Out of This World
by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei
Chapter Nine: Uncharted Territory
The next few minutes flew by as Pike led them down to the shuttle bay, rambling off instructions to Spock while turning over duties of captaincy to him and promoting Jim to first officer. Emily had to admit, she wasn't sure whose expression was more priceless: Spock's or Jim's. If the situation hadn't been so serious, then she would have laughed, but as it was, she was worried about what was going to happen from here on out.
She had taken Sulu's place. By merely doing that, she had changed things. They were in uncharted territory; she had absolutely no idea what was going to happen.
Would what-his-name . . . Olsen survive? Would she?
There was no time to think about that as she put on the red space suit, climbing into the shuttle with Olsen, who gave her a flirtatious look as he noticed her. Jim scowled at him, moving to grab Emily's hand as they took their seats in the shuttle. Her heart was fluttering the entire time and she wasn't sure if it was anticipation as to what was going to happen or because of Jim holding her hand.
Or both, she considered.
"Pre-jump," Pike spoke up from the pilot's seat.
Emily reached down to grab her oxygen mask, pushing her long hair underneath the hood with some difficulty before pulling it on, a feeling of trepidation settling over her. She really hoped that she wasn't going to be sick until after she got this thing off.
"Gentlemen and lady, we are approaching the drop zone," Pike instructed them. All three of them stood up as the handlebars came down for them to grab hold. "We have one shot to land on that platform. They may have defenses, so pull your chute as late as possible. Three . . . two . . . one," he said and Emily found herself lying flat on her stomach, except there wasn't anything underneath her except the door to the shuttle. This was it, she thought, her stomach fluttering. "Remember, the Enterprise won't be able to beam you back until you turn off that drill. Good luck," he said and then Emily was flying through the sky.
Or more accurately, she was flying through space, she thought, marveling at the splendid beauty of outer space. And Vulcan was even more beautiful with her own eyes, more than she could have possibly imagined.
Everything had gone quiet as soon as they had dropped from the shuttle; all Emily could hear was her own breathing, ragged and quick, through her mouthpiece. The silence was kind of eerie and unsettling.
"Kirk to Enterprise," Jim's voice spoke up in her ear, making her jump. "Distance to target, 5,000 meters. Four thousand meters . . . three thousand . . . two thousand . . ."
"Pulling chute!" Emily yelled, judging the distance between herself and the platform as it came into view. She hit the button on the spacesuit, releasing a red chute, fluttering in the air as it began slowing her descent. Below her, she could see Jim's blue chute open up, but Olsen ignored her, keeping his stubbornly closed as he flew closer and closer to the platform. "Come on, you idiot, pull your chute!"
"No, no, not yet! 1,500 meters!" he yelled, laughing like an idiot as he propelled himself through the air, trying to go faster.
"You stupid, idiotic, adrenaline junkie!" Emily screamed at him. "Just open up your chute, idiot! You're going to get yourself killed!"
But her words had absolutely no effect as he continued whooping in enjoyment, not pulling his chute until the very last second. Emily turned her head away, unable to watch this, but she couldn't block out his scream of terror as he fell from the platform and was sucked into the laser that was drilling through the planet's core. If she lived to be a thousand, she would never forget that scream.
Oh, gods, she thought, trying very hard not be sick. It was the first time she could remember anyone dying in front of her . . .
Sure, she'd been in the car when her dad had died in that car accident when she was twelve, but it wasn't the same. She didn't even remember it, really; all she remembered was sitting in the car and then the next minute, she was lying on the sidewalk without a scratch and the car was smashed to bits, having been run into by another car.
This was different; with Olsen, it was completely different. She would never forget it, even if she lived to be a thousand; the memory of when his life tragically ended would stay with her. Even though she hadn't met Olsen until a few moments ago, it shook her.
