Cold Hands. Warm Heart.

"Spock!" Kirk shouted loudly against the howling, biting wind.

"Spock, don't you dare leave me now, you hear me? Spock!"

The level of sheer panic that had suddenly crept into his normally steady tone took James T. Kirk by suprise. Panic was not in his nature, he thrived under pressure, excelled when faced with a no-win scenario and seemingly laughed in the face of death but now he was faced with the very possible imminent death of his first officer...his friend and for the first time in memory he was completely and utterly lost.

...ooOoo...

The mission had begun routinely enough. The Enterprise was sent to the Setarian System in order to determine the viable nature of the mineral gammacite-b recently discovered on the ice planet Setar VI. Nothing glamorous, nothing too exciting, just one of the many mundane missions that her crew had to deal with from time to time.

Specialist Lt. Gordan and her team of four stood on the transporter pad, all set to beam down to the planet's surface and begin extracting samples for analysis later back in the ship's well equipt labs.

"Good luck Lieutenant," her Captain wished, "and be sure to keep in regular contact, Mr. Spock informs me that the surface conditions are due to disimprove considerably within the next two-point-four hours," he cautioned, "endeavour to collect all the samples you need before then."

"Aye Sir."

Gordan's muffled reply was barely audible through the thick layers of her survival suit. James Kirk smiled reassuringly at the young officer, it wasn't her first away mission but he still felt uneasy every time a landing party left without him. McCoy had teased him about it at first, teased...hell the man had actually made clucking noises! Mother hen indeed! He only shut up when Kirk threatened to send him on every single away mission.

"Hey no fair," was the suitably chastised C.M.O's sulky reply.

"Energise Mr. Scott," Kirk ordered his chief engineer.

"Aye Sir, energising now," Montgomery Scott complied.

Within seconds each team member disappeared in a shimmering halo of light.

...ooOoo...

Back in his quarters, Jim Kirk sat at his desk taking advantage of the lull in activities to catch up on some 'paperwork'. He read through reports from his various section chiefs, sanctioned a number of requisitions due for retrieval at the next star base and completed his log. He had just finished his entry when the door to his quarters chimed.

"Enter," he called softly.

The door swept open smoothly to reveal the tall slender frame of his Vulcan first officer.

Jim smiled.

"Spock, how can I help you?" he asked while gesturing for his friend to come in and sit down.

Spock complied wordlessly and sat opposite his Captain. Only then did he remove the data pad from under his left arm.

"Captain, do you wish to avail of this time to continue with the crew evaluations?" he enquired.

Kirk leaned back, sighed, ran his right hand through his hair and then used it to roughly knead out some of the tension building up at the back of his neck. Reports, requisitions, crew evaluations, Star Fleet was all just one big bureaucratic behemoth. Even though he'd been Captain of the Enterprise now for almost a year, he was still catching up and just when he thought he was finally making a dent in the pile...another load would fill it's place.

His Captain's weariness and reluctance was not lost on Spock. Just because Vulcans were not prone to expressing emotion didn't mean they could not read it in others and he considered himself to be quite adept at reading this particular human.

"Perhaps another time Captain," Spock suggested and then made to leave.

"No, no, sit down," Kirk reached out, "it's all right, we'll go through them now, no telling when another opportunity will come up. Just let me get something to drink first."

Kirk got up and walked across his quarters. Spock simply nodded.

"Of course Captain."

Kirk sighed again as he stood in front of the replicator, raising his hands head level.

"Jim, Spock, it's Jim remember...am I going to have to remind you of that every single time we're alone together," he asked exasperated.

"We are both still on duty Captain, it would not be appropriate," the first officer calmly stated.

"Really...well maybe you'd care to explain why you called me Jim before when we were both still 'on-duty'?" Kirk demanded lightly. The events of the Nero incident still relatively fresh in his memory.

A solitary elegant raised eyebrow was his only reply.

"Uhhuh...thought as much, you're never gonna admit it are you?" Jim shook his head, rolling his eyes.

Spock started to speak but was halted abruptly.

"Forget it Spock," Jim turned to face the replicator again. "One black coffee, hot, no sugar."

