Watching the stars passing by at an inconceivable speed it occurred to Maggie Zacher-Hagen that the human heart was a resilient organ. It could be broken into a million pieces but the hands of a talented physician, could be put back together like new.
Leonard had been on an away mission for the last 83 hours, Maggie couldn't help but check the read outs of the team personnel life signs every now and again from her console on the Bridge. Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura had gone with him, Commander Spock was sat in the Captain's chair.
"Ensign, what is the current condition of the Ion storm around the planet?" He asked. The young Ensign turned in his chair to face Spock, slightly nervous he cleared his throat.
"It's evolving quickly Sir, current estimations predict the away team will have to depart in the next hour to successfully transport back to the ship." Spock nodded, going to his station to check the data readings he opened the communication frequency to the away team.
"Captain Kirk, the atmosphere around the planet is becoming increasingly hazardous. It would be highly logical for you to return to the Enterprise within the next hour." Maggie listened keenly, she could hear the sound of howling wind and thunder from the incoming transmission.
"Tell us something we don't know Spock!" Kirk shouted, clearly struggling against the storm. The Ensign checked his readings again from his post and turned to address Spock.
"Sir, I revise my estimation and would advise the away team to return immediately." Spock nodded and relayed the message to Kirk.
"Beam us up Spock!" Kirk shouted.
"Lieutenant Commander Scott, transport the team straightaway." Spock instructed.
"I'm trying! There's too much interference, I can't get a lock!" Scotty replied frustratingly. Maggie listened keenly, checking her own read outs and listening to the communication from the planet.
"It's getting rough down here Spock, you need to get us out now…we're going to have to take cover." Kirk's transmission cut out.
"Captain Kirk? Captain Kirk respond." There was no response.
"Sir, request permission to take a shuttle craft to the surface of the planet." Maggie directed her attention to Spock. Spock raised an eyebrow at Maggie, she gave him her most potent stare.
"The likelihood of you making it to the rendezvous point is highly improbable Lieutenant." He was infuriatingly calm as far as Maggie was concerned.
"With all due respect Commander, I'm willing to take the risk. I'm by far the most superior Pilot on board and probably the best chance the Captain and the others have. We don't know that they were able to take cover or not." Spock took a moment and then nodded his head.
"Very well Lieutenant but I'm coming with you."
Maggie and Spock left the Bridge and ran down the corridors to shuttle bay 8. Maggie was in the Pilot's seat and powering up before Spock had closed the door. Taking the seat next to her they went through pre-flight checks in lightning speed.
"If I can't land at the rendezvous point, we may have a hike ahead of us." Maggie didn't take her eyes off the viewing screen.
"There are a number of caves in the nearby vicinity, if our sensors cannot detect them we'll need to search each one. It is highly probable that that's where they took cover." Maggie nodded in agreement, she had never flown through anything like this before. She could physically feel the effect of the strain she was under on her body. Her muscles were tense and her arms began to shake slightly. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. Finally making it through the atmosphere Maggie had miscalculated the distance, they were approaching the surface far too fast.
"Hold on Commander!" Maggie levelled the shuttle and they landed with a metal juddering thud. "Shit!"
"That was an interesting manoeuvre Lieutenant, quite effective." Spock, as ever, seemed unfazed.
"Thank you Commander." They both pulled on their cosmospheric suits, protecting them from the storm raging outside. Through the internal comms system in the helmet both Spock and Maggie could hear the other.
"We'll start on the southernmost side of the caves."
"Yes Sir." The storm that hit Maggie as she exited the shuttle was the worse she had ever experienced. She tried not to think about her fellow crewmates fighting against the elements with no protection. She hoped they'd made it far enough into one of the caves before the winds became too strong. Her thoughts went to Leonard, she had to deliberately refocus her brain on the task in hand before her emotions got the better of her. It was in these situations that Maggie was grateful that Leonard was on the whole risk adverse. He would have had them stowed away somewhere safe, she knew it.
It was a long and arduous journey, they checked each cave one by one continually checking in with one another and keeping their eyes on their indicators for any signs of life. As they made their way out of one cave and into another Maggie heard a rumbling overhead, looking up she saw a large part of the rock formation had cracked and was breaking away. The large rocks were falling towards them she shouted out to Spock. They both began to run but Spock was hit on the head by falling debris.
"Commander!" Maggie knelt down and checked over the Vulcan, he'd been knocked unconscious. His helmet had protected him somewhat from a more serious injury. Maggie looked around in panic.
