Captain Kirk checked the time on his communicator, it was 15 minutes past the second arranged check in time and Chekov and Flynn had not yet checked in. He had tried to call both of their communicators, but they either weren't answering, or they weren't receiving the transmissions. It was highly unlikely that they had forgotten or lost track of time because Lieutenant Flynn was always punctual, especially with communications. Dr. McCoy was pacing back and forth kicking up clouds of sand. Kirk watched with a worried expression, wondering what was going through his friend's mind.
"Alright, we'd better go find them." Kirk announced, just as his communicator chirped. He flipped it open. "Yes, what is it Mr. Spock?"
"We just heard some sounds coming in the direction of the mountains. Explosions, they are getting nearer… Ah, I have just seen a cloud of smoke from the impact of an explosion. They are very near the base of the mountain, directly where Lieutenant Flynn and Chekov were headed."
"Acknowledged Mr. Spock. We will meet you at your coordinates."
"Jim, what are we going to do?" McCoy frantically inquired.
"Well Bones, first I want to see what's going on and then we can figure out what to do about it." Kirk sighed. He gave the doctor a supportive squeeze on the shoulder as they hurriedly made their way back.
They had landed on a soft and mossy floor of some sort of tunnel within the mountain. Chekov looked around, they were trapped in the cavern, the opening had been blocked by debris from the explosions. He could still hear and feel them rocking the mountainside. He dug around his belt and felt the emergency light. Activating it, he looked at Maewyn. Blue liquid dripped down her arm pooling on the floor of the cave. She must have gotten hit by the explosion. He ever so gently brushed her hair away to see the wound better, her eyelids fluttered a bit. Protruding from her arm was a shard of purple crystal. Cutting the tunic away he saw her entire arm was drenched in blue blood. He had to stop her from losing any more than she already had. Tearing a piece of his shirt he put pressure on the wound and tried to secure it,
Maewyn opened her eyes slowly, and groaned as she felt the pain. She tried to speak, but before she could say anything she was shushed by a very pale Chekov, who was attempting to wrap a bandage around her arm.
"Thank you, Pavel." she whispered.
"Shh…" he looked so worried. "don't move you have lost a lot of blood."
She slipped her uninjured hand into his. He leaned against the rock wall, watching her. Suddenly there was a noise from inside the cave, tiny points of light were moving towards them. They rapidly came closer and grew larger. Before he had time to think or move he was being dragged off by a string of light that was being emitted from a floating aqua orb. He fought it, tried to shoot it with his phaser but it just knocked it out of his hands, he looked back and saw Maewyn was surrounded by similar floating blue spheres. As he was dragged away from her he heard her scream in agony. He was suddenly blinded by a flash of white hot light, then he felt an intense pain as if his entire body was on fire, and he slipped into oblivion.