As Spock moved toward the pilot's seat, Wheeler tried to find a discreet way out of his seat.

Spock found the helmsman shoved into the space underneath the navigations console. The crash had thrown him from his seat, and the shattered plexi-glass had taken its toll. Spock reached down and took Sulu's pulse. Weak, but steady. "Doctor McCoy," he called out.

McCoy looked up, supporting Kirk, and saw Spock standing at the front of the shuttle. Spock moved back slightly, allowing the doctor a glimpse of Sulu. McCoy got Kirk standing quickly, and began making his way carefully to the front of the shuttlecraft.

The shuttle shifted again as he passed Wheeler. McCoy, stepping over a seat, lost his balance. He flailed wildly and caught the arm of Wheeler's seat. The Ensign cried out in alarm as his chair released it's tenuous grasp and fell on top of the Doctor. Both men crashed into the debris below them.

The shuttle shook alarmingly, the screeching of metal on rock reverbrating through the hull. Spock grabbed the helmsman and held on to the navigations console for balance and Kirk fell backwards over his chair.

The rear of the shuttle slipped, throwing everything toward the back. The wall of rock through the shattered viewport vanished, showing a blinding white sky, and snow fell through the opening to dust the console and the floor of the shuttle..

Kirk was flung through the hole leading to the cargo bay. He slammed up against the wall, closing his eyes as Wheeler came flying through the hole along with the other debris. The shuttle fell only a short distance before colliding with something else, then listed crazily. People were flung once again, this time forward as the cockpit slipped.

McCoy cried out as he was hurled through the gaping opening at the fore of the small ship. Spock attempted to catch him, but only succeded in wrenching the doctor's arm.

Finally, the shuttle came to a tentative rest. Spock waited, frozen again. When nothing else happened, he relaxed slightly, looking around. The only people left in the forward compartment were Sulu and himself.

He knew where McCoy was, and he could only hope there was something out there to catch him. However, he had lost track of the captain and ensign Wheeler.

He opened his mouth to call out, but was interrupted by a familiar voice from outside the ship. "Spock, you better get outta there. You don't wanna know how that thing looks from out here."

"Captain," he called, frowning.


Kirk opened his eyes slowly, and blinked. He was squashed up against the wall by the remains of a large crate, which blocked his view of anything beyond it. He took a deep breath and held it, flinching at the pain in his chest as he pushed at the crate.

He heard McCoy speak, although he couldn't hear what he was saying. At least he knew the doctor was still alive.

He got the crate moved enough to squeeze out from behind it, and glanced around the demolished bay. He found Wheeler's chair jammed in the doorway, and the ensign, still strapped to the thing, dangled inches above the deck. Or what passed for the deck, at the moment.

He heard Spock call his name, and shook his head to clear it. "Yeah, Spock. I'm ok. Wheeler seems all right, too," he added, looking the unconsious ensign over carefully. "But he's pretty thoroughly jammed into this chair. What about McCoy and Sulu?"

Spock looked up the incline to where the voice was coming from. The opening was blocked by something large, but Kirk's voice could be heard fairly clearly. He sounded all right.

"Captain," he said, "Everyone is accounted for. We need to evacuate the shuttle immediately.

The obstruction shifted slightly, followed by a soft curse. "Spock, Wheeler's unconscious, I need some help moving this thing."

Spock made a move in that direction, but froze yet again as the shuttle shifted again, ever so slightly.

"Spock, Jim. Get everybody out of there. Now!" McCoy's voice, much closer, drifted down from above. Spock looked up and say the doctors face peering down through the hole in the front. The shuttle groaned in agreement and slipped an inch.

Spock tried to wake the helmsman, then gave up the attempt and simply threw him over his shoulder. "Doctor, I require assistance," he said calmly.

Kirk took his concentration from the chair wedged into the openeing, looking around for anything he could use as a lever. He spied a good sized chunk of plasticrete lying in a corner, and grabbed it, jamming it into a crack between the chair and the wall. His hand slipped as the shuttle trembled again, and he lost his balance, banging his head on the wall.

Kirk heard McCoy yelling, and Spock trying to shift the chair from the other side of the opening.

The shuttle trembled violently, and Kirk realized what was happeneing. The shuttle was going to fall, he was trapped, and Spock was not leaving without him. "Spock, get out of here!" he yelled above the screeching.

"Captain--"

"Now, Spock!" Kirk interrupted, "That's an order!"

Spock was sorely tempted to ignore that order. As he reached again for the chair blocking the entrance, Kirk seemed to sense this.

