Planet: Nibiru

Three cloaked figures, covered in dark cloth with scraps of it wrapped around their heads ran as fast as they could through the fields of tall red vegetation on the Class M Planet of Nibiru. They were racing through the red landscape, the shouts and grunts of the natives behind them. One of the figures looked back over their shoulder, their teal eyes piercing out through the small gap in their head covering to see the natives, completely white skinned humanoids with completely black eyes, clothed in yellow draped fabrics, gaining on them.

"They are getting closer!" she, for clearly it was a she, shouted ahead to the two figures before her.

One looked back, seeing her lagging behind and reached out a hand to her, grabbing it and tugging her on faster, even with him, "Come on!" he urged her, trying to keep her going, knowing that a certain pointy-eared bastard would forget logic and brutally murder him with his bare hands if he let anything happen to the man's mate.

The man ahead of the two of them ran on…but they jerked back when a large, rather ferocious-looking alien reared up before them. The man quickly whipped out his phaser and blasted the alien on instinct.

"Damn it man!" McCoy ripped off his head covering as he turned to face them, watching as the alien keeled over, "That was our ride. You just stunned our ride!"

"Great," Kirk muttered, tugging down his own head covering as he stared at the alien.

"Run!" Cora urged, not bothering to touch her covering as she urged Kirk on this time, sensing the other natives approaching before she could hear them.

They were in too large a group and they weren't supposed to interfere with them in the first place, she couldn't stand still long enough to use her abilities to manipulate emotions on them. She knew she had only been requested to join Kirk and McCoy on the planet's surface as a safety measure, a failsafe, to try and keep the natives from not noticing them until the time came to try and distract them. She needed to be able to focus her abilities, something she was unable to do as she was running for her life.

They were meant to merely find something that would have the natives occupied for the next few minutes while Uhura, Sulu, and Spock made their own attempt at a rescue with the rather active volcano behind them…unfortunately, Kirk had taken it a bit far and been spotted and now they were being hunted down by the natives.

"What the hell did you take?!" McCoy shouted at Kirk as they ran, Kirk in the lead, with Cora behind him, McCoy in the rear, both men trying to keep her safe so as not to incur Spock's wrath should she come to harm.

"I have no idea but they were bowing to it," Kirk remarked, "Cora! Comm.!"

Cora reached into the pockets of her coverings and pulled out the comm., both him and McCoy were aware it was against an Empathic's nature to harm or kill others and had known that she would be better set to man the comms. than to actively use a phaser against the typically-harmless natives. She was only ever comfortable using her abilities in a defensive or even offensive way when being attacked by true enemies who did wish them harm and were aware of the harm they wished to inflict. The natives of Nibiru were...not quite that. True, they were hunting them down at the moment, but they weren't evolved enough to be reasoned with or understand what was going on. All they saw was Kirk had stolen from them and they wanted whatever the object was back. They weren't hunting them for the sake of hurting them or anything truly as terrible as other enemies would wish, they were more like...children who wanted a toy back and she wouldn't feel comfortable trying to incapacitate them in the way she normally did, nor would she be able to stand still long enough to do so.

"Cora to Shuttle 1," she called into it, "We are out of range of the volcano. Captain Kirk reports you are clear," she took a breath, "Spock, please be careful," she added…

"Get in there and neutralize the volcano," Kirk shouted over to her, "Let's get out of here!"

~8~

In the shuttle, Sulu glanced back at where Uhura was helping Spock ready his heat-resistant suit for the mission, "We have do this now!" he warned them, "I told the captain, the shuttle wasn't built for this kind of heat."

"Captain," Spock called into the comm., "Did any indigenous life forms see you.

"No, Mr. Spock, they did not," Kirk's voice came back, clearly shouting, clearly running.

"Cora?" Spock amended, knowing she would tell him the truth before Kirk would as it was a custom among her people, much like with his people, to speak the truth and to refrain from lying.

"Yes," Cora answered, "They did not see our faces though."

"Captain the prime directive clearly states there can be no interference with the internal development of alien civilizations," Spock reminded them.

It was only upon the reasoning that the indigenous life forms would not see nor be aware that any advanced technologies were being used that he had agreed to be a part of this. It was...a bending of the rules, of the prime directive, a method of interpretation. They were not, per say, interfering with the internal development but more the external development. In keeping the volcano from erupting and putting an end to the natives, they would allow the natives to continue to develop as they normally would, without knowing of the interference with the environment. They would just assume the volcano had smoked and then stopped.

