Anna frown.
As much as she didn't want the planet to die, she didn't want to lose Spock. She glance over to Sulu tempted just to pull Spock up anyway. She didn't get a choice because suddenly the shuttle jolted and Sulu yelled out "Pull him back up! Now!"
Anna didn't hesitate a second to pull the lever to pull him back up. She watched the screen as the levels grew higher as both the wire pulled him up and Sulu pulled the shuttle up. Suddenly the Shuttle jolted again. She looked at Spock's screen as it flashed. The wire had broken. Spock had fallen into a very active Volcano filled with hot lava.
"Spock!" called Anna desperately through the comms. "Spock, are you okay? Spock!"
"I am surprisingly, alive. Stand by " Anna breathed a sigh of relief as Spock's voice came through the comm, but then she realised he was still in the volcano with no way to pull him out.
Anna quickly turned to face Sulu. "We have to get him back. I'll suit up. I'm gonna go down."
"We have to abandon the shuttle." argued Sulu, not even looking at Anna.
"We can't just leave him, Sulu!" Anna yelled back, her fear knocking out her inside voice.
"We don't have a choice!" Sulu yelled back aggressively, that made Anna silent in shock. "Anna, I'm sorry."
"Spock, we're going back to the Enterprise. We'll get you out of there." Anna said into the comm to Spock.
Sulu flew the shuttle out of the ash cloud before setting it to fly on Auto so he and Anna could go back and get out of their outer suits to reveal their skin tight waterproof suit. As they ditched their outer suits Sulu commed James, "Captain, I'm ditching the shuttle. You've got to make it to the Enterprise on your own."
"Wonderful" was the sarcastic reply from James.
"Anna, you ready to swim?" Sulu shouted.
Anna nodded. "I'm ready!"
The pair of them fell through the floor of the shuttle, landing in the water below. They put their breathing mouth pieces in and activated the jets that were attached in the suits to propel them to where the Enterprise was sat deep in the water. They managed to get down to a port hole and swim into the air lock. They held onto the handle bars as the water drained and air filled the air lock. Once the water was gone, the door opened. Sulu and Anna didn't even share a glance as they both rushed up to the bridge, Sulu taking his spot at the helm and Anna taking her spot on the first tactical officers station.
It wasn't long after that James, Scotty and Leo ran in. James and Leo still wearing their skin tight waterproofs.
"Captain on the bridge" called Chekov.
Leo came and stood by Anna knowing she must be worried sick about Spock. She was. Absolutely worried sick and there wasn't anything she could do. She hated that fact. She couldn't do anything to help him.
James stood just behind the helm. He turned to face Uhura.
"Lieutenant, do we have an open channel to Mr Spock?" James asked.
"The heat's frying his comms, but we still have contact." reported Uhura, glancing at Anna.
Anna could feel her eyes water slightly. She felt Leo place an arm around her shoulder in support. James quickly glanced over to check on her before turning back to face the screen.
"Spock?" James called.
"I have activated the device, Captain. When the countdown is complete, the reaction should render the volcano inert." Spock replied through the comms.
"Yeah, and that's gonna render him inert!" commented Leo, squeezing Anna's shoulder when she gasped at the news.
A tear had fallen and she was shaking at the effort to keep the tears in.
"Do we have use of the transports?" James asked.
"Negative, sir." replied Sulu before he was cut off by Chekov, "Not with these magnetic fields."
"I need to beam Spock back to the ship. Give me one way to do it." James ordered, sparring another glance at his sister, who he could see was barely holding it together.
"Maybe if we had a direct line of sight. If we got closer..." Chekov was mid reply when Scotty cut him off. "Hold on, wee man! You're talking about an active Volcano! Sir, if that thing erupts, I cannae guarantee we can withstand the heat!"
"I don't know that we can maintain that kind of altitude." said Sulu adding yet another negative point.
"Our shuttle was concealed by the ash cloud, but the Enterprise is too large. If utilised in a rescue effort, it would be revealed to the indigenous species" Spock said through the comms.
Anna closed her eyes. Of course Spock would rather follow the rules and die then be saved. Leo pulled her into a full hug when he saw the reaction that his words had on Anna. Anna just wiggled out and walked up the helm.
"Spock, nobody knows the rules better than you, but there had got to be an exception." Anna pleaded, her voice filled with so much emotion that James glanced up at her.
"None. Such action violates the Prime Directive." replied Spock causing Anna to gasp back the lump in her throat, that threatened to come up with the tears.
"Shut up, Spock! We're trying to save you, damn it!" growled Leo as he again pulled Anna into a hug.
"Doctor, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Spock replied, monotonously.
"Spock, we're talking about your life!" James yelled.
"The rule cannot be broken..." Spock began but the channel crackled and then dropped dead.
"Spock!" yelled James as Anna silently gasped covering her mouth with her hand.
"Try to get him back online." James said to Uhura.
"Ninety second to detonations" reported Chekov in a depressed manner.
"If Spock were here and I were there, what would he do?" Asked James quietly. Anna couldn't tell whether it was to himself or to her and Leo.
"He'd let you die" replied Leo.
Anna wanted to turn and argue, but she couldn't honestly argue that Spock wouldn't because she wasn't sure whether he would or not. She hoped he wouldn't but she couldn't be sure, and at that moment she didn't care about the what ifs, she just wanted Spock to get back to safety.
There was a pause until James shouted out, "Get us above that Volcano and get him out of there."
Anna watched as the Enterprise rose out of the sea and towards the Volcano. She was biting her lip, clutching hard onto Leo's arm in worry that they were going to be too late. She didn't care that the natives would see them, she didn't care whether they did or not. They approached the Volcano with only seconds left on the counter.
