Last –
"Damn it!" she cursed. "I'm losing them… Shit… I… I've lost them. I lost three of them."
Stunned, she stared at the transporter platform as figures began to materialize on it. Three were missing, of course.
And those missing three were her commanding officers and the CMO.
She gulped.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Bones yelled at a very sheepish looking Jim; all the while, looking around wildly in near panic. They had long since got rid of their desert protective clothing. "Damn it, Jim! Were you even thinking at all? Just take a look around and tell me… Where the hell are we?"
Bones spread his arms out wide, gesturing towards the thick growth of vegetation all around them.
"Err… Somkinofafrest?" Jim mumbled unintelligibly.
"What?" Bones thundered.
Heaving a pitiful sigh, Jim spoke much more comprehensibly this time. "Some kind of a forest, Bones."
Bones groaned in utter exasperation. "Jim, you do realize that I have a pair of perfectly functioning eyes, don't you? I can very well see that we are in a damn freaking forest! All thanks to your idiocy, of course, which this time has managed to land us here."
Jim winced; more so because he had to agree with Bones on this one. In retrospection, he could clearly see that he had once again rushed headlong and blindly into danger.
The ion storm had picked up in intensity very fast, calling for a swift decision. Spock's opinion, staying back on the planet Zodura II during the storm would only prove to be a liability, could not be refuted; especially since the storm had made taking cover in one of the rock caves a necessity within a short span of time.
Another few minutes could have left them stranded on a potentially dangerous planet with little hope of backup or escape. In such a situation Jim had to give the orders for their return to the Enterprise.
Once they were all outside, having to leave the relative safety of the rock cave as it would have provided too much of an interference with their signals, they took their respective positions in order to be beamed up. It was then that Jim had noticed something rather unusual…
Unbelievably, the walls of the rock cave heated up and something inside the cave began giving out a faint illumination. The more the storm grew in strength, the brighter the light being emitted became. Jim's instincts began screaming at him that searching for the source of light would finally solve the mystery of the disappearing scientists.
By then everyone had become aware of the unusual phenomenon.
"Captain," Spock had cautioned, already anticipating Jim's next move. Bones tried lunging for him instead.
Jim easily dodged Bones and had gone bounding towards the source of the mysterious light. But only after throwing some orders for the rest of the team to proceed to Enterprise, of course. He would never risk the life of his men.
He had not even realized that Bones and Spock had broken the formation and were hot on his heels as he ran into the cave.
He remembered reaching a previously inconspicuous archway (very much noticeable then) which seemed to be giving out the uncanny light. Various glowing symbols adorned the archway and the next he knew, there was a flash of light and the three of them had been transported… here.
Wherever 'here' was.
Atleast, his instincts had been right once again. They now knew where the scientists had disappeared off to and why their security had been so ineffective in protecting them.
!
The place they had been transported to quite resembled the Terran tropical rainforests, the elaborate stratification being common to both.
The forest floor was covered with a dense undergrowth of plants resembling the mosses and liverworts. But in place of green, most of them were reddish-brown in colour while some were nearly black. Thorny vines and creepers crept around the trunks of a number of large trees.
The thorns looked pretty painful by the way, and Jim made a mental note to stay away from them.
Some of the plants had familiar colours; like the ferns and few bushes. In some places the ferns and bushes had grown together in such a clustered manner that trying to create a path through them would have been nigh impossible; but they were sparse enough in some other areas to create a passage without using a machete.
Many trees had rich, green leaves with brown trunks and some were even flowering. Some had ripe, luscious looking fruits hanging from the branches.
The various sounds of the resident fauna could be heard from every direction. Jim stared as a large swarm of two-headed multicoloured butterflies flew past him. A troop of small sized, four-eyed monkeys were screeching as they swung in the low hanging branches of some of the smaller trees. Not liking their unfamiliar presence, they would occasionally throw small red coloured fruits at them.
One of those hit Bones and Jim had to cover his laugh with a cough.
What little of the sky could be seen above the dense canopy was bright blue in colour. And the teasing sunlight filtering in through the canopy layer was creating quite a mystical effect.
One could almost forget that they were in an unknown place with no means of escape; and dwelling within it were many unknown dangers.
Well… 'almost' being the keyword.
!
