Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek... Although I enjoy calling my friend Spock :D

Uhura was becoming slightly frantic although her face remained calm and collected. She was glaring at her console waiting for a transmission and listening intently to the chatter from Hielo, her fingers tapping against the console. It was become increasingly worrisome as the chatter was implying that an accident had really been a cover up and many people had been displaced, emotionally and physically. Scotty was in the Captain's chair, drumming his fingers irritably. Chekov was glaring at the screen displaying the storm front relative to the rescue team's location. The rest of the bridge crew members remained silent but held a foreboding look of determination. Uhura hit the button to hail Kirk's com again. She zoned out as she waited for the reply that wouldn't come. It had been 6 hours since they'd lost communication with him.

"Kirk here," The gravelly, tired voice nearly threw Uhura from her seat.

"Jim?" She gasped.

"W-we… on a fir-first name… basis-sis then?" There was a long pause from the gasping sentence. "N-nyota?"

"God damn it, Kirk," Uhura snapped. She whirled in her seat. "I got him. Kirk's finally picked up his com."

Scotty was out of his seat and next to her. "How is he?"

"Hey… Sc-scotty," Jim's answer was shaky at best. "How f-far… out are th-they?"

"About sewen hours, tvwenty minutes," Chekov said coming up on the other side of Uhura. "The storm vwas interfering with their instruments."

There was a moment of only Jim's labored breathing. "Damn it… I… I don't think I… have th-that kind of…ti-time…."

"Commander Scott," The Ensign in charge of the medical station came over with a PADD. "We've got his life signs back. His temperature has dropped to 18 degrees Celsius and his heart rate is slowing."

"Transmit the data to McCoy and get someone from medical up here so we can figure out what the Captain can do while we wait," Scotty ordered.

"Jim you still there?" Uhura asked quickly.

"Ye-yeah,"

"So why did you wander off besides to satisfy your childish nature?" She said quickly.

"S-something didn't fe-feel right," Jim murmured.

"I've been listening in on their normal radio waves," Nyota supplied. "They were talking about some accident being faked."

"That's… that's n-not good," Jim murmured. "I should… go-go…"

"Kirk, don't you dare move," Nyota snarled.

"Th-there's a gir-girl," Jim whispered. There was the crumbling of snow and wind rushed by the com. "Hey! Gir-girl!.... No w-wait! Co-come back! I w-won't hurt ya!"

There was a cough followed by the crunching of the snow before the wind rushed away any word their captain could possibly say.

"HE WHAT?!" McCoy yelled into his communicator. Sulu and Spock looked up from where they were consulting the map to Jim's newly known last location. Uhura had finally gotten a hold of them, two hours after talking to Jim, when they stopped inside a small cave to plan there next move.

"I know," Uhura's agitated voice came over. "He's an idiot."

"Send me his latest stats," McCoy growled. "And any climate stats so I can calculate how bad he is going to get."

"How far away are you?"

"About 3.42 kilometers," Spock said.

"The terrain is pretty bad though," Sulu rubbed his arms and pulled his coat tighter. "Up the side of a mountain and over a cliff."

"There is another route we could take however it will add on another 3 kilometers to our journey," Spock supplied. They looked to where McCoy was reading through his data.

"We have 6 hours tops," McCoy said looking up at them. "His temperature has dropped to 14 degrees Celsius. He'll have dropped from exhaustion in 1 to 2 hours. Jim'll be dead in 6 hours if we don't find him and get him back on the Enterprise."

"It is logical to take the shorter route if we have that time restriction," Spock said, putting the PADD away. "We must hurry."

Jim looked to the shadow in front of him, through the pelting snow that stuck to his face in sheets. His body was shaking, up and down. His fingers had stopped shaking, having gone numb hours ago. "Wa-wa-wait."

The figure danced in the snow, moving ahead of him. Laughter echoed around him before the shadow came closer. Jim reached out, his feet faltering and he fell into the snow with a grunt. He was encased with snow, a comforting blanket that felt neutral to the touch. Jim took a shuddering breath as the white faded to grey and then to black, the figure contrasting sharply with the background as it came closer. It knelt in front of him and rested a warm hand on his forehead. Jim's vision blurred the white figure into nothingness as the heat from the hand soothed him to sleep.

Thanks to all those who reviewed and alerted my story! Keep it up. Next update will be Saturday.

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