They raced down the hall; nearby they could hear a war being waged. They were halfway down a corridor when a group of Vulcans came running from the end opposite them. The Enterprise crew had already raised their weapons to fire when a woman at the head of the Vulcans said "Spock!"

Kirk gestured for the guards to hold their fire, as he recognized the woman as T'kas, the Vulcan who had tried to warn them. The guards held their fire but didn't lower their weapons. T'Kas came forward ignoring the weapons, but the Vulcans behind her hung back slightly watching the Enterprise crew apprehensively.

T'kas's hair had escaped its neat braids and strands hung in her face, she looked flushed and spoke quickly. "Spock we came to help, the others of your crew have already left. We must hurry we've cleared a way to your shuttle but Silkar will—"

Spock cut her off "Silkar is dead" he said coldly

T'Kas faltered, as she heard the new of her brother's death. After a moment she said "What? How did he die?" Spock glanced slightly back at Uhura. Uhura even though she was standing mere feet away from T'Kas appeared not to have heard the Vulcan woman's words and didn't say a thing.

Spock turned back to T'Kas, a muscle was twitching in his jaw as he said "He was killed ...in self-defence"

T'Kas stared at him for a long moment reading between the lines of his statement and then straightened slightly allowing her face to become expressionless and said "We must go there isn't much time the planet will start to break apart soon and eventually you will not be able to leave."

They hurried through the passageways, numerous times they were forced to stop as disruptor fire flashed past. As the passed through the corridors they saw the inhabitants locked inside combat with each other, even children as young as a few years were involved.

They passed near an overhang of rock and Kirk was forced to fire on a boy no older than ten. The child had fired from his hiding place overhead, hitting a guard in the shoulder. The wounded guard fell to the ground and blood started flooding his already stained uniform.

The young Vulcan boy tumbled to the ground from the ledge and fell hitting his head. His landed with his neck at a grotesque angle and a small widening puddle of green blood started under his head.

There was no time to check and see whether the boy was dead. The commotion had alerted others. They barely had enough time to help the injured guard to his feet before disruptor fire started down the corridor towards them. As they set of at a run again, T'Kas gestured for them to follow her into a side door and they found themselves inside a small dark tunnel. The door clicked shut behind them, blocking out the noise and one of the Vulcans in the group pulled out an emergency light illuminating the narrow tunnel. "This tunnel will take you to where your shuttle is" T'Kas said. The others wordlessly followed her and within minutes they arrived in a shuttle bay. There was one shuttle inside. Kirk recognized the shuttle as the Devlin not the shuttle they had came in. As they walked toward it T'Kas said "we could not get to your other shuttle it was to heavily guard and this one will serve the same purpose".

"No, it damn well won't, over half my medical equipment was on that other shuttle" McCoy said from where he was kneeling next to the injured guard who was propped up against the shuttle wall. McCoy continued grumbling as he peeled the man's uniform back from his wound. The injury was awful looking, it was burned badly and blood streamed thickly from it.

Ensign Stehl, the guard, took one look at the wound and said "We're going to die" then started crying. Roth looked at him disgustedly and fingered his weapon.

McCoy finished bandaging the guard's wound, then stood up. He walked over to Stehl and slapped him across the face. The ensign stopped crying and looked startled. McCoy said glaring at the Stehl "If we're going to die, nobody wants to listen to you cry while they do. So shut the hell up!" Ensign Stehl didn't say a word. McCoy continued "If you start up again, I'm going to slap the sh—out of you"

Kirk told T'Kas what Silkar had said he had done to the shuttle the other three crewmembers had escaped in. T'Kas was startled, but had one of her people check the flight logs and the man quickly confirmed that a few minutes into their trip, somebody had remotely taken over the shuttle and disabled the engines, helm and navigation. They could only tell a general direction of where the shuttle could be, not pinpoint any specific spot due to the sketchy sensor data from the anomaly's interference.

Kirk nodded at the woman's words and gestured for the others to get on the shuttle. As they started board, T'Kas spoke "we'll try to hold them back long enough for you to find your people and get away from here."

Kirk said "T'Kas we –" then he stopped and simply said "Thanks"

Then he walked in the shuttle and settled in the cockpit next to Spock, they began running the pre-flight checks and within seconds they flew out into the planet's final night.

