7. Fish

7. Fish

For once I'd love to meet a new race of people that DON'T want to kill me on sight.

Jim struggled fiercely as he was dragged towards the cliff that loomed in front of them and vowed that he was going to speak to someone about some of these first contact policies. He got it, he really did; it was important to let other cultures develop at their own pace and not contaminate them with technologies they weren't ready for. Which was all fine and dandy until his crew was caught by yet another group of superstitious people and couldn't pull out phasers and just blast their way out. It was a miracle that he'd lost as few people as he had over the last year.

Nearby Spock was being hauled along as well and they locked eyes, silently communicating in that way that had become so easy.

I HAD told you that subtlety was the key in this situation.

Not really helping here Spock. We need to get back to the ship so w-

The only warning he got was the slight widening of the Vulcan's eyes before the hands holding him up were gone and so was the ground beneath his feet. He had one minute to feel the eerie weightlessness of falling before his mind was overtaken by slight panic and an impressive vocabulary of curses he was pretty such he could thank Bones for. Then he was hitting the water, hard. The cold hit him like little shards of glass as he immediately began to sink into the murky depths. He struggled with the ties around his wrists and ankles but realized quickly that it would take a lot more than his strength to break free.

So focused on getting his limbs free, he didn't notice the giant fish until it was almost touching him. The aquatic creature was massive, with jagged teeth interspersed with blunt jutting ones and milky eyes that stared eerily at the starship captain. Startled by the sudden appearance of the leviathan-like monster in front of him, Jim cried out; bubbles escaping as he lost precious air.

Oh yeah, really need to speak to someone about these missions…

The fish seemed as startled as he was and swam off as Jim began to feel light-headed and slowed in his struggles. The cold was numbing and the lack of air made it feel like a band of iron was crushing his chest and head. Then a pair of strong hands were pulling at his bonds and wrapping around him. He tried to look through the water at Spock, who was hauling him along, and tried to pull away towards the surface. The Vulcan's grip tightened as he continued to pull him sideways instead of up and the human began to struggle; panic setting in as his lungs screamed for air.

Spock moved without thinking, moving one of his hands to his capta-his friend's face as he continued to kick towards the opposite shore.

Calm yourself. You will live; trust me.

Jim tried to respond to the mental urge and then he was thrown onto the shore. Coughing and gasping, he rolled onto his knees and hacked up water; shaking and spluttering. Spock was in better shape and sat next to the man, eyeing him closely.

"Captain are you alright? I did not wish to give away my heritage to the natives and had to wait to free myself once I was under the water-"

"It's alright." Jim was still shaking but sat up and took a deep breath. "I'm okay. Thanks to you." He shot the Vulcan a sideways look. "I thought Vulcan's aren't fans of deep water?"

"We…are not." Spock admitted. "If I had been able to avoid it, I would have. However, I could not and my ability to swim is sufficient that I was assured that we would survive."

Jim watched him silently for a long moment and Spock felt a sudden urge to shift under the golden eyes that had caught him in their path. Then the younger man smiled kindly. "Thank you Mr. Spock."

They rested for another moment, just breathing deeply.

"…Did you see that FISH?!"

"…Indeed."