The devised and favoured plan was, on paper, relatively simple. To distract and to stun.

Currently, two of the last observation and scanner crafts from the ship were being deployed to the planets surface to act as a decoy. With the crafts already being an established target for the creatures, the plan was to beam a few personnel down to the surface of the planet to take cover, whilst the devices roamed as they had done before. Trusting that a creature would have time to see and attack the crafts, the away team would then encroach upon it unsuspecting, and stun it, then possibly kill it, before beaming it back to the Entrada.

Khan and Kirk were both dressed in dark camouflage away gear, along with two security officers who were going as back up. Nyota watched Khan as he spoke with the away team members, momentarily transfixed. He looked exceptional in dark camo; booted feet with well fitting, mottled cargo pants and a dark green t-shirt that clung to him in all the right places. His back was half turned to her and she could study his defined shoulders, her eyes wandering down his arms and over the muscles that were barely contained by his sleeves.

Nyota shook herself out of it and glanced around, hoping no one had caught her staring, but was surprised to look to Lieutenant Keats and find her wearing a barely hidden, lusty gaze towards him. She grinned and Keats noticed her. The lieutenant blushed violently, cleared her throat and turned back to their station.

"We cannot be one-hundred percent sure of how this is going to pan out." Khan began addressing the bridge crew as he stood in the middle of the room. "I am however, concerned that stunning the creature will not be enough to keep it docile."

"You cannot be sure of that until you see how it reacts to being stunned, Captain. Until then, you must keep to as humane a method as possible." Spock protested, he had a point, they didn't know how it was going to react to stunning.

"We'll be on our guard." Kirk replied, sliding the knife he had been holding into its sheath.

"Mr. Spock, you're in charge of the ship and in control of the crafts." Khan looked up to the view screen, "Which have just landed on the surface. And Uhura," He turned to her, "I am confident you will keep us all communicating, and a close ear on that scanner."

"Yes Captain." She nodded.

"Right gentlemen." Khan addressed his away team officers, grabbing his rugged leather jacket off the back of his Captain's chair and shrugging it on. "Time is of the essence."

Leaving the bridge with his officers and a slightly too-keen Kirk, they made their way to the transporter room. Nyota set her station to be ready for the channels and hopped out of her seat, removing her ear piece.

"Hold the comm." She told Keats as she dashed off the bridge and after Khan.

Nyota took a deep breath as she entered the transporter room. She was nervous for him, this mission was going to be unpredictable. Working on the basis of the destruction of some crafts and an artists impression; they had no idea what facing one of these creatures would really be like. Kirk and the guards readied themselves on the pad as Khan cross checked data with the engineer. Noticing she had entered the room, he glanced over at her. A wash of nerves swam through her, and she couldn't think of what she wanted to say. Finishing with the officer, Khan walked over to her, eyes cool and confident as they locked with hers. She didn't have to say anything as he held her face in his hands and kissed her. Khan understood.

"I'll be back soon with a monster." He whispered to her and smiled.

"Be careful."

Khan stepped up onto the transporter pad next to Kirk who grinned at Nyota excitedly. She rolled her eyes but gave him a small smile, watching as they faded away to Orcus.

Back on the bridge, Nyota re-engaged with her station. She had displayed her annoying frequency from yesterday on a screen above her to keep an eye on it, to see if she could have a revelation about it. Meanwhile, the observation craft was happily bumbling along a familiar track, taking in the sights of the beautiful trees and shrubs, and the frequency scanner was running quietly, not receiving the onslaught of data the last one found. Uhura secured the channel to the away team.

"We can see the crafts." Khan's voice sounded out onto the bridge. "Keep them going steady ahead of us. The area here is clear and we have found safe cover and vantage points."

Nyota listened carefully to the scanner, waiting for any changes to appear in the frequency, anything that would tell her trouble was approaching. For now all was quiet.

Suddenly Kirk jumped, cursing as quietly as he could having been startled by something.

"Commander?" Spock questioned his outburst. Khan echoed his concern.

"Oh, my bad." Kirk breathed, "It was just a bird of some kind. It's flown away."

"Focus, Kirk!" Khan told him.

"I am focused! You focus…"

Nyota heard Khan mutter something under his breath and she smiled to herself.

A quiet few minutes past with nothing changing and the boys on the ground kept quiet. The crew were becoming tense on the bridge, but Spock was a patient man who would not quickly call for a change in tactics.

The frequency suddenly spiked.

"Captain," Nyota spoke out, "The scanner has picked up a shift, prepare yourselves; this might be our creature."

