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I'm afraid that this is going to be a rather heart-wrenching chapter; I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry.
Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one except maybe David Riley.
They land in the middle of a dust storm as it begins to gain speed.
"Are you kidding me," Sulu grumbles as he immediately shields his eyes from the sand kicking up into his face. "No one told us about this."
"It probably just started," Riley says helpfully.
"Should I call in?" Chekov asks.
"Yeah, go ahead. I'm going to find some shelter. Riley – stay with Mr. Chekov, will you?"
"Aye, Lieutenant." Chekov makes a mental note of how Riley's hand lightly rests on his phaser. He's not sure if he ought to be worried or reassured by the other man's constant vigilance.
"If I'm not back in ten minutes, alert the Enterprise." Sulu withdraws a familiar scabbard, and his katana unfurls itself to gleam in the dim light.
"Maybe five, Mr. Sulu. The storm's getting a little worse." Riley turns to look at Chekov busily typing at his screen, frown furrowing his young face. "Any luck, Mr. Chekov?"
"There appears to be some interference from the storm," Chekov says, fingers flying across the smooth screen. The holographic projections of numbers and data screen scroll by endlessly, and Riley looks away, blinking to erase the bright image seared into his eyes. "I can't get a solid lock on the communicators on the ship."
"The storm will die down eventually," Riley offers. "Once Mr. Sulu gets back we can try and fix the problem."
"No, it's-"
But Chekov never gets to explain what he thinks the problem is, because Sulu emerges from the jungle just then, swearing heavily at the gash on his shoulder. "It tried to bite me," he says when Riley raises an eyebrow at him. "All I did was look at it!"
"You weren't trying to capture it and take it back to the ship, were you?" Chekov asks, remembering Kirk's request.
"What?" Riley asks.
"No," Sulu says lamely in response, convincing no one of his innocence, "I wasn't."
Chekov only grins. "Good try, Mr. Sulu. How about shelter? Did you find any?"
"There's a cave nearby," Sulu says, reverting back to business. "Doesn't appear to be any life forms in there, so we should be okay. Still. Phasers on stun, gentlemen. No telling what's going to happen."
The dust storm howls in response to his statement. Chekov grimaces. Maybe staying on the ship was a better idea.
The cave is dark and cool when they get in, thankfully wiping the sand and dust from their brows. "We should block the entrance," Sulu suggests. "Not entirely, but enough that we can stop the wind from blowing in. Any luck with the Enterprise, Mr. Chekov?"
"Communicators still down, Commander." Chekov fiddles with his earpiece, hearing brief static and snatches of voices coming through. If he focuses, he can hear Uhura's voice dictating the commands and reciting the procedures needed to restore communications with the landing party. For a few moments, he wishes he were back up there on the ship, working at something he was good at, but he also knows that things had to be different. He isn't seventeen anymore. Bigger things are asked of him. Even if they are just boring little landing parties –
His attention is drawn back to the situation at hand by the blaring screech. "Ensign Chekov," Uhura is saying. "Ensign Chekov. Do you read me?"
"Uhura!" In his moment of relief, Chekov forgets all protocol. "Yes, it is me. I read you."
He expects her to sigh in relief, or at the very least relax into an amused tone to tease him. But her voice does neither of those things – it stands taut, tensed and on alert. "Mr. Chekov. Where are Mr. Sulu and Mr. Riley?"
"They're here-" Chekov looks up to see Sulu and Riley come in, a questioning look on Sulu's face. "Lieutenant, is something wrong?"
There's a stifled sob before a cool voice comes over the line. "Mr. Chekov. This is Commander Spock."
"Is something wrong, Commander?"
There is a long pause. Sulu takes a seat opposite Chekov and Riley hovers over them both, hand perpetually resting on his phaser. "There were… complications that we did not foresee," Spock says at last. "It appears that the planet Dolal is a Klingon colony."
Chekov almost chokes on his tongue. "Klingon? I scanned the planet myself, sir, there were no traces of Klingon vessels in the area."
"It appears that the colony was well-concealed," Spock says, his voice alarmingly composed despite Chekov's growing panic. "A small group of Klingons who took this planet for their own."
The light from the projection skitters across the cave, throwing everything into ethereal relief. Chekov can just barely make out the shock written on Sulu's and Riley's faces. Finally, Sulu speaks. "What do you want us to do?"
"We don't know yet," a new voice says. Jim Kirk's voice has none of its usual cheeriness laced into it. This is the captain speaking, the hard, authoritative, confident man who gained his reputation of being invincible on the back of miracles and acts of deus ex machina. Chekov can't help but wonder if he will be able to pull off another miracle one more time. "For now, sit tight and don't do anything stupid. I'm grounding your mission as of now. We'll get you back as soon as possible once this storm passes."
Chekov thinks about all the empty promises he's heard the last few years and can't help but compare it to how similar this one sounds.
"You have rations that will last you approximately a week and a half," Kirk goes on, his voice tight. There's a certain gravity to his words that alarms the three men in the cave – like it's the words of a man who sees the gallows and is reciting the Lord's Prayer. "We have sent Starfleet an emergency message."
