"Captain's log, stardate 2202.9
We have been travelling due west for four hours, with still no sign of the inhabitants. Meanwhile the temperature has dropped to minus thirty-two degrees. According to Mr. Cona, we have travelled 8.2 miles."
* * * * * * * * * *
"Kyle, how much longer before we freeze?" the Captain asked jokingly.
"If the temperature keeps dropping at this rate, I'd say thirty minutes to an hour before we all get severe frost bite."
Jonathan shivered at the seriousness in his dear friend's voice.
"With the exception of Mr. Cona of course."
"Of course," Captain Ridger dismissed the subject as easily as he had started it. He didn't like the thought of freezing to death. If he got out of this, he would have a thing or two to say to the Klingon High Command.
* * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile aboard the Dawntreader, the crew was kept quite busy. "Sir, the shields are down to seventy-eight percent!" Mr. Agar called from the helm.
"Lieutenant!" Jason Kent yelled as the Klingon cruiser fired on them again, "Any word from the Captain's party?"
"No Sir," Lt. Adams said, flicking switches clear across her communications board. "Sensors can't even penetrate the atmosphere to get a fix on them." The bridge shook as the enemy ship fired again. "Sir, we do know it's minus thirty-five degrees down there."
* * * * * * * * * *
Back on the planet, Lamar stumbled, but T'Lenn caught hold of him before he fell. She carefully helped him to the others, who had momentarily stopped.
"Perhaps we should rest awhile," Cona suggested. A group of large rocks were on their port side. Taking out his phaser, Captain Ridger nodded in approval saying, "Heating these boulders will provide some temporary heat." Aiming his phaser, he fired at the rocks and they glowed as the phaser's energy heated them.
A few minutes later, a shrill bird call rang through the air, startling the crew. A brightly colored, parrot-sized bird fly past them and land on the shoulder of a humanoid figure on horseback. The figure spoke with a gentle, feminine voice, "Do not be frightened, Captain Ridger. I am a friend," tossing blankets down to the frostbitten foursome. "Follow me and I will take you somewhere safer. The desert is not kind to night travelers."
Ridger distributed the blankets, which they was grateful for, and spoke quietly to his group. "Opinions?" he said, regarding their new friend.
"I think we should go," Dr. Lamar volunteered. "I'd rather follow a stranger that might lead us to shelter than stay and freeze out here."
"I must agree with the doctor," Cona added.
"I agree as well. T'Lenn?" Ridger looked at his First Officer.
"It is logical. But I would also advise caution. We do not yet know her intentions."
"Noted." Jonathan looked for their enigmatic hostess and saw her, still mounted, several feet to their starboard. He started walking slowly towards the Mikellan and the others followed. The girl's horse also started moving at a walk.
They had walked for several minutes, when as suddenly as she appeared, rider, horse and even tracks disappeared. In front of them was an entrance to a small cave. Cona looked at the Captain. Ridger shrugged off his gaze and slowly walked in.
To his amazement, the cavern was warm, lit by a small fire. It was burning strongly, as if it had been tended to recently. Several animal furs were scattered on the cave floor. "Looks like someone was expecting us," Dr. Lamar commented as he sat down by the fire.
"It would appear so. Our mysterious guide perhaps?" Jonathan looked at his Vulcan First Officer.
"It would seem likely," she replied. "but illogical. She could not have known who or where we were."
"Could she have followed us?" questioned the Dawntreader Captain.
"No, Sir." This time it was Cona that answered the Captain's baffling question. "My tricorder did not register any other humanoid life forms within a fifty-mile radius until she appeared just a few moments ago."
"What about this cave? Are there any more?" Dr. Lamar queried.
"Not according to these readings," continued Cona. "This is the only one. It goes back approximately twenty meters further."
"But then where did she go? She couldn't have just vanished!" Jonathan paced back and forth, unwilling to let the topic go.
"I do not, as of yet, know, Sir. However, since we do not appear to be in any immediate danger, perhaps you should rest for a while." Despite the fact that Cona had no emotions, he was concerned for his commanding officer's welfare.
"Maybe you're right. Continue your investigation Mr. Cona." The exhausted Captain yawned. He looked at his friends. T'Lenn was tending the fire, Cona fiddling with his tricorder and Dr. Lamar, already fast asleep at the fire's edge. Soon the Captain, too, was sound asleep, & T'Lenn shortly after.
Cona still studied his tricorder. Suddenly he looked up. His tricorder had just registered another life form, the one they had encountered before, in the cavern. She said nothing, but motioned for him to follow.