Hello, all! This is my very first attempt to write a Star Trek fanfiction. Star Trek is such a huge part of who I am, and I am always very hesitant to write about what I love, because if I can't get the characters just right, I immediately write off what I wrote as trash. I am really my own worse critic. I'm not posting this series because I believe that it is good, or the characters are in character.

This story is all about me getting back into the swing of writing. I haven't written anything in three years. This is literally just something to get the gears turning again. As I write out this story, I find that I'm caring more and more about these characters.

Understand that this story is meant to stretch my muscles and see if I still possess the ability to tell a story. Any and ALL criticism is appreciated and welcome. There is nothing I want more than to improve on my own writing.

That said, I hope you enjoy the following story. Please read and review!

~~~~~~~~~- denotes passing of time or POV change

The Enterprise was currently in orbit around a newly discovered M-class planet. Captain James Kirk sat on the Bridge of the Enterprise, listening to his Vulcan First Officer rattle off details about the planet obtained via scans.

"Scans show a wild array of terrain, from forestation to rocky mountain terrain. Air quality almost identical to that of Earth's. No clear indication of civilization present."

"Thank you, Mr. Spock," said Kirk, nodding in Spock's direction, "It appears as if we have a bit of an interesting situation on our hands. A landing party will beam down to the planet to investigate."

Kirk pressed the comm button on his chair, "Kirk to McCoy".

"McCoy here," answered a slight southern drawl.

"Doctor McCoy, we are beaming down to the planet's surface. I'd like you and your best botanist to accompany us. Meet me in the transporter room."

"Acknowledged, Jim," responded McCoy.

"Spock," the captain stood up, "You're with me," he hit the comm button once again, "Mr. Scott, you have the con. Please report to the Bridge."

"Aye, Captain. On my way," said the thick Scottish brogue.

Arriving in the transporter room, Kirk found McCoy, and a young woman with vivid red hair and earth colored eyes. Her gaze met Kirk's and she smiled brightly, addressing the captain with a voice as vibrant as her hair.

"Lieutenant Sarah Shulter, reporting for duty, Captain. Doctor McCoy said you required a botanist, and I am the best on board."

"Lieutenant Shulter was top of her class, and even expanded farther into medical territory. She finds new healing properties in alien plant life more than anyone I've ever worked with," Bones praised, smiling at Shulter.

"Good to have you aboard, Lieutenant. Let's head down now," said Kirk.

The landing party of four stood on the transporter.

"Energize" Kirk said to the attendant.

The transporter hummed to life, and the landing party faded away.

When they rematerialized, McCoy exhaled the breath he had been holding. Years of using the transporter had not eased his anxiety about it. A man wasn't meant to have his molecules scattered through space like that. It just wasn't natural.

Spock had already begun scans of the surrounding, as had Shulter. Kirk was looking around. They had materialized in a dense forest with large wild-looking trees. Crosses between redwoods and willows, the trees loomed over the landing party, beautifully ominous in their size and delicacy. Shulter approached the nearest one, and scanned it, looking up into it's thick branches with delicate ends. A smiled played across her face.

"Marvelous," she whispered, leaning in and inhaling slowly. She detected the scent of pine. Her smile grew even wider, and she extracted several tubes to gather samples to bring back to the ship and analyze.

"Captain," Spock called, "I'm picking up strange blips of energy all around us."

"Cause?"

"Unknown at this time. As quickly as it appears, it vanishes. I will attempt to isolate it."

"Any risk to us?" asked Kirk.

"Not likely, Captain."

McCoy had wandered through some of the trees, leaving the other three behind. Squinting ahead, he could barely make out a brightness. As he approached it, he heard the familiar crashing sound of waves. "I'll be damned" he murmured to himself.

"Bones?" Kirk's voice was raised.

"Over here, Jim," McCoy answered over his shoulder, "And you are not gonna believe this!"

McCoy pushed forward, hearing the sound of his comrades footsteps close behind him. Before he knew it, he had stepped directly onto a sandy beach, the waves roaring, the wind whipping their hair about. McCoy breathed in deeply, tasting the saltiness in the air. Nothing like fresh air from the coastline to get the lungs open.

"A beach. With a forest this thick beside it?" Shulter collected samples of the sand at their feet, "Captain, I could stay here forever."

