It'd been a week since Hannah had suddenly been hit with the knowledge that space travel, and alien species existed, and she had spent almost every waking hour trying to wrap her head around this new universe. She'd bombarded McCoy with questions on physiology, most of which McCoy didn't know the answers to, and had to sneakily look up whilst Hannah was distracted with something else she was trying to experiment with. She turned to Spock when there were probing questions about the universe as a whole, and she'd discovered that Uhura and Carol Marcus were really good at explaining the basics of political correctness in these societies. Uhura had offered to teach her a language, but Hannah recoiled at the memory of how terrible she'd been at French in her GCSEs, and offered a
"Maybe once I've got my head around everything else?" As a poor excuse. Chekov, whenever she asked, always gave her the answer that something was invented in Russia, and would give a lengthy explanation to her, which almost made sense. She thought maybe two? Three? Of his tales had been founded in some truth. As the exact week anniversary of her so-called kidnapping hit, Hannah was sat in Engineering on a console next to Keenser, and listening to how Scotty had scattered an Admiral's prize beagle into atoms across the whole galaxy.
"You sure it was an accident?" Hannah teased him, as Scotty concluded his story. Scotty looked up at her, faux-offence pulling his face into a frown. She laughed at his false pout for a solid five minutes, drawing the attention of several engineering officers nearby. Scotty couldn't hold his sulk, fake or otherwise, for long.
"Get down," he told her and Keenser with an amused glint sneaking into his voice, as a last-ditch attempt to stay stern. As Hannah propelled herself down on to the metal floor, a memory seemed to stir up in him. "Oh, and lassie, if you still want to visit a planet, I believe James Tiberius Perfect-Hair is beaming down to one in the next few hours if you-" He trailed off as Hannah had already started to leave Engineering, with a:
"Thank You!" Thrown over her shoulder, and a cheery wave to Keenser.
Kirk sat in his room, reading the copious amount of material on the species he was meant to be greeting, and made a mental note never to ask Spock what he knew about a species ever again. The noise of the door interrupted him, and Kirk thanked the stars for the distraction- the text was so boring, it was so much effort to trudge through it all.
"Come in," he called without looking up. Hannah practically skipped into his room. She pushed her elbows on to his desk, resting her chin in her hands. Kirk deliberately slowly raised his head to look at her.
"I hear you're visiting a planet," She announced, grinning hopefully at him. Kirk raised an eyebrow.
"Yes…" He began, warily. Hannah's grin widened further.
"Can I come?" She practically begged. Kirk paused, and before he could say anything else she continued in a rush. "Please, come on, I want to do something- at least all you guys have jobs and shit to do, I'm just sat on my arse all day, getting in the way and trying to understand what the hell is going on-" She caught a breath, and Kirk opened his mouth to reply, but again, she cut him off in a flurry of words. "-I just want to do something, I know I'll be as useless and in the way on the planet, but I promise I won't speak or do anything unless you tell me to, I just want to explore, because this is so exciting and I-" She suddenly cut off, as she stood up, and paced around Kirk's quarters a few steps. Kirk, taking advantage of the brief silence, shoved his chair back inelegantly, as he stood to speak to her.
"I don't think it'd be a good idea," He began, only to be disturbed by the door for a second time. Shutting his eyes in exasperation, he groaned out a; "Come in." Hannah normally would have laughed at the dull, flatness of his voice, yet this time she was still trying to conjure ways to let her go down on to the planet with Kirk, because honestly, she needed to do something or she was going to go insane. Spock entered the room in a manner that was the complete reverse of Hannah's actions- instead of bounding around, full of energy, Spock was straight backed and calm, hands clasped lightly behind his back as he greeted the Captain respectfully. Hannah largely didn't listen to their conversation, but began to as she realised, if she could get Spock on her side, Kirk wouldn't be able to come back with a solid argument to refute her desperate plea.
"Captain, it is crucial that you convince them to join the Federation, Commodore Paris was insistent. Their space travel may be limited, however, their medicinal knowledge could-"
"I could accompany Captain Kirk," Hannah offered with a feign of innocence. Spock turned to her, facing away from the Captain, and so oblivious to him rolling his eyes and proceeding to slouchy and silently moan to the ceiling. Spock raised his eyebrow, and Hannah continued, calmly. "I merely thought, as I am recently acquainted with space travel, and the Federation, then perhaps I would be able to empathise with the native species, and answer their more basic questions. You are aware of the extent of my knowledge, and I simply thought it might be prudent for me to provide explanations, as everyone else on board this ship has grown up in this society, and may miss important factors that seem obvious to yourselves."
Silence fell in the Captain's quarters as Spock pondered her speech. Hannah delicately sat down on the arm of Kirk's couch, and waited for Spock's answer. Kirk glared at Hannah, but swiftly smoothed his expression into a neutral one as Spock turned to him. Hannah briefly stuck her tongue out at the Captain.