"Spock! McCoy and Sulu need a commanding officer. Get out. I mean it!"

The shuttle shifted, throwing Spock up against the doorway.

McCoy hollered at Spock to move. From where he stood, he could see the shuttle tilted lopsidedly on a narrow, crumbling ledge, it's nose holding it up against the rock face through mere friction. When the nose slipped, the rest of the shuttle would go over the edge with it. Even as he watched, a few pebbles broke away and the nose slipped a little farther.

Spock gave the blocked entrance one last glance, then started toward the shattered viewport.

The captain looked around, noting the gaping hole in the side of the shuttle. The slipping shuttle had rolled so it showed rock outside of it, instead of sky. He reached up and yanked Wheeler's shock webbing out of the seat entirely, catching the ensign as he fell. Hauling the unconscious man over his shoulder, ribs resenting every motion, he headed for the breach. Kirk paused by the small survival crate Scotty had fitted the shuttle with. He took a deep breath, wondering if he had time. A breath of frigid air brushed him, and he shook his head.

There had to be time. He laid Wheeler on the shivering deck and ran his hands along the sides of the battered crate, looking for a broken edge. There wasn't time to find a prybar, he'd just have to hope the crate was beat up enough to allow him to pull it apart with only his hands.

His hands ran up against a jagged hole, leaving splinters in his palms. He ignored them, bracing himslef against the crate and the deck and pulling as hard as he could.

He fell back as the crate broke apart, banging his arm painfully on the splintered edge of it. Rolling over onto his side, he took several short, painful breaths as his ribs attempted to recover from this latest blow. He look up at the gash in the hull. It was rising to show the sky again, and would soon be innaccessible.

The shuttle was slipping quickly, and Kirk decided there would be no time for the second pack. Throwing the first over his shoulder, he hauled Wheeler up again and raced for the opening, ribs screaming in protest. The heaving deck nearly knocked him off his feet before he reached the breach.

Wheeler made a small sound in the back of his throat as he started to regain consciousness. The rift in the shuttle was barely low enough for the captain to see out of it now. He was immensly relieved to see a ledge protruding out of the rock. There was no sign of the others, though, and this worried him. He tossed Wheeler out the hole, as he couldn't lean over it for it's height.

"Wha--!" Wheeler began in confusion as he regained consciousness at last, then cried out as he struck the ground. Kirk threw the pack over next. A muffled grunt indicated it's landing.

Grabbing the jagged edge carefully, he hauled himself up onto it, and vaulted smoothly over, landing with a crunch of hard packed ice beside the ensign. The landing sent a wave of fresh pain over him, and he collapsed, curling into a ball.

The ledge that Spock was balanced on was no more than a few meters wide. Less than half of that seperated the shuttle from where Spock and McCoy were pressed up against the wall. Sulu was up onhis elbows, staring around muzzily.

Spock saw him trying to rise, despite McCoy's orders to the contrary, and shouted at him over the screaming of the shuttle. "Sulu! Be Still!"

"What?" Sulu mumbled, raising a hand to his throbbing head. He glanced up at the shuttle, only centimeters from him, and, quite forgetting his headache for a moment, pressed his back more firmly against the cold rock.

With a final ear-splitting protest, the shuttle gave a final heave and slid over the edge into the chasm below.

Spock watched, features frozen, as it fell.

On a ledge below, Kirk leaned over and saw the remains of the shuttle bounce off ledges and boulders, sending itself and a small avalance out of sight past a series of protruding rock ledges. Kirk looked up at an ominous rumble above him, but saw no sign of imminent avalanche.

Spock saw the captain on the ledge below him, crouched over a semi-conscious ensign Wheeler, and sharply suppresed an almost overwhelming wave of relief. Kirk waved at him. "Did everyone get out in time?" he called up.

"Yes, Captain," Spock replied.

"Did we manage to salvage anything?"

Spock shook his head slightly. "Three phasers, my tricorder, and a data pad with Mr. Sulu's maps on it. And some medical supplies, as well. The projector went down with the shuttle, captain."

Kirk glanced over the edge again. "It survived the first, any chance it survived the second crash, as well?" He asked, not believing it would for a second.

"Unlikely," Spock said, absently. He glanced over to where McCoy was examining Sulu. The doctor shook his head. "Not even fifteen minutes on this planet and we've managed to lose the shuttle, the projector, and the captain." He sighed and slipped the scanner back into his bag. "This is going to be one of those missions.