Chapter Text
The Disruptors
Scotty was mighty glad that Spock had told him the location of McCoy and Chekov before the Vulcan had collapsed. Otherwise they'd be in an even bigger mess than they were already in. They had to reach the platform high above them at the end of the staircase. And they had to reach it fast. They had to get to the top before the gigantic construct would be moving away again like it had done before when the doctor and the FO had heard him scream the moment the Hoffmann 7 probe decided to turn on him. Scotty had no idea when - and if - the platform would return again to the top end of the staircase. All he knew was that he, Del Brown and Spock were at the bottom of a very long and steep stairway that was leading to their two shipmates and friends above.
It had only been a few minutes since Spock had fallen unconscious but Scotty felt he had already wasted enough time. They had to act quickly - he and Brown had a patient to deliver to Dr McCoy.
The CEO hastily attached the inoperative Hoffmann 7 probe to his belt and got hold of Spock's instruments that were flickering due to the mysterious energy source the FO had told him about. It lay somewhere hidden in the deep darkness below them. In the dim light the Vulcan's instruments were emitting, Scotty could see Brown's worried face. He didn't need to tell the lad what to do. A serious nod in his direction was enough to set them in motion.
The Chief Engineer got hold of Spock's shoulders and slowly proceeded up the stairs backwards while the Lieutenant carried the legs of the unconscious man. Due to the darkness and the uncertainty about Spock's exact condition they tried their best to be as careful as possible. Even though the Vulcan was of slender built his tall stature made him quite heavy and they had to pause every other minute or so to catch their breaths.
Brown was fulfilling the task eagerly even though Scotty could detect tiredness and fear that was clearly reflected on the young man's face. Like Scott, Delroy had recovered rather well from their fall and resulting unconsciousness. Apart from feeling very cold, a slight dizziness and hurting limps the two of them were in pretty good shape all things considered, Scotty decided. Which unfortunately couldn't be said of Spock. He wondered what the devil was wrong with the Vulcan? Was he injured? Exhausted? Had the cold gotten to him? He thought that exhaustion could be excluded, as he had never experienced Spock suffering from such a mundane condition like being tired. They had been on much longer and just as challenging missions before and the Vulcan never seemed to get tired, regardless of the difficult situations they were finding themselves in. Due to his specific metabolism and energy preserving techniques, he could go without sleep for days, even under very tough conditions.
A few months ago Scott, Spock, McCoy and 4 others had crashed with the Galileo shuttle on a planet that was inhabited by hostile savages. For several days, they had faced a fight for survival while at the same time they had to repair the severely damaged shuttle to hopefully get them back to the Enterprise. Scotty had worked extremely hard, trying out every conceivable way to repair the Galileo. Sometimes he had rested, maybe just an hour or two, but even a tough Scotsman had to have a little nap now and then to regain his energies. But Spock... the FO hadn't slept, or even just rested for a minute during those dramatic days. Dr McCoy had tried several times to convince the stubborn Vulcan to rest. Spock of course had just raised an eyebrow and then reminded the good doctor that their predicament demanded his full attention and that compared to humans, Vulcans were physiologically superior anyway. Naturally, McCoy did have a word or two to say in return. One word gave the other and in the end the FO and CMO weren't talking at all and the atmosphere inside the stranded shuttle was nearly as hostile as it was outside, where gigantic spears would be thrown at them at every opportunity. It had been incredible difficult for Scott to maintain the peace between Spock and the other officers who doubted his leadership abilities. Especially McCoy had criticised Spock's decision making during that fateful mission as it was entirely based on logic. But in the end it was the Vulcan’s logical choice to try the last remaining opportunity they had to hopefully get the Enterprise's attention and burn off the remaining fuel. This decision saved the lives of all five survivors.
At those unpleasant memories, Scotty frowned to himself while they were having another brief break. He heard Brown's heavy breathing but apart from that only eerie silence surrounded them. In any case, Scotty sincerely hoped the doctor would be able to do something for Spock. If they were lucky enough to reach him and Chekov in time.
"You're all right there, laddie?", Scotty asked into the darkness behind him, knowing that his young assistant was just a meter or so away.
"Yes, Mr Scott. But I'm concerned about Mr Spock. What on earth is wrong with him?"
Scotty sighed loudly.
"I wish I knew, Del. Either he's injured or he cannae cope with the cold. Maybe both. You know that Vulcans cannae survive for long in below freezing temperatures as their metabolism cannae function properly?"