"Captain, her logic is sound. I would advise you accept her offer."
"Fine. If she insists,"
Hannah spun in her seat in the shuttle. Given that she didn't understand, well, anything, of the readings, she'd taken to guessing what everything was. She seemed to bounce around the shuttle, even whilst sat still, just something about her manner gave off the impression of pure energy. Child-like excitement fuelled her glee, and she hadn't stopped grinning yet. She reminded Kirk of a puppy. And she reminded him of why he loved space. All those new places to explore- new things to see, new species to meet and learn about. He smiled to himself and Hannah did not miss the expression.
"You're smiling- see you're not entirely objected to me being here!" Hannah chirped. Puppy and a baby bird. Kirk smiled, and turned his head partially towards her, though his gaze remained firmly on the consoles in front of him.
"I didn't not want you to come," Kirk objected. Hannah narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay, maybe I didn't want you to come. But that was mostly because I thought you'd be disappointed in what you saw." Hannah scoffed, looking back out of the window.
"You could show me Cardiff, and I'd be excited, Kirk," She leant forwards to get a better look out the window. "This is amazing." Pausing for a heartbeat, Hannah glanced at Kirk, as they entered the atmosphere of the planet. "Thank you."
"For what?" Kirk frowned. Hannah opened her mouth, but was not given the opportunity to answer, as the whole shuttle lurched forwards and seemingly lost all power, as it plunged towards the very-solid looking earth below.
"Kirk to Enterprise!"
They were given no answer as they plunged towards the ground below.
The shuttle didn't have the luxury of trees to slow its descent, and so it crashed into the ground with terrifying force. Leaving behind an elongated crater in its wake, the hull scraped across the ground, progressively slowing down. Both of its passengers were unconscious, but somehow alive as the shuttle dragged to a halt. Their heads flopped forwards in sync, and there they remained.
"Commander, we just lost contact with the shuttle," Sulu turned to look at Spock. "I think they're thrusters cut out just before we lost contact."
Hannah groggily returned to consciousness, her lids weighted down, and unwilling to open. She dragged her head upright, forcing her aching neck muscles into action. Hannah suppressed a groan, pain rippling through her entire frame.
"Kirk?" She mumbled. Silence, except for a buzzing haunting Hannah's ears. She forcibly pushed herself into a standing pose- pushing down on the console in front of her to convince her limbs into action. "Kirk?" She called again, worry lacing into the single word she spoke. She rushed over to him, crouching in front of him. He didn't respond to her pressing her fingers into his neck, hastily checking for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief when pressure pushed on to her fingertips below the artery. Blood trailed down his face, originating from a small cut on his forehead. Hannah lightly brushed a thumb over it, and swiftly dismissed it, too shallow to elicit concern. It was then she noticed the seeping blood through his shirt.
"How the hell did you get cut there?" She mumbled under her breath.
"Must be luck," Kirk answered, blearily opening his eyes to look down at her. Hannah blinked, having not expected a response. She glanced up at him, and then lifted his shirt to inspect his wound, without a word. Her face remained expressionless, and she grabbed Kirk's own hand with one of her own. Pushing the wound together with one hand, and pulled Kirk's hand over hers.
"Hold this together," She ordered, and stood up, scanning the shuttle bay for a med kit of any kind. She found one, and swiftly released that she didn't know how to use any of the equipment. "Fuck it," she grumbled, and ripped open a bag she'd brought with her. Grasping a make-shift miniature trauma kit she had on her, she muttered under her breath something utterly incomprehensible.
"What's that?" Kirk mumbled. Hannah returned to her crouched position in front of Kirk, and didn't answer him, only looked at the cut, digging into his midsection. Pulling out some thread and a surgical needle, she finally answered him ambiguously.
"You're lucky my last lecture was with Fletch," She glanced at him, as she stuck the thread through the eye of the needle. And paused. Leaning back slightly, she looked back up at him, an apology welling in her eyes. "Sorry," She winced, removing Kirk's hand from the wound. Kirk barely formed his question, when Hannah daintily pressed the needle through his skin.
The Enterprise was still hanging around, just out of orbit of the planet. There was no better term for it, as that was all they were doing, whilst McCoy and Spock argued over what to do- did they go attempt to get the Captain back or not. Scotty had said they weren't going to be able to beam down, hence why Kirk and Hannah had taken a shuttle in the first place, something about geographic interference making it impossible.
"um, Enterprise?" A voice echoed over the comms. "Anybody hear me?"
"You're alive," McCoy merely sounded surprised, not pleased, just pleasantly surprised.
"No shit," The drawling tone emanated sarcasm so fiercely that McCoy felt a spark of pride. It was like having another him around, but, a happier version of him.
"Is the Captain injured?' Spock asked, turning away from McCoy. When Hannah replied, listing off Kirk's injuries and Hannah's make-shift treatment of them. She then began whining about the shuttle shutting down on them.