"Jim, are you even listening to me? I swear to all that is holy that my hands are just itching to shake some sense into you. What were you saying before? Oh yes… It's going to be a straightforward mission… What can possibly go wrong in a fucking desert with almost no sentient beings or dangerous life forms?" Bones mimicked in a high pitched voice.
Jim gave him an affronted look. "Hey, I'm pretty sure that I don't sound like that."
Bones carried on his tirade, completely ignoring Jim. "I'll tell you what can go wrong… James Trouble Kirk!"
Apparently, Bones had not got his pound of flesh yet.
Jim listened to Bones with only half an ear as he gathered up the courage to deal with Spock, who was busy taking stock of their unknown surroundings. And while Bones went on ranting… Spock was rather quiet, scarily so.
But even though Spock had not uttered a single word yet, the vibes coming off him had Jim feeling like a naughty two year old who had disobeyed his mother. And that was ridiculous. It hadn't been his fault, dammit! How was he supposed to know that as soon as they would draw close to the light source, they would be transported here?
If anything, it was Spock who should be sorry for ignoring him, Jim thought while giving Spock a glare behind his back.
Anyway, Jim magnanimously decided to forgive Spock for his gaffe. Let no one ever say that he couldn't be the better or more mature person.
"Errr… Spock," Jim tried to capturing the clearly irate Vulcan's attention. For a second, Jim wondered if Spock would completely disregard his call. But then Spock stopped whatever he was doing and turned an impassive gaze upon him.
Yup, Jim was in pretty deep shit, indeed. He cleared his throat before asking in a soft voice, "So, umm… do you have any idea where we are?"
"Negative," Spock answered, his stony visage not faltering even for a second. "The only fact that can be ascertained is that we are no longer on Zodura II. In truth, we might not be in the same galaxy."
Bones groaned in distress dramatically before asking, "Okay, so that stone thing must have transported us here. But I don't get how?"
Spock answered without taking his hard, piercing gaze off Jim, "That 'stone thing' was evidently a portal."
Bones gasped while Jim's eyes went as wide as saucers.
"A time portal? For real?" Jim asked, incredulity dripping from his voice.
Spock gave him a look which clearly stated what Spock thought of his question.
"A time portal would have transported us into the planet's past and I have already stated that we are no longer on Zodura II. What transported us here was a space portal."
Jim and Bones had been shocked before, but now they appeared utterly confused.
"What the hell is a space portal?" Bones asked, echoing Jim's thoughts.
Spock suppressed a sigh and began to explain, "A space portal can send any animate or inanimate object from one planet to the other. Unlike the transporters we use, its use is not restricted by distance between the points of entry and exit. Nor does it need to locate objects via communicator signals. It locates an object by analyzing the energy signals instead."
"Now wait a second," Jim spoke up, interrupting him. "If such space portals do exist, then how come no one uses them? Why do we always waste such huge amount of energy and money on starships?"
With another hard look in Jim's direction, Spock answered his query. "There are several reasons for that, Captain. Not only is the commissioning of such a portal very complicated, but it also requires a huge amount of power in order to function. If you'll reflect back then you'll find that the portal in Zodura II was indiscernible and ineffective until the ion storm gained adequate potency. Once again, it must have been the piezoelectric effect which generated enough energy to power the portal."
Not quite satisfied, Jim opened his mouth to ask for further clarification but Spock cut him off by continuing, "However, the main limitation of such portals is that it cannot be constructed randomly. The two planets must share more than sixty percent compatibility to be connected by portals."
"How the hell do you know so much about space portals? We haven't even heard of them," Bones groused. The hobgoblin had once again managed to impress him, albeit reluctantly.
Jim nodded, wanting Spock to continue. And it was certainly not because Spock looked super hot when he was in the strict Professor mode. His deep voice was enough to send pleasant shivers up the spine of his students. Not his, though. He was immune to his friend's attractiveness. Of course he was.
Gritting his teeth, he shifted uneasily trying to alleviate some of his tension; and refocused upon Spock… err… space portals.
!
"...The knowledge of creating space portals is an ancient one and the practice was discontinued long before humans began their interstellar travels. Their discontinuation became a necessity because of large security breaches which began to be associated with them," Spock explained.