Kirk smiled knowingly. He, too, could stay awhile, "You'll have to content yourself with only an hour or so, Lieutenant."

They continued to explore, mapping out what the could. Farther down the coast, they could make out mountains. To the left seemed to be grassy plains. And Spock, consistent in his scans, insisted that a desert lay on the opposite side of the forest. The land blended seamlessly together. Trudging back into the forest, the landing party began to separate. Kirk kept a watchful eye on each of his crew members.

"Captain," Spock approached Kirk, scanner in hand, "I find it…most unusual that we have not encountered any animal life. There is no indication that animals have ever existed here. Yet a perfect ecosystem exists, one that could support a large variety of animal species."

"I agree, Spock," said Kirk, looking around at the trees, their dangling leaves swaying too and fro in the soft breeze, "It's unsettling. I-"

"Captain!" Shulter cried.

Kirk and Spock wheeled around. And, floating at eye level, was a slightly pulsating orb of light. The crew froze. Spock scanned the orb. As he did so, the light flickered, and drew closer to the Vulcan. It shone with slight colors, the way crystal shines in light.

"Captain, it is emitting the same energy the scanners could not identify before."

"What is it, Spock?" asked Kirk quietly.

"I do not have enough information, at present, to logically speculate."

"Spock," McCoy had approached from behind the orb, "It reacted when you scanned it."

"I, too, noticed that, Doctor," the science officer said softly.

"Back away from it, Spock," McCoy said, a little louder than he meant to. The orb darted back so fast, it started McCoy. He stumbled backward, as the light hung in front of him, glowing softly. It swayed as it hovered, left to right.

"It responds to sounds," Spock said, keeping his voice low, "Fascinating. Doctor, do not move. We will attempt to draw the entity away."

"Mm-hmm," McCoy hummed. The entity was so close to McCoy that it responded to his soft mm-hmm with a humming sound. It glowed brighter momentarily, then reverted back to a soft glow.

Spock raised an eyebrow. Then, he took a chance, "We will not harm you."

Immediately, the orb flew back, whipping around Spock's head, and stopping in front of the Vulcan. McCoy let out the breath he had been holding, and began to approach Spock and the Captain again, motioning for Shulter to stay where she was.

"You are in no danger," Spock continued.

The orb flickered, and circled Spock's head once more. It drew closer, then there were numerous bright lights in the treetops, all moving in a frenzy, but keeping their distance. The orb at their level dimmed considerably. McCoy noted that it almost seemed to…cower. Another orb, much larger than the first, spiraled down, as the smaller orb drew away from it. The larger orb was a deep blue. It flashed menacingly. The smaller orb flickered as the larger one circled it. The smaller one grew dimmer, and McCoy felt its fear.

"Leave it alone!" McCoy shouted.

The blue orb grew bright and bore down on the doctor. The smaller orb darted forward, hovering in front of McCoy, trying to make itself brighter. The blue orb halted. Then, it dimmed and rose back into the treetops. The lights faded until only the original was left. The orb of light drifted away from McCoy and flickered rapidly. McCoy could still sense the fear, but he couldn't explain why it was there. Spock had moved toward McCoy and now stood beside him. Kirk let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"You're safe now," McCoy said to the orb. The orb continued to shudder and flicker.

"Doctor, it does not understand. I would not be surprised if it could not comprehend anything we said to it. I had already stated that the entity was safe."

"That may be Spock," McCoy said, "But maybe it can respond to sounds and feelings."

"Indeed? That is a possibility, considering it responded vibrantly to your emotional outburst," Spock gazed quizzically at the orb.

"You're safe now," McCoy repeated. Then, he drew breath and let out a long sigh of relief that he accompanied with a soft hum. The orb grew bright, then dimmed slowly as it hummed back in the same way. The orb floated closer to McCoy, and, without thinking, the doctor raised a hand to touch the entity.

"Doctor!" Spock warned, grabbing McCoy's hand, and at that moment, the orb made contact with them both. There was a blinding flash of bright dazzling light. Both McCoy and Spock were on the ground.

"Spock! Bones!" Kirk rushed to his fallen friends, turning each of them over. Spock's eyes opened and he sat up. McCoy groaned and opened his eyes, shaking his head to clear it. "Are you two alright?"

