Tomaz woke to the smell of something burning.

The familiar scent of smoke was the first thing to pierce through his fog of sleep, followed closely by the biting cold and the now-familiar ache across his body. His entire body throbbed with pain, but the smell, something charred and vaguely edible, pushed through the haze, pulling him from his restless slumber.

Groaning, Tomaz opened his eyes and blinked blearily, trying to make sense of his surroundings. The frigid air of the cave hit him immediately, a stark reminder of where they were. The crash. The freezing storm. The endless, bitter cold. All of it rushed back as he forced himself to sit up, his body protesting every movement.

“Craigen?” Tomaz rasped, rubbing a hand over his face. His throat felt dry, and the dull ache in his ribs only seemed to intensify as he shifted under the thermal blankets. “What’s that smell?”

“Breakfast,” came the familiar, tired voice from near the entrance of the cave. Tomaz turned his head, wincing slightly as the sharp pain in his side flared up. Outside the small tent, Flemen was crouched by the fire, prodding at something in a pan with the kind of focus reserved for desperate cooks or someone performing emergency surgery.

Tomaz squinted at the sight. “Is that… supposed to be food?”

Flemen shot him a wry smile. “I never claimed to be a master chef. But it’s edible. Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“Better than starving to death,” Flemen said with a chuckle, his breath fogging up in the cave’s cold air. He gave the pan a final poke, then carefully lifted it off the fire and made his way over to Tomaz. “Scrambled eggs, courtesy of the finest Starfleet ration packs.”

Tomaz eyed the dish Flemen handed him with cautious scepticism. The “eggs” were a congealed, lumpy mass of yellow, burned in some places and suspiciously gooey in others. He prodded the food with a fork, wondering if it was safe to eat or a science experiment gone wrong.

“Well,” Tomaz said dryly, “it’s… something.”

Flemen sat down beside him, stretching his legs out and letting out a small sigh. “You know, you can’t get too picky when you are stranded on an ice planet. Try it. It might surprise you.”

Tomaz carefully took a bite and immediately regretted it. The taste was somewhere between Klingon gagh and ash, with a strange rubbery texture that stuck to his teeth. Still, he swallowed and managed a weak smile. “Not bad.”

“Liar,” Flemen grinned, though his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

They lapsed into a brief silence, broken only by the crackling of the small fire and the distant howl of the wind outside the cave. Tomaz poked at the rest of the eggs on his plate and tried his best to stomach the last bits of his breakfast. Though his body was uneasy about what he was taken in, his mind was more uneasy about their surroundings. The previous night had been filled with strange noises, the rhythmic thumping and growling sounds that echoed through the icy walls, putting both officers on edge. The fact that Flemen had said he had seen something that looked like a group of figures had kept Tomaz on edge, too. 

Tomaz looked toward the cave entrance, his gaze narrowing. “That noise and those beings you saw from last night… did you hear or see any more since you got up?”

Flemen shook his head, his face growing more serious. “Not a thing. I don’t know what they were, but they were close. Too close.”

“Maybe it’s just this place,” Tomaz admitted as he stifled a yawn and wrapped the thermal blanket closer to him. 

“Maybe,” Flemen agreed as he finished eating. Slowly, he took out his tricorder. “I’ve been trying to locate the source of those subspace readings that took us off course.”

“Any luck?” Tomaz questioned, curious if his friend had made any progress with it.

Flemen passed the tricorder over to Tomaz. “I’m no science officer, but from what I can tell, the source of the subspace anomalies is coming from this planet. Somewhere underneath where we are.”

Intrigued by that, Tomaz studied the tricorder further. “There must be something quite big down there to generate such power.”

“Hopefully, when Odyssey arrives, it can detect it before it enters orbit,” Flemen stated. He then gestured towards their distress beacon. “I’ve slightly altered the beacon’s homing signal to include the tricorder readings.”

“Fingers crossed that our new chief science officer or chief communications officer sees it first before the ship attempts a rescue,” Tomaz stated after realising what Flemen had done.

Flemen nodded, confirming what he had done. “I promise you, when we return, I will spend a week on the holodeck on a hot beach in Risa.”

“I’d be more than happy to spend a week on Vulcan at this rate,” Tomaz said, trying to suppress himself from shivering anymore. 

Before they could discuss their current flight any further, the sound they heard from the previous night came again—a low, resonant thumping, rhythmic and steady. It was louder now and more distinct than before. The cave seemed to vibrate with the pulse of the noise as though the ice was responding to it.

Flemen’s body tensed, his gaze snapping toward the cave entrance. “That sounds a lot closer.”

Tomaz forced himself to sit up straighter, grimacing as the sharp pain in his body flared up. “Something’s coming.”

The thumping grew louder, echoing off the ice walls, and then—silence. Both officers froze, eyes locked on the cave’s entrance. The fire flickered weakly, casting long shadows across the uneven walls of ice and snow.

Suddenly, the ice began to move.

The snow and frost at the mouth of the cave rippled, shifting as if alive. The ice walls shifted like liquid, reshaping themselves before their eyes. Then, from within the ice, figures began to emerge. They slid through the frozen walls with eerie fluidity as though they were part of the very ice itself.

“Craigen…” Tomaz whispered, his voice tight, surprised at the eerie arrival of the figures around them. He had never seen anything like it before, and from his friend’s expression, he hadn’t either. 

Six figures emerged from the ice, their crystalline forms gleaming in the dim firelight. They were tall and graceful, their bodies shimmering with a ghostly glow. Their faces were devoid of features save for piercing blue eyes that glowed with an unnaturally bright light.