"But that means that Zodura II must have had a civilization once upon a time," Bones remarked.
"Affirmative, Doctor. Either the civilization became extinct or they all migrated to this place," Spock replied.
"Yeah, but why?" Bones wondered.
If Spock were fully human, he would have definitely rolled his eyes. "I'm sure they had their reasons, Doctor."
"That's right," Jim nodded thoughtfully and then seemed to perk up. "Hey, if one portal brought us here, then there must be another which would take us back, right?"
Both Jim and Bones turned their hope-filled eyes towards Spock and eagerly waited for his confirmation.
"The portals were usually constructed in pairs. Therefore, there is a high possibility that a portal which can transport us back to the planet Zodura II would be somewhere ain the vicinity."
Hearing that, Jim burst into action. "Great, then all we have to do is to find the scientists and then the portal and then go back. Let's go."
Jim started walking in a random direction, expecting Spock and Bones to follow him. But then someone caught a hold of his uniform and yanked him back roughly. Losing his balance he lurched backwards, and would have fallen if not for the hard, unforgiving body supporting him.
"Wha… what… Spock?" Jim sputtered, his face involuntarily heating up.
"May I know where are you headed to, Captain?" Spock questioned with a quirk of his eyebrow; not bothering to release Jim.
"Uh... to look for the scientists and the portal," Jim stated, confused over Spock's behaviour.
Spock's eyes flashed in anger. "It would soon be dark and we are in an unfamiliar, dangerous locale. We need to secure food, water and shelter before the sun goes down. I suggest you to stop acting in such an illogical and immature manner. You are not only leading yourself but also others to danger."
Jim stiffened. This time the heat suffusing his cheeks was due to anger and mortification. He wrenched himself away from Spock.
Knowing that this could end in a very bad way, Bones tried to diffuse the situation. "Jim," he called out in a placating manner. "The hobgoblin does not really mean that. He's just worried about you."
But of course, he was thoroughly ignored.
Jim stared at Spock, his eyes filling with defensive anger... and hurt. And just like Bones had predicted, Jim lashed out at Spock. "Let me make something very clear to you, Commander. Before this, I did not even know that things like space portals existed. And thus I had no idea that something like this could happen..."
"You… broke the formation and reached a decision by yourself which placed you in danger..."
"So what? I have done it before and..."
"And died, Captain. You were dead. And you could have died again today. Are you so very eager to follow in your father's footsteps and become a martyr hero?"
Bones was stunned. This he had not predicted. Unable to interfere, he could only watch the proceedings like a train wreck happening right before him.
Jim could scarcely breathe. Time and again, loads of people had made assumptions about his competency as a Captain, taking his youth for a weakness. People compared him to the great George Kirk all the time. The hero who had saved everyone but his son. Hearing Spock… his Spock… say such a thing, it felt as if someone had ripped the heart out of his chest. But he was not going to show Spock how much his words had hurt. He still had his pride, after all.
Jim finally replied after getting his voice back, "A martyr I may be, but I do not leave anyone behind, do I?"
Bones groaned. Of all the stupid things, Jim had to bring up Spock's mother. Spock clenched his teeth, his eyes flashing in warning.
"I ordered everyone else to return to the ship. I did not ask you to come after me, did I? Nor did I ask Bones. I could have–"
"What could you have done if I or the Doctor were not here?" Spock countered in a scathing tone of his voice.
Jim hissed, nearly punching Spock. "I am the Captain of the Enterprise and I assure you Commander that I am very much capable of looking after myself. I do not need–"
"We're trapped in a dangerous forest and your first course of action was to go looking for the scientists. You–"
"I DO NOT NEED YOU!" Jim screamed, shoving Spock with all his strength. He made a disgusted noise when Spock did not move even an inch. The bastard did not have even that much decency.
In fact, it seemed as if Spock had frozen after hearing his declaration.
"I do not need you," he repeated in a low, hoarse voice; his eyes warring with Spock's. "I'll go and search for the scientists on my own. I wouldn't want to risk the two of you any longer. See you and Bones at the portal."
Before Spock or Bones could even react, he turned on his heels and took off running; not knowing where he was going or how he was going to search for the scientists in this forest. Not knowing and not caring.
He just wanted to get away from Spock.
… to be continued.