Chapter Text
A terrible twisting sensation wracked through his body. He convulsed as his entire body cramped up, a hundred times worse than anything he had ever felt in his life. His ears were tortured by a deafening, thundering ringing, and dizziness as he had never felt it before overcame him. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.
Leonard McCoy’s head hit the warm sandy ground of Tridawn-IV hard. He immediately curled in on himself, wondering whether or not he was going to be sick. Then, after a few moments, he lifted his head and spat sand out of his mouth. Vertigo threatened to overwhelm him, and he put a hand out to steady himself as he sat up.
The sun beat down on the away-team. It was a welcome feeling after the hellish void they had been kept prisoner in for the past six hours. McCoy had to squint and shield his eyes, as he had grown unaccustomed to its brightness, and his eyes were beginning to stream. He tried to shout to the others, but his voice caught in his throat, and was overcome by a violent fit of coughing. He rolled over onto his hand and knees to steady himself as he tried to regain control over his breathing.
“Is everyone alright!!” McCoy heard Jim’s voice bellow hoarsely.
“Jim!” McCoy managed to yell between coughs.
“Aye!” Called another familiar voice, “but I ain’t never doin that again! From now on, I’m stayin down in the engine rooms with me barins, where I belong!”
McCoy managed to clear his eyes in time to see Jim helping a shaky Scotty up from the sand. “And I’ll be wantin a pay raise!”
The engineer’s eyes twinkling, despite his shaking hands and pale face. Jim clapped Scotty on the shoulder, and turned to face McCoy.
“Bones - you alright?”
McCoy groaned luxuriously as he lifted himself off the ground. “Well if you consider an aching head, a churning stomach, and a near-death experience alright, then sure I am.” Jim raised an eyebrow, and put a hand on his shoulder.
Bones nodded acknowledgement, and then proceeded to pull out his med-scanner, and run it over Jim. The captain waved him off, and gestured his head toward the rest of the party, as he pulled his communicator out of his pocket.
As Jim paged the Enterprise, McCoy went to work doing some quick initial assessments of the conditions of his fellow crew-men.
There were eight people in the landing party - Jim, himself, and Spock, Lt. Uhura, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, Security Officer Lynda Chekowski, and two young biologists - Enseign Tommy Ramsy, and Enseign Gordon Schmidt.
Lt. Uhura was sitting next to Scotty, visibly shaken up, but otherwise physically fine. Enseign Ramsy was clutching his knees, sobbing silently, as Officer Chekowski and Enseign Schmidt knelt over him. Enseign Schmidt’s nose was bleeding from the impact with the ground, but he too was otherwise fine. McCoy knelt and gave Ramsy a hypo to help him relax, and gave Schmidt a cold towel to hold to his nose to stop the bleeding.
“The Enterprise is approaching the planet, and will meet us at a rendezvous point about eight miles from here for beam-up. Everyone okay?”
“Other than being shaken up, we’re all okay Jim.” McCoy replied. Then he muttered to Jim, “thank God for small favours.” He then proceeded to take a small container out of his bag, and gave each person a hypo for vertigo and nausea.
The effects of the hypo on each person were immediate - this was one of McCoy’s favorite meds to administer, because it made people perk right up almost instantaneously. Five minutes later, they had all started to get up, check their belongings, and prepare for the trek to the rendezvous point. The two Ensigns, in their nervous energy, had begun a fit of giggles, and even Scotty and Lt. Lynda had begun to chuckle, as everyone shook off the dust and began recounting their versions of what happened as they had been violently phased / ripped out of the void they had been held captive in.
McCoy put away his med-kit, pleased with his handiwork, and how he had managed to lift everyone’s spirits with a simple spray.
Wait.
Everyone except for…
A wave of cold terror washed over McCoy. Jim must have come to the same realization as him at the same moment, for he stopped walking so abruptly, McCoy almost walked into him.
They turned simultaneously to face the rest of the landing party, and said at once, “where’s Spock?”