But this...was getting dangerously close to becoming internal interference.

"I know what it says!" Kirk yelled, "Which is why we're running through a jungle, wearing disguises! Now, drop off your super ice-cube, and let's go! Kirk out."

"You're good," Uhura told him, securing his helmet in place.

"If we're going to do this, we got to do it now," Sulu called, piloting the shuttle, "Ash is killing our coils."

"Are you sure you don't want me to go instead?" Uhura looked at Spock, genuinely offering.

It would be dangerous and…she'd seen what had become of Cora when a planet that wasn't even hers was destroyed, she couldn't imagine what would happen to the girl if anything went wrong and Spock was harmed. Actually...she could. She and Cora...talked now, which was a far cry from how she had treated the girl when they'd been in the Academy, with disdain and contempt. Learning about Cora's abilities, seeing them being used, seeing her suffering when Vulcan had been destroyed, it had...opened her eyes to the sort of person Cora was, to how strong the girl really was, unlike she had originally thought. They talked and a sort of friendship had arisen between them. Cora talked a little with her about Spock, at times, when she was confused about something that Kirk or McCoy referenced in relation to him that she didn't think Spock would be able to explain to her either.

She knew about the mating that had taken place between Spock and Cora after Vulcan had been lost. The entire crew knew really. They'd all taken it in stride though, everyone had been able to see something special and unique between the Vulcan and the Empathic from the beginning so it didn't truly surprise them when it had been found out that the two had 'mated' as it was described for Vulcans. But she and Cora spoke a little about it, not much, nothing very personal, but they did talk. She was aware of the telepathic bond Spock had formed with Cora and the empathetic bond she had formed with Spock. She knew that, on Hestia, Cora's planet, the women and men who were paired to be parents would form the same empathetic bonds to each other, and would depend on each other for strength. She wasn't sure how it worked when one's 'mate' was a Vulcan as they could not form the empathetic bond, but...she knew what typically happened to women on Hestia when their men were killed. She didn't want that to happen to Cora.

Spock though, frowned, "That would be highly illogical as I'm already outfitted in heat resistant…"

"I get it," Uhura cut in, shaking her head.

"Guys, we have to go, now," Sulu shouted.

Uhura took a breath and moved to join Sulu at the pilot's seat, Spock getting into position, attaching a rope to his suit and holding the cold-fusion device, or the 'super ice-cube' as Kirk called it, in his other hand.

~8~

"Get down!" Cora cried as they ducked, the natives starting to hurl makeshift spears at them.

"They're trying to kill us," McCoy grumbled.

"I know," Kirk remarked.

"They're trying to kill us Jim!"

"I know!"

"Run faster!" Cora cut in on their argument, it was easier to run when NOT speaking.

Kirk squeezed Cora's hand that he had taken again, knowing that she was trying to keep them calm while running herself, but wasn't quite managing it with the distraction of the escape and the weapons being thrown at them, her focus wasn't as fine tuned as it should be. He knew, he'd spoken to her at length when he'd become captain of the Enterprise, exactly what her people were capable of. He'd wanted to have a sort of log about what she could and couldn't do and about when she would be able to use her abilities and when not. Different things, like her range, the levels of emotions, how long it could last. According to her, some of the more experienced Empathics, such as the ones that had been in the Fleet themselves and been allowed the time and support to practice in their abilities, were able to affect others while distracted, have it last as long as needed, and sometimes even affect others on a different ship if it were close enough. But...those Empathics were more than a century and a half older than her and had been practicing their abilities for much longer than her.

"It'll be ok," he murmured to her, knowing she'd hear him.

He'd promised once that he'd protect her, and he would.

~8~

"If all goes to plan we'll see you in 90 seconds," Uhura called to Spock.

"Do it..." Sulu nodded at her and she pulled a lever, dropping the bottom of the shuttle doors open, allowing Spock to descend, down a rope, into the main volcano of the planet…a volcano that was about to erupt any moment and destroy the natives, halting their evolution.

Sulu looked over, seeing alarms starting to go off, seeing that ash was starting to get lodged into the the engines and coils once more, clogging them, "I can't hold this position. Spock, I've got to pull you back up!"