She closely observed and recorded the changes as the frequency increased, getting nearer to the scanners point and the observation craft. She logged it through the computer as it appeared, if this was their being, the scanner and the frequency would not be around for long.

"Stay on course," Spock ordered to the pilots of the crafts, "Continue as if we are unaware of any possible threat."

"It's coming up on the west side." Nyota told them, watching the frequency.

"Stay down." Khan ordered to his away team. "I see it."

The bridge crew could do nothing but listen to the silence and wait. Within a minute, the data spiked and Nyota lost her scanner and frequency.

"Holy shit!" Kirk whispered, as the ship lost its visuals and the observation craft was also destroyed.

There was nothing more the Entrada could do but keep in contact and wait with fingers hovering over the transporter keys. It was up to Khan and the others now.

"On my mark, surround it…" Khan ordered.

Nyota's heart was racing again. The anxiety of not being able to see exactly what was going on was slowly affecting everyone.

"Now!" Khan barked, and there was an immediate flurry of action. Boots thudding on dry ground and phaser fire, along with a hissing screech of what could only be the creature.

Nyota's fingers dug into her station as she listened intently.

"Not working!" Kirk called out, "Khan, look out!"

Another wave of sounds hit them, running footsteps and crashes along with the distressed sounds of something not human.

"Move!" Khan ordered, apparently too late as one of the security officers cried out in pain.

Lieutenant Keats grabbed Uhura's arm, her fingers digging into her skin, seeking out a desperate form of human comfort as if it would make a difference to the safety of the boys.

"Get him away!" Khan shouted, "Entrada, beam back the Lieutenants now! McCoy standing by! Kirk," He briefly cut himself off, startled by something. Nyota held her breath, but his voice soon sounded again. "Kirk, aim for its flanks! It's our last attempt!"

Spock had immediately pinpointed the security officers and beamed them back aboard, ordering Bones to the transporter room. No one knew what had happened, but it couldn't be good.

Huffs and shouts from Khan and Kirk were interspersed with phaser sounds and the noises of the distinctly alien creature. After a tense few minutes of listening, all suddenly went quiet.

Nyota thought she had lost the signal, her fingers checked every switch at her station but everything was normal, working.

"Captain? Commander?" Spock questioned the silence.

"Kirk to Entrada," A puffed out Kirk soon responded, no word had come from Khan, Nyota fought the feeling of sickness. "It's finally dead. Three to beam up, and we're both gonna need some Med assistance."

The ship responded quickly and Spock left the bridge. Nyota caught her breath at her station as she reset her communications and quickly logged the last piece of frequency she had gotten from the scanner. She turned to Keats, who simply nodded in acknowledgement of her leaving their station, and made her way to the MedBay. Her heart pounded, terrified at what she might find. Was Khan okay? Why hadn't he spoken to the Entrada? Her feet could not carry her fast enough.

The MedBay was hectic; doctors and nurses ran about with medical equipment and drugs, and McCoy was barking orders from the back of the room where the two security officers were. Nyota's eyes immediately found Khan who was sat on the edge of a bed, hair a mess, clothes dirty with a few rips and tears, and a bandage on his forearm as a nurse stood beside him with a scanner. Khan spotted her and his hard expression softened. She ran over to him, grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him repeatedly. She did not care what anyone else thought right now, she was too relieved to see him back mostly unharmed. The nurse had moved over to Kirk, and Khan's hands found her waist.

"Are you okay?" She asked urgently, her voice shook a little.

"Yes." He breathed. She sighed, running her fingers through his hair and turned to see Kirk.

"Kirk?" She asked, looking over him. He had a bandage here and there, but looked reasonably unscathed.

"What?" He asked, his trademark grin appearing. "No kisses for me?"

Nyota breathed a small laugh, he was fine. She focused her attention back on Khan.

"The creature bit one of the Lieutenants." He told her. She grimaced.

"Is he okay?"

Khan opened his mouth to reply, but exhaled and shook his head.

"I do not know, it looked bad."

"The other Lieutenant?"

"He's alright, a few scratches here and there."

Khan got to his feet and a doctor approached him.

"Yourself and Commander Kirk are free to go, Captain." He told him, "We will keep you updated on the condition of the Lieutenant."

"Thank you." Khan replied, briefly watching the commotion at the back of the bay. "I'll be on science deck after I've cleaned up." He turned to Kirk. "Commander. Science deck. Ten minutes."

Jim nodded, and Nyota made her way out of the MedBay with Khan.

Outside in the corridor they made their way to the turbo lift. Nyota cuddled him as they travelled upwards and stopped at the officers quarters.

"I've got a frequency to read, so I'll meet you on science deck later, okay?"

