Aviophobia (Leonard McCoy)

31. The Search

The next thing Kate knew, the door opened to her pod and she fell to the ground in a forested area, landing on her hands and knees.  She didn't have a chance to take in the scenery, as her stomach chose now as a good time to rid itself of it's contents.  Tears came to her eyes, from a combination of being sick and what she had just gone through.  The Enterprise was destroyed, they were stranded on a planet with no hope of communication with Star Fleet, and Kate didn't know if anyone had landed anywhere remotely close to her or not.

As her stomach churned and she was sick another time, she felt a hand on her back as a familiar voice said, "Easy, Dr. Kirk."

She covered her mouth for a moment to gather herself and assess if she was going to throw up again before looking up and nodding at Chekov. 

He continued to rub her back in a comforting way as she realized that she wasn't quite finished yet and threw up yet another time.  To his credit, he stayed by her side and comforted her.  Not that there was much he could do to really make her feel better.  At the moment, she just felt better knowing that she wasn't by herself and wasn't going to have to go searching through a strange planet for anyone from the Enterprise.

As Chekov continued to rub her back, Kate breathed in deeply through her nose and out through her mouth, trying to calm herself down.  She never liked flying, but she had never thrown up  from flying like this before.  This reaction was likely a combination of her pregnancy and the stress of the situation they were in, but she knew she had to calm herself down in order to protect both herself and her baby.  After taking another deep breath, she nodded to herself and said, "Thank you, Chekov."

Chekov offered his handed to her to help her stand and said, "Slowly now," as he helped pull her to standing.  The world felt uneasy around her for a moment as she took in her surroundings.  The planet at least seemed to be of a similar composition to earth, but she couldn't know more about it without having the tools available to them on the Enterprise.  What she really needed now was water, and she worried about the availability on this strange planet.

Chekov continued to hold her arm and support her as he asked, "Are you okay, Dr. Kirk?"

She nodded, finally feeling like her stomach had settled, as she said, "I'm fine.  I guess the stress of what happened and the flight in the escape pod got to me."

Chekov nodded in understanding but asked, "Can you walk on your own?  We really should be looking for the captain and anyone else we can find from the crew."

Kate nodded and said, "I think I'm fine, and you're right.  Just don't wander too far ahead of me."

They trekked through the forest for a while in silence, hoping to hear anything that might lead them to someone else from the crew.   Fortunately it didn't take them long to hear Jim's voice saying, "You knew that we would be attacked."

Kate, in spite of not feeling well, rushed toward Jim's voice with Chekov by her side, and came up on him in a confrontation with the captain that had sought the Federation out for help.

She replied to his accusation, "You don't understand."

As Jim approached her, she yelled out in caution, "Jim."

He turned to see her and Chekov, before turning back toward the other captain saying, "Then make me understand."

She looked between Jim, Chekov, and Kate before saying, "Our ship was attacked."

Kate saw Jim's shoulders rise and fall as he sighed and said without turning around, "Chekov, check the comms for survivors."

Beside her, Chekov nodded and said, "Aye, Captain."