Into Darkness and Beyond (Star Trek: Into Darkness Fanfiction - sequel to AKFAS)

Chapter 3

Beneath Spock the shuttle's cargo doors snapped open and he plunged down to the fiery depths of reds and oranges, heat blasting up and consuming the suit.

The ship above him rocked and Spock swung around uncontrollably until the ship composed itself again and Spock could continue on his decent.

He focused on the landing site, a metamorphic slab in the middle of a lava lake.

The landing was no easier as huge jets of lava spurted up and collapsed, threatening to cover him in the burning liquid.

Sulu tried to remain in control of the shuttle above the suspended Vulcan but finally, he had to admit defeat.

His voice filled the interior of the helmet.

"I can't hold us here! Activity is becoming more violent, and the stabilizers' algorithms aren't designed to cope with this combination of heat and distortion. Spock, I'm gunna have to pull you back up!"

The Vulcan huffed slightly then said, "Negative, Mr Sulu. This will be our only chance to save this entire species. If this volcano erupts this planet dies. I would be remiss in my duties as a science officer were I to terminate this mission now."

Then the cable, stressed by heat and weight that it had never experienced before, snapped.

Spock didn't have a long way to fall but he winced in pain as he made contact with the rock below. Jolted from his grasp, the case toppled towards the edge of the surface, out of Spock's reach.

Ignoring the pain in his body, Spock scrambled to retrieve the Rankine nullifier and recovered it before it was lost to the lava.

Overhead the cable was being winched back up and a stunned Uhura was sat watching it, thinking it was going rather fast . . . which only meant one thing.

"The line, there's no weight on it!"

Equally distressed, Sulu had no time to comfort her. Components of the shuttle were shutting down slowly and he was beginning to lose faith in the shuttle's performance as it degraded slowly.

It was all Sulu could do to stop the shuttle following the science officers decent into the volcano.

Uhura was stressing, muttering about another suit and her going down to get Spock, but Sulu wasn't listening.

"I think at this point, I won't even be able to get us back to the ship."

Uhura felt her voice cracking and her throat blocking, "Please! We can't just leave him!"

Sulu, despite his guilty feeling, outranked her.

"We don't have a choice! We've been here too long, if we stay any longer I can guarantee once place we will be going. Down."

No time. No time.

Uhura addressed her console pickup, "Spock, we're going to try and get back to the Enterprise. Hold on!"

The shuttle was knocked off cause when a massive bolt of lava slammed into the underside of it.

Sulu fought to remain in control before getting communications back up.

"Captain! We're pulling out while we still can. Even so, I don't think we can make it to the designated pick up point. I'm, ditching the shuttle and you'll have to make it back to the Enterprise on your own!"

Kez listened to this conversation, her fingers tight around the metal of the chair arms. Unable to do anything she pinched her lips together and willed everyone to get back safely.

Scotty joined her and placed his hand on her shoulder. He didn't say anything, maybe because he didn't have the confidence to tell her that everything was going to be okay. Kez was thankful for his silence, in an odd way.

"Wonderful!" Kirk shouted as his legs tired and Bones groaned, falling back slightly.

"Jim – Jim, the beach is that way!" Bones shouted as something lethal and pointed whizzed past the Captain's head.

Kirk was reckless sometimes but he was not blind to the reality of situations. He looked back at the mob of pursuers wielding knives and spears.

Not slowing down, Kirk whipped out the scroll and draped it over a nearby branch where it unfolded all the way to the ground revealing a whole host of markings and symbols that must have meant something to the Nibirans.

Bones looked over at his friend angrily, "This is not the time or place for a dramatic presentation!"

He looked back at the Nibirans who were nearly on top of them now, "Besides I don't think they're in the mood to listen to you!"

Kirk looked over and yelled back, "Doesn't matter, we're not going to the beach!"

"No?" Realising the impact of Kirk's words, McCoy's eyes grew large and round.

Whatever was inscribed on that scroll made the Nibirans halt their attack to admirer the sacred item, giving the Captain and Chief Medical Officer time to get away.

Some though had more on their mind and continued the pursuit.

Struggling to keep up with Kirk, Bones continued forward but had not failed to recognise that the surroundings they had studied were resulting in a drop.

"Jim, this is all wrong! The pickup beach is that way!"

Kirk looked over in annoyance, "We won't make it to the beach!"

There wasn't a lot of red forest in front of them now and its lack of presence also indicated a lack of solid ground: in fact, there was no ground at all.

Instead, there was a drop, giving way to a view of the sea and the blue sky.

McCoy wondered if there was time to stop and just confront the locals but there was no time for that kind of analysis.

Without falling out of rhythm or step both men threw themselves over the edge and into the water and rocks below.

Their robes fell away into slick swimsuits complete with air package and goggles but still, McCoy wasn't too thrilled with swimming through alien waters.

Only when the murky outlines of the familiar shape began to emerge, did McCoy feel more relaxed.

Ahead, hidden from the unknowing world of Nibiru: the starship: Enterprise loomed, deep within alien waters.

The small personnel airlock through which the men entered had been designed to deal with airless space but under the circumstances, it was well suited to draining out the vast amounts of seawater that entered the hanger along with Kirk and McCoy.

Breathing hard Kirk looked up into the face of the chief engineer, Montgomery Scott.

Scotty's gaze was full of heat and flicked in annoyance between the two dripping officers.

"D'you lot 'ave any idea how ridiculous it is to hide a starship on the bottom of a bleedin' ocean? Just so the locals won't get a regulation- breakin' gander at us? We've been down 'ere since last night, and my people are sick of 'aving to-,"

McCoy was struggling to drain the last of the water from his ears, "Believe me, Mr Scott, no one regrets our inability to utilize the transporter under these conditions more than I."

Kirk had no time for might-have-been. He focused his attention on the engineer.

"Scotty- where's Spock?"

Scotty's attitude changed to concern, "Still in the volcano sir. We picked up Uhura and Sulu not long ago. They say's in the volcanoes where they left 'im You best get to the bridge because Miss Stibbons is having a dickey fit.."

Kirk was already rushing from the room.

Down below a massive fireball escaped from within the volcano and hurtled towards the ground. It struck the temple which caved in on itself. Usually, its walls would be full of devoted worshippers but today, uncharacteristically, it was empty due to its inmates running after something sacred. Unknown to the Nibirans, Captain Kirk had saved all their lives.