"I am uninjured, Captain," Spock said, steadily.

"M'alright, Jim. Just surprised."

"What were you thinking, Bones? We don't know what that thing is. You could've been killed," Kirk eyed his chief medical officer critically.

"I don't know, I-" McCoy glanced over Kirk's shoulder, and his eyes widened, "Jim…"

Kirk turned. There, in the middle of the forest floor, was a naked woman. She was lying face down on the floor, in a semi-fetal position, black hair covered her face from view. Shulter had approached the three men, and the four of them stared at the woman. McCoy got to his feet and made to walk over to the woman, but Jim grabbed hold of his shoulder.

"Let go of me, Jim," said McCoy.

"Bones, we don't know who or what she is."

"We do know that she needs help, and I'll be damned if I let you stand in the way. I'm a doctor, damnit, so unless you plan on knocking me out, you can stay out of it."

Kirk sighed as McCoy knelt beside the woman. Always thinking about his patients.

"Jim, give me something to cover her up with," McCoy said. Kirk called up to the Enterprise, and had a blanket beamed down. McCoy covered the woman, then laid a cautious hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle shake and withdrawing his hand, "Can you hear me, darlin'?"

She stirred, and her head raised slightly off the ground. She tried to push herself up on shaking arms. McCoy made to help her, but at his touch, she gasped and tried to stand, but her legs shook violently, and she fell the ground, the blanket falling underneath her. She began to back away, the dark hair hiding her face.

"Easy now, we aren't gonna hurt you. You're safe," McCoy assured her, inching forward in a crouch.

The woman froze at the word "safe". She took a shaky breath, and hummed out the way McCoy had done with the orb. McCoy's eyes widened.

"Jim…She's the orb," McCoy whispered.

"Beam back to the Enterprise," Kirk addressed Shulter, "And let sickbay know we are bringing in a patient."

"Aye, sir," Shulter said softly, pulling out her communicator and indicating she was ready for beam up. Once she had dematerialized, McCoy addressed the woman.

"You are safe," he repeated.

"S…Sa-fe…" the woman repeated in a slight southern drawl.

Spock raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Now, can you look at me, darlin'?"

The woman drew her knees up to her chest, the blanket uselessly lying beneath her. She raised her head and looked at the doctor. And he found his owns eyes staring back at him. Kirk inhaled sharply. The woman turned at the noise, her hair shifting aside slightly to reveal a set of pointed ears. McCoy gaped at her. Spock's eyebrows were in danger of being lost in his hair. McCoy swallowed.

"My name is Leonard McCoy."

She tilted her head to the side, "Le…Le…"

"Len-nerd" McCoy sounded it out slowly.

"Len-nerd" she repeated.

"That's right," McCoy smiled and put a hand on his chest, "Leonard."

She reached out and touched McCoy's chest, "Leonard."

She shivered, the slight breeze causing goose bumps to erupt on her skin.

"There is a blanket beneath you," McCoy said, indicating the cloth.

The woman shifted to her right, and McCoy grabbed the blanket and draped it over her. She instinctively drew it close to her.

"Can you stand?" he nodded, demonstrating.

She attempted to stand, but her legs shook like a newborn babes, and McCoy caught her before she crumpled. She leaned gratefully against the doctor's support. She sighed.

"Captain, I want to get her back to the ship," McCoy said, brushing her hair back to see those pointed ears again. "I need to know what's going on here."

"Agreed, Bones, but I'm taking every precaution. We still don't know what she is," Kirk reiterated.

"Doctor," Spock was still gazing at the woman, "I would like your permission to study the tests you run on this entity. I am…curious as to what has occurred."

McCoy nodded, his attention on the woman, who was gazing at him with those bright blue eyes.

"Kirk to Enterprise," Kirk said into his communicator, "Four to beam up."

McCoy held the woman tightly to comfort her as she gasped. He didn't think that the transporting would unsettle her. He gripped her shoulder with one hand and held her close with the other, his thumb stroking her shoulder in a comforting way. She closed her eyes, and held her breath.

When she opened them again, she found herself not surround by trees, but by unfamiliar structures.

"Welcome," said Captain Kirk, "To the U.S.S. Enterprise."