The shuttle’s engines groaned under the strain of the damaged impulse engine. Lt. Commander Arjun Mehta gripped the controls tighter, the cold chill of the ice moon outside pressing in on all sides of the damaged craft. He glanced at the medical bay display beside him, providing readouts of the aft compartment where Dr. Pell lay unconscious.

“We’re almost there,” Mehta whispered, trying to calm his nerves. It was supposed to be a routine survey mission, but the attack came out of nowhere. Sensors had not shown any alien life that should have been a threat to the survey party. Lt. Sitok was killed instantly, luckily Mehta was able to reach Dr. Pell and get her stabilized in the shuttle. Unfortunately, their attacker had time to damage the shuttle to a point where he could not make escape velocity. Now they were barreling back down to the surface, unable to contact the Thunderchild for rescue…

“Hold on, Pell,” he added, his voice barely above a whisper.

The shuttle lurched violently, throwing him forward. His head slammed against the control panel. He barely had time to register the impact before the shuttle hit the icy surface with a sickening crunch, the world spinning into blackness.

__________

Mehta slowly regained consciousness, the buzz of a damaged console and the muffled roar of the wind outside snapping his mind to attention. His head throbbed, but his body was unscathed, adrenaline pumping through his veins, spurring him to action. The crash had been rough, but it seemed the shuttle had at least been brought down in one piece. He quickly unstrapped himself and moved to check on Dr. Pell.

Her medical console blinked with a faint pulse of life, though her vitals were weak. She was unconscious, a nasty gash on her forehead where the impact had thrown her forward.

“Not good,” he muttered, quickly scanning her injuries with a few taps on the medical tricorder. There was no time for hesitation. If she went into shock, it would be a death sentence. He only had a basic understanding of Tellarite physiology, hopefully he could stabilize her again.

He grabbed the medkit from the rear compartment, applying pressure to her head wound. The shuttle was immobilized, but the temperature outside was quickly dropping to dangerously low levels. He needed to get them somewhere sheltered and figure out a way to call for help. He quickly used the dermal regenerator to treat the head wound, then began to scan her other injuries.

The autosutures in her abdomen were still intact, and her internal bleeding was under control. Dr. Pell’s secondary stomach pouch was still punctured and the trauma to her liver and kidneys was far beyond his ability to triage. He had to get a signal to the Thunderchild for rescue. He was confident Dr. Vichyon would be able to patch up his assistant CMO without much trouble, but time was not on their side.

__________

It took hours before Mehta could manage to assemble a makeshift gurney and drag Dr. Pell out of the wrecked shuttle. The wind howled, tiny pellets of hail and snowflakes stinging his exposed skin. The shuttle had crashed near the foot of a jagged ridge, a desolate expanse of ice and rock stretching out for miles. Mehta’s breath came in visible puffs of white steam as he trudged through the snow, dragging Pell behind him, further burdened by the pack of emergency supplies and communication components he was able to salvage. Luckily Dr. Pell was on the smaller size, even for a Tellarite. The journey ahead would be hard enough, but he couldn’t imagine how difficult it would have been had Nurse J’Tok been on this survey mission instead of Pell.

Still, he had no illusions… they were stranded. Their only hope was an emergency beacon. But with the shuttle’s comms array fried, there was no way to contact the Thunderchild. They had to wait for a rescue team. If one even came.

After an agonizing trek that seemed to take hours, he found a small cave-like structure, half-buried in ice and snow. It would have to do. He needed to stop and rest regardless, giving the muscles in his legs burning from the strain of their trek time to recover. He dragged Pell inside, setting her down gently on the cold rocky ground.

The cave was bitterly cold, but it offered shelter. Mehta took a moment to catch his breath. Taking off his gloves from the emergency stores to rub the small exposed areas of his face stinging with ice crystals. Pell was wrapped in all the emergency blankets on board, so Mehta utilized his turban to wrap around his head and face to combat the cold. Outside, a storm was intensifying. It would be only a matter of time before the cold made it impossible to survive without shelter.

Mehta started a small fire with the flare kit. He could hear the winds picking up, and howling across the icy wasteland. It was a maddening sound as if the moon itself were alive and angry.

