CHAPTER SIX
In the end it is Giotto who leads the way. His team have phasers drawn and move the group quickly away from the pools of light, hugging the shadowed walls and stopping every few minutes to listen intently. Spock is next, scanning constantly for signs of life ahead and never far from his captain's side. Jake, despite his protests, is invisibly handcuffed to one of the medics and safely at the rear.
Kirk wonders if the sloping tunnel was originally an attempt to mine the minerals that first brought Deneb III to Starfleet's attention. Certainly the carved rock reminds him of the mine on Janus VI, although he suspects the creatures they're about to find will be a lot more hostile than mother Horta.
Unlike Alpha 177, Janus VI is a good memory. Discovery and preservation, symbiosis and teamwork. That was the mission where his suspicion that Spock's logic was tempered by a certain...partiality began to crystallise. A partiality exposed by the note of panic in "Kill it, captain, quickly" and confirmed a few seconds later by "Jim, your life is in danger."
But no. The evidence had been there before that. The virus on Psi 2000, "Jim when I feel friendship for you...". Then, after that disastrous transport from Alpha 177. The imposter. He's still convinced that would have been the end of his career if it weren't for the unwavering support he'd had from his First.
The truth is James Kirk can no longer remember the moment when he realised the jolting, sparks of unease that characterised his initial dealings with his Vulcan science officer had evolved into the low hum of uncomplicated friendship. And by the time they got to Janus he had long come to terms with the fact that unfamiliar inner glow that now lit him from within, originated not, as he had up to that point assumed, from the command of starship - not from a lifetime's goal achieved - but rather from forming half of a command partnership which has somehow evolved to become the most important relationship of his life. And whose lifespan, thanks both to the relentless march of Newtonian time and to Starfleet mission parameters, can now be measured in months. Kirk looks sideways at his friend staring intently at his tricorder and wonders if he too is developing a fixation with passing stardates. It is not a subject either of them has so far felt able to discuss.
Giotto and Spock have stopped at the same moment. With a few coded hand gestures the security chief deploys his team along both sides of the tunnel to maintain line of sight. Spock lifts his tricorder so Kirk too can see the display. Up ahead the tunnel splits, each branch leading to a separate chamber. In a smaller square area three life signs cluster in a single location. Another larger chamber four hundred metres in the opposite direction houses at least two dozen points of energy, so close together it is hard to distinguish the exact number.
Kirk beckons McCoy and Giotto to his side and points to the readings.
He keeps his voice low. "I think we may have found our missing colonists."
McCoy lifts his own medical tricorder and narrows the scan field. He's frowning.
"Some of those readings are awful faint, Jim. I'd say we've found casualties. We may not have much time."
Kirk nods and thinks for a minute.
"Giotto, I want you to take three of your men, go with McCoy and the rest of the medical team and investigate the larger chamber.
Spock. Kingley. Yamamoto. You're here with me. Commander, we'll await your signal. If we're right and those are the colonists we'll create a diversion at this end. That should give you the chance to get them out of there. Don't wait for us. Get them up to the surface and contact Mister Scott. But no-one is to beam up - you understand me? We're going to have to do this the hard way - by shuttle."
Giotto, already briefed in bare outline about the contamination theory, nods.
McCoy too has been briefed but looks far from happy.
"Jim, don't you think we should stick together?"
Kirk can see Jake scowling, a coiled bundle of energy bouncing behind one of the medics.
"No, Bones, I don't. Our first priority is the safety of those civilians. Our second is to find out what's been going on down here and to track down the colony team. The first may depend on the second. We have to get to the officer at the centre of this. I've got to find Rawlson."
Later he thinks it was that thought which left them vulnerable. His obsession with finding one man threw the bigger picture into shadow. Because he should have known. Of course, he should.
He should have known no Starfleet team, however dysfunctional, forgets to guard their perimeter. He should have foreseen that a science team, even one deployed to a neutral planet, would have enough knowledge between them to erect a forcefield designed to reflect any weapon deployed against it.
When the signal comes, a green light from Giotto that shows his instincts about the location of the colonists were right, they are almost at the door of the smaller chamber.
They are almost at the door when Kirk gives Kingley the nod.
They are almost at the door...which means they have no protection when the kick back from the stun grenade hits.
He has a split second to see Spock react, to see his friend launch himself towards him and then he's flying backwards. He braces himself for the impact against the tunnel wall but he's unconscious before he hits and the world goes black.
-oOo-