"Negative," Spock's voice came over the comm., the readings on the scanners saying he was only halfway down, "This is our only chance to save the species. If this volcano erupts, the planet dies," he was quite a moment, "I cannot allow Cora to experience that again."

Sulu and Uhura fell silent at that, both of them had been there when Cora had experienced Vulcan's demise, neither of them ever wanted the girl to go through that again either. Before they could even begin to try and come up with another alternative, there was a grunt as a warning went off…the rope securing Spock had snapped from the heat.

"Spock, are you ok?!" Uhura shouted, seeing the life signs on the monitor fall into the volcano, landing with a thud over the speakers.

~8~

Cora gasped as she stumbled in her run, panting as she felt as though she'd hit the ground yet she hadn't. She glanced back over her shoulder at the volcano, knowing exactly what it had been...

~8~

"Spock!" Uhura shouted, they could hear him grunting, hear him panting as he landed inside the volcano, but with no way to get him out short of landing in there or beaming him aboard the Enterprise, neither was an option at the moment, the shuttle wouldn't be able to resist the heat enough to get to him and the Enterprise wouldn't be able to do anything without the natives seeing it.

"I am, surprisingly, alive," he reported, "Standby."

Uhura turned to Sulu, "We've to get him back. I'll suit-up and go down."

Sulu shook his head and grabbed her hand, stopping her, "We have to abandon the shuttle."

"We can't just leave him Sulu!"

SHE couldn't leave him. She had promised Cora she would watch out for the Vulcan just before she and Kirk and McCoy had been dropped planetside. She had done enough damage and caused enough pain to the woman as a Cadet, she would NOT let the girl come to any harm now, she would not be the cause of it again. She had…gotten to know Cora well as they served on the Enterprise, it had honestly surprised her how well she got on with the girl given the less than favorable relationship they'd had before.

Cora was sweet and genuine and…strong. Stronger than she let on. But they all knew she would not survive something like this. Empathic males were stronger than the females in that they could endure after the loss of their selected 'mate,' to go with the Vulcan term for lack of a better word. Empathics didn't have a specific term for the one they were paired with, they had lost the meaning of it over the centuries, due to the Mas'heirs and their enforced breeding programs. Those lucky enough to find love with their selected partner would only use small names for them, beloved, cherished one, love, small words to indicate how they felt, yet there was no set term for what the other person was.

Regardless, the males were the pillar of strength for the family, they could live past the death of their females, the females however…were not as lucky. They depended on the males for the strength they lost during childbirth. They could live yes, if there were children, if there were small people that held traces of their male. But Cora was not a mother and she WAS bound to Spock, there would be nothing to protect her should Spock die. Well, they weren't sure if she'd die if Spock did, because of the lack of empathetic bond on Spock's side, but Cora WAS tied to him empathetically, they didn't want to risk taking the chance to see if she'd live on afterwards, because they didn't want Spock to die in the first place either.

"We don't have a choice," Sulu told her, "Uhura I'm sorry."

Uhura swallowed hard before grabbing the comm., "Spock, we're going back to the Enterprise. We're getting you out of there."

"Captain," Sulu switched to a different comm., "I'm ditching the shuttle. You gotta make it to the Enterprise on your own."

"Um…" Cora came on, "I am not comfortable repeating Captain Kirk's answer."

Sulu let out a small chuckle at that, before looking at Uhura, "Uhura, are you ready to swim?"

She nodded, "I'm ready."

And with that, she and Sulu flew the shuttle away, heading for the Enterprise, hidden at the bottom of the ocean just beside a cliff.

~8~

The trio continued to run through the red landscape, the natives getting closer and closer, their spears getting nearer and nearer to hitting their targets.

McCoy frowned when he saw the direction Kirk was heading, "Jim...Jim the beach is that way!"

"I know," Kirk shouted back, "We're not going to the beach!"

"Oh no, no!" McCoy shook his head.

"Where are we going?" Cora called, not working it out.

"We're gonna jump into the ocean, aren't we?!" McCoy guessed.

"Yes we are," Kirk agreed.

"I cannot swim!" Cora told them.

The men looked at each other over her head as they ran, Kirk realizing…that probably would have been a good thing to know before he'd stunned their ride.