XXXX XXXX

Chekov awoke to the shrieking sirens and computer's calm, mechanical voice saying containment breach in 5 minutes. The interior of the shuttle was hazy with smoke and twisted pieces of metal and plastic showed that Lieutenant Havarii had failed to level off the shuttle before it impacted with the planet surface. The acrid odour of burnt fabric and plastic seared the air. Chekov was still strapped in the co-pilot's seat; he fumbled with the straps and unclasped the harness. His mouth was filled with the taste of blood, and his head was throbbing. He placed a hand to his forehead and when he took it away, a smear of red coated his palm. He blinked several times trying to clear his vision. The action only caused a surge of dizziness and nausea to rush forward. He put his head in his hands for a moment until the sensation passed. He tried to clear his hazy mind enough to think clearly. Where was he? What was going on?

Containment Breach in four minutes , thirty seconds

He sat up at the shuttle's mechanized warning, he blinked a few more times and his vision cleared slightly. Desperately he tried to figure out what need to be done. He glanced around and remembered what had happened. He was in a shuttle, and from the computer's warning he realized he had very little time to get out. A quick look at the computer panel confirmed that the computer's voice was correct. The warp Core temperature was rapidly rising and the containment field was decaying; they had to evacuate. Chekov glanced across at Havarii who was slumped in his seat, still strapped in, his head limply lolled to the side, and blood trickled thickly down his face from a gash above his eye. Chekov touched the Lieutenant's neck and was rewarded with a steady beat beneath his fingers. Havarii was unconscious but alive. Now where was Ensign Kelly? Chekov couldn't stop himself from thinking of how bad Kelly could be hurt. Havarii had been strapped in on impact, Kelly hadn't. If the lieutenant was this badly injured and he was restrained, Kelly could be... Chekov's mind conjured up horrific images of Kelly lying seriously injured or dead.

Containment Breach four minutes

Chekov moved out of the cramped cockpit, frantically searching for the ensign, in the hazy shuttle interior. He was unsteady on his feet and the slightest movement, made the sensation of dizziness and nausea rush back. He pushed down his own discomfort focusing on the one thing that was important to him: finding Kelly. He called her name, straining to hear something above the shriek of sirens, praying that she wasn't injured. Where was she? They had to get out of here and moving the unconscious Havarii would be hard enough without having to help her if she was injured.

Containment Breach three minutes, thirty seconds.

He stumbled through the chaotic piles of wreckage in his way. He called Kelly's name repeatedly. Her name had taken on a harsh quality as he strained to be heard and smoke filled his mouth with every breath. Finally, Chekov heard a small moan of to his right and moved toward the sound, Kelly was awake and alive. A wave of relief washed over him until he noticed, most of her body was trapped beneath debris.

He rushed to her side and crouched down. "Pavel" Kelly said weakly, grimacing, her face ghostly white. He could see she was scared; he tried to school his features so his shock at the sight of her didn't register in his expression.

Containment Breach three minutes.

"I'll get you out of here don't vorry" Chekov said shifting debris off her as quickly as he could without knocking anymore down upon her. The computer had said three minutes were left; he had no idea how he could remove all the debris in three minutes and still have time to evacuate. He tried to remain calm. He didn't want to alarm Kelly, but desperation and panic was eating at the corners of his mind. Chekov worked feverishly. Blood was trickling down the corner of his face but he didn't spare even the few seconds it would have taken to wipe the stream away. He ignored the protesting twinges in his chest that indicated some of his ribs were broken. He willed away the nausea and dizziness that made him want to collapse to the ground. Nothing mattered but freeing Kelly.

"Pavel is Havarii alive?" Kelly said her voice low almost a whisper. He heard the strain caused by pain in her tone. He nodded while continuing to move debris, as he started shifting the pieces closer to her body, he felt a sticky substance coating his hands, but refused to acknowledge what it was. A sickly coppery smell was wafting upwards; he swallowed back the acid the odour had caused to come up.

"Pavel-" The girl gasped painfully "just take him and go."

Containment Breach two minutes, thirty seconds.

"No, "Chekov said stubbornly shaking his head, he pulled one of the last pieces off he. He finally glanced down as she gave a gasp of pain. A long shard of metal was sticking directly out of her chest pinning her to the floor, another piece of metal held her legs tightly pinned in place. Her chest was soaked in blood and a crimson pool was slowly forming beneath her. Chekov raised his hands and stared at them, they were covered in blood. The sticky substance covered his hands, like gloves of red. "No…I can't" Chekov murmured refusing to accept what he was seeing.