__________

The next few hours passed in a blur. Mehta kept checking Dr. Pell’s condition, her pulse was still weak but steady. He used the ice and snow to build up a wall at the entrance of the small cave he was hoping would keep them alive until they could be rescued. He couldn’t risk venturing out into the storm for too long, so returning to the shuttle to search for more functioning components was not an option. He sat on the hard cold ground weighing his options…

And then the howling began. 

Mehta froze, his heart pounding. It was not the wind. There was something else out there. He assumed it was the same type of creature that attacked them during their initial survey. 

A deep, guttural growl echoed through the cave entrance. Mehta moved cautiously, peering out. Through the swirling snow, he saw the silhouette of a large creature moving toward the cave. Its glowing eyes reflected off the snow, fixed on him.

Without thinking, Mehta quickly backed into the cave and grabbed a nearby rock. The team’s phasers were left at the site of the initial attack, he wished he had one in the emergency supplies. He scanned the area for anything that could be usedas a weapon. The creature’s growl became more distinct, and the snow beneath its massive weight cracked and crunched with every step.

The first attack happened so quickly, that they were not able to get a good look at the creature that attacked them. He only saw that it was massive, had razor-sharp claws and teeth, and moved faster than a beast that large had any right to do. As the beast paced outside the cave entrance Mehta got an impression of just how massive the creature was, its shadow reflecting on the piled-up snow wall. The wall offered some protection from the elements, but it would do nothing against the creature.

The creature lunged toward the cave entrance, its claws slashing at the air, its roar shaking the walls of the narrow cavern. Mehta darted to the side, narrowly avoiding its strike. He hurled the rock with all his strength, but the creature barely flinched. It was too focused on its prey. It stood panting, its wide tooth-filled maw dripping with saliva. It had six narrow eyes, three on each side of its massive blood-colored skull.

He had to get the beast away from Pell, away from their shelter. He needed room to maneuver. He knew he couldn’t outrun the creature, but he might be able to find a crevice to hide in, hoping it would lose interest in its prey.

But that would leave Pell defenseless. He would not sacrifice another Starfleet officer’s life to save his own. He knew close combat was a terrible idea, but he did have his kirpan, the small blade his constant companion, if he could just get in close enough. 

Mehta backed into the shadows, calculating his next move. The only advantage he had was his ability to move quickly and unpredictably. As the creature reared back to strike again, Mehta used the narrowness of the cave to his advantage. He moved, ducking low, and grabbed another larger rock, throwing it directly at the creature’s head.

The creature stumbled back, stunned by the impact, growling and spraying the small cave in terrible-smelling saliva. This was his chance.

Mehta rushed forward, grabbing his blade from under his survival coat and uniform jacket. With a swift motion, he thrust the curved tip toward the creature’s crimson-scaled underbelly. Mehta was sprayed in a torrent of warm golden blood, glowing in a strange bioluminescence, sticky and viscous as he rolled as far away from the beast as he could. 

It let out a terrifying screech, its eyes wild with pain, before collapsing to the ground with a heavy thud.

He laid still, covered in the foul-smelling blood of his foe, contemplating his next move. The howl of the wind outside the cave was the only sound other than the pounding of his heartbeat assaulting his eardrums from within. The beast made no sound and didn’t move. He decided to take a chance and investigate closer.

Mehta stood over the creature, panting heavily, his chest rising and falling with the effort. The threat was neutralized, but the damage had been done. His clothes were soaked in sweat and glowing amber gore, and the adrenaline was wearingoff. He staggered back to Dr. Pell’s side, making sure she was still stable.

The most important thing, however, was the creature’s glowing blood… a faint light in the dark. It gave off heat, radiating a small amount of warmth that could be used to preserve their survival. He could rebuild that wall of ice and snow at the mouth of the cave. The massive body of the beast might be able to keep them warm enough to survive for a time.

__________

He wasn’t quite sure when, but eventually, he passed out from exhaustion. As he started to come to he heard the telltale sound of shuttle engines.

The rescue party from the Thunderchild had arrived.