Tomaz’s hand instinctively went to his phaser rifle, his pulse quickening. He exchanged a glance with Flemen, who was already standing, his rifle in hand.

The figures moved closer, surrounding them in a tight circle. The fire crackled between the two officers and the aliens, its weak glow doing little to warm the freezing air.

One of the crystalline beings stepped forward, its movements smooth and deliberate. When it spoke, its voice was melodic, resonating through the cave like a haunting song: “You trespass upon sacred ground.”

Flemen stepped forward cautiously, lowering his rifle slightly in a gesture of peace. “We didn’t mean to intrude,” he said; his voice was calm but respectful. “Our shuttle crashed. We’re stranded here and waiting for our ship to come for us. We’ll leave as soon as we can.”

The alien’s glowing blue eyes shifted, its head tilting slightly as it seemed to study Flemen. “Your presence violates this land,” it said in that same deep tone. “We are the Glaciarians, the dwellers of this place. You have defiled sacred ground. Ground that is only kept for our caretaker.”

Flemen’s brow furrowed. “We’re sorry. We had no idea. If there’s another place we can go until our ship arrives, we’ll—”

“There is no forgiveness,” the Glaciarian leader interrupted, its tone chillingly final. “You have trespassed. You must be cleansed.”

Tomaz’s grip tightened on his rifle, his heart pounding in his chest. “Cleansed?” he asked, his voice low. “What does that mean?”

Flemen tried again, his voice rising slightly in desperation. “Please. We’re not here to harm your world. My friend is injured and needs medical help.” He gestured towards Tomaz before trying to appeal to them. “We’ll leave as soon as possible.”

The leader of the Glaciarians raised their hand, and at that moment, Tomaz realised the negotiation was over. The alien’s glowing eyes narrowed, and with a sudden, fluid motion, the Glaciarians surged forward.

“Craigen, get down!” Tomaz shouted, raising his rifle. He fired off a shot, striking one of the Glaciarian square in the shoulder. The alien staggered but did not fall, its body shimmering as it absorbed the blow.

Flemen scrambled backwards, trying to avoid the advancing aliens, but there were too many of them. Two of the beings rushed him, knocking his rifle from his hands and pinning him to the ground. Tomaz tried to fire again, but a sharp blow from behind sent him sprawling to the frozen floor, his phaser skittering out of reach.

The cold, unyielding hands of the Glaciarians grabbed him, pulling him up effortlessly. He struggled, kicking and thrashing against their hold, but it was useless. The last thing Tomaz saw before everything went black was the blurred image of Flemen being dragged out of the cave; his voice lost in the chaos.

In that fleeting moment, Tomaz’s final thought went to his son, S’Tem, hoping that he would be cared for without him around. 

When Tomaz woke again, his body screamed out at him in pain.

His body ached with the cold, the bitter wind biting his skin like a savage beast knawing away at its latest prey. His hands and wrists were bound tightly with rough ropes, and he was hanging suspended from a long wooden pole. His arms were being stretched as his body pulled heavily down on them. Tomaz felt some relief he was still alive, but on the other hand, the high level of pain hitting him from multiple angles was overwhelming. Trying his best to ignore the pain, the next thing Tomaz noticed was the cold—it cut through him like a knife, seeping into every bone, every nerve. 

He blinked groggily, trying to shake off the disorientation. The cave was gone. Instead, he was hanging above a vast, semi-frozen lake. Turning to his left, he saw Flemen in the same state he was in. Flemen was still unconscious. Trying to get his full bearings, Tomaz looked down and saw that the ice below them glistened dangerously, jagged shards poking up through the water. The wind howled around them, but what chilled Tomaz the most was the realisation that they had been stripped down to nothing but their underwear.

Their Starfleet gear and equipment were piled haphazardly near the edge of the frozen lake, out of reach. Uniforms, thermal blankets, medkits—everything they had, discarded like trash.

Tomaz’s heart raced as he twisted slightly in his restraints, trying to get a better look at their captors. A group of Glaciarians stood near the lake’s edge, watching them silently, their blue eyes glowing eerily in the cold light.

“Craigen?” Tomaz called out, his voice hoarse.

Beside him, Flemen stirred, his head hanging low. He groaned softly, and then his eyes fluttered open. “Tomaz?”

Tomaz let out a shaky breath of relief. “You okay?”

Flemen blinked, squinting at their surroundings. “I’ve been better,” he muttered, his voice rough. “What… what the hell is this?”

Before Tomaz could answer, the Glaciarians stepped forward, their leader raising a hand. The air around them seemed to hum with energy, the icy wind whipping at their nearly bare skin.

“The cleansing begins,” the leader stated, their voice like ice cracking in the wind.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them rumbled. Massive flames erupted from the lake’s frozen surface, encircling them in a ring of fire. The heat was intense, yet somehow, the cold lingered, a painful contrast that made Tomaz’s skin crawl.

Flemen looked at Tomaz, fear flashing across his eyes. “Tomaz.” 

Tomaz knew that words were not enough as he heard his friend’s tone clearly enough. Flemen was scared as much as he was. Tomaz’s heart raced as the flames roared higher, his breath catching in his throat. For the second time that day, he wondered if this was the end. Struggling, he tried to pull on the rope holding him close to the pole, but with every move he made, Tomaz knew he didn’t have the strength to escape. The heat coming from the flames was roasting. They were going from one extreme to another, and in that moment he gave his friend one more glance. He once again saw in Flemen’s eyes the same panic and message he had shared before. 

They couldn’t win this. 

It was over for them.