Kirk, Spock and Sulu dropped McCoy off at Sickbay to get his supplies together, then emerged from the turbolift and into the shuttlebay to find Scott and some of his technicians still hovering over one of the Enterprise's largest cargo shuttles.

Scott glanced up at them from where he was standing in the doorway of the shuttle, holding a notepad. Kirk indicated the datapad Scott held. "Checklist almost finished?"

Scott handed the datapad to him. "Aye. Everything checks out perfectly so far. The shuttles' shields should protect it long enough to reach the surface." A touch of pride colored his voice. Montgomery Scott considered all things mechanical or electronic on board the ship to be his personal responsibility, and took great interest in their maintenance. He paused briefly. "Might I ask who's going?"

Kirk nodded. "You might," he said with a faint smile. "Mr Spock is needed to set up the equipment we'll be taking down--" Kirk held up a hand to quell the engineer's look of indignation. "--And will also serve as Mr. Sulu's co-pilot." he continued. Scotty acceded reluctantly; Spock was a better pilot than he was. "Dr. McCoy and a security officer should be here shortly. Spock found a gap in the weather, and if we leave now we should make it in time."

Scott nodded acnowledgement, noting that Kirk did not mention himself as part of the landing party. Scott refrained from commenting that the risk to the Captain's life was completely unnecessary, for he knew as well as anyone else that Captain Kirk almost always insisted on leading away teams, whether his presence was neccesary or not.

The doors swished open and McCoy hurried in, medical bag and tricorder slung over his shoulder. "Alright, let's get this thing over with."

Kirk smiled. "You volunteered, Doctor." McCoy scowled at him, but said nothing.

Kirk turned back to the engineer. "Mr Scott, get to the bridge. I want you and Mr. Spock's replacement to keep an eye on those emissions, see if you can find out anything more. And keep it away from my ship. If this radiation starts to do real damage to the Enterprise, don't wait for us--take her out of here. We'll report in every hour."

Scott nodded unhappily. He didn't like the idea of leaving the captain and four others stranded on a potentially dangerous planet.

Kirk must have seen the expression, and softened his tone for his next words. "I know you don't like it Scotty, but I don't want the Enterprise in danger. Not if I can help it."

Scotty sighed unhappily. "Understood, sair."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments, finally broken by Kirk. "Where is that security guard?" he demanded impatiently, "We don't have time to waste."

Spock, hands clasped calmly behind his back, showed no sign of impatience. "Ensign Wheeler was next on the duty roster, sir."

Kirk pursed his lips in irritation, then shook his head. He waved a hand toward the waiting shuttle and said, "We might as well start loading up."

The shuttle was divided into two partitions, with a simple hinged door seperating the two. The aft half was the cargo compartment, and the fore of the shuttle held the crew compartment. There were six seats in all, forming a row of three on each side of the isle running down the center of the compartment. The entrance to the shuttle was a sliding ramp situated at the rear of the crew area.

Sulu and Spock slid into the two foremost seats, in front of the helm and navigation consoles. McCoy took one of the last two seats, directly in front of the cargo bay doors, and crossed his arms.

Outside the shuttle, Scotty took hold of the captain's arm just as he was entering. "Ah, cap'n, I took the liberty of preparing a sort of survival kit, if you will. The climate doon there is a bit drafty, so I packed coats, thermal blankets an' such. Thought you might appreciate it.

Kirk smiled warmly. "Scotty, you old mother hen," he laughed. At Scotts indignant look, however, he quickly added, "Of course we appreciate it. They'll be very useful, I'm sure of it.

"Well, sair. Wouldn't want ye to catch cold," Scotty said, and gave the captain a look of warning that belied the laughter in his eyes.

Kirk held in his comment, but didn't bother to keep the grin off his face. The grin remained intact as he took his seat beside McCoy on the shuttle, eliciting a raised eyebrow from his first officer. Spock turned his attention to his console.

Beside him, Sulu noticed the exchange, and had to try hard to keep a grin of his own from spreading across his face. Spock saw, and reminded himself that he had deliberately signed up on a ship full of humans.

