The mission was nothing special and was likely to be uneventful.
The crew of the Enterprise was to 'visit' an unclassified and uninhabited planet for documentation purposes. Simple: check that it was still uninhabited, report back to Starfleet regarding the state of the small planet and mission accomplished. At least, that was how it should have gone…

"Mr. Chekov, how would you feel about stretching your legs outside of this ship?" Jim walked onto the bridge and immediately addressed the young Russian.
"What do you mean, captain?" Chekov answered.
"I mean that you are coming with us to inspect that planet" Jim explained and pointed to the small dot that was visible just outside the bridge window. Chekov vigorously nodded his head and an exciting twinkle lighted up in his eyes.
"Would be happy to!" He answered cheerily.
"Good man" Jim said with a smile, "report to the Engineering deck in 15 minutes. Bring a jacket, it's supposed to be cold out there".
"Yes, captain!" Chekov just managed to say, before he jumped up from his chair and ran off the bridge to collect his things.

"Are your certain about this, captain?" Spock appeared next to Jim.
"He's been asking me for ages to join us on a mission" Jim answered, "this is an uninhabited planet, Spock. We'll have a walk around, confirm no one is there and mission accomplished. It's ideal for it. He'll have a blast and we don't have to bother Bones with any of this".
"Don't you consider Mr. Chekov a liability in case of an emergency?" Spock pressed the matter.
"No!" Jim was a little offended by that, "I would trust that guy with my life". Spock raised an eyebrow at his captain.
"He's coming with us" Jim said determinedly and briskly walked off the bridge to make his own preparations.
"And you're coming too" he called back to Spock.

The Engineering deck was buzzing like a beehive when Jim arrived there. All around people were making preparations for the expedition.

Scotty was seeing to it that the shuttle was being prepared properly, Bones was loading a bunch of basic medical supplies (just in case) into the shuttle and Chekov was choosing some weapons they would be bringing. Even though it was an uninhabited planet, it was a Starfleet-regulation that every officer on a mission was armed.

"Jim!" Bones hailed over the captain, "do you really need me on this mission? See, I have a lot of work to do, and isn't there someone else who can take my place?" The doctor had actually been supposed to come along on this mission, but had not yet been informed on the change of plans.
"Don't worry, Bones" Jim answered, "Mr. Chekov will accompany us on this mission. You're off duty for this one". Bones stared at Jim with a frown on his face.
"Don't tell me that you're not trusting Chekov either?!" Jim said, giving Bones a disapproving look. "Oh, I trust him. He's proven himself more than enough in the entire Khan-thing and that time you crashed the Enterprise on that unidentified planet" Bones answered with the usual chagrin in his voice. Jim made a face at him because of the last remark.
"No, I'm concerned about this mission in general" Bones continued.
"Why?" Jim asked in surprise, "it's the simplest mission we've ever had. We are only ordered to take this on because we are in the area anyway. Otherwise they would've given it to some cadets just out of the academy".
"Every time Starfleet says 'uninhabited' or 'abandoned', it turns out something or someone dangerous lives there after all" Bones said jokingly, but Jim knew that his worries were real.
"Don't worry about it" Jim clasped Bones on the shoulder, "we'll be fine. And if it turns out someone or something is living there: we've handled a lot worse".
"Yeah, well, don't make me revive you with some murderous lunatic's blood again" Bones grumbled. Jim laughed out loud at him.
"I promise" he snorted, "I'll bring you a souvenir instead".

Jim left to board the shuttle, and Boned stared after his captain and best friend. He didn't know exactly why he felt this way, Jim's reasoning regarding this mission was sound, but still the worry nagged at him and somehow he had a very bad feeling about this. He watched Spock and Chekov enter the shuttle too and the door closing behind them.
"Just watch yourselves" Bones muttered to himself.

The flight to the planet was only a short one. It was 15 minutes after their departure from the Enterprise, that the wheels of the shuttle already made contact with the surface of the planet. Their surroundings were rocky with red sand and a lot of craters and low mountain-like formations. It reminded Jim somewhat of Mars.

"Shuttle One has landed" Jim said into the radio once the engines were shut off, "we're going outside. Switching to mobile".
"Roger that, captain" Sulu's voice answered him.

"Okay, listen up" Jim addressed Spock and Chekov, "as per Starfleet-regulation we will take two weapons each. The planet is uninhabited according to the information we've been given, but we must stay focused. There could be wild animals and maybe even people on this planet who do not belong here. If we are engaged in a battle we will defend ourselves, but we do not make the first move. We only attack when we are being attacked". Jim's gaze lingered on Chekov. The young Russian picked up two phasers and tucked them away safely, before looking up at his captain and nodding determinedly.
"Good" Jim muttered with a reassuring smile.

The three of them disembarked and stepped out into the open air. It was quite cold outside, like they had predicted, and they all pulled the collars of their coats up against the icy wind.
"According to our mission parameters, we are supposed to clear the south side of the planet" Spock said, checking the documents regarding their mission, "that would be roughly from our current location to 40 kilometers in a northeast direction. The rest of the planet has been declared uninhabitable". He made a gesture with his hand in the direction they were meant to go.
"Alright, let's start walking" Jim said, "and remember: keep a watchful eye for things that shouldn't be here".

They had been walking for three hours straight. The rocky surface made their progress quite slow, and made that they were not even halfway through the area that had to be cleared.
Spock walked in front, vigilant as ever, followed by Jim and, lastly, Chekov. The Russian had fallen a little behind, losing his footing regularly on the stones protruding from the earth.
"You alright?" Jim called over his shoulder after a particularly bad stumble from the young man.
"Yes, captain" Chekov answered. He sounded out of breath, but definitely cheery. "It is nice to be off the ship, captain" he continued. Jim smiled to himself. Really nothing could bring Chekov's spirits down.

Jim suddenly almost walked into Spock. He had to place his hands on Spock's back to prevent himself from actually colliding with his First Officer.
"What's wrong?" Jim asked. The Vulcan had stopped on the edge of quite a deep crater and did not answer.
"Spock, what's wro..." Jim started to repeat, but as soon as he peeked over the edge, he knew why Spock had stopped dead in his tracks.
"Oh, shit..." Jim mumbled. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Spock now and looked horror-stricken into the crater. This was bad…

Jim's mind immediately raced over possible solutions, but he reached the only conclusion that there was. It was too late for himself and Spock to get away, but Chekov was still out of sight of the crater.

"Chekov?" Jim hissed over his shoulder to the ensign who was still climbing the crater wall a few meters behind him.
"Captain?" Chekov stopped to answer hesitantly. He had only now noticed that Jim and Spock were not moving, and the tone of his captain's voice told him something was not right.
"Run" Jim mumbled controledly, just loud enough for the Russian to hear, "run, and hide. Tell the Enterprise that Starfleet was wrong, the planet is not abandoned".
"What?" Chekov took a step closer to Jim and Spock, but a slight hand-gesture from his captain told him not to come any closer.
"Captain, I don't underst..." Chekov began. He started to feel truly uneasy now and a hint of panic was rising up in his chest.
"NOW!" Jim yelled the command with all his might.

Immediately, Chekov could hear at least a dozen running footsteps, even though Jim and Spock stood still and it became agonizingly clear to him that something was very, very wrong.

The young Russian did not wait for what was to come and turned on his heels. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, leaving his superiors behind him….

Thanks all for reading. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Next one will be up a.s.a.p.
All reviews are highly appreciated ;-)