The computer complied and a few seconds later he slid back the panel and retrieved a steaming hot cup of coffee.

"Care for anything Spock?"

"No thank you," the Vulcan replied without looking up from his data pad.

Jim smiled, sipped on his drink then raised his own eyebrows and wondered if he would ever really get to know this man...no, he corrected himself...this Vulcan, in front of him. Elder Spock certainly seemed to think so and that they were destined for great friendship of course he was basing his assertions on events grounded in an alternative reality. Was it really too much to expect that things would work out the same in this reality?... despite the odds, Jim Kirk really hoped so.

"So who's first on the list?" he enquired, back to business.

"Ensign Rodriguez. Maria, botanist," Spock supplied.

"Ok then, let's start with..."

The Captain's words were cut off by a sharp sounding beep.

Kirk hit a button on his desk.

"Kirk here."

Lt. Uhura responded anxiously.

"Captain we're receiving a distress call from the landing party, it seems there's a medical emergency, they're requesting Dr. McCoy's assistance...the message is very garbled Sir, the storm seems to be getting a lot worse, it's affecting some of our instruments."

Jim stole a quick glance at the ship's chronometer in his desk, a little over two hours had passed.

Damn it! he thought

"Understood Uhura, notify Dr. McCoy, have him meet us in transporter room two.

"Aye, aye Sir," she acknowledged, then the channel went dead.

"Spock you're with me," Jim ordered as he abandoned his cup on the desk beside his first officer's data pad. Crew evaluations would have to wait.

A slight diversion along the way to get kitted out in the necessary survival gear, then they met up with the medical officer who was already suitably attired.

McCoy had grabbed a fully stocked medical kit packed with what ever he could possibly need to render first aid at the scene, anything more serious would be dealt with back on the ship.

"Jim, Spock," the Doctor quickly acknowledged their presence in the transporter room. "Do we know the nature of the medical emergency?"

"No Bones, not yet, they had some difficulty getting through, it would seem Mr. Spock's weather predictions have come to fruition," Kirk explained.

Spock simply looked as if there could be no other outcome.

"I see, we'll we best get down there, then I'll know what I'm up against," McCoy stated quietly, resigned to the fact that he would once again be subjected to a transporter beam.

"Captain it may be best if I just beam down the good doctor," Scott suggested, "the storm is releasing massive electrical charges into the atmosphere, communications are severely disrupted, I canna be sure I'll have the signal strength to beam ya all back up."

"Understood Scotty, do your best," Kirk replied then made his way onto the transporter pad putting an end to any further protest from his chief engineer, he was quickly joined by Spock and McCoy.

" Aye Sir, nothing less," Scotty assured.

"Energise Mr. Scott," the Captain ordered.

"Aye Captain, energising now," Scotty complied.

His body felt the familiar tingle of the transporter beam as it surrounded his being. The functional yet warm transporter dissolved before his eyes only to be replaced by a nightmarish environment.

Setar VI was raging war against it's uninvited human inhabitants. Vicious ice winds tore at his body, he was almost blown over as soon as he materialised but the sudden appearance of a steel grip on his arm allowed him to steady himself. His coloured visor was almost instantly covered with large flakes of snow and he had to keep wiping it in order to make out the landing party. His first few breaths were uncomfortable, even through the protective fabric of his suit, the cold was indescribable, he had never experienced anything like it in his life.

Kirk, Spock and McCoy struggled against the wind and made their way towards to landing party huddled together surrounded by various pieces of scattered Star Fleet equipment.

Jim decided instantly that he'd let the good Doctor tend to the medical emergency, then he was going to get his people the hell away from this God forsaken rock.

...ooOoo...

Author's note:

Well there you have it folks, my first foray into the wonderful world of Star Trek. I loved watching TOS as a kid & the films plus later incarnations but I'm certainly no expert so I apologise for any & all errors, please just try and enjoy it regardless. All mistakes are my own. This will probably be just a short little ficlet, two maybe three chapters long, so if you'd like me to continue with it...then please let me know, any and all comments will be greatly appreciated.

Needless to say...I do not own Star Trek...mores the pity (sigh).

Take care,

~Lai.