While he was trying to recall why, he saw a red blur out of the corner of his eye. He looked over as Ensign Wheeler slid into one of the two seats left open, between Doctor McCoy and himself.

Kirk raised an eyebrow at him. "You're late," he reproved. The ensign appeared to be acutely aware of how late he was, and fidgeted uncomfortably under the combined stares of the entire away team.

Kirk didn't say anything further, but he was obviously awaiting an explanation.

"Uh," Wheeler stuttered, "Sorry sir." Kirk's other eyebrow rose slowly to join the first. "Personal business, sir," he said helplessly.

Kirk chose not to pursue the matter. "See that it doesn't happen again," he warned, in a tone that gave clear indication of the consequences if it did.

Wheelers eyes grew round, and he shook his head. "No, sir!" he exclaimed.

The crew turned away and resumed their duties. From his seat, McCoy watched as the ensign sank into his seat with an audible sigh of relief.

McCoy wondered if the Captain was aware of the fact that this would be Wheeler's first away mission, but quickly dismissed the thought. Of course he did, or else he would have ridden the boy much harder. As it was, Kirk had used just enough discipline to insure that the tardiness did not occur again, but not so much as to discourage him.

McCoy turned away and smiled, recalling his own immense nervousness on his first assignment, right after medical school.. While he hadn't been late, he had botched a consignment of medical supplies, and sent the wrong supplies to the wrong place. Fortunately, the supplies that were needed weren't vital, so the potentially deadly mistake turned out to be just one of the more embarrasing points of his life.

He remembered his own mortification, and how easily he could have been convinced that the medical profession was not for him. But his mentor at the time had talked him into staying, and he was glad he had. He only hoped the same for Wheeler.

Sulu opened a channel to the bridge while Spock ran the shuttle through the engine checklist. "Shuttle Brahe preparing for departure," he announced.

"Acknowleged, Brahe," Uhuras voice came back. The atmosphere was removed from the shuttlebay, and ahead of them the shuttle bay doors began to part, the narrow slit gradually widening to reveal the white pinpricks of stars against the velvet black of space.

The lines of the bulky shuttle caught the glimmer of unfiltered starlight as it rose from the deck and approached the fully open doors. Under Sulu's expert guidance, it glided out into space, and curved gracefully toward the orbiter.

They docked quicky, loading the projector into the cargo bay of the small shuttle in the minumum amout of time. It was crated in a large wood and plastic box that took up a large portion of the hold, and Arnet had decided to add a few additional crates that he assured the captain would be essential to the station.

Spock and Wheeler were pushing the shuttles own supply boxes aside to make way for another crate while Kirk talked to the manager.

"Mr. Arnet, we will do our best to get this to the surface," he assured him, but his words did little to change the worried expression on the station manager's face.

Arnet shook his head, his shaggy white hair flying out in all directions as though he had neglected to care for it in the last few days. "Yes, yes, i'm sure you'll--I don't mean to imply you won't." He sighed heavily, absently checking to make sure the projector crate was secured firmly to the wall of the shuttle. "I'm just worried. The natives are not a warlike people, but I shudder to think how they'll react to a group of aliens."

Kirk considered trying to reassure him again, then decided against it. He bid the manager farewell, then headed for the cockpit, where Spock and Sulu were doing some last minute weight-ratio calculations on the console.

"We need to leave. We've already been here too long." he said as he slid into his seat. "How soon before we're ready to depart?"

"Ready now, Captain," Spock answered calmly as he took his seat and Sulu readied the engine. Detatching from the orbiter, the shuttle angled toward the green and white swirled planet.

Sulu ran his fingers over the board, and shook his head in dismay. "That stuff is already beginning to affect our circuitry."

Spock nodded. "Agreed. Response time is slower than usual. Heading toward atmospheric entry now."

"Heaven help us all," McCoy muttered.

The shuttle angled toward the planet and dropped into its atmosphere. The crew strapped themselves in as the shuttle began to buck and twist against the strong air currents.

