Captain's Log - Stardate 2261.014

Beamed down with Spock and Bones plus Mitchell and Franks from Security. We had barely materialized when Scotty contacted us that the sun was sending out solar flares with high cosmic ray levels. Spock calculated that it will be at least three days before the levels calm back down to safe levels for the ship. I ordered Scotty to take the Enterprise out a safe distance and to only come back sooner if the sun starts deteriorating faster than expected. The station will have enough supplies for us to wait out the solar storm.

If anyone was to watch the Transporter Room, the pecking order onboard the ship could be guessed without looking at uniforms by observing who arrived first. Lieutenants Mitchell and Franks from Security were waiting in the room a full half-hour before the scheduled time. McCoy and Spock arrived in near unison five minutes before time. Kirk entered right on time, stepping onto the platform to join the others who were already in position.

As the group of five materialized on the planet surface, Kirk frowned as they were hit by winds strong enough to cause all of them to stagger, including Spock. While they were all struggling to stay upright, Kirk's communicator sounded.

"Kirk here. What is it, Scotty?"

"Minara's sun is acting out, Captain. Gigantic solar flares with damned high gamma rays to go along with them."

"How damned high are we talking?"

"At least three point five one on the Ritter scale. Our Lady's equipment is nae going to appreciate those levels, sir."

Listening in along with Spock, McCoy chimed in.

"Those levels aren't going to do our crew any favors either, Jim."

Nodding to acknowledge that, Kirk looked to Spock for his input.

"At levels of intensity, we are likely looking at a window of between seventy to eighty hours before the effects return to normal. That is assuming no further flares erupt, but with a dying star, that is a questionable assumption."

"And the atmosphere here?"

"Will be sufficient to protect us from the radiation at this stage, Captain."

Two beats later, Kirk made his call.

"Get our Girl out of harm's way. We'll be safe enough here and the station will have enough supplies to see us through. No point in delaying the mission until the solar storm is over. They're likely to become more frequent than less as the nova phase gets nearer."

"Aye, sir - but that will put us out of communicator reach."

"If we need to contact you, we should be able to using the station's subspace channel. Now move my ship before I dock your pay for damages."

A short laugh was heard before Scotty answered back.

"On our way, Captain. Scott out."

With the transmission ended, Kirk took his first good look around and frowned.

"So . . . where is the research station? I don't see anything."

Making an adjustment to his tricorder, Spock checked his readings.

"The complex itself is underground, but we seem to have landed approximately 3.4 kilometers away from the surface entrance. We need to head due north east."

Grumbling as another wind gust threatened his balance again, Kirk motioned forward.

"Lead the way, Spock. When we returned to the Enterprise, remind me to have a long chat with the transporter chief regarding his aim."

The bad mood Kirk was in wasn't improved when the wind velocity picked up considerably, throwing debris into the air and making seeing difficult before they were even halfway to the station. He had to yell to be heard over the roaring winds.

"Forget making it to the station for now. Find us some shelter until this passes."

Spock's instruments indicated a cavern not too far away, but fighting against the swirling winds had all five of them exhausted by the time they reached it. Luck was on their side that the winds weren't sweeping into the cavern as well.

Coughing and brushing some of the dust off of himself, McCoy looked back toward the entrance.

"Well, not like we're in a hurry. We should be fine in here as long as the winds die down in a few hours. Worst case, it keeps going and we make use of the tricorders to find our way."

Seeming to reach the same conclusion, Spock refrained from comment as he moved toward the rear of the small cavern and settled down into his meditation position. Looking a little irritated and a lot bored, Kirk ordered the two security men to stay near the entrance before turning to McCoy.

"Settle down somewhere, Bones. I plan to use you as a cushion."

McCoy rolled his eyes, but complied with only a short grumble.

"I'm a doctor, not a cot."

Kirk gave the doctor a firm poke.

"You are whatever I say you are. Now shut up and get some rest before I stun you into being still."

There were any number of people that accused McCoy of pressing his luck with Kirk, but truthfully, McCoy learned fairly early when he could push and when he needed to give way. With Kirk's current mood, it was most definitely time to give way and he did. He simply got into as comfortable a position as he could manage and then motioned Kirk over.

As Kirk settled down, McCoy exchanged a look with Spock and received a slight nod. Good. Even in his meditations, Spock was alert enough to keep watch. McCoy certainly wouldn't have trusted either of the redshirts to do it. To McCoy, most Security personnel were the equivalent of armor - one more layer for weapons to have to get through to get to him. OF course, he also equated most of them as having intelligence of about the same level as armor as well. If they were really bright, they wouldn't be in Security in the first place. It was a job with a low survival rate even in Imperial Starfleet - a profession that few lived long enough to retire from.

A poke broke into his thoughts.

"You're thinking too hard again, McCoy. Sleep."