Beta Gamma 24 – 12:03 a.m.

Less than two hours in the shelter and our situation had not improved by much. I had been forced to separate Spock and Bones after about 20 minutes, due to their incessant bickering, and there had been nothing but stony silence since.

As the time went on, the temperature dropped steadily, until I forgot what it was like to be warm. The wind cut through me like a knife, running through my very core. It had even started to snow a little bit, but thankfully our primitive cave was keeping most of the precipitation out.

"Y'all awake?" Bones called out in the darkness, turning over to face us.

"I don't think we ever slept, Bones, to be honest." I replied good-naturedly, though it was very true.

"Affirmative Captain, this temperature is extremely detrimental." Spock's quiet voice added. I chuckled. Vulcans certainly have a gift for understatement.

"I thought Vulcan's didn't sleep," McCoy noted, and I swear I could hear my First Officer roll his eyes.

"Yes Doctor, Vulcan's prefer a special form of meditation as substitute for sleep, but as this meditation lowers the function rate of the body systems, I found that course of action highly illogical. Conventional sleep does not slow the metabolism or heart rate at all, compared to meditation. It is not my first choice, but I would like to be alive when we are eventually beamed aboard the Enterprise."

"Yeah, yeah you hobgoblin. Just admit that you can't adapt like the 'Vulcan-above-it-all' you claim to be." Mccoy joked.

In the tight quarters, I felt Spock stiffen at my side. "Doctor, do not start an argument you cannot hope to finish." I sighed and nudged McCoy with my elbow.

"Play nice. Let's see if we can get a hold of Scotty." I said, flipping open my communicator.

"Kirk to Enterprise."

"Enterprise here." Uhura answered, her voice music to my ears.

"Lieutenant, how goes the repairs to the ship?"

"Mr. Scott has managed to get the tribble out of the warp core, but it did considerable damage. He estimated they'd finish in about 6 hours."

6 hours. That's a long time to be out in the cold. "Lieutenant, send everyone who works Engineering on Beta Shift down to help Scotty and relieve some of Alpha shift. You too, Uhura, we can hold out down here, make sure you get some rest."

"Aye sir, Enterprise out." She replied. I shut my communicator and sighed, curling up into an even tighter ball.

"Captain." Came the even voice of my first officer. I turned over, almost nose to nose with the Vulcan.

"Yes Mr. Spock?"

Although I could barely see anything in the darkness, I watched Spock frown as he said: "We are going to make it back to the ship, aren't we Captain?"

I pressed my lips together and reached forward for Spock's hand, but he abruptly pulled away. I smirked. "We'll be fine Spock, we just have to hold on till morning and hope Scotty gets the repairs done."

There was silence for a moment as I turned back over and I heard Spock say, "A hope, Captain, is not much to go on."