Open Writing

Kirk awoke with a start to find Spock bending over him, lightly shaking his shoulder. He blinked the last of the sleep out of his eyes, and sat up. “What is it, Spock? What’s the matter?”

The Vulcan replied, in a low voice, “Captain, my tricorder registers life forms approaching. They show the same configurations as the creature that came aboard the Enterprise.”

“How close?”

“They came within range approximately thirty minutes ago. I have been monitoring their progress since then.”

“Thirty minutes?” said Kirk. “Why didn’t you wake me sooner?”

“There was no urgency, captain,” replied Spock. “They were gathering very slowly, and have not advanced at all in the last ten minutes.”

Kirk got to his feet. “Wake the others,” he said. He took Spock’s tricorder and checked the readings. They showed a multitude of life forms all around them, at a distance of about two kilometers.

When the others were awake, Kirk explained their position. “We have to try to get further into the hills,” he said, “which means getting through whatever it is that’s out there. Our only chance of surviving until the Federation can mount a rescue mission is to hide out in the forests higher up.”

McCoy gave a snort. “Hide out? Jim, we’re surrounded! These creatures must know their own planet. Do you seriously think we can elude them for more than three months?”

“We’ve got to try, Bones. We…”

“Captain,” Spock interrupted, “the life-forms are now advancing towards us.”

Kirk checked the tricorder, then said, “All right, set phasers to heavy stun to save power. Only kill if they don’t stop.”

From his own experience, he knew that a stun charge probably would not stop these aliens, but they had to try. And a phaser set on full power would not last very long at all.

Quickly, they gathered their few possessions and followed Kirk further into the canyon. After a few hundred meters they emerged from the trees, and a flat, narrow valley floor lay before them.

“Spock,” said Kirk, “how far away are they now?”

“Approximately three hundred meters, captain,” Spock replied.

“All right, everyone,” said Kirk. “Choose your targets carefully, and try to conserve phaser power.”

They stood, peering into the slowly brightening gloom. Suddenly, Spock said, “There, captain! Straight ahead!”

“I see them!” cried Uhura.

“Aye, me too,” said Scotty.

Sulu also confirmed his sighting, and then there was no more time for words, as the enemy assailed the six survivors from all sides.

The creatures appeared out of the murky light like something from a nightmare, their elongated heads and waving tails making them look like misshapen lizards, but lizards from a madman’s vision of hell. The defenders opened fire, and the aliens began to drop, only to rise again almost immediately. They carried short sticks in their three-fingered hands, obviously a weapon of some kind. Seeing the ineffectiveness of the stun charges, Kirk reluctantly ordered phasers set to kill, and they began to pick off the closest attackers.

The aliens began to come at them from all sides, and Kirk shouted, “Form a circle, back to back!”

McCoy stood with his back to Kirk, with Scotty and Uhura, Sulu and Spock clustered around them. Try as he might to stay close to the others, such was the nature of the alien’s attack that the doctor found himself being forced away from them.

“Stay together!” called Kirk, seeing the danger.

But it was no use. Gradually, the aliens forced them further and further apart. Scotty tried desperately to stay close to Uhura, and as he fired a burst from his dying phaser, killing one of the loathsome creatures, another got between him and his new wife.

It thrust at the African with the stick-weapon, and Uhura gave a cry and fell to the ground. Scotty dropped his useless phaser and drew the Claymore, which he had strapped to his side in its scabbard. A mighty blow severed the alien’s head and the creature dropped, spraying its acid blood.

Scotty raced to his fallen wife, and clasped her hand. She was on her back, and it was immediately clear that nothing could be done. The sticks were a discharge weapon of some kind, and the electrical pulse had stopped the African’s brave heart. Uhura had died instantly.

Scotty stared in disbelief for a moment, then got to his feet, his normally kindly face terrible to see. A small group of aliens was approaching his position; suddenly, the air was rent by the Scot’s battle cry, and Kirk and the others turned in shock towards the sound.

“SCOTLAND WAH-HEYYYY!” cried the grief-stricken engineer. “Ye bastard heathen sassenachs! Now see how a Scot can die!”

Kirk and Spock, with no aliens on their side of the circle, turned and faced their rear. They were in time to see the Scotsman raise the Claymore over his head; next moment, roaring a Celtic war cry, Scotty charged the approaching aliens.

“Scotty, NOOOOOO!” cried Kirk, but the Scotsman charged on, ignoring him, roaring battle-cries in Gaelic and invoking the spirits of Wallace and The Bruce. Kirk called to the others, “Cover him!” and they began to pick off the nearest aliens.

They watched, horrified, as the big man ran at the aliens. The first one to reach him was cut in half by a mighty sweep of the sword, and two others quickly went the same way. Then the creatures surrounded him and, oblivious to the weakening phaser blasts, began to close in.

The others slowly fought their way closer to Scotty’s position, and time seemed to slow. The Scotsman and the aliens looked at each other for a moment, then Scotty ran at the nearest one and took its head off. Then the aliens closed in and, as Kirk and the others neared their friend, the creatures formed a deadly ring around him. With one last terrible cry, still swinging his sword, Scotty went down.

A few moments later, the others reached the melee and, using the last of their phaser power, drove the remaining aliens off. The creatures’ ranks had been greatly depleted, and they quickly disappeared into the gloom.

Kirk stood for a moment, watching as Spock and Sulu hurried to the Scotsman’s prone form. A moment later, McCoy joined him, having found that he could do nothing for Uhura. Kirk looked at the doctor in disbelief as he shook his head; then, after a moment, they turned their attention to Scotty.

The engineer lay in a bloody heap; Spock and Sulu were kneeling beside him, and Spock stood up at the others’ approach. To McCoy, he said, “I do not mean to tell you your business, doctor, but I fear there is nothing to be done. Mr. Scott is dead.”

Kirk stood like a statue, his face a grim mask. McCoy dropped down beside Scotty and began his examination; after only a few moments, he rose and faced Kirk, his face reflecting his pain.

“Bones….?” whispered Kirk, disbelief on his face.

McCoy shook his head. “I’m sorry, Jim. Spock’s right. Scotty’s dead. And Uhura, too. They’re both dead.”

The four stood for a moment, their heads bowed. Then Spock lifted the body of the engineer as if it were a child’s, and carried it over to where Uhura lay. Gently, he placed them side by side, and they stood in silence for a few moments more, honoring their comrades. Then Kirk turned and looked at the others. McCoy and Sulu looked stunned, but underneath their grief was a steely determination that their friends’ deaths not be in vain. Spock’s face, as always, was an impassive mask, but in his eyes Kirk saw the fires of long-suppressed genes from Vulcan’s warlike past beginning to awaken. Even in his grief-numbed state, a part of Kirk’s mind reflected that an enraged Spock would be something he himself would not want to face.

Kirk picked up Scotty’s Claymore and drove it into the ground between their friends’ heads, and then they were silent, remembering the times that the Scotsman’s skill had saved them, and Uhura’s calm and elegant grace.

It was a long way from the lakes and lochs of Kenya and Scotland, and neither of them would see those fair places again.

***