Outside the shuttle hull, the atmosphere thickened as they reached its lower levels and entered the radiation-caused storm. Filmy grey tendrils of storm clouds wrapped themselves around the shuttle, blacking the view through the strong, plexiglass windsheild.

As another gust of wind buffeted the shuttle, McCoy clutched the arm of his chair to hold himself in place. "This is Spocks idea of a break in the weather?" he gasped.

Spock was keeping an eye on the scanners while Sulu piloted, keeping them away from the strong concentrations of the radiation that seemed to collect in pockets of air.

"Nearly there," Sulu said.

Spock glanced up from the scanners, "The scanner indicates a mountain range coming up. The coordinates given for the station are somewhere in this area." Sulu nodded, grateful for the warning, but too busy to reply. The shuttles sensors only kept him one step ahead of the storm.

As the shuttle approached the mountain, Spock checked the rate of bambardment. Still the same. A very small crease formed on his forehead as he noted that the area of least radiation--where they were-- seemed to form a ragged circle in the approximate location of the station. Odd, to say the least.

They flew over the first peak in the small range just as he started to mention this to Kirk. The shuttle suddenly dropped, and Spocks words died in his throat as all of them were pitched forward.

Kirk heard Sulu's grunt of surprise over the sudden noise filling the cockpit, and looked out the window to see what had happened. The screen became completely obscured as the clouds abruptly rushed in on them, black and ominous.

Sulu and Spock both grabbed for the console, switching to dual control to fight the storm in unison. A sudden flash of lightning cut through the blackness, nearly blinding them both with its intensity.

"Where'd this come from?" McCoy yelled above the noise, as Sulu banked the shuttle to avoid a jutting point of rock.

Spock took the bank into a roll as a bolt of lightning struck where they had been a moment before. "The gap has closed--the radiation has increased," he answered, his voice steady, but strained with effort.

"We had another half hour! You couldn't have been that wrong!" Kirk said in frustration. He reflected briefly that the rough weather before was nothing compared to this.

The shuttle rocked to a sudden blow, and Spock heard the muffled sound of something exploding. The shuttle began to weave uncertainly through the air, it's engines responding erratically to commands.

A blur of motion from behind him, made Spock turn just in time to see Kirk's arm flinging the saftey belt above his head as he slid out of his seat. McCoy saw it, too. He opened his mouth to speak as a sudden lurch threw the captain against the wall, and Spock was forced to turn his attention to directing the shuttle away from another peak.

Kirk got quickly to his feet, and used his momentum to bring him up against the cargo bay door. Slipping through, he let it slam shut behind him.

He immediatly began to cough, and knew they were in trouble. One of the engine pods had been struck a glancing blow of lightning, and was smoking its damage all over the room, filling the place with noxious fumes. There was no fire that he could see, but the damage was extensive. Kirk grabbed a support strut for balance as the shuttle was knocked by a giant gust of wind, and cursed under his breath. The crates, the main reason for all this effort, were sliding all over the deck, ramming into each other and the walls, scattering splinters of wood and plastic with each collision.

He swung around and through the door into the cockpit, taking his seat just as the shuttle dove into an uncontrolled roll. He grabbed the arms of his chair to keep himself from flying out of his seat, and snapped his belt on the moment the shuttle was upright again.

"Spock!" He shouted. "One of the engine pods is fried! You're going to have to go back and see what you can do--we need the mobility!"

Spock paused, hands hovering over the board. He knew the captain was right, and had no choice but to leave the piloting entirely up to Sulu. At the shuttles next brief reprieve, he undid his belt and dashed through the door.

The damaged pod left the shuttle without at least a quarter of its maneuverability, and Sulu attacked the controls with a renewed fervor as he saw a wall of rock rising up before the shuttle. The shuttle pulled up just in time to avoid it, its stubby wings twisting awkwardly in a gust of wind as it flew through the roiling balck clouds.

All at once, the shuttle became more agile as it responded to Sulu's commands. The Navigator was only too happy to take advantage of the gift, dodging an unexpected lightning bolt.

