Pensée

The atmosphere in the transporter room seemed tight—literarily inappropriate terminology, Spock knew, but nonetheless appropriate. The away team stood assembled on the transporter pad, Kirk and Spock both silently mourning the fact that individual transport mounds were only several feet apart. It had been weeks since captain and first officer had physically stood so close together.

Montgomery Scott, to his credit, was remarkably quick in his work. "Alright lads," he chirped. "Coordinates laid in. Energize on your mark, Captain."

The last flash of thought in Spock's mind before transport had him wondering why he had agreed to assist Kirk.

Picturesque

After the tingle of transport dissipated, Jim looked around. For a mission that had turned so suddenly deadly, it couldn't have happened on a more gorgeous planet. Snowflakes floated from the heavens to the earth, glittering on the way down, and the trees around them bowed low to accommodate needled arms laden with snow. Fresh snow covered the ground beneath them, muffling Jim's tentative steps. Every so often rocks jutted from the ground, and several large ones crowded together as the back entrance of the cave system Raymond's team had been exploring.

Pity something in there wanted to eat them.

Pilikia

Spock unbuckled his tricorder and began sweeping the cave mouth. "This path appears unobstructed," he reported, "and I detect no life signs for twenty meters."

"Where's Raymond's beast at, then?" Kirk murmured.

"Further inside the cave," offered McCoy. "What about at twenty-five, thirty meters?"

Before Spock could respond, a shrill roar issued from behind him. The away team whirled, phasers drawn, just in time to see a massive, apelike creature sprinting towards them. With remarkable dexterity, the beast snatched one of the ensigns up with prehensile claws and—

Someone pulled Spock's arm backward, and without question he followed the pull.

Visceral

"Run!" Jim screamed. Tearing his eyes away from the doomed ensign, he grabbed Spock's arm and made for cover, not realizing he was heading into the cave until he was well inside. Light spotted through holes in the rock, just enough that Jim knew he was heading deep underground.

Another screech echoed across the cave walls. To Jim's horror, the creature was right behind them, foaming and tearing the air before it, reaching for its escaping prey.

Jim didn't think. He shoved Spock behind him, fired his phaser twice at the rock ceiling overhead, and dove to avoid the cave-in.

Repercussion

Spock barely managed to grab Kirk and pull them back into the cave before the rocks crashed downwards. They slammed backwards into a solid stone wall well beyond the cave-in, but Spock kept his arm extended protectively across Kirk's torso until the rumbling ceased. When the dust cleared, Spock realized that they were both panting.

"Well," Kirk said, "I think we squashed it."

"As comforting as the thought is, we need to get out," Spock replied. "Contact McCoy and alert him—"

Kirk shook his head. "Regular communications range won't work this far down. We're stuck here until someone finds us."

Author's Notes: Totally written and posted on the fly as I'm technically still on vacation. I'm happy these turned out as well as they have, but I tell you, avalanches are ungodly hard to describe in 100 words.

Thanks to my loverly beta xladyjagsvolleyball16x (who still needs to change that bloody penname) and to my equally loverly readers. I'm still working on real fictions for you, I swear! See you all next week! :)

Edit: One of my friends (not my beta) noted that I phrased Scotty's transport go-to incorrectly. For the sake of my friend's rather tiny brain I have fixed it, if only because said brain would implode if I didn't. (This is a person who's watched all forms of Trek since the age of four, and didn't know who Kim Jong Il was when he died.) I would like to note that my friend is a male. A straight male. I leave that to you.