"Don't worry," Kirk told her, "We'll get you there, just…hold your breath and trust us!"

Cora swallowed hard, seeing the edge of a cliff coming closer, "…ok…"

"I hate this!" McCoy yelled as they reached the edge.

"I know you do!" Kirk replied before he and McCoy each took one of Cora's arms, jumping off the cliff and into the ocean with a scream, the two men quickly starting to swim towards the Enterprise the moment they sunk into the water, they could just barely see it hidden under the water…

~8~

Cora fell to her knees, coughing as the water drained from the airlock that she, Kirk, and McCoy had found themselves in, McCoy kneeling at her side, patting her back, trying to help her breathe through the small amount of water she'd swallowed.

They looked back when they heard the door open to see Scotty standing there, "Do you have any idea how ridiculous is to hide a starship on the bottom of the ocean? We've been doing this since last night. The salt-water is going to erode..."

"Scotty, not now," Kirk cut in.

"A little help?" McCoy turned to the man, struggling to get Cora up, she was shaking. Hestia was a naturally warm planet and the typical attire for her people, to be covered, made it all the warmer. The water, while feeling slightly warm to them, had been chilled to her, her lips were turning as blue as her eyes and her teeth were starting to chatter.

"Aye," Scotty headed in, moving to Cora's other side, "Come on Lassie," he helped her stand.

"W-here's Sp-spock?" Cora got out between her shivering.

Scotty hesitated.

"Scotty?" Kirk looked at him, expecting an answer.

"Still in the volcano, sir," Scotty told them and Kirk took off out of the door.

"Get her to the med-bay now!" Kirk called back over his shoulder to McCoy, maybe if they got Cora back to health before Spock got back…he wouldn't get murdered...today at least.

~8~

Down in the volcano, Spock managed to assemble and prepare the device, a cold-fusion device that would counteract the volcano's eruption, freezing it essentially, cooling it so it wouldn't go off and save the natives below. He paused though, hearing a groaning and looked up to see waves of magma starting to rise around him, the volcano was starting to erupt.

He quickly pushed a button, activating the device.

~8~

"Captain on ze Bridge!" Chekov shouted as Kirk ran in.

"Lieutenant, do we have an open channel on Mr. Spock?" Kirk looked at Uhura.

"The heat is frying his comms. but we still have a contact," Uhura reported.

"Spock!" Kirk called.

"I activated the device, Captain," Spock reported, "When the countdown is complete the reaction should render the volcano inert."

"And that's going to render him inert," McCoy remarked as he entered the Bridge, Cora with a towel wrapped around her beside him, his arm around her to offer extra heat.

"Cora!" Kirk shouted, seeing her, "Bones I told you to get her to the med-bay!"

"She refused to go till Spock was back!" McCoy defended.

"Captain...why does Cora require medical attention?" Spock asked.

Kirk winced, hearing a slight edge to the Vulcan's otherwise flat voice, realizing he should NOT have mentioned that while the comm. connection was still open, "Do we have use of the transporters?" he asked instead.

"Your attempt to return the discussion to the topic of point indicates your own guilt in properly answering the question," Spock remarked.

"Mr. Sulu," Kirk looked at the pilot, trying to do anything to not have to answer Spock.

"Negative, sir," Sulu reported.

"Not with this kind of magnetic field..." Chekov added from beside Sulu, both men working frantically to try and come up with a way to help.

"I need to beam Spock back to the ship," Kirk looked around at them, "Give me one way to do it."

"Maybe if we have a direct line of sight..." Chekov began.

"Hang on wee man," Scotty, who had moved to the viewscreen, turned around, "You are talking about an active volcano. Sir, if that thing erupts, I cannae guarantee we can withstand the heat."

"I don't know if we can maintain that kind of altitude," Sulu agreed.

"Our shuttle was concealed by the ash cloud," Spock spoke, "But the Enterprise is too large. If utilized in a rescue effort, it would be revealed to the indigenous species."

"So it is against the rules," Cora swallowed, looking at Kirk pleadingly, "There must be an exception…"

Her people, much like Spock's, were quite...against breaking rules. Though, where Vulcans chose to follow the rules, seeing that, logically they had been put in place for reasons and as a result of mistakes made by others, Empathics had had it beaten into them that they were never to defy an order, and that included rules. She...did agree with Spock that the rules should not be broken, but...if there was an exception, a way to...bend them as Spock had bent them to save the natives, it wouldn't be breaking them at all. There HAD to be something they could do.