"Yes, I heard that before but I thought it was some kind of myth. I mean, it's strange anyway. I've never seen Mr Spock struggle, he’s always the strongest of us all", Brown exclaimed, bewilderment and concern in his voice.
"Aye. He's usually a tough feller, ain’t he? But I..."
Scotty's words got stuck in his throat as suddenly he felt strong vibrations beneath his feet. The staircase had started to move to its right. At significant speed.
Scotty lowered Spock down on the step Brown was standing on and ordered his young assistant to hold on to the Vulcan. He obeyed dutifully, but Scott could hear in his shaky voice that the boy was terrified. And so was he. They had only covered about half of the staircase and were still about 130 meters away from the plateau above them. And then it was another 100 meters or so to the construct where according to Spock, McCoy and Chekov had sought shelter in. As their communicators were being interfered by the energy source below, there was of course no point trying to contact the two men.
Until now Scotty hadn't deemed shouting out to be of any use as they still were too far away from the others. But even though his tricoder was constantly switching itself on an off he had managed to at least estimate that they were moving away at about 20 miles per hour from the platform above. Scotty had to try to alert McCoy to their presence so that he would know that they were still alive. Wherever he, Brown and Spock would eventually end up, he knew Leonard would come looking for them.
"McCoy!", Scotty shouted out, "Doctor McCoy! Can you hear us? It's Scotty here!"
He paused and in the dim light of his tricoder he could see that Brown looked up hopefully, listening for a possible reply. But there was no sound, apart from a distant, mechanic humming noise that was probably linked to the movement of the staircase.
"McCoy!", Scotty tried again, "Leonard, can you hear us?"
No reply.
"We're moving away from the platform at great speed, Spock is here with..."
The words got stuck in Scotty's throat as all of a sudden the staircase was breaking up between the steps Brown and Spock were on and the one he was standing on. The movement was soundless and the Scotsman only noticed as he had just put his right hand on Brown's shoulder below him, to give the young Lieutenant some moral support. But suddenly he could feel his assistant moving away from him and a cold flow of air touched Scotty's face.
"Del!", he shouted out and tried to reach over to the young Lieutenant but his hands only touched cold air.
"We're moving away!", Brown cried out, a hint of panic in his voice.
Judging from the volume of his voice, Scotty estimated that Del and Spock were already too far away from him to reach them with a jump. Probably five meters or so. He hated the thought that the few of them that were stranded and still alive on this godforsaken planet would be split up yet again. The inexperienced Del Brown alone with an unconscious Mr Spock was not an encouraging thought at all.
"Keep talking to me, laddie, so we know how far away we are from one another!", Scotty shouted across the gap between them.
"All right, Sir! I will do that", Brown replied, his voice a little more steady than before. Scotty reckoned that they hadn't moved away from one another much further, as the movement of his side of the staircase had stopped.
"I'm not moving anymore, Del. What about you?"
"We have stopped as well. Just now. I think I heard....”
Brown's reply was harshly cut short as suddenly some kind of object ascended upwards from below at great speed and came to an abrupt halt in the gap between the two parts of the now divided staircase. The sudden appearance of the object made Scotty's heart miss a beat and he stumbled backwards, crashing down onto the step behind him. He ordered himself to stay focused and he turned back towards the strange thing that was now between him and the others. It looked a little like the exteriors of a turbo lift, cigar shaped, but probably twice as large as the lifts aboard the Enterprise. The object radiated a white light that even though it wasn't very strong was quite hurtful to his eyes that had gotten used to the complete darkness that dominated the space below the surface of the planetoid. Scotty was about to shout out towards Brown when the object opened up, just like the automatic lift doors did aboard the Enterprise.
The CEO could hear the deep voice before he could see its owner who was radiating bright, white light that engulfed everything in the vicinity. Scotty immediately closed his eyes and held his arms before his eyes but even then he could still feel the bright light burn into his head and mind.
"Why you come to disrupt work?", the deep, strong and loud voice asked in a not very friendly tone.
The bright light seemed to be burning into Scott’s brain and body, he felt like he was being set alight alive. It was one of the most disturbing sensations he had ever felt in his life. He wasn't sure if he would live long enough to actually see the being that was speaking to him.
Combined with his exhaustion and the concussion he had suffered during his fall earlier on, the fear was too much even for the brave Scotsman. He suddenly collapsed towards the being opposite him, unconscious.
Scotty didn't notice anymore how the tall creature caught him just in time before he could roll over the edge of the steps and drop down into the abyss.