"Can you tell what the mechan-"
"It wasn't a mechanical fault. A fault would give off an alarm or alert of some kind, right?" She spoke with conviction, and didn't wait for a confirmation before continuing. "We had none, just everything shut down one at a time- including life support, I'm guessing 'cos both of us were briefly unconscious, and I have no memory of the actual impact." She explained herself quickly, but surprisingly calmly, as if she were a doctor giving a diagnosis to another medical professional. That was until Spock asked to speak to the Captain, and Hannah suddenly realised he was slipping from consciousness. Panic then flooded her tone, and she shut the communicator, cutting off the Enterprise's only link to the stranded away team.
"Stay," Ordered Hannah, sounding as though she were talking to a stray puppy, not her captain. Kirk stood up, having to lean on the control panel to be able to drag himself upright. Trying desperately to keep his face neutral, he looked down on her, and spoke:
"I'm not letting you go out there on your own," he protested. Hannah cocked an eyebrow, and placed a hand on her hip, in a stereotypically disapproving fashion. Pausing for a moment, she stared down her captain, then strode forwards two steps to him. She removed her hand from her hip, placing it on Kirk's shoulder, and inelegantly forced him down into his seat.
"You," she said, authoritatively, narrowing her eyes mocking. "are staying right here. In this chair. Whilst I go see if I can find anyone. I will a communicator, I will talk to you the whole time- and you better talk back because if you lose consciousness again, bitch I will cut you." Kirk's eyes widened on the last sentence.
"And after you sowed me up so neatly," he commented. "Seems like it would be a waste to simply reopen it." Hannah let her gaze drop from his eyes, and leant close to him.
"Who's says I'd reopen that cut? I might, remove something?" She taunted, and then spun and strode out of the shuttle. Kirk groaned, and twisted in his chair, trying to get comfortable. Hannah quickly darted back into the shuttle.
"Don't you dare leave," She growled at Kirk.
Hannah gazed around in wonder, loving the differences between this world and everything she knew of Earth- the ground-level plant life that covered this planet wasn't grass, at least not as she knew grass. It was spongey, more like a moss than a grass, and huge deep purple blossoms hung from large woody plant, and Hannah reached out to brush her fingers through it. The blossoms flowed like silk over her fingertips and she barely resisted a grin.
"This is amazing," she murmured. She spun around, looking back towards where she had come from. The course left by the shuttle formed a grotesque scar in the landscape that was otherwise unmarred from harm. The scarring revealed the scarlet soil, scraping through to the deep blue that formed the most common stone of the planet. Hannah winced at the sight of the impact, almost apologising for the damage, before turning back around. She flipped open the communicator, and spoke directly into it:
"Kirk, you still alive?"
"No. I died of boredom." Hannah smirked at Kirk's response. He sounded like a little kid left at home whilst his parents went shopping.
"Well, in that case, Kirk's ghost, there's a hill in front of me, I'm gonna climb to the top of it and see if I can get a better look at this place." She was already walking up the incline as she spoke, and laughing at the sulking of Kirk.
"Hurry up,"
Hannah bounded back into the shuttle, and grinned at the rapidity of motion at which Kirk's head whipped to look at her.
"I found a cityyyy," Hannah sang. Kirk's face lit up, and Hannah nodded excitedly. "Yup! And they held me at gun point!" Kirk frowned at her. He tilted his head to peer at her.
"Why do you say that like it's a good thing?" He asked hesitantly, questioning Hannah's sanity, yet again. She beamed, somehow even wider than before.
"Because that means that they think I might be a threat. Do you know how exciting that is?" She chirped. "I was threatening. I am normally the damsel in distress in everyone's eyes, not the THREAT!" She threw her hands in the air, dancing in glee. Her voice rose on the last word, and she jumped in the air, skipping, and grinning slightly maniacally. She stopped skipping, and skidded on to the floor next to Kirk, and crossed her legs. She lightly grasped at the hem of his shirt, lifting her eyes to his in a question. Kirk nodded wearily. Hannah didn't change her expression as she lifted his shirt and inspected her makeshift stitches. She lightly brushed a hand over the skin just above the cut, Kirk flinched slightly at her cold hands.
"Sorry, just trying to see how inflamed your wound is," She apologised. Hannah then stood, and inspected the cut on his forehead. Kirk lightly pushed her away after a few seconds.
"I am fine," He insisted, drawing his hand back from her stomach. "Tell me about the city."
"Well you're in luck, they have transporter capabilities, so we can go back to the ship, and figure out why our shuttle shut down unexpectedly." She reported, matter of factly. "And Spock said they're amazing healers, so maybe they'll have a better idea of how to deal with your wound." Kirk struggled upright, and leant on the control panel, before forcing himself to stand.
"Lead the way,"