"Wait," Sulu says, reaching the conclusion faster than either Chekov or Riley. "You only send emergency messages if you are ever in danger-"
"It is protocol-"
"To hell with protocol," Sulu says sharply, fear making his words jagged and sharp, "you're always saying that – you only sent out an emergency message one time when you thought we were all dead."
"History is the past, Mr. Sulu," Spock begins, but Sulu is up on his feet now, fists balled up at his sides.
"The truth, Jim. Tell me. Not as a captain, as my friend." Chekov is reminded of the bond that Sulu shares with Kirk – a bond he will never really understand. A friendship shared over hangovers, drunken leaps off cliffs, bear wrestling, nights in the gym chasing each other around with a stick and a fencing sword. Endless trips to the sick bay. "What's really happening?"
There's a murmur on the other side of the line. Chekov hears Bones say, finally, "Tell him, Jim. He deserves to know." The sound of defeat in the doctor's voice, coupled with the lack of combativeness in his cadence alarms Chekov, sends fear skittering down his spine and diving into his bloodstream.
"You're on a Klingon colony," Kirk says at last. "They know we're here."
"So get out of here," Sulu demands.
"We can't," Kirk says quietly. "They want you. They know you're here, too. They want all three of you as Klingon hostages."
"We'll go," Sulu says. "We'll go, and you leave, and you come back and get us."
"Even if we wanted to leave, we couldn't," Bones says. "They hit us with something – took out our engines. We're stranded here."
"And we do not intend on leaving you behind as negotiating tools with terrorists," Spock adds.
Chekov finally finds it in himself to speak. "All due respect, Captain, it seems foolish for the Enterprise to risk itself for only three of us."
"Chekov," Kirk says firmly, "we're not leaving any of you behind."
"You cannot stay-"
"I am afraid that this is not a point to be debated with the Captain, Mr. Chekov," Spock says smoothly. "Nor, for that matter, with any of us."
"Safe mission, huh?" Bones mutters.
Chekov looks at Sulu for some sort of help; but the helmsman is staring out at the dust storm, shoulders still tense and ramrod straight, and Riley is biting his fingernails – no help there. "Captain," he begins, but Kirk cuts him off.
"Don't argue with me, kid. Listen to Spock. Hey, you never know. We might get out of this one. It'll be a story for the grandkids." But there's a note in Kirk's voice that terrifies Chekov further – it's a note of false hope. Like a drowning man knowing he'll never see light again, but convinces his failing lungs that they can take in one more fresh breath of air.
"Listen," Kirk goes on, his voice suddenly commanding again: "All three of you, listen to me. Under no circumstances are you to parlay with the Klingons. They will kill you. Starfleet has been alerted, and I am sure that you will be rescued in time-"
"And what about you?" Sulu demands.
"-lie low, shoot straight." Kirk keeps going, pointedly ignoring Sulu. The static is beginning to creep in again. "I don't want you to come looking for us-" It grows louder and Chekov grabs for the screen, frantically recalibrating the signal as Kirk's voice grows weaker and weaker. "-honoured to have been your captain-"
The signal fades out completely and Kirk's voice vanishes from the cave. Chekov's fingers still on his screen and Sulu snatches it from him. "Give me that," he says, "they can't be gone, they can't be gone-"
It is Riley who hears it first. "Do you-" He scrambles to his feet. "Listen."
Chekov hears it too, the unmistakable whine of a ship taking off. "They must be nearby," he says.
Sulu races for the mouth of the cave, pushing aside the makeshift barrier and clambering out. Riley promptly hauls him back before the other man is blown away by the increasingly wild dust storm. "Get back here," he says sharply.
"Get your hands off me-"
"I am security – my job is to keep you from doing anything stupid-"
Sulu looks like he is about two seconds away from punching Riley when Chekov inserts himself between the both of them. "Stop, look!" he shouts, pointing at the rapidly receding lights of a ship rising above the storm. "Where are they going?"
Sulu's answer is laden with horror and defeat. "To attack the Enterprise."
The realization breaks over Chekov's head like a bucket of cold water. "No," he says. "Impossible."
"The captain didn't want us to know," Sulu says, the fight going out of him. He slumps against the cave wall, sliding down. "He didn't want us to know they were going to die-"
"They're not going to die," Riley says, but his open, helpless palms and shaky voice gives him away.
Outside, the dust storm picks up in intensity, howling as it tears past the cave and batters the barrier with grains of sand. Chekov fights down the urge to leap out and let it carry him away from here, away from the helplessness of not being able to do anything. Even when they were under threat from Khan, he was still able to try, he was still able to put his hands on something, feel the engines under his hands, try and coax them to cooperate –
-but this is different, this is so different that Chekov cannot begin to comprehend how vastly dissimilar this is from four years ago. Now he is stranded on a planet with his best friend and an acquaintance, unable to help his family when they most needed it. His family. The only people who accepted him for who he was when he stepped on that ship. His brothers and sisters and friends.