"None," Spock cut in, "Such action violates prime directive."

"Shut up, Spock!" McCoy shouted, seeing Cora flinch at that, at how Spock was essentially refusing a rescue, NONE of them wanted to see Cora feel the death of whatever the hell Spock was to her, they'd all noticed she was more…closely tied to him than before due to that Vulcan mating thing, that she could feel him in particular over longer distances, she could probably feel him in the volcano even now, "We're trying to save you, damn it!"

"Doctor, the needs of the many outweigh needs of the few," Spock recited.

"And what happens when that 'few' includes your mate?!" the man snapped, stepping away from Cora.

"Spock we're talking about your life!" Kirk agreed, "About Cora's life! You die in there, you kill her here."

"Subtle Jim," McCoy rolled his eyes, seeing Cora tensing at that, at all of them talking like Spock was really and truly going to die instead of speaking on how there was a chance he might be saved.

Spock was silent for a long while before he spoke, his voice flatter than they'd heard it since Cora had joined Starfleet, "The rule cannot be violated in any case..." they frowned, hearing the comm. starting to break up, static playing instead.

"Spock!" Cora called, feeling fear grip her, clutching at the towel around her till her knuckles turned whiter than her hands already were, "Captain Kirk…" she looked at him pleadingly.

"Try to get him back online," Kirk ordered the crew.

"90 seconds to detonation," Chekov reported.

McCoy glanced at Cora, seeing her starting to shake as he put his arm around her once more. They'd been a crew for a while now, a few months really, and they were all like family to each other by now. Cora…she'd become like a little sister to them all…well, except Chekov, Chekov had become a little brother to her as he was younger. After having called the boy by his full name numerous times and, well, wasting time to do it, Chekov had finally managed to convince her to call him just PAC, like the old Earth game Pac-Man, for his initials, convincing her that it was still respectful and still proper because she was encompassing his entire name in doing so...if only they'd all been so luck as to be blessed with a name as long as Chekov's was.

"If Spock were here and I were there," Kirk wondered as McCoy and Cora stepped beside him, "What would he do?"

"He'd let you die," McCoy remarked.

"He would transport you in," Cora countered, "Somehow, he would get you in range, without being seen, and he'd transport you in. Because you are the captain."

They stood there, watching as the life sign for Spock continued to blink...in the middle of the volcano.

"To hell with this," Kirk muttered, "You stay here," he pointed at Cora, "You have the comm.," he told her, before running out of the room, McCoy rushing after him, the man shouting orders as he went.

~8~

Spock stood up in the volcano, the device now fully activated, before closing his eyes and holding out his arms, breathing out as he cleared his mind and buried his emotions…ready for what might come...

~8~

On the planet, the natives stopped, staring in awe as the Enterprise rose out of the sea, flying towards the volcano, needing to get in range…

~8~

Spock opened his eyes only when he started to see an odd light behind his eyelids, staring around him as the volcano's magma began to harden and freeze…the lights of a transport surrounding him.

When he blinked, he found himself standing on the transport pad of the Enterprise, looking around as Kirk and McCoy ran into the room, "Spock!" Kirk called, "You alright?"

Spock just blinked and looked at him, "Captain, you let them see our ship."

McCoy rolled his eyes, "He's fine."

"Bridge to Captain Kirk," Uhura called over the comm..

"Yes, Lieutenant," Kirk responded.

"Cora wishes for confirmation that Commander Spock is onboard, sir."

"Safe and sound."

"Please notify him that, his device has successfully detonated."

"You heard that?" Kirk grinned at him, "Congratulations, Spock. You just saved the world."

"You violated the prime directive," Spock continued, unable to let that go.

"Ah come on Spock," Kirk laughed, shrugging, "They saw us. Big deal."

Before Spock could remind the captain one more time that he had broken the prime directive, hoping that it might sink in if he said it enough times..Cora stumbled into the room, "Spock!" she breathed, smiling at him, dropping the towel and rushing over to him, seeming as though about to hug him…only to stop a foot away from him, "You are hot."

