Two Alone
Chapter 4
"The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices.
Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world."
Alfred Lord Tennyson
On the Ship
Spock sat in the Captain's chair immobile. It was almost the end of Alpha shift when he noticied the strange reluctance of the Command crew to finish their work in order to hand off shift duties to the Beta shift crew. He knew they were anxious about the Captain and Dr. McCoy. It had not sat well with any of them to leave them behind on the planet. They knew that if one of them had been down planet, Jim would never have left them. He would have found a way to go back for them, to somehow get them back on board. Unfortunately Spock had not had time to weigh the pros and cons, nor figure out the odds of success, nor give that information to the Captain before he gave Spock his orders. That had been the end of their discussion; once the Captain gave his orders they had no choice but to obey.
He glanced at Chekov who had not taken his eyes away from the long range sensors. "Report Mr. Chekov."
"There is no sign of the Romulan wessel, Mr. Spock."
"Thank you, Mr. Chekov. The Beta shift crew will be arriving soon, please brief your reliefs thoroughly before you leave, Mr. Chekov, Mr. Sulu; you too, Lt. Uhura," he said turning towards her.
"Mr. Spock," Chekov said. "I would not mind staying a few more hours to monitor the sensors."
"I wouldn't mind either, Mr. Spock," Uhura said. "I can scan for any transmissions, also I can also boost my power modules for extra distance."
"I can stay too, Mr. Spock." Sulu said nodding in agreement with Chekov and Uhura.
"That will be not be necessary, but your willingness to do so is commendable. I understand that we are all...concerned (he did not say worried) about the Captain and Dr. McCoy. However, I am quite confident about the Captain's tactical and survival skills. He will make sure, that should the Romulans decide to send down a landing party, or just decide to scan the planet, he will find a way to stay hidden to avoid detection and keep himself and Dr. McCoy safe. If not for himself, then surely for the doctor's safety, Spock thought. Jim's priority was always, first and foremost, to keep his crew safe and Spock had no doubt the Captain would be even more proactive and protective than usual when it came to Dr. McCoy's safety.
Three pairs of wide eyes looked at him dubiously and Spock's lips twitched in spite of himself. Uhura voiced their doubts. "Mr. Spock, you know the Captain wouldn't hesitate to throw himself into danger to protect Dr. McCoy and even a shipload of Romulans wouldn't deter him."
"You have a valid concern, Lieutenant. However Captain Kirk assured me that he and Dr. McCoy would, as he put it, "hunker down and stay put" until certain there were no Romulans on the planet. With that we must be satisfied until such time as we know for certain the Romulan Warbird has left the vicinity."
"Sir, if we're this far out, how will we know?" Chekov asked, his young face troubled.
"We will not know, Mr. Chekov, but after three days, we will venture close enough so that our long range sensors will be able to detect if the Warbird is orbiting the planet. If so we will retreat once more. I have already asked Mr. Scott to begin preparations to boost the long range sensor modules to give us the extra distance readings."
He stood when the Beta shift reliefs came in. He would provide the example to the three by preparing to leave the bridge to his relief. Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov also stood, albeit reluctantly, when their reliefs came to stand by them.
The four exited the bridge and silently made their way to the mess. They picked out their food selections, making their way to their usual table. Sometimes Spock ate with the Captain and Dr. McCoy, sometimes only the junior officers ate together, sometimes they all ate together and sometimes one of the senior officers would eat with them. It often depended on shift schedules and preferences; it was a very informal arrangement, but it worked nicely for all of them.
"After my meal, I will go to Engineering to confer with Mr. Scott about the sensors," Spock told them, eating his salad. "He assured me that it was not an onerous process to enhance the modules."
Uhura nodded. "I thought I would do the same with the communication modules tomorrow morning, Mr. Spock. I can boost them at least another 15-20 percent, not indefinitely, of course, but for quite a long time should we need the extra range."
"A sound idea, Lieutenant. We must do all we can to assure that should the Captain wish to communicate with us, regardless of our extra distance to the planet, we will be able to hear him."
The three nodded solemnly and finished their meals.
...
On the Planet
Jim and Bones could feel the tent swaying back and forth with the force of the wind and hard rain that buffeted it. The storm raged, the wind moaned, the thunder rolled loudly, and the lightning flashed bright and blinding. The idyllic peaceful paradise that was this planet, apparently didn't extend to the wild elemental forces of nature when there was a rain storm. Jim and Bones scootched closer to each other in order to hear themselves talk.
"I wonder if every time it rains here it's this fierce."
"I don't know, Jim, but this is pretty bad," Bones responded, shivering. He winced as the bright flash of lightning and the particularly loud roll of thunder sounded outside. "That was a close one," he muttered. "It's gettin' damned cold too, much colder than it was last night, and we sure don't have our fire."
