An: I hope you like it so far. To address a concern in the reviews, I am tackling this story more or less in an alternate universe which I tend to do with most of my Star Trek stories. Vulcans are my favorite species to write about because of their dual burdens of being logical creatures, but with more passionate emotions than humans. I prefer to explore this duality because it would be very boring to portray all Vulcans as stoic emotionless creatures. Setting them up in terms of background and personality allows me to develop them as characters and enrich the story.
The Hunt
(Five Days Later)
Fortunately, the ship crashed deep in the forest providing the crew both the isolation and protection they needed as they waited for help to arrive.
The small crew waited in the depths of the forest with what little supplies they managed to salvage from the wreckage.
In truth, the Vulcans were in shock, the captain was dead, they were stranded on a remote alien world with a pre-warp species just emerging from a violent war, and even worst, the threat of starvation was growing more real with each day.
Of the four, only Tolarius had experience with this kind of situation, thirty years ago, he had been stranded on a small M-Class planted.
His expertise would have been valuable, but he was killed upon impact, leaving T'Mir in command. Stronn and T'Mir had been on survey missions before to study other pre-warp species; however, Mestral's experience came only through theoretical studies at the academy.
Regardless of their experience, none had been prepared for this.
The thought of living out the rest of their long lives among such illogical and dangerous creatures sent a chill up the spines of all three.
Entertaining such a thought was logical if not necessary.
It could become a reality.
Stronn had just gotten back from getting more wood for the fire as T'Mir opened the last ration package. "This forest is teeming with animal life, remarkable, considering the ecological damage humans inflicted" Stronn remarked. "During my quest for firewood, I came across a baby….."
T'Mir interrupted him, "We have more important things to be concern about than baby animals."
Stronn nodded his head in agreement.
Stronn usually agreed with T'Mir. It made life easier.
Mestral took the wood from Stronn and threw it into the fire.
The warmth helped them all to meditate.
T'Mir took the last package of rations and shared it with the others.
They sat in silence for nearly thirty minutes when Mestral both hungry and tired interrupted the silence.
"Stronn spoke about there being animals in the forest; perhaps we can hunt one and eat? Its flesh will allow us to survive until the High Command sends help."
T'Mir raised an eyebrow, "Do you even know how to hunt?"
"Of course he doesn't. None of us do. Vulcans don't eat meat and our situation is no reason for us to engage in savagery," Stronn sensing the slight inflection in his voice make an effort to suppress his feelings of agitation.
Mestral shook his head in disagreement, "Death is illogical when it can be avoided. Why die of starvation when the forest can supply our needs?"
T'Mir put away her sensor, "And what if we come across a human?"
"We can come across a human by staying here," Mestral said.
"It's only been five days, Mestral." T'Mir countered.
"We can survive for a few more days." Stronn added.
"Five more days without food will leave us too weak to hunt and even defend ourselves," Mestral stressed his point.
T'Mir changed the subject, "We must think about the ship."
This sudden change in the conversation confused Mestral, "The ship?"
"Yes, we have to find a way to hide it." T'Mir responded.
The ship was the last thing on Mestral's mind; it was hidden away by the thickness of the forest. If worst came to worst and the humans discovered the ship, what could they do? Better to leave them with a mystery. After all, it wasn't the first time an alien species other than Vulcans visited Earth and left something behind.
But that could wait. Mestral wasn't going to point out the flaw in T'Mir's logic without her first understanding the need for food trumps even Tolarius's orders.
T'Mir understood the logic in Mestral's words, yes, they needed to eat and not just because of the threat of starvation, but also what starvation could do to their mental discipline.
Stronn knew this as well; already he could feel the barriers used to control his emotions starting to give away to fatigue and hunger.
A Vulcan with no emotional control was a danger to himself and others.
Mestral decided not wait around for the other two Vulcans to make up their minds, he stood up from the fire and walked into the forest.
"Mestral!" T'Mir called after the young Vulcan.
There were only two choices; eat flesh or lose emotional control and die of starvation.
(Several Hours Later)
Coupled with fatigue and hunger the two remaining Vulcans went to sleep to conserve what little energy they had left.
A few hours later, T'Mir and Stronn awoke to the distinctive and unpleasant smell of burning flesh and sat up to see Mestral sitting next to fire cooking the meat.
Sensing T'Mir's eyes on him, Mestral spoke softly so not to wake Stronn, "Starvation is illogical when it can be avoided."
When Mestral finished cooking, the three Vulcans sat around the fire and consumed the flesh.
(One Hour Later)
The meal satisfies the Vulcans hunger and helps in retaining their emotional control.
Now with the threat of hunger no longer an issue, T'Mir brings up another concern.
"The temperature has been gradually dropping. We won't be able to stay out in the open for very long."
"We could use the ship as shelter," Stronn suggested.
"Yes, we could, but ship is a wreck and the weather is going to get worst. I've been using my sensor readings to gather information about this area…"
"Did you senor readings pick up on a settlement nearby?" Mestral asked. "Staying here isn't an option. While I was hunting, I spotted a city about twenty miles from here."
Stronn and T'Mir exchanged glances, "Are you suggesting we go into this city?"
Mestral nodded his head, "Yes that is exactly what I am saying. These are not the Thollians or the Klingons our external psychical features are similar. We can blend in."
Perhaps in a form of Vulcan mockery, Stronn pointed at his ears, "And how do we hide these?"
Mestral took a piece of his hair on both sides and covered the tips of his ears.
"We don't speak human." T'Mir pointed out.
"Technically, there is no such thing as a 'human language.' Humans speak many different languages and dialects among their many cultures."Mestral continued, "The captain placed me in charge of observing human cultural and social interactions the humans in this area speak a language known as English."
"English?"
"Yes, it's base on primitive basic syntax. I managed to save a PADD with information on this language."
Mestral reached into his bag and handed T'Mir his PADD.
"We don't have a choice. We must go into the city."
Venturing into the city presented another set of risks the Vulcans couldn't possibly prepare for.
But what choice did they have?
An: I hope you like it so far. I really like the Mestral character both in this story and in the Carbon Creek episode and get the feeling this guy is going to be the most change by this experience.