Settlement
Part 9 of 'It went bang'
By Gumnut
11 Sep 2009/Apr 2010

"Mr Sulu, where have you been?"

"Sir?"

Kirk frowned. His voice may be raspy, but the words had been clear. "Where have you been?"

The look of bewilderment on the Lieutenant's face echoed the confusion Kirk felt. "With emergency teams, sir. Ferrying mostly. I came down with the last batch of medical supplies and was checking with Doctor McCoy to confirm that they were all accounted for." He paused a moment and when neither Kirk or Spock interrrupted, he asked, "Why?"

Cane leaving trails in the dust, Kirk took a step to his right, his eyes not leaving the young man. "Mr Sulu, you have been an assumed casualty since you disappeared off the bridge."

"Disappeared off the bridge?" The confusion was suddenly replaced by realisation. Kirk's frown only deepened. "I wasn't on the bridge when the sun exploded."

"Yes, you were."

"No, sir, I wasn't."

"Lieutenant, are you calling me a l-liar?"

"Er, no, sir. I....um...I was in the head, sir."

"You went to the toilet? In the middle of a crisis?"

"It wasn't a crisis when I left, sir."

Kirk attempted to think back, but his memory was imperfect. "Mr Spock, can you verify Sulu's claim?"

When an immediate answer wasn't forthcoming, Kirk turned to his first officer. "Spock?"

The Vulcan blinked. "Yes."

Kirk turned, his feet stirring up aggravated dust. "And you just haven't mentioned it?"

"No, sir." Cool, calm and dark eyes revealed nothing, but something flickered at the back of Kirk's mind. He poked at it, but it chose only to tantalise.

Turning back to Sulu, his order was short and curt. "Report to Doctor McCoy for a complete medical workup. Spock, verify his story. I want details. Be damned if I'm taking anything for granted on this god forsaken rock. Happy to have you back, Mr Sulu, but I'll be happier when I have a few more questions answered." Spinning on his heel, he left the shelter in search of his office where he could cough himself to death in private.

-o-o-o-

Sulu's story was easily verified. Several crewmen had been with him on shuttle trips. One even claimed to have been saved by the Lieutenant while aboard ship. Kirk grunted when the news was delivered to him. Happy to have the man alive and well, but annoyed that a crewman could so easily be forgotten. Then he remembered the body found outside the ship. He ran a hand through his hair, tossing aside McCoy's medical report, and closing his eyes for one blessed moment.

He had a hut all to himself. Kirk had protested, supplies were at a minimum, but to be honest, he needed the space and the privacy. His command crew agreed.

Outside the door he could hear the bustle of the temporary town as his remaining three hundred and fifteen crew members settled in for the long haul. They were holding up well. There was shock and grief, but this was the crew of the Enterprise. They had been in worse situations. Few, but there was certainly worse. Enough to make anyone question their decision to join Starfleet. But they were his crew and for the majority the question was left unasked.

It certainly was for him.

Shoving his chair backwards, he grabbed his walking stick. He suddenly felt the need to get out and do something...anything.

Streets of dust intersected between rocks, sparse vegetation and the survival huts. Splashes of red. blue and gold echoed around the buildings, boxes being carried to and fro, voices bouncing off recyclable fibreboard. Several crewmembers smiled tentatively at him as he passed, a few even saluted, a rare thing, but considering the situation, understandable.

His cane ground grit into stone.

As he passed through the outer boundary of the settlement, he passed through the security line. Despite possibly only guarding the refugees against weeds, Spock had ordered the line the moment the touchdown point had been decided. Kirk knew his first officer was uneasy. There were too many unanswered questions and coincidences in this whole scenario.

They should be dead.

Giotto, sporting a bandage on his head, waved him through the security check point once he had confirmed that he had his communicator and phaser. No doubt he would be logging the captain's position with the first officer.

That something writhed at the back of his mind again. That something he knew as Spock. He pushed it away.

The settlement lay on a plain with a clear line of sight in all directions for several hundred metres. To the designated west there was a large stand of spiny and straggly looking trees at the three hundred metre mark from where the ground began to rise into a low mountain range. It was the source of the water supply that made this location so ideal. A strong river draining west to east to the south.

The breeze urged him in the direction of the trees and he had no reason to disagree with it. His boots crunched as the dust became gravel.

His communicator beeped.

His shoulders slumped just a touch as he reached for it. "Yes, Mr S-Spock?"

There was a pause, his first officer no doubt wondering how he knew who was calling. "Captain, Doctor McCoy requests your presence."

Kirk frowned, his pace stalling in front of the first of the trees. "What's wrong?"

Another pause, followed by some muttering the speaker didn't quite pick up enough to be intelligible. "He claims that you did not attend your appointment today."

'Appointment', a euphemism for his daily shrink session. McCoy trying to poke around his head to make sure recent events hadn't broken anything serious. He sighed. "Bones, I'm fine. I'm going for a walk. Captain out." His communicator snapped shut before either of the officers could answer.

The gravel soon became rocks, the first of the mountains having scattered a portion of itself among the stunted trees. Rocks became boulders and soon he was out of sight of their encampment. He wasn't stupid, however, and only kept a single tree or boulder as an obstruction. He wasn't about to wander off alone on this god forsaken planet.

A step or two further and he found what he was looking for. A particularly large pile of rocks rose high enough to see over the stunted trees and down onto the plain. He found himself a perch and sat there looking at the emcampment from a distance.

It was a small town. Paths had become roads well pounded in only the few days they had been down here. It looked settled.

The thought gave him chills.

The nova that ate into warp space had also leaked into subspace leaving a mass of interference. Subspace communications were useless. An emergency bouy had been sent to the nearest starbase, but even with warp capability, it would be weeks before they could expect some assistance.

For the moment this dust bowl was home.

He refused to look up at the murky sky. Scotty was still up there, having done the essentials down here. The man was clinging to a hope Kirk shared but couldn't afford to pin their lives on.

Leaning back, the rock was cool under his fingers and felt no more alien than any chunk of Planet Earth. The breeze rattled the treetops and the needle sharp foliage hissed at him.

He flinched and a sudden sharp pain in his right hand sent him staggering off the boulder, his cane clattering to a rest amongst the trees below.

A four inch dart was impaled between his knuckles.

"Oww..." The world blurred and he fell.

-o-o-o-