"Okay." Khan kissed her and stepped out of the lift, leaving her to go back to her work, mind at ease now he was safely back on ship.

xxxx

Back at her station, Nyota felt she could concentrate fully again. She went through her annoying frequency again before analysing the new one she had received from the presence of the creature today.

It was curious; there were some similarities between the creatures frequency and the frequency she had picked up on the planet the other day, yet the two frequencies were not entirely identical. The creatures only matched part of her picked up frequency, meaning the original could not have solely come from the being who had been sat above her.

Nyota played them through together, listening to how the creatures frequency and the picked up frequency partly fit together, leaving half of her picked up frequency still a mystery. She watched the data lines for a few minutes, and suddenly, the obvious thing that had irritated her became clear.

"But that doesn't make any sense." She said aloud.

"What doesn't?" Keats turned her attention to her. Nyota pointed at the data.

"It's a send and receive. The thing I couldn't pinpoint is a send and receive!" She told her, excited to have solved what troubled her yesterday, but now a new question had risen.

"Why doesn't that make sense?" Keats asked. Uhura was about to tell her what she was thinking, but stopped herself. It would sound too ridiculous to say out loud, not without getting more evidence to back herself up.

"I'm not sure yet…" She opted for, contemplating her idea privately. She checked the time on her comm. She'd been analysing for over an hour. "I'm going to go down to science, you okay here?"

"Sure. No problem." Keats replied, returning to her own work.

xxxx

The creature was gigantic, and fortunately, dead.

Science officers buzzed around the creature laying on a table, taking samples and data readings. An air of fascination hung over the room as no one had ever seen anything like this before, and analysing a new alien creature was what any science officer dreamed of.

It was easily compared to being a cat-like creature. At a glance, its structure could be mistaken for one, a very large one, but closer inspection of the details showed a vastly different creature. Its skin was thick and dark, like a combination of leather and suede with a hint of scaling that reflected and morphed the light that fell upon it. Its head was long, the bridge of its face was arched and decorated with spines that grew in size as they traveled up over its head, between its ears and around the back of its neck. There were tufts of green fur at the top of its ears, and its large green eyes were open, staring flatly into nothing. One of the most terrifying features was its jaw that ran the length of its face, almost like a crocodiles. This jaw however, made a crocodiles look weak in comparison, as its huge teeth were on display. Hundreds of them, each perfectly lined up as top and bottom row and individually razor sharp; The largest were at the front, and larger than Nyota's arms, the smallest must have still been half the size of her hand. Nyota caught her breath looking at them, feeling a deep empathy for the poor bitten lieutenant in sick bay. The body of the creature was strong. Large shoulders and legs with big feet, each having three long, knife-like claws emerging from it. Its ribcage was barrel like and its abdomen looked almost slender in comparison, before the strength returned in its haunches and down its long tail which curled around beside its lying feet, decorated with the same spines as on its face.

It was a fearsome thing.

"How did you two get away so unscathed?" Nyota wondered aloud as she approached Khan and Kirk, who stood by the table studying it. Kirk sighed.

"I have no idea," Kirk answered her quietly, expression deep in his own thoughts and reflecting upon what happened. "We're the lucky ones, I'd say."

Khan hummed in agreement, eyes roaming different parts of the creature.

"How is your frequency?" Khan asked her, turning his attention. "Getting anywhere?"

"Actually yes." She smiled and he returned it, intrigued. "Although now I have a new theory, and I need more evidence."

"What have you discovered?" Khan asked.

"Well, the frequency I got from the creature today matches with half of my other frequency, and the thing that I couldn't figure out has turned out to be a kind of send and receive signal, so the only thing I can think that it would mean…" She paused, her theory still sounding ridiculous in her head.

"It means..?" Kirk pried, intrigued. She took a breath.

"Okay; remember I said I couldn't be sure if the frequency I found was the tree or the creature? Well, I know that half of it matches with the creature, and I think that the other half matches with the tree. My picked up frequency belongs to both." She paused again. "You're going to think I'm crazy, but I think that tree and the creature were talking to each other."

"Talking to each other?" Kirk blinked at her. Khan had said nothing yet.

"Yes! It would explain the presence of a send and receive signal, and why I couldn't figure out what it was to begin with without having a match for part of the data."

"Fascinating." The voice of Spock made her jump, she turned around to see that he too had been listening.

"Indeed." Khan said, obviously thinking.

"I need more evidence though." She said, "I need to go back down their and analyse a tree that definitely does not have a creature in, to see if I pick up data that matches the other half of my frequency."

"And if it does?" Kirk asked.

"Then we will have something new to deal with."