"Pavel take Havarii and go!" she said and coughed a painful grimace crossing her face as flecks of blood coated her lips.

Containment Breach two minutes.

"No I can't… I can move this ... I can get you out" He said not listening to her. He refused to accept the situation and cut his hands on the jagged debris, as he doggedly strained to remove the piece of metal trapping her legs. The cuts from the metal throbbed with pain. However, the pain from the physical injuries were nothing compared to the pain he felt in his heart as he saw the past being repeated and once again he was powerless to change the course of events.

"Pavel you can't, even if you could this piece of metal is pinning me to the floor" she said weakly tears running down her face "you have to get out of here" The words of the fortune teller came back to her You will graduate and find the one you love, on a faraway planet, you both shall die, You in his arms, She knew this was the end for her. She was dying, as much as she tried to hold on life was slipping away, but she wouldn't let the woman's words come true entirely. She looked up into Chekov's panicked, desperate face.

"I can't leave you Leah -, I have to save you" He said each word more painful than the last.

" You have to go" she said her voice finding some strength as she reached out to grasp his hand her cold fingers gripping his ,as her eyes searched his own. "Please" she said intensely her voice a whisper.

Chekov suddenly leaned down and kissed her, cradling her tenderly in his arms, her warm blood soaking into his clothes, their tears mingling. He tasted blood in his mouth and he didn't know whether it was his or Kelly's. Her skin felt icy cold next to his. Chekov kissed her trying to put all the things he wished he had said but hadn't into that one action.

Kelly wished the moment wouldn't end, her pain and fear had disappeared it was just her and Chekov but she could feel time and life slipping away . Her body beginning to shut down, and reality forced its ugly way in as the computer's calm emotionless voice issued forth its warning:

Containment Breach one minute, thirty seconds

Kelly pulled back, marshalling the last of her strength she pushed Chekov away "Go, you don't have much time." She forced a grim smile to her lips, ignoring the pain she felt, tugging at her body and her heart. Kelly felt tears burning at the corner of her eyes. She forced herself not to cry, if this was going to be his last sight of her, she wanted to be remembered smiling not with a face twisted with tears and pain. Chekov's face was tormented; she could see he had opened his mouth to speak. She gently placed a hand to the side on the his face and said quietly."It's okay...You can come back for me"

She knew those were the only words that would make him able to leave; she struggled with herself to avoid showing the falseness of what she had said. He barely had time to evacuate himself and the Lieutenant; he wouldn't be able to come back for her.

Chekov nodded not trusting himself to speak. Hot tears streaked down his face, that he couldn't find the energy to be embarrassed of. Chekov brushed a hand over Kelly's which still rested on his cheek. Steeling himself, he nodded quickly and with one last look at Kelly, he made his way back to the Cockpit and unstrapped Havarii. Hefting the unconscious lieutenant, he opened the emergency hatch .He exited the shuttle, half-dragging the unconscious man. Chekov made it several feet before he lowered the unconscious man to the ground, preparing to go back for Kelly.

Kelly lay there, her breath was more uneven now it wouldn't be long now even if the shuttle didn't explode. She hoped Chekov wouldn't come back, if he did she knew she wouldn't be able to get him to leave and a part of her wouldn't want him to. She was afraid to die alone. She gulped painfully tasting blood in her mouth and turned her head. A bright light was starting at the back of the shuttle. Was that an explosion or something else? The light grew bigger and brighter seeming to encompass all of her vision in a coruscating white mass, it rushed towards her it's warmth enfolding her form. Her last thought before the oncoming blast obliterated all thoughts was he loved m-

He knew he could get her; he refused to accept the alternative, He thought of all the people that had died because of him, all the people he hadn't saved.

This time would be different,

This time had to be different,

He had taken only a few steps toward the shuttle when the containment field blew in a nearly blinding glare of light. An explosion rocked the night, sending a shockwave hurtling towards Chekov and the unconscious lieutenant. Chekov's body was struck by an intense force and he felt an excruciating pain in his leg, then he was falling. His last thought was of Kelly's face as he had last seen her pale and scared, and then he mercifully blacked out.

Next update will be March 14th. So early update! How was the chapter? Touching, sweet, sappy, drop me a comment. I was particularly worried about this scene and reworked it several times. Anyway, thanks to all my followers favouriters and reviewers. Reviews are most definitely welcome and appreciated.