Jim was cold too, but he'd just had an idea. "Bones, let's open the sleeping bags and use them as blankets to put over us. We'll use one to cover our shoulders and the other one to cover our legs and feet." Leonard nodded, his teeth now chattering from the cold. Jim pulled his legs out of his sleeping bag to pull it wide open, revealing the insulated plush interior. Leonard did the same with his sleeping bag. Jim scooted closer to Leonard, shoulder to shoulder, draping one of the sleeping bags over their legs and tucking in the sides, so they weren't sitting directly on the stone floor which was now freezing. The other he draped over shoulders, chests, and stomachs. Leonard gave a sigh of relief as warmth enfolded him.
"Better, Bones? Are you warmer?" Jim looked worriedly at the doctor. At least his teeth had stopped chattering.
"Yeah, Jim. Much better. It's a hell of a lot warmer like this." They had to speak loudly to hear each other over the roar of the hard rain and thunder.
"Good thing we're high up. We'd have been in bad shape if we'd stayed camped by the pond. Probably the tent would've blown away and we would've been washed away by now." Jim grinned at the doctor. "Another good thing is that with the strength of this storm we can be sure that no Romulans will venture down planet. If their sensors were already scanning while they orbited the planet, the force of this storm would be readily apparent.
Bones' blue eyes brightened at that, and a slow grin lit up his face too. "There is that." He tilted his head to listen. "The storm seems to be moving away from us. The thunder is less loud now. I wonder if all the storms on this planet are this fierce, or if it's just in this hemisphere where the flora and fauna are. This type of weather pattern seems extreme to me; it reminds me of the hurricanes that came in off the coast into Georgia."
"Yeah, those were pretty bad." He tilted his head to listen. "It does seem to be moving away from us which is good, because I'm getting hungry again. As soon as the wind lessens we can move out of the tent to grab us some of the instant meals." They sat quietly listening as the wind died down and the thunder receded, until Jim leaned over the edge of the tent and peeked outside. It was still raining hard, but it was definitely dissipating. "Once the rain and wind stop we can eat," he told Bones. He sat silent thinking for a moment. "Bones, I think we should leave the tent up this way at night. It offers some extra protection from the cold and dampness. Also if it rains again it'll keep the cave dry."
Leonard sighed, basking in the warmth he was under. "Good idea. Hypothermia is a real possibility in this type of weather. This tent is amazin'; remind me to send a thank you to whoever thinks up this survival gear. They did a great job."
Jim laughed. "I'm sure they'd appreciate it. Fleet personnel just takes all its gear for granted until they have to use it. Then afterwards they never think of giving feedback about it."
"Well I'm sure gonna' do it, if we get out of this, of course."
"Bones! Of course we're going to get out of this. We've been in a lot worse fixes than this. Or have you forgotten all those times?"
McCoy huffed. "I wish I had, but no I haven't forgotten. It's just I've never had to deal with any Romulans before...they don't exactly have a reputation for being 'nice' people, do they now."
Jim looked somberly at McCoy, his hazel eyes bleak. "Bones, Romulans have a very strict code of honor; in their own way, one as strict and rigid as Vulcans. Their warrior code is millennia old. What Spock and I did, stealing the cloaking device, manipulating the Romulan Commander, is considered beneath contempt; not the actions of true warriors. They're a very secretive society and we don't have a lot of intel on them, but we do know about their warrior code. Fleet's actions lost them respect, Spock and I lost respect, the Federation lost respect. I know it had to be done; that cloaking device technology that we acquired for Fleet, has already saved a lot of lives." He sighed wearily. "But to them it was a contemptible and dishonorable act."1
Leonard had noticed that sometimes the missions that Jim undertook weighed heavily on him. That one had obviously done so. "Jim." Leonard put a comforting hand on the broad shoulder. "You and Spock did what you had to do, what you were ordered to do. Just don't ever ask me to put pointy ears on you again, one pair of elf ears on the ship is enough for me." That got a grin out of Jim, and Leonard patted himself on the back for that one.
"Listen," Jim said.
"I don't hear anythin'."
"Exactly. The storm seems to have passed. Shall we take a look?"
They unwrapped themselves from the warmth of the sleeping bag, and stood. Leonard stretched his cramped muscles and Jim bent to remove the large stones from the tent tarp floor to set aside. They would need them again tonight when they set the tent up again in the cave opening. Jim wanted to be on the safe side; who knew what the weather patterns were on this planet. He popped the tent closed and they walked outside. The sky had cleared, the strong rain had washed the boulders off and they gleamed softly in the starlight. There was still no moonlight, so the moon must definitely be in its waned cycle. Jim looked at the fire pit. The hole was completely filled with water, but he judged it would drain off soon enough and it'd be usable again by tomorrow morning. He brought the binoculars up to his eyes, climbed carefully on top of one of the slippery wet rocks and scanned the perimeter and the horizon. There was absolutely nothing to be seen in any direction.
He turned to see Bones looking anxiously at him. "Nothing is stirring, Bones, just as I expected. Now that the storm has passed we should have a peaceful night, no Romulans will come calling tonight."