Kirk burst out laughing at that, 'hot' and 'Spock' were not words he'd ever thought he'd hear used in the same sentence.

McCoy rolled his eyes and punched him in the shoulder, "She meant his heat-resistant suit," he reminded the man, "Come on," he nudged Kirk again and the two of them made their way over to Spock, pulling on heat-resistant gloves to start getting Spock out of his own suit.

Spock though, his gaze remained on Cora, trained on her lips which were still partially blue, "Cora...what has happened?" his eyes shifted from her lips to her damp hair and her wet outfit.

"The plan needed...amendments," Cora supplied.

Spock frowned until McCoy elaborated, "We jumped off a cliff into the ocean and swam to the Enterprise."

Spock turned to them, making them jerk back, his suit halfway off, "Cora cannot swim."

"Am I the ONLY one who didn't know that?" Kirk grumbled, just reaching out to continue to help Spock out, "She was fine Spock."

"Clearly she is NOT 'fine' as you put it, Captain," Spock's eyes narrowed at him as he stepped back, out of reach.

"Look, she's alive, you're alive, the Nibiruans are alive, it's been a good day."

McCoy sighed, seeing Spock was not amused by Kirk's attempt to play off the situation. He knew Kirk was actually feeling guilty about it, and it had nothing to do with Cora asking why the Captain felt guilty as they headed to the Bridge, but because he knew Kirk, he knew how he was. He took his role as captain surprisingly seriously...well, not very seriously, but more seriously than he did in the Kobayashi Maru simulation the last time...which wasn't actually saying all that much. But he DID feel bad about doing that to Cora, and that she had reacted so to it, he hadn't thought about the differences in climate, how the water would feel colder to her than them.

Whenever Kirk felt really guilty, he tried to play it off, tried to make it seem less serious for his own peace of mind as well, "I tried to get her to the med-bay to check on her," McCoy added, "But she refused until you were back onboard."

Spock nodded, looking at Cora intently, noting how she crossed her arms and appeared a bit cold and...the thought of McCoy seeing her in the med-bay, in being the one to help her, to examine her and touch her...unsettled him. HE wanted to be the one to care for her and warm her and ensure she was alright and just...be with her. He didn't want McCoy or Kirk to be near her right now, which was odd as they had kept her safe and ensured that she made it back to the Enterprise. He was certain it was his near death in the volcano that was bringing these thoughts to the surface, but...right then...he just...wanted to be with Cora, alone.

"She does not require your services, doctor," he told McCoy, before glancing at him, "I will take care of my mate," he turned to Cora, gesturing her out of the room with a light hand to the small of her back.

Kirk grinned as he watched them go before nudging McCoy, "When he says 'take care of his mate,' you don't think he means...take care of her, do you?" he couldn't even wait for an answer before he started chuckling.

McCoy just rolled his eyes.

Their captain was a 12 year old.

A/N: Lol, oh Kirk, you naughty-minded boy :) I wanted to sort of take a small look into the minds of the other crew members in this chapter, what they know and think of Cora and Spock, before we really get into Spock and Cora ;) I'm very excited for the next chapter, the 'taking care of her' and also a discussion about the volcano :)

I'm going to do something a little different for this story. Originally it was going to be an original chapter, then one based on the movie, and alternate. But as I was editing, it didn't flow as well and seemed odd to end at certain points. So what I'm going to do is make it like one big long continuous movie but broken up in 12 chapters. So we'll get original scenes mixed with movie portions, acting like bridges between scenes and also extending other scenes :)

I'm glad you're all liking it so far and are excited for Khan and Pon Farr, I am too ^-^

Some notes on reviews...

Thanks! I've seen the episode of Spock in Pon Farr yup :) That was one of the few I managed to find time to watch. This one will be a bit different, mostly because here Spock's completely accepted his human half and it'll be a bit more intense than in the show because his mate isn't on Vulcan but right there ;) And his feelings and relationship with her and her species might cause him some troubles ;)

I don't like lemons or limes either, definitely not me :) I sort of believe that things like that should be private between characters and not broadcast, but left up to imagination :) Lol, I think Cora and Angel would get along nicely too :)

I'm very excited for the Kirk/OC as well :) Especially as I was writing this because she's so different to Cora :)

It's only been a few months between the last movie and this one, I'd say, at most, about 6 months :)