Below, Jim had landed on the platform, nearly going off the edge as well because his chute was pulling him with the wind, but he snapped it back into his gear just as a Romulan appeared from inside the drill and he tackled him while Emily fluttered to the platform.
Emily shrieked as gunfire erupted around her, shot from the Romulan rifle as Jim fought him, but she managed to reach the platform, nearly going off the edge too, but she snapped her chute back into her gear before it pulled her into the laser like Olsen.
Scrambling to her feet, Emily tossed her oxygen mask aside, pulling her hair free as she rushed to help Jim, but a second Romulan distracted her. He grinned at her, but she narrowed her eyes at him, taking a defensive stance as she went at him.
He grunted as she bent her body backwards, pushing herself with her hands into the air, kicking the Romulan backwards and off balance, distracting him.
"You picked the wrong girl to play rough with," she taunted him as she jumped back onto her feet, holding up both hands. "Come on, big boy, or are you afraid of getting your butt whipped by a girl half your size?"
Really, it didn't matter which planet they were from, all men were the same, she thought with a grin as he let out a growl, storming at her. They all had the need to defend their ego whenever it was bruised. It was pathetic, but it was nice to know that it was a universal problem instead of just a human one.
Flipping over him, she kicked his feet, knocking him to the ground before running at Jim, who'd gotten into some trouble and was dangling over the edge with the Romulan standing right above him, determined to squish his fingers so he would let go and fall to his death.
Letting out a yell, Emily tackled him, shoving him away from the platform. He looked back at her briefly, horror and shock in place before he tumbled into the laser just like Olsen had.
Grinning down at Jim, she grabbed his hand, determined to pull him up but something shoved her from behind, nearly sending her to her death, but Jim grabbed her hand, fear in his bright blue eyes as he transferred her to his belt. Emily gasped, her heart pounding frantically as she looked up at the second Romulan grinning down at them, proceeding to try and squish Jim's fingers just like his friend had.
They weren't going to hold on much longer, Emily thought in horror as she saw Jim's strained expression. He couldn't hold both of them there and avoid getting his fingers crushed for much longer.
But what else could she do? Except . . .
Upon sudden inspiration, she looked down at her belt, remembering the gun—phaser? Was that the right word?—that Pike had pressed on her before they'd left.
Snatching it from its holster, she kept it out of sight, keeping one arm around Jim's waist and waited for the right moment.
"Say goodbye," the Romulan sneered at them. Emily whipped the phaser into sight, pointing it directly at him.
"Goodbye," she told him and fired.
Her mark was true as it hit him in the head; she wasn't sure if hearts were in the same place in an alien species, but heads were the same in any race. He stumbled backwards, eyes widening, before falling backwards to the ground, dead before he hit.
Emily's breath was shuddering as she lowered the phaser. Jim let out a small sigh of relief, looking back at her and saw her expression.
"You okay, Em?"
She nodded quickly, though not entirely certain of that fact. "Yeah . . . I just . . . I've never actually, uh . . ."
"Killed someone before?" he offered softly. She nodded. "I know, Em. It's okay. If you hadn't, we'd both be dead." Emily knew that, but that didn't make it any harder to digest. "And we still might if you don't get off my back."
Emily blinked, realizing for the first time that she was still clutching Jim, dangling thousands of feet in the air. "Oh . . . right."
He laughed weakly. "Think you can climb up?"
"No problem," she said with a small smile, slowly climbing up his shoulders and onto the platform.
Bending down, she grasped his hand and helped him up before looking around at the laser, which was still intact.
"Olsen had the charges," she said dimly because really what else could she say? "What are we gonna do?"
"This."
Jim snatched up the Romulan gun and fired at the drill. Emily followed his lead, firing at any weak spot that she could find, not letting up until the drill shuddered underneath them and the laser sputtered and turned off, leaving the two Starfleet officers standing on the platform, but at least they could be beamed back now, she thought in relief, though at the same time, she wondered what that was going to feel like.