Leonard nodded. He looked around at the mess the violent storm had left. While they had been snug in the cave the wind had blown so hard that it had carried debris, small branches and leaves into the nooks and crannies of their rocky promontory. The landscape bore the same look Leonard had seen in old historical photographs of the aftermaths of hurricanes and tornados. Guess it was a good thing there were no people on this planet, he thought, and hoped that all the small creatures who lived here had found shelter somewhere.
Jim jumped down from the rocks. It was definitely colder. He shivered a little; he was missing the shirt that he'd loaned Bones. They both needed something hot to take the chill off. "Let's eat, Bones. I'm hungry." He looked at his chronometer. It was the start of Beta shift on the ship, so definitely time for dinner for him and Bones. "We'll open a couple of instant meals and I'll heat some water with my phaser, it won't use much power. It'll just take me a minute and some hot tea will be good with our meal."
Leonard was already taking off Jim's heavy shirt. "Here, Jim, you need this back. I'll put on my other shirt on top of this one. It's damn cold now. You heat up the tea to drink with our meal and we'll huddle under the thermal blankets. They're not as warm as the sleeping bags, but they'll do until we settle in to sleep."
Jim sighed taking back his shirt knowing better than to argue. Bones was always at his most stubborn when he was in his "taking care of the Captain" mode. And, Jim had to admit, he was cold.
They went back into the cave to eat. Leonard took out two of the instant meals while Jim poured water from their canteens in the mugs. He powered up his phaser on its lowest setting as Leonard put the two tea bags in the mugs and counted out the proper steeping time. He pulled out the tea bags to reuse for their second cup. "I found some packets of powdered milk in with the sugar packets if you want any."
"No thanks, Bones, but tomorrow morning I'll want some in my coffee. I do enjoy coffee with milk occasionally. Ma says that Pop always drank his coffee with milk, so of course when I was in my teens and starting drinking coffee I had to have it exactly the same as Pop's. Sam too." He smiled softly, thinking back to those two young boys who wanted to emulate that good man who had been such a wonderful father.
They sat in companionable silence under the thermal blankets, their small portable lantern casting a soft dim light around them, enjoying the hot meal and tea. "This tastes good, Bones. I wonder what it is."
"Tastes like chicken," Leonard said, laughing softly at the old joke.
Jim grinned, finished his meal and stood up. "I'm going to take a good look around and visit the latrine."
"Take the flashlight, Jim, and the sanitizing wipes. I'll go after you come back. I think tomorrow right after breakfast we should have a fire, take a bath and shave too. We've got plenty of Fleet biodegradable soap in our field pack. We're on an alien planet, who know what kind of contaminants are in the dirt, rocks and plant life."
"Bones, you have the tricorder, you've checked everything at least twice, and Spock's sensor scans said there was nothing noxious or dangerous on this planet."
"Yeah, well, sensors and tricorders have been known to be wrong, as we've found out plenty of times on away missions," Leonard told him darkly. "We need to keep as clean as we can and do it while we're sure there are no Romulans around."
"Okay, Mr. Mom. I admit a bath, even a sponge bath, sounds good. It should be warm enough in front of the fire," Jim said, heading for the latrine. "I won't be long, Bones."
Jim came back quickly. "Nothing at all is moving out there. The storm clouds have totally disappeared." Jim handed Bones the flashlight and a sanitizing wipe packet. "Be very careful where you walk. It's pitch dark out there."
"Don't worry. It's getting damn cold now, so for sure I'm not gonna' linger out there."
Jim went back inside the cave and set about organizing things for the night. He put what remained of the tent floor tarp back down on the cold floor, then he put the thermal blankets on top of that. Those things together would create a good barrier between the cold cave floor and the sleeping bags. First rule of survival in the cold; conserve body heat, and don't let your core temperature get low.
He and Bones should really be writing notes about this planet for their report to Starfleet. It appeared that the day time temperatures were pleasant, but at night the temperature dropped drastically and it got bitterly cold. Also, the violence of the thunder storm had been extreme. They would have to investigate if these extremes were the norm all over the planet, or if maybe the planet's rainy season had started. And just what season of the year was it here? A lot of questions, but no answers, he thought as he looked around the cave. As soon as Bones got back, they'd open the tent again to block the entrance of the cave. It would help to keep the cave a little warmer and they should be warm enough inside the tent in their sleeping bags.
Jim considered using his phaser to heat up a couple of rocks to generate some heat, but he was loath to use it and deplete its charge unless absolutely necessary. They might need it later on, and at least they also had Bones' phaser as well as their two boot knives. Tomorrow morning they'd have a sponge bath, use a little more of their soap to wash their underwear, which thank goodness dried very quickly, and maybe shave too. They'd also do some reconnaissance. The Romulans were probably close if not already in range of the planet. He and Bones would have to stay close to the rocky area to confuse their sensors.. He looked up at the stars and wondered how his ship was doing. By now they were out of range and far out of reach of the War Bird. He could hear Bones' booted steps coming back, so he put thoughts of the ship out of his mind to focus on the here and now. It was time for them to settle in for the night. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.
1 The Enterprise Incident