II
Kirk groaned and shook his head. Drawing a weapon on the small creature in front of him for "killing" McCoy had proved to be a major mistake. The Thing had knocked him out with a mere wave of a tiny hand. Above Kirk stars twinkled in a dark sky; he must have been out a while. Nearby the diminutive alien's heavily hooded green eyes were peering at him casually. Kirk had never seen anything like it before. Large pointy ears, small jade-coloured eyes, a mop of brown hair and more wrinkles on its green skin than on a Juppie fruit left out under the Vulcan sun (Vulcans live on a very hot planet). Kirk sat up a little straighter and the creature smiled broadly.
'Ah, well you are. Good to see this is. Afraid I was, that grievously hurt you I had but surprised I was by bottle of scotch thrown at my head'.
Kirk rubbed his temples wincing. Ah yes, good old Scotty had distracted the stranger long enough for Kirk to call Spock on their intercom badges. Still, that creature could well pack a punch and unless he got Bones to… BONES! Where was he? The thought of his friend lying motionless somewhere was enough to make Kirk sit bolt upright. The stranger, seeming to read his mind, chuckled softly.
'Worry not Captain Kirk; well your friend now is. In a healing trance he lies. Back on board I put them.'
Kirk sat up a little straighter again. The creature knew his name and rank. He knew Scotty was an engineer and he had managed to beam two people aboard his ship the Enterprise. Kirk's head was giving him a red alert signal. The little creature cleared its throat and continued.
'Master Yaddle my name is, Jedi Master of the Republic. Here I am on mission. Discuss it with you here, I may not. Go we must, lots to talk of we have.'
Where was Spock? He hadn't reported to Kirk yet. Kirk checked his chronometer. It read 19:56 and still no sign of him. Something must have gone wrong. Pulling himself to his feet he grabbed McCoy's tricorder from where it lay on the ground and took off in the direction of the shack Spock had been to, ignoring the calls from the "Master Yaddle" creature.
The air was thick, dark and oxygen-deprived when Spock awoke. He raised his head and involuntarily groaned at the sudden ache. Telling himself that pain is only a thing of the mind and can be controlled he lurched to his feet and leaned against the wall of the room for support. Interestingly, he no longer appeared to be in the tent. In fact Spock was almost certain that he was being held in a cargo-hold on a trading-class shuttle. The cold air hummed softly with the noise of the ship's engines. His eyes roamed the room for a way out… and spotted the hatch on the ceiling. Sighing, he sat back down and closed his eyes to meditate. He could deal with being kidnapped when he woke again.
Captain Kirk rounded the corner at a sprint, and then stopped as though struck by an invisible wall. There was no hut where Spock had specified but a large crater lay yawning open there instead. A small huddle of local security men were looking baffled beside it. Something brown caught Kirk's eye at the edge of the crater. A pile of rags perhaps? His heart sank very low when his saw a gleam of gold in the centre of it. His First Officers communication badge lay broken in two on a shredded cloak, such as Spock wore when disguised as a Romulan. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately,there didn't seem to be a body.
The security guards were staring at Kirk's outlandish appearance. His hand was already reaching towards the empty holster at his hip in case of confrontation. Damn it! He must have dropped his phaser back outside the meeting house. Taking a quick step forward he nearly died of fright when a voice spoke from the general region of his knees. Seemingly from nowhere the small green faced alien arrived at the scene, took a quick look around and pulled on Kirk's sleeve.
'Long gone from here they are, Kirk. Return to your ship immediately you should.'
Not before I have a look around, thought Kirk grimly. Stupid gnome.
However, Kirk found his reluctant legs obeying the suggestion and the next thing he knew he was back on board the Enterprise and circling an orbit high above the war-broken planet. The small green creature was nowhere in sight. Neither was Spock and after a few curt inquires it seemed no-one had seen him since they left for the planet that morning. Spock was missing and Kirk intended to find him.
Something was pressing at the back of his mind as though it was trying to break in every time he tried to meditate. Spock shook his head in disbelief. What he felt was theoretically impossible without entering into a mind-meld. (Vulcans are touch telepaths, they can sense and talk to one another when touching)
Hello? He asked.
He thought he recognised the feel of the other mind from somewhere but he got no reply back. Curious, he thought, where did that come from? Closing his eyes he settled back down again.
#Spock#
He jumped in surprise. There it was again. He couldn't quite place the voice; it had an unusual quality to it. It sounded... bored… Pushing aside his doubts about the feasibility of communication he tried again.
Who are you? How are you communicating with me?
Above him the large cargo-bay door creaked open suddenly and a figure of slight build descended a set of metal steps unfolding in front of them. A sudden flash of pain sent Spock reeling backwards against the cargo-hold wall, unconscious once again.