Sulu glanced again at the sensor readout, and a look of horror filled his face as he stared at the blank, static-filled monitor. 'the radiation must have gotten to it,' he thought numbly.

Spock was suddenly in his seat again. "The pod is as repaired as it can be until we reach the proper facilities abord the ship. Until then--"

The thick clouds on the screen parted for the shuttle, and a wall of rock loomed ahead of them. Sulu's eyes widened as his fingers stabbed at the controls, and the shuttle shot upward in a manuever never intended by its makers. It was almost fast enough.

Sulu grimaced as something scraped along the bottom of the shuttlecraft with a horrid screeching sound, and then tugged at one of the wings. A scream of rushing air sounded from the cargo compartment.

The shuttle paused at the peak of the mountain as though unsure what to do next, and then abruptly went into a stomach wrenching drop.

Sulu sent the command for the shuttle to go up at the same time that Spock manueverd the thrusters on the wings to angle it out of the way of an upcoming group of rocks, the two working the controls in practiced unison.

Nothing happened. The shuttle continued it's uncontrolled drop, and did not respond to the repeated commands. Sulu glanced out the side window and grimaced. A small, uprooted tree was caught in the engine vent on the underside of the wing, jamming the mechanism. A trickle of flame could be seen growing from the damaged engine, inching closer to the main engine and fuel line.

"Mr. Spock!" he cried.

Without a word, Spock again swung out of his seat, and yanked open the door to the hold, pulling a fire extinguisher free from the wall in the same motion. A contained blast of air from the bay struck him with its full force, throwing him back. From their seats, Kirk and McCoy grabbed him and held him in place while the shuttle rolled yet again.

Kirk cried out in pain as the shuttlecraft lurched, jerking Spock out of his hands and nearly dislocating his shoulder in the process. Spock landed on top of a startled McCoy, then rolled off into the aisle.

"Sulu, get this thing righted!" Kirk shouted above the howling wind.

Out of skill or coincidence, the shuttle righted. Finally regaining his feet, Spock lurched into the bay, and the door slammed closed behind him.

Sulu ignored the rush of wind whipping his hair into his face and stinging his eyes. Punching several controls in sequence, he was trying to get a readout from the computer in the hopes of getting the other, still undamaged, engine back online. It wouldn't stop thier downward plunge, but perhaps it would slow them enough for him to touch down with as little damage to the shuttle as possible.

He glanced out the window and saw meters of rock flash past in seconds, obscured by thick storm clouds. His mouth twisted at what he saw coming, and he attacked the controls with hopeless fury.

He opened a channel to the Enterprise.

Spock stared at the huge tear in the floor of the cargo bay, caused by the near miss a moment ago. The depressurization of the air in the shuttle to the much thinner air of the upper atmosphere was tearing the shuttle apart. Most of the precious cargo was gone, having been blown from the shuttle by the fury of the wind, and what remained lay broken and scattered all over the bay floor.

"Captain!" He called over his shoulder. Whatever response that may have been made was drowned out by the wind.

The shuttle was now tilted at an angle in its fall, swaying back and forth. Spock began making his way up the new incline to an access panel at the rear of the shuttle, carefully skirting the edge of the jagged hole. Smoke poured from the panels edges, the fire from the wing having already made its way down.

The shuttle hit something hard, and a massive shockwave ripped through the main body. Spock heard a scream of pain over the thundering clash of metal on rock, but the force of the collision threw him to the deck.

He felt himself being pulled toward the jagged rip in the floor, and grabbed hold of a support strut in the side wall. The fire extinguisher slipped from his grasp and clanged into a wall, exploding in a shower of white chemical foam all over him and the bay.

The shuttle was eerily still for a moment, twisting slowly in midair so that it gave the impression of weightlessness. The rock again smashed into the hull, jarring Spock from his hold and flinging him to the back of the cargo bay to be caught up against the far wall.

Looking up at the battered crates of wood flying across the deck at him, Spock lost consciousness at the Shuttle tumbled down the side of the mountain.