Christine Chapel was furious over the way that Annie have been treated on the Encounter. What made matters worse was the fact that the captain didn't even seem to care that they had lost contact with her.
"Sir, we should land on the planet and try to find her. She's the only one who survived the crash and she needs to be rescued," she pleaded. The captain seemed to think for a moment but turned away from her.
"She's not one of my crew members. All of my crew members that headed to the planet are dead and we are out of shuttles. The dust is too thick to risk landing something this big. We need to return to headquarters. If Starfleet wants to rescue that thing, they can send someone else," he grumbled. "Set course for Earth and punch it."
Christine moved to object but her CMO grabbed her to stop her. He gave her a warning look and shook his head. She considered disobeying again but decided against it. She knew she wouldn't be able to do anything herself but as soon as she got back to Earth, she knew who could.
She found Jim in the bar just as she figured she would. When he saw her, he looked confused but still got down off his stool and walked up to her.
"Wow, Christine it's been a while," he said. "How have you been?" He moved to hug her but she stepped away.
"Now's not the time Jim," she replied. She knew it was rude but now was not the time for pleasantries. "I was stationed on the USS Encounter, we just got back." Jim's eyes grew wide.
"Annie, where is she? Is she okay?" He began to bombarde her and it made the whole ordeal upset her more.
"I don't know. We lost contact with her on the planet when the shuttles crashed. She was still alive but the captain decided to turn back. She's stranded there by herself. I'm so sorry," she revealed. Without wasting time with frivolous details, Christine continued to explain what had happened. When she had finished, Jim didn't hesitate as he thanked her quickly and bolted out of the bar.
Leonard McCoy was about to finish a near twelve hour shift at the hospital. Since Annie had left, he had tried to emerge himself in his work so that he wouldn't worry. But worry he did. He had just clocked out when Jim came running into his wing, followed closely behind by Uhura and Spock.
"What'd you do?" He grumbled waiting for some long-winded explanation about his latest accident. But instead, Jim's face looked grave.
"It's Annie, they left her," Jim muttered incredulously. "She got left behind and now she's stranded. Bones, we have to go get her." Leonard didn't even bother correcting Jim as he took in the news.
"How do we get to her?" He asked.
"Mr. Scott reports that the Enterprise is fully functional and is prepared for a rescue mission," Spock informed the group. Bones nodded and grabbed his jacket.
"Then let's go," he said. As they left, Jim turned to the doctor.
"Never again am I letting her off my ship," he muttered.
"I couldn't agree more," Leonard responded.
They got to the transport building in record time. They were met there with the rest of the crew who had already been paged. Few words were shared as they boarded the shuttles and took their places on the starship.
Bones stayed on the bridge the entire time. It was only a half an hour trip at warp and no one needed immediate medical assistance. They dropped out of warp just outside of the atmosphere.
"Bones, Spock, Uhura, you're with me," Jim ordered. "Mr. Scott, are you available as well?" He comm-ed. He figured he might need the engineer's help if the same anomaly happened to their shuttle as Christine had described of those from the Encounter.
"Aye Captain," came his reply.
"Sir, I would also like to come vif you," Chekov said. Jim looked at the seventeen year old and saw the determination in his eyes. He knew Annie had always been looking out for the kid and didn't blame him for wanting to make sure she was okay. Jim simply nodded.
"Mr. Sulu, you have the conn," he said as he left the bridge, followed by his friends.
"Jim, what do we do if our scanners are jammed?" Bones asked worriedly. "You don't run into a fire if you know your suit won't work." Jim thought for a moment.
"We'll have to land manually," he replied.
"Dammit Jim," Bones muttered but continued to follow him.
Everything on the shuttle seemed to work. The scanners functioned and the ship was coasting to a stop where the scanners indicated a landing area. But Chekov noticed that the terrain out the window was just slightly different from the one in the scanners. It wasn't extreme, but it was noticeable.
"Vwait!" He yelled. "Ve are headed on a collision course!" Scotty quickly looked at the scanners and saw what the young navigator pointed out.
"The lad's right. We need to pull this bloody ship up!" Spock and Jim who were at the controls, pulled the ship up but unfortunately not enough as the ship collided with a previously unseen rock structure.
The shuttle tumbled down the other side and after it finally stopped, the doors flew open and remained that way. The crew climbed out of the broken shuttle angry but unharmed.
"How the hell did we miss a damn mountain?" Bones grumbled.
"It did not appear on our scanners and the dust was too thick to see through," Spock answered plainly.
"Either way, we are stuck here," Uhura said.
"Yes you are," boomed a voice from behind them. They couldn't see his face but knew he wasn't a friendly.
"Who are you?" Jim demanded but the voice laughed.
"Your captor now," he replied. "I think you might prove a productive incentive to a pupil of mine." He flicked his wrist and the entire crew fell through the sand.