"Shit!" She couldn't leave him out in the elements, pulling his upper torso into a sitting position she heaved him up over her shoulder. "My God! You're heavy Commander!" Please let them be in this cave! Maggie trundled along the entrance way of the cave, a beeping sound alerted her to lifeform signals ahead. She only hoped it was her fellow crew members and not something more ominous. Carrying on she shouted for the Captain and the others.
"We're over here!" Maggie heard the Captain's voice and started to make her way towards it. She saw outlines of figures up ahead and all but ran towards them.
"Thank goodness." She could feel her knees begin to buckle.
The relief she felt when she finally saw the Captain, Uhura and Leonard was immense. She carefully lay Spock to ground and took off her head covering taking deep long gulps of air.
"What happened?" McCoy asked kneeling down next to Spock checking him over.
"He took a blow to the head." Maggie replied still trying to catch her breath. Taking in the three of them she could see they'd been battered by the storm, their uniforms were ripped and they had abrasions all over their exposed skin.
"Where's the rest of the rescue party?" Kirk asked looking behind her.
"You're looking at it Captain." Maggie shook her large backpack off and began handing each one of them a suit of their own. "Put these on, you won't make it to the shuttle without one." The Captain gave her a lock she couldn't quite read and then began putting on his suit.
"You flew? In this? Are you insane?" McCoy stood up and glared at her, waving his arms erratically.
"Doctor McCoy! Calm down! We couldn't transport you, the storm was interfering with the Transporter. You of all people should be happy and understand that this was the only way."
"The hell it was…" McCoy continued on but a pull of his shirt from Kirk and a look made him shut his mouth, albeit begrudgingly.
"We need to go, we need to get Commander Spock back to the ship." Uhura interrupted, Maggie agreed and told them to follow her. In a line they made their way slowly back the shuttle, Kirk was carrying Spock over his shoulder, McCoy and Uhura followed behind. Maggie, leading the way kept stopping to make sure they were all behind her. It was slow going, Maggie kept having to check they were going in the right direction. Finally reaching the shuttle she opened the door and instructed each of them to get in. Kirk was first, followed by Uhura, McCoy placed a hand on the frame of the shuttle and was about to jump in when a blast of air took his feet from under him dragging him along the ground.
"Leonard!" Maggie screamed, Kirk still wearing his head gear heard her scream and rushed to the door. "Stay here Captain! I'm going to get him, if the storm worsens leave immediately!" Before he could protest Maggie made her way back into the squall.
"Uhura, get Spock strapped in, I'm not leaving without them!" Kirk shone a large flashlight out onto the planet's surface. "Lieutenant! Lieutenant!" Maggie ignored Kirk, continuing to battle her way through the storm.
Shouting his name Maggie desperately searched around, visibility was next to nothing. "Leonard! Leonard god damn it! Answer me!" It felt like a lifetime had passed, Maggie began to feel sick to her stomach.
"I'm over here!" The relief she felt was instantaneous, she could just about make out a figure on the ground ahead. Making her way over she fell to her knees in front of him. "My leg's broken." She could hear the pain in his voice. She used her hands to feel down his body, checking for any other injuries, finally getting to his leg Maggie could feel the abnormal angle.
"It's not an open fracture but it's bad. I'm going to carry you back to the shuttle." McCoy began to protest but Maggie reminded him she had just carried the Commander through the vast caves, he was going to be no different. Maggie hurled McCoy up and over her shoulder, it was one of the most painful things he'd ever experienced. He nearly passed out twice. "Leonard, keep talking to me."
"I'm here I'm here! Just admiring the view." Maggie huffed out a laugh.
"Don't think you'll get away with that remark McCoy, because you won't."
They finally made it back, Kirk and Uhura helped Maggie get McCoy through the door. Once the access door was closed she removed her head gear and went straight to the front of the shuttle sitting down and powering up. Maggie kept looking behind her to see if everyone was okay. When they cleared the planet's atmosphere Maggie placed the craft on automatic pilot, making her way to the back she helped Kirk secure Spock and McCoy.
"You shouldn't have risked your life like that." McCoy spoke to her as she was fastening his harnesses.
"I just saved your hide Leonard, a thank you would suffice. Besides, you would have done the same for me." He looked at her and winced slightly.
"Thank you." He whispered, she bent down and gave him a kiss on his forehead.
"You're welcome." She smiled at him then went back to her seat. Kirk, watching the pair smiled and began to say something.
"Don't even think about it Jim." McCoy warned, pointing a finger at the Captain.
"What? I wasn't going..." Kirk held his hands up in mock reproof.
"Jim! No!" McCoy interrupted him.
"Alright alright." Kirk gave Maggie a wink. She could finally let out the breath she had been holding.
Bit of excitement! Hope you're still enjoying! LLAP :-) XOXO