"What is that?" Jim interrupted her thoughts and she looked up at where he was staring. There was something being launched through Vulcan atmosphere, falling through the air, past where she and Jim were standing on the platform, and down into the hole in the planet.
"That does not look good," she said.
Jim hit a button on his wrist communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise," he said quickly, "they just launched something at the planet through the hole they just drilled. Do you copy, Enterprise?"
"We read you," a voice said over the conn. "We're locking onto your signal. Stay right where you are, don't move."
She had spoken too soon, because the Romulans had chosen at that precise moment to pull their drill out of the planet and Emily lost her footing for one second, but that was all it too for her to go tumbling towards the edge.
"Emily!" Jim yelled at her, trying to grab her. She tried to grab his outstretched hand, but their fingers barely touched before she went sliding off the edge and tumbled over into the air.
A scream ripped through her throat as she fell through the air, her heart literally jumping into her throat as she refused to look down. As though she could prevent her coming death merely by not looking; she almost wanted to laugh at the thought. This was it; she was going to die.
A flash of blue caught her eye and she looked up as Jim flung himself off the platform, diving right for her. His bright blue eyes were determined as he pushed himself further through the air, determined to get to her as Emily tried, in vain, to slow herself down long enough for him to catch up with her.
"Emily! Pull your chute!"
She blinked stupidly; of course, the chute. Hers hadn't been destroyed yet, she realized as she hit the button to release it, but she was going too fast and it had already been slightly damaged from before by getting shot through. It snapped off easily, leaving Emily with nothing to slow her momentum.
Jim looked afraid as he propelled himself forward, getting closer and closer to Emily. She reached for him, trying to grab his hand. Their fingers were almost touching and then . . .
"Gotcha!" he yelled triumphantly as he pulled her against him. "I've got you, Em." She could sense his relief as he gripped her tightly. "Pull my chute!"
She obeyed, hitting the button that would release his chute, but just as hers did, it ripped off, flying through the air and leaving them behind.
Jim looked alarmed as he hit the wristwatch. "Kirk to Enterprise! We're falling without a chute! Beam us up!" he yelled. "Beam us up!"
"I'm trying! I can't lock on to your signal! You're moving too fast!"
"Enterprise, where are you?!" Jim screamed at them as frantically as she felt. What would happen if Chekov didn't happen to get there in time? she wondered. Would she wake up in her bed back at her dormitory?
Or would she, like some people believed, die because she had died in a dream?
Emily wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or vomit at the idea, but she didn't have time to think about it as she clung to Jim, her entire body trembling.
She screamed as she felt her body shifting and white lights formed around her; the sensation was incredible. It was almost like being everywhere at once and then being reformed into her own body again. Everything came undone rapidly before putting itself together just as quickly.
Gasping as she hit the ground with Jim right on top of her, Emily felt slightly dazed, looking up at Jim, who was grinning down at her, not moving from where he was.
She laughed in relief; really, what else could she do? They were alive. They were alive. They were alive!
For a minute there, she actually thought that they were going to die. And whoever said that a person saw their life flash before their eyes was an idiot, because she hadn't seen anything, just felt pure undiluted fear running through her.
Still laughing, she pushed Jim off of her, shakily getting to her feet as she heard someone else laughing in relief. Her green gaze flew over to the Vulcan female—Spock's sister—that was sliding to the floor, looking extremely relieved as her light brown eyes met Emily's.
All laughter ceased from Emily's mouth as she stared at the Vulcan, shock running through her mixed with disbelief. She should have recognized that dark brown hair, should have recognized her at once, but the Vulcan parts of her had thrown her senses off.
"Joni?" she breathed.
AN: Guys, thank you so, so much for the reviews! I absolutely loved them! I know I sound like I'm a broken record, but they really do help, they really do. So you guys know what to do! Hope you enjoyed and hopefully, you'll tell me how much you enjoyed it. (Hint, hint).
Lady Dawson
