Chapter 35
"Lena! McCoy!" Uhura yelled, her cry echoing in the Galley.
Lena sighed, but turned her face to a brave smile as she walked towards Uhura, tray in her hands.
She heard McCoy grunt, but was surprised to see him fall in step next to her.
And even another surprise, he sat right next to her when she took a seat across from Uhura.
"Spill. And I want the details! An unknown species?!"
"She was great with them. She even named them, Callu, right?" McCoy said.
Lena, surprised, looked over at him, only a couple inches away.
"Yes, I might have given them a nickname," she said, raising an eyebrow at him. He kept his gaze, his face stoic.
She turned back to Uhura.
"They were like flying penguins… with more color on their beaks and claws… and they can even imitate noise! Like parrots! It was amazing," she said, and looked down and stuffed her mouth with linguini so she didn't start babbling about how it was probably one of the most amazing moments of her life. She had even forgotten she was on a mission before Captain Kirk had overrided her comm.
McCoy looked at her for a long moment, and turned back to Uhura.
"The creatures… the Callu, could have turned dangerous, but Lena made sure that didn't happen."
Lena looked up at him, her cheeks a little puffy with food still in her mouth, and he couldn't help but smile. She swallowed and looked away.
Kamira came over, tray in hand as well, sitting next to Lena.
"You have no idea what kind of jealousy I'm holding towards you right now. You were the first human to ever interact with that species! You were the first alien to them – think about it!"
Lena couldn't help but smile, glad that she wasn't the only one still excited about her interaction with the Callu.
She shifted her legs, and one of them bumped against McCoy's. It only took her a second or two to decide how comfortable it was, and she rested her leg against his, a feeling of warmth shooting through her body, making her chest flutter.
She heard McCoy take in a quick breath, and he grabbed and gulped his water.
Lena smiled, and looked over at Kamira.
"It really was fucking awesome, I can't lie."
This time it was a smaller crew that ascended onto the planet. They transported, not wanting to risk leaving another shuttle, the other one had been destroyed in the storm.
They were walking amongst the red and pink snow, Kirk in the front as the others walked behind him, almost gingerly.
Kamira had been walking next to Lena in comfortable silence, but her gaze kept flitting to the Captain ahead of them.
She had gone through McCoy to let her come on this mission, using Spock's approval. She remembered hearing the loud shout echoing in the plains of snow - wincing when she figured out that it was Kirk as he had probably just learnt that she was down here with them.
She sighed, and quickened her step, falling in next to Kirk.
He glanced over at her, his face stoic. He pressed on his sleeve to open a private comm.
"You went behind my back."
She sighed, and nodded.
"Well… sort of. I mean McCoy wasn't going anyways, so I might have mentioned how well I was training, and that it would be a good experience-"
"You knew he would say yes," he said, his voice sounding tight.
"What?! I put on my best puppy dog eyes-"
"You knew he'd say yes just to tic me off, but he knows how dangerous it is down here."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were so adamant about keeping me away-"
He shook his head, and she stopped talking when she saw him grin.
"After I said no the first and last time, I saw this twitch in your eye… I knew you'd make it down here one way or another."
She smiled at that.
"You're like your dad that way," he continued.
"Spock said something about you and him…" she started, "How did you meet -"
"I was in a bar brawl with a few of his cadets… he stopped the fight, after I had received a small beating, mind you. He found out who my father was, and convinced me to join Starfleet there and then."
She stayed silent for a moment, and then bravely asked.
"Who was your dad?"
He frowned and quickly side glanced at her.
"He… he was a First Officer of the U.S.S Kelvin. There was an… attack, he gained the Captain's chair and evacuated the ship, risking his life to protect the others as he set the ship to a crash course. The autopilot was malfunctioning," he cleared his throat, " My mom was on the ship... I was born that moment, on an evacuation shuttle."
She reached out and grasped his hand, giving it a tight squeeze through the material of their suits.
He stopped but she was late to notice, stopping quickly and slipping on the icy snow, falling on her back.
She grunted at the impact and Kirk hovered above her, grabbing her other hand.
She laughed as he dragged her upright.
"Everything okay there?" Lena asked through the comm..
"Just me being clumsy, nothing out of the ordinary," Kamira replied, smiling at Kirk, who was grinning back.
Suddenly, with a large, screeching roar, a large red beast broke out from under the snow, jumping high in the air and landing on the ground with a large resounding thud, the ground shaking.
Kamira let out a small scream and Kirk yelled out as he fell on his back. He stumbled to stand up, and stepped closer to Kamira, their arms touching as they faced the beast only a couple yards away from them.
It had an almost rectangular shape, and stood tall like a tower covered in red fur. It had at least eight elephant like trunks emitting from its mouth, also covered in the same red fur.
It stood in front of them, its breath crystallizing into steam, floating up into the crisp air.
She heard various shouts over the comm and clicks of phasers being armed.
"Do not fire until subject is considered hostile!" Kirk shouted.
Kamira had her hand on her own phaser, but kept it holstered.
"What do we do?" she whispered, frozen on the spot.
The creature was looking straight at her with bright neon purple eyes, its head tilting a little bit.
She couldn't stay there… she moved her leg to take a step backwards.
"Kamira, no!"
She put her foot down, and moved her body back, shaking.
The creature reared up on its hind legs, making the ground shake as it landed, making Kamira stumble back. She heard Kirk call out her name again as one of its trunks wrapped around her body, constricting her tightly.
"Kamira!" she felt hands on her arms, tugging at her. She felt the click and whirring hum of a phaser.
"Kirk, no!"
She saw another trunk shoot forward and wrap around Kirk, his phaser leaving his hands.
"Fire!" Spock yelled, and soon blasts of light were hitting the creatures body in flashes of light.
Unaffected, it just let out another roar, lifted Kirk and Kamira in the air, and trotted away.