Chapter Text
Spock’s already feline features seemed even more so as he crouched behind the foliage of some native plant. Kirk was following behind slowly, but he could tell that even though he was by his standards being quiet, the Vulcan did not agree. Though Kirk did find the twitching of the VUlcan’s ears every time he made a noise quite entertaining.
A week before, Jim had organized a landing party to respond to a distress call on some class M planet. He had chosen mostly security, and one extra science officer, and Spock, leaving the remainder of the bridge crew to care for his ship. Of course, nothing had gone according to plan. They had been ambushed by the natives, who had apparently sent out a false distress signal to lure them in so they could take their ship. They had won by sheer numbers. They were taken to an underground lair to be used as hostages, but everybody else was... disposed of.
Fortunately, they underestimated the Vulcan’s strength and the pair managed to escape. Unfortunately, they escaped with only the clothes on their backs. No phasers, no communicators, no food. With the natives close on their heels, the two managed to make it into the thickly foliated jungle that covered most of the planet.
Now they were hunting. Well, Spock was hunting. Kirk was following. They had been eating berries for the past few days, which did nothing to satisfy, even for Spock. So they had followed one of the deer-like animals that roamed the jungles, and were now stalking it. Jim paused as Spock held up a hand in a ‘stay here’ gesture. The Vulcan crept forward, his eyes focused on the furry creature ahead of him. He paused as its head came up, suspiciously glancing around the trees. Apparently appeased, the animal’s head went back down and it continued feeding on the grass. His muscles tensing, Spock prepared to spring, and Kirk was once more struck by how feline he seemed. While not buff, Spock was muscular and lithe, and now, survival, where it really counted, Spock seemed almost at home. Of course, that also could just have been the hunger. Even he couldn’t survive on straight fruit for more than a week.
Jim had been surprised at first, the Vulcan going against his whole, “All life is sacred” philosophy, but he definitely wasn’t complaining. His ears twitching once more, Spock shifted noiselessly from foot to foot before springing forward. Kirk’s eyes widened at Spock’s speed; the Vulcan was barely a blur in the air before landing straight on top of the beast. It squealed loudly, once, a sharp sound of pain, before Spock snapped its neck.
“I didn’t know it was even possible to move that fast.” Jim said, whistling in appreciation.
Spock ignored the comment, instead taking a sharp looking rock from his pocket and drawing it across the beast’s neck. As its violet blood began draining onto the moist dirt, Spock said, “We shall have to find shelter tonight. Preferably something more permanent than in which we have previously been residing.”
“Okay, like, make a cabin or something?”
“I was thinking of something more along the lines of a cave.”
“A cave?” One of Jim’s eyebrows rose.
“Yes.” Spock said. “We have passed several small indents - I would hardly call them caves - but judging by the terrain of what we have seen so far, it leads me to believe that caves in this area are numerous. It should not be difficult to find one that suits our needs.”
“Shouldn’t we have done this before we killed the, uh, animal?” he asked.
“No. You are hungry, and waiting when we could have easily gotten food is illogical.”
He shrugged; Spock was probably right. “So how do we make a fire?”
Instead of replying, Spock took another stone out of his pocket. He struck his makeshift knife against it, and a shower of sparks flew off.
“Wow.”
“This planet, while irritating, is almost perfect for survival. Steel and flint deposits are almost everywhere.” Spock informed him, passing the stones over to Kirk before gutting the animal.
“Mmm.” Jim replied, gathering tinder and some sticks to make their fire.