Both James and Leo ran out, leaving Chekov in charge. Uhura came and took hold of Anna, comforting her the way Leo had before he left. The bridge were completely unaware of whether Spock made it or not, just that the device had detonated, freezing the Volcano. Anna couldn't wait any longer she dashed forward and pressed the button for the internal comms.
"Bridge to Captain Kirk." she called.
"Yes, Anna." he replied.
"Is Spock on board?" she asked, her heart beating so rapidly that she was surprised it didn't come out of her chest.
"Safely and soundly" James replied, his tone happy.
Everybody on the bridge breathed a sigh of relief, none more so than Anna. Just as the worry and fear faded, the anger started to peak. The anger that Spock was going to allow himself to die rather than break a rule.
"Please notify him that his device has successfully detonated." she replied, her tone slightly harsher before she abruptly closed the channel and left the bridge.
She changed out of her wetsuit and reluctantly returned back to the bridge. It was half an hour later that Spock came up from obviously changing out of the heatproof suit and back into his uniform. He entered through the doors on Anna's side of the bridge. As he passed her, he reached out to take her hand, but she pulled her hand away, sending a half hearted glare his way. She wondered whether she'd ever be able to give him a proper glare. He just frowned at her.
"Anna?" he questioned.
"You have work to do Spock" Anna replied shortly, nodding in the direction of his station.
Spock frowned seemed to deepen, but he nodded slightly and turned and took a seat at his station. He glanced back at Anna in confusion but Anna didn't look over at him.
It was a long journey back to Earth. Anna ignored Spock for the most of it. She found herself going to sleep before he finished his meditations. Usually she waited up so they settled down to bed together. She'd wake up alone but that was never surprising. Though instead of pressing a kiss onto the side of Spock's head as soon as she woke to pull him out of his morning meditation, she just got ready and left.
It was on the day they returned to Earth, as soon as they set foot into their new Commander quarters that she finally addressed him. "Spock, we need to talk about what happened on Nibiru."
"Multiple things happened on Nibiru, I am going to have to ask you to be more specific." Spock replied.
"Spock, you almost died!" Anna practically yelled.
"I fail to see the point that you are making." Commented Spock, his eyebrows deepening in confusion.
"I shouldn't have to be making a point. Spock, you were refusing help when you were about to die. Don't you understand why I am upset and angry with you?" Anna yelled.
"The only way to help was to violate the Prime Directive." replied Spock, his voice still neutral.
"And not violating the Prime Directive is worth more than your life?" Anna asked incredulously.
"The Prime Directive is there to protect and preserve hundreds of lives. My life is only one." Spock replied, his voice neutral and his face in his Vulcan unemotional mask. "it would be illogical to allow many to suffer to save the one."
"Spock, are you saying you chose not to allow yourself to be rescued on the off chance that breaking on rule in the Prime Directive would harm hundreds of other people. Spock what about me, how it would hurt me?" Anna asked, her voice filled with sadness as the emotion of helplessness returned as she remembered how helpless, scared and worried she had felt in those few moments that he was stuck inside of the Volcano.
"You were safe on board the Enterprise. I fail to see how any physical harm could come to you under the circumstances" replied Spock.
Anna just sighed in frustration, throwing her hands up in the air and immediately dropping them back down. She grabbed a bag and placed inside a pair of pyjamas and a spare pair of clothes.
"May I ascertain as to why you are packing a bag?" Spock questioned.
"I'm going to stay at Uhura's for the night." Anna called back to him.
"May I ask why?" Spock questioned again, moving closer to Anna.
"Never mind why. You either wouldn't understand or you'd just call it illogical and come up with an emotionless reason why" she replied, rather quietly as she moved towards the door.
She left Spock stood alone in their apartment as she headed over to Uhura's.
She hadn't even reached Uhuras when her comm link beeped. She sighed before glancing at it. Admiral Pike was trying to get in touch with her.
"Commander Kirk, sir" she answered.
"Anna, I need to speak with you." Admiral Pike replied, through the comm link. "Can you come to my office?"
"Of course, sir. I'm close by. I'll only be a few moments." she replied, cancelling the call.
It only took her ten minutes to walk to Admiral Pike's office. She knocked on the door and entered when he called for her. She took a seat in front of his desk. Admiral Pike had a serious face and he kept glancing down at the padd in front of him.
"Yesterday, just after you would have been leaving Nibiru, I received some very disturbing news. I was reading through Spock's report." Admiral Pike stopped there knowing she would pick up on exactly where he was going.
Anna closed her eyes and sighed. Spock must have filed a report of what happened at Nibiru and been extremely truthful about it. Both Spock and James would be in trouble now.
"Who has it gone to, sir?" She asked. She didn't bother asking what the report was about. They both knew, and they both knew the consequences were bad.
"Right to the top. Admiral Marcus held a tribunal. I wasn't invited to it, so I haven't had a say in the punishments." Admiral Pike said. "I've messaged both Commander Spock and Jim to be in my office first thing tomorrow morning. I'll be informing them of their punishments tomorrow."
"And why did you call me here Admiral?" Anna asked.
"You've been transferred and promoted. Captain, on board the newly built USS Truman B." replied Admiral Pike. "Commander Spock is being transferred to the USS Bradbury as First Officer. And Jim, well, Jim is being sent back to the Academy." Admiral Pike leaned back in his chair.
"Will you be speaking to Admiral Marcus?" Anna asked, leaning forward, "For James, I mean. James has done something wrong, I know, but having the Enterprise taken away from him will crush him. He doesn't deserve that."
"I'll try and speak with him, see if I can get a more lenient punishment. But I feel that the punishments and in your case, promotion, are to achieve one thing" Admiral Pike said, leaning forwards again, probably to emphasise the silent point he was making.
"They want all three of us off the Enterprise"