The vast chasm of helplessness threatens to swallow him whole, but Chekov fights it off, choosing instead to be practical. "Let me have the screen," he says, throat dry.
Sulu hands it over. "Got a plan?"
"An idea." Chekov begins typing in coordinates and numbers. "The transporters are coded to the last known location – which would be here. But we don't want the Enterprise to be beamed down to this planet, we want them somewhere else-"
"You think that Jim will be evacuating the crew," Sulu finishes.
"We can at least hope that he is, and we can at least send them somewhere safe," Chekov nods. Such a long shot, such a hopeful thought. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows that Kirk will have chosen to go down with the ship, but he pushes that away for the moment.
"Guys," Riley says from the entrance of the cave. "You have got to see this."
"I'm busy," Chekov says, fingers still flying in a quick message that he prays gets through.
"You're going to want to see this," Riley insists.
Chekov makes a move to get up, but Sulu puts a hand on his shoulder. "I'll go. Stay here."
But Chekov hits send and stands up, too. "It's all in God's hands now," he says with as much conviction as he can muster. He's never been particularly religious, but if anyone needed it right now it was the Enterprise.
They both join Riley at the mouth of the cave and follow his gaze upwards to the sky, where lights are flashing through the storm. Chekov pulls his shirt over his nose and mouth to stop himself from inhaling the sand. "What is that?" he shouts.
Sulu's answer is grim. "Explosions."
Just then, the communicator comes back online. "Chekov," someone is shouting. "Chekov, do you read?"
"Doctor!" Chekov races to the abandoned screen, leaving Sulu and Riley behind to watch the carnage up above. "Doctor, did you receive my message? Is the captain-"
"We're evacuating as fast as we can, Chekov, but we're not all going to make it," Bones says, yelling to be heard over the sound of the alarms going off. "Some ships are being loaded but-" An explosion rocks Bones' end of the line and the connection temporarily breaks before Bones comes back online. "-the transporter is acting up, it doesn't like this-"
"It is worth a try," Chekov insists.
"I know, kid. I know. I'm calling to say thank you on behalf of everyone. Jim would have called but he's-" Static. "-occupied right now."
"Go," Chekov begs, not noticing that Sulu has turned around and is watching him.
"Kid, you know I can't leave Jim. He'd do something stupid otherwise."
Chekov tries to push away all the memories of the times he spent with Bones – like that one summer, when he tried to learn the basics of medical training, but had found out the hard way that he did not do well with the sight of blood; Bones had never laughed at him the way he knew Kirk might have in that big brother way of his. Bones wasn't Spock, who would have quirked an eyebrow while making a remark on the unusual fragility of humans. Instead, the doctor had helped him overcome that fear with careful guidance, sharing stories of his own medical training, being there for Chekov until the latter was able to get past that initial fear.
Bones has always been there for him, and Chekov wants to scream because he can't do anything for the doctor, or for his crew. "Please go," he says one last time.
"Sorry, kid." Bones does sound genuinely apologetic, a note that's not familiar to Chekov and reminds him of how terribly final this is. "Good work. Remember to be careful down there. Don't let Sulu smuggle anything-" The static creeps in again. "-stay safe-"
There's a huge explosion from outside just as Bones screams "Jim, for God's sakes, no-" and the line goes dead. Chekov scrambles to restore the connection, but there is none left, no way of reaching the Enterprise, no way to talk one last time with a man he could have called father.
He hears the crunching of footsteps and looks up to see Sulu, who has tears slipping down his face as he silently holds his hand out to Chekov. As he takes it and pulls himself up, Chekov chokes out: "They're not supposed to die."
"I know," Sulu says quietly.
"We should have been there with them."
Sulu's face twists in agony. "I know."
A final explosion rocks the cave before the only sounds left are the wind howling outside the cave and the sand skittering on the ground. Riley leaves his post, making sure to restore the makeshift barrier, and walks over to his two other colleagues, hovering tentatively around them as Sulu embraces a freely sobbing Chekov. He understands that though he is also part of the crew, he will never really understand what the other two know. He will never really understand the bond of what the rest of the ship called the 'inner sanctum', the 'captain's crew'. This is a grief that he thinks must be shared between the both of them. A private sort of grieving that only family members could observe.
Finally, Sulu pulls away from Chekov. "Give me the communicator," he says hoarsely.
"They're gone," Chekov says, even as his trembling hands give it to Sulu.
"I know." Sulu gently takes it from the Russian's hands. He flicks to the logs and entries, meant for a record of everything they found down here on what was supposed to be a harmless mission. He gives both Riley and Chekov an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. This is something I have to do."
Riley nods and sits down next to Chekov, gently patting his shoulder. He offers Chekov a piece of his protein bar as Sulu raises the communicator to his lips. "This is Acting Captain Hikaru Sulu," he says, his voice shaky. "The time now is sixteen hundred hours. The Enterprise has been attacked…"
I'm so sorry. Is everyone okay? Do you need shock blankets